Disclaimer: Don't own. Thank you.

Chapter 4: Learn to be Still

"So where are these enemies of yours, girl?" She knew that Lancelot was taunting her, but she decided to take the question at face value. It wasn't an insult unless she allowed it to be. So she ignored his sneer, and answered his question anyway.

"In all honesty? I don't rightly know. They could really be anywhere… and anything."

Arthur's eyes sharpened as he turned to her. She could see his doubts forming. "What do you mean? You do not know what this danger is?"

Daine rolled her eyes, not caring right now if it was disrespectful. Had they honestly thought that she would actually know what was coming? "No, sorry. I could tell you a time this feeling prepared me for an attack from enemy soldiers, but I could also tell you a time this feeling tried to prepare me for an attack by a rabid bear."

Galahads eyes widened, but didn't move from the surrounding trees. "A rabid bear?"

She nodded, laughing quietly. "A rabid bear. I have to tell you, that was quite a sight, and not one I would like to see again. He—"

She fell silent when the sound of a twig snapping pervaded the air. All of the knights stood straighter, and took on an air of total alertness. Then she muttered, "Well, I don't think this one is a rabid bear."

"What?"

"The sound was too quiet. Trust me, if this were a rabid bear, it would be far too heavy to make such a quiet sound." That and she couldn't sense a bear within her thirteen mile radius.

"Ah." Arthur nodded weakly, obviously out of his element in the talk of rabid bears.

Another snap sounded, this time on the other side of the clearing. Daine knocked an arrow, readying her bow even as she saw the men raise their swords and axes. Then they were flooded by blue.

"Woads!" The knights sprang into action, moving to meet their attackers.

They came from all sides. Swarming into the clearing, the men were little more than blurs of blue and black. She tensed, preparing for the impact she knew soon would come. Somewhere in the woods Daine heard the distressed chatter of a disturbed squirrel, and she felt a sort of rage fill her chest. She pushed it away, and reached out to the people in the area.

Get out! Leave now… You need not die for the mistakes of these twoleggars. Spread the word of this battle, and steer clear! She felt the animals oppose her—they wanted to help—and added a touch of command to her tone. Go! You cannot help me now… it is too great a risk! She felt their presence withdraw, and took relief in that.

She fired five arrows into the oncoming mass of bodies, one after the other, in the span of a few seconds. Then they were too close; her bow would be useless. She quickly shouldered the quiver, getting it out of the way, and grasped the bow like a staff. At least she wouldn't be completely defenseless.

She tried not to think about the men, lying dead in the leaves, and the families that would have to mourn them.

Then a blue painted face was thrust close to hers. She stumbled back a step, a man leaning heavily into the bow she now held close across her chest. She wilted slightly under his strength as he bore down on her. He was too close to her; she could feel the heat of his breath against her cheek as he said something in a different language. A language she didn't understand.

She fell back again.

As she was slowly pushed back, step by faltering step, she saw her opponent clearly for the first time. The skin beneath the swirling blue paint was brown and weather-worn. A mop of dark hair covered his head. His eyes were murder filled, a piercing blue.

He was just as human as she.

That didn't make her feel any better.

With a grunt and a great burst of strength she shoved him away. She didn't give him any time to recover before swinging the bow around, landing a cracking blow against the side of his head. No sooner had he fallen than another took his place.

She kept being driven further and further back, as man after man she felled. She felt tears building with each man she hurt. She'd always hated this part! And it was one thing to kill someone from afar, and another one entirely to bash their heads in, to feel the reverberating crack of wood against bone. There was a reason she was a spy, and not a warrior. But she was quickly getting tired.

She was an archer, not a staffsman!

She screamed, one of the woad's blades coming uncomfortably close. A hand fisted in the back of her shirt, yanking her out of reach of another attempted blow. She spun, prepared to strike her attacker, only to come face to face with Gawain. He was panting lightly, but seemed otherwise no worse for wear. He pulled her against his chest, one arm wrapping around her waist as the other wielded an axe with deadly accuracy.

