King Arthur and The Werewolf King
Ever since she was a child, Queen Accolon was used to hiding secrets – hers was one that she definitely needed to keep under wraps or risk losing her head – but if there was one secret that she was desperate to discover for herself, it was the secret of that gods be damned sapling her husband guarded more jealously than the Royal vault. She had spent her entire married life to a man she feared and hated, trying to earn his trust enough to be let in on the secret, but the King was naturally suspicious. Even of his own wife, irritatingly enough.
The day before she, her husband and their retinue were due to set off to Camelot, Accolon watched some of Gorlagon's most trusted men secure that sapling in a special box, jaw set and eyes boring into that accursed flora with an unblinking stare. That same evening the Queen took a stroll around her gardens, pondering about how she would be able to maintain her countenance through this insipid trip.
The last thing Queen Accolon was looking forward to, was to fake smile at Uther's son and pretend that she did not despise Queen Guinevere for rising well above her social station. A servant girl for Queen! It was utterly obscene. And yet, for the sake of diplomacy, Accolon was expected to treat this woman as though she were her equal. It was all that Accolon could do to not physically vomit at the prospect of it already.
Suddenly, the winds died down around her and Accolon felt a strange sense creep up her spine. It had been a long while since it happened, but the Queen knew exactly what it meant. There was a powerful magical presence in her garden – more importantly, it was right behind her. Accolon came to a halt and she turned around to see a young, pale woman in a black lace gown with her hood up. Jade eyes bathed with determination and power regarded her unblinkingly. There was a small smile on the woman's countenance. Though she had never met this woman, Accolon had a feeling she knew exactly who this was from all the reports she had heard from spies and envoys.
This surprise visitor was none other than Morgana Pendragon. Daughter of Uther Pendragon and the High Priestess Vivienne; the last High Priestess of the Triple Goddess. Her name had been a hot topic in many Council meetings.
"Good evening, my Lady," the witch greeted with a warm tone that made Accolon incredibly suspicious.
"Morgana Pendragon," Queen Accolon responded coolly. "Skulking about my garden in the dead of night? You are incredibly bold to do so. I could have you arrested and sent to your brother as a gift."
The smile quickly turned into a smirk. "Yes, I suppose you could, my Lady," she agreed in a nonchalant, almost playful tone. "However, I think you and I both know you will do no such thing. Especially since we could be of benefit to each other."
Accolon found herself scoffing. "And how could you be of benefit to me in any way, save for a good bargaining tool with Camelot?"
The smirk on Morgana's countenance only grew at this point. "Because I know a few things about your husband, of course. Things about that sapling he holds so dear – things that you have attempted to discover. Also, I know one or two things about you that are rather interesting," she grinned. "Does your husband know you have magic, Accolon?"
The Queen froze in fear. It had been a while since anyone acknowledged her darkest secret to her face, years in fact. Not since her true beloved … If Morgana somehow figured it out, that meant someone knew. Someone who was likely in her husband's Court. Accolon found herself swallowing. "What do you want, Morgana?" she demanded lowly.
"Me? I simply wish to be of assistance to you," the High Priestess tried to sound as innocent as she could manage. "After all, we are of a kind, my Lady." Something shone in her eyes at this point. "More to the point, I think it is perhaps time Rheged had a … change in administration."
Accolon's eyes widened. "If you are suggesting that I murder my husband-"
"Oh I am not suggesting that at all, my Lady," Morgana seemed like she was enjoying herself. "Indeed, you will not need to spill his blood and you will see your son on the throne with you as Regent."
Accolon knew this sounded too good to be true. She shook her head derisively. "How?" she demanded.
"With the power of that sapling, of course," the High Priestess answered silkily. "I know how you have wondered and sleuthed to the answer of why Gorlagon is so obsessively protective of that insignificant little plant. Issue is, for him, that plant holds the key to his humanity."
"His humanity?" Accolon repeated in disbelief. "How so?"
Morgana hummed as she started to pace. "Oh dear. You really have not heard the rumours," she clicked her tongue teasingly. "You see, Gorlagon and his family have a habit of vexing those with magic. One such sorceress was a family member of Gorlagon's mother. She took matters into her own hands and put a Blood Curse on the family. She tied Gorlagon's human body and human mind to the sapling. Should one hit the King on his head and say the magic words properly, he would lose his human form and human mind, and become a wolf."
"A wolf," Accolon blinked a few times and scoffed. "My husband can turn into a wolf … Wait a minute … you mean to tell me that the sapling is magical?"
