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!

152. Lancelot

Have you ever been terrified before?

Not scared, everyone's been scared at one point or another. But truly terrified, as if your whole world was closing in on you, and you had absolutely no way to stop it. The pure panic of your entire world crumbling right beneath your feet, and yet, you are still standing. Forced to endure as everything you thought you knew, was completely changed in the blink of an eye.

Arthur Pendragon thought he knew what being terrified was. He lived his days in battles that could end his life in an instant. And yet, nothing in the world was scarier than the day he realized he had a crush on his husband…

X

The sun was burning brightly in the sky on a fair Camelot morning, there were birds chirping in the sky and horses grazing in the field. Servants tending to all their chores as they traveled the yard, and knights doing their morning training in the training grounds. Children too young to add helping hands to their tiring mothers ran about their ankles, shrieking with excited laughter, making the fair city of Camelot seem like a bright and beautiful land. Full of cheer and hope to what the next handful of months would bring, but not all were cheery. In fact, it was a small handful of people that held irritation in their hearts.

Down in the armory, a small handful of more advanced knights were preparing themselves, working on getting their armor straightened out while they waited for the beginning class to be finished with. Only four men, nobody saying one single word as they filtered about, each one lost in their own heads. There was a clicking of metal against metal when one knight clipped an arm guard in its rightful place on his forearm. A second knight was sitting on a bench and bent over, stomping his foot into his boot as he tugged it up with a sturdy grip along the top. A third knight was going through the many shields stacked alongside the wall, trying to decide which one would make him look the most formidable, something big and flashy to really catch attention…and the forth knight. Not a sound or even a movement came from him. He sat on another bench, forearms pressed against his knees, head hanging between them as if he had just heard the worse news in his entire life.

He wanted to protest, because the news he had heard some of the servants all in a titter over this morning, couldn't have been true. He wanted to believe that it was nothing more than just people getting ahead of themselves, and making up things that weren't true. But Knight Markus was no fool, and knew from his own personal experience, how the rumormill worked. How fast even one simple thing could inspire an entire story to be spread among the people…and he had known this day would come sooner or later. Though Knight Markus had hoped it was just one of those days that felt like it would never come simply because of how far away it was. But Markus supposed, this day would've came sooner than another…and as if to prove his point, the door to the armory was getting thrown open. Loud enough to bang harshly against the wall as the one man in their group who'd been missing, came running into the room with the stupidest of faces on.

"Guys! You need to listen up to this because I just heard something that is just unbelievable! I cannot believe it's actually happening! I thought this day would never come but it's here! It's actually here!" Knight Christian exclaimed, with a loud gesture of excitement, less happy about the news itself and more happy due to all the attention such news was going to broker. "I just heard this from Tristian himself, and we all know that guy loves to talk about anything. And he heard it from Dorian, and you know it's true if that stick in the mud decided to say something. And he heard it from Gregory, everybody knows how much the knight doesn't talk, I'm pretty sure Dorian is the only knight that can translate his grunts actually…"

Christian trailed off, tapping at his chin with an absentminded finger as he lost track of what he was saying, trying to think of any other knights that might be able to translate the grunts of Gregory when he was in a non-talking mood and Knight Markus bowed his head even further. He had sequestered himself away in the armory, even refusing to leave after he had dressed himself, because he had hoped it would be the one place in the entire kingdom where he would not have to listen to this shit. But not even here appeared to be safe, and Christian flopping his thick locks of blond bangs out of his eyes only drew his irritation into something tighter and untamed. Christian's scatterbrained nature seemed to only draw the news out, rather than getting it over and done with.

"Will you just get to the point and stop making us wait. Some of us actually do plan on making it to the training grounds today. Especially since Arthur will be reassuming his duties as instructor today." Knight Julian, also a boring stick in the mud type like Dorian, whose only goal in life was getting his duties done to the best of his abilities…he dreamed about being the strongest knight who had ever lived in this kingdom, barked. But that might also be became he had came from one of the lower noble families, and being the only son with seven sisters who had came before him, felt the insane need to prove himself. "You know as well as I do that Arthur's taken a step back since his consort's poisoning, and I for one, don't intend on missing out now that's he's back. Especially not if that means missing it just to hear you trying to imitate Gregory's grunts, and trying to see if you can get the sounds right!"

And as if to prove his point, Christian stopped doing exactly that, snapping his jaw shut and shooting an irritated look at the other knight. Julian sneered back at him, already short tempered enough now that Arthur was going to return to his normal day-to-day activities. Markus pressed his hands together, enough force behind it to make his hands waver…another reason to hate anything that had to do with the news running amok the castle. Arthur had been taken out of commission for so long, weeks, where Markus hadn't seen him. He was meant to be Arthur's best friend, the top of the noble food chain, and Arthur couldn't even be bothered to tell him he was going to do some kind of important work for his father…he had to learn that by forcing it out of the king's manservant to get any information. But as far as anybody else seemed concerned, Arthur was trying to get over his near death experience, and how close he'd been towards drinking such a deadly substance. Everybody had seen what the thing had did to Merlin…just like everybody knew Arthur had ran from the kingdom, pushing himself against his father's orders, on a quest the king had deemed would be too dangerous for their men to complete.

This 'special mission' of the king was probably nothing more than the king and Arthur figuring out where they would be going after Arthur's clear disobedient behavior. If only Arthur had talked to Markus before running off like he had, he was positive he could have talked Arthur out of doing it! He wouldn't currently be scrambling to get on his father's good side, and people wouldn't have been running around, festering dumb ideas on whether or not Merlin was a much better man than they thought he was. Markus was doing everything he could to mitigate that situation, he had already caught two of the maids running their mouths about how much of a monster Arthur was for hitting Merlin. And Merlin being a saint for saving him afterwards…Markus had yelled at them for talking about their prince like that. And sent them to the quartermaster for discipline and punishment. Luckily though, there seemed to be only a small percentage of people actually thinking like that. Most seemed content to think Merlin had all of this coming to him, and blamed him for Arthur being put in danger in the first place…

"Oh, then I suppose you don't want to know the news I've ran all this way just to tell you guys." Christian sneered, doing that stupid thing he always did with his bangs, flopping it up from where it always seemed to be hanging down into his right eye. "I mean, it's been almost a month since the incident that none of you seem to want to talk about! Am I the only one that finds it interesting?" He demanded, glancing around the room to see if anybody was going to rise onto his poorly executed bait, and engage him in this conversation. But when not a soul did-thank god, Markus thought-the blond haired knight rolled his eyes to the heavens. "Oh, come on! It's not as if anybody knows what happened truly or what went down! We only have bits and pieces…Consort Merlin poisoned by a witch, Prince Arthur running away…beating up his own men whenever he got back! None of you find that interesting! He defied his father who was even too scared to send his most elite men to that region!" And again, Christian looked around to see if he had roused anybody's interest. But again, he'd got nothing for his troubles. More bored staring…people had been spreading all different manners of that story since it happened. And it had started to become nothing but old news…at least before this latest addition to the story. "Ugh, fine!" The knight finally exclaimed, throwing himself down onto a bench and crossing his arms over his chest in frustration. "If you really don't want to know that badly, I just won't tell you that it's been declared official just this morning! The consort has made a full recovery!"

And Knight Cristian peeked at the other men out the corner of his eye, clearly expecting to cause some sort of uproar at the news. Some kind of exclamation to mark the moment as something new in their otherwise boring lives, but not one reaction he got was the reaction he wanted. He frowned heavily, turning to give them his full attention when he saw them sharing uneasy looks. But that's exactly the kind of reaction Markus had been hoping for…the uncertainty that came with not knowing what was going to happen now that the 'incident' was over and done with, now that the consort had healed from his sickness. What was going to happen, now that Merlin was healed enough to rejoin their proper society…it looked as if Markus hadn't been the only one to hear the news after waking up this morning. And wasn't the only one trying to avoid thinking about the topic…it would certainly explain Julian's prickly mood. He had never gotten so nervous about training under Arthur since he'd first been inducted into their training program.

