A Marriage that Started a Legend

by IJustShowedUp

Follows canon but with my own arranged marriage spin on it. What happens when Hunith makes a mistake and is forced on the run with her infant son? What happens when Camelot knights find her twenty years later? What happens when Arthur learns he's betrothed to a peasant boy? Will Merlin be able to stand among royalty? Will these two different boys survive each other? Review!

40. Chapter 40

Merlin couldn't believe how fucking stupid he had been, had he really thought that Valiant had given up on his unwanted advances so easily?

He could feel the heaviness of his own stupidity weighing down on him like a lead ball, as he was forced to register his own mistakes.

Back when it had been happening, he had known-on some deep and primal level-that he would have regretted it for his entire life if he had opened that door. But now, now he was wondering if he should have just bitten the arrow and done it anyway.

To confront Valiant, and to show him that he wasn't scared of him. That the thought of Valiant throwing him against a wall and trying to shove his disgusting and slimy tongue down his throat didn't make him repulsed to his very core. To show Valiant that he wouldn't be harassed, and bullied into whatever weird submission he thought he was going to get out of him.

Then maybe be wouldn't be so worried right now, maybe he could have gotten it taken care of last night. Maybe then he wouldn't be watching Valiant throwing his opponent to the ground in a few far to easy looking moves, rendering his opponent unconscious.

This was the first time Merlin was seeing Valiant actually fight. The last time the knight had been front and center in the stadium, Merlin had been in the stadium hallways being thrown into a wall and pinned to it by Arthur.

Valiant had been aggressive and quick, taking absolutely no prisoners as he had struck with nothing less then absolutely brutal and effective thrusts of his blade. It had given off the impression that was verging on-if not straight outright-cruelty.

Merlin didn't want to think about this-it was the last thing that he wanted to think about. If Valiant was this violent while he was fighting, Merlin could only imagine-with dread-if that would transcend into his kissing.

He felt an unbidden shiver shoot down his spinal cord.

He found that he suddenly couldn't bring himself to regret the choice he had made after witnessing the fight. It had been a good call to not confront Valiant, not when he had been alone and in the vulnerable state he had been in that night.

After Valiant's fight was over and done with, and after the two knights had raced back onto the field to carry off his opponent, Merlin watched with narrowed eye's as Valiant lifted his fist into the air.

And was it just his imagination, or was Valiant still staring straight at him? As if he was trying to mock him...or warn him, that Merlin was never going to be safe with him around.

Merlin felt as if his hands were starting to tremble, and he had to wrap them tighter around the bar so that they wouldn't be visibly shaking. Let's just say, it was a really good thing that the bar had been bolted down, or else the whole thing probably would have been shaking.

The end of this tournament couldn't come quick enough for Merlin. Valiant leaving-and hopefully never coming back-was something that he was practically counting down the day's to.

Merlin was still watching with cautious eyes as Valiant turned his back to the crowd, and started making his way back toward's the knight's quarters. His eye's followed after the knight-to scared to watch but also to scared to look away.

That was when a hand clapped down on his shoulder from behind, and his head snapped up while he jerked back violently with a startled yelp.

"Merlin!" A very familiar and very concerned voice exclaimed from somewhere behind him, barely detectable over the chattering of the crowd as they waited for the next match to begin.

"Gwen..." Merlin spun around to face her, turning his back to the field and smiling awkwardly at the serving girl. He kept his hands planted on the little stone wall that the bar was sticking out of, trying to force his racing heartbeat to slow down. He'd been so concentrated on Valiant, so fearful that he may say or do something that may indicate what had happened last night-the humiliation that seemed never ending as he'd been propositioned (made an offer he'd never received before in all of his nineteen years)-that he hadn't even realized Guinevere had come up behind him.

Gwen was looking at him with a frown, a concerned look flittering across her face as she took him in, "Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost..."

And now, even Gaius standing beside him was starting to look at him concerned. The physician's analyzed his nephew to the best of his abilities, without having to get out any of the tools in the thick black sack that he'd brought with him, just in case anybody got seriously injured in the fights.

There was a certain...sheen of paleness in Merlin's cheeks that hadn't been there mere moments before. Which was strange, what sickness could cause a healthy young man to get so pale so fast.

"I'm fine, really..." Merlin insisted, looking nervously between Gaius and Gwen.

He could hear the next match starting, and he almost wished that the competitors were good enough to get their attention. But it was clear that they were more concerned about him then the fights that were going on behind him. In any other situation, that might had actually been a good feeling, but right now, this kind of attention was the last thing he wanted. Especially if it drew any realization that he'd only grew pale when Valiant had arrived.

It would bring up questions that he didn't want to answer, it would make him relieve what had happened more than he already was. He didn't want to feel the humiliation all over again, he didn't want his humiliation to be obvious for everybody to see.

"I just-" Merlin stopped to clear his throat when it became clear that Gaius and Gwen weren't going to stop looking at him, and his mind went crazy as he tried to think of a reasonable excuse. "...it must have been something that I ate. Yeah, that's it!" He jumped on that idea faster than he could think about it. "All of this rich Camelot food, I'm not used to it. We don't have this kind of stuff back home, I probably just ate something that didn't agree with me..."

But now, he could feel a pang in his chest as he talked about food. He tried not to think about it-but as good as the food was in Camelot-there was just some things that Camelot didn't have.

Like right now, he was really wishing that he had some of his mom's famous potato soup right about now. She hadn't been able to make it very often, and it was probably something that all of these nobles that he was now surrounded by would turn their nose up to, but it had been his favorite meal-basic in it's simplicity.

Even if it was more soup than potato's most of the time.

Gaius nodded, musing this over and around in his head. "I suppose that this would explain your paleness." He hasn't considered these little things that Merlin would have to adjust to. The food made by the castle kitchens were definitely more rich and thick compared to what a poor farming village on the outskirts of society would have been able to make. It would probably take a little while for Merlin's digestive tract to get used to it, "I suggest that the next meal you eat be something light. Have your manservant fetch your a few pieces of toast, or maybe a fruit bowl. It'll be easier on your stomach."

Although, it was strange that it was only hitting the boy now. Merlin had already been in the city for weeks, and had never complained about the food before.

Merlin ignored the clashing of the swords going on somewhere behind him, and nodded weakly, "I'll be sure to remember that..." if only that was his problem. What he wouldn't give to have his biggest problem in life being that he was having problem digesting all of the new foods and spices and texture's that were being introduced into his diet over time.

Gaius nodded, making a mental note to grab a few crackers the next time he had food brought to his quarter's. It was something small, and would ward off nausea if Merlin got any worse.

Gwen seemed to relax some now that she knew that it wasn't anything serious. She remembered being in Merlin's shoes when she was twelve and just started working under Lady Morgana. The food that the servant's got during lunch wasn't much better than the food she was already used to eating, but it had still tasted different. Different enough that she had spent two weeks eating nothing but those salted crackers that Gaius had gotten a hold of for her, before she got used to the difference and was able to stomach the new spices her meals were made with.

All of the servant's seemed to eat more than a few of those crackers when they first started out in the castle, if they'd never been a part of a noble household before.

"Well, if you're feeling up to it," Gwen tugged on the long skirts on her dress. "Lady Morgana thought you might want to sit with us. But I can see that you've been getting rather acquainted with Gaius, so if you'd rather stay here..." she trailed off awkwardly, leaving the choice entirely in his hands.

Merlin glanced over at Gaius, because it didn't really matter to him, but he also didn't want to just leave him alone.

"Oh, you go on." Gaius said, waving his hand at him. "I'm an old man, I'll just slow you down. Now, you go and spend some time with some kids your own age. I should probably be getting myself set up closer towards the ground anyway, if somebody decides to actually stab somebody else with that sword of their's."

He nodded down at the field where the two knights had just finished their battle, and the knight wearing green stood over the knight in magenta, throwing his hands up into the air as the crowd roared around them.

The sarcasm that Gaius had used was so similar to his own-that even in his nerve wracking state-Merlin couldn't stop the twitch of a grin from forming on his face.

"Thank's Uncle Gaius, I'll come by soon to visit." Merlin threw out there, as if he didn't spent most of his time in his chambers anyway, having been getting to know his uncle. And now that it was clear that his uncle didn't seem likely to bring up what 'talk' he had been trying to have with him the last time they'd been together-which Merlin had almost forgotten about after everything that had been going on-he was a lot more comfortable about returning.

