Chapter 1

"Arise, Sir William, Knight of Camelot!" I got up and couldn't help but beam proudly while bowing before my king. The title would take some time to get used to. Never would I have dreamed of anything like this, I thought, while Arthur went to the next man.

As it was custom in Camelot, the most worthy young men were knighted shortly before the Feast of Beltane.

The thought of the feast had filled me with fear for the last months, but now at least I might be able to be close to Arthur on this day.

The cloak around my shoulders felt surprisingly heavy. So did the chain mail I was wearing, both constant reminders of my new status and also of the lie I was living now.

It was surprisingly easy for me to walk around like a noble's son, proud, sometimes ignorant, with firm steps and looking like all the world belonged to me, deepening my voice so I wouldn't sound too female. But after the five months I now had spent in Arthur's kingdom, I still had problems to breathe. The chain mail fitted me tightly, and it was not really easy to hide that I was not flat-chested like a man. I guess I can call myself lucky that I once had a friend who disguised as a man for quite some time. I used all the tricks she had shown to me, and up to now no one, not even Merlin, who had seen me with long hair and a dress before, had realized that something was strange about 'William'.

In my spare free time I did extra training or explored Camelot and its surroundings. I knew every corner in the castle (at least those that I was allowed to enter) and the woods around the city. When Helios and Morgana would attack Camelot, in about two weeks time, I would be ready.

The assembled people started to clap, a sign that Arthur had knighted the last man. We all turned around, looking at the crowd. I could see Merlin, grinning, looking at Arthur, who was standing beside us. I didn't need to turn my head to see how much the King liked moments like these, without doubting himself or thinking too intensely about Gwen.

Following the other knights, I left the hall to go to my new chamber. It was one of those farthest from the yard or the King's quarters, but it was my own, a place of refuge. I would be able to loosen the bandages around my chest when I was there, and stop acting more confident than I felt.

I reached the chamber. It really was small, smelling faintly of someone else and old mattress-stuffing, but I was alone. Closing and locking the door behind me, I took a deep breath. So many things had happened since I arrived here...

As soon as I touched Merlin's hand, I knew it was too late. I was in the middle of the story.

Whatever happened now fell in my responsibility. I was the tale-changer.

When I was standing again, I backed away from the warlock, turned and ran. I needed to get away from him as far as possible in the hope that he might forget my face.

While I passed the tavern, I realized it. I was not really a tale-changer anymore. As soon as I would get back home, the council would banish me or whatever they did to those who disobeyed them. But as long as I was here, I had the power to shape the story. It was a crazy idea, it was something that made me sound as mad as Morgana, that I might be the one in whose hands the fate of all Camelot rested, but well, it was true. Somehow. As long as I was alive and in this world, I could do what I thought best, not what the council had forced me to do.

I was a renegade, free to follow my own rules.

I reached the outer wall, avoided narrowly to run into people getting in from outside, and then I was on the street leading away from the citadel, on the fields, breathing in the fresh air, finally, after two years of solitude and confinement, I was free again.

I stopped at the forest edge, leaning against an oak tree, and tried to decide what to do next.

The more I thought about attempting to save Arthur Pendragon from being killed by Mordred in the end, the more impossible this task appeared to me. I thought of the attack that was not so far off. It would be great to watch Arthur pull Excalibur from the stone, calling "Long live the King" together with all the people gathered there. But these people had been the lucky ones who escaped the army that had taken Camelot.

Many people would die that day.

While I watched the sun set, I stared back at the City. The blood of these people would be on my hands.

The feeling of freedom faded and I was filled with something else. I realized that I was in a dangerous position: I might be able to stop Agravaine from using the siege tunnels and leading Morgana into the city. But if I did, I might change too much of the story. I might not be able to predict what would happen next. If I stopped the attack, Arthur would not reunite with Gwen, wouldn't meet Tristan and Isolde, would never get Excalibur and would continue to doubt himself as a king.

