Hello!

First I want to aplogise for the possibilities of some repetitions. Paring up charachers like this might lead to the same though born in more than one head.

Having said that, I want to send thanks for reviews from Gingeraffealene and Taz!

To Taz who asked a question in his (guest) review to chapter 2: Lancelot himself will actually answer that in a coming chapter.

To Taz question in his review in chapter 3: In chapter 10 of the story To Kill a Nighmare (by N16) is described how the knights expereince magiucal healing and for Arthur how it feels. I fully agree with that description! See s/13648489/10/To-Kill-a-Nightmare

October 12, 2020

4. Third watch

Arthur had chosen the last watch of the night for himself, as it was usually the most unpleasant. To have it, he had to be woken when he slept the deepest, and never be able to go back to sleep again. Until the next night, at least!

Elyan had taken the opportunity to share that watch with his brother-in-law, and it was he who broke the silence first.

-"What a nice little palace you have out here, Arthur. How come we have never visited it before and enjoyed the comfortable rooms here?"

-"The reason, my dear Elyan, might surprise you: We have not been here before, because this isn't a palace! This place is not built to be comfortable. It was once an old fortress, but already long ago the council decided there should no longer be a resident garrison here. The last decades it has just been checked in on about once a month by the sheriff down in the valley."

-"This place should hardly be inhabitable. Totally chilled out, moist, maybe even mouldy in parts."

Elyan seemed not to be surprised hearing this.

-"I understand, Sire. I also noted that when we came in, all fire places were lit. But it is very hard to light a fire in a cold building. Air in the chimney must be warmer than outside to be able to suck the smoke out."

-"Yes, Elyan, this place is just much more kind to us than it could reasonably be."

Thinking about this, the watchers stayed silent for a while. Then Arthur asked a surprising question:

-"Elyan, what do you think of magic?"

Elyan raised an eye brow at this, something Arthur could not see, of course, as they sat back to back to together be able to scan all the surrounding area.

-"Permission to speak freely, Sire!"

-"But what is this? Are we not friends? Do we not treat each others as equals when sitting around the Round table or being on an important quest together?" Arthur all but huffed, and had they not been seated as they were, he would have given Elyan a friendly slap on the arm.

-"Arthur, my father was healed from the great plague. He got well, fully mysteriously!"

-"And a certain knight, here with us today, killed a griffin with a wooden spear. That should not be possible. A magic creature like a griffin could not be killed with ordinary weapons. It must have been done using magic."

-"Aye, aye, sire!"

-"Oh, cut it out! Is Merlin rubbing off on you?"

Elyan could do nothing but laugh at that, hoping no one would hear.

-"Now Elyan, please listen to me! Have you ever seen a bandit drop his sword just because its hilt got glowing hot? Been the target for a crossbow just to see the arrow bend off and miss you?"

-"Indeed, my lord, and not only that. I have turned around, a bunch of bandits defeated, only to see many more laying unconscious around a wildly grinning servant.

-"Have you ever been hurt, and healed mysteriously quickly? I have, you know, but healing that fast only when Merlin tended to me, laid hands on me, and seemingly released friendship and hope and warmth through me."

Elyan nodded, and then confirmed this with a stiffed yes.

-"Let us assume, your Majesty, that all these good deeds were made with magic. All that help to us from an unknown wizard. What would that leave magic?"

Arthur did not respond to this, as if he wanted Elyan to draw his own conclusions to the very end.

-"That means, Sire, that magic can be wielded for positive ends. To help, heal and protect."

Arthur seemed to have anticipated this, as he just let out a deep sigh.

-"So magic can be a tool for good means," the king finally summarised.

-"And fun, brother! Do you remember the bar fight when Gwaine was suddenly aided by flying sausages?"

-"You mean saucers, Elyan? Plates and goblets, I thought it was?"

Again the tower rang with laughter. But the snow was falling heavily, and they had in the beginning of their watch heard a horse neigh down in the stable. But only just. The falling snow kept muffling all sounds. So also their own!

-"Give me the honour to summarise," yawned the king. "We have an anonymous beneficiary, who insists of protecting, healing and helping us. Some one who has magically turned this fortress heap of ruins into almost a cosy home."

-"I would nor say you are wrong sire, neither assess this as bad, but instead being very nice."

-"Indeed. No doubt about that. Now the question is if there is a common denominator to all this? Could there be one single person who was present at every event we have thought of?"

Elyan laughed again, his merry sounds making a pair of icicles fall from the tower roof above.

-"Seeing that when the plates flew there were only Gwaine and Merlin, and when Lancelot killed the Griffin, said knight of the ale had not yet come to Camelot, I see only one such common denominator, Sire. Indeed a commoner!"

-"Are you saying that you suspect my clumsy, lazy, almost useless manservant to have done all this for us?" Arthur asked with a tone just a note or two from a full laughter. "Merlin being a wizard? Elyan, if Merlin had magic, I would know."

Arthur let the silence ring out over the courtyard for effect before he continued:

-"And I know! He must have! Nothing else makes sense!"

Elyan did not seem surprised or stunned by that.

-"The question is why he never said?"

-"Ah, brother in law. If you knew you would be killed for spilling a secret, would not you, too, stay silent?"

-"But we are his friends. Could he not confide in us?"

In the following silence both men recalled times they had not acted like Merlin's friends. Times they had piled too much work on him, times they had laughed at his expense, times they had really enjoyed his presence or his services but never said, never acknowledged nor appreciated him openly.

-"It is our own fault isn't it," said Arthur in a small voice. "We never told him . . . he does not think he is important to us. He thinks we will harm him if he tells us."

-"Well, still after Uther's death magic is not really legal in Camelot. So even if you have never hunted any druids, incarcerated any witches, or burnt any wizards . . . how could he know?"

-"You are right, Elyan! So now we know, and we know that he can never tell us. How do we then tell him that we already know?"

-"Elyan, I wish Guinevere were here to tell us how to proceed. She would so easily sketch us a way . . ."

-"What did you say, my king?"

-"Just that were she here, the queen would draw up a . . .

-"Hush, Arthur! Sketch, draw . . . is that not it?" Has her Majesty not just helped us without not even being here?"

The rest of the watch seemed to be very short, as the men in the tower wove a magnificent conspiracy: a kind way to tell their beloved wizard and friend and loyal servant that they knew!