As long as his uncle didn't try to bring up whatever he'd been trying to say. And as curious as Merlin was as he remembered Arthur telling him not to worry about it when he had him in that stupid alcove, he figured it was something that he was more than willing to let it go.

Besides-with after everything that had happened with Valiant, he had more important things on his mind then whatever that had been about.

There had just been something disturbingly off about the whole thing, that practically spoke volumes. His nerve endings had all but screamed at him that he really didn't want to know.

It was almost a lighter version to how they had been screaming at him when Valiant had cornered him in the armory, and tried to convince-and when that didn't work-threaten him into cheating on his husband.

Merlin grabbed Gwen's hand before he could waste anymore time on thinking about it, and dragged her off into the crowd of people, despite having no idea where Lady Morgana was actually sitting. He was more concerned about trying to leave his own raging thoughts in the dust behind him.

Gaius watched the two young adults (19 and just shy of 20) disappeared into the crowd, before he turned back to the field. He watched as two more knights took there place in the center, and started untying (one brown, and the other yellow) their capes.

It was as they started to clash swords, did Gaius turn to look across the field to the far side of the stadium bleachers. There was a box cut off into that section of the stadium, and it had armed guard's in a tight formation around it. There were red banners surrounding it all around, and there was a large and richly decorated seat in the center of it. Uther sat on that seat, with his hands clenched closed in anticipation as he watched the new match just as closely as he had done all of the other's that had came before it.

It seemed as if Gaius had gotten away with his earlier deception. It had been almost twelve hours since Gaius had lied straight to his king, and told him that Merlin was no longer a virgin.

He had spent the entire night wondering when the guards would come busting down his door and take him to the dungeons for doing it. But nobody had came, and Gaius was now standing in the bleachers of the stadium, about to make his way down towards the knight's quarters, so that he could be closer if there was some unfortunate accident that needed his immediate attention.

Gaius turned to look away from the king, and started pushing his way through the crowd of people. He just needed to keep acting as if everything was normal, and for him, that was healing his patients as they came to him.

As long as Uther had no suspicion-as long as Gaius didn't give him a reason to be suspicious-then Merlin would remain safe.

Both his virtue-which would have been forcibly stolen from him if Uther had his way-and his life if Uther discovered what laid beneath Merlin's shell. If he discovered what Merlin was, if he found out that Merlin pumped magic through his veins as easily as his body did his blood, Merlin's virtue wouldn't be their only problem.

Maybe they could all keep their heads just a little bit longer, as long as they (Merlin, Arthur, and himself) could play their parts right.

X

"W-wait, wait." Gwen said, pulling Merlin to a stop by the light grip he still had around her wrist. They were standing somewhere in the crowd, surrounded by what were virtually strangers, and nowhere near where Lady Morgana was waiting with her own little section of armed guards. She probably would have been safer sitting in the box with Uther, but she had made it perfectly clear years ago that she preferred sitting in the crowd. It made her feel closer to the people, instead of being this far off distant-might as well just make it official since Uther had all but adopted her when her parents had died-Princess that the people never got the chance to see like most ladies that were held in deep esteemed by a royal family.

Merlin whipped around when Gwen had stopped, looking at her with a frown. "Why? What is it?" And then he was whipping his hand off of her, feeling his eyebrow's creased together in worry as he wondered if he had accidentally hurt her.

"Did you just call Gaius your uncle..."Gwen asked, sounding uncertain, as if she thought she was about to embarrass herself because she had misunderstood or misheard.

But Merlin just looked at her blankly, not sure where she was getting at with this. "Yeah..." he said slowly. "Gaius is my uncle..." as he said this, he glanced around. He actually found it kind of relieving that they were now surrounded by so many people. At least if they sat here, Valiant wouldn't be able to see him amongst the mix of all of these people.

But then again, Arthur wouldn't be able to see him either...so which was the worse demon? To risk the fear of seeing Valiant again, or to waste this opponent to do something else that would tease Arthur.

He was brought out of his thought's when Gwen exclaimed a loud and shocked sounding, "What do you mean Gaius is your uncle!" She hadn't even known that Gaius had any family, she had never heard him mention it to her when they would give small talk as she visited him once a month for a special herb that would help ease up her monthly cramps so that she could work more efficient.

Merlin looked at her baffled, clearly not having expected that sort of reaction. "...He's my uncle." He said, not entirely sure what else he could say to that. "...He's my mom's older half-brother..." he finished awkwardly.

There was a lighthearted slap done to his bicep, "You never told me that!" Gwen exclaimed, looking as if there was some kind of grievance that had just been done to her as she lowered her hand. Maybe that was how he had ended up married to Arthur, Gwen thought curiously. The son of the king and the nephew of the physician...well, it wasn't exactly a normal match but it was at least something.

Merlin looked at her dumbstruck, bringing up a hand to rub at his bicep even though there was no sting of pain, "Well, I've just met him myself. Camelot and Ealdor aren't exactly the closest neighbors..." he didn't bother mentioning that he hadn't even know his uncle had existed. He probably would have never known if his mother hadn't wanted somebody to keep an eye on him, since not coming to Camelot at all was apparently non-negotiable.

It seemed to occur then, to Gwen, what she had just done as her eye's dropped to where Merlin was casually still rubbing his bicep. She paled rapidly, going from her natural brown coco coloring to a more whiter and unnatural shade. She had just-essentially-assaulted a member of the royal family.

"I-I-" she started to stutter, feeling herself start to work herself up into a frenzy of horror. She had allowed herself to start thinking of Merlin as a friend-which he was-but she had gotten to relaxed and acted inappropriately and ill-fitting for a servant to one of the royal members.

It was one thing to help him-like when she had taught him about putting armor on-but it was quite another to actually lay hands on him.

Merlin started to grin a little, almost as if he was reading her mind. Valiant was still at the forefront of his mind, but he could feel some of the tension easing up in his stomach. Her slapping him like that kind of reminded him of when Will would playfully punch him in the shoulder.

Gwen hadn't behaved like a servant-like Mary who, while trying to give him some advice and an open ear-still obviously treated him with the respect that nobles were accustomed to. Gwen had treated him like a friend, even with her obvious panicking afterwards.

It was a nice feeling, knowing that he was still capable of making and keeping friends, despite everything that was going on with him and the hellfire his life seemed to be becoming at times.

Merlin had grown pale over seeing Valiant, it was hard not to be when for a second-just a second-he could have sworn that he was back in his room watching as his door shook violently as a monster with a human disguise tried to break through it. But now, there was the smallest bit of color starting to return to his cheeks.

"Come on, let's go find Morgana." Merlin said, grabbing back onto Gwen's-her hand this time instead of her wrist-so that they wouldn't get separated in the crowd. Gwen was still spluttering as Merlin led her through the crowd, before she eventually gave up on trying to stutter out her apologies.

It would be hard, seeing a noble-even a peasant raised one-as her friend. Her actual friend and not just somebody that she showed her respect because of her lower status. But it was starting to get easier with every passing day.

"There you two are!" Morgana exclaimed when Merlin and Gwen finally joined her in the first row a few sections of bleachers down from where Merlin had been. "I almost feared that you two were lost, and that I would need to send the guards out." She waved a hand somewhere over her shoulder where an armed knight was stationed, keeping an eye on her under Uther's orders, just in case the worse should happen.

Merlin took his seat beside her as Gwen sat on his other side and looked over her shoulder at the knight, the same one that had brought Merlin to Morgana and Gwen during the first round of matches.

Merlin shook his head, his hands curling around the edges of the seat underneath him to steady himself before he could lean to far out of his seat, "Well, don't send out the calvary just yet."

As Morgana started to laugh, and Gwen finally starting to relax enough to start giggling, Merlin smiled. And his smile even grew just a little when he leaned against his side, and could feel his neckerchief pressing against him between the seat and his thigh.

He could only hope that Valiant wouldn't ruin this for him.

X

It had been about a dozen matches that passed over the next hour or two. The crowd's were going crazy over each and every match as the scoreboard started having shields-marked with the symbols of the competitor's families-thrown off to the side with each lost.

Arthur's shield, shining bright and proud-vivid in it's redness and fierce with it's golden painted dragon-was still on the board. But so was Valiant's-the yellow shield as bright as spun gold and the green snake's looking even more deadly with the venom dripping off of their fangs.

Next to Valiant's shield-which showed who his next opponent was going to be-was a deep royal purple colored shield. It had a crest that looked like an X slashed across it. This shield was what Valiant was supposed to be carrying if he hadn't been cast out, the crest that marked his birth family. This was Sir Ewan who now held the crest.

