This lesson the Holy Land taught Robena above all others: When the earth quakes, the skies burn, and the end of the world is at hand, [i]that[/i] is the time for knights to go to war.

Apricot alone of the stable's horses has not panicked and shrieked or fallen. He stands sure-footed and ready with the same grim resolve he learned on the fields outside Antioch. Her helmet falls into place, deafening her ears and constricting her sight - things that were far more advantageous than mere protection on a battlefield like this. She draws her lance and levels it straight as they emerge from the stables in their full panoply.

Upon burning sands and shaking earth there is no time for the confusion of hearts. Lady Sandsfern is beside her, that is enough when they may both be dead in minutes. It would be a cruel irony indeed for them to have survived the Holy Land to perish here in green and gentle England but perhaps that was the true lesson of the pilgrimage: that the devil's work extends beyond any single kingdom and any single conflict. 

Her hand touched the chalice amulet of Exsanguinated Xristos and she spoke the words of Roman prayer. She touched her heels to the sides of her Roman stallion. She lowered her lance and faced the foe and prepared to unleash Roman war upon these forgetful and doomed daughters of England.