Author's Note: Hi! I've recently started to read Noble!Merlin fics and I have fallen in love with them. Thusly, I have attempted to create my own. Please let me know if you like it or not. Enjoy!
PS: This story is very AU.
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.
King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot lounged in his throne until his wife, Queen Gweneviere Pendragon, scowled at him and motioned for the young king to sit up straight. Arthur frowned, but nonetheless sat taller. He could hear Elyan, the Queen's sister, and Gwaine, the drunkard, snickering at him, but he ignored it.
After a few more moments of the quiet buzz of conversation, the messenger arrived. Well, he had actually arrived the night before, but he hadn't gotten an invitation with the king until midday today. Arthur smiled at him. His manservant, George, always said that people feel safer around a king that smiles at them.
This messenger looked to be around twenty five years old and had tan skin and blonde hair pulled into a short ponytail. He was wearing the royal colors of his kingdom: blue and silver. He had on dark blue breeches with silver socks and blue shoes. He was wearing a royal blue shirt with the kingdom's sign, a pentagon with a strong dragon featured in the center, embroidered on it in silver thread.
Although he stood strong, Arthur could see the slight shaking of the man's hands. The king decided that he was going to start the conversation to put him at ease, "You've come far from the kingdom of Criladien. Has the king decided to accept my offer?"
Recently, Arthur had sent out some messengers of his own to many of the kingdoms. This decision was spurred from his decision to eradicate the ban on magic. All of the kingdoms had agreed to talk about peace treaties except for the mysterious Criladien. No one knew a lot about their king or anything about it for that matter.
The messenger nodded and went to one knee, presenting a scroll, which Arthur just noticed he was holding, to the king like a servant would give a knight his sword. Arthur nodded to George who went down to the man, grabbed the scroll, and then presented it to his king in the same manner. Arthur nodded his thanks before grasping the message.
He was about to dismiss the court and call a meeting of the round table, but the messenger spoke first, "My King wishes for me to tell you that the instructions on that sheet must be followed exactly. If anything that is not instructed occurs, all chances of a treaty will be terminated. Good day." He bowed stiffly and began to walk out of the hall.
For a moment, the king and queen just stared at him, flabbergasted. No one just walked out like that. Then Gwen asked, "Sir? May I ask your name?"
He turned back towards her, his green eyes flashing, "My King has instructed me to not give my name, my Lady." Then he continued to walk out, the doors closing behind him.
Arthur shook his head slightly and said, "Court is dismissed. There will be a meeting of the round table now."
He waited while the nobles filed out of the room and the servants pulled a table into the center of the room. It wasn't a very large table, only big enough to fit himself, his queen, his physician, the recently made Court Sorceress Morgana, and his most trusted knights. George was made to leave the room.
Once they were all there, Arthur pulled open the scroll and began to read:
Dear King Arthur Pendragon and Queen Gweneviere Pendragon,
I have received your message speaking of the lifting of magic bans in your kingdom. My kingdom has never had such bans and magic is practiced openly and often. I accept your wish to create a treaty between our kingdoms, but if you truly wish for this to happen, you must trust me. I have very specific instructions for you. Follow them to the letter, or this idea of a united Albion will fail.
First, I will decide who you bring with you. It will not be much different from the people you normally bring with you. Here are the names: King Arthur, Queen Gweneviere, Sir Gwaine, Sir Percival, Sir Lancelot, Sir Mordred, Sir Leon, Sir Elyan, and Lady Morgana. You may bring neither servants with you nor any additional knights.
Second, you will be led to me by the messenger who came to you. Do not push him for information. Do not try to learn things about Criladien from him. He will not tell you if you ask him. If he decides it is worth sharing, only then may you hear it. He will determine the path you travel and you will not err from it.
Third, understand that I will not accept you having any weapons in my court room. When you make it to the castle, your weapons will be taken from you and placed in your room. There are no exceptions. There is a spell on the court room walls that stops most people within it from using magic. The only person in the court room who will have available weapons, magical or otherwise, will be myself.
These are your conditions. Accept them and you may start your trek to my castle as soon as you wish, or disregard them and my messenger will come home without you.
Sincerely,
The King
Arthur and his knights looked at each other. For one, they were amazed at the amount of knowledge this king had of their kingdom. If they accepted his conditions, they would be flying blind while he had all the cards.
For another, what was with the no servants rule? No one had asked that before. It was strange and Arthur wasn't quite sure what that said for the king.
Gaius, the court physician, spoke first, "If I may sire, I believe that you should do as he says. I believe that Criladien would be a powerful ally and a dangerous enemy. I do not think that he will retaliate if you say no, but it could cause tension that could lead to hostility."
"And," Gwen added, "Like the King said, if you do not do this, Albion will never come to be."
"It's just," Arthur began, "I don't like that he knows so much about us and we know nothing about him. We don't even know his name. When the knights visited his land, he had someone else speak for him and he blindfolded the knights at the border. None of the other kingdoms knew of our dream of Albion. How could he?"
The knights nodded in agreement. Lancelot said, "It says that his land allows magic and he hinted rather strongly that he has magic. Perhaps that is how."
Leon cocked his head at Lancelot, "You think he has spied on us?"
Percival stepped in, "I think spying is too strong of a word. Maybe he was just trying to make certain we had honorable intentions. I mean, Uther had pretty strong laws against magic. He had no reason to believe that you would be any different."
Morgana frowned, "Was Arthur lifting the ban on magic not enough?"
Gwaine, rarely the voice of reason, said, "He lives in a different kingdom that is very cut off from the rest of the world. How was he supposed to know that you actually lifted the ban."
Arthur nodded and said, "True. So I say we take a vote. It will have to be unanimous, or we don't go at all. Say aye if you think we should go." Everyone said aye so Arthur finished with, "Very well, we will go. We depart in the morning. I will have the regent rule in my stead. Start packing."
The knights, Morgana, and Gaius all left with varying degrees of a bow. Some just nodded their heads and some gave full bows. Others, like Gwaine and Morgana, just walked out the door.
Servants scurried back into the room to take away the table and Arthur pulled George aside, letting him know that they were leaving in the morning and that he would not be coming. He then gave George two messages: one to give to the regent telling him to take over court until Arthur returned, and another to give to the Criladien messenger telling him that they left in the morning.
Arthur and Gwen then returned to their chambers and slept the night away.
When they woke, George had laid out their clothes and had already saddled their horses. The extra pack horses were equipped for a long ride (they weren't told how long they were going to be riding). The messenger had already mounted his horse and was waiting rather impatiently for them. The very moment they had mounted their horses, he had taken off through the city.
They followed.