Chapter 3 – A very unfortunate day
Lost in the morning mist, I hear the sound of hurried footsteps approaching ... Arthur and I found ourselves hiding behind bushes in the garden of the castle, extremely entertained over the affliction shown by the boring astronomy and literature teachers that keep looking for us in every corner. Indeed, their rush results in a very comical scene, especially when concerning Professor Garrett, whose excess weight barely allows him to walk properly. Pity, I can almost feel sorry for them, but not enough to prevent me from achieving my intent. The one thing that surprises me in all this mess is Arthur, since he uses to be a faithful follower of the rules and obligations. Given this, it´s only natural to believe that the escaping plan from the unbearable classes was entirely my idea, to which Arthur, always so perfect and responsible, vehemently opposed. He´s following me, as he said himself, with the sole purpose of swerve me and avoid a punishment for us both. Of course I didn´t give an inch to his words of protest. And yet now here he is, rolling on the grass, helpless with laughter.
It's been only a few months since my arrival and, conscientiously, I already believe I´m being a dreadful influence on him. It would be funny if, one day, I would be sent to the dungeons for deviate the future king from his royal, noble path.
A loud sneeze!
Exasperatedly, I bring my hand to my forehead in anger. Damn it, Arthur! Of all possible times, did he really have to sneeze right now? Oh God, why is it - I think with a frown - that whenever I commit to something that requires minimal concentration and silence, I take Arthur with me?
Few minutes later, we are climbing the branches of one of the tall, century-old trees that adorn the castle. And to think all this effort is just to avoid being caught in middle act of escape. Arthur follows behind me with some difficulty for his short legs do not allow great scope in the process of escalation. Suddenly, the temptation to make fun of his low height becomes too irresistible. I'm taller and I have to use that advantage to toss his huge ego. Besides, I see it as a form of revenge for all the times he has mistreated my dolls. Not to recall the countless times when my beloved toys ended up in the depth of the lake or appeared headless on my desk. Yes, I´m pretty sure he deserves this!
He snorts, offended as I predicted he would be, with his pride hurt and I can´t contain a belly laugh, which only infuriates him further, to my greatest satisfaction.
To prove my point, I climb up even more quickly, barely noticing the brittle strength of the branches from those I get support. A few feet below Arthur pleads me to slow down, and I sense the tone of concern evident in his voice, but I do not pay him attention as I keep going faster and further.
Unexpectedly - to me - and before I can do anything to prevent it, one of my shoes holds up a fold of my dress (damn dresses!) and the next moment, I am flattened against the ground, still damp from the storm the night before.
I anticipate now that my day will not end well, and this time, it's not even needed a dream to sort it out.
Definitely, things are not going according to plan, because at this moment, my head throbs with pain due to the crash against a rock, my leg hurts and my dress is torn and dirty, not to mention the fact that the teachers will be by my side within seconds. And, worst of it all, Arthur is coming down from the top of the tree, which means he will be here soon and I am pretty sure he'll make me a laughing stock for decades to come. Also, I presume that, among the laughter, he will throw me that look of "I told you". I hate that look!
I bite my lip furiously. Oh, I wish he would fall from the tree as well! That way he would be deprived of whether to laugh or at least I would be given a reason to laugh too and we would be equal in misery.
He got down. What a shame! Unfortunately, he did not fall.
Holding shortly my breath, I exaggerate a deep sigh for today is not my lucky day at all. God! Are You conspiring against me or what? Maybe if I pretend to be dead for a couple minutes, I'd be spared the humiliation.
Closing my eyes as if trying to avoid the inevitable, I can almost feel the slight vibrations reaching my eardrums with the sound of Arthur's laughter.
I wait...and wait.
Silence.
The frightful laughs never arrive and, to my astonishment, what I hear the next moment is a terrified voice.
"Morgana? ... Morgana, are you all right? Please answer me!" - His voice reaches me in a rough and deeply scared pitch - "Please, don´t be dead! It doesn´t matter how much of a spoiled wicked girl you are." – to my annoyance, he seems to be pondering far too longer on that sentence – "Neverthless, you´re my playmate, I don´t allow you to die!"
Despite the arrogant final bit, those last words were spoken almost very low for me to hear and sounded like a confession. With a dry sensation on my throat, I suddenly feel awful to have thought so poorly of him.
"You will not get rid of me so easily ... and I'm not spoiled, you prat!" I retorted, trying to express pride and arrogance. However, when he took me in a joyful hug, I was unable to hide the tenderness from my eyes.
"Morgana, you're alive!" He continued in a too high tone.
"Shush, we'll be caught if you keep on screaming like that" I said while trying to support my body's weight over the uninjured leg, but then failing as a stabbing pain took over me with a slight moving of my damaged leg.
"Here, let me help you!" Arthur said softly, genuinely concerned.
As he pushed my arm around his shoulders, I returned him an indignant look wondering to myself if, at any extent, had he not hit his head somewhere.
