Deviner Captive

Prank

...

Gwrthfyr speed walked back to his room in anticipation. Altoris quickly stood from his chair at the sound of the door opening and closing for he knew it could only be one person. "Did you get what I asked for?"

The royal asked loudly enough for a knight passing by to overhear.

Lancelot often took a short cut through the newly named guest quarters though no one knew he did. The chambers he was appointed was in an inconvenient corner if he took the main routes. He didn't see why he had to avoid it when he used it all the time before Morgana's betrayal.

The sound of the visiting kings voice spoken so loudly intrigued him. He wouldn't usually condone eavesdropping on someone, but when it was someone who was a threat to a close friend he made exceptions. Lancelot crept closer to the door so it would be easier to hear every word.

"Yes, I retrieved the item from the secret compartment in your carriage." Altoris confirmed his lord's question. Retrieving a metal case from under the bed, he put it on the table so his master could see.

Lancelot had no visuals of what was happening inside but he could hear the scrap of something metal being dragged on stone and then the heavy thump it made when it hit the wood of a table. 'Why would he need to keep something in a hidden compartment in his own carriage?' He asked himself because it didn't sound good.

Gwrthfyr stroked the outside of the case. "After dragging this around with me for so many years who knew I would finally find the right person for it, and in a kingdom like Camelot where magic is outlawed too."

"The Merlin boy won't even know what hit him before it's too late." Altoris agreed with the coincidence. They'd been looking for the right person for several years now to use the item his lord had come into possession of. After looking at so many potential candidates and in the end his king finding them lacking in some way, finally he'd found the right person to put his plan into action.

Lancelot stiffened at the mention of his friend's name and he context it was used in. 'What were they planning to do to Merlin?' His mind screamed at him to find out but he knew he'd need to get backup, warn Merlin and Gaius and come up with a solid plan first. The warlock was much better at sneaking around than he was and had a lot better chance of not getting caught.

The knight was slowly backing up to disappear like he was never there in the first place and make his way back to the physician's quarters. Instead he walked right into a servant who was carrying a silver tray with food and a wine pitcher for the king who hadn't managed to see him. They were both surprised when the contents the boy had been carrying went flying, with much of the food and drink landing on Lancelot's tunic and jerkins.

The silver tray and pitcher made a loud clang as they hit the stone floor informing the room's occupants that they had a possible spy and they weren't as alone as they thought. Both snapped to alert at the racket outside. The king signaled for his informant to take care of it.

The silver platter was still spinning when the door was thrown open.

Altoris glared at the sight of Lancelot. The servant was expected but the knight who was friends with the boy was not. He knew that if he didn't do something quickly the man could get away and ruin their plans.

So, he quickly took out his dagger from his robes and hit the knight on the crown of the head before he even knew he was there. His body crumpled to the ground making the servant who was present squeak in fright.

Gwrthfyr emerged from the room to see who the intruder was. He frowned as he nudged the knight with his boot.

Turning his attention to the servant, luckily it was one of his own. "You didn't see anything, got it." He commanded the boy who nodded in full submission hearing the threat behind the words that if anyone heard about this that he would be the one to pay. "Good, now get back to work." The boy bowed before skittering off as quickly as he could to get out of his kings presence.

"What should we do with the knight my lord?" Altoris asked for instruction once they were alone again, well only they were conscious.

Gwrthfyr pursed his lips in thought. "We'll lock him in the broom cupboard down the corridor to get him out of the way."

"He'll only be out for a couple hours at most. That won't do much if anyone hears his yelling and comes to investigate." Altoris questioned this course of action. Wondering if he'd have to dispose of the body in a more permanent way.

"No matter, this means that I'll need to push forward my plan sooner than I expected. I don't want another repeat of this situation. We only need him out of the way for an hour or two, because by that time we'll be gone." Gwrthfyr grinned manically at his informant in reassurance that he had it all planned out in his head already. "You dispose of the body and I'll retrieve my item while you're doing that."

Gwrthfyr went back inside his chambers while Altoris picked the body up by the feet and started to drag it down the hallway.

The king walked over to the table where the object he sought was still placed. It would look suspicious to carry around a heavy metal case but the object inside was small enough that it could be hidden under his cloak without anyone noticing.

Gwrthfyr took a ring of keys out of his inner pocket and picked through it until he came to the right one. It was small and inconspicuous with a symbol of the old religion carved into it but no one would be able to tell it was unless they were already familiar with the language.

They jingled together as he put the key into the lock on the case and used both hands to lift the heavy metal lid. The hinges made a quite squeaking noise from disuse. He smirked to himself when he finally put his sights on what he hadn't seen for many years now.

