Summary: Uther has sent Arthur and Merlin on a dangerous quest - retrieve the Cup of Life from the Druids, make sure neither Cenred nor Morgause get their hand on it... and make it out alive. As Gwaine joins them, will the unity of Courage, Strength and Magic be enough to complete the life-threatening mission? And what about the rest of the Round Table?
Details/Disclaimer: Merlin and anything from the series belong to the BBC. So does the original episode, The Coming of Arthur (both parts) on which this and the sequel of this story is based upon.This is merely my own version of events but I recommend watching the episodes first, as most of this makes sense only after watching them.
This is the second part of the trilogy The Rise and Fall of a Queen.
Enjoy!
Tazz~
The Rise of a Queen
Chapter Four: Duty's Tale
Word Count: 1306
"Lancelot!" Merlin exclaimed. He embraced his friend; glad to see him after it had been so long.
"Merlin, it's been a while."
"Too long." He grinned, concerns for the prince put on hold for a moment.
"Who's this, Merlin?"
"Gwaine, this is Lancelot, Lancelot, Gwaine," he introduced them.
"Pleasure to meet you."
"And you." Lancelot shook the proffered hand.
"Lancelot? Is that you?"
"Prince Arthur, what happened to your leg?"
"Nothing, just an arrow wound."
"An infected arrow wound," Merlin corrected, exaggeratingly. "We need to get help from a village with supplies. I tried using magic, but I don't think I had the right spell."
"Still up to your old tricks then?"Lancelot grinned, and then glanced at Arthur. "And he doesn't mind?"
"He has a name, and he also knows we need to hurry. Camelot's in trouble."
"We need to get help first."
"No we don't!" Arthur shouted. "For all we know, that evil witch Morgause is sitting on the throne right now! We need to get to Camelot."
"Alright," Merlin agreed, to everyone's surprise. "We'll go to Camelot, but I want to try one more spell. I didn't try before because it's crude, and it's going to hurt like hell – you'll be limping for a day. Is that okay?" Arthur nodded. "Alright, get on the floor. Lancelot, Gwaine, I'll need you to hold him down; he needs to stay still unless he wants twice the pain. And look away, the light could blind you temporarily." The three did as they were told without argument; this was the Lord that the Druids had been talking to.
He spoke in the Old Tongue, and his had glowed with heat, like his eyes. When he clamped his hand down on the wound, the flash of light hurt both Gwaine's and Lancelot's eyes, turned away as they were.
Arthur, who had clenched his teeth to stop from yelling, couldn't stop his body wrenching out of their grasp, though, fortunately, they were able to recover their holds.
"Done." He moved his hand to reveal smooth skin, unmarred. "That closed the wound, and flushed out infection." Arthur got up, supported once again.
"Thank you, Merlin," he said, composing himself. "Now, we need to leave."
"Lancelot, do you mind if Arthur uses your horse?"
"Of course not."
"Great, that way we'll travel faster." Merlin took the reins, and led the horse to Arthur, who, with a bit of struggling and help from a log, Gwaine and Lancelot, got on painfully. When Merlin didn't pass him the reins, and began to lead him like a child, he wondered if the idiot thought Arthur had hurt his arm, not his leg.
"Merlin, the reins?" he asked pointedly.
Merlin snorted in response. "And give you the chance to run off? As if."
Arthur was quite insulted; the thought never crossed his mind, but when he told Merlin, the warlock just snorted again.
"It's there now," he said. "So just get some rest." And he purposely turned to talk to Lancelot.
The nerve!
"Lancelot?" Merlin asked him curiously. "How did you know Camelot was in trouble?"
"I didn't," he answered ruefully. "To tell you the truth... I came to find you because of a dream."
"A dream?" Merlin asked, intrigued; did Lancelot have some sort of seer ability?
"It was... unusual. I already know the last Dragon was slain by Arthur- What?" he asked, for Merlin had shaken his head and smirked.
"That was a ruse for Uther – to cover the fact that I was a Dragonlord. I sent the Dragon away – we see each other every now and again."
"You're the last Dragonlord? But that means you must be- Wait, does that mean the Dragon lives?"
"We, we are basically family; I let him live."
"Wow," Lancelot said in wonder, "Than that means... What does he look like?"
