CHAPTER THREE
As Seath wandered back to the Woad camp she thought it would be wiser to stay clear from both Guinevere and Tristan, at least until Saturday. She knew Guinevere would have her bath every day until Saturday, which would be another five days. Now where did Murphy run off to this time? Seath looked around for her horse but it had gone missing again. Sighing loudly she made her way towards the sea-side by foot.
Thinking about the events with Tristan, she couldn't help but think that the man was dangerous for her, and in more than one way. She had always been in control of her emotions during her few relationships with other men but this one had started a large fire inside of her.
Looking around after her thinking, she saw her horse standing in the tide, "Murphy, how many times must I tell you that you are a land animal and not a seahorse?" As Seath tried to approach the horse it just moved deeper into the sea. "Come here, stupid horse." Seath took of her coat and boots and swam after her horse.
Tristan in his turn also had problems with controlling his emotions, never in his life had time had a woman he had just met left such an impression. He didn't know whether he wanted to strangle Seath with his bare hands, slice her into tiny pieces or throw her on his cot and make her his.
"Tristan, stop growling!" Lancelot yelled in the middle of the night. When he returned to the room he had found Tristan asleep, although a bit restless. He had woken up himself three times because of Tristan growling, he had enough of it.
"I know you can hear me!" Lancelot yelled, quite frustrated.
"I'm not growling." Tristan growled in the direction of Lancelot. "If you don't like it go away."
Outside of the door Gawain and Galahad where listening to Tristan and Lancelot arguing. "What are you two doing?" Gawain and Galahad jumped as Raicheal's head moved in between them.
"Nothing." Raicheal raise he eyebrow and shook her head.
"Why don't we go back to the tavern and get something nice to eat." She put her arms around both men and pushed them out of the house of healing.
The five days till Arthur's wedding day passed very fast, Lancelot had been allowed to return to the barracks as he seemed fit enough. Raicheal was still concerned about his wound; she was worried that it might never fully heal. Perhaps she could ask advice at one of the Woad healers.
This morning she had a task which she dreaded the most, she had to find a way to get Tristan into a bath filled with herbs that would quicken his healing. Every since he had gotten back from the tavern, he had become more dismissive of her treatment of him.
As she stood in the storage room collection the necessary herbs she wondered whether it would be a better idea to have a bathtub come to Tristan or to bring Tristan to the bathtub.
"Lady Raicheal, you seemed puzzled by something." Arthur had come to see Raicheal about the transportation of Tristran to the sea-side where the ceremony would take place.
"Good morning Arthur, and yes I was wondering about Tristan." Raicheal smiled as she could clearly see that Arthur was nervous, he kept fidgeting with his hands, which was usual for Arthur.
"And what of Tristan?" Arthur grabbed one of the bags Raicheal had filled with herbs.
"I was wondering whether it would be better to move a bathtub in the room with Tristan or to move Tristan to the bathhouse." Raicheal held the door open so that they could exit the storage room.
"Perhaps it would be wiser to move Tristan to the bathhouse, so that he is already on his way over to the stables." Arthur knew that his scout didn't want to come in the first place, and was still angry at Arthur for keeping him alive.
"Yes, that would be for the best. I will go and see where Gawain is so that he can take Tristan to the bathhouse." Raicheal grabbed the bag from Arthur and left in search of Gawain.
"Do you think Raicheal likes me?" Galahad was sitting in the tavern with Gawain eating breakfast.
"Of course she likes you, she's our friend." Gawain stuffed another piece of bread into his mouth.
"I didn't mean it like that." Galahad looked angry at Gawain for not understanding him.
"What did you mean that?" Gawain hoped that Galahad wasn't going to announce that he fancied Raicheal.
"I really like Raicheal and I don't mean as a friend." Inwardly Gawain groaned. Galahad fancied Raicheal and he should have seen it coming. Somewhere on the inside of Gawain a little voice made it clear that it didn't like Galahad's confession.
"You fancy Raicheal?" Gawain tried to keep his voices as normal as possible.
"Yes, I believe I do." Galahad seemed to have just realized that himself.
"And when did this all start?" Gawain said through gritted teeth as the little voice in side kept screaming at him to hit Galahad.
"I don't know, Gawain. I just do." Galahad thought that it must have started quite some time ago, as he had never really thought about Raicheal in that way before. He was so caught up in his own thinking that he didn't see the angry look on Gawain's face.
