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A/N: so Emiya isn�t really a bitch anymore. XD He�s gotten more GAR since being a kid. Even Alexiel conceded that Emiya was far cooler now since he was a carnage makin� machine. Anyway, I think a cat has adopted us at the new house. Still need to get my crap moved out. w Chapter Twenty-Four �A storm�s a brewin� in Briton, guarantee it.� Cuchulainn lifted himself up and looked to his comrade, an older, grizzled warrior missing an eye. �What�s that, you say? Why is that?� said Cuchulainn; moving himself into a sitting position. The old warrior looked to him and grinned faintly. �I feel it. Saw a rider heading out yesterday and heard that there is a small rebellion brewin� in Briton against Queen Arturia. Some of her nobles in the north are trying to gather forces into one of the nearby towns and sending one force from each town surrounding Camelot to invade.� Cuchulainn frowned. If he knew the little queen as well as he did, he was certain she was already quick on her own plot to keep the rebellion against her down and stem an invasion into her little city. The nobles be damned, she wasn�t the sort not to think further ahead than two paces. The little woman was calculating and he was certain that she was bound to start finding quick ends to the problem. �How long has this been brewing? Why?� asked Cuchulainn. The older man scratched his cheek a moment and grunted. �Not a clue. Several months at least. They�ve been gathering since two months ago, from what I heard.� Again, Cuchulainn�s mind was a whir of activity. Surely the queen knew of it! Several months would be enough time for her to have started mounting her own attack against the rebels! Something inside Cuchulainn made him uneasy. �As I said� a storm�s a brewin� in Briton. I guarantee it,� said the older man before he picked up his sword and went off to practice. Leoness was a small town. Her graceful landscape had once been busy streets and houses and buildings long long ago, but now her beauty was that of snow and skeletal buildings on the outskirts of the town. In the castle, a Baron�s daughter ruled over the town in her father�s stead. She had heard tales of her town�s once very strange, but very liberating, past when she was a child, but all she could see before her was that of the landscape she knew; cold, white, snow covering everything, patches of brown showing through where the land was too warm to freeze and evergreen trees growing every which direction, but hardly any fruit trees or other sorts of plants, for the weather was far too cold for it. Gwenivere looked out at the landscape and sighed. The people milled around as they usually did, however, she had begun to notice large groups coming in, all coming with the Baron Marwick. She had allowed his men to come in because he swore he was going to not bring any trouble to Leoness. More and more men came in, all dressed in common clothing, though she saw bits of armor underneath it all. He was up to something and she knew it. She curled a bit of curly brown hair around her finger in thought as she gazed at the people with gentle blue eyes. She wasn�t a tall woman; she was very small and had a rounded face that held rosy cheeks and rosy lips on her alabaster skin. Yet, for all her fairness, she had trouble finding one of the nobles to marry, for they all repulsed her. They refused to allow her to watch over her gentle Leoness, all wanted it for their own. She refused to allow any man to take Leoness without a good heart to fuel it. Gwenivere shot to her feet when she heard the alarm bell sound. She pulled her cloak on and ran down to the main hall where her father�s advisors all clambered over to her. �Gwenivere! Gwenivere! There�s a black army headed this way!� cried one. �It�s Camelot�s army! It�s the army of the queen! She�s coming to Leoness with full banners raised!� cried a second. �Camelot!? What is Camelot coming to Leoness in such a fashion for!?� Gwenivere looked ready to spit nails, she was so infuriated. �No! I have an idea as to what is happening! Damn that Marwick! I hope he rots in hell for an eternity for putting my home in danger and the people of Leoness in danger! Get all the people into the castle! NOW!� The advisors hurried off to do as she bid as she went to head of her soldiers and relayed instructions to him. Leoness� soldiers started scrambling to battle readiness as Gwenivere looked out at the black line headed toward Leoness. Marwick had pretty well sentenced them to death, she was certain of it, but for all she was, she was not going to let her home fall to anyone! The Baron of Marwick ate heartily of his chicken, which lay in pieces on his plate. The cook he carried with him at all times was an excellent cook and did things with spices that hardly anyone did that he had ever witnessed. The man had come from the Americas, North America as far as he knew. He had a strange accent as well, though he spoke English. He tended to run his words together and almost speak unintelligibly when he was angry at the kitchen girls at Marwick manor. Marwick seemed to recall the man said he was from Louisianna or some strange place like that. �Don� jus� slurp it up, y�lordship. You gotta eat it uup lahk you woul� a woman, hear?� said the cook. He grinned and winked at Marwick as he stared at him oddly. �Slurp �er up while takin� in the better pleasures o�the meal sloooowly,� he said. �Ah don� cook meals jus� so you kin go through I� like a cat does a fresh kill.