AN: Just a couple more episodes to go!
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Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin in any way, shape, or form! I do own Elizabeth Malinor and any other characters I make up!
Enjoy!
King Olaf might be a nice guy.
But his daughter, Lady Vivian? Was not a nice lady.
The Five Kingdoms had decided to come together in Camelot and sign a peace treaty. King Olaf, was one of the rulers of a Kingdom, so of course he and his daughter were in attendance.
Uther had politely ordered me to stay with Vivan during the duration of her stay, just as a sign that Uther was serious about how much he wanted peace. Oh, I had fought hard about it, but here I was, with Arthur, leading Vivian to her chambers.
"I hope everything is to your satisfaction," Arthur said politely as we walked into the room Vivian would be staying in.
"It is...adequate," Vivan allowed, and with her back turned, Arthur and I exchanged looks of slight bewilderment at her manners. She turned around to face us, and we quickly gave polite smiles.
"Most of the guests that come to Camelot are very happy in the guest quarters," I politely defended our Kingdom. "I have no doubts that you will be too."
"Hmmm," Vivian mulled. "I am not 'most of your guests'," She said, turning around to keep inspecting the chambers.
"In...deed," Arthur tried to be polite. We exchanged the same look as before.
Thankfully before Vivian could say anything else, Gwen walked in. "Ah, may I present Guinevere," Arthur said, gesturing to my maid as she curtsied to Vivian. "She'll be looking after you while you're here. You will want for nothing. She is truly one of Camelot's finest."
Vivian giggled, eyeing Gwen with a judgy look. "Then I fear for Camelot."
All Arthur and Gwen could seem to do was stand there with a befuddled look on their faces, but me? Oh no, I would have none of that. I was about to take one step towards her and bitch her out for insulting my friend, but Arthur grabbed hold of my arm and squeezed it tight, pulling me back before I could do anything to totally blow the whole 'peace treaty' right out the window.
Vivian turned around to settle herself in, effectively dismissing the three of us. We all went out of the room, and stood silently for a couple of seconds before bursting out into laughter.
"Good luck with that one," Arthur said to Gwen and I.
"Well, I think I might have to go scream into a pillow before the feast starts. Uther has me sitting next to Vivian," I explained, and turned around to leave. I also had to get ready for the feast, but because Gwen wasn't my servant for the time being, it would be hard to get stuff done, as I didn't like any servants other than Gwen. I just feel like I was going to miss her friendship around. All the other servants of the castle seem to do is just help you silently, and then wait for you to dismiss them. Not fun at all. Gwen and I liked to catch and laugh, and I'd sometimes beg her to share my meals with me. Don't even get me started when it's me, Gwen, and Morgana. We were like the Three Musketeers.
King Alined's jester, Trickler performed tricks while the people present laughed and cheered him on. Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy myself that much as I was sitting with Vivian. I wanted to be sitting on the other side of Morgana, but when I moved to sit next to Morgana, Uther went and held out the chair on the other side of Vivian, so I was forced to go over and sit next to her.
Oh well. At least the food was good.
After Trickler was done with one of his tricks, he said, "But it is not enough to just please the gentlemen of the court."
Really? I mean, I thought the flames coming out of his mouth were pretty cool.
"Now, I have a spectacle for the ladies," Trickler revealed, gesturing to Morgana, Vivian, Gwen, and I. With a quick gesture, Trickler made butterflies appeared out of nowhere.
Sure, butterflies were cool...if you were an ornament.
I pretended to be wowed though, and clapped along with the rest of the guests.
Trickler suddenly gasped as he looked at Vivian. "But what is this? Lady Vivian?" He walked over to her, and reached behind her ear, where he "pulled out" a butterfly. "It has mistaken you for a beautiful flower." Trickler turned around and addressed his audience, and we all clapped for him.
His tricks were cool, but there was something off about Trickler. I just knew it.
I escaped to the markets the next day. The morning had barely begun and I was so done with Vivian. I felt so bad leaving Gwen at her mercy, but I made up an excuse on how I was meeting a friend in the market and I couldn't pass it up.