"Only to Gorlagon and his line. It unlocks the beast within them," Morgana smirked. "It does nothing to everyone else. Now, I am not so sure about you, but I don't think a wolf would make a good king, do you?"
Accolon pursed her lips. If what Morgana said was true, then this could be her chance to rid herself off Gorlagon without having to actually rob her children of their father. But on the other hand, this was Morgana Pendragon. The daughter of a king who had her eyes on the throne of Camelot. Accolon knew she would be a fool indeed if she simply took the High Priestess at her word.
"How do I know you are not lying to me?" Accolon demanded.
The High Priestess smiled serenely. "Pray tell me, why would I come to your home to tell you a falsehood for which you could so easily have me executed for, Your Majesty? I have no reason to lie to you; after all, as I said before, you and I are of a kind. That means something to me, as you know."
"Does it?" Accolon looked at her fellow witch with an accusatory look. "That is not what I have heard. I heard that you care very little whether you hurt a Druid, a practitioner or someone without magic – just as long as you get what you wish."
Irritatingly enough, Morgana kept her countenance suitably composed at the accusation. "Nothing in war is ever easily won – there are always casualties," she answered silkily, keeping her unblinking gaze on the Queen. "A lesson you will need to learn quickly, my Lady, if you wish to be Regent for your son and keep both your heads."
Accolon's lip curled into a sneer. "You have told me something that is, theoretically, useful to my plight. But tell me – what could you possibly believe that I could give you in return for this information?" she demanded, attempting to wriggle loose anything out of Morgana that spelled out what the High Priestess truly wanted.
But it seemed that the witch finally had tired of playing games. "I think you are clever enough to know the answer to that question, my Lady. When you become Regent, you also gain command over your husband's men. They will follow you in the name of your son. I need an army to take back what is rightfully mine, after all…"
Accolon should not have been as surprised as she was, in hindsight. "My men? You want my men?"
"And an alliance with the Queen Regent, of course," Morgana added smoothly. "So, what do you say, my Lady? Will you accept my offer?"
The Queen of Rheged did not answer immediately. She was wise enough to consider what she was going to say next. Though Accolon dreamed of ridding herself of her husband, her hate did not entirely cloud her own judgement. She was not as weak as Queen Annis was in that regard. The offer was tempting – plus, if a hunter happened to kill Gorlagon in wolf form it would be the best outcome.
Accolon closed her eyes and took a fortifying breath. "I accept your offer," the words came out of her mouth before she could change her mind.
There was a sharp gust of wind and the Queen whirled around to see that the High Priestess, had disappeared into thin air. Accolon's heart started to beat twice as fast as it had done before.
What have I done …? the thought did cross her mind.
You have secured your son's future, came the internal answer.
That thought settled the Queen only a little more. A smile etched itself onto her countenance as she looked up at the star-dotted sky. An alliance with Morgana Pendragon was a small price to pay for her son's rights …
"Your Highness."
The sound of her maid-in-waiting arriving knocked Accolon out of her thought process and made her compose herself immediately. "Yes? What is it, Esla?"
"The Prince and Princess are asking for you. And the King wished for me to tell you that the King and Queen of Camelot have agreed to the visit."
Accolon nodded curtly in acknowledgement and headed back to the castle, while thinking of a manner in which she could get to the sapling and find the opportune moment to strike her husband with the magical plant.
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The three days that followed the announcement that King Gorlagon would be coming on a state visit, were hectic for both Merlin and Ganieda's standards. They could barely find a moment to help Gaius with his rounds, let alone breathe, while they were rushing from one task to the other. As the King's manservant, Merlin also had to ensure that Arthur had something appropriate to wear and help with the gnarly politics of the seating arrangement as well as helping with decorating the castle and doing his daily chores. This was actually a lot more energy consuming to Merlin because George, who had been put in charge of the decorating, was an unabashed perfectionist.
As for Ganieda, the Cook had held her to her promise to help with banquets and roped Merlin's cousin into the kitchens, especially when Cook knew that Ganieda could make one or two Rhegedian recipes. Ganieda had to take a moment or two to get used to the militant way Cook ran her kitchen, but she knew better than to make a comment on it, or complain. Cook had enough stress as it was!
Ironically, the only times the pair could catch a breath was training sessions with Arthur and of course the evenings. At one point, George had attempted to bother Merlin after dinner about a 'decorating emergency'. Merlin had been tempted to turn his friend into a bunny rabbit out of sheer frustration and exhaustion; Ganieda had sensed the danger and had sacrificed herself to two hours of George in hysterics about wreaths with 'the wrong flowers'.
