Valentine Armstrong was lost. She sighed, deeply before she glanced toward the bell tower as it rang out the time. It was 10 o’clock. She let out a sigh as she looked around the part of the city she was in. She silently cursed at herself. She had lost her nerve and ended up going down a random street before she started looking for that whore house Tristan had written in his note.

  It didn’t look like the place where Lady Love’s Brothel and Inn would be located. It was too close to the castle. She turned her attention to the wall several feet away. A gate blocked the archway. Above the archway, a sign could be seen in the torchlight with the words, ‘West of the Castle’. Maybe she went too far north. She did follow the road to the Cheyenne Ave then she didn’t see any more street signs. She allowed the horse to roam up to close the castle before she went to the left, following a moat around until she spotted the Western Gate.

  She pulled on the reins toward the left. The horse followed her directions and walked down the street. Tina’s eyes drifted around, keeping alert. She had been alert since the sun disappeared, over the horizon, and the sky darkened into night. She remembered watching the guards wondered through the streets, breaking up fights at several taverns and bars. So far, she had been lucky. She didn’t attracted any trouble, but she knew that didn’t mean trouble won’t find her.

  She pulled out the scroll again and read through it. She couldn’t find this Shawnee Trails road. Maybe she was on the wrong side of town. Maybe she did pass it and just didn’t realized it. She sighed. She was drained. She didn’t need to take stock of her spirit energy to know it was running low again. She needed to find that place and rest. She took another look at the scroll. There was another letter, enclosed. Maybe she could just forget about going to this Lady Love’s Brothel and Inn and go straight to the castle.

  She thought about that. Tina knew the chances of her being mistaken as a pleasure lady were dramatically downgraded if she went to the castle and showed a castle guard the letter. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. She nodded to herself and made her decision. She pulled on the reins again, turning the horse around and headed in the direction of the castle gate she had spotted earlier.

  Tina yawned as she approached the draw bridge and allowed the horse to cross until one of the guards stepped forward, bringing up his hand.

  “I’m sorry, miss,” the guard started, “The castle is closed to everyone except the members of the Court, the Knights, and their families.”

  “I understand that,” Tina started, “But I have this letter from one of the Knights, Sir Tristan.” She handed it over to the castle guard, “Stating I have his permission to enter.” The castle guard frowned and took the letter before he opened it. She waited as he read through. She, personally, had no idea what was written in the letter. The guard looked up at her with surprise coloring his face.

  “My deepest apologist, my lady,” the castle guard started, “You may enter the grounds of the castle. I will summon Second in Command of the Explosive Brigade, Commander Reno to escort you to Sir Tristan’s chambers.” The guard held out a hand, “The Reins, my lady?” he asked. Tina blinked before she handed over the reins to the guard. He guided the horse to a nearby stable and rang a bell before he hurried away.

  Tina blinked as she watched him go and heard the bell echoed through the stable. She took a deep breath and pulled her feet out of the stirrups. She swung her leg over the side of the horse and slid off the back of the horse. She landed on her feet before her knees buckled beneath her. Her knees slammed against the dirt and she winced, hissing from the pain, as she caught herself on her hands.

  Guess she shouldn’t have been riding so long on the back of a horse, Tina mused silently as she shifted her weight to one bent leg and drag the other one up, planting her foot into the ground before she pushed herself into a standing position. She summoned her remaining spirit energy to help her stand, straight, and forced back the pain wrecking her body. She let out a soft whistle as she tried to stretch out the muscles in her lower half. She knew she should have walked to Camelot, instead of riding a horse. She glanced at the horse beside her.

  There was a shuffling sound coming directly behind her and she spun on her heel to face the person so fast that the person took a step back, surprise coloring their face. She blinked and said, smiling softly, “I’m sorry about that. I’m somewhat jumpy. Its been a long day.”

  The person nodded and stepped forward, allowing the nearby torchlight to illuminate their face. It was a young man, appearing to be barely out of his mid-teens, obviously a stable hand. He spoke, his voice hitched before it deepened, “It’s alright, miss. I will take care of your horse.”

