"Captain? What are you doing?".
Guinevere stiffened. She hated being questioned about her decisions.
"We found some survivors. Bring some food and water for the child" she ordered to her crew.
"And that one?" Eilar pointed at the badly wounded one.
"He needs help too" she said waving to other sailors to carry him inside, then she followed them.
"It can be a trap" Eilar hissed, grabbing her arm to stop her.
She rolled her eyes at him and freed her arm from his grip "Look at his wounds. He's too weakened by them to be a menace. He could die".
"Then give him a merciful death!".
Guinevere sighed. That was the most rational solution. She had seen less damaged men getting a quick death.
Dead.
She had seen too many dead.
If that stranger could be still saved, she wanted to give it a try. And if it was all a waste of time, at least she had some peace of mind, because she had tried.
"Maybe I can still save him. Didn't we see enough death around?" she replied strongly, then added hesitantly "He could be the brother of someone else who would be grateful to us for a little action of mercy".
Eilar lowered his head and let her pass.
Guinevere opened the door of her brother's empty room and made her men rest the body on the bed.
"What the hell happened? Some battle?" she asked to Percy.
The child shivered "He fought an army to save me. We've been travelling for days. I didn't know where to go".
"There are not many save places now. Everywhere pop up traitors. Fetch me some waters please".
Percy looked disoriented but he followed the other men to learn how to get the water.
Guinevere was left alone with the dying man.
She couldn't even understand if he was a Blood Man or a Fey.
His body was covered with wounds that made it hard to imagine how he looked like. She wondered how he could be still alive.
She had seen strong warriors die for smaller wounds.
Anyway Guinevere used all her skills to help him, although she feared it was just a waste of time and supplies, but imagining also how many he would get if he had a chance to survive.
But if the leader of the Fey Folk had done anything to help some enemies and freed them, Guinevere felt pushed to do the same.
The memory of her brother haunted her, clasping her heart in a painful grip. She remembered seeing a bunch of her men coming back to the sea carrying the dead body of her brother.
The nausea came back to torment her as she examinated the wounds.
His clothes melted with his skin where the flesh was torn.
She couldn't even understand how he would look like without those wounds.
But he was still alive. She could feel his pulse. Something was keeping him alive. And she wondered what energy held him hanged to life. If she was in his shoes, she would rather end the agony and die.
Guinevere swallowed hard at the idea.
She couldn't take her dagger out and give a clean death to that stranger. She would be too ashamed to face the reaction of that lonely child.
She felt powerless in front of choosing life and death.
Percy came back and Guinevere wore back her mask.
She couldn't steal hope from his eyes.
She thanked him for the water and started to clean the cuts.
"This could have beheaded him" she commented noticing a deep cut on the back of his head.
"Spiked balls" she added scanning the other wounds.
The left arm didn't react to any stimulation.
Some ribs were broken from an impact with the spiked balls.
Guinevere felt like fighting an already lost battle.
It was Percy's will of saving him to give her the courage to keep trying.
"You've been very brave and strong. To travel like this" she said finally, after cleaning and placing few bandages the wounded man. She cleaned her hands from his blood and caressed the child's face.
"I had no choice. The Red Paladins were everywhere. If I haven't seen your ships, I would have tried to swim".
She silenced him "The monks won't bother us anymore. You are welcome and safe here".
She led him to her rooms nearby, where Arthur was waiting for her.
"Arthur?" Percy called widening his bid eyes.
"Squirrel?" Arthur replied, then laughed emotionally and ran to hug the child.
"Squirrel?" Guinevere repeated confused, a bit offended for feeling a stranger on her own ship "How many names do you have, kid?".
"That's how friends call me. I don't like the name my parents gave me. Percival".
"I see. So you belong to the Fey Folk?".
Arthur nodded for him "We lost him when we marched to the shore".
"I was chasing Gawain" Percy protested.
"Where is he?" Arthur asked hesitantly, presuming the answer.
"They tortured him. He's gone" Percy bursted out crying and cried on Arthur's shoulder.
"Just like my brother" Guinevere said gloomily, crossing Arthur's teary eyes "It's a blessing that the Red Paladins are leaving. We'll make sure they'll leave and never come back".
Percy gave her a scared look that made her expression soften.
"I let you two update. I need to get some stuff" she said to give them some private time.