Daine flinched against him when he buried his axe into a Woad's head. The arm around her waist squeezed reassuringly. "Can you use an axe, or a sword?"

The question was simple, and simply asked. But it made her feel strangely inadequate. "No. I—"

Gawain cut her off. There was no time for explanations now. "Then get up a tree. I'll cover you. This is no place for an archer."

"I know, but—"

"NOW!"

He pushed her away, plucking another axe from the fingers of a dead man. He plowed ahead into the writhing mass of bodies, swinging his axes with renewed furry.

Daine looked after him for only a moment before scurrying over to a nearby tree. She scaled it quickly. She'd never been so grateful for those odd hours she'd spent with Zeke in the trees of his native home. She decided then that to be a monkey was truly a beautiful thing. Swinging from tree to tree. Scrambling up them as easy as one would run...

She shook her head. This was no time to be thinking about such things!

She settled herself securely amidst the branches, thoroughly checking her bowstring. She was relieved that she had not somehow managed to snap it. Artlessly pulling an arrow from her quiver, she put it to the string, taking careful aim. Her companions had now completely mingled in with the Woads…

She wouldn't hit them.

Daine let the arrow fly, felling a Woad who had been sneaking in behind Lancelot. The man started, his eyes darting to the Woad dead at his feet before quickly finding her up in her tree. He nodded once to her, eyes guarded. Then he spun. His double swords came around, arcing gracefully to behead and eviscerate a Woad who had gotten particularly close. Daine allowed herself to admire his form, for a moment; she'd never seen anything quite like that back in Tortall!

Forcing her attention back to the slowing battle, Daine drew another arrow. She may be useless in close-quarters without her magic, but from here she could help. For what seemed like both forever and no time at all, she meticulously picked off the Woads who managed to get past the guards of her new friends.

Draw, string, fire. Draw, string, fire. Draw, string… fire. She fell into a pattern, loosing herself in the spirit of the bow. Reveling in the rhythm of the weapon. The slide of wood against leather, the twang of the raw-hide bowstring releasing its tension, the distant thud of the arrow meeting its target that she could almost hear; all like music to her. It was times like this that Daine always felt closest to her father.

It was the deep voice of a horn in the distance that broke her from her half hypnotized state. Daine watched, bemused, as the remaining Woads melted back into the trees. She looked around at her companions; they looked only slightly confused. She watched, lowering her bow, as each man slowly relaxed.

Arthur surveyed the area, taking note of each of his knights. Then Daine saw his eyes widen, and his hand clutch compulsively at the hilt of his sword. When Lancelot silently pointed up at her tree, she realized that the commander was one of the few that hadn't seen her in her perch. She wondered briefly if he had worried about what might have happened to her, or what she might have done. At his palpable relief, she decide it was the former. She felt oddly touched.

But still she stayed, precariously balanced and clutching her bow tightly, her face drawn. The itch under her skin had yet to disappear. It had faded to a manageable level, yes, but it was still there. But… the animals were coming out, the forest filling with sound again. Daine would just have to assume that the immediate danger had passed. She'd stay aware; that was all she could do.

Thank you, friends. She reached out to the surrounding animals, reassuring them. She could feel their disappointment at being left out. If you wish to help so, then maybe you could keep an eye out. Be my eyes where I cannot see. She smiled to herself when she felt them rushing off to do as she asked.

Arthur approached her tree, cautious. Then in a low, soothing voice, as if calming a wild animal, "Lady. All is well now. Do you need help getting down?" Had he seen her apprehension?

She managed to muster up a wry smile. "If I needed help getting down, then how would I have gotten up? No, I can do it myself, but thank you." He smiled back at her, and nodded. He didn't move, obviously prepared to catch her if she fell.

Taking a firm hold of the branch beneath her, Daine swung down, alighting carefully on each branch between her and the ground. She'd made it a little more than halfway before she came to a large gap between branches. She paused for a moment, considering.

"Lady? Are you stuck?"

Daine switched her gaze to Arthur, fighting a grin. He was awfully worked up about this. "No. I'm fine." She looked to the ground again; it really wasn't that far. "It would be helpful if you stepped back a bit, though."

