A Week with a Prince

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕿𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞-𝕱𝖎𝖛𝖊

The messenger was announced and let in, just as Ginny and Morag sat down to breakfast.

"What news do you bring?" Aunt Ealasaid asked, looking alarmed and nervous, making Ginny think that she had been expecting unpleasant news for a while.

"It's... King Gwynedd, my Lady." The man replied, eyes glued to the tips of his shoes, fingers playing nervously with the rim of his hat which he had taken off when he entered. "He arrived last night, demanding to speak with Lady Guinevere. We told him that the princess would not receive him before her father returned from the battle, and then, as he kept insisting on seeing her, we told him that she wasn't at home and we would send her a word..."

"Did you tell him that she is here?!"

"Yes..."

"Silly men!" Aunt Ealasaid exclaimed before she collected herself and spoke calmly again, "What are his intentions?"

"He said that he wished to speak to the princess at any cost and would wait for her return... but we are afraid that should she not come back soon, he will come here and..."

"Just because you told him where to find her!" Aunt Ealasaid called, losing her patience with the man completely.

"But he would find her anyway, my lady. He has a seer and a wizard with him, and many men..." The man shuddered.

"So what do you want us to do?" the countess asked.

"I was sent to warn you, while others were sent to find King Leodegrance and inform him too, I'll follow them from here. We really don't know what would be the best course of action for Princess Guinevere in the meantime," the man admitted, bowing to Ginny.

"Well, thank you. You may go. Have something to eat in the kitchen and get some food packed to carry with you if you wish. And tell King Leodegrance to hurry back home when you see him." Aunt Ealasaid dismissed the messenger.

The moment he was gone, Ginny stood up and walked to her aunt. "Let me leave, Aunt Ealasaid. Let me hide somewhere else, where King Gwynedd won't find me. By staying here, I'm only putting you and your people in danger, Myrddin's charms won't keep Gwynedd's army away for long..."

The countess stood up too and pulled her niece in an embrace. "I will let you go, Ginny. Not because you are putting me in danger, though. Only because I'm afraid that when Gwynedd comes, I won't be able to protect you. As you said, Myrddin's magic would keep us safe from evil charms, but it would be of little help against Gwynedd's men."

"Where are we going?" Morag, now standing close behind Ginny, asked. She sounded quite excited about the prospect of an adventure.

Ealasaid smiled. "Let me write a letter for the Abbess in the convent of Glastonbury. I know her well enough; she will offer you shelter until our men come back. You two get changed-- grab some of Garreth's clothes-- and pack. You'll leave in an hour. Two of my guards will accompany you to the shore of the Lake, more men would only draw unwanted attention... Should King Gwynedd really come here, I'll keep him as long as I can."

An hour later, two boys accompanied by two knights of the Countess of Warwick's Guard rode out of the empty courtyard, crossed the drawbridge and soon disappeared in the thick, dark shadows pooling under the ancient trees of the surrounding forest.

Unlike before, when Ginny left Warwick with Garreth, the small group followed a path leading south. The weather was sunny and dry this time. Most trees had already shed their leaves, letting more sunlight reach the underbrush. But it was a weaker and cooler light than before; the autumn seemed to be ready to leave its place to the winter.

Without the magical mist, the journey to the shores of the Lake took them an entire week. The small group camped in places that looked familiar to Ginny from her previous journey-- a river bank, a clearing in a forest-- making her think constantly of her knight, his arms around her, his warmth and his closeness lulling her to sleep so easily where now she laid shivering in the tent next to Morag at nights, wrapped in Sir Lancelot's midnight blue blanket worried and restless, unable to fall asleep until sunrise... 

On Morag's bidding, they avoided Sainstbury-- the girl was afraid to confront her parents as she had left without their permission-- and stopped in another village to buy fresh food and spend a night in an inn. They steered away from the Temple of the Sun; their guards insisted that the Salisbury plain was too open, and if they were being pursued, they would be easily spotted there. But no one seemed to be following them; the majority of people they met on the roads were young men travelling north, in the opposite direction, on their way to Celidon Wood.

As they neared the Lake, more and more people they spoke to whispered to them excitedly about the latest rumours-- about their beloved Princess Guinevere having pulled the magical Excalibur from the stone. They were rushing to join Prince Arthur in the battle against the Saxons invading his father's country, a thing they would never have done before, only because he was promised to their princess...

Ginny's shoulders slumped under the responsibility their expectations were burying her under. If for nothing else, she would have to marry Arthur to repay their loyalty. She closed her hand firmly around the Sword's hilt hidden in the folds of her cloak as they resumed their journey, clutching at it as if it was her last straw, her last hope to turn her fate around somehow and marry Sir Lancelot instead of Prince Arthur without offending or endangering anyone.

When they finally reached the Lake and Ginny let Aunt Ealasaid's knights return to Warwick, the countryside was flooded with water and covered with the first snow. The winter came too early, Ginny mused, her thoughts strolling back to the past few weeks she had spent with her aunt and then to her friends and her father in Celidon wood.

The place was so far north that they must be freezing... She pulled her, or rather Garreth's cloak tightly around her body as she and Morag dismounted. They led their horses carefully closer to the Lake's edge, trying not to stray from the safe path into the snow covered mud, in search of a boat that would take them over to the island of Glastonbury which lay in the middle of the Lake, shrouded in a veil of fog rising from the waters' surface.

Soon enough, they found a barge whose owner was willing to take the two young men and their horses to the island.

The moment they reached land and led their horses onto the firm ground again, Lord Myrddin appeared, with a loud pop, in the army camp in Celidon Wood, scaring the group of men gathered in a large, freezing tent, where they were poring over a map.