  “Thank you, hun,” Tina replied, not mention about the change in his voice, before she slowly turned away and reached up, grabbing her weapon belt from the horn. She wrapped it around her belt line and tightened it, glad those fawns bastard didn’t whip her lower then what they did. She grabbed her hiking bag from the horse’s ramp and took the sleeping bag off the horse before she tied the sleeping bag back to the hiking bag. She wrapped the straps around her right forearm and lifted it off the ground. She stepped out of the stable as the stable hand led the horse deeper into the stables, disappearing from sight. Tina lend against a pole of the stable, with her eyes closed, waiting for…who was it again? She yawned as she thought about it. She knew the name sounded familiar like it was a name of a city out West, near Las Vegas. Did it even matter? Her eyes started to feel better. She began to drift away.

  “So,” a rough voice rang out not far from her. She jerked away. Her eyes snapped open. Her left hand flew toward her rapier. She widened her stance as she turned her head to face the owner as he continued like he didn’t have a care in the world, “You are Tristan’s Lady?”

  The way he used ‘Lady’ was emphasized like he was telling her that Tristan and she was in a relationship. If it got her a bed to sleep in and a safe place to relax, she would be playing along. She ran her eyes over his form, but she had to look up at him. The front of part of his vivid red hair took up in spikes before it smoothed out into a long braid, she knew, trailed down his back like a tail. She blinked in surprise when she realized she had seen him earlier in the day when she first arrived. He had been talking with the strange, familiar, man in the trench coat. Up close now, she took note of his brilliant green eyes, the shade she had seen only in a few video games she had been allowed to play while growing up, but his eyes held a calculating and suspicious glint in them as he also looked her over.

  The mysterious red haired man stood in a relax stance. His clothes seemed to hang off of his frame and he had a few belts on his person, holding a gun like weapons. One of the belts went from his left shoulder to his right hip and it held three pistols. She didn’t know much about guns, but she took an educated guess on the type of guns, Flint lock, assuming that was the right word to describe them. However, at his left hip, bouncing against his leg when he walked, there was a large barrel rifle or a small cannon. She spotted a bag with the label on it saying, Black Powder.

  “Yes, I am,” Tina replied, meeting his gaze, “Are you the commander from the…” she frowned, thinking. What was the term that guard used to describe that brigade?

  “Explosive Brigade?” he supplied for her.

  She nodded, saying, “Yes.”

  “Lucky for you, sweetie, I am,” the man stated, “I am Reno, the second in commander.”

  Tina noticed that he didn’t introduced himself like Tristan did when she first met him and she said, “I am Tina, a traveler.”

  Reno gave her a lopsided grin and held a hand out, “Your bag, please. I really don’t feel like dealing with an irritated Knight who thought I was treating his lady not right.” Tina snorted in amusement, but she handed her hiking bag over. “This way. I will show you to his personal chambers in the Knights’ Tower.” She nodded and allowed him to lead the way.

  Tina could only gap as she followed Reno through what had to be the courtyard of the castle. The courtyard was huge. She could fit two football fields in the space. In the center of the courtyard, a large foundation stood with a carved statue of a King, his cape blowing out behind him as he stared out over the city. She saw there was a plate at the curve of the foundation, but she was too far away to see what it said. She glanced at Reno and found he was several feet ahead, ready to disappear around a corner. She hurried to catch up, trying to stay close to him. She already got lost once and she really didn’t want to get lost again, in this huge castle. That would be the icing on the cake for her, today.

  Reno led her through corridor after corridor until they entered another courtyard. This courtyard was a lot smaller, maybe a half of football field, Tina guessed. There was no decorations in this courtyard. They didn’t stay in it for long as Reno strolled to a tower on the far side of the courtyard, extending up. Tina silently counted the windows as her eyes drifted upward. There were a total of 25 windows. She gapped as she followed the logic - if there were 25 windows, one per floor, the tower had to be at least 25 stories high - and she heard Reno called out to her, “Yes, I know the Knights’ tower is impressive, but there is no need to gawk at it like a moron.” Tina’s mouth snapped shut and her eyes narrowed as she gave Reno an annoyed glare. “Look, Lady, I don’t have all day - well, all night. I still need to do stuff before I can go to bed and be prepared for the Funeral Ceremony in a couple days, so I would appreciate if you hurried up.” He turned away from her and banged on the door.