As I walked around and even bought some things for myself, I ran into Merlin, who was holding flowers. "Merlin!" I said, and eyed the plants. "Someone sent you flowers?"
"Oh no," He answered, shaking his head. "These are for Gwen. From Arthur."
I raised my eyebrows. "Really? What happened to the whole 'nothing can ever happen between us' thing that he insisted on when we saved Gwen from Hengist's men?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. He just completely disregarded it this morning. He also said to give a note."
I raised my eyebrows. "Arthur wrote a note expressing his love?"
"Well, I may have helped a little," He said. "Anyways, that doesn't matter, what matters is that these flowers get to Gwen."
"I wanna come!" I said immediately. "If it keeps me away from Vivian-"
I got cut off by someone calling my name. "Elizabeth!" I heard, and Merlin and I turned to see Vivian waving me over.
I groaned. Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear, I thought to myself.
"So I should get going," Merlin said, and he moved to leave.
I panicked, and grabbed his arm. "Wait! You cannot leave me with her!"
"I must get back to my duties for Arthur," Merlin supplied, starting to move away from me. Clearly, nobody wanted to be with Vivian.
"Merlin," I warned as he began to walk away. "Merlin!" I hissed "I have no best friend!" I called after him, but I was forced to put on a polite smile as Vivian caught up to me.
"I may have caused a problem," Merlin declared to me and Gaius later that night. Merlin had gotten me away from Vivian, saying that Gaius needed me for something, which I was forever grateful for, until Merlin told me that there was a problem and he'd explain it all at Gaius's. "Although it wasn't entirely my doing."
"What have you done this time?" I asked him.
"Arthur's in love," Merlin said sadly.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "We know that, though," I said. "He's completely besotted."
"Well, that bit's true," Merlin agreed. "He can't concentrate on anything, all he thinks about, all he talks about is...the Lady Vivian."
My eyes bugged out of my head. "Lady Vivian?!" I exclaimed. What the hell happened with Gwen?
"How could that have happened so suddenly?" Gaius asked.
"I don't know," Merlin answered as he begun to pace. "But something doesn't feel right." He turned around sharply. "Only yesterday, he dismissed her as rude."
"Which she is," I butted in. Trust me, after spending the whole day with her yesterday, I could now put up with Arthur's pratiness a whole lot better.
"If Arthur professes his love for Vivian, Olaf will be furious," Gaius pointed out.
I scoffed. "Furious? The man would be ready to start a war against any man that just looks in her direction," I said. "Arthur knows that, he has to."
"He said it was his job to woo his lady by the end of the day," Merlin revealed.
Gaius nodded. "Then it's your job to stop him."
Merlin sighed in annoyance, and I laughed. Merlin gave me a glare. "And what are you laughing at?"
I shook my head. "Nothing. I would just absolutely hate to be in your shoes. Remember Sophia?"
I was walking back to my rooms that night (VERY grateful that Vivian had decided to call it a night) when I felt a strong grip on my arm, and I was pulled down the corridor.
I was going to slap whoever it was in the face, but then I saw it was just Merlin. "Merlin! What are you doing?" I asked as he dragged me alone. I eyed the lock of blonde hair in his hand. "And why are you carrying hair?"
Merlin dropped his voice low. "Arthur found this under his pillow. I think it's Vivian's," He answered as we got closer to his chambers.
"Why would a lock of Vivian's hair be under Arthur's pillow?" I asked as we got to his room.
Merlin pushed the door open, and we walked over to Gaius, whom Merlin passed the hair to and explained the situation. Gaius examined the hair with a magnifying glass as Merlin began to pace.
"I knew something wasn't right," Merlin muttered to himself.
"Arhur's been enchanted," Gaius declared.
"I should have realized that he had magic," Merlin said. "No one can make butterflies appear from thin air."
"Trickler," I said as I registered who the 'he' was.
"Why would he want Arthur to fall in love with Vivian?" Merlin asked us.
"An advance by Arthur would be a sure fire way to ruin the peace conference," Gaius guessed. He brightened and turned to us. "Maybe Alined wants war."
"Without initiating it himself," I deduced.
