The Return to Sarmatia 2
He didn't know what awoke him.
As he turned to his side to give his wife a loving glance, he spotted a pair of feet pacing lightly, not enough to make any sound but still enough to awaken him, and sighed. There was only one man alive that could walk and make no sound at all-Tristran. When he was dressed for the day, he placed gentle kisses on his twins' heads and ran his finger loving down Cadman's nose and exited the tent with nary a whisper.
As he walked sedately to his friend's side with his head down from sleepiness, he frowned with confusion. Tristran was wearing his battle-hardened boots. Then he remembered his father's words from last night; there were bandits in the area.
Lancelot glanced up at his friend's serious face and followed his gaze up into the sky.
Siolae was flying low to the ground and circling ominously.
All the scout said as he turned and walked purposely to the wagon that held their weapons and battle armor was, "Bandits."
Lancelot nodded with a heavy frown and yelled as his mind flew through battle strategies and light army maneuvers as he saw from the corner of his eye his wife, mother, and father exit their respected tents wiping the sleep from their glazed eyes, "Knights!!! To arms!!!"
With great pride in the men and women that he lead, the First Knights watched as the twenty knights that had 'escorted' them ran out of their tents-hopping into their leggings as they went.
As Lancelot reached Tristran, he nodded in greeting to Galahad and Gawain, who were already there. Their hair was in disarray, something Gawain hated as his hair caused him problems later on, but their eyes were sharp and alert as they always had been right before a battle.
Quickly and efficiently, they were armored up in their light armor and Lancelot turned to his wife, who was waiting patiently for his directions because this was a battle as she was regulated to a Healer during these times and had no command in battle-except for what their people gave her with their love and respect for her, and said, "You know what to do."
Emogen nodded and rushed to the second wagon where their medical supplies were. She wasn't at all surprised to see Enys, Alma, and Ula already there putting on their battle gear.
Enys smiled at her and said as she handed Emogen her gear, "Here we go again."
Babai and Ama were confused.
As they joined their eldest son and his fellow Knights, Ama had to smile in awe despite her confusion. Her son had grown up to be a great and powerful not to mention handsome man. She let her eyes, though losing some of they're strength with age, roam over his strong, virile body and smiled. Her son was dressed in black, sturdy boots that held a knife in the left boot, thick, hardened, black leather leggings, a black belt with a silver buckle engraved with a lion leaping out in a roar with it's claws out stretched for battle, with an emerald jeweled dagger at his right hip, an emerald green loose shirt with a steel armored chest plate that completely surrounded his body for peak protection, two forearm guards made of a metal she had never seen before with an emerald globe over the top of his hands, and his twin blades strapped to his shoulders.
His fellow Knights, both Sarmatian brothers and Briton knights, were dressed in similar armor.
Ama turned her gaze to Gawain Gray-Wolf and Galahad Greenhill of the Wolf Tribe. She had been angry and upset, and understandably so, when the First Prince had said that Princess Agrimpasa was dead by Miskoc's hand, but at the same time she was relieved-she didn't want Queen Malana of the Wolf Tribe to be family. Ever since they were young girls, they had competed in everything from swords, to cooking, to sewing, and even to men. She was just lucky that Babai chose her, a non-blood related princess compared to Malana, who was a cousin on Babai's father's side three times removed.
Gawain and Galahad were dressed identically except for their shirt colors and weapons. Gawain had on stout black leather boots, thick, hardened, black leather leggings, a black belt with a bronze buckle engraved with a wolf leaping out into battle with a snarl on it's furred face, with an amber jeweled dagger strapped to his left thigh, an amber yellow loose shirt with a steel armored chest plate that completely surrounded his body for peak protection, two steel forearm guards with two globes of amber on the top of his hands, and his twin battle axes strapped to his hips for easy access.
