Willow returned her attention to the prince. She carefully shimmed up his chain mail shirt to see the wound. Blood still seeped from it. "No choice. The chain mail will have to come off." Willow carefully shimmed the heavy metal shirt off of Arthur. His under tunic came off with it, which was fine. She'd have to take that off too, anyway. The chain mail and tunic got stuck around Arthur's head. "Damn. This is amazingly difficult to get off by myself." She was glad Arthur was unconscious because she was sure she added a few more scrapes to his already numerous wounds.
Once the chain mail and tunic were off, she laid the tunic across his bare chest to try and keep the chill spring air from sending him into shock. She got a water skin from one of the horses that hadn't wandered off and washed the wound. She worried that the wound might have punctured an internal organ. That would be bad. Very bad. She applied some of the fresh herbs she'd just collected and wrapped the wound up with cloth ripped from the inside slip of her skirt. She tried to find the cleanest part she could. After the wound was wrapped Willow retrieved a spare cloak from the horse and laid it over Arthur.
While she found and tied four horses, expecting she would need their supplies, she wondered where the other two got to. The little sparrow returned. It brought with it a raven. The raven croaked. Willow said, "Thank you little sparrow for bringing what help you could. I figured you didn't know how to find the way to Crab Tree. You have done me a great service this day." She whistled and magicked the sparrow's comprehension. It dipped and flew away. "Dear raven, can you take a message to Millicent of Crab Tree? Tell her I need help and show her where to find me." Willow made sounds that approximated the raven's croaks and chortles. Then she magicked its understanding.
To Willow's surprise, the raven croaked an answer in English. "Granny Mill."
Willow laughed. "Yes, Granny Mill. Thank you, you clever bird." The raven flew away toward Crab Tree.
It was afternoon by this time and Willow knew no help would come today, so she'd need to keep Arthur warm. She gathered some branches and built a small lean-to against the tree he laid beside, still smeared with his blood from his slide. Willow found a small hatchet in the saddlebags of one of the horses and chopped off some pine branches to lay under Arthur. It was difficult getting them under him. Then she chopped some more pine branches to lay over the lean-to. He was fairly safe from rain and morning dew. But as the day wore on, the temperatures dropped. Willow figured early spring nights were still quite cold. So she turned her lean-to into an enclosure. She was going to need to conserve heat. Then she built up a small fire close to the entrance of the shelter she'd made. She boiled some water in a small leather pot she'd found in a saddlebag and put lots of rocks in the fire. She used hot water to clean Arthur's wound more thoroughly. It was hard working in her little shelter. She had purposely made it small for better heat conservation. The fact that she had needed less material to build it was an added benefit. But the smaller size made treating the wound difficult. After she was relatively confident she couldn't do anything more for the wound she hoped his inner organs were intact so the wound wouldn't turn septic. She ate a bit of the food to keep the worry away. While she ate the sun dipped toward the horizon. In the gathering gloom, Willow was discomfited by the presence of the five dead bodies. So with great effort, she dragged them away from both the shelter and the horses. The four enemy soldiers she stripped of their cloaks and added them to the shelter's inner edges to provide extra heat retention. The Camelot soldier she laid separately and covered with his cloak to keep animals and bugs off of it as best she could. Then she moved the horses in to the bushes, closer to the shelter. They'd provide a smidgen of extra heat and protection.
Willow placed the rocks warmed in the fire around the inside edges of the shelter for heat and cleaned up as best she could. She banked the fire, then crawled into the shelter as the night's chill settled in around them. She pulled a branch across the front to close the shelter. The prince's body was colder than she liked. She lay lengthwise next to the prince to try to warm him with her heat. Then decided the extra cloaks would work better over top of the two of them. In the dark, she spread the four cloaks over the prince's own and settled down beside him for a long cold night. It got so chilly she even did the trick of covering over their heads to cocoon in the heat.
