CHAPTER 10 : A NIGHT IN THE WILD, WILD WOODS
Gaius was amused. Arthur had been thrilled sitting the stands along with the king and various other members of the court. He had hardly been able to contain himself when the heralds had arrived with their trumpets to play their fanfares. The parade of knights had him waving happily at all his favourites. When the squires came onto the field, to march towards the stands and bow to the king, he was on his feet as he saw Romney and Gielbert. Romney smiled and pointed at Arthur's jacket and then pointed at his own.
The Knights, Knights in Training and the Squires placed themselves in a semicircle as the Senior Knights joined the group.
The king welcomed them, declaring, "At this tournament, you will be competing amongst yourselves for the challenge of Camelot. There will be preliminary bouts over the next days and then the finals after which the victors will be announced. There will be aggregate team scores and also individual ratings. In subsequent tournaments, Camelot will be represented by these winning teams and knights. You have all taken the Knights' Oath, govern yourself accordingly and may God be with you all."
Sir Rupert stepped forward and the king acknowledged him. "We have among us, a person whom we would like to recognise today."
Gaius looked at Uther, who was sitting relaxed obviously having knowledge of what Sir Rupert was about to say. Arthur was taking it all in, he loved ceremonies. He was also waiting for the horses to arrive.
"I would like to acknowledge the Crown Prince who is with us celebrating his ninth birthday." Gaius took Arthur's elbow and told him to stand up on his seat. He did so resplendent in his brown leather jacket with the red and yellow dragon emblem. Rupert raised his sword and intoned, "For the love of Prince Arthur and Camelot"
All the knights, the knights in training and squires repeated Sir Rupert's words. Arthur nodded acknowledging their good wishes, he grinned down at Gaius who put his hand on his shoulder and smiled. Arthur in turn wrapped his arms around his guardian's shoulders giving him a hug.
Sir Martin joined them as Gaius would soon go to the staging area where an infirmary tent had been set up. He would then see Arthur back to Gaius's chambers and wait with him till Gaius returned as the green smoke incident had not been forgotten.
The participants left the arena and the jousting began. As the first two knights took their places at the end of the lists, Arthur heart began to race, he was in his element. Gaius left him to Sir Martin as he went to tend the not unexpected nicks, cuts, sprains and possible breaks.
Uther watched Gaius leave and shifted his position so that he could look at the son, he had always wanted until he was born. The boy was very attractive, well-mannered and well-liked. Strange, that he had no feelings for him. Arthur sat on the edge of his seat waiting, his hands gripping the seat, his knuckles white. Uther turned away. Sir Rupert watched the whole scene and winced. His love for Rudd was so strong, he couldn't imagine a father turning his back on his son.
By the time Gaius arrived back at his chamber, Sir Martin and Arthur had a sheet of parchment with diagrammes and names of those entered, those eliminated and those continuing to the second level. Sir Martin nooded and left as Gaius walked in.
"Gaius, I have decided what I want to do when I grow up. I'm not going to be a prince or a court physician, I've decided to be a groom. I will look after Romney's horses when he is a knight and have them ready for the tournaments."
"That would be a very hard job. Wouldn't you like to train to be a knight and then you could have a groom look after your horses?"
"But, I don't know how?"
"Well, you will start by having more riding lessons, then lessons in sword handling. You will have to take lessons in axe throwing and armour cleaning."
"I'd get to have my own armour and clean it?"
"Yes, and practice hard at everything. It will take time but maybe five years from now you would be a knight in training and get to compete in a tournament. You will walk in after the knights and fight to win and I will stand proudly and watch you try your very best."
"But, I won't get hurt, will I Gaius?"
"If you do, I will be there to fix whatever is wrong. Many things will change in the next couple of years, except my love for you. Always and always, you'll be the little boy who came to me as a baby."
"Even when I am grown up like you?"
"Yes, even when you are all grown up!"
"That would be good Gaius 'cause, I don't want to be a knight, if I can't also be your Arthur." Gaius became misty eyed but then almost changing thoughts in mid sentence, Arthur continued," I'm hungry, can we now eat? Sir Martin put my jacket on the hook and shared an apple but I'm still hungry."
Gaius explained that because it was Arthur's birthday, a special meal was being sent up by the cook.
"Hope, there are no sprouts!" was the only comment from Arthur.
"I would think that as it's your birthday, he probably gave you a double portion as a present."
Arthur looked at him in horror. Then smiled, "Gaius when I was little, I would have believed you but I don't now because I'm nine."