Galahad had on boots that were black and very well-worn but still very much usable in battle, thick, black leather leggings for protection against sword nicks, a black belt with a bronze buckle engraved with a wolf leaping out into battle with a snarl on it's furred face, with a light blue topaz jeweled dagger strapped to his left thigh, a light blue loose shirt with a steel armored chest plate that completely surrounded his body for peak protection, two steel forearm guards that went from his wrist nearly up to his elbows with two globes of light blue topaz over his hands, and his sword strapped to his back with a pack of arrows as well and his bow hanging over his left shoulder.
Then she turned her gaze to the last Knight, Tristran Sharpeye, and First Prince of the Panther Tribe. He was dressed like the others-she noticed, but there were distinct differences. Like the others he had on stout black leather boots, thick, hardened, black leather leggings, a black belt with a buckle engraved with a bronze panther leaping out into battle with it's furred face open in a loud battle cry, with a purple topaz jeweled dagger strapped to his hips, a dark purple nearly black loose shirt with a steel armored chest plate that completely surrounded his body for peak protection, two forearm guards with two globes of purple on top of his hands, and a curved eastern styled sword upon his back along with a bundle of arrows and a bow over his left shoulder.
She was ever so proud of them all. In fact, she approved of her son's choice of women to be his wife. And their children-she absolutely adored them! She couldn't wait to spoil them rotten!
She frowned and cleared her thoughts of such things as Babai asked in a slightly anxious tone, "What's wrong? Why are you readying for battle?"
Lancelot raised and eyebrow and said nothing to his father as he began barking out orders in a commanding but still awe-inspiring tone in Gaelic, "Archers! Front and center! Infantry, second line!!! Lady Knights! Swords out at the ready! Partners, shields up !!"
Galahad winced because Lancelot ignored his father's question. Not that the trainer blamed him. Lancelot didn't approve of answering clearly obvious questions. The First Knight thought that a man should be clever enough to figure out the situation easily enough based on the events at hand, and clearly the newest events had a clear and understandable finish-battle.
He cleared his throat and answered before Babai had time to get mad, "We're under attack."
Hera, who had come up behind her parents to support them, however little she could along with her brother and sister, exclaimed, "There is no one there!!"
The other Knights, who had ignored the young teenager, jumped on their horses in ways that surprised their Sarmatian kinsmen as their knights jumped to do as their First Knight had commanded: Lancelot swung upon his horse, twenty-one year old Vertigo, from the left flank while it ran by him to the frontlines, Tristran ran towards the downward slope of the land and lunged on top of his horse, Silentfoot, as his stallion ran across the grasslands, Galahad swung atop his horse, Maphestas, as it stopped for a split second-not enough time for it to truly stop just look like it did- and then bolt to the front of the battle lines, and Gawain swung up top to his horse's, Azon's, back while it ran past him, like Lancelot did, but from the right instead of the left.
As Ama tried to reach her eldest children, who had joined the small army Lancelot and the others commanded, Emogen, who was dressed in strong, brown leather boots that each held a tiny fist dagger, brown, skin-tight, leather leggings with a leather belt to match embedded with lion heads and two Sais at the small of her barely visible back, a brown leather corset top that held one inch thick steel plates in it for added protection, and her curly black hair pulled up into an Amazonian styled ponytail, cut her off by grabbing her elbow, and said, "We need you to protect the children…please Queen Ama…protect your grandchildren-if not for me, then for Lancelot."
Emogen smiled lightly and added with a few tears in her eyes and warmth and love in her voice, "He loves those three so very much, as do I."
Hera, her sixteen-year-old daughter, smiled warmly at her sister-n-law and said reassuringly as she pulled a short sword from the weapons-wagon, "We will."
As Babai, Tarkan, Zimkar, Garen, Tanais, Pappy, Habren, Melean, Agravine, Ilona, Calbur, and the other able-bodied men and women of the Lion Tribe joined the Knights of the Round Table and the Briton Knights of the Dragon Order, whom the Knights of the Round Table were apart of, Zimkar demanded as he heaved his sword onto his shoulder to rest it in a candid, charming way, "How do you know we're under attack?"