Arthur groaned frequently throughout the dark night and mumbled words Willow mostly couldn't understand. One word she could understand. He said it over and over. "Merlin." Willow almost wished she'd sent the raven to find Merlin. But Camelot was much further away than Crab Tree. Willow was surprised how nice it felt to lie next to the prince, despite the smell of sweat and blood. He was a well built young man. Handsome. Alarmingly handsome for an avowed spinster to snuggle up to. She told herself over and over again as she tried to get back to sleep after each of his moaning mumbling stages that she was only lying next to him to keep him warm so he wouldn't die. But she had to admit, lying next to him when he was healthy seemed more and more appealing. At one point he reached across her and pulled her closer to him. It wasn't much of a pull considering how weak he was from blood loss, but it warmed her in unfamiliar places. She such warming was strange to her.
"Easy girl. He's a prince. Not for the likes of a poor orphaned girl like you." Not risking even speaking the next words aloud in the presence of the unconscious prince, she added mentally, 'And you're magical and he's the son of King Uther Pendragon the hater of all things magical.' Aloud she finished. "No. Not for the likes of you."
By morning Willow was warm and cozy under the many cloaks and it was hard to go out into the cold air. But she was encouraged by how warm Arthur was. Not chilled yet not feverish. Hunger forced Willow out of the warmth. She started a fire, boiled water and prepared some breakfast. While she was checking on the horses she heard a groan from within the shelter. She rushed to remove the branch covering the entrance and check on Arthur.
He was awake and looked alarmed. "Where am I? Who are you?" He groaned again and reached for his stomach.
"Arthur! No! Don't disturb the bandages. You were badly injured rescuing me yesterday from enemy soldiers."
"I remember now. King Urien's men caught Sir Tamer by surprise and cut him down. Is he alright?"
Willow shook her head. "I'm afraid he didn't make it. He was dead by the time I found him. You managed to kill all four of Urien's soldiers by yourself before you lost consciousness from blood loss. But one of them stabbed you in the fight. Your wound is below your ribs. I couldn't get you anyplace warm so I built a shelter around you."
He relaxed. "We're far from any town or village. What were you doing alone in the forest?"
She bristled at his reprove. "I was out collecting herbs. I'm Willow, apprentice healer to Millicent of Crab Tree. We've met once when I was with Merlin doing work for Gaius." She raised an eyebrow. "I'm curious. Some of your wounds are older, not as fresh as the others. Were you in another fight recently?"
He closed his eyes. "We were returning from a skirmish against King Lot's men encroaching on our borders. Sir Tamer and I were the only survivors."
Willow didn't like the sound of that. "One of King Uriens's soldiers mentioned that they were a scouting party. Is this important?"
Arthur groaned and tried to get up. He barely managed to lift his head. "I think both enemies are planning a combined attack. I must warn my father. I have to get up."
Willow tucked the cloaks back around him. "That would be unwise, Prince Arthur. Your wound is serious."
His eyes rolled back in his head. Willow thought maybe he passed out. He cleared his throat and opened his eyes again. He looked well enough. "If I can't go, then you'll have to go."
Willow knew she couldn't abandon him here. He'd die. "Let me bring you food and we'll talk more after that."
He grabbed her wrist. "This can't wait–Willow did you say your name was? The lives of the whole kingdom are at stake."
There was the sound of horses' harnesses. Willow jumped up to see who it was.
"Hello," she yelled with delight as a small horse-drawn wagon wound its way through the trees. Granny sat beside Old Man Tussock. They were being led toward her by the raven she had sent to Granny for help. "Over here!" Then Willow told Arthur, "Millicent has found us. They have a wagon. We'll be able to get you back to shelter and send word to Camelot." Arthur was unconscious.
When Granny arrived she accessed the wound.
Arthur woke up and demanded, "Word must be sent to Camelot as soon as possible."
Willow took out pen, ink, and parchment. "What exactly should the king be told?"
After she'd written it down, Arthur managed to sign it. Old Man Tussock said they could manage to get Arthur back to Crab Tree without her if she would just help him get Arthur into the wagon. That was easier said than done. Finally, Arthur himself woke up to help them as best he could.
His legs hung off the end of the wagon but there was nothing they could do about that. Arthur beckoned her to him. When she was near he grabbed her wrist and whispered into her ear. "Take my horse. The gray one. Swift Frost. He's feisty, but the quickest. The guards at the gate need a secret password to let you through. The password is Wolf feathered in eiderdown." He passed out.