Gaius smiled and said, "Well, if he has, as a special birthday concession, I will allow you to leave as many sprouts as you want."
"All of them?"
"All of them..." Gaius agreed.
Supper arrived and there were no sprouts in sight. Gaius realised that this time next year Arthur would probably have his first birthday supper in the Dining Hall with the king, his advisors and knights. He knew that he would be invited and he wondered how far distanced he would be from Arthur at that point. Life would certainly be hard emotionally in the upcoming year.
It was dark and Gaius could see that Arthur's eyelids were getting heavy and he was fighting it as he wanted to prove that he was now grown up. Gaius because there really wasn't a mean or vindictive bone in his body, yawned and said. "Look at me, I've had such a busy day, I'm ready to turn in. How about you?"
"No, I'm not sleepy," he said trying to stifle a yawn.
Gaius continued, "Well, I just have to go to bed, so that I can get up early for the rest of the competitions tomorrow."
"Me, too!" Arthur suddenly agreed.
"Get washed, undressed and into bed and I'll check on you in a few minutes."
Gaius turned his head, to the dying flames, he checked the fire and wondered, 'Was Arthur's ninth year going to be like this, slowly pushing him into another world, not far away but still distant. He realised that if he was to survive it, he would have to prepare not only Arthur but himself.'
Romney and Arthur picked up Rudd one morning and he was full of news. His father and three other knights were going to visit another castle to deliver papers from the king. They would be away three whole days and nights. He was going to have to look after his mother and his sister while his father was gone.
Arthur was really impressed but who would he have to look after if Gaius went away?
He decided he would probably have to look after Geoffrey. He mentioned this to Geoffrey who agreed that Arthur could look after him but explained that he would have another big responsibility if Gaius went away; he would have to look after his chambers, all his books, all the concoctions, the herbs, the ointments and all the vials. That made Arthur feel, better and more important.
Sir Rupert and cohorts went away and all returned safely. Rudd had fantastic stories of camping in the woods, staying at inns and even hay barns. They had to hunt for food and look after themselves and their horses.
Arthur quizzed Gaius about camping. "Have you ever been camping?
Gaius said, "Yes, I've been camping."
"Was it fun?"
"It was wet and I was cold. It is fun in the summer, when it was warm."
"Did you take your bed?"
"No, people just sleep on blankets on the ground. Not the most comfortable way to sleep. Next day, they roll them up and tie them behind their saddles."
"Who cooked the meals?"
"You have to take turn cooking the meals."
"Could you stay up all night if you wanted to?"
"Certainly, you could stay up all night, if you wished, and be tired and cranky the next day."
"Gaius, I'm going camping!"
"Oh, you are, are you? And when do you intend to go?"
"Tomorrow..."
"Wouldn't it be a good idea to makes some plans first?"
"Oh, Rudd knows all about that..."
"Well, let me think about it and I will see about this idea of yours."
Rudd walked in and Arthur yelled, "We can go! We can go! Gaius said so."
"Now wait a minute the two of you. I just said that I would think about it. I did not give anybody the permission to go anywhere."
Gaius did think about it and went to Sir Rupert to discuss the possibility of a supervised overnight camping experience for the two boys. Rupert thought it was great and the two of them sat down over a mug of cider to discuss the plans.
They needed a location, possibly an adult supervisor and a squire to accompany them. Probably, within the week, while the weather was still warm.
Gaius went to the chamber were they had their lessons and told them that the camping trip was a go, if they were still interested. Geoffrey was in on the plans. He had come up with the idea of camping in an unknown area on the lands that abutted Home Farm. The boys and Gielbert would follow a map and arrive at a suitable location.
Everything went according to the plan, the party of three, a crown-prince, a knight's son and a squire were about to arrive at the chosen camping spot.
"I can hear a cow? It must be a wild one. Let's hunt and kill it so we can take it back to the castle as food."
Gielbert, knowing that the proposed prey, was probably one of the castle farm's cows, tried to dissuade Arthur from his hunting expedition. "How are you going to kill it?"
Arthur looked around, that was a vexing question as besides a pot, they had no weapons. "We could capture it and do what the farmer does, tie a rope around its horns and lead it back to the castle."
Rudd said, "But that's a tame cow, this will be a big wild cow and it will probably try to kill us to eat us or run away really fast."
Gielbert decided that as they were getting close to the camping site that talk of wild animals might preclude their settling at night so he said, "Cows only ate grass." ... then looking at the boys he said that he didn't think that either of them looked very much like grass.
