In her spare time that morning, Gwen wandered down to the practise field seeking out Merlin for a bit company. He was assisting Arthur as usual with weapons and by being a general dogsbody.
She waited patiently for her fellow servant to find a few free moments and in the meantime, settled to watch Camelot's heir putting his knights through their paces. As Gwen watched the blond man drill the knights then easily defeat each one's challenge, she realised for the first time just how perfect a killing machine he was. Of course, she had known that he had been trained in weaponry and warcraft as soon as he could stand on his own two chubby baby feet. Goodness knows, he was keen enough to tell anyone willing to listen and she had seen him compete and usually win at various tourneys but this was somehow different.
To see him more than match every type of weapon used against him and demonstrate his obviously superior skill sent an involuntary shiver down her spine. Gwen could never imagine that he would kill in malice or with evil intent but it unnerved her slightly to know the deadly power that lay within the man.
A few more scuffles later and the prince called for a quick break whereupon Merlin passed him a waterskin while simultaneously catching the helmet that Arthur carelessly cast towards him. After checking that his master had all he needed for the time being, Merlin trotted over to Gwen.
The sorcerer had known for some time that the maid had a crush on him but he did not return her fancy. She was definitely pretty and charming and had all the qualities desirable in a woman but Merlin just did not see her in that way. This was Gwen, his friend who he regarded more as a sister than a potential lover. More importantly, it appeared that she was to be the future queen, wife of Arthur and from what he could tell, the prince appeared to have begun taking an interest in Gwen – not that he would admit it.
As if he had read his mind, Merlin saw Arthur coming towards them.
"Merlin," called Arthur, "go see that my lances are ready for the jousting practice."
The sorcerer smiled back, "I already have, sire, they are all prepared."
Gwen gave Merlin a little look of pride which Arthur found irrationally annoying. It simply could not be that he had any feelings of that nature for the maid! However, no matter what he told himself, that was indeed the case. He gave Merlin a look which the dark-haired man picked up on and made himself scarce with a, "I'll just go check on the horses as well. I'll see you later on, Gwen."
She stared after him with a puzzled expression, Merlin had been acting a little out of character lately. Gwen thought it might just be paranoia but she definitely thought it had something to do with her. Perhaps, she should have listened to her inner voice early on and put a stop to her silly infatuation. She wasn't the type who girl who got into romantic entanglements anyway, that was something that happened to beautiful women, women like the Lady Morgana.
Arthur was unable to stop himself from going over towards where Merlin stood with the woman who was on his mind every waking moment. She also haunted his dreams and more often than not, he would wake up a combination of happy, confused and satiated until he realised that no, she was not lying beside him and all that he had was a mirage of what he thought was the warmth and touch of her body. However, it wasn't just lust that he experienced. He considered her to be the nicest thing to have happened to him in a long time and whether or not he believed the book of prophecy, he found that he did not mind in the slightest if the part about him and Gwen was true.
"Thank you again for the cuisse. It's as good as new." Arthur didn't know why but he found it difficult to meet her eyes.
She smiled politely, "You're welcome, I was happy to help." A little bewildered line appeared between her brows. He had already thanked her several times, there was no need for him to do so again. They stood together for a few seconds, an awkward silence hanging over them before Gwen gave a bow and made her excuses to leave.
Arthur watched helplessly as she departed. He had never had trouble speaking to women before, and he had practiced enough on various ladies since he was old enough to be interested in the female of the species with no small amount of success. A ladies maid should have been no bother at all.
It must just be a passing fancy, he would soon grow weary of it and then he could turn his mind to more serious contenders. Morgana had looked stunning at his coronation as Crown Prince of Camelot and there was a lot of hope riding on a union between them. His regard for his father's ward was tinged with more than a little romantic ardour but there was something that did not quite sit right with him. At other times, they were more like siblings and the furthest thing from his mind was the thought of her as his bride. It all just felt the tiniest bit wrong and he really wasn't clear on Morgana's view of the situation.
Another evening and another occasion to be dressed up to impress visiting dignitaries to Camelot. Morgana was bored of it, there was rarely anything new and exciting about these occasions – a case of same thing, different faces. She wished she could get out of attending these events but that, she supposed, was the price of being the King's Ward. The only thing she could do to make things interesting for herself was to wear something that would tease the male guests and make her the object of envy to the female guests.
Tonight, the guests collectively gasped as she made her entrance in an emerald-green gown that was slashed in a deep 'V' down her back and a similar neckline that was not quite so deep as to be vulgar. Organza sleeves billowed out to be caught at her wrists by gold embroidered cuffs. Matching fine golden chains were threaded through her up-pinned dark hair. She was, in a word, enchanting.
Morgana enjoyed the admiration that she garnered but with no fresh male objects to divert her, she decided to direct her attention to Sir Leon. Out of Camelot's knights, she considered him to be the most appealing. He was handsome, charming, witty and courageously loyal almost to a fault. She was not blind to the fact that people disapproved of her taking interest in other men but her supposed future as Queen of Camelot was one she had heard since childhood and she was not altogether sure that that was the future she wanted either. She could do a lot worse than have Sir Leon as an alternative.
For an individual as spirited and feisty as Morgana, there was still too much that she wanted to do, there were too many places she wanted to see – places she had heard tales of but not had a chance to go to. No, Camelot's walls were not strong enough to hold her and they would not contain her forever. For a long time now, she had felt a restlessness deep within her soul and it disturbed her to not know the source of it. All she knew was that it was somehow related to her nightmares and it would not be long before something happened. Something had to give.
How's the story going? let me know x
