Chapter 7

As Arthur stood away from the other six, once again acutely aware that he was the topic of conversation, the others quickly decided, mainly for Arthur's sake, to tell him the truth about his real identity when he was back in the village, with those whom he knew. Arthur led them back towards the village, walking in silence a few steps ahead of them, and even though the exertion of the chase had passed, his heart was still pounding. The horrible feeling of being totally unsure of himself, which had been such a feature of his first couple of days in Esentor, had returned with a vengeance, and he felt as if his life were in the hands of the strange bunch of men who were following him. How did they know him? They had said they were his friends rather than family, but what did that mean? And his mind was suddenly once again besieged by the questions of his identity that he had managed to push to the back of his mind in the more recent weeks.

As Merlin and the knights followed behind with their eyes fixed on the back of the young man who was so well-known to them, and yet suddenly seemed so unfamiliar, Lancelot turned to Merlin:

"How do you think he's going to react when we tell him who he is?"

Merlin gave a little shrug. "Well he hasn't done anything predictable so far, so your guess is as good as mine."

Lancelot glanced over to Merlin, "He really doesn't know us at all, does he?"

Merlin looked worried as he replied, "No, and I haven't a clue what's happened to him…. or how he got here."

Lancelot turned his gaze back on Arthur, "Maybe we'll get some more clues as we talk to him."

"Maybe, but I don't hold out much hope if what Edric says about his memory is correct."

Leon chipped in on their conversation: "We can't take him back to Camelot like this. People will think he's lost his mind."

Merlin exclaimed, "He has lost his mind! – and somehow we've got to help him find it again!"

As they entered the village, the family were all standing by the door of the house, anxiously waiting for Arthur's return. Kay had been filled in by his parents, when he arrived breathless back at the house, on what had happened when the strangers had turned up, but Kay's anxiety for Arthur had been only reduced rather than eradicated by what they had to tell him. However, as soon as Tilly saw Arthur, she did what she always tended to do – she ran towards him, not particularly worried about the sight of the strangers behind him, as Arthur himself seemed to be ignoring their presence. And Arthur, as he was in the habit of doing, bent down and lifted her up into his arms, hardly breaking stride as he did so. Behind him, the knights and Merlin all looked at each other with raised eyebrows, and exchanged amused smiles at a side of Arthur that they had never seen before. Arthur held her securely in his arms, whilst she – as she usually did - put her arms around his neck, and wrapped her legs around his waist, and she looked over his left shoulder in fascination at those who were following him. And when they grinned at her, any slight hesitation about the men immediately evaporated in her mind. She decided she liked the look of them and beamed back at them, as she proudly announced, "This is my new brother William. Sometimes he pretends he's a horse, and I ride round on his back."

