THE WARRIOR QUEEN (The Guinevere Trilogy Book 1) by Lavinia Collins Page A

greatness.”
    I was shaken. She knew the meaning of my name and she seemed to know the same ancient gods my people knew. But nothing she said made any sense, and she spoke it all in a strange trance, as though she was not really there. I noticed only then that she was dressed in the clothes of a nun. I did not know what she meant, or if she were real, or just another hallucination of the forest.
    “Blow your horn again,” she said.
    I did, and at once I heard the hooves of horses. I expected Arthur, but out from the trees came Gawain. When I looked back to my side, Nimue was gone.
    “I thought you were Arthur,” Gawain said gruffly.
    “How disappointing for you, sir,” I replied curtly.
    Gawain leant over and took my horse’s reins sharply in his hands, snatching them from mine. She whickered in protest. I considered docking one of my arrows. I held my hand. Since Arthur trusted Gawain I would trust him, but only for the moment. Besides, I had my dagger hidden at my side. Gawain drew my horse right up to his and grabbed my saddle at each end with each hand, the reins of both horses still held in the front hand. Like this he was leaning slightly over me, and I bent to lean away.
    “You shouldn’t be riding about on your own,” he said. In his thick, angry voice I couldn’t tell if he was scolding or concerned. With the saddle he pulled my horse one step closer to his own, to him. I could smell him. He smelled of sweat, leather and blood. I could see rabbits hanging from his saddle. He had not chased just the noble white beast. I could not lean any further away from him without falling from my horse, and I did not want to lose her. Like this, my own face was just a hand’s breadth from his densely freckled one. I could see, standing away from his skin, the rawness of a rough white scar that ran across his jaw. My heart was beating fast inside me and I felt my whole body tense to fight. I would if I had to. Gawain slowly looked me up and down. “Well,” he said at last, letting go of my saddle and leaning fully back into his own, handing me back my reins, “you don’t look hurt.”
    And he trotted off. He stopped at the edge of the clearing and turned back to me.
    “ My lady , you should not be riding about on your own.”
    I had not understood. He meant for me to follow him. I suppose in his own strange way, he felt as though he was acting as my protector. We passed through the trees together in silence until we came to another clearing where Sir Kay, without his horse, was fighting three men on foot. He killed one as we arrived with a swift, hard blow across the neck, and when Gawain jumped from his horse, his own sword drawn, to help him, the other two were swiftly dead. The one Gawain killed died of a hard downward thrust to his head that split his skull. Kay stabbed the other in the stomach, then drew his blade across the man’s neck. They were all armoured in the same plain leather as Arthur’s knights, but wearing a strange badge of colours I did not recognise. Neither did Gawain or Kay. The men exchanged a few words together, Kay thanking Gawain for his assistance, before Kay swung up behind me on my horse. There was not room behind Gawain, though his horse was larger than my own. Kay put an arm around my waist, and took one side of the reins with the other hand. I did not really want to relinquish control of the horse, but half seemed as much as I could ask for. I was aware of the strength in his touch, too, though it was not the raw strength of Arthur, and beneath that the dark flavour of the Otherworld hung strong about him. I noticed that he and Gawain had come into the forest with their swords, too. Not just equipped for hunting. Neither of them seemed to be surprised that there were men in the woods who would want to attack them.
    “Where is Arthur?” he asked Gawain.
    Gawain shrugged.
    “We can’t find him, and he seems to have left his queen behind.”
    “Where did you leave Arthur?” Kay