"She's our friend, Galahad! You must stop it." Gawain slammed his fist on the table, drawing the attention from people around then. Galahad looked shocked at Gawain, for never in all their years together had Gawain lost his patience with him.
"Gawain what's wrong?" Galahad turned his full focus on Gawain.
"You can't have Raicheal! What about me?" Both Gawain and Galahad looked shocked at this statement, neither of them knew who started the fight the followed.
And that was exactly how Raicheal found them rolling around on the tavern floor punching each other ferociously. She had wondered what the commotion was all about. As she moved through the crowed that surrounded the fighting knights, she came to a stop when she saw Galahad and Gawain on the floor.
"Bors!" Raicheal yelled for the older knights as she knew he had to be around. Bors walked up and grabbed Gawain of Galahad, shaking the younger knights as he tried to get some sense into them. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
Raicheal kneeled down next to Galahad who was supporting a bloody nose and a black eye that was swelling rapidly; she looked up at Gawain who had a bruised jaw and a cut lip. "Want to tell me what that was about?" She yelled at the pair.
Gawain only seeing that she went to Galahad first tried to kick Galahad again, but Bors noticed in time and pulled him away.
"Gawain, behave!" Gawain looked at Raicheal who was fussing over Galahad and Galahad smirked at him, Gawain stormed off.
"Galahad, want to tell me what that was about?" Raicheal had dragged Galahad back to one of the tables and started to clean him up.
"I don't think that it would be wise." Galahad knew Raicheal would be mad if she found out that they had been fighting about her.
"Who is taking you to Arthur and Guinevere's Ceremony?" Galahad hoped that she would go with him.
"I was thinking that I could go there with you and Gawain, but unless you two can work it out, it looks like I'm not going to go." Raicheal sighed.
"I'm sure Gawain has already found somebody to go with him, so why just not go with me?" Galahad knew that it was a mean thing to say, but he really wanted to take Raicheal there by himself.
"That's odd Gawain told me last night he didn't have anybody to with him." Raicheal got the feeling that there was something very wrong here.
"You know Gawain, the ladies love him." Galahad hated Gawain at that moment very much.
"They like him just as much as they like you Galahad, and stop being stubborn and get on your feet." Raicheal had better things to do than to solve a fight between her two best friends.
"I'm going to find Gawain to help me with Tristan, could you go over to the bathhouse and ask them for a separate bathtub for Tristan?" Raicheal had started to walk in the direction she had last seen Gawain.
She found Gawain on the training field having a sparring match with one of the Woads, from the looks of it the Woad was losing fast. "Gawain!" Raicheal yelled to get his attention.
With one final shove the Woad ended on the ground and Gawain had his dagger at his neck.
"What do you want Raicheal?" Gawain sounded irritated.
"What bug decided to crawl his way up your ass today, Gawain?" Raicheal yelled back.
"No bug, just Galahad." Gawain yelled back without thing about what he just said. When Raicheal didn't answer back he turned and saw her looking oddly at him, with a mischievous smile on her face.
"Not like that, never like that." Gawain hissed as he walked over to Raicheal.
"Gawain stop it you're scaring me." Raicheal had never seen Gawain act this way. Galahad yes, but Gawain never.
"Sorry. So what do you want with me?" Gawain knew that he shouldn't vent his anger on Raicheal, since it was Galahad he was mad at.
"I need to get Tristan into a bath." Raicheal put her hand under Gawain's chin and lifted it a bit to look at his lip.
"You two will look lovely this afternoon. Perhaps I should fall down the staircase so that our appearances match?" Raicheal started to laugh loudly.
"Why don't you just tell Tristan to get into the damned bath himself?" Gawain hated it that she reminded him of Galahad.
"Because he's not going to be able to get to the bathhouse by himself." Raicheal started to pull Gawain back to the house of healing to get Tristan.
"Seath! Wakey, wakey!" Fychan kicked his sister who was still fast asleep in their tent. He hated to wake her up this time since she had hardly slept for four nights.
"There are several things one must never do to sleeping people, and kicking them is one of those things.
DIE." Seath had apparently been awake but had decided to stay in the warmth of her furs.
"Guinevere is coming." Fychan squeaked from underneath his sister.
