SAME DISCLAIMER AS IN CHAPTER 1

Thanks very much again for the wonderful reviews! They make my day every time :-) :-)
And I am very pleased you liked the previous chapter and the twist...
But that was not the only one... ;-)

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this installment too!

Oh... and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :-)

Chapter 26: Family ties

The night seemed to have passed excruciatingly slow for Arthur and yet morning was already upon him. As expected, he hadn't been able to sleep. After the… surreal encounter with the Princess, it was like his entire world was upside down.

He had gone through all sorts of emotions afterwards. His pain… actually her pain, had made it difficult to breathe at first. The image of that beautiful red-haired little girl watching in horror the slaughter of her family was still imprinted in his mind…

Later—and perhaps because of that foreign pain—he had become angry with the Princess for not having disclosed her powers earlier… For not having trusted him before… Blaming her for having such powers, and blaming her memory for not leaving him alone…

At the end, everything had faded out except for something akin to desperation… He was a pragmatic warrior and even though he had been in countless trying situation and had faced innumerable hard decisions before, he was sourly discovering that for the first time in his life he was utterly at a loss of what to do… Not to mention what to think, or, worst, what to feel…

The need to do something—and sleeping was obviously out of the picture—had made him march purposely into the scribe's quarters, abruptly awaking the old scholar at those unsightly hours of the night and requesting to review the treaty right then. The old scholar had been only half awake during their meeting and after the third time the poor man had fallen asleep on his chair, Arthur had decided to take the papers back to his quarters.

The marriage treaty now rested on his desk, after having been read over and over again, hoping for the next time to bring more information than the previous.

Nothing. Well, except that clause. The clause stating that the Princess should reside in Camelot for a period not shorter than a year before the actual marriage could take place.

The scribe's explanation had been quite simplistic: maybe Ruther wanted to make sure his niece approved of her new kingdom before handing her over to Camelot. But Arthur knew better.

The real reason behind that clause was far from a generous concern for the Princess' well being but rather the complete opposite. A year-time would provide a big enough window of opportunity for the Steward to expose his niece's powers to the Camelot King. And the Gods only knew what his father's reaction would then be.

Shrieking internally at the plethora of dreadful images that such fateful outcome brought to his mind, the Prince had to agree that the devious plan could potentially be quite effective for its intended purposes, as sickening as the idea was.

After going over the situation for the millionth time, Arthur found himself back at the beginning of the merry-go-round of thoughts that had plagued his mind. The Princess had given him—finally—an irrefutable reason for which theirs was indeed an ill-fated union.

Unfortunately for him, it had come too late… If he had known of this in Eleara—as originally planned by the way—his life would be much easier now. He was sure he would have found a plausible explanation for his father… even plain rebellion might have actually worked too, and none of this would have happened.

Most importantly, he wouldn't have this unbearable sensation of hopelessness he was definitely not used to feel. But, for better of worse, Gwynn had had that… wonderful idea of hiding her identity at the beginning and he—in yet another inopportune burst of pride—had played along with it…

The end result of that odd succession of happenstances was that they had gotten to know each other, had become attached to each other… and that was where the problem indeed resided.

The simple truth was that he couldn't bring himself to leave Leoness without making sure that she would be all right.

Arthur tried a smile after having kept a stern expression throughout the night.
The daylight seemed to have helped his brain to work after all… At long last, he had a concrete task at hand: making sure Ruther would not be able to hurt her… ever again.

A satisfied long sigh decompressed his taut chest. He was finally getting somewhere… He had a clear mission—albeit a complicated one—but at least he could act on it. Passiveness was categorically not his cup of tea, thus the realization that he had something to do felt nothing short of a blessing for his tired mind.

Noticing that sunrise had arrived, he sat and extended his legs on top of his desk, watching the first rays of the sun reached the window. He still had to formulate a plan though, and for that he would need information. Reliable information. From where to get it was a different problem in and of itself.

Once he'd learned how the internal politics of the country were running—or who was running them for that matter—he could figure out what to do to ensure Gwynn's safety.

At her memory, and against all his wishes, the second problem came back to his mind. The one he had pushed away over and over throughout the night. The one he felt he could not deal with at the moment. Simply put, the problem was what to do with her… Or, rather, with his confusing feelings for her.

He couldn't marry her, could he?
He was attracted to her like a moth to a flame, and then some… But… wasn't this what he had wanted all along?
Wasn't he getting his way after all and remaining a bachelor?

