There are five cameos in this chapter, all of them not named. Can you figure out who they all are?
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me and I make no profit from this whatsoever.
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Francis had been in several battles, each more horrific than the last. However, nothing could compare to the battle he was in right now.
Here, in the depths of the Great Medlantic Lake, he fought alongside magical creatures of all kinds with the same goal: to defend Arthur Kirkland.
"After years of fighting against Arthur, I never thought I'd be fighting for him." Francis muttered as he dodged yet another arrow. The mermen had frighteningly good aim, but the centaurs were just as good if not better.
Francis yelped as an arrow whizzed past his ear. "A sword, I need a sword!" He looked down at his toga only to realize with horror that there was nothing hanging on the belt. "Mon dieu, I didn't think I'd have to say this again. ARTHUR! HELP ME!"
"For heaven's sake, grow some balls and fight! I'm busy right now!" Arthur replied, battling mermen from atop Kiku just a few feet away from Francis.
"If you'd given me a weapon I would!"
Arthur waved his wand and bound a merman's arms to his side. "Oh for crying out loud," he reached into his toga and pulled out a small dagger in a sheath. "Here!"
He threw it over to Francis, who scrambled to swim forwards. Just as he was close enough to catch it a merman popped up in front of him and swatted the dagger away with his tail.
"Non!" Not noticing the spear in front of his face Francis frantically swam after the dagger.
"You ain't getting away that easily!" But as the merman turned to chase after him Francis' leg whacked him in the face. The merman staggered back, straight into a waiting centaur.
Not noticing what he had done, Francis focused on the dagger. However, each time he got close enough a tail or leg would accidentally knock the dagger away.
After what seemed like ages Francis found the dagger resting on a rock not too far away. "I have you now," he murmured.
Nearby, one merman grinning cockily called out while holding his axe over his shoulder, "Which of you centaurs want to face me next?" He looked around and caught sight of the Frenchman swimming towards the rock. He smirked and followed after him.
Francis, unaware of his new pursuer, swam closer and closer to the dagger. Once he was close enough he reached out to grab the dagger when he felt something move behind him.
WHOOSH
Suddenly, an axe came swinging out of nowhere and just missed Francis. In his shock Francis lost his footing and flipped on his head.
"I've got you now you cowardly– AUGHH!" the merman dropped his axe and shielded his eyes. In front of him France was flipped on his back with the end of his toga floating upwards, giving the merman a view of his nether regions.
With his eyes still covered the merman stumbled away from the offending view only to feel a rope wind its way around him. "What the…?" he turned and saw that his captor, a centaur with a cheery smile and a band aid on his nose, was expertly tying him up.
"There we go, nice and snug." The centaur said, admiring his handiwork. He turned his gaze to Francis, who had righted himself and grabbed hold of the dagger. "Good work mate, but you do know that you're supposed to wear something under that?"
"Would you cover up the Mona Lisa?" Francis sniffed in return. He removed the dagger from its sheath and gripped it tightly. "Now I can show these mermen what I can really do! He swam straight into battle, brandishing the small dagger as though it were a sword. The centaur sighed and followed after him. He knew that the king wouldn't like it very much if he let him get killed in battle.
Meanwhile, Arthur had managed to take down a number of mermen by casting spells with his magic wand. "Glad to see I haven't lost my touch in battle." He said to himself as he bound together the arms of yet another one.
"I'll be the judge of that." said a voice behind him. Arthur turned and caught sight of a merman floating not too far from him. The cocky grin on his pale face reached all the way to his blood red eyes and he had a gold crown nestled in his snow white hair.
"Gilbert," Arthur said, narrowing his eyes at the Merman King.
"Arthur," Gilbert replied, his grin widening. "Long time no see! I see you've still got your pansy-ass unicorn with you."
Kiku glared at him and tried to swim closer. "Settle down, Kiku," Arthur placed a hand on his back in an attempt to calm him. "I'll deal with him." He hopped off Kiku and kept a tight grip on his wand.
"Deal with me? Ha, don't make me laugh."
"I don't want to fight you, Gilbert." Arthur said, keeping his voice level.
"Then why did you trespass?"
