Deciding to leave Arluin behind Amaya slipped into the woods alone, hunting on foot as she followed Tristan's hawk. The bird stopped at a tree, waited for Amaya to get closer before gliding to the next and waiting again. Amaya jogged, finding it easier to move in the large skirt than she used to.
Glancing up to the hawk she watched as it suddenly halted and lifted its wings, poised to signal so Amaya stopped and crept slowly forwards. Lowering her stance, Amaya crept towards the bushes then slowly reached out for a stone on the ground, lifting it silently before throwing it. The moment the stone had left her hand she had an arrow pulled back and ready to shoot.
Startled by the loud thud pheasants flew from their hiding place, cawing in fear and Amaya shot down three before they had all flown off but out of nowhere, a fourth arrow shot through the breast of another bird and it dropped heavily to the ground.
Amaya quickly turned her head, knowing that Tristan was close by. "Hawk, help me find them?" Amaya asked and the hawk answered when she clucked her tongue, flying down with sharp eyes before dropping and landing in the bushes, signalling where the first shot had found its mark.
Together they gathered the three birds but when Amaya turned around, her chest collided with Tristan's and she gasped, dropping everything in her hands as she jumped violently, going to shield her face before she realised who it was. "Tristan!" The scout said nothing, understanding why she was jumpy.
"Speak." He commanded and her eyes narrowed slightly but she did not argue with him.
"I know no more than you do. It attacked me first." Amaya said quietly, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. "But it went after you when you came, why did it want to kill you and not me?" Amaya frowned in thought then her eyes widened. "It let me call for help. It wanted you to come." She pointed to him and Tristan blinked. "You were the real target. Why? What have you done?"
"I don't know, do I?" He snapped, growling slightly. "All I know was that someone was screaming and was calling for aid. The next thing I know this shade throws me from my horse." Amaya took a step back and turned away from him, looking ahead as she took deep breaths, trying to think of why someone would use black magic to create a wraith then use it to kill Tristan with Amaya as a witness.
"A life for a life." She murmured and the scout frowned. "That's what it said to me. A life for a life." Suddenly Amaya dropped down to the ground, letting her bow fall to the floor as she gripped her head in her hands and growled. "Why is everything so…?" She jerked her fist and pummelled the ground in anger, wishing she had the answers. "Complicated." She finished with a sigh, leaning back into the broad trunk of the oak tree as she closed her eyes.
She could feel Tristan watching her and although it made her uncomfortable, she ignored the tight not in her belly to try and smooth her mind over. "Maya." He spoke her name softly and she sensed him shift closer then crouch beside her. Turning her head, Amaya looked at him. Tristan sighed, not knowing what to say. He now wished he had even a tiny slither of the skills that Lancelot had with women, then all of this would be so much easier. He did not want to hurt her, so he had kept his distance but he was finding it increasingly difficult to keep away. "Be careful of those men." He jerked his chin back the way they had come. "They only want one thing of you."
"Like you?" She answered back bitterly and instantly she regretted her words. Enough so that she tore herself away from him and walked a few steps away.
"No." He growled after her, grabbing her arm and pulling the woman back around to face him. "Not like me."
"Prove it." She hissed at him, anger sparking in her chest. "I've given you long enough to think, Tristan. How much longer do you expect me to wait?" Finally finished with waiting around for him to make up his mind, Amaya tore her arm free. "I'm done waiting, scout, which means you are now out of time." She folded her arms across her chest and lifted her chin, eyes blazing boldly. "I am not going to let you hurt me anymore." Tristan flinched slightly. He'd been hurting her all this time? Why had she not told him? Then with a pang he realised. Because she knew that admitting it would in turn hurt him. Slowly, he began to realise that he could never be worthy of her, that she deserved so much more than he had to offer.
He did not trust his voice, he felt this throat crack inside and he did not want to seem weak so he turned away from her slowly, fixing his eyes to the ground. "Even now, you cannot look at me. Damn you Tristan, face me like a man!" She commanded him and he growled sharply in warning. "No more hiding, no more silence. I want you to face me and tell me what you seem too afraid to say. Go on. Say it." She grabbed his shoulder and tore him around to face her. "Say it!"
"Leave me be!" He suddenly snapped, his voice raising to a volume Amaya had never heard it reach before. It was not a shout but it was not his usual quiet murmur either. "I want nothing more to do with you, woman." She flinched inwardly but the words only made her face harden further as she took the bluntness as she deserved. "Go, go find yourself a new man to dress you up and exhibit to the world. Find someone who can charm you and speak the right words at the right moments. Just leave me to be alone!" Amaya's face slowly fell until it was placid and void of all emotion. Tristan could not take this, he would rather she cried or better, shouted at him in rage.
