7.Friend or foe

Next day's noontime saw the King of Camelot and his entourage on horseback. Furtively Uter's eyes scanned the house's main entrance, then the vast row of windows on the first floor. Nobody was to be seen except for the governor, his staff and, of course, Merlin, who said good bye to Gaius.

So either his son had given order to not heed the departure or Leon, Mirella and the others took their lead from their master. The King muttered something inaudible to himself and took up the bridle when he heard a yelp of distinctively unpleasant surprise from the young warlock. Looking up Uther saw his daughter in law staggering down the stairs, the child tucked in a bundle in her arms.

"Guinivere, for heaven's sake!" She flinched as the four voices of an equally aghast Uther, Antek, Gaius and Merlin reached her all at once. As he stood closest, Llanfair was the first to reach and support her.

The young woman had barely reached the end of the stairs when the three others caught up with her. "Little Thomas wanted to say good bye to his grandfather" she said. "Besides, I think, he already loves horses. Must have got that from his father."

Uther looked at the big war horses behind him. "Don't you dare go anyway near these brutes before you are old enough my boy" he growled at the bundle in Gwen's arms. "Some Princes have spend too much time with them and the horses' stupidity rubbed off on them."

Guinivere decided to let that go uncommented. "Arthur told me you would come to see me and the child before you left, Sire. But you never came."

"I changed my mind" Uther said, after a short gaze at Merlin. "I thought it might do no good, to come between you and my son. Things are….messy enough as they are."

"If you had been as considerate before, My Lord, things wouldn't have come to that state" Gaius muttered angrily, causing an equally angry sigh from his King.

"Gaius, if you think that you are still needed here, we can easily…."

"No, Sire" the physician interrupted him brusquely. "There is no reason why my dear colleague Mercator should not be perfectly capable of looking after Her Grace and the child. And I do think that you need me much more right now!"

The King gulped that down unopposed but with a visible effort and turned back to the child. "Good bye, little Thomas" he said. "It was a pleasure making your acquaintance. You take good care of your mother." He merely nodded at Guinivere for a good bye. He had seen something stir behind the columns of the entrance. Or rather, someone.

"Merlin, see to it that Her Highness reaches her room safely, will you?" Uther said and the warlock nodded. While he passed him by, Uther added a short, whispered "and don't forget that I rely on you, my boy" before the King went back to his horse.

Merlin rolled his eyes to the sky and sighed while he helped Guinivere up the stairs. In their backs Antek and his notables gave their last formal farewells before the cavalcade rode off.

"Merlin, let go of my arm" Guinivere said laughingly. "You're almost dislocating my shoulder."

"Sorry."

She looked at his face and decided that peevishness wasn't very becoming to these usually merry and friendly features. "So it was you who advised the King to avoid me."

He flushed with embarrassment and nodded. "Arthur was that put off after their last talk, I thought…..Not that your husband had said anything against you receiving Uther but….I mean…as it looked…..I mean, the way he looked….."

"You thought I'd make a much better intermediary for your upcoming negotiations with His most stubborn Highness on Uther's behalf if I were to stay in my husband's good graces!" she stated, still with a very amused smile.

Merlin snorted a short laugh of his own and nodded. "Is it that obvious?"

"I don't think you stand much chance for a surprise attack. Only last night Arthur and I wondered who it might be Uther would use as an emissary. I said it would be Gaius and Arthur said it would be you, for you lacked the speed and the responsiveness to jump out of the way in time. The King would roll over you like a carriage with six spooked horses before you'd even know it. Apparently he was right."

"Ain't I always?" Arthur said from behind. "I know my friends inside out. Even the most mysterious, magical, camouflaged chameleons among them."

"I'm an open book!" Merlin stated, successfully hiding that the sneak attack had once more completely surprised him. How did Arthur manage this sneaking thing?

"You've said that before, while you were still posing as a meek and somewhat idiotic, clumsy manservant" the Prince replied. "Instead of the mighty and somewhat idiotic, clumsy sorcerer you really are."

"Yeah" Merlin said. "And you said you wouldn't believe that for a moment!"

"See?" Arthur said to his wife. "Even back then I knew he was hiding something from all of us. He always had this shifty look about him."

"Yes, dear" Guinivere replied lightly. "We all know how very clever you are. Mostly because you're telling us so constantly."

"See, Merlin? She's evil. You're lucky it wasn't you who fell in love with her."

"But I did" the warlock replied. "She just never noticed."