He had come to Leoness to obtain the real, truthful reason why she didn't want to marry him… And Gwynn had given it to him… Never mind the fact that the Prince felt he had gotten far more than he had bargained for.
At the end… Wasn't his pride safe and sound because it was not he, but she the reason why their union would never work?

Those were empty questions now since Arthur wasn't sure what he wanted anymore… Nonetheless, somehow he did know that whatever he was getting out of this situation was not part of it.

The Prince scoffed bitterly…
It could certainly be seen as poetic justice that the heir of Camelot—of King Uther's Camelot—would be so taken by a magical being…

Was magic really so bad?
What fault did she have for having been born with those powers?

And an even more unsettling thought… How many more people, how many of his subjects, were currently in a similar plight, living in fear in Camelot and with no further fault but to have been born… special?

It was true that the Prince's experience with magic had not been—generally speaking—a good one. But it was also true that most of those situations had been acts of revenge against his father. And as much as he dreaded to admit it, the King's irrational actions against magic had obviously collected more enemies than friends.

The fact that magic could be simply a birth gift had been unknown to him. Nevertheless, and contrary to his father's beliefs, Arthur had always… sensed that not all those with magical powers were necessarily evil. It was that, until now, he had never stopped to really think about it. It had been easier to turn a deaf ear to that little voice inside that'd kept telling him to follow what was truly in his heart on that issue.

Perhaps it was time to start setting some things straight.
At least the ones he could at the moment. He had been a silent bystander for far too long to something that—he was finding out—he did not even fully believe in.

Who knew… when he'd be king, perhaps he could do something yet more radical about it.

Merlin woke up earlier than usual. Somehow, something had disturbed his customary sound sleep… Had magic been used in this place?

He disregarded the idea while stretching and yawing.
No. It couldn't be.

A second later the warlock sat up with a start.
The Princess…
Would she know of her powers after all?
And if so, would Arthur know as well?

Though it was quite early, since he was awake he figured it would be better to check up on the Prince. Just in case…

Besides, he was much interested in learning about last night… Arthur's mood during the banquet had been as difficult to follow as the Labyrinth of Gedref, and so was the Princess'.

And then, they had both disappeared within minutes of each other. The Princess had retired with Helene, but Arthur had pretty much ignored him when leaving the banquet. The whereabouts of the Prince had been a mystery afterwards…

Although seeing them fight against their obvious mutual attraction had been quite amusing, Merlin was still worried about the outcome. Arthur could be really—really—stubborn sometimes, and going by what he had been able to gather so far, it seemed that Princess Gwynn was a serious competitor on that arena as well. Who knew which one of these two obstinate royals would prevail in an eventual battle of wills.

The warlock's current problem was, however, how to find out about what happened without being threatened with any of the new methods of torture his master was devising as of late.

Food.
He would bring a good breakfast to Arthur since with a full stomach the Prince was usually a friendlier interlocutor than when hungry. Perchance then he would be content enough as to share the latest developments with the Princess.

The breakfast tray he was carrying almost fell to the floor when the wizard walked in Arthur's chambers and found his master pretty much dressed like the night before, sitting on his chair with his legs on the desk.

At the noise of the door opening, the Prince turned his weary look towards the entrance and Merlin feared the worst. Arthur's tone, however, did not sounded half as bad as his face looked.

"Merlin… Good morning" He put his feet down. "I'm glad you are early for once."

Okay then. The bickering was still there, which was good because his master let go of it only when something truly terrible had happened… or was about to…

"Good morning Arthur. Did you actually sleep last night?"

"Not really."

The answer was calmed enough too, which was also odd because without proper sleep the Prince was always very cranky. Crankier than usual, to be exact…

When setting the tray on the table, the warlock noticed that the treaty papers were spread out on the desk. His master had been doing homework it seemed.

Last, but not least, Merlin also noticed that Arthur did not jump on the food either. In his experience, the only thing that distracted the Prince from his breakfast was when something especially important was in his mind… As a rule, that would most likely be a major problem in which he would get inexorably sucked into sooner or later…

By then, the warlock had decided that he probably needed to start worrying. Arthur's demeanor was beyond confusing.

"I see… Are you well?"

The Prince did not answer. His eyes were trained on the window again and Merlin was now certain that something was definitely amiss.

"Arthur?"

Finally the Prince sighed and drank the tea that had been brought for him. When he put his cup down, however, he looked at his servant and friend with a very new and very disconcerting expression in his eyes.