"Don't look at me like that!" Julian was the first one to speak, his very prickly nature getting the best of him once again when he saw Christian's expression, behaving as if Christian was staring at him sorely instead of everybody inside of the room. "Not everybody's got nothing going on in their life, that they get excited about something as trivial as that! Everybody already knew he would survive, Uther made that announcement weeks ago! Him rejoining society isn't anything special! It's just him finally getting off his lazy backside and realizing he can't keep milking his 'I'm poisoned' forever." And everybody was staring at Julian now, surprised at the viciousness that came off his tongue, though none of what he had said was wrong. He was simply the first person that decided to speak up about it. Julian seemed to realize though, his tone and manner, and a blush built up beneath his cheeks before turning away to return looking toward all of the shields. "I mean, it's fine or…whatever. Great that he survived and all that, but really. How long were we expecting to get a break from him stirring all his normal trouble up? Because I, for one, had been hoping it was much longer before we saw his face again."

Julian wasn't the only one who could go their entire life without ever needing to hear the name 'Merlin Pendragon' ever again and be perfectly happy, Knight Markus thought bitterly. He was nothing but trouble! A man one could never account for! Always going left when he should go right! Always stirring up the trouble that hadn't happened before he had gotten there! Things like this just didn't happen in Camelot! It was supposed to be one of the best, out of their five great kingdoms! Witches didn't stride around their kingdoms and starts tampering with the items inside before he had gotten here! Plagues didn't go and kill dozens of people before he had showed up. Trusted knights wouldn't just go over to the dark side and use a magical object, before Merlin walked in their kingdom! Merlin was the catalyst for all the troubles the kingdom had got to live through in these last few months. And less people were slowly starting to come to that same conclusion, but not everybody could see the truth like he could, not everybody was as smart as Markus. He had thought people had saw things his way, but after his encounter with the maids that morning, he'd been wondering just how many people still saw things the way he did. And just how many people were suddenly 'okay' with Merlin now that he'd drank a tiny glass of poison…

"Well you don't really have a choice. I'm sure we're all going to be seeing him a lot soon enough. He can't stay hidden away forever! I doubt he will want to keep spending all his time in the healing quarters now that he can leave it all behind!" Christian sneered, glaring daggers at Julian as he stood back up on the defensive. Julian could act apologetic for half a second there, but he was a fighter! And Julian's words had sounded like fighting words to him! "So you go and get that bloody look off your face! You look as if you have just been given a death sentence just because that boy can walk around now! It's not as if it's the end of the world!"

The end of the world, Markus thought as Julian glared at Christian with force enough to make it seem as if lightning was shooting between the two, felt like it was a better alternative to seeing Merlin around. Seeing him smiling as if he wasn't the catalysts for Markus' ruin. Seeing Merlin taking his place as consort when Markus couldn't even take Arthur to rag on the servants like they always did before Merlin had started taking up his time. Maybe he was just jealous of it all, but that was impossible…he wasn't jealous of a boy who didn't know just how good he had it. A boy who started fights with the royal family almost daily instead of behaving like a proper good wife of a noble. Man or not, Merlin may as well have had the same status as a woman…which was basically saying he's not worth having around outside of what he could bring to a marriage bed.

"…You did give us a death sentence." Markus interrupted when it looked as if Knight Julian was about to say something particularly scathing to Christian in response. But Markus was already irritated by Merlin's return, he wasn't going to sit here and listen to these two clowns fighting as if they didn't have worse problems to worry about. Like what they could possibly do to keep Arthur far away from his husband…Markus didn't like the way Arthur behaved whenever his consort was involved. There was something there that greatly disturbed him, though he could hardly put his finger on it, but again…maybe he just did not like how Arthur had started ignoring him. "Merlin coming back is probably going to be the worse thing to happen to Camelot. Just mark my words…he'll cause something else to happen. And soon…"

Markus brought his hands back together, sliding his fingers in-between the other, revealing in the silence his words had caused the room to grow. He had to think, had to think…had to know what he could do in case Merlin really did cause something else to happen! Maybe it was mad, but Markus felt so truly convinced that Merlin was the reason for everything. And he could just try to imagine what the next catastrophe Camelot would suffer from because of his presence. Why…flying monkeys could rain down from the sky at any moment because of his presence in their city! Or some other manner of magic beasts raining hell down on all of them…and all because nobody bothered putting a leash on Merlin. All because nobody else seemed concerned about the effect he had on their prince!

"You don't have to be so dramatic, it's not as if Merlin's going to make the sun itself drop down on our heads just because he's leaving the healing rooms and returning to the public!" Christian said with a loud scoff, rolling his eyes hard enough they could've fallen out of his head. But Markus glared at him with this great agitation, he wasn't stupid. Of course the sun wasn't going to sink from the sky just because Merlin had sunken his claws into Arthur. The flying beast wasn't entirely out of the question, but the sun falling…preposterous! "Consort Merlin living another day is a bloody miracle, I say. After their catastrophe of a wedding, I would've expected him to perish ages ago. It's a bloody miracle he has made it this far! One would almost think he's got magic! After managing to survive like he did!"

Markus scoffed even louder at that, shooting yet another irritable glare toward the other knight…magic, yeah right. Like Markus had thought earlier, he wasn't a fool. And Merlin was too much of a fool to be considered an actual sorcerer…it was an interesting thought. And one way to make sure Arthur never lost his head around Merlin again. If he could somehow trick Arthur into thinking that his consort was a sorcerer…play some tricks or something that could pass as immature magic attempts…Markus ruefully shook his head. No, he was being so ridiculous. He wanted Arthur to stop paying so much attention to the boy, not outright have him killed! Which was exactly what would happen if Markus tried making false claims like that. Besides, there was enough sorcerer's still trying to live in the world. They didn't need to waste their time going after any fake ones…

"Why are you so pleased that he managed to survive anyway? I thought you'd hated him as much as the rest of us do, or was that nothing but a lie to make you fit in with the rest of us better." Knight Bryon suddenly cut in from where he was pulling his second boot on, making Christian glare at him. Christian had done that once before, when he had first joined the knights training and met the lot of them. He had wanted to seem cooler than he was, and had insisted his father was the lead general to some major battle that had happened before any of them were long born. Turned out his father was supposed to have been the lead general, but decided he was too sick to join the battle and didn't even leave the city to join the group setting out. And Bryon had never let him forget it ever since. "Or were you not the one who once claimed the only thing Merlin was good for is what he could do in bed. I'm pretty sure saving a prince would make him good for something else, though heaven knows I'm loathe to admit it at all."

It took Markus scrambling his brain for far too long before he remembered that particular conversation…it had taken place months ago. After the marriage but before Merlin made his rightful accusation against Valiant…he, Christian, Bryon and these other guys had been sitting in one of the bars situated deep down in the lower town, wanting to rag about Merlin's possible involvement within their kingdom without being overheard. Before hating Merlin had became the more popular opinion. Christian had made that off colored comment about Merlin, it had been only a touch funny back then. But now, it was downright awful, most especially because it felt like Merlin might be leading Arthur around by his own bloody cock. Fuck! What was Markus going to do if Arthur had seriously gone and started thinking with his lower head and what he could do to keep Merlin in his bed, instead of thinking with his actual brain. Now, Markus was alright with doing anything to get a lay with somebody. But he had never risked his life and the lives of their kingdom, just to have the opportunity to lay between the legs of another…one hole was as good as any other, right? Some person straight off the street would probably be as good as Merlin was, considering he had been plucked right off the street also.

