The Camelotians have been walking for a few minutes now but with a newfound haste to their footsteps. The conclusion that they have come up earlier would be the main cause for such. To think that a coup d'etat was brewing underneath their noses… Should it happen at this moment in time, when all the leaders of the Britannic Isles and their corresponding representatives are living under the roof of Nero, many Kingdoms would suddenly find themselves with new Kings. Coup d'etats rarely end without bloodshed, after all.
Yet they were halted in their movement, for there was a fork in the road.
"Where do they lead? Is this what you also saw when the vision of the King's death, Merlin?" Lancelot asked as he gazed at the darkness of the two pathways. No one knew where the two led except for the Mage of Flowers. Everyone looked to him for guidance. Said Mage couldn't help but preen at the attention given to him, but he pushed the thought down for now.
"The left leads to the Legionary Barracks basement of the city garrison while the right leads to the central hub: the area where all tunnels connect. In my vision, I saw a brief glimpse of the Barracks. There was fighting but it wasn't as detailed as I wished it was." Merlin explained as he pointed at the two tunnels.
"Then I suggest that we split once more." Lancelot recommended as he looked towards Joshua and Bart to follow him. King Arthur nodded in approval and let them go their separate ways. The rest went for the tunnel that leads to the central hub.
"Tell me more about the other mage who helped you build this place." Bedivere said to Merlin as he rounded a bend in the tunnel. "Who was he?"
Merlin looked at Bedivere with interest. Why would he want to know about this now? it's not like it would matter If he knew who the mage was. Right?
"Why do you want to know?" Merlin asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at the Teal Knight.
"Because there is a chance that he is part of this scheme." Bedivere replied as h noe and the Mage of Flowers took the forefront of the pack with Arthur and the two Cavalrymen at the rear. When Merlin heard what Bedivere had to say, he chuckled.
"Always astute, aren't you Bedivere?" Merlin complimented. To which the Knight bristled in reaction. He did not expect to be patronised at this time.
"I need to be if I am to protect my King, Merlin. If the mage who created this with your aid is out there assisting our enemies, at least you can tell us who that man is." Bedivere said as they rounded a bend. It was one of many to come. This Labyrinth was made with many twists and turns after all.
"Well, you can ease yourself now because the mage who you wish to know more about cannot possibly be part of this scheme." Merlin said with utmost confidence. However, Bedivere and Arthur felt a chill run through their spine. That tone of his carried a strange undercurrent of something odd… akin to something they never thought to pin to the Mage of Flowers himself.
Grief.
"How could you say that?" Bedivere finally asked after overcoming his bated breath. As much as Merlin's words slightly unnerved him, the Knight still had duties to fulfil. Feelings be damned. King Arthur's life is on the line!
Merlin's eyes looked jaded and diminished as it flickered under the fire on his raised hand. Melancholy rushed the mage's chest like a torrent. He did not like the feeling at all. Nor did he wish to remember the cause of it. He was never the type to wear his real emotions on his sleeves, but this wound was still healing. It hurts to say what he was about to say. Fortunately for his hubris, a quick blink later and the life in his eyes returned. As did that signature cryptic smile. None would be wiser to see this side of him. Well, except for his student.
"The man you wish to know is dead. I buried him." Merlin said as he trudged along the tunnel. Bedivere had the conscience of slowing his footsteps to walk in stride beside his King. His King who looked torn at the sight of the Mage. Because while Merlin did not know it, Arturia saw the lifelessness in his eyes. It must be hard to talk about, she thought.
She will remember that for later.
Somewhere…
Chara, as much as she had followed her master's orders, still has certain grievances when it comes to this plan.
First of these grievances is the question of whether or not Lord Horsa actually needs the aid of these Roman pretenders. As far as she's concerned, these pretenders to the throne are unpopular and lack the support of enough key officials to actually keep their regime stable. Meaning it would be harder to control the Roman people than just outright subjugating them. Meaning a harder life for Vespa and her family. Not that she cares much about politics, no not at all. Chara is more invested in the idea that she could do this whole thing herself without even bothering with these pretenders.
And that brings her to her second grievance: the pretenders. Well, to be frank, there is only one pretender. But with how he is being played like a fiddle without him knowing it, it might as well be multiple pretenders vying for the same throne. True to his character, Lucius Dominicus is a mere shadow of his father, Aurelian, and not even a wisp of the wind in comparison to his grandfather, Regulus. He has somehow conjured up the notion that just because he had grovelled and begged every vulture out there to help him take his throne back, they would do so because 'it was his birthright'. It was the only possible reason for him to treat her and those he sees as 'lesser' like mindless hounds willing to do his bidding no matter how much of arsehole he is. Clearly, his idiocy is only surpassed by his arrogance. Because that is not the way to keep your men in line.