  Tina didn’t say anything as she approached Reno when the Knights’ tower door opened to reveal a handsome dark brown haired man with frosted green eyes. This man wore a loose pair of dark blue pants, similar to the ones Tina had seen in the men’s sleepwear section at any clothing store, and gray long shelved shirt. At his side, he had a long knife like he had been expecting trouble. When Tina brought her gaze back to his face, she noticed the dark purple shadows under his eyes, his hair was disheveled like he had been woken up from a nap.

  He raised an eyebrow at Reno and the second in command of the Explosive Brigade explained, “This Lady -” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Tina, “Is going to stay with Tristan. She has a letter from him, explaining she is allowed to enter his room, Lancelot.”

  Tina fought to keep her expression neutral. First, a knight called Tristan. Second, the kingdom called Camelot. Now, another knight named Lancelot. She really needed to figure out what was going on here, other then the fact, she may have traveled to another time. She pushed it to the back of her mind to think about it later and pulled out the scroll Tristan wrote before she handed it over to Lancelot.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Lancelot ran his eyes over her. Tina noticed his tired and bloodshot eyes lingered on her sword belt with suspicious glint in his eyes before he swept his admiring gaze over the rest of her form as he took the scroll and opened it, reading what was written there from Tristan. He looked at her with surprise coloring his expression, before he started, “Well, that changes things.” He turned his attention to Reno and nodded his head, “Thank you, Commander Reno, for bringing Lady Valentina here. You may return to your post. I will take it from here.”

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome, Sir Lancelot,” Reno grumbled, dropping Tina’s hiking bag in the doorway, and he turned away, leaving Tina with the rumored Greatest Knight of Camelot. She watched him go before she turned her attention to Lancelot.

  “Please, come in, Lady Valentina,” Lancelot said, in a warm tone. He bent down and grabbed the hiking bag and lifted over his shoulder before he turned away, expecting Tina to follow. She did, stepping into the tower and shutting the door behind her.

  Lancelot didn’t pause in what looked like a large common room as he head to a spiral staircase, nearby and started to climb. Tina eyed the staircase with a soft whimper, knowing her back will ache by the time she reached whichever floor Tristan’s room was located on. She hoped she didn’t have to climb that far. She took a deep breath as she started to climb after Lancelot.

  Tina climbed past the first floor, the second, the third, until they had reached the 17th floor. She panted with an open mouth. Her eyes felt heavy. Her head swam. Her back throbbed. Her spirit energy depleted so much she had stopped using it. Her legs weighed like pillars of lead as she struggled to take another step on the stairs.

  Lancelot stopped on the landing and she noticed he looked over his shoulder at her. A glint of worry in his eyes. He simply said, “This way, my lady.” He went down the 17th floor. She followed him, her arms hanging down at her sides, her shoulders hunched over. He stopped at the fourth door on the left. He didn’t bothering knocking and just grabbed the door handle before he pushed it open. He went inside. Tina followed, slowly, and watched as the knight set her hiking bag down beside a couch long enough she could stretch out on. “There you go, my lady.”

  Tina tried to send him a thankful smile, but it felt more like a grimace. He didn’t say anything and walked past her before he shut the door. She looked over the room, but her eyes drifted to the couch. She shuffled over to it, her hands going to the belt and undoing it before she dropped her sword belt and flopped onto the long couch. She bounced a bit and fell to the side, her eyes sliding shut.

  Tristan strolled through the halls of the castle. He heard the Mourning Dinner just wrapped up and the Ruling Family was still in the Common Meeting Rooms of the Royal Wing. He needed to deliver the report about the Fawn Village and what had happened to him while he was gone. He didn’t know if Merlin and Morgana would be there or not. According to the rumors he had been hearing since he arrived, they won’t. Morgana wasn’t invited again to attend another Mourning Dinner, thanks to Belladonna, and Merlin was never invited to go as he was not of royal blood. He glanced at the clock tower. It was nearing midnight. He paused. He probably should deliver his report in the morning. It had been a long day. The wounds on his chest ached. It seemed to get worst as he approached his limit.

  He turned around, heading to the Knights’ tower when a voice called out to him, “Tristan? Is that you?”

