Sorry its been a while, thank you Meli for kicking my arse into gear and making me want to write again :D
Chapter VII
Disobeying Orders in order to piss off your superiors
As the sun descended in the sky, turning the darkening heavens ablaze with red, five people and their horses trekked through the wilderness, thoroughly wet, tired, and miserable. In the lead was the blonde youth whose name, they found out, was Stew. The next thing they had found out about him was he simply couldn't track.
"Why oh why couldn't they send the real tracker?" Gwyn muttered under her breath, wincing as she almost walked into a tree.
Stew looked behind smiling doubtfully. "Well sir, Master Carrot was busy, he has this mould he is cultivating in his pocket, it takes a lot of his time up you see, oh and I mustn't forget his little pet cheese, Wilbur I think his name was…."
Gwyn suddenly began to feel rather grateful they had the apprentice tracker rather than the master with them.
They stopped suddenly as they reached the crest of a hill and caught sight of the township that lay at the foot.
There was a loud whoop from behind them. Gwyn turned to see Stew capering madly. "I actually tracked someone to somewhere!" he yelled out in amazement.
Gwyn groaned "well, that really takes the cake"
The others exchanged mystified glances.
Lancelot looked around. "What cake?" he eventually asked.
"Is this like the milk episode?" Gawain asked in an undertone of bemused dismay.
"Maybe it's a royal cake." Stew muttered.
"Royal fruitcake maybe." Galahad replied sniggering.
As Lancelot led their dysfunctional party down the hill, Gwyn noticed the village looked ominously deserted, no smoke rose from the chimneys, and the nearby fields were devoid of labourers.
"You know maybe it would be a good idea to actually scout ahead and find out if it's safe before wandering into the village." Gwyn pointed out dryly.
Stew 'elected' to go.
They waited in nervous silence as Stew stealthily made his way down the track, and sidling up to the village gates.
Gwyn rolled her eyes. "I don't think an elephant could be less stealthy", she muttered as Stew crept along the village's wall, tripping over shrubbery as he did so and then limping into the village itself, disappearing from their view. They waited edgily; eventually Gwyn became so impatient she began to play noughts and crosses-with herself.
Lancelot watched her, grinding his teeth audibly, "Would you stop that!" he finally snarled, much to Gwyn's amusement. The approaching argument was cut short as a brief yell was heard from the village, followed by a ring of steel, and then silence.
Galahad stood stiffly, his hand clenching his sword in his hand so tightly his knuckles turned white, "He must have been caught." He finally whispered.
Gawain put his arm around Galahad's shoulder for a brief moment in comfort, but Galahad quickly shrugged him off, his facial expression closed off. Gwyn frowned, there was something odd going on between those two.
"He may not be dead; we will rescue him if we can. We now know the village is dangerous. We must be prepared and rescue Arthur. Failure is not an option." Lancelot told them steadfastly.
Gwyn rolled her eyes, "bloody 'failure is not an option' god we are doomed." She muttered before lying down and stretching.
"What are you doing?" asked Lancelot through clenched teeth.
Gwyn smiled condescendingly and replied without bothering to open her eyes. "We can't do anything till nightfall, that's obvious. So I'm attempting to sleep. You should try it sometime; it might make some much needed improvements to your temperament." Gwyn finished sweetly.
Lancelot' eye twitched. "You aren't meant to be sleeping yet, it could be dangerous with your concussion"
Gwyn ignored him.
As night fell and a half moon rose, Gwyn stood up and stretched looking round; Galahad was sleeping, Gawain was brushing the horses and Lancelot was no-where in sight.
Gwyn yawned. "Time to leave."
Gawain turned frowning, "What are you doing Nero? The plan is to wait for Lancelot; I know you were listening even if you were pretending to sleep to annoy Lancelot more."
Gwyn grinned. "Since when have I actually obeyed Lancelot? I have a better plan."
Gawain folded his arms, "and what would that be?"
"Sneaking in like Stew will never work whatever Lancelot says, they must have sentries at every entrance."
"So what do you suggest?"
She shrugged as she began strolling towards the town, "improvise." She threw over her shoulder at Gawain who let out a moan of disbelief. "It wasn't meant to be like this! I didn't plan to spend my life surrounded by madmen!"
