(tristan/galahad) And nothing is right..

[Pandra]

Pandra ran up to the gates of Hadrian's Wall. She was bleeding but she didn't care about that at the moment. She looked at the guards not wanting to move from the spot to which she went to her knees on. One of the guards helped her to move against the wall itself. Find Tristan and get me some rags. It doesn't matter what type I don't care just need to stop the bleeding." One guard went off to find Tristan while another kept an eye on her and the other found one to grab her cloth to stop the bleeding. She ripped a piece of her dress to wrap her hand in. It was what she got for taking out an arrow out of her leg which was still bleeding.

The guard finally came back out with some cloth and she pressed that to her leg and used another cloth to tie up the wound. She would have asked for Arthur but she trusted Tristan more to help her in in order to talk to Arthur. She was lucky that she got out of the village that had just been massacred by a Saxon attack. She'd been at the village by order of Arthur to help them bury a few of their dead and heal others. However by the time she got there she had to run from them. She was on her run towards the wall and she was shot with an arrow or rather two into her leg which made her fall and her hand hit something sharp which was why it was bleeding. She'd pulled out the arrows from her leg a few trees away from the wall and realized that it was probably a bad idea.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm her body down so that she could put the pain in her left leg in the back of her mind. The guard that had been watching her knelt down beside her. "What happened to you? Where do you come from Pandra?" Pandra looked at the guard half surprised that he knew her name. Then again she could have told him her name awhile back or just be seeing her around the King and Queen and Helena he knew who she was. "I was in a village about three days walk from her. I only got half way to the village before having to turn around and come back. The Saxons I'm sure have massacred that village." She didn't feel like telling the guard that she had seen dead bodies on the road there which was why she had turned around. She closed her eyes and tired to put the pain in the back of her mind so she didn't know if Tristan had arrived or not yet.

She knew the guards were looking at the place from whence she came to make sure that no one had followed her. "Don't worry they did not follow. I led them off the trail." Pandra knew how to do that. She never wanted to be caught by Saxon hands and she had had Danick teach her how to cover her tracks as he knew how. There was that name again. Why in these situations did she think of both Danick and Tristan. Of course her brain went to other men as well but Danick and Tristan were the ones that stood out.

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[Tristan]

He had spent his morning as he always had, rising early to begin his routine which had been the same since the aftermath of Badon Hill. His soft footfalls echoed in the wide alley. The usual cacophony of sound which accompanied this particular pathway was still asleep, as was most of Hadrian. There was a chill wind on the air and it bit through Tristan’s tunic, though if it irked him he showed it not. His left handle slipped to the hilt of his dao when frantic, noisy hooves resonated loudly. There was of course to be riders and those awake at this hour but not moving at such a reckless pace. He halted, and moved slightly off to the side of the road to see what sought to ride down upon him. He did not have to wait long.

He knew immediately from the man’s garb and armor that he was a guard upon the wall and from the look upon his face, there was obviously trouble. “Sir Tristan! Praise God I have found you. Pandra calls for you; she has been wounded by a Saxon arrow. To the wall!” The man’s horse turned, rearing slightly as he cast his arm in the direction of Hadrian’s Wall. There was little of an emotional reaction in Tristan, besides a quick flash of his eyes as he stepped towards the guard and his steed. “Your horse; I require it.” His words were calm, yet stern. The guard acquiesced and dismounted quickly, holding the reins for the Sarmatian.

Tristan mounted the steed in a manner so graceful that many could never hope to do the same. Seizing the reins, the horse pitched sideways turning north. The knight turned his head back at the guard, issuing another command. “You will bring a poultice of nettles and boiling wine to the wall as fast as you can.” The guard nodded, pulling his arm across his chest in a typical salute though Tristan never saw it. He had already urged the horse forward and now it was he who was making quite a racket as he navigated the streets, racing towards the wall.