"Well, he's absolutely massive. And his scaled are sort of... a browny-gold."
"And his eyes glow like yours do," Lancelot whispered. "When you use magic. Like fire." He looked at Merlin in awe. "I think I met the Dragon, Merlin." He sounded as if he didn't believe it. "I met the last Dragon alive."
"Is he still so cryptic?" Merlin's critical tone broke the mood Lancelot was in and he laughed.
"I guess so. He kept calling me Honour, for some reason, and made it sound like a name."
"What else did he say?" Merlin asked, eager. He wondered if it was going where he thought it was going.
"Well, I told you he addressed me as Honour... He spoke of eight others: Courage, Strength, Magic, Duty, Wisdom, Loyalty, Integrity and Compassion."
"Arthur!"
"So we are named by our most prominent qualities?" The prince seemed to be struggling to take it in. Merlin rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Well, that's the best explanation. Think about it," he gestured to Lancelot. "Honour, Magic," He pointed to himself. "Strength," He nodded at Gwaine. "And Courage." He acknowledged Arthur. "Don't let it get to your head, though; I've seen you go beyond the lines of courage and into stupidity," he laughed, "As for the others... Well, I suppose we'll figure them out once we reach Camelot."
"One thing I'm trying to get round," Arthur said, "Is what we've all got in common." They all three looked at Merlin.
"I already thought about that, and, given the list so far, I'd say two things: one, is me, and that's just ridiculous, and the other is that we're all hell bent on helping you. For some reason," he added as an afterthought.
"What happened?" Merlin asked in a horrified voice.
"Cenred's men," Arthur answered shortly. He stopped staring at the burning village, and tapped Merlin, who was gaping at the terrible sight. "We need to hurry; we're still a day's march from Camelot."
The four of them continued on, silent. The reality of the situation set in, and they hurried on with renewed vigour.
Knights littered the grassy floor, unceremoniously left where they had fallen.
"A Camelot patrol." Arthur got up from the nearest corpse.
"There's not a single enemy corpse," Merlin scrutinised.
"He's right." Lancelot looked around at the strewn bodies.
"This wasn't a fight, this was a slaughter. They never stood a chance." Arthur began to limp forward, the tired horse long abandoned, but paused at Gwaine's question.
"Who could have done such a thing?"
"An army of men that cannot die."
It was almost nightfall when they finally made it to Camelot; the cover of the onrushing darkness made it all easier.
Arthur stopped at Gwen's door; he had to see. He tried to open it, locked as it was.
"Tospringe." It swung open with a click.
"Thank you," he said briefly, entering the house. The others followed him, but they could see that there wasn't anyone there, much like the streets outside.
However, their conclusion was proved wrong when someone left the shadows, swinging his sword. Arthur quickly parried, and was about to launch his own attack, before Merlin's cry of recognition stopped him.
"Elyan!"
Elyan lowered his sword. "Sorry!" Merlin shut the door, in case anyone who's allegiance wasn't to the prince was passing by.
"Where is everyone?" Arthur asked desperately. He interrupted Elyan's stuttering apology "Elyan, please, what happened?"
He paused for a moment, hesitating, then answered Arthur's questions. "They... came out of nowhere. A mighty army; weapons were useless against them. They were men, sire, but... not men. Nothing could kill them. Nothing.
"But the King ordered defences; anyone who could fight was to fight – anyone else was to help with supplies and causalities. When all was lost, we fled." He looked ashamed.
"That's alright," Merlin reassured him. "You can help us now."
"Where's your sister, where's Guinevere?"
"She was in the citadel when they attacked."
"Then there's still hope."
"Sire... the citadel's been taken."
Oh, just in case anyone was wondering, no, I did not review myself. That was my silly little sister who thinks it cool to review someone, when said someone doesn't want a review from them... Saima, like I usually say, listen to me.
And sorry for the delay guys. I needed to find out a bit more about the Round Table, as well as Leon and Percival (And I know Percival was meant to turn up with Lancelot, but I got it covered xD)
EDIT: I had to add the other eights' prophetic names in accordance with the show; so now, the entire Round Table has names. Have fun guessing who is what xD Or keep reading to find out... In any case, reviewers are loved xD