"I propose a toast for the success of this so delicate part of our plan. To our child!" Merlin said, raising his glass of wine and smiling.
"To our child!" Echoed Arthur.
The two of them drank. They were sat at a table near the bed where Morgause still lay, dressed now, in the cave under the castle.
"I still can't believe we're going to be parents…together" Arthur's voice broke at the last word, still shocked by the very idea that he'll have a child with his beloved Merlin and not with some stranger and trivial princess as he had always supposed. A child that will be only theirs, with their blood in his veins, the proof of their union. This was a dream come true…and Arthur hoped never to wake up.
"Believe it, darling, because it's happening. It will be perfect! Everything is going well, as I had anticipated" Merlin smiled, as he leaned forward and touched the blond's hand on the table, caressing it lovely.
Beaming, Arthur agreed. Then, he moved his gaze to the sleeping figure on the bed, "What are we going to do with her? Where will we keep her during the pregnancy?"
"We'll keep her here. The baby in her belly needs the closeness of at least one of us all the time in order to grow healthy, since he won't take anything from Morgause, if not a place to host him for nine months. Since you can't leave the castle whenever you want, I decided to take her here, so that when I'm busy somewhere else, you'll be here giving our child the strength he needs, and when you need to leave on patrol or something, I can stay here, since travelling with magic it's not an issue for me. However, it's obvious that the more time we spend near the baby together, the better"
"I understand. The magic that will give our strength to the baby works only in the cave?"
"No, it works as long as at least one of us is inside the city walls. I know you have prince duties that won't allow you to spend all your time in a cave" Merlin winked.
Arthur snorted, pushing his chest up, "You're right. I'm a very important person here. My word is law. Everyone loves me!"
"As it should be. And how is dear daddy taking this sudden power shift?"
The blond chuckled, proud, "Let's just say that his face is gaining a wrinkle with each passing day and that his stomach might have a ulcer or two" They both laughed and kissed. Then, Arthur turned serious. "What's next? When can we kill the usurper who calls himself King?"
"In less than a year, Uther Pendragon will be food for worms, I assure you. Regarding the plan, now we wait"
"For what?"
"For our little one to be almost ready to come into the world. If we kill Uther now and you become king, long before the birth of your heir, someone may have the time to question your claim or the Council to force you to take a wife. If we kill him after the birth, knowing him, Uther may try to get rid of your bastard and illegitimate son, born from an unknown mother. A disgrace in his eyes... And if you are about to suggest that we could hide the baby here, while we take care of Uther, my answer is that I have no intention of letting my son live in a dirty cave, not for a second!"
"Neither do I"
"Good. Therefore, in a few months time, I'll start the slow and painful process that will lead Uther to his death, making sure he parishes a few days before the birth, so that the day of your coronation, or at least not later than the next, you can announce the birth of the new prince of Camelot."
Arthur smirked, "You're so clever, my love. Is there someone who could ever outwit you?"
Merlin giggled, "I doubt it. Well, enough about these things... Tell me, how's going with Morgana? Do you like her?"
Arthur's face lit up, "She is fantastic! You know, just today, we..."
00000
During the following four months, things moved on quickly and inexorably.
The Council referred more and more to Arthur's leadership, even stopping him in the corridors to ask him for advice, instead of going to Uther, which was a relief for the elder men since the King tended to answer them surly and impatiently every time he saw them. Needless to say, this behaviour of his had also put Uther at a disadvantage position during the meetings.
Arthur and Morgana became closer with every passing day, backing each other up at every turn, no matter the problem or how complicated it was. They had each other and were a force to reckon; Arthur with his charisma and noble heart, Morgana with her kindness and cunning. Her visions helped them greatly too, getting them in the position to be a step ahead of the others.
The Prince and Princess of Camelot mainly concentrated their everyday duties on improving the welfare of their subjects, of all their subjects. They donated their gold in secret to help them pay the too expensive taxes and committed themselves to facilitate the return of the Druids and other magic-users to the city, because, despite Uther had lifted the magic ban for Morgana's sake, it was an unspoken rule that he still didn't want it to be practiced freely and openly. Proof of this was the fact that there were no sorcerers in the castle or in the lower town, if not some passing strangers. The only thing that had changed in Camelot was that magic was no longer a crime that led to certain death. But it wasn't enough.
They selected an abandoned area of the city and restored it to its former beauty to make it liveable for the sorcerers who wished to move to Camelot, and only a couple of months later, the first Druids started to arrive, bringing their healing-magic knowledge with them, which resulted in the opening of several herbal shops and medical clinics. Over time, Arthur and Morgana were positive that similar and other magic shops would be opened throughout the whole city, once the integration process would be complete. Obviously, Uther was furious about this initiative of his children and tried to stop them by openly protesting in front of the whole Court. However, Arthur pointed out that there were no laws that prevented a magic-user to live or start a business in Camelot. According to the laws that Uther himself had declared, sorcerers were subjects like the others, with the same rights and freedoms.
