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!

214. Chapter 216

Leon, a strong and proud knight, and the first born son of his noble family, had to admit that he had never thought much of his Prince Arthur Pendragon, even after he was old enough to realize Arthur would someday be the king that he'd be meant to serve under in his older years. He had a good five years on Arthur in age, and Leon had grown up thinking more about what he himself needed to do, rather than focusing on what the prince found interesting, like most of the peers he had around him would be. He had started his knighthood training as soon as he was old enough to participate with the other boys, and while Leon knew his father cared for him, the man had been strict about him working hard so that he could become one of the best in his age group. The strictness came from a place of love though, considering his father's brother had died in battle around the time that Leon was born. And the last thing that Leon's father had wanted was to see him suffer from a similar fate when his father no longer had the power to keep his son safely secured in their estate. It hadn't been the fun childhood some of his more spoiled peers had growing up, but he held no real resentment over how he had been raised, drilled in his skills with a sword until it felt as if his back was breaking beneath the strain. It was a childhood which had set the tone for how Leon would be as he aged, and in fact, Leon became quite a studious and soft spoken boy as soon as the age of ten years old. The age, as it would turn out, being when he had first saw Arthur Pendragon.

At the time, Leon had only been training as a knight for a few short years, and it would only be a year later before he was trusted enough to train with a real sword. But at that tender age, when he was still growing and his limbs caused him to be clumsier than he would be as an adult, he carried around a wooden practice sword on his hip, like most of the boys in his training group did, as a way of silently marking themselves as the next generation of knights. It'd been a quiet day when Leon's daily training had been interrupted by his father, who had business to be done at the castle with the king himself. Even as young as he had been, Leon had understood how important the king was and how he'd need to make a good impression if he hoped for the king to remember him the day he took his knighthood vows eight years from that day. And so, Leon had packed up the few belongings he would bring with him, like his sword, and had went so far as to pick out his best shade of red tunic. And then had departed to the castle, which was only a short carriage ride away from the estate Leon had been raised in, leaving behind his mother who had been heavily pregnant with what would be the second of Leon's four younger brothers, of which only two would make it to adulthood, the others dying from childhood illnesses that they couldn't be saved from.

But as young as Leon was, he had not yet been traumatized by such tragedies that would someday occur. And as such, even young Leon had filled the bright childish excitement that had nearly overcome the usually solemn child after he saw the towering spirals and the thick brick walls and the miles and miles of all the land that made up the grounds around Camelot Castle. It was hardly going to be the first time Leon found himself within the towering walls, but there was just something about their great height and sturdy appearance that made the young knight in training realize… this was what he was training to protect. The castle that was made up of hundreds of people, who both lived and worked in the impressive walls, the guards that wandered the grounds that might depend on Leon one day saving their life should battle descend upon them, and all the ordinary serving people who had no fighting abilities that would need Leon and his blade to keep them safe. It was a… surprising weight for young Leon, as he realized how much responsibility was soon going to be placed directly on top of his young shoulders the day his father deemed him ready to be tested as a knight under those who would decide if he would proceed or need to train for another year. It was the first time that Leon would feel as if things were really being… put into perspective for him, but it would hardly be the last time Leon understood how serious his role in the grand scheme of things might become.

Leon had clambered out of the carriage right behind his father as soon as the horse had stopped pulling them, and he had watched in silent surprise as his father had strode forward to greet King Uther as if the two of them were really the oldest of friends. He doubted that many men, whether they be knights or not, were allowed to simply walk up to the king and clap him on the shoulder while pulling him into a half-hug, the king doing the same as if Leon's father was an important figure among the ranks, instead of a simple knight that had retired as soon as he was able to get away with it, so he could focus on raising his family and the next generation to carry their family name. Leon's name. He, on the other hand, had found the king to be an imposing figure, with his long form and his elaborate cape and shining crown, that he didn't know how to be behaved when his father had finally introduced him. Leon had stumbled over his words in a greeting that he had practiced with his father the entire carriage ride to the castle, and felt quite inadequate even when Uther had commented briefly about how his father told him all about how Leon was coming along with his training. But he was Leon's father! Of course he was meant to praise Leon when he succeeded in his lessons… Leon had been too young to truly realize not all children received their father's praise so easily, and had to work to the point of nearly killing themselves in order to get a simple 'well done.'

