The past is never where you think you left it

~ Katherine Anne Porter

Chapter 10: The Black Knight

Nimueh spent a good deal of time wondering how and why Emrys had interfered in her affairs against Uther Pendragon. It wasn't making sense. It was clear that Emrys and Balinor were Uther's enemies so why go out of their way to help his kingdom? They cut off his knights' hands and Emrys also spared no expense at humiliating the King and getting on his nerves but they went and saved his people? Perhaps they only care about his people and not him. Certainly no regard to him and his knights given what they have done to them that did earn her good grace. If that was indeed the case then she had a new plan that would only involve Uther and his knights. Balinor or Emrys would have no reason to do anything against her new plan.

Nimueh walked passed the many tombs within the royal crypts with the dim light of the sun leaking in from the outer bars. They were quite spacious and quite large and there were cobwebs in select places where visitors were rare. She came upon the more recent sections of the crypt and found the tomb she was looking for. A white marble stone casket with an engraved plaque reading: Tristan Du Bois. Nimueh smirked in the dim darkness as she used magic to unseal it. She gazed at the remains within and began to work her necromantic ritual.

Uther was in the throne room listening to a messenger wearing the colors of King Bayard.

"I'm sorry sire but my king's offering to you was intercepted on route. They ambushed the envoy with a surprise assault of men and two wyvern. They incapacitated the men and freed all the magical criminals we were sending to you."

"Was it Emrys, the self-proclaimed Dragon Prince?"

The man shook his head. "No, it was his father; the Dragon King Balinor himself. The knights leading the envoy that had survived the initial attack returned to have had their sword hands cut off."

"Yes, that beast does enjoy victimizing noble knights with that fate. There have been quite a few of Camelot's noble knights that had shared that man's brutality as well. Send those noble men my deepest sympathies."

The messenger nodded. "I will sire. However, unfortunately, King Bayard has decided that perhaps a formal alliance with Camelot may not be the best thing for the kingdom."

Uther fought hard to not let his anger show on his face. "Tell Bayard that I understand."

The man was then dismissed. Uther clenched his gloved hand angrily into a fist. He cursed Balinor and his followers. Especially that cursed son of his. For the past few months they had done nothing but undermine him and his kingdom's progress. Disrupting his festival, forcing him to cancel a widespread tournament, having spread their banners through his city and now costing him a potential alliance. He had to find them and destroy them. Arthur's 21st birthday was coming up where he would be of age to take the title as official Prince of Camelot and become the honored heir to his throne. When that happened, he would be officially tasked with the royal mission to destroy Emrys as he would destroy Balinor.

Lancelot helped Arthur put on his ceremonial armor.

"Happy Birthday sire," Lancelot said as he finished with Arthur's cape.

"Thank you Lancelot," he smiled.

He then looked to the mirror to see that looked regal enough. The King had announced that Arthur was to be sworn in officially with the title 'Prince of Camelot' tonight. His father had called many knights and lords to witness the event and hear of the official royal mission that the Prince was to undertake on behalf of the kingdom. The amount of effort that he was putting into all of this was making Arthur feel nervous about tonight.

"You nervous about tonight sire?" Lancelot said as he saw that Arthur was staring at the same spot of mirror for over two minutes.

Arthur shook himself out of it. "No, of course not Lancelot. I'm alright though I think the collar is off by a bit."

"If you say so sire," Lancelot said backing off but moving forward to help him with the collar.

"You know Lancelot," he said as he fixed the collar. "You don't have to keep calling me sire when we're alone. You can call me Arthur when we're here alone."

"I shouldn't sire. It's not proper for me to do that."

"It's also not proper for me to have secret spars in my room with my servant," he pointed out. "Lancelot, you've been a worthy training partner. I feel that has more than earned you that. And it would help make me comfortable in my own room."

Lancelot stepped back to see his collar was good now. "You're ready now Arthur."

The throne room was filled knights, courtiers, servants and other witnesses as they watched Arthur approach Uther by his throne. Uther swore Arthur in as Prince of Camelot to serve the king's justice. When Arthur swore, Uther then began to proclaim Arthur's royal mission.

"Our kingdom has suffered under the hand of Balinor the self-proclaimed Dragon King for near twenty years. Now his son, Emrys the self-proclaimed Dragon Prince has started to share in his father's terror. Arthur, I task you to be the one to find Emrys and subject him to Camelot's justice."

Before anyone could react, the doors slammed open and everyone looked back to see a man clad in black armor atop a horse. He lightly gallops inside and the people move to the walls to keep clear of the intruder. The knights in the room move to surround their king and prince to protect them from this newcomer. The knight slowly advanced until he was is in front of all the men and in clear view of the king. He removes his gauntlet and throws it down. The one who picks it up is Sir Owain.