…

Arthur tapped his foot impatiently while he waited in an alcove by the kitchens for the others, hidden in the dark corner. He was early in his anticipation so it was his own fault.

He sat up straighter when he heard footsteps approaching. This had happened a couple times before but it had turned out to only be servants fetching food and drink for their masters. This time though the footfalls were much louder than the others because it was a much bigger person followed by two lighter sets.

Arthur smiled when the people he was waiting for appeared. The knights joined him in the alcove he'd indicated to them he would be waiting in. They all gathered in a circle formation and leaned in.

"What does this have to do with the kitchens?" Gwaine questioned in a whispered tone. Afraid he would be over heard by the occupants even though they were making enough noise to cover up even if he was almost yelling.

"Simple, around this time the slop made out of leftovers from this week should be almost ready, that they feed to the dogs. My plan is to acquire some of it and dump it on the princess right as she makes her way under the over pass on her way to lunch, so we'll have to do this quickly." Arthur informed them of his plans.

"So you want to stain the princess' dress? She can just get changed and take a bath to get cleaned. I'm not so sure that that'll teach her the lesson you're going for." Elyan questioned.

"It won't just do that. Merlin's always complaining about how much the stuff smells. He told me once that he got it on his skin and his wrist stunk for a week, so now he even wears gloves." Arthur related his manservant's tale to what he wanted to achieve.

"So you want to make her smell horrible." Gwaine exclaimed with glee. The prince nodded in confirmation. Percival grunted in understanding, it wasn't the worst thing the young royal could have thought of.

"I'm going to need Gwaine to fetch the slop because he would be the least suspicious, he's always trying to bum off the kitchens. Then bring it to the over pass." The knight nodded in understanding of what the prince wanted of him.

Arthur turned his attention to the other two. "Elyan needs to be on look out so no one actually sees us doing it. Percival, I'm going to need you to stand in the courtyard and signal to us when the princess is coming because we won't be able to see." The two nodded in understanding of their part, it was smart to have a look out.

"No one needs to even know it was us. After I dump the slop over her, I'll rush over to lunch and no one will know the better." Arthur smirked to himself.

"Why don't you just have Gwaine do it? That way you'll look like you had completely nothing to do with it because you have an alibi at the time of the crime." Elyan asked.

"Because I want to do it personally. I'm even going to wear clothes that are out of character for me and then quickly change." Arthur brushed off his suggestion.

"What do you mean?" Percival asked curiously.

Arthur shrugged aside his red cape to show the blue shirt he was wearing and then he took out a hat and put it on his head to show them the whole effect. It was just for a precaution, he didn't think anyone would actually see him.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen you wear any other color than red. Merlin's been trying to get you to wear that shirt for years I bet. Closest you've probably come to wearing a hat was a helmet or hood." Gwaine observed the disguised with approval. "How are you going to change?" The prince pushed his collar aside to show the Pendragon red underneath.

Everyone got what they're supposed to do?" Arthur asked just to make sure everyone understood what he was doing. There wasn't much time left.

"I don't know. Doesn't it seem a little childish?" Elyan asked.

"Don't be a downer and ruin all of our fun." Arthur mocked. Elyan shrugged off his worries not wanting to be left out of future endeavors like Lancelot because they thought he wouldn't approve. The prince smiled and clapped him on the back at his nod of acceptance.

...

Arthur had shed his cape near the entrance to the overpass closest to his route to lunch so it would be easy to retrieve. He stood in the walkway waiting for his ammo and the signal. He could see Percival from his spot clearly and the knight hadn't seen their target yet luckily.

The hat hid his hair color and put a shadow over his face. The blue of the shirt made his skin tone appear paler because it didn't have the red to warm it up. It was proven the disguise was working well when a servant walked by and didn't even give him a glance.

He smirked when Gwaine appeared struggling to carry a small cauldron full of the slop. The knight dropped it to the ground panting in front of him. Out of breath from carrying the thing all the way from the basement to the second floor on the other side of the castle.

Arthur peeked out the windows and into the courtyard spotting Percival. The large knight made a waving motion like he had just spotted a friend. That was the signal. The prince reached down for the cauldron and heaved it over the wall.

The panted warning from the knight had come a little too late. "Be careful… it's really heavy…" Arthur had managed to get the thing up through the windowsill and tip it over to hit his target, if the scream emitted below told him anything.

