Twelve

Galahad's mind was cluttered with thoughts and feelings that overwhelmed him. He flinched when Tristan snapped his head upward to an alerted attention. The scout began riding forward at a quicker pace.

"Tristan?" Galahad said, raising his gaze to follow the scout.

Soon, Galahad was fully aware of what Tristan's intentions were. The outer shell of Hadrian's Wall was under a full-fledged attack ahead.

"Damn!" he heard Lancelot shout. "Those blasted woads were only distracting us!

"Let's ride, knights!" Arthur exclaimed, waving Excalibur high above his head.

Galahad drew his broadsword with his right hand, his fingernails gripping into the leathery handle as he intensely rode. Tristan was all ready drawing back and releasing arrows toward enemy woads from a long distance. On top of the high wall, light Roman infantry fell left and right to their deaths. Their final screams like a dagger in the pit of Galahad's stomach. He clenched tight his jaw, and held a tight grip on his weapon. This was the largest assault by the woads he had ever seen.

"Dragon formation!" Arthur commanded.

Tristan and Galahad moved to the front in the position for the "eyes." Gawain, Lancelot, and Arthur made up the "body" and "wings" of the beast. Dagonet and Bors were the dragon's "tail." This technique was thought up by Arthur to steady his knights into a single driving force.

Woads turned their gaze upon the knights from every direction. Their large dark eyes burned with murderous intent from behind their ghost-like faces. As the knights reached the wall, the first line of woads charged towards them while the second still climbed the wall, desperate to make their way inside.

"Archers!" Lancelot warned.

Tristan and Bors aimed carefully at the woad archers on the wall and made every arrow count. Bors brought down a woad with every arrow, while Tristan brought down three every time. Gawain jolted his lance into a line of four woads, the force knocking them clean off their feet. He wheeled his horse about and trampled them as they lay helpless under the weapon. Gawain replaced his lance with his battle axe, which he swung ferociously at the enemy.

A woad archer released an arrow pointed at Galahad. Tristan took him out just as the arrow impailed Galahad's horse. The horse whinneyed out with pain as it went headlong into the ground. The horse's body flipped upward as Galahad was thrown from its back. He moved before the creature's massive body crashed back to the ground. Galahad struggled to his feet and picked up his sword. Three Earth-clad woads charged towards him, shouting out their individual battle cries. Galahad easily parried one woad's weapon and turned forced him backwards into the sword of another's. The woad let out a long cry before Galahad thrusted his sword through his throat. The third woad was more clever, standing back and awaiting the knight to finish with its kin. The youngest knight's back was to him as he lifted his sword to strike him down. Suddenly, two arrows whizzed through the air and impailed the woad in the back. As the enemy fell to the ground, Galahad looked up to see Tristan behind him.

The scout's rugged face was painted with the enemy's blood. "Watch your back," he said, ducking as Galahad through a dagger over his head. Behind him a woad shrieked and keeled over dead.

"Watch yours as well," Galahad replied with a grin.

Lancelot, noticing the two knights conversing calming in the midsts of a battle, shouted over to them. "If you two lovebirds are quite finished, we could use some help over here!"

He pivited with his twin blades and decapitated two woads. The bodies collided as they fell flat at his feet.

"On the wall!" Arthur shouted in Bors and Tristan's direction.

Tristan and Bors immediately brought down the remaining woads on the wall with their Sarmatian bows. A woad that lay half-dead on the ground sneakily grasped a dead man's dagger and lifted himself enough to thrust it into Tristan's upper back. Tristan chest heaved up towards the heavens as he leaned backwards in utter agony. The woad spit blood at Tristan as he managed to turn and run his sword throught the enemy's throat. Blood bubbled from the muddy man's throat and mouth as he collapsed to the ground dead.

"They're retreating!" Dagonet's voice echoed throughout the plains and rolling hills.

As a long-haired woad swung his sword towards Arthur madly, his throat was met within inches of Excalibur. The woad gulped and groveled on his knees in spite of himself. He dropped his weapon aside and peered up at the glaring Arthur. As the rest of the knights made sure the other woads were clearing out, they gathered around Arthur and the man on his knees.

Galahad went to Tristan's aide, noticing the blade in the scout's back. Tristan tried to reach around to pull it out, but could not. He stood up completely with Galahad's help.

"I cannot reach the knife, so you must pull it out," Tristan told him.

Galahad nodded, wrapping his fingers around the hilt of the dagger. In one swift motion, he yanked the blade from the scout's back and blood began to flow. He applied pressure to the wound and the scout eyes were filled with both pain and relief. Then, the knights watched the scene before them with great intrigue.

"Why has Merlin sent you north of the wall?" Arthur asked the woad.

"I will tell you nothing," the man answered in an ancient Celtic dialogue. Arthur was the only person that could understand the man's words, but the knights understood by the two's actions.

Arthur clipped the skin on the woad's neck. He repeated, "Why has Merlin sent you north of the wall!"

"Spill my blood with Excalibur and make this ground holy!" the woad spat at him.

Lancelot, aggravated, held his blades at the sides of the woad's head. "My commander may is a man of respect, but I, on the other hand, will not be so generous as to kill you quickly. If you do not tell him what we need to know, I will begin slicing off body parts, beginning with your ears."

The enemy glared up at Lancelot defiantly and blew out breaths of hot air. Arthur put the man in a choke-hold and said, "Go back and tell Merlin that we will kill him and every last woad in this world if he does not stay south of Hadrian's Wall."

Then, Arthur released the man, who squirmishly retreated back into the forest. The knights could feel the dark wizard's gaze upon them through the trees, and knew he had heard everything. A few moments later, the feeling of being watched subsided and the forest was once again quiet.

It had been nearly a week since the woads' last attack. Perhaps Merlin was wise to heed Arthur's warning, or maybe, he, too, was afraid. Arthur had briefed the knights on his business he had completed away from Hadrian's Wall. He said that they would stay stationed here for another year, or until the woad threat ended. Rome was seding any army to extinguish that problem, so the knights were basically on babysitting duty for the families at Hadrian's Wall. This decision bothered some more than others, but the knights were relieved to still be alive and together through all of this.

Galahad watched Tristan in Badon Hill from afar. He had followed the scout to the gravesite of fallen warriors and had been waiting there for an hour before he conjured up enough courage to approach the older knight.

Tristan stood in front of Percival's grave, his head bowed and his eyes closed.

"Do you still mourn for him, Tristan?" Galahad asked.

"No," Tristan replied, raising his gaze to meet Galahad's. "I've just come to say good-bye."

Galahad watched curiously as Tristan came face-to-face with him. His brown sugar curls swayed to one side of his face as his bluish-green eyes stared into Tristan's deep gaze. Slowly but surely, the scout's masculine hand rose to caress Galahad's youthful face. The young man let out a sigh of relief and he shuddered slightly at Tristan's touch.

"Someone once told me to stop running from the past and live on," Tristan whispered.

The young knight ran his fingers across Tristan's cheeks and bent inward, kissing him lightly on the lips.

Galahad lifted his chin and smiled contently. He replied, "Here. Now."

End, 'Twelve.'

The End.