10. Galahad
"Gaius? Gaius, wake up! She's bad..." Merlin yelled and at three o'clock in an otherwise peaceful yet wet and windy night in late autumn, the walls of Camelot Castle seemed to yell back at him with a vengeance.
It didn't even occur to the deeply disturbed warlock that he had every right to order a guard or a servant to search for the physician. King Arthur's personal advisor, closest friend and official Court Sorcerer stormed head first through the door of the Court Physician's quarters and came to a slithering halt in the middle of the room. Disbelieving he stared at old cobwebs, forgotten dust bunnies and a bat trying to get ready for a late night start.
What the hell...
The sound of a slap resounded through the chamber as Merlin hit his own forehead. Gods almighty, what a stupid mistake to make.
Down the stairs again, through the main corridor, down another flight of stairs, 'cross the main yard, pass the stables, the smithy, another row of stables, some of the knights' quarters, a kitchen house, a herb and vegetable garden, a pond with clear shining water and finally, finally, to the entrance of Gaius' and Alice's by now famous Seminar for Healing Science and Magic. Or 'Giblets', as the students called it.
"Emrys, what..." Algernon rose from a sedated, recently treated compatriot's side with a worried frown but Merlin didn't see him.
Not before he ran into the Druid leader at top speed that is.
Which didn't keep the young man from babbling all his troubles off his soul. "Gwen has gone into labour. Some time during the night. She didn't tell anyone. Arthur found her, by sheer chance. She's bad, she's very bad. I need Gaius..."
"Pull yourself together Emrys. You know Gaius is in Ealdor, to see a few of the Druids' best healers. Where do you have your head?"
Only now Merlin remembered that Gaius had been looking forward to this meeting for many a week. Arthur himself had been there to see the healer off some days ago.
Gwen had been fine by then, the birth still somewhere in the future. Or so everyone had assumed.
Algernon grew impatient when Merlin just gaped at him. "Where's the King's other physician? This Father what's-his-name."
"The idiot is an idiot and besides he's down with the flu. Where's Alice?"
"I'm here, Merlin."
The warlock almost collapsed with relief – and exhaustion. Gods, he spent far too much time behind a desk nowadays. "Alice, she's bad, she's real bad and you know Arthur took on Father Severinus only because Erec recommended him as a good Christian and when Arthur mentioned Gwen's pregnancy to him he went to wash his ears as they had heard an unclean thing...I ask you, what kind of doctor is that..."
"Stop babbling, Merlin. Algernon, go and fetch my bag." Alice's hands were flying, doing half a dozen things simultaneously. Except Gaius she was the only person Merlin knew capable of such a miracle. In a minute she was ready, had her gear and stuff about her and her mind focussed on the task ahead. "Where's the midwife?"
"Drunk!" Merlin shrugged helplessly.
Alice flinched. "There's a certain young King who needs his ears boxed for neglecting a pregnant wife" she said under her breath while she climbed upwards to Gwen's chambers as fast as possible.
Instantaneously Merlin went into defensive mode. "It wasn't Arthur's fault; Gwen sent the midwife away to attend a feast in the servants' quarters, saying that she felt fine and had no need of her! But then, hours later, Arthur checked up on Gwen and he found her on the floor. She's bleeding...almost unconscious..." Oh Gods. Merlin's stomach fluttered in another bout of sympathy-caused nausea.
The healer frowned whilst she hastened on. Why the hell had the young Lady, to everybody's knowledge prone to difficult childbirth, chosen to keep anyone in the dark that long? For one thing was certain – to come to that bad a state had taken her some time.
"Alice, thank heaven!" Morgana rose at the healer's arrival, an agitated Geoffrey at her side. "Arthur is with her, he allows nobody in..."
"The Court should be assembled" Geoffrey said, much more upset at the breach of protocol than he was at the risk of the King losing his wife. "The birth must be witnessed, child is next in line to the throne..."
The healer didn't even pretend to heed his mumbling, after a few comforting words to the Queen she went right past him and entered Gwen's bedroom.
Arthur sat on the bed, cradling his wife who hardly moved. Alice had one good look at the young woman's sweaty hair and bloodless features and her own face hardened.
