Chapter 10: In Which Winter Ends And Merlin Is Difficult (Again)
King wasn't at all sure he had done the right thing. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. "Let's take the kids to the festival," Diane had said. "The Captain and Elizabeth really need a break," she had added, her beautiful eyes shining as she smiled that impossible smile. And he had of course agreed; he always did. It was like a disease.
That had been a few days ago. Hawk Mama had been camped out near Camelot for a while now so that Arthur Pendragon could persuade Merlin to turn Ban at least back into the man he was meant to be. The kid was suffering beyond belief and he was expecting his own child after all; how is Elaine going to cope if he doesn't change back? Their geographic position had its advantages of course: the citizens of Camelot were forever grateful to the Sins for the liberation of their great city and the prospect of seeing Zeldris the Executioner in miniature form was a serious draw for the punters, though the poor boy hid himself away a lot of the time. Can't say I blame him, it's got to be humiliating. So the bar had never been more busy and Arthur kept Merlin occupied, a serious bonus even if he had not yet made an impression on her conscience. But King was still uneasy. He'd rather have stayed in the north near Elaine.
And now the day had arrived; the day when he and Diane would take a mischievous witch, a tiny human, a not-quite-there doll and two somewhat loathed demons to Camelot's legendary festival to mark the end of winter. King had thought he had more time. The festival did not begin until five days after the first snowdrops appeared and it had been so unseasonably cold he had thought they would have another two weeks at least. Perhaps he could engineer a reason for Hawk Mama to move before he had to make good on his promise. But no: despite the cold weather the pretty white flowers had pushed their way above the frozen ground, and their human neighbours had scurried like ants to get the festival ready.
And there was no doubting how excited their charges were. "Woop!" Estarossa yelled at the top of his voice when Meliodas cheerfully excused his brother from training over breakfast. Ban's eyes grew to the size of saucers as Zeldris held his hand eagerly (the way the small demon had watched over Ban since Elaine's visit and the incident was almost endearing). Even Gowther looked mildly interested and started to make notes in the journal he had taken to carrying around. So far so good. But Merlin was smiling and although it was a smile that conveyed satisfaction it was not a happy expression which lit up her face. Evil, King thought, evil and calculating. This is not going to be fun. We'll be lucky to get back alive.
"Okay team, let's get going," Diane said with a signature smile as she stood up from the table, all of the children following suit. Although Merlin was no longer making the pills, Diane had enough supply to be human-sized for the day. King watched Meliodas closely through narrowed eyes and he swore he could see the Captain visibly slump, his shoulders dropping slightly as he rubbed the back of his head. This caused a momentary flash of resentment, but King did his best to push his temper into his boots. The Captain had not had a day off since, well, all this started and he definitely deserved a reprieve; Elizabeth had mentioned, her lips quivering with excitement, that the demon planned to take her flying somewhere. King gently moved his own resplendent gold and silver wings as he hovered above the Boar Hat's cobbled floor. He could understand: she must miss the power of flight.
"Don't hurry back," Meliodas called as the party made their way out of the door, Ban and Zeldris running ahead. King's annoyance rose once more in his chest at this blatant crowing, but he was distracted by Diane who grabbed his hand as he sank to the floor and pulled him along into a brisk trot.
"You'll love it! There's rides and games and stalls and loads of food. Elizabeth told me all about it," Zeldris gushed with excitement as he ran alongside Ban, the smaller boy grinning from ear to ear. "I'll help you win the games if you like," the demon added proudly.
"If they let you play that is," Merlin said slyly. "The people of Camelot might not take too kindly to their persecutor - they might even try and kill you."
At this Zeldris's eager pace stuttered and he bit his lip, Ban looking up at him with palpable concern. Even Estarossa looked worried, his eyes narrowing to slits.
"Diane, if it's all right with you I think I'll head back," Zeldris said quietly. "I'll only… get in the way."
"Yeah, me too," Estarossa agreed and Zeldris caught his eyes gratefully.
"Merlin!" Diane hissed sharply and King found his eyebrows raising in surprise. He had never heard her sound so cross before. "Stop it, and stop it now. Any nonsense out of you today and you will find yourself in big trouble. I mean it. The woman who raised me knew a thing or two about making you feel like crap - don't think I won't use those tricks on you if I have to.
"She's talking nonsense, Zeldris," Diane said reassuringly. "Meliodas had a word with Arthur personally and he's promised he's issued orders to everyone in Camelot to treat you as a child, as if nothing has happened. We all know you're sorry and that you didn't have much choice," she said quietly as she ruffled the small demon's hair. "And you'll be fine too Estarossa, same orders issued," Diane confirmed as she looked over towards the elder boy.