"Then you shouldn't have joined the army."
There was a short silence.
"…was that an insult?"
Gwyn grinned and kept walking.
"What about Galahad?" Gawain suddenly hissed.
"He can face the music."
"What music?"
"Never you mind," Gwyn started humming.
Gawain seriously considered decapitating the annoying youth but eventually decided against it. He didn't want to sully his sword.
They reached the end of the vegetation cover and stopped, watching the gate carefully.
"I have a plan."
"Gods save us," Gawain muttered.
Gwyn swung round and 'accidentally' hit him in the nose. "Whoops," she muttered smiling. "So, I'm going to dress as a girl and wander in and they won't hurt me. Then once I'm inside I'll look round, discover what's going on in there and report back to you. Agreed? Good."
Gawain blinked, still holding his nose and whimpering. "You don't have any girls clothing."
"Oh you'd be surprised," she muttered darkly, putting her pack down and pulling out her peasant's dress she had worn when she lived with her mother.
"Why…?" Gawain began but Gwyn cut him off glaring. "Just don't ask. Now go away."
"What?"
"Are you deaf as well as dumb? Go away!"
"Oh this is such a bad idea..." Gawain murmured before wandering away to check on Galahad.
Gwyn quickly pulled off her mud-caked clothing and put back on the dress which she had hated so much. She could do nothing about her hair, Arthur had cut it short, therefore she just wrapped a scarf round it and hoped for the best, she then tried to scrub most of the dirt off her face and hid a dagger beneath her dress attached to a piece of twine around her hips; feeling very smug about the sneaky addition of the dagger, Gwyn left her pack in plain sight for the others to pick up later and made her way down to the village gate.
There was a long, low whistle that sounded as she approached the gate, then two guards appeared out of the shadows and started towards her, hands on their sword hilts.
Gwyn stopped, wide-eyed, "Is this not a town I can stop to stay the night? I won't cause any trouble; I'm just passing through, travelling to my grandmother's."
"Alone?" one roughly asked.
She nodded, hoping they would believe her.
They did. "Have you money to stay at an inn?"
Gwyn nodded, feeling for her belt pouch on reflex.
"Don't linger on the streets, find an inn and leave first thing in the morning," they escorted her within, the gate slowly closing behind them, Gwyn dared not turn to look.
The town was bigger than it had looked, with cobblestone streets and well built houses, the streets were fairly clean and the whole place looked well kept. However one thing was missing.
There were no people.
Gwyn entered the inn holding her breath; if there were no people in it either she was going to be officially petrified. However there were and Gwyn let out a great whoosh of air thankfully, ignoring the strange looks she received. She walked up to the counter and put the last of her coins down. "one room and a meal for the night."
The innkeeper squinted at her but took the coins without comment, handing her back a key to one of the rooms. "First room up the stairs, your meal will come shortly."
Gwyn nodded and proceeded to lean on the bar top.
She was soon joined by a youth who looked to be about her age, he was well built and good looking; he also had a decidedly untrustworthy air about him and a ring in one ear.
"If you steal anything of mine, I'll kill you," Gwyn warned,
The boy smiled, "I don't steal from ladies."
"Exactly." Gwyn muttered.
The boy's smile dimmed somewhat.
Gwyn decided it was time to get some information, "Look being a curious, innocent maiden and all, why don't you tell me about this town, and its worrying lack of people."
The boy's smile faded completely, "That's dangerous."
"So am I." threatened Gwyn.
The boy grinned. "I like you. My names Bedivere, you could say I don't have much respect for the authority here, so I'll tell you what's going on, but quietly. In the far corner where no-one can hear."
"Glad I've been approved of," Gwyn muttered, secretly thanking her good luck.
They walked over to one of the far tables, almost hidden in the corner, swathed in shadows and any noise they made would be drowned out by the rowdy fiddler playing.
He sat first. "Well it began two years ago when a magician came to stay in the keep-"
Gwyn sat down and let out a strangled yelp.
He stared at her. "Are you alright?"
Gwyn nodded painfully. She'd sat on her dagger.
