Previously: "Uther glared at him upon noticing and recognising the Dragonlord. Balinor hid a smile; he knew the King's mood was only going to get worse."
Oblivious
Chapter 9: A Royal Tantrum
The King moved to the centre of the room, eyes trained on Balinor. Dutifully, Merlin went to stand behind the Prince leaving Balinor alone to face the King.
"Leave us." Uther called to the guards. Clearly, the idea to bring in magical assistance to deal with the dragon was not an issue for the public to know of, Balinor mused. The doors closed behind the last guard with a soft "bang".
Satisfied that their words would not be heard and spread like fire in hay, Uther addressed Balinor.
"You. Dragonlord." He did not bother to hide his contempt as he spat out the title. "Have you killed the dragon?" The look in his eyes stated that he already knew the answer but Balinor obliged anyway.
"No I have not." Technically the answer should have been "No I have not, your majesty." But Balinor refused to show respect to a man who treated him as though he were a crusty piece of dirt on his boot. Uther noticed the social faux pas and by his sword his fingers closed into a fist.
"Why have you allowed this beast to continue ransacking the country?"
"I have not. Kilgharrah- the dragon has been ordered to stay away from Camelot. And as for why, I simply want to maintain my freedom." Arthur, sensing that the conversation was not heading towards a positive conclusion, attempted to intervene.
"Father, perhaps-"
"Stay out of this Arthur!" The Prince backed down. Uther returned his steely gaze to Balinor's unflinching eyes, "What do you mean by that?"
"The dragon will stay away from Camelot, he will not destroy the city or its inhabitants unless you try to have me captured or killed."
"Preposterous!" The King spluttered in outrage, by now his face was almost purple with rage but Balinor was not prepared to put up with a royal tantrum.
"You promised me my freedom once before and you lied! This time I'm not taking any chances."
For a while the King just stood there trying to think of some reason or excuse for the accusation. Arthur hoped he would accept what Balinor had told him; otherwise this whole trip would have been for nothing. Beside him he felt Merlin tense up, they both waited for the King to make his judgement.
"Very well." Arthur schooled his emotions and he heard Merlin sigh quietly in relief. Balinor smiled widely and bowed.
"Thank you." And without waiting for a dismissal he left the room with a subtle spring in his step. Uther swore quietly to himself.
"Bloody Dragonlord." He muttered, "Anything else, Arthur?" The King asked his son distractedly. Merlin held his breath, if Arthur was every going to expose him it would be now. He waited. Arthur was silent. A few seconds passed.
"No father. Nothing." Merlin's head shot up and he stared at the Prince in surprise, Arthur pretended not to notice him.
"Alright then you may go." Arthur nodded respectfully to his father and followed Balinor through the door, Merlin behind him in a stunned stupor.
Once out of the room and out of earshot, Arthur remarked cheerfully "First time I've ever seen you at a loss for words, aren't you going to thank me?"
"What-why-?" Merlin flushed, "Thank you."
"I can't believe I didn't realise before." Arthur complained, "All those times where everything seemed to resolve itself."
"You're not very observant." Merlin agreed, Arthur clapped him on the shoulder.
"Now that all that is sorted, I have a ton of chores for you which I'm sure will be no problem for someone of your abilities. Which would you like to start with? Mucking out the stables or cleaning my armour?"
Bursting into spontaneous dancing was decidedly not a good idea, Balinor decided, he was far too old for such behaviour but after twenty years of being hunted like a common criminal the freedom he now had was overwhelmingly exhilarating, enough to make him consider doing anything as embarrassing and inappropriate as dancing in public.
Serious thoughts soon came to mind, what would he do now? There was no way in hell that he was going back to the cave, not now that he didn't have to. Visiting Hunith back in Ealdor, although an attractive possibility, was out of the question. By now, Hunith would have moved on and Balinor did not wish to interfere where he may not be wanted.
Shaking the unpleasant imagers of his former lover with a husband and children from his head, Balinor remembered the druid representative who had visited him only a month before. A large group of peaceful druids had built a hidden town in a forest near to Cenred's kingdom and had offered Balinor a place on their council since as the last Dragonlord he was considered magical nobility because of his link to the wise and powerful creatures. At the time he had politely declined, not wanting to inadvertently draw Uther's attention to the place but now that it was unlikely he would be followed he was free to join the druids.
The more he considered it the more the idea appealed to him. It would be a quiet life with just enough challenges and difficulties to keep him on his toes, he wouldn't have to worry as much about passing patrols of soldiers and he would be able to talk to someone other than himself. That sealed the deal, he would join the druids but he had some other matters to attend to before he departed from the city.
Gaius was feeling stressed to say the least. Merlin, Balinor and Hunith were all in the castle at the same time. No doubt everything would go to hell if they ever came in contact, and it didn't help that Hunith, in her joy at seeing her son had somehow managed to completely forget that the other parent, still blissfully unaware of the family member he had acquired, was in the same building.
He had been anticipating the blow out ever since Merlin had arrived and was worried that his current facial expression was close to manic since Merlin had concernedly asked him if he was alright. Gaius could not remember the exact words but he believed he had spluttered something about leeches and cleaning.
The door swung open and Gaius turned around frantically trying to locate the intruder- it was Merlin, with that damned concerned expression again.
"Are you sure you're okay Gaius? You've really been on edge lately."
"Fine." Later, Gaius would adamantly tell anyone who listened that he had not squeaked, he had spoken in a manner befitting of his age and profession.
"I need to get some things back so I can accompany Mother back home." He was leaving? Gaius swore quietly to himself, normally he wasn't the type but the occasion called for it.
"Don't you want to spend more time with your mother, here in Camelot?" Merlin shrugged.
"Well I would, but Camelot isn't very safe at the moment, not with all that has been happening recently and we will have plenty of time on the journey to catch up." Gaius felt his heart sink, he would just have to hope. It was not his place to interfere.
AN: Uther-Balinor confrontation there, not terribly explosive as Balinor was pretty much blackmailing Uther and Uther couldn't really afford to do anything stupid. And as Gaius said: Merlin, Balinor and Hunith are all under the same roof, whatever will happen next ;)
Thanks to reviewers: StarBolt1966, IndiaMoore, Mediatrix, blackwolfs900, Lientjuhh, Ash9, Laughy-Taffy the Grape, ebonypol, SERIOSLYNICK, WE-ARE-SHER-LOCKED.