Warm up done? Check.
Knights made fools of? Check.
Nets up? Check.
They were ready to begin. Uther was standing in the middle of the court with the ball in his hand. Arthur and Katie had taken centre and were waiting for the toss up with fevered anticipation. Uther threw the ball up slightly and two hands seized it and pulled it away before anyone had had the chance to comprehend what was happening.
"SORCERY!" Uther declared, pointing at Katie who had gained possession of the ball.
"It's not sorcery, it is practice," Katie remarked loudly.
Uther opened his mouth to say something else but Katie just pushed the ball into Arthur's hands and walked to behind the girl's attacking line. "Take it. I can't be bothered to deal with this right now," Katie replied to his confused look.
Uther stalked off the court and gave a shrill whistle, indicating that play had begun, and turned a sand timer to time the first half. Merlin darted forwards to receive the ball but Rebecca, playing goal defense, jumped up in front of him to snatch it from mid-air. She then passed to Lili who pivoted and passed to Holly who had positioned herself inside the semi-circle. Holly had to dart quickly around Percival to catch it, leaving her at a slightly awkward angle to the goal. She took the risk and shot anyway before Percival could get his bearings, giving the girls the first point of the day.
"SORCERY!" Uther was ignored this time.
Lili picked up the ball and threw it to Katie who strode to the centre, ready to take the centre pass. Another shrill whistle and the ball was off. Lili intercepted and passed to Rebecca who attempted to pass to Holly, but it appeared Percival had learned from the last round and popped up in front of her to catch the ball. He threw it far down the court to Elyan who passed quickly to Gwaine whilst Rebecca attempted to block the shot. Elyan got in position and Gwaine passed but the ball was caught by a well-timed jump on Emma's part. Rebecca, who had moved to the centre third, was ready for the ball coming her way but not for the force behind it. She stumbled backwards slightly, not letting her raised foot touch the ground and flapped her arms wildly, somehow keeping a firm grip on the ball. She saved herself by pivoting on the foot that was on the ground and placing her other foot to prevent her from falling off-side. She then swiveled the top half of her body, keeping her feet firmly planted on the ground, and passed all the way to Lili who promptly scored.
"SORCERY!"
"We're not using bloody SORCERY!" Katie yelled to the king, lobbing the ball in Arthur's general direction.
That was very much how the game seemed to progress. Uther would accuse the girls of using sorcery every thirty seconds, the girls would score repeatedly, the knights would get frustrated and eventually began disregarding the no contact rule. The large bruise blossoming on Emma's arm from a particularly violent incident with Arthur was testament to this. The girls did not resort to contact however and played as clean as they could. Having Uther as a referee meant that they were often falsely accused of footwork or obstruction whilst the knights' contact was able to slide fairly easily. It was only when Percival gave Holly a broken nose that they finally got a penalty. It was also when half-time was called.
When the whistle blew for half time it became clear to all the knights that they had clearly under estimated the girls. Whilst there might be fewer of them, and they were girls, Arthur simply had no idea how on earth they could possibly beat them at the game of net which they clearly knew so well.
"Unless you were to-"
"No. My knights do not cheat." Arthur muttered out loud to his subconscious as he looked across the court. Over on the other team's bench, he could see the girls were reveling in their easy lead over Camelot- the current score was 6-0 to the visiting team, and the knights would require a minor miracle to get anywhere within a dignified defeat, let alone win or draw. It was as they began some form of spiritual hand dance that Percival and Lancelot came up to him.
"Sire," Percival began (Arthur could tell by Percy's tone that he wasn't going to like what was coming), "I don't think we can…"
"What he means Sire…" Lance continued.
"It's not that…."
"We could…"
"If we just-" Arthur couldn't take the petty conversation anymore and swiftly interrupted the knights before they sent him to sleep.
"I know." Arthur groaned. Upon hearing this remark Elyan, Leon and Gwaine rushed towards the Prince, and a shocked Percival and Lancelot whose chins would be on the floor if they got another surprise.
"But Sire," Leon stuttered, choosing his words carefully, "We can't just [he dropped his voice to a whisper] cheat, it's against code" Elyan nodded along with Leon, clearly not too keen on the idea.
"We may have no choice Leon." Arthur countered, "If my father doesn't get his way at least once today he'll probably have our heads on a spike. We cannot let the girls win, for the sake of the King of Camelot and for the fact that it'll make us look weak."
"Surely there must be a way to gain an advantage without cheating though?" Elyan replied, desperate to stop what was about to happen. It was this moment when Gwaine made a surprising suggestion, which all the knights agreed on.
"What if we did something now, in the interval period, which would prevent the girls from winning, but wouldn't be cheating because it wasn't in the game? I mean… what if we just cancelled out their strong point somehow" It was then Lancelot's turn to make a suggestion.
"Well clearly we would need to get rid of Katie somehow, which would force them to leave either their offensive or attacking positions more open, then we could score!"
"Or at least stop them from gained a further lead." Percival pointed out, and Arthur nodded furiously before lowering his voice.
"Here's what we'll do…"
It was Percival and Gwaine who put the knights' plan into action. Gwaine had volunteered because he felt the girls would simply feel as if he was trying to build bridges with them after last night, and Percy because he was the only one prepared to attempt to drag the girls' centre away without drawing too much attention to them. Gwaine went up first, confessing to the girls that he had forgiven them for the prank that they had played on him, and actually, he would quite like to learn the hand celebration ritual they had been performing, which they told him was called the Macarena.
Next was Percival, who had to rush around the back of the group so that he could grab Katie whilst the others were focused on Gwaine's rather feeble version of the dance. As Becca and Lili explained to Gwaine the purpose of the "eeeh Macarena" line, Holly and Emma heard a strange woosh next to them (which was the apparent noise sleeveless armour made when moving at high speeds). It wasn't until Gwaine finally mastered the rotational movement and they all jumped to face where Katie has been standing that they realised she was most definitely not anywhere to be seen.
By this point, Katie was being chained to wall in the middle of the third floor corridor by a rather impatient Elyan who was desperate to get back on court and a nervous Merlin, who was 90% sure he would lose the girls' trust after this. They had decided on the third floor because a) It was one of the first places they had taken the girls to when they arrived in Camelot, and b) why not add to the rumours?
"YOU CANNOT DO THIS, YOU SCUMBAGS! THIS IS TOTALLY, DEFINITELY NOT LEGAL AND EMMA WILL NOT HESITATE TO MURDER YOU WHEN SHE FINDS OUT!" Katie yelled, her voice almost going subsonic as she got more and more freaked out at the prospect of missing the match, after all there were only 5 minutes left of half time.
"Come on Merlin, I think we're done here." Elyan muttered as he strategically placed the chain key somewhere just out of Katie's reach. The centre attempted to squirm her way out of the chains, but drastically failed, and just as Merlin gave her a look which positively screamed 'I'm sorry please, don't hurt me, it's not my fault this has happened' she pulled out the best reference she could find.
"MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!"
A/N: Dun dun DERRR! Will the girls realise Katie has gone missing and will they get her back before the second half of the game begins?
Find out next Tuesday!
Thank you to everyone who has decided to follow this story, we are all so excited and pleased you are all enjoying it :)
~Katie from the Camelot Netball Team