Thanks again for all the reviews and feedback you have given. This chapter starts off with another characters pov (briefly), so hope you enjoy. I really want to do an Elyan pov, because I so want to like him again, but I keep that off until i see tonights episode 10. Arthur and Merlin pov's will come, but I'm not sure when. Sorry for the delay, but as I explained at the end of chapter 2, I had a big assignment that needed my attention more.
Hope you enjoy this chapter!
"Why bother my lady? Guinevere has been banished! She is but a shadow of what she once was, surely no threat now."
"My visions of her as Queen come to me even in my waking hours now Agravaine. We have merely delayed it." She couldn't let this servant girl win. Not now, when so very soon she would be victorious. "Send your men out, find her, and rip her heart out."
"It shall be done, my lady."
"Come now Guinevere, why are you making things so hard for yourself? You were once a servant, and my only wish is for you to serve me." He stroked her out of place fingers and crouched down to face her.
"I will not" she gasped painfully, "be your trophy."
"Oh Guinevere, it's so easy to pop your fingers back in, and begin all over again."
Gwen said nothing, but held his stare. Despite all the pain he had inflicted on her she had stayed strong, but her resolve was beginning to crack. She feared he sensed that too.
"You will break my lady," popping back one of her fingers into place, "and you will serve me." He then went on to correct all of Gwen's out of place fingers. Bound to a chair, Gwen could do nothing but scream as the shooting pain went through her hands. Grabbing the part of her arm with his brand burned on it, he traced around it with his knife. "You see this? You feel this? This means your mine…"
"I'm no one's!" She managed to spit out.
"Your mine." he whispered, looking her straight in the eyes, he smiled. "He's not coming for you. Is that what you're holding out for?" He laughed when he saw the tears stream down her face. "He banished you Guinevere, because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself. You weren't satisfied with only a King…"
"Shut up!"
"Ha ha, you see my enchanting lady, you have doomed yourself. You are nothing! No one wants you. No one came after you to help…"
"Stop it!"
"…No one has come searching for you. You are all alone in this world."
"No…" she sobbed.
"Yes! No one cares, because you're worthless to them. But not to me." Cupping her cheek almost tenderly "Let me make you into something useful."
"Yes." She barely whispered, if only to make him stop. Horis broke in a toothy grin. He thought he'd won. He was right though, she was nothing. She couldn't even be loyal to the man she loved. The man she had been about to marry.
"That's my girl." Rising he went round the back of her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You will serve me well, but in case you ever forget that, here's a little something to make you remember." And with that, he grabbed her left shoulder, and with a practised move, dislocated it, and without a hesitation, pulled it back in. Gwen had never experienced pain like it, and as the cell door closed behind him, she sobbed loudly, without caring who would hear.
Pouring wine into one of the men's tankards, Gwen cringed slightly at the strain on her fingers. One of Horis's many little reminders to never cross him. Despite this, she still planned to escape, though it would have to be well timed and well thought through. If Horis caught her, he would kill her.
"More wine, enchanting lady! More wine!" Making her way to his table, she topped up everyone's tankards and quickly tried to leave. Grabbing her arm, Horis pulled her onto his lap. "Don't leave so soon, I want you to meet my best client."
"She's a looker Horis. Where'd ya pick her up from?" A stout man, with bad skin, and even worst breath asked.
"Camelot, my friend. You are looking at King Arthur's cast-away bride." Pain and rage grew within her, but she remained silent.
"Is that so?" His weedy eyes widened. "Lucky man you are. As they say, one man's rubbish is another man's gold." Laughing they continued drinking, with Horis's arm never letting her go. Playing her part well, she smiled and joined in their laughter, when really she'd like to see them drown in their own wine. Clutching her more tightly when she tried to get up, Gwen had no choice but to stay seated on his lap.
Smiling brightly, she tried a different tactic. "What about I get you two men something to eat?"
"How very thoughtful my lady," tightening his grip around her waist, "maybe that tactic will work later, when I'm considerably more drunk." Kissing her full square on the lips, Gwen had no choice but to sit there and attempt not to throw up, while she waited for his hands to slacken. How far she had fallen, and in this moment, she didn't think of Arthur for once. Instead, she thought of her father, and how much she longed to be in his arms, with his soft voice telling her it was going to be alright.
She was by the stream. Elyan was there. They were both a lot younger, and they were laughing because Elyan was wet all over after slipping and falling in. He kept trying to pull her in too, but she was too fast for him. Hearing her name being called, she turned to see her father. Smiling at them both, he didn't seem angry at all that Elyan had managed to ruin his best clothes. With his arms opened wide, they both ran to their father and hugged him. "Come on you two. It's time to be heading home."
"But Gwen can't come home dad." Elyan said. Turning to face her, he held an accusing finger at her, "She's banished!"
"No I'm not! Please, let me come home. Dad, please!"
"On pain of death if you return." Elyan continued to speak, but it was no longer his voice. It was Arthur's. Reaching out towards her dad, he seemed to get farther and farther away…
"DAD!" she yelled out as she woke. Her face was wet from tears that had fallen in her sleep. It had been the fourth night in a row since her dreams had started. Always the same. Her and Elyan as children, her father embracing them, and Elyan's accusing face telling her she couldn't come home with them. Her thoughts lingered on Elyan, and the look he gave her in the council chambers. A look that told her she would have no support from him. She understood, of course she understood. What she had done was unforgiveable, and he was one of Arthur's knights, so his loyalty was to the King. But he was her brother, whom she had stood by through everything, no matter what he did, how much he had infuriated her, she'd been there for him. And he hadn't even graced her with a goodbye. Did she have a right to feel betrayed? She did not know. Slipping into another elaborate gown, courtesy of Horis, she waited for Dora to come and arrange her hair, before her days duties of pouring mead and wine began.
"What do you mean you haven't found her?" snarled Morgana.
"She's vanished, my lady. We got her trail a day's ride from Camelot, where she sold her cart, and then we followed a path that we were told she took, but found nothing."
"Bandits?" With any luck they will have finished off the job.
"Perhaps. Or it could be slave traders."
"Arthur has banned such practises."
"True, but the traders have grown rich, and more greedy since Cenred fell. It would not be completely unlikely for them to venture this far."
"Find her Agravaine. I don't care how."
I know things haven't gone well for Gwen, but trust me, things about to change. Enjoy tonights episode :)