"In that case I can no longer allow that you hold her hand. Would you please return my wife to me?"

"By all means, Sire!" With a deep bow Merlin passed Guinivere's hand to her husband. "With all the family drama we already have, doubtlessly providing entertainment for all the nosy gossipers and self-styled political augurs of Albion, we wouldn't want to additionally burden ourselves with a case of murder out of jealousy!"

Arthur halted, his left foot still in the air. He put it down conscientiously and inhaled deeply before he turned to his friend. "I do beg your pardon?"

Merlin tried to steal the Prince's thunder before it could roll all over him. Which it most certainly would anyway. The warlock smiled as goofily as possible and shrugged. "Thought I'd better give my mediation a head start. Get it over with so to say…..Hey, whoa, what are you doing…." he yelped when Arthur's hand grabbed him by his neckerchief and twisted it. "Merlin, I do not care what promises my father blackmailed or flattered or bought out of you, I do not care what heart breaking stories he's told you and most of all I do not…I repeat NOT..care for your pitiful attempts at mediation between him and me. NOW. IS. THAT. CLEAR?

"Yep! Perfectly. Chrystal clear. Absolutely, completely and abundantly clear, Sire."

"Very well then. Let's not talk about it again."

"No. Never. Not one word. Although one might come to think that not all of this mess is your father's fault, he…."

"MERLIN!"

Guinivere saw the wizard recoil from her husband a bit and laid her hand on Arthur's arm. "I think we've both got your point, sweetheart." She looked down at her little son whose eyes were wide. Whether with fascination or trepidation was hard to tell. "Come to think of it, all three of us have got your point."

"You're in league with him, aren't you" Arthur said exasperatedly. "My own wife! And my own servant. I'm surrounded by enemies. Is everyone on my father's side now?'"

All of a sudden Guinivere became very serious. "You should not seek your enemies in the wrong places, Arthur. Nor your friends."

Her husband let his shoulders fall and raised his hands in surrender. "All right, all right, I give up. I had planned this as a surprise but as you leave me no choice, I can tell you now. By the laws of Camelot the Crown Prince is entitled, on his marriage, to have his own household in his own house. One of my ancestors must have thought this being supportive to the production of healthy heirs to the throne, I think. So I'm going to send word to my father, asking him to assign a suitable residence to us and that's that. Now are you content?"

Actually, Merlin wasn't, he liked living in the royal castle, but Guinivere was in seventh heaven. They would leave Blanchefleur and, most of all, Antek, but they would not live among the people who were used to know her as a servant girl. She wasn't ashamed of her former life but she wasn't looking forward to people's gossiping either. Or to her husband's foreseeable reaction, should the gossip reach his ears.

Arthur found his wife hanging on his neck in an enthusiastic embrace and thought that he should have mentioned this idea earlier. Much earlier.

"Does Antek know about this?" Trust Merlin to spoil a perfect moment.

"No, not yet" Arthur replied. "He invited me to a hunt this night. I will tell him then." The Prince looked at Merlin's renewed smile and shook his head. "And no, you will have no opportunity to see his face when I tell him. You will stay in, with Guinivere, Leon and the others, have a nice, snug, cosy evening as far away from Antek of Llanfair as possible."

Only in the last moment Merlin avoided the pout Arthur had been expecting to see. "Fine. You go to the damp and cold of the forest at night, killing poor helpless animals. I have much better things to do." His head erect and his chin lifted, Merlin left them standing, for once sure that he had had a perfect exit.

"You should not tease him like that, sweetheart" Gwen said. "You know he can't stand to leave you out of his sight."

"Yes, he treats me as if I was an invalid" Arthur said angrily. "Come to think of it, everyone does. A child or what am I to you all?"

"Precious" she said earnestly. "Very precious." She pushed him a bit. "But if your Royal Highness feels a bit overprotected right now, do what the warlock prescribed. Go and kill a few hapless rabbits. We'll manage perfectly well without you, thank you very much!"

Most haughtily she wafted away, leaving her husband stranded and speechless. Married life sometimes was much more complicated than he had thought.

Grumpily mumbling to himself Arthur packed his gear and stuff some hours later. Really, he was surrounded by human mimosas. Leon had been that huffed when he had heard that he wasn't invited to the hunt, that Arthur hadn't even asked him to help with the preparations. That Merlin would be miraculously unavailable had been clear from the start.