Unable to talk back and risking to sound an idiot who didn't even know his own laws and an hypocrite, Uther said no more and retired to his rooms to sulk. But everyone noticed his demand that Gaius brought him a potion against stomach-ache.
Also Arthur's relationship with his army improved. There were no knights that didn't respect him and if there were some, they wouldn't last long enough to become a problem. Everyone knew that every knight and soldier of the kingdom obeyed the Prince and not the King, not anymore; and under Arthur's leadership the Knights weren't bullies toward the people anymore, instead, they had become the guardians of the innocence, of the weak and of all that's good. In particular, five of them set themselves clearly apart from the others for their value: Lancelot, Gwaine, Leon, Percival and Elyan. They were so devoted and loyal to Arthur that they ended up being sympathetically called his Knights of the Round Table, since you could often find them sat all together at a round table at the tavern.
.
In all this, however, they couldn't certainly forget Morgause, who no one knew was imprisoned beneath the castle and was carrying the future king of Camelot.
Merlin and Arthur spent all their free time down there with her, not to keep her company - they couldn't care less for the witch per se - but to give strength and affection to their child, whom they already loved so much. But they were both very busy people, so it wasn't possible for them to be there at the same time that often, especially Merlin, as he had explained to Arthur once.
"I am the King of Magic; have you any idea how busy this role makes you?" Asked the wizard, as he was about to leave for one of his trips a couple of months before.
Arthur frowned, "That much? Isn't it like being the ruler of a kingdom?"
"No, darling ... I rule over all magic. That means not only over the Old Religion, but over all forms of magic in the world, and I need to visit my different people to make sure everything is fine. For example, right now I'm going across the ocean, in a land that Europeans haven't discovered yet and that is inhabited by Native American tribes, who possess a type of magic that I like quite a lot. Maybe when the baby is born, I can take the two of you there on a holiday, to a place called Honolulu, a true paradise with white sandy beaches..."
Arthur couldn't really understand what he was babbling about, so, he just smiled and kissed him on the lips, "Okay, love, come back soon…"
Therefore, Arthur was the one visiting Morgause the most, as he was doing right now, while Merlin was away once again, somewhere in Africa if he wasn't mistaken.
He reached the cave and immediately approached the bed. He didn't say anything to Morgause, as usual, as if she wasn't even there, and stretched an arm, lovely caressing her belly, which was starting to swell nicely. There were no doubts she was pregnant.
He kneeled by her stomach and started to talk to it affectionately, "Hey, little one, it's your papa. How are you today?" He kissed it near the navel. "I can't wait to meet you…you seem quite today; what is it? Do you miss your daddy? I miss him too. But don't worry, my love, he'll come back to us very soon. He loves us so much…"
That private moment between father and son was interrupted by Morgause, who had started to struggle and whimper from behind the gag. Arthur moved his head to one side to look at her with cold eyes, so different from the adoring ones he was displaying a few seconds before, and snarled at her, "What?"
She kept whining and staring at him with pleading eyes. It was clear she wanted to say something.
He sighed, unsure on what to do. Merlin had forbidden him from taking her gag off; they only did it when she needed to eat and only with Merlin present. However, he couldn't ignore her pleading moaning for much longer. He really was too soft.
Sighing in frustration, he controlled that the shackles suppressing her magic were still tightly locked around her wrists and neck. Then, he looked at her in the eyes, "No funny business, ok? Or the gag comes back faster that you can say magic!"
After a nod from her, he ungagged her slowly, almost hesitantly, as if expecting to be attacked immediately with a fatal spell. But instead, she only moved her jaw to regained the feeling in it and thankfully accepted the glass of water Arthur was offering her.
When she was done drinking, she finally looked up at him and smiled sweetly, thus it was obvious that that expression was alien on her face.
"Hello, Arthur Pendragon, finally we can talk…alone…" Her voice was hoarse from disuse; however, that natural sensual intonation that used to make powerful men fall at her feet and eating out of her hand was still there.
He raised an eyebrow, "And what would you like to talk to me about?"
"Well, I thought that since we are having a baby together, we could try to get to know each other better, don't you think?"
His face hardened a bit, "We aren't! This child isn't yours! He is mine and Merlin's!"
"But he shouldn't be. You should know better than anyone that this isn't the best for the child…"
He frowned, "What do you mean?"
"If you and Emrys are the ones raising him, he will never know his mother, the woman whose body he lived in for nine months! And you know what it's like to grow up without one... Do you really want to condemn your own son to such a sadness, emptiness...loneliness?" She was looking at him with compassion and sympathy in her eyes.
Arthur stiffed. Morgause hit him right in the heart, making him remember all these years he had spent alone and sad, hoping for a mother that would never come back.
