Author's Note: The name of the chapter means equality and justice.
"Nathan Blackwood."
There was a moment of stunned silence. With a collected in-drawn breath, every person in the room started to comment on this reveal, heads tilting and eyes squinting in search of the man in question.
Merlin felt the disgustingly familiar sense of betrayal grip him. He had thought Nathan an ally, a good man… Had he made the mistake of trusting the wrong person once again? He saw Arthur's spine stiffen, saw the betrayal in the tense set of those shoulders. He wished he could walk the few steps that would take him to his friend. He wished he could hug Arthur, take him away from such ugliness.
But his lover was a king, a man sworn to uphold the justice of the land. So Merlin said nothing. He stared at Nathan when the man stepped forward.
The whole room was staring at Nathan, waiting for him to start… something. Maybe he would spew obscenities. Perhaps he was going to plead his innocence. It was like the most dramatically macabre theatre ever conceived.
"I am innocent, Your Grace," he said in soft tones that forced everyone to pay attention to his words. If he had been hysterical or screaming, it would have been far easier to dismiss him. "But a traitor would say the same, so... " He thought for a minute, and even though his hands shook with fear, he maintained a calm exterior. "I have full faith in the king's justice," he said at last.
Merlin stared at the stoic stance and panicked eyes, wondering. Nathan was not behaving like a guilty man… Any guilty noble worth his salt would have alibis and proof of innocence at the ready. They had known for a while that their accomplices were rotting in dungeons. Why was Nathan still here?
"Lord Cathal," continued Reagan.
Merlin's head whipped around to look at the man who was taking obvious pleasure in naming these men. Reagan sat on his knees, his back straight. His mouth smiled even as his eyes laughed. He had the wicked look of someone who was doing something very, very wrong and doing it very, very well. Even before Cathal strode forward to stand next to Nathan, Merlin knew that Reagan was lying. He was going to get rid of everyone that openly supported Arthur.
The next name to fall from his lips only confirmed it. "The court physician, Gaius."
The throne room erupted in scandalized uproar. Everyone knew that Gaius had been the first person to hold the king in his arms. They knew that he was like a father to Merlin. He was the oldest man at court, and had been here forever. That he would work against the king was not only surprising, it was dangerous. Gaius was seen as a man who would do whatever was best for Camelot. His apparent support for the traitors' cause could turn them into martyrs in the public eye. It could legitimize this movement against Arthur.
Merlin didn't know what to do. He couldn't force the truth out of Reagan with magic, because everyone would think he was protecting Gaius, and perhaps the others. If he used magic, all the courtiers gathered wouldn't believe the truth out of Reagan's mouth. They would suspect that they were hearing exactly what Merlin wanted them to hear.
He racked his brains even as Reagan kept naming the most loyal of Arthur's subjects. Pretty soon, the best of Arthur's knights had joined the others-Gwaine, Lancelot, his wife Gwen, Leon and Percival were all awaiting the king's justice. Merlin could see the excitement of the crowd, the stoic anger and frustration of the knights.
He had to do something.
"Stefn sé sóþcwide," he whispered under his breath, hoping no one would see the telltale gold flash in his downcast eyes.
The self-satisfied smirk on Reagan's face faltered even as his words did. He stopped accusing the best people in Arthur's court. The damage had already been done, of course. The gruesome list of names had stopped, but not without an impressive amount of people already under the crowd's scrutiny.
Arthur, said Merlin in his head, hoping his friend would hear him. He saw the answer in the slight twitch of Arthur's shoulders, in the way he stiffened. His head turned a little to his right, as though he was listening to Merlin over his shoulder.
I have spelled him to speak the truth, said Merlin. Just ask him questions. He can only speak the truth now.
Arthur nodded once, and then faced Reagan again. "Lord Reagan, why have you named all these men?"
"I want you to punish them. Kill them," said Reagan. His voice was strangely devoid of the venom his words warranted.
"Are they guilty of treason? Of plotting against my life?" said Arthur. Lord Reagan stayed silent, probably realizing he was spouting truth he had better not speak. "If you do not speak now, I will hang you in the courtyard. Answer your king!"
Arthur's raised tone did the trick, and Reagan spoke. "No," he said.
"Then why did you want me to kill them?"
"They are loyal to you, like bitches to their master," said Reagan, and there was real venom in his voice now. "If it weren't for these people, you would have been far easier to kill. You and that puppet-master of yours."
The silence of the hall was once again lost to the scandalized whispers. People were starting to see what was happening. What was more, Reagan's uncensored words were making it clear exactly how crazy the traitors were.
"Name the rest of the people you conspired with. Name all your accomplices."
And Reagan did.
Upon asking, they were told that Heather was "stashed" at the home of Lord Hardwood, the old councilman who had made Arthur's life a living hell when he was discussing the reforms with his small council. Arthur remembered how much he had wanted the old man to die soon. He was sure he would get his wish.
Apparently, the fanatical men believed that they were the good kind of people who would never harm a little girl, and so there had been incertitude in the ranks regarding what should be done with her. They found the girl unconscious in the basement of Lord Hardwood's sprawling manor. She looked malnourished and the sight broke Arthur's heart. Even as Gwaine carried her up to the castle for Gaius to take a look at, everyone was subdued. The knights were distracted for a while. Arthur didn't comment on it. He was distracted too.