Tanais of the Wolf Tribe was going to answer when Gawain glared down at Lancelot's youngest brother and said simply as he pointed to the beautiful hawk circling in the air, "Siolae, she's never wrong."
Tanais winced as Zimkar opened his mouth in retaliation, but gasped along with the other Sarmatians as an arrow's hissing was heard.
Zimkar, who was dreading his fate, looked up in time to see his doom. He closed his eyes and awaited the pain that would be his guide into the Steppes of Mithras.
Babai saw it too.
Before he could push his youngest son out of the way, a sword, a very familiar sword to Zimkar, appeared in front of his heart flat side proudly challenging the arrow's deadly aim, and a resounding 'GONG' was heard as the arrow slammed into the sword.
Lancelot's amused voice commanded as he pulled his sword away quickly, "You can open your eyes now, Zimkar. You're not hurt."
Zimkar opened his eyes in astonishment. His eyes showed his disbelief as he patted down his body. He was alive and unhurt-not even a scratch!
He turned to his father to thank him for saving his life, but stopped when he saw his father's wide eyes staring out towards the 'supposedly' attacking invaders.
He followed his father's gaze and gulped.
Upon the highest hill, that his brother had appeared on just yesterday was a large group of bandits, who were yelling and waving their weapons in the air above their heads in challenge.
Lancelot didn't waist time; he glanced up, saw Siolae, heard her two cries, and nodded as he yelled out his orders once more in Gaelic, "Archers! Fire!!!!!!!!"
Before Zimkar could yell at him for wasting arrows, over twenty arrows flew through the air and easily slammed into the poorly protected hides of the invading attackers. Zimkar blinked and quickly counted the archers…one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten…ten?!? How'd they shoot twenty arrows at the same time?!?
He gasped in amazement, along with his fellow tribesmen as the ten archers knocked two arrows into their bowstrings and released them in quick order.
As Ama and Hera arrived with the still half-asleep children of Lancelot, Tristran, Gawain, and Galahad they came upon Enys, Alma, Ula, and Emogen setting up a place for the wounded.
As Emogen set up the last grass mat and blanket, she turned and exclaimed, "Enid! Erlina! Cadman!"
The three other Healers spun around and cried out happily, "Briac! Aithne!"-"Briana! Belaya!"-"Dunham! Amage!"
Ama and Hera quickly passed the four babies to their anxious mothers as Enid pulled on Ama's shirtsleeve and asked with oddly solemn eyes, "What's going on grandma?"
Ama sighed and answered back as calmly as she could, "We're being attacked my emerald. We need to find a place to hide."
Before Enid could respond to that, she was swept up into her mother's embrace along with her twin, Erlina, and exclaimed, "Mummy! You're going into battle!!"
Emogen smiled down at her children, placed Cadman in Ama's arms once more as Enys did the same with Aithne, and said as Ula and Alma placed Amage and Belaya in Hera's arms, "Yes, we are. You need to be good for your grandmother, okay?"
Erlina and Enid wrapped their tiny arms around their grandmother's dress and said, "Yes, mummy."
With a nod Emogen turned to Ama, and mounted her horse along with her other friends.
They stared at one another for nearly a minute before Hera exclaimed heatedly, "Oh stop it already! Mother, Lancelot picked Lady Emogen for a reason! Why can't you respect that?! It's not like you were excited to be related to Queen Malana or anything!"
As Emogen smiled at her words and placed her saddle on her horse's, Light of Hope's, back, Ula, who was close by, ordered as she stared into very similar black-brown, fiery eyes, "Get in the wagon. The children have been trained since they were toddlers to remain inside incase we are attacked."
Ama stared in open-mouthed shock at the woman before her. She had met Ula last night along with the others, but it was to dark to see her features clearly, and she was more focused on her son's return and his family to bother with anyone else. Now, she couldn't help but stare.
