Camelot Games is the second story in the Merely a Monarch series

CHAPTER 1 : VISITORS GALORE

Merlin had noticed the knight in blue and cream; he knew neither his name nor his affiliation to any kingdom. He just seemed to always be on the periphery of any group which was near Arthur. He made no verbal contacts but his very silence, made Merlin suspicious. He shook his head, he really didn't have the time to worry about a silent knight who was obeying all the social etiquette of the court so it was strange that he had caught his attention in the first place.

Early summer, the annual Camelot tournament was held. It was attended by all and sundry. Knights came from as far away as Cornwall and Cumbria; peddlers and stall food sellers from the west and the east. The castle was a hive of activity, full of guests and servants, knightly competitors and their squires.

Guests arrived daily. The royal guests welcomed in the courtyard by the king himself, would then be escorted depending upon their rank by knights or servants. Some of the royal parties were large with each king often accompanied by his own royal physician, an assortment of followers and staff. The knights of each kingdom were settled in the wing assigned to visiting knights. Once their horses had been settled in purpose built temporary stabling, the visiting squires would join their own lords in the chambers assigned to them.

Staff and travelling chests were directed to the servants' entrances. Chests and baggage were carried to the assigned chambers where maids or menservants unpacked all the clothes. For the first evening following their journey, the royal guests ate in their private chambers. Each royal couple's party was assigned one of the castle's non-competing knights to help the transition to residing in Camelot.

The evening following the last royal arrival, saw the pomp and ceremony as the guests were officially welcomed to Camelot with a grand banquet. The schedule for the next eight days was announced. Following the tournament, they were invited to remain as guests of Camelot should they, so desire.

Two years ago, Uther had invited able-bodied commoners to competing in the non-equine contests. Rewards would be monetary but in the finals, they had to first come up against the best of the knights in that same competition. These men were billeted courtesy of the castle with the townsfolk but they would eat with the castle staff. It had been well received with parallel contests and then the finalists competing for further rewards for the commoners and honour for the knights.

Merlin scanned the parchment of the Tournament Schedule. Day One would see the Royal Procession followed by the Parade of Standards at which the seated monarch, would acknowledge each competing knight who had been preceded into the arena by his squire carrying his standard. The Camelot squires would then present a serious but non-competitive display of their talents with the sword, the mace and the spear. Special attention would be focused on those young men, candidates to the knighthood who would be invested the following month.

Day Two was competitive; two parallel contests for knights and able-bodied men. Day Three was devoted to non-combative displays of the mace, spear and lance at the quitain, as well as the finals in each division from the second day. Day Four picked up with the hand-to-hand fighting. Consecutive group of knights and able-bodied men had the opportunity to fight in an elimination bout in the main arena. By the end of the day, there would be four competitors from each division ready to go to the finals held the following morning.

Day Five was when people really became interested in the competitions; early morning saw the sword finals to be followed by the mêlée à pied. The contest which as far as Merlin was concerning, was just a crowd of rowdy men fighting with swords, the winner being the last man on his feet. Fair means and foul abounded with frequent injuries and occasionally fatalities. The finals in each division were held in the late morning with the victor of the able-bodied men challenging the winner of the knights' contest.

If Merlin had little taste for the mêlée à pied, it was nothing to his dislike for the mêlée à cheval, a mounted contest. The same rules applied but it was only open to knights. He had to acknowledge that the horses were all up on their toes, dancing in anticipation as they awaited the trumpet blast but the idea of men in close combat swinging swords and the chances of injuries to men and horse alike was difficult to accept. Mounted battles were bad enough yet, in talking to the contestants, he could see that they were all fired up and thrilled to be competing.

Day Six was devoted to jousting, by far the crowd's favourite as they went to the tilting ground in large numbers to watch the pageantry and the elimination rounds. The horses were beautifully trained and caparisoned in traditional accoutrements. The jousting, open only to the knights and permitting three passes per rider, took all day with the finals scheduled for Day Seven.