The enemy was already lurking at this sick-bed's side, willing to take two lives for the price of one. Alice's enemy. Every healer's enemy.
Death.
"Alice, please. Please, I beg you..." Arthur's voice broke. His eyes were radiant with tears not shed, wide open, desperately pleading. "Don't let her die. Please, don't let her die..."
"I won't Your Grace" Alice replied very gently, her anger about the neglecting husband momentarily forgotten. "Now, Your Majesty, please leave me to my work..."
Furtively Merlin tucked at Arthur's sleeve. The sooner Alice could get to her patient the better it would be...
"Leave, Merlin!" The King's command left no room for debates and yet the wizard couldn't believe it. "Arthur you must leave..."
"I SAID GET OUT! Nobody is going to see her like that, nobody but me and Alice. She's my wife, damn your eyes!"
The warlock ran from this room faster than he'd entered it. His heart was in his throat, together with the better part of his stomach's content.
Never before Arthur's hand had went to his blade in anger meaning Merlin.
Unseeing, the wizard stumbled into Morgana's outstretched arms. "He doesn't know what he's saying. He doesn't even know it's you" she tried to comfort him. "He's not really here. He's in the night his mother died."
"I know" the warlock muttered but he was still shaking. There had been murder written all over Arthur's face; the kind usually reserved for combat situations and arch enemies.
It stood to reason though that Merlin should have seen it coming.
Arthur had already been half nuts when he had roused the warlock from deepest slumber, demanding immediate magical action from the famously worst healing magician who'd ever disgraced his tutor.
The most powerful warlock of all times was renowned for many talents but not for the ability to cure a rainy day, especially not a day on which a crestfallen Gwaine, suffering from the first serious domestics in his young marriage, had almost forced four ales down the wizard's throat because he was in dire need of a sympathetic ear.
Therefore the warlock felt that he had failed Guinivere in an hour of need, that he had been useless when Arthur most depended on him; he felt terribly, almost crushed by a guilty conscience and falling into Morgana's comforting arms helped tremendously with that.
However, the Queen lacked the time for a proper round of active consolation. "Your Majesty, the Court…." Geoffrey insisted.
"Yes, well…." and half an hour later the Queen had miraculously patched up all the holes her brother had recklessly riddled the intricately woven pattern of Court Protocol with; all was done with the proper decorum and pompous ceremony.
Erec was among the first to arrive in Gwen's antechamber, full of the momentous event and his own most august role in it. At least that was what Algernon and many of the supporters of the Old Religion thought of him, and, unfortunately, they were right.
Duke Marke arrived somewhat later together with an upset Father Severinus who for once earned his keep by standing in a corner, mumbling prayers untiringly, frequently interrupted by some pitiable snivelling and coughing.
Alas, all the hopes and good wishes, all the prayers were in vain for now, as Alice decided to delay the birth. She could already see that the final stage would be a terrible ordeal and opted for a chance to strengthen the mother as much as she could.
Morgana thought nothing of informing the assembled Court quite blatantly about the intended magical healing methods and, other than Algernon, she and Merlin were quite oblivious of Erec's reaction.
One day, the Earl swore to himself, one day this magic-having riff-raff would be extinguished from this earth and all the power in the world would go to those who deserved it by breeding, piety and aristocratic rank.
Three days passed before Alice, with a heavy heart, decided to let nature have its way.
Three days during which no persuasion, no coercion, no pleading could convince the King to leave his wife. As his worst nightmares caught up with him, Arthur began to forget every single trouble his marriage had ever seen.
As for his devastated friend, Merlin walked in on the first morning, bringing fresh clothes and everything, as if he still were the always caring, humble manservant, which, in fact, he'd never really been. Well, caring, of course. But humble?
This time, however, he kept his rash tongue in check. Morgana strongly advised it, to avoid any more rash talking between the two. Morgana knew that her brother had no real desire to say or do something he'd deeply regret later on.
The warlock was unhappy with the unsolved quarrel, but he stuck by the advice and Arthur thanked him by keeping his own snappiness under control.
Had he not been that shocked by the sudden outburst Merlin might have guessed that the King's aggressive behaviour was rooted in the fierce wish to be the first to actually see the child when it was born.
Just in case.