� Once more, Marwick was baffled by the Americans. How anyone understood one another completely baffled him. The cook he had picked up while traveling from Camelot, coming back from the coronation celebrations. The man had said he was wandering around trying to find work; that he had traveled from �Louisianna� in search of better work than what he was getting in his home town. �Don� lahk the people back home,� he said, �They don� appreciate goo� cookin� lahk mah mama us�d to make. Mama made the bes� meals an�where �round Lou�sianna, hear? She make fiiiine meals for all the family.� And, indeed, his cook made wonderful meals all the time. They had so much spice in them that it made Marwick�s tongue fairly dance inside his mouth! However, the warning bell ruined Marwick�s appetite immediately. He stood up suddenly and caused Cook to suddenly jump back in surprise and knock over the rest of the chicken. �Mah chicken! No!� he cried and attempted to gather it up. Marwick didn�t care about the delicious chicken anymore. He was hurrying to the window to see what was happening. Leoness� soldiers were out gathering villagers and filing them into the castle as quickly as possible. That could only mean one thing. Someone was invading Leoness! �Shit!� Marwick grabbed his armor and started hauling it on as fast as possible while he shouted orders at his captains. �Get the soldiers out of hiding, get them out to the border fence and get ready to fight! And for God�s sake, get me a horse!� he cried. Marwick�s captains ran off as fast as possible to follow his orders and left him steaming as he stuffed the last of the chicken he could take before battle. He savored the spices and grunted in irritation. This would either be his last meal or be the end of his meal today for he would be fighting against a tyrant of a queen and her massive, well trained, forces. �No little piddly queen what hails herself as a king of a people is going to get the better of me, that�s for damn certain!� he snarled. Arturia rode beside Gawain and Bedivere, watching both men stare determinedly at the town of Leoness. She had never wanted to have problems with Leoness. She, in fact, liked the Baron that she had come to associate with Leoness, for he was a good Baron and his people were loyal to Camelot. However, because Marwick chose to gather his troops there for an assault on the capital, Leoness might well fall to Camelot as well as Marwick. They housed a traitor and thus were traitors themselves. �Your orders, my queen?� asked Bedivere, not looking at her. �Wait to see if Marwick comes out of Leoness. If he does, then Leoness will be spared for the most part. If he doesn�t�. no mercy.� Bedivere looked to his queen in surprise and frowned as he looked to the gates of Leoness. His queen was cold hearted, but he knew, just knew, that she probably felt terrible for this terrible decision. They would not stand a chance should Camelot be invaded and so she had to take the battle to them. She had wanted to surprise them as they were going to do to her, but Gaheris and Bedivere both reminded her that Leoness was to be a casualty in this and they only wanted Marwick, not Leoness. Arturia didn�t show any sign of relief when men of Marwick came out to the gate and formed a battle line in front of the gates. On a horse, out came the Baron of Marwick. He was a big, broad-shouldered man with short cropped black hair and a black mustache upon his lip. He certainly out weighed Arturia, even with her armor on. �Well, looks like we don�t have to flush �em out after all, cousin,� said Gawain, grinning. Arturia nodded. �Let�s go.� She rode out on her horse with Bedivere and Gawain behind her as they went to meet with Marwick and his captains. The men behind Marwick were also very big and somewhat red-faced from the chill. Marwick and his men met Arturia, Bedivere and Gawain in the middle of the two sides, Marwick glaring imperiously down at Arturia over his hooked nose and his two captains sneering at Bedivere and Gawain. �Marwick� I will spare you and all of your men if you simply go home and do not engage in battle with me,� said Arturia. �Like hell we�ll do that, you stupid bitch of a queen!� cried the first captain. Marwick held up a hand to him, growling. Arturia�s face remained that of a frozen mask, though Bedivere and Gawain both looked ready to kill. �I�ll not join you even if you stripped down and danced in front of me, little witch. You are no more a queen than I am the Prince of Wales. You took the sword from the stone, fine, but you had help from that wizard of yours.� �She pulled it out on her own, just ask anyone who saw! Several tried it and failed AFTER she put the sword back into the rock!� growled Bedivere, now losing his temper. Arturia didn�t make a motion to silence her knight. Marwick found that odd, since he was her subordinate and he was speaking out of turn. �It matters not! The truth is, she still had that ruddy Merlin by her side when that was happening, didn�t she?!� �What about Gilgamesh? What about turning back that gold king from Babylon and rallying all of us, Briton, Wales, Ireland and even Scotland to battle alongside her?� growled Gawain, glaring at Marwick. �You sent men along, didn�t you? You sent your best archers along and she was the one, SHE, who got us all to join �er!� �Only because if we didn�t go or send people to join, we would have lost Briton and all the other countries to that ghastly king!� said the second captain. �She�s no more a miracle worker than I�m Marwick hisself!