"Single combat," the knight says in a dull voice. "At noon. To the death."

He then leaves everyone staring after him but Gaius looked more shocked than most.

Gaius was not hallucinating. Both he and Geoffrey of Monmouth saw the same thing. That knight's crest was that of Tristan Du Bois, the brother of the late Queen Igraine Pendragon. He had seen him wield that crest all those years ago before Uther had killed him. Uther insists that it couldn't be him because 'Dead Men Don't Return'. Gaius could sense that Uther was trying hard to deny it. Uther remembered everything about that day as perfectly as Gaius for that was the day that Balinor and the Great Dragon escaped and he suffered that wound that had to be treated everyday with his tonic. If that was indeed Tristan then how was he hear now. It had to be magic of some kind. Gaius had to do some research.

Lancelot was waiting behind as Arthur was helping Sir Owain prepare to face this mysterious Black Knight. Guinevere came in herself with a token from Lady Morgana to give him. Sir Owain was assuring Arthur that he wouldn't fall to this knight and he would be victorious.

"Good luck," Arthur said as they heard the bell toll for noon.

"I won't need luck sire," he said before he confidently strode out.

Arthur followed after him with Lancelot and Guinevere behind him.

The people were gathered in the arena's grounds to watch this fight. Guinevere went off to stand next to Morgana while Lancelot went to stand next to Arthur. Sir Owain and the Black Knight fought each other in front of all of them. Lancelot saw that Owain landed a blow right to the knight's stomach and he waited to see the knight fall. However, Lancelot saw that the knight didn't stop in his fighting as if nothing even happened. The Black Knight then threw Owain down and ran his sword down on him.

The knight threw the gauntlet for another challenge. Arthur's eyes went to Owain's corpse and his resolve hardened. He went to take it himself but Uther held him back and Pellinore went to take it.

"Single combat. Noon tomorrow. To the Death." The knight's words were as dull and lifeless as they were the first time he made the terms.

Everyone started to head out but Gaius noticed that Lancelot was frozen in his spot. He watched as Guinevere went over to him.

"Lancelot?" she asked gently tapping his shoulder.

"Oh," he said snapping out of it. "Guinevere? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Lancelot, the fight's over."

"I know but it should've been over sooner than that."

Gaius frowned as he heard that.

"What do you mean?" Guinevere asked with a frown of her own.

"Sir Owain, he struck a decisive blow on that knight."

"He did? I didn't see anything like that."

Lancelot nodded. "I saw it. It was a blow right to his stomach. Guinevere, Sir Owain had that fight won but that man didn't seem to react to it at all."

"Are you sure that the blow you saw was strong? Maybe Sir Owain grazed him?"

"No, it was a direct blow. I'm sure of it."

"Lancelot, no man could take a sword to the stomach and keep fighting like that knight did. He would've died."

"I know. That's what's bothering me. I know what I saw and it doesn't make sense with what happened out there. There is something about that knight that is not…normal."

Lancelot and Guinevere stayed there looking out in the courtyard but Gaius left. Their conversation struck something in him.

Gaius went to look in a book on magical animations and soon found what he was looking for. It was a page on wraiths. They were reanimated corpses of men who were tied to this world usually by an unfinished goal or objective most commonly revenge. This supported his earlier suspicions. It had to be the late queen's brother as he had vowed revenge on Uther the day he was killed. The passage also said that had they had to be brought back by sorcerers that were able to tap into life and death. There was only one sorcerer that had that kind of power that Gaius could think would want to unleash someone like Tristan Du Bois out on Camelot. He visited the crypts to confirm his suspicions and found that Tristan's crypt had been disturbed. His body was gone.

Gaius went to Uther with his findings but the king was still reluctant to believe that the mysterious Black Knight was truly Tristan Du Bois.

"Tristan is dead," he insisted.

"He swore that he would have his revenge on you for the death of his sister."

"It was magic that killed Igraine Gaius, not me."

"Nevertheless…it was you that he blamed."

Uther turned away from Gaius. He would not admit it. He was believing that it was his late wife's late brother as well. The knight's voice as he challenged his men, it was the same voice that visited him in some of his nightmares. Its owner was the one who left him a severe wound that he luckily escaped with only a daily medicinal treatment.

"But he's dead," he said to both Gaius and himself. "I know because I killed him myself."

"Sire, I believe that the knight is indeed Tristan and that he has been returned as a wraith."

"A wraith?"

