Chapter Nine – Valiant - Champion
Merlin sat on the stone steps leading up to the castle, overlooking the main square. Even though the light of day was waning, there was still a myriad of people milling about.
She had found her way out there in the hope that some fresh air would shine a light on the hopeless situation regarding Knight Valiant and his magically conjured snakes.
So far the air had unfortunately not been of much help at all. She almost wanted to give up completely. The only reason she hadn't, was that she refused to give the Knight the satisfaction of winning.
Couldn't allow Prince Arthur to die either. No matter how stubbornly he declined her offer to help him.
There had to be something that could save him!
Preferably a way that didn't include the young sorceress exposing her powers and earning an execution for her troubles.
"Hello, Merlin," a soft voice interrupted her increasingly depressive musings.
Gwen.
"Allright?" Merlin said absentmindedly as the other servant sat down on the cold steps beside her.
"Is it true what you said about Valiant using magic?" the other girl questioned carefully.
Merlin nodded miserably. There really wasn't anything more that needed to be added to the question. She had said all she could say about it already.
"What are you going to do?" the young maid asked worriedly.
"Why does everyone seem to think it's down to me to do something about it?" the young sorceress exclaimed in exasperation.
The dragon, Gaius, and now Gwen. Why couldn't they just sort it out themselves?!
"Because it is! Isn't it?" Gwen stated, wavering between decisiveness and uncertainty. "You have to show everyone that you were right and they were wrong."
"And how do I do that?" Merlin inquired without much hope of a good answer.
"I don't know," the other girl said with a sigh, deflating and falling silent.
The young sorceress cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes in thought as she caught sight of statue of a dog.
"That's it!" she exclaimed in excited relief, jumping to her feet and grinning with renewed hope.
"Where are you going?" Gwen asked, confused by the other girl's sudden change of attitude.
"Do you have a wheelbarrow?" Merlin asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
"I might have," Gwen said hesitantly. "Why?"
"I need to move that statue," was her reply, pointing at the statue in question.
Gwen stared at her as if she'd completely lost her mind.
Gaius' reaction wasn't much better when she wheeled the heavy block of stone through his chambers half an hour later.
"Where are you going with that?" he demanded to know.
"I'm going to let everyone see the snakes for themselves," she replied with a big grin.
The hope of a solution truly did wonders for one's state of mind. And the old physician could make his own conclusions about that, she was sure. She could certainly be cryptic as well, if the mood struck.
After a bit of a battle against the inconveniently sized doorframe, she finally dropped down on the bed to catch her breath for a moment. But it couldn't be helped. She was far too restless to relax, even if just for a minute.
She pulled the magic book out from under the loose floor board, and started flipping through the pages in search of the appropriate spell. As she had vaguely recalled when coming up with the plan, there was a spell in there to animate inanimate objects.
Bebay odothay arisan quickum.
Taking a deep breath, she tried out the sounds of the foreign words on her tongue.
At least the hardest part was over.
The hardest part was not over.
Merlin threw herself down on her bed in frustration after repeating the spell for what felt like the thousandth time.
The statue remained stubbornly lifeless.
The sorceress wished she had thought of the spell earlier. Time was running out, and she didn't seem to have made any progress on getting it to work.
If only there was more time. If only Arthur wouldn't be fighting Valiant first thing in the morning.
The door to Prince Arthur's chambers was open when the young girl got there.
"I thought I told you to get out of my sight," he said when he noticed her entering.
His voice was not as harsh than when she spoke to him earlier that night. Perhaps she stood a chance of talking some sense into him after all. It was worth a try.
"Don't fight Valiant in the tournament tomorrow," she pleaded, keeping her voice low and even. "He'll use the shield against you."
To her surprise, the Prince didn't get angry and accuse her of lying, as she had expected.
"I know," he sighed, almost as if he had already accepted his defeat.
It wasn't right.
"Then withdraw," Merlin insisted, wondering why he hadn't already done so. "You have to withdraw!"
"Don't you understand? I can't withdraw," he burst out in mounting agitation. "The people expect their prince to fight. How can I lead men into battle if they think I'm a coward?"
It was beginning to dawn on the girl that this was what Gaius had been referring to the other day when he said Prince Arthur had as many duties and responsibilities as her. If he didn't fight, he would lose the respect of the people. And one couldn't lead a country without a people that believed in them. But if he fought, he would die. Surely that was the worst option of the two?
"Valiant will kill you," she said shakely, but with unwavering conviction. "If you fight, you die."
"Then I die," Arthur replied decisively, pushing down any lingering inner turmoil he refused to admit to having.
"How can you go out there and fight like that?" the young girl questioned, unable to comprehend his motivations.
"Because I have to. Its my duty," the Prince declared with finality, and no further pleading on her part could change his mind.
Disheartened she fled his chambers, but with a renewed determination to handle the unwieldy spell.
There was no other options left. She had to make it work before sunrise.
By the time the sun's early rays found their way through the window and into her little room, the untrained sorceress had repeated the tricky spell so many times that she would be able to recite it in her sleep. Which was lucky, as she was more asleep than awake at that point.