But once the birth was well under way Arthur forgot about that, too. Gwen, on the other hand clung to him for dear life but she found no strength there, just the mirror-image of her own fear. Driven to their limits by an extreme situation no usual restraint, no idea of a proper composure took hold over them. "Guinivere, my love, I need you. Please don't leave me. I won't survive without you. I love you, more than my life." Over and over again, hour after hour; until a slowly panicking Alice silently wished the frantic husband to the deepest hell, for all the genuine pity she felt for him.
The healer screamed with joy and relief when some time during the next day Gaius arrived, called away from his much longed-for meeting by one of Algernon's best riders.
As Alice was the expert for childbirth and everything around it, Gaius could do little more than hold her hand and offer support when her courage faltered, inwardly sending heart-felt thanks to the Gods that he had been spared the torment to see her in a childbed such as this.
Another 12 hours later the child was born and it was a boy.
It was a strong and healthy child, but with elegant, slender bones, a dark skin and equally dark, unruly hair he resembled neither Arthur nor Guinivere. While Margaly had Uther's changeable grey-green-blue eyes, the new born boy had, as far as one could see at so early a stage, eyes of a shining black.
Alice who had worked nothing less than a miracle, showed the little boy to his father with as much pride as if it were her child. She was crestfallen when Arthur didn't even look at the baby. Impatiently, almost angrily he pushed the arms with the child in them away, having eyes only for his wife. "Will she live, Gaius? She must live. I need her, y'hear me? She must live, Gaius, she must!"
Gaius was taken back in time by those words. Uther's words, although Arthur could not know that. Like Arthur now, the King had not deigned to look at his little son. "Gaius, she must live! Let her live, use your magic, do whatever it takes! I'll shower you with gold, I'll give you anything you want, anything, I beg you, I can't live without Igraine. Gaius, please…"
Back then the answer had been 'no' and not even the High Priestess Nimueh had been able to cheat fate and death. Today the healer straightened his back and faced his King. "She will live, My Lord. Given time I dare say the Lady Guinivere will make a full recovery."
Arthur closed his eyes and let out a breath he had been holding far too long. For the first time in many, many years his legs buckled not because of an illness or an injury but with sheer relief and overwhelming emotions. He fell to his knees by the bedside, completely exhausted, crying shamelessly.
It was in that exact position that Erec saw him when he forced his way into the room, decoyed by the child's wailing. With his ears only just dragged away from the door, he already knew it was a boy.
A boy! His godchild. The first Pendragon Prince to be baptised in a Christian Church. His church, the one he had founded in Camelot, he would make sure of that.
In Erec's head the thoughts stumbled about each other in their haste to make it to the front. To the place His Lordship used to keep his pet schemes.
To hell with Arthur's absurd idea of keeping his daughter on as heir apparent, now, that he finally had a son.
The Branguards could go and rot with their claim on Margaly, a mere girl.
Maybe the kitchen wrench Arthur'd married would kick the bucket….
Even young Kings could meet an accident and die….
Once the King was gone, who would stay loyal to the great witch and her wizard dung-heap born lover, now, that a Crown Prince had been born…
Erec stopped at the sight of Arthur on his knees.
The Earl's face relaxed and he almost smiled as a flash of genius crossed his mind.
Imperiously he signalled Gaius and Alice to present the child to him. He looked. Looked closer. Looked at the prone figure on the bed, at the weeping young husband by her side, back to the child – and remembered. Remembered every breath of scandal he'd ever heard, remembered the sudden haste with which his ward Alaine had been married off to a certain knight with dark eyes and dark hair.
The whole scene took barely a minute and Erec grinned, but only for a second.
When he turned round, strode to the door to open it wide with a dramatic movement of both arms, his face was all piety, gratitude and devotion: "Christ our saviour be praised" he exclaimed, loud enough for even the people gathered in the outer corridor to hear him. "A Prince has been born to rule over us. A Prince sent from heaven to move all those hearts that still persist in error and paganism, as Prince Galahad has already brought our beloved King, his father, into the light of Christ!"
Gaius and Alice were dumbfounded, Arthur's ears and mind were far away from politics and symbols just this once and Morgana was clueless as to the danger that lay in this presumption. The Queen was not one for symbols and gestures anyway; a severed head was something she understood, a clever play on the emotional board had always been Morgause's forte.
