Disclaimer: I own nothing. They are all property of the BBC... except the plot, that's mine. :)
Merry Belated Christmas! Or Happy Holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas. I am now officially back from my holidays and back to regualarly updating. Thank you to all the reviwers so far - I am glad you are all enjoying it. I have a inkling that Merlin is a bit OOC in this chapter and possibly in later chapters. I've been watching all of Bones (and I mean all of) the past two weeks, so it is highly possible that the characters in this may start to resemble those in Bones. For this I apologise. Anyway, I shall stop rambling now.
Lastly, I wish to thank pachysam for all the ideas and suggestions. I may include some of them in future chapters, if they coincide with my basic story plot. Thank you!
Enjoy and please review. ;)
Three
The Doctor and Rose were led into the great hall where, at one end, sat King Uther along with a dark haired women and what appeared to be her maid. The sun had already set, shocking Rose at how quickly their day had passed.
"Father, may I introduce Doctor and Miss Rose Tyler," Arthur presented. "They are travellers to Camelot. Doctor, Rose; this is my father, King Uther Pendragon."
"You are most welcome to Camelot," King Uther replied, with a kind smile and a nod of his head. Rose gave another small curtsy, with the Doctor simply beamed happily.
"Absolutely brilliant to meet you, Uther. Fantastic!" And the Doctor bounded forward shake the hand of the now taken-aback King. "Sure, King Arthur's the real legend and all, but this is real history. Arthur's good ol' dad - brilliant!"
"It's…uh… lovely to meet you too, Doctor," Uther replied, slightly unsure of himself, while Arthur tried to cover up a laugh. "This is my Ward, Morgana and her maid, Guinevere."
"Wonderful to meet you both," the Doctor nodded to them and ignored Rose, whose mouth had dropped to the ground at hearing that Guinevere was a humble maid. "Rose?" He turned to her, expectantly.
"Oh, it's lovely to meet you, too," she smiled, managing to get over her initial shock.
"And now, Doctor and Miss Tyler - you must be tired," Uther said. "I shall have you taken to your room."
"Thank you, Sire," the Doctor and Rose said in unison, glancing at each other and smiling as they did so.
"Consider my manservant, Merlin at your disposal for your time here,' Arthur added, nodding to where Merlin had suddenly appeared (as though by magic, as it were) beside his Prince. Rose frowned slightly at the pair, noting how close they stood together. The Doctor, meanwhile, gave his thanks before Merlin offered to take them both to their room.
"Tell me, young Merlin," the Doctor began on the way to their room, "are you enjoying being at Camelot?"
"I am, sir. Very much so," Merlin replied.
"Just Doctor," he reminded him. "I could never stand sir, anyway. Sounds like I'm a school teacher or something," he shuddered at the thought and Rose stopped herself from reminding him that he had been a school teacher not that long ago.
"Uh... here is you room," Merlin changed the subject and opened to door to reveal a large room, with windows overlooking the courtyard and a spacious double bed.
"It's beautiful!" Rose exclaimed, while the Doctor nodded beside her.
Merlin smiled slightly, "Compliments of the King," and he nodded towards the large fruit bowl on the table. "King Uther also requests your presence for breakfast tomorrow. He wishes to dine with you." Merlin finished and with a small bow he left the room. As soon as the door had closed behind him, Rose turned to the Doctor with a frown.
"What is going on here Doctor?"
"Aw, no 'thank you so much Doctor - we just met Arthur and Merlin and Guinevere and it's so exciting and wonderful!'" the Doctor mocked, in a disappointed tone, receiving a small glare from Rose.
"You know I'm thankful," she smiled. "But really, what's going on here?"
"What?" he seemed clueless as usual to what she was meaning. Sometimes Rose wondered if he put it on.
"You didn't notice?"
"What?" Nope, definitely not an act. Rose sighed.
"Guinevere's a maid!"
"Oh."
"And Merlin as Arthur's manservant? Seriously? And where is Lancelot? If he was such an important knight, then surely he would be present at court or something, right?"
"Legends change, Rose," the Doctor began in explanation. "Remember what I said about legends and myths becoming warped as time passes?"
"Yeah."
