There and back again - The continuing journey

CHAPTER 1 - HAPPILY EVER AFTER?

    Auriel sighed, and asked herself the same questions she had asked herself for so many days now; how do you tell the ones you love, that you are going to leave them forever, how do you continue with life day after day, pretending that all is as it should be, when death may well be waiting in the shadows?

    She looked around her homely kitchen, at the large stone fireplace blazing with logs, it's great iron hook, and the cooking pot hanging from it, bubbling with a rich lamb stew. To the side of the fire were three loaves, made that morning, and set there to rise. But she was still despondent, when she thought of her uncertain future.

    She sat at the great oaken table, with its odd assortment of chairs, all mismatched. They had been handmade by her beloved Guy, who had freely admitted to her that he was no carpenter, but his pride would not allow him to give up, without trying, the task he had undertaken when the farm had become theirs five years before. For though it had looked homely and welcoming, it had been completely lacking in furniture or any other comforts.

    Upon their arrival from Cornwall they had stood in this kitchen, their arms around each other, Guy so proud of his new status as " Farmer," and she great with child, (though she was unaware of just how great with child she was), and they had both remembered the tragedy that had almost unfolded there.

    They had been sheltering from a storm on their way to Wales to seek the Artefact, and they had been come upon for the second time, by the same gang of thieves.

    There had been a sword fight and Guy had stumbled over the body of the man Auriel had just stunned with their iron cooking pot, and he had almost over-balanced. Then Auriel had seen the sword thrust aimed at the heart of the man she loved more than life, so she had thrown her body in front of him, and the sword had pierced her shoulder.

    She had been gravely wounded, but Guy had nursed her back to health in front of this very fireplace, wondering at her courage, and the love for him that had inspired it. They had embraced more tightly at the memory, determined to make happy memories for themselves and the child they so eagerly awaited. Guy so sure that it was a boy, but this has always been the way with expectant fathers.

    After Auriel had placed the Artefact into the arms of the Lady of the Lake, they had both known that they could not stay in the cave that had been her temporary home since the great "cleansing" of magical folk from Camelot, for she could not, and would not, remain in the Kingdom of Uther Pendragon. So they had decided to return to the farm in Wales, where Ariel had once told Guy she could live and be content.

    Fortunately, it was still untenanted and the owner, being in his later years, was eager to sell, so they had been able to purchase it, although it left their reserves of gold and jewels severely depleted.

    They had looked at the empty rooms, bare of furniture, and the hard packed earth floor of the farm kitchen, and she remembered the determination on Guy's face as he had vowed, "If we need furniture then I must learn to make it, for there has been no harvest this year, and there will likely be none in the next, short of a miracle."

    Then he had set to, hammering and sawing until they had all that they needed. It had taken many weeks, and the things he made were ill fashioned and sometimes "a mite fragile", but he had been so proud of his carpentry, that she had not the heart to criticise his great efforts. It mattered not that the bed was not quite level, when she was sharing it, and waking in it every morning, with the one she loved so dearly.

    She had travelled quickly to the nearest town, Llanlivet, seeking out the cheapest fabrics in the market there, and then with her not inconsiderable sewing skills, she had fashioned window coverings, bed quilts and table linens, even making pillows, and stuffing them with feathers garnered from their own ducks and geese.