"It's sort of the cowardly behaviour you'd expect from him," Gaius thought. "Cowardly, but clever."
"Then we need to find a way of turning Arthur back to normal," Merlin pressed.
"Before Camelot has a war on it's hands," I added. "Why is it that it's Arthur that always gets enchanted?"
Merlin and I had spent the entire night looking up love spells in Gaius's magic books, trying to figure out a way to unenchant Arthur. I guess some point in the night we drifted off, and we woke up when Gaius came into the room saying that he had breakfast ready.
I blinked hard, and realized that I was laying on a warm chest. I looked up, and realized that I had fallen asleep on Merlin's warm chest.
I immediately pulled back from him, and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. How embarrassing! Let's just hope that he didn't notice...
I looked over to Gaius, who was trying-but failing-to hide a knowing smirk on his face.
Oh, damn you Gaius!
Thankfully, Merlin was completely oblivious as he shook off the sleep. "There are over 636 love spells in these books," Merlin started.
"And over 150 of them involve a lock of hair," I finished, stifling a yawn.
"Is there no way we can narrow them down a bit?" Gaius asked as he walked over to us.
"We have," Merlin told him. "But if I choose..." He showed Gaius the book and pointed at one of the spells. "...and it's wrong, Arthur will end up as a toad." He pointed at another one. "And if this one's wrong, Vivian will lose all her hair."
"Vivian would be the one calling for war for that one, let me tell you that," I huffed as I patted down my hair and stretched my sore back. I groaned. "Which reminds me, I am supposed to be having breakfast with her Bratiness. This morning. If you'll excuse me," I said, and stood up. "If you find out any information, be sure to let me know."
The moment I walked into Vivian's room, I knew something was up.
Firstly, Trickler was in the room, watching Vivian devour a plate of fruit like she had never seen food before. Secondly, Vivian was acting so much airy than she was before (and trust me, before, it seemed that the women was a balloon).
"Good morning, my Lady," Trickler said, turning around to give me a bow.
"Good morning, Trickler," I said politely. I didn't want him in near, not so close to me or Vivian. He'd already caused so much trouble. "If you do not mind, I wish to be alone with the Lady Vivian."
Trickler feigned disappointment. "Why ever so, my Lady?"
"I just wish to speak with her privately," I said firmly. "Now, Trickler."
He merely gave me and Vivian a bow, and I sighed in relief as he left.
"What do you wish to speak to me about?" Vivian asked as she ate.
I stuttered as I sat next to her. "Why you're in such a good mood?" I offered, more like a question than a statement.
"I cannot tell, so do not ask," She said happily as she continued to eat.
There was something wrong with her, I knew it. I just had to get it out of her somehow... "Well, we are friends, aren't we Vivian?"
She gave it a minute before she nodded. "I suppose, yes."
"And friends can tell each other secrets," I pressed. "I promise I will not tell."
"I suppose that's true," Vivian allowed, before she fell into a fit of giggles. "Oh, Elizabeth! You musn't tell, not a soul, especially not my father."
I nodded. "Oh, I promise, this'll stay between us," I lied.
She sighed. "I am in love!"
Oh dear God, no.
"Please tell me it's Trickler," I begged, but Vivian just made a disgusted face as she stood up and walked over to her window.
"With a man more courageous than a lion, stronger than an ox, and so perfectly formed it is as if he had been sculpted by the gods themselves," She said dreamily as she made her way to her bed.
"Please tell me you're talking about Trickler," I said again. I knew something was up the second I saw Trickler in the room.
She ignored me as she said, "Just to speak his name brings me pleasure indeed!" She giggled again as she collapsed on to her bed.
Time to confirm my thoughts. "Then perhaps you should speak it."
She shot up in bed as she exclaimed, "Arthur!"
Oh no.
"There, I have said it! My heart belongs to Arthur!" She said as she got off of the bed. "In fact, I'm going to tell him now."
"No!" I protested, moving in front of her. "I mean, perhaps you should wait until you're dressed. You want to make the best impression, don't you?"
"Why can't my best impression by my nightgown?" She asked, looking down at her dress. "My love will love me no matter what it is I am wearing! Now, out of my way."
