Hello, all my lovely readers!
Thank you so much for the reviews for chapter 24. Much appreciated, as they always are. Special shout out to crshore. Her review made me tear up! Some reviews stick with me in this whole FanFiction thing, I believe this is one of them that will, for this story specifically. Thank you again for your lovely review and your support, crshore, as well as from the rest of you. I love hearing what you all have to say and I'm glad you're pleased/excited about this plot line. I am too.
Thanks also to all who've been favorite-ing this story as well. You guys' support means so much to me.
I probably shouldn't be writing this at all-all the school work is coming to a head right before we get a break. I could work on homework, but, you know, writing for myself is much too fun. Everything will get done somehow, and I will do my best. That I know.
Again, I'm on Twitter at Taylorjae15. Follow me for story updates and other random things.
Disclaimer: Nope, Merlin isn't mine and neither is Bradley. That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?
Enjoy chapter 25!
Arthur and Guinevere: A Love Which Brings Light
Chapter 25
It had been three days.
Three days of Gwen being confined in the dungeons. Three days of sitting in the dank cell, waiting and waiting. Oh, and not eating or drinking anything. Oh, and being questioned by two barbaric men who were loud and crude and demanding and stupid. She didn't tell them anything, not one thing, about Camelot or Arthur or Merlin or herself. They asked and asked and she kept silent the whole time, even after they threw water at her. Even after they came so close to her with such rancid breath she thought she might faint. Even after they threatened to hurt her, even after they chained her up at the hands and feet. As if I'm such an enemy, she thought to herself. As if I'm the bad guy! The whole thing was actually kind of laughable, or would be if she wasn't so freaked out. Nope, she didn't tell them a thing. Protection of Camelot was her job and she wouldn't be who she was if she betrayed that merely for these two yahoos.
She always kept her arms folded across her chest, the only protection she could give herself, alone in that room with only the men to shout at her. Sometimes she'd have to shield herself by putting her hands up to her face if she was afraid they might actually hit her. They'd always laugh, after, seeing her cower, watching her move her hands slowly back to her lap, she with narrowed eyes, them with a sick look of satisfaction. The fear of anything happening was sometimes worse than the actual hurt.
And then, when Hangus and Harm would grow frustrated, back in the cell she'd go, not treated with the dignity a woman should be treated with, let alone one carrying a child. She bristled when she heard them jeering at her, later at night, while they kept watch before coming to question her again, but tried to push past it. She knew who she was. A couple of bafoons weren't going to take that away.
It was cold down in the cells, and Gwen's silk dress she wore didn't help matters much. It was sad to say the room with the men and the questions was a tad bit warmer. When they'd come for her, they'd drag her there, pulling her along. In her condition anyway, she'd have to roll a bit to the side to rise to a stand or sitting position, like if she were in a chair or in bed. Getting up from the floor, though, was more difficult-and doing so while in chains nearly impossible-leaving her defenseless in a way that really annoyed her. To sleep, when she'd finally succumb to it, when the constant activity of keeping her guard up got to her, she curled up in a corner against the wall, resting her head on her folded arms. The chains rattled if she shivered too much and sometimes woke her up.
Mostly in the cell, she worried. There wasn't much else to do, nor was there much else she would've done anyway. She worried about Leon and Gaius and the knights at the garrison. What was wrong? Something had to be amiss if she was stuck down here, right? Why wasn't the warning bell going off? Why hadn't anyone found her yet? Where was everyone? What was happening? How was Camelot?
The only thing Gwen didn't worry about was Arthur, or at least not as much. At least he's away from here. Safe from whatever this is.
Or at least, she hoped he was.
AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG
It had been three days.
Three days since Leon had been up his chambers when he'd been given a drink with a potion in it, not that he knew that. So, he merely awoke days later, dazed and confused, when he hadn't even known he'd been asleep. And his awakening brought him a sight he thought he'd never see.
For when he woke the morning after all that time he'd, apparently, been asleep, he peered out the window to see men in all black roaming around like they owned the place, no idea how they got there at all.
AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG
After Leon had seen the foreign men in the courtyard, he'd gone out to them. He'd quickly figured out they were from the same village Arthur was at, that they weren't here with good intent at all. He'd killed some of them after that. That'd made some of them mad. A couple of the men had tried to kill him, with no luck. He was Leon, after all. Practically immortal. It was probably a good thing they didn't know that.
