It was the spring after when Uther decided his son could be allowed in the forest. He was, of course, not allowed without at least four knights if not the King himself but Uther thought that the best way to overcome a fear (and to chase one away) was to face it.
It had taken two months since the initial incident in the woods for Uther to call off the search for the red woman, two months of summer wasted. Arthur and Merlin were kept on castle grounds with a retinue of knights and servants supervising every moment of their play. Though they were hardly needed as the boys' play had become half-hearted and tentative compared to before.
Arthur's bravado had dimmed since the creature, whenever he was outside he had taken to glancing at the sky occasionally. Even inside he took to looking at the windows to check for the winged menace that had nearly taken him.
Merlin, who had been quiet before, was now silent. He kept quite close to Arthur much to Elrich and Uther's contentedness but had also taken to using magic for everything. Merlin would summon toys, cups, and one time King Elrich was dragged a couple feet backward by the boy. Elrich had been simultaneously impressed and annoyed.
By late July their mood had picked up as there was no sign of either woman or beast. Arthur had, at this point, asked his father hundreds of times who the woman was. Uther never answered. One day it occurred to Arthur to ask King Elrich and Lady Hunith. He was hesitant though, he didn't know how they would react.
Merlin and Arthur walked up to the two just a day into August. King Elrich had taken to watching the knights train from a window seat whilst occasionally reading a book or playing a chess game against Uther. Sometimes he would even go down and join their swordplay, feeling the call for battle still lingering in his blood.
Lady Hunith was sewing a rose design onto a patterned cloth beside him, she was sitting in a cushy red chair. She was seldom seen without some project for her hands, she wrote, she drew, she sewed, and she even whittled small carvings when she truly felt like it.
That day Elrich had the window open and was making inarticulate noises and gesturing slightly with his hands, making smaller versions of the swings he believed the knight currently fighting should be making. Hunith had her pattern but was shifting a bit restlessly from sitting down for so long. Uther was currently in the throne room dealing with his people's problems, Arthur knew they would be safe from him for now.
"Prince Arthur, Merlin," Hunith noticed the boys first, "how are you today? Need something to do?"
Arthur grimaced, Lady Hunith's idea of something to do was helping out with the servants' work and unfortunately Uther agreed and thought it was a good lesson for the boys to learn. Arthur quickly shook his head, Merlin also shook his head. Even Merlin hadn't enjoyed polishing armour.
"Lady Hunith… King Elrich…" Arthur started but still wasn't sure he should proceed, curiosity won out, "who is the red lady I saw? Is she dangerous?"
Neither looked surprised by the question.
"What has your father told you?" Hunith asked even though she clearly knew.
"He told me to ask you two."
"Har! Little shit lies as easily as his father." Elrich turned from his viewing and smirked at the boy. Hunith rolled her eyes at him.
"Prince Arthur, I don't think it is a particularly wise idea to go around your father's wishes, do you?" Hunith leant forward to look him calmly in the eyes. Arthur fidgeted.
"No." He admitted begrudgingly. Hunith smiled.
"Good then, now run along," Hunith sat back in her chair. The two boys wandered off reluctantly, missing Hunith and Elrich's exchange of significant looks.
When the visiting family finally left the kingdom of Camelot at the end of summer, Arthur was allowed to go play with his other friends again. During the visit, Uther had told his son that he was to focus on playing with and getting to know Merlin, Arthur had protested of course but ultimately had to go along with his father's command.
"Leon!" Arthur yelled gleefully and hugged his best friend as he entered Arthur's room. Leon hugged him back then they broke apart and smiled at each other. Leon was a curly haired young boy of Arthur's age, son of one of the knights that served Uther, Leon has known Arthur since they were toddlers.
"Hello Arthur," Leon pushed Arthur's shoulder a little and smirked, Arthur pushed Leon's shoulder back and half-scowled, Leon was still taller than him. "How was Prince What's-His-Name?"
"Boring! He didn't know how to sword fight or anything! He can do…" Arthur looked at the closed door behind Leon briefly, "he can do magic though." He said in a lower voice.
"Really?" Leon knew as well as anyone that while magic could be practised in Camelot, speaking about it in the King's presence was equal to stepping on his toes and spitting on his cloak even if the King refused to acknowledge his bias. Lords and Ladies had mysteriously stopped receiving invitations to events after talking the issue where he could hear, servants could even be sacked. There were no magic users working in the castle save Gaius (though he barely practised), Uther would not admit so to others but it was. Arthur still didn't know why. Leon did though.
"Yeah, he's really strong at it. I mean, he's a big baby about everything else but he's really good at magic." Arthur walked over to his wooden sword that he kept near his bed and picked it up.
