Chapter Seventeen

Hello, everyone!

I'm so sorry that this has taken me so long! No, I haven't fallen into a sinkhole or fled the country. I've just been far too busy and distracted to write.

So, this isn't my favorite chapter that I've written, but hopefully the next one will be better.

Enjoy!

They ran into a group of bandits the very next day.

"What is it with bandits around these parts?" bellowed Aldwyn, before using his crossbow to shoot one of them.

"I haven't the slightest clue!" Arthur shouted back. "Form ranks!" he bellowed.

In response to his command, the members of the company maneuvered their horses to form a defensive half-circle, facing the bandits who were coming from at least three directions.

As usual, Merlin retreated behind the knights, looking out for any branches to fell with magic should the need arise. Also forced behind the knights were Elwin and Everard, who looked both managed to look disgusted and terrified at the same time. They both had swords clenched in their fists. And Lady Cleva had her dagger.

Well, isn't this just a regular trip? Despite the circumstances, Merlin felt a brief flash of amusement.

The bandits turned out to be a rather pathetic lot; several of them took off running when they realized exactly how many armed men they had run into. The others were quickly dispatched after a few minutes of clanging swords, whistling arrows, and snorting horses; Merlin didn't even feel the need to risk using magic.

Until one bandit managed to yank Gwaine out of his saddle and threw him on the ground.

Merlin stiffened, moving his rearing mount forward just as he heard Elwin let out a shriek. "Cousin!"

In response to Elwin's cry, Merlin saw Aldwyn twist around on his horse's back, take in the situation with a single glance, and throw himself off his mount and onto the thug who was about to run Gwaine through. He knocked over Gwaine's attacker, but the move sent him tumbling straight into the path of more bandits.
"Aldwyn!" Elwin was half-off his horse before Cleva caught his arm. Everard started yelling at his younger brother to stay put while clearly debating on whether or not to try running to his older brother.

Merlin cast a panicky glance around; all the other knights were occupied with their own opponents, and Aldwyn was still fumbling around on the forest floor, trying to regain his sword (he'd already discarded the crossbow) and his footing. Leaving him to die because of one foolhardy action is not an option. Taking a deep breath, Merlin summoned his magic.

He didn't have to use it.

Seconds before Aldwyn would have lost his head to a hefty battleaxe, Gwaine rose up and lunged to his cousin's defense.

It was terrifyingly easy to fight alongside Aldwyn again. Gwaine found himself back to back with his cousin, moving in tandem to attack, defend, attack again. Just like old times training together; me and him against Father and Uncle Harlan. Not that they'd ever won against the king and his brother. Still, we were a good team.

Seconds later, Gwaine found himself facing Aldwyn after slashing through the throat of another outlaw. His cousin flashed him a quick grin, telling him that he was having the same thoughts. For a fraction of an instant, Gwaine smiled back, then they both returned to the fight.

The noise of the battle vanished suddenly, as it always seemed to. The last bandits had fled or been killed, leaving the group panting, still gripping their weapons and scanning the woods for more foes.

Gwaine forced himself to breath deeply and turned to Aldwyn. "You alright, cousin?" he asked softly.

Aldwyn nodded. "You?"

"I'm fine." Though I do appear to have a nasty cut on my right arm, he realized.

"Is everyone okay?" demanded Arthur. "Gwaine? You were pulled off your mount!"

"I'm all right, Arthur." Gwaine told him. A cursory glance told him that everyone else was fine, too, except…where were the twins?

He figured out where they were a second later when Elwin shot past him and rammed into Aldwyn.

"Easy there, little brother!" Aldwyn chuckled, but Elwin did not loosen his grip as he buried his face in the sleeve of his older brother's tunic. Aldwyn glanced up, meeting Gwaine's gaze as they both realized that the younger boy was crying and trying desperately not to show it. Slightly uncomfortable by the fact, Gwaine turned away only to find Everard standing very close to him, looking shaky. "You nearly died." The boy's voice was no more than a whisper.

"Well, I didn't." Another glance around and Gwaine realized that almost everyone was staring at Aldwyn, the twins, and him; with the notable exceptions of Cleva, who was occupied with trying to get her frightened horse calmed down, and Ryle, who was staring off into the trees with a blank, bored expression on his face. To hell with the stares, Gwaine thought to himself as he stepped forward and pulled Everard into a quick embrace. "We're still alive, Ev." he murmured as he released the boy.

