Guerriera - The Old Guard

Chapter 17 - Malta

I walked out of the bathroom and saw Joe butt ass naked in the sitting room. I laughed loudly at the sight of him dancing weirdly in our sitting room, butt ass naked. The scenes had changed so much from just a few months ago. I had read that book that i was handed at the cemetery. It had surprisingly got most of the facts right. I remember it had a whole page dedicated to Gwaine and I, it had a letter which Gwaine had wrote to me the year after i left. I read the photo as best as I could,  

"Dear my Elizabeth,

A whole year you've been away. I find myself looking for you everyday it seems. A new trail in the forest always gives me hope, like your going to be waiting for me at the end. Just like treasure. You are worth everything. More worthy of any treasure the king himself might possess. I hold your word, touch and smell close to me, I'm afraid they'll leave me in darkness once again. I'm getting married, yet it seems to the wrong woman. Where are you? I'm not angry, just lost in my own self pity. I need you to find me. I cant feel like a worthy knight if your not here standing beside me, so i can protect you. Not that you need protecting, i have watched you fight from all those illegal times we went hunting together and i realised i loved you most ardently.

Love, Gwaine."

After six months of doing little jobs with Copley, we had all deserved a well-earned break so Nicky, Joe and I decided to go back to Malta for the 5th time. Malta was our favourite place; we created a lot of memories here and therefore saved up all our money and decided to permanently buy a place here.

The place was massive, especially for us three as we were so used to staying in small places with so many people. However, we ultimately decided to buy a big place for ourselves. The house was hard to describe. Its kind of like an open house, in the middle of our house was a courtyard, it was small but beautiful. Our house surrounded it. We had 4 bedrooms, all big enough for king sized beds etc. There was 2 main bathrooms, most bedrooms had a small, connected bathroom. We had a large kitchen and sitting room. Our house of was of sandy stone yet on the inside it was very modern.

I joined Joe in dancing but keeping hold of my towel so it wouldn't fall off. My wet hair whipped us with water droplets. We laughed loudly together, and Nicky entered the room. He paused for a second when he saw us. He laughed and started to undress quickly. He started dancing to whatever was playing on the radio.

"Okay, foods ready guys..." said Nicky out of breath when the song finished.

We chuckled and walked out of the sitting room and into the kitchen. We took a seat at the island, and Nicky put our food in front of us.

"Jidher delicious imħabba tiegħi." (Looks delicious my love.)

"Grazie e il vostro benvenuto." He replied in Italian.

We sat and ate, our bodies keeping warm due to Malta's warm weather. I laughed as I sat and ate tea with two very naked men. They chuckled as well, trying hard not to spit out any of their food. We ate all our food while shuffling to the music in the background. Once we were done, we put our plates in the sink. It was my turn to clean them, so I got straight on it, and in the meantime the boys continued to dance completely naked.

Once I was done, I went into the bathroom and took off my towel so I could dry my hair with it. I put it to one side afterwards and started to put my hair into two braids. I smiled at myself in the mirror, my skin had gotten more tanned since we came to Malta and I had gotten more freckles which I started to adore.

Then all of a sudden both boys ran into the bathroom and Nicky threw me over his shoulder so my bare arse was pointing to the ceiling, he ran through the open courtyard and Joe was running behind trying to reach my outstretched hands.

"JOE! SAVE ME!" I yelled laughing.

Nicky entered the other side of the house and ran past the open door and down a corridor. He ran into a bedroom, not ours, but a spare one. He dropped me on a bed and looked at my body up and down. I got nervous and stared at the ceiling. I felt light kisses on my stomach and then his hands brushed my sides lightly. I closed my eyes.

Joe came into the room and chuckled darkly, I watched as he walked closer to the two of us.

Things got crazy for a good 2 hours.

After the eventful 2 hours, we became exhausted and decided to retire for the night. We went back into our bedroom, after cleaning ourselves off and clambered into bed. Before we fell asleep however, Joe brought out his bigger sketch book and decided to lightly sketch me and Nicky naked together. It wasn't the first time, infact he used to draw our bodies in his little sketchbook but Andy found it and told us to burn them. Joe kept this one secret and i never knew where he hid it until now. I slept in Nicky's arms which meant I was the little spoon, which was nice as Nicky rubbed my lower stomach to help me sleep. It took no longer than 5 minutes for me to fall asleep, which was a first.

A picture moved in my brain, a dream. A saw a wine bottle hit the floor, or perhaps a beer bottle. The floor was cracked and dirty, an old place. Boots hit the floor heavily and stepped past the glass barley missing it. The door was white, or at least a pale colour, and made of wood. Wherever it was, it was a foreign country -still in Europe- I guessed France or The Netherlands. Then I saw a small kitchen, messy. Someone who wasn't taking care with their house or themselves. A lady. A lady dressed in red. I never saw her face, but she was wearing patterns based in either China or Japan. I saw a gun, initials engraved in the side of the gun.

S.L

Sébastien Lelivre.

But we call him Booker.

I shot up from Nicky's arms, scaring him and Joe out of sleep and into the real world. Nicky quickly sat up and pulled my shaking and sweating body into his arms.

"A nightmare? You never get nightmares..." Said Joe as he stroked my leg which had exposed itself when i jumped up.

I took a deep breath, "I saw Booker. I think he's in trouble. I'm not sure, but there is definite a reason why he hasn't called."

Booker had promised to call every day, and he did for two months and I had managed to have privacy from the boys when he called. Then suddenly they stopped. For 3 months I was consumed with worry and sadness, they boys obviously knew something was wrong, I was forced to share my worries. Joe being the stubborn bastard he is, told me not to worry and that Booker deserved everything that came to him. Nicky, being more understanding, comforted me and told me that he would probably be busy some days. I never believed Booker could be busy every day for 3 months.

Now, I had this dream. I had proof that Booker needed to be found again because he's in trouble.

"What did you see?" Joe asked as Nicky rocked me gently.

"He was drinking, its got so much worse. He's drinking from bottles now. He has his own place but, you can tell he's not looking after himself. There was a lady dressed in red, just standing in his kitchen. He didn't know her because he pulled a gun on her. He doesn't have much protection with him, he's started labelling his guns. He's in trouble, I know it."

(The courtyard of their house)