"Did he use magic on the monster? Mama's handmaid said a monster attacked you both and nearly killed you." Leon already had his wooden sword strapped to his waist and was starting to untie it as he glanced excitedly to Arthur, hoping for the story.
"He did." Arthur said. "I mean I attacked it first but Merlin helped, yeah."
"Who's Merlin?"
"The other prince. Anyway," Arthur ran to the middle of his room and lifted his sword up in ready position for attack, Leon followed suit, "you be the monster. I'll be Sir Arthur, no, King Arthur! The knight about to best you!"
"Only if you can get by my sharp claws!"
"It had wings and talons not claws. It wasn't a bear!" Arthur took a swing at Leon and the other boy jumped backward to avoid it.
"Caw, caw!" Leon lunged at Arthur. Arthur ran to the side and swung again, missing.
"It's not a bird either Leon. It sounded like a bear but had wings like a-a- bat. Or something." Arthur let his sword hand drop. Leon looked at him confusedly as the other boy grabbed his hand and placed it on his arm.
"He grabbed me like this," Arthur said, "he grabbed me and pulled me up and it was really cold. Flap your arm." Arthur told Leon. Leon frowned but did so, flapping the arm that wasn't holding Arthur, "yeah, and he pulled me up." Leon began to tug on Arthur's arm and roared dramatically, "and then I slashed at him with my sword." Arthur lifted his wooden sword again and banged it on Leon's fingers.
"OW! Arthur!" Leon let go of him.
"And then Merlin used his magic to pull me away from the monster." Arthur grabbed his friend's foot and pulled him forward.
"Stop it Arthur!" Leon shook out of his grasp.
"Then I fell and then I was asleep and then I woke up and then I wasn't in the woods anymore," Arthur was breathing a little shortly, not looking at his friend, "I didn't know how that happened. I didn't remember. All I know is that Merlin's eyes were gold and shiny and then…" Leon looked a tad afraid of what Arthur was going to say next, "and then Merlin threw up on me." A shocked look crossed Leon's face and then a startled laugh followed by giggles.
"That's gross Arthur." Leon shoved Arthur's shoulder again, feeling less uncomfortable. Arthur blinked.
"Yeah… yeah, it really was," Arthur looked at Leon a bit blankly then smirked, "wanna go to the kitchens and get some pie? They're making apple."
"Yes!" The boys then took off toward the kitchen to bug the cooks. While they were munching on their slices later in the courtyard, watching the knights, Arthur's eyes drifted toward the archers. Their bow strings were snapping and their sharp arrows pierced the targets deeply. He never did mention the beast again to Leon but he did mention it to his father.
"I need to be a better knight so that I don't get taken by monsters." Arthur told his father as seriously as the nine year old could muster. Uther was sitting by his window in his room watching the snow fall lightly outside. The moment with Leon had been months past and Arthur had grown sick of just watching the knights. He had tried talking to them before turning to his father, Sir Antor in particular, but none of them felt comfortable advising him, fearing they would overstep their boundaries and bring the King's wrath upon them.
Uther turned toward his son with an eyebrow lifted and an intrigued expression.
"How would you propose to become a better knight?"
"I need a real sword." Arthur started.
"Hmph," Uther leaned down, "while it's true that a knight is only as good as his sword is, if he hasn't the skills to wield it-"
"And I want to learn to hunt." Arthur interrupted, having heard his father's views before.
"Archery, Arthur?" Uther smiled as the boy nodded. "Very well."
Arthur was given his first bow and arrow set the next day though he would not receive his first real sword yet. Uther oversaw his training and Uther rode into the woods beside the small boy on his pony when the spring finally came.
When summer rolled into Camelot, Arthur was dreaming of flying into Lesser Albion as he sat in a carriage that was bringing him to Merlin's home. He missed his father. Uther, unlike Elrich, did not have a clan of dragons to carry him back and forth on a whim and so chose to stay in Camelot to rule his kingdom. Sir Antor had also remained behind much to Arthur's chagrin, it was Sir Tristan who rode in the boy's cabin whilst idly writing in a journal. It was to Arthur's horrible surprise that not only did Sir Tristan write poetry but he also recited it, loudly, to anyone who would listen.
It wasn't that Arthur hated the poetry though, he would admit to Leon later that reading Sir Tristan's poetry was actually kind of good, it was more that Sir Tristan's mouth salivated with such frequency that Arthur felt much like he was laying under a rose bush while a gardener putted about with his watering can.