By the time she had managed to escape, Ganieda had been fully drained and had gone to sleep the moment she had touched her bed. Gaius had to be the one to make sure Merlin and Ganieda woke up on time to get dressed, eat and then fetch the Royal Family their breakfast. Both warlocks looked exhausted but after they had some food, they had a spring in their step that put some pep back into their fellow servants at the sight.
Arthur was as happy as ever to see Merlin and Ganieda bring in the breakfast; Guinevere wore a sickly smile that made both warlocks feel incredibly uneasy.
"Ah, Merlin! Ganieda! Right on time!" Arthur rubbed his hands together, eager for his food. "He has not skipped out on the sausages and cheese, Ganieda?"
"No, Sire," Ganieda answered with a grin, slowly getting used to the King's familiar manner of address to her.
"She did not give me the chance," Merlin gave her a look of faux irritation as his cousin settled the breakfast tray on the Queen's lap.
"Wonderful!" the King looked very pleased.
"Really, Arthur," Guinevere stated fondly, nigh on rolling her eyes. "Your diet has taken a halt thanks to Ganieda. You don't need to keep checking!"
"You never know that Merlin gives a sausage to my dog! He's done it before."
Merlin grimaced ever so slightly while Ganieda giggled.
"Is everything prepared for our guests?" Arthur asked, donning his kinglier voice.
"Everything is prepared from the rooms, to the servants assigned to attend the guests to the menu for the banquets," Merlin reassured him. "Cook has also requested there be an extra hunt in order to make sure she has enough boar meat."
"Done!" the King was more than happy to hear that. "I have heard from my ambassadors that the King loves to hunt so that will hopefully put him in a good mood. You will come as well, Merlin."
"When do I not?" Merlin grumbled, really not happy at the idea of attending more Royal hunts.
Arthur ignored his manservant and turned to Ganieda, who was already brushing down Guinevere's light blue velvet gown for the day. "Do you hunt, Ganieda?" he asked kindly. "If so, you are welcome to join us as well."
Ganieda really had to keep her countenance at the idea of joining the hunt. "You are very kind to offer, my Lord, but I will not attend the hunt. Killing for sport is not something I enjoy."
"Ah! A family trait!" Guinevere commented lightly. She turned to her husband. "Arthur, it is one thing to make Merlin attend but do not force the girl. She is technically not even our servant. We should be grateful that Ganieda is kind enough to help out."
"I had no such intention," Arthur reassured as he tucked into breakfast.
Merlin rolled his eyes after exchanging a look with the Queen. It was almost easy to forget that she was currently under a powerful Dark enchantment at times like these, but Merlin was very good at keeping his wits about him. She had tried to have him killed once – she could do it again.
Merlin and Ganieda continued their other duties – preparing Arthur's armour, the Queen's bath and papers for the Council; Ettare soon took over for Ganieda with a grateful smile. As Arthur inspected Merlin's handiwork on his armour and nodded approvingly, Merlin found himself grinning. The King would not compliment him in front of too many witnesses, but sometimes Arthur's body language was enough.
"We will be doing spears and crossbows today," Arthur informed the two warlocks. "I want to train the Knights with moving targets."
That made Merlin's heart sink a little. Ganieda frowned in confusion.
"It means I am wearing the target," Merlin explained to her.
Ganieda's eyes widened a little at that. "… Oh," was all she managed to say.
"Do not fret, Ganieda, the King will not make you do the same unless you volunteer," the Queen immediately reassured before giving Arthur cold pointed looks. Arthur huffed a little.
"Of course, my dear."
My back is going to kill me after this, Merlin stated dryly.
Just let me know when you need a break and I will take over, Ganieda reassured.
Merlin gave her a look. They will not go easy on you, cousin.
They didn't go easy on me with a sword, so I didn't expect it to be different with a spear or a crossbow.
She had a point there.
Straight after breakfast, the warlocks followed the King down to the training grounds, collecting spears and crossbows from the Armoury. The Knights had ever so slightly been surprised that they would be training with spears and crossbows.
"Concerned that we're out of practise before the Royal hunts with King Gorlagon, princess?" Gwaine had teased as the Knights all picked their poison. He had picked up one of the spears, right before Sir Melion could get his hands on it, much to the irritation of the new Knight.
"I am concerned with your aiming abilities in general, Gwaine," the King answered dryly. "If you do not train it every once in a while, Merlin will end up aiming better than all of you!"
