Deviner Captive

Social Ladder

...

Merlin was carrying a large tray filled with food for the feast through an empty hallway.

He was surprised that the head cook actually trusted him with the task. The manservant was sure that if Bertha hadn't been so busy trying to organize everyone else in the chaos so that everything was perfect for the banquet she would've realized her mistake.

Thinking he was doing pretty well so far since he managed to almost make it to the stairwell. It led to the entrance hall which held the door to the room where the feast was being held. Soon he'd be home free.

He went to take the first step on the stairs. It jostled an apple on top to roll to the left side of the tray causing it to become uneven in weight distribution and tilt. Merlin tried to stop it but he was not fast enough.

Merlin looked down at the ruined food in horror. The head cook was probably the scariest women he'd ever met when angry and he'd met some pretty crazy sorceresses. The idea of having to go back to the kitchens and informing her of his little accident was terrifying. The king throwing so many banquets with such a small amount between them was seriously stressing the women out.

Maybe no one would ever have to know that this event occurred.

Merlin looked both ways to make sure he was alone. When he thought the coast was clear he whispered a spell that caused all the food to reappear on the silver tray again like it wasn't just dropped on the dirty castle floor. The warlock proudly retrieved the tray from the ground.

"What do you think you're doing!" A voice came from behind Merlin, surprising enough for him to drop the tray again; making a loud clanging noise echo in the hallway as metal made contact with stone.

The warlock was going to run for his life thinking he'd been caught performing magic and when you were in Camelot that meant death; when the other man grabbed his arm to hold him in place. "I wasn't doing anything, you must've been seeing things." Merlin began to babble but stopped when he was forced to turn and face the other.

"Lancelot." Merlin spat out in shock and relief. In so much relief that one of the only two people who knew he was a warlock in the kingdom had caught him in the act and not some loyal castle guard who would hand him over to the king in a heartbeat. Though looking at the peeved expression on the knight's face right now he wasn't so sure about his safety at the moment.

"I asked you Merlin, what you thought you were doing?" Lancelot punctuated his meaning with a glare.

"Nothing." The warlock squeaked out in fear.

"Nothing! I could've swore I saw you performing magic in the middle of a highly frequented hallway in the middle of the day where anyone could come across you." Lancelot berated in a whispering tone that was still loud enough to imply that he was desperately holding back the urge to yell.

"But I wasn't." Merlin defended weakly.

"Maybe not this time, but you might not be so lucky next time. You can be so irresponsible, I don't know how you managed to even keep your secrete a secrete all these years. What if I was Arthur, what would you have done then?" Lancelot paused in his rant to breath.

"I'm sorry. I'll be more careful, I know how important this matter is in keeping me alive. Even if the person wasn't going to immediately turn me in to the king. The less people who know the better." Merlin placated the knight.

"Glad I got my point through. I'm just worried about you. I can't always be around to make sure you don't do anything stupid." Lancelot said once he'd calmed down.

"Don't know what I did without you before you came back." Merlin smirked cheekily at the knight hoping it would get him off the hook.

Lancelot's mouth twitched up, he rolled his eyes at the boy's antics. " You should get back to work before anyone notices you're missing."

"I have to clean this mess up first." Merlin looked down at the ruined food and back up at the knight with begging eyes.

"Fine, you can use magic to fix it, but I'm going to keep watch to make sure no one's coming." The warlock nodded in agreement as the knight climbed the stairs.

…

Many servants were thinking that they should just leave the decorations up all the time as they had to put up the tapestries again for what felt the like the thousandth time as they set up the room for another banquet. The room should forever be known as the banquet hall.

The stronger younger male servants carried the tables out of storage and put them into place. The handmaids spread the table clothes over them and placed the centerpieces for decoration. All that was left to be done was to have the food brought up from the kitchens and wait for the guests to arrive.

The kitchen staff steadily brought up a stream of food. Evenly distributing the dishes at the different table so everyone would have the same variety to pick from.

The room fell silent when they caught sight of the prince's manservant holding a large tray of food. Whispers started to spread.

'What was he doing here?'

'I thought he was banned to ever set foot in the kitchens again except to fetch the princes meals?'

Merlin slowly made his way across the room, trying to be as graceful as possible but not really succeeding. The tray started to tip the one side again causing everyone to gasp. He managed to even it out again by sliding his hand to quickly support the heavier side. He sighed in relief as he successfully slid the tray to its place at the head table. Wondering why he would even be given responsibility for such a large amount of food.

Many servants had to hold back their urge to clap.

...

After Merlin had finished placing his first tray on the table, he went back to the kitchen where strangely, Bertha refused to give him another one. She'd demoted him to wine duty.

It was a job that he had great experience at since he had to perform it all the time for Arthur, weather in his personal chambers or at the evening meals with his father. He couldn't really complain because it was an easier job that required less physical strength but he couldn't figure out the head cooks horror at seeing him in her kitchens.

He'd tried to sneak by but had been caught by the head servant who was in charge of making sure everyone was doing their job. The man had forced him into another one of those horrible royal servant banquet costumes.

They'd finally updated them for the resent royal visits because Uther was trying to make the best impression and the old ones were so ghastly looking. The servants had gotten away with not wearing the uniform for years when the castle had visitors because they were so out of place and out dated, Merlin was very sad to lose his excuse.

Merlin thought these ones were much better than the ones Arthur had forced on him the first banquet he had worked for him (you know that one where he was poisoned at). It was a lot less puffy and contained less feathers, also there was no hat included.

Red just wasn't his color, he much preferred a royal blue for his fair complexion. Another reason is the fabric they used to make the outfits wasn't the best quality because it was meant for a servant, not like the stuff the nobility wore. It looked rich from a distance but was itchy against the skin.

