Thanks for the reviews! I couldn't help but update somewhat early. It just had to be written. I amy even update early again next week...
The surrounding stands of the tournament field were packed to their max and there were even people standing at the edges of the field. Uther sat in a large throne-like chair on a raised dais. Ygraine sat to his right. To his left was an empty chair, placed there for when Arthur was not competing. To the left of that chair was another, though smaller. This one was for Merlin, giving him a perfect view of the field. With Morgana on the right of the queen, the dais was full, guards on either end keeping the enthusiastic people from coming up.
Merlin kept his face blank as he watched the current pair fight it out between them, swords clashing as shields nearly buckled from the force of impact. It was a very…rough display of swordsmanship. Their technique consisted of beating against each other with as much force as possible until one was knocked out or disarmed.
There was no finesse to it. It made him wince mentally as he listened to armor crunch and nearly buckle from a blow that would have severed the man's arm clear off if not for the protective metal.
He gave a sigh of relief as the match came to an end with one man being helped off the field as he limped and held at his aching arm. He wasn't going to be holding his sword for a while from the look of pain that made his face pinch.
Up next was the one he had been waiting for. It was Arthur's turn to go. If he won this one, he would be facing last year's champion, Valiant. Merlin hadn't seen the man fight; he assumed he was good, if he'd beaten these heavy handed people.
As the last of the crowd quieted, Arthur stepped forward, blonde hair blazing brightly in the brilliant sunlight that filtered into the field. Another cheer rose up as their returned prince was announced. Only some of the knights had really seen Arthur fight from before the tournament. Many in the crowds wondered if their prince had what it took to become Camelot's champion.
From the other side of the field, another man stepped. He was burly, with a long ginger beard that was graying at the edges. Thick eyebrows shadowed deep-set eyes and a large, squashed nose. Sir Morganor was a very large man who came from the western plains of this kingdom.
Turning, they saluted Uther who watched with an impassive face. They faced each other and saluted each other, smacking their swords together in a ringing clash of steel before the made their way to their part of the field.
Somewhere nearby, a small bell chimed and they started forward. If Merlin hadn't been watching match after match since this morning, he might have started as they came together with a crunch, shields sliding against each other as sword aimed at their sides.
Pushing at Morganor, Arthur stepped back, nimble and light on his feet compared to the hulking giant of his opponent. Merlin was sure Arthur already had a plan to combat his opponent's superior weight and experience.
He was right as he watched the blonde dart forward and take a shot at him before jumping back to dodge any blow, circling around him, making Morganor follow him or have him at his back.
He had expected Morganor to be frustrated by now, but he kept his cool though his face was getting flushed with anger and maybe excitement. They continued on for some time like this, as Arthur danced around him, bleeding his strength and blows.
Of course, he wasn't always fast enough. Morganor landed a blow every one or two misses, but Arthur managed to catch most on his shield, which was starting to get a nice dent in it. They were both sweating in the heat, faces red and chests heaving.
He watched as Arthur went in for another confrontation. Morganor was expecting this and seemed to move with inhuman speed, turning at just the right time to stop Arthur's blow and catch him by his breastplate. Arthur struggled to get loose, but Morganor kept reeling him in.
Morganor was raising his sword for a final blow. Arthur seeing this did the only thing he could. He dropped, putting all his dead weight into it. Morganor was put off balance; hold releasing as Arthur's weight dragged at him.
Arthur rolled away, barely avoiding Morganor's downward swing which sent up great clumps of earth. He came up without his shield which had come loose in his roll. Although he wasn't next to him, he could feel the tension rolling of Uther as he watched Arthur. He was worried that his son would lose.
Merlin could have told him differently. This wasn't Arthur at his best. Arthur had once taken on a griffin with only a spelled blade and no armor, not even a shirt, and had won. If he couldn't take on this large human, then there was something seriously wrong with him.
