Hey everyone! Thank you all so much for the awesome complements and for following the story! Sense I haven't posted in a while I decided to give you a longer chapter! I hope you all like it! Please give me comments and feedback, it makes me so happy to read them! It gives me the strength to continue on and write the story! Hope you all had a Happy New years!
The sun shone brightly across the mountain tops and peaks of the trees. The wind slightly swayed the leaves and it causes a whistling sound to echo through the air, like sirens in the sea. Arthur stares straight ahead looking into the forest brush making sure there wouldn't be any bandits or dangers in the clearing. Gwen and Merlin stay behind as Arthur gallops forward on his horse towards the clearing. Nothing seems amiss as he checks both the left and right side of him. The forest is quiet and it is music to his ears. Nothing seems to soothe him more than the tranquility that comes along with quiet sound of the wind or the rushing current from the river. If only his life were always like this instead of the constant noise he hears every day.
He is constantly pressured into being someone that everyone else needs him to be. He fears that one day he will forget himself and become a clone of everyone else's ideas and wishes. Sure he would be the next future king, but for once could he just simply be Arthur.
Merlin seems to be the only person that truly understands who he is. He has never met quite the odder fellow, however, something about Merlin maybe it's the way he listens, that makes Arthur feel close to him. He couldn't see himself without his faithful servant and even though he constantly insults him he knows that Merlin will always be there. He is thankful to have Merlin in his life more thankful than words could express.
He turns around to face both Merlin and Gwen. Gwen catches his gaze momentarily as the sun grazes down onto her loose curls. Her hair is pulled up into a nicely done bun but some loose curls flop alongside her face. The dark hair kisses the sides of her face framing it perfectly. Her lips are closed shut and her eyes are directly facing him. He knows that she is simply awaiting his response but for a moment he doesn't want to say anything. He wants to be allowed to stare at her if only for a moment. Her beauty is something so foreign to him. He has never seen or met someone quite like her and that is what draws him in. He wishes to hear her voice always for it sounds like music to his ears. He knows that she thinks ill of him. She believes he is a pompous spoiled brat and nothing more. Perhaps she is right, he is spoiled and has been given everything his entire life. For once he wants to work hard to obtain something. He knows that her heart will not come easily to him but he will fight for her affections.
A part of him knows that nothing will ever become of it. She is the daughter of a blacksmith and he the son of a king. But still a part of him doesn't care about their status, the Arthur part of him craves to get to know Gwen. He hopes that helping her look for her brother will be the start of her getting to know him.
Merlin's eyebrows scrunch together as he notices that Arthur has been starring far too long at Gwen. Merlin of course knows Arthur's secret. In fact, he insisted that Arthur follows his heart. However, his awkward stare on Gwen would only cause her to think he is being rude and too forward.
"Arthur," Merlin says cutting Arthur's stare away from Gwen. They have all been on horseback and the horse grunts underneath Merlin.
"Merlin," Arthur clears his throat and he turns to face Merlin.
"I'm getting quite tired we've been traveling for awhile now. Maybe we should make camp for the night and search more in the morning?" Arthur clenches his jaw and looks towards the sky. The sun is slowly starting to set, casting a slight darkness across the area.
"I believe we can rest, sense you're so brutally exhausted." Merlin smiles to himself. Arthur gets off of his horse and rubs the side of the horse's soft mane gently. "Maybe you've been spending too many long nights in the pub. Maybe I should be putting you to work more." Merlin sighs.
He knows the truth of course he has never been in the pubs but using magic to save not only Arthur but all of Camelot. Of course neither Arthur nor anyone could ever know.
"You visit the pubs often?" Gwen asks. She chuckles under her breathe. A pub is never a place for a lady but she has heard numerous stories about the men that go there. Merlin seems to fit none of the criteria. Merlin rolls his eyes as he dismounts from his horse.
"I don't…I mean, right yes, the pub. Can't get enough of it." Gwen smiles.
"I apologize but I simply cannot see a man like you in there." Merlin looks up and meets Gwen's smile. She indeed is something special.