"It was a mistake. We took a wrong turn."
Gilbert scoffed, "Wrong turn my ass. You were planning a sneak attack weren't you?" He drew his sword from its sheath and pointed it at Arthur's chest. "Well I'm not going to let you get away with it." He lunged forward to attack but Arthur swiftly moved to the side.
"Listen to me, you git! I'm not here to fight you!" Arthur yelled as he dodged yet another attack. "I've got bigger idiots to worry about!"
"You should've thought of that before you decided mess with the awesome King Gilbert!" With a cackling laugh he swung his sword out as hard as he could and knocked Arthur's wand away.
"Oh bloody hell," Arthur cursed as he watched his wand fly out of sight. He didn't have time to lament, however, when Gilbert's sword was placed millimetres away from his chest.
"In trouble without your magic stick?" Gilbert asked in a mocking tone. He raised his sword up over his head. "Now the only problem for me is whether to mount your head on my wall or feed you to the CatFish."
Arthur looked up at Gilbert in horror. Unsure of what else to do he shut his eyes and would have given up right then if it weren't for a familiar sound interrupting Gilbert's cackling.
CLANG!
Wincing at the sound of metal meeting bone Arthur opened his eyes and sought out his saviour. Elizaveta stood just behind a cowering Gilbert, frying pan in hand and a murderous look in her eyes.
"Ow! The fuck?" Gilbert swore while clutching the newly formed lump on his head.
"Nice to see you too, Gil."
Gilbert froze, recognizing the voice. He slowly turned around and met the angry eyes of the fierce fawn. "Eliza! That was you?"
"Who else would it be?" Elizaveta drawled.
He straightened himself up and looked at her in surprise. "What are you doing here? No, don't tell me…" He looked at Arthur then back to her, his eyes widening in realization. "You work for him now?"
"That's right, and I'd thank you and your men to not attack my boss!" Elizaveta replied angrily.
"I had every right to attack! You guys were planning a sneak attack on my awesome kingdom!" This earned him another whack with the frying pan.
"Will you shut up and listen?" Elizaveta sighed in exasperation. "We're not interested in your kingdom or anything that has to do with you. We've got more pressing matters to attend to."
"Yeah," Gilbert crossed his arms "like what?"
"The Evil Warlock."
Gilbert stared at her wide-eyed for a moment before cursing. "Shit."
"That's right," Arthur moved so he was in front of the merman king "so you better call off your guards. I need my men for what lies ahead."
Grumbling about being ordered around by some fairy pansy, Gilbert drew in a deep breath and called out in a commanding voice "Soldiers of Teutonis! I, your king, command you all to cease fire immediately!"
At the sound of their king's voice the mermen obediently stopped and brought their weapons to their sides. The centaurs stopped as well, confused but relieved. Arthur gave them a reassuring smile before turning to Gilbert.
"Thank you."
"Arthur? What just happened?" Arthur turned and saw Francis swimming over to him. "I was fighting gallantly with true French passion when a voice that sounded a lot like Gilbert's..." Francis trailed off when he finally noticed the merman floating beside the fairy king.
"Who's this?" Gilbert asked, studying Francis. "He doesn't look like an elf. Is he a fairy?"
"No, he's visiting from another land." Arthur replied, flashing Francis a look that told him to keep his mouth shut. "He agreed to help me."
Francis, having chosen to ignore Arthur's warning, bowed down "It is a pleasure to meet you King Gilbert of the Mermen. My name is Francis Bonnefoy and I hail from the distant and magnificent land of France."
"I see word of my awesome self has reached far and wide." Gilbert smirked and puffed his chest out proudly.
"Well come on." He said to Arthur and started to swim away.
Arthur called out, "Wait, what do you mean? Who said we were going with you?"
"We're going to my kingdom to treat your wounded soldiers. You can't have them going into battle like that." Gilbert said as though it were obvious. "Now hurry up. I hate slow swimmers."
Francis had clearly underestimated the depth of the lake. Along with a giant SeaLion and several mermen the lake was also home to a giant underwater city. Its rich green and turquoise buildings stood proudly and shined like jewels in the light.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Gilbert said when he saw Francis looking around in awe. "Welcome to Teutonis, my kingdom."
