~Author's Note~
Hello all! Please enjoy this chapter and don't forget to leave a review so I know if you're liking it! Love you all! Thank you for all the support guys!
Sincerely,
~Ms. AtomicBomb
Diarmuid bit his lower lip and did not even think of letting it go. He wasn't biting it hard enough to draw blood, but enough to cause a little stinging. He rubbed his neck and rolled his shoulder as he thought of the idea. Arturia was being rather odd lately, and he was just waiting for her to dismiss him officially—he did not want to cause her any inconvenience and so he thought about Camelot.
"You see," Diarmuid breathed as he thought of the proposition. If he declined, he would not be breaking the promise he made his brother, but that would mean that he wasn't going to protect Arturia. "I do not—I…um…"
"You are afraid of the consequences, yes?" Merlin tilted his head slightly.
"Of course, I always am," the knight of Hibernia shrugged, "I would give up my life for Arturia, but I do not want to hurt my family."
"Maybe you should ask your brother for his blessing." The young wizard gave a light smile as they both entered the tavern.
Diarmuid furrowed his brows and shook his head, "I am afraid I wouldn't have time for that."
"I would say that you do."
"And why would that—"
"Diarmuid!" He heard the oddly familiar voice of a quite annoying man. The cocky tone of voice had almost caught him off guard, if it weren't for the fact that he had noticed the blonde as he stood from a stool.
Diarmuid's eyes grew wide and he wished that the prince was not there. He bit his lower lip again and relaxed his shoulders, "Gilgamesh," he nearly gritted his teeth.
"Prince," the blond hissed as the other male had forgotten his title.
"What are you doing here?" Diarmuid thought it best to skip the fancy introductions and cut right to the most important part, "Did you run away from my brother?"
Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes into slits and crossed his arms over his chest, "He came along with me, of course. That little blond and him are leaving the horses in the stable." He spoke and turned his attention to the other male, "And who is this?"
"I am Merlin," the wizard greeted, "I am Arturia's childhood friend, and you must be Gilgamesh."
"The prince of Uruk and Arturia's fiancé." Gilgamesh blinked as he eyed both males.
Merlin grinned and let out a little chuckle, "Fiancé? She never mentioned that. I would think she would not move on that quickly after the death of her lover." His smile slowly fading as he spoke the dreadful words. Lancelot was always such an honourable knight, and even if he knew that the violet haired man was behind the disappearance and poor state of his Prince; he never doubted the man's kindness and morals.
Gilgamesh opened his mouth to speak but was quickly interrupted by a loud cheer and someone pouncing on Diarmuid from behind, "Little bro!" The blue haired man was basically on top of Diarmuid.
Diarmuid groaned but let out a laugh at the childish behaviour of his older brother, usually older brothers acted the least childish, "Cú Chulainn, what are you doing all the way here?"
"To take care of my brother who always seems to get in trouble with women." Cú rolled his eyes as he let go.
"And to also help the prince get her kingdom back." The short blond female came from behind them, and Diarmuid noted her to be the young lady that his brother would always dream of.
Diarmuid looked over at the amethyst-eyed female, "How do you—"
"I have my ways," she smiled innocently and shrugged.
Gilgamesh growled, "Yeah, she's super annoying."
"Watch your mouth," Cú barked at the snobby prince before glancing at Jeanne and giving her a toothy smile.
The prince crossed his arms and huffed, "And you say you aren't a mongrel."
"Well," Merlin began, "If you do want to help her majesty, then we best be off!"
"But the wine!" Diarmuid reasoned and he watched the wizard smirk.
"Of course," he grinned before heading towards the counter and seconds later he returned with a bottle of wine in his hands, "So then it is settled; you will help us." Merlin smiled at Diarmuid promptly and then led him out of the tavern, followed by the other three adults.
They walked up the hill mostly in silence until Cú whispered in Diarmuid's ear, "Who's the cape man?"
"Cloak," Merlin corrected and smiled, "My name is Merlin, and I'm a friend."
Cú flinched when he noted that the man had heard him and then bit the inside of his cheek, "Right; well, then welcome to the team…I guess."
"I should be saying that to you." The wizard sang as they reached the small houses door.
They did not think about it sooner because once everyone was already in the house, they noticed how truly small the establishment was. There was much too many people crowded in the small living room that Merlin had to dismiss his two guards, and the rest were able to have more space between them when the pair of men left the house.
