A. N. ("Arthur's Notes"): Our favorite night of all, Friday night, has arrived! A nice long chapter for you this time, with all the hijinks therein. Some sources: Leon is using the German-style of fencing (with English names, and probably altered to better suit one-and-a-half hand fighting). Songs included are by the Doors, Elton John, Elvis Presley, and Carlos Santana.
WARNINGS: Sexual content, violence, and strong language slightly amped up from what you'd expect from Merlin, but nothing serious. There will eventually in the series be a gay relationship, but otherwise no slash.
Previous Stories:
The Odd Couple: The Adventures of Sir Leon and Sir Gwaine (May Glenn), The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship (May Glenn)
…
FRIDAY KNIGHTS: THE UNQUIET CASTLE
Gwaine and Leon are starting to get the hang of running Camelot while Arthur is gone. How will the knights react when the castle itself begins to rebel against them? Meanwhile, Gwaine begins his quest to unite Leon and Lady Elaine in holy matrimony-or at least in a double-date.
…
"Alright, one more set? Long point….forward."
Thunk. Leon's sword struck the shield Merlin was holding square in the middle.
"Alright, Plough. Middle hew. Double."
Thunk thunk thunk, Leon's sword struck the shield at different angles.
Merlin peeked over the shield at Leon. "You ready?"
Leon wiped some sweat off his forehead and returned to center, holding the training sword in front of him. "Right."
Merlin took a deep breath and ducked behind the shield again. "Part, middle, over, fool, change, middle, under! Squinting-hew, overrun! Squinting-hew, change! Part, plough, under, over, middle, double! Front hew!—front, front!"
Leon let out a cry as he tried to correct midswing, but the rhythm was lost. He sheathed his sword.
"Well done!" Merlin said, lowering the shield.
"Thanks." He held the hilt out to Merlin. "Would you like to have a go?"
"No, no—I've got to muck out the horses after this."
"Alright, I think I've had enough today anyway."
Merlin nodded, and together they walked across the training field in the evening light toward the stables.
"Shall I tack up your horse? Friday night, out with the lads again?"
Leon nodded. "I'll take Lamrei, thanks."
They entered the stables in silence and as Merlin got the tack, Leon coaxed his courser to the front of her stall with a click of his tongue. He prided himself on having very well-trained horses. He rubbed her muzzle with a smile.
"Er—sorry, which one's Lamrei again?"
Leon laughed at Merlin's hopeless face. "This one, Merlin!" Leon said.
"Right, right." He did not appear convinced, but he started saddling the horse nonetheless. "Sorry, they just look so similar."
"What do?" Leon said, still grinning.
"Your horses. All nice, clean bay. The courser, the destrier, the palfrey—not that there's anything wrong with that," he added. "Very…tidy."
Leon's grin faded. "No—no, they're quite different if you look closely. Lamrei's got softer eyes, and she's got a snip that's lighter. The packhorse you can tell from miles away—the fetlocks are very distinctive." He realized he was rambling, and changed the subject. "Two horses, swiftest travelling, harnessed in a pair, and grazing ever in places distant from them."
"Er—the—barbarians?"
"No. Why don't you get the palfrey, and you can think about it over an ale."
"Oh, I've got the mucking up to do," Merlin said.
"But you already did it this morning."
"Yeah, well—if I get it done tonight, I won't have to do it tomorrow!"
"Oh, come on. You can sing that song you've been humming all day. What is it?" Leon tried to think of the tune that he heard Merlin humming earlier, but it was drowned out by a loud singing outside, drawing nearer, followed by the figure of Gwaine appearing in the stables.
"…Try to run, try to hide, break on through to the other side!Hello, lads!" he said, grinning. "Ready to go, Leon?"
"I was just trying to convince Merlin to come along," Leon said. "Honestly, Merlin, you can ride one of mine."
"Yours?" Gwaine looked aghast. "You *color-code* your horses! What Merlin needs is one of *my* rides…"
…
"Who's a sweet ride," Gwaine cooed, stroking the long muzzle of a huge black warhorse, "that's right, me boy-o, you are!" The steed seemed to take offence at being so baby-talked and snorted indignantly, tugging his head free.
"Hey!" Gwaine grabbed an ear as Studly Royale went to bite him. As Merlin and Leon watched, horrified, Gwaine climbed up on the fence that protected him from the grumpy beast, half-wrestling, half-calming the horse, alternating a soft voice with an authoritative one. "Here now, easy, easy! Itchin' for a scrap, are you? Down, boy, down!"