He couldn't hide his smirk as he saw Arthur change his stance, gripping his sword with both hands as the blade pointed at an angle down. He was getting serious and was aiming to end this sooner rather than later.
Morganor seemed to realize this as well, a large grin spreading over his hairy face. He didn't even let Arthur come at him, charging at the blonde instead. They came together in a clash of steel, sparks flying as blades slid against each other.
They parted and Arthur came again, blade a blur of silver as he pulled off some complex move. It seemed as if his blade became a living snake of steel, the blade wrapping around Morganor's own blade. A small amount of leverage was all it took to pry the length of metal from his ham-like hands and send it flying.
Wasting no time, he brought his blade back up, level with his throat. "Yield." He commanded. Grinning, he took a step back and bowed. A roar of cheering seemed to break out as the crowd went wild. Yet Morganor could be heard above them all, voice loud and booming as he gave a hearty slap to Arthur's shoulder, making him stagger forward.
Merlin clapped along with the rest of them, but remained seated until most of the crowd had piled out. The tournament was over for the day, the final match between Arthur and Valiant not until tomorrow morning.
Slipping out, he made his way back to the castle, none noticing his passage except for a few who knew who he was. The revelers had already reached the castle, many knights and nobles gathered together as they went over the last match. He could see a couple of knights reenacting it for the few who had no idea what had happened at the very end.
Arthur and Morganor were nowhere in sight. Walking around the edge of the crowd, he made his slow progress to the main hall. There was no feast planned tonight. That was for tomorrow to celebrate Camelot's new champion.
Making it through with ease, he stood alone in the entrance hall for a second. No Arthur here either, but he could see Morganor walking down the hall to his quarters in the west wing where all visiting or long-term knights stayed when in Camelot.
Deciding to take the easy way for finding the blonde prince, he let his magic loose, seeking the aura of one whom he knew inside and out. It caught a whiff of his aura and followed it to end at his room where the blonde had sought peace and quiet from the boisterous revelers.
Raining his magic back in, he set off, taking a back route he had discovered in his stay here. Soon he was in front of a large wooden door. Knocking twice, he pushed it open and stepped through. "You know, you're supposes to wait for my leave before you come in." The prince grouched, as he sat in his chair, armor removed.
"Like that's ever stopped me." He smiled at him. He took in his posture and realized that he was hiding something. He shot an annoyed look at him. "You not going to try and be all noble by hiding the pain. Let me see it."
Arthur gave an annoyed huff, but turned to show his left arm and side. A large bruise was starting to blossom over his tanned skin, and from the looks of how dark it was now, it was only going to get worse. "And you call me an idiot." He shut the door behind him and came closer, already gathering his magic around him.
"You don't have to. You're supposed to be resting." He tried to stop him.
"Arthur, just be quiet and let me do my work. You can complain when I've healed you enough to where you can sleep comfortable tonight." He laid gentle fingers on tan and purple skin, just of the barest touch needed to allow his magic to flow into the blonde.
It sprang to his fingertips easily; always eager to please and help out the blonde when it came to healing. That was something that always made him smile. His magic always acted like some sort of dog, willing to do anything for the blonde whom he called friend.
Schooling his features, he let his magic catch him up and take him into the prince. Where it touched, flesh healed, swelling went down. He followed it to one rib which was bruised, but not broken and healed that completely. No need to skimp on that. A bruised rib could just as easily turn into a fractured or even broken rib.
Pulling out gradually, he laid a slow healing on to him which would eventually reach the rest of his bruises and aches. By tomorrow's tournament, he would be healed enough to fight and remain limber.
Coming out completely, he looked at the blonde with a smile. "There, now I don't have to worry about you loosing because you were hurting." He blinked, jarred completely from his trance-like state by the intense look Arthur was giving him, but it was gone before he could even figure out what it had been.
Face seeming to soften, he smiled back. "Thanks. I owe you for that." He stood and quickly pulled on a clean shirt.