  Tristan sucked in a soft breath. He hadn’t heard that voice in a long time. Before she had left the castle in fact, in a fit of rage at her grandmother’s treatment of the other queens, her aunts. It brought up both good and bad memories. He turned back and saw Iris, the daughter of the Former High Queen Holly, and the granddaughter of the Former High Queen Belladonna, of House of Yule, staring at him with a pair of sapphire eyes that stole his heart many years ago. Those eyes reflected the surprise, the memories, and the longing she felt.

  His heart skipped a beat. She was still as beautiful as he remembered her. Her long, loose white blond hair flowed down, over her shoulders and down her back. She wore a mourning dress with white crystal along the waist line. She stepped toward him, a hand raising up, reaching out to him. It was the left hand she held up. It was bare of the wedding ring that should have been there. He dimly remembered her husband ended up dying a year or two ago, lost at sea. His eyes darted to her lips. They were parted.

  He shook his head. He knew she had moved on. He had done the same, but he hadn’t married. He didn’t have time to find a wife. It has been nearly 10 years since he had last seen her, the night before she left, before Uther could command her to marry a Prince of another Kingdom. Something rose within him. An old longing. He still care deeply for the woman. That was dangerous. He was fully aware of her grandmother’s feelings about Princess Iris marrying below her class. The Former High Queen Belladonna had raged about it for weeks when she had found out about the secret marriage between Iris and the Naval Ship Captain.

  He spun on his heel without saying a word. He headed to his room in the Knights’ tower without looking back. He knew he would eventually talk to her. Not right now. Not when he really wanted to curl up on his bed and sleep.

  When he entered the Knights’ Tower, Tristan spotted Lancelot sitting in one of the comfortable chairs, looking into the fire, with an unreadable expression on his face. The door clicked shut behind him causing Lancelot to jerk and looked at him. Camelot’s Greatest Knight stood up and strolled over to Tristan, saying, “Welcome back, Brother.”

  “It is good to be back, brother,” Tristan replied. It was the standard saying for the returning knights. He studied Lancelot’s expression, “What happened?”

  “You know the usual,” Lancelot shrugged, “However, the Pope will be arriving within the next two days for the funeral so it has been pushed back.”

  Tristan blinked at that news. He was not expecting that as Lancelot continued to catch Tristan up on the current events and how things were going around the castle while he was gone, looking for a possible cure for the King’s Curse. It was some good news that the Pope was attending Uther’s funeral. He knew the last time the Pope had visited Camelot was before he was born. He turned his attention back to Lancelot and noticed there was something else bothering Lancelot. He cocked his head to the side and questioned, “What else is bothering you?”

  “Why did you give a letter to a woman named Tina?” Lancelot got immediately to the heart of the issue. That was something Lancelot was known for - getting straight to the point.

  “I take it she is here,” Tristan commented. At Lancelot’s nod, the other knight let out a breath, he launched into the story how he met her and what happened afterwards. Lancelot’s expression transformed into an outraged as Tristan reached the point of the story where Tina was whipped.

  “I noticed she was moving slowly,” he confessed. A series of emotions went through his eyes as he frowned. “She didn’t complain about any pain.”

  “It would seem like she is the type not to complain about pain. Is she in my quarters,” Tristan asked. Lancelot nodded. “Thank you.” He cupped a hand onto the other knight’s shoulders.

  “How are you?” Lancelot asked. Tristan shrugged and felt the wounds on his chest throbbed. Obviously, it showed on his face. “I take it you are hurt as well.”

  “Yeah,” Tristan confessed with a deep sigh, “I will be alright. I got my wounds from fighting a -” He frowned as he thought about what Tina had said about the canine like humanoid, “Wolf demon.” Lancelot sucked in a breath as his eyes widened. He processed what Tristan said. “Yes, I know those creatures are from legends and myths, but they are quite real. Tina had faced those creatures before and she was able to distract them long enough for us to escape.”

  Nearly everyone knew about the myths of demons. Most of the followers of the Christian Faith believed them to tale tells parents told to their children to get them to behave. However, there were groups who lived to tell the tale of meeting these creatures who appeared beautiful humans with animal like features and the ability to transform into huge animals that tower over the trees.

  “Where?” Lancelot gasped. Shock colored his expression.

