CHAPTER THIRTEEN: No man is worth your tears

The carriage stumbled over another jut of land, as the rain lashed at the windows. Princess Rosaline leant next to the glass, watching the water run down its length. A feeble light – perhaps a lantern tacked to the back of her escort's horse - cast through the window and left shadows over her delicate features. She sighed heavily, the epitome of woe surrounding her.

"Rosaline." Her father's voice, she looked up. He's sat across from her on the opposing plush velvet seat. He looked disgruntled, which is no wonder as the carriage hardly made a smooth ride. She sighed again and waited for him to continue.

"I'm sorry your trip to Camelot didn't turn out as you expected. I know you have been looking forward to it for some time." He settled.

A smile flickered over her face. That was what he was worried about? "Don't be silly, father. I am merely glad to have been able to see the grand city within my life time." She turned her head back to the interminable rain.

Her mother, who was sat next to her, came to life for the conversation. "You realise we hardly saw any of it. I was hoping to enjoy the market during my stay."

King Carmen looked prominently downcast at his wife's comment. "Well, it did hit a rather abrupt end."

Rosaline flinched. She had meddled idly with people's love lives before. Why, there wouldn't be any scandals in her castle if she didn't abuse her powers. But she had never regretted it before. She sighed again. What was it that made this time different?

Her father's voice cut over her thoughts "Well, with Uther you can never tell. I had hoped to have seen some change in the man, but he remains as stubborn as ever. Well -" Carmen slapped his knees and stretched widely. "At least his son shows some promise. Perhaps with Arthur there is hope for Camelot yet."

That was it. When she first met Arthur, he had shown so much promise. As if he had had his life planned out before him, a dream in his head, a natural urge to lead. There had been hope.

She swore under her breath. Perhaps she was the first to realise they were destined to be together.

~o~

"Sire, Sire!" A guard ran forward to greet them, spitting his words through the impenetrable rain. The only light filtered through the castle windows as it towered over them.

Arthur jumped off his horse and addressed the guard easily, ignoring Gwen who followed suit.

"I turned back. My servant has gone on ahead to inform the knights."

The guard looked momentarily perplexed, before putting on his best formal tone. "Very well, I shall inform the king." He regarded the drenched girl standing next to the Prince. "And you are?"

"Gwen." She responded, visibly shivering in her rain drenched clothes. "I'm returning from running an errand on the Court Physician's behalf."

"Gaius's?" The guard questioned. "Very well. If you unhitch your bag a servant will take the horse away. You may proceed to his chambers."

Gwen nodded bravely, untucking her rain-raw hands and fiddling at the buckles.

"I'll be going to the Physicians chambers as well." Arthur cut across, easily unlatching the bag and handing it to her. His fingers brushed over hers and she gasped. His eyes met hers for a moment; blue on brown, but then he turned back to the guard, continuing as if nothing had happened. "I have to enquire after headache treatments."

The guard looked between the two curiously but disguised it well when the Prince turned back around. He coughed awkwardly. "I shall let the king know."

~o~

The corridor could be considered warm after the cold rain, the flickering torches provided little heat but it was above freezing. Gwen knocked shyly on the door, paying an overwhelming amount of attention to the detail of the wood rather than the man standing behind her. She considered just asking him to barge in but she knew neither of them could do that to their elderly physician. Finally, she heard a shuffling the other side of the door and with an eerie creak, it opened.

"Gwen!" Gaius exclaimed. "I hadn't expected you back today; you must be soaked to the bone. Come in, Come in!" He ushered her through. He made to close the door but then noticed the prince standing there. "Sire?"

Arthur stepped out of the shadows. "Excuse me Gaius, I was just wondering if you could provide a headache treatment."

Gaius looked worriedly from Gwen to Arthur, before replying. "Of course, of course. It's my job, come on in. I've got some prepared so you won't have to wait long."

Arthur nodded soberly and followed Gwen into the poorly lit chambers. Gaius fussed around with a few candles and threw another log on the dying fire. Gwen followed suit, lighting candles and fetching towels. The Prince stood stiffly at the door, watching them work with a conflicted expression on his face.

Satisfied, Gaius had selected a vial from the shelf. He measured out a quantity of it and made to hand it to Arthur. He paused, scanning his face. "Sire, have you not been sleeping well?"

Arthur inhaled, well aware he had been caught out. "I have been having vivid dreams, but most of it is due to the headaches."

Gaius nodded in that disarming way that suggested he knew something Arthur didn't. "And the feeling of something missing?"

Arthur actually laughed at that. "You don't miss a thing, do you Gaius?" He raised the potion in a mock 'cheers' before downing it in one. He grimaced at the sharp taste.

"If that fails to work, there's an alternative recipe we may have to try tomorrow, sire." Gaius informed, accepting the glass off him and flickering his eyes knowingly at Guinevere. "I'll see if I can incorporate something to reduce your other symptoms as well."

"They are hardly symptoms -" He protested, but held his tongue at one look from his experienced physician. "Anyway. I'm sure you'll want to speak to Guinevere and find out the results of your message. I'll leave you two."

"Goodnight, Sire." Gaius responded, bowing his head. Arthur closed the door after him. He waited until he heard the footsteps fade away before turning to the girl "Gwen what happened?" He whispered furiously.

Gwen's legs finally gave way and she collapsed into a chair. "I don't know! My horse bolted in the storm and Arthur stopped it, next thing I knew he was escorting me home!"

"Whatever would make the prince act in such a way?" Gaius wondered, even though they both suspected the same thing.

"Well, it was starting to rain and both him and Merlin seemed sour about catching up with the knights or something." She recited, starting to towel herself down.

Gaius moved over to his work bench and cleaned out the glass. "They were meant to be escorting King Carmen out of the boarders, but Merlin was in the cells so they left late."

"Merlin was in the cells?" Gwen looked up, hand paused in mid-dry.

"Yes, yes, but that's another story" Gaius dismissed. "I want to hear what happened to you first."

~o~

It hadn't taken long for Arthur to fall asleep. Perhaps it was the after effects of the headache potion or the overly pleasant feeling of dry clothes and a warm bed. In fact, he was rather overcome with this happy, light headed feeling. He saw blurs, outlines of things he perhaps never knew. It carries on in this way for a bit, lost in a happy smudge.

There is a heartbeat, faint at first but gaining momentum as he feels a touch on his lips and there is an overwhelming scent of flowers, and the world crashes into view. He's in a fight, she tells him, a fight to the death. "Live for me Arthur, that's all I ask" she implores. He knows he must. She's gone, replaced by Merlin who looks shocked, but there's something more in his eyes, something Arthur never noticed before. Respect.

He hears his own voice, telling him "She's not dispensable to me" and there is a rose, a moment, then something rips and he wakes up.

He lies, eyes flickering at the canopy of his bed. It was different to the dreams before. He tries to recall why, but the clutches of sleep claim him again.


Proof that I can still pass History AND carry on doing things I enjoy. Hey, just wanted to say THANK YOU! All you reviewers have been great, It's really nice hearing from you.

I've now reached a total of 40 people subscribed to this story, that's just amazing! Much more than I could ever hope.

Thank you for reading :)

EDIT: Went through and corrected some of the tenses...