Married Life

Chapter 7

"Are you hurt?" Arthur asked the grinning knight even though he was pretty sure Gwaine was fine. Merlin moved to the front of the group and started checking Gwaine over. Satisfied that he was unhurt Merlin moved onto the other knights, patching up the small cuts and checking for broken bones. "Princess Arrow is surprisingly well travelled." Arthur stared unblinkingly, watching every expression and movement of Gwaine's. "What was she doing here?" The king ignored the sounds and movements of the other knights and focused on the now not grinning knight leaning against the tree.
"She asked me something similar about you when we met in Mercia on our last adventure." Gwaine replied still leaning casually.
"She must be almost as good with a blade as you Gwaine." Merlin gestured at the bodies around them and tried twirling a sword he'd picked up but the handle slipped from his grasp and the sword thudded to the floor. Percival grabbed the sword and put it in the pile with the rest of the weaponry the knights were gathering.
"And what did you tell her?" Asked Arthur. He bent down to clean his sword with some long grass from the base of a tree.
"Seems blonde Princesses like to go adventuring, no matter what Kingdom they come from."
"Gwaine!" Arthur exploded standing up and dropping the handful of grass. The insolent knight didn't even have the temerity to flinch, he just keep leaning, with his arms loosely folded. The other knights stopped, even Merlin managed to stand without fidgeting. Arthur advanced on the knight. "You told me yourself; she's married."
"To a drunken fool." Gwaine's arms tensed and he shook his head moving his hair out of his eyes. He lifted his chin slightly, keeping Arthur's stare.
"Tell me you haven't disgraced Camelot."
"I've been the perfect knight."
"Even if she wasn't married," Leon started, "a Princess is hardly going to marry a knight of no family." He shrugged his shoulders a little at Gwaine and went back to cleaning his sword.
Arthur threw his hands up is despair. He would need to keep an even closer eye on Gwaine in the future if he didn't want a war with Mercia.
The knights all trudged back to the camp to collect their packs and horses. Tristan fell in alongside Gwaine who was at the rear behind Arthur and chopping lazily at grass and weeds with his sword.
"You said to retreat."
Gwaine stopped swinging his sword and looked at the young knight. He was walking head bowed, fiddling with the hem of his cloak. "We were outnumbered and being surrounded."
"But you didn't retreat." Pressed Tristan quietly.
"I got cut off. If the Princess hadn't arrived." He shrugged his shoulders and attacked the grass again.
"I should have stayed."
"You were hurt. I gave you an order. And if I overheard Percival right, you saved Merlin's life. Seems like it all worked out for the best." Tristan nodded a little and kept looking down.
"I think the Princess likes you too." Tristan smiled and ran a few paces to catch up to Galahad leaving Gwaine alone again. They gathered the weapons from the dead in the camp, some of the villagers were already digging a large pit. They took breaks to come and thank the knights, shaking their hands and offering small gifts of food, drink or hand made items. Gwaine pocketed a small dog whittled from bone or wood that a villager offered him. The rest stuck to food, wine and offerings of lodgings for the night.
The tavern was small with only three rooms available for guests. Arthur grabbed Tristan and Galahad who were about to follow some local ladies and shoved them towards the tavern. Leon, Elyan and Percival were taken in by neighbouring houses with dry barns. Arthur told Merlin to share a room with Gwaine. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet sat by the tavern fire. He kept fiddling with the small wooden animal he'd been given earlier.
"I can't find him anywhere." Merlin fidgeted next to Arthur.
"He went for a walk." Galahad walked past being ushered upstairs by Leon. "Several ladies offered him a bed for the knight." He took off in a jog before Leon could cuff him around the ear.
Arthur's stomach dropped. He grabbed Leon's arm. "Did you see where Gwaine went?" Leon pointed outside with a shrug. He grabbed Tristan's arm pulling him away from the bar and several young girls pushing him after Galahad. At least Arthur wouldn't have to worry about the young knights. Just Gwaine. The King pushed through the still lively crowd of locals in the tavern and stepped outside. It was dark and drizzling slightly with a cold wind that seeped through his armour. It was good to have proper lodgings for the night. He looked around the village, several houses were illuminated by the flickering light of candles inside. None looked grand enough for a Mercian Princess to be staying, even in hiding. Maybe Gwaine had found another place to spend the night. Arthur contemplated going and knocking on random doors but didn't really want to admit to half the village he'd lost a knight.
"I can hear singing." Arthur hadn't heard Merlin approaching. He must be tired, but he could hear singing too, coming from the stables to the side of the tavern. They walked over and peered through the half open doors. Gwaine was in there, his armour in a pile at his feet, wearing just his trousers and shirt. He was grooming his horse with one hand and swigging from a tankard with the other and quietly singing an old song about star crossed lovers in between drinks. Arthur chuckled quietly and stepped back from the door.
"Make sure he comes back to the tavern and gets some rest." He patted Merlin on the back and left him watching over their friend.
The next morning the knights all convened in the main room of the tavern. Merlin looked like he'd been up most of the night and was failing to stifle yawns every five minutes. Arthur unrolled a map he'd been lent. "Lot's men came from this direction." He traced a line on the map from the village into the woods. "There's two more villages nearby along the border." He pointed at two more areas of the map further North. "We'll go to both and see if they've experienced trouble and determine if there was more than one set of raiders." The knights gathered up their gear after Arthur released the map to roll back up loosely. Gwaine took the lead saying he knew the villages, Arthur tried to ride alongside him but Leon started asking him about their strategy if there were multiple parties of raiders.