And Arthur had never allowed himself to be tempted over a piece of arse lest it held no repercussions! Him going to his death in the mountains could've been a pretty big repercussions just for some bit in his bed.

…Oh, and that stupid lower town bartender had kept interrupting them as if he was good enough to talk to a knight.

Just as foolish as Merlin was…

"I do hate him! And he probably is only good enough for a quick roll about in the hay! I mean, have you seen his lips? I wouldn't mind having a round with him in the stables if I didn't think so poorly of him. I mean, with all those awful rumors about what he gets up to in his spare time, I'm pretty sure he'd ended up with some sort of diseases. I'm surprised Arthur can stand to touch him at all, there's no telling who he's been rolling around with." Christian sneered and Markus subtly rolled his eyes. He had to admit, he hadn't expected the fallout of what that rumor he had started would cause, he had only wanted to start up a little bit of fun and spike the place up a bit. But one would've realized by now that all those rumors were false. Why, Markus wouldn't have been surprised if Arthur was the only man Merlin had to ever been with. And he also really didn't understand what Christian meant by Merlin's lips…it was kind of creepy trying to think of that puss ball like that. "I just think it's an interesting story. I mean, it literally goes as follows…Prince beats cheating consort in town square, and cheating consort saves princes life by offering his own. I mean, maybe that is just Merlin's way of apologizing for getting caught? But I think even Arthur will forgive him for cheating. I mean, it'll be a pretty poor story if it didn't go ahead and end on some happy note, right? It'll at least get some excitement coming back into this place. I never realized how dull it was without Merlin running off until I realized I couldn't trip him down the stairs anymore if he wasn't around for me to do it."

A story…Markus thought with an almost twisted look stretching his lips into an ugly expression…that was exactly the word to use. The word he'd been looking for but couldn't quite bring himself to say. Everybody was treating this like the latest book that everybody was just raving about, or at least the few people he knew had managed to get their hands on the one copy in the city as it passed around from hand to hand. People didn't seem to realize that this wasn't just a 'story', this was something real and it had happened to them. Arthur and Merlin were the main characters and all of them were the side characters that ended up thrown in the background until the writer decided there was some kind of use for them. Markus didn't want to be a side character. But he also knew that main characters were often put through the ringer, ending up scorched to the ends of the earth until they came out on top, and that was only if the book had a happy ending. Which meant Arthur, his friend, was going to end up scorched if he kept following this path, sniffing up Merlin's arse until the boy left him in a ruined disarray. His kingdom probably following afterwards…

"Merlin's no hero. And what he did isn't impressive." Markus interrupted once again, not looking up even as all the stares in the room turned onto him for the second time that early morning. But he didn't care about being directly in the center of attention, somebody needed to be, the knight thought as he looked up from his lap. Somebody needed to keep these guys focused on the problem at hand, or they might end up on the same path Arthur was. Putting their home at risk just for a piece of tail, "…I'm telling you, Merlin isn't anything special for what he did. He's just a dramatic little bitch who wanted the glory of being the hero. When the truth of the matter is just this, any one of us would've stopped Arthur from drinking that goblet if we knew there was poison inside of it. None of what happened needed to happen if Merlin wasn't one for the dramatics."

There was a moment of silence before Christian broke it with a low whistle and said a muttered 'somebody's got issues' under his breath. Markus glared right at him, eyes as sharp as a razor wire because yeah, maybe he did have a few fucking issues. But nobody could bloody blame him after all the ruckus and all the stirring Merlin liked to do. Forcing Camelot into a tizzy because he wasn't able to keep his mouth shut during council meetings. Forcing people to go up in arms because he couldn't keep his legs shut. Forcing Arthur to act out and go against his own bloody father for him…Arthur would have never done such a horrid thing if Merlin hadn't bloody well made him.

"Yea, maybe any one of us would have stopped Arthur from drinking the cup if we had known. We're bloody knights, protecting Camelot's Prince is literally in the job description, and that hasn't changed as far as I know." Bryon butted in the conversation. Just as he liked to heckle Christian, he was no stranger with messing around with Markus either…sadistic little arsehole that he was. "But I don't think any of us would have drunk the poison to get the message across either. Or are you really telling me you would have been ready to go to deaths door that very day, in order to save one man? It sounds very…trading a life for a life. Any one of you arseholes are delusional if you tell me that you would've done it instead of just pouring the whole thing out before Arthur had a chance to touch it and get struck down by it."

Bryon glanced around the room with this smug little expression on his face, as he almost dared for one of the other men to stand up and tell him they may've been willing to do what Merlin had done. Because if they had, everybody else would've known who the liar was. They might have been trained expecting for their death to come someday, but that was why they trained hard…so that the day wouldn't come for quite some time. But it was an entirely different story to stare death directly in the face and go through with it anyway. And when not a soul stepped forward to make the claim that they would, Bryon turned towards Markus, his smug expression growing…Markus glared. He knew Bryon didn't care one wit about defending Merlin or making him sound like a big hero for doing what he'd done, it was just an unfortunate side effect to what he was trying to get done…getting a rise out of Markus. And Markus hated the fact that it seemed to be working, his eyebrow twitching violently above his eye.

"Nobody's delusional, because it's as you said, we would've just dumped out the cup to prevent Arthur from drinking it, instead of drinking it for ourselves. That's exactly why I called Merlin a dramatic bitch. Because he decided to go for the one option that didn't make bloody sense." Markus hissed, gritting his teeth down so sharply, he could've sworn they were being filed down into tiny little numbs. But he didn't care about his dental hygiene, not by a long shot if he was stuck worrying about Merlin and the changes he was starting to stir up in Camelot. "Do you want to know why Merlin decided to drink the goblet and not do what anybody else would have done! Huh, do you!" He was practically demanding in their faces, rising to his feet in order to make himself look just a bit taller, even if he was technically the shortest of the men in the room. And it was only when he knew he had their full attention, did he spit out with this vile tone of hatred, "It's because he's bloody weak!"

A large glob of spit flung itself from Markus' lips, landing with this wet, almost nauseating slap on the floor that had everybody staring down at it. But Knight Markus continued to breathe raggedly, sucking in breath after breath, positive that his friends would finally see things his way. Would finally understand how weak Merlin had been, how stupid he had been, how drinking a cup of nothing but death didn't make somebody the next hero of the kingdom…but this loud scoffing sound caught Markus' attention. And his head snapped up with a loud enough force that it made his neck crack, his eyes blown out as he landed his gaze on Knight Julian.

"Do you really expect us to just sit here and listen to you rage about Merlin all over again. I thought you had gotten over him and his position by now since it has been a while since you've mentioned him." The Knight sneered, bringing his hands up to rest on either side of his hips, and he knew he wasn't the only one tired of hearing Markus complaining. Sure, they all loved complaining too about Merlin, but Markus always seemed to bring it up to a whole new level. It was like they were complaining just to complain, but Markus was complaining with pure agitation and malice. It was fucking annoying is what it is. "But I will take a gander and say you only stopped complaining for so long because Leon handed your arse to you the last time you started all this, isn't that right?"

Markus' entire face flamed red, his nails digging into the palm of his hands to create moon-shaped little scars. He had been putting that whole humiliating encounter behind him, but it seemed not everybody was willing to pretend he hadn't been talked down too by a fellow knight. One that ranked above him as if he was just one of the many knights who had to do the grunt work, instead of a knight with an actual position. He still grew embarrassed by the memory of Leon sneering at him, defending Merlin, and right in front of not only their fellow knights, but in front of Mercia as well! He was positive he was nothing but a laughing stock to the other kingdom, a disgrace that needed to have another shame him like Leon had, and again…it was all Merlin's fault. Had he not did what he did, Markus wouldn't have been bitching, and Leon wouldn't have had to say anything to him. It all went straight back to Merlin! How could he be the only one to see this! Everything always got twisted back to him one way or the other.