"I-I—I don't…"
"But you still have time to do the right thing for your child. To save him. We can find another way..."
"W-What way?"
The witch smiled; her plan was working. "Free me, Arthur, and we can be all together! You, me, Morgana…our son will have a mother, a father, an aunt, a perfect family. I'll help you kill Uther immediately, this very day, like you want, and I'll also invoke your mother's spirit as a thank you…would you like to see your mother, Arthur?" Her voice was mesmerizing, like a snake.
"Merlin has already showed me my mother…"
"Yes, but every powerful magic-user has only one chance to call the dead. Emrys has used his, but I haven't. It wouldn't be a problem for me to use it to make you meet your mother one more time…I'd do everything for one of my own"
Arthur was so tempted. Morgause's proposal was so appealing. Everything would be perfect if he accepted. But there was still something that didn't seem right.
"I've just noticed that you didn't include Merlin in your idyllic picture…" His eyes hardened, "I WON'T HELP YOU KILL HIM!"
Her jaw clenched for less than a second, before opting for pleasant smile once again, "I said nothing about killing him. Of course not. I would never kill my kin. However, as you can presume, I don't like very much, so I was thinking about him as…more like your prize for freeing me…"
"What?"
"Imagine it, Prince Arthur. All of us finally free of that tyrant Uther, together as a family, our child with his parents…and Emrys at your feet, as your pet, forced to do everything you order him to do. You would make him pay for all the pain he caused you at Avalon Castle for a whole year!"
Arthur got very angry at those words and stood up abruptly. His eyes wild. "HE DIDN'T HURT ME! He saved me! He gave me a home, a propose, new friends, a sister…he makes me feel special…he makes me feel loved…" He was almost crying by then.
"NO, YOU FOOLISH BOY! He has manipulated you – still does – brainwashed you, turned you into his bitch! Can't you see he is using you?!" She was yelling.
"SHUT UP!" He screamed, panting. "That's untrue. That was what YOU would have done!" He scoffed, "Yes, he told me what you'd have done in the other future if he hadn't stopped you. You'd have tried to manipulate me into killing my father in the most foolish way possible, which would have probably caused me more harm than good, and then, you would have succeeded into brainwashing by sister Morgana into doing your bidding, condemning her to a life full of loneliness, bitterness and hate…as you're trying to do now with me…" His voice was so cold after this realization.
Morgause cursed herself. She should have known that mentioning Emrys would have been a mistake; his hold on the prince was too strong for her to destroy in one go. But when she had noticed that Arthur was falling into her trap, her eagerness to get free after almost four years had made her go too far too soon. And now it was probably too late to repair the damage in order to try again another day.
"Arthur, you're wrong…listen to me…"
"NO! I'm done listening to your lies…and you're done talking" He held up the gag once again.
"No, wait…no, I-mmphphmm" Her sounds were muffled by the gag that Arthur was tying behind her head angrily.
"You have played with the wrong Pendragon, my dear…just wait until I tell Merlin what you have tried to do. He won't be very happy…"
And he was right. When a few days later Arthur told him everything, Merlin was quite pissed off with the High Priestess. However, since he couldn't physically punish her due to the baby, he just informed her that the gag would never come off again and that he would just use magic to put food and water in her stomach, something that - Arthur told her - was quite unpleasant, according to his personal experience.
On the other hand, Arthur's punishment for disobeying Merlin's orders and almost believing the witch was delivered by the warlock himself in the Prince's chambers later that evening.
The blond didn't walk right for days after.
00000
A month later, i.e. when Morgause was five months pregnant, Merlin was in the cave, conducting an experiment with a cauldron, when Arthur dashed downstairs and joined him, breathless. He was panting heavily, as if he had run for miles.
"Hey, Arthur. What are you doing already here? Weren't you going to spend the afternoon with Morgana?" Asked the warlock while keeping studying the green potion he was preparing.
That morning, Morgana had left to visit her adoptive father Gorlois's grave. She had asked Arthur to accompany her, but the prince had already previous commitments, so he hadn't been able to go. However, he had promised that he would join her later, so they could have a pick-nick before returning to the castle together. But now Arthur was already back, only half an hour after departing.
Since only silence had answered him, Merlin looked up and noticed for the first time Arthur's pale face and shaking figure. He frowned, worried, and reached the blond. He took his face between his hands.
"Darling? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Arthur shook his head. Then, he took a deep breath. "I- I was riding in the forest toward Lord Gorlois's grave, when I came across a group of dead knights, Camelot knights. At first I thought that it was one of our patrols, but then I recognized them. They were Morgana's guards. The ones that had gone with her in my place…all dead!"
Now Merlin was concerned too, "Arthur, is Morgana…?"
"No, thanks God. I found a parchment on one of the men. She has been kidnapped! Please, HELP ME, Merlin!"
"Who took her?"
Arthur's eyes filled with hate and worry, "Sarrum, the King of Amata"