AN: Told you the next update was coming soon. Kind Merlin, solicitous Arthur, chivalrous knights, oh my!

CHAPTER 6: Oh, My Achin' Bones

The next morning, I was stiffer than I'd ever been in my entire life. I could hardly get out of bed and take care of my most basic needs, especially getting into the clothes I found at the end of the bed. I was beyond grateful that the dress simply slid over my head and buckled at the waist. I felt like I was about 100 years old. My head still ached terribly, and my back felt like a giant bruise. As I was awkwardly washing my face, Merlin tapped on the door and peeked in holding a tray of food.

"Pretty sore today, huh?" he asked sympathetically as he watched me inch back toward the bed with all the speed of an arthritic snail.

"Mph."

"Gaius has some draughts here that will help with that. Between that and moving around a bit, you'll feel a whole lot better. There's a paste here to put on your bruises, too. And I'm to take the bandage off your neck." I had a thin slice from dillweed's dagger.

"Thank you." I felt a little guilty. "Sorry I'm cranky."

"Trust me, that's nothing like the cranky I deal with every day." His grin was disarming.

"Gaius?" I was surprised.

"Um, no. Someone else..." He twisted his mouth to the side and I didn't push him on it.

I found the food pretty good. When I finished, I walked back and forth for a little while, even doing some very gentle stretches and began to feel a lot better. Okay, my injuries, especially my head, still royally sucked, but at least I could move again. Someone thoughtfully sent in a maid who helped me into a beautiful mauve dress that was lightweight yet warm. She also did my hair, which would have been entirely impossible for me on my own. Part of me thought I should be very embarrassed to have someone else dress me and part of me thought it was exactly what I was used to. I shook my sore head, sick of the dichotomy. I thanked the maid as she left and Merlin stuck his head in again. "The king would like to hear what happened to you, if you think you're up for it."

"That's fine," I sighed.

"You look nice," he said, but I couldn't answer. It was time to look in the mirror, and I felt deep in my soul that looking at my reflection would change everything. Taking a deep breath, I turned to the mirror on the wall. I was right, my appearance was right. My hair was far too long, and lighter than I thought it should be. My features were softer than I expected, my eyes hazel instead of blue and the shape just a little different than expected. And I was way, way too short. My eyes filled with tears as I felt another link break to a life I couldn't quite remember. Merlin's eyes met mine in the mirror, and there was sympathy and understanding there. It gave me what I needed to straighten my spine and lift my chin.

"Thank you, Merlin. I'm ready to go."

Some girls could just walk into a throne room with poise and grace, I'm sure. I am not one of them. Despite my pretty dress, I was all too aware of how I looked. The left side of my jaw was one giant purple and red bruise, with a lump in the center. My right arm had another lovely bruise, this one visibly in the shape of a hand. There was also the line that had been cut into my neck, and I walked stiffly despite all of Gaius' help. Basically, I was a mess. I knew you should never show weakness in front of a king, and I showed nothing but weakness. Even the doors to the throne room intimidated me, not to mention the impassive guards that flanked it. I had an overwhelming urge to turn around and run all the way back out of Camelot, but it was too late. The doors had been thrown open.

Oh, great. The length of the long room was lined by intimidating men in robes. Not only that, but intermixed in with them were even scarier guys in chain mail and long red capes. Holy crap. Knights! I hadn't even looked at the dais yet, where I knew I would see the king. I glanced back at Merlin in pure panic, but he just smiled and made a sort of shooing motion, encouraging me to keep walking. Sadly, my feet were glued to the ground and I just stood awkwardly in the doorway. Feeling my heart pounding, I looked over the room again. There, in the middle of the knights, was a familiar pair of brown eyes. This guy had seen me scream insults at a thug who had a freaking sword at my neck. I couldn't be a coward in front of him now.

My feet finally started to move. I wanted to glide across the room "the picture of sophisticated grace" like a princess had sung once. But my battered body simply didn't allow it. I didn't look at anyone's eyes again, hoping to avoid seeing disgust or annoyance, and then a minor miracle happened. The king came off the dais and met me halfway. Read that again. The king. Of Camelot. Came to me. And he took my hand in his, and I dragged my eyes up to see compassion, not annoyance or even pity. "My lady," he said, "I can see you've been through quite an ordeal."