Scrambling quickly, he pulled himself together with much effort, pushing the look to the back of his mind for now. "Just win and that will be enough. I hope you plan to make this a regular occurrence."
He shook his head no. "They certainly don't fight like what I'm used to. I had to change all my strategies. Those border knights certainly have a lot of tricks up their sleeves." He admitted as he sat back down on his chair, only wincing slightly to the much reduced bruise.
"I guess you would need those in a conflict zone. Though, magical creatures are just as hard to take down as humans."
"That's for sure. Remember that griffin?" He grinned at that.
"Yeah. You decided we should go swimming and ended up stumbling on her nesting site. You're lucky I was there or you wouldn't even have been able to do any damage. Next time, look where you're walking. I don't like being put into situations like that." He gave a mock glare at him while the blonde grinned sheepishly.
"It wasn't my fault."
"Yes it was. You are a magnate for magical trouble. Even…"He swallowed and pushed the grief away. "Even mother said so. She was forever pulling you out of trouble or making you take a warding charm to keep you safe when she was busy."
"She always did have a way of scolding me, didn't she?" He smiled fondly at nothing as he remembered. "Then of course there was you. Always losing control of you magic at the worst moments. Like the time you tried to stop a cart from running over a cat and ended up freezing everyone in a hundred yard radius. It took some explaining to get people to calm down."
"So I have trouble with my magic, lots of druids do. Sometimes though…I wonder how so much can fit in me." He looked down at his hand, musing aloud. "I can feel it, just underneath my skin, waiting to get out. I either can't use enough of it or I use too much and drain myself. I still have so little control."
He let out a yell and fell over as something large and fluffy landed squarely in his face. Throwing the pillow aside, he glared up at Arthur. "What was that for?"
"You were getting all depressed on me and I didn't like that. I mean jeez, Merlin. Can you be any more of an idiot. You're not even twenty yet and you expect to be perfect. You don't have to be perfect at it. Just so long as you don't get me into any more trouble like the last time, with the flock of harpies."
He'd been trying to call for only one, to talk and learn from it. He'd somehow called the whole flock and for some reason, they disliked Arthur and had chased him all through the forest until he found a way to call them back. Needless to say, Arthur hadn't been pleased.
"I said I was sorry about that." He gave a sigh. "Sorry, I guess I was just letting it get to me. Won't happen again." He stood and brushed off. "I better get going and go change for dinner. I'll see you there." He made it to the door before turning. "Thanks." Arthur just nodded.
Opening the door, he stumbled on Gwen, standing there, looking surprised. "Oh, hi Gwen. Did you need something?"
"Oh, um, no…I was just passing by…and well you startled me. Well not startled, but I guess I just froze up and well…I better be getting back to Morgana." She curtsied and scurried away, leaving the two men looking perplexed. Waving once more, he left, following Gwen's path to seek out his own quarters.
"You're sure?" Morgana questioned her handmaid.
The dark skinned girl just nodded. "I overheard them talking and you could just hear it in the way they spoke to each other. I think they're both in denial." She sat on a low stool, sewing one of Morgana's dresses that had a ripped him.
Morgana herself was at her vanity, getting ready for dinner that night. She set her brush down as she thought over this piece of information. "Positive?"
Gwen nodded. "I got a peak through the side of the door. I was really sweet, the way they looked at each other."
She turned back to her mirror. "Hmm, if this is so, then we have some work ahead of us, if we are going to get them to realize anything. For now, we'll remain low, just watching and listening. I don't know enough about Druids to be definite about anything." Gwen nodded, setting down the dress to help her mistress finish getting ready.
"I can talk with Freya. She's the only one besides Arthur and the two knights who went with him who has spent any amount of time with him. She might know something."
"You do that and I'll try and strike up some conversation with Leon and Owain and see if they can enlighten me on either of the two." Smirking, she set about with her plans, letting Gwen help her get dressed. Arthur and Merlin didn't know what was coming and she wanted to keep it that way, for now at least. It would ruin the surprise if they somehow found out.