And there was no way of knowing what Morgana might do next. Maybe she would find a way to destroy Arthur without the help of Mordred. Maybe Arthur would die before he could rule with Gwen at his side, at least partly fulfilling his destiny.

I couldn't let that happen. I just couldn't.

I took off the cloak and unbuckledmy sword, throwing it on my bed, and walked over to the tiny window to look outside. I could only see the citadel's wall and a small part of the courtyard, which wasn't totally surprising. Well, at least I had a window which might just help to ward off the feeling of confinement.

Thinking about confinement, I noticed that the weather was fair and it was still pretty early. I was free for the rest of the day, so I decided to get out of the castle and take a stroll in the woods. I quickly changed from the chain mail to something more comfortable. Despite having locked the door of my chamber, I hurried to get my shirt back on. It wasn't hard to figure what might happen to me if anyone found out that I was a woman.

The decision I made that evening and night in the woods was one of the hardest I had to make in my whole life. It made me realize how much responsibility was on my shoulders now, because of my own doing. But in the end, I did choose. I decided that the people who would get killed in the attack were destined to die. The original storyline, destiny, whatever, wanted them dead, and I would not object to that.

But maybe I would be able to save someone, anyone, by being in the castle that day, just to numb the nagging feeling that this decision made me even worse than Morgana was.

But to help Merlin to save Arthur, this time and for all the times yet to come, I would need to be as close to him as I could. And there really was just one way to achieve that.

As a new recruit, every tale-changer has to undergo basic training in many different subjects, so I knew what to do with a sword. I never really used this skill before I stayed in his world, but there I became quite good at it. Not because I was talented or anything, but because the weapon in my hand was the only thing protecting me from the weapons in other peoples' hands.

You learn fast when you don't have a choice.

After what had happened to Lancelot, I decided against trying to get a seal of nobility and showing it directly to Arthur. I did visit a counterfeiter and gave him almost all of the money the council had provided me with, after I heard about a tournament being held in Nemeth and I entered it as a contestant.

By sheer luck did I manage not only to prevent myself from being killed, but also to get the fourth place. I don't know how exactly I accomplished to impress the Princess Mithian, but she provided me with a personal letter for Arthur when I told her about my wish to become a knight in Camelot.

Maybe it had to do with a tale-changer's luck, or with me flirting with her (after all, I was supposed to be a dashing noble's son and courting someone was not that uncommon), but in the end, it worked out better than I expected or even dared to hope for.

Mithian praised my abilities more highly than she should have, but Arthur gave me a chance to prove my skills on the Princess's behalf and in the end decided to let me stay and train in Camelot.

When he announced the young men that were to be knighted before Beltane, I was one of them, barely believing how much luck I really had.

I met them in the hallway on my way out: Gwaine, Percival and Leon. No sign of Elyan, but he couldn't be far off: They really were almost inseparable.

It looked like Gwaine was laughing about something Percival had said. Judging by the way Leon looked at the giant knight, the joke had been about him, but after a few seconds even his sour expression softened and he grinned.

Even after seeing them almost every day from afar, it felt weird to meet them. In the masses of knights that apparently served in Camelot, I would have imagined not to notice them this much, but even after I got to know some names of senior knights or soon-to-be knights, this group was special.

They were, after all, Arthur's most trusted and highly respected by all the other knights.

They walked past me without acknowledging my presence.

I knew I should be happy that at least these people were not affected by my presence, but seeing them together only reminded me that I was alone.

Before I could get really downcast, I remembered myself why I preferred to be on my own and why I needed so stay away from people as much as I could.

I had, after all, a mission that couldn't be jeopardized by someone learning my secret or, even more dangerous, by being overwhelmed by my own emotions again.

A/N: The feast of Beltane is in two weeks already, not much time to get comfy in a new chamber for "Sir William"! And I'm not sure how long his changer's-luck is going to last...

I promise more action and the first real changes in the next chapter, this one is just to help getting settled in Camelot.

Please tell me if you noticed anything amiss or strange and tell me what you think about this one!