To my complete surprise, Vivian literally pushed me out of her way, and I went falling to the ground. It took me a couple minutes to get over my shock, and it was time wasted; Vivian was already out the door.
"Vivian!" I called out as I pulled myself up, getting caught in the mess of my dress.
Grrr, I really missed pants!
I had made it to Arthur's room just as Vivian walked in, and Merlin was about to close the door, so I jammed my foot in to stop him.
"Lizzie!" He said as I struggled to catch my breath. "Vivian-"
"I know," I said as I gulped more air. "Is Arthur in there?"
"No," He answered as he opened the door to let me in.
"Where is he?" Vivian asked, and I groaned when I saw the rose in her hand.
"He's not here, which is a good thing, I believe," Merlin said as he ran over in front of Vivian.
"Then I shall wait," She decided, moving to go sit down.
"I don't think that's a good idea," I suggested as I grabbed her arm.
"Exactly!" Merlin said, and he averted his eyes when he realized that Vivian was only in her nightgown. "You're not even dressed."
"My love does not care what I wear, only that I am near," Vivian said dreamily as she played with the rose. "Now, fetch him," She ordered Merlin.
"I can't," He insisted.
"You will," She demanded.
"I shan't."
"As he commands you, I command you!" Vivian said.
"I am asking you to leave," Merlin begged as he clasped his hands.
"I want my love," Vivian ignored him as she walked over to his bed. "I need my love. I want to see him now!"
I grabbed Merlin's arm, and pulled him back as Vivian hopped on top of Arthur's bed. "Great, now she's enchanted. What do we do?"
Suddenly, there was a shout outside, and Merlin and I's heads turned to the door. "What was that?" I asked as he ran to the door to see what was going on.
He took all of three seconds to see what was happening before he ran back inside. "Arthur's coming, as is King Olaf and the rest of the Kings!" He reported.
My stomach sank. All of them in one room while Arthur and Vivian are both enchanted? I turned to said bubbly idiot. "You really need to leave!"
"You cannot keep us apart!" Vivian insisted. "It is written in the stars!" She sat up as she moved closer to us. "'Vivian and Arthur, a love for all time'! A love stronger than time, a love-"
Merlin interrupted her with a spell, which knocked her out, her body collapsing on the bed.
"Nice one," I commented as she stopped moving.
"Now the bad news is, how do you get out of here?" He asked.
"Shoot, that's right!" I agreed. What would it look like if Arthur's manservant was found in his chambers with the Lady of Camelot? It sounded just as bad as Vivian and Arthur's situation.
"The closet!" He said quickly. He ran over to Vivian and started hauling her up. "Give me a hand?"
So with Merlin's help, Vivian and I were crammed against each other in Arthur's closet. Jeez, what did she eat? She was practically crushing me!
I couldn't hear exactly what was going on outside, but after a couple of minutes the closet doors opened, and Merlin was helping me out. He gestured for me not to make a sound as Arthur was still in the room, so I grabbed one of Vivian's arms and he grabbed the other, and he hauled her out of the room through the servant's exit.
"Is he mad?" I asked Merlin as I paced his chambers. Merlin had informed me this morning that the night before, Arthur had snuck into Vivian's chambers and they had been caught by Olaf, who had challenged Arthur to a duel to the death.
"No, he's under a spell," Gaius corrected.
"Is there a difference?" I asked as I sat down.
"I don't understand it," Merlin said. "Trickler's magic's strong, but surely it can't be stronger than mine?"
"These love potions are strange things," Gaius said.
"You need to go to Uther," Merlin pressed Gaius.
"No!" He rejected
"But it's a fight to the death!" Merlin insisted.
"If Uther realizes that one of the kings is using magic, there will certainly be a war," Gaius pointed out, and I hated to admit that he was right.
"Then the only way to get out of this situation is to break the enchantment on Arthur," I deduced. "And do it quickly."
Unfortunately, the tourney had already been scheduled, so I was sitting next to Morgana as I nervously bit on my nails.
