-hangs head- I'm working on my other stories, I promise! But this has been in my head for WEEKS. Weeks, I tell you! There's one more chapter, and the events have played out in my head, but hopefully I'll update something else before I update this. Enjoy! Tell me your thoughts, praises, criticisms. Reviews are love, and love is lovely.
Also, the title (AKA, my inspiration) is from T. H. White's The Queen of Air and Darkness, book two in The Once and Future King.
The Queen of Air and Darkness
"Have you heard, Sire? That there is a new monarch in Escetia?"
Arthur swung his sword in an experimental arc to warm up. "I have," he said. "Yet I don't see what that has to do with training. You want to be a knight, don't you?"
"Yes, Sire." He put in a half-hearted effort to parry and deliver a few blows until Arthur disarmed him. "Rumor has it she's a woman, My Lord."
"Who?"
The apprentice knight blinked. "The new monarch of Escetia, Sire."
"Oh, her. I mean, yes, I've heard. It's a bit of a stray from tradition, I'll admit, but Cenred had no heirs - any noble could have come into power. If indeed a woman has taken the throne, then let's only hope she's friendlier than her predecessor. Now, pick up your sword and try that again. And take it easy on the 'sire' business."
"The new queen seems to be getting on well," Arthur mused aloud over breakfast. A messenger had confirmed the rumors on the matter of gender. "Apparently she's promised the peasants they can keep a greater amount of their own harvest. She's sworn never to let them go hungry."
Merlin thought of his home village and smiled. "That's brilliant." Arthur nodded distractedly. "So why do you seem bothered?"
"I'm not." Arthur rubbed the back of his neck. "I only... she's changing a lot, isn't she? I've heard talk she'll allow anyone the chance to become a knight, not just nobility. It's not that I disagree with anything she's done, since God knows that would make me a hypocrite. So soon, though? She's been queen for half a week."
"You get to make those decisions when you're queen. Or king," Merlin added pointedly. He surmised that this was what Arthur struggled to come to terms with: how one person could so quickly change tradition.
Arthur sighed. "I suppose you do. In any case, she seems to be changing the kingdom for the better. She might make a valuable ally of Camelot someday."
It took maybe another week to hear the news.
Small reports continued to filter in from Escetia. The queen was a blessing, they said. Gone were the days of the oppressive and idle King Cenred. Here was a ruler who would lend a hand to all her subjects, not only the privileged and those who had something to offer in return.
If anyone thought it strange that her name was never given, they did not voice their opinions. She was referred to simply as the queen or "Her Royal Majesty."
Merlin was cleaning out the leech tank, making faces and complaining to Gaius all the while, when the door hit the wall with a loud bang and revealed a panting Lancelot. Half alarmed and half grateful for rescue, Merlin asked, "What's going on?"
"You need to talk to Arthur," Lancelot said urgently. "You're the only one who can calm him down."
Merlin peeled a leech off his arm and threw it back in the tank, wincing and wiping his hands on every available surface. "Surely the ever level-headed Arthur Pendragon doesn't need anyone to sort him out."
Lancelot gave him a look. "I think you'll find he does. He's just found out who the Queen of Escetia actually is."
With a sense of dread, Merlin asked, "Yeah? Who is it?"
When Lancelot told him, he didn't even wait to ask where Arthur was; he allowed it to sink in for a moment, then took off. "Wait!" Lancelot shouted desperately. "He's out by the-" His voice was lost to the door.
Somehow Merlin's feet carried him to the right place. This was where Arthur had vented his feelings once before where his sister was concerned, and it seemed history was to repeat itself.
"I'm not sure how slicing up a piece of cloth is supposed to help you feel better," he said to make his presence known, "but if it does, you should consider becoming a seamstress."
Arthur hacked at the dummy one more time and turned to face him, swiping at his sweaty forehead with similar force. "How can it be her?" he demanded, throwing his sword alarmingly close to Merlin's feet and leaning heavily against the wall. Merlin half expected him to throw himself at the ground like a child. Instead, he merely slid into a crouch. "She isn't from Escetia! She has no claim this time, none-"
"And that's why you're angry, is it?" remarked Merlin dryly.