One such example, being Prince Arthur Pendragon himself.

To be honest, Leon had hardly noticed the Prince at first, too busy trying to do his hardest to keep up with the adult conversation happening between the two men, even though most of the technical terms escaped his young brain. There was only so much a child's brain could keep him attentive, and thus, the young Leon had been subsequently startled when he had first seen the tiny form that had been standing behind the king this entire time, going unacknowledged or introduced by his father. And Leon, even as the years passed and both Arthur and him started growing the muscles that only came from a lifetime of harsh or excessive training, would never forget how TINY the Prince had been. He had only been a scant five years at this point, so of course he would be far shorter than Leon was, but the young Prince seemed almost TOO small for someone meant to become their king. The young Arthur Pendragon had been dressed in clothes that were almost looked identical to what the king was wearing, and it was obvious that little Arthur was meant to be emulating his father, even from such a young age, though it would only get worse as the years passed them by soon. The prince's blond hair had been combed down until it lay flat across his head, which was a sharp contrast when compared to the wild curls that Leon's been cursed with. And the prince's eyes… they were already on Leon. Looking at him in wild abandonment, not yet old enough to know how to keep shut his features to prevent others from taking advantage of their emotions.

It was awkward for Leon, being under such a scrutinizing gave by… by a small child. Because that was exactly what Arthur Pendragon was, to a young Leon who was not yet old enough to know he shouldn't have such throughout about their future ruler. But that was exactly what Arthur was… not a prince but just a child, who still had to grow into his limbs and still needed to learn what he was allowed to show and what he wasn't allowed to do, like the small fidgets Arthur would make even as he clearly struggled to keep still. Leon would later learn it was the first meeting that Uther had brought Arthur along with, starting him at an incredibly young age, but though the older Leon would realize how messed up it was to include a child in adult affairs they couldn't hope to understand, a young Leon had simply shaken it off as Arthur being the prince, so of course it would be something he started earlier than others. But no matter, because the short meeting went off without a hitch, the group of four congregating to one of the inside rooms for a more private meeting. Leon wouldn't even be able to remember what the meeting was about a week from then, and he wouldn't be able to recall the way Arthur's curious eyes kept falling onto the sword that he kept strapped to his side, and he wouldn't catch the sight of awe that filled up Arthur's eyes as he studied the older boy, who may as well have already been a knight in his eyes. And to be perfectly honest, Leon put the brief encounter he had with Prince Arthur Pendragon out of mind, ready to re-focus on his own training as he slowly made the transition from trainee to full fledged knight.

It would be eight years before Leon's path would once again cross Arthur's.

Oh sure, over the past eight years, Leon would hear things about the prince as the stories drifted through the estate. He would hear about how he'd grown as the years passed him by, hear how some of the younger girls giggled over how handsome they had heard he looked even at the tender age of thirteen, and he had heard thousands of tales about how Arthur hadn't lost a fight in at least a year, and would even start participating in junior tournaments, which would be only mock fights between the younger cadets to test how they might fair in a real fight, as well as showing their parents who came to watch how much they had learned and be able to point out which skills they needed more work on if they were going to become decent. Leon had even seen the prince a few brief times over the years, or at least he assumed it was the prince, as Leon never talked to the boy and only saw flashes of blond hair out the corner of his eye whenever he was old enough to start making trips to the castle every couple of months by himself. There was only so much Leon could learn by practicing with the same trainers he's had all his life, whose styles he had learned so he could be better prepared for the next fight. So he would make his trips to the castle in order to practice for the day with the other boys who had to live there simply because their own family estate's were too far away for them to be able to make the trip in a reasonable amount of time. So he could learn how to fight against styles he didn't know, and against people he hadn't been taught under, so he could sharpen his skills into the great warrior he would become.