"King Olaf has demanded recompense and by the ancient laws of Camelot, the matter will be settled by a tourney in three stages," Uther declared from the Royal's stands in the arena. "The weapons chosen are quarter staff, mace, and sword. The fight will be by the Knight's rules, and to the death. Are we all clear?" Uther asked, giving Arthur a pointed look to back the hell out of the challenge.
But all Arthur did was give his father a simple nod.
The timerglass filled with sand was tilted to start falling, and Uther gave the signal to start the fight.
King Olaf immediately swung at Arthur, and the fight began.
I flinched with each hit on both sides, and turned around to ask Gwen something when I realized that she wasn't there. "Where's Guinevere?" I asked Morgana, who I thankfully got to sit next to this time.
"She asked not to attend the tourney," She answered. "Something about work needing to be done."
I sighed when I realized that she probably didn't want to be here to watch the man that she loved fight for another.
I was so distracted by my own thoughts that I didn't realize that Olaf had knocked Arthur on to his back. Arthur managed to defect the hit from Olaf on the ground, and got back on his feet, only to be hit a few seconds later right in the chest.
The first round ended, and Arthur had lost.
I gave some stupid excuse to Morgana about needing to go to the bathroom as I caught Merlin's eye, his look telling me to follow him.
I waited outside of Arthur's tent for Merlin to come out. When he did, I asked, "How is he?"
"He has a broken rib," He reported. "He can't keep fighting. We have to do something."
"Like what?" I asked.
"We have to talk to an old friend."
Merlin had to practically drag me to Kilgharrah's cave. I hated that stupid Dragon. He literally did nothing.
But Merlin insisted on the way there that if I wanted Arthur to die and a war on Camelot's hand, then I could stay.
Which was what led me to standing next to Merlin at the mouth of the cave as he explained the situation to Kilgharrah, who merely laughed. "This is magic indeed," He said.
"Everything I have tried has failed," Merlin said.
"From what you tell me, the spell has captured his heart," Kilgharrah started.
"And it's his stupid heart that is controlling his stupid brain," I pressed
"There is no magic that can break this enchantment," Kilgharrah explained.
"There must be!" Merlin insisted.
"It has too great a hold," Kilgharrah retorted.
"We cannot let Arthur die!" Merlin declared, looking from me back to the Dragon.
"Patience, Young Warlock. The solution lies in a force greater than you or I-perhaps maybe Elizabeth-can understand," Kilgharrah said. "A force that has puzzled many minds. It is the greatest force of all."
All the dots that Kilgarrah was making finally connected in my head and I blurted, "Love."
Merlin looked over at me. "Love?"
Kilgharrah nodded. "The young girl speaks correctly. You must find the person that Arthur loves."
The answer hit both Merlin and I at the same time, and we looked at each other. We knew exactly who he was talking about. Then Merlin turned back to him. "And then what?"
"One kiss from her will break the enchantment and he will desire Vivian no more," Kilgharrah finished.
"Then what are we waiting for?" I asked, a huge smile on my face as I grabbed Merlin's hand and began to drag him off. "Let's go!"
I could faintly hear Kilgharrah's chuckles as I ran with Merlin to the one person that Arthur truly loved.
We burst through the doors to Gwen's house, and she was watching the match from her window. She sighed as she looked over at us. "Rats again, Merlin?"
Rats? I would have to ask him about that later.
"What? No, no. We need your help," Merlin said. "Arthur needs your help."
"I do not think that Arthur needs me," Gwen said sadly.
"Gwen, we know," I said, gesturing to Merlin and I.
"Know what?" She asked suspiciously.
"About everything," I said. "The feelings that you two have for each other. I mean, the sexual tension between you two is off the charts!" I blurted that last part without thinking, and Merlin and Gwen eyed me as if I were crazy. "Never mind that last bit, the point is, we don't have the time to explain and you're going to have to trust us." I grabbed her hands in my own and gave them a squeeze. "Arthur does love you."
Gwen pulled her hands out of mine and put them behind her back. "No, he doesn't."
"If you can't trust us, trust your feelings," Merlin suggested.
Gwen scoffed. "I'm never trusting my feelings again."