The only problem was, there were more of them coming by the second. He could see them over the crest of the hill, a band of black blanketing the earth. They'd probably been coming the whole time he'd been out cold in his room It was probably what they wanted. That made him feel sick inside.
He now wondered where Arthur was, how he was. If the men were from the same place, did that mean Arthur was planning to return early, trying to beat them here?
And secondly: Gwen. His eyes widened with fear. Where was she?
AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG
Leon had panicked when she wasn't in her chambers, when he saw Catherine out of her mind with worry, too. She hadn't seen her lady all morning, she'd told him, and his heart sank.
He ran through the castle, calling for her. When she didn't answer, and when no one knew where she was, he really began to worry.
He alerted the warning bell to be rung, for the knights at the garrison to be alerted, for them to alert the townspeople that things would be under control soon, and he was off again, looking for Gwen.
AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG
So this is it, Gwen thought to herself. The fourth day of being here, in chains, in the dungeon. Great. Just great.
She would take the time to weep if she wasn't so freaked out about everything else.
Luckily, there weren't any questionings today. But that's only because she'd heard Hangus and Harm shouting about something. Someone was killing their men? Who could it be?
At that, hope came to her.
And later, real hope came to her in the form of Leon. Leon!
"Leon! Thank God," Gwen says quietly, yet gratefully when she sees him at the door to her cell. She slowly got up, using a combination of the wall and her chains and her own strength to do so, came to meet him, gripping the cold bars of the door.
"Gwen," Leon says. "Thank goodness I found you."
"What happened? Why am I in here? Why are these men here?"
"They're from Noceo," Leon says.
"Noceo?" A puzzled look crosses Gwen's face. "But that's where-
"I know," he replies. "I'm afraid the king's been tricked," Leon says grimly. "We all have," he murmurs under his breath and Gwen feels like she might cry.
"Maybe he's coming back, trying to race the men back here?"
"That's what I thought," Leon agrees. He looks around nervously. They both were on edge, talking in barely audible tones. They knew someone was probably watching them, even if Hangus and Harm weren't at the moment.
"How long have you been in here?"
"About three days," Gwen answers. "Well, four, counting today."
Leon figures over the coincidence of the four days including today thing for about a minute, then says, "have they given you anything? Food? Water?"
Gwen shakes her head no. "They've only questioned me. Over and over and over. About Camelot's policies, about Arthur, about Merlin. I haven't told them anything."
"I know, I know you wouldn't." Leon looks warmly at her, at his good friend who happens to be the queen. "Listen, I'm going to stop these men from doing anymore harm. I'll try to bring some food down to you later. Some water too."
"Thank you," she says gratefully to him. He gives her one last look and then she watches him quickly exit upstairs.
AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG
Gwaine was coming home.
It had been three months since he left to mourn Leeda. He'd ventured all over, drinking at taverns, slipping back into his old ways. Some nights he was so sad he didn't have Leeda there to make him want to not do that anymore that he just drank more. But slowly, he pulled himself out of the hole that was the tavern scene, that was the drifter lifestyle he'd had going on before she'd come into his life.
To be the Gwaine he was now, he had to be the Gwaine he was then.
On one of his last stops, he'd gone up to Leeda's village, Haven, and had seen it, walked around in it, tried to picture her there. It was easy for him. He still pictured her everywhere. He even had dreams about her a lot of nights, which was comforting.
Now, though, he was finally OK enough to reenter life in Camelot. Ready to see Merlin and Arthur and Gwen. Gaius and Leon and Percival and all the knights.
He whistled a cheerful tune as he galloped on. He was going home, home to his family. In another three days or so, he'd be back in the land of things he knew, people he knew. People he loved. He'd get to be a knight of Camelot again! Sir Gwaine! Serving his people whom he respected and loved and wished to protect. Serving his king and queen whom he loved and wished to protect as well. He remembers about the baby and a smile comes to his face. He'll get to be an uncle! Imagine that, he thought to himself, amused. Uncle Gwaine sounded good to him. The thought of his friends made him smile, and gave him things to think about while on the journey back to them. Nothing made him happier than that.
AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG
It is later that evening. The sun dips lower and lower into the sky, a sunset washing the sky with color. Gwen is standing now, having been thrown back in her cell after more questions, standing and thinking.
Sorry, baby, Gwen thinks to herself as she feels a light butterfly kick. It was probably in protest. All this chaos and shouting was probably stressing him or her out. All this chaos and shouting was stressing her out, she knew that much. She tried to stay calm, she knew that was the best thing to do. She wraps her hands around the cold iron bars of the dungeon door to stop herself from shaking.
"Sorry, Gwen," she hears next and is surprised until she sees Sir Leon running down the steps to her. "I got here as soon as I could-" Leon is out of breath, frantic. He hands her some bread wrapped in cloth, along with some cheese, through the bars on the cell door. Next he hands her a goblet of water, which she takes and sips slowly.
"It's OK," Gwen says, taking the bundle gratefully. "I could hear the shouting. It's maddening not to be able to do anything. Thanks for this."
Leon shakes his head. "We've got to get you out of here."
"Don't worry about me. You've got bigger things to worry about. Go, save Camelot. I'll be fine. Especially now that I'll get some nourishment."
There is nothing bigger to worry about! Leon shouts inside his head. You're the queen! You're in chains! But he doesn't. He doesn't say any of it, because it's all what she already knows. "I know it'll never be good enough, but thanks," Leon says, feeling lame. Gwen shrugs, a simple gesture that shows just for gracious she is. "I'll come back as soon as I can."
Gwen nods. She knows he will.
She watches him exit. She slowly sits down, picks at the bread and cheese, eating it slowly, even though she knows she should be fearful of the men taking it away from her. She eats and she thinks.
Two more days.
Two more days and Arthur will come back home.
AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG
The next evening, Leon is out killing more of the Noceo men after having done so all day when a stranger on a horse comes riding up. He groans inside thinking it is more of the enemy, but grins, dumbfounded, when he sees who it really is.
"Gwaine!" Leon exclaims. "You're back!" Even though Gwaine is now standing in front of him, having jumped down from his horse, he can't believe it. It is really him, right? Or was that the sleep deprivation talking? He shakes his head. No time for that. "Look, we need to get Gwen," Leon says after the two knights share a fast manly half-hug.
"Guinevere's in this mess? Oh, God," Gwaine says. His chipper mood had faded fast when he'd seen the men marching on Camelot. "Who are these men?"
"From Noceo," Leon explains. "Arthur and Merlin were tricked. They're here to-
"They're here to take Camelot," Gwaine says, an anger filling him. Leon nods. "Where did you say Gwen was?"
"The last I saw she was in the cells, in the dungeons..." His sentence trails off. He shakes his head in disbelief, in exhaustion. "I don't know how these men even got here. Arthur's going to kill me," he says after a moment.
"He isn't," Gwaine insists, putting a hand on his friend's arm. "Because'll get Gwen out of there and make everything OK. After getting rid of all these guys first, of course," he says with a look on his face that says, this should be fun.
For Gwaine to be so typically himself in the midst of this horror and make things seem so simple make Leon feel as though he was swimming in the ocean: swallowed up. He doesn't tell Gwaine this. He simply hurries away with him, off to rid Camelot of these evil enemies, and then to rescue the queen.
AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG
It is early morning, too early. Gwen can barely see dawn stretching it's wings in the sky from the high window where she sits on the floor of the cold dungeon. All she can think is, Today. Today, today, today.
Because indeed it is. Today is the day Arthur comes home.
And so she sits. She waits. She waits for him to come find her.
AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG
On the evening of his scheduled arrival home, Arthur comes upon a view on the hills outside of the city that gives him pause. Then that same view makes him want to speed up and race home. Smoke billows from the castle in an eerie way, fires ravage the fields. Men scurry around, men Arthur has never seen before. Some of them, a lot of them, lay dying, but the whole thing still makes Arthur's heart hurt. Camelot is being threatened, and his defenses go on high alert.
"I knew it, I knew something was wrong," he says under his breath, and with that he races towards Camelot. The other knights' faces are a mixture of confusion and concern. Merlin, with a sinking feeling in his gut, waves them on to continue and follow Arthur, who has raced ahead to the citadel with lightening speed. Please don't let anything be wrong, Merlin all but begs silently, but already knows he is asking for that a little too late.