"The food is what really draws you in. The fresh homemade biscuits—"
"Merlin, please," Arthur says after he lets his hand fall freely from the horse. "If you insist on teasing us about warm dinners, when we are obviously hungry, I insist you gather firewood so we can catch something to eat." Merlin turns to face Arthur,
"But—" he is cut off immediately by the look on Arthur's face. He raises his eyebrows and Merlin knows all too well what he means. They have been friends for quite some time now. Merlin knows that Arthur is simply asking for alone time with Gwen. Arthur grins deviously and turns on his heel towards the other part of the forest. "Right, well I will be back before you can say Lady Morgana awaits her knight in shining gol—"
"Merlin," Arthur argues putting his hand on his forehead in annoyance.
"Yes, oh, right." Merlin shuffles into the brush disappearing from sight.
Gwen laughs at the sight and turns her attention down towards Arthur.
"I still cannot see him as a man that constantly visits the pubs." Arthur comes over towards her side and lifts out both his arms so that she may dismount properly from her horse.
"All due respect Gwen but not everyone is how they seem." Gwen's lips slowly part.
At first she doesn't know if she should let him catch her. She knows he is simply being respectful but a part of her believes it to be something more. Kind people do not risk their lives to save someone else's brother. She knows he is here without Uther's wishes. That is why it is simply the three of them. She wonders what Arthur is truly thinking about as his sky blue eyes linger upon her face. "I promise I won't drop you."
"If you do drop me I will never forgive you or talk to you ever again."
"A day without you criticizing me? Maybe I should slowly back away," he teases. Gwen shakes her head and crosses her arms slowly around her chest.
"Well if you like it or not I am coming down." She thrusts her other foot on the same side as her left one and slowly she reaches for Arthur's arms. He holds her gently, like she is fine silk, as he lowers her to the ground. Her hands stay along his muscular shoulder as they both stare at each other. Something is different about his eyes now. The light from the dawn is gone and it takes on a darker, more feverish hue. Briefly she believes his eyes trail across her lips and it causes something in her stomach to tingle. She's never felt this way before. This feeling is unexplainable. She knows she must let go now but a part of her doesn't want to and that scares her more than anything.
She removes her hands from him and smiles looking down at the ground. He clears his throat trying to regain his composure. "It is good to know that you didn't drop me." She looks up as her mouth slowly turns into a smile. Her catches the slight trace of freckles along the middle of her nose. He sees the caramel color of her eyes that seems to light up as she smiles. He wants to kiss her so desperately. He wants to lay a trail of kisses along the side of her face trailing her exceptionally high cheekbones.
"Of course," he says clearing his throat once more.
She is a lady and he would never force anything upon her not even his impolite stare. "I would never let you fall." Gwen wants to hear him say more but something inside of her makes her move away from him. She gathers her arms around her as she tries to conjure up some type of heat. As the night approaches the wind kicks up and it causes a chill to spread across her body.
"I've never been this deep into the forest before." Gwen says looking around the small area. The grass sways in the wind. She leans her body against a tree as she looks up at the horizon as it reflects off the mountains. "It's so beautiful," she says. Arthur comes over towards her. As she stares at the horizon he cannot help but stare at her. Her beauty is flawless to him underneath the shadows of the trees. Her excitement for nature makes him want to give her the world. If he could throw a rope around the moon and bestow it to her he would.
"Yes, beautiful," he murmurs. Gwen can feel a sense of peace in the freedom of nature. She is no longer the maid of a princess but a regular girl capable of her own feelings and thoughts. No one could judge them outside in the forest.
"My brother and I use to come here quite often. Never this far of course because of bandits." Arthur watches her lips as they continue to speak, they're a pale pink color, and it reminds him of rosebuds. "We would have so much fun here. That's when we were young everything was easier back then." Arthur removes his eyes from her towards where she is staring he gazes upon its beauty.
"When I was a child I use to believe that I would run away and become a hermit." Gwen turns to stare at him skeptically with a raised brow.
"A hermit?" Arthur places his hand behind his neck as he chuckles.
"Yes, I wanted to take my horse and run. To be away from everyone that told me what to do. After my mother died I didn't know where to begin again. I'd come outside and stare up at the stars and some of me believed she was staring back at me." Gwen wants to take his hand to let him know she understands. She too had lost her mother at an early age and she would do anything to get her back.
"My mother died when I was younger to." She walks around the other side of the tree her hand slowly feeling the tough bark underneath her finger tips.
"I'm sorry." Arthur responds.