Gwaine just shook his head and announced under his breath to no one in particular: "This just gets better and better!"

~~~~~ O ~~~~~

The small house was crowded with eleven people squeezed into it. The party from Camelot were all standing around the walls, and they watched Arthur closely and with curiosity. It was a strange feeling, seeing the person they knew so well, still with his usual mannerisms but relating to these strangers (and they to him) in a way that seemed so out of place – with a familiarity that seemed so odd, given his true identity. There was the way that Edric laid his hand on Arthur's shoulder and the way that Helma fussed over his hand that had been hurt by the force with which it had made contact with Elyan's face, the silent looks that passed between Arthur and the other young man, and the way that Arthur, almost absent-mindedly, stroked the top of the young girl's head with affection. And familiarity was a good word for it, because family is exactly what they had become to the Prince of Camelot.

Kay stood in a corner, somewhat nervous at the presence of the strangers, and Helma went round, pouring water into the plain wooden cups that Edric had given them (although he had had to quickly run to Thomas' house to get some extra cups, as their own house had five and no more). Arthur sat on a chair by the table in the middle of the room, apprehensive and avoiding eye contact with any of the men who claimed to know him. When Helma finished serving the men, she put the jug down, picked up Tilly, and sat on one of the other chairs at the table, across from Arthur, with Tilly on her lap. Edric went to stand near Arthur and, once again, laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. As everyone in the room became still, Arthur was once again very aware that every eye was on him, waiting for him, and after a pause, he finally looked up, but avoided holding any of their gazes for more than a moment. And then he spoke.

"You shouted out Arthur in the field. I take it that's my name?

Lancelot acted as their spokesman: "Yes…" - and he paused before continuing - "….. part of it."

Arthur glanced up at him: "And the other part?"

Lancelot paused again and looked round at the others before turning back to Arthur and answering him: "Pendragon."

The effect on the family was instantaneous. Kay had chosen the wrong moment to take a mouthful of water, and he suddenly spluttered and started choking noisily on it. Helma gasped and raised a hand to her mouth, whilst Edric – not a man known for swearing – uttered a quiet expletive under his breath, and looked at his wife, dumbfounded. Tilly and Arthur were the only ones in the room who didn't understand the significance of that word, and both had similar expressions of bewilderment on their faces as they looked around at the others.

Arthur looked from Helma to Edric: "I don't know what that means."

Edric drew in another deep breath and, speaking gently to Arthur, answered his question: "It means – Arthur – that you are royalty."

Arthur looked down and his brow furrowed, as if he was in deep concentration, trying to search for some glimmer of recollection - but he found none. He shook his head slightly before looking up, and when he did, there was sadness in his eyes as he said to Lancelot, "You could have told me that I was anyone on this earth, and I wouldn't know if what you said was true or not."

"Believe me, sire, it is true."

The word sire sounded strange in Arthur's ears, and his sense of bewilderment had hardly diminished with the explanation. Lancelot continued, speaking gently and kindly to his prince: "We areyour friends, but also more than that," and as he began to introduce the others, indicating them as he spoke, each in turn smiled at Arthur and nodded as they were presented. "This is Merlin - he is your man-servant, and no truer or more loyal servant has anyone ever had. The rest of us are your knights, sworn to protect you." At this piece of information, Kay looked in amazement at them all – the knights of Camelot had a reputation that went far and wide.

"These are Leon and Percival, then there's Gwaine and Elyan, and I am Lancelot."

Arthur then asked the question that was uppermost in his mind: "What happened to me – how did I get here like this?"

It was Merlin who answered this time. "We don't know, sire – one moment you were in Camelot, and then you were gone, with no explanation of what had happened or where you'd gone. You don't remember anything?"

"No, nothing."

Arthur lowered his gaze, his brow furrowing again, as he tried to come to terms with what he'd been told. He then suddenly looked up, as if he had just torn himself away from his train of thought. "And my family?"

Lancelot answered, "Your father is Uther Pendragon, the king of Camelot and its surrounding territories."