That put an end to killing a cow and they arrived at the designated spot. There was a stream to water the horse and ponies, a flat area with big rocks suitable for a camp site, even some wood conveniently left by the men who had unbeknownst to the boys, scouted this site as secure for the young prince.
They took off the bedrolls and unsaddled their own ponies.
Arthur thought that maybe they could also sleep one night in the stables with the horses as that might be fun. Rudd said that they smelled but Arthur faithful to horses, insisted that he loved the smell of a stable. Even Gielbert agreed with Arthur. As a senior squire, he had a horse specifically allocated to him and he was very proud of Pitch, his black mare.
Gielbert had them collect rocks to make a fire pit and helped them get the wood. Typically, Arthur wanted to know who had left the wood for them. Gielbert explained that someone else must have used this site and they would also leave wood for the next camper when they left. Arthur was impressed with this idea.
Supper was a great success, the cook had included beside pork pie, food readily eaten with your fingers and a few sweet treats as it was a special outing. It began to get dark and they sat around the fire and asked Gielbert to tell ghost stories. He did so but nothing which was going to upset anyone's sleep.
They got their bedrolls. Gielbert said that he was going to sleep near the fire. Arthur insisted he was going to sleep under a big fir tree and Rudd chose a spot next to a big rock. They were warned that if they got cold to move near the fire and sleep close to each other.
The best thing as far as Arthur was concerned was that he was going to lie down without getting washed or undressed.
"This is the way, I'm going to sleep from now on," declared Arthur.
"On your blanket on the floor?" asked Rudd.
"No, silly, without getting washed and undressed! Then, when I get up in the morning I won't have anything to do but eat breakfast before Romney arrives."
Gielbert said, "I think, maybe Gaius will have something to say about that."
"Maybe we could both do it then it would be alright..."
Gielbert had a mental picture of Gaius condoning such behaviour and laughed. It was really dark now, the birds were no longer chirping. All the other sounds of the woods seemed to be magnified. The boys made their ways to their sleeping sites of choice.
"Goodnight, Sire," said Gielbert, "Goodnight Rudd, remember if you are cold or for any other reason want to be closer to the fire, just come over." He figured they would last a couple of hours beside the rock and under the tree and then they would be beside him.
The first thing which Gaius had arranged was an armed guard for the area. Gielbert knew that they were protected and only three miles as the crow flies from Home Farm. He knew that Sir Rugbert and two more senior squires were within yards of the sleeping trio.
Arthur was the first to decide that sleeping under a tree was not a good idea. He felt sure that owls and mice were watching him. He could also hear some scuffling nearby which was probably a wolf or that wild cow.
Maybe he would be better closer to the fire. Sir Rugbert smiled as he saw the prince take his bedroll and join Gielbert near the fire. Gielbert thought, 'One down and one to go!'
A short time later, Rudd glanced over to the tree where Arthur was and decided to join him but he wasn't there. When he went to tell Gielbert that something had taken Arthur away; he saw him fast asleep next to Geilbert so he snuggled in beside him. Gielbert though, "Two for two!" and went to sleep.
The birds woke them early and Gielbert restarted the fire to boil water to make gruel. Arthur had to fill the pot at the stream and carry it back, Rudd placed it on the stones around the fire and Gielbert got the oats from his saddle bag. Arthur shook them into the pot and Rudd stirred them. Together the boys made their breakfast and together they washed the bowls, spoons and pot.
Arthur reminded them to collect some small branches and twigs to leave for the next campers.
The horse and ponies were saddled, the bedrolls attached and the trio made their way back to the castle by a round about route. They stopped for an early lunch near a lake and finished the food which the cook had packed for them, Sir Rugbert and the squires always nearby.
Just after noon, they turned south and there in the valley, they saw Home Farm. They went cantering into the yard. They left Rudd's borrowed pony as he would hop up behind Gielbert to ride double on Pitch. They were full of stories for the farmer's wife and asked her if there were any wild cows around here. She assured them that in the far woods on the other side of the hills, she was sure that there were. They were able to tell her that they had heard one last night. She was very impressed and later that night laughingly told her husband of the wild cow.
Gaius, Sir Rupert and Lady Allyse were all brought up to date on their wonderful camping trip.
Gaius also thanked Sir Rugbert and his two squires and insisted that Arthur and Rudyard thank Gielbert for staying with them when they camped and asked him if they had been good. He laughed and said that not only had they been great campers but that they had cooked their own breakfast and done the dishes.
Arthur was quick to point out that that was only because they were camping. "Boys didn't do dishes when they were at home!"