"A cold inviting hand is warmth for me, for lonely souls do seek for kind embrace despite the aching heart's desire to flee. Instead, though dark and twisted visage seems, his arms out wide enchant, the weak will chase-" Sir Tristan stumbled as a dent in the road caused the carriage to rock and the journal to fall from his hands. Arthur took the opportunity to scoot to the other side of the carriage in the hopes that Sir Tristan's spit's range was not far reaching. They had been travelling for just verging on seven days and Arthur was feeling soggy.
"My Prince!" Called the driver of the carriage, a portly old man who loved children and horses, "you can see the castle now! We're but a day away from getting there your majesty." His voice was muffled through the carriage walls but Arthur heard well enough and finally grew excited again. He barely remembered anything from the first time he came to Lesser Albion when it was Merlin's birth celebration.
"I want to see the castle." Arthur said happily, Sir Tristan knocked on the back of the carriage.
"The Prince would like to see, if you would stop a moment Higgsley." Sir Tristan smiled as the carriage rolled to a slow stop then opened the door for his Prince to step out of. Arthur jumped out and nearly fell to his knees, it had been awhile since their last break from riding.
Walking up to the front of the carriage where Higgsley offered a hand, Arthur was lifted up to stand on the driver's seat. In the distance was the palace.
It was a tall white serene building with many spires and towers and slanted blue roofs, it was a wide circle of buildings that arched into the sky and Arthur could even make out the small village houses that stood around it.
"There's a river that runs right through the village, my Princeling, it cuts right near the palace and is quite wide. You'll like the bridge for sure, very well made. Sometimes the villagers set up stalls along it to sell their wares to passers. Sometimes performers set up their shows there, you like clowns, my Prince?" Higgsley's big black mustache was upturned in a kindly smile but Arthur was not answering. Instead he stood staring at the palace, feeling quite small.
It wasn't as if Arthur didn't know that Lesser Albion was the greatest flourishing kingdom in all of Greater Albion, it wasn't as if he didn't know that this kingdom was the most powerful and that other kingdoms deferred to it in terms of hierarchy, but it was the first time that Arthur felt he understood what it meant. He sank to sitting next to Higgsley and kept his eyes trained on the impossibly large palace. Higgsley, misunderstanding Arthur's quietness, turned back to his horses and called for them to move.
"Higgsley?" Sir Tristan called from the door of the carriage.
"He's up here with me, Sir Tristan, admiring the view."
"Sir Liam, if you would." Sir Tristan called to a knight who was following the carriage. The knight promptly rode forward to beside the carriage.
The litter pushed on through the next day, Arthur was able to take a nap inside the carriage later on, but for the most part the group did not rest. They made it to the bridge by late afternoon and the sun had just disappeared when they finally rolled into the courtyard of the palace.
The grass that surrounded the palace on both sides after the bridge ended was a vibrant green that Arthur had never seen the likes of before. Even the sky somehow seemed bluer. And it was a much warmer evening in Lesser Albion than would ever be in Camelot. Arthur loosened the clasp of his purple cloak.
Standing before the stairs that led to the entrance were the Royal Family. Hunith was as soft and lovely as Arthur remembered her to be, standing in her long yellow dress, she never wore a crown, he noticed, nor a circlet, he gave it a small thought before noticing King Elrich and Merlin. King Elrich was wearing his normal regalia, the large sleeved shirt under the golden tunic and his sapphire crown. Merlin, Arthur noticed and nearly rolled his eyes at, was dressed identically to the King sans the crown.
He wasn't much bigger than last summer, Arthur thought, perhaps a bit thinner in the face and his ears were simply ridiculous with his new short haircut. Though Merlin was smiling this time, a relieved kind of smile, and Arthur, who was quite ready for someone who was not his knights and servants, smiled back.
"Welcome Prince Arthur!" King Elrich boomed as the Prince, who was in fact a whole two inches taller than last summer, walked up to take his bow. There was a pause after the bow toward the King and Lady Hunith, where Arthur looked at Merlin and was unsure of how to proceed.
"You needn't do the King's greeting this time," Lady Hunith gave a dry look toward King Elrich, "come inside. We were about to have a small snack before bedtime." She smiled kindly toward Arthur and Arthur felt a small pang in his chest. He wondered if his own mother had been so warm. As the group dwindled in, Merlin hung back to walk next to Arthur.
"It's good you're okay." Merlin said, surprising Arthur, "I'm happy the monster didn't take you when I was gone." Arthur felt a little offended.
"I can defend myself, I'm learning archery right now," Arthur huffed then sighed, "but. Thank you. I guess. I'm glad you're okay too." Merlin grinned then took Arthur's hand and tried to hurry them forward.
"Let's go, I want to show you my room now!" Merlin nearly fell up the steps in his excitement. Arthur snorted but felt a little less small when he stopped thinking of the palace as Lesser Albion's castle and started to think of it as Merlin's home.