"After all we did to stop her," said Arthur, struggling to collect himself, "she still found her way to the throne. Just not in Camelot."
Merlin sat next to the prince, accepting that that was the best he could do for now. A vision of Morgana in Cenred's dark and foreboding castle, donning a crown with rubies that glistened like blood, rose unbidden in his mind's eye.
"Maybe she'll be a good queen." He didn't realize he'd spoken his doubtful thought until he saw Arthur's incredulous face. He shrugged defensively. "She doesn't have to conquer anyone to keep the throne this time. The people seem to love her. Everything they say she's going to do... that doesn't sound like the same Morgana who tried to invade Camelot. Maybe she's... changed." Again, he added in his head. Even as he spoke, he knew he couldn't bring himself to believe it.
To his surprise, Arthur took a shuddering breath and said, "I've thought about that. Maybe it's true. Maybe she realized what she did was wrong. But I don't know if - if that's better."
Merlin knew what he meant. All the same, if there was the slightest hope that Morgana had seen the error of her ways... he'd take it.
This was going to be the first time Arthur saw Morgana since her betrayal. She had lain low since then, excepting the bit where she became queen of the neighboring kingdom.
Merlin rode beside him, tense and unsure what to expect. This was either going to go exceedingly well or spectacularly bad. A tiny voice in his head assured him that this couldn't possibly go well.
A small envoy of knights formed a half-circle that flanked Arthur and covered his back; Merlin remained at his side, recognizing that he should feel a little more awkward than he did about being in the center with the prince.
Morgana stood alone in a similar array of knights, stroking the gleaming white pelt of a battle horse. She didn't wear a crown; Merlin had expected her to show off every symbol of her new position. She did, however, wear an extravagent green gown he felt sure was new.
He and Arthur dismounted and met her in the middle of their two parties, none taking their eyes off of the other.
"Queen Morgana," Arthur said to break the silence, inclining his head. Morgana's eyes flicked to Merlin, who offered no such respect.
"Prince Arthur," she said, and the ever-present smirk was back. Merlin knew that Morgana knew it was time for Arthur to shelve his pride and admit that Uther wasn't fit to be king in his current state. They both also knew that he wouldn't.
That look on her face destroyed any flickering hope Merlin may have had about her motives. She was evil to the bone and not about to do any soul-searching.
"May I ask how you came by your title?" asked Arthur, his composure a thin mask.
Morgana smiled sweetly. "Morgause was the closest Cenred had to a lover before he died, or indeed the closest to a friend. My sister was brave enough to salvage a kingdom in ruins and kind enough to offer me a place at its head."
Her gaze returned to Merlin with gloating in her eyes. Morgause lived, then.
Arthur gestured to the group of Morgana's knights, many of whom were young, but all of whom were poised and attentive. "You seem to have settled in very nicely," he commented. "Your people are already so loyal. You've made... some good choices, I'd say."
Merlin's heart sank; Arthur still believed Morgana might be good after all. It was understandable, he supposed, that Arthur didn't want to give up on her. However, it was too late, anyone could see it.
Morgana's smile widened. "I'm flattered, Arthur," she deadpanned in the same manner she used to when they fought like siblings - long before they knew they actually were siblings. "In that case, perhaps you'll approve of my newest decision concerning my kingdom. After all, I imagine it will impact Camelot as well."
This was it. This was where she declared open war between Escetia and Camelot. This was where she revealed her true reason for bothering to become queen of a land she didn't even care about.
"And what's that?" asked Arthur, like he was oblivious.
"It's the solution to all our problems, dear brother," Morgana said, her every word a drop of poison disguised as honey. "Escetia will be a refuge for people like me, who never had a chance in your world."
She could only mean one thing. But magic was already legal, technically, in Escetia.
"Our father-" she spat the word, "-taught me one thing. Those with magic and those without will never coexist. Now they won't have to. From this day on, Escetia welcomes only those who practice magic. Anyone who resists will be killed. Anyone living here found unable to perform a spell will be executed."
She smiled beatifically. "And after you leave here today, Arthur, that includes you."