It was at one point during these sparring sessions that Leon was approached by the young thirteen year old, Arthur Pendragon. Who, while taller and with a very thin line of muscles just starting to creep into his arms, still reminded the freshly turned—and knighted—eighteen year old of the five year old boy that he had briefly seen all those years ago. But Leon learned very quickly that the prince was not the same five year old who hadn't spoken a word to him when they had first crossed paths… Leon wasn't even sure if Arthur remembered the first time they had crossed paths considering how young he had been when it had happened. But the past hardly mattered when Arthur, who still carried the same blond hair brushed neatly across his forehead and whose blue eyes that no longer carried childhood amazement but instead cocky swagger, demanded that Leon show him how to do some of the moves he had been used during his most recent sparring match. And to be quite honest, Leon was quite surprised by the request—though it was quite honestly more of a demand that it'd been anything else. True, he had heard that Arthur was now using a real sword for a few years now, even when he would've been considered to be too young if he had been from any other family. But the request was… something Leon would have honestly turned down if it had been anybody else. Leon was an adult by this point, and he had duties and responsibilities and much of his time seemed to now be taken by him trying to find his footing now that he was considered 'one of the men.' He didn't have time to teach little brats who thought being a prince meant he had the skillset necessary to learn things that would've been far too complicated, complex, and dangerous for their size and age.

But Arthur Pendragon was the prince, and Leon had bit his tongue.

Every few months for at least a year, Leon would be greeted by Arthur, who'd be waiting for him on the steps of the castle, wanting to be taught something new or more impressive than the last thing he had been taught. It was always eating into Leon's own training time and was constantly taking him away from his duties, though the only reason he wasn't severely punished for the lack in his work was because he was 'entertaining' the prince. Arthur himself seemed to never realize that this was only being done to keep him out of the way and to stop him from bothering the more seasoned knights that had 'real' duties to be seen to, that were far more important than what a first year knight would've been trusted with. It almost felt as if Leon was babysitting the prince by some point, but every time he returned to the castle and found Arthur there, he was simply forced to bite down his tongue and show Arthur something new. Trying his hardest to go slow with an overeager prince and doing maneuvers that had to be less dangerous than the more complex ones, while holding his breath as he prayed he wouldn't be hung by Uther if Arthur accidentally stabbed himself during these 'lessons.'

The last time Arthur ever worked under Leon was just before the knight ended up reaching the end of his 'probationary period', which basically meant he had completed a full year of 'knightly service' and would be allowed to do the work that was more serious and less grunt work. And thank god for it, because Leon did not know if he would've been able to hold his tongue for much longer if he had to practically stay by Arthur's side every visit he made to the castle. Leon was a watcher, you see. It was what would make him so good at his job as the years wore by and he gained the experience needed to be able to use all the information people let slip up all the time. And all the information that people did not care about others seeing, like Arthur and his intense bullying problem. Perhaps it had started before Leon had crossed paths with Arthur once again, or maybe Arthur had only started it because he was hoping to impress the far older knight with his… gumption. That was something Leon didn't know, but he did know that Arthur took great pleasure in bossing around the servants that'd carry his equipment out onto the training field for him. Having them race back and forth from the castle while giving them impossible time limits to get what he wanted that he had 'forgotten' but never actually used once he had them in hand. He had tripped a few when they ran past him in a panic over accidentally grabbing the wrong thing, or at least Arthur would say it was wrong even when Leon had heard Arthur ask for exactly what he had gotten. There would always be other things, other bullying tactics that Arthur would pull, and each time he had done something, the prince would turn back around to face Leon with his eyes shining brightly, as if he thought Leon would find amusement in all these cheap shots and schoolyard pranks. As if Leon would be impressed by all the power Arthur had that allowed him to get away with such disgraceful acts.

And disgraceful it was.