Urging the mount at a full gallop the duration of the ride, Hadrian’s wall soon appeared to him and grew upwards as he approached. The massive doors were already swung open and he navigated the beast through them easily. He pulled up on the reins, bringing the horse to rather impressive stop as he gazed down the length of the wall. Tristan did not stare long, as Pandra lie maimed against the wall rather close to the entrance. Beside her a guard knelt, though it appeared she was tending to her own wounds. He spurred the horse forwards into a light trot, stopping and dismounting when only a few yards away from them.

It was not long before he too was knelt beside Pandra. Tristan said nothing, but only scanned her face to see how much distress she was in. Convinced she would not pass out immediately, he inspected her leg wounds by gingerly lifting up the cloth she used to bind them shut. Her removal of the arrows had increased the size of the wounds, and therefore the amount of tissue damage. Turning to the other guard, he spoke. “Find the other guard. He is bringing what I need to staunch this wound.” Never once was there a change in his voice, it was devoid of emotion; though this did not mean that Tristan was. The guard departed at once, and finally his eyes shifted back to Pandra’s. “You’ll live.” There was the faintest hint of a smirk upon his face though it disappeared so quickly that it seemed almost imagined. “Now tell me, who did this?”

[Galahad]

Galahad both hated and loved the last watch of the night. The darkness was intense so black and deep that one could loose themselves in the void but then finally when it felt like you could bare no more dawn came. Slowly at first, one tiny ray followed by another and another like a trickle of water giving way to a scream. The golden rays of the morning sun burst over the horizon and cast away the black of night once more giving light and life to the world. Galahad was exhausted and was glad that his watch was finally over. He knew it still important to patrol along the wall but it was a task he never enjoyed for his bed was far more inviting. In fact it was his bed he was thinking about when a guard ran past him as though the man had seen a ghost.

“What is it?!” Galahad called as he reached out and grabbed the soldiers arm almost spinning him around.

“Sir it’s Pandra, come back from the villages, she’s injured, I must get bandages for her wounds…” The soldier replied with deep breaths.

Pandra? Galahad found himself nodding as the soldier turned and hurried back along the wall to gather the supplies he had been ordered to collect. Pandra? The last time Galahad had spoken to the young woman was several days ago when they argued about her going out to a village which had recently been attacked by the Saxons. Galahad did not want her to go, but Pandra being Pandra she insisted – the dead needed her after all. The dead needed her and now she was injured? Panic rising in his chest Galahad bolted off in the direction that the soldier had come.

A moment later he saw her sitting on the ground Tristan kneeling by her. Oh Gods don’t let her be dead! Galahad prayed to himself. Since meeting Galahad found himself spending more and more time with the young woman whose strength always amazed him. She reminded him so much of his own younger sisters back home in Sarmatia and somewhere along the way he and Pandra had formed a sort of brother/sister bond.

“What in the name of the Gods happened?!” Galahad shouted as he ran up and practically fell to his knees beside Tristan. Blue eyes looked from Pandra to Tristan instantly confused. He had seen Tristan yesterday so knew he had not gone out to the village with Pandra…. Galahad’s eyes turned back to look at his adopted sister instantly spotting the crimson blood on her leg and the cloth used to press against her wound.

“Tristan do something!” Galahad breathed looking back up at the scout. Tristan fixed everything and he had to fix Pandra also!

[Pandra]

Pandra was biting her bottom lip so hard that she could taste blood. The pain in her hand was gone. The pain in her leg however was staring to become completely unbearable even for all her training to calm herself. She could pull arrows out of another but pulling out those that had been inside her was a completely different story and she now knew completely why it was best to have another do such a thing. She took a deep breath and instantly opened her eyes when she heard Tristan's voice. People were always confused with how Tristan seemed to show no emotion what so ever. Even his voice did not change as he spoke with the guard that had been kneeling beside her. Her mind was more at ease now that he was there and she knew that she'd be safe. Her mind moved to Danick who's memory was what kept her running as far as she did with the arrows in her leg. She was sure that had done just a little more damage than pulling them out had down.