Meanwhile Erec just droned on. He knew his chance would be short-lived. "Let us pray, my beloved friends, let us pray together with our beloved King!"
The Earl was the first who fell to his knees, his head bowed, his hands brought together, with tears in his eyes, making sure that the crowd had Arthur in full sight, who only now, alarmed by Gaius' murmurs, became aware that something strange was going on.
He rose and hesitatingly approached the door and the assembly outside, trying to drag his mind away from Guinivere. He could not know how much he was playing into Erec's hand in that moment. Overwrought, worn out, upset and with a face flushed from crying he looked the perfect martyr and the effect on the staring, excited crowd was immense.
One by one they fell to their knees; it was the same mass-psychology that had had them enthused when their handsome young King, all alone, surrounded by enemies, had pulled the sword Excalibur from the stone. "Like a sacrificial lamb surrounded by a pack of wolves" as Erec had put it afterwards, as usual jumping on an opportunity to let Arthur look weak and incompetent. Everybody had been all too willing to forget that the speaker had been one of the wolves that day.
However, today not everyone followed Erec's lead.
Marke stood upright, a picture of revulsion at the methods Erec used, but silent nonetheless as the scheme served the interests of his faith, as he saw it.
The Branguards were furious. Angus looked his dishevelled young King over briefly and, on instinct, he turned to the Queen with all the fire his insulted pride and disappointed avarice gave him, his awe of her forgotten. "Your Majesty, I must protest. This is an outrage!" Malcolm, as usual the cooler of the two, seconded him. "Royalty is above religion and the Act of Succession is for Crown and Council to decide! How does Lord Erec dare such blatant transgressions against Your Majesties' rights!"
Morgana and Arthur exchanged a look and she decided that her brother needed a time-out. "You're right My Lord Saltyre. Lord Erec will end this foolish nonsense this instance!"
Sobered and a bit afraid of the Queen's infamous temper people got to their feet and made ready to leave, bowing and curtsying their way out.
And now, in this single moment, seduced by a delusion of grandeur, Erec became his own nemesis. He darted up and roared for all he was worth "Hush your mouth, woman! Remember your place!"
The room fell dead silent.
Marke turned to Erec, gobsmacked by this turn of events, speechless.
All other eyes hung at the Queen's pale face or at her brother's for Arthur had only just made it into the room, fully alert now. As the old habits kicked back in, Merlin, Gwaine and Leon immediately stood by the young King's side, while Elyan and Percival took their clue from Arthur's sharp look and hastened into the bedroom, locking the door behind them.
Who ever tried to break into that room in the next few minutes; he would get through to Elyan's relatives and their healer friends only over the knights' dead bodies.
In the antechamber everyone expected the King to say or do something about the unbelievable affront Erec had just offered, but as it was, Arthur stood no chance.
Morgana's eyes flashed golden and Erec was suddenly quiet, motionless, albeit quite involuntarily. "My place?" the Queen hissed viciously. "I know my place, My Lord Earl. Shall I show you yours?"
At once Erec was forced back to his knees. Once down he slumped until his forehead bumped to the floor. He was panting heavily, straining with all his might to break free from her force, but he was defenceless against her magic.
The crowd pulled back; appalled, but captivated by the fascinating sight. They all had heard rumours about Morgana's gifts but only a few had seen them in action until now; they were still fearful and yet it would have needed two handfuls of guards to make them leave.
Would the Queen strangle him in front of everyone? Would she kill him? And what would the King do?
This was so thrilling!
Arthur took Merlin's wrist and pushed the wizard behind him forcefully before he could carry out his obvious intention to chastise Morgana for what she was doing.
Beltane night was one thing. This was a different pair of shoes. The last thing Arthur needed right now was his former manservant berating Her Majesty the Queen in front of everyone.
A curt, whispered order sent Leon for a detachment of the palace guards from the corridor and then Arthur confronted his sister. "You can let the offender go, My Lady. He will be punished for his offence!"
Morgana cocked a brow, visible only for her brother, Gwaine and Merlin, a kind of 'welcome-back-to-the-world-Your-Majesty' grin and her magic pulled back smoothly, allowing Erec to collapse on the floor.
