I pushed open the bathroom door. Gwaine was still snoozing amongst the bubbles. I called his name and then leaned over to touch him on the shoulder. He jumped, and his forehead connected with the bridge of my nose and I sprang back, my eyes already watering.

'What is it?' he asked. 'Oh Beth! I'm so sorry. Are you all right?'

I nodded, still clutching both hands to my face and feeling the ominous first warm drips of blood. 'Aragorn,' I said, waving one hand in the direction of the living room. 'S'Camelot. S'important.' I grabbed handfuls of loo roll as Gwaine leapt from the bath. I followed him out with a towel.

'Camelot's bleeding,' Aragorn said.

'Not the only one,' I muttered, but it was true. The map was actually oozing blood. 'Can you get dat onto de table?' I asked, at this precise moment less concerned about Camelot than I was about my cream carpet.

As Aragorn moved it, there was a knock on the door. That was all I needed! 'Put dis on,' I said to Gwaine, finally handing him the towel. Once he'd wrapped it around himself, I opened the door and was relieved to find it was only Katy, still in her nurse's uniform.

'What on earth?' she said, seeing my hand still holding a blood-soaked handful of loo roll to my face. She looked over my shoulder to see Aragorn and Gwaine standing at the table. 'Did one of them hit you?' she hissed. 'Come with me now, I'll get you out of here,' and she started pulling at my arm.

I resisted. 'It was an accident,' I said, although it sounded more like "uxidun".

'That's what they always say. You don't have to defend them now. Come on, let's go,' and she tugged my arm again.

'No!'

My protest made the two men turn round.

'Everything all right, Beth?' Gwaine asked.

I let Katy into the flat so she could see for herself I wasn't a victim of abuse. 'Katy, this is Gwaine . . .' Damn! I wasn't going to use their real names here. Too late. Gwaine bowed formally, despite wearing only a towel. This time a lilac one.

'And this must be Aragorn?' Katy said, smiling at him. He also bowed. I hoped she was taking it all as a joke and was still treating them as their fancy dress party characters. 'So what happened to your nose?' she said. 'Sit down, let me take a look.'

'Gwaine head-butted me. Accidentally!' I added.

Once she'd removed the blood-stained snowball of tissue, it was to find the bleeding had almost stopped. 'You'll live,' she said. 'So where did you meet these two?'

Agghh! 'Erm, I was supposed to be giving them a lift to Alison's party, came back to change, but couldn't get the car started again.' I surprised myself with such a lucid explanation.

'Oh that's a shame,' she said, wiping away the dried blood. 'So how come . . .?'

'We went into London.'

Gwaine limped into the bedroom. 'What's the matter with him? Did you make him carry all your shopping?'

'Haha. Sporting injury, I believe.'

'And him?' She was referring to Aragorn's black eye that was beginning to develop.

'Same. So how was work?'

'Just work. I thought you were going away?'

'I am. At least, I will be, if I can get rid of these two,' I joked.

'I'll willingly take them off your hands,' she said. 'Especially that one,' and she nodded over at Aragorn.

First Elen, now Katy. But at least Katy wasn't going to try and kill him. As my nose appeared to have finally stopped bleeding, I went to wash my face in the bathroom. When I returned, she was standing next to Aragorn looking at the map.

'Great prop,' she said. 'So this is . . . where?'

'Oh, it was just something the boys did for the party,' I said, picking it up and folding it into four.

'Can I just see it again?' Katy asked, slowly reaching out for the map.

'Oh it was all made up. Now, I'm really sorry, but we've really got to get going.' Fortunately Gwaine arrived at that point, finally dressed, with his bag packed. I walked over to the door and held it open for Katy. 'I'll give you a shout when I'm back,' I said.

I leaned against the closed door once she'd gone. 'What's the plan?'

'We need to get back to the inn.'

'And then Camelot?' Gwaine nodded. 'Shame, I would have liked to have seen Camelot.'