Some of the nobles had been secure in the knowledge that Reagan would never betray the cause. They were caught in their homes, napping or doing something equally mundane. Arthur wondered at the weakness of their conscience. They had been killing a little girl, had been willing to kill both Dristan and Merlin. How did none of this ever influence them?
Merlin helped immensely in finding out the seven men who had escaped. He climbed to the top of the castle, his hair fluttering wildly as he looked out over all of Camelot. There was a flash of gold, and suddenly Merlin could see the past, see the men hurrying out of their homes and onto their best horses. He followed the men, one by one, till the golden tint of the past faded away and he was looking at them in the present.
One by one, he dispatched knights to bring them all back, screaming and begging.
They were all gathered in the courtyard by the time night fell, the men accused of betraying their king, now begging for mercy and cursing their king in the same breath. Some were praying, some were standing in a sort of trance, while others were openly weeping. There were several proclamations of innocence, but none of the knights guarding these men batted an eyelash. They all remembered the grim manner in which Gaius had informed them of Heather's raging fever. He wasn't certain of her fate.
Arthur had ordered the courtyards to be opened to the public, for he wanted this message echoing throughout the kingdom. The courtyard looked eerily like it did when Uther was king. People had gathered to see the king's justice done in a gruesome and macabre way. They had gathered to see the punishment, equal parts anxious and eager, their earnest faces seemingly flickering in the candlelight. Arthur had thought about it long and hard, about what he was about to do. It was unexpected, but it was still something Arthur felt was right, mercy had to begin somewhere. He would take the first step.
"You are all accused of treason against the crown," he said. Silence fell in the courtyard. "You have been named by your own accomplice, and your homes have been searched for proof." He let that new piece of information sink in. "We have questioned your wives and your mistresses, talked to your favourite whores. We have found letters in some of your homes. So do not dare to tell me you are innocent, because all of you are guilty as sin." He paused. "However, if any of you has genuine proof of their innocence, you are welcome to show it."
It wasn't necessary to give them this chance. Arthur knew that they were guilty. Reagan had named them all when he could speak nothing but the truth. The men huddled together under the knights' watchful eyes stared back in dismay, wracking their brains for any way to prove their innocence. Each of them had been presented with the evidence found in their homes when they had spent the afternoon in the dungeons. Tomorrow, every letter and every testimony would be public. They had no way to argue their innocence. They stood wretchedly, awaiting their fate.
Arthur took a deep breath. When he spoke, his voice carried. "You think I am controlled by the Court Sorcerer. You think this, because I insist on treating people like people, because I refuse to condemn my own countrymen. Because I refuse to be my father." He looked at the gathered people. "Most of you are older than I am. You have lived in a world where magic is neither evil nor fearsome, where all it meant was that your neighbour could find your lost chicken or predict the rains." He tried to keep the anger out of his voice. "I am never condemning an entire people."
He looked back to the men who were shivering in the night chill. "You are the ones who have committed horrible crimes in your zeal to prove you know how best to rule thiskingdom. You have decided, on your own, that I don't suit you as king anymore because I am not cruel enough to people you consider superior. You conspired against me, against the Court Sorcerer. You almost killed him, almost killed his ward. The girl you kidnapped and stashed unconscious in a dungeon is battling lung fever and may not see her seventh birthday.
"None of you deserve to live."
Arthur let all his anger and hatred show in his face as everyone around him gaped at him. They all knew the penalty for treason. They all knew Arthur was well within his rights to take their heads. They had known this when they had first started whispering of his incompetence.
"There is a lesson to be learned here today," he said at last when the silence was overwhelming. "All lives are created equal. They are equal. The magical children come into the world squalling and naked, as did I. As did you all. As did these men before you. We are all the same, and all lives matter in this world. To prove this, to show you that I do condone mercy and equality, I will let you live."
The traitors in front of him said nothing, but the crowd that had gathered more than made up for it. They didn't whisper or mutter, they screamed. They were shouting and cheering the mercy of their king. There were more than a few cries demanding grisly murder. Arthur ignored them all. They needed to learn that he was the final source of justice.
"Know this: I am not my father, who would definitely see you all dead. But I am going to give you a chance. This is your last chance, so use it wisely, or I will take off your heads. Anyone found guilty of treason ever again will be killed. Your lands and your titles now belong to the crown. They will be redistributed as I see fit. You will be escorted by my knights to the north border. Our spies in Essetir have been warned of your arrival, and they will keep an eye on you. You will have nothing but the clothes on your back. You will never meet your families again. You will never go home. You are banned from Camelot, and will return on pain of death."
Even as people erupted in cheers and the younger traitors started to sob at his mercy, Arthur looked back at Merlin. He had insisted that he needed to stay in the shadows, that Arthur needed to announce the beheadings on his own, lest people think he was still being controlled. Arthur hadn't told Merlin what he was planning to do. He looked at Merlin, hoping he understood. Hoping he had made the right choice.
Merlin's slight smile and little nod told him a lot of things Merlin didn't need to say. They told him Merlin was proud of him. It meant the world to him.
He looked back again at his rejoicing people. Maybe, one day, he could actually tell them about his love. Maybe, one day, Merlin won't have to hide in shadows.
He could only hope.
Author's Note: Stefn sé sóþcwide means "tell the truth". Lung fever is the old name for pneumonia.