A Week with a Prince

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕱𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖞-𝕰𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙

"What's happening?" Lancelot asked, preceding her, reaching Arthur first.

"There is a group of men on horseback nearly as large as ours a short distance in front of us. They saw Gawaine and the others whom I sent ahead; we can't avoid them now. Gawaine says that they do not look dangerous, but looks are often deceiving. I don't want to risk anything. Let us ride faster and simply try to pass by them without interactions... I'll stay next to Ginny and you two please keep near us, whatever happens."

The only thing Ginny could think of as she listened to his words was that his wound was not healed entirely yet, and here they were riding towards a potential danger... Her fingers, as if guided by their own will, found the leather straps of his armour even before she properly thought of it, checking if they were tied safely.

He smiled at her, capturing her hand, bringing it to his lips, then keeping it in his own as they rode on, observing the small group of riders that had just come into view-- a few dark dots on the horizon, growing, changing form, taking the shape of several men as they approached them.

Arthur had been right, Ginny noticed, the group had nearly as many members as their own and even though they did not wear the half-armour like Athur's Companions, they all wore heavily padded leather gambesons like Ginny. They did not have any banner hinting at who they were, and for the first time, Ginny realised that not even Arthur's knights carried the well-known white banner with the golden dragon, belonging to the Pendragons... Maybe it was safer this way, she mused.

"Remember that you are a man now, Ginny... I wish we had armour for you too to disguise you as one of the knights," Arthur murmured, then, after one quick, furtive kiss he let go of her hand and urged his horse to take a little distance from hers. "Please stay close to me whatever happens."

Ginny nodded, her eyes trained on the group in front of them, her hand finding the blanket-wrapped Excalibur.

The strange riders suddenly stopped and turned as one, blocking the road, forcing them to stop too.

"Let us pass," one of the knights called, "we are escorting our Lord Warwick to his mother, and we are late already. Unless you are looking for trouble..."

The knight, whom she recognised as Gawaine as he turned around, nodded towards Ginny, making her notice how well-learned and practised his words sounded. It must have been the pretence they used to travel around the country until now, but today, she became their pretend ward instead of her cousin.

"Believe me, my lord, you would travel faster should you part with some of the gold which I'm certain weighs your horses down, and we would do with that shining armour of yours too, surely you agree that these are dangerous times..." The man smiled broadly, revealing a set of unhealthy teeth under the bushy blond beard, the same colour of his shoulder length, greasy hair.

Looking at the other men now spreading in a tight semi-circle around his leader and towards them, their hands on the hilts of their swords, Ginny noticed their likeness. They were Saxons. But not of the wild tribes who knew nothing about the use of horses at war, attacking Arthur's kingdom on the northern shores, these men, looking so at ease on horseback, must be from the treaty troops that had pledged allegiance to her father before she was born.

"Traitors!" she whisper-shouted angrily. Wasn't their brethren far on the northern borders causing enough trouble?

Arthur looked at her, and she saw how torn he looked between fighting these men and protecting her... And Gawaine was trying to catch his eye, waiting for his orders...

Acting on impulse, she pulled her hat off, letting her long ginger braid fall over her shoulder, and drew her Sword before any of the men. She held the Excalibur, the stones set in its hilt glinting in warning to anyone who might want to cross her, and rode to the head of their group, Arthur following close behind in a stunned silence.

"I am Guinevere, the only daughter of King Leodegrance with whom your loyalties lie, have you forgotten that? Or shall I think that you decided to betray him and treat you as traitors? Don't you have families to look after? Have you paused to think what would become of them should you die here today for a handful of gold?"

The men stared, bewitched, at the strange Sword in her hand, their own forgotten entirely.

"So it's true... you have the Excalibur," the blond man said, bowing to her, after a long silence only interrupted by the nervous stomping of the impatient horses, "my queen."

Ginny accepted the silent, reverential bows of his men with a slight incline of her head but kept looking at them sternly, her eyes pausing at each and every one of them as she said, "I'm not your queen yet but I will be, in a month, when I'll marry Arthur Pendragon. Then I will expect you at Camelot to pledge your allegiance to us if you want to keep living here in peace."

"Of course, my lady, I will come in the name of all Saxons living on your father's lands."

"Good. Remember your promise. And now let us pass," Ginny said, feeling the sudden, unexpected rush of courage abandoning her just as quickly as it had come. They couldn't see her as the weak girl she was...

She lowered the Sword as if in sign of her trust in them and passed it, hand shaking, to Arthur. Luckily, they did not notice how unsure and scared she felt now, as she realised what she might have caused by drawing the Excalibur and, still bowing, moved out of their way.

They rode slowly, bravely through the group of Saxons before Arthur slipped the Excalibur into its blanket-wrapped scabbard tied to Ginny's saddle, then pulled her over to his horse, making her sit in front of him sideways.

"Go, quick!" he ordered the knights, breaking into a gallop, even as she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek against his breastplate.

"My God. You'll be the end of me, Guinevere," he murmured.