She saw a smirk come from Tristan as he said she'd live. It was there in a flash and gone just as quickly. If one did not know the Knight as she felt she knew Tristan one would only think they imagined it. There was a slight change in the tone of his voice too. One that he might not ever think was there. He asked her what had happened and before she could answer Galahad was on the scene. Pandra almost looked away from Galahad ashamed of what had transpired between them before she had left for the village. They had argued and she had not really meant to argue with him. Her duties as a Druid and servant to the King came above everything. Through the times they had been spending together he'd become a big brother to her. She cherished him for that but felt ashamed that she had not headed his warnings about it. Pandra however was brought sharply back to the present and looking them both straight in the eyes. Tristan still had her leg unwrapped and she could feel the pain worse at the moment. She took another deep breath and knew she was going to be launching into a rather long story that she would make sure due to pain and the fact that she could only take so much more of it.

Pandra didn't like to see Galahad panicked and she knew that Tristan wanted to know what was going on too. She was glad however for the time she'd spent with the Saxons some time ago. It at least gave her a higher tolerance to pain. If she had been like most ladies of Hadrian she's have passed out already. She thanks the Gods she was still coherent enough to understand what the men next to her wanted to know. She took another deep breath pushing the pain to the back of her head. "Saxons did this..." That was the simplest way to answer Tristan's question but Galahad has asked for the story and she was willing to give it to the two of them in complete detail. She loved them both dearly and viewed them both as family she never had. Tristan being a father figure and slightly more to her. She was safe in the arms of Galahad and Tristan so she had not fear in launching into her story.

"Galahad as you know I was sent to a village that needed my assistance in healing and death ceremonies for their fallen. I was only had about two days left before I reached the village if I did not press on all day and night to get there. However upon the road there was weaponry and then scatterings of dead bodies. I...I'd never been that close to a battle since Badon Hill. One of body there was almost nothing left intact to the torso but it was all there." She shuddered at the thought and it was barely visible to both men. "I pressed a little farther onward and saw smoke. I hadn't seen it before and I suppose it was because I was too worried about stepping on the dead bodies and I...I was trying to figure out how to bury them and all do things properly." She was sure that most people would not think of business like that when they came upon such slaughter. However true to being a Druidess of Death it was what she thought about. The dead deserved proper burials. However she could not think to much on that. "I stopped when I saw then smoke. Then I saw them. Saxon raiders. I started to find a quick route out of there. One of their scouts spotted me and I made a run for it. I got to far away from them for them to engage me in hand to hand combat anything. However the scout was a bows man and her shot and arrow into my leg which brought me to the ground. I got up again and another arrow went into my leg farther down." She pointed to her thigh which was what Tristan had been looking at and then still on her thigh just above her knee she still held a cloth which now was stained in blood.

"I made it back here I'm not even sure how. I can only say by the grace of the Gods. I pulled the arrows out over there." She pointed down the wall a bit to a group of trees. "The Saxons didn't follow me but they massacred a village only within a three to four day walk from the wall Tristan...Galahad...They are getting close and we have to tell Arthur. We have to..." She closed her eyes as the pain surged through her leg again. She want to move it but she knew that wouldn't be exactly smart. She took another deep breath. Pandra didn't cry but at the moment her eyes were getting cloudy. Both Galahad and Tristan would know that she was one at her break point for pain and two wouldn't let the tears that were clouding her eyes fall.

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[Tristan]

He turned, thinking that the first guard he had met had finally come with what he had needed, the poultice and boiling wine, though instead it was Galahad who already seemed to be more panicked than Pandra was about her own wounds. Overreaction seemed to be the young knight’s forte and Tristan was more than used to dealing with him when these outbursts occurred. Before he could explain the situation in usual sober and somewhat dry speech, Galahad was already urging him on to fix the problem, and quite loudly.

He said nothing, but turned and looked over Galahad’s shoulder for the guard he had dispatched prior to his arrival. There was nothing, so the wait continued. In the meanwhile Pandra spoke up and began to tell her tale. Tristan listened, though not as intently as Galahad. He deciphered the important items from her story. Saxons, massacre. By the time she was through it was obvious that her pain threshold was nearly reached.

