Love when the ideas actually come right after each other! Enjoy!
Chapter 19
BANG!
Agravaine looked up as his nephew strode into the dungeon.
"Arthur." He bowed his head. "Thank you for granting me an audience."
Arthur scowled at his uncle. "What do you want?"
Agravaine raised an eyebrow. "I simply wanted to talk. Though I'd hoped this would be a family discussion." He looked pointedly at the guards standing at attention. Arthur followed his gaze.
"Leave us," he said curtly. "That is a direct order," he added, when the guards looked hesitant.
They nodded, bowed respectfully, and exited.
Agravaine waited till their footsteps faded away before starting to speak.
"I'm sure you have many questions."
Arthur shook his head. "Not really."
"Indeed?" Agravaine looked mildly surprised. "That doesn't sound like my sister's son."
"Don't talk about my mother," Arthur spat bitterly. "You're nothing but a traitorous snake."
Agravaine's cool demeanor vanished. "I am not a traitor!" he snarled, glaring at Arthur. "Call me a coward, call me a snake, call me every evil, vile word in every tongue, but do not brand me a traitor. I did what I had to for my family."
"And wasn't I your family?" Arthur asked, folding his arms. "Certainly more than Morgana. You have no blood tie to her, and yet you serve her over me. You ally with a murderer."
Agravaine snorted. "Please," he sneered. "Don't speak of things you do not understand. You really think I would choose you, nephew? You, who are the reason I have no family? It is because of you that my sister is dead! That my brother is dead, both by your father's hand!"
Arthur took a step back, but took two forward just as quickly. He was not going to let his uncle manipulate him. Not anymore. "I had nothing to do with it!" he snapped. "I had no control over the events!"
"But your father did," Agravaine hissed, eyes narrowed into slits. "Your father allowed my sister to die, just so he could have his precious heir! Your very existence killed Ygraine!"
Arthur stared at him in disbelief. "You blame me for being born? I am not responsible for the sins of my father, Agravaine. Surely this is not your only defense?"
"It is the only defense I need." Agravaine retorted sharply. "An eye for an eye...I owe no loyalty to the Pendragon dynasty, which took everything from me. Is it such a surprise that I would align myself with Morgana? She understood what your father was, and was not blinded by misplaced love for him. No. She saw him for the monster he truly was, and condemned him for it. Your father, the filthy hypocrite," he continued icily, "used magic when it suited him, but saw fit to slaughter hundreds of innocents who practiced it. Oh yes, allowances must always be made for Uther, champion among men," Agravaine said mockingly. Arthur's hands curled into fists.
"He used magic to insure his line continued," his uncle went on, "knowing my sister would die. And when my brother dared stand against him, and call him out for what he had done, he had him killed too. All in the name of the holy fight against magic, the very thing Uther used for his own needs! You father was a tyrant, and you follow in his footsteps, banning magic out of ignorance rather than hypocrisy." He spat at Arthur's feet. Arthur stepped back to avoid it.
"I cannot allow you to live," Arthur said coldly. "Any familial obligation you may claim is meaningless, based on what you just told me. And any on my part is selfish. If there is even the slightest chance you can escape, and possibly cause harm to more innocents, I cannot risk it. I will not allow you to live, and potentially sacrifice the lives of my subjects for my own guilty conscience."
Agravaine's mouth was still curled up in a sneer, but his eyes betrayed the fear within him.
Arthur turned on his heel, and strode for the cell door. Ignoring Agravaine's eyes burning into him, he unlocked the padlock, stepped out of the cell, and locked it securely behind him.
"One more thing." He turned around to look at Agravaine again.
"You claim, uncle, that you were forced to follow Morgana, as my father was a tyrant, blinded by his hatred of magic, and I was the fruit of the poisonous tree." He leaned closer to bars, so close that Agravaine could not look away.
"You forgot yourself, uncle," he whispered. "My father was a tyrant. I will not deny it. And his hatred did blind him. But so did yours." Arthur surveyed him coolly. "Your hatred of Uther blinded you, so you did not see that I am a different man than my father was. A better one. My father's biggest faults were his refusal to listen to anyone else, or to recognize his mistakes and learn from them. But I am not my father. I've made my share of mistakes, but I choose instead to listen to those around me who I trust, and to take the advice of others when the time calls for it. I do not allow hatred to blind me. I am not my father, uncle," he whispered. Agravaine stared at him fearfully. "And I never will be."
The older man bowed his head in resignation.
Arthur strode out of the dungeons, with his eyes wet, but his shoulders back and his head held high.