On the third day, Arthur was already awake when the guards came knocking. This time, it was late enough that there was a soft golden light seeping into his chambers through the crack in his curtains, and the castle had been buzzing with servants preparing for the coming day for at least an hour or two. Arthur, who had not had a wink of sleep that night, too worried to sleep, was examining his face in the mirror once more when the not entirely-unexpected knocking at his door came, and he threw back the curtains, showering the room in surprisingly-bright light and half-blinding himself, before dragging himself over to the door, yawning widely. This time, he was ready for the hisses and gasps that were causes by his appearance. He knew that he didn't look good. As now, on top of the brutal-looking bruises and grazes littering his cheek and jaw, there were also dark shadows beneath his eyes from lack of sleep, only emphasised by the large bags that accompanied them. He was a mess.
"Sire." Said the Knight who had been sent to summon him today, speaking through gritted teeth in an effort to hide the anger his Prince's injuries had roused in him. "The King requires your presence in his conference room. He wishes to officialise the agreement you came to last night." The Knight seemed confused by this last sentence, and Arthur guessed that Uther had not actually explained to the man what his message meant, only bade him to bear it. Arthur sighed, deciding to wait rather than expand. The Knight would find out soon enough.
As he strolled down the corridors, he realised that he was receiving a number of odd looks from passers by, as well as some more sympathetic gasps and murmurs. However, things were ten times worse as he reached the conference hall and the two guards who had been guarding his room threw the doors open for him to walk through. At the sight of his injuries, whispers broke out through the room like little hissing fires, elevated in level by the echoing effect given by the walls. Ignoring the gasps and sympathetic groans, he strode, head held high, through the concerned and compassionate crowd to face his father at the front of the hall. Arthur felt his teeth grind together in frustration as he saw that Uther had rounded up all his Knights and lined them up at the front of the hall just before the raised platform on which he and his throne arrogantly sat. Arthur could tell by the looks on the Knight's faces, as the one who had summoned him joined their ranks, that none of them, other than Sir Leon, had been told of what had transpired the previous night and so were completely oblivious as to what was happening or why they were there. Taking a deep, steadying breath, Arthur raised his eyes from where they stood, straight-backed and proud as a Knight should stand, to his father seated smugly upon his throne, as the King gestured for the guard to call the public to order so the conference could begin.
"People of Camelot." Uther began in a loud, obtrusive voice, eyes flashing with pleasure and lips twisted in a triumphant smirk. "I have called you here on this day, to witness the signing of a very important document." Arthur looked up at his father in confusion, before his eyes locked upon a scroll latched in the King's triumphant fist that he had not noticed before. Arthur groaned inwardly at the sight of it. He should have known there old be paper-wok involved. His father was always one to rub things in, and what better way to do so than leering at him over a pile of paper-work that was just waiting to be unwillingly signed? Glaring at his father in intense dislike Arthur stepped forward to take the paper which the King was now holding out to him, with as much fury as physically possible in such a small action.
As he unfurled the scroll, his father continued his smug speech, obviously revelling in the suspense in his subjects faces and posture, for he kept them in the dark for as long as possible while Arthur scanned the scroll, frown deepening with every poisonous line.
"I am sure that you are all very confused, so allow me to explain." He began, clearly glorying in the blank confusion in the baffled faces of the Knights and the oblivious members of the public, as well as the pure loathing etched upon the faces of his son and Sir Leon. "I was visited in the early hours of the morning by my son here." He stated, ignoring the scornful way in which Arthur snorted at the word "visited". "After a rather… let's say stressful conversation, we managed to come to an agreement. You are here today, ladies and gentlemen, to witness Arthur handing his Knights over to my service." Murmurs broke across the room like waves against the shore, quickly morphing into excited chattering and eventually ascending into confused shouting. Arthur kept his jaw locked and eyes boring into his father's gloating face, as the gazes of every single person in the room were trained upon him like torches. But he did not break eye-contact with his father, with whom he appeared to have started a glaring war. He was determined that he would not lose.
Finally, with a sigh of impatience, Uther looked away in annoyance, while Arthur's lips turned up into a triumphant smirk. It was as if the positions had suddenly been switched, Arthur's face becoming arrogant and gloating, while his father glared at him angrily. Then the King handed him a feathered quill and a bottle of ink which wiped the smug grin from his face almost instantly. Forcing his face into a hard mask, Arthur mounted the raised platform and placed the scroll of paper upon the desk that had been conveniently placed there. He took a deep, painful breath before putting the tip of his quill to the paper, were it rested, quivering but otherwise motionless for a moment, before the image of Jessica's face washed through his mind, and he hastily scribbled his signature, handing over his Knights to his father and, in his mind, sealing Merlin's woeful fate.
Hope you like it! I'm too tired to write anything much here, but please please please please review! Thanks! :)