THREE KISSES
As Arthur entered his chambers, Merlin looked up warily from the pile of boots and pieces of armor he'd been cleaning since forever. He carefully studied the prince's countenance in search of some sign that he'd devised some more ways in which to work out his revenge on him.
"Merlin, when you are finished with that, go pack our stuff" he said instead, with a mysterious glint in his eyes.
Merlin glanced at him incredulously, but decided to push his luck.
"Does that by any chance mean that you are done punishing me?" he asked with a shy smile.
"Merlin, I can't think of a punishment that would actually be enough for what you have done, so not even remotely. But I did get bored of it for the moment and happened to remember that you were not the only culprit in this diabolical scheme. Have you noticed how fast Gwaine has vanished from sight immediately after?"
"Yeah, he's… a fast one" Merlin agreed, a bit relieved at the thought that he was for the moment out of the prince's focus. But Gwaine had been quick to evade Arthur's wrath and he was an elusive prey. Count on him to have a stupid idea and to get away with it.
"So… where are we going?"
Arthur gave him a broad smile as he fumbled with his mail shirt.
"To Valemoreth. King Bolyad is an old friend of my father, so I've decided to pay him a diplomatic visit" he said casually. "And maybe accidentally let him know what his daughter is doing for fun, in case he is not aware…" he added with a wicked grin.
"Interesting…" Merlin observed and couldn't help a smile wondering how the princess Melisende will handle such a 'challenge'.
"And who can tell, maybe we'll find Gwaine too"
They travelled for three days before the grey towers of Valemoreth's citadel finally came into view. The kingdom of Valemoreth was a strange place, a grim, dark land covered by a thick black forest that surrounded the few villages and the king's fortress. Nothing ever grew in this unwelcoming land, therefore all its inhabitants were involved in the trade that had made it famous, the craft of weapons and the training of the most fierce warriors and mercenaries in the whole of Albion. The walls and towers of the citadel were stone grey, but pretty much all the rest was painted in black, the favorite color of the Valemorethians. Their houses were black and all their clothing items were black, with no exception. However, black suited unexpectedly well the dark hair, pale skin and the almost golden brown eyes that most of them had.
In order to show courtesy to king Bolyad, Arthur and Merlin were also fully clad in black garments and had chosen to ride black horses. But to their surprise, as soon as they were past the citadel gates, they found the city of Valemoreth sunken in a sea of bright white. White banners were hung everywhere and white flags waved in the wind, on the palace walls. On the streets, people's garments were white as snow and they all walked with their head down, in silent grief. Merlin knew that this could only mean one thing: that they were in mourning.
At the king's palace they were pretty much ignored, only a high ranking official wearing a while robe lead them to the throne room and left them there without a word.
"Very… weird?" Arthur commented.
Shortly, a side door opened and Gwaine entered the throne room. He was wearing white from head to toe and had a haunted and weary expression. He managed only a weak smile at the sight of his friends.
"What are you doing here? And where's king Bolyad?" Arthur questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Gwaine? What's wrong?" Merlin asked, concerned.
Gwaine took a deep breath and his words seemed almost torn from his own flesh as he spoke.
"I am the king's nephew and thus holding his place for the moment…"
"You're the nephew of a king" Arthur repeated in disbelief. "And you failed to mention that before because…?"
"Because I don't consider it important" Gwaine replied tired.
"Alright… And where's the king?"
"King Bolyad will see no one. He is in mourning" he said in a low voice. "We all are" he added almost whispering.
"Gwaine, what happened?" Merlin asked, compassionate for his friend's sorrow.
"King Bolyad had a quarrel with a terrible sorcerer, a long time ago. Now the sorcerer returned and captured the king's youngest daughter, princess Melisende. He imprisoned her in the Eastern Tower under heavy guard and various enchantments and sentenced her to a deathlike sleep that will last a thousand years. Then he took off but she's as good as dead" Gwaine murmured, running a hand through his disheveled hair. He looked positively devastated.
"And is there nothing you could do to help her?"
"I would have gladly given my life to save hers" Gwaine spoke on the brink of tears "But all my struggle was in vain…"
"There is no worse plague in this world than sorcerers!" Arthur said determined. "But surely there must be something we can do, now that we're here"
Merlin shot a glance in Arthur's direction and almost imperceptibly shook his head.
"The Court Wiseman said that the spells can only be broken by three elements combined" Gwaine remembered "Courage, Strength and Ma-"
"I think we should go see the Court Wiseman at once!" Merlin cut in, successfully preventing Gwaine from uttering the perilous M word.