This silence was deathly, it frightened him slightly and he wanted it to end. His hawk chirped nervously but neither adult looked to her, still focusing on one another. "So, this is it." She murmured calmly and Tristan struggled to keep himself composed, breathing deeply at the sudden serene calmness that overtook her. "Perhaps I was wrong about you Tristan but you have definitely taught me one thing. A lesson I shall value for the rest of my life." His eyes dropped but she clucked her tongue and flicked his chin, surprising him as she mocked his habit of him doing the same thing to her. "You have taught me that men cannot be trusted with my heart. All of you, whenever I have tried, only seem to want to break it. Do I seem that fragile to you? Did you really think that I was so weak as to let you crush me?" Tristan said nothing but saw a lifetime of pain and heartache flash through her eyes, unveiled and freely showing. "Well, no more. I obviously have no sense in these matters, my head is only good for two things. Work and battle." Turning around Amaya swiped her kills and her bow from the ground, walking away but stopped and turned her head back to Tristan.
"Thank you for the time you did give me, Tristan." She told him, raising her head proudly but commanded herself to be civil. "I hope one day we can put all that happened behind us and we can one day entertain the notion of being simple friends." With that, she was gone.
Gone. He had lost her. Lost her because he was not good enough. How could he have dragged her into this in the first place? Why had he let himself run away from the strict rules he had set himself all those years ago.
Yet the way she had treated him, with maturity and respect, threatened to break Tristan. No woman had ever reacted like that before. She did not even slap him. Touching his face gingerly Tristan remembered all the times she had caressed his features and suddenly yearned for her touch once more.
Amaya fought with herself to remain calm. She was better than this, she would not break. It was high time she learned her lesson. She should have learned the first time, she should have known the second and now finally, she should have guessed the third. Amaya continued her walk, taking deep breaths and had not gone far when she heard voices. One she did not know but the other was Arthur's.
"Stay your blade, this is an unfair challenge and you shall reap no honour from it." Arthur was saying so Amaya drew back an arrow and slipped forwards, leaving her game in the open knot of a tree to hide in a cluster of bushes. "When you are so preparedly dressed and I only wear my riding and hunting attire." Arthur did not have his sword with him, only a bow which he had used to shoot a single arrow into a stag which lay at his feet, his quiver now empty. Amaya remained hidden, not wanting to give her position away as if Arthur believed her to be in danger, he would put himself within the path to protect her no doubt and she needed a clear shot, which she had. "What is it you want, Sir Gromer?"
"Not land or gold, I have plenty apiece if that is what you are thinking." The brutish man declared with a low growl and Amaya felt like she should recognise the man. He had a shaved head and a prominent brow that cast a deep shadow over his wolfish eyes. "You banished me from your table when I committed no crime, now I demand justice!" He paused then mock snarled, baring his long teeth like a wild animal. "But I shall grant myself a chance to win back my honour that you stole from me. Answer me this riddle, which I shall give you a week to think over but you must swear to me that you will return to me as you are, with none of your knights for you to cower behind. If by this time you cannot answer my riddle, no man may object to my taking your life and my honour back with it. However, should you answer the riddle correctly, then I shall spare your life."
Arthur lifted his head, frowning slightly before nodding. "I swear on my honour that I shall be back here in one week, at this very hour to answer your riddle. I shall be alone and dressed as I am."
"Good." Sir Gromer glanced around the small cluster of trees, frowning slightly before he broke out into a sickening grin. "Then here is your riddle. What is it that women desire, above all else?" Arthur blinked in surprise. He had expected the riddle to be more complex however he did not question the ex-knight as he growled then slipped through the trees. The moment he was gone, Amaya appeared.
"Maya!" Arthur blinked in surprise. "How long where you there?"
"Long enough. I guessed you would not want me to simply lay waste to him." Amaya said to him. "So I did not move unless he had attacked, then I would have revealed myself."
"Once again Amaya, I am in your debt. However I am now in need of your assistance. What is the answer? I have not the faintest clue." Amaya smiled.
"Nor I but do not despair, there are plenty of women in the court and city to ask. We shall gather their answers and see which ones are the most likely." Arthur relaxed a little, comforted that he had his God sent angel at his side to soothe his mind.
"But what would you have answered?" Amaya paused, thinking for a moment.
"I am not sure. I am content with all I have, what more could I possibly want? I'm afraid your answer does not lie with me, Arthur." She sighed though secretly, she knew what she herself desired. She wanted to be loved, unquestioningly, boundlessly for the woman she was and not seen as just a maid to lay, break then cast aside. However, it may not be the answer to the riddle as not every woman would feel the same.
Placing her hand on Arthur's shoulder she nodded to his horn. "We had best explain your new situation to the others." Arthur sighed then blew sharply on his horn, bringing everyone to him so that they could puzzle over the riddle together.