The syllables she'd pronounced so carefully the night before, were slurred almost beyond recognition as she struggled against the welcoming embrace of sleep. Her eyes had long since lost their own fight against their increasingly heavy lids.
The sleepless night had rendered her awareness of her surroundings to such a low level that not even the entrance of the magic-persecuting King himself would have stopped her from repeating the vital spell one more time.
It took a loud bark from the newly animated dog to notify her to the long awaited success of her hard night's work.
The girl couldn't believe her eyes when she was shaken out of her stupor. There was a living, breathing dog in her bedroom."I did it!" she shouted in overwhelmed joy.
Even the animal's ungratefulness at being brought to life so abruptly couldn't put a damper on her cheerful mood.
She closed the door to her room firmly before the dog had a chance to follow her out. She told herself that it would have to be a problem for another time.
She had a prince to save!
Bounding down the few steps to Gaius' chambers, she almost ran into the old man himself in her haste.
"Arthur's fighting Valiant!" he informed her urgently, his forhead creased in worry.
His whole demeanor seemed to be questioning why she wasn't down there doing something about it already.
"I know, I'm on my way," she replied without stopping, taking advantage of the regained energy from her recent magical victory. "Oh, whatever you do, don't go into my room," she cautioned her uncle in a rush. "We'll deal with it later."
The door slammed behind her before the physician had a chance to respond to her rather vague warning.
When Merlin reached the tournament grounds, it was to the sight of Arthur being stupidly chivalrous – taking off his helmet and pulling down the chainmail that covered his head. Seemingly with no thought to how he was providing the snakes with perfect access to the most vulnerable spots on his now unprotected, royal neck.
The sorceress could barely restrain herself when Valiant knocked the Prince to the ground and stepped on his shield. Then just moments later, robbed him of his sword, leaving him completely defenseless against the other knight, even without counting the illegal shield tipping the scales in the other's favour.
The Prince clearly did not allow himself the shame of being defeated in such a way. Even with just his bare hands to protect himself, he managed to hold his own in the unfair fight.
With her heart pounding away in her throat, Merlin watched as Valiant pinned Arthur against the wall, his shield dangerously close to the Prince's unprotected skin.
If ever the cheating Knight had a perfect opportunity to strike with his secret weapon, that was it.
But the Prince was unwilling to let his life end that way. With a mighty push, he was free once again.
The sorceress didn't dare wait any longer. Every moment the fight went on was another chance for Valiant to end it for good.
"Bebay odothay arisan quickum," she whispered from the sidelines.
The snakes woke up as if the Knight had called upon them himself.
The crowd gave a collective gasp of astonishment and stood up in outrage, but Merlin only had eyes for the ongoing match.
It was not over yet.
"What are you doing," Valiant hissed at his disobedient pets, as if his sheer disbelif would make it so. "I didn't summon you!"
"And now they see you for what you really are," Prince Arthur stated seriously, slightly winded from essentially fighting a fully armed knight unarmed, and sounding less triumphant about the fact than Merlin would have expected.
The stands were in an uproar, screaming at the dishonourable Knight.
Valiant had pulled himself together and released a dark chuckle that sent chills down the sorceress' back. Somthing told her the man wasn't quite defeated yet.
"Kill him!" he demanded.
With a simple command, he took charge of his wayward snakes again.
Arthur backed up towards the stand where his father and the nobles were watching the events unfold. He was still weaponless and searching the ground for anything to defend himself aginst their sharp fangs with.
Merlin stretched her hand out in preparation of throwing one more spell, when suddenly, help came in the form of a sword from the Lady Morgana.
Arthur didn't waste time stopping to question where the weapon came from. It was a mere seconds from it was firmly in his strong grip until both remaining snakes had been decapitated with a single, well-aimed stroke. A moment later Valiant was disarmed and impaled on the Prince's sword.
"It looks like I'll be going to the feast after all," he said quietly to the dying man, then let him crumble to the ground, never to endanger the throne of Camelot and its people ever again.
The crowd erupted in cheers for their victorious Prince, and Merlin joined them just as excitedly, with a wide smile of relief.
Arthur didn't linger long in front of the crowd before departing, and the companionable clap he bestowed on her should on his way past almost felt like a thank you. Or, at the very least, forgiveness.
The Banquet Hall was filled with mingling courtiers and the servants seeing to their every need that evening.
"My honourable guests," King Uther announced when his son entered the room at long last. "I give you Prince Arthur, your champion."
"See," she aimed her comment at her guardian standing beside her as the court broke out in applause and Arthur gallantly offered his arm to the Lady Morgana. "I told you he gets all the girls and the glory."
Apparently, the Prince had managed to dress himself without Merlin's help, for once. Or perhaps – and more likely – he had found someone to replace her already. It shouldn't be too hard. The servants seemed to be unreasonably eager to work for him. The young girl couldn't understand it. The only explanation was that they hadn't spent any significant amount of time in his presence.
"And he owes it all to you," Gaius said kindly.
"No one knows that, though," she said with a wry smile.
"It's for the best," the old physician replied, trying to be comforting. "We wouldn't want Uther to catch wind of the truth."