Next to Arthur's shield-indicating his next match-was a deep indigo shade of blue. There was a symbol on it that vaguely resembled an octagon with a cross cut through it. This was the family crest of the Trembone family.

Arthur stood on the field now, his sword raised above his head as he stood at the ready, bouncing back and forth on his feet as he prepared himself for the start of the match.

Tristian Trembone stood on the other side of his blade, his own sword held up as he watched his prince with narrowed eyes, waiting for him to make the first move.

Arthur clenched his jaw, readjusting the grip that he had on the handle of his sword. This was only Arthur's second match of the day, his last before everybody would break for lunch and then come back afterwards for the third rounds. The competition had been cut by half at this point. The day had started out with twenty competitors, and now they were down to ten. By the time the third matches started in just a few hours, the competitors would be dropped down to four. And then it would be the next day before the final match between the two finalists-which Arthur was determined to be one of-would commence.

His friend, Markus, had lost his match the round before. And so had the guy with the two blades the round before that. But those were just the one's that Arthur bothered to remember.

Out of all of the opponents that he could have matched with, he was glad that it was Tristian. He hadn't forgotten about him, or the things that he had done. Like when he had walked in on him and Merlin when they had been pressed together-which was entirely inappropriate on Arthur's part-and made those jokes. Or how-Arthur vividly remembered-when Merlin and him had talked in his bedroom on their wedding night. The boy had told Arthur all about the inappropriate jokes that Tristian had made to him on their journey to Camelot-even if Merlin was to clueless to realize what exactly those jokes had been meaning.

Arthur had not been happy to have jokes about his sex life told. He was even less happy about those jokes being in reference to Merlin doing 'anything' with the lower half of his body.

"You ready for this, sire?" Tristian asked, happy go lucky as he bounced from foot to foot.

Arthur made it a point to twirl his sword dangerously at his side-his hand barely even have to touch it as it easily sliced through the air-before he brought his sword back up over his head. "I only hope that you are." He said lowly, as he dropped down into a low crouch.

There was something about Arthur's voice that made Tristian pause, something that had given him a sense of dread. And maybe that was what made him act so hastily.

Tristian acted, swinging his sword at Arthur's helmet, trying to be the first to knock their prince out. But Arthur reacted, moving so fast that he was almost a blur. With one swift movement, Arthur had his shield up to protect himself from the onslaught of the blade. And his other hand was coming up before Tristian could even blink, the handle of Arthur's sword as he twisted the blade backwards, slamming straight into the gap in Tristian's helmet and hitting the other swordsman directly in the face.

It was an attack that would no doubt leave a headache, and one nasty looking bruise in between his eyes and down to the bridge of his nose.

There was a pause where nobody moved, and then Tristian was crumbling to the ground. He was unconscious before his prone body hit the sand.

Everybody hushed and went quiet, not one person in the stadium dared to utter a single word as they stared in stunned disbelief. It had been the fastest match yet, over within seconds instead of the anticipated ten or twenty minutes or so to get a knock out.

Arthur slowly straightened himself back up, tugging his helmet off cautiously before he glanced up at the wide eyes of the people boggling their eyes down at him.

Even his father, sitting in the royal box to watch, was looking surprised by this. As good as Arthur was, he would usually stretch his matches out for the entertainment factor.

Arthur was preparing himself to step off of the field, taking a step toward's the knight's quarters as he looked away from the bleachers and focused directly ahead of himself instead. This would probably be the first time that he had ever walked out of a tourney without the roars of the crowd's following behind him. But it was clear that everybody was to stunned-the quickness and harshness of the battle quieting their voices-to clap for their prince.

Arthur had only gotten two steps away-his sword back in its scabbard and his bangs flopping down into his face-when his ears perked up as he was able to barely detect something coming from behind him.

Clapping.

It was obviously a single person clapping, the first out of many, and Arthur let out a harsh and shaking breath as he reached up a hand to push his bangs out of his eyes. He already knew before he turned around and saw for himself, that it was Merlin clapping.

Arthur sighed, feeling weighted down as he looked up at Merlin softly clapping from his seat in the bleachers, sounding almost monotone from the slow way he was doing it. And apparently that was all that was needed for the crowd to jumpstart into action, throwing themselves to their feet to roar with excitement-probably the loudest roar they had made during all of the previous fights.

But Arthur basically tuned them out. Merlin was in his main focus, made easier to see him because he was the only one still sitting. The only one that was still clapping in that soft way that he had been doing even though everybody around them were practically stomping their feet.

It was fucking ridiculous.

Arthur raised an eyebrow towards the boy, as if to ask 'what the hell are you doing, you bloody moron?'

Maybe it was just because Merlin was a little to high up for him to see properly, and he was half blinded by the sun, but Arthur could have sworn that Merlin was giving him a cocky smirk. And then the boy's lips were moving, and Arthur had to squint to be able to make out what he was trying to say.

It took him a minute to register what Merlin was saying, but when he did, indignation flared through him as his jaw fell open. His hand, resting on the handle of the sword at his side, tightened around it.

Before anybody else could see just how undignified Arthur was behaving-or before anybody could see why he was behaving this way-Arthur whipped around and started storming back to the knight's quarters.

Bloody hell, that brat! Arthur thought as he strode quickly across the sand, trying to get out of sight from the multitude of people before he had an aneurysm. What did he have to do to get Merlin's attention? To make an impression on him!

It was so confounding how one minute, he was doing everything he could to stay away from the blue eyed brat. And how in the next second, he had practically put on a show specifically for him.

But seriously, what did he have to do to make Merlin admit he was impressed by Arthur sheer skill in the art of sword fighting. Did he have to strip off his armor and start dancing naked in the sunlight, in front of his entire kingdom, just to get a reaction out of him?

Arthur nearly tripped over his own feet as he neared the knight's quarters, which he quickly blamed on a little bump of sand that had formed there over some time. No, he was not going to dance naked in the middle of the stadium.

Merlin-the stupid virgin-would probably be the one to have an aneurysm if he saw that. And just for fun, Arthur bitterly imagined how red-more like the color of prunes then a tomato-his face would get if Arthur just started stripping.

Arthur scoffed as he ignored his fellow competitors clapping him on his shoulders as he returned to their quarters. Well, the prince thought bitterly as he pushed through the small crowd of knights-those who were still waiting for their second match and those who had already lost but had stayed to watch the rest of the tourney-that would definitely get at least some kind of reaction out of his brat.

But he'd probably like it to, once he saw what Arthur had to offer him. What Arthur refused to offer him in any way, capacity, or form. It would be one hell of a tease for sure, but Merlin-being the idiot that he was-would probably just start yelling at him to put some damn clothes on.

X

"Are you really still trying to mess with Arthur?" Gwen asked as she sat back down beside Merlin. She was close enough that she could hear the very loud and very firm 'Tristian would have won that if you had given him half a chance.'

She had calmed down during the matches, and had relaxed nearly completely as time had worn on. She would have thought that Merlin had given up on that ridiculous thing where he tried to piss Arthur off. Somebody who thought it was a good thing to piss off the royal family on purpose was clearly out of their mind, but she supposed Merlin was different since he was actually a member of said family.

Merlin just shrugged at her, giving her a tight lipped smile as he started tapping his finger's rapidly on his knee. "Hey, anything I can do to rile him up," he bumped his shoulder against hers. "It's not my fault that he makes it to easy."

And it was true. Practically everything Merlin did seemed to upset Arthur in some way, or pissed him off. So instead of going meek and trying to stay out of his way-which was the exact opposite of Merlin's big personality-so why not embrace it? Besides, if just these little things drove Arthur mad, it did make Merlin wonder how much worse it could be if Merlin did something bigger.

Gwen opened her mouth to protest-it was far to easy for her to forget about Merlin's royal status as it once again slipped her mind-but before she could get the first word out, her eyes caught onto Morgana sitting on the other side of Merlin. Gwen's mouth snapped shut and dipped into a frown, her eyebrows creasing together as she saw Morgana's troubled expression.

Merlin seemed to see that Gwen had gotten distracted, and whipped his head around to see what was up. He saw the same expression on Morgana's face as Gwen had, and he could see Morgana's eyebrow's coming together where little lines of worry were forming.

"...Morgana..." Merlin asked slowly, frowning as well. He hadn't known Morgana for very long, but she didn't seem to be the type to show her worry so easily on her face.