"Then that's what happened. This is the real Camelot, right here, right now. Whatever you hear in the future is just the same central people, but with their life stories changed to make for better storytelling and movie plots."
"I spose that makes sense."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow sceptically. "You're not thinking of trying to change it are you? You know what happens..." he trailed off, not wanting to hit a sensitive spot with Rose.
"Yeah, I do," Rose nodded and the Doctor smiled slightly. "But what about Merlin?"
"What about him?"
"Is he still a sorcerer?"
"A sorcerer living in a city where magic is banned," the Doctor stated thoughtfully. "Still, there isn't really such a thing as magic anyway, so technically he's not breaking any rules."
"But...?" Rose trailed off not knowing what else to say.
"It's like... like..." he ran a hand through his head and muttered something about trying to explain it simply. "It's like... Clarke's third law!"
"There are laws of magic?" her eyebrow raised sceptically once again.
"No. Arthur C. Clarke - Author of 2001: A Space Odyssey."
"Not ringing any bells," Rose said apologetically.
"Doesn't matter. Clarke's third law - 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'"
"Ah, that makes sense. So what are the powers Merlin's got then? Some sort of advanced technology?"
"Oh it's just the simple telekinetic energy caused by the charging of atoms and dark matter in our bodies, creating a magnetic field, which can, under the right telepathic commands be transferred into other objects or bodies, giving the impression of magic."
"Uh... huh," Rose blinked, trying to get her head around the scientific jargon. "Anyway... d'you think anyone knows? About his magic... stuff?"
"I don't know," he replied thoughtfully. "Better not say anything then. Come on. Let's get some rest," the Doctor then said, flopping down on the bed.
"We sharing this?" Rose asked, looking at the Doctor's form collapsed on the bed.
"The floor doesn't look especially comfortable," the Doctor replied, before grinning. "Besides, I don't mind."
"Me neither," Rose returned the smile and settled down beside the Time Lord, before blowing out the single candle, casting the room into darkness.
"Did you want to get out of your dress or something?" the Doctor asked.
"Nah, it'll be fine. I've done worse," Rose replied before stifling a yawn. "Maybe I'll ask Guinevere if I could borrow some spare clothes tomorrow. Beside we probably won't be here long anyway, right?"
"I don't know," the Doctor said, truthfully, his mind going back to the angel statue he had seen. Or rather, not seen. "There might be something going on with these disappearances."
"I thought you'd say that," Rose replied. "There is always something going on."
"Yup," the Doctor replied, popping the p as he often did. "But for now, you need some rest."
"Night then, Doctor," Rose replied and the Time Lord could hear the smile in her voice.
* * *
"Why do you always have to say that I'm the one at the guest's disposal," Merlin complained, as he scrubbed Arthur's boots while the Prince got changed into his night things.
"They didn't seem very hard on you," Arthur responded evenly.
"They weren't but it's beside the point."
"And what is the point, Merlin?"
"Only that I prefer to work for you, rather that strangers," Merlin replied.
Arthur poked his head out from behind the screen, "Are you actually serious? Me? I could have sworn you were just saying the other day how much of a prat I am and that you'd rather work for anyone other than me."
"I said that?"
"Unless there is another Merlin running about Camelot doing my chores as well," Arthur stated sarcastically.
"Two Merlins?"
"Oh god, you're right. That would be awful! One is certainly enough."
"What made you think that I was implying that concept was awful?" Merlin questioned, cheekily.
"How could you think that the concept wouldn't be awful?" Arthur replied, equally cheeky as he appeared out from behind the screen with a bare chest and a pair of loose breeches. Merlin raised an eyebrow and grinned.
"You're right. Two me's would be a bit overkill."
"A bit?" it was Arthur's turn to raise an eyebrow.
Merlin simply rolled his eyes. "I've got your boots cleaned, Sire," he changed the subject and emphasised the last word so it had a slight mocking tone.
Arthur shot a mock glare in his direction, before getting into bed. "As much as it kills me to say it; thanks Merlin."
Merlin smiled innocently, before leaving the cleaned boots to blow out the candle. "You're most welcome."
Arthur rolled his eyes, which Merlin missed as the room darkened with the lack of light. "Night, Merlin."
"Goodnight, Sire."