If she didn't know any better, she'd think she was looking at a younger version of her mother, Dowager Queen Prioska of the Cheetah Tribe…that or her older, fraternal, deceased, twin brother, Vilmos.
Ula didn't appreciate how Ama was looking at her and demanded with crossed arms, "What?!"
Ama shook her head and said as she looked reassuringly at the four young mothers, "We'll protect the children."
She turned to her daughter-n-law, the woman her eldest son had chosen to be his mate for life, and ended with a tiny, proud smile, "After all, my son and daughter shouldn't have to worry about the safety of their children."
Emogen smiled brightly and thankfully at Ama, who nodded in return.
Alma tossed her head over her right shoulder and said shortly because she was focused on the line of bandits before her, "There's the wagon. It had been outfitted with steel plates before we left, so you'll have some more protection if you remain for the most part inside."
As Ama pulled the children inside, and Hera guarded the only entrance, Hera asked, "Why aren't you four up there with the others?"
When the last of the volleys were successfully launched at the invaders, Enys replied as she tightened her grip on her horse with her thighs, "We're Rescue Healers."
Hera, being only sixteen and still undeniably curious, asked again, "What are…"
Alma interrupted, "You'll see soon enough."
When the last arrow hit and ended the life of another charging bandit, Lancelot raised his arm and shouted as he kept a hawk's eye on the rushing attackers, "HOLD!!!!!!!!!"
Babai eyed his son faithfully. He had every confidence in his son's legendary leadership abilities. Lancelot would have made a great leader for their tribe, but he knew Lancelot would not remain in Sarmatia very long. His heart now belongs to Emogen, who belonged to the island of Briton, so Lancelot too belongs to Briton.
As the bandits grew closer and closer, and still his son did not order an attack, he gripped his sword anxiously. This was the hardest part of war, he remembered, the wait. He knew Lancelot had a reason for waiting though-he just needed to be patient and trust that his son had a plan.
Tristran, from atop of Silentfoot, eyed his hawk. When she dive-bombed a pair of bandits in the front charge, Tristran knocked two arrows and let them fly.
Tarkan whistled in admiration when the two bandits fell down dead with an arrow protruding from one of their eyes. He had known, from months of interaction with the Marquis of Albion and Head of Intelligence that Tristran was a marksman, but he hadn't realized that the scout was so skilled.
Calbur, who had left her fiancée alone for the majority of their time in Briton and their travels, slid up to him, placed her hand high upon his protected thigh, and said seductively as she rubbed the inside of his leg close to his male organ, "Excellent shot, my husband."
Tristran glared at her and said steely, "Leave me alone before I remove your hand…permanently."
Ilona, who was on her horse behind her brother, narrowed her eyes. Calbur was up to something again and again it involved her eldest brother. She knew Calbur would be more aggressive in trying to win over Tristran once they were back in Sarmatia because she would have the support of her and Tristran's mother, Tyze, but this was getting ridiculous!
She smiled slightly as she visualized her brother's wife, son, and daughter. Those three had become her light in the darkness of her world. While she loved her son, he was a disappointment, and she blamed it not on him, but on her mother, Tyze, and her husband, Burdin. Her sister-n-law and nephew, like most of the Britons she had encountered during her tenure in Camelot and Albion, didn't mock her for her muteness.
Instead they had accepted her as she was and had attempted to learn her visual language from herself and or the Knights, so they could talk and interact with her. She was going to make sure that Calbur didn't ruin her brother's life-even if it cost her, her own life.
She was pulled from her thoughts of debunking Calbur and the laughter of the Britons, when and arrow hissed by her face and was thankfully blocked by one of the shields the Knights of Briton carried and as Lancelot raised his sword and yelled out in Briton so all of them could understand, the bandits reached the center of the small valley, only about twenty yards away, "CHARGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Sorry, this chapter came out differently than I imagined it would. The battle and Gawain and Galahad's time will be in the next chapter…PROMISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!