It was half a day's ride to the next village and just after midday Gwaine stopped and held up a closed fist. Arthur rode up alongside, "Something..." he started before being shushed by the knight. Gwaine slowly dismounted and silently eased his sword from his scabbard. Arthur followed but motioned the rest to stay put. He stalked after Gwaine whilst also trying to see or hear what had the knight so concerned. They came to edge of the tree line at the side of the village. Arthur still couldn't hear anything. A sheep walked down the path through the houses, it stopped to nibble at some grass outside the house nearest them. A large twang reverberated off the houses and the sheep fell over with a crossbow bolt in its side.
Gwaine crouched even lower and started moving back into the tree line just as two large men emerged from the far side of the house. They laughed as they walked over to the sheep. One leaned down and pulled out the bolt and wiped it in the animal's wool coat. The other nudged it with a foot before declaring it was dead. Gwaine and Arthur stayed still until they picked up the sheep and went back the way they had come. Gwaine motioned for Arthur to follow and started moving around the village staying several feet back from the end of the trees. They counted the men, Lot's men, as they went and slipped back quietly to the rest of the knights.
"A dozen of the murderous..."
"Gwaine." Arthur calmly admonished the knight. They hadn't seen any villagers dead or otherwise but two of the men had looked to be guarding the doors of a large building in the middle of the settlement.
"What's the plan?" Asked Elyan. Arthur traced out a rough plot of the village with his sword in the muddy ground. He marked out a series of squares to show the houses and put an x where they had seen each man. They would attack the village from three sides in small groups and clear their way through to the centre. Hopefully there would be people alive inside the main building.
Arthur took Merlin and Gwaine with him to the farthest side leaving Leon with Tristan and Galahad to approach from their current position and Elyan with Percival in the middle.
Silently they moved between the buildings, Gwaine took the lead, peering around the corners before advancing. At the third house, he quickly rolled back from the corner and drew a dagger from his boot. He dived around the corner again for a moment before returning to signal Merlin and Arthur to follow. A man was slumped, sat down, against the building. His eyes were wide open but unmoving. One down Arthur quietly thought to himself. He whipped around at the sound of boots behind him. Another thug had crept up on them on the other side of the lane only for the sign hanging from the building there to fall on his head.
They moved forwards again, following Gwaine. A man barrelled out of the doorway between Arthur and Gwaine, he was obviously drunk but still armed with an axe. He took a wide swing at Arthur shouting with alarm. Arthur stabbed him before he could make too much noise and pushed him back into the building he had come from. They moved quicker to the centre of the village. Gwaine paused them on the far side of a small hut from the doorway with the two guards. Arthur peered around at them. They had their swords in their hands and were laughing at each others jokes. One turned around to shout something through the door and hammered on it with the pommel of his sword before laughing loudly again. Another man came up the path holding a lit torch, he shouted through the door and paused, listening. He mustn't have liked the reply as he held the torch up to the thatched roof till it started to smoulder. Gwaine shot past Arthur and launched himself at the three men, he shoved his shoulder into the one with the torch making him drop it. Arthur followed blocking the strike at Gwaine's back from the man who had pulled out his sword to replace his lost torch. Gwaine fought the other two. Merlin came stumbling over in a rush and started lifting the bar locking the door. It was obviously heavy but the king and knight were too busy to help. The smoulder had turned into a roaring fire moving across the roof. Arthur could hear screams from inside and people banging on the door. He tried to move back towards Merlin but the thug wouldn't let him. The thug froze and looked down at the sword point in his chest. As the point disappeared the thug collapsed to the floor revealing Leon standing behind him. Percival pushed past Arthur and helped Merlin who had just managed to lift the bar and was trying to open the doors without being crushed by the panicked crowd inside. They watched men, women and children run out and into the village. Some started pulling up water from the well, Tristan and Galahad joined in the line to help. Gwaine slipped into the building, Arthur tried to follow but Leon held him back.
"He'll be fine." Leon assured Arthur. They waited for the impetuous knight to re-emerge. Villages kept running back and forth with water. Merlin joined in and the fire was quickly subdued. Gwaine emerged coughing into his right shoulder and carrying a young boy whilst a distraught looking woman cling to his left shoulder. Percival took the boy from Gwaine and the woman followed after. Galahad brought Gwaine some water which he drank grimacing. Arthur watched the woman and couldn't help feeling slightly relived that she had dark hair. Gwaine sat down and leaned against the building, still coughing occasionally. The rest of the knights gathered around Arthur. The villagers had largely ignored them and were dispersing through the buildings, presumably checking their belongings and livestock. The woman whom Gwaine had rescued came back with a couple of older men.
"Thank you." The woman knelt down next to Gwaine and kissed his cheek before placing a damp cloth in his hand. The men were less impressed, but they reluctantly thanked the knights before explaining they all had a lot of work to do.
"We should go." Gwaine's voice was a little hoarser then usual but he managed to stand without coughing again. "They're wary of strangers at the best of times." Arthur wondered if his knight knew every village in every kingdom or just the borderlands.
"We should get to the last village." Agreed Leon.