He guessed he 'would've looked out of place since everyone else was wearing the same uniform', he thought to himself as he looked down the line of servants on the wall with him. All patiently waiting for all the guests to arrive so that they could serve them.

Merlin watched as his friends slowly gathered at their usual table, not even sparring him a glance. He didn't take offense at all but blamed his attire. He found once you put the new uniform on it seemed like you were invisible to the nobles. He'd over heard many things he wasn't suppose to over the past couple banquets.

He wondered what he would overhear tonight.

…

The room filled with guests quickly as they all trickled in as the evening time settled in. They all sat at which table deemed what social standing they held. The nobles waited for the occupants from the head table to arrive. They weren't allowed to eat until the king said so.

Gwaine's stomach growled in hunger. He was grumbling to himself about how disrespectful Uther was to others needs and how that quality in a king was very bad for the citizens of his kingdom.

Lancelot rolled his eyes at the others antics as he waited patiently. He'd given up berating the knight about bad mouthing royalty in the open, especially when that certain royal is your employer. At least Gwaine had stopped criticizing Arthur to his face, which he left to private.

They were sitting one table down from the high table. Knights weren't allowed to sit there, only royalty. At the first banquet that was held the sight of the peasant knights securing a seat so close to the kings table caused an up roar through the nobles. Arthur defended the reasoning behind it by saying that they were his personal knights and had to be close by if he was attacked.

The social class ladder was a very hard thing to climb. Once a person is born to a certain rank they're usually stuck with it for the rest of their lives unless they had a lot of ambition. Your able to reach a new height with great determination but encounter an obstacle that you can't get past, so you can never fully reach the top; or fall all the way from the top to the bottom in an instant.

Lancelot was amazed he managed to make his dream of jumping from lowly peasant to knight. He was very glad that he never had any grander fantasies about being royalty. The position came with a great many perks but also many downfalls. You always had to worry about being overthrown.

The noble knights thought process was broken by the arrival of Elyan and Percival.

"Why weren't you at practice today Lancelot, had something better to do?" Elyan inquired as he slid onto the bench beside the other knight, Percival doing the same beside Gwaine.

Lancelot blushed thinking about how he was with the other man's sister instead, comforting her. He didn't want it getting back to the prince. "I, I was talking to Merlin. By the time I'd arrived everyone was already gone; it must've been a short practice. You know how much the boy likes to talk, it's impossible to get him to stop once he's started." The knight stuttered out as he made up an excuse. It's true that he had talked to Merlin but he just wasn't mentioning that it was an hour before the time the other was referring to. The best lies had a hint of truth to them.

"Why wasn't Merlin with the prince today at practice, and why'd he bring that princess instead?" Elyan asked the tables opinion.

Lancelot was glad that his mention of the boy brought up a topic change. " Apparently Arthur sent Merlin to work in the kitchens for the feast, and what princess are you talking about?" Answering one question and asking another. He'd spent all day with Gwen so he must've missed something.

Elyan leaned in closer and signaled for the others to do the same so he didn't have to talk so loud; it would be less likely another would over hear their private conversation. "Apparently the king of Dyfred decided to bring his eldest daughter, Matilda. He probably was hoping to pawn her off on Arthur, but you know as well as I, he's less than interested." He hinted towards his sister and others got his meaning.

"Why would he be interested in her when he has fair lady Gwenivere, who in my opinion is far more prettier. I wondered why Princess seemed so frustrated. I thought his father had given up on trying to break the pair up." Gwaine commented.

Lancelot felt uncomfortable with the topic of conversation. Even without the king's interference, judging from the talk he'd just had with the lady Gwenivere herself about her relationship with the prince, they were having some problems. It gave him a little hope for himself in the future.

"The thing is, I don't think the princess has any reservations on who she propositions. At the training field she tried to sweet talk Percival. Freaked you right out didn't it?" He asked the quite knight who looked very uncomfortable at just the mention of it. "She also forced me to walk her back to her room after Arthur stomped off, and when I turned around to leave her at her chambers, she squeezed my butt." Elyan admitted with a queasy look on his face.

"She was really that forward?" Gwaine inquired in amazement. Elyan nodded in confirmation. "That's very odd behavior for even a lady of the court let alone a full blown princess. Are you sure she's not just a bar wench in disguise, because her behavior sounds very similar to theirs?"

Elyan rolled his eyes. "Unless the kings in on the hoax, I severely doubt it."

"What about the king, has anyone seen him yet? Does he look like one who's going to cause trouble? Try and take over the kingdom in its time of weakness." Lancelot inquired, trying to gather information on a possible future enemy if this visit didn't go well. It never hurt to be prepared for the possible even if it was very unlikely.

"As far as I've heard that the other king's been locked up in the council chamber with Uther since he'd arrived this morning. No one else has really seen him except for the people who attended the morning court." Elyan told him all his knowledge, which was minimal.

"Princess was in attendance, maybe you should go ask him when he arrives." Gwaine informed him.

Lancelot just might take the drunken knight's advice. "Well be able to observe the king for ourselves from afar soon enough, but I might have to ask the prince for his opinion because he's able to talk to the royal personally."

"Your very paranoid of the nobility." Elyan stated as an observation of the other knights character.

Lancelot shrugged, he'd learned from experience that royals usually had ulterior motives.

"Where's Uther? I'm hungry." Gwaine whined. Bringing every ones attention to the still growing crowd around them. The royal table was still empty; they probably wanted to make a grand entrance all together and were waiting on one more of their party.

...TBC