"My father and Elyan are all I have left." She waits on the other side of the tree placing her side against the tree. Apart of her doesn't want to be with Arthur while she's this vulnerable. She hates showing her emotions because it made her look weak. Gwen's so use to taking care of her herself. When she cried she dried her own tears. When she was hungry she provided to make herself dinner. This is something Arthur would never begin to understand. Everything has always been handed to him.
"Sometimes I feel so alone, like, there's no one who really knows me." His voice is soft and Gwen believes at first that he didn't even mean for the words to escape his lips. He's becoming really open with her and apart of her is intrigued. She likes this new emotion filled Arthur he feels so human to her. He no longer feels like their next future king, but a normal person just like her. She continues to make her way around the tree.
"Do you want me to get to know you?" She asks. It slips out. She feels stupid she knows she will regret her choice of words. However, a part of her is truly curious. She wonders why he is being so kind to her even when she has placed her guard up towards him. She turns towards the other side of the tree and he is set facing her. She stops because she is so very close to him. He moves his hand, which is also on the tree, closer to hers. She can feel the small amount of heat radiate from his hand towards hers.
"I want you to know me. Arthur, forget the prince part." Gwen swallows slightly and breathes in.
"It's hard to forget something so important sire." He leans in slowly his noise almost touching hers. For a moment as his eyes are trailing hers she feels as if her body will give way and she will kiss him. She knows better however, she knows not to kiss him it would only bring more trouble.
"Please," he says above a whisper. "Call me Arthur."
"Arthur," she reiterates and it sounds lovely the way his name falls off her tongue like sweet poetry.
"Am I interrupting something?" It's Merlin they both hear and Arthur with a clenched jaw turns to face him. Gwen chuckles as she backs her face away. She knows that it is quite red from her blushing. "You know maybe there is more firewood that I should go back and collect."
"Merlin," Arthur says in the voice he is all too familiar with. A tone of annoyance radiating through his masculine vibrato. "No you're quite alright. Build the fire we're cold." Merlin chuckles as he places the firewood down beginning to build a warm fire for the night.
The fire has slowly gone out and nothing but the sizzling grey from the smoke is left in its place. The forest is quiet expect for the small amount of crickets that seem to buzz in the darkness. Gwen is wrapped in Arthur's cape they he insisted she used. His smell caresses her nose as she drags it up towards her neck. She is so warm underneath its cloth and a part of her wonders if it would be like this to be held by him. A tingle in her stomach happens again and she shakes away the thought.
Stop it Gwen get yourself together. Stop being stupid.
Yes, she knows her thoughts and unwanted feelings are dumb but a part of her wonders why. She has every right to feel these feelings like any other woman. Just because she is a blacksmith's daughter doesn't make her emotionless. Arthur is trying to get to know her and is that truly so wrong? She knows that she doesn't have to be so mean to him but that's easier than letting him in. Maybe she could at least grant him a friendship, everyone needed friends didn't they?
She turns on her side to see him sleeping towards a log. He is also facing her and she sees his closed eye-lids moving. She knows that he is taken away in a dream. His face looks so at ease and she cannot help but wonder what visions are being shown behind those closed eye-lids.
"Silly Merlin," Arthur says in a husky manner and he turns over on his back sighing in his sleep. Gwen chuckles, another intimate thing she knows about Arthur that he talks in his sleep. She wishes she could sleep as soundlessly as he does. She turns on her back starring up at the stars as they glisten like diamonds. She feels as if she cannot lie still any longer. She sits up and decides that she will walk for a little bit to clear her mind. She gathers Arthur's cape and wrap it tighter around her shielding her body from the blistering cold. She walks past the tree that she and Arthur were so intimately close to. She hears water running in the distance and she decides she will go there to get something to drink. After walking a couple feet she finds the water. It glistens underneath the moonlight. She bends down and slightly cups the water inside her hands. It drips down her fingertips as she brings it up to her mouth and sips some. It tastes dazzling and her throat, which was sore, now seems to be healed. She begins to get more when she stops. She hears a footstep and it causes her to hastily turn around. She sees nothing in the darkness. Her heart beat pounds viciously in her chest. After a couple moments of silence she decides she will head back to the camp. She begins to walk back towards where she started but is caught by someone that she doesn't know. The man wraps his large hands around her waist and over her mouth. She screams loudly but all they do is fade into the darkness.