Morgana didn't try to hide how troubled she was, turning her head to face them as her lips tugged down harder, "Don't any of you think that was...strange?" She had seen and been to pretty much every controlled match that Arthur had been apart of. She had never seen him, in all of their lives, take an opponent out so quickly, efficiently, and...fiercely? Was that the right word to describe what she had just seen?

Merlin shrugged, "I've only seen him fight like once before..." so really, what did he know about any difference in his fighting style. It had definitely been different then his earlier fight-no less beautiful-but that could have been Arthur's normal for all he knew. Mixing thing's up to throw off his opponents.

"I noticed it." Gwen agreed with her, brushing a wayward curl behind her ear. "It was over...surprisingly quick." She-just like everybody-had fallen into a stunned silence when it was over barely seconds after it had started.

The group of three completely ignored the next fight that was commencing, to distracted by their conversation to pay attention to much else.

"I know!" Morgana said, turning her head so that she could try and get a peek at the entrance to the knight's quarters, but there wasn't really much that she could see from her position. Just a few knights that were hovering in the doorway to watch, and she couldn't even tell if any of them were Arthur or not. She turned back to Merlin and Gwen, "He usually likes to spread his matches out, to try and give the audience a little bit of a show before he takes them out."

The seriousness of Morgana's tone was broken when Merlin let out a loud snort. He leaned back in his seat-nearly falling into the person sitting behind him-before he quickly straightened back up.

"Now, why doesn't it surprise me that he literally goes out of his way to show off." Merlin said, a touch of amusement in his voice as he leaned forward. He put his elbows on top of his knees, leaning forward to rest his chin in his hands as he watched the fight ending. His knee kind of started to shake, moving up and down in a jittery motion. He had had his fun with Arthur, but that didn't stop him from knowing that Valiant would be coming up soon.

Probably sooner rather than later.

Morgana and Gwen shared a raised eyebrow at each other, able to see the other quite easily over Merlin's back because of his slouched over position. Going with what Merlin said, and agreeing that Arthur was probably just showing off, the two quietly turned back to the field. They started clapping as the fight came to an end, despite neither of them paying enough attention to have been able to tell who actually won.

X

Back in the knight's quarters, Arthur leaned against the corner that he had all but claimed was his. Nobody was really paying him any attention, everybody else was crowding around the entranceway to see who would make it through the match. And he couldn't be more grateful that he was getting this moment to himself.

He'd never craved this much privacy before he'd met that blasted boy.

With a deep scowl, Arthur used his right hand to yank off the glove on his left. He tucked his glove so that it was hanging over his belt, freeing up his hand so that he could use it to twist his wedding ring around his finger.

Arthur couldn't even be annoyed anymore that Merlin had still been on his opponent's side-Tristian's side after everything he said to him-despite Merlin clapping for him. He had much more distressing, and problematic thoughts coming to his mind.

Arthur looked down at his ring, his eyes catching a glimpse of the little red dragon that was carved into the metal. And he could feel a certain type of disgust forming in the pit of his stomach as it dawned on him exactly what he had done out on that field.

Had he seriously gone out of his way to what, to...defend Merlin's honor? As if he was some kind of maiden in distress who needed their knight in shining armor to protect them?

To think, he had started out with such good intentions. All he had wanted to do was make Merlin eat his word's, to force the boy to finally admit that he was impressed with Arthur's great skills.

But he couldn't even do that right.

As soon as he had saw Tristian joining him out on the field, all he could remember was Merlin sitting on the edge of his bed the night they had married. Arthur had been trying to figure out how the hell he was supposed to get Merlin to sleep with him, and the boy had startled blabbering in detail about what Tristian had told him.

It had...definitely made the night more uncomfortable than it had to be. Especially when Merlin had started asking...awkward questions, before Arthur had kicked him out.

All Arthur had been planning on doing when he took his sword out, was taking Tristian out. But in a more...disciplinary manner-as a head knight forcing his subordinate to lower himself-and teach him to keep his lewd jokes to himself.

But then Tristian had taken a swing at him, and Arthur had gotten a flash in his mind. Of Merlin, looking up with those stupid blue eye's of his while he was perched on the edge of his bed, asking him what Tristian had meant when he said that Arthur would find himself having a lot of fun with Merlin's mouth.

The next thing Arthur knew, Tristian had been unconscious on the ground and he was being declared the winner. He didn't even remember actually hitting the guy, he just remembering lifting his shield to defend himself from the blow.

He just hadn't been able to help himself, remembering all of the lewd jokes that Merlin had told him that Tristian had made about them.

It was as if something had...shifted inside of him. Just imagined Merlin hearing those jokes and being completely, absolutely (moronically) clueless about what they actually meant. And he snapped.

Arthur glanced up when the knights suddenly broke into a roar as somebody won their match, but he made no move to approach them to see who won, not when he had no actual interest in seeing the matches. There was no point in watching the actual fights, he would find out who was left in the competition one way or another later on.

Arthur dragged his eye's away from the small crowd of knights blocking the doorway, and then he was looking at his ring again. At that stupid sliver ring that shone out like a beacon against his tan skin, at the red dragon carved into the metal that practically seemed to glow as if it were made from a real fire.

And before Arthur could think about it, before the thought had even fully formed in his mind, before he could even register than he was doing it...he was sliding his ring off his finger.

And then...nothing.

He was all scrunched up, his eye's clenched shut and his stomach muscles cramping. His shoulders were almost up to his ears from how high he held them. But when nothing happened after the skin warmed metal of the ring was no longer on his finger, Arthur let one eye slide open into barely a slit, peeking down at it through his eyelashes.

The ring was a delicate looking thing, resting on the palm of his hand. It was thick though, fit for not only a wealthy and married man, but fit for a future king as well. But seeing it now (both eyes flickering open to look at it more closely as his muscles started to loosen up) it did look surprisingly small.

He had half been expecting for the fiery pits of hell to open him up and swallow him whole for disrespecting his marriage by removing his ring. But, he suppose...when there was no actual respect involved in the marriage itself, there was no reason for the marriage to be disrespected by the removal of his ring.

Arthur glanced back up as the knights on the other side of the room broke into a round of applause as the newest match was ending and it's champion was emerging. His hand close reflectively around the metal in his hand, and he could feel the edges of it bite into the palm of his worn hand.

After a moment of hesitation, Arthur glanced back at the ring and then back at the backs of his fellow knights. Without a word or the notice of anybody, Arthur slid his hand into a small pouch attached to the side of his belt.

With a gentle pull to the strings, the pouch squeezed taut, keeping the ring safe inside when he wouldn't have any use for it.

A wedding ring was supposed to symbolize a bond, a union between two people where love had forged between them. There was no love between Merlin and himself, and while he may still be considered a married man, Arthur had no intention of showing it off to the world with that blasted ring.

Merlin didn't need his 'protection', or for him to 'defend his honor' or whatever else there was. The boy would be just fine on his own, and Arthur could hopefully go back to a time where he could ignore him.

Arthur slid his glove back onto his hand to hide that he no longer wore it, ignoring the strangeness that it felt when the ring he hadn't even been wearing for a month's time was no longer pressed up against the inside of it.

Maybe somebody would notice soon enough, but that didn't matter to Arthur Pendragon. Not when he could feel the freedom that no longer wearing that ring did to him. He hadn't realized that the ring was starting to feel like a chain, or even a noose around his neck, until it was no longer there.

The only reason he wasn't throwing the damn thing into the river was because he would probably have need to wear it at certain times. It wouldn't do for him to be questioned during certain important event's that would come up in the day's futures.

Now if only he was able to cut Merlin out of his life so easily.

X

Out on the field, a new match had just started up. It was one of the few matches that were left before the tourney would break up for lunch. Valiant was one of the competitors, and he held his sword out in front of his with a lax grip. Standing in front of him was Ewan, crouched low and preparing himself for what was probably the fight of his life.

One may call it fate, or maybe they could call it destiny that these two would be matched at some point. Maybe it was just because they were both skilled and extraordinary men for making it so far into the tournament, for making it to the half way point. Or maybe it wasn't some higher calling at all that forced these two men to settle the family feud that had been brewing between them for over a decade.

Maybe it was just luck.

But whatever it was, rather it was just meant to be or if it was just coincidence. Either way one may take it, or how one could spin their family tell, one thing was for certain.

This fight was going to end up in bloodshed.

Ewan made sure to crouched down lower, making sure that he was watching every movement that his brother was making just in front of him. He needed to prepare himself to strike at any second, needed to make sure that he could finish the job if it came down to it.