The Earl was suffering from more than physical pain and shock. Deep down inside him the self-styled icon of Christian piety hated women, all of them, indiscriminately, hated them with a fierce, aggressive revulsion some young peasant women from his estates could have told a thing or two about.
If they had survived his 'friendship', which they had not.
That he had been humiliated in front of the whole Court by a woman, and by a filthy witch, was more than Erec's self-control could withstand.
Seething with ice-cold, silent fury, he jumped up and came for Morgana, his whole being wrapped around the one thought alone, to make her suffer for what she had done to him. Blind for everything but for his own feelings, Erec didn't even notice that Arthur had come between him and the object of his burning wrath.
Aristocrats went nowhere without their swords; Erec was no exception. Which meant he was armed, as much as all the others. All but their King, as Arthur found the very thought of taking his blade when he walked the few steps from his rooms to his wife's utterly ridiculous.
Suddenly the royal siblings were in a vortex of simultaneous events.
Morgana was pushed away by her brother, out of Erec's reach but she had her own dagger out of her belt in the blink of an eye and rushed back to the battle scene as fast as her long and heavy silk-and-velvet skirts would let her.
Arthur had lost not more than a split second when he brought her to safety, but it had been a very precious one. He turned round by a hair's breadth too late and Erec's wild assault caught him from behind and made him stumble.
Merlin, too, had been distracted by what happened to the woman he loved and so his valiant magical rescue attempt ended with a bolt of lightning fizzling uselessly over the nearest wall.
The only one near who had all his wits blessedly about him, all his attention focussed on the royal he had come to regard as a more foolish version of a brother and a sword in his hand was Gwaine.
When Leon and his soldiers stormed into the room barely two minutes later, they found a bunch of very upset people kept in check by the two Branguards and Duke Marke on the room's one side and an incredibly wild and dangerous looking Gwaine on the other, standing in front of the Pendragons and Merlin with his sword at a bewildered Erec's throat.
"Sire! You're bleeding!" Leon was crestfallen at the sight of a sword cut in Arthur's side. Blast it, he was the palace guards' commander, things like his King being injured did not happen on his watch!
"It's nothing, just a stupid accident" Arthur wanted to reply but he didn't.
He couldn't.
In fact, there was only one thing he could do, a thing he loathed for the consequences it would have, for his people, his realm, his friends and for the precious, fragile peace they all had made such sacrifices to achieve. "My Lord Erec, you're arrested under a charge of High Treason. Take him away!"
Ten minutes later the quietness outside persuaded Elyan and Percy that the threat had passed. They opened the door and found that everybody else was gone to. The antechamber was deserted but for two stony faced guards and a despairing midwife who had finally found the courage to look after her charge instead of running to the end of the world.
"Well, I never…." Alice shook her head disbelievingly. "I ask you, Gaius, is that a way to care for a sick woman and a new born baby? Running away without a word? Where is everybody?"
Percy, his usual uncommunicative self, gave her a small push and pointed at a dark spot on the ground. Blood!
"Goodness gracious me" Gaius said aghast, taking up his own bag and hasted out without so much as 'by your leave'. Percy followed in his wake.
Elyan would have done the same, had he been quick enough about it. He was not and a most aggravated Alice roped him in to help her and the midwife, for, as she eloquently argued, if the husband was a total loss and everybody else took his clue from said husband just because he thought of himself not as the snotty brat he was but as royalty most exalted, at least the poor wretched woman's brother could give a helping hand and really, for all the long years of her life, she had no idea why the Great Mother should ever have created a creature as useless, unreliable and thick headed as a human male.
That one of the King's messengers arrived a moment later to inform her about the situation that had driven the King away from his wife's side much against his will did nothing to appease Alice; she even berated her own husband for running off behind the others like a panicking rabbit.
As things were, Gaius' services as a physician were not needed but his advice was much sought after in the Council, with some sides arguing heatedly for an immediate execution whilst others fancied a prolonged and impressive court of law procedure before Lord Erec was made a head shorter.
After a while Merlin whispered to Gaius that he might try and read Arthur's wishes from his face; as far as the warlock was concerned the King's face screamed for a non-lethal solution. Which meant, they needed some peace and quiet to think of one. Alas Morgana, who had come to the same conclusion, was too caught up in addresses of sympathy from people who didn't much like her, by offers of warm blankets she did not need and by fussing women who projected their own hysterics unto her.
