The situation in this chapter was the inital scene that made me think of this story. I had written it before the other chapters and have rewritten it a little, but if I have missed a few points that need correcting, then I've missed them... and not to worry. After this chapter, a few other characters start to come into it. And I'm keeping Arran and Lucien as guards around Uther, because it's just nice to have familiar extras about.
The breath was sickening in her face; she wasn't even sure what happened. She heard the fabric of her dress tearing as it was pulled and the bodice ripped open. It was her nice new dress, which she had spent so much time and effort on. She had worn it today, when the delegation of kings had arrived for the conference. Gwen had made it for that reason. Mainly for the banquet tonight, but she had carefully considered that perhaps her presence, and her dress would be better received if both had been prevalent throughout the day.
She had got Uther to the courtyard to greet the kings as they arrived, and Uther had dealt with it competently. Most of the arrivals had been confused by his presence, they had all heard the stories of what had happened, and Uther was clearly deferring to Arthur. However, Uther was still present, correct and definitely acting as he should. Gwen had been asked to escort any visiting princesses to their quarters. Vivian had arrived with her father, which had been interesting until Arthur had turned to Merlin and said.
"Get that damn enchantment off her!"
Merlin had nodded and then Arthur had some careful explaining to do, without making King Olaf want to kill his fellow royal King Alined. Gwen had missed that, instead she was stuck listening to Vivian drivel on about how strong and handsome Arthur was. Gwen agreed, but she didn't want to hear it from her. Then she had gone to help the household staff make up extra rooms for some of the knights who were attending with their kings. That was when she had been cornered, by the two men using the room she was preparing.
Two of Bayard's men had walked in and looked her up and down. She was acting like a servant but dressed a little better than usual. They had tried chatting to her, and then eventually pounced. Now she was pinned down on the bed, the heavy weight of the man on top of her.
"Come on, pretty girl."
Gwen twisted her head away, pushing the man's shoulders to try and prevent him from kissing her. She could feel his hand pull at her skirt. Despite the dress, she was still a servant, she wouldn't be able to make that much of a fuss.
The gasp that was suddenly pulled from her body was half pain, half relief. The man's jagged fingernails ripped at her skin but his weight was blessedly pulled off her. There was a sickening sound of a fist meeting flesh and it made her sit up and then all she could do was gape.
Standing between her and the two soldiers was no less than the king of Camelot. He hadn't bothered with his royal attire that morning; instead he had dressed for the hunt that afternoon, so he felt less self-conscious. Some of the kings, and Arthur, were going out that afternoon as a sort of bonding exercise and Uther had been more decisive about that than attending the initial meeting.
It was the reason that perhaps the men didn't immediately recognise him. Gwen struggled to get the material of her dress in order, pulling it to conceal her breast. But she got up as the leading soldier stepped forward and Uther shifted to meet him. She grabbed his arm with one hand while desperately trying to preserve her dignity with another. The bodice of the dress was utterly ruined.
"My Lord, no!"
She spoke to him with utter authority. Uther had his erratic moments and only herself and Arthur could really deal with him then. The king blinked and turned to look at her. Her hand was pressed against her breast, trying to keep herself covered, her other hand stayed on his arm. She moved to stand in front of him, so she could put her back to the knights, who were still eyeing her lecherously. Uther noticed and tried to step around her, eyes fixed on the two men.
"Sire? Sire!" she raised her voice. It had to give the men a hint as to who they were facing. She turned her head sharply as the sound of feet clattered down the corridor and Arran and Lucian burst into the room. Gwen felt Uther's arm go around her, and he stepped closer to her. Not only trying to protect her, but her dignity as well.
"My Lord, is there a problem?" one of them asked. They were a little confused as to what had set the king off. He had wanted to go and find Gwen, so they had headed in that direction, but all of a sudden Uther had started running.
"I want these men in the dungeon," Uther said flatly.
"We are knights from the kingdom of Mercia."
"Which explains your lack of manners!" Uther roared. He made both soldiers of Camelot jump, and regard the Mercain knights with great distain. Gwen whimpered as Sir Leon and Sir Robert ran into the room.
"Sire?"
Leon looked confused. Uther had turned, moving Gwen so she was completely hidden, using his body so shield her. As Leon walked in the king was shedding his jerkin and now he put it around Gwen's shoulders. He took hold of her arms and felt her shaking. Very carefully he guided her arms through the holes to settle the garment on her. On her slim frame it hung in a ridiculous fashion, but he pulled it around her torso so the damage to the dress was hidden. Then he put his arm around her, pulling her to his side and he turned back to the men lingering in the room. Clearly he couldn't order men sent down to the dungeon anymore, but he knew someone who could. He settled his eyes on Arran.
"Fetch the Prince Regent!"
One look at Gwen's face made him decide without question. He nodded and turned. "Yes, Sire."
"My Lord, is there a problem?" Sir Leon asked.
"Yes, if these men think they can assault members of this court," Uther snarled.
"Oh please, she's just a serving girl, we were just having fun!" one of the men said. Gwen whimpered a little. Uther took a tighter hold of her, putting his other arm around her and he settled her head against his chest.