I gave the world's creakiest curtsey. "Your highness. I am...Mina."

He turned and called, "Bring Lady Mina a chair!" I took the moment to study him. He was tall and blonde and broad shouldered, with cheekbones for days. Honestly, a king should not be so good-looking. It really wasn't fair with everything else he had going for him. He wasn't even snobby, apparently. "Please, have a seat," he said. "I'm sorry to ask you to relive your ordeal, but knowing what happened can help us address the problem and hopefully prevent others from suffering as you have."

Dang, he was good. "Thank you for your indulgence, King Arthur. I am afraid that I do not remember the beginning of my journey at all, though your court physician assures me that this is due to the bump on my head and will pass in time. However, I would be happy to tell you of the attack." I was so surprised at my own eloquence, I pictured a rusty brown tow truck in my head with a thick southern accent saying Shoot, I'm talkin' all fancy-like. It occurred to me belatedly that I the accent I spoke with sounded just like most of theirs when I felt like I used to sound...different. Well, no time for all of that double lives crap now, I thought, and began to tell my ugly story.

For all his solicitousness to me, the king got downright pissed when I talked about the attack and how I was injured. Each time I glossed over something, he asked a question that brought me back around, so they heard every icky detail. I was really glad that the fury in those blue eyes wasn't directed at me, I'll tell you. Then I noticed the knights. Oh yes, they were all pissed off to hear about a woman being attacked. I didn't really like the damsel in distress feeling, but seeing their chivalry still warmed the cockles of my cold little heart. Gwaine was scowling fiercely, and about half of the others had their hands on their swords, as if they'd like to kill my attackers all over again. As I had that thought, Arthur asked Gwaine, "were all of the bandits killed?"

Gwaine shook his head, jaw clenched. "No, this was just a small group. There's no way it was all of them. We killed everyone there, but we're no closer to finding their base of operations. The good news is that the one who attacked Lady Mina was Bruin, their leader." He looked grimly satisfied. "And he'll never hurt anyone again." I felt relieved, then guilty that someone dying made me feel relieved. But mostly I just felt relieved. That Bruin had been the scariest creature I'd ever had the displeasure to meet, and I might not have quite so many nightmares knowing he was gone. "Lady Mina got in a few licks of her own before we even got there." I blushed a little at the praise. Stupid fair skin.

But then something triggered in my memory of earlier in the trip, and I frowned a little. "Is there something else, Lady Mina?" asked the king, obviously paying more attention than I'd thought.

"Maybe?" I heard the uncertainty in my own voice.

"Go on, you can tell us," he encouraged. For the love, those Disney princes had nothing on this man. I hoped he wasn't as perfect as he seemed, because that would just be annoying.

"Um...well, there was a reason we took the route that we did. Just outside of the hinterlands there were..." I trailed off, realizing what I was about to say would sound cracked. But Arthur nodded and approximately 4,863 people were staring at me, so I swallowed and continued. "There were eyes in the trees, in the shadows. Hundreds of eyes. The guards really wanted to turn back, but they didn't want to lose their pay, so they decided we could take the more dangerous route. The eyes – I know this sounds mad, but – the eyes all moved at the same time. They blinked at the same time, looked at the same thing. It was so eerie." I hadn't remembered one iota of that until I started talking. It was the strangest thing. Maybe this meant that all of my memory would return soon.

"Thank you for telling us that, and for giving us the entire tale, though you must be very sore and tired after your ordeal. We'll look into clearing out the bandits, and research the eyes."

I recognized the dismissal and realized that the stress of relating it all had made me tired. "Thank you for your indulgence, your majesty, and for your hospitality." I rose and gave another limp curtsy.

"Nonsense. You are welcome to stay in the palace as long as you wish, until you are fully recovered. And we will lend you some guards to see you safely to the end of your journey whenever you are ready to depart."

I inclined my head, pretending I had manners, and Gwaine spoke up. "I will see the lady back to Gaius' chambers." He offered his arm and the little girl inside me sighed at the chivalry, while the adult panicked, not sure how exactly I was supposed to hold onto it. Some long-hidden memory saved me, and I laid my hand on his forearm. It took about 100 years to get to the doors, but finally, finally, finally we were out of there, and I never even fell on my face. Go me.