The Dark Tower

Chapter 12 - Futures and Farewells

Lying in bed together that evening, enjoying the feeling of freedom, I raised the subject again. ‘Gwaine, what ARE you going to do now? You weren’t really happy at the Inn, were you?’

‘It was great at first,’ he said, idly twisting a lock of my hair around his finger. ‘There was singing and drinking and Perce and I would sort out the occasional fight and it was fun.’

‘And then?’ I prompted, rolling onto my side to look up at him.

‘Then you turned up.’

‘What?’

‘Yes. You kind of ruined it for me, if I’m honest.’

‘Gwaine?’ Was it true? Had I ruined his life?

‘And you know what? Thank the stars you did!’

‘Gwaine!’

‘I would have died from the drink if you hadn’t saved me.’

I huffed at his remark and he laughed at me. ‘But what ARE you going to do? What are WE going to do?’

‘Well, I shall ride around the country on exciting quests, and you can stay with Gwen and sew . . . whatever it is you girls sew.’

‘Gwaine! This isn’t the- Oh. No, it’s way before then. But I am NOT sitting at home sewing. For one, I’m rubbish at it.’

‘You need the practice then. But is that where you see your home, Camelot?’

‘It’s the nearest thing I’ve got to one here. But I’d rather come questing with you.’

‘Girls can’t quest,’ he said derisively.

‘Why not? Anyway, we have one to complete.’

‘We do?’

‘Well, if we want to stop Aragorn mooning over me like a lovesick cow, then we either have to go back to the naiad and get this bracelet removed, or find him his true love. But if you don’t, I could live with the attention . . .’

‘You said you knew who this one true love is?’ he asked, ignoring my last comment.

‘Yes, she’s an elf in Rivendell.’

‘We’ll go there then. Legolas should be able to help.’

The following morning was a time of goodbyes. Katy, Merlin and Mordred would be staying in the Dark Tower, Leon and Gwen would be going to Camelot with Percival, who would then be travelling on to the Crossed Swords Inn, Legolas and the other elves were going to head to Rivendell at pace, and Aragorn, Gandalf, Sorvad, Gwaine and I would be following on behind them on foot. Which was a little bit awkward as now that the potential battle was over and we were travelling together, Gandalf, who had been keeping Aragorn away from me, was entirely taken up with Sorvad, leaving Aragorn to resume his infatuation with me.

At first he just mooned along behind us, sighing loudly every so often as I walked good arm in arm with Gwaine. But as we sat to eat, he was watching me so carefully that I felt completely in the spotlight of his gaze. I tried in vain to remove the bracelet for the thousandth time that day, but we set off again in the same formation until Gwaine gave me a kiss, said, ‘Let me talk with Aragorn,’ and dropped back to join him, and after a little while, Aragorn called my name. I turned and waited for him, Gwaine passing me, flashing me smile.

He bowed his head. ‘My lady, you have my sincere apologies. I will trouble you no more on this journey.’

‘Thank you, Aragorn.’

‘Gwaine, what did you say to him?’ I asked, catching back up with him.

‘I’ll tell you when we get to Rivendell.’

The rest of the three day journey was uneventful, and I could feel the tension leaving me as Aragorn’s attentions had been withdrawn. However, when we arrived at Rivendell, it became very clear that Elrond was not pleased to see Sorvad.

‘You bring him HERE, Gandalf?’ he asked.

‘I had no choice, Elrond. He may yet be of use to us.’

‘I doubt that.’ He nodded over some of the elves and they escorted him away. ‘The rest of your party is more welcome. Lady Beth, I understand?’ I curtseyed. ‘You have our gratitude for sending the fairies.’

‘And I yours for sending Legolas to rescue Katy and I from Sorvad.’

‘And you must be Gwaine who enabled Beth to call on their help?’

Gwaine bowed. ‘An honour, my lord.’

‘And Elessar,’ he said to Aragorn. ‘It has been too long,’ and they embraced before he turned back to us. ‘Come, we will have you shown to your rooms and we will eat at dusk.’

‘Erm, excuse me, Lord Elrond.’ He turned back to me. ‘Is Arwen here?’

‘My daughter? She is away at the moment, but she is due back imminently.’

‘She’s not here?’ Gwaine asked, looking shocked.

‘No,’ Elrond replied. ‘You seem surprised, sir knight.’

‘I . . . erm, I had heard great things about her beauty, my lord. I was hoping to meet her.’

I glanced in surprise at Gwaine. I had no idea he knew anything about Arwen, let alone him expressing an interest in wanting to meet the beautiful elf.

‘In that case, I hope you will stay until she returns. Now, this way,’ and Elrond led us up the steps and into the city of Rivendell.

I had never seen a city so beautiful, making my beloved Camelot look quite plain in comparison, which only made me miss her all the more. Elven maids took us to a spacious chamber where an enormous bath was already filled and showed us where clean clothes had been made available for us.

‘Wow, Gwaine, look at this room!’ But when I turned to him, he was looking distinctly uncomfortable. ‘Gwaine? What is it?’ He started pacing the room looking particularly unhappy, swearing under his breath. ‘Gwaine?’ He didn’t answer me. ‘Gwaine!’ He kind of glanced towards me without actually looking at me. In fact looking everywhere except at me. ‘Gwaine!’

‘Erm, Beth, I kind of have a confession to make.’

‘You do?’

‘I’m really sorry. Really, REALLY sorry.’

 ‘Gwaine . . . what have you done?’