"Will you just shut up and listen to me here. This might be a bit too hard for a man like you, but do try and keep up with what I'm trying to say here." Markus snarled, the other men in the group had fallen silent and was watching them as if they were having some kind of tourney. But Markus didn't care, as long as he got them to finally see the big picture. Even Julian, though he looked highly annoyed as he crossed his arms over his chest and gave Markus a 'get on with it already' expression, had gone quiet. Good, Markus thought as he took a long and steadying breath in order to get his thoughts in order. So he could put this into the proper words, and not be mocked for being the only one who SAW the truth right in front of their eyes. "Okay, so we all know that Merlin isn't one of us. There's not a drop of nobility running through his veins. He is as common as they come. Any one of us could have convinced the king the cup had been poisoned, and yet, that was something Merlin couldn't do. Remember, he went and drunk the cup because the king was going to have him taken away if there was no proof. Do you know why the king didn't believe Merlin?"

It felt so bloody obvious to Markus, he couldn't have been more clear if he had tried talking to a dog and leading him straight to the answer by his leash. But it seemed as if he was the only one who understood, as all the other knights had started frowning and staring at each other. Markus even saw Christian making the universal sign for 'crazy' as he spun a finger around his ear…the knight felt a growl building up low in his throat. How did these men still not bloody grasp onto what he was saying! They were knights, were they not! Educated with the best tutors and skills-men money could buy, and yet, they practically needed somebody like him to hold their hand and lead them to the answer.

"It's because he's common!" Markus finally exclaimed when nobody bothered to give him an answer. God, he might as well be talking to himself at this point, he thought as a spike of frustration hit him sharply in the chest. He wanted to just throw his hands up into the air and be done with the lot of them. But that's probably the one thing he couldn't do. Because these men might just be all he could count on in the resounding fight up ahead of them. "I know that the King would have believed us if one of us had spoken up, because he respects us as a group of fellow nobles. But Merlin is common born, so of course he would just assume that Merlin was lying or trying to get attention or start something. You all know as well as I do that those common people cannot be trusted, the way they always try using some underhanded means to get ahead in life. And that's why not even Arthur listened till afterwards, because he doesn't trust or even respect his own consort either!"

As far as Markus was concerned, everything would be great again if they could only get Arthur to see reason. If it was an easy thing to do, Markus would have already gotten the annulment paperwork drawn up so Arthur wouldn't need to do one thing more than scrawl his signature across it. He didn't even have to do that much! He could just press his royal seal to it and be done with it. But alas, Merlin and that strange pull he had on Arthur made it sound like it would be a lot more complicated than that. One would think Arthur having no respect for his consort would've made things easier, but considering Markus couldn't win a slot of time in Arthur's 'oh, so busy schedule,' to point this out to him, it made things harder.

"What makes you so sure that Arthur doesn't respect him! Those knights that were in the infirmary for weeks because of him would probably beg to differ. A man doesn't fight like that unless he has something he wants to fight for." Said Knight Christian, flipping his blond locks out of his eyes once again. It was this insightful notice that might've been appreciated with anybody else, but it only made him feel like an enemy of Markus'. And the knight had to resist the urge to toss him from the room if he wasn't going to join the bandwagon, but he did not. If only because he knew the rest would leave if Markus showed them how willingly he would be to turn on one of his own friends. "I personally think you are right, people probably would respect Merlin more if he had some nobility in his blood. But there's a reason Arthur married him, right? Maybe this is why, he knew Merlin would be dumb enough to sacrifice himself for him. Like just a boy to be used as a sacrificial lamb, turn the assassination attempts and whatnots onto somebody else just to give himself a break."

That was actually…Markus almost wanted to snort with laughter. Things would be so much easier if that was truly the case, if Arthur was simply using Merlin as some kind of body double so he could catch up on some proper sleep and work and whatnot without fending off people breaking into the castle simply to kill him. People stupid enough to try had rarely made it past the guards, but an incident or two had happened where Arthur had needed to protect himself just before the guards came rushing in to take control of the situation. But Markus would've known if that was the case! Arthur would have told him if he wanted to use Merlin for this reason. Just like he had…told Markus he was going to be married…no. He hadn't told Markus that. Markus had to find out along with all the rest of the kingdom when Uther had announced it only days before it had happened. Why was Arthur doing this to him? Why was he keeping his actual best friend in the dark about why…everything!

"You see him beating up the knights as some sort of sign that everything will be right in the world. As some kind of evidence for Arthur's undying devotion for that little idiot. But does that sound right? Did Arthur ever seem like a guy who would fall for an idiot! Somebody who doesn't even know how to make an appeal to the council. Who doesn't know the difference between a soup spoon and a dinner spoon. Who doesn't know how to fix problems! One measly treaty under his belt hardly accounts for the years ahead of us." Markus insisted with vehement before the group of men, willing them with everything he had to see things the way he did. "Every action Arthur took after he left this kingdom only happened because Arthur is a true born noble. The…running away, fighting off his men, being taken straight to his father afterwards…that's the kind of things a true noble would do! Arthur's got a bloody lineage that goes back over four or five generations! And that makes his blood even purer than the rest of ours, so of course he wasn't going to allow somebody to die on his behalf like all of us would have. Merlin being his husband has nothing to do with it. He would have left no matter who it was!"

The whole incident was so stupid in Markus' mind though, he legit could not understand why Arthur would risk everything for Merlin. A prince needed to stay inside the castle, where he could be safe and had his guards watching his body before anybody tried sticking any daggers into it in some misconceived attempt at killing him. People could be awed all they like, but what would the rest of them do if Arthur had died? Start following Merlin around as he started pandering orders like he already owned the place? Markus sure wouldn't be doing it! He would rather turn in his knighthood and walk away from the entire kingdom as a whole before he started following the boy that took his own best friend away from him. Arthur's lineage was a proud birthright, and he had gone and risked ending his bloodline without a second thought. For one boy who did not even deserve it!

"And yes, while it's all very impressive that Arthur managed to do something I'm sure many of us wouldn't have been able to do, just think about what had to be done for him to succeed." Markus continued urgently, drilling into all of their heads how dire the situation could've turned out if literally anything else had happened. "Arthur left our kingdom unprotected! Tell me what would have happened if Mercia had gotten here sooner and managed to launch an actual attack against us, and our prince who is supposed to lead us into battle so we can defend our land and our home, is nowhere to be found? There were people who saw him riding off on horseback in the middle of the night without a single man to accompany him! After his father deemed it too dangerous! So I want to be told right now, has any of us in all our time here in the inner city, ever seen Arthur disobeying his father."

It only took one glance around for Markus to start seeing the looks of this slow realization starting to creep across the faces of the other men. Markus hardly needed to say anything more than that. It was no secret how hard Arthur was idolizing his father, trying to mirror him his entire life, trying to be just like the king that ruled them all these years. Arthur had worked so bloody hard trying to craft himself into the perfect son, and that was another thing Merlin would ruin. He would set Arthur back, make him a laughing stock and disappointment to his father, Markus would do anything to prevent that from happening. Even if it meant doing something more than starting up a few petty rumors that had gotten out of hand.