The Prince sighed, thinking of the times when each and everyone had been at his beck and call. Naturally, there was something to it, having friends and a spouse who were his equals, who cared for him, not for His Highness the Crown Prince, but nevertheless, sometimes being in command had its advantages, too.

What was it with people ever since he had come back from Blackrock Castle? When they looked at Arthur Pendragon, all they could see was the helpless prisoner, someone who needed protection everywhere and from everything, someone fragile – someone weak!

It had to stop. He would not allow old Anwar of Llanfair to destroy his former prisoner's life from his grave. He would be master in his own house soon, no father, no council, no host to consider. No pussy-footing, no restricting gratitude, nothing but his freedom, finally. He was no child any more, and most certainly he wasn't weak!

Arthur looked down at his bag and found that he had ripped off two straps, one buckle as well as torn one corner of the seam. How on earth had that happened? He frowned angrily at the offensive item but then he shrugged casually. It would do for now and that was all that mattered.

Whistling softly he marched down to the yard where Antek's hunting party was already waiting. "About time, Sire" the young Count laughed. "I thought your gentle Lady might have kept you to herself."

Arthur felt his own spirits lift and his lips come to smile without his doing. Antek and his good mood. They were irresistible. They'd always be.

Many times during the following hours Arthur tried to launch into telling his host about his intentions of leaving but he couldn't bring himself to say it in the end. When they finally made camp for the rest of the night a few hours' ride away from Blanchefleur Manor, he still hadn't said anything.

They all turned in early, as they had planned to go for another stalk at dawn. Arthur tossed around sleeplessly, suddenly unsure whether leaving Blanchefleur really was such a great idea.

The road they crossed to get to the other side of the forest was the one that led south, and finally to Camelot. By sheer coincidence Arthur was the first to reach it and his blood froze. Pieces or armoury, weapons and clothing were scattered all over the place. He spotted the all too familiar red-golden banners even before he saw the first corpse.

With brutal clarity Arthur saw that he was looking at his father's escort. Or what was left of it. It took a while to realize it, though. His eyes saw it faster than his mind was willing to accept it. Dead. They were all dead, their blood covered the dust of the road. There was no doubt that their pack horses had been led away. Bodies and equipment had been stripped of everything valuable.

Scavengers. Bandits. A bunch of vultures had overwhelmed them. Had slain them like he and Antek had planned to slay some animals to fill the kitchen pots of Blanchefleur.

"Please no" Pendragon thought numbly. "Please, this can't have been the last time I saw him. Not like that. Not in anger. We can't have parted like that for good."

Dread and apprehension kept him on his horse, as if a refusal to see the body could change what had happened. The animal trotted on however, to the centre of the slaughterhouse scene, as if it hoped to find something of interest there. When one of the lifeless bundles in the dust moved and groaned amidst the rubble, Arthur was suddenly out of the saddle in the blink of an eye.

"Gaius" the Prince said as he recognized the old healer. "Dear Gods, what have those filthy pigs done to you?"

Gaius muttered something inaudible. Although it visibly pained him he didn't stop, He strained to make himself heard until Arthur bent down to him and pricked his ears, hoping to calm the wounded man by listening to him.

After a while Gaius lost consciousness, his head still resting in his Prince's hands. Arthur knew that the young Count of Llanfair and his men had closed up to him, that he was completely surrounded. He didn't look up. He knew too well what he would see.

"Why, Antek?" he asked quietly. "Why?"

For a moment Llanfair kept silent, as if he hadn't heard.

"For Blackrock'" he finally said. "Isn't it obvious? Without King Cendred's support I'll never rebuild it. Remember what I once told you, back in the forest, when I was busting my ass to save yours? Before you knocked me down and ran back into my crazy father's bloody claws, begging him to tear you apart and all for the sake of this other lunatic, murderous beast, King Uther?"

Indeed, Arthur did remember. All too well now, that it didn't matter any more. Now that things could no longer be changed. Now, when it was too late.

"Frankly, I give a damn for Camelot and her future. My priorities are clear. I want to keep my estate and its people save. And I want to keep the Llanfair rule as independent as possible from Cendred, Uther or any other predator, royal or otherwise."

With sudden, almost painful disgust Arthur recalled that Antek had clumsily laid his hand on the Prince's shoulder. "Forgive me, my friend, I know you still think the world of Uther, but it's you I care about. Come to think of it, my estate's chances are ten times better with you being King than with your father on the throne of Camelot."