"Gwaine, maybe you oughta—"
"Oh, no, he's fine, just bloody bored," Gwaine swung himself into the stable with the black beauty, who was now looking decidedly peeved. "Okay, now, I've had enough of your guff, see? You want to go for a ride or don't you?"
Curiously, instead of trampling him to death, the horse began to calm as Gwaine ran his hands over his dark coat, shushing him. "Dumb bastard," he said, but he said it affectionately and pressed his forehead to Studly's nose.
Merlin watched nervously.
"Oh, don't worry, Merlin, I wouldn't subject anyone else to Studly Royale's temper, ha! I was thinking you could ride Leon Junior!"
"You got another horse?" Merlin cried, at the same moment Leon stammered, "You've named a horse after me?"
"Oh, aye," Gwaine replied, climbing over the dividers to get from one horse to the next. Leon Junior started at this new intruder to his pen, but although he whinnied softly, he didn't cause a fuss. "See, he's a good boy, isn't he? Follows all the rules, and won't get mad for nothing. And he rides great. Come on, Merlin, say hello. And look at what a pretty color he is!"
The horse the next stall over huffed indignantly. "All right, Pussy Willow, you're pretty, too!" he said, reaching a hand through to scratch the white palfrey.
"How many horses do you have, Gwaine?" Leon asked, sounding exasperated.
Gwaine had to think about this. "Um. Nine? No, ten. No, nine. Nine: Studly Royale, Pussy Willow, Leon Junior, and Nero, and then there's Bacardi, Scrumpy, Beefeater, and Drambuie." He pointed each one out down the line, immensely proud of his equine fleet.
"How can you possibly afford them all?" Leon wondered.
Gwaine thought he was kidding. "What else am I supposed to do with all this money we get?"
"Pick up the tab once in a while?" Merlin tried.
Leon snorted, but Gwaine didn't see what was funny. "Ach, see how you are? I offer to let you ride me third-best horse and you insult me! Put that bloody rake down, Merlin, I already got someone coming in to do the mucking out!"
"What? Who?"
Gwaine shrugged. "Some bloke, tanner's son, I think. Offered a silver coin to him for his trouble."
"That's more than I get in a whole week!" Merlin squeaked.
"What, really? I could pay you to do it, haha. Still, you should come out with us just the same, Merlin. I'll buy you dinner. And I might even pay for drinks!"
…
Free food was one of those things that Merlin was generally incapable of refusing. Gwaine, he reflected, probably knew this, and that was probably why he had hauled out the bright gold horse's saddle before Merlin had even agreed to going to the tavern. And all the knights knew that if Merlin was distracted, you could hand him almost anything and he'd take it. So it was no surprise to him that he found himself putting the saddle on the horse even before he finally decided it probably wouldn't kill him to go to the tavern.
"But…" he said, not even sure what he was protesting.
"You've already saddled up, you may as well come with us," Leon said helpfully. He'd wandered off and returned with Lamrei, who'd been standing quietly where Merlin had saddled her. While Gwaine took his life into his own hands saddling up the homicidal Royale, Merlin swung into Leon Jr.'s saddle and looked down at the horse's ears as they swiveled back to him. The horse snorted softly and took a few hesitant steps outside. Leon followed Merlin out of the stable on Lamrei, and they waited for Gwaine to appear, hopefully on Royale and not being dragged along by the reins he occasionally chose to wrap around his wrist to keep the big black horse from walking away without a rider.
Gwaine did eventually manage to get Royale saddled, and he even got into the saddle. Then Royale decided he was tired of waiting and blasted out of the stable, scattering chickens and geese that loitered in front of the door, and surprising both Lamrei and Leon Jr., not to mention their riders, as he tore past them. Leon's bay leaped after them, and Merlin finally got Leon Jr. to follow at a sedate canter. He was left bringing up the end of what turned out to be a mildly destructive train, as Gwaine went hooting and hollering through the town with Leon on his heels scolding at the top of his lungs, and neither of them paying a lot of attention to what they nearly ran over.
But soon Gwaine's horse had had enough of galloping on the uneven cobbles and slowed down. Really, he slowed to a walk quite suddenly, causing Lamrei to nearly crash into him, which very nearly resulted in a kicking and biting match in the middle of the thoroughfare before both knights got their horses under control. Merlin caught up with them and rode between the two war horses, since the sun-gold horse was not inclined to react much at all to mock-bites, and Lamrei stopped trying to fight once separated from Royale.