This wasn't just a fight to get himself into the next rounds of the tourney. This was a fight for revenge, to make sure that Daniel's unreasonable death would finally be justified after all of these years. He was ready to put everything on the line for this.

Everything that Ewan had done to sharpen his skills over the last decade or so-rather he'd realized it or not-had been preparing him for this moment.

Ewan readjusted his grip on his blade, looking darkly at his long lost little brother. He took in the growth that had overtaken Valiant since he had left their home when he was just eighteen winter's old. From the buzz cut he now kept his hair, when it had once been much longer and thicker. From the harsh angle of his jaw to the thickness his biceps had grown after living a decade surviving on nothing more than his own merit's.

Ewan bowed his head, "This is your last chance, brother. Do not make me do this to you." He held up his sword, the tip of the blade barely reaching toward's Valiant's jugular, but the other man didn't even flinch.

Maybe he was a masochist, or maybe a sadist. Hell, he could even be a psychopath with the way he glanced down at Ewan's sword-so close to being able to take his life so easily-with little to no interest.

Ewan felt his grip tighten around the handle of his blade when Valiant said nothing, "Will you really not make amends for what you did to Daniel?" Maybe Ewan still had a single shred of hope that Valiant would relent and drop to his knees while he begged for forgiveness. Maybe Ewan was just hoping that the little boy that used to follow him around the manor all of the time was still somewhere in the hard shell that Valiant portrayed.

But it was clear that the little boy he once knew had long since died, replaced and taken over by a coldness that nobody living should ever have to face.

Especially when Valiant leaned forward, and Ewan almost fell back in surprise when the other knight allowed the tip of his blade to actually prod at the delicate muscles of his throat.

And then Valiant was speaking, "Do your worse." He said, a nasty smirk on his face that-if Ewan wasn't here to get justice for his long dead brother-would have sent him running for the hills. "He deserved it." Valiant finished off, finally leaning back away from the sword with a nonchalant shrug, keeping his voice low lest it travel far enough to be heard from somewhere in the bleachers above them. "You all deserve it."

Hearing something like that, to know that even after a night of sleep after Ewan had sworn vengeance and death upon him after their last meeting, that the other man still felt no regret over his past actions, something inside of him just seemed to shatter so completely that nothing could have put the pieces back together.

All bets were off

Ewan's face went expressionless as he nodded solemnly, "Then I am sorry that it has come to this." He spoke up. As the only member of the family that was here, it was up to him to seek the retribution that Valiant should have been given all of those years ago. Clearly, banishment from their clan had been to soft of a punishment for him. "If you aren't ashamed by what you have done, then by the last of our family-the only one that could be here today-I have no choice but to strike you from our family tree."

And then he was swinging his sword down at his brother, putting as much of his weight behind the blow as he possibly could so that it had more of a kick to it, with every intention of ending Valiant's life there and then.

But Valiant's shield came out of nowhere, easily blocking the blow. Ewan barely had time to blink before the other man's sword was coming down towards him over his head. Ewan barely managed to bring his own sword up in time against the relentless force, feeling his arm literally vibrating over the strain it took to not drop his own sword.

Ewan threw himself back out of the way before another blow came his way, loathe as he wanted to. But even he knew that sometimes, retreating backward's was the only way to win a battle. It gave one time to think, and to plan out their next move.

There was a stalemate between the two of them as they circled one another. Nobody-not them or those in the audience watching-could have said who made the first move. But either way, somebody did.

There was a clang of sword's as their blades struck against each other several times within seconds. Neither boy relented, pressing harder and harder against their brother as their blades danced off of one another.

At some point, Ewan struck out and Valiant brought his sword up to meet his. There was a loud clang as the swords once again struck each other. Only this time, they didn't jump back and try again from a different angle.

They stayed like they were, the swords pressing up against each other while they both pushed hard against the other. It was coming down to a test over who had the most brute strength, which one was strong enough to be able to push pass the other's defenses.

"You should just give up now, before you embarrass yourself any further." Valiant said, their faces far to close to each other as they tried to wear the other one down. The only thing that separated them were their blades.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Ewan grunted, feeling the strain as his arm trembled to keep his sword in place. He could feel beads of sweat dripping down the sides of his face under his helmet. "But I'm not Daniel. You can't cheat your way into a win with me, there's nothing you could have done to sabotage me."

Ewan was referring to how Valiant had won his battle with Daniel in the first place. By doing something to Daniel's sword to mess up the weight and the balance. It may seem like such a small matter to somebody who was untrained in swordsmanship, but even somebody who only knew the basics could say that an improperly balanced sword could mean the difference between life and death.

Especially when it was your own sword, and you should have known the thing like it was the back of your hand.

"I don't need to cheat to win against a pipsqueak like you." Valiant said, very mockingly. Even though Ewan was a decade older, he was much softer and slimmer looking then his little brother was. Ewan felt his jaw lock up at the slight against him. His size made him no less strong then any other knight out there.

Ewan tried to press harder, to press his sword forward to get the upper hand. But every slide of his blade was matched easily by Valiant, who was moving before Ewan even knew what his next move was going to be.

But then, there seemed to be a pause in their movements where neither one of them moved. They were both breathing harshly-Ewan moreso then Valiant-and their swords were practically melding together from how harshly they stayed up against each other.

Then, Ewan felt his face shift into a mask of confusion when Valiant's expression shifted into cockiness. A smirk was starting to curl on the other man's lips.

"But," Valiant spoke out, his nasty breath fanning again Ewan's face, making him scrunch up his nose as he got distracted by it. And that was probably his most fatal mistake, something that he would never be able to recover from. "Cheating, especially when everybody in the world is watching, is fun to do."

And then Valiant was doing some kind of fancy twist of his sword, a move that Ewan had let to see from him at this point, making his sword go flying across the field. And before Ewan could even register that it had been done, Valiant was using his shield to slam it against the side of his head.

Ewan hit the ground roughly, landing spread out on his back so hard that sand kicked up from his sudden fall. His head hit the ground as he fell back, and it was just the movement that it needed for his helmet to go flying off his head and landing somewhere in the sand out of his reach. He didn't even get the chance to enjoy the brush of cold air on his cheeks when his helmet was no longer in the way to block it, before Valiant was climbing on top of him.

Ewan panicked, and rose his shield up to keep him at bay, to form some kind of barricade between him and his brother. He had no sword and he had no helmet, his shield was literally his last line of defense. But it basically did nothing to help him as Valiant pressed his own shield up against it, trying to force his arm out of the way and pin it to the ground beside them.

But Ewan was relentless, struggling to keep Valiant's weight off of him even as he felt his arm starting to bend at the elbow because he hadn't been quick enough to lock his arm into place.

Ewan glanced up from their shields and up to Valiant's face, half obscured by his helmet. It was a scary sight, the kind that made his breath catch as Valiant's eyes-frightening cold-met his own.

Ewan could feel the sting of tears brimming in the corner of his eye's, feeling as if he had somehow lost not only this battle-even while still in the middle of the fight-but he also felt as if he was failing Daniel by landing in this predicament.

"Why are you doing this? Why have you done any of this!" Ewan rasped, feeling the trembling in his arm as it practically started buckling down on him. He would barely last seconds at this point.

But this was something that he needed to know, something he was almost desperate to know. All of these years he had wondered if there was something he could have done different, something that would have prevented all of this from happening in the first place.

He almost couldn't breath because of how heavily Valiant way laying on top of him, the yellow shield he carried practically obscuring his vision from anything else.

He could barely hear Valiant because of the roaring in his ears as the other man said a nasty sounding, "Because I can." And then Valiant was looking away from Ewan, and looking toward's his shield. "Strike him." He commanded.

Ewan's eyebrows came together in confusion, just barely holding onto the small space he had formed with him arms between him and their shields. But that was when he heard the hissing, barely detectable over the sounds of the crowd either jeering or cheering, depending on whoever they wanted to win.

Ewan's eye's dropped, and he felt his jaw unlock as it hung open in upmost horror. He couldn't understand-couldn't comprehend-what exactly he was seeing. The snake's, the ones that were painted to look so proudly and to stand out on Valiant's shield, were actually standing out. The snake's upper half slid out of the shield, landing with a heavy thunk on his chest. It's tongue flicked out as it scented the air, hissing at him as it worked it's way to his head.