Merlin grunted noncommittally, popping an appetizer from the lavish table into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.
"I bet you a mug of ale that that won't last long," the currently jobless servant changed the subject with a nod of her head towards where Arthur and the King's Ward was conversing amicably. "Any moment now, they'll start fighting again. Just wait and see."
The two of them reminded her strongly of their neighbour's twins back in Ealdor – always squabbling about one thing or another, hardly able to stay civil towards each other for more than a few minutes on end.
She kept watching them, curious whether she'd be proven right or wrong. She could tell the moment Arthur transformed from chivalrous knight to prattish prince by the expression on his face and Morgana's increasingly polite grimace of a smile.
Merlin wasn't the least bit surprised when the two of them parted ways barely a moment later.
"Told you," she said triumphantly, and received a fresh mug of ale from the physician.
At least she got something out of the whole thing.
Taking a sip of the brew, she quickly schooled her facial expression to hide the grimace that wanted to break out at the bitter taste. No need to advertise the fact that she didn't actually even likeit.
"Can you believe Morgana?"
Merlin hurriedly put down the mug when Prince Arthur sidled up to her. It wouldn't do to be caught drinking on the job. She might not be Arthur's personal servant anymore, but she was employed by the palace kitchens to serve at the banquet.
"She says she saved me," he continued, too busy looking for sympathy for the slight to his pride to notice what Merlin was doing. "Like I needed any help."
Apparently, the day's victory – the one she was personally responsible for – had gone to his head.
The girl didn't say anything. It was clear he didn't require any input. And it wasn't like she could argue his point without revealing her own part in it.
"I wanted to say," he started in a vastly different tone of voice, sounding more serious and sincere. "I made a mistake. It was unfair to sack you."
"No, don't worry about it," she assured him, surprised at his candid delivery of an actual apology, searching her mind for something to add and landing on the mug hiding behind her back. "Buy me a drink and we'll call it even."
"Uh, I can't be seen to be buying drinks for my servant" he said, firmly back in the familiar area of arrogance.
"Your servant?" she asked in delighted surprise, honing in on the one word and ignoring his superior ways. "You sacked me."
"Now I'm rehiring you," he stated simply, as if it was as easy as that.
Merlin couldn't hold back a snort of amusement, happy to have earned back his trust, even if he was being rude about it.
"My chambers are a complete mess," he started haughtily. "My clothes need washing. My armour needs repairing. My boots need cleaning. My dogs need exercising. My fireplace needs sweeping. My bed needs changing. And someone needs to muck out my stables."
Merlin gaped in disbelief, horrified as the list of chores went on and on. He couldn't be serious. It was going to take her a whole week to do all that!
Why did she want that job back again?
"Careful," he said with a smirk, pushing her jaw back in place. "You're going to catch flies."
Then he just left to strike up a riveting conversation – if the grand hand gestures were anything to go by – with the other knights.
She grabbed blindly behind her for the drink, then brought it to her mouth for a big gulp of the disgusting brew.
He was not going to ruin the celebration for her.
Merlin was decidedly not in a good mood when she showed up to serve the Prince breakfast the next morning, for the first time since regaining her position as is personal servant.
Firstly, she had been rudely awoken that morning by a slobbering tongue poking around in her ear, courtesy of the former dog statue that she hadn't even noticed when she poured herself into bed the night before.
Secondly, she had quickly become aware of a pounding headache and a mouth so dry a bucket of water hadn't been able to restore its previous stores of saliva. This second reason for her bad day she blamed entirely on her fellow servants. For no discernible reason, they had quite suddenly started plying her with ale some time after she finished her first one, and kept doing it for the rest of the night. It had all been a bit unclear from that moment on.
But one thing was very clear – she would never touch another drop of the foul brew ever again.
After all that she ended up being late, and Arthur was already dressed and sitting at the table, impatiently waiting for his meal.
She could tell he was working up to a thorough lecture about not keeping royals waiting when she entered his chambers. That is, until he looked up and was greeted with the sight of her furrowed brow and squinting eyes, and subsequently broke into loud, rolling laughter at her expense.
"Shh, not so loud!" she moaned as his voice resonated in her poor head, quickly putting the tray of food down in front of him none too gently.
"That's what happens when you overindulge," he got out between bouts of laughter.
"You!" she exclaimed as it dawned on her. "You did this!"
"Well, you did ask for a drink," he sniggered.
"A drink!" she protested. "Not a whole barrel!"
Why had it been so important to save him again? If she'd simply let Valiant have it his way, she wouldn't be in such agony right then.
"I'm glad I took you back," the Prince said sincerely, surprising her by putting his hand over hers where it was still resting on the table. "If only for the entertainment value."
The young servant ripped her hand away away with a scowl and set to make the bed with her back turned on the man. If she kept looking at him, there was a big chance she'd act on her current fantasy of smashing the tomatoes from his silver plate and smearing them all over his smug face.
It was going to be a long day.
AN: Too sleepy to write anything here.
Next chapter should be up by: 15th of May (at the latest)
So, what did you think? Good or bad, I can take it!