A few snickers ran around the Knights. Mordred and Percival were amongst the ones who didn't; Biclarel, Marrok and Melion also did not see the amusement in it. Merlin simply shot Arthur a sassy look as he went to mount the target onto his back. This did make the new Knights from in confusion.
The King saw their looks. "I prefer to make sure training with accuracy is done with moving targets. After all, your query will not always be conveniently asleep. Hence, Merlin is going to run with the target. Don't worry – he has done it before."
"What about Ganieda?" Melion found himself asking.
"I will take over if Merlin tires," the warlock answered before the King could. "And if I tire, he will take over again. We will keep swapping until the King wishes to switch to a different weapon."
Melion snorted at that, Biclarel and Marrok shooting him warning looks that he chose to ignore. "Which means your poor cousin is not going to get much rest."
Mordred, Percival, Tristan and Leon joined Biclarel and Marrok in glaring at Melion. While some of the other Knights seemed to agree with their new brother-in-arms, they were wise enough not to get involved. Arthur himself did not look amused.
"Sir Melion, I would advise you to keep your thoughts to yourself," the King stated warningly.
Melion bowed his head in deference, but looked thunderous.
Ganieda, though, smirked a little. Merlin too. "We shall see, Sir Melion," she answered angelically as she and Merlin exchanged a knowing look.
I hope you know what you are doing, Ganieda heard Mordred comment in her mind, which made her grin.
Don't you trust me, Sir Mordred? Ganieda could not help but tease.
As much as I do Merlin.
Ganieda grinned even more; Merlin had to duck his head to hide the blush of embarrassment. Neither dared to look back at the Druid Knight, who was attempting to hide his own amusement.
Meanwhile, Sir Tristan took a pot shot at Melion. "Do not underestimate women, Sir Melion. I made that mistake once with my late wife; you might not want to rile Ganieda lest you wake up with your eyebrows shaven off."
Melion looked scandalised while everyone laughed heartily at the image of both Sir Tristan and Sir Melion with their eyebrows missing. Arthur chuckled too before regaining order and getting all the Knights with spears to line up first.
Merlin took his starting space, mentally preparing himself.
Once Arthur called for training to begin, Merlin instinctively took off, immediately starting to dart and weave. One spear fell short behind him, another barely managed to hit the target and the third narrowly missed the bullseye. The warlock grinned to himself as he heard some of the few frustrated grumbles from the Knights – it seemed that dodging Arthur's temper tantrums had given Merlin free practise!
Who would have thought that they could actually come in handy?
Finally, one of the spears hit the bullseye, even after Merlin made a complicated manoeuvre.
You are not going easy on us, Emrys, Mordred teased. It was his spear that had hit.
Did you expect me to? Merlin found himself teasing back.
Absolutely not.
Merlin was true to his word. He continued to speed up his running pace, pulling ever more complicated moves in an attempt to throw the Knights off. Those who were a little bit more used to Merlin's moves – such as Leon, Percival and Gwaine – had a little more luck when it came to hitting the target. Surprisingly, Arthur had to time himself before letting a spear fly because even he could not truly gauge where Merlin would go. Biclarel and Marrok too took their time before letting loose their spear and bolt respectively.
Both of them made respectable shots because of it.
Melion, though, grew increasingly agitated by the unpredictable movements from the warlock. He secretly tried to use his lupine eye sight to narrow in on the target but for some reason, that hardly helped. As such, Melion's bolt had missed the target, by a hair. Merlin had been quite impressed that the prideful young Knight had almost hit the target regardless.
When everyone had their turn, Merlin came back, red faced and perspiring, so everyone could retrieve their bolts and spears from the target. He handed back the weapons that had missed too. Ganieda looked tempted to take over but Merlin insisted that he could do one more round. The second round, Arthur was already getting happier as the Knights' aim steadily improved, with more spears and bolts hitting their marks. However, it did mean Merlin's back was taking much more of a pummelling and the warlock was really having to work a little more to keep them all on their toes, which meant that he was getting close to exhaustion.
Merlin was more than happy for Ganieda to take over for round three. The King decided they would switch to mace practise after round three; though he would never admit it, Merlin suspected Arthur did not want to strain Ganieda too much, which made Merlin grin to himself. Arthur was too much of a dollophead to admit it out loud to anyone, but the warlock knew the King pretty well.
Arthur was not the only one concerned about her welfare.
Are you sure about this, Ganieda?
