Forget This Love

Chapter 5

"In love? With who?" Merlin asked, teasingly nudging his friend. He'd expected Gwaine to blush vermilion but when he stole a sideways glance at his face, it remained brown and tanned and showed no trace of scarlet. Gwaine only answered the question by tapping his nose on the side, leaving Merlin to guess for himself.

"I don't know how you manage to live. And you're so carefree...so...casual about it. Don't you ever worry?"

"About what? It's my life and I'm going to live it to the full. I can't seem to see why you'd want to waste a lifetime as good as this. I travel around with the protection of my sword, I stop at random taverns to drink, earn the occasional coin by selling the game I catch or kill and with that I buy spare clothes, food and other wares. Plus, I can find my own food here in the forest; berries and roots and all sorts out here!" Gwaine replied, waving his hand to indicate to the woods around them.

"Well, what do you do when it's winter? Like now. There aren't any berries and the nuts have been scavenged by the squirrels for hibernation. Even if it is a hot winter. Where will you find food?" Merlin challenged his friend.

"Yeah, now I begin the late hunting season, that's why I start catching the fish and deer and rabbits, then I use my money to get hold of cheese, bread, those sorts of things. But you know what? Winter's only just begun. It's been a long autumn because of all the good weather. And look around you, the leaves are still present upon the trees and the sun seems to think it's still late summer!" Gwaine laughed, cheerfully.

"I guess you're right; it does look like summer. Well at least you're dressed like it is, wearing almost nothing at all. Get your shirt on!" Merlin teased. He was met with a sharp rock to the head but the two men just fell about laughing.

With his thin cross-gartered shirt now dry, along with his leather boots, hide bandages and socks, Gwaine dressed but left his tunic and jerkin hanging in the fork of a nearby spruce. Collecting his iron lower arm cuffs from beside the lapping water and depositing them below the tree where his remaining garments hung, the traveller beckoned to his friend.

"Follow me."

The two of them wound their way carefully round the tall stately trees and over dry dead leave, gently stirring the thick undergrowth until Gwaine came to a halt. He commended Merlin to wait there before lodging his foot in into a nook of an apple tree trunk and began scrambling effortlessly up through the spindly lichen-encrusted branches. Merlin stood gaping upwards as Gwaine stopped and perched himself upon an unsteady looking bough where he scanned the tree in search of something unknown to his awaiting friend. Finally, he seemed to make up his mind and roughly plucked a ripe green apple from where it swung gently in the breeze and tossed it down to Merlin, who caught it awkwardly.

"Try it. They're a little sour and wrinkled but the summer was fruitful and here, I can find the last of the seasons gifts. I know it's slightly wizened (it should have been long rotten) but this one will be extra juicy because of how ripe it is. Go on. Eat."

Polishing the glossy green skin of the apple, Merlin tentatively took a big bite. Frothy juice sprayed from his lips as a delicious sour sweetness filled his mouth. Gwaine leapt down from a low branch to stand beside his friend, watching him take a second mouthful.

"Well?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"Mhhmmnnhmm, it's good. Sweet and slightly sour. And very crunchy and crisp. The best of the autumn apples. Thanks Gwaine." Merlin replied through a mouthful as he munched fervently.

As they backtracked through the woods back to the bank, the only sounds audible to Gwaine's ears was the twitter and hum of nesting birds and the swift flap of a low swooping bird as it rustled through the thickets. A mouse readying itself for hibernation scampered from within a tangle of thorny brambles, disturbed by the rattling of dead leaves underfoot and the hoot of an owl anticipating the evening hunt came from the depths of the forest. Alongside the familiar sounds of nature was the loud crunching of apple from behind as Merlin continued to devour the ripe fruit.

Suddenly, Gwaine stopped once more, the serving boy crashing into his back.

Righting himself, Merlin asked hopefully,"What is it? Another good apple to pick?"

The traveller put up his hand for silence, scanning the trees with wide eyes, alert and ready for an attack. It wasn't just Uther who was worried with mercenary attacks and saxon bandit raids. Besides, both of them were utterly unarmed and exposed in the little clearing that they'd come to.

"Shhh, I can hear hoofbeats." Gwaine whispered. Taking cover behind a ridge of tall rock concealing a tuft of thick conifer trees, he pulled his friend in beside him and mounted a loose moss-coated boulder. The two men peered cautiously through the passage to their hiding place, between tree and outcrop. To their surprise, the Lady Morgana came trotting through the trees, her horse shaking its head in annoyance at leaving its companions. She dismounted and looked around nervously.

"What's she doing out here alone?" Gwaine hissed.

Merlin just shrugged in reply.

"Morgana? Morgana? Where is she? You've lost her, you fools! She was right there on her horse and now she's disappeared!" cried the angry voice of Arthur somewhere through the shrubbery. He seemed to have lost Morgana and was in actual fact, panicking blindly as he pictured Uther's rage at losing his precious ward.

Morgana, however, chose to ignore the frantic cries of her brother and the two idiotic soldiers who were now blundering fearfully around through the forest in search of the king's daughter. Instead she looked around uneasily again before kneeling down at the edge of a small bubbling stream running through the clearing that Gwaine and Merlin had stood in only seconds before. Fumbling for something in her pocket, Morgana wiped away an angry tear and then held out in her hand what she had retrieved. The two daisies from under her pillow.

Gwaine drew in his breath. What was she doing? Those were his little flowers. He had slipped the first daisy in her cloak pocket when he caught her as she fell. He had tucked the second one under the paper on the salmon as he returned it to her. So what on earth was she doing away from the protection of the royal guards, useless as they might be, in the middle of a secluded clearing, holding his two daisies. Merlin crouched as puzzled as Gwaine, lurking behind the stone outcrop, the furry leaves of the conifers brushing his cheek.

Morgana leant forward over the babbling stream and she placed the daisies in the water as a single teardrop fell from under her eyelid. Idiot. She told herself. Falling for some stupid conman. She didn't know how she'd get over her stupidity. She watched as the shrivelled white flowers drifted off downstream but still she knelt there.

"Morgana! Oh thank the Lord! What are you doing here. Why did you run off? Arthur cried, appearing at the edge of the clearing."Stupid! I was scared I'd have to return to Camelot without you and explain all about how you'd magically disappeared! You scared the life out of me you did and I jus..."

"Oh do shut up!" Morgana retorted, scrubbing at a tear. She couldn't stand someone else telling her she was stupid. Even if was because of a different matter. Falling for a man she'd known for two days. Why? She'd just felt drawn to him. Dreaming of him, thinking about him. And now she'd shake it off. But she didn't need a right noble pain up the backside telling her she was a fool.

"I won't tell Uther this once or he'll have my head too but I'm warning you, Morgana, don't you dare run away again!"

Their voices died away as the plodded on through the forest leaving Gwaine and Merlin in total silence once more. Leaping out from behind the rocks, Gwaine wondered what was going on. However, he decided he'd rather keep it to himself. Better not to tell Merlin yet. Not till he'd found out what the hell was up with Morgana.