Ewan felt himself leaning back, or as much as he could when he couldn't wedge himself out from under Valiant's supreme weight. That was when the snake struck him, his fangs piercing and digging deep into the side of his neck. His cry of pain went unheard over the cheers of the crowd, the snake itself being unseen in their position before it faded back into it's place on the shield.

Ewan never felt Valiant getting off of him, nor did he hear the dull thud that Valiant's shield made as it hit the ground somewhere beside him as he tossed it aside.

Ewan's body had completely locked up as he felt the burn of the snake's venom travel like lighting coursing throughout his entire body within seconds. It felt as if it his tongue had engorged into twice it's normal size, nearly choking him as he struggled to force something-any kind of sound or noise to indicate his distress.

Ewan would never know what exactly it was that made him pass out. It could have been from the pain, the snake's venom so potent and deadly that it felt as if his blood itself had turned into fire. Or it could have been when Valiant used the handle of his sword to slam against the top of his skull-the gasps of the crowd ringing in his ears were the last thing that he heard.

Valiant pulled away from Ewan, not sparing his brother's body-somebody who he now considered to be nothing more than death weight-another glance. He had already planned from the start to allow his newfound snake's to take his brother's life, he couldn't risk the other boy finally growing a spine and marching up to the king to tell him who exactly Valiant was.

Getting rid of him really was the best option, the only option that would satisfy Valiant's blood lust.

The snake's poison would paralyze him, and he would have fallen into a coma within minutes if Valiant hadn't knocked him out himself, not wanting to risk anybody thinking that there was anything off with Ewan's symptoms. He didn't want to give anybody a reason to go looking for answers before it was to late. Give it another two day's, and the snake's venom would have done the job.

Ewan would be dead.

He got a certain thrill out of this, having finally found the perfect chance to use his snakes in the tourney. Everybody else he had fought had been so ridiculously easy, there was no reason to use them. Ewan himself had been just as easy, but being able to see that look of horror in his eyes had been to good to miss.

Valiant tugged off his helmet, and looked out into the roaring crowd. Then he was raising his fist above his head, smirking as the crowd's grew louder at this.

Perfect, this was absolutely perfect. He was exactly where he belonged, in the center of everything while everybody worshiped the ground he walked on. Valiant looked out at the bleacher's, his eyes searching for the one thing that would make this all even more perfect.

It was only when he found him-when he found Merlin-did his cockiness grow. He would need to find some alone time with that boy, and soon. If everything went according to plan, Valiant would be fighting Arthur in the final rounds. And what better way to distract the prince, then to let him know all the gory details of what a lay his husband was.

X

In the bleachers, Merlin almost found himself melding into his own seat. His hands clenched around the edges of it, his nails digging so hard into the wooden bench that he almost felt his own nails start to break.

It was bad enough when Valiant had returned to the field. He had been half expecting the man to run up into the bleachers and attempt to do something stupid, like trying to claim him and his lips in front of the entire city. And then the fight had started, and it was nothing short of completely brutal. Ewan had tried to put up a good fight, but it was clear right from the start that Valiant had the upper hand; both in upper body strength and his skills with a sword.

It was...intimidating. Sort of like he had thought when he had seen Arthur fighting earlier. But they were both so far on opposite ends of the spectrum, that Merlin almost couldn't even begin to see how they compared.

And then he had actually seen Ewan fall, and intimidating took on a whole new meaning. It didn't help when he saw Valiant looking out into the crowd, looking drunk off of his own power as he had raised his fist high into the air.

Merlin wanted to spit out the truth, to tell Morgana and Gwen-who were the closest people to him-about Valiant, just to warn them for when Valiant came after him. But his voice got caught in his throat, and he couldn't utter a single word.

He felt as if he were screaming but nobody even looked up, and he wondered if the pinprick sensation his skin was starting to take on was because Valiant was looking straight at him again.

It was disturbing, on the highest of all levels, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. What was he supposed to do? Match up to Uther and claim that one of his 'prized fighters' was making unsolicited advances toward's him? Was looking at him during the tournament, and now Merlin feared what else the man had planned for him since he clearly wasn't interested in just letting him go.

He'd be laughed right out of the throne room if he even tried.

So he sat there in silence, watching as his uncle raced out onto the field to give immediate medical assistance to Ewan, the boy looked like he would have one hell of a concussion once he woke up.

"Do you think he's hurt badly?" Morgana asked at his side, readjusting her skirts as she leaned forward to try and get a better view. Two more knight's, different then the ones that kept helping the injured losers off the field, were helping lift Ewan onto a stretcher.

"Probably." Merlin said quietly, his eye's flicking from Valiant to Ewan, as the man on the stretcher was being lifted. From this view, it was almost to hard to see rather Ewan was even alive or dead. But he suppose the man had to still be alive, or the knight's wouldn't be carting him away like that.

Merlin looked away from Ewan, briefly catching sight of his uncle following behind the knights that were taking the fallen knight to the physician's chambers. He saw Valiant waving to the crowd as he stepped back, starting to head back toward's the knight's quarters.

Merlin could feel an itch starting to form under his skin, the kind that told him that he really didn't want to be here right now. Not if he had to run the risk of seeing Valiant again.

The knight just turned his stomach from just the sight of him, and ruined the tourney from his mere presence alone. Merlin really didn't want to be thinking of last night when he'd been a literal prisoner inside of his own room, unable to escape without risking his own safety in the process. But that was all that he could think about whenever he saw the knight, and if last night had been bad when there had been a door to barricade himself behind, he really did not want to see how things would develop if there was nothing to stop him.

"I uh, I think I'm gonna go with them. See if I can help out some, an extra hand could be useful...right?" Merlin asked, but he wasn't really asking a question either. He didn't think he could sit here for another minute, not if he had to keep pretending that everything was okay. As if he hadn't been practically assaulted just the night before.

"Don't you want to see the rest of the fights?" Gwen asked, looking up as Merlin stood up from his seat.

Merlin looked down at the field where two more knight's were starting to get situated for their own match. Neither one looked very impressive, or at least not any more so then any of the previous matches that they'd already watched.

There was only one or two more matches anyway before it was time for a lunch break, there was really no point in watching the rest of them. He doubted he was going to actually miss anything of any real importance.

"Nah," Merlin ultimately said, shaking his head from side to side. "I think I might be needed more down there then I am being up here." Merlin felt his hand drift down to his pocket, feeling the small bump where the neckerchief was, and he signed heavily. It looked as if he was going to have to wait just a little bit longer before he gave it to Arthur. Trust Valiant to ruin what was probably going to be the most momentous decision of his young life, you know, besides getting married. "Besides," Merlin finished up, rubbing his fingers into soft circles where the fabric was resting, "Arthur doesn't need me here to soothe his already massive ego."

Merlin was already walking away, making his way toward's the stairs through the crowd, with the ring of Morgana's and Gwen's laughter in his ears.

"Consort Merlin," the knight that had been watching over Morgana-and subsequently Merlin as well now-said as he approached the end of this bleacher's section. "Would you like an escort to where you are going? I can-"

"No, that won't be necessary." Merlin said quickly, all ready step siding around him. He would never get used to actually having this much attention on him. He was used to pretty much being on his own-other then Will and his mother-so this was just one more thing he would have to get used to in Camelot. The attention. Rather people thought he was a commoner or a royal, rather people thought he was a somebody or a nobody determined by if they recognized him as their new consort or not, he was getting more attention than he ever had in all of his nineteen years.

The real kicker was that it was mostly the negative kind.

Even though he had already long since left Valiant's sight, he could swear that he still felt the weight of his stare pressing in on him from under his skin.

The knight who had asked him if he wanted an escort watched him go. Now, if the consort had been a woman, he may had insisted on her having an escort. It wouldn't do for a lady to be without the proper guard's in place. But seeing as Merlin was a man, the knight turned away so that he could focus on his assignment for the day.

Being Lady Morgana's bodyguard.

X

Gaius was already deep into his examination over Ewan's prone body spread out on the small cot perched in the corner of the room for exactly this purpose, by the time Merlin finally made it there. He had taken longer than he had thought to get to the physician's quarters, and for once it wasn't because he was lost.

Gaius glanced up when his nephew entered the room, before glancing back down at his patient who he was looking over, prodding at his neck. If Gaius was at all surprised that Merlin hadn't stayed behind at the tourney, he didn't say anything.

"How is he?" Merlin asked, walking over, and he could feel the neckerchief in his pocket rubbing harshly against his thigh through the thin layer of his pants. It was almost soothing, a reminder than he was here and not there with Valiant watching him.