"Apparently your chances for an enduring peace with Camelot weren't that important to you after all" Arthur stated bitterly.

"You're wrong. They were. You were not supposed to know that I had betrayed your father to King Cendred" Antek replied. "The plan was for you to hear about this attack much later, from me. I do not know why Cendred's men have been so foolish as to stage the attack that close to Blanchefleur. But if the old man had not been left behind to spill the beans, you and I would still be friends. To hell with both our fathers!"

The Prince just shook his head wearily and Antek sighed. "Now that it can't be helped any more I see no reason why your healer friend should die in this bloody mess for nothing. Please, pass your weapons to Sir Malcolm and get on your horse. Let's take Gaius to Merco as soon as possible, shall we?"

Llanfair urged his horse a bit closer to his counterpart. "Please, Arthur, be reasonable. Don't force me to have you trussed up, the way my father liked so much. With your family and friends still back in Blanchefleur, what options do you have?"

Suddenly Arthur was almost overcome with exhaustion, as if the disappointment had drained all strength from his body. He just nodded once more and tossed his blades to the waiting Llanfair knight. Nobody helped him when he lifted Gaius to his saddle before he mounted himself. But nobody hindered him either.

Silently they rode on as fast as Gaius' state would allow. Idiotically, Arthur found that he dreaded the return to Blanchefleur more than he had dreaded the return to Blackrock after he had given up his only chance of escape by knocking Antek from his horse. Back then he had thought he had to give himself up to save his father's life, now he would go to a hopeless situation his own naiveté and stupid stubbornness had brought about. And his foolishness would bring captivity not only to him but to others too. Guinivere, the child, Merlin...Merlin...the sorcerer who had destroyed Blackrock castle, who had laid waste to Antek's home...

"Merlin is next on your list, isn't he?" The Prince raised his head and looked into Llanfair's eyes. What he was hoping to find there not even he himself would have known. Compassion? Reassurance that all would be fine in the end? That this was just another nightmare?

Instead he found confirmation even before Antek began to speak. "There is no 'next', Arthur. Leon, his wife and your men are safely locked up and your friend Merlin has been taken the moment we left Blanchefleur yesterday. That was the reason I wanted to have you out of the way in the first place. I had planned to tell you that he had been called away by his Druid friends but since you know anyway..." He shrugged with somewhat forced indifference. "I'm sorry but I am not a mythical saviour of the world. I don't have Noah's Ark at my disposal. My boat is much smaller. Blackrock, the Llanfair rule, you, your wife and child – and it risks capsizing as it is. All the others can go to hell for all I care."

Antek spurred his horse and took the lead of their small group. For the rest of the way Arthur had no other chance to speak to him. Antek's men, the friendly hunting companions, had become very diligent guards and the young count took care that they were always between him and the Pendragon Prince.

As soon as the gates of Blanchefleur had been closed behind them Llanfair shouted some orders at his men and made haste to vanish inside the house. The Prince ignored his guards and carried Gaius to the infirmary where a horribly embarrassed Mercator took care of his old colleague.

"What's the news, Merco?"Arthur asked anxiously, half of his mind fretting about being here instead of running off to make sure that Guinivere and Thomas were indeed safe, the other half stuck with the desperate wish to get some answers. "Will he be all right?"

"I think he will be fine in a week or two" the Llanfair healer muttered. "Most of the blood wasn't his. He has a bad concussion, though. But his cranium seems to be intact and I dare say his overall condition justifies a certain degree of hope for a full recovery in time."

Arthur almost smiled, in spite of his misery. He had liked Merco's ponderous way of speaking from the very start of their acquaintance. The physician might look like an old, senile weasel but besides Gaius he was the wisest and kindest man Arthur had ever met in his life. But for his selfless help and support, the Prince had never survived the old Count's tender mercy.

"Thanks, Merco" Pendragon said, when the healer finally decided that they should make Gaius as comfortable as possible, to let him have some rest. "I'm indebted to you. Again."

For a moment Mercator watched the young Prince tending to the patient before he hesitatingly raised his gaze. "You haven't unlearnt much of what I taught you" he said. "I should have thought you'd have forgotten everything of your time in Blackrock as fast as you could. You Pendragons never had much luck in your dealings with the Llanfairs."

Arthur jumped right on the cue. "I'd never thought Antek would betray me like that. I still can't believe it."