  “Dead End forest,” Tristan replied in an even tone. “I will tell you more in the morning, Lance. I doubt this group of wolf demons survived the explosion Lady Tina caused. She found some black powder and used a flaming arrow on it.” He paused as he fought against a yawn. “I’m extremely tired.”

  “It explained the huge explosion we saw the other night,” he admitted before he nodded in understanding, “Get some sleep.”

  Tristan walked away, heading to his quarters, intending to do that. He made it to his quarters and walked in with a wide yawn. Soft snoring reached his ears as he came to a stop. His eyes flickered over to the couch. Tina stretched out on the couch, laying face down with her head turned to face the large cold fireplace. Her bag laid beside the couch. He sighed with some relief.

  Knowing she had made it safe to his quarters was one thing, but seeing it with his own eyes was another. He frowned and his eyes darted to the bed, sitting on the far side of the room before he glanced back at Tina. He wondered why she didn’t take the bed, but Lancelot’s voice whispered through his head, “I noticed she was moving slowly.”

  He sighed. He slowly shut the door behind him and set his bag by the door. He walked over to the couch and crunch down, grabbing her arm. He was mindful of her injured back as he maneuvered her up, against his chest, allowing her chin to rest on his left shoulder. He froze as she moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She sighed.

  “Ryan,” Tina muttered. Her voice held a note of heart ache, “I’m sorry.” She fell silent.

  Tristan shifted, sitting on the edge of the table in front of the couch, waiting to see if Tina woke up or not. When she didn’t, he grabbed the back of her thighs in a tight grip and shifted to stand between her legs. He took a deep breath and stood up. Tina didn’t wake. Tristan quickly shove an arm under her rear end and allowed her legs to hang on either side of his hips. He placed his other arm under her and slowly walked over to the bed.

  Tristan reached the bed and slowly reached down to the bed with a hand, shifting Tina on his hip. He threw back the covers before he sat her down on the edge of the bed. He reached up and grabbed Tina’s arms, pulling them from around his neck before he lowered her to the bed, on her side. He grabbed her legs, behind her knees and lifted them onto the bed.

  He reached down and frowned as he stared at her boots. They were tied instead of being slipped on. He hummed as he worked at the knots and untied them. He grabbed them, slipping them off her feet. He placed them on the floor by the bed post. He returned his attention back to Tina and rolled her onto her front, making sure her face rested on its side. He gently laid the covers back over her.

  Tristan sighed. He would be sleeping on the couch tonight. He knew from experience the couch was not the best place to rest, but Tina was obviously tired, probably didn’t give it a second thought when she laid upon it.

  A hand gasped his wrist when he turned to leave. He jerked his head around to see Tina’s eyes creaked open, hazing with sleep. She spoke in a whisper that seem to echo around the silent room, “Stay.”

  Tristan shook his head and slowly peeled her fingers away from his wrist, but her grip tightened and she jerked him toward her, almost pulling him off his feet. She pulled his arm underneath her and snuggled up to it. A soft snore came from Tina again. He tried to pull his arm away, but she held on tight. He sighed before he threw back the covers, kicked off his boots, and scouted her closer to the center of the bed before he crawled in. He laid on his side, trying not to roll onto his bed and aggregative his own wounds. It didn’t take him long to fell to sleep.

  Sunlight streamed into the room, right into Tina’s face. She groaned as she tried to ignore the sunlight, telling her to wake up. She snuggled into her teddy bear, using it to block the light. She was dimly aware her head moved up and down in a steady rhythm as she listened to a steady beat in her ear. As she slowly woke up, she came to the realization her teddy bear shouldn’t have a heartbeat or the ability to move her head up and down.

  Her eyes snapped open and she stared at someone’s chest. She slowly raised her head to look up into Tristan’s face. He was still dead to the world or at least she hoped he was. She took a hand and ran it down her side, releasing a breath of relief. She was still dressed. She forced herself to sit up. She gasped.

  Pain rippled from her back. Tears slipped down her cheeks. The bed dipped sharply to one side. She snapped her eyes opened to see Tristan standing beside the bed. His body tensed as he peered around the room, his hands curled lightly into fists. It took a moment for the pain to pass and Tina noticed Tristan had relaxed. He turned to her. They stared at each other for a long moment before Tristan said, “Good morning.”

  Tina blinked and said, “Yeah, morning.”

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