The four travellers rode down the narrow, cobbled lanes and followed the ancient road out of the still sleeping village, where it morphed into a dusty, meandering path leading them across a wide flatland.
The sun had risen fully, banishing the chilliness of the night, luring animals out of their dens-- a red fox scurried across their path far ahead, a herd of brown deer grazed nearby, raising their antlered heads to observe the travellers with their wise, patient eyes. There was no forest to cross today, only a few twisted trees, their shrivelled leaves trembling and whispering in the gentle breeze, grew among the long grass covering the world around them, their shapes hinting at the wild winds that often swept through the plain.
Garreth looked into the sunlit, bright blue sky in search of their faithful companion, the peregrine falcon. But just like the strange mist they had encountered every day of their journey, it was absent today. The only haze he could almost see was lingering between Ginny and the knight who rode in the distance behind him and the prince-- their mutual attraction, their longing to touch, to be left alone and forget about the rest of the world, rose like an imperceptible mist around them...
Just what would come of this?! Garreth knew that Ginny was too honourable to act on this feeling, knowing that she was promised to Prince Arthur... Just like he would never act on his infatuation for the prince who rode close at his side, knowing that this man was about to be married to his cousin...
Garreth sighed unhappily, drawing his companion's attention to the couple-- he didn't seem to be pleased with them either. The prince pulled at the reins of his horse, slowing down. Garreth followed his example, and they waited for the couple to catch up.
"Do ride on with your cousin, my lady," he instructed Ginny coldly when she and Lancelot reached them, "I need a word with my... knight?" the man said, looking at his friend questioningly, giving him a chance to correct him. But Arthur shook his head imperceptibly at him, then nodded to Ginny to ride on with Garreth.
"As you wish, my lord," she agreed then, following Garreth, leaving the two friends alone.
She rode silently next to her cousin, looking over her shoulder uneasily, attracted by the distant sound of the men's conversation reaching her like an incomprehensible susurrus through the long grass trembling in the breeze. She didn't like the prince, he was an awful, arrogant man; how could Garreth think he was kind?! Did she get Sir Lancelot in trouble by her behaviour?
Finally, Garreth noticed her desperation and started talking to her, forcing her to follow his words and stop looking around.
"All right. I give it to the girl, she is most intriguing... But allow me to remind you, my friend, that in four weeks you'll be marr..." Lancelot said in the meantime, observing Ginny and Garreth from a distance.
"I do remember that," Arthur replied dryly, his blue eyes meeting Ginny's worried look. He smiled at her in reassurance before he continued, "However, this doesn't concern you."
Lancelot sighed, one of his hands leaving the reins of his horse to smooth and twist his moustache thoughtfully, "Do we at least know who she really is? So you can seek her after... You know, you wouldn't be the first king..." he trailed off when he noticed his friend frowning at him.
Arthur shook his dark head, "I only know that she's Warwick's cousin."
"Do you remember his family tree?" his friend inquired hopefully, "How many female cousins can he have?"
"Not at all. I have no idea..."
"Shall I ask him? I'm sure he would tell me..." Lancelot proposed, his eyes resting on Garreth fondly.
"No." Arthur sighed. "If she wants to stay unrecognised, I respect her decision. I'm not entirely honest with her myself. It's only fair..."
"Very well." Lancelot resigned finally. "Just be careful. You don't want to reach your bride with your heart crying for another girl; she wouldn't like that. You know that this can't have a future, not the way you wish. Broken heart is a price too high to pay for a week's trip..."
"Please. Say nothing more. I've got this," Athur said through gritted teeth.
"That I highly doubt, but... As you wish, Your Highness," the knight said, moustache twitching with a smile he wisely preferred to conceal. If the situation wasn't so sad, it would be funny seeing Arthur finally falling for a girl-- until now it had always been the other way around, the women's hearts pining for him were too many to count.
"I'll send you your girl back then," Lancelot added after a few moments of silence that had settled between the two friends. With that, he was off; his horse, raising a cloud of dust in its wake, reached Garreth and Gwendolyn in no time.
Arthur caught up with the girl who stopped to wait for him following his friend's orders while he rode on with her cousin.
"Did I get you in trouble?" she breathed the moment they were united again, her eyes brimming with concern for him.
The way she looked at him and pronounced those words, unafraid to speak her heart, unwilling to hide her thoughts and feelings behind a mask like all women just slightly older than her learned to do, took his own breath away. Arthur couldn't resist running his fingers down her blushing cheek-- how warm and smooth it was!-- as he smiled at her in a wordless reply. She, indeed, had gotten him in trouble, but not the way she was thinking. He might never be able to forget this week.
"Come, Gwendolyn, let us move on, or we won't reach the Druids Temple before the sunset," he muttered, wishing again that he could tell her who he really was, that she didn't have to worry about what Lancelot thought and said to him.
But he banished the thought quickly-- just what would she think about a man, a too soon to be married prince, a future king, who enjoyed the company of a girl he had just met this much? No, she must never know...
The fog had never appeared that day. They rode forth, seeking the shade of a lone tree and letting their horses rest when the sun stood directly above them, then changing two of their steeds with the spare ones after lunch.
They could see the great ring of stones from a distance as they finally reached the rim of the great, grassy plain, when the sun began its descent towards the western horizon. The path began to droop gently, like a lazy meander of a river, towards lower regions, which would decline again tomorrow and lead them to the Summer Country, with its many lakes and islands. And after the Lake spreading around the isle of Glastonbury-- or was it really Avalon?-- there would only be the hot springs of Aquae Sulis and the half ruined castle of Tintagel with its enchanted Sword left... Three days, no more...
Ginny sighed and looked at her knight when they stopped to enjoy the view, and found him looking at her, as if he was thinking exactly the same.
They didn't have much time left...
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