ACT XXVIII – Storm's Eve

"Guinevere…why?" Shirou asked, mouth agape as he stood in the dark, moist dungeons of the castle. In the cell in front of him sat Guinevere, the queen. Shirou had been away for a week on a mission with bandit slayers and returned to find this. His mind flooded with so many questions that he was unable to think about what could have happened in his absence.

Shirou felt something soft touch his fingers and looked down to see Azif, the King and Queen's pet lion cub look up at him almost sadly. The lion was a teenager now and had grown to the size of a small dog in the month that he'd been here. Azif looked forlorn at seeing one of his masters in a cage.

"I suspect I shall face treason charges." Guinevere said with a low sigh. "It was partially my fault, please do not get the King wrong." She tried to reassure Shirou after seeing his disbelief turn to anger and sorrow.

"Tell me what happened." From a pillar near a torch Shirou found a small wooden stool that he pulled in front of the cell and sat upon. Eager to hear the tale of how this unfortunate situation came to be.

"There is no easy way to say this, but I have been unfaithful to the King's love." Guinevere began with a shocking revelation that nearly made Shirou just as surprised as seeing her locked up in the first place. "You are aware of the King's… position are you not?" She asked him, referring to her secret.

Shirou nodded. "I am, though I don't know who else is."

Guinevere began to explain how that upon his coronation the King needed a Queen and thus the two were introduced to each other and eventually married. She also explained that the love between them was not just a facade, they did everything a couple should do together except for one thing which was impossible.

"She does not see herself as a woman which seemed a blessing at first and made it easier to deal with. However as time went on… everyone has their desires." She explained how she could not know the love of a man. Shirou listened intently finding the story a bit strange, and rightly so. Guinevere then told of how she met Sir Lancelot and the two of them eventually fell in love.

"That explains why he disappears so much…" Shirou scratched the back of his neck.

"I was told we were found out by a magical item given to Arturia from Morgana Le Fay. I was promptly arrested and thrown rather unceremoniously into the dungeons. Needless to say Arturia is furious." The Queen hung her head, looking distraught and sorrowful. "She found out some time ago actually, but tried to fix our relationship by adding Sir Lancelot to it. She does not understand, I do not think she ever did."

"…" Shirou was unsure what to think of this whole situation. On one hand he had his loyalty to his King, the oath he took as a knight. On the other… well putting her in jail for infidelity seemed a little overboard. He could understand Arturia would be angry but surely there had to be some other way of punishing her than this.

"I have been ordered to be executed at dawn." A small tear welled up in the corner of Guinevere's eye and streamed down her face.

"Executed!?" Shirou exclaimed loud enough, he thought, to make the torches on the walls flicker. Even Azif, who was still by his side flinched at the noise. It was unthinkable.

"You will want to keep your voice down, for your own sake. If you are seen talking to me you could be branded a traitor as well, I do not wish for that. You are too nice a person." Guinevere motioned with her hands for him to keep his voice down.

"I swear to you I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I'll find a way to get you out." Shirou said as he stood up from the stool. Guinevere stood by him in his time of need more than once, and gave him much needed advice when he couldn't decide what he wanted to do. Both she and Lancelot were a big part of his life here, losing one of them would be unthinkable.

"Please Shirou. I do not wish harm to come to you for my sake, promise me that you will not do anything rash." Her voice was almost pleading. She was more worried about Shirou than her own life. She would rather allow herself to die than allow anyone to be hurt trying to rescue her. This pulled on Shirou's heartstrings and he turned to leave the dungeon stopping at the very bottom of the steps.

"I can't do that. You've helped me and I never got to return the favor. As an aspiring knight I have to repay my debts don't I?" He turned around to face her, a fake, reassuring smile touched his lips. "I'm in debt up to my ears to everyone, including you. I'm not going to promise anything until it's paid." Shirou turned and made his way up the stone steps, the world seemed to darken as long as Guinevere was imprisoned.

Perhaps Merlin could help. The timing of his could not have been worse, Bedivere had already taken the piece of armor to the king, but Shirou thought he would bring it to Merlin's attention too. Without a further thought, he made his way out the main gate of the castle and towards Merlin's tower as the rain pattered down on his armor with a soft tink tink tink. Upon reaching the wizard's tower Shirou beat his fist upon the door as if he were trying to knock it down.