"THAT, my friends, is the kind of man our consort is forcing our prince into. A man who does without thinking. A man who decides to stop mirroring his own idol and does something completely unexpected and out of character…that is not the Arthur Pendragon that I know." Markus said with a casual clicking with his tongue, a lot more calmer as he sat himself back down on the bench, and crossing one leg over the other in an exaggerated fashion. Giving everybody a moment to stew on that. "And while we are on the topic of Arthur, perhaps one of you would like to tell me what he's been doing all these weeks? Because I'll refuse to believe he's really hiding away in his room trying to 'move on' from a near death experience. He's a bloody knight and a leader. He's not somebody who can afford to have time off or seem weak in front of his people by doing it at all."

Markus waited for a moment, teetering on the truth of what Arthur has been doing all this time, enjoying the rapt attention he was starting to receive from the other men. He could feel himself sitting up a bit straighter, his chin rising up a little, feeling them starting to waver towards him. If anything could've got through to them, it was the obvious changes in Arthur's personality. He did not know why he hadn't thought of that in the first place. Or why he hadn't tried to do that to begin with. But the news he'd been holding onto for so long may just be his trump card, the one thing that could win them over to his side. Get them to help him…do something…about the problem they were all facing. A problem named Merlin Pendragon.

"And I know that everybody thinks Arthur has been hiding away in his room but I know for a fact, as heard from a very reliable source, that Arthur hiding away from the public is only an excuse to keep him away from everybody while he's busy doing something else." Markus declared, proudly remembering the time he had shaken King Uther's manservant around until the little pest had spilled everything he knew-what little he had known-to the knight. It was all this very hush hush kind of deal, so he was incredibly pleased with himself when he saw the other knights leaning in closer. As if they would know what was going on if they were simply in Markus' proximity. Hell, even Julian seemed to be drifting the closest, desperate little fucker he was for any news on Arthur and what he had been doing that pulled him away from his training. "Apparently the king is keeping him busy with doing some secret mission type work. But I don't know if that's just a cover up, and Uther is trying to hide the fact that he's punished Arthur to his room for disobeying him. Or if there really is some sort of weird mission he's got Arthur working on in his quarters. But if there really is some mission going on, I would bet my left buttock that it's got something to do with Merlin either way."

There were several blinks in his direction, and breaths being taken away from them, Markus wasn't surprised. And leaned back to enjoy the flames he knew would grow from this. He had to admit, Uther had really peddled out the whole 'Arthur needed time to himself' crap. Markus had seemed like the only one out there who hadn't fallen for it quite so easily. Anybody who really knew Arthur'd knows he wouldn't need 'time' to get over something. He would simply jump to the next thing, trying to keep his mind off of whatever was going on. Knowing he's on some kind of mission-or punishment from Uther-made way more sense than that other crap had been. Markus only wished he had more details on the mission itself, and what it entailed. Was it something else that would put their prince into danger? Was it something Markus could get in on, in order to keep Arthur safe, as was his duty as a knight of this kingdom. Maybe if he had more actual details, he also would have gotten a stronger reaction out of his friends than unsettled looks. But he could only work with what he had. And what he'd gotten…wasn't much to go on.

"Okay…but what does any of this have to do with any of us. I mean, if Arthur's on a mission then it's none of our business what that mission is if Uther hasn't brought us in on it." Bryon finally joined in on the conversation, pointing out what was obvious. Royal affairs were royal affairs, and not every knight got news on what was going on just because they were a knight in the royal army. There's just too many of them, and the royal family was meant to keep certain things among themselves or revealed to a select group of people. It was hardly the first time things were kept on the downlow. That just meant they weren't high enough on the priority list of people who needed to know. "And so unless you want to tell me why any of us should care about rather or not Merlin's involved with this 'mission' or whatever, then I think we're done here. I don't intend to waste my day of training on speculating once again on what's going on with Merlin or his involvement in whatever's been going on this week."

Markus didn't say a word for the longest time, long enough that Bryon scoffed in decision and stood up from the bench. And still, Markus didn't say anything or do anything more than locking his fingers together between his knees when the other boy started marching to the door, intent on leaving Markus alone and with only his weird speculations and delusions to keep him company. And still, he said nothing when the other men spared him a glance before moving after Bryon. If only they had left without a backwards glance. If only Markus hadn't emitted a low chuckle that didn't send eerie chills down their spines. If only he hadn't spoken…perhaps they would have continued being on the good side of their prince, instead of doomed watching from the background, never allowed to advance in the ranks…if only they had listened to their guts and left while all of them still had the chance. If only…if only…if only their paths had never been aligned with Knight Markus.

"Here's a reason why you should care about whether or not Merlin is involved in this latest mission." Markus drawled out, the shadows of the room felt as if they were looming over him, giving him an almost sinister feel as the others in the room crowded together against the door. Temptation to stay and listen to the rest of what Markus had to say, growing stronger than their urge to run as fast as they could while they still had the chance to do so. As much as they all would try to deny it, the mystery of Merlin was a fascinating topic that nobody could get enough of. Even when they tried their hardest to pretend they didn't care, nobody was willing to miss out any possible news that might scrape back another layer that would reveal the real business of Merlin. "Merlin Pendragon isn't fit to be involved in any mission. He isn't fit to be a member of our grand kingdom. And you know what…he isn't fit to be the consort of Camelot."

Now this got a more intense reaction from the three stooges pressed against the wall…Bryon's face had turned ashen as he rolled those words around in his head again and again until they felt like they were pounding against the insides of his skull. Christian looked as if he could be shaking in his boots, trying to be as strong as his comrades, but clearly felling considering there was now a loud knocking sound that seemed to be coming from his knees. And Julian seemed to have swallowed an entire apple, his cheeks bulging as if he was struggling to breathe. Now, in retrospect, this wasn't entirely something new. People had been saying it a hundred times over since the wedding that had made Merlin's debut into their society official. Nobody could have said 'unwanted consort' more than their little group of merry men had in the past, enjoying the way it had felt to mock him over their beers. Ridiculing him, scorching him as if he was a pig being set out to roast. But there was something eerily off about the way Markus had spoken this time. Something colder in his voice that hadn't been there before. Something they should have rushed to Uther to make an official report of, though nobody moved. Markus probably would have been taken off the knight's, his badge and honor stripped of him, if somebody tried complaining. Talking ill of a royal family member was…treasonous, though not anybody seemed to care when Merlin was concerned. But if somebody started going to the king about people talking ill, well…none of them wanted to end up responsible for Markus losing everything he's managed to accomplish. Simply because he sounded…strange, in this moment.

…

…

…

"Markus," Knight Julian was the first to break his silence, and also the first that seemed to have gotten his faculties under control. He took a slow step forward as if he was worried Markus might suddenly turn on him. Not with cruel words, but perhaps with a steel blade? Markus was sitting pretty close to where there was a slew of swords stacked along the wall. "Please think before you say one thing more. I hope you are not about to suggest that we do something that will be considered treason. There is a many manner of things I will be willing to do, but not at the expanse of my livelihood and honor. I'm not going to risk it all on that…that boy."

And Julian held his breath, the tension in his stomach strung tighter than even a drawstring on a crossbow. And he wasn't the only one, as Knights Christian and Bryon practically plastered themselves to his backside, allowing Julian to do all the talking. He wanted to smack them back and tell them to get the hell off of him, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Markus. He really didn't want to do anything that would get his friend into trouble. But if Markus started saying threats or talking about things he wanted to do to Merlin-genuine things in his head that he wanted to execute, and not just him letting off steam-then they'd have no choice other than to bring it to Uther. It was the matter of this security risk that Uther wouldn't want near the rest of his family. None of them felt like they would defend Merlin if push came to shove, but if something did actually happen and the king found out they had been warned before it had happened …then they would be treated like accomplishes. Shame being brought to their families, forced out onto the streets, forced to seek work as mercenaries and killers for hire in order to get their next meal…none of that was worth it just to see Merlin out of the picture.