"You owe someone almost a full cart of cabbages," Merlin remarked as they clopped along, and Gwaine laughed while Leon looked chagrined.
"Cabbages. Who needs cabbages?" Gwaine asked. Clearly, in his opinion, cabbages occupied the same general category as other disgusting things, including probably all other vegetables.
"We can't all survive on a steady diet of ale and apples," Leon said from Merlin's other side, which caused Merlin to snort and then laugh as Gwaine glared at Leon and Leon grinned innocently.
"I eat other things!" Gwaine finally protested.
"Like that chicken I saw you and Percival stealing from the kitchens?" Merlin asked wickedly.
"The one you saw us stealing while you were nicking one of those little steak pies?" Gwaine countered.
"I was getting laundry!"
"In the kitchens?"
"The steam gets the wrinkles out!"
"Sir Gwaine! Merlin!" The bickering pair both turned and looked at Leon as he broke in on their argument. Merlin looked abashed. Gwaine grinned unapologetically at the older knight.
"Would you like to keep arguing, or shall we go in?" Leon asked when he had their attention, and after he'd stopped Gwaine elbowing Merlin with a flat look. Both Merlin and Gwaine turned to look in front of them, and saw that indeed, they were almost to the Rising Sun.
The other knights were already there, but when the three walked in, they hulloo'ed and waved them over and made room. Lancelot was up on the stage singing some vaguely mournful song, which Merlin caught a few lines of as he wandered in.
"But you misread my meaning when I met you
Closed the door and left me blinded by the light…"
He just shook his head and sat down in the spot Galehaut offered next to him, waving a general hello to everyone as he did so. Lancelot finished his tune and sat down with a grin quite at odds with the words he'd just been singing, on Merlin's other side. He clapped Merlin on the back as he sat down and Percival wandered up to the stage with some of the others.
"You can shake an apple off an apple tree…"
Stuck between Lancelot and Galehaut, who had started chattering away the second Lancelot sat down, Merlin sat quietly and tried to stay out of the way of the conversation for the entirety of the song before Gwaine, who he thought had been up playing some instrument or another, sat down and set a drink in front of Merlin.
"What is that?" Merlin asked, eyeing the thing a bit distrustfully. Gwaine managed to pretend he was deeply injured by this mistrust.
"It's only mead," he said, "It won't bite you. Besides, you can't sing unless you've had a drink!"
Merlin, who had been taking an experimental sip just to make sure Gwaine wasn't lying, nearly spit the honey-sweet alcohol all over his friend. Instead, he swallowed, half-choked, and when he got his breath back, tried to shrink into the bench while Galehaut, Lancelot, and Gwaine all looked at him.
"Uhhhh," he said, trying to quickly think of a reason he couldn't sing. Seeing the deer-in-headlights look on Merlin's face, Galehaut laughed and spoke up before Merlin could say anything.
"Ah, perhaps I should sing? Percival was just saying I had to, some rite of passage or something," he said, and Gwaine considered this for a second. Finally, after another meditative drink of whatever he was drinking, he assented. While Galehaut was up singing, and before Gwaine could corral him into singing after the newest knight, Merlin got up and went to sit across from Leon.
"That riddle about the horses," he said by way of greeting, and Leon smiled.
"Do you have it?" he asked. Merlin shook his head, smiling wryly.
"No, not exactly. Well, not at all, really," he answered. He wasn't sure if he wanted the answer or a hint, but anything was better than being forced to sing in front of a bunch of people.
…
"Think about…other things the horses could be." Leon took a drink of his ale.
Elyan started singing a song about a brown-eyed girl and Merlin's face lit up. "Eyes!" He wrinkled his nose. "Not sure if that was your best one, though. The clues are a bit foggy…"
"Oh, no—you've got to find one for me now. Anyway, I think I'm to be playing lute on this one."
He pulled his lute out of its case and got on the little stage with Elyan and Galehaut, and the other Friday Knights followed suit. Leon played rhythm-lute throughout most of the night, only taking a break to play drum on a foreign song called "Oye Como Va," a tune which apparently Lancelot, Elyan and Gwaine loved but one which neither Percival or Leon had ever heard of. The rhythm was easy to learn and fun to play, though, and they enjoyed it while the other three took turns singing the foreign lyrics and playing equally foreign instruments.