I am flattered that you're so concerned, Sir Mordred, but I assure you, I am not as frail as I look,
the warlock reassured with a grin. I have never been a lady and I don't intend to start now. Why do boys get all the fun?Mordred did not expect that answer; Merlin grinned at the blatant shock on the Druid Knight's countenance. You … find this fun?
Try and hit the target and find out,
Ganieda challenged.
Yes, ma'am.
Ganieda was determined to give the King and the Knights a run for their money. Merlin had given them only a sliver of speed; the one thing that she always had over her cousin, was that she was faster. Whenever she, Merlin and Will would race around the village, Ganieda won each time, which had earned her many mud baths and pies in the face but it was worth it each time. Now, there was a slight extra element of danger involved, which just excited the warlock even more.
Merlin sat back and watched in entertainment as the first few spears – thrown by Leon, Bedivere and Kay – missed cleanly as Ganieda nimbly dodged. Percival's spear only managed to lodge narrowly on the outer ring. Gwaine's spear missed the target and Ganieda entirely. Merlin did get the impression that Tristan really did not put any effort into his attempt at all, as if he deliberately did not want to hit the target. When Mordred stepped up, the warlock tensed – readying his magic just in case – but the young Knight threw the spear with some intent but not much power, thus it only joined Percival's spear in the outer ring.
Well, I did manage to hit it, Merlin heard Mordred state with pride.
Next time, I won't go easy on you, Ganieda teased back easily.
Merlin let out a sigh of relief. That relief was a little dulled as he watched Biclarel step up. The warlock tensed even further; though the new Knight was amiable enough, the fact that there was something off about him and his friends made him very wary. Merlin trusted Mordred more than those three, and even he surprised himself at that fact. He watched Biclarel try to gauge Ganieda's speed and her running pattern before letting the spear fly.
Surprisingly, the spear managed to hit one of the inner rings before Ganieda had time to dodge.
Damn! That one hit hard, Merlin smirked a little at Ganieda's internal comment, ignoring some of the claps from the Knights that someone had finally managed to actually land a relatively clean hit on the target.
Marrok was up next.
This time, Ganieda played a little dirtier than normal. She stopped dead in her tracks and stopped moving, hoping that it would throw Marrok off and lull him into a false sense of security. Merlin watched the Knight intently, wondering if he would fall for one of his cousin's favourite tricks.
Incidentally, Marrok did. He raised his crossbow and fired. Merlin grinned with excitement as at the last minute, Ganieda dived to the side, the bolt whizzing past her. The Knight blinked in absolute surprise; Merlin chuckled out loud. Marrok flushed a little in embarrassment but didn't say anything as he joined the other Knights who had their turn.
Up next, was Melion, who gave the warlock a cold look.
"Your cousin is making a mockery of our training," he growled as he loaded his crossbow. Ganieda was already preparing herself, steeling herself when she saw her already least favourite Knight was next.
"You don't like a challenge, Sir Melion?" Merlin shot back smoothly.
"You both treat this as a game," the Knight accused.
"The King wanted you to practise with moving targets," Merlin reminded him as civilly as he could manage. "Unfortunately, you don't get to decide how your target moves."
Melion's scowl deepened; he looked like he wanted to scold Merlin for his backchat but restrained himself. He turned back and readied his crossbow. The warlock looked away from Melion when he felt eyes on him and exchanged a look with Mordred.
Shall we teach him a lesson, Emrys?
A sliver of a smile etched onto Merlin's countenance.
I think we should, Mordred.
Mordred returned the smile covertly.
Merlin's attention returned to the prideful young Knight as he raised his crossbow and took a few deep breaths. The warlock waited; Melion finally pushed the trigger. Merlin did not miss a beat and incanted a Stunning spell in his mind, eyes bleeding gold. As expected, the bolt veered to the right quite sharply and lodged itself into an unattended shield.
There was a stunned silence. Melion blinked in shock at the bolt before he reloaded the crossbow. Mordred, Ganieda and Merlin both tried not to laugh.
Melion then fired his second bolt. Mordred's eyes bled gold and the second bolt veered off to thr left and lodged itself into one of the nearby tents. Ganieda stood there with her arms folded and tapped her foot in mock impatience. This time, it caused verbal uproar.
"Come on, Melion, wakey, wakey!" Gwaine teased.
"Are you tired, Melion? Your aim has gotten worse!" Kay added.
A few guffaws ran around the Knights; Melion got angrier and angrier by the second, which made Biclarel and Marrok extremely nervous. Arthur sensed it too, and decided to nip it in the bud before the flower of vexation could come into full bloom. The King clapped his hands together a few times.
