Chapter 16

The sun was low in the sky when Arthur finally stirred. Gaius had left Gwen and Merlin sleeping until mid-morning, and most of the rest of the day was then spent moving quietly around the room as Arthur slept, doing small tasks or just resting. Merlin had a number of errands which took him briefly out of the room to different parts of the citadel, but Gaius and Gwen remained near Arthur for the whole of the day. And late in the afternoon, Gwen was occupying herself with completing the embroidering of the dragon on the red Camelot cloak, and the task which had seemed so difficult just days earlier was now a happy one for her. And as she pulled the golden thread through the material for the final time, she suddenly became aware that Arthur was watching her, obviously still weak, but with a smile on his face. The fact was that he had been watching her in silence for a while, and the mere sight of her, close to him, brought such peace and happiness to his heart, that it was enough for him just to lie there and drink it all in.

Gwen's face suddenly lit up, and she smiled back at him: "Arthur!"

His first words were spoken softly: "You kept your promise….. "

Gwen continued to smile, but was now looking at him with a slightly quizzical expression on her face, wondering at the meaning of his words. Merlin and Gaius immediately joined Gwen at the bedside, and Gaius smiled as Arthur turned his head slowly to look at him, "Welcome back Sire!"

And then Arthur, who was still feeling very drowsy, turned to look at Merlin, who simply smiled warmly back at him and gave him a nod of acknowledgement. But as he did so, a question slowly formed in Arthur's mind. He stared at Merlin for a few moments and his brow furrowed slightly, and looking slightly perplexed he suddenly asked Merlin, in not much more than a whisper, "Is this real?"

Merlin's smile broadened. "It's very real…." And then as if to somehow prove it, he added with a grin "….dollophead."

Gaius turned to Merlin. "Go and tell the king that his son has awoken. He will want to see him immediately."

As Merlin turned to go, Gwen also started to rise, intending to leave, but much to her surprise, Gaius rested a hand on her shoulder and simply said, "No, stay."

It took Merlin a while to track Uther down, and so by the time the king returned with Merlin, Arthur was propped up in bed on pillows, although obviously still weak, and Gwen was just finishing feeding him the soup that Gaius had prepared earlier. Gwen rose quickly as he entered the room, bowl still in hand, and bowed her head, unsure of what to do. Uther directed his first comment towards her: "As you were", and she sat back on the chair next to Arthur, but fixed her gaze on the ground.

The look of pride on Uther's face as he smiled down at Arthur was obvious to all those in the room, and he laid his hand on his son's shoulder, squeezing it slightly and bent over and kissed him on the forehead. Arthur looked back up into his face, and knew that his father loved him.

"They never tell you that sons will cause their fathers so much pain and yet give them so much pride. Arthur – Camelot owes you a debt that can never be repaid for your unswerving loyalty that has cost you so dear. You have shown such faithfulness to its people in the face of an experience of suffering that I can only pray will never visit you again. You have made me proud once again, Arthur….." And then Uther hesitated before continuing, "… and your mother would have been so proud of you too." And with that he placed her ring back in his hand. "I believe this belongs to you."

Arthur smiled broadly, as he replaced the ring on his finger. It would never leave his finger again until the day that he removed it and gave it to the silversmiths of Camelot for them to work it back into the smaller size that it originally was when it belonged to his mother, so that he could give it to Guinivere on the day that he asked her to marry him. But that lay many days in the future and there was a long road for both Arthur and Gwen before they reached that day. In the meantime, much to her initial discomfort and surprise, Gwen realised that Uther's attention had shifted to her. She continued to look at the floor, as she had done since he entered the room, as if that would somehow make him not notice her. Arthur was also taken by surprise when his father addressed her, although it was clear to everyone that he was speaking somewhat awkwardly. Gauis, however, had a smile on his face.

"And Guinivere….". He paused. "I want to thank you for the care that you have shown my son, and I would like you continue to look after Arthur until he returns to full health."

Arthur and Gwen both had expressions on their faces that showed that they couldn't quite believe what they were hearing. Gwen, still looking at the floor, nodded her head nervously, but allowed a mystified smile to creep onto her face. "Yes, your majesty."

Merlin looked quizzically at Gaius, suspecting he had had a part to play in this unexpected turn of events. Gauis, however, did his best to feign a look of innocence. As Uther turned to leave, he directed a final heart-felt comment to both Merlin and him. "Thank you – both of you."

There was a moment's silence after Uther had left, and then a collective release of breath which they had all been holding, and an exchange of smiles. Gwen reached out to touch Arthur's face in a gesture of affection, but then frowned slightly at the feel of it, and in her new role, took charge, saying to Arthur with an air of efficiency and authority, "Shave?"

But Arthur was already beginning to feel drowsy again, so he just smiled at her, shook his head slightly, and in a quiet voice said only two words, "No, sleep". So she just leant across and kissed him instead.

The shave did happen, however, shortly after he woke the following morning. And in the days that followed, Gaius's words to the king were shown to be exceedingly wise ones. During each day, Guinivere was almost constantly at Arthur's side, and she was, of course, the best possible distraction for him, and the hours spent with her were sweet and precious ones to him, bringing a closeness between them that would never otherwise have been possible. And as she bathed his wounds and changed his bandages each day, Arthur found himself falling more deeply in love with her.

But Gaius kept Arthur sleeping in the bed in his room rather than the prince's own room for several nights longer than his physical condition actually required, although Gaius still insisted it was just in case Arthur's wounds caused him pain in the night and he required medicine. It was the kindest way of meeting his need for a deeper kind of healing without having to speak of it or Arthur having to acknowledge it. Arthur sleeping on Gaius's bed meant, of course, that Gaius slept on Merlin's bed, requiring of necessity Merlin to sleep on the floor each night near Arthur. And each night before they slept, Merlin would light a large candle which could burn through the night. He claimed that it was because he needed it, explaining to Arthur that because he was sleeping on the floor in a different room, if he had to get up in the night he would be bound to knock something over – as he was so clumsy - and wake the prince. Although Arthur was well aware of his servant's clumsiness, he was also aware of the real reason that Merlin made sure the room wasn't in complete darkness during the night, and he was grateful for his friend's kind-heartedness.

And more than once Merlin was wakened in the night by Arthur crying out in his sleep, and Merlin would wake him out of the nightmare if he wasn't awake already, and bring him a fresh nightshirt if the one he was wearing was drenched in sweat. And then they would sit and talk about practically anything and everything, until the night terrors had been banished and Arthur felt able to sleep again. But when they talked, it was never about what had happened in the dark cell in Alvar's stronghold. In fact, Arthur never spoke of those things, except for one conversation with Merlin several days after his return, which came out of the blue and at a point Merlin least expected it.