Afterwards they played a few dice games, which Leon hadn't played since the massacre by Cenred's men. They were soldiers, of course—death came with the job, and it was best not to dwell on it—but he was afraid it might be awkward, especially for people who lived through it all like Stuart and himself. But it wasn't bad—it was fun, even. He hadn't relaxed like this in a while, and they laughed and joked their way well into the night. Now and then he thought he saw Bedivere out of the corner of his eye, or mistook Merlin's laugh for Galahad's. He tried not to think about it.
Gwaine had just finished drinking from the Rising Sun's Aurochs horn, having realized that Stuart would give him the lot free if he could take all seven pints of it down in one go. Everyone cheered as he just managed it, and Leon joined in.
"Come on, Merlin! Your turn!" Gwaine shouted.
Leon glanced at Merlin, who was grinning goofily at the huge drinking horn.
"Right," he said, and stood up, knocking an empty tankard of ale over in the process.
"No one can drink as much as Gwaine," Leon said, trying to keep the mood cheerful while he reached over to pull Merlin back down into his seat.
Merlin shook him off. "Is that a challenge?"
"Drink! Drink! Drink!" Gwaine shouted happily.
Leon gave Merlin a warning glare. "Come on, you're going to poison yourself trying that—sit down."
"Don't be a wet hen, Leon!" Percival said.
Gwaine laughed. "Drink fast, Merlin or you'll never manage it!"
"Stop encouraging him, Gwaine!"
Merlin grabbed the horn. "Nah, I can do it! Doesn't look that big—!"
"Listen, Galahad, you're—!" He stopped, instantly turning bright red.
Gwaine, Merlin and Elyan laughed, though a large portion of the tavern had gone silent as well. "Don't you mean Galehaut?" Elyan laughed.
"Don't you mean *Merlin*?" Gwaine said, which sent them into further bouts of laughter.
"Where'd Galahad come from?" Merlin giggled.
But Leon was finished making an idiot of himself. He left them laughing behind and hurriedly made his way to the bar.
"Another, Stuart," he said, pushing his tankard forward. Owen caught his eye—he had heard Leon's outburst—and quickly took the tankard to fill it.
Well, that was certainly something that didn't need to be brought up—here of all places….
"What's wrong? Who's Galahad?"
Leon looked up to see Merlin standing beside him. "It's nothing," Leon said, looking to see if Stuart had finished refilling his drink. But the barrel was empty, and the barman disappeared into the back to fetch another.
"Was he a soldier?" Merlin asked, this time more quietly. Leon glanced at him, and saw genuine concern in the young man's face. He sighed. It wasn't really a secret. People just didn't talk about it.
"Yes. He was training with me to become a knight. You may have seen him around. Brown hair—shorter than me." He paused, and cursing Stuart's slowness, continued with, "His parents—well, he was about your age, and we were from the same province, so they asked me to look after him. I should have been able to, second in command and all that. And I swore to guard him with my life. He was one of the most promising lads of the bunch. He was kind and he worked hard—like you do." He shrugged. "And when the great dragon escaped…. Anyway, we try not to talk about it. The tavern's no place for that kind of thing."
"What happened to him?" Merlin asked, breathlessly.
Leon glanced at Merlin then down at the bar. "He was killed in one of the last fire attacks." Oh God, it still hurt to admit it, even now, years later. He blinked and pushed back from the bar. "Why don't you have my last pint? It's been a long day."
"Leon—"
"Give it to Gwaine, actually—you've had more than enough to drink tonight. Good night, Merlin," he said, and headed for the exit. As he opened the door he heard Gwaine say, "Are you going to drink that?"
…
From time to time, Merlin unexpectedly found out about the consequences of things he'd done years and years ago. Usually he heard it second-hand, or from someone who'd known someone who'd known someone, and it always made him uncomfortable and oddly numb. But to find himself face-to-face with the grief the dragon had caused when he'd let it free, and not someone he barely knew and would have felt bad for anyway, but Leon, of all people… Merlin felt that familiar knot of guilt in the pit of his stomach and frowned. He stood starring at the door after it clattered shut behind the blonde knight, and didn't initially hear Gwaine asking him if he was going to drink the ale Leon had left.
