Gwen Battle: Summer 2010 Entry #2
Title: My Dear
Creator: flute_genevive
Type of Submission: fanfiction
Prompt: "Only a love worth dying for is worth living for"
Rating: PG (for non-descript violence)
Summary: When your husband is constantly wielding a sword, it becomes less scary and more routine. But life can change in a moment.
Author's Note: title and the cut language is a quote from Sweet Pea
After a while, she stopped worrying each and every time he left the chambers with his sword on. It got tiring, honestly, to always be keyed up and terrified.
Besides, Gwen reasoned, Arthur was the strongest swordsman in the kingdom.
Now, she simply shook him awake on time, made sure he was dressed, kissed his cheek and sent him merrily on his way. With the baby and her own responsibilities, there was hardly even a moment to fret over something as silly as Arthur being hurt.
Besides, Gwen reminded herself, if she did stop to think about how much peril he was subjected to daily, she might just lose her mind.
#
These days, she kept busy in their chambers and played with little Sterne - their serious-minded prince. He liked to look out windows, study cold stone walls, smile at Gwen and cry whenever his daddy left the room. Gwen found it rather ironic, that Arthur’s son could be so solemn. Of course, she catered to Sterne’s every whim, naming everything his chubby little fingers reached toward. Gwen was sure he’d be talking any day now.
Da-Da
But being a mother kept her fully engaged, and if anyone needed her, they knew they could find her in the royal chambers.
Of course, that’s where Gaius reached her.
#
Arthur’s marriage to Guinevere had been well received by most members of the intimate court, and of course, by most residents of the lower town.
It caused nothing less than complete contention and revolt among nobility in Camelot.
He tried to keep it from Gwen as best he could, pawning off the duels for her honor as hunting trips, the missing knights as casualties in border skirmishes. She would be furious if she knew.
So that morning, when Gwen kissed him awake in time for a morning patrol with his father, Arthur held her for an extra moment and made sure to give his son an extra squeeze just in case.
Sir Macon was waiting in the forest at sunrise, slimy retorts about a royal whore still echoing in Arthur’s ears.
#
It only took a second.
Practically half an hour of constant struggling and all it took was a second for Sir Macon’s blade to find the exposed skin between Arthur’s armor.
One well-aimed blow
#
It took twenty minutes of bouncing on a horse’s back behind Uther, ten minutes of fetching Gaius, another thirty of an examination and five more of running to find Gwen before she burst into the physician’s room and knelt at Arthur’s bedside. She would never forgive herself for not being with him sooner.
#
Gaius did all he could and left Gwen with a pile of fresh cloths, assuring her that his bandage would soon need changing.
Morgana stopped in to tell her that Sterne would be looked after for as long as she needed.
Merlin stayed for a few hours, but was called away to discuss the situation with Uther.
Gwen cared for Arthur diligently, remembering another night when she talked him back from the edge of death and the memories they had made since then.
#
There was so much blood
#
For some time, it seemed that Gwen couldn’t keep up. The linens were soaking faster than she could replace them, she couldn’t get him to keep any kind of nourishment down and little black stars were swimming in her own vision (a combination of no sleep and more stress than she ever thought she could bear).
It culminated in a moment when, as she changed another one of his bandages, Gwen was convinced that she hadn’t felt a pulse resonating in his frame.
She gasped, he let out a breath and the room hung still in a pregnant pause.
Arthur breathed in, shallow and barely enough to move his chest, but there and Gwen cried tears of joy.
#
It was 37 hours in when Gwen collapsed on the floor from exhaustion.
#
She awoke with his hand in her hair, gently twisting the strands.
“I’m sorry,” came his breathy and whispered first words.
“Arthur,” came her sobbing reply. “You’re alive.”
All he could do was grimace a smile and tighten his hold on her hand.
“How?” Gwen marveled.
#
It would be days (and 10 more bandages, six more of Gaius’s salves and two frantic kisses from his wife) before Arthur could answer her.
“Only a love worth dying for is worth living for.”