Ealdor
June, 504 AD
[warnings: death, panic attack]
Two nights later, the people of Ealdor once again gathered inside the town hall at Arthur's request. However, he was taking too long to get there and the villagers were starting to get worked up – some even claimed that he had abandoned us! So I had an idea (albeit a stupid one) that would buy the Prince some time…
With a nervous sigh, I got up on a table that stood inside the room and I clapped once to get everyone's attention before getting on with my circus, "Sons of Ealdor, I am Astraea Wallace!"
Merlin's expression instantly turned concerned, while Hunith, Gwen and Morgana seemed very confused.
I smirked to myself and continued to paraphrase one of my favourite movies, "I've heard Kanen kills men by the hundreds, and if he were here he'd consume the Ealdor…ians with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse." I didn't miss the puzzled looks I got from basically everyone, but I didn't let that deter me. "I am Astraea Wallace, and I see a whole army of my adoptive countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What would you do with that freedom? Will you fight?"
"That is why we are here..." a dark-skinned man called out.
I grinned and kept talking, "Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you'll live, at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now… would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they will never take..."
I watched as the people shared confused glances when I paused for dramatic effect.
"Our freedom!" I exclaimed while raising my fist in the air just as Arthur came into the room. No else seemed to notice him, though, for the room erupted in cheers and claps, making me burst out laughing in disbelief.
The Prince weaved through the enthusiastic villagers as he made his way towards me, stopping in front of the table atop which I stood. "What did you do?" he asked, looking up at me with an amused grin.
"You were taking too long and they were getting antsy, so I improvised," I replied with a nonchalant shrug. Arthur chuckled and chivalrously helped me to get off the table before moving to the centre of the room, calling for the people's attention once again.
"Tomorrow morning, the women and children should gather what belongings they can carry and go to the woods," he began in his authoritative voice.
"We are not going anywhere!" Gwen opposed him. I knew that she and Morgana were set on allowing the women to fight, too, so I moved to stand next to Arthur as I came up with a proposal.
"How 'bout this – women who do not have children under the age of, let's say, fifteen, can stay and fight if they wish to. The women who do have young children… y'know, if things go wrong, you can't leave them without a father and a mother."
A chill ran down my spine at the last bit.
I heard a bunch of words of agreement from the females around the room, and Gwen and Morgana seemed fairly pleased with the idea as well. I grinned to myself and glanced up at Arthur, finding that he was already looking at me with an indecipherable expression. He smiled a little when our eyes connected before turning to address the crowd.
"This is your home. If you want to fight to defend it, that is your choice. I would be honoured to stand alongside you," he said while nodding at a couple of women around the room. "Kanen attacks tomorrow. Kanen is brutal. He fights only to kill, which is why he will never defeat us," he paused to gaze around again. "Look around. In this circle, we are all equals. You are not fighting because someone is ordering you to, you are fighting for so much more than that. You fight for your homes. You fight for your family. You fight for your friends. You fight for the right to grow crops in peace."
Arthur paused again and he looked down at me for a second. I gave him a soft, hopefully encouraging, nudge; thinking that he almost has Steve Rogers's ability to give great speeches. Almost. He returned the gesture and turned back to the people.
"And if you fall, you fall fighting for the noblest of causes – fighting for your very right to survive! And when you are old and grey, you will look back on this day, and you will know you earned the right to live every day in between! So you fight! For your family! For your friends! For Ealdor!"
Everyone started cheering again, making the Prince sigh in contentment.
"Chills. Literal chills," I quoted Jake Peralta as a form of praise. Arthur frowned down at me. "It was a good speech!" I told him truthfully, making him smile widely. "Though nothing beats the one from Braveheart," I added teasingly and gave a wink.
"I do not know what that means, but thank you," he replied as he tilted his head. "I think."
"You're welcome," I responded with a grin and turned back to look at the hyped-up people, tensing up a little when he threw an arm over my shoulders and drew me closer to his side.
"Where are you heading off to so early, dear?" Hunith wondered as I went to exit the house. I guess she knows, by now, that I'm not a morning person – but it's not that early. Maybe 9:00?
I halted at the threshold and turned to her as I replied, "I'm just gonna take Dallas out for some exercise. The poor guy's been sitting in the paddock for almost a week."