"Teutonis," Francis repeated. The name was a perfect fit to the kingdom, majestic and powerful.
Elizaveta looked around with a small smile. "Glad to see you haven't run it to the ground."
"Such an awesome kingdom can't be brought down!" Gilbert grinned. "Now you and your soldiers follow me to my palace. It's just past those buildings."
Arthur and his troop followed Gilbert through the city towards his palace, ignoring the stares and whispers of the merpeople they passed. Small merpeople, most likely children, swam past them. Some stopped to ogle at the group of centaurs and even tried to touch Kiku's long mane. The women of the city stopped what they were doing and stared at the group in wonder and fear. When Gilbert noticed them and waved they gasped and immediately bowed down in the presence of their king.
"King Gilbert," one asked "are they the ones the SeaLion warned about? We're glad to see you've captured them!"
Gilbert laughed. "Nah, it was all a misunderstanding. They're our guests and we were just taking them to the castle to get them cleaned up." This had the women whispering excitedly amongst themselves.
"They seem to like you." Francis remarked, noticing the way some of them smiled and waved back.
"Who wouldn't?" Gilbert replied. "A good ruler is judged by the happiness and respect from their people."
Arthur nodded in agreement then joked "And sometimes on how big his palace is."
Gilbert smirked. "Well, King Arthur, is that big enough?" He pointed straight ahead and Francis had to gasp.
The castle was a light blue so that it was almost unnoticeable in the lake waters. It was huge, as big as Arthur's own castle. "Welcome to my humble home." Gilbert said. "Come this way."
"You two!" Gilbert said to a couple of his mermen once they were inside. "Show the injured to the infirmary. The others can rest in the soldier's lounge."
"Yes, your highness!" They replied.
The more intimidating looking of the two spoke to the centaurs. "If you're injured follow me to the infirmary. M'wife can take the rest of you to the lounge to rest."
"I told you stop calling me that!" the other interrupted, blushing "I'm male, I can't be your wife!"
Gilbert chuckled to himself. He looked to Arthur, Francis, and Elizaveta. "You three come with me to my throne room. But I'm afraid your unicorn will have to be in the courtyard." Kiku nodded and followed another merman out.
The throne room was grand, with pillars lining both sides and a large throne at the end. Gilbert sat down and moved around to get himself comfortable. He called out for his personal servant. A boy with blond hair who couldn't have been more than ten came out.
"Bring some chairs out for them, will you? And get someone to bring me something to eat. I'm starving."
"Yes, your highness." The young boy replied. "Sir, could I visit the maid in the kitchen afterwards?"
Gilbert smiled. "Yes, yes. Now go." Once the boy had swam out of the room Gilbert let out a bellowing laugh. "That poor kid! He has no idea that the maid he's got a crush on is actually a guy!"
"Really?" Elizaveta's eyes went wide with excitement.
"Calm yourself." Arthur warned her. He looked at Gilbert. "I assume you wanted to speak to us."
Gilbert's smile disappeared and his face became serious. "There are a few things you ought to know about the Evil Warlock if you want to take up arms against him."
"I've had a war against him already so I think –"
"Things change, Arthur." Gilbert interrupted. "He may not have enough support for an army but I heard from my sources that he's got a couple of minions now, apprentices learning the ways of magic. He's got some other creatures under his wing too. Not sure what they are, but I hear rumours that your unicorn's older brother is working for him now."
Arthur gasped. "No, not Yao!"
"It's only a rumour." Gilbert said. "I haven't seen the Evil Warlock since the war. He's a nasty bastard. I don't know what he's done to get you so riled up, but any enemy of his is a friend of mine." He swam over to Arthur and placed both hands on his shoulders. "Remember, just because you won once doesn't mean you'll be as lucky again."
[End Chapter 14]
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Did you figure out who the five nations were? I'm sure that you'll get four of them, but the fifth one is rather obscure though Prussia gives a hint as to who it is. A certain trigger-happy Swiss and his sister were scheduled to make an appearance as well, but I've bumped them to the next chapter.
China working for the Evil Warlock should be a hint as to who else he took under his wing.
Please, don't forget to review!