"I see that the three elements are reunited" the old Court Wiseman spoke with a hopeful smile. Arthur shot a frowned and confused look at Merlin, but just shrugged and said nothing.
"That would break the spells surrounding the tower. However, the princess can only be brought back to life by a kiss of her one true love"
"What if she doesn't have one… yet?" Gwaine asked somehow hesitantly.
"Then a kiss given with sincere affection will do" the old man said.
"I think we can manage that"
The three friends headed for the door, but the Court Wiseman had one last word. "Be careful with the kiss. If it is not given with sincere affection, it will go wrong"
"Don't be ridiculous! What could go wrong with a kiss?" Arthur replied defiantly before storming out the door, followed by Gwaine and Merlin.
The Eastern Tower was engulfed in a thick fog that normally would not allow passage to any mortal, but Courage, Strength and Magic encountered no obstacle. The obstacles did eventually present themselves inside the tower, in the form of several lycans and gargoyles. There were quite a lot of them and determined to put up a serious fight. The fight lasted for a while and the beasts crowded at the tower base, while the three friends retreated on the stairs.
"They're too many! They'll overwhelm us soon, someone should go search for the princess!" Merlin shouted.
"Don't be such a girl, Merlin!" Arthur found the time to snap at him. "But for once you may have said something useful" he added after a moment's thought. "You two hold them back as much as you can, I'll go find her!"
"But-"Gwaine tried, but Arthur had already darted up the stairs, away from view.
The top chamber was almost sunken in darkness. The room was empty, with only a simple wooden bed in which the princess slept. Her beautiful face was white as paper and there was no sign of life about her. Drawing closer, Arthur noticed that she wasn't breathing. Without much consideration, he scooped over and placed a soft kiss on her pale lips. But hard to say whether Arthur had truly thought about her, or about Gwen, or about the absolutely wooing way his hair looked that morning.
Suddenly, the beasts vanished into thin air before them but instead Merlin and Gwaine heard a loud scream coming from the upper part of the tower. They both ran up the stairs as fast as they could, eventually reaching the top chamber. They both burst inside in the same time, Merlin literally falling through the door and Gwaine tripping over him.
"My lo-, er… Mel! You're alive!" Gwaine exclaimed, noticing that the princess was now awake. But the look on her face, as she stood in the middle of the room with her arms crossed, foretold nothing good.
"GWAINE!" she yelled. "What did we say about you putting frogs in my bed?"
"What? What frog, Mel? What happened?"he asked confused.
"And where's Arthur?" Merlin cut in, collecting himself off the floor.
"I don't know what happened!" she snapped back. "There I was, about to wake up, when POW! an enormous frog landed on my face!" She turned towards the bed to pick something up, and then held out a rather big, dark green frog which she kept cradled in her palms. "Voila!"
"Oh my God!" Merlin shrieked. "Maybe you should know… I think that's prince Arthur" he then added in shock. So Arthur had kissed her, and the kiss had gone wrong. Terribly wrong.
"Oh, let me rephrase then!" she retorted. "There I was, about to wake up, when POW! prince Arthur landed on my face!" she stated as a matter-of-fact. "Good thing he's lost some weight though…"
"HOW DARE YOU!" the frog suddenly croaked, scaring the hell out of all three of them. "After all I've done for you, you insufferable brat!" With that, the frog's long tongue lashed out to slap Melisende across the face, making her let out a disgusted yelp.
"Catch me, Merlin!" Arthur commanded, and then jumped from her hands. But Merlin was not prepared for this, and as such made no move to the purpose, and Arthur, clearly not accustomed with his new body, launched himself with too much force. The result was that he hit Merlin's face in full and one of his goggled eyes almost entered Merlin's mouth, before he fell on the floor with a flat thud.
"MERLIN!"
The young warlock was wiping his mouth, still in shock and not yet enlightened as to the source of the weird taste on his lips. When he realized it though, it took all his respect for Arthur to prevent him from throwing up.
"Sire?" he asked hesitantly.
"What are you staring at, like a complete idiot? Pick me up, will you?" the frog shouted.
"So… that went well" Gwaine concluded. "Let's all go to lunch, shall we?" His proposal was met with an awkward stare.
King Bolyad was beyond grateful for the safe return of his daughter and was more than happy to invite everyone to lunch after giving orders that the cheerful black color was to be reinstated all over the citadel. At the table, Merlin was placed between princess Arianne, Bolyad's older daughter and Gwaine, while Arthur was given the place of honor, between the king himself and his younger daughter. A servant ceremoniously placed him on a seat with several cushions, so that he could sort of reach the table.