For a moment, Merlin felt like Arthur was seeing him for what he really was; as if he knew of his secret… his magic, and decided to stop pretending.

But that was obviously absurd, was it not?
What else could it be then?

"What do you know about magic Merlin?"

Needless it's to say that at this point the poor warlock only wished for the floor to open underneath his feet and the earth to swallow him into oblivion. Not only his master's entire behavior had been puzzling enough, but that question was the last one he would have guessed in a million years of trying.

He only hoped that his face hadn't totally transmitted the shock he had felt to his core. Maybe his intuition had been right—once again and in an inopportune moment as usual—and his secret was indeed out.

Maybe the Princess had sensed it and had told Arthur…
Maybe…

The Prince's eyes were serene though.
And he was calmly waiting for an answer.

Merlin swallowed the knot on his throat as inconspicuously as possible; yet his voice was slightly croaked when he answered, trying to sound witty.

"That… it is… forbidden?"

"Don't try to be funny, Merlin. It does not suit you... Not when you do it on purpose, of course." The lightly sarcastic comment had been preceded by the typical rolling of the eyes, but was followed by a serious royal order. "Answer me."

There seemed to be no way out of it—none that the young wizard could think of at least—so he would have to thread carefully and see where the conversation might lead.

"Why ask me?"

Arthur narrowed his eyes and for a second time Merlin had the keen sensation his master was seeing through him. Then again, the response was quite uncompromising.

"You seem to have an opinion on everything…"

"Yes, but you never want to hear it."

"That has never stopped you before and in this case, however, I do."

Evidently, all possible ways out were closed except for one: blissful ignorance. The warlock tried this last desperate resort, coupled with the formal, dutiful treatment… and hoped for the best.

"I do not know what you are asking Sire."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Arthur chuckled and looked down, apparently giving up. Merlin sighed imperceptibly; he might have just gotten away with it… A second later, though, Gaius' words echoed in his mind:

'We need to have faith in the great destiny that awaits you and Arthur.'

The real implication of the circumstance downed on the wizard… The Prince had given him the opportunity to say something and he had cowered away, more worried about his secret than what the question could actually mean.

And although he would rather not think about the reasons behind his friend's query at the moment, he was letting this golden opportunity pass him by without even trying.

He cleared his throat.
"Since you asked, though… I always thought that magic could be like… a sword. Your sword."

Arthur vividly looked up to him, his expression clearly indicating that the warlock had the full royal attention.

"I mean… you can wield it to defend what is good and fair in this world… or you can use it to kill innocents and just for the evil of it…"

There was no change in his master's demeanor, so Merlin continued.
"In both cases it is you who is responsible for the good or bad of your actions… Your sword is just a sword."

An almost imperceptible nod from the Prince encouraged the wizard to finish his discourse. He shrugged his shoulders as if his next words were merely an immaterial comment.

"I know your father does not believe that… But I always thought that there is not good or bad magic… There is simply magic... And there are those who would use it for good and those who would do so for evil, but in itself… I think magic is neutral… And just like a sword," he added, "there are people very powerful with it and those who can barely wield it…"

There was a hint of a smile curving his master's mouth, but still he said nothing and stood up, moving towards the window.

Had the answer been what the Prince had been expecting?
More exactly… What the hell was the Prince expecting from that question?

Although Merlin was pleased with his response and he'd congratulated himself for being honest and… stealthy at the same time, the truth was that he would really feel better if he knew what was going on in his master's head at that moment. The silence became uncomfortable for the warlock very soon, and desperately searching for a change in topics, he signaled the papers on the desk.

"Have you been reviewing the treaty?"

Arthur remained pensive for a short while but then came back to the moment… and to the breakfast tray. His disposition was quite different.

"Yes. Something is definitely odd about this." He bit a piece of cheese and the servant smiled inwardly: if the royal appetite was back, then that was a good sign. The Prince continued, somehow still lost in his own thoughts. "Ruther requested for his niece to live in Camelot for a period not shorter than a year before actually agreeing to the formal marriage."

The warlock was at a loss. After thinking for a minute, he asked confused.
"Is this condition typical of marriage treaties?"

Arthur slapped his forehead as if remembering.
"But of course it is! How silly of me to forget that… In all my marriages I saw the same clause written in every treaty after all!" He glared at his manservant. "How should I know?"

The sarcasm was back too. Even better. Merlin smiled.
"Have you asked the scribe?"