"I wouldn't think that he actually betrayed you. As for your father, Antek never considered himself to be his liegeman any road. He gave his oath to King Cendred first and this oath he has kept. It wasn't easy for him to swear a mocked oath of allegiance to Camelot, but King Cendred thought he'd never have a better opportunity to plant a spy in Uther's closest circle, like a louse in a fur you might say."

"So you knew all the time what was afoot. You knew that Cendred and Antek were playing my sense of obligation and my friendship to get at my father's throat."

"Don't you tell me that there's still much love wasted between you and your father. We all heard you yelling at each other." Merco avoided Arthur's eyes but his face had an expression of stubborn defiance. "Antek went at great length to persuade Cendred to guarantee your safety. And frankly, that was all I cared for, too. You're not the only one who has a sense of obligation, you know? All of Llanfair is obliged to you for the horrible things the old Count has done for no fault of yours. But as for your father – King Cendred has more than one just cause against him."

"Merco, I..." Arthur began to say but the physician cut him short.

"And when all is said and done, Your Highness, Antek is my lord and liege, not you or Camelot. For more than twenty years your father had Lucius spying on our every move and I had considered him a close friend too. So don't you tell me Antek's methods are too harsh."

"What about Merlin? He's two years my junior. What has he to do with the 'just causes' Cendred may or may not have against King Uther? From where he stands it's all in the past and best forgotten."

"Arthur, are you really that naïve? Your sorcerer friend didn't exactly endear himself to me or the others when he let our home crumble to dust over our heads. Hundreds of us Llanfair men and women have lost all their earthly possessions when your little magician decided that the stronghold had to go, just like that. Cendred ordered our dissemination all over the Kingdom. Families were torn apart. Who knows whether we will ever see each other again, even if Antek should succeed in getting his liege back and rebuilding Blackrock."

"So Antek had him killed. I brought Merlin here, ordered him against his will and better judgement to come with me and now he's dead."

With a sigh Merco let go of the linnen and bandages he had been sorting to keep his hands and eyes busy and finally looked at Arthur. "You have a gift for torturing yourself. Haven't you got enemies enough to do that for you? Merlin himself told me once that you asked him to come with you, not ordered him. And second, he's not dead."

That made the Prince jump to attention. "Then what..."

"There were some people who offered Antek a King's ransom for some items the old Count left to his son, as long as the stuff would come to them with a sorcerer. A most powerful, young magician would suit them best, they said. At first Antek laughed but after a while, he yielded to their demands. He didn't much care for the man who had destroyed all he had ever had on this earth and he needed the money to rebuild Blackrock."

Money. Arthur couldn't believe it. Merlin had been sold like an animal in the market!

Merco looked at the Prince furtively and sighed again. "If you want to break my neck, go ahead. I couldn't say I'd blame you. I know you are fond of the boy. If it is any help to you, they made it abundantly clear to Antek that they need your sorcerer alive."

"As much as old Count Anwar needed me alive. Bloodied and dirtied and half crazy, but alive. That alive?"

Mercator winced at the shameful reminder. "I don't know, Arthur. And it's no use to ask Antek, he doesn't know either. They negotiated via intermediaries. Some foreigners. They came yesterday afternoon, took the sorcerer from our knights' hands and vanished. End of story."

"But didn't he fight back? What had your men done to him?"

"The foreigners just grabbed him and dragged him away. By which means I do not know. Maybe they have magic themselves. How on earth should I know how to subdue a magician? We never fought them, like your father did. For years on end the old Count tried to befriend the Druids, to win them as allies against Camelot, but they recoiled from him, all magicians did, as if he had some sort of plague."

"He had" Arthur said. "And that's the true reason Merlin destroyed Blackrock Castle. It wasn't a whim. Arenboarth himself told me that the stronghold itself had been infested by this unnatural magic machinations Anwar had conjured up. If you had stayed there the demonic power could have taken possession of you, all of you. Even today the Druids avoid going near the rubble and ruins, as if the plague were still there, embedded in the stones and in the dust. Ask Mirella if you do not believe me."

Mercator swallowed hard. He searched for something he could say to make this easier for the desperate young man in front of him but the choice wasn't his. The guards had finally lost their patience and chose this exact moment to burst inside. "Time's up, Sire" Sir Malcolm said after a brief look at the now sleeping patient on the bed in the corner. "Looks as if old Merco could take it from here."

Briefly Arthur pondered to resist, to struggle when Malcolm grabbed his arm but then he just followed the knight. As Antek had so aptly put it, what other options did he have?