"Merlin!" Shirou called. A few moments went down and the air outside the tower went deathly quiet. From inside the tower he heard nothing. Despair crept in on his mind, if Merlin wasn't in his tower he wasn't sure who else he could turn to save for Bedivere. Lancelot and the King would be too occupied with Guinevere's imprisonment and Shirou doubted he could count on Sir Kay, Sir Galahad, or Sir Gawain. The female knight would be his only other option.

"Merlin! Tell me you're in there!" Shirou pounded on the door once more. After what seemed like an eternity he heard footsteps on the other side of the thick door just before it opened.

Merlin stood there in his robe, his eyes narrowed in disappointment as if he'd been interrupted. "Give an old man a chance to get down the stairs will you boy?" Merlin's eyes softened when he saw the look upon Shirou's face. "Something is wrong. Come in out of the rain." Merlin's attitude changed in an instant and offered Shirou inside.

Merlin led Shirou up the winding staircase into Merlin's living room. "What is that you need?" Merlin asked.

"Sir Bedivere and I took a bit of armor with an insignia from the bandits we fought with the Legion." Shirou responded. "What about the Queen? What is going to happen to her?"

"Ah, the Queen." Merlin hung his head, his white hair hiding his face. "She is to be executed at dawn tomorrow. I have tried to convince the King not to do this, but she is of course very furious as you can imagine."

"You can't tell me there's nothing we can do!" Shirou slammed his fists on the armrest of his wooden chair.

"I am sorry but changing the mind of a King is no easy task. An angry King even more so." In an effort to lighten the mood Merlin coughed and made a motion with his hands. "Tell me about what you and Sir Bedivere found."

Shirou appreciated Merlin's attempt to get his mind off of the subject of the Queen but it wasn't just something that could be brushed aside. Even so, this was important and seeing the Queen imprisoned made him nearly forget about it entirely. Shirou grabbed a piece of paper and did his best to draw it with a nearby quill, after that he handed it to Merlin.

"Let us have a look then." Merlin reached out an arm and picked up the piece of paper, his eyes widened with surprise and he nearly dropped it.

"You know what it is?" Shirou asked.

"Yes, I know what this is. I have never seen it before, but if you pick apart what it means it is simple to tell. It is a message." Merlin replied ominously. The room seemed to darken and a clap of thunder sounded outside.

"A message from who?"

"Morgana Le Fay. It seems she has finally made her move." Merlin stood up from his chair and looked out the nearest window into the storm.

"What does she have to do with this?" Shirou asked curiously.

"She comes for the throne, desiring to put that bastard Mordred upon it. She is gathering an army to her and if you say you found an entire group of bandits wearing this than it is worse than I feared." Merlin spoke swiftly, as if his thoughts were trying to put together many things in his mind like a math problem, trying to find what it equaled.

"We'll stop them, we have the knights, the Legion, and the rest of the army. How does Morgana expect to fight an entire country?" Shirou asked.

"She is a clever witch, perhaps just as clever as I. The King recognizing Guinevere's unfaithfulness was undoubtedly her doing." Merlin explained.

"What exactly will that accomplish for her?"

"An army is only as good as the leader my dear boy. If you were to take away the King's rational thoughts and replace them with anger, imagine what could happen." Merlin looked like he needed to sit back down. He leaned against the wall, held up by his staff.

"We have to do something, talk to the King somehow and convince him that he's being controlled!" Shirou exclaimed. He wasn't about to just stand by and watch his home be destroyed. These people saved his life on more than one occasion, he was obligated to do whatever it took to make sure that his King stayed on the throne. He owed Arturia at least that much.

"I am afraid that we may be too late. You do not know the King as well as I." Another clap of thunder and lightning sounded outside. The loud boom indicated the storm was near. "A storm is coming Emiya Shirou. Where will you be when it strikes?"

Shirou stood up, taking the time to fix his armor and his gauntlets that had gone askew. He adjusted the leather straps that held it to his body and tightened his sheath on his hip that held the sword Merlin had given him. He turned to Merlin before heading down the stairs. "In it's way." He replied before leaving to the castle, his cloak flowing elegantly behind him.