This nutty idea came to me one day as I thought about how many girls our boys got to be with. Arthur wins, of course, and that sounded like a game show to me. And after months of developing, here it is! This will be about 5-ish chapters long. The actual game is next chapter. :)
Nope, I don't own Merlin. If I did, they'd be gearing up to film season/series 7 as I write this.
"Arthur," Uther said one evening at dinner, "It's time you married."
Said prince mentally rolled his eyes. He'd heard this speech before. Several times, in fact. Nothing really happened as a result. A princess or two, along with her family, would be invited to the castle. After a few weeks of wining and dining, picnics, walks in the garden, horse rides through meadows, et cetera, the princess and her family would return to their home. The princesses were always lovely and well-bred, of course, but despite his father's scheming and negotiating, none ever caught Arthur's fancy for long. The exception was Sophia Tír-Mòr, but then again, she'd enchanted him too. He'd never gotten the straight story from Merlin about that . . .
Uther took a look at his son staring out into space, and said a little more firmly, "I have a different plan in mind this time."
Arthur snapped out of his reverie. "So what's different about this plan, Father?"
"This plan involves a competition of sorts. A game, if you will. Noblewomen from various kingdoms outside Camelot will be invited here. Their identities shall be kept secret from most inhabitants of the castle. In a public forum, these women will sit behind screens while they answer questions you pose to them. The audience will vote on the three women they'd most like to see you with. You will date each of these three women and choose one of them to marry."
Arthur stared at his father for a minute, neither blinking nor breathing. Uther snapped his fingers in his son's face and Arthur began blinking and breathing again. "Wow, that's some plan. Wait. So you get to choose potential brides, an audience gets to narrow them down and I have the final say?"
"Yes," Uther replied, pleased that Arthur had understood the first time around. He really hated repeating himself. "Well that sounds . . ." he cast about for a suitable word, ". . . equitable. And you will honor my choice?"
Uther looked a little discomfited at this question, but answered in the affirmative.
Arthur nodded at this. It sounded fair, except he was already in love. With someone of which his father would never approve. That was a definite problem, since he had no desire to marry someone he didn't love. If only he could replace one of the women with his lady love, then his father would have to let them marry, right? He needed a plan and he needed someone to help.
Just as he was starting to stand, Uther started to talk. "Oh, and Arthur—" his son paused mid-rise, "I'm sending the invitation letters tomorrow. So now you have an idea of how much time you have to prepare."
Arthur straightened, "Thank you father. If you don't mind, training was particularly brutal today, so I'd like to retire as soon as possible."
"Of course. Good night, Arthur," Uther replied genially. Arthur bowed and made his way to his chambers. Merlin had better be there, he thought, I don't want to look all over creation for him.
Luckily for him, and Merlin, the servant was indeed in Arthur's chambers. The Prince got right down to business. "Okay Merlin, stop what you're doing."
Merlin was sorting dirty laundry from clean laundry, since both tended to end up on the floor if he didn't put the clean away, right away. Now he'd lose track of which was which and he'd have to start all over again. But hey, whatever the boss commands, right? So he dropped the sock he was holding back to the floor and stood still. "Yes Sire?"
"Wait until you hear about this interesting plan my Father's devised for me. It's almost as if he's been spying on me and knows things."
"Things?" Merlin repeated. He didn't bother to point out that there were guards and servants all over the castle, most of whom would be glad to report to the King the doings of his son, for a price.
"Yes, like whom I spend my time with? A certain friend of yours, of the female persuasion? Anyhow, listen to this plan." And he proceeded to fill Merlin in on the details of the "competition" his Father had concocted.
"That is awful," Merlin concluded. "Gwen will be totally heartbroken and you'll be trapped in a loveless marriage. Probably." Arthur gave Merlin the "evil eye," and Merlin said, "What? It's true, isn't it? You do still love her, right?"
"Yes," Arthur growled. "So I've come up with a brilliant counter-plan. Father is sending the invitations out tomorrow. I want you to intercept one of the messengers and offer to deliver it for him. But instead of doing that, you'll bring it here so we can re-write it to make it say Guinevere is invited. Then you'll deliver it to her, and she'll be delirious with joy. She'll be one of the three chosen and I will choose her to marry." And he fell backwards onto his bed.
Merlin stood there looking at Arthur, his hand on his chin and a finger tapping his mouth. "That could work, I suppose. We'd have to hide Gwen from Uther until it was time for all the ladies to answer the questions. And she'd have to reply to the invitation as if she was the invited noblewoman—she won't like lying."
"She'd do it for me," the Prince replied. "You can help with the hiding and replying too."
"Gee thanks," Merlin replied sarcastically. "And will you save me from losing my head if I'm caught?"
"Oh, you worry too much. Besides, my plan is foolproof. Or it would be if you weren't involved. Ha!"
Merlin rolled his eyes and ignored the insulting joke. Luckily he had a little extra "something" that would help if he did get caught. Arthur's half-baked plan had to work. He and Gwen had to end up together or destiny would blow up in everyone's faces.
"Okay Arthur, let's get you to bed. Maybe you'll have recovered your sense in the morning," Merlin said, and helped the Prince up.
"Hey, I resent that," Arthur replied.
"Good. It's working already." Merlin helped Arthur into bed and snuffed all the candles.
Suddenly Arthur sat up. "Don't forget to be up early to waylay that messenger, Merlin."
"Don't worry Arthur, I'm all over it." At that, Arthur dropped back into bed."Good night Arthur."
Arthur's reply was a snore. Merlin left and returned to his own chamber.
xxxXxxx
Luckily for Arthur (and Merlin) Arthur's plan went off without a hitch. The messenger took a few days off, in the tavern. Gwen did bend her morals "for Arthur" to get into the competition. And the forgeries were not detected. Everything was set for Gwen to "win" the competition. Merlin had a few more details to watch over, but everything was looking good.