Arthur looked at Edric and Helma in turn, "He was the one you said was a tyrant, wasn't he?"

The couple shifted their positions, clearly feeling deeply uncomfortable, and Arthur was very aware of an awkward silence in the room, with no one feeling able to contradict what had just been said.

"My lord, we didn't mean any…" Arthur winced slightly, pained at Helma's use of the strange form of address, which only seemed to drive an unwelcome wedge between them, and he interrupted her before she could go any further, "Please don't call me that – and it really doesn't matter."

But Edric still felt the need to carry on where his wife had left off, "Arthur, forgive us for any offence we've caused – none was intended."

"There is nothing to forgive - it seems you were only speaking the truth." And not wanting to cause Edric and Helma any more discomfort, and he looked around again at the knights. "And my mother?" And he couldn't help glancing over at Helma as he asked it. There was another awkward pause.

Leon, as the one who had lived all his life in Camelot, and knew more than all the others about Arthur as he had been growing up, answered the question with gentleness in his voice: "She died in childbirth when you were born."

Learning as if for the first time the news that had, although he didn't know it at that moment, brought him sadness throughout his entire life was like a stab to his heart. Helma looked at Arthur, feeling something of his pain, and their eyes met briefly before he quickly looked down at the floor. There was a brief pause and he then looked up at Leon again. "What of brothers and sisters?"

Merlin, having seen Arthur's response to all he'd already been told, had a pretty good idea of how the next piece of information would affect him: "You have no brothers. You are Uther's only son, and crown prince of Camelot and heir to the throne."

And Merlin wasn't wrong. Arthur drew in a deep breath, immediately scared of the weight of responsibility that had just been laid upon his shoulders. How was he meant to fulfil a role that he didn't have the first clue about – and that he didn't want? He broke away from the troubling thoughts, glanced at Tilly and then back at the party from Camelot, and when he spoke, there was a hopeful tone in his voice. "And sisters?"

Arthur stared at them with a questioning expression on his face when yet another awkward silence fell on the room in response to his question.

It was Merlin who eventually answered. "You have a half sister, but she is no longer in Camelot."

It wasn't difficult for Arthur, however, to tell from their faces that they were still keeping something from him. "What are you not telling me?"

There was another pause before Gwaine broke the silence. "She's a witch, she's tried to kill you and she wants you dead so that she can take the throne."

The sharp intakes of breath of all the others from Camelot was matched by the looks of exasperation and reproach that they all gave Gwaine, as they shook their heads in disbelief at what he'd just said.

Gwaine, however, was quick to defend himself: "What?! He asked us a question and I'm only answering it. He's got to know sometime, and it may as well be now!"

Another short silence followed, after which Arthur looked around at them all and said with a note of disbelief in his voice: "So, my father is a tyrant, my mother is dead, my sister wants to kill me, and that is the home that you've come to take me back to?"

There was another awkward pause before Merlin finally piped up with a cheerier tone to his voice, "It's really not as bad as it sounds!"

As Arthur looked down at the floor and shook his head again, Leon leant over to Merlin and whispered with a wry smile on his face, "So this probably isn't the time to mention that he had a step-mother who was a troll?"

"Not now, no…."

Edric's heart once again went out to the young man sitting in his house who had yet again been thrown into turmoil – not this time by not knowing his identity, but by having it suddenly thrust upon him. And it was an identity that carried with it not only a crushing weight of responsibility but also an existence that sounded to Arthur both harsh and unwelcoming. And Edric sensed the need to lighten the mood. "Well Arthur, at least you being royalty explains one thing…," and he cast a pointed but good natured glance over to Kay before continuing with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face: "….why you couldn't do anything useful when you arrived!"

When the laughter – which even Arthur had been able to join in with – died down, Kay finally plucked up the courage to speak. "And I guess it also explains why you can fight."

Lancelot and Gwaine suddenly looked up and then looked at each other – they had both had the same idea.