In a rare act of compassion, Tristan gently touched the side of her face. “Hey, hey. None of that.” His tone was serene, and he withdrew his hand in another moment. Before he could do anything else, the guard finally arrived. He clutched fresh cloth thick with the poultice he required on one side and carried a small pot of wine which had just been brought to a boil. If Pandra thought she was in a bit of pain now, she would enter an entirely different level when that wine touched her leg wounds. It was necessary though, to purge the flesh of infection before applying the poultice to bind the wound and stop her bleeding.

Tristan turned to Galahad, his steady eyes locking with his. “Get me something for her to bite down, be quick about it.” The sooner he administered the treatment, the quicker Pandra would be done with the pain and on her road to recovery. He imagined Galahad would comply and hopefully snap out of his distressed mindset. As he did that, he had the guard deposit the medicinal items beside them. Satisfied he nodded in approval to the guard before issuing another set of commands. “Go and tell the stable master my horse needs readied immediately.” He had plans to backtrack Pandra’s trail alone after she had treated and moved to safety. It was true Arthur would need to be informed of this, though greater information should be acquired before making a formal report. His gaze eventually turned back to Pandra’s. “This will hurt.”

[Galahad]

Galahad cursed in Sarmatian under his breath, glad that Pandra could not understand him for he said something rather disgusting. Tristan was probably more than used to Galahad’s curses by now, after all he had learnt half of them from Bors! Pandra’s story made the curly haired Knight sick to his stomach. He knew that he should have gone with Pandra, he just KNEW it! He had told her that he did not want her to go as it might be unsafe and he was right. Gods be damned if only he had gone then Pandra would not be laying here with an arrow wound to her leg bleeding heavily.

“You don’t have to do anything but lay still and let Tristan fix you” Galahad growled, reaching out and placing a hand upon Pandra’s shoulder. Despite his growl there was no anger in his words and his touch upon the young woman’s shoulder was gentle and as reassuring as possible. Truth be told Galahad was more worried than angry. Pandra had become like a sister to him and he felt guilty and frustrated that right now he could do nothing to help her.

As Tristan reached out and gently touched Pandra’s cheek Galahad turned and looked at the scout. It was only a brief gesture but one that did not go unnoticed by the younger Knight. He had known Tristan most of his life and knew that it was very rare to see such tenderness shown to any human. Tristan was… he was just Tristan! Even after nineteen years he was still a mystery to the brunette!

Galahad nodded at Tristan’s orders and with a quick glance at Pandra the Knight jumped to his feet. Turning around he hurried back along the wall, eyes darting for anything that he could use for Pandra to bite down on. As he ran his eyes fell on a pile of wood to be used for a signal fire. Skidding to a halt Galahad bent down and picked up a small piece of wood which would be perfect for Pandra to clench between her teeth. Satisfied he stood up and ran back to Pandra and Tristan.

“Will this do?” Galahad asked as he held out the small piece of wood for Tristan.

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[Pandra]

Pandra let out a low groan of pain. It was soft and almost inaudible. She consentrated on watching Tristan and Galahad. Galahad was panicking but because Tristan was there he seemed to be calming down just a little bit. She hadn't meant to make either of them panic or anything like that. She'd just been doing her job that was it. She'd never imagined her job would get her that close to Saxons again. Her mind has been racing the moment she saw thing. She knew she had to run because well she needed to save her own skin. Her fear of being captured by them took over. Then an image of Danick entered her head and that was all she needed to keep running regardless of the pain she had felt coming from her leg with the arrows in there. She could feel them even slightly working there way into making the wound worse. Of course she could take that no more and pulled them out when she knew she was close to safety and after she had covered what tracks of blood she could cover and throw off the Saxons as well.

