The Truth of False Accusations Chapter 14
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of its characters or dialogue. They belong to the BBC
After three days of solid walking, the end of my journey finally draws near. Across the valley, I can see Camelot: my home. To be honest, I have been walking so long that I had started to wonder if Merlin had pointed me in the right direction. It would have served me right for trusting a sorcerer. And yet, here I am, only a day-and-a-half's walk away from home. The only problem I have now is what to do when I get there. I was so busy worrying about whether I would get back to think about what I would tell everyone if I did. Now that I think about it, I realise that I have only three options: 1. lie to the King and my fellow knights by pretending I never ran into Merlin. 2. lie to the King and my fellow knights by pretending Merlin was evil rather than helpful. 3. tell the truth, not be believed, and possibly be dismissed because of my "somewhat misguided" view of sorcerers. My options aren't looking too good right now.
There was confusion. Lots of it, and not much else.
Knights whirled around the arena taking town their fellow competitors left, right, and centre. There were so many knights crammed into the confined space that many were finding that they were actually incapable of swinging their sword without hitting someone. Nobody noticed the two knights fighting rather carefully with each other at the edge of the arena. Their swords had rounded edges, just like those of the other knights; but when one of them struck the barrier clumsily after managing to miss his opponent, his sword nicked the wall leaving a noticeable gouge in the wood.
Eventually most of the battling knights realised that if they had taken that many hits in a real battle, they would probably be dead; so thought now might be the time to make as dignified an exit as was still possible. A great mass of knights walked, limped, or crawled out of the arena.
Only six knights remained. One bore the dragon crest, identifying him as Arthur Pendragon. None of the other five were very well known in Camelot, as they served in other parts of the kingdom. The remaining knights had broken up into duelling pairs. Arthur fought a knight in a blue tunic from the other side of the kingdom. A knight in green, and one in light purple were fighting on the other side of the arena. Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan still fought each other at the side of the arena.
With a quick blow to the neck, Arthur "finished off" his opponent. Rather grudgingly, the defeated knight went to join the cluster of other knights who had stayed to watch the show.
The green and the purple knights were still locked in tight combat. It was at this point in time that Sir Ethan and Sir Oswald moved away from the edge of the arena for the first time.
Morgana saw the two knights step away from the edge of the arena. They had been directly below her, so she had barely noticed them until they moved.
To her left, Gaius seemed to have noticed them too. In fact, he was watching them as if he were expecting something. Could he somehow know what she did, about the Stalun blades?
To occupy herself, she glanced over at where the other two knights were still fighting. That's right; one of them was wearing green. She remembered that the dying meddler, in her vision, had been wearing green. It would be soon now.
Morgana watched as Sir Oswald headed straight for Arthur while sir Ethan circled behind him. Oblivious to the impending danger, the Prince turned to face them, blunt weapon in hand.
Arthur was keeping his eyes on Sir Oswald, ready to engage him in mock battle. He thought Sir Ethan was moving to engage the green knight, who appeared to have triumphed over his opponent. The purple knight was leaving the arena. Sir Oswald raised his sword to strike at Arthur, but so did Sir Ethan. The crowd booed at the dirty tactics, but then cheered as the green knight rushed in to the attack, throwing Sir Ethan off balance through a heavy blow with his shield. Arthur raised his shield to block Sir Oswald's blow, but to everyone's horror, the shield was struck in two. Arthur leapt aside, dodging the killing blow. His shield had fallen uselessly to the ground. The crowd was transfixed by the battle between Arthur and Oswald, so few of them noticed that the green knight had charged Sir Ethan, and was struggling in close combat. The knight managed to knock the sword from Sir Ethan's hand then lunged after the fallen sword, casting his own aside. Now Sir Ethan was backing away, clearly terrified to have lost his deadly advantage. The green knight quickly dispatched the retreating Sir Ethan then spun around to assist Arthur.
Oswald was attacking fiercely, with Arthur frantically twisting and ducking to avoid the deadly blows. The green knight leapt between Arthur and Oswald. With a growl, Sir Oswald struck out at the offending knight, using his shield to deal a blow to the man's jaw. This knocked off the knight's helmet as well as effectively stunning him. The crowed gasped again.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Sir Oswald delivered the final blow to the now helmet-less knight. Becoming aware of the mob of angry, highly armed guards converging on the arena, Sir Oswald made a decision. Pulling his sword free, he made a run for it.
Blood dripping from his open wound, Gwaine collapsed on the sand.
Let me make this perfectly clear. GWAINE IS NOT DEAD! If you want to know how he survived, It'll be in the next chapter, along with a well needed look at what Merlin's up to. I have big plans for Gwaine in coming chapters, I'm not going to kill him off now. Sorry if I scared you.