And speaking of idiocy, that brought her to her final grievance: this damned plan. It was made by Lucius and was approved by his closest advisors. The plan was as double edged as any coup attempt can get. It was both brilliant and moronic at the same time. The only way to differentiate genius from stupidity is the results.
"You! Chara, was it? Come here and help us. They are coming." one of the commanding officers barked. They were preparing for the trap now, it seems.
She would complain more about it soon enough. However, the plan is about to be set in motion. She was in the central hub alongside Lucius' cronies. They were tasked with the death of King Arthur. It was deemed that the High King of Britannia was too big of a threat to their plan, so the combined forces of Lucius and the Saxons devised a plan to use her as the bait to lure them into the Labyrinth. It worked as expected. However this is beyond moronic in her opinion. Because after all the mythical tales that surround the King of Knights - ranging from the first instance with the Sword in Stone to the most recent like his victory over the ambush near Wessex - did they really think that a simple trap like this one would work?
They better have something up their sleeves, or else Chara will just turn on them in the middle of the fight. Alliance be damned.
"What do you want?" Chara asked bluntly.
Somewhere…
"Another fork…"
Arturia and company had been walking in silence after the whole conversation back then. Merlin's words must've resonated the message of 'don't want to talk' all too well. Arturia looked to her teacher for guidance, but she did not need to speak for it was he who spoke first.
"This is new… but I do remember the original path." Merlin said as he pointed the fire towards the right tunnel. "This is the way to the central hub. But I do not know where the left path leads." He remembered the conversation from earlier and realised that the only conclusion this will lead to is another split up. Merlin knows that Bedivere wants Arthur's safety more than anything else, which is why he will volunteer to take the new path. Who knows? Something interesting might happen.
"Which is why I will take this-" Merlin was about to say but was cut off by a swiftly raised gauntlet.
"-Then I shall follow Sir Lancelot's example. I shall take Andrew and Caleb with me to the other path." Bedivere offered as he turned towards the two Cavalrymen. Merlin meanwhile looked at him like a puzzle that is hard to solve.
"Is that really the right way to do this? Aren't you risking Arthur's safety by leaving his side?" Merlin asked perplexedly. Didn't the Knight just press him earlier because of that? Isn't what he's saying counterintuitive? Merlin thought.
"That is true. However there is a bigger threat at hand. With the advent of this new tunnel, there can be enemy forces waiting to attack us from the rear. We cannot be too sure of these things, especially with King Arthur's life at stake." Bedivere looked at the mage apologetically. He hadn't exactly explained his reasoning behind his offer, after all.
"Besides," Bedivere continued with a small smile of confidence. "I trust that you will put my King's life above yours when the time comes. He cannot be in any better hands than yours."
That… was touching, Merlin thought. Despite their grizzly exterior, it appears that some of the Knights of the Round still respect him and his powers. He never really thought that they trusted him anymore after that disastrous storm after the Summit of the Leaves. All those lives lost because of his orchestration. It was him who thought of the idea. He had his own safe haven for them that was far, far, away from those crafty mages of the Clock Tower. And as it was his idea, all the blame went to him. But despite all that, it seems that he could still be relied upon. Nice…
"Then let us depart. Lead the way, Merlin." Arturia told the mage with a soft smile of her own. It appears that there is one person out of everyone in the world who can tell what Merlin is feeling right now. Not that he minds, since it's just Arturia.
Minutes later…
Scratch that, maybe he does mind that Arturia can practically tell everything about him. It's not that it's unnerving him - nothing unnerves the great Merlin of Camelot after all - this whole thing just gives him pause. It started with a brief conversation of the current events before them. Then, Merlin noticed the conversation shift to the past few weeks. Before - quite bluntly, Merlin may add - Arturia looked towards the darkness of the tunnel and said.
"It was not your fault. What happened that day was nothing but misfortune."
The calm, understanding tone made him shiver as he opened his mouth to speak.
"I-"
"Let me talk," Arturia commanded sternly as she looked towards her teacher with a stern yet quickly softening gaze. "I know that your relationship with the other Knights of the Round Table has become… strained after the Summit. I had to take a moment's time to remind Sir Mordred of his disrespect to you after he requested to enchant his tent. Lancelot and Kay were a little more discreet, but they all felt the same way. But you must understand that deep in their hearts, they knew that you had done everything you could for those people many years ago. Frankly speaking, their annoyance of you stem from your antics. "
"You don't need to pay attention too much, Arthur." Merlin dismissed with a cocky smile. "They're all just being honest with themselves, really. Not that I care too much about it-"
"Yet I know that isn't true." Arturia chimed in.