Tristan held the reactions she thought he would when she launched into her story. He got the important stuff and was going to probably check up on things for himself. She didn't want him to go alone thought. It just didn't seem like a good idea to her anymore. She knew how well Tristan could fight on his own but she was still concerned for his safety. Galahad seemed to want to throw up whatever he'd had for food the night before. He cursed something in his native language and for the moment she was glad that she did not understand what it was he said. It was sure to be something disgusting. All at once his hand was on her shoulder and he was telling her to lay still and let Tristan fix her. She gave them both a soft smile even through the pain. She kept trying to push it back. She'd reached her threshold and now she was trying to go just a little longer make so she almost forgot the pain. She brought her hands together and bit down on her lower lip just a little bit more.

She felt Tristan's hand on her cheek once he noticed her eyes clouding up. It sent almost a shock of relief down her spine. The pain for that instance was gone. She closed her eyes to savor it just a little bit and when she opened them up again Galahad was running off at the command of Tristan. She looked to the ground besides Tristan and noticed the cloths and boiling water. This was probably going to hurt more then getting the wound itself and all the bleeding. She was beginning to feel dizzy but she wasn't showing any signs of being so. She took a deep breath and waited for Galahad to come back. She really didn't need anything to bite down on expect for her lip but that was already bleeding so it was probably a better idea to just reswallow that blood. She wasn't sure how much she had lost yet. She heard Tristan tell the guard to tell the stable hands to get his horse ready and she couldn't help but speak up.

"Tristan please don't go alone. Please..." There was fear and concern etched in her voice. A type that Tristan had not heard from her ever. She didn't want to lose him or Galahad to the Saxons. She didn't want to lose anyone else that she held dear to her. She wasn't sure she could take it if Tristan even got hurt. She knew that it was inevitable as he was a Knight but she'd had so much shock in the last couple of months that she was sure to completely break apart. She didn't want too. She didn't want to break her no crying vow or show that she was even close to a mental break down. She took a deep breath as she saw Galahad running back up to them with a piece of wood. Before Tristan could say anything she grabbed it from Galahad. It was a quick movement and it made her wince. She didn't say anything and she looked at Tristan as he said that it was going to hurt.

"Yes I know." That was all she could get out before a little scream escaped out of her lip as the pain struck up anew and this time worse. She bit down on the wood and closed her eyes her hands gripping the grass beside her for dear life.

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[Tristan]

He ignored her plea, though not out of disdain. The situation before him occupied his mind; in fact Tristan was quite effective at compartmentalizing his emotions. He did not even register Galahad’s question as Pandra took the piece of wood at bit down on it without command. Steady hands clutched the handles of the pot. The wine steamed heavily in the chilly morning though Tristan wagered he needed to be quick before all of the heat dissipated. He looked up at her once more, before dousing both of the wounds on her leg with the boiling wine. Fresh waves of pain would rock her body as the alcohol destroyed more tissue and purged any inkling of infection in the wounds.

Setting the remainder of the wine down, he swiftly clutched her leg below the injury. An excess of fresh cloth had been brought along with the poultice he had required. Holding her steady, he applied the poultice over her wounds. It was wide enough to completely cover both of them. He applied enough pressure for the poultice to take for a moment before seizing the cloth and applying a secure bandage around her leg to hold the poultice of nettles in place. If it had been prepared correctly, which he had assumed it had, would stop the bleeding much faster than simple rags would.

“Galahad. Watch her. I’m going ahead.” There was not much to his words at this point, and he had not even looked at Galahad when he spoke. Tristan proceeded to rise to his feet, casting his gaze back to the gatehouse. His horse would arrive soon, or so he hoped. The quicker he was back into the field, the sooner he would have a better idea of the Saxon movements and perhaps be able to discern their intentions. He started moving towards the gate itself, anticipating the arrival of his stead.

[Galahad]

Galahad’s eyes snapped back to Pandra as she reached out and snatched the piece of wood from his fingers, jamming it between her teeth. He loathed to see the young woman in such pain and felt a wave of guilt crash over him. He should have talked her out of going to the village so soon after a Saxon attack. And now she laid here, wounds on her leg, bleeding heavily and in agonising pain. Taking a deep breath Galahad moved slightly so that he could support Pandra while Tristan used his knowledge and skill to tend to her wounds. As gently as he could he moved her close to him, using his arms to support her wait and give her something to lean against. Galahad looked down and tried to smile at Pandra as he brushed a hand across her heated forehead. If anything happened to her he knew he would never forgive himself.