"He's enchanted!" Merlin insisted.
"Yes, with Lady Vivian, I can see that!" She retorted.
"No, I mean literally enchanted," Merlin explained. "With magic, potions, love juice. None of his feelings for Vivian are genuine."
"How can you two be sure?" Gwen asked, a sudden spark of hope lighting up in her. "When I saw him, his feelings seemed real enough."
"Gwen, none of his feelings for her are real," I insisted. "But if you don't break the spell, he'll certainly die. Look inside your heart, you know what's real!"
"That was a long break," Morgana stated as I sat back down beside her.
"Sorry, got caught up with something," I said absentmindedly as Olaf attacked Arthur viciously. He had knocked Arthur to the ground and was about to deliver the final blow when the gong went, ending the round, and the rest of us sighed in relief.
Arthur was taken back to his tent to be checked out, and I nervously tapped the arms of my chair as I waited for Gwen to kiss Arthur. I just hoped that Kilgharrah wasn't kidding around for once.
After about ten minutes, Arthur returned to the arena, and he didn't look as dim witted as before. I caught Merlin's eye, and he nodded when I asked him if it worked with my eyes. I sighed in relief. Arthur wasn't enchanted anymore. At least now he had a real fighting chance.
The final round began, and Arthur and Olaf clanged their swords together as they fought. Of course, it wasn't fair that Arthur was injured, but now that he was more in his right mind, he ignored his injuries and fought as best as he could.
Olaf managed to knock Arthur back on the ground, and Arthur narrowly missed the hit that Olaf was about to deliver by rolling to the other side. Olaf moved to strike Arthur again, but Arthur caught him in the stomach and kicked him, throwing him over so that Olaf was on the ground instead. Arthur stood up, and pointed his sword at Olaf's chest.
We all waited for the final blow, but it never came. Instead, Arthur lowered his sword and said, "This is no way to achieve peace." He offered Olaf a hand, and the entire crowd cheered as Olaf stood up.
I caught Merlin's eye, and we both smiled.
Crisis averted once again.
I sat down on the steps and watched as all the Kings left. I had laughed when I saw Arthur's awkward goodbye with Vivian, and just shook my head.
We really needed to put a protective charm on that man.
Arthur had stayed behind to discuss something with Uther that I could not hear, but Merlin came over and sat down next to me.
"So," He started.
"So," I repeated.
"Crisis averted," He declared.
"It worked," I agreed. "Gwen has a true love," I said giddily. "I wonder what that's like," I thought aloud as I looked over to Merlin.
He slightly blushed. "I do too."
I did too, and cleared my throat with a shrug. "I don't know. I guess I might never know."
And with that, I stood up to go and find Morgana.
But that day, something in my heart...shifted. Like that spot that Merlin had occupied had moved closer to my heart.
TBC...
I am just BURNING THROUGH these episodes! Now, I don't know when the next update will be, as it is exam time, but hopefully it's soon!
WE'RE ALMOST DONE SEASON 2! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!
REVIEW! FOLLOW! FAVOURITE! THANKS! STAY TUNED!
THE ADVENTURES OF ELIZABETH MALINOR CONTINUE...
"The ancient prophecies speak of an alliance of Mordred, Morgana, and Elizabeth, united in evil," Kilgharrah spoke.
Merlin tossed and turned in bed and tried fighting off the sounds in his head.
Morgana slipped into the vaults in the castle to try and take the crystal.
"This crystal cannot fall into enemy hands," Uther insisted.
"Is it some kind of weapon?" Merlin asked Gaius.
"Mordred will master the crystal and when he does, we will strike Uther down," Mordred's accomplice explained.
A fight ensued.
"But I'm good!" Elizabeth insisted with tears in her eyes. "I'm good, I don't want to be evil, it's not in me! If time can be rewritten, so can prophecies!"
"This union must be stopped, whatever the cost," Kilgharrah commanded.
Merlin held the crystal in his hand.
SHIT IS HEATING UP!
AND I'M SO EXCITED FOR IT!
UNTIL NEXT TIME ON I'VE GOT THE MAGIC IN ME!