"It is a soul that has been pulled into its body through its ties to this world by sorcery. The only sorcerer that I know with this type of power and that would know enough to seek Tristan is Nimueh."

"Nimueh," Uther repeated softly.

"Sire, perhaps it's time that Arthur learns the truth."

"No, Arthur can never know."

"The boy is of age now, he should know," he insisted.

"You swore an oath Gaius," he reminded him.

"Very well."

The matter was dropped. "If what you say is true then how do we stop it?"

"The only thing that will cause the wraith to cease being in this world is if it settles what it is that keeps it to this world. In Lord Tristan's case…that's your death."

Uther shook his head. "No, Sir Pellinore will defeat this man and finally end all of this."

Everyone in the city watched as Sir Pellinore was fighting against the Black Knight as Sir Owain did before him. Lancelot was watching the fight carefully and saw that Sir Pellinore struck a decisive blow. But the Black Knight didn't falter one bit.

"I don't understand. Sir Pellinore struck a blow on him. Did you see it Morgana?"

"I'm not sure but it doesn't look like he did. If Pellinore got him then why isn't that knight looking like he was wounded?"

At the sound of their voices, Lancelot looked up to catch Guinevere's eye. She looked shocked as she caught his. She seemed to understand what he had said yesterday about seeing that Black Knight wounded but not acting wounded.

They looked back to the field to see Pellinore getting struck down like Owain did. The Black Knight looked ready to issue another challenge but Lancelot watched as Arthur took his gauntlet and threw it down at the knight himself.

"I challenge you!" he roared.

Lancelot saw that Arthur was fuming. He could understand why. He had seen two fellow knights die in front of him for two straight days. He saw that his father tried to subtly stop him but Arthur wasn't giving in.

"Single Combat," the Black Knight chanted. "Noon tomorrow. To the Death."

Gaius felt silent horror as he saw Arthur challenge the wraith. The boy didn't realize but he just offered himself to die in front of both the kingdom and his father. Arthur may be a skilled warrior but even he couldn't defeat an enemy that couldn't be killed. No doubt that Nimueh had probably foreseen the prince's future decision and was overjoyed that Arthur would fight and die before his father's eyes as he was helpless to stop it. Gaius did not want the boy to die but there was nothing he could do. The wraith would not be destroyed until it fulfilled its objective. Arthur didn't understand just who and what it was he was going to fight. Gaius considered going to the boy in private to try and explain what Tristan was but one negative aspect Arthur inherited from Uther was his stubbornness. Arthur would never let some creature kill his father so it could disappear even if he did believe it was a wraith and not a man he was fighting. He would believe that he could slay it himself with his sword and his skills like any other opponent he fought.

He watched as Arthur left the area with his father on his heels, not looking happy at all. He also saw his servant Lancelot rush off after them. His eyes widened. Lancelot. The one who was thought to be the one who destroyed the griffin: a creature that could only be destroyed by magic. The one who raved at finding a way to save Guinevere's father when he fell ill with the Afanc's plague right before he and many others began getting cured. Two cases where magic had to come to Lancelot's aid but it wasn't his. The plague was stopped by Emrys and it is conceivable that the griffin was handled by Emrys as well. He didn't know how but he was willing to bet that Lancelot and Emrys were connected somehow. He couldn't exactly see how this young man and the Dragon Prince could be connected but he didn't know anything about Lancelot's past to even begin making sense of it.

Despite that he might be the indirect answer to saving Arthur. Gaius may not have a solution but Emrys might and if Lancelot appealed to him then he might be able to save Arthur. He knew that Lancelot had his suspicions about the Black Knight already but didn't see the full extent of how dangerous he was. If it was a magical problem, Lancelot might get them the help they need. There was a problem though…Emrys was still the enemy. Even if Emrys did hold the solution to destroy the wraith, he might not be willing to go out of his way to help the Prince of Camelot who was tasked to see to his destruction only two days ago. It seemed to be a lost cause either way but he saw that Lancelot had developed a good degree of loyalty for Arthur over all these months. He just hoped that this somehow helped or Arthur was doomed.

Lancelot was off to the side as Arthur argued with his father. He would not rescind his challenge to the Black Knight. Lancelot was on Arthur's side on this. It was the Knight's Code that said that he couldn't. Lancelot was silently in shock and perhaps a little angry with the king. Why was he willing to enforce the code when it worked for him such as choosing his knights but when it started to cause him any sort of grief now was he trying to undermine it? He could feel that Arthur was a little worried about the challenge but he was not willing to break it when, as the Prince, he could safely do so. Lancelot looked out the window to see the Black Knight out there just staring at the castle. He was standing so still out there just as he had been the last two days he had been in the city. In fact, Lancelot only remembered seeing him move when it was time to fight the challenges. In fact, he couldn't remember hearing of any time that this knight had requested food or even water from the servants.

