Chapter XIV: Explanation

A/N: I loathe this chapter with the passion of a thousand burning suns. You can skip it, nothing really happens. I know that not only this chapter sucks terribly; it's also absurdly short, well… c'est la vie.

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"Lancelot!"

"My Prince." The knight greeted polite with an honest smile in his lips.

"Yeah, whatever, come… now. Melvin! Stay out of the way." He scolded the Servant whom had a look full of resignation in his face and was trying to juggle with everything in his arms.

"Yes, Your Highness…" He sighed, the prince just ordered him after the defeat of the Gargoyles to attend him like always and he couldn't say no. He tried with Merlin only to find out the Prince was in a row with the Lady Morgana and the Apprentice.

"What happened, My Lord? Is the Kingdom in danger?" The future first knight asked when the Prince hauled him very forceful to his tent.

"No, you will change places with me." Lance frowned and he heard Alvin sighed very helpless.

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't! You will change place with me, that's an order…"

"I will search for the Lady Morgana and Merlin… just hold on a little." Alvin grew a pair after a few moments of internal debate; looking at the knight whom seemed on the verge of crying because of the misfortune of being dragged in one of the ill-advised plots of the Crown Prince.

"Martin… you do that and I will make your life miserable. Do you understand? That was for you too Sir Lancelot… you are going to do what I told you to and if I find that Morgana or Merlin found out about this, there will be hell to pay…" Alvin shrieked hunching in his shoulder and making himself as small as he could.

"But My Lord! You mustn't! What would you father say?" Lancelot knew that he was going to lose his life after the tournament. My sweet Guinevere! Was the only thought in the knight's thoughts.

"Shut up Lancelot. Melvin…"

"Alvin." The tanned man corrected, not believing the nerve of the prince.

"Whatever! Martin will attend us both. You will get out when I'm called and vice-versa… and you better be good keeping your mouth shut!"

"My-My Lord… thi-th-this i-is su-ch-ch a ba-ad i-i-idea…" The stutter in the Servant voice was worse than usual. Arthur looked with all the contempt he could muster at he-who-was-not-Merlin. A panicked cry bubbled from Alvin's chest; the poor servant just wanted to run away.

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"That's not Arthur…" Morgana observed when the King announced the joust. The King had a fit when his daughter had told him that she wanted to sit with the commoners, but she did it anyway. Gaius was one step up, and below was Merlin in the middle of Morgana and Gwen.

"You are right… holy mother…! Is Lancelot!" The Warlock discovered when he switched to his magical sight and recognized the knight's life force. Morgana squinted, paying special attention to the knight.

"It's true! It is Sir Lancelot! What is Lancelot doing jousting instead of Arthur?" Morgana stood up, but Merlin held her arm; avoiding doing something rash.

"Wait… who was jousting in Lance's place then?" Gwen remembered that a few matches ago Lancelot jousted.

"Arthur? The Prat… they switched places!" Merlin put the puzzle together, Morgana sat down.

"Why on earth would the Prince do that?" Gaius interjected after listening to the conversation. The four flinched when the crowd cheered.

"Arthur believes all the knights throw the matches away when they face him!" Merlin yelled trying to explain with all the noise in the crowd.

"That sounds just like him!" Morgana yelled after.

"He might have a point! I heard…!" Gwen tried to say.

"WHAT?" The three others yelled, when another wave of cheers hit when Lancelot/Arthur threw the other knight off his saddle. The yelling subsided and Gwen spoke again.

"Lancelot was very worried about the prince and he was thinking of throwing the match, but I spoke him out of it."

"That was very noble of you, my dear." Gaius appraised, putting a hand in her shoulder. She smiled at the Physician, flustered.

"What are we going to do?" Gwen looked at her three co-conspirators.

"Let the King chew him a new one, when he reveal himself at the end of the tournament…" Merlin proposed, crossing his arms on his chest and crossing his right leg over his knee.

"I agree, he deserves it…" Morgana agreed. Gaius and Gwen looked at them disapproving, they ignored them of course.

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"Merlin! My Lady Morgana! Gaius! Someone! Please! The Crown Prince has been hurt! Please!" Merlin poked his head; Morgana appeared not far behind.

"What is it?"

"The Prince! Run! Quickly!"

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"What happened?" Merlin asked getting into the tent, Morgana jogged to enter too.

"This man…" That was Lancelot's way of calling the assassin a fucker. "Tried to kill Prince Arthur! Quick Merlin! You have to do something; he is losing a lot of blood!"

"Get out of the tent, Alvin." The Seer ordered with a hard voice.

"Yes, lady Morgana." He bowed and hurried out the tent, he didn't want to be there anyway.

"I'll keep watch." She told Merlin, the Warlock nodded. Lancelot was never so confused in his life.

"Merlin, what are you doing?" Arthur asked trying to stay awake because of the wound.