Guinevere marched to her crew's rooms, knocking loudly on one of the doors and stepping in before getting an answer.
"Myrun, I need some herbs and potions" she announced spotting a mature woman narrowing her eyes at her while she was making some arrows.
The old woman was a fierce warrior and very dangerous with her poisons. But she was also the best healer of her crew.
"I heard you brought a dying man onboard" Myrun said diffidently "That young man managed to make you soft hearted".
Guinevere stiffened at the unfriendly mention of Arthur.
"He reminded me of my brother. I wish I can save him. Or at least making him feel less lonely".
"I won't tend to anyone else. I already take care of our brothers and those weird creatures. I can't deal with a dying one. Unless you allow me to cut his throat to end his suffering".
Guinevere turned rigid "I will do it, don't worry. I just need herbs".
"We are running out of herbs" Myrun said harshly "We need new raids. And some blood".
"We are moving to attack Uther the Impostor" Guinevere's lips twitched "You will have your dose of soldiers to slaughter. And enough treasure to buy any ingredient we need".
Myrun smirked mischievously "Sounds good, captain".
With Myrun's basket of herbs and bandages, Guinevere walked back to her brother's room.
The slaughtered man was still there, alive.
Guinevere recalled that Percy also mentioned his name. Lancelot, wasn't it?
But in front of her she just saw too much torn flesh and fresh blood mixed with dry blood.
His face had some cuts too, so she couldn't imagine how he would look like without those wounds.
Guinevere couldn't count how many scars he would get if he ever survived that.
She changed the bandages and applied some herbs and mixtures to stop the bleeding wounds.
Then she burned some dried leaves to clean the heavy smell into the room.
"What's that?" Percy's shy voice came from the door as she caught him watching.
"Osha roots" she replied patiently, placing some dried roots around the bed.
"For protecting from dark magic?".
She smiled at him "Exactly, good boy".
"God, is he still alive?" Arthur joined them, gaping at the man lying on the bed.
"He is. But I can't say for how long" Guinevere gathered the dirty bandages into an empty basket.
Arthur walked closer to her, until he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"You have a kind heart, captain" he said softly "I guess you've done more than enough for him".
She smiled faintly and looked at Percy "Shall we find a room for you?".
"I want to stay here with him" the boy said confidently.
"Are you sure?" she walked to him, caressing his soft cheek.
"Yes. I don't want to leave him alone. I feel safe with him" Percy stated, but Guinevere noticed that he didn't truly mean what he said. She didn't complain.
"As you wish. If you need something, my room is near" she lingered a bit, then allowed Arthur to guide her out of the room.
"We are landing tomorrow in a safe harbor" she said tiredly as they reached her room and Arthur locked the door "The Fey Folk can hide in the forest. Those who want to fight are welcome to join us, but they must accept to follow my orders. Then I was thinking that Ireland would be a safe place for them. I can't say how long this war of kings will carry on".
Arthur pulled her closer, stroking his thumb on her face with a dreamy expression "Thank you. You are doing so much for them, for us".
She abandoned herself in his arms "You know, it's a pleasant feeling, to help people after seeing so many horrors. Since I feel death swinging upon my head, I need to enjoy some goodness in my life of sinner".
Arthur lifted her chin up softly.
His gentleness was melting her heart.
"I can't say how grateful I am for having found you, Guinevere. I've seen hell, but you appeared and saved me and the Fey Kind. I owe you my life. I won't let anything, not even death, menace you".
"Like you can give orders to death" she teased him "You can always leave and start a new life away from this war. You said we were even, didn't you? Lead the Fey to the shores of Ireland".
Arthur blinked at her suggestion, then replied stubbornly "I don't run away, Guinevere. I can never run away from you. The Fey people can reach that land without my help".
She smiled "Maybe you will change your mind. Feel free to change it whenever you want".
"Nothing can change my mind. Unless it's an order, my captain. Are you ordering me to leave, Guinevere?".
The provoking look that he gave her was enough to make her legs weak.
She glanced around to gain her strength back.
"Why did you lock the door?".
"Because I don't want anyone to disturb us. I know I'm not worthy to be with you, but if I can be a good company to you..." he said humbly.
She rolled her eyes "Stop undervaluing yourself, Arthur. I'm not going to say no to you, so shut up and make me feel good".
