The Gisborne Chronicles

CHR4/CH3-The Tragedy of Recovery, and then The Healing

Guy sat with Auriel for so many days, it was as if he became part of the chair in which he sat. Glenys was ever present during the day, and moved quietly round him as she tended her Mistress. Though Auriel did not open her eyes, she took the small amounts of wine, water and thin broth that Glenys eased gently between her lips, and lay quietly whilst she was bathed, but still she was distant and unreachable, making no sound. Guy ate and slept so little that Aunt Gwyneth had sharp words with him.

"So Guy of Gisborne, now you starve yourself, and sit up 'til all hours. Madness! When our sweet girl opens her eyes she will look to you for strength, and you will have none to give her! God's teeth man, look at yourself, you are a mere shadow of what you once were, you must eat, and you must sleep. Lie beside her, she'll not break, let her feel your loving presence, for even in her weakened state, she knows you are here! She has fought death before and prevailed, she will again!"

"You keep the children from her, and chide them for the slightest noise, yet the sound of their voices may bring her back to you. She is here, and still living, for pity's sake! Her wounds heal, she takes nourishment in a small way, there is hope, grasp it!"

Though Guy knew the right of her words, he was lost in the fog of his own despair. He lay next to his beloved each night, speaking soft and low, but unable to believe that she could hear him, and cursing himself for the few hours that he slept, not wanting to miss the moment when she might return to him.

As fate would have it, he was not there when she first opened her eyes, but in the smallest bedroom helping Aunt Gwyneth to settle Abigail, Beatrice and little Guy for the night. Ghislaine had been sitting with her mother, as she did most evenings for a short while, though Gheraint was very unwilling to visit the sickroom, declaring that he would see his Mama when she was well, and not before. Glenys was in the kitchen warming broth for her Mistress when she heard Ghislaine call out.

Guy heard his daughter, and ran to her, Aunt Gwyneth following on. " She looked at me Papa, she looked at me!" she said, " she opened her eyes and looked at me, see, she has turned in the bed, she always sleeps that way with her hand 'neath her chin!"

"Dear God, let it be so!" cried Guy, "fetch Glenys, for I fear to touch her!"

"I am here Sir," said Glenys, " let me through." Then she bent over Auriel, and placed her face near her mouth, her hand also at her brow. "She has come back Sir," she said, " momentarily it is true, but the smell of sickness has left her mouth, and her breathing has altered. Praise be! But she needs quiet now."

Then she smiled at Guy, "stay with her Sir, if you will, so that I may go to my Hywell, I believe I shall sleep in my own bed this night, but wake me if I am needed, you know I will come, and Sir? she will startle easily, take care and be gentle if she wakes again. Her mind may not grasp at first that she is injured, and she may recall little of the attack upon her, you must try to keep her still, lest she impair the healing."

About an hour later, the house was quiet, and Guy undressed for the first time in many a long night. At first, he could not find a nightshirt in the dresser, but finally found what he sought, then he lifted the covers and lay down beside her, slowly letting out the breath he had not realised he was holding in. He did not blow out the candle, because he wanted to watch her sweet face, the scars still livid on her body and forehead.

He saw that her lips were dry, so got up again to moisten them with water from the ewer by the bed, and she uttered a small sound. He lay down again, but kept away at the edge of the bed as he remembered Glenys' words. Then the relief of her opening her eyes, though briefly, tore at his heart and he wept, the sobs shuddering through his body at the sight of her damaged face.

Then she opened her eyes again, "why do you weep?" she said, " and why are you in my bed? my Uncle Morgan will take a horse-whip to you, though you are handsome enough it is true. There is a tree by the window, get yourself gone before he wakes!" And he realised that she did not know him.