His Guardian Angel (An Arthur Pendragon Love Story)

Interlude - The Night

I opened my eyes and shot up in my bed. There was a light sweat on my forehead, and I took a few deep breaths. I sighed, and flinched slightly as the pain in my back dulled down. I looked at the small window which was in my room and saw that it was still dark out as a silvery light was shining into the room from the moon. I looked over at my brother who was sleeping peacefully on his bed.

I shuffled in my bed and then closed my eyes, trying to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. I groaned quietly so I didn't wake my brother up. I sat up in my bed and accepted the fact that I wasn't going to get back to sleep tonight. I reached over to the table beside my bed and grabbed a book that I had recently got from Geoffrey on stars and everything that we knew about them so far. I quietly got out of bed and grabbed my cloak, tying it around my neck. I also put my shoes on, before I quietly walked out of my room and into the main chamber. I smiled at Gaius's sleeping form before leaving the room.

I walked through the castle, soaking in the silence of the usually bustling corridors. I walked out of the palace, taking note that there were a few guards around the place. I ignored them, as I was pretty sure that they wouldn't acknowledge me, and I walked through the courtyard. I walked to the side of the castle and to the field where the knights normally trained.

I went over to where there weren't any tents or weapons, and sat down, leaning against the castle wall. I pulled my cloak closer to me, as a chilling wind blew through the air. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to come outside. I opened my book and started to read, only looking up to admire the stars I was reading about. I searched the skies for all the different constellations which represented plenty of different characters.

"Can't sleep?" I heard someone ask and I jumped at the voice. I looked over to my left where the voice had come from and saw the illuminated face of the prince. I blushed hard as I realised that he was just wearing a loose white t-shirt and baggy brown trousers. I shook my head and Arthur came and sat down beside me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in a quiet voice, wondering why the prince of Camelot was sitting in the training area in the middle of the night. "I woke up, and when I was trying to go back to sleep I couldn't so I walked around my room for a bit, because that tires me out usually. Then when I reached the window I noticed someone was walking across the courtyard. And I saw that they were wearing the exact same cloak that I've seen you wearing before, so I thought I should come and check that they were alright." He said.

I blushed at his words and looked down at the closed book that lay forgotten on my lap. "I'm fine." I whispered. We sat in a comfortable silence after that. I just stared up at the stars, connecting them all to make the creatures and people I had read about in storybooks. "Why did you come out here?" Arthur said, and I thought that he was just trying to make conversation.

"I recently got this book from the library, it's about stars, and the patterns they form. I thought I should come out and see them for myself." I said, my voice louder, but not yet at normal speaking volume. I looked over at Arthur and saw he was staring at me. I avoided his gaze and looked at his arms, which looked as though they were getting colder.

"You look cold." I said before I could stop myself. I braced myself for Arthur to get annoyed and state that he was too big and brave to be cold, but to my surprise he just chuckled. "Yeah, I didn't think about that when I came out here, it is rather cold, isn't it?" Arthur said, and I looked up at him, to find him smiling at me, and I could tell he was holding in his laughter. I let out a little giggle and Arthur chuckled along with me.

Then I began to feel bad, as I was the real reason that Arthur had come out here. Then I remembered that the cloak I had was extra large so it covered me entirely when I was sleeping on the floor of our house in Ealdor. I cautiously undid the tie and grabbed the left side of the cloak. I slowly reached up and placed it around Arthur's shoulders, shuffling slightly closer to him so the cloak didn't fall off my shoulder.

Arthur looked down at me in surprise, but then grabbed my cloak and pulled it closer to him. "Thank you." He said, and I nodded my head in acknowledgement. We continued to sit in silence for a short while, and I was always looking up and admiring the stars. "Teach me." Arthur said, and my head shot around to face him. "What?" I asked, slightly confused as to what he was asking. "Teach me about the stars." He said. I listened for any hint that he was joking, but couldn't find one, so I passed him my book and instructed him on what to do.

We spent the rest of the night together, me talking about the stars, us occasionally giggling together when Arthur pronounced something completely wrong. After a few hours I noticed that the sky was getting lighter, meaning that it was close to sunrise, and I knew there were people in the castle and town that were awake then, so I thought it was a good time for us to go inside.

"We should go back to our rooms, it's almost sunrise." I said, looking at the prince who nodded, yawning slightly. Now I felt bad for keeping him up, he probably had a very full day today. Arthur nodded and we both stood up. Arthur removed my cloak from around him, and I tied it back around me. We then started to head into the castle together, before separating and walking to our respective rooms.