In My Eyes: The Rise of King Arthur and His Knights

Chapter 3 Renewal

True to Gawain's word, it didn't take Dagonet long to notice that I was trying to work through the pain. I felt his eyes on me every time my formerly agile fingers fumbled as I made a tea with fever-few, lavender, and white willow for all three of us former prisoners. I could take only a few shaky sips of mine before I threw myself into making a poultice of lavender, arnica, and nettle. I barely made it halfway through the making of it.

The frozen road was very rough, with deep ruts and holes and I was already gritting my teeth against the pain shooting through the innermost parts of my body, while struggling to stay focused on the task at hand.

My gasp of surprise turned to a whimper in my throat when we hit an unusually large bump. The mortar and pestle slipped from my hands and tumbled into my lap before spilling the herbs in my skirt as my hands clutched at my abdomen. The world started to spin and I could no longer keep myself up right. I failed to catch myself and my head thumped against the wooden floor of the wagon. A weak moan escaped me.

Dagonet picked me up as the Roman lady salvaged as much of the crushed herbs as she could. The large man gently laid me back on my pile of furs. "Where is your pain?" I wondered if he was blind, but when I tried to speak, no words would come. I bit my lower lip and shook my head, my hands were still clutching at my stomach as my body instinctively tried to curl into a fetal position.

The Roman lady shooed him away. "Finish this please, Dagonet. All three of them need this. She may feel more comfortable letting a woman help her this time."

"I will help." I looked into the face of the Wode woman. Her brown eyes were sympathetic.

The female Roman nodded to her. When she turned back to me there were tears in her eyes. "Bree, My name is Fulcinia. I am so sorry for what my husband has done. I want to help you now."

My fellow prisoner moved forward and clasped my shaking, clutching fingers. "We never really met before. I am Guinevere. I know what they did to you down there. I know that you want to help me heal more quickly, but there is something wrong and you must let us help you for now."

Together, the two women managed to get my body to open up, if not relax. The shame of their gentle examination and the memories that such touches, though light and considerate of my pain, was numbing to the point that I ceased to struggle at all. I lay as still as I could and let the tears slide down my temples and collect in my ears. When they asked me questions, Guinevere would do her best to answer and spare me further shame, but when she could not, I think I tried to answer them, though I have no recollection of what I said.

At some point, they made me drink more tea and eventually I slept.

When I awoke, my tongue felt thick and swollen in my mouth, and my head ached. Most of the pain between my legs and in my abdomen was gone.

"She has awakened." I heard Guinevere say quietly.

A cup was held to my lips. "Drink this, dear." Fulcinia held up my head and assisted me to drink more tea.

I obediently swallowed anything placed in my mouth, including several drinks of broth, a couple small hunks of bread, and even more tea. As I was drifting back to sleep, I realized that they were adding something to tea to make me sleep.

The next time I woke up I was careful to lay still so they would not know it. I was still a bit groggy and had no idea how much time had passed.

"Bree?" Gawain's voice. I twitched, but reminded myself that I must stay still.

"Not now, lad." Dagonet said softly. "She sleeps."

"What's wrong with her, Dag? Tell me the truth." He moved away from my side and I cracked my eye lids open to watch them.