Arthur's Sons (Book 2)

Lancelot and Guinevere (Part 1)

A harsh winter had set in across the kingdom of Camelot and with each night being longer than the last, Rowan's power grew to make him almost always restless whether it be night or day. Unfortunately, his brother was the opposite and instead wanted nothing more than to curl up in a bundle of warm furs and sleep the winter away, much like his namesake, until spring when his power would begin to grow again.

This particular day marked the death of Morgana's father Gorlois and as per tradition, she was going to go to his grave on the hill to pay her respects. Gwen was of course coming along as well as a handful of knights and Rowan. His brother had fallen ill with a particularly nasty cold after they both spent an afternoon in the lower town having a snowball fight with the other children and they had come back soaked to the bone and half frostbitten. Their mother had chastised them for being so stupid but Rowan's magic stopped him from being bothered by the cold, unlike his brother who had spent a good few hours shivering before he woke the next morning with a fever and a hacking cough.

Rowan replaced the warm cloth on his brother's brow with a fresh cool one before tucking the blankets up under his chin and giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder. "I have to go now, I'll be back by tonight. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." Rowan said fondly while his brother managed a faintly amused curl of his lip.

"If I'm dead by the time you get back, bury me with the painting you made me of that sexy little minx the baker's daughter so Ma and Da don't find it..." He trailed off dramatically his voice painfully raspy, while Rowan laughed with tears in his eyes.

"Sure, sure. I'll even be sure to get her to show up and give you a kiss." Rowan snickered as Arty had a dreamy expression on his face.

"Shame I'll be dead then." He sighed sadly before trying to hack up his lungs.

Rowan thumped him on the back to clear his lungs before helping him lay back down. "You never know, it could be true loves kiss and you'll wake up and scare the pants off everyone." Rowan joked as he made sure his brother was comfortable.

"Her pants are the only ones I wanna scare off if ya know what I mean." Arty replied with a suggestive wiggle of his brow while his brother rolled his eyes.

"You're six, you shouldn't be thinking about that kind of thing for at least another six or seven years and even then it should be girls our own age." Rowan pointed out.

Arty rolled his eyes. "Flesh is flesh and that woman has a body to die for, which I'm currently doing by the way, besides I probably won't live long enough so I might as well fantasise about it while I can."

Rowan snorted before standing and fetching his sword before strapping it around his waist. "Well, I'm off, behave yourself while I'm gone." Rowan said as he grabbed his travel bag from by the door.

"Knights honour." Arty replied weakly with a mock salute while Rowan shook his head fondly before heading down to the courtyard and saddling up his pony then swinging himself up and watching as his father helped Lady Morgana onto her horse.

"I hope your trip isn't too upsetting." Arthur said kindly to comfort Morgana since he knew how hard it was for her to lose her father.

"Thank you, Arthur." Morgana replied with a sad smile.

Arthur turned to the Knight in charge. "Make sure you return to Camelot before dusk." He ordered the man who nodded back stiffly.

"Yes, Sire."

Arthur then turned to Rowan and came over and wrapped him in a small black furlined cloak. "Found this amongst my old things, it's yours."

Rowan smiled and ran his finger through the soft warm fur before looking back up at his father with a wide grin. "Thank you Sire, though it's Arty who needs this kind of clothing when it comes to winter. He always gets sick if he's out in the cold for too long whereas I'm practically immune." Rowan said giving his father a veiled explanation for why his brother was sick to which Arthur nodded with an understanding look in his eye.