Part Two,
Song for this chapter; The Other Side.
Merlin rushed into the room, he'd heard the news. 'Leon, what happened exactly?' he asked quickly, 'I'm fine Merlin, thanks for asking' Leon said sarcastically, 'I don't really know, I went down to the dungeons with the sorcerer me and Gwaine caught, and when I came back up I felt terrible..'. 'The sorcerer probably cursed you sir' Florence said politely, she looked up and saw Merlin glaring at her, she supposed he was supposed to act stupid in these situations.
'Merlin' shouted a voice from down the hall, and they all knew what it meant. Merlin sighed and walked to the door, 'I suppose I'll be off then' he groaned and hurried out the door. 'You need rest sir' Florence said, and Leon agreed with no complaint, he rested his head on the pillow and fell asleep almost immediately. Florence was cleaning pots in the corner when Leon awoke with a cry. 'MORGANA' he screamed 'SHES COMING'. Wide eyed and sweating he looked over to see Florence with a confused yet terrified look on her face.
'Sir, it was just a dream' said Florence, 'who is this Morgana anyway?' Sir Leon sat up and took a deep breath, 'This might take a while' he said. Morgana, Florence hated her, even if she had only heard the story of what she had done, she was purely evil. They sat in silence for a while after Leon had finished his story, Florence broke the silence, 'sir, I am sure it was just a dream, there is no need to worry, if the dreams continue Gaius can give you something to stop them' she said with a smile. Leon nodded, and stood up with a wobble, 'Er sir are you sure you'll be okay waking' Florence questioned, 'I'll be fine, I just need to go and see Arthur' he said, and added after seeing Florence's raised eyebrow, 'just to tell him I'm okay'.
Leon got to Arthurs chambers followed by Florence, who had insisted on coming with him, "just in case". He knocked on the door and heard a muffled 'Come in'. They walked in to find Merlin hitting Arthur round the head with a pillow, it seemed they had been fighting, again. 'Leon!' exclaimed Arthur after a sharp glare at Merlin, who grinned. Leon smiled and Arthur asked 'what happened? Was it the sorcerer?', 'I believe so sire' muttered Leon.
'Then I will have to do something I wish I didn't have to do, Leon set the execution for sundown'. Florence and Merlin looked at each other , they knew there would be consequences to his actions. Leon hesitated for a second then nodded and left. 'Okay' thought Florence 'this is awkward'.. 'Erm I'll be off now' she muttered 'Sire, Merlin'. 'Wait Florence, now Leon is well, you are officially Guinevere's maidservant' Arthur said, quite pompously. She nodded and went off to Gwen's chambers.
'Hello?' Florence said as she walked into Gwen's chambers. 'FLORENCE' smiled Gwen, 'is Leon okay?', 'Yeah he's fine' Florence smiled 'so I suppose I'm your maidservant now'. She and Gwen talked for ages, about anything and everything until they got onto the subject Florence dreaded most , 'So..' said Gwen with a twinkle in her eyes 'did you have a man back at home?' No one knew of Florence's past and she couldn't tell them. 'E-er' she stuttered going red, 'no'. Gwen smiled 'any men here?' she said with a wink. Florence rolled her eyes and laughed. Sir Gwaine walked through the door, 'Gwen, your presence is needed outside, the execution is about to start'. Gwen nodded and walked outside with Florence, Gwen saw Florence walk over to Gaius and Merlin as she walked over to Arthur.
'We are gathered here today for the execution of Kendra Evans, a sorcerer, who cursed Sir Leon. I regret having to do this, but it must be done.' Arthur said sadly. Florence wasn't ready for this, she had forgotten completely about this, and wasn't ready to see a fellow sorcerer die. Arthur raised his hand and slowly let it fall, Florence turned away as she felt the tears tumble down her face. She felt an arm around her shoulder and looked up to see Merlin who also had tears in his eyes. 'Let us have a feast, tonight. To celebrate Sir Leon's renewed health' said Arthur and with that the crowd dispatched muttering excitedly about the feast, and what had just happened.
Florence couldn't move she was too upset, it could have been her there, or worse Merlin. 'Come on' whispered Merlin who guided me back to Gaius' chambers. We had to get ready for the feast, Florence picked up one of her dresses from home, it was beautiful, too beautiful for a servant. She sighed, she wished she could wear it. It had an ice blue satin bodice with floating sleeves, and a simple midnight blue skirt. She stroked the fabric, tears welling in her eyes, oh how she missed home. 'Are you okay?' questioned Merlin, Florence's head shot up, 'oh erm, I'm fine' Florence said. 'That's a beautiful dress' Merlin said, but it was more like a question. She needed to tell someone, she could trust Merlin. 'I'm not who you think I am' she said 'I am Princess Florence of Alzar.' Her voice had gone to less than a whisper, she looked up and saw Merlin's eyes widen. 'Why?' he said, and she knew what he meant, 'My father found out about my magic, and knew if anyone else found out there would be an uprising, the kingdom has been angry for a while that magic is banned, and if they found out the kings daughter had magic they would surely rebel.' She said, 'W-we fake-ed m-my death and my father told me to go to Camelot where he knew I would be safe as long as no-one knew of my magic. No one knows me here because my kingdom is far away on the other side of Bayard's kingdom.' She finished and started crying.
Merlin comforted her and promised he would tell no-one, 'You should wear the dress' he said as he was in the doorway, 'just say your mother gave it to you before you left'. Florence looked at the dress, unsure what to do. She quickly slipped into the dress and let her hair fall down from her bun. She was very self conscious and walked into the celebration with her head down. She quickly went into the corner of the room, and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, unfortunately it didn't work. Gwaine walked over to her and she felt her face going red. 'Hello sweetie pie' he said with a wink 'You're gwen's maidservant aren't you?' , 'Yes' Florence said 'You're Sir Gwaine'. 'Now we've got names settled, do you fancy a dance?' he asked with a smile. Florence nodded and tried not to grin too much. They danced, spinning round, laughing and chatting until Arthur said 'A toast, to Sir Leon' and everyone raised their glasses. A hand tapped Florence on the shoulder and she whirled around. She smiled when she saw who it was , 'Would you do me the honours of dancing with me my lady' Leon smiled, 'Of course, it would be an honour' she smirked. They danced until Florence felt she would collapse. She gave Leon a hug and looked up to see the King glaring at her, an odd look in his eyes.
Please review. Part three should be up soon, hopefully by Wednesday.