But he weight of the heavy metal cauldron used for cooking over the fire started to pull his body out the window. Luckily Gwaine noticed and grabbed the back of his shirt and used their combined body weight to get the prince's feet back on the ground. The sound of a ripping shirt came along with it. The sleeves of the blue tunic started to bunch around Arthur's hands like the whole back had been split down the middle.

His hat had fallen off and fluttered down to the cobblestones bellow gaining the attention of the princess. Matilda looked up and spotted the blond man with the blue shirt being pulled back inside. Too fast for her to tell what their identity was.

She called to alert the two closest guards who came running at her pleas for justice.

…

Elyan ran into the over pass they were occupying from the stairs he'd been watching. "The guards are coming. Hurry up." Speed walking away from the side with stairs from the courtyard to the entrance into the castles interior. Hopefully they could lose the guards by hiding in the physician quarters that weren't too far from here.

Gwaine immediately started to follow. They both stopped when they realized the prince wasn't following them.

Arthur's heart had been beating so fast from the adrenalin rush. He was about to flee after catching his bearings from almost falling out a window but wasn't fast enough for the guards. His arms were forced behind his back like he was a common criminal by the two guards.

He was surprised that they didn't recognize him now that most of his disguise had fallen off. 'Did he really look that out of character with a little blue that he was unrecognizable?" He asked himself. The shirt was further ripped from the sheer force since it had been around his wrists at the time.

Matilda reached down and picked up the scrapes of fabric of the ground that had once been the shirt she'd seen her assaulter wearing. She'd followed behind the guards curious to see who the culprit was who had dumped that disgusting substance on her; she couldn't even determine what it was, she just knew it smelled horrible.

She was surprised to see the prince of Camelot in the guards hold but it could only have been performed by one of the three people present. She quickly counted out the knights because she had clearly seen the blond hair, which neither of them had, so it could only be the prince then.

Matilda stiffened in indignation when the two guards wrinkled their noses when her newly acquired perfume wafted over.

"What is that smell? It's disgusting." The guard Finley tried to block it out by pinching his nose with the hand that wasn't holding the criminal.

His partner Jarrett discretely tried to warn him to shut up by pointing with his free hand because he could clearly see from his position the expression on the princess's face that she wasn't pleased. Finley turned around and flushed when he saw the princess and his noise connected that she was the source of the stench.

"Are you sure that this is the culprit?" Jarrett asked for confirmation without examining the man any further to cover for his partners comment.

"I'm sure." Matilda folded her arms narrowed her eyes in anger at the prince just as the king came around the corner.

Uther had been informed of the disturbance out in the courtyard by a guard, involving one of his royal guests and had immediately gone to investigate. Bringing Leon with him. "What are you doing handling my son that way?" He demanded immediately recognizing his heir.

Finley and Jarrett looked confused. That is until they raised their captive's head so that they could examine his face, gulping in dread when they realized whom it was they had captured. They must look pretty stupid holding the crown prince Arthur of Camelot hostage between the two of them.

Arthur was released immediately; he started to rub his writs to get the feeling back into them. "I'm sorry my lord, I did not recognize you." Jarrett apologized and Finley gave him a look that meant the same thing.

.

Gwrthfyr had been making his way to the physician's chambers where he had read the boy had taken up residency because he wasn't sure where to start looking for him. If he wasn't there then they would check the prince's chambers. Confronting the boy alone would work best for now even though he usually liked to flaunt his discoveries in front of an audience. The shortest route was around the outer layer of the castle so he ended up running into the scene currently in play.

"What is the meaning of this?" Uther demanded an explanation from the group present.

"Your son thought it would be funny to pour something over my head as a prank." Matilda informed her host.

Gwrthfyr realized that a lot of important people were present but Merlin was not. He had heard the boy followed the prince everywhere but since his master was here and he was not, an idea started to shoot through his head that was even better than his original plan.

"This is an outrage." Gwrthfyr announced his presence behind them. He'd had someone declare war for less on his kingdom so why not pretend to overeat to the slight against his daughter. "This is the way you treat your guests." Truthfully he couldn't care less about it.

Uther could tell by the other king's tone that he was taking this as a serious matter. He noticed that servants had started to gather since they were blocking their usual route. Not wanting to air their dirty laundry out in the open, he made a suggestion. "Maybe we should deal with this matter someplace more private, like the throne room."

Gwrthfyr nodded stiffly in agreement and marched towards the direction he knew the room to be located. He knew how to get exactly what he wanted out of this situation.

Everyone followed.

Uther was shooting Arthur looks that made his stomach turn he was so nervous about what punishment he would receive. His father had a strong temper and he had a feeling that it had been ignited. The prince suspected by the end of this he would be in the dungeon.

...TBC