'But you will,' Gwaine said, looking slightly puzzled. 'The map . . .'

I started to shake my head. 'No, oh no, I am NOT going back. I will take you as far as the track to the inn, but that is it, map or no map. I'm already a day late for my holiday so I'll just carry on when I've dropped you off. Are you actually leaving this evening?'

Aragorn held out his hand for the map and spread it out on the table. Camelot was still oozing blood and there were three sets of tracks leading to the inn, and then a jumble of others joining them there and heading to Camelot.

'You can't even tell if mine are there,' I said, more confident than I felt.

Aragorn shook the map and the footsteps slid down the page and then started to return to the route. 'Look, there yours are,' he pointed out.

Damn. I pulled out one of the chairs at the table and sat down. 'I'm not saying I'm going, but can you talk me through this map thing?' I said. 'It seems to know more about me than I do about myself.'

'You get used to it,' Aragorn said. 'But it's generally right. I've no idea how it works, or who the map master is-'

'The map master?'

'Well, that's our name for the person who provides these and controls them.'

'But . . . how do they do it?'

'We don't know.'

'Why do they do it?'

'We don't know that either.'

'And what happens if you don't follow the map?'

'It's never happened.'

'Never?'

'Well only once to my knowledge. The map showed someone climbing down a cliff.'

'What happened?'

'They didn't notice they were supposed to climb down it.'

'Oh. I take it that didn't end well.'

'It certainly ended quickly.'

I had absolutely no intention of going with them to the inn, parking on the road at the very end of the track that I knew for definite was still in my world, but as I lifted out my bag so that Aragorn could take out his, the car simply disappeared. As did the road. And my way home. Again.

'Gah!' I said. This was not the farewell speech I had been mentally rehearsing in the car, thanking Gwaine for being so special, but Aragorn and Gwaine just looked at me as though I should have known better and it probably summed up my feelings just as well. They were right, of course. This was, apparently, my fate, my destiny . . . my imagination playing tricks on me still.

Gandalf was already in the inn, as were the other members of the ring quest team, and, of course, Percival. Given that Gwaine was still limping, and Aragorn's black eye was developing nicely, I found it most amusing that there were more enquiries about my swollen, bruised nose than about either of the men.

'Gwaine, you were supposed to protect her!' Percival stated indignantly.

'It was Gwaine who DID this!' I said.

'Gwaine? What the-?'

'It was an accident!' he protested, and I confirmed this with Percival. 'But we did have a bit of an incident.'

'Perhaps you'd better tell us what happened, and then we'll tell you what we know,' Gandalf said.

'Have you eaten?' Percival asked.

We all shook our heads. He sighed heavily and went back into the kitchen, returning with something roasted. I didn't dare ask what it was, but it tasted delicious, allowing Aragorn to tell the story while I ate.

'Well done, Miss Groves,' Gandalf said as he finished. 'And then I take it you saw the map?'

'What's happening at Camelot?' Gwaine asked.

'Grave news, I'm afraid. Arthur is missing, six of the knights are dead - no one you two know, and the citadel was set alight.'

'We must go there,' Gwaine said. 'Beth, will you come with us?'

'I know,' I said, my voice filled with resignation. 'We ride at dawn.'

Despite us setting off the next morning, the inn was busy with people asking for news of Camelot.

'Beth, can you DO something with Gwaine?' Percival eventually asked. 'He's just getting in the way now, limping around like a three-legged donkey.'

'A wonky donkey,' I muttered. I'd given him some of my strongest pain killers before we left my flat, but they didn't seem to be making any difference, and he wasn't helping by refusing to rest it.

'You. My room. Now,' I said to him, taking hold of his elbow and ushering him towards the rear of the inn. I knew he must be in pain when he didn't respond with a joke. I followed him up the stairs, this time watching his knee. As he entered my room, I could see that his face had taken on a slightly grey tinge and the sweat of pain was on his brow.