Open betting by the villagers and even amongst the royals was popular. Whereas the villagers bets might include things like three chickens and the free use of a billy goat in the spring, the royals were often known to privately lay a bet with quite large amounts of gold. Bets were only placed after the punter was sure of his information on the knight's ability and his chance of winning. As easy as it was to bet on his own knights, the ability of many of the knights from other kingdoms was unknown and discretion came into effect.

Merlin looked at the schedule and realised that they had a busy week ahead of them until the Awards Dinner on the Day Eight. He remembered the ups and downs of competitions and just hoped that Arthur and his knights acquitted themselves well. However, he acknowledged that he had a soft spot for a few of the non-Camelot knights, especially the princes from Bodmin and Wales.

-0-0-

Treva was in his element. He had almost lived in Camelot for a year and he was quite at home. Randall still acted as his manservant and his charge was almost through his first year as a page. It would be his first tournament and both Merlin and Arthur remembered through his eyes their excitement as the youngster awaiting the actual event.

He was thrilled when all the little pavilions were erected and given the chance would have spent every daylight hour playing around the site in everybody's way, watching the comings and goings and then quite happily have camped in one overnight so as not to miss anything the following morning. However, much to Treva's disappointment, Randall did not condone that.

Arthur said, "Your friend, Henry and you, if you behave, can share a seat in the area designated for minor court officials and household staff. The main viewing stand will be packed with visiting royal families and other royal representatives. But…" Arthur added, "If over the duration of the tournament there is any space, Merlin will come to get you so as my ward, you can sit next to me." Treva was suitable impressed and bounced up and down hanging onto Merlin at the same time.

Merlin smiled sometimes Arthur's language was slightly over Treva's head but for once, the youngster had no problem understanding the gist of the conversation.

"You won't forget me will you, Merlin?" Merlin promised that he wouldn't. So, Treva continued his cross examination of Arthur. "Why do many of the knights have different horses for different events? Why can't Popper and I ride in the opening procession?" Slipping his hand into Merlin's he said, "Is Merlin going to compete with Iago? Is someone going to ride Burton, my Papa's horse? Arthur, you can if you want to or maybe Merlin…if not…I will!"

Arthur smiled as he answered his ward's questions. "Different horses have different abilities so if a knight can afford more than one horse, he will. One might excel at jousting but be no good in the mounted sword fights. Secondly, Popper and you are too small to ride in the procession but when you grow up, you will ride beside me. Merlin is not a knight so he and Iago won't compete. Furthermore, I have Rhydian and Mulgan so I don't really need to use Burton, but it was kind of you to offer and…sorry, but no, Treva, you can't ride him. When you are big enough, you will be able to ride him the whole time."

Merlin hoped that Treva would grow quickly enough to be able to ride the horse and benefit from the excellent training Burton had received at the hands of his father.

Treva seemed for the moment satisfied with Arthur's answers. Merlin smiled to himself, the patience which Arthur showed Treva was often lacking when he was dealing with unruly knights. He thought, 'This ward thing seems to be working out quite well…' He himself had a special affection for the boy and he was glad to see that a special attachment was building between the monarch and his ward.

Randall arrived to rescue them from the seven year old and Merlin laughed as they walked away, "I have an awful feeling that Randall isn't going to get him settled this evening."

Arthur said, "If I rightly remember, when I was his age, I stayed up all night before the tournament. It was too excited to sleep and then worried in case I fell asleep that I wouldn't awake in time. I didn't intend to miss anything. Poor Gaius, I'm sure I had him up all night too. "

"I was much older and I had never seen anything so exciting. You can imagine comparing it to an exciting day in Ealdor, when the pigs might escape or a peddler comes through the village."

Arthur smiled, their upbringings had been so different but they were perfectly suited to each other as adults. Arthur couldn't really imagine being without Merlin. He smiled softly, "Merlin, you do know, don't you that the day you arrived was the most exciting thing that has ever happened in Camelot?"

Turning to face him, Merlin said quietly, "If we were alone, I would respond accordingly. However, for now you'll have to trust me…!"