~~~~~ O ~~~~~

Once everyone was outside, Lancelot made his way back over to the horses. Whilst they were waiting for him to return, Kay whispered anxiously to his father who was standing next to him, "What should I do? How am I meant to treat him now?" Edric may not have been an educated man, but his years had brought him a wisdom that could not be learned from books. He had the rare gift of not only understanding people in all their complexity – but also of knowing how to handle them with kindness and respect. He had seen the haunted look return to Arthur's eyes when he was presented without warning or preparation with his new and daunting identity, which also served as a stark reminder that he didn't belong to the family of which he'd become a part. Edric glanced sideways at his son: "He may be a prince, but I doubt very much as if he feels like one yet. He's been plunged suddenly into a world that's totally alien to him, and I think the best thing that we can do is to continue to treat him exactly as we were doing before. I don't think he'll want us to do anything else. We're still the only ones he really knows and the only ones he feels comfortable with. To draw back and distance ourselves from him will only make it harder for him. Forget his title, Kay – you're still the one he knows better than any of us and the person he's closest to, and he's still the same person that he was this morning. And I don't think that's going to change in a hurry unless everything suddenly comes back to him." Kay nodded, but any further conversation was forgotten as Lancelot returned with two swords, still sheathed, in his hands.

Arthur was standing on his own in the clear space at the front of the house, and by this time some of the other villagers were also standing around the edge of the open ground, curious about what was going on between William and the visitors. Gwaine stood off to one side, leaning on the hilt of a sword, the tip of which was resting on the ground. Lancelot walked over to Arthur and held the sheath that was in his right hand towards Arthur, with the hilt of the sword towards him. Arthur took hold of the sword and pulled it out, looking at it as if it were something completely foreign to him. Lancelot tossed the empty sheath away to one side, and then pulled out the sword from the other sheath, discarding that as well. Arthur stood with the sword in his hand and glanced round at all the others who were looking expectantly at him. And as he continued to glance around, without realising what he was doing, he swirled the sword around in his hand as was his custom when he was preparing to fight. The knights and Merlin exchanged knowing smiles, and Arthur caught their expressions and stared at them all. "What?"

But instead of replying and without warning, Lancelot raised his sword and aimed a blow at Arthur. Arthur's sword instantly and instinctively flew up and blocked it, leaving Arthur staring in surprise at the sword and his hand that was holding it, but when he looked up again, Lancelot smiled another knowing smile and aimed a couple more blows, which were again effortlessly parried by Arthur. That was the cue for Lancelot to start a full blown attack, and the two of them began to fight with immense speed and skill. Kay and Edric looked on in amazement, and Kay in particular was utterly transfixed, never having seen anyone wield swords in that way before. Without taking his eyes of the action, Kay said in amazement to his father, "No wonder he could handle a plough!"

By this time, almost all the village had turned out, and Merlin and the others exchanged broad smiles. Gwaine then went over to join Lancelot, and soon Arthur was parrying both their blows, again seemingly effortlessly, much to Kay's wonder – and delight. In a sudden and swift move, Arthur knocked Lancelot's sword from his hands, and without warning landed a heavy body blow on Gwaine, causing him to lose his footing and fall, and Arthur immediately found himself standing over him with the point of his sword on Gwaine's chest. The knight was grinning, however, and put his hands out to the side to indicate defeat, and he added jokingly, "I'm just glad you didn't repeat the blow you gave me earlier!"

The others from Camelot were grinning as well, and Elyan summed up what they were all thinking, "Well, his hands haven't forgotten much, even if his mind has!" But Merlin's smile suddenly faded as he looked over at Arthur again, who had lifted the weapon from Gwaine's chest, but was standing staring down at his sword, deeply disturbed, filled with a sudden horror at what he may have done in his unknown past. The knights also began to catch Arthur's expression and their smiles also faded. Arthur abruptly looked up and asked them sharply and with some force, "And have I killed men with my sword?"

They looked back at him uneasily and none of them replied. So Arthur continued, "How many?" Again there was silence. "Five, ten, twenty?... or so many that you have lost count!" And as the silence persisted, another thought came to him. "And what did I do that made Odin send out men to hunt me down?" but this time when he didn't get an answer, he bellowed at them, "Answer me!" - and in that moment they saw a flash of the old Arthur. Leon, as the only one to have witnessed the duel between Arthur and Odin's son, finally answered him. "You killed his son."

Arthur looked down at the sword again with disdain and, after a final glance around at them all, he threw the sword to the ground and walked off.

Edric sensed his son hesitating. "Go to him, Kay." And Kay overcame his reticence and started to run after Arthur. But Merlin - with a look of deep concern on his face - also made a move to follow his friend, as he'd always done in the past when his prince needed him. Helma was by his side, however, and he suddenly felt a gentle but a restraining hand resting on his arm.

Helma spoke quietly, looking at Merlin as she did. "Leave him be."

And as Kay caught up with Arthur and they walked away from the village side by side, Helma continued, "I can see in your face that you care for him and I'm sure you are a good friend to Arthur, but for now you are a stranger to him, and Kay is the only friend he has. Let them be together for the moment." And with that, Helma walked quietly away from Merlin as Gwaine and the other knights came over to stand with him, and together they all watched as Arthur disappeared from their view. Gwaine was the one to break the silence: "Well, that went well….."