'Let me have another look,' I said as he sat on the bed. I eased off his boots, then his trousers. The fact that he made no comment was more worrying than the sight of his swollen knee. I eased my fingers down either side of the kneecap, trying to work out whether I'd missed something important earlier.

But as I ran my fingers over the swelling, it began to recede, the dark bruising at the side of the knee starting to fade under my touch. This was very odd. I worked my way out around the knee and watched the swelling disappearing under the tips of my fingers. It wasn't just improving, it was actually healing before my eyes.

Gwaine sat up on the bed. 'The pain. It's gone.'

'You're sure?'

He looked down at his knee and tentatively flexed it. 'Yes. Completely.'

I looked down at my hands. I'd done nothing different from when I'd examined him in the flat. But the swelling and bruise had completely disappeared, while Gwaine's colour had returned.

'You are a healer,' he said, examining his knee. 'And a powerful one at that.'

'Me? I mean, I'm a nurse, but . . .'

'You are a healer. You have that power.' I honestly did not know how to respond. 'Better to keep this secret, it is a powerful tool and it would put you in danger.'

'Oh great. But what about Aragorn? I can't just leave his eye like that, not if I can help him.' Although that did explain why there was no wound visible on his stomach.

'Perhaps later. No one will remember in the morning. Now, I should help Percival clear up,' and he returned to the bar.

I sat on the bed staring at my hands. Maybe this was why I was here. But if I could heal Gwaine . . . I stood in front of the mirror and placed my fingers on my own nose. Nothing. I stroked either side and then down the middle where it was bruised but it made no difference except brought fresh tears of pain to my eyes. So this physician couldn't heal herself then.

I was barely conscious of the increased level of noise at closing time as the drinkers left, but Aragorn arrived shortly afterwards.

'Gwaine sent me,' he said.

'Let me see your eye.' It was swollen so that he was squinting. I began to smooth out the skin at the edges and he flinched, but allowed me to continue. The effect was the same as with Gwaine's knee. The redness and bruising began to fade under my fingertips, the swelling reducing under my touch until it had disappeared.

He took my hands and kissed them. 'Healer's hands,' he said. 'Very precious. Thank you,' and left me alone.

Gandalf was the next to arrive. 'A new skill, Miss Groves. A healer. There was a healer I knew in The Shire, but she preferred potions and powders, she was not a natural like you. I wonder what happened to her . . .' and he sank into a reverie.

'So what does it mean?' I asked eventually.

'Oh! Oh, well, it just means you can heal, my dear. That is all.'

'But why here? I can't do this at home.'

'The power of The Shire, I expect.'

'And why can't I heal myself?'

'Because that could make you immortal and that is NEVER a good thing.' He stood and then ran his fingers over my nose, soothing the pain but not healing it. 'Early start tomorrow, my dear. Try to get SOME sleep. Good night.'

Gwaine arrived as Gandalf left. 'Ready for tomorrow?' he asked. 'Percival has found you a sure-footed pony.'

'A pony?' It only just occurred to me that I would actually be riding to Camelot. Riding a horse! I'd only ever ridden a seaside donkey, and that had been when I was seven!

He must have seen my face. 'You don't like horses?' he asked.

'I don't know. I've not met any. Erm, how long will it take to get to Camelot?'

'Three days.'

'Three DAYS! But . . . but I've never ridden a horse. Ever!'

Gwaine walked to the top of the stairs and shouted down to the bar, 'Percivale! Beth's never ridden a horse!'

There was a response, but I couldn't hear it. 'What did he say?' I asked, hoping there was another solution.

'That you'll probably be quite sore.'

'Thanks for that.'

'Better get a good night's sleep then,' he said, pausing in the doorway.

'Don't go.'

He walked towards me, tilted my chin up to his and started to kiss me. I took hold of his tunic and pulled him onto the bed next to me. There was a flurry of kissing, undressing, more kissing and then I rolled him onto his back and sat astride him.

'I may not have ridden a horse,' I said, 'but I'm pretty sure I know the technique.'