Page 105 of Gwen and Art Are Not in Love

Someone was shouting orders from a horse, and Gwen’s spirits soared when she saw who it was; Sir Hurst, riding slowly across the field, directing others to corral prisoners and help the wounded.

‘We won,’ Gwen said quietly. ‘Agnes – we won.’

A group of very dejected men was sitting on the ground, swords pointing at them from all directions. Gwen noticed that both Lord Stafford and Lord Delacey were among them, looking oddly clean and extremely perturbed; she imagined they had opted for a healthy distance from the action and an early surrender.

‘I can’t see them,’ Agnes said, her grip on Gwen’s hand slipping. ‘Maybe we should go out ourselves and start checking for – you know, they might be lying somewhere injured, or—’

‘Agnes,’ Gwen said gently, but Agnes couldn’t be stopped.

‘I can’t just go back up to the castle and wait – I’m sorry, but I really can’t, I need to know—’

‘No,Agnes,’ Gwen said, her voice like a shout of laughter, raising her hand and pointing as tears began to stream down her face. ‘Look.’

Four figures were making very slow progress up the hill towards them. They were all absolutely filthy, barely discernible through the mud, but Gwen knew them at once.

Sidney was holding up Arthur, who seemed barely conscious; Arthur was using one of his arms to pretend to help Bridget, who was somehow half carrying Gabriel. They looked ridiculous. They looked completely and utterly miserable.

She had never been so happy to see anybody in all her life.

Sir Hurst had seen them too; immediately there were men sprinting towards Gabriel, shouts of shock and triumph travelling across the field.

None of them could match Agnes and Gwen for speed; they had run for the foursome so quickly that they almost knocked them over.

‘Gabe,’ Gwen said, sobbing freely as she reached for Gabriel’s face, ‘Is he …?’

‘He’s alive,’ Bridget said quickly, as two of the king’s guard reached them and gently extracted Gabriel from her arms. ‘I think he’s going to be okay.’ Sidney had let go of Arthur so that he could grab Agnes with both hands, and Arthur listed sideways into Bridget, who just about managed to keep him upright.

‘Oh, thank God,’ Gwen sobbed; torn between throwing her arms around Bridget and Arthur, she decided instead to launch herself at both of them. It was clumsy, and messy, and she immediately had a mouthful of mud and hair, but she felt Bridget press a kiss into the side of her head and heard Arthur make a strange, choked-up sound into her neck, and laughed with sheer relief.

‘Arthur,’ she said, muffled against him. ‘Are you crying? Are you crying because you love me, and you’re so pleased to see me?’

‘Jesus,’ Arthur said thickly. ‘I’m crying because I was just in a bloody battle. It was awful, I hated every second of it and I wouldnotrecommend it to a friend. And, yes, I suppose – I suppose I’m also crying because I love you and I’m so pleased to see you.Idiot.’

Gwen released her grip on both of them and wiped hermuddy, tear-streaked face on her sleeve as Arthur stumbled away after Sidney.

It was suddenly just Gwen and Bridget, sweaty and filthy and silent, each warily awaiting the other. There were a lot of things Gwen wanted to say. She didn’t know where to start.

‘You wielded Excalibur.’

Bridget looked guiltily down at the sword in her hand. ‘Not on purpose. Just had to – borrow it.’

‘You know, that’s the number-one reason people pull swords out of stones,’ Gwen said, laughing through her tears. She was still feeling light with relief. She decided to use it to her advantage. ‘Bridget … I feel like a complete fool. The things I thought mattered, they’re just – I’m sorry I was so selfish. Ireallywanted you in my life, more than I’ve ever wanted anything, and—’

‘Please stop talking,’ Bridget said, stunning her into silence. ‘I don’t mean to be rude. But I’d prefer it if we … kissed now, talked later.’

Gwen gaped at her for a moment and then glanced around. Everybody who wasn’t unconscious was gathering around Gabriel; nobody was paying them the slightest bit of notice. She barely had time to nod before Bridget’s arms were around her, lifting Gwen off the ground as she kissed her hard and fast and then set her back down on her feet.

Arthur cleared his throat from somewhere behind them. ‘Eyes left, Gwendoline.’

When she turned around, she saw that a knight was walking towards her, trying to get her attention.

He gestured to where Gabriel had been laid out on some sort of makeshift litter. Somebody was tying a tourniquet around his bloodied arm, not looking particularly hopeful about the outcome.

His eyes were open.

‘Gabe,’ Gwen said, rushing over and dropping to her knees in the mud next to him. ‘Oh, God. Gabe, I’m so sorry, but Father – Father’s dead.’ He was barely there, but her words seemed to get through to him; he looked completely lost as she broke into fresh sobs. ‘Gabe, it’s going to be all right,you’regoing to be all right, but I just thought you should know that – that you’re king.’

Gabriel held her gaze, tears spilling over and down his cheeks – and then very suddenly turned his head to the side and vomited.