Perhaps it was because Leon had grown up in a smaller estate, which allowed him to actually talk to the few servants they had instead of simply throwing out orders left and right for things he could do himself, but he had never seen the point in treating one so poorly. Leon had learned he got better results when he simply asked for something, and the ones at the estate were usually happy to do it with a smile. Which was far better than seeing them running around as if they were chickens with their heads cut off, full of panic and fear over the very real possibility that came with being fired and leaving their families to starve if they didn't have their income, or being whipped until they could hardly feel the bones inside their skin, or being jailed for some unreasonable amount of time and then finding out your family had starved in your absence. Arthur, though it seemed, looked as if such things had never occurred to him. He took pleasure in making them run for him, and laughed when he reduced them to tears, and often referred to it as 'just having some good fun.' As if the people that Arthur often tormented were also in on the fun and were laughing about it themselves once they were gone. But it wasn't funny… knights should know better than to act in such a way.

But Arthur was the prince.

And so Leon bit his tongue, and waited until he was finally assigned his actual first mission, which would take him away from the castle for a few days, and in turn, allow him a proper break from Arthur Pendragon.

By the time Leon had returned to Camelot a few weeks later, it looked as if the prince had moved on to some other unsuspecting new trainee to help him, but Arthur—from what Leon had seen from a distance—didn't seem to follow along with the other knight as much as he once had Leon. But Leon had simply been so grateful to be able to get back on track with his own life, that he continued without stopping to greet Arthur again, for fear that the younger boy might just decide that was his invitation to continue his old ways. Perhaps Arthur had just gotten older and was no longer seeking 'role models', but was now changing to become the role model himself, as his skills grew better and bolder with every passing day. A poor role model, of course, Leon would note over the years that passed them by as he watched Arthur growing from boyhood to manhood from a distance, watching as his little 'pranks' grew into something more disgusting than the little but horrible things he had done as the spoiled child who'd been raised believing that the entire world was his for the taking. Literally, Arthur's for the taking.

And then, just as Leon was nearing his twenty-sixth birthday… he was given a new mission that would change everything, not that he yet knew or realized all of the events that would follow his success.

King Uther had called Leon into the throne room, along with Knight Dorian and Knight Tristian, two knights that Leon had been on previous missions with over the years, but had never gotten to really know. Until the King had sworn them all to secrecy over what he was about to tell them, and only after that was over and done with, had the king explained to them what he had done before Arthur had even been born. He had told them of an old friend of his who he had once considered to be a brother because of how close they were, and how he once saw the man as a powerful figure that would do their kingdom good, though it was a question as to what nobility family he came from since Uther had made a big show about skipping over what made the man so powerful. But the truly surprising part had been when the king had explained about the peasant lady that his queen had been particularly fond of before her death, that was being courted, apparently, by this powerful man. Not only was it surprising to hear of a man willing to lower his standards to a woman with no substance she could offer him, but it was also the first time Leon had heard anything about the now former queen that he hadn't been taught about in the history lessons he, and all of the noble sons of the court, had been given about the royal family. This moment had obviously led the king to explaining—with as little detail as he was able to get away with giving to them—about the contract that was meant to be a bridge to forge the two families together. King Uther explained everything he knew about the woman who turned out to be pregnant, about the friend who'd fled the city due to uncertain circumstances, as well as where the last place he had known Hunith—the same woman that had been courted by the friend that would continue to go unmentioned for the most part—had been living. A small village miles away from Camelot and under the watchful eyes of his men, when she had made a bold and daring escape that left her untraceable. While taking with her the infant she had birthed, Camelot's future Consort and the one man in all the kingdom who had some sort of right to the king's throne, that should have belonged sorely to Arthur.