"Could you take this to Prince Arthur?" she asked as she grabbed a bowl of oatmeal from the kitchen counter.
I sighed, knowing that he had continued to turn up his nose at the food that she's been kindly preparing for all of us. I can tell that he tries to be discreet about it, but everyone has noticed by now.
"Yeah, of course. Just lemme tack up Dal and I'll get it," I responded with a small smile and she nodded.
I hurried to tack up my horse and mounted him before Hunith handed me the bowl. I made a game out of trying to balance it as I gradually sped up the Thoroughbred, trying not to let any of it spill. We trotted around the village as I searched for the Prince, finally noticing him sitting under a tree that stood atop a small hill – presumably standing watch. So I asked Dallas to canter and we ran up to him.
"Hey, Artie," I greeted as I slowed down my horse and moved him close to the Prince so that I could hand him the bowl without having to dismount. "Hunith sent ya' some food."
He stood up and reached for it. A shiver went up my spine as our fingers brushed – it's simply a foreign sensation, nothing more. "Thank you… I think," he mumbled, not even trying to hide his distaste as he looked down at the food with a scrunched up nose.
My smile faded and I narrowed my eyes at him. "Okay, dude, I've had it up to here," I stretched my arm as far up as I could, "with you!"
Arthur seemed startled by my sudden change of humour.
"Y'know very well that Ealdor's struggling to stay alive 'cause that tyrannous crap-face keeps takin' their food!" I continued while flailing my arms around for emphasis. "Still, Hunith has been kind enough to feed an entitled jerk of a Prince the way she feeds her own son! So please, show 'er some gratitude n' stop being an ass-butt!"
His mouth fell agape and he stared at me for a couple of moments before he let out a sigh and looked down. "You are right, I am sorry," he said, making me raise my eyebrows in surprise. "I will apologise to Hunith when I see her again."
"Good," I nodded and let myself smile again, feeling satisfied by his reply.
I gathered Dallas's discarded neck-rope in my hands, getting ready to ride away, when Arthur stopped me by speaking again, "Thank you."
I frowned and tilted my head, "Oh, sure. Anytime. I love yelling at people."
"No, not that," he let out a soft chuckle. "Thank you for treating me like an equal."
"Oh…" I didn't know how to reply. I mean, I like to think that I treat all people as equals. The custom comes with having grown up in twenty-first century America, y'know?
"Everyone is always too afraid to point out these things, scared that I may sack them or worse," Arthur continued, "and I need to be reminded of them, sometimes."
"Well, I'm happy to be that person," I finally responded properly, shrugging a little as I offered a small grin.
I held his gaze for a few more seconds before the buzzing in my stomach became too much to handle and I finally led Dallas away.
"Are you scared?" Merlin asked me while we were dealing with some preparations for the battle in the form of securing the perimeter of his house with long, sharp stakes.
"Well, yeah. Who wouldn't be?" I replied with a nonchalant shrug, trying not to show too much emotion. In reality, I was terrified out of my mind. Not so much for myself, but for all the people involved – especially Merlin, his mom, Arthur, and the girls. And then there's also Dallas… I couldn't live with myself if something happened to him. The mere thought of it made me want to die. But I wasn't about to tuck my tail and run. Ealdor has come so far in the past few days and I was determined to help defeat Kanen or go down swinging. So I put on a brave face and gave my best friend a little smile as I returned the question, "Are you?"
"Yes… but I always have that last resort," he replied as he raised his eyebrows suggestively.
I huffed before responding in a mumble, "I guess you do, huh Doctor Strange? Lucky you."
He stopped working on the hole he was digging on the ground and stepped closer to me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Nothing will happen to you or Dallas if I have anything to say about it," he promised, seemingly reading my mind.
"Thanks, Merls," I responded with a small grin. "And if anything does happen… I hope you know that you're the best friend I've ever had."
Merlin smiled and I froze for a moment when he pulled me in for a hug, then I allowed myself to relax and returned the gesture. "You are one of the greatest people I have ever known, Astra," he stated softly. "Beneath all your craziness."
My eyes widened in shock. I'm not great! I'm tolerable at best. I mean, I can barely stand myself on a good day! "Yikes, maybe you should broaden your social circle," I noted.