"Mace next, gentlemen!" he announced. "Merlin, put some armour on! Ganieda, thank you so much. I really appreciate your help."
Merlin rolled his eyes but did as he was told, preparing himself for a good battering. Ganieda brought back the target, looking rather pleased with herself.
I pity poor Bedivere. Melion is going to use him as a punching bag, Ganieda commented as she watched a fuming Melion fetch his mace, glaring at Sir Bedivere, who smiled back charmingly.
Bedivere can handle the hothead, Merlin reassured her easily.
Messing with Melion was definitely worth it, Mordred added. The Druid Knight had been rather amused at being partnered with Marrok.
Ganieda and Merlin more than agreed. Mace practise went on longer than spears and crossbow – by the end, Merlin could feel every battering he had received that morning burning through his arm. Ganieda was in a much better state as she had sat out on it and eventually was summoned to help buy some new material for Queen Guinevere's new dresses. Merlin returned home alone; Gaius was busy brewing when he came in groaning.
"Another training session?" Gaius gauged.
"Yep. Arthur did not hold back, nor did Gwaine," Merlin confirmed as he sunk down on the nearest bench. He strained a little.
"Where is Gadiena?"
"Gone to help with a dress emergency. She helped during spear and crossbow training," Merlin informed wryly. "Melion was his usual oh-so pleasant self today. Mordred and I taught him a bit of a lesson."
Gaius frowned a little. "Sir Melion?"
"One of the new Knights. The one who has a ring that radiates magic," Merlin informed his guardian with a pointed look. "There is also something off about him that we just can't lay our fingers on."
"Oh?" the physician raised an eyebrow. "A magic ring? Are you certain?"
"Positive! I am forced to ignore the incessant humming," Merlin informed him. "And there is something else. His friends – Sir Biclarel and Sir Marrok – all feel weird too. Plus, all of them have wolves in their House arms. I don't know why, but I feel like that is significant."
"Interesting …"
Merlin knew that tone all too well by now, and knew the current facial expression on Gaius's face. "Oh no. I do not like the sound of that," he groaned. "Please tell me that we are not dealing with more young sorcerers. Gili nearly gave me silver hairs!"
Gaius gave him a pointed look for that comment. Merlin smiled angelically. "I am not sure yet what I think," the physician answered truthfully as the gears in his head already started to turn.
Merlin rolled his eyes and huffed. He got to his feet. "Well, when you know what you think, please let me know. I have to get this armour off and start on the chores before King Prat decides to give me more agility training!"
Gaius nodded, continuing to brew, and continuing to mull over his already growing suspicions.
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"What the hell was that?!"
Melion threw his armour into a corner; Biclarel shut the door to his friend's chambers quite firmly. "Are you trying to make us outcasts amongst our new brothers? Because if so, please continue the way you are going!" he snarled. "Your behaviour has got to the stop, Melion!"
Melion's eyes flashed dangerously as he whirled to face his fuming friends. "They are hiding something! We practically smell it on them, and given what we have witnessed yesterday, I don't think we can assume those two aren't a threat!"
"Oh, they are a threat – just not to the King!" Biclarel hissed.
Both Marrok and Melion regarded their friend for a moment.
"You know something," Marrok stated simply. "What is it? Don't keep us in suspense."
For a moment, Biclarel did not answer. He took a sudden interest in his shoes before lifting his head. "I cannot be certain, but for a moment, I thought I saw Merlin's eyes turn gold."
Marrok and Melion's eyes widened in seconds.
"Are you certain?" Marrok went rather pale.
"I only glimpsed it for a moment. I could have been mistaken," Biclarel shook his head.
"No. Your eyes are faster than any of ours combined," Melion argued, scoffing. "It would also explain why we felt drawn to them in the first place. The King's servant, a sorcerer. Which stands to reason that there is perhaps something not quite as natural about Gadiena either."
"Two of them?!" Marrok went even paler. He started pacing up and down. "Why in the hell would two sorcerers risk their lives and live in Camelot?"
"That same question could be posed about us," Biclarel pointed out easily.
"I think the most important question is, are they a threat to the King?" Melion growled, his eyes flashing dangerously.
That made Marrok snort. "Melion, in the time we have been here, we have heard stories of the King's funny relationship with his servant. I think if Merlin was truly a threat to the King, he could have betrayed him years ago. No – sorcerer or not, Merlin is not the problem, and neither is Gadiena. No matter how much she and Merlin hurt your pride."
Melion scowled at his friend for that.
"Indeed, we know what the real problem is," Biclarel agreed. "And how on Earth we are going to find a way to tell the King his wife is in league with his sister."
