[Locked to King Arthur Muses] Tracking Tristan and Rachel

True to her word, Guinevere had left right after Lancelot asked her to. She had some concern. What had happened to Tristan to make Lancelot worry about her safety should she apparoach him? Obviously, she had missed out on something while visiting with her father.

She had been travelling for only a few hours when her horse starting snorting and whipping her head from side to side. She slowed, looking around her. If Defiance was edgy, there was something wrong. She patted her mare's neck and tilted her face to the wind. She frowned.

Blood.

There was blood on the wind and that didn't bode well for her friend or those tracking him.

She urged her horse to continue forward and it wasn't long before she came across the body. She slid from her horse and turned him over on her back.

"Oh Ancestors..." she whispered, bringing a hand to her mouth in dismay.

It was Charles, one of the men Lancelot had sent to track Tristan.

His throat had been cleanly slit...and there was no doubt that it was Tristan who had killed him. He always left his mark on the people he killed so it would be known.

Guinevere rocked back on her heels, worried and upset.

"Oh, Tristan...what has happened to you?"

With a heavy heart, she walked back to her horse and mounted. She had to find Damien and send him back to the fortress to alert Lancelot. Tristan was killing their own and she didn't know whom he would kill next.

She urged her horse into a canter and kept her eyes open for any sight of Damien...or of Tristan.

It was about an hour later that she found Damien. He was leaning against a tree and he wasn't moving. Fearing the worst, Guinevere dismounted and drew her sword. She moved closer.

"Damien?" she called softly, being very cautious. When he didn't answer her, but continued staring into the distance, she reached forward and smacked his cheek. His head whipped towards her, almost slicing his cheek open on her sword.

"My lady?" he asked in a strange voice. "What are you doing out here alone?"

She waved that question off. "Are you injured?"

"Injured?" He looked confused.

Guinevere looked into his eyes and sighed. Something had happened to scare Damien badly and his mind had retreated for now.

"Damien?" She waited for him to focus on her. "I need you to ride back to the garrison and talk to Lancelot. Tell him what happened to Charles. Tell him I am still on Tristan's trail and I need him." She waited until she was sure he was focusing all of his attention on her. "Do you understand what I'm telling you, Damien? I need Lancelot."

Damien nodded and got to his feet. "Tristan killed Charles and you need Lancelot because you are out here with him alone." He smiled, a childish smile. "Don't worry, my lady. Lancelot will keep you safe."

Guinevere shook her head as she watched Damien disappear into the trees. With her luck, Damien would get the message messed up and tell Lancelot that Tristan had killed her.

There was nothing to be done for it now. She had to find Tristan and Damien was the only one who could get word back to Lancelot. She mounted Defiance and urged her into a run.

Tristan was close, she could feel it.

Praying to her ancestors that she wasn't too late and that she wasn't going to become another victim of this weirdness that had taken ahold of Tristan, she continued on her way.

It was when she saw Tristan's hawk circling that she knew she had found them. She came to the edge of the trees and saw a woman standing by another copse of trees. Frowning, she watched as Tristan started walking unarmed into those trees. Guinevere melted back into the shadows and kept an eye on them---hoping that Lancelot would arrive soon.