"Come on. Ban's not going to have nearly as much fun without you," Diane said as she knelt down beside Zeldris. "And if anyone has a problem they'll have to answer to me. And believe me they really won't want to do that. Not today." King looked at Diane sharply. She was fairly even tempered of course, and did not enjoy fighting, but he could tell her patience was fraying, as was his own. Being around five children was apparently enough to drive anyone to the edge of insanity.
The group walked along in silence, Merlin still smirking, the others noticeably subdued and Gowther with his nose in a book. How he did that without bumping into things and falling over King had no idea. It was some skill anyway. As King surveyed the party, he felt the dread course through his veins: that Merlin was clearly in a mischievous mood did not bode well for a harmonious day. He was on the point of calling the whole thing off when Diane laced her fingers through his, and he allowed his feet to keep on walking.
The festival was only a half mile or so away from The Boar Hat but it took a lot longer to get there than it should have done. Ban, who King was used to having to float next to in order to keep up with, was excessively slow: the pace they were forced to travel at felt like striding through treacle. It was alright when the boy was running, and they made a game of it at first, seeing how quickly the child could reach the next tree or bush, but he couldn't keep that up for too long. In the end Diane, more than fed up with Merlin's whining, hoisted Ban on her shoulders and carried him much of the way, the others trailing behind her. King took to floating on Chastefoil then: no point in walking if they couldn't hold hands.
As they reached the edge of the festivities, the atmosphere noticeably changed, the twinge of excitement and merriment carried forth on the air stirring the blood. Even King felt it, and from the way the children were acting they certainly did: all of them tilted their heads into the air, cautiously sussing out the new sensations. The distant sound of music and playful screaming floated in the slight breeze - no doubt from Camelot's notorious rides, designed by Merlin in her days as an actual-adult - and the smell of baking, sugar and grease tickled their nostrils. Ban started squeaking excitedly, bouncing up and down on Diane's shoulders as the giantess laughed, running over the last few yards to crest the slight hill. King once again caught himself admiring his fiancée's significant strength: although small Ban was pretty heavy, yet she ran as if he was nothing more than a feather. Why she gave him the time of day, let alone agreeing to marry him, King had no idea.
A large red and white striped tent surrounded by smaller stalls stood proud in the middle of the field, hoards of people clustered around sampling the wares of the festival. To his surprise, King sensed Estarossa edging slightly towards him, the gesture of trust catching him completely off guard. With a squeak, Ban scrambled off Diane's shoulders and grasped Zeldris's hand, pulling the reluctant demon closer towards the revelry, Gowther and Merlin trotting behind. King hesitated, then looked up at Diane who smiled reassuringly as she pulled him along after the children as they descended the hill.
"It's Merlin!" several humans called cheerfully as the party approached and King suddenly understood why the witch had been so keen to come. Of course. She was worshiped in this fair kingdom, not unreasonably King reflected, at least not if you were to consider her historic behaviour. She's going to be an absolute nightmare. Why did I agree to this? Why oh why oh why?
Merlin smiled beatifically at Camelot's subjects, waving regally with one hand as they made their way through the crowds. King flinched: despite Arthur's orders the looks coming their way were not all of the welcoming variety. There were several bulky humans wearing dark, practically murderous expressions who King was sure were following them around. A gaggle of mercenaries perhaps, or maybe some unfortunate citizens who had lost loved ones in the war and would defy their king's orders to achieve their revenge. Without meaning to, King edged a little closer to Estarossa as they continued on their way. He had been impressed with the elder demon of late; the dedication showed to his training, the responsibility he was finally beginning to display marked him out as someone who could lead well if he wished to, and he had shown himself capable of making effective decisions. Still, Merlin's presence seemed to be keeping the thugs at a respectable distance for now at least, and of course he had Chastefoil at his disposal if these brutes wanted to try anything.
"We need to go on this," Merlin commanded as they pulled up to a ride where a mechanical dragon on wheels wizzed round a metal track, a bunch of screaming humans sitting inside the red and green beast. "I call it a rollercoaster," Merlin explained proudly as another dragon zipped past, the shouts coming from within the carriages sounding like a short bark as the car sped by. King looked at the twisting, twirling beast as it looped the loop and turned green; the contraption looked scary and decidedly unsafe.
"D-Diane?" King looked over at the smiling girl and his stomach dropped to see her bright eyes watching the dragons in awe.
"King! It looks great. Come on let's go!" The seven of them made their way to the back of the long queue of humans, all pointing excitedly or staring up at the cars with open mouths. King was relieved to see so many people in front of them; at least he would have some time to prepare himself for the coming ordeal. But no, it was not to be. Before he knew what was happening King felt the thunder of applause boom through the air as the excited crowd spied Merlin, who practically curtsied. The crowd pulled them forward, propelling them to the front of the queue and, to his horror, King realised they were standing right at the front. They would be going on next.