"Verily I say unto you, that I do not care." Merlin countered. His choice of words changed to an older kind just a quick second there. Arturia remembers that this is the same pattern of speech Merlin used whenever he spoke of his sombre tales when she was younger.
"Perhaps you are telling the truth. Perhaps a lie. It does not change the fact that you have not forgiven yourself for the tragedy in the same manner you think they haven't forgiven you." Arturia said in such a knowing tone that it made Merlin stop in his footsteps.
"...I've raised you to be too perceptive." Merlin smiled fondly but with a hint of irritation.
"I've learned from the best at perception." Arturia smiled back.
"And let me ask you this: are your eyes this keen whenever you looked at Sir Archer a few weeks ago? How your attention seems to falter at every inkling of information you can gleam of him from the letters that poured on an on about his mission?" Merlin asked. Disarming the now lightly flustered student before him.
"I do not see why this is important." Arturia bit back without that commanding voice of hers. It seems the student has been trumped by the master once again.
"Oh but it is." Merlin continued. "Because that kind of love. That fleeting, distant love that was soon to blossom like the beautiful rose that it was about to become… that kind of love is the reason why I cannot forgive myself." a thick silence then overcame the two. It lasted for seconds before one of them broke it.
"... there is something more to the tragedy, Merlin…" Arturia concluded.
"...the day I was to send the five ships to Eire, I entrusted the command of all five to a great friend of mine - Stilicho: named from the general himself. He was as gifted in magic as you are, Arthur. But instead of putting it all into the art of the sword, he poured all his talents into magecrafts. He was young at the time I met him but grew to be the great mage I envisioned him to be. We parted ways for some time until the day we worked together to make this same Labyrinth. He never aged physically because of his magic, yet never pursued romance. Not once did he love another until the month I entrusted him to all those people." Merlin then threw the fire into the ground and cast a spell to turn it into a hologram. Showing himself, Stilicho, and a woman that looks oddly familiar to Arturia standing before a large ship that was moored by the harbor underneath the sunny sky.
"They were wonderful together. I teased about the age gap many times, but they managed to get around that. Stilicho promised that he would return for her soon after the journey was done. I offered to take his place and let them have their time together, but Stilicho insisted he could do this." Merlin then waved his hand to change the scene into a terrifying storm with a half split ship sinking into the depths below. With the corpse of Stilicho frozen in a freefall towards the watery depths below.
"You think that you sent him to die." Arturia looked at him with grief for her master.
"I did. I buried him in a coffin of my own doing. With nothing to mark but the blood of hundreds that perished with him." Merlin finished with a swift wave of his hand. The magic he cast reverted to a small flame that flew towards his outstretched palm. He then closed the flame into his fist. He ignored the pain his hand was enduring against for the pain in his chest was fate more severe.
"What happened to the woman?" Arturia asked. "His lover?"
It was at this did Merlin let go of his fist. Like water falling onto him from above, he calmed down just enough to complete the story.
"She died at childbirth. It was I who oversaw the delivery. The midwife gave the child to me as well as a flask that carried some history of note: it was an heirloom of the child's mother that was passed down for generations. I raised her just like I had with you. But unlike her, I ensured that she would not stray the life of normalcy. Tragedy has struck her because of the accursed moonlit world and I will not let her suffer the same fate." Merlin then cast another spell on the flame for it turned into another image. This time of a person Arturia can definitely say that she personally knew.
"Curious, isn't it? To think that a simple girl like Janice would have such a story yet not knowing it. It pains and gladdens me to say that she will live her whole life not knowing it at all." the image then turned into flame and then Merlin began walking. Arturia walked alongside without a single thing. It was unappropriate of her to continue this any longer than it has. And so, they walked in silence again.
…
…
…
"And yet you still decided to woo her with your lousy flirtations."
"Come now! Is that really what you want to talk about! Let me tell you that she is as stunning as her mother!"
"How could you say such a thing with that face?"
"I'm serious!"
…Or not.
Author note:
Hi! I'm back. Sorry for taking so long again, life goes on as they say. But to preface this: I tried to mimic the story of Sakura's parents when it came to Janice. Mother and Father died with the father dying because of his connections to the moonlit side of the world. In this scenario, Merlin is more or less a successful Kariya who managed to keep Janice away from it all. The Arturia arc will finish soon but not without the bang I set up with Archer and Mordred.
That being said. Watch out for my other submissions to Knight of the Heart - fanfic of a fanfic (it's still alive I promise), Transformers Solus Prime, Archer's struggle against Saber(s), Tenten and the Hokage 4 (I swear I'm still cooking up a chapter).
And finally, thanks for being so patient. See you soon!