There and back again - The continuing journey

CHAPTER 15 - THE VAGRANT.

They spent the night in some comfort under Ivor's canvas shelter, though Auriel had taken over the unsuccessful erection of it by her impatient husband, when he had thrown the wooden poles to the ground and declared that two of them had not been fashioned to the correct size.

As his wife swiftly pushed the correct poles into the appropriate slots and hammered the pegs into the ground, he did manage to attach and tighten the ropes, declaring that his stockman may have had made fine job of it after all, but then complained when, because of his great height, he could not stand up in it!

Auriel laughingly told him to stop with his endless whining and put down the canvas sheet. Then she placed the feather pads and woollen blankets made by Richildis, inside the shelter and told him to come to bed.

"I will look to the animals one last time," he answered, "and build up the fire." Then there was a little sulking and muttering of "hunchbacks" and the like, as he took off his boots and he almost toppled over as he removed his breeches, as he was bent so low.

But when he lay down and saw that Richildis had actually fashioned his feather sleeping pad to his precise length, plus a little extra, he was somewhat placated. The shelter had also proved large enough to take all of their supplies, if they were placed with precision and he noted that his wife was nothing, if not precise!

As he lowered his head, Auriel rolled up her discarded clothing and placed it under his head for a pillow, leaning over him, kissing and tickling him until he was a little less fractious.

"All that fussing and ill temper, when you could have used magic," she said, looking down at him and laughing, "it would have taken but a moment, but I think perhaps you grow forgetful in your old age!"

"Madam, I am not yet thirty, as you very well know, my memory is faultless and you are a minx to say otherwise", he replied, rolling her over onto her back, "What is more, I am still more than able to kiss and make love to my beautiful wife whenever I care to!"

Then suddenly all was still as he reached down to gently move her hair away from her face, "My God, you are so beautiful," he murmured, "even now I can still scarce believe that you love me, say it to me, for I can never hear it enough!"

"Believe it always, my love," she said, "for there will never be another for me, not while I still draw breath".

They lay awhile close together, looking up at the stars through the front opening of their shelter, listening to the wind gently blowing through the trees, and then they slept.

They were up and about just after sunrise and Guy smiled, as he loaded their warm and comfortable bedding onto the packhorse, "How did we ever rest on that hard floor in Camelot for so many nights," he said, "with nothing but straw and a blanket beneath us?"

"I think we were a bit busy "discovering" each other my love," she replied, "and as I recall, our frantic passion somewhat overruled any need for comfort."

Before he lifted her onto the horse, he leaned down behind her, placed both his hands over her breasts, and whispered in her ear, "I suddenly have a great desire for some of that frantic passion my lovely girl, but we have a ways to go today, so it will have to wait. Grant me a long kiss now, and the pleasure of it will carry me through the day, but do not let your hands wander or I will lose all restraint!"

As they rode along in the early morning sunlight she asked him, "I would know how you feel about the gifting you have received sweetheart, you never speak of it and rarely use magic, do you still fear it?"

"I rarely think of it," he replied, "it has become, as your aunt predicted, second nature to me. I am so accustomed to relying on my own physical strength and abilities, that I sometimes forget that there is now an easier way for me, and yes, I still fear it, for I have a black temper and I worry that I would lack control if challenged."

"That is as it should be," she said, "If I told you that I too feared it, would you believe it?"

He was surprised at the depth of feeling in her words and then she continued, "From the first day of awareness, as a child, until the last, as a woman grown, I feared it, even though it was my heritage. When I attempted to reunite all those exiled by Uther Pendragon, the great weight of responsibility filled my heart with such terror, that at times I felt crippled by it. I carry this sickness because in my arrogance, I believed I was the one chosen to exact revenge, but I acted not out of courage, but fear. Fear of my own magical power and the havoc it might wreak if I let it loose!"

"I sought and invoked the spell which enabled me to travel through time and in desperation, when you turned from me, I took you away from everything you had ever known, just to further my own ambition and God forgive me, at the beginning, out of sheer spite at your rejection, I was almost prepared to let you die for it, even though I already loved you beyond reason. You know all this to be true and it makes me weep, even now, yet you still honour me with your love."

He stopped the horse and dismounted, holding out his arms to lift her down, holding her tear stained face in his hands, as he said, "My precious girl, you think I did not know you were afraid? Do you believe I did not see that fear, as you faced me down with your great show of courage, when I lifted you from the mud and filth in Nottingham?"

"I have been a soldier, my love. I saw that same fear every day in the faces of the men I fought alongside in the Crusades, even as they appeared to stand firm. I saw it in you and loved you for it, because you struggled so mightily to hide it."

"When you burned my hand on the scaffold that day, you met my gaze and I saw it there in your eyes. I have always known that your terror of magic equaled my own."

He shook her as if it would make her believe him, "Yes, you took me, and I am glad of it, every single day of my life, for there is nothing back there for me. In Nottingham my soul was rotting in the pit of my own self loathing, until you came to me that day with your brightness of spirit, to save me from it. I would gladly have given my life for you and a thousand magical beings, if it meant I had your love. Yes, I feared your magic, but I grew to love it and I would love it still if it remained inside you."

Then he held her tight while she cried, realising, as he recalled the words of her aunt Gwyneth, that it was the sickness that was bringing her spirits so low.

She slept in his arms for most of the afternoon, but she woke when she heard Guy calling out in an agitated confrontation with what appeared to be a beggar, hanging onto the bridle of their horse, who was snickering nervously and tossing its head to throw him off.

He was shoeless and filthy and his rags barely covered his dignity.

"My love you must reach back and draw my sword," said Guy, "I do not have the space required to draw it myself, with you sitting before me, and this wretch has so terrified the horse, I struggle to constrain it."

She felt their mount bucking beneath them in its fear, as the filthy and wretched creature tugged at its bridle.

"I want only a little food my lord," he said, "for I am starving in these woods along with my wife and children, have mercy on us poor beggars! My lady, I see the kindness in your eyes, take pity on us, for we have eaten nothing but grass and berries for three days!"

Guy dismounted and took his sword from his wife, saying, "You will remove your filthy hands from my horse or I will run you through, and what of your wife and children then?"

"Hush my love, your ferocity terrifies this poor creature," said his wife, as she dropped slowly from the horse. "If he is able to tell us the whereabouts of his family, we can surely offer some small assistance, we have food to spare. We will make camp here and I will prepare it."

"Your kindness will be your undoing my love," he answered, "I'll warrant there are many such as this in these woods, and we surely cannot be expected to feed them all!"

Guy sheathed his sword and placed it back on the horse. "So you wretched spawn of the devil, you can consider yourself well blessed, for it seems that you have plucked at my wife's heartstrings. Fetch your family, we will share our evening meal.