"Sorry, this one be too young," the gnarly old man running the ride said with some regret as he looked at Ban, who was holding Diane's hand. "Gotta be tall enough for the bar to sit in your lap, see?"
"That's okay," Zeldris said kindly as Ban's lower lip began to wobble. "I'll stay with you, Ban. We'll have fun watching. You others go on." Diane looked down at the small demon and flashed him a huge smile.
"That was a really nice thing to do, I'm proud of you. I'll stay and keep an eye on you," Diane said as she ruffled Ban's hair, the small boy smiling back as Zeldris took his free hand. "You go on King. I'm so jealous!" The last of her words came out with a slight squeal and King opened his mouth to protest, but before he could speak Merlin had pushed him into the car and the man had strapped him in. Estarossa and Gowther took seats behind and the car slowly, oh so painfully slowly, started to follow the track upwards towards the pale blue sky. King felt his heart racing in anticipation as they neared the top of the hill, knowing that what was to come was not going to be good. I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to…
"Aaarrrggg!" King yelled as the dragon sped down the track, careening at speed towards the ground as Merlin shrieked with excitement next to him. King could hear Estarossa whooping in the seat behind him; he could see nothing at this point. His eyes were squeezed shut. He felt the dragon lurch, along with his stomach, as the car began to spin around, looping into the sky and then crashing back down before twisting sharply to the left. Then it all stopped and King opened his eyes in relief, only to see that the car was climbing up yet another hill, this one even bigger than the last. Not caring what he looked like anymore, King summoned Chastefoil and clung to the pillow for dear life as the car sped along the track at impossible speed. It didn't stop the juddering, or the terrifying screech of the car's wheels on the tracks but it did make him feel better.
When the ride finally came to a stop, King stepped out gingerly, more than a little surprised to find that his legs still actually worked. The kids all hopped out, their faces shining with excitement. Estarossa looked as if he might faint with the joy; a weird sight to see on the face of the former Commandment of Love. Merlin's amber eyes were shining and Gowther was writing furiously in his journal. As King made a few tentative steps, his knees gave way and he collapsed into Chastefoil, floating the rest of the way towards Diane, doing his best to hold onto the contents of his stomach. In that moment, he wished he had forgone Escanor's breakfast.
"Are you alright, King?" Diane asked gently as he made his way to her. Although he did not know it, his face was a ghastly green colour, and he was sweating slightly, a weird sight to behold as Faeries didn't really perspire.
"I want to go on again!" Estarossa yelled gleefully. "Come on Merlin, I'll race you!" King looked at the boy horrified. He did not want to disappoint him (he'd been behaving so well of late) but he could not put himself through that torture again.
"No you don't. That's not even the best ride here. That is," Merlin said proudly as she pointed towards a tall ride which rose like a tower into the sky. Carriages slowly rose along its sides, resting for a moment at the top of the edifice before plunging back to the ground. Estarossa's eyes widened and Gowther stopped writing to examine the contraption more closely, his lips slightly parted.
"I'll take you all on," Diane said with a grin. "King, can you watch Ban and Zeldris?" King looked at Diane with as much gratitude as he could muster in his state of not-quite-feeling-right and she gave him a slight squeeze on the shoulder before setting off with the older children, who were running and jumping with unrestrained enthusiasm.
"Come on Ban, let's try out the games. Elizabeth said they're really fun. And they're on the ground," Zeldris said kindly to King as he started walking towards a wooden stall, pulling Ban along with him. King stared at the demon as he set off at a slowish pace, deliberately making sure that Ban could keep up. Maybe looking after the two of them would be fine after all. They were certainly both being reasonable enough.
Indeed, the next hour or so passed with relative ease. King's stomach returned to normal as Zeldris helped Ban try all the games they came across, guiding his hand to help him hook a duck (though King could have done without lugging round the massive teddy bear the boy won as a prize). Zeldris made the citizens of Camelot sit up and take notice when he picked up a massive hammer with no sign of difficulty and, with a fluid grace that was a sight to behold, smashed it down into a pressure pad, causing a tinkling bell to ring. This earned the boys yet another teddy bear, and King had to give up his seat on Chastefoil so that he could use it to cart the toys around.
It was when they made their way into the part of the fair that sold food that the trouble began. Meliodas had given King plenty of cash, and said to treat the kids to whatever they wanted, within reason. So when King caught Zeldris and Ban staring in awe as a lady dipped a stick into a spinning metal drum only to pull a ball of pink fluff out of it, he decided to let them try whatever it was. Both boys looked incredulously at the spun sugar in front of them, before attacking it with unbridled enthusiasm. King watched in amazement as the candy floss disappeared in a mere matter of seconds, wondering how on earth the pair of them were able to eat quite so quickly.