"What is going on?" Arthur demanded, walking into the room, with Olaf and Bayard in tow.
"You'll find that Bayard's men appear to have a complete lack of manners, I want these two disciplined they were attacking my…" Uther actually faltered then.
He blinked, looked around and then looked down at the quivering girl in his arms. Uther had heard the mewling cry and known the tone, had known it was Gwen, who had tolerated him so much and whose dress had been so nice. He had made an effort to compliment on her on it that morning. When she had a spare moment she had been working on it. He knew what she was, but he wasn't quite sure, even after all this time, how it could be described.
Nanny was one description he had heard, nursemaid another, keeper, carer. They all ran through his head. None of them seemed to cover it.
"Companion!" he ended with after the few seconds pause. It made the two men snicker.
"She's a trumped up whore."
Uther went deathly still, his eyes drove into the two men. Gwen ceased sniffling, sensing the change in him.
"I am the king, be very careful how you phrase yourself in front of a lady of this court."
"She's a serving girl, Uther," Bayard said, stepping forward. Uther turned his head and looked at him.
"Her brother is a knight of Camelot, and a member of the Prince Regent's personal guard. Guinevere is a lady of this court, and she is not to be manhandled in such a disrespectful manner," Uther said. He turned his ice cold stare onto Arthur. "I presume you can deal with this matter."
"Of course father," Arthur was so shocked he didn't get a chance to do anything else but agree. Uther pulled Gwen around the cluster of men and gently started to lead her from the room, keeping her hidden with his body. His eyes met Arran's and then Lucian's and his eyes flicked at them. They looked at each other, and both nodded. One followed Uther, the other opted to stay. As Uther went down the corridor he paused and looked at the lone guard.
"We thought that perhaps one of us should help the prince."
Uther nodded at that and carried on leading Gwen away. She didn't do anything to stop him. It wasn't just the attack that shook her up, it was Uther's reaction, although she couldn't be anything but glad at his intervention. She wasn't sure she would have been able to get out of the situation without help. She sniffled a little and Uther carefully took her up towards her rooms.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxX
The scratches were painful, but not deep. They ran across the underside of her breast, the man in question had been clutching at it as Uther had pulled him off, his ragged nails ripping her skin. She dabbed at it carefully. Practicality told her to go to Gaius, who could give her something to ease the pain and treat the damage. But embarrassment meant she didn't want to. Instead she cleaned them herself and started to dress.
She really didn't know what else to wear, as she rummaged through her clothes, anything too tight on her would hurt, a corset was completely out of the question. Then sitting there, suddenly looking like it was demanding to be worn, was the dress her father had bought her, not long before his death. From a moment when he had been so hopeful and happy. Gwen grabbed it and started to yank it on. She hadn't ever worn it before, after what had happened it felt a little too painful to do so.
Now she felt it was just, defiantly, the right day. At least no one would have ever seen it before, so it was new enough. As Gwen was carefully straightening herself up there was a tentative knock at the door. She knew who it was by the sound. A second later, the door opened just a crack.
"Guinevere, are you all right?" Uther asked. "Can I come in?"
Gwen wiped her face as she said. "Yes, My Lord." It answered both questions. The door opened a little further and Uther peered around it, clearly not sure what he might find. As he saw her fully dressed he opened the door properly and stepped into the room.
"Are you all right?" Uther asked again. One question had clearly been answered for him, the other not so. Gwen sniffed.
"Fine," she managed to say, actually it was more sort of a whimper. Uther was by her side in seconds, pulling her into his arms and hugging her close. She pressed her face into his chest, glad of the sympathy. Uther decided that Gwen had been hugging him enough when he was upset, it was the least he could do. He turned his attention to the ruined dress that was draped over the back of a chair. Reaching out he petted the soft material, treating it as if it was a living, breathing thing.
"Your poor dress."
"It doesn't matter, it's just material."
"Can you fix it?" Uther asked. Gwen seemed very competent when she sewed, but Uther didn't really know that much about it. Gwen shook her head, trying to control her sniffing.
"I don't know." She wiped her face and pulled herself together a little more. "Thank you, for helping me. I'm just glad you were near enough to… why were you there?"
"I was looking for you, I wanted you to come to the meeting with me. Arthur wanted me to go and I'd feel less stupid if you were there. I heard you yelp. I don't think the meeting will happen now."
Gwen shook her head. "No, it's fine. They won't make a fuss, let's just let them forget about it."
It was a peace treaty, she didn't think for one moment even Arthur would jeopardise that for one embarrassing fumble. However, she felt Uther stiffen at her words, and he held onto her tightly for a moment before saying.
"Over my dead body."
He then promptly dropped a kiss onto the top of her head and let her go.
"I need to go and see Arthur, you stay here and…" He planted another kiss on her head before heading out of the room in very decisive fashion. It took Gwen a moment assert her scrambled brain and she ran for the door, coming face to face with a very worried looking Lucien.
"What are you doing here?"
"The king told me to stay with you, he didn't want you going anywhere on your own, and he said something about going to see the Prince Regent."
Gwen put her hand to her mouth and sighed. "Oh dear, we'd better find him."