He scoffed and gave me a gentle squeeze before releasing me.
My hands trembled slightly as I struggled to pull up the zipper on my riding boot. We'd gotten word not two minutes ago that Kanen was on his way to Ealdor, so everyone had rushed to make their final preparations for the battle. To say I was nervous would be an understatement, if my uneven breathing and accelerated heart-rate were anything to go by.
I must point out that I should be finishing my first year of college – not fighting a medieval tyrant!
"Astraea," my body jolted when Arthur suddenly appeared inside 'my' room.
I glanced at him for a moment before returning my attention to my other boot. "Yeah?" I asked.
My eyes travelled towards the open window for a moment as the terrifying thought of a grenade being abruptly thrown inside crossed my mind… then I thought that that was a senseless idea because grenades don't exist yet. I think I've watched one too many action movies…
"I brought you some pieces of armour," Arthur announced. I glanced at him once more and raised my eyebrows when I noticed the metal pieces in his arms.
"Oh, cool!" I exclaimed as a grin formed on my lips, suddenly feeling excited to dress up like a knight. The Prince frowned at me. "I mean, thank you, that's very thoughtful," I changed my answer while giving him a little smile.
He snorted and placed the items on a table. I grabbed the chest… torso… plate… whatever thingy, flipping it around as I analysed it while trying to figure out how it works. Arthur let out a chuckle and gently took it from me as amusement danced in his eyes, "Allow me to help you."
Letting out a shaky sigh, I squared up and tried to remain as still as possible as he put the chest thingy over my head and gently lowered it onto my shoulders. I rolled them backwards a little at noticing the slight heaviness, which didn't help my lung constriction, but I didn't protest as I kept my eyes on the Prince's face. His brow was furrowed in concentration and his bottom lip was slightly curved outwards as he moved to secure some leather buckles above my ribs. By the cautious way in which his hands moved, I could tell that he was being mindful not to get to second base with me, which I thought was very sweet of him.
I felt my face start to warm up the more I watched him and I averted my gaze towards the wall, suddenly finding much interest in a cute green bug that stood on it, contrasting with the grey colour of the stone.
"Is that all right, or is it too tight?" Arthur asked softly once he was done fastening the chest-plate, or whatever it's called.
I tilted my head a little as I rolled my shoulders again, then I took in a few deep breaths, and grinned when I found that I had no difficulty with either. "It's perfect," I stated. He gave me a small grin before moving to grab some other armour parts from the table – arm thingies, I soon realised.
Arthur gently grabbed my right arm and stretched it out in front of me. "Hold it there," he whispered as he carefully wrapped the armour thing around it. My breath hitched when he gently pressed my arm against his chest as he did up the clasps and I had to remind myself to breathe when my head began to hurt a little from the lack of oxygen.
"Is this the first time you've done this for someone?" I asked, knowing that Merlin is always the one to get him into his armour.
He glanced at me and grinned sheepishly as he replied, "Yes, I believe so."
I returned the smile almost instinctively, "Well, thanks."
"Of course."
Once he was done, he took a step back – making me instantly miss the proximity, which I scolded my brain for – and he eyed me up and down a couple of times, obviously to make sure that everything looked all right, but that fact didn't stop my insides from melting like cheap wax under his intense stare. He gave a nod of approval before he handed me the final piece: a knightly helmet.
I tried the thing on, instantly finding that it's super heavy and uncomfortable. Plus, the metallic smell sucks!
"Artie, I can't see," I noted as I moved around, trying to find an angle for my head that would allow me to look through the narrow eye slits. Suddenly, something hard crashed against my abdomen and I groaned in pain.
"Astra!" Arthur gasped and he quickly moved to my side, taking off my helmet while I began to laugh. "Are you all right?!" he asked with widened eyes.
"Yeah," I waved him off and reached for my normal riding helmet. "I think I'll just stick with this one."
"Arthur, they have crossed the river!" Morgana announced as she suddenly appeared at the doorway.
"Oh shirt," I muttered as the momentary light-hearted atmosphere faded, leaving me terrified for my life once again.