After that Ban was unstoppable. After a few nervous glances at King and some unintelligible chittering, it soon became clear he wanted to try whatever was for sale. He ate his way through anything and everything, from hot dogs to donuts, burgers to ice cream. The ice cream was a particular favourite; neither of the boys seemed to have tried it before and the expressions on their faces when they found it was cold made King chuckle in spite of himself. But everything was enormous for some reason. The ice creams for instance came in massive cones with three different flavours, the confection finished off with whipped cream, strawberry sauce and a chocolate flake, and before King knew where he was Ban was looking decidedly peakey.
"We should go and find the others now," Zeldris said gently as he took Ban's hand and, very slowly, started to lead him back to the games. But Ban could not make it. King watched in absolute horror as the boy started to choke, then gag and then, there was only one word for it, hurl the contents of his stomach all over the grass, splattering his clothes and Zeldris in copious amounts of vomit. Ban was so sick he couldn't speak, just retching and retching until his stomach was completely empty. Zeldris, despite the indignity of being covered in sick, patted Ban gently on the back and spoke to him soothingly until the vomiting stopped, hugging the boy as the tiny human burst into tears.
"You're a disgrace," a snarky voice floated towards them on the wind and King whipped round, not at all surprised to see Merlin looking down at the pair of boys, her face glowing with triumph. "Absolutely disgusting!" At this, Ban cried even harder and he looked up with palpable fear at Diane as she ran lightly towards them, her feet carrying her like the wind across the grass, Estarossa and Gowther following behind.
"You… selfish shit!" Zeldris growled as he rounded on Merlin and King watched in amazement. He had been about to reprimand his former colleague himself, or to try to, although he would have chosen slightly different words of course.
"How dare you speak to Ban like that!" Zeldris yelled as he glared at Merlin with coal black eyes as he continued to cling to the boy. "You have no idea what he's been through, or you do and you don't care. Either way you have no right to talk to him like that! He was abused. He cries in his sleep, and flinches if you get too close to him too quickly even though no one here would dream of hurting him. And why? Because no one helped him. No one fed him and you wonder why he doesn't know how to control himself properly now he has access to food? It's not his fault! You're nothing but a bully! Now, you clean him up and get him back to The Boar Hat or I'll… I'll… I'll fight you!"
King could feel his head swimming with stress, his consciousness beginning to give way. There was no way Merlin would respond well to that; they were all in big trouble.
"Better do as the boy says young lady," the woman selling candy floss said as she looked down at Merlin with stern eyes, her hands curled in fists as they rested on her wide hips. "You wouldn't want his majesty to hear about this, I dare say." Merlin shot the woman a cold, calculating look, and then, unbelievably, a wind whipped around Ban and Zeldris, removing all traces of the vomit from them and their clothes. The ground also was suddenly free of the vile sick and King took a deep breath of the clean air as the smell dissipated. With a cold look at Zeldris which held nothing but the promise of violence, Merlin clicked her fingers and both boys instantly vanished.
"I just sent them back to The Boar Hat," Merlin grumbled as King turned to look at her, fear etched onto his face as he wondered if he could stay conscious for much longer. He could feel his grip on reality beginning to slip when Diane placed a hand on his shoulder, grounding him, the danger of passing out slipping away.
"Why don't you head back too, King? I'll stay with the others. I need to get them something to eat or they'll be unmanageable," Diane said quietly into King's ear. King nodded, and started on his way back when a shout from the candy floss woman stopped him in his tracks.
"Here. Take this for the two lads," the lady said as she handed King two bags of candy floss. "Tis not easy bringing up young 'uns, but you seem to be doin' a good job. Hey Derek, come 'ere," she yelled and King blanched as one of the thugs who had been following them earlier loomed into view, walking towards them with menacing steps.
"Sorry 'bout him," the lady added as she looked up at the tall, muscular man at her side. "This is me son, Derek. We lost our Bill in the war and truth to tell we were pretty cross with his majesty for pardoning those two," she said as she looked over at Estarossa, who was munching on a hot dog, a smear of tomato sauce decorating his nose. "But that boy of yours, he's alright under it all, that's plain to see. Just needed a good home is all. You take care of him. I'll let these know not to bother you no more," she added as she looked up at her son, who rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.
So King set off, floating towards The Boar Hat with two massive teddies and two bags of candy floss in tow. Maybe the old woman was right; perhaps things were going to be okay after all.