"Really? You won't even risk it all to get our prince away from him and save our kingdom from his incompetence? Because I'm sure we're only steps away from another mistake being made, unless you're really going to forgive all the other trouble he's caused just because of one treaty saved?" Markus asked the men in front of him, his tone a little too dark and menacing for them to take this as anything less than a poor attempt at suggesting they commit treason against their kingdom. And then…Markus laughed, and it felt as if a bubble had been popped just now. Light and airy and carefree. Markus waved his hand at them with amusement, "You guys should really see your faces right now! I mean, are you really serious. I'm not suggesting we kill the guy, so anything we do could hardly be considered treason. I just know there's gotta be something we could do to put him back in his place. Make him stay in his lane, so to speak. All we need is a silent consort, one that does what he's told rather than making that spectacle of himself like he did when he showed up to us practically tossing the Mercian kingdom out of our door. Do you know how embarrassing it was to have him show up and 'save us', as if we were somehow beneath him! He even refused to allow Arthur to help him down the stairs like a proper gentlemen!"

And Markus hummed underneath his breath, scratching absentmindedly at his chin as he considered what they could do…something small that might get the lot of them in trouble if they get caught. But something that was also nothing more than a slap on the wrist, hardly something that would get them all down in the cells arrested and being put on trial for treason, or banished from their homeland just because they wanted to be a active force against Merlin. Or at least…the group of other knights hoped that was what Markus was thinking on right now. And their earlier instincts to leave had been nothing more than over-imaginations seeing possible dangers where there wasn't anything there.

"Why do we have to do anything against him at all?" Knight Bryon spoke up this time, peeking over Knight Julian's shoulder to give Markus a deadly stare of purpose and determination. "I mean, Merlin's annoying and all, and sure, he gets involved in things he probably shouldn't be allowed too. I sure wouldn't be allowing my husband to keep making a spectacle in front of society every other week. But he's Arthur's husband, and he can allow Merlin to get away with anything he wants too. It's hardly our responsibility or our right to start meddling in the affairs of his royal marriage."

It was a good point, the other two knights decided as they turned back to look at Markus, waiting for what his response to this would be. Because like Knight Bryon had said, they might not like him but they also didn't have any right with getting involved more than they had. Sure, they could shove Merlin down some small flight of stairs that wouldn't kill him, it could be claimed as nothing more than a simple accident. Merlin bumped into them or something and then went sprawling down the stairs. They could knock him into a wall and claim they had not seen him there. Knock things out of his hands and claim they thought they saw a bee or something and didn't know whether or not Consort Merlin carried an allergy, so they needed to destroy the threat. They had their excuses ready should Arthur step up and decided he cared, but it was hardly a concern since Merlin hadn't ran off and tattled the first time they started. It was actually the one thing that empowered them to get more aggressive, but if Markus really suggested something low key…something they could easily get away with…it…might not be entirely wrong to remind Merlin of his place, right? With him off recovering all this time, it really had been too long since they had their favorite toy around to mess with…

"Because you numbskull, the safety of our kingdom and our prince is always going to be our responsibility. And if Merlin upsets that, then he simply needs to be dealt with. In a very…low key way. A prank, so to speak. Just to drill into his head how beneath the rest of us he is." Markus declared, and one by one, it caused the other knights to slowly relax. A prank…Markus was only talking of a prank, it was hardly the most sinister thing in the world to do. "Maybe we'll get into Merlin's head how much he isn't wanted around here. With how strong his influence on Arthur's been lately, we have to do something. We can hardly just risk Arthur running off half cocked again the next time Merlin ends up in some trouble he's gotten himself into. Do you want to be ruled by a commoner? It'll be a disgrace to our titles! Running around on his orders as if he was anything special! Doing something could stop him from being encouraged to get in any other royal affairs."

And Markus could see the way Bryon and Julian was starting to rise up to their full height, starting to lean more into his words than they had been previously …a commoner ruling them? Laughable! It was the same thing as their own men riding into a village that needed their help against bandits, and then listening to the farmers with their pitchforks and torches on how they wanted things to be done. As if any of them would have fighting knowledge, or battle strategies know how, or leadership qualities to make the knights 'want' to go into battle for them. When most of them would rather just leave the peasants to rot and deal with their mess on their own. The inner kingdom needed their protection far more than some little villages on the outskirts. Just like the royal kingdom needed their prince to have his game face on, instead of running after the boy that had no quality Markus could see worth keeping him for. Merlin's very own blood may as well have been made out of mud, something disgusting and too squishy and a waste on their society, as far as he was concerned. And with his friends starting to agree with him…they could do great things to remind Merlin of his place. Great things indeed…

"Consort." Spoke up Christian, the one knight who had yet to redraw Markus' attention to him, but now, everybody was looking at him. Faces etched with all of their swirling confusion, but no more was confused than Markus himself…he did not understand what Christian meant by 'consort.' Had he simply sneezed and the lot of them had just confused it with the word. Or was he trying to say something about Merlin, or trying to say 'he' wanted to be consort. There's a lot of things that one word could mean, and as Christian flipped his blond lock out of his eye again, he crossed his arms defensively over his chest. "I do find myself willing to be the bad guy right now, and point out that Merlin is Consort of this kingdom rather we like it or not. You keep saying he's a commoner and no noble drops in his blood, blah blah blah. True on all accounts. But he's now a noble. The marriage to Arthur insures that! So it's like he's one of those New Money people. If we're gonna rag on him, we can at least be accurate and not call him a commoner anymore. Not when he can sit on the throne and not end up in the dungeons for disgracing it with his unworthy backside. I don't want to be ruled by him either, but Arthur made his choice on his wedding day. The least we can do is use the proper title while we're pranking him or whatever it is you want to do."

The silence was defeating, crickets could have been heard if the night had fell at some point during their conversation. But it hadn't, and the sun would have been high above their heads right about now, if they were outside. And Markus felt his eye give a violent twitch, only cooled by Christian's apparent willing to join in on their little…prank. He still didn't like how Christian had talked to him, or how he had referred to Merlin as 'New Money.' As far as Markus cared, the consort didn't deserve even that title. New money people got their hands onto their money somehow…learning they are the last relations of some lower class nobles who had passed away and they were set to inherit the fortune. Or being lucky enough to somehow strike gold during one of their farming days and had taken it for their own. Merlin hadn't done any of that. He'd taken the titles and the gold and the inheritance from somebody-anybody-else who may've ended up as Arthur's bride. Nothing sort of theft, though Merlin could hardly end up arrested for it. A bad marriage choice wasn't arrest-worthy.

"That's real funny to hear. You, of all people talking about showing respect for titles and all that. When, and now correct me if I'm wrong, you were the first of us all who decided to trip Merlin down the stairs and escalated the way he was being treated. Didn't he limp away from that incident? I'm sure he must've got a sprained ankle at the very least. You were lucky he hadn't landed on his own neck and broke it." Markus pointed out, sarcasm literally dripping from his own tongue, and watching as Christian flushed. Remembering that one time many weeks ago when he had stuck his leg out, the satisfaction he had felt as Merlin went sliding down the small staircase. The items in his arms flying every which direction as they scattered. "And besides," Markus continued with this almost air of superiority to him, knowing he had caught Christian like a fish snagged on a hook. "You can slap a crown on Merlin's mangy head. You can dress him up and watch him go. Teach him how to be one of us. But there are just some things that cannot be taught. An air about somebody that can only be had if they were raised like us. So, crown and throne or not…Merlin's always going to be more commoner than he is noble. And there's nothing anybody can do with that. So, I hope you understand exactly why we have to put Merlin back in his place. Bayard might have thought him interesting, but the next royal guest we have probably won't be nearly as amused by his strange defiant ways."