The dark man frowned, but stepped back. "What are you planning on doing? La—" His eyes widened in alarm, even as she braced herself. "Lady! Don't!" It was an order; too bad he wasn't her commander.

Daine threw herself from her perch, landing crouched.

She rose unsteadily to her feet, shaking herself like a dog. She hadn't regained her bearings before Gawain had her by the shoulders, shaking her himself. "What do you think you're doing!" He gave her one last sharp shake, trying to drive his point home, and Daine braced her hands against his chest.

"Of all the idiotic, hare-brained stunts." Lancelot stalked towards her, scowling darkly. He stopped scant feet away from her, trembling with fury, visibly restraining himself. Daine twisted in Gawain's grasp to look the angry man in the eye. He turned on Arthur. "I revise my opinion, Arthur. This girl is not a danger to us. She's a danger to herself!"

Dagonet pushed past the shocked Galahad and Bors, and gently extracted the shaken woman from the other man's hold. "Gawain, Lancelot, calm down."

"Calm down?!" Daine started at Lancelot's bellow. She clutched reflexively at the large man's leather jerkin.

Dagonet glared at him. "Yes. Calm down. Can't you tell how you've shaken her."

Gawain laughed incredulously. "Shaken? She should be shaken! She just jumped out of a tree!"

"But she was absolutely fine until you two started on her!" Daine shuddered; this was the first time she'd heard the gentle giant yell. The rising tension was almost tangible to her enhanced senses. Almost painful.

The seasoned father in Bors rose to the surface at the lost look in Daine's eyes. He shook himself out of his stupor and put a firm hand on the small of her back, leading her over to a fallen log. Then, gruffly, "Sit down, girl. I know how exhausting your first battle with the Woads can be." He stood carefully in front of her, using his wide girth to block her sight of the ardently arguing men. He fished his traveling canteen from his saddlebags and shoved it into her hands. "Here, drink."

She gave him a grateful smile, taking a deep drink from the canteen. Then she eyed Arthur wearily when he crouched down in front of her. She was tired; everything was just starting to wear on her. She could handle getting caught during a spying mission. She could deal with misplacing Kit. She didn't even really mind being dumped in a whole new word and being forced to fight. But to mix them all together…

It was hard.

The sound of Arthur clearing his throat brought her eyes back into focus. He was looking at her with concern. "Are you alright?"

She only nodded.

"Have you done that before? Or was that the first time?" When she opened her mouth to protest, Arthur raised a hand. "Please. I must know."

Daine sighed. "I don't see why you're so bothered. It wasn't that high."

"Please."

"I've jumped from higher. I've had to. Does that answer your question?"

Arthur nodded curtly, but continued to eye her strangely. Then he called out, "Dagonet!" The big man fell silent, turning to give his full attention to his commander. "Make sure Daine hasn't hurt herself."

"I'm fine, really!"

"I'd still feel better if I knew that for certain."

Daine sighed, but sat back. "Fine."

As Dagonet went about checking her legs and back for damage, Daine turned her attention back to Lancelot and Gawain. The two had calmed down some, but were still visibly scowling. It was Lancelot's scowl that confused her the most. Didn't he…

"Lancelot? Why do you care?" The dark man's dark look got darker, then he stormed off, into the woods. She stared after him, and sighed. He was probably going to look for something to kill.

She reached out to the all the animals within her full range; she didn't know how far he would go. People. Listen. An angry twolegger is out in the woods; Do not approach him. That includes you, Paw Brothers. Just watch out for him. Do not let him be hurt.

More comfortable, knowing he would be safe, Daine turned her focus back on Arthur. The man ran a hand through is dark curls, and sighed. "He'll be fine. He knows what he's doing…"

She couldn't help but think that he was trying to reassure himself, just as much as he was trying to reassure her. She could only hope that Lancelot came back soon. For all their sakes. She didn't like the idea of loosing track of yet another companion. First Kit, then Tristan, next... well, she hoped there wouldn't be a next.

Daine's eyes widened in alarm.

She'd forgotten Kit!