Chapter 1 – There's Something About the Horses
A/N: This is the first chapter of the full story of my one shot "One Man, Four Babies and A Dragon". If you want to read the shorter version, you will find it under my story "Merlin's Magic." Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this first chapter. Have a great morning/day/night!
It had started with the knights' horses.
They were the most well-trained horses in Camelot, fast, loyal and intelligent. They came when called upon, they never threw their knights off and they loved to be ridden. Until one day, when they refused to do anything. Anything at all. It was Leon who noticed it first. He went to the stables to feed his horse Lighting Bolt, a chore the stable boy could do but Leon liked to do himself. He entered the stables, and immediately notice that something was different. The horses usually stood still and content in their cribs, well-trained as they were. But not this time. All the horses were twitching and neighing, like they were restless. Leon went with a confused look on his face over the Lighting Bolt. He lowered the bucket with food, knowing that the horse wold love it. He always did. But not this time. Instead, the horse had one bite, and then he tipped over the bucket, as if he suddenly hated the food he was given. Lightning then turned his head away from Leon, completely ignoring him. Leon left the stable very confused.
The next one to notice that something was off was Gwaine. He had gone to one of the paddocks to get his horse before leaving for patrol. He whistled at his horse when he reached the paddock, expecting him to come as he always did at Gwaine's call. The beautiful brown horse did look up when heard the whistle, but when he saw Gwaine, he just gave what Gwaine described as a look, and then continued eating, as if he couldn't be more bothered. No matter how much Gwaine whistled and called, the horse didn't come. Gwaine entered the paddock and went over to his horse. The horse let him come close enough to touch before he neighed and ran away.
"What are you doing?" Gwaine said.
The horse didn't answer of course, but Gwaine could swear there was a look of mischief in the horse's black eyes. Gwaine slowly approached him, but once again, the horse bolted as soon as Gwaine came close enough. The horse neighed.
"Stop it!" Gwaine said. "Stop laughing at me. This is not funny."
The horse just neighed again, and Gwaine gave up. He exited the paddock and started walking towards the castle to look for Arthur.
The third to notice something was wrong was Arthur. He and Merlin had gone to the paddock after Gwaine had come and told them that something was off with the horses. Arthur managed to saddle one horse, and even sit up.
"And you said they were being difficult." Arthur teased Gwaine.
"You will see princess." Gwaine muttered. "You will see."
Arthur laughed and called on the horse to move forward. The horse didn't move a muscle.
"Come on." Arthur said. "Move!"
The horse still didn't move. Arthur tried again and again, but with no results. Merlin tried to hide his smile. Gwaine, not so much.
"Come on then princess." He teased. "Show me how it is done."
Arthur just rolled his eyes at him.
He tried again, but the horse just shook his head, as if he was telling him no.
"What is wrong with this horse? It is even dumber than you Merlin!"
When Arthur uttered those words, Merlin remembered that one time a few years ago when Arthur had excepted the sorceress Morgause's challenge, and he and Merlin had ridden to meet her. They hadn't known which way to take, but Morgause had put a spell on Arthur's horse, and the horse had shown the way. Hearing Arthur utter the exact words he had then, made Merlin think of something.
"Maybe the horses are under a spell." He said.
"Don't be stupid Merlin." Arthur said automatically.
Before Merlin could explain, he was interrupted by the sound of a horse. When he looked over to the other side of the paddock, he saw to his surprise one of the horses running around, chasing its tail like a dog.
"Right," he said. "because that is completely normal."
"Shut up Merlin." Arthur said. "Let's go find Gaius. I need to talk to him. Maybe he knows what is going on."
An hour later, they were all gathered in the throne room. Leon had told them about his experience earlier in the stables, and Gwaine and Arthur about what had happened in the paddock.
"Gaius, do you have any idea what might be wrong with the horses?" Arthur asked.
"I believe so Sire." Gaius said. "Based on how the animals are behaving, I believe you are dealing with a Trickster."
"A Trickster?" Arthur echoed.
"Yes. They are sorcerers, but their magic is very weak. They pose no threat, but do like to pull pranks on people. Mostly the pranks are a bit unusual. Like making a whole in every spoon a person owns so it is useless, or other similar things. I believe that is what they have done with the horses Sire."
"Do you have any idea who might have done this Gaius?" Arthur asked.
"Based on how the horses are reacting, like revolting children, I think I do. There is an old Trickster woman living about a day's ride from here. She used to pull this type of childish pranks when she was young."
"Then we will go see her first thing tomorrow morning." Arthur said. Sir Leon, gather some men and go to town to borrow some horses for you, me, Gwaine, Percival and Merlin. We leave tomorrow morning."
"Yes Sire."