"Well, you are going to joust no matter what we do, so… stand still. On-hweorfan gif sceáp sý ábrocen." Arthur jumped, trying to get away from the Warlock; when his eyes flashed golden, he then noticed marvelled how the broken skin mended. "All done. Morgana!" He notified the Seer so she would stops the vigil and relaxed. "You can go and hurt yourself again."

"Yo-you are a Warlock?" Lancelot was gawking. Morgana smirked and then shrugged, helping Arthur for the match while Merlin sorted the knight.

"Yep… that explains a lot of things, don't you think Lance?" He winked at the knight very naughty.

"Right. I apologize." He was really uncomfortable not knowing what to do.

"Nah…" Merlin dismissed, waiving his hands. "Need any help Morgana?"

"Yes, how do you put this?"

"Like this…" He showed the Ward how to do it.

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Arthur cautiously opened the door, revealing Morgana, Merlin and Lancelot talking amenable in Gaius' table. They all shut up and looked at the Crown Prince and Arthur flinched. Why they always shut up like that when he entered the room? Why Morgana was treated like one of them and Arthur was carefully shunned so his feelings wouldn't be hurt?

"Your Highness, are you feeling all right?" Gaius appeared with some food and put it in the table. "I understand that you were hurt by an assassin…"

"I'm fine, Gaius. I appreciate your concern."

"Then, there is something else you wanted?"

"I… I wanted to talk to Merlin."

"I should go…" The knight tried to stood up, to offer a little of privacy to his prince in sympathy.

"Stay, I know how this one goes." He stopped Lance, patting his shoulder.

"I would like to speak alone… if you don't mind."

"I do mind, I'm not going to apologize for what I am or how I was born. Whatever you have to say; Morgana, Lancelot and Gaius are going to find out anyway. Believe me I'm planning on bitching about every single word that comes out of your mouth." The blonde took a deep breath trying not to growl.

"I'm going out of here. I don't want to be here to see you end in the gutter…" Gaius shook his head and abandoned the room.

"I'm not here for that… I… I might have been wrong." He began a little insecure.

"We are out of here…" Morgana spoke, tugging Lancelot to leave the room. She could now feel the future when she was awake; the Druids were very helpful while dealing with her gift and practice made her, everyday more and more powerful. Arthur was there to make amends.

"Yeah… Yes! We'll see you later…" Lancelot agreed relieved when Morgana let him escape de room. Morgana picked some of the cookies that Merlin had baked with her and she decided to go and find Gwen.

"I'm listening, I think…" He poured some tea to his cup and then he sighed and poured another one for the Prat.

"Thanks." The Prince mumbled looking at the dark liquid wave.

"Sure, what's up? Biscuits?"

"Did you steal that from the kitchens?"

"No, I made them myself with Morgana's help, but if you don't want, alas… don't eat." Merlin was going to eat the cookie when the Prince snatched off his hands and bite it.

"This is good… what are the black things in the dough?"

"Ergh… something that is not going to be discovered until the 16th century." The Warlock told him, clearing his throat.

"What?"

"It's just chocolate."

"I never heard of it."

"And you won't…" Merlin murmured sipping his tea quietly. Silence befell the room. "So…"

"So…"

"Do you know that I don't care for a no-apology or for your not-temper-tantrum, don't you?"

"I just want to understand."

"What do you want to understand, Arthur?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. I mean, I don't understand you at all… all of that, that Sigan told us. Why?"

"You will have to be a little more specific Arthur. Sigan told you a lot of things, all of them true."

"That's a new one… an evil bastard telling de truth…" The Once and Future King snorted, it was short lived his amusement, when Merlin's eyes became bleak.

"He is so powerful he doesn't need to lie Arthur." Merlin told him, resigned.

"You are exaggerating…" He tried to shrug the thing off.

"I most certainly do not. Not even Mother likes him. She rejected him, but…" He muttered and then shrugged sipping the tea again. "So you can have a vague idea of what Sigan can do: he can resurrect an army without any aid. He just moves his arms and thousands of corpses leave their tombs to fight for him. He holds a power like no other. When I unconsciously shifted in time, he remained… that should tell you something."

"Now you are scaring me."

"You do well to fear him." That took the crown prince by surprise. "Not even I can protect you from him. He is outside the realm of the imaginable, he is pure essence. You destroy his body, he comes back… you vanquish him, he reappears; he is for all intents and purposes immortal. Pray for Cerdan to hold his end of the bargain and never let Mordred out of his sight or we all are doomed." Merlin stood up and walked to Gaius' shelves to search for a book to read and to forget about all he was talking.

"Aren't you the Prince of Magic?" Arthur grunted half ironic, half annoyed. Merlin turned back and looked at him very angry.

"It makes me neither invincible nor immortal. You have to understand what magic is, Arthur. I cannot just snap my finger and hope for what I'm aiming to happen. Magic is a lot like your sword. You need years of training and understanding, things that Sigan got in gallons. Please, leave this room or not wait. You are the Once and Future King… I am the one whom is going. Have a good day, your highness."

Well, that went rather well… were the caustic thoughts running in Arthur's mind.

TBC