Gaius squinted through his glasses, rubbing his fingers over the spot that he had been looking at. "It's the oddest thing." He mused, looking more then confused by what he was looking at.

He had started his examination by checking for injuries on the head from the hit he had taken, but all that had recovered was the smallest bump. It hadn't looked to serious, especially not big enough to cause a young and healthy man to still be unconscious this long after the hit had actually happened. So he had continued looking just to make sure that he was being through, which was what caused him to discover what was laying embedded in the men's neck.

Gaius waved him closer, "Look at this." Merlin walked over, bending down so that he could see what his uncle had been observing. "Do you see these two small wounds?"

Merlin squinted his eyes to get a better look but yes, he could definitely see two little pinprick circles side by side at the base of Ewan's neck. "What is that?" He asked, although it did look vaguely familiar. It was on the tip of his tongue, he just wasn't able to bring it to the forefront of his mind.

"It looks like a snake bite." Gaius said with a frown. Which was just strange, because surely somebody would have seen if there was a snake on the field, especially one big enough to leave the kind of marks that Ewan bore.

Merlin's eye's widened as it hit him why that wound looked so familiar. He had barely been five years old when he'd gotten bitten by a snake himself, and the memory of it returning to him was blurry because of how young he had been. But he definitely remembered having a similar mark on his hand-between his thumb and his finger-only his had been half the size that Ewan's was. He'd only been bitten by a little grass snake, nothing that a kiss from his mother hadn't been able to fix up.

Merlin whipped his head around so that he could look at Gaius, "How could he've been bitten by a snake? He was injured in a sword fight!" Surely Valiant would have said something if he saw a snake biting his opponent. But then again, Merlin could remember the cruelty that had been in Valiant's eyes when he had accosted him. Would he had really bothered to say anything about it, even if it would save another man's life?

"But the symptoms are consistent with poisoning: slow pulse, fever, paralysis." Gaius said heavily. It really didn't make any sense, but Gaius had to believe what the evidence was telling him. Even though there had been hundreds of witnesses that could claim Ewan had been injured in a swords fight-himself and Merlin included-the wounds themselves told a different story.

Merlin lifted his head when he saw his uncle standing up, "Can you heal him?" He asked, with genuine worry in his voice. Ewan had been probably the first knight to greet him during the meet and greet, with respect and kindness instead of uncertainty or with an underline of mocking to it that nobody but him seemed to notice or picked up. He didn't want to see him die, he didn't want to see anybody die.

Gaius walked away from the cot and started messing with his potions overfilling a nearby table, taking inventory of anything he had that may be able to-while not curing-alleviate his symptoms. "Well, if it is a snake bite, I'll have to extract venom from the snake that bit him to make an antidote." That was what made snake bites so deadly, depending on the type that bit you and how potent their venom was. That was why it was so important to make sure you knew what kind of snake it was-only if you couldn't get the snake itself-but with Ewan unconscious, that was of course, impossible.

Merlin followed Gaius with his eye's, his face scrunched up as he tried to figure out how exactly Ewan could have gotten bitten in a stadium with hundreds of witnesses who saw absolutely nothing. He glanced back to Ewan, watching his shallow breathing and the sweat literally boiling off of his skin.

"What happens if he doesn't get the antidote?" He asked quietly, fearing that he may already know the answer.

Gaius returned, carrying a washcloth he'd fished off of the table, now drenched in water from a nearby bucket. "Then I'm afraid there's nothing more that I can do for him." All Gaius was able to do was put the washcloth on Ewan's forehead to try and make him more comfortable for his journey into the afterlife.

Merlin stood at that, a look of shock and horror etched on his face. He almost felt as if he was going to cry himself, for a man that might as well be a stranger for how much he actually knew him.

Merlin looked away from Gaius and back to Ewan, his eye's wavering because he knew that even with his magic, not even he would have been able to use it to cleanse the knight from his poisoning. He watched his uncle put the damp cloth onto the knight's forehead, and his eye's dropped to follow a drip of water that had came off of it. It slid down the side of Ewan's face, until it vanished onto the mattress-but not before it slid across the snake bite on the side of his neck.

Maybe the dots were starting to connect for him, or maybe there was just something that clicked inside of him as he stared down at those swollen bite marks.

"He was fighting Knight Valiant." Merlin said quietly, half talking to himself as he stared off into space with a contemplative expression on his face. And thinking about it now, last night-before Valiant had shown up in the armory-hadn't he heard some kind of strange...hissing, sound. He hadn't thought about it since, hadn't even considered the possibility because Valiant had interrupted him when he had been trying to investigate the noise. But what if it had been a snake, was that why Valiant had been down there in the first place? What if he was hiding some kind of snake, something he was using to make way when the competition got to tough.

But then again...hadn't he thought that he may be going crazy because he could have sworn he saw the snake that was on the shield...blinking at him. What if...what if he hadn't been imagining it, what if the snake really had been blinking.

It would definitely be a new way to smuggle venomous snakes into the castle...a magical way clearly.

"What's that?" Gaius asked, having not heard him as he had been to busy trying to mop up the sweat from Ewan's brow. Cooling him down may give him a few extra minutes to live, which-as a physician-he had learned could make all the difference in the world.

Focus came back into Merlin's eyes as he snapped back to attention. "...Nothing." He said quickly, already turning himself away and rushing toward's the door. To think, he'd half only came down here in the first place to get away from Valiant, and now here he was, leaving to go check him out. He should have known that just leaving wouldn't have worked out, that his little break away from him was just to good to be true.

But somebody had to find out what was going on, somebody had to find out if Valiant was really cheating his way through the competition. He already knew the man had no morals, but this new turn of event's had already awoken a suspicion in him that wasn't going to go away until he figured out the truth.

It didn't matter that Valiant was creepy, and freaked him out on levels that he had never felt before. The only thing that mattered was finding out the truth, before Ewan or anybody else fell to it.

And he was the only one that had the suspicions that he did about Valiant.

He didn't even tell Gaius what he was doing, not before he knew for sure what was really going on.

X

Arthur had every intention of heading up to his room so that he could get cleaned up real quick, or at least wipe off some of the sweat he had accumulated from his fights. He was hoping to get a quick lunch, and then maybe run a few practice drills before the matches would resume in a couple of hours. Morris was probably already in his room, getting him a tub of warm bath water filled so that he could have a quick soak, while his lunch waited for him nice and warm on his table.

But you know what they say. You make plans, and God laughs.

Arthur had barely made it out of the stadium-the knights that were still in the competition (about ten or so of them still left) breaking apart to do their own thing during this time of rest-when he saw Morgana and Gwen walking nearby.

The audience had been dismissed from the stadium as well, so the streets were overcrowded with people as they returned to their daily activities until the tourney started back up. That was probably why Arthur took a step back before Morgana or Gwen could see him. It was also why he didn't notice at first that Merlin wasn't with them.

At first.

But it became abundantly clear when the crowd parted a little, that Merlin wasn't with them either. Arthur felt himself stiffen a little at that, and his hand reached toward's his other hand, only to come up empty when he realized there was no ring on his finger.

Right-Arthur had to shake that off-he wasn't wearing his ring anymore. There was no need to, and it was going to be his new way of remembering that Merlin meant nothing to him. It was clear that he'd been getting to close, getting to involved in things that didn't concern him.

Why should he care if one of his knights had made lewd jokes to his consort, before he even was his consort. Why should it matter to him at all what kind of trouble Merlin was finding himself in, rather he knew what was going on or not?

Why was he...stomping up to Morgana and Gwen right now?

The girl's conversation died off abruptly when Arthur stood in their path, staring them down silently.

"Arthur, you do realize that it's rude to stare, correct?" Morgana asked dryly, looking at the man in front of her with a raised eyebrow. "Or did you miss that lesson when we were children..."

Arthur hated to do it, he really did, and he could feel his jaw locking in an attempt to not say anything. But it didn't last long, and the word's came falling out before he even had the chance to stop it.

"Where is he?"

Morgana and Gwen shared a look, neither girl needed to ask to know who he was talking about. It didn't exactly take a genius to put the pieces altogether. And Arthur could see it in their faces, and all he wanted to do in that moment was to throw himself off the first ledge that he could find.

Morgana's lips curled into an amused smile as she said, "You're going to have to be a little more specific then that, Arthur dear."

Arthur knew she was just playing games with him, and he felt his fists involuntarily clenching at his sides. "You know who I'm talking about, where is he?" He repeated, feeling a bone deep weariness overcoming him.