The Prince nodded to the Lady and unsheathed his sword, ready to head out as she rushed off. Only, he stopped at the doorway and turned back to look at me. I gulped, thinking that, if things go wrong, this could be the last time I ever see him.
"Please, be careful," he said softly.
"Y-yeah. You, too," I responded.
He gave me a look I couldn't decipher a second before he ran out of the room. My heart dropped as I watched him go, and I mentally prayed for his safety. And everyone else's, of course.
Gathering myself, I hopped out the window and ran to get Dallas.
My job would be to circle to the back of Kanen's army and pick them off from behind with my bow. My Thoroughbred's superior speed means that I would be able to get away quickly if they happened to spot me; and my decent aim means that I can fight from a distance without having to engage in hand-to-hand combat like the rest of my friends.
We blasted off into the woods as soon as I was settled on my saddle, keeping our distance from the traced path that the enemy likely marched along, and we galloped towards the opposite direction I knew them to be heading in until I was sure that the whole army was ahead of me.
I stalked them from a distance, waiting for the leaders to get far enough ahead to where it wouldn't make sense for them to turn around just to fight a lone crazy girl on horseback if they noticed my advances.
I looked down at my left hand, which was tightly gripping the bow I had stolen from the armoury all those days ago, my knuckles turning white from the strain. At first, I had felt powerful with it in my possession, thinking that I looked like Katniss Everdeen or, even better, like Hawkeye. Now, though, I just wanted to fling it away, run back to the twenty-first century, and hide in my room. But I resolved to push down my flight instinct and took a deep breath.
I ran my fingers through my horse's mane in an attempt to calm my racing heart as I moved him closer to a man who had fallen some ways behind Kanen's army. Time to start the show, I guess.
I stood up on my stirrups as I drew the bow, looking between the trees at the trailing man. He wasn't wearing a helmet, which allowed me to see his face. He was on the younger side, perhaps some twenty-five-years-old. He had shoulder-length black hair and a trimmed beard. A scar ran down the side of his face, indicating his experience in battle. His horse was hesitating to move forwards, jolting at every foreign sound in the forest and nickering nervously.
My left arm shook as I aimed the arrow at the unsuspecting man's head, the involuntary movement impeding me from getting a good line of sight. The shot has to be perfect, or else he could scream and alert his buddies of my presence. I have to kill him on the first try.
My eyes widened as I froze, and I lowered my weapon. Am I really about to kill a man?! I mean, he's probably far from innocent if he's riding with Kanen – though he could just be a guy who got stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time… much like myself. He probably has a family – parents, siblings… maybe even a wife and children… People who are waiting for him back home while praying for his well-being…
I felt my breathing quickening as images from the night of the accident flashed through my mind. I don't want to take away someone's father… Or brother… Or son. What would that make me? A monster, surely.
Then the images of the car crash faded, getting replaced by pictures of a dead Merlin and a mortally wounded Arthur. This isn't killing in cold blood, this is self defence… right? Captain America killed hundreds of Nazis and it didn't make him a monster, it made him a hero! He was saving countless people from heartless tyrants. Kanen is just that… right? If I do nothing… the people of Ealdor are counting on me to do my part, right?
I closed my eyes and took another deep breath, then I quickly aimed the bow again and released the arrow. I refuse to let anyone back in Ealdor get hurt if I can help it. They have suffered enough.
The man fell off his horse with the arrow sticking out of his head, and from then on, everything was automatic. One by one, more men began to come down, as arrows flew past the trees with hushed swooshes, bringing soldiers down upon impact. Reality became a blur as my eyes drifted from target to target, my mind blank as I kept shooting while my legs and body instinctively guided Dallas through the woods. It wasn't until I ran out of arrows that I was pulled back to my senses.
I looked around at the dead men on the ground as my heart raced at the speed of a rocket and my breathing became shallow once again. Blood pooled around their heads, oozing from the holes that the arrows had made. Their eyes were open and soulless. Glazed over and empty. I gulped as I looked down at my hands. No red on them, and still, covered in blood.
My job is done… The rest is up to the people back in Ealdor…
I slid off Dallas and dropped to sit on the ground, gasping as it became harder and harder to draw in oxygen. I hugged my knees to my chest as the all-too-familiar sensation of a panic attack flooded my senses entirely.