"Prince Arthur, you have brought the light back into my house and into my life. I will never be able to fully express my gratitude towards you" the king spoke solemnly. "Please, take a cookie. They're my favorites"
"Great king, the honor was all mine. I'm glad that I could help. And thank you" the frog prince answered ceremoniously, jumping on the table and proceeding to grab one of the said cookies with his tongue. Upon the sight, princess Arianne passed out in Merlin's lap and the young warlock struggled with all his force not to burst into laughter.
"And how is your father these days?" king Bolyad wanted to know. "You know, right now you remind me so much of him…"
"Father!" Melisende hissed, elbowing him discreetly, while Gwaine nearly choked with his wine.
"He is well. And thank you…sire" Arthur replied, throwing a murderous glance at Merlin, who desperately pressed his hand over his mouth.
"I have to say that your coming was indeed a miracle" king Bolyad said serenely, taking a sip of his cup. "With all the mischief that's constantly happening to all our guests, it is a wonder that anyone visits us at all" he added, providing the reason for which he hadn't been in the least surprised when he'd been told that Arthur was a frog.
"By the way, did your father tell you what happened to his face last time he paid us a visit? He tried our special mushroom juice…" Joyfully saying that, he pushed a cup in front of the prince, but Melisende was quick to take it away from him.
"Father, we must find a way to help prince Arthur, we cannot leave him like this! He saved my life!" she pointed out.
"Oh, of course, of course we cannot leave him like this! Poor boy" the king agreed gravely. "Unfortunately I really don't see what we could do… probably nothing"
Princess Melisende rolled her eyes and then glanced at Arthur with somewhat of a guilty air.
"Maybe the princess could come up with a solution, she has saved me before" the prince croaked maliciously.
"Indeed, I've heard that she did. What an entertaining little story" the king chuckled. And with that, Arthur's revenge went down the drain.
"All jokes aside, we must do something about Arthur!" Merlin pleaded, seriously.
"It's obvious, he must be kissed by his one true love" Melisende stated.
"I don't envy her" Gwaine laughed. "I don't know how Gwen will react to the news. I'd hate to be the one who breaks it to her"
"There's no way any of us can return to Camelot without Arthur. Or rather, with him like this. If Uther were to find out, he'd have our head" Merlin observed.
"I will go" princess Melisende declared with a sigh. "It's my fault. It happened when he was saving me"
"It wouldn't have happened if he hadn't kissed you. If I had kissed you instead. It had to be a kiss given in sincere affection" Gwaine said, his voice slightly trembling with emotion.
Merlin chuckled at his friend's unexpected confession and Melisende smiled, obviously amused.
"If that's the case, then God knows what shit would have happened to you" she laughed.
There was a soft knock on the door and Gwen put down the dress she was sewing. "Come in"
Melisende cracked the door open and poked her head inside with a suspicious air. "Excuse me… Are you Gwen?"
"Yes, my lady" Gwen answered rising from her chair and curtsying quickly.
"You… know who I am?"
"Yes, my lady. You are the princess who won the last tournament and claimed prince Arthur"
"Then you must hate me" Melisende said tentatively.
"Oh no, my lady" Gwen answered with a pleasant smile. "I know it was all part of a plan to help him. I am grateful and I think it was very kind of you"
The princess nodded and chewed her lower lip for a moment, thoughtful. "I'm glad you see things this way because… There might be a problem"
"What sort of problem, my lady?" Gwen asked concerned.
"Prince Arthur came to my father's kingdom to… help us, and something quite terrible has happened to him"
Poor Gwen was absolutely terrified. "What…?" she murmured.
"It's bad, but the good news is that you can fix it" Melisende said quickly and she took Arthur out of her bag, placing him on the table, in front of Gwen.
"What's that?" Gwen asked frowning.
"Well, that's…"
"Very good joke!" Gwen suddenly laughed. "Very funny! You can come out now, Arthur!"
"I'm afraid you'll have to kiss him…" Melisende said as a matter-of-fact.
"No way!"
"Guinevere!" the frog croaked angrily, causing her to take a step back, shocked.
"OH MY GOD! Arthur!" she yelled, freezing into place.
But the prince was exasperated by her lack of reaction and lost his patience. He jumped from the table in an attempt to reach her lips, but instead bumped against her neck and then slid inside her cleavage.
"Oh!" he exclaimed. She let out a disgusted shriek.
"I'll… leave you two" Melisende said and stepped out of the house, firmly closing the door behind her.
THE END