"Where?" Seath let go of Fychan's arms and looked around alarmed.
"Seath you promised that you would bath this morning." Guinevere sounded annoyed that Seath hadn't managed to do that simple task.
"I will bathe; I'll just get my clothes and jump into the sea. I have to get my horse anyway." Seath stood on top of her brother looking at the sea-side and behold there was Murphy standing in the tide again.
"No, you will go to the bathhouse and have a proper bath. Arthur has given me some oils to put in the bath, so that you will smell like a lady should." Guinevere held up several bottle, not even asking for permission Guinevere reached into Seath's pack and pulled out the dreaded dress.
"Hey what do you think you're doing? Those are my things." Seath ripped the dress and the pack out of Guinevere's hands.
"So are you coming or not?"Guinevere didn't even respond to Seath.
"Better do what she says, Seath. When she's married she might convince Arthur to throw you in his prison if you don't listen." Fychan whispered into his sister's ear.
"I'll just hold on to you and then we can be in there together. Forever." Seath grinned wickedly at Fychan.
"Can I at least get my horse?" Seath yelled after Guinevere.
"No, we will walk together."
"Fy, can you get Murphy for me? I might need him this afternoon!" Seath yelled at her brother as she stomped after Guinevere.
"Rai, you do realize that Tristan is going to kill me for this." Gawain whined as he let Raicheal pull him back to the house of healing. "Maybe Bors can help us, or Arthur himself?"
"Stop being a baby! If he makes any movement drop him and run. I mean he can't be that fast?" Raicheal stopped and looked at Gawain.
"He's that fast, and trust me that Tristan doesn't want to be bathed. He says that it will interfere with his work as a scout." Gawain had once asked Tristan why he didn't bath as much as the other knights.
"Maybe we should get Arthur along on this. If anybody should be killed because Tristan needs a bath, it's him." Raicheal headed over to the fortress hall with Gawain to get Arthur.
Tristan had again woken up early after another sleepless night, three days ago he had asked Gawain to bring him something to do. Gawain had thought about what Tristan would find interesting had brought him enough equipment to make arrows for the next two years.
So this morning he had started again on mending the arrows, Gawain had even been so kind as to provided Tristan with his bow. Tristan could have sworn on Arthur's god that there was a pattern forming in the holes the arrows had made in the wall across from him.
"Tristan, stop redecorating this room." Raicheal knew that , although she had never seen Tristan with the bow, he was the one responsible for the odd pattern on the wall.
Tristan didn't even look at her, he was wondering what she had planned now. He knew that it was probably something he wasn't going to enjoy since she had brought both Gawain and Arthur over. "Bors busy?" He smirked at Raicheal.
"I wouldn't know, haven't asked." Raicheal looked at Arthur for support.
"Tristan, we are here to escort you to the bathhouse." Arthur straightened his back, making him look taller than he already was.
"That's not going to happen." Tristan put away the arrow he had just finished and looked at Arthur.
"Yes it is, because…" Arthur looked at Raicheal.
"Because I want to rinse out your wounds properly." Raicheal finished for Arthur.
"You can do that here. There's no need to go over there." Tristan vaguely remember hearing Arthur and Guinevere talking about Seath needing a bath before the wedding, and he wouldn't risk the change of bumping into her.
"But after the bath, you, like the rest of us are going to come for the ceremony. This way the distance to the stables isn't going to be too long." Raicheal explained as Gawain and Arthur helped Tristan up.
"You know that you could just bring the horse to me," Tristan pointed out, knowing that it wouldn't make any difference, he was going to the bathhouse whether he like it or not.
Tristan had to admit that his wounds where causing him less trouble than the last time they had dragged him out of his room. The wound to his leg caused him most trouble, but his leg was definitely more useful as he tested it by putting his weight on it.
The trip to the bathhouse had been quite exhausting for Tristan, as the lack of movement had not been good for him. After delivering Tristan to the bathhouse, Arthur excused himself and quickly left the bathhouse.
"Tristan I'll prepare your bath, while Gawain can help you with your clothing." Raicheal closed the curtains, there where between the different bathtubs for privacy, leaving Gawain and Tristan behind staring at each other.
"I can undress myself." Tristan said as he saw Gawain looking uncertain at him. "Go." Gawain was more than happy to oblige to that order.