A thought just sprung into Marrok's head. "I wonder …" he mused out loud. "I wonder if our two sorcerers know about the enchanted Queen."
"And if not, maybe be the ones to tell them, and get two allies who can be near the Queen without suspicion," Melion added with a smirk.
"Then, we will simply have to start gaining their trust," Biclarel pointed out and shot Melion a look again. "Which means curbing any inclination to start petulant and childish fights for no good reason."
Melion rolled his eyes and gave a lopsided smirk. "I will behave myself, brother," he reassured, and this time he meant every word.
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The retinue of King Gorlagon arrived in the early evening, just before Ganieda was set to take a well-earned bath and Merlin had finished helping Gaius with another anti-scofula treatment. Ganieda had complained about having to be in the presence of royalty while smelling worse than Arthur's horses but quickly got dressed nonetheless.
The Court physician and his family joined the welcome party outside, standing onside and at the ready with George, Ettare and a couple of other servants. Ganieda took a moment to study everyone; King Arthur was standing on the middle stairs with Leon, Percival, Gwaine and Mordred on his left side and Geraint, Kay, Bedivere and Caradoc on his right. Gadiena almost snorted with laughter at the King's choice of crown. It was big, bronze and utterly absurd! Up on the stone balcony overlooking the courtyard was Queen Guinevere, looking extremely composed.
Tristan, Biclarel, Marrok and Melion were the closest to the servants, their faces impassive.
Everyone watched as the Knights of Rheged trotted into the courtyard, the sound of hooves echoing all around them. The sound of wheels from the only carriage was just as deafening. Merlin and Ganieda both spied the infamous King quite easily; he rode in front of the carriage on an elegant black steed with a white mark on its face. The King had perfect posture and carried himself with an air of natural arrogance that most nobles had. His handsome, though aged, countenance had a look of sternness. When the retinue came to a halt, King Gorlagon regarded Arthur with a look of undisguised judgement.
"Camelot welcomes you, King Gorlagon," Arthur stated diplomatically.
"So I see," came the emotionless, smooth reply. Merlin and Ganieda both noted that there wasn't a natural loudness to King Gorlagon's voice, but that it was absolutely not necessary for him to raise his voice at all. There was an already underlying menace to his voice that they could not place. "I am very much looking forward to seeing whether or not my bards were telling tall tales or not."
Arthur kept himself suitably composed. "Did you have a pleasant journey, my Lord?"
"Other than three foolhardy bandit attacks, it was pleasant enough," the King responded coolly as he dismounted from his horse and the carriage door opened.
Almost all eyes were drawn to the cute young boy of eleven with dark curls, his auburn-haired sister and the woman who was quite clearly the Queen. Ganieda's eyes almost bugged out of her head. Gorlagon's wife had dark auburn curls with a gold circlet fixed in her hair. She wore a dress of dark purple and green that made her look paler than she already was. Once one looked into those blue eyes, it was difficult to look away. Ganieda was even more surprised to see the Queen carry her own baby, wrapped in cloth of silver.
"May I introduce my family? This is my wife, Accolon, and our three children: Clarion, Caelia and Aneurin," the King introduced; Queen Accolon and their two eldest children curtseyed and bowed to Arthur.
The King smiled and gallantly kissed the knuckles of Queen Accolon. "My Lady, welcome to Camelot."
The Queen answered his smile with a sunny one of her own. "Thank you, Your Highness. I am already happy to see that the bards were not exaggerating when they sang of your looks. Or that of your Queen."
"You are very kind, my Lady," Arthur bowed his head.
King Gorlagon cleared his throat a little. "May we request a bath and something to eat? We have lacked a few creature comforts these past few days. The children have been especially fussy."
"Of course. George, Ettare, Merlin, Ganieda!"
The four summoned were there in seconds. Arthur continued. "They will guide you to your chambers and help you to settle."
Merlin and George bowed in sync; Ettare and Ganieda curtsied elegantly. Gorlagon looked absolutely unimpressed and bored while Accolon beamed at them. Prince Clarion took an interest in Merlin while Princess Caelia already took Ganieda's hand and pulled her towards the carriage.
"I have one trunk, it should not be too heavy!" the young Royal told the utterly perplexed warlock as she followed, chuckles running around the courtyard at the princess's antics.
"Oh no, the trunk is very heavy," Prince Clarion confessed to Merlin in a conspiratorial whisper. "Caelia packed more toys in secret."
