Arthur ran to Gwaine and snatched the offending book from the knight's hands. Horror spread throughout his body as he flipped through the pages of the book and found them filled to the brim with spells and enchantments.
"What is this?" He snapped "Is this Merlin's?" He glared at the knights daring them to answer, but the king received nothing other than the same pure confusion that he felt emanating from them. The last thing that any one of the knights- that anyone in the palace- would expect to find in Merlin's room was a book of… magic. Arthur refused to believe it. Merlin was an idiot! He said so all the time, and sometimes he even believed it. Merlin was to… to Merlin to be anything but. Gwaine cleared his throat.
"Well perhaps it's not really Merlin's. He could have just found it somewhere and not known what it was." Arthur furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head.
"No." He spat "Anyone with half a brain could see that this is a book of magic- I want to know why it is in Merlin's room, and I want to know now!" The look he gave Gwaine seemed to suggest that the king expected Gwaine to plead his manservant's case.
Each man in the room took a turn opening their mouth to speak, but they accomplished nothing other than swallowing the empty air. You could hear a Dorocha approach in the silence that ensued. Arthur took a shaking breath- and then he felt something odd. He felt as if there was someone else in the room. Someone besides the knights.
A woman's laugh confirmed his fears. Slowly, Arthur turned his body around and came face to face with a mirror. And the visage of the woman inside of it. Because a woman was inside the mirror. There was no way that met him was Arthur's reflection. It was far too… womanly. In fact, the face that met Arthur's wasn't his, and it certainly was not just anyone.
It was the Lady Elaine.
She was perched prettily upon a chair with a giant loom in front of her. As she stared at Arthur she began to weave furiously. In that moment Arthur felt strangely like his late father. For as he stared into the mirror a nagging voice inside his head shouted witchcraft! Before Arthur could say a word, Elaine spoke.
"Hello Arthur." She greeted, malice heavily dripping from each syllable. Her hands moved up and down the loom, up and down as the threads rushed to do her bidding. "I don't suppose that you'll ask me how my journey home has fared?" Arthur licked his lips which were now more dry than ever. In fact, his whole mouth now felt devoid of moister, and it took more effort than usual to speak.
"What are you doing inside a mirror- in Merlin's room?" He asked with more trouble than he would like to admit. Elaine shrugged.
"It's my line of work. What I do- it is sort of what you could call one of the ah… conditions of my curse."
"Your curse?"
"Yes, I'm cursed. Surprise!" Elaine laughed silently. "And my bidding is to weave- but I am only allowed to weave reflections. What I see in the mirror. When I was younger I had but one mirror that I could use as inspiration- I hadn't my talents yet at that point. Now, however I've expanded my horizons. So long as what I weave is what I see from a mirror, I'm okay. And I have to ability to get my information from any mirror I want." The pitch of the last few words were altered to that Elaine was almost singing them; merrily taking in the prince's confused expression.
"So you've decided that my servant's room would provide for inspiration?" Arthur asked.
"Well it seems I have plenty." Elaine noted, gesturing to Arthur, his knights, and that wretched book.
"Nice little trinket there you servant possesses." The lady noted. "He really is quite adept at his little magic tricks, wouldn't you think?" Arthur felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. Several times. Elaine drank in his expression with unmasked glee. She formed her lips in mock surprise.
"Oh! But I suppose that maybe… maybe you didn't know about Merlin's talents?" And there was another punch in the gut. "It doesn't surprise me that he'd want to hide them from you. I suppose you'd be terribly angry."
"Of course I'm angry!" Arthur practically screamed. He felt the knights flinch behind him. "The one person I thought I could trust has betrayed Camelot? Betrayed everything my father and I have worked for? If Merlin thinks that he'll get away with this then he is even more of an idiot than I thought!" Elaine sucked in her breath. A morbid pleasure danced about her features.
"Then I can have him?" She asked with glee. "You see, I already took him- but it would be nice if I knew that his king wouldn't be angry at whatever I do to him."
"You have him?" Arthur asked. All the blood seemed to drain from his face. He felt- worry. No, that wasn't worry inside him. That was anger. He was angry. That was all. Pure anger. Merlin was a betrayer. A filthy, magic practicing betrayer. "Well you can have him." Arthur spat. Elaine nodded with glee.
"Good. I thought you'd say that. I suppose I should be on my way then?" Elaine pulled her now completed tapestry off the machine. A sudden question popped into Arthur's mind.
"Wait! If you already have him- why did you feel the need to talk to me?" The corners of Elaine's mouth turned up, her eyes flashed with pure sadism. She held up her finished pieced up for Arthur to drink in.
"I told you, I can only weave what I see, and I would love for your Merlin to see his master's reaction to his talents. Perhaps it may show him how worthless he now is."
A/N: Yeah, I just love you all so much that here is a short chapter. Enjoy? Maybe? If anyone reviews I'll probably get excited and possibly give you ANOTHER today. Thanks a ton for the support!