Noticing my raised eyebrow, a pink shade of blood rose to his cheeks and he immediately hastened to justify his gesture by replying that soon enough he would have all the time in the world to make fun of my monumental fall.
I honestly can't wait for that time, I mumbled, hiding a smirk.
We decided to walk towards the kitchen, where people are usually too busy around with meals and dishes needing washing, to notice our not so unusual wandering there. But as we prepared to do so, the teachers emerged from behind the tree, ready to preach a long and boring sermon.
Their intent was thankfully stopped once they saw my "condition", my hurt leg and bloodied face. They rushed to catch me with careful hands and lead me to Gaius ´chambers, the court physician.
Gaius is a sweet and kind man. He assists me affectionately and is always worried and prepared to listen onto my nightmares 'subject. Whenever I'm with him, he makes me feel his special patient. Perhaps I am.
Disappointingly, even he will reprove my conduct on the present day.
Indeed, he resumes putting a bandage around my leg shaking evenly his head and at the same time, recalled me all the precautions a lady must take on and the risks of what could have happened. According to his experience, my head suffered a serious injury and it could have been much worse had I not been brought here so quickly.
At these comments, Arthur exudes a long and frustrated inspiration, making his tense posture known in the dark corner of the room.
Finally, in one last merciful act, Gaius bandages my head too, for what I presume my appearance at this very moment is too depressing for me to even care to watch my reflection in the mirror. I shoot Gaius a glare and then I glance briefly at Arthur, leaning against the door with the same dark expression he has been putting on for the last few hours, his eyes following Gaius every movement. I had never seen him so upset before. And right now, he doesn't look much like the spoiled boy I'm used to, but the king he'll be one day, feeling the weight of responsibility over his shoulders. But whatever he thinks he has failed on, it's worrying me to no end. He should know the fault was entirely mine. Our eyes meet and held in that last moment, just in time for me to see the fierce glint in his gorgeous light blue eyes, the one he shows whenever he makes up his mind and takes a decision. He looks away from me almost immediately, his head bowed as he moves to leave the room. I can´t stand by and watch him blame himself for what happened earlier, so I call after him to assure him I was the responsible for everything but he´s already outside the door, waiting for me.
When I join him, I intend to tell him what I had decided but we are drawn once again into classrooms. Back to where it all began, I sighed. Will it not be granted a single moment of privacy among friends?
It's settled then, there's no way to escape the lessons. Not even looking like a mummy as I do.
During the following hours, there was no possibility of opening my mouth so I remain boringly seated in front of a table with a hundred books to study while we hear the fabulous theories of Professor Garrett. That´s precisely what these theories are to me - fabulous and inconsistent.
A royal guard arrives at the door and, at the sound of the knock, my head rises violently, waiting for an unexpected flight. The knight does not speak to me though. He was there to summon Arthur to his daily training. With a last glance of compassion, Arthur leaves me alone in the hands of the evil teachers for God knows how many more hours.
How fair is this? I hurt myself, I am doomed to a headache until the end of the week, on a better chance, and he is the one who's given the chance to elude the classes. I feel outraged! He can miss classes and I cannot. But one day I'll be able to convince Uther to let me train as well. My fortune will change on that day!
When I finally resigned to pay attention to the rest of the class, Uther enters abruptly in the room and hugs me very carefully, looking at me, as if he was afraid that I had a broken bone or would be somehow deformed for life.
"Morgana, thank goodness it was nothing serious. Arthur just told me everything and I guarantee he'll be grounded for weeks for having dragged you away with him. That irresponsible boy! " He says, the words coming out very quickly, a clear sign of nervousness.
"He dragged me anywhere, I did ..." I begin but he cuts me in.
"You do not need to protect him, he has already confessed." I stare up at him in deep confusion. Arthur lied to save me from a punishment? Now I'm really sure he must have hit his head and I'm starting to seriously worry. It´s no use in argue with Uther when he´s like this. But why did Arthur do something as foolish? Knowing Uther as I do, he´ll be grounded for a very long time.
Anyway, I have an idea of how I will spend the next few weeks ...
I outline a devilish smile while looking at the pile of books that I should, or rather, I must study, displayed on the table and they remind me of another set of books, far more appealing.
I plan to take a set of story books with fantastic and terrifying creatures that I saw on Gaius shelf. Griffins ... three-eyed giants…lizard-like dragons ... every kind of monster.
I picture a fine scene in my mind, of us reading aloud on the floor in the darkness of the room, illuminated solemnly by the candle light, sensing the fear arising within us.
Gaius forbade me these readings when I first revealed some interest but, of course, he doesn't necessarily need to know I took them "borrowed".
Honestly, with all the investigation work and treatment of various diseases in the court, I don´t think he´ll lack a set of booklets for a while and so I can keep Arthur company during his unfair incarceration period.