In a daze because of her feelings, she pulled him closer to shut him up with a fierce kiss.
In the morning the Red Spear released the anchor close to a white shore.
The Fey Folk happily stormed out of the ships to reach the land.
Guinevere watched the show with a smile that couldn't leave her lips.
Many of them greeted her in their own way. She just replied with a wide smile to their words and bows.
She enjoyed the good feeling, knowing how her time was running out.
She watched Arthur joining them to accompany them into the nearest forest. Her heart was beating fast with pride. She wished he would change his mind and stay with the Fey, instead of coming back to her ship and sail towards death.
The darkness of the war was coming like a black cloud on the horizon, ready to cover the sun.
"Don't you want to stay with your people?" Guinevere asked when she noticed that Percy didn't join the other Fey.
"I want to stay with him" he said referring to Lancelot "And with you, milady".
Guinevere scoffed "I'm no lady. Do you want something more to eat? I'm sure the cook has something left for you".
"What about Lancelot? It's been days he doesn't eat" Percy complained.
Mentioning the slaughtered man was enough to cloud her joy.
"I'll think about it" she promised and felt the child's eyes following her to make sure that she wasn't lying as he fastened his paces to follow her.
He was still alive.
Guinevere almost hoped that he wouldn't make the night, so she could move on and focus on her mission.
But seeing how Percy cared for his friend, pushed her to keep trying to help Lancelot.
She kneeled next to him and tried to call him softly, with no results.
So she checked his bandages while Percy watched.
The only reaction that proved that Lancelot was still alive was when he suddenly opened his mouth.
Guinevere blinked, thinking she missed something, and tried to talk to him.
But from his mouth came just a sad sound.
Guinevere moved closer hoping to catch some words.
But he was just wailing.
Percy was traumatized.
Guinevere reached him and wrapped an arms around him to comfort him.
"He is in pain" Percy whispered shocked.
"Some wounds are deep and whenever I change the bandages they open again" she said patiently "You don't have to witness this. Let's go to the kitchens and get some food. I'll take some also to him".
Percy obeyed and followed her to the kitchens.
Guinevere felt better when she saw him tasting and then eating more hungrily the food that the cook was offering him.
She sneaked away with a bowl of soup and visited Lancelot again.
She didn't even know if he was able to eat. If he wouldn't die for his deadly wounds, he would surely die of starving.
Guinevere leaned towards him and opened his mouth to place a spoon on his tongue. The movements proved her that he could swallow, so she slowly fed him with the soup.
She watched his Adam's apple move. She feared that he could choke, so she checked that after swallowing he was still breathing.
To be alive never looked so hard.
Where was nothing more she could do, she tried something that she wasn't used to do anymore.
She prayed for that stranger's recovery.
Then she placed a rosary in his fingers.
Guinevere was about to leave him alone, when suddenly she saw his eyes open.
He was awake, she realized nervously.
She leaned closer to him to make him understand that he wasn't alone, but she couldn't make promises.
She felt uneasy under his deep staring.
He had eyes of a wonderful blue shade. It was like finding two sapphires.
He opened his mouth to speak, but just a growl came out and he gave up trying, falling back unconscious.
Guinevere guessed that the pain woke him up in that way and she felt rewarded with that weird event. It was like that stranger wanted to thank her before leaving.
She had to leave too. So she murmured a goodbye and walked away, expecting not to meet those lively blue eyes ever again.
A/N
So finally the series is out and I spent most of my weekend watching the ten episodes ✌
The storylines in the series went quite far far away from what I expected so this book version will be also very different from the series.
I hoped to see MORE about the Weeping Monk and the Red Spear, but I felt quite disappointed... I mean, they didn't even meet and they didn't reveal her real identity!
So this book is my revenge to get all that I missed in the series 😂
I turned quite obsessed with the Weeping Monks eyes, not to mention Daniel Sharman's outstanding portrayal that made his character being the best of the whole series according to me.
While I didn't like much how the Red Spear looked. Where are the flaming red hair and the green eyes? She looked mostly like a crazy wild woman, but I keep shipping her with the Weeping Monk. And I'm satisfied with my casting for this book 💚
If you've also seen the series, what are your opinion?
I'm really curious to know, I heard a lot of different point of views in these days and I hope that if you are reading this, you can also tell me your opinion of my version of the story so far 😊
Thank you!