Her nerves had finally calmed themselves down now. Having been subjected to questions that she couldn't answer, let alone even if she had her voice, by someone important, she had been scared. After all, this youth was the one she had killed in her dream and even if it had only just been a dream, it had knocked her for six. To have just woken up in a strange place to find yourself being looked after by strange people was enough to scare and confuse anyone. She'd let the youth read what she'd written and smiled a little when she saw him looking rather confused. At least without her voice it gave her the chance to listen and to take in more.
The youth who was now sat opposite her was wearing a brown shirt with a red jacket made of some expensive material. Around his waist was a brown leather belt attached to which was a rather fine sword. His trousers were a denim blue, even though they didn't have denim back then and his boots again were brown. He had short blonde hair which shone almost like a halo with the sunlight behind it and he had the bluest eyes that she had ever seen. He wasn't particularly handsome in her opinion, but nor was he ugly. He was kind on the eyes and that was all that mattered to her. After all, she didn't want to be blinded by his looks now, did she?
Jumping at the question, she mimed having lost her voice but he didn't seem to understand. Gaius stepped in for her there and she then wrote something down in reply to his next few questions. She could detect the youth's annoyance by his body language and she felt rather sorry for him. It couldn't be easy for him to have such a troublesome prisoner who couldn't speak. Thing was, she had so many questions which couldn't be answered because she had no time to write them all down. Looking back up she noticed that the two youths had gone so she settled back down on the bed, sitting with her knees folded and decided to start to write what she remembered.
The list, at the end of fifteen minutes comprised of:
Room with lots of desks
Town
Roads
Bridges
River
Houses- lots of
People
Shops
That could be anywhere, she sighed. She kept remembering only fractions of things which were like random pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that wouldn't fit together. There were too many pieces missing. However, after completing her list, Alethea turned to doodling random pictures of badly drawn castles, shields, swords and other random symbols. There were even little people drawn in between the lines. Smiling a little as she filled in the page, she decided she was bored. She may have only been awake for an hour or so but if she stayed in that bed any longer then she would probably scream… If she had a voice that was.
Getting to her feet (surprisingly easier than she thought it would be), she took a few small steps over to where Gaius was. The physician seemed to be taking great interest in her things and she had to smile. There were no clothes in there, nor many books, but she did have one or two textbooks and a few folders plus her keys, money and her lunch… Actually, that would have gone off by now and judging by the look that Gaius shot her, she knew he'd found her mouldy sandwiches. They were immediately gotten rid of. However, her drink was also in there and as Gaius pulled out the bottle of Summer Fruits, she took it from him and opened the top before gulping it down. Glad of the refreshment, she gave Gaius a smile.
Deciding to leave the physician puzzling over what her various items were (she'd thought of writing down what they were but had decided to let him make his own decision), she took a walk around the room. Slowly but steadily she made her way over to the table covered with various scientific instruments and smiled. She may not have had science recently but she could soon name some of the objects like the beakers and the pestle& mortar. There were tubes of various coloured liquids everywhere and as she moved down the desk, she came to one of the open books. Bending slightly to have a proper look at it, she admired the penmanship of the author and the skill of the illustrator. She could just about pick out words but couldn't understand them because they were in a different language. Latin, she guessed, and that was only because she'd picked up a little from books she'd read or from lessons or things she'd watched. Turning the page carefully, she found that she recognised the next picture as that of a Griffin, apparently a mythical creature. However, as she thought, she began to wonder if it really was a magical creature or not. Actually, what creatures were classed as magical or not? She decided she'd ask when she had her voice back.
Turning the page back, she walked over to the window and peered out over the town. From her view point, the houses looked like matchboxes and the people were only dots moving from one place to the next. A horse and rider rode out of Camelot towards his destination whilst a few boys were messing around in the market square. Behind Camelot was a large forest, standing ancient and proud and seemed to whisper for people to come and hear the secrets of the trees. The skies were clear of clouds and was a pale blue colour. Birds flew in groups creating patterns in the sky which were admired only by the few who noticed them. Alethea thought she had never seen nor would see anything like this ever again in her lifetime, which would be relatively short if she was right in what she was thinking. Turning back to Gaius, she picked up her pad and pen once more.
'Who was our visitor?'
"Arthur, son of Camelot's King." Gaius told her after a few moments. It had taken him that long to notice she'd written anything.
'So, his questions… I'm to stand trial, aren't I?'
"Stand trial? Once you are better, yes."
'And what charge?' She needed to be sure
"Sorcery and witchcraft."
'They're basically the same thing.' she wrote quickly. So there was no hope for her then. 'And the punishment?'
"If they find you guilty…"
'They will'
"If they find you guilty, you will die." He decided to ignore what she'd just wrote
'How?'
"Beheaded. But it won't come to that."
'How do you know?'
"I just do. Trust me, it won't get to the point of you dying. I'm going to make sure of that."
'Thanks.' she returned his smile before going back to the window, deciding it was better watching the world go by than dwelling on her fate. Watching people come and go, she distracted herself by thinking about what they would be doing or where they were going to. Simple enough, but it kept her mind off the one thing she dreaded. Her trial.