"I know." Everard managed a fleeting smile before walking over to pry Elwin off of their older brother.

Gwaine turned around again to find Arthur giving him a shrewd look. "Hey, Princess, shouldn't we be checking to see if all the thugs are dead or not?"

They didn't travel much further that day. Elwin was still shaky, Elyan, Leon, and Gwaine had all sustained minor injuries, and everyone was exhausted. As soon as they found a suitable clearing next to a swift brook, they stopped and set up camp.

Gwaine was sitting, his back to a large tree, apart from the others, when Aldwyn walked up and handed him a bowl of the stew Merlin and Cleva had prepared. "I don't know about you, but I'm starved." Plopping down next to Gwaine, Aldwyn began to devour his own portion of stew.

"Fighting will do that." Gwaine grinned, watching his cousin out of the corners of his eyes.

Aldwyn laughed through a mouthful of food. "Hey, admit it; a horde of bandits is nothing compared to the combined might of our fathers on training day!"

Gwaine snorted in amusement, briefly drawing the attention of Percival and Leon, who were examining their weapons nearby. When they had looked away again, Gwaine, now serious, asked Aldwyn, "How is he?"

It was incredibly hard for him to say it; in fact, he asked it so quietly that for a moment he wasn't certain that his cousin had heard him. But then Aldwyn faced him with a knowing look. "You mean Uncle Goddard?"

Gwaine swallowed and nodded. "You said…that he doesn't…doesn't blame me for what…what happened. Is that true?"

"Yes." Aldwyn shifted uncomfortably where he sat.

Reading it (correctly) as more than just an badly-placed root underneath the older man, Gwaine spoke sharply, "What aren't you telling me, Aldwyn?"

Aldwyn wouldn't meet his gaze. "It's nothing, Gwaine."

"Like hell it is." When Aldwyn still would look at him, Gwaine hissed angrily, "Tell me!"

Aldwyn looked up, but only at the tree branches above. "Uncle Goddard…" he began hesitantly, "…your father…he's, um…"

"What?" Gwaine just about shouted the word.

Sighing at the number of gazes turned in their direction, Aldwyn said in a low tone, "Gwaine, your father isn't…well. He's…uh…not as strong as he used to be, I mean, of course he's not, neither is my father…strong as he used to be, I mean, they're both getting older…I mean that your father is…I don't want to say crippled, because he's not…well, maybe he is. A little."

Gwaine had already suffered a multitude of emotions that day; terror, horror, embarrassment, hopelessness. He'd nearly been killed, he'd nearly seen his cousin get killed, he'd watch his other cousin break down in tears, and he'd been stared at Arthur in a far too calculating way ever since. But nothing was as bad as the guilt that came flooding into him, searing his stomach and bringing a bitter taste to his mouth. "What do you mean?"

"Um…" Clearly, Aldwyn regretted saying anything. "Well, he…he can't walk without feeling some pain. Riding a horse any faster than a walk is almost impossible much of the time, and swordsmanship is rather beyond his abilities…he has good days and bad days…sometimes it's better or worse…not that he ever complains, but everyone knows…"

"It's because of what I did, isn't it?" Gwaine choked out.

"Gwaine…"

But he was already on his feet, dinner forgotten, wanting nothing else but to disappear into the woods again. Ignoring the calls of the knights (who by this point could tell that something was very wrong), he made to hurry off into the cover of the trees.

He didn't get more than a few feet before Aldwyn grabbed his arm…tightly. And almost before he knew it, Gwaine was engaged in a violent tussling match with his cousin.

Thankfully, neither of them were wearing cloaks. That would have been even more difficult.

Deaf to the yells of alarm from all sides, Gwaine grappled wildly, trying to pin his cousin down. Quickly realizing that it was no good (Aldwyn was slightly taller and heavier), and settled with trying to land as many hard blows as possible. Aldwyn was already taking a similar approach.

Attacking each other like wild animals and screaming curses all the while, they rolled over the leafy ground, neither managing to even come close to victory before they were roughly yanked apart.

"Let me go, Percival!" Gwaine yelled as Aldwyn shouted something similar at Arthur and Leon, who each had a hold of one of his arms. The damage had been done; Aldwyn's protests were muffled by the blood seeping from his nose, and Gwaine could feel the beginnings of what was sure to be a nasty black eye. Not to mention that the cut he'd received at the hand of a bandit earlier that day was bleeding again. Just wonderful.