The Knight continued to hold onto Pandra tightly as Tristan poured the hot wine onto her leg and applied the poultice. Then as Tristan wrapped the wounds in thick heavy cloth Galahad found himself gently brushing back the loose strands of hair that clung to the sides of Pandra’s face. It was a soothing motion that he did not even realise he was doing until he looked down at the woman in his arms and saw his fingers brushing against her temple.

“You’ll be alright… Tristan’s fixed a few wounds of mine and I’m fine now….” Galahad said softly trying to give Pandra some encouragement. He opened his mouth to say something more but suddenly Tristan spoke and then stood up.

“Wait!” Galahad said looking up at the scout, “what if the Saxon’s are close? You shouldn’t go out there alone Tris… I’ll go with you.” He knew it was a stupid thing to say, Tristan was a scout and scouting is what he did best. He spent most of his life out in the wild alone but Galahad wanted to help and he wanted to get the bastards that had done this to Pandra.

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[Pandra]

Pandra closed her eyes hoping to stop the pain as it started again. She knew that it was going to hurt far worse then getting the wounds would. She also knew that Tristan could pretty much fix everything. She didn't want to look at their faces as she knew hers was probably contorting in funny ways because of the pain she was feeling. She knew Galahad was probably beating himself up about not talking her out of going. It wasn't her fault she was stubborn and she hated taking others with her much like Tristan did. However, this time she probably should have. Maybe she wouldn't be like this if she did but it was too late for that and right now all she cared about was keeping completely level headed and awake. If she passed out things would be worse when she woke up. She didn't want that and thanks to being held by the Saxons and having worse wounds from her time with them she was hopping she could do just what she wanted. She was going to be able to handle pain at any level. Just not so much so that she never felt it again. That would be bad because then she wouldn't know when she was hurt without first seeing the blood and all. She shook her head a bit as she kept her eyes shut.

She felt Galahad moving to support her and she was rather grateful that he was holding her because she was sure she would lose support of herself. Then she felt the hot wine hit her leg. She let out a scream. It was muffled by the wood but it was a scream none the less. She closed her eyes tighter and took a deep breath. It hurt really bad and it took everything out of her to just keep her leg in one position for Tristan. She felt him grab her leg and felt Galahad's hold getting tighter as the poultice was put on top her wounds. Her face contorted again into a few different looks of pain. Then it was all over or rather her leg was being wrapped she figured as she had no feeling in her leg anymore. She was sure it would come back at some point and she knew she had one. She could feel Galahad moving some stray hair as she opened her eyes to look at both Knights. Her eyes were no longer cloudy and no tear had fallen but it was obvious she was fighting still the need to scream out in pain. She wasn't going to do it though.

She gave a nod to Galahad as he told her that Tristan fixed a few of his wounds. She knew full well that she'd be fine. The only question was were the people of Hadrian going to be. The Saxons were getting closer and there were sure to be words coming of more battles and people getting injured. She knew Marina had been attacked and now she had. There was going to be more. She snapped back to reality when she heard Tristan say he was going to go on ahead. She knew he had called for his horse and all but she did not want him going alone. Galahad however pipped up a few seconds later telling him to wait and that he'd go with him. Using the wall Pandra found her way up with its help and was leaning on it. "Pleas be careful both of you. Tristan please don't go alone. I...I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you. Either of you." There was fear, concern, and tiredness etched in the young ladies voice. The words came out as almost a plea. She knew Tristan could take care of himself but she was visibly shaken and scared.

She made to move along the way putting little to no pressure on the injured leg. She could find her way into the city and possibly to the inn. She didn't want to go to the castle in the state she was in right now. It would end up scaring Helena and then she'd have to deal with all that and she was exhausted and hurting. This pain she could push back but she needed more assistance in walking as she almost feel righting herself with the help of the wall. She was just too determined to find a way to walk on her own. She was more hopping than walking at the moment.

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