Gaius was fascinated by the fact that the proverb of 'doctor's orders' could sometimes persuade even a bunch of agitated nobles and courtiers to give their monarchs a break.
"Thanks, Gaius" Morgana said when the four of them were finally alone. "One minute longer and our Court would have been formed by smoldering corpses!"
Gaius, well versed in the art of persuasion that looked like respectful suggestion, performed another miracle when he persuaded Arthur to find some rest himself before going back to Guinivere. The miracle was possible only because Morgana and Merlin virtually arrested the King, and hence the physician found himself alone with Alice, the midwife and his patients half an hour later.
"It's true, a healer's work is never done" Alice sad tiredly when the midwife made her bed, for the physician had decided to stay with her patient for the night. She was asleep the second her head hit the pillow.
At last Gaius had the time to examine the little Prince a bit closer. Not that he doubted Alice's competence, but he was as curious as the next man.
"E's a real pretty one, the lad is" the midwife offered, anxious to make amends to a man whose one word could have her expelled from castle and town. "Evry inch the ol' King's father the little lamb!" She hesitated, waiting for Gaius' reaction. Would he bless her with a forgiving chat? His bitch of a wife would not an' no mistake. Dame Alice had almost slapped her face when the crestfallen midwife had greeted her earlier.
Gaius kept quiet and the midwife tried another tack to win his affection. "An' I should know how our young King's grandpa was lookin', my mother was a servant to King Uther's mother all her grown-up life, afore 'e came 'ere that was. A black devil my mother called Uther's father, all dark 'airs and dark skin an' eyes she said an' Uther looking nothing like 'im but for the mole on 'is back!"
"What mole?" Gaius asked, frowning when a half-formed memory crossed his mind.
"The dragon on the back, on the left shoulder. C'me on, you must remember it, King Uther often said it gave 'is family the name!"
Quickly Gaius exposed the baby's back and, 'as sure as eggs is eggs' as the beaming midwife said, there was a small but very visible mole, dark purple and in the vague form of a dragon on his hind legs, with his front paws raised in anger.
For sure Gaius remembered it now. Uther had been terribly disappointed that Arthur had been born without the mark. Morgana – luckily for her real father, as Gaius now knew – was without it, too.
Beaming from one ear to the other himself now, Gaius raised the little boy into the air, to look him in the face, a treatment not very advisable for a child just hours after birth, but excusable under the circumstances. "Well, young man, you're a true Pendragon after all, for all you being such a black devil!"
"Will you tell King Arthur?" the midwife asked eagerly, already making plans how to present her share in this revelation in the proper light.
"Of course I will…." Gaius began to say, but then he halted. After all what had happened today, neither Arthur nor Guinivere would take well to a reminder of the young King's father and the dubious circumstances of his birth. And, after all, there was no doubt that the little Prince was Arthur's legitimate son. A bit of town gossip, yes. Nothing serious. If there had been any serious doubts, Arthur would know, he had told Merlin and Merlin in turn would have told Gaius all about it.
It didn't occur to Gaius that his very close connection to Arthur and Gwen might be well known to most people. That people guarded their words therefore when he was around. And most of all, the physician didn't even dream of Merlin keeping a secret like this to himself.
Alas, Merlin had. Arthur's request had been too heartfelt for his friend and determined protector to betray the King's trust, even by talking to Gaius.
And so, disaster took its course.
"Did you tell anybody else?" Gaius asked.
"N… noooo" the midwife answered furtively, seeing her hopes dashed in his long face.
"Stay quiet about it, will you? No use talking about the old times, they weren't that grand!"
The midwife nodded violently, as if her head would break off every second. Whatever he said, whatever he wanted. "Can I keep me place 'ere then?"
Gaius looked at her irritably. "Why ever not? You're Camelot's best midwife, are you not?"
"Yes, Sir, quite right, quite right. Thank ya, Sir, thank ya ever so much, an' I'll keep my mouth shut for all time."
And so she did.
Not even Alice ever heard anything about the momentous meaning of the dragon on the young Prince's shoulder.
Nobody did.