"Merlin! On second thought, you better let me handle that," Gwaine said, mistaking Merlin's inattentiveness for some sort of momentary, alcohol-induced stupor. Not wanting to explain anything at all to his friend right at the moment, Merlin forced a fairly convincing grin over what he knew was one of his most recognizable kicked-puppy looks and turned to Gwaine.
"Oh, er… yes, you can have it," he said, handing him the pint. He heard some girl giggle from just beyond Gwaine and glanced over the man's shoulder to see not one, but two young ladies in truly outlandish clothes. One stepped forward and practically hung off Gwaine's shoulder, while her twin sister, identical in all but her hair color, which was brown instead of blonde, looked over Gwaine's other shoulder, blinking a little owlishly. Her attempt to make her eyes look large and doe-like were lost on Gwaine as he took a drink of the ale.
"Ladies, now, you're going to make me spill my beer, and that would be a true tragedy!" he laughed at the two, who both giggled and stopped draping themselves all over him.
"But you said we could meet the other knights!" they mock-whined.
"So I did! Merlin, why don't you come sit back down with us instead of lurking about up here all by yourself!" he said, turning and leading the simpering women to the knights' table. He didn't look back, apparently expecting Merlin to follow, but Merlin had had quite enough of the tavern tonight. Before anyone could think to drag him back to the table, he slunk to the door and slipped outside, holding it as it swung shut so it wouldn't clatter. His absence was apparently not noticed, as he heard the uproarious laughter of knights and the high-pitched girlish giggles of the twin sisters.
…
"Goodnight, gentleman," Galehaut hiccuped demurely, and smiled. "It was ever so thoughtful of you to invite me to such a spectacle. I assure you I had a most pleasant evening...er, morning, now, isn't it? Teehee!" he said, and shut his door.
The last three standing Friday Knights staggered down the hall, mumbling their good-nights as they tried to locate their rooms without incident.
"'Night, Perce. 'Night, Elyan."
"'Night, Lance. 'Night Perce."
"'Night, Elyan. 'Night, Lance," Percival replied, walking into the doorframe instead of the door to his room and giggling. "Wait. Wheredidda others go?"
Elyan rolled his eyes and just shut his door, leaving Lancelot, who was probably more sober and definitely more patient, to explain things. "The others? They've just gone to bed. Leon and Merlin left early, remember? And Gwaine stayed behind with Cadi or Mari or whichever one it was..."
Percival giggled again, and hiccuped. "Ohhhh yeah!"
"All right, you big lump, it's past your bedtime," Lancelot urged, shoving Percival gently into his room. He helped the bigger knight off with his boots and made sure he was sleeping safely before he blew out the low-burning candle and shut the door quietly after him.
All was dark and silent in Camelot. It was a bit scary, but beautiful. Lancelot gave a contented sigh and had just grasped the handle to his own room when he heard a whisper—
Lancelot...
Lancelot looked around, but there was no one there. Assuming it was the wind or his imagination, Lancelot opened his door, just as-
Sir Lancelot, please...
Okay, that was definitely not the wind.
"Hello?" Lancelot asked.
Nothing.
"Is anyone there?"
Lancelot!
The voice! He knew it! "Gwen? Guinevere?"
Lancelot, I need you!
"I'm coming, Gwen!" he called, suddenly heedless of the hour or the darkness of the castle, charging down the hallway. Her voice led him on for some time, until he was thoroughly lost and confused and anxious.
Lancelot!
Suddenly the voice was right here, behind this door, and Lancelot threw it open with wild abandon, naked sword ready, shouting "Gwen!" as he discovered—
"Ooh!" Came a cry from the...bedroom?Lancelot now found himself in.
"Galehaut?"
"Sir Lancelot!" Galehaut was sitting up in bed, white as his nightshirt, clutching somewhat dramatically at the sheets. "I—er—I had no idea!"
"No idea what?" Lancelot blurted out, putting his sword quickly behind his back and growing increasingly embarrassed. "I only thought I heard-did you hear voices?"
"None but yours, I'm afraid." Galehaut smiled warmly. "Is everything all right, Sir Lancelot?"
"Er. Yes. Everything's fine. All fine here, yes, thank you, good. How are you?" Lancelot regretted it as soon as it was out of his mouth.
"Well, you know how it is. Although I can certainly think of many a ruder awakening than your heroic physique startling me from my beauty rest, what?" he grinned impishly.
"Yes. Um." Lancelot wasn't sure how to reply to that. "Sorry to disturb you. Good night."
"And a good night to you, too, Sir Knight."
Awkward...