Lancelot quietly left the two Pendragons to ask Guinevere if she had heard of any of the servants serve the knight anything to see if it happened when he just wasn't looking. However before he could meet up with her, he ran into Gaius who seemed to be moving for him quite quickly.

"Hello Gaius," he said as he stopped to meet him.

"Lancelot," he said. "I need to speak with you."

He took note of how troubled he was. "Is there a problem?"

"Would you mind coming with me to my chambers?"

"Of course."

Lancelot and Gaius were in his lab as Gaius laid it all down. Tristan Du Bois' death, his vow, and what he suspected he was. As Lancelot listened, he couldn't help but connect the dots. Gaius was providing all the answers to everything. Why this knight didn't seem to need to eat or sleep. Why he didn't seem to feel pain for when he was wounded and why the King was so eager to have Arthur rescind his challenge. This wraith would only disappear if it killed Uther.

But Lancelot couldn't understand one thing.

"Gaius, why are you telling me all this? Shouldn't you be sharing all this with the prince?"

He shook his head. "It would do no good. He wouldn't let himself believe that this knight could only vanish if it killed his father. He will only be more driven to fight and he will die."

The image of this knight throwing Arthur to the ground and plunging his sword into him flashed through his mind.

"Then what are we going to do?"

"I'm afraid that there is nothing we can do. No mortal weapons can stop a wraith so it's impossible for any of us to do anything. There is very little information of wraiths left to us in the wake of the Great Purge. Best to see that Arthur is well tended to before he's meant to face it tomorrow."

Lancelot left the physician's chambers a little light headed. Why did Gaius tell him all of this? What could he do for Arthur now? How could he serve him for the rest of the day knowing he was definitely dying tomorrow? He wanted to help him but he didn't know how to kill someone who came back from the grave. His eyes widened. But maybe there was someone who could: Emrys. He might be able to help and he still owed Lancelot two favors but would he help on this? This wasn't like the last time. Emrys helped him save innocent people that had no qualms against him but he guessed that asking him save the son of the man that wanted him and his own father dead wouldn't be so simple. Yet, he knew that if nothing was done Arthur would die anyway. It wouldn't hurt to ask. Perhaps if he explained everything then it might make a difference.

Lancelot raced home so he could get to the talisman that had one of its slots filled in from the first favor he collected from Emrys with a star. He spent a good hour thinking of what he would say before he decided on what would be the best way to ask for his help before he started to contact him.

Uther was left in the throne room alone as he drank from a goblet that was full of wine.

"Hello Uther," a woman's voice said.

Uther didn't turn around at all. "I should've known I would be hearing from you," he said as he took another sip before turning to face Nimueh.

He thought that she looked almost the same as she had the last time that he had seen her. She was dressed in a regal black silk gown and her hair was well groomed. If he didn't know better than she could easily pass for a courtier.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" she said moving to take a goblet and pouring a drink for herself.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just wondering if you are enjoying seeing your late brother in law again."

"So…Gaius was right. The Black Knight is Tristan and you brought him back."

"It was no trouble at all."

"You shouldn't have done this."

"You brought this on yourself Uther. What you did to my kin warrants much more than this."

"You brought this on yourselves," he argued back. "You all practiced evil."

"I was your friend Uther," she cried. "I was the one who you came to in order to help give your barren wife a child."

"Do not speak of Igraine that way!" he said slamming his goblet down. "It was you and your magic that killed her. Tristan should want your head."

"I told you back then Uther. I warned you that there would be a price. To create a life, one must be taken. That is the law but you told me that you were prepared to pay any price."

"I didn't know the price would be my wife's life," he tried to explain.

"But you received the son that you so desperately wanted. Are you saying that you wish that you hadn't had your son?"

The image of Igraine smiling up at him flashed through his mind and it took everything not to shed tears at that. "Yes," he said quietly.

"Don't worry…soon that wish will come true."

He looked up to see that Nimueh had vanished. He couldn't deny it any more now. Arthur was fighting his dead uncle tomorrow and he would die. There had to be something he could do.

End of Chapter 10

A/N: Oh…the plot thickens. Gaius is catching on slightly to what's been going on with Lancelot and Emrys and Arthur is now going to fight a wraith.

The next chapter will have complications arise as Merlin struggles with receiving the means to help Lancelot with his second request and with saving Arthur. The whole thing with the wraith wraps up much differently than in the show. Arthur also hears Emrys speak for the first time to him.