Strange and defiant ways was honestly putting it mildly. If anybody else had the nerve to act as Merlin did, they would have been hung by their wrists from large beams of wood set out just for them. And then publicly flogged within an inch of their life, blood running like rivers down his spine as scar after scar got ripped open across his back. Marking Merlin forever, reminding him each and every time he moved and his shirt scraped across the wounds, what happens to people who couldn't mind their own business. It was truly a shame that this was going further than what Markus was willing to do, further than what any of his friends would do. Arthur would surely never see Merlin the same way as he did now, if he saw him like that. He was sure each whip of the lash against the consort's backside, each scream of pain being ripped out from the throat of a man who surely wouldn't be able to handle such force being used against him, would be enough to drive Arthur back into the prince he was. Not wanting any association with Merlin again once he saw him in such a state. The prince who would storm the lower town with Markus at his side, ready to cause issues for the local businesses and having fun causing trouble and watching the peasant people scrambling to try and please them. God, he missed those days. Where Arthur would snap his fingers and five peasants would come rushing to throw something at them for free, terrified they would lose their livelihood should he or Arthur be displeased with their services. Stupid Merlin, taking those days away from him. Where Markus-without the title and the crown-may as well be the one ruling alongside his best friend. The people sure had treated him like a king, as long as Arthur was with him…now they hardly looked at him unless he started something first.

"I hope you also realize he doesn't have any kind of crown either, which could be strange, don't you think? I mean, Arthur wore his crown when they had got married, so shouldn't Merlin have been wearing one as well? So he could have been…welcomed into the royal family as one of their own?" Christian couldn't resist pointing out as well, truly showing his dim nature with how easy he was able to deflect from Markus, not dignifying him with a response to defend his past actions against Merlin. "Doesn't the royal family have a consort crown all tucked away somewhere? I mean, I know it hasn't been worn since like Queen Ygraine was around, but surely the king wouldn't have gotten rid of it. It might as well be a royal artifact, so shouldn't it have been passed down to Merlin at the wedding? Hmm…maybe Uther thought it was too girly. Isn't it meant to be a tiara? Something slim and dainty. Definitely not something that would make a man command proper respect from his subjects."

While Christian was having his 'contemplative thinking' moment, it felt as if the torch light had grown brighter inside of Markus's mind. The Consort Crown, or as Christian had remarked, the Consort tiara. He couldn't believe he had gone and forgotten such a thing existed, though it was also no real surprise. As the other knight had said, the crown that had been worn from consort to consort as far back as Camelot's very first Consort, hadn't been seen since the time of Arthur's mother, the long dead queen to their King Uther. In fact, nobody that was under the age of twenty five had even seen what it looked like, since the headgear had been tucked away after the queen's death. And the crown did-unfortunately-belonged to Merlin now. And yet, King Uther hadn't passed it on to him. Perhaps he couldn't stomach the idea of such a boy trying to fill in the queen's place, wearing her belongings and acting as if they now belonged to him, forgetting the rich and powerful history it had came from. It'd been worn by the most powerful women of their time period's in the generations past, it didn't seem likely that Uther wouldn't have passed it down because it was too 'girly' for their male consort to undertake. Or wouldn't have had a much more modern, more masculine version, worked up for Merlin to wear. In fact, did he have 'any' crown to wear…?

"You know, I actually heard somebody, one of the older knights who witnessed the crowning of Queen Ygraine. He said the tiara is probably still locked away inside the royal vaults, still waiting for a proper Queen to step in and take her place on Camelot's throne." Julian decided to mention 'just now' when this is something Markus would've liked to know weeks before. Uther not allowing for Merlin to have a crown that rightfully belonged to him through his marriage to the Prince…Uther couldn't have shown so little respect for the consort if he'd gone and spit directly in his face, stripped him down to his under-thing, before ordering him whipped before the council. "Apparently a good portion of some knights, the older and more rigid ones especially, are still waiting for Arthur to declare he had made some sort of mistake marrying Merlin. And are waiting to see him gone any day now. Like you said, some people are so strict that even saving the treaty hasn't managed to sway them. A few servants who witnessed the whole thing maybe, but you know, they are just servants. So I don't think their votes on the matter really count."

Markus had started tuning him out at some point, his mind still whirling in the direction of the Consort Crown…Arthur himself had dozens of crowns. He had day crowns he rarely wore, business crowns when he was forced to attend any specific meetings with his father and needed to elude his rank above the rest of the men. He had ceremonial crowns worn during big events, like when he'd won that tourney a few months ago. Had a crown he wore when he had to sit with his father for that one day a month where peasants were allowed to line up and have the king decided on a solution to their problems. And there were other crowns waiting for him that he wasn't allowed to wear…the crown he was going to get on his twenty first summer, when he officially became the Crown Prince of Camelot now that he was of age. His name officially written down in the book as the next in line to rule. And of course, his father's crown, which is only going to be passed down to him until the death of his father…and yet. Not one of these crowns has been spared for Merlin's personal use…he'd probably be wearing it all day every day just to show off if he had one. Not even another crown had been commissioned for him, or it would have been already finished and brought to him and again…he would have worn it all day everyday.

"This is exactly my point." Markus muttered underneath his breath, and it took him a few moments to realize he had unintentionally cut off Bryon about to say something in response to Christian, and his men were looking at him. Markus cleared his throat, quick and rough and could probably benefit from getting a cold goblet of fresh water, "This is exactly my point." He repeated louder and straightened himself up under his stares. "Uther's not exactly the type of king who forgets things like that! So that stands to reason that Uther purposely did not allow for the crown to be passed down to Merlin's hands upon his wedding coronation. That right there should have been treated as a gift between father and son-in-law, Merlin's great welcoming to the family. And yet, it did not even happen. And do you know what that means? Do you know why Uther would be denying Merlin's right to that crown?!"

Markus could feel his rising excitement, so powerful and strong inside his own veins that he could have been overpowered by it completely. A rush of red was brewing on his cheeks, something Markus had always hated about himself was how easy it took his body to flush like this. But he hardly cared if he looked like a fool, ridiculous to the core. This was it! This was something that would have his men convinced to follow him to the end of the earth! Agreeing with all the endless array of 'pranks' they could pull to put Merlin in his place. What could they do first? Arrange a bucket over a door they knew Merlin would be passing through, and allow pig's blood to soak him to the bone. Put tacks or needles in the toes of his boots so they stuck him when he put them on. Make him do the chores they usually had servants running around doing, because a good, true consort would 'help his fellow men' out when all the servants happened to be busy at the moment…ooh! Maybe they could place a live snake in his bed and wait around to hear the screams that would surely echo from his fancy rooms in the royal suites. There were just too many pranks he could think of, many of them seemingly minor but could turn deadly or cruel in a heartbeat. And that's only the things at the top of his head. He was sure there would be thousands of more ideas once he had the time to think properly.

"Well then, don't leave us all in suspense. You know we are all just dying to hear all about this one." Bryon said, sneering a little as he waved his hand at Markus in a 'get on with it gesture. It made Markus feel an uptick in his sudden agitation, Bryon was ruining the good mood he was in. Practically tearing him apart before he even had a chance to lure these men hook, line, and sinker, to work with him on this. "Why would King Uther deny Merlin his right to that one crown when he's already blessed their marriage. Why do one thing, and refuse to follow along with all that it entails?"