"Did she, Your Highness?" Merlin whispered back; the young prince nodded emphatically. "Well, we are good with heavy luggage, though we may not look it. Is your trunk heavy?"
"Very! But I didn't sneak toys in it."
"Not a problem, Your Highness. Leave it to me."
The warlocks happily took the luggage of the children and headed into the castle with the heir and his sister close behind, chatting excitedly about their journey, two Knights of Rheged behind them. George was in charge of King Gorlagon's luggage and Ettare was helping the Queen's maid with Accolon's travelling trunks.
Merlin knew that George would be swanning around for the next couple of days!
However, it was worth it, because Merlin actually found himself having fun helping the young Prince Clarion to unpack, not at all minding taking orders from an eleven-year-old while the Royal child sat primly on the bed. Taking orders from a child was much less irritating than from an uppity noble.
"Merlin!" he heard George call from the King of Rheged's chambers opposite.
"Yes?" Merlin called as he arranged the prince's shoes neatly.
"There is still one more piece of luggage for His Highness. Could you go and get it?"
Before Merlin could answer, the King snapped. "No! My own men will fetch it. No one else will touch it."
There was a cold silence for a moment. Merlin had at first flinched at the dulcet tones and had then frowned when George was dismissed so sharply. The warlock frowned; he did not like how his friend had been treated at all. Another King with an attitude … it seemed that Merlin would need to bite into his cheek again!
It was Prince Clarion who broke the silence. "I hope that you or George won't judge Father too much. He is just very, very, very protective of his favourite plant."
"Favourite plant?" Merlin repeated, turning back to his young charge. "What kind of plant is it, my young Lord?"
"No idea. I never saw it," Clarion admitted. "But Father loves it so much that it has its own guards and everything! No one is allowed near it, not even Mother."
Strange, Merlin commented to himself. Very strange.
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As the night claimed the kingdom in sleep, Gaius watched and waited, listening to the soft snoozing of Ganieda and the slightly louder snoring from Merlin to make sure that his two apprentices were fast asleep. The old physician had made the excuse after dinner that he had to stay up a little longer to work on some more potions and do some research.
Half of those words were true.
When he was certain that most of the castle would be asleep, Gaius snuck out of his tower and carefully made his way through the castle towards the library in the hope that Geoffrey too would still be awake, given the excitement of that day.
Gaius quietly thanked the gods when he found that the Royal library was indeed still open and Geoffrey of Monmouth was to be found behind his desk, brow furrowed deeply while reading a set of old records codified on scrolls. When he heard footsteps approach, Geoffrey's head immediately turned to face Gaius.
"Gaius. This is a surprise," the Archivist greeted. "How may I help you at this time of night?"
"I have a hunch, old friend. One that I simply cannot ignore," the physician answered truthfully. "I once again need to borrow your compendium of noble Houses."
Geoffrey eyed him slyly. "You have not asked for it since the return of Tristan de Bois," he commented, clearly remembering the terror and panic the Black Knight wraith had caused all those years ago. Only Gaius had been cleared-headed enough to suspect who it was. "I assume you need it under slightly better circumstances?"
"It has nothing to do with ghosts from the past," Gaius reassured. "I assume you have heard of Sirs Biclarel, Marrok and Melion? The son of Meliant, son of Lucan and the heir of House Tanas."
Gaius did not need to say more. A knowing look had entered the wizened eyes of Geoffrey at those names; he had indeed heard of them, and the families they were scions of. Without so much as asking any further questions, the Archivist rose to his feet and headed to one of his many bookcases. Geoffrey lifted down the tome in question and brought it back to the physician with a grave expression.
"Thank you, old friend," Gaius gingerly took the book that he had hoped that he would not need again.
Geoffrey hummed noncommittedly but his expression spoke louder than his words could have. Let's hope your hunch is incorrect …
Quietly, the physician hoped the same but what Merlin had told him made him fear that his hunch was on point. After all, it had been with Tristan de Bois and the fake Lady Catrina. Plus, Gaius remembered Meliant and Lucan all too well, and had heard the rumours about them. Uther had fortunately not listened to many of them, because of how close allies there were. But, Gaius always wondered if there were some truth to what was being said. Thus, while waging an internal battle, Gaius settled himself down for a night of serious reading.
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Melion really is not making many friends, is he? And Prince Clarion has inadvertently set off Merlin's detective senses too … this should be interesting!
I am not going to lie, everyone. I hated that FFN went down for such a long period of time but during that time – I had this sudden burst of inspiration that would not leave me alone. So I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter, everyone!
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