Chapter 23

The journey back towards Camelot was swift, but there were points when for the sake of both horses and riders the pace was slowed to a walk, and it was during one of these times that Arthur raised the question that was on his mind, but not before Gwaine had had his say first.

The knight's voice rang out from the back of the group, and it was obvious that he was addressing Arthur who, as before, was at the front with Gwen.

"You know, those really were extraordinary lengths that you went to, to avoid facing me in the next round of the tournament."

"Gwaine!" The tone of Elyan's voice indicated that, like the others, he could hardly believe that Gwaine could make a joke out of what had happened.

Arthur was smiling, however. Nothing was going to dampen his mood, as to him life had never felt so sweet, so he replied with good humour. "I know how disappointing it must have been to you to miss the opportunity to test your theory that you were going to knock me out."

Gwaine was ready with his alternative proposal though: "We can still have the fight when we get back to Camelot – then we'll see who's the best!"

Arthur didn't look back as he gave his answer, but he was still smiling: "You'll just have to wait until the next tournament….. Don't you think I deserve a little bit of a break?"

The horses walked on for a few moments before the quiet was broken by the unmistakable sound of a chicken – or to be more precise, a chicken sound as produced by Gwaine. Fortunately for him, everyone saw the funny side of this, and this time when Arthur responded, he turned round to face his knight. "Gwaine – I've just stared death in the face. I'm hardly likely to be afraid of facing you in a contest!"

There was another pause as Arthur looked ahead again, and the horses continued their slow walk, before Gwaine made another chicken sound.

Arthur looked back again, "Shut up, Gwaine! It's not going to happen, and I'm not going to listen to chicken noises all the way back to Camelot! But whilst we're on the subject of creatures with wings – and to get Gwaine off my back – now seems as good a time as any to ask the question that no doubt you have been waiting for me to ask. Which of you is going to explain to me how a dragon turned up earlier at precisely the right moment to save the day?"

And Arthur continued looking at them, shifting his gaze between each one of them in turn, waiting for one of them to answer. "Come on, I'm waiting!"

But Merlin, of course, knew the perfect way to hide the truth. "Yeah, it was me."

Arthur looked at him with his usual raised eyebrows: "You?"

"Yeah - when I was trying to escape from the pack of dogs that were chasing me, I came across the dragon sitting in a clearing in the forest, and for some reason he seemed pleased to see me, and after he chased off all the dogs from me, we had a nice little chat. He was very polite and asked how I was, so I told him that we had a bit of a problem, and then I had the great idea of asking him to help us, and he agreed, which I thought was rather nice of him."

Everyone laughed, including Arthur and Gwen, with Lancelot laughingly particularly loudly. Arthur responded, "Right! Well, thank you Merlin for your highly entertaining explanation, which I'm sure will be very useful if we ever need a good bedtime story in the future! However, I'll still go back to my initial question: who is going to tell me about this dragon?"

There was silence as they all looked at one another. Arthur looked at them all again: "I'm still waiting!" and he then continued in a firm but good natured tone: "Contrary to what some of you - notably Merlin - may think, I'm not stupid. I know that one of you must know something, so unless you want me to make each one of you swear to me on your honour and give me you word that you know nothing, you had better tell me now…."

Merlin was acutely aware that Lancelot would probably not be able to break an oath to Arthur a second time, and so once again he spoke to cover his tracks. "Books!"

Arthur looked at Merlin with a look of total non-comprehension on his face: "What?"

"Books… You ought to read more books!"

Arthur was just about to tell Merlin to shut up when his curiosity got the better of him, and in a tone that indicated that he was genuinely mystified, he asked his servant, "Why would I want to read a book?"

It was Merlin's turn to be dumfounded at Arthur's response, and he was momentarily lost for words. He opened his mouth, closed it, raised his eyebrows, and looked non-plussed, eventually coming up with what he considered was the obvious response: "Because you might learn something?" He had to resist the urge to add 'clotpole' at the end of the sentence.

"Merlin, I fail to see what your sudden and inexplicable interest in my education has to do with anything!"

"Taliesen's Almanac of Dragonlore…"

Arthur replied with a jokey note of surprise: "And remarkably, Merlin is still able to become even more incomprehensible….."

Merlin put on his best patient voice: "If you'd read Taliesen's Almanac of Dragonlore then you would have known that '…..dragons, contrary to how they may often appear to the observer, are well-endowed with a remarkable and keen sense of right and wrong, and are often found to be aware of any impending miscarriage of justice, and have been known to intervene without warning to rectify such a situation…' "

Everyone was by this time looking with incredulity at Merlin, except Lancelot who was trying to stifle his laughter. And Merlin added, as if to explain further, "…..chapter 3, page 27. I had to read it for Gaius."

Arthur looked at Merlin, not sure whether to believe him or not. "Does it really say that? How come I've never heard that before?"

"Because you never read any books!"

Arthur still didn't look convinced, so Lancelot helped Merlin out – again knowing how to deflect Arthur from the truth. "I think I prefer the story of Merlin finding the dragon in the woods."

"Well, I think I'll stick with Taliesen…" And Arthur shook his head to himself, still not totally convinced that he understood what had happened, and then continued, "and maybe, now that we've got that mystery solved, we can enjoy our ride back to Camelot and one another's company."

He looked at Gwen and smiled, and once again the horses walked on through the tranquillity of the woods. Until, that is, another chicken noise was heard, followed immediately by several simultaneous exclamations of "Gwaine!"

Arthur didn't look back. "It's not going to happen!"

Even at a fast ride, the journey back still required an overnight break, and the truth was that Arthur and Guinevere were also both exhausted, neither of them having slept much over the previous two nights. And so that night, around a camp fire and with a knight of Camelot always on watch, they all slept on the ground in the clothes they stood up in, with the blankets from their horses covering them. Guinevere lay down on the hard ground facing the fire, with Arthur's blue cloak under her head and a blanket over her, and closed her eyes to try to get some sleep. But she felt someone come and lie down immediately behind her under the blanket, and she smiled to herself as Arthur wrapped his arms around her and held her close. And all the others smiled as they looked at the young couple lying together who would one day be their king and queen - even Lancelot, to whom Arthur had simply said before they left Mercia, "Thank you for setting my mind at ease," and neither of them ever spoke again about the understanding that they had had in the dungeon. And as Guinevere fell asleep in Arthur's arms that night, she had never felt so cherished or so happy – or so safe.