� �Exactly!� said the first captain. Arturia continued to watch them all with that ever present chilly stare. Marwick wondered why the woman stayed so quiet all that time as she simply watched him and his men talk. �No woman can rule like a king. She can�t even get the Irish and Scots to lower the tariffs on food,� said Marwick, �She can�t get a man to marry her and she never ages!� �And if I did age, if I did grow old before your eyes to that of my natural age, would you follow me as you would a king?� asked Arturia, finally. Marwick spat at her. �I�d rather rot.� �Very well.� Arturia started to turn her horse around as Marwick watched her in surprise. She stopped and looked to him coldly. �Should you go into Leoness, I will raze everything until I kill each and every person that houses a Marwick man.� Then, she galloped to her soldiers with Bedivere and Gawain behind her. �That woman is bizarre,� said the first captain. �Creepy. Did you see those eyes? Not a bit of emotion! It�s like she�s made of ice!� said the second captain. �Wouldn�t want to stick my cock in that one, that�s for sure! She�d probably snap it off from the chill alone!� said the first. Marwick turned his horse and went toward his soldiers. �No one would bed that woman, because she�s a creature that feeds on death,� he said, �She has no heart and no Christian woman would be so merciless. If we should fall here, make sure someone gets out to tell the world that Arturia Pendragon is a devil worshipper!� Marwick turned and looked to the line of black clad men on horses and on foot. Each one was as menacing as the devil himself and in the middle was Arturia in her black armor and battle-dress. Just like a woman to wear a dress into battle rather than trousers! He snorted and looked to his captains. He nodded and he pulled his sword out. �CHARGE!!� he cried. Arturia looked to the men advancing on her position. Bedivere looked to his queen and nodded as did Gawain. The split from her and rode out along the line of soldiers, their swords raised high over their heads. Arturia pulled Excalibur from its scabbard and put her visor down. �It is time, men.� Then, she rode down on her horse as the men on either side of her followed down in succession. Gwenivere watched in horror as the black clad army of Camelot ran at the line of Marwick soldiers. Marwick�s soldiers were running up at them, but it wasn�t nearly as awesome as Camelot�s army. Had the Queen been a King, she would like to have married him, for such ability to raise an army with sheer will alone was something wonderful to behold. She had to be a very strong woman to be able to pull such men to her side to fight for her. And that she fought beside them rather than hanging back showed how she was a warrior before a queen! �My lady! The people are inside the walls of the castle now. Should we go out and help Marwick?� said one of Gwenivere�s captains. �No. Marwick started this battle, he can well end it himself,� said Gwenivere. �Just make certain that Leoness is safe from harm, do you understand?� Her captain nodded and ran of to do as she bid. Gwenivere looked back out the window and watched the sides clash, blood spilling and swords clashing. It was a gruesome sight; one that Gwenivere had trouble stomaching. With that, she moved away so she could calm her stomach down. Chaos reigned over the battle field. Men hacked at one another, men brutalized each other. It was total carnage as the forces of Marwick clashed against the forces of Camelot. Bedivere took more than his fare share of heads with his axe as Gawain spilled his share of blood. The only one who was missing was Arturia, who had been knocked off her horse when Marwick struck her with his sword. �Find the queen! Keep her safe! But above all, make sure Marwick�s forces don�t retreat to Leoness!� called Bedivere. Meanwhile, Marwick was locked in a strange battle against the little queen. Her dragon helm on, she might as well have said she were a dragon, for she looked like on in human shape! Marwick, however, was five times Arturia�s size and could easily overtake the woman with little effort should she show any small weakness or grow tired. He also found she was far stronger than any normal girl her size, further fueling his believe that she took the power of the devil into her to fuel her fighting abilities so she would seem invincible. She ran at him and he caught her on the shoulder. She came at him from the side and he blocked her sword with a swipe. She really wasn�t of a fighter! How had this woman fought the great Gilgamesh? She moved too slowly and that dress of hers tripped her over and over again. How had this woman managed to turn back Gilgamesh when she herself was little better than any normal princess just given a sword and sent off to fight with it. She swung it in wide angles and left much of herself open. �Give it up, bitch! You can�t win! Look at you! You�re already out of breath!� cried Marwick. Arturia moved back and leaned over her sword and collapsed onto her knees. �You� are right� I am� out of breath.. Marwick,� she said as she panted heavily from the weight of her sword. Marwick snorted. �Make me your king and I�ll spare you,� he said,smirking. �Make me your husband and I�ll run Camelot for you so all you have to do is lay in bed and let me bed you and bare heirs, though I doubt that little body of yours would do much for heirs. I�d probably crush you in bed should I take your maidenhead!