He didn't want to see Merlin, not really. Not when he knew that the best thing for everybody was to just stay away from him. It would all be okay as long as he got his space away, it was why he was going to refuse to wear his ring anymore. There was no point in wearing it when he knew that Merlin was clearly more trouble then he was worth.

Like right now! Merlin wasn't even here, but Arthur still found him in the forefront of his mind. He'd been hoping to get away from the stadium before his thoughts on Merlin became a more physical appearance when the boy actually showed up. But he hadn't, and Arthur had found himself subconsciously looking for him when he didn't hear that innate chattering going off in his ears.

"Oh, don't get your panties in a wad." Morgana said, waving her hand at him and looking huffy about him ruining her fun. "He wanted to go with Gaius, to check and see if there was anything he could do to help him with that knight who got carted out of here."

That...actually stumped Arthur for a second, and he stood there in silence for a moment, blinking dumbly. He had been sure-when Merlin hadn't evidently shown up at his side after the matches were completed-that the boy was off somewhere causing problems for somebody else. Something that Arthur was going to have to waste his time and energy cleaning up after him if he wanted to save his reputation-while Merlin also went about probably-inadvertently-burning the bridges he had made over the years with the son's of nobility.

He had thought that Merlin was going to ruin all of his years of hard work work within second's-and that maybe keeping his distance wasn't the best idea since it was clear that Merlin needed somebody to watch him twenty four hours a day/seven days a week. But no, apparently he had run off to help their physician.

Seeing Morgana and Gwen were still staring at him, Arthur found himself clearing his throat, "...He'll probably just get in the way." He grumbled, before whipping around and stomping off before Morgana could try and question him.

But a thought was already starting to form in Arthur's mind. Maybe staying away from Merlin like he'd wanted to wasn't his best plan, and it was clear that it wasn't really working out to well either. Maybe, what he really needed to do was stay closer to him. If only to stop him from ruining the life that Arthur had built for himself...

Whatever, what he really needed was a quick soak and his lunch, he can worry about his brat later. Surely the boy could keep himself out of trouble for a few hours...

X

Merlin pressed his back up against the wall, holding his breath while he hoped that he hadn't just been caught so soon after he'd started. He squeezed his eye's shut so tightly, and he waited with dreaded anticipation for a blow to come.

But nothing did, because he hadn't been caught after all.

Merlin let out a sigh of relief, slumping against the wall as he felt the dread practically draining out of him. He even let his head fall back, the sound making a soft thud as it fell against the wall behind him.

He only allowed himself that minute of relief though, because he had to remind himself that he was on a mission. And there was no time for any relaxation, or for celebrating that he had made it so far. Just because he hadn't been caught this time, didn't mean that he wouldn't be caught the next time.

He would need to stay on his toes-to stay focused on the game-if he wanted to get out of here in one piece.

So with that thought, Merlin straightened back up and gave a cautious peek through the open doorway he'd been hiding behind this whole time.

There-and his stomach churned at the sight-was Valiant stalking past the doorway. He was alone, which was a good sign for Merlin, who had been waiting here for a good ten minutes so that he could catch him. Now that the early afternoon matches were over, Merlin had only been able to make an educated guess on where Valiant would go for his break.

His room was really the only place that he had been able to think of, and this hallway gave him the perfect view of the main entranceway to the hall where all of the tourney's guests were staying for this week.

And most importantly, Merlin could see Valiant holding his shield. The one that had a snake that could blink, the one that Valiant had been using during a sword fight that left his opponent with venomous snake bites.

Merlin waited, with baited breath and a hand on the wall to hold himself up as he leaned further in to see down the hall, until Valiant was inside of his rooms. Only then did Merlin move, cautiously glancing around the hall to make sure that he wouldn't be caught. But no, it was clear that Valiant was the only knight that had decided to return to his accommodations, which was a good thing for Merlin.

Getting caught by somebody else would just be one less problem on his plate.

Merlin allowed himself to wait for only another minute, just to make sure that nobody else was going to show up, and to make sure that Valiant wasn't going to be leaving his room and catch him mid-stride.

But when nothing happened, Merlin took his chance. He hurried across the flooring, practically walking on his tip toes just so he could make the less noise as possible. This wasn't like him running all around a hallway, throwing doors open so that he could find Arthur.

This time, he was looking for Valiant. And something like this-especially after realizing that Valiant may be even more dangerous then he thought-would require a much more...delicate touch.

Merlin reached the wooden doorway that led to Valiant's chambers, and he glanced in either direction one last time. It didn't hurt to be a little more cautious then he usually would be, he didn't want to know what would happen to him if he got caught.

But he was having trouble deciding which would be worse. Being seen by a guard spying on one of their 'honored guests' or being caught by Valiant himself.

Merlin let out an exhale of breath to prepare himself, and then he was putting his hand on the door. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or terrified when the door creaked open, Valiant hadn't bothered to lock it when he'd gone in.

Merlin wasn't sure if this was just absentminded on Valiant's part, or if that had deliberate. But he supposed that it didn't matter. One way or another, he needed to find out what Valiant was doing.

Merlin cautiously peeled through the crack he'd made in the doorway, trying to get a good view of the inside of the room. But all he could see was half of Valiant's shoulder-his back to him-as he fiddled with something on his desk.

Merlin stiffened his shoulders, and held his breath as if he feared even breathing would get Valiant's attention, before he pushed the door open a little further. He clenched his jaw, feeling as if the door had just screamed by the soft creak the hinges had just made.

Either Valiant knew that he was here, and was ignoring him on purpose, probably to give him a false sense of security. Or Valiant really was obvious to his presence, because he didn't react at all to the soft noise, if he had even heard it in the first place.

Merlin must really have a death wish, because he stuck his head straight through the doorway-just opened wide enough for his head to fit through the crack. He glanced over Valiant-the man more obvious than ever with his back to him. The man's broad shoulder muscles moved under his skin as he did whatever it was that he was doing on the desk. And Merlin could feel his heart sky-rocketing, wondering what would happen if Valiant really did catch him.

Would he kill him? Send whatever snake's he had on him like he-if his suspensions were correct-had done to Ewan. Or would he drag Merlin in, lock the door and pin him to the wall before forcing his tongue into his mouth like he'd wanted to the night before.

Merlin's hand tightened around the rounded metal hoop knocker fashioned to the front of Valiant's door. No, he couldn't think about something like that, not when he had more important things that were happening right now.

Like...why was Valiant pulling a small little white garden mouse out from a tiny little cage sitting on the table.

Merlin watched as Valiant took a seat on the edge of the table, and he could feel his eyebrow's coming together as he tried to understand what the knight was doing. The knight held up the squeaking little harmless creature by it's talk, a sadistic and twisted grin on his face that made Merlin want to be sick.

"Dinner time." Valiant said, reaching out his arm to hold the mouse exactly where he wanted it. The shield with the snakes was resting on top of a chair beside him, and for a second, nothing happened. Merlin almost wondered if he was missing something, or maybe Valiant was just delusional and Merlin had made some kind of huge mistake by coming here in the first place.

But that was when Valiant's shield started to ripple, and he watched with a dumb sort of shock that spread throughout his entire body as all three of the snakes slid out of the shield.

Several thoughts shot through his mind at that moment.

One, he hadn't been going crazy back in the armory. The snake's really do move, and not only did they move, but they could come off the shield completely.

Two, it wasn't just the one snake that was able to move. It was all three of them, slithering and hissing as they snapped their jaws up at the frantically squeaking mouse that seemed to be screaming from above them.

And three, Merlin himself had made things happen that most people had never even dreamed of doing. He had made things move before he could walk, he could make pictures form in the air without a second thought. But this, seeing three live snakes literally slide their way off of what looked like it should be nothing more than an ordinary shield, was something else entirely.

And as if thing's couldn't get any worse, he bore witness to what was probably the most horrific sight he had ever seen in his life. He grew pale, and his heart stuttered in his chest. He felt his stomach churching from his fast the blood drained from his face, and bile almost worked it's way up his throat.

Even though Valiant had a cage full of mice situated right behind him, the knight seemed to take pleasure in taunting the snakes as he wiggled the mouse above their heads. He would act like he was about to drop the mouse to them, before he would yank it back just before any of the snakes had the chance to snap their jaws around it.

And then he dropped the mouse.

Merlin watched as those three snakes tore the squirming mouse into pieces, each one vying for it's own share.