"Gawain!" Gawain turned around at the sound of Jols' voice and saw the squire walking hastily towards him.
"Arthur has called a meeting in the fortress hall. He wants all his knights there as soon as possible. Have you seen Lancelot and Galahad?" Jols reported dutifully to the blond knight. "I've already warned Dagonet, Bors and Tristan, but I haven't run in to either Lancelot or Galahad."
Gawain nodded to the back of the stable. "Galahad is mending his saddle. I'll tell him. I haven't seen Lancelot since he left here some time ago." A frown appeared on Gawain's forehead and he looked to Jols questioningly. "Did Arthur say why he wants all of us gathered?"
"No," Jols shook his head. "Only that he wanted everyone there fast. I think he's still in his room though."
Gawain chuckled quietly. "That urgent, huh?"
Despite his words, Gawain gave his horse one last pat before he went out of the stable where he'd been grooming the stallion, and walked towards Galahad.
"I heard. I wonder if it has anything to do with the rumours about the Woad rebels…" The youngest of the knights put down the saddle he had been working on, and quickly left the stable right behind Gawain.
"We'll find out soon enough," Bors grumbled, while he and Dagonet joined Gawain and Galahad coming from the direction of the tavern, with Tristan close on their heels.
Gawain reached the door to the fortress' hall first and pushed open the heavy door. He scanned the room while he took a step forward to see if Arthur had arrived already.
"Sweet Goddess!" Gawain whispered scream was bloodcurdling.
Galahad bumped into Gawain as he suddenly came to a stop. While he tried to regain his footing, he looked past Gawain to see what had so startled the older knight. "Sweet Goddess!"
In the midst of the hall and the round table, Lancelot was lying deadly still. His face was turned towards the door through which the knights had just entered. His eyes were closed. His complexion a ghostly white, in sharp contrast with the deep red blood pooling underneath his head.
Tristan was the first to recover his bearings, and stepped past the others. While he jumped over the round table, he looked at Galahad. "Get Arthur! Now! Bors, get the healer!"
–– 8 ––
Arthur looked up from the maps he was studying when he suddenly heard the heavy footsteps running through the hall towards his room. Before he could get up, his door burst open and Galahad almost fell inside. As soon as he saw the look on Galahad's face, Arthur knew that something was very, very wrong.
"It's Lancelot! We found him in the main hall." The horror so evident in Galahad's eyes now also reached Arthur's. Without waiting for a further explanation, he rushed past Galahad, and ran as fast as he could to the fortress' hall.
–– 8 ––
Gawain and Tristan had both knelt down next to Lancelot. Tristan swiftly moved his hands over Lancelot's body to determine if there were any serious injuries except for the obvious one to his head. When he was certain there weren't any, he turned to Gawain. "We need to move him on his back, so we can examine his head. I'll take his legs and torso. You take his head. Be careful."
Tristan needn't have added the remark about being careful, Gawain thought. He had never seen Lancelot look this fragile, like he could break upon their touch. On Tristan's orders, he helped turn Lancelot around. He couldn't help but gasp audibly when he got his first look of the bleeding wound on Lancelot's temple and forehead.
Tristan immediately moved towards Gawain when he heard the reaction of his brother-in-arms upon turning Lancelot's head. He gently placed his hand to the left side of Lancelot's face trying to visualize the damage that had been done. He didn't have to say a word to relay to Gawain that this was serious, very serious.
–– 8 ––
Arthur had tried not to imagine the worst while he was running towards the great hall, but the sight that he came upon was worse than he had imagined. His best friend lying for dead on the stone floor, and two of his knights looking up at him with such fear in their eyes that it chilled the room. Arthur jumped over the table without slowing down from his run through the hallways.
He knelt down next to Gawain who had moved out of the way to allow Arthur to come close to Lancelot. Hesitantly Arthur moved to place the palm of his hand to Lancelot's face as Tristan had done merely moments before. "Lancelot? Lancelot? Can you hear me?"
Arthur looked for any sign that Lancelot had heard him, but none came. He looked to Tristan, who shook his head. "He's alive, but barely. His breathing is so shallow that I didn't see him moving at first. He has lost a lot of blood…" Tristan's voice hitched. "Obviously…" He looked around warily. "Whoever did this, hit him extremely hard…"
Arthur was about to ask if they had sent for the healer when the man in question came running into the hall through the large doors. On his heels were two of his assistants and Bors.
All of the knights looked on speechlessly while the healer examined the Sarmatian. Not once did the man give any assessment of the condition the knight was in. Bors was the first who couldn't stand it any longer. "Well? Is he going to be alright?"
The answer stunned Bors into silence again. "This night will tell…"
Gawain was the first to recover his voice. "What do you mean? Is he going to die?"
"No…" Arthur's exclamation was lost in the noise of the other knights. He couldn't take his eyes off of the man he loved like a brother, he was being mesmerized by the slow trickle of blood that was sliding down Lancelot's temple joining the pool of red on the floor. He was frozen with fear while he heard the healer ordering his helpers to carefully place Lancelot on a stretcher that had appeared out of nowhere. Then the next words of the healer reached him crystal clear.
"If he lives through the night and wakes before the morning, then he should be alright in time. If not, then only the gods know whether he'll live."
The last words unleashed a fury in Arthur that he didn't know he possessed. "NO!" The room was quiet all of a sudden. "He's going to live! He is going to live…"
He could see how Gawain was nodding in agreement, Galahad too.
The healer glanced at the Roman commander briefly with pity gleaming in his eyes before returning his attention back to his patient. "Be careful," he instructed to his assistants. "Don't jar his head." He turned back to Arthur. "I assume you'll want to come with him?" He didn't wait for an answer.
–– 8 ––
Arthur had been sitting next to the bed for hours already. The healer had cleaned the wound on Lancelot's head and bandaged it. It had not even taken that much time. The wound was deep over Lancelot's temple and more shallow but broader over his forehead. It was as obvious to Arthur as the healer that a lot of force had been behind the blow to cause such an injury. Already was Lancelot's face around the gash swollen and turning black and blue. Arthur knew it had to be very painful. He cringed at the thought of the headache that Lancelot would wake up to. He sighed. Not once had Lancelot shown any sign of waking during the ministrations of the healer. Not one twitch of an eyelid, not one sound out of his mouth. Maybe he had turned a shade whiter if that were possible.
Arthur had sent his other knights to bed. He knew they weren't sleeping, no more than he was. He wouldn't even be surprised if they were all in the tavern. But he had wanted to be alone for awhile during his vigil at Lancelot's bed side so he could think. Think about the possibility that Lancelot could die. Dagonet had phrased it well – Lancelot as lying in the bed looked like he had died already, but hadn't stopped breathing just yet. And also think about the person who had attacked Lancelot. Who could it be? And why? Who hated Lancelot this much that he wanted him dead? Arthur wasn't blind to the fact that the smug and moody personality of his best friend had caused bad blood at times, not to mention the many jealous women and men that trailed the womanizer, but never had he seen anything occur that had made him afraid of Lancelot's life within the fortress' walls. What had changed now?
TBC