The Dark Queen of White `1.11

11.

Gareth looked to the house where the Princess had stayed for the last week; all alone in there, while he took shelter beneath the stars. It was the same nightly when she would send him off out there, while the pair of wolves stood guard at the doorway. He found himself drawn to her but held back as she was the Princess. More to that, she did not displayed any moves that would allowed him to expressed his feelings, except for that one time, she had wept on his shoulder.

"Alas! Gareth muttered to himself. "I would stick to my own Gwen of Steinheim." Gwen was his close friend in the village prior to the war, and had lost touch with her since then. He smiled at the thoughts of Gwen and how they used to run together in the village. He smiled on and then walked to the nearby stream to wash up for the morning meal. It was near there when he heard the voice calling him,

"Gareth?" The voice was on the right side and he looked there.

"Gwen? Is that really you?" Gareth saw the lady standing before him, dressed in her farm dress, and holding the basket of fruits.

"Aye, it’s me. I missed you." Gwen replied to him and ran over to hug him. He had hugged her before; maybe twice but those were during greetings with the families. He had never hugged her in other times, lest held her hands, although they had chatted for hours.

"What are you doing here?" Gareth asked of her.

"Aye, I lived over yonder and heard from your ma'er that you are here." Gwen smiled at him. "Look, I brought you some juicy apples."

Gareth looked at the apples in the basket. They looked juicy and red with the freshness of just being plucked. He was reach for one, when he heard the growl of the wolf.

"Wolf!" Gwen reacted in fright, in which Gareth stepped forward to protect her. He rise up his arms at the wolf, as he was unarmed, having left his sword at the campsite.

"Move, Michael. She is a friend." Gareth told the wolf that remained there growling. Gwen held onto his back and was sobbing.

"Move, Michael or I shall call on your mistress." Gareth told the wolf once more and then it turned to run back to the house. He then turned to look at Gwen and held her in his arms. He soothed her down, and asked her to sit down.

"Nay, I can't. I got to go. Ma'er waiting for me." Gwen handed over the basket of juicy red apples. "Have this for yourself. Or share one with her in the house."

With that, Gwen ran off into the forest despite his pleading to stay. Soon she was gone and he was holding the basket of apples. He then heard the call of the Princess who was running towards him with the wolf at her side.

"Gareth, what happened here? Michael came growling to me." Princess Clarity asked. "Are you in any pain?"

"Nay, I was with Gwen. She brought me some apples." Gareth showed her the basket of apples.

"Gwen? Who's Gwen?" Princess Clarity asked. She then looked at the apples. They looked juicy and delicious. She had tasted apples before during the war, but there were hardly any apple trees there in the forest.

"Gwen was my village friend. We grew up together. She was staying over yonder with her ma'er." The simple reply by Gareth was all convincing and then he handed over to the Princess an apple.

"Here, have one. Gwen gave me these." Gareth extended the apple to the Princess. She took it from his hand and looked at it. It was then Michael growled again, and she looked at Gareth.

"There are no houses nearby when I was staying here before. More to that, there were no apple trees here." Princess Clarity weighed the apple in her hand. "Are you sure you met Gwen?"

"Yes, I am sure. I could smell her...." Gareth looked down to his basket of apples with the sheepish smile. He recalled holding her and the smell of the body on his. It was so exhilarating. He then looked at the Princess.

"I knew Gwen. She won't harm me. Or you too, Clare." It was the first time he called her by the nickname. He then reached for an apple from the basket and took a bite. Next thing he knew, he was not in the forest, but back at the village.

His own village with his neighbors.

They were all rushing with their weapons drawn, and looking to fight someone.

Or something.

"Grab a position, Gareth." It was the Village Head, Luker Moran.

He recalled. It was then before the attack by the army of King Bannion. Before he was to join the exodus with the rest and found Clare. He was thrown back in time. He ran to the barricade; shoddy piled up of overturned wagons and wooden crates. He joined the blacksmith and the woodsman.

"Gareth, nice to have you watching my back here?" Jones the Blacksmith told him while he weighed the mallet on his hands. It was part of his trade tools, but in crisis like these, he used the same tool to smash bones and skulls. Jones was previously a pike man and found his mantle in the iron foundry.

"King Bannion had his army assembled there. According to the shepherds, they saw Lord Cornell with him." Gareth heard the update from the woodsman. He might have been in the woods and knew the shepherds.

"It can't be. I knew Lord Cornell was with the Queen." Gareth recalled the Lord was with Clare then in the village. He did recall it was Lord Summer who invaded the village then. The Lord was working on the orders of King Bannion. And his army was only two hundred but the one that was assembled on the hill side was more than five hundred strong.

"Gareth, move over." He looked over and saw it was Gwen. She was carrying a farmer's hay fork, with the long handle. And more to his knowledge if he was witnessing was reality, Gwen was supposed to be in the temple with the other ladies of her age. She was not supposed to be here.

"Ain't you supposed to be in...?” Gareth did not complete his words. He saw the blacksmith's young boy who was in still not in his puberty carrying a dagger and taking position by the father. Gareth grabbed the kid, but the father stopped him.

"Leave my boy alone. He would stand by me to fight. It’s our customs. Have you forgotten?" The Blacksmith pulled his son back on the barricades. Gareth stepped back and looked at them.

This was not how it happened then.

It was all wrong.

All wrong.

"Funny how we could witness something and when someone changed it, we get confused." The voice moved Gareth to look to his left side. There was an older lady standing there with a long staff in her right hand. She had gray streaks of hair on her long hair locks, and was dressed in a red gown with a matching darker red cloak.

"Hello, Gareth. You may not recognize me, but you may of her." The older lady became Gwen in her farm dress. She then changed back to her older lady persona.

"I am Queen Morgana, the grandmother of your Queen, or Clare as you wished to call her." The older lady told him. "You are the simple one. The only one I could hit on with my spells, and took my bait. Sadly, it was not her."

"You harmed Clare and I would ...." Gareth threatened back.

"Kill me? Perhaps not. Or shall I say, nay. You are too ...simple and yet not a murderous kind." The older lady told him. "I did not expect you to be here. I was to trap Clare, but you took the first bite."

Lady Morgana glared at him.

"You did not kiss her yet? You liked her but yet you would not kiss her. You are so....simple. You have not even kissed Gwen. You are pathetic, Gareth, for a man." Lady Morgana taunted him. "However, I am not here to inquire on my granddaughter. If she was here, she would be dead soon. Dead in my world and dead in sleep in yours till her life get exhausted."

"Harm her and I would really ...kill you." Gareth approached her but she waved her hand and he was back at the stream.

"Gareth, are you awake?" It was Clare talking to him. He nodded, and she leaned down to kiss him on his lips. He returns her kiss, and later hugged her. He was thankful for being alive.

Alive with Clare.

The one he had loved then.