Arturia was stunned to see Gilgamesh when he trickled in after the other people and was even a little upset that he was being dragged along, "Why are they here?" Arturia grumbled as she laid eyes upon Cú Chulainn and Gilgamesh—the only men she did not seem to fancy much.
Cú smirked, "We've come to help you, little lady, I think you should appreciate our gesture."
"And I do not want you getting any closer to Diarmuid that you both are; it jeopardizes our engagement." Gilgamesh added all matter-of-factly.
"I recall declining your offer, clearly." She stared the man down as her green eyes narrowed.
"As I recall that we sealed the deal with a kiss, I think that you would remember that of all things." The golden prince crossed his arms over his chest and huffed.
Diarmuid let out a cough and then cleared his throat, "A-a k-kiss?" His brows knitted together and then he gulped, "A-and you did not think to mention it?"
Cú Chulainn could not help but laugh out loud. This seemed as if it was one of those plays that the High King always loved to watch; it was simply prefect. Cú bit his lower lip and tried to muffle his laughter when all the other young adults had landed their eyes upon him. "Forgive me… Sorry," he managed between chuckles.
"Well, if we are done with jealousy and laughter, I think it best to start strategizing." Merlin interrupted and Cú Chulainn's laugh died down slowly. "Since we are all here together, it would benefit us all if we recruit. Diarmuid, I ask of you again if you would like to join my army."
Diarmuid glanced at his brother who was seated on the table with his arms crossed over his chest, still trying to stifle his laugh. Yet, when their gaze met, the smile on the blue-haired male's lips faded and he gave a steady nod. Orange eyes flickered back to the young wizard and he took a deep breath, "I accept."
"Perfect!" He grinned as he rolled out a map of Camelot and part of its surrounding kingdoms on the wooden table. He began the explanation of his tactics that he had been planning since he had been exiled from court by Guinevere. As a wizard, he did not know much of warfare; but he knew just enough to be able to make adequate plans.
Merlin received some criticism from both Arturia and Cú Chulainn because some aspects were not so intelligent, but that was the entire point he was showing the plans; because they needed to be perfect.
"So you want to infiltrate the castle with half the troop and then attack from the forest?" Arturia crossed her arms over her chest as she looked over the map.
"Yes, my prince," Merlin grinned.
Cú Chulainn sighed and pointed at the forest, "Why from here? When we could attack from the marshes?" His finger glided over the map and landed on the opposite side.
"Because there is something that we must retrieve from the forest. It's very important, it will help us defeat her all the more." Merlin reasoned.
Diarmuid furrowed his brows and tilted his head, "What? It is not as if she is a witch. There is not really much we would need to worry about."
"Of course," the wizard gave a nod, "but who will believe it when a short girl comes to claim the crown of Camelot for herself claiming that she is the true heir of Uther? There will be no one in their right mind that will believe that. What we must collect is for the people to have fidelity to Arturia—a sign of the supreme ruler."
The violet-eyed blonde female finally spoke, "And what is that?" She blinked.
"The sword in the stone; Excalibur."
Arturia's eyes widened as her jaw dropped, "W-wait; you are telling me that I have the power to pull it from the stone—that is completely ridiculous! Not even Lancelot could do it, let alone a 'short girl'." She huffed.
"But you are the only one that can pull it!" Merlin argued, "Remember what I told you? The rightful king will come to save Camelot and unite Albion only when he pulls the sword! It's your turn!"
"It's a sword that has been stuck in a boulder for millions of years!"
"Hundreds," the blue eyed male corrected and then shook his head, "You are the only one that can pull it! You follow all the criteria."
"I do not! There is no way on earth that I will be able to even budge it."
"Have faith, for goodness' sake!"
"Even if I could, there is no way I can with this horrible state that I'm in. I can barely make it from the room to the kitchen without limping and struggling with lifting a fork."
Everyone was silent for a while since it seemed that Merlin did not have something to counter attack with until he mumbled under his breath and his eyes shined orange for seconds, "There, now you can do whatever it is that you want. No more limping or pain; you're healed."
Arturia blinked and slowly raised her hand towards her arm and softly touched it, "Alright, I understand. You want me to pull that sword, and then what? Kill Guinevere with it?"
Merlin sighed as he let his head hang loose, "That, you will have to choose. It is a choice to be made when the time comes and whether or not it happens; it will not be your fault."
Arturia's meadow gaze dropped from blue eyes down to her hands.
To kill her friend…
The decision was hard.