Bryon sounded so smug about this, as if he thought Markus wouldn't be able to pull a solid reason straight out of his arse. But if only Bryon knew that the knight already had a reason why, and about ten or twenty really good points to follow it up with…maybe he wouldn't sound so confident and sure of himself. It made Markus chuckle, watching with satisfaction as Bryon's' smug smile then started to slip from his face. Good, Markus thought pleased. Bryon shouldn't be all smug about anything if it was going against Markus in some way. There was no reason to be all happy and pleased about Markus' apparent failure long before he had a chance to prove himself as the superior mastermind behind all of their future plans against Merlin.

"You said that Uther's already blessed their marriage, and that was why the two were allowed to be wed in the first place. The son of the king…he wouldn't have been allowed to marry without his king's permission. But just because the king blessed the marriage, doesn't mean he agrees with it." Markus started in a bold and sure tone, absolutely positive of what he was saying. He could feel the pieces already starting to move into place, could almost feel Merlin and his rejection once they showed him how truly nothing he was. It wouldn't exactly take much, they'd already started tearing him down little by little over the last few months. They just needed to amp their game, make it more serious and far more constant than just doing it spur of the moment if one of them happened to run into him at some point. And soon…soon Markus would have his friend be returned to him. Safe and sound from that little bitch's clutches, "We all know the whole true love thing is some kind of scam the king is forcing for whatever strange reason. But there have to be other circumstances to have caused this to happen. So perhaps, those exact circumstances forced Uther to bless that marriage. I can't begin to tell you what could force Uther's stubborn hand into agreeing. But we can be sure Arthur, as strangely influenced by Merlin as he's been, isn't behaving like a man in love. He might even need our help to see all that Merlin is, might need us to prove to him that a separation is possible. We could be the ones to show Arthur how much of a fool that boy is!"

The rush of excitement was almost stronger here, filling his mouth with this strange taste he couldn't quite identify. But he knew he wanted more of that flavor. Just as he knew he wanted to throw an arm over Arthur's shoulders as he'd done in the good old days, so they can both chortle and mock Merlin as he was being carted out the door by other knights. Whatever belongings he'd brought with him thrown out onto the street to land on the mud puddles they had thrown him in, rather by accident or on purpose. Watching as those men searched Merlin's person one last time to make sure he wasn't running off and carrying something from the castle…silver candlesticks he could hock at the nearest seller. Pouches of gold sewn into his clothing for him to spend to his heart's content. Royal artifacts like the consort crown that could simply not be replaced as easily as the candlesticks would've been. It would be this glorious day, where everything was right with his world once again…

"…Are you sure these pranks you wanna pull aren't going to get us arrested or banished for treason against the crown or something. Because I'm telling you right now, I'm not going to do very good if I'm locked up in a jail cell." Christian spoke up again, glancing around to his friends with a warning expression along his face. "And just so any of you know, if we do get arrested for treason and do end up becoming cell mates, I have a tendency to snore. So I will just go ahead and apologize in advance to whoever ends up sleeping next to me. I have been told I'm a terrible person to sleep beside. If it's not the snorting, the it's all the kicking and drooling and, well…I'm a mess. So I really hope this isn't going to be as treasonous as it sounds."

Christian's ramblings about his sleeping habits grated on Markus's nerves, as if he had a cheese grater slicing his head open one slice of the equipment at a time. Or the sound one made when they scratched their nails against the harsh flat surface of a chalkboard. Absolutely torturing, and barely something a man should expect to handle or deal with. Here Markus was, convincing his men to join him on his quest. And Christian had to go and ruin how important this was supposed to be, how momentous this moment was supposed to be…the day all of them decided to save Arthur the only way they could. How would Markus be able to gloat about his victory years down the line, because yes, he would love to load winning over Merlin for many years to come, even when everybody had done moved on and forgotten about what's his name.

"Have you not been listening to a single thing I've been trying to tell you right now?" Markus barked, his irritation pulling the string of his self reassurance so taut, he was sure he was about to snap, raising his hands to squeeze his fists on either side of his hips. Christian scowled at him, but Markus backpedaled right over him without even a second thought, "None of this is going to end up considered treason because we aren't going to lay a hand on him! That's what makes this so great! Everybody will just think it's pranking that got too out of hand once Arthur breaks it off with him! And that's if there's anybody who will not be thanking us for breaking Merlin's influence on him. Thanking us, and we might even be considered heroes of the kingdom! For getting Merlin kicked off out of the kingdom before he could influence Arthur into doing something else that will all put us in jeopardy!"

Markus felt as if he was a tether ball, going back and forth along the pole as the rope made him swing against two opposing forces. None of them had been willing to go along with him at the beginning, but then things had shifted and it was clear he was starting to tempt them. But somewhere along the way, he'd gone and lost them again. Perhaps even when Christian had started going on and blabbering about his sleeping habits. Nobody wanting to sleep by the man and his insane kicking and drooling was not going to make Markus lose what influence he had on them! He was not going to allow Christian and his dumb nature be the reason for Markus doing this alone. No, no, no, no! He'd have all of them. And all of them would bring Merlin down to his knees.

"Even the king would want us to do this!" Markus exclaimed, his jittery leg was moving like crazy, and he was insanely aware of feeling like he was going to be stomping his foot like a toddler in exactly two seconds if this didn't go like he wanted it too. He hoped he would be saved by his embarrassment whenever they ultimately agreed with him that this was the best choice to make, even if they DID all end up getting arrested for treason or some such nonsense. As if anybody would care if they were a little rough with Merlin. It's not as if any had cared this far. "Him not giving Merlin his crown is practically giving us all the permission that we need! We do this, we hit him hard! Without-" he continued as Christian opened his mouth to panic about treason again. "Actually laying a hand on him, and he might even decide to leave on his own. And wouldn't that be a nice thing to see? Him just absolutely giving up and deciding for his own self, proving he's not as much of an idiot as we think he is, that there's no real place for him here in Camelot. Yeah?"

Having Merlin thrown out of Camelot by the very guards that were meant to do their duty and keep him safe was nice and all. But there was also something the knight couldn't get over about Merlin leaving on his own. Being a consort, then having absolutely nothing to show for it as he left with nothing more than just a single half filled bag to get him through till he traveled to wherever the hell he would go to the second he left the borders of the city. Something that was exciting and satisfying about seeing Merlin's slumped shoulders, steps that scraped across the ground because he was too defeated to even lift up his shoes and walk to the gates properly…he would not only BE a disgrace. But he would know that he's one as well.

"Okay then." Knight Bryon suddenly said, and Markus blinked as he was forced back into the real world. And he blinked again when he saw the agreement that his friends bore on their faces…agreement to what he wanted to do. All of the men wanting to get rid of Merlin the same as he did, looking at him as if it was him in charge. When that role was usually reserved for Arthur…when had that happened? Better question…when had they stopped doubting him and being so worried about treason? "I hope you have something for us to do. Because I for one, really want to break the hold Merlin has on Arthur so that everything can just return to normal. Things had been out of sorts for far too long."

There was a moment of silence where everybody nodded in agreement, even Christian, and waited for Markus-for HIM-to tell them what to do, to give them roles and parts to play on how Merlin was to be treated. And Markus started to grin, a pleased little thing, filled with this cockiness mirth that couldn't be replicated outside of the sheer enjoyment he was going to get from this. They would start small, start simple before working themselves up towards the bigger things. But he was going to enjoy this oh, so very much. Merlin Pendragon was going to rue the day he decided to step into their lives.

"Alright boys, this is what we're gonna do." Markus decided, leaning inside the small half circle his friends had formed around him, watching as the others did the same, tucking their heads into the middle of the circle so they could finally band together. Markus smiled, a flash from the nearby torchlight that made his teeth glint strangely in the light. "This is how we're going to show Arthur that Merlin's nothing more than a little street rat. To break the influence, and show Arthur that a commoner should stay where he belongs…in the mud with all the other fat pigs waiting to be slaughtered."