� Arturia�s face cringed and looked away, panting heavily still. Marwick smirked. He was getting to her! He looked around and saw his men turning with Camelot�s men to see what was going on. Bedivere and Gawain rode over and stopped to see what was happening. He grinned triumphantly. He was going to win this battle and it was because this stupid little queen couldn�t even fight properly! �You would crush me, but I would not die,� said Arturia as she looked down at the ground, closing her eyes. �My maidenhead is intact and would be what would kill me should such a large man such as yourself take it.� Marwick snorted again and put his sword away. �This is a ridiculous fight. Become my bride, submit to my will, and I�ll make the attack on Camelot stop. Don�t and Camelot will be invaded by other forces besides my own! Your own men are turning against you! See how they turn to see their little bitch queen kneel before a man?� �My cousin is a better woman to you any day!� snarled Gawain. �A better MAN to you as well!� �Silence, idiot!� snarled Marwick. �Unless you want that bright head of yours taken by my men as well as your little bitch!� Bedivere put a hand on Gawain�s shoulder and pulled him away, nodding. Gawain grumbled angrily, but he remained silent. Marwick chuckled and put his hands on his hips. �It seems I�ve won, little whore. I knew you wouldn�t be able to do anything to me!� He leaned down and grabbed her face in his hand, sneering down his hooked nose at her. �And your devil worship will die here as well, for I�ll convert you myself as I take your maidenhead and then take you as many times as I can before I thrust you into your own dungeons where you�ll stay until you birth an heir and then die.� Marwick�s head fell from his body in a gush of blood. It rolled to a stop at his captains� feet, staring up at them with glassy eyes. Arturia, drenched from the shower of Marwick�s blood, stood up with her sword and wiped it off on her cloak before kicking the body as it jerked on the ground. The men moved back in horror as she reached down and stuck her foot on his stomach and ripped off the man�s penis and held it up. �All who say that only a person with this in their trousers can rule needs to learn that just because you have this doesn�t mean you are invincible. It only means you give women pleasure in bed and are one half of what creates children.� Arturia threw it away, the men scrambling away from it as it landed between them. Arturia looked to the captains and watched them cover their privates immediately as though she would do the same to them. �And those who insult me� get to deal not with me, but those who would come to my aid.� Bedivere let go of Gawain immediately and Gawain ran and punched the first captain on the nose, tackling him to the ground. Bedivere swung his axe and took the other man�s head off. Arturia, satisfied with the display, looked to the men gathered around. �And those who would betray their Queen in such a manner be it from orders or by their own will� shall die as traitors and burned alive like heretics of the past.� Squires came forth bearing torches and chains. The men of Camelot moved away from them and the men of Marwick as they cried for mercy from Arturia. She kicked one on the face with her boot and broke the neck of another. �All of Marwick�s soldiers shall die. All shall die because all are traitors to the crown!� she snarled, for the first time showing her anger. She ripped the tongue of one man out who begged at her feet for mercy and tossed it at another. The squires chained the men together in a circle, all who were able to speak continued to cry for mercy. Arturia didn�t give it. With a nod, the squires walked to the circle of men and set each one ablaze. When they each screamed in agony, she pulled her helmet off and let one of the squires come to her with a bit of chocolate that she had bought from a vendor. She ate it slowly, savoring the taste of it as she watched men trying to get away from each other as they each caught on fire and burned. When all were quiet and had fallen against each other, Arturia�s armor disappeared and she had her people leave Leoness� gates. The only thing they left were the bodies of the dead Marwick men and the blazing circle of charred remains still smoldering from the fire that had been fueled. Gwenivere came out later and surveyed the blackened remains of the Marwick men. She had to run off and vomit from the smell alone, much less the carnage. Was Arturia truly a woman? Or was she a demon sent from Hell in the quise of a woman who could take Excalibur from the stone it had been set in and wield it with unnatural strength like a man? �Dig a trench and bury them as well as you can. There isn�t� much there� that can be given a proper burial,� said Gwenivere as she tried to keep the gag reflex down. Her captains nodded and set about getting the trenches dug and the mass grave done. When that was done, a priest came over and blessed the ground and gave absolution to the men so they might pass into heaven. When all was done, Gwenivere was left to gaze at the mass grave and wonder. What was it that drove such a woman to such lengths? What hatred did this woman harbor to be able to do such unspeakable acts toward her fellow human beings; men who begged for mercy and she gave none? With that final thought, Gwenivere walked back through Leoness� gates and went back to the castle with her guard following after her. Even with the events of the day, she was still Baroness of Leoness and she would continue to rule until she married. |