Glaring balefully at the men restraining him, Aldwyn managed to free one arm from Arthur and wiped his face with his sleeve. "Damn you, cousin!" he bellowed.

"No, damn you!" Gwaine yelled back. "You and your blasted brothers getting yourselves lost in Camelot when you had not business leaving Bernicia!"

"No business leaving Bernicia?" Aldwyn snarled. "The twins were taken by force and I came to rescue them! What's your excuse?"

You know my excuses. He knew he didn't have to say it. Gwaine suddenly felt very tired and stopped even his token resistance against Percival. "I'm sorry." he muttered.

As Percival released Gwaine cautiously and Aldwyn shook Leon off, Arthur stepped forward and said very loudly and demandingly, "All right, what the hell is going on?"

By this point, the entire company had gathered around the scene of the fight, most with varyingly expressions of curiosity, confusion, and concern. Merlin was looking both Gwaine and Aldwyn up and down, apparently assessing their injuries. Cleva merely looked disgusted; Ryle, amused. Elwin was half-hiding behind Everard. Poor kid looks like he's been crying. Again.

Gwaine sighed. He didn't want to answer Arthur's question any more than Aldwyn seemed to. So he automatically tried evasion. "What do you mean, Arthur?" he asked innocently.

Arthur appeared close to livid by that point. "What I mean, Sir Gwaine," he ground out, "is what exactly is going on between you and Aldwyn?" His piercing blue eyes narrowed. "He called you his cousin, Gwaine…is that the truth?"

Gwaine's gaze flew back to Aldwyn. For a moment, they simply locked gazes; then Aldwyn gave a slight shrug as if to say, Well, what the hell?

Taking a deep breath, Gwaine turned back to Arthur. "Yes, Arthur, Aldwyn…and the twins…are my cousins."

Actually, the reactions of the others were rather amusing. Several jaws dropped and multiple cries of "What?" came from among the knights. Cleva let out a squeaky moan and buried her face in her hands. Elwin and Everard's eyes grew huge as they stared at Gwaine and Aldwyn. Ryle actually burst out laughing and walked off, chuckling to himself (and earning himself some raised eyebrows).

"And why exactly haven't you told us that yet?" Arthur demanded.

Gwaine couldn't meet anyone's gaze. "I had my reasons."

Before Arthur could attack that response, Aldwyn broke in. "What he means to say is; we had our reasons." He sent a glare in his brothers' direction.

"He's right." Everard managed to say under the Pendragon's resulting scrutiny. "I talked to Gwaine about it even before we left Camelot, and we decided not to mention our familial relationship." Gwaine internally thanked all the gods for clever younger cousins.

And while Everard remains suave as ever, Elwin looks like he's about to either start crying or start laughing. I hope it's the later.

Gwaine could see the humor in this situation.

It didn't look like Arthur could, though.

Bandits and fistfights and terribly timed revelations. This is one day I could do without. Cleva wished futilely that she could just slap some sense into the idiot men who were always blurting out the wrong things. Or at least the right things at the wrong times.

Gwaine waited until Arthur looked back at him before adding, "No, we're not telling you those reasons."

"Because it's none of your business." Aldwyn snapped as Arthur whipped around to confront him next.

"All you need to know is that our family isn't…well, it's complicated." Everard, ever the diplomat, explained patiently.

"Complicated" as in absolutely insane, you mean.

"Barclayns." she muttered. Elwin heard her and let out a stifled snort.

By that point, Arthur had launched into a rambling tirade about honor, trust, loyalty and whatnot, the other knights were either supporting him or asking questions, Merlin was looking both Aldwyn and Gwaine over and tending to their injuries, ignoring the dispute entirely, and Ryle had vanished again.

And Cleva had had enough.

"WOULD YOU ALL JUST SHUT IT!" she yelled suddenly. "What does it matter? So what if they're related and decided to keep it from you crowd from Camelot? If I hadn't known already, I daresay they wouldn't have told me either. Now, evening is on us, and we are all tired, and I think we should all just get some sleep and then maybe, just maybe we'll all be in the frame of mind to discuss who's related to whom. So will you all just shut up?"

To her immense surprise, they did.

Except for Everard and Elwin. After an initial period of shock, they started giggling nervously. And continued to do so at intervals for hours.

Don't you hate it when someone yells and you ought to be scared but you're not; you're amused and you want to laugh so badly? Well, I guess Elwin and Everard had that problem.

Hopefully I'll be able to update sooner next time; I also hope you all haven't given up on this story! :)