The Prince nodded while chewing on the bread.
"He said that the treaty was legitimate, and that perhaps Ruther wants to be sure his niece liked her new kingdom before actually giving her away."

"But you do not think that's the reason." It was a statement, not a question.

"No. I do not. And I need to find out what's going on… For Gwynn's sake."

Excellent. It was 'Gwynn' again. That should also account for something too… Merlin reckoned it was a good opportunity to ask about the latest tidings on the matter when Arthur continued.

"There is something else…" He paused, serious. "Last night, when we were in the balcony, a guard was spying on us."

The warlock arched his eyebrows with an amused expression. "Was he protecting the Princess… from you?"

Arthur threw him an annoyed look but then answered, somber again.
"Gwynn said that those were men from her uncle's personal army. At first I thought that she meant the royal guard, but later, when I startled the soldier, I saw that he was not a Leoness' royal guard."

Now that was strange, even by Merlin's standards… "Why would the Steward have the need for a personal army?"

"Exactly." The Prince remained pensive, as if trying to decide on something. Apparently opting for 'no'—going by the slight shake of his head—he continued with a different tone. "I need to find someone trustworthy in this court. Someone who cares about the Princess beyond anything else. Maybe then I can get some straight answers."

Merlin thought for a moment.
"Why not try Sir Lescaut then? I mean… he seems very protective of the Princess and she trusted him enough to take him to Eleara for the secret meeting…"

Arthur smiled openly, realizing how accurate his servant's assessment was.
"Sometimes Merlin, you really seem to have a thought or two in that head of yours, you know?"

The warlock was about to comment on that, but the Prince beat him to it.
"Now I need a bath and you also need to find out Lescaut's schedule for today. Get going."

Arthur found Lescaut in the training fields and watched with interest what an excellent fighter the young soldier was. He couldn't help but wonder why, if Ruther wanted to get rid of his niece as it seemed to be the case, he would appoint such a formidable guard to her.

Whatever the reason, the Prince was relieved to learn that the Knight had not only the devotion to guard the Princess, but the skills to go with it.

When the practices were over Lescaut barely acknowledged the royal presence, remaining strictly proper but as cold as usual. It was obvious to Arthur that the Knight did not like him and, in all honestly, he could not blame him... At least not for now…

"Lescaut, I need a word with you."

The squaring of the shoulders and the upfront line of vision was all the Prince got.
"Sire."

Swallowing a smile at the stubbornness of the young knight, Arthur couldn't help but to bait him for it.
"I know you do not particularly like me, and I believe you may have your reasons."

There was a reaction in the guard's face. A mixture of annoyance and embarrassment, and this time the Prince smiled openly. He'd gotten through him.

"Sire… I"

Interrupting the discomfiture of the soldier after being confronted so bluntly with the truth, Arthur decided to help him a bit.
"However, it's not about that I want to talk to you." He paused to allow the Knight to digest his words. "I also know that you care deeply about the Princess."

The last statement obviously hit a nerve and this time Lescaut met the Prince's gaze, even though his face was fully composed and frosty again.
"I do, Sire. Very much."

If Arthur had had more time, he would have picked on the fact that the last part of the sentence sounded much like a veiled warning… But he'd got more important and urgent things to do at the moment than to further aggravate this uptight soldier.

"I have noticed that there are some things… at odd between the Princess and the Steward. However, I am a royal guest in a diplomatic mission and some… questions may be perceived as unnecessary prodding."

By then the Prince effectively had the guard's full attention. A perceptible narrowing of the young man's eyes told him as much.

"Among other things, I wonder why there is a parallel guard system in the Castle and why they follow the Princess permanently."

The reaction in Lescaut's face was even more evident. There was a hint of… respect in his eyes. Maybe there was something to be said about this royal after all…

Unaware of what was going through the soldier's mind, Arthur pushed on.
"Princes Gwynn seems to trust you very much, so I was hoping you could enlighten me on such tidings… for her sake."

An internal debate to whether or not to speak was printed all over the young soldier's face. After a couple of minutes, however, he answered.

"I am probably not the best person to ask about this, your highness. I believe such affairs come from when the Princess and I were very young… Ever since the Princess' family died." He paused briefly but before Arthur could say anything, he concluded. "I think you should speak with my father, Sire."

The Prince arched his eyebrows in frank surprise.
"And your father is…?"

"Sir Alric, Sire."

;-)