And during the tale being weaved for them, despite the sparse details he gave them, only enough information that would give them a fighting chance to find a woman that had been disappeared like smoke in the wind a good eighteen or so years before, Leon had felt a surprising amount of awe for the woman they were being told about. It wasn't often that one heard of a peasant woman who had managed to escape the king's attention, and it was even rarer to hear of a peasant woman who had managed to outsmart the king and vanish without the hunting dogs being set upon their scent to bring her back. And to do all of that while she held a young child… Leon had hardly blinked when he heard that the future consort was going to be a male, and it would only be much later before Leon contemplated the logistics of such a pairing and how Arthur would take the news once he heard… was nothing sort of awe-inspiring. Leon knew many women, mostly of the upper class, and knew that not one of them would have had the guts and the brains and the fire burning within to do what this peasant woman had done. She—thus Hunith woman—must have been truly desperate to have planned her escape and strategized the perfect moment to make her run for the hills, and how much love she must've had for her son to risk her life to make sure he had the freedom to choose what he wanted instead of what it was he would be expected to do. Not that Uther, clearly, saw the way that the knight was thinking, due to how loud and often he cursed her name during the explanation he had given.

Thus started the longest year and longest mission Leon had undertaken in all his work as a knight.

Leon had traveled to the village where Hunith was last seen with Tristian and Dorian as his companions to see if anybody who still lived there remembered the scarlet woman that had a child but no husband whose name she would be able to live under. But most of the village had been scattered after the decade that had passed since Hunith lived there, many of the ones who had once lived there having already submitted to disease or hunger or had moved away while hoping for a better life elsewhere. In fact, there was only one little old lady that lived on the edge of the village who'd been there at the same time that Hunith did, and without her, Leon might have thought they had ended up in the wrong village altogether. Or that she was so unseemly and unrecognizable that she'd been nothing but a ghost, leaving no remains or belongings or even footprints to prove she had ever stayed in this village. But unfortunately, the old lady had no information for them on where she had gone or where she might have gone once she had left. The old woman had no desire to speak to such a woman, a harlot who got pregnant without being married, back then. And has been glad when she had disappeared from their village one night, never to be seen again by anybody in the vicinity.

And thus, their only lead had been busted only weeks into their mission.

But Leon hadn't been ready to give up so soon, confident that she had to have gone somewhere, and that she had not disappeared into thin air. Somebody in the world had to know who she was or where she was living, and it was simply their mission to find them. And so, the three knights had scoured the kingdom, traveling from village to village to village while asking the locals if any of them knew of a woman named Hunith. A woman who would be in her mid-forties by that point, who had a young son that had been born out of wedlock, and that they might very well keep to themselves, which Leon could only assume that they would if they were still in hiding from the king, trying to keep concealed from the many people that might turn them in for a quick coin. Hell, Leon had no way of knowing if Hunith was even going by her birth name these days, or if she had changed both hers and her son's to better conceal themselves. Their hope was getting thinner and thinner with every day that passed, and tempers were starting to grow short with every no they got, as homesickness started to set in as the months of travel slowly and achingly moved passed them. There had been many moments where Leon had questioned why they were still doing this at all, considering it wouldn't have been odd if it turned out that the future consort and his mother had already died. Disease was a terrible thing, and the famine could hit hard, especially for villages located so far away from the main city itself. Women and their babies died everyday, as sad of a truth that was. If this was the case, then of course, nobody would know where to find them.

But finally, after nearly a year had passed since they were given this mission, a struck of luck had hit them.

Leon remembered it as if it was yesterday, sitting in some high class tavern the village people adored in the decent size town they had found themselves in to rest. When their table had been approached by an unassuming woman… not a peasant but not exactly a woman of wealth either. She had clearly been raised well, but did not look so important that she would have been invited to all the many balls that were hosted in the capital's grand ball room, which, as it would turn out, she had seen a few of when she had lived in Camelot many years ago by that point, Leon hadn't been sure of what she had wanted at first, and had been even less sure as to why she would boldly approach a table of men, none of which she knew and without a male escort to make sure she returned home with her virtue still intact. But she mentioned Hunith, and asked them if they're the ones that have been looking for her, as apparently a group of knights who were wasting their time looking for a woman of no wealth or worth was news of interest to be passed around. But once it was confirmed that they were them, the woman—their informant—had sat at their table and gleefully told them that she had seen Hunith just a few weeks before when she had been traveling on the border of Esstier and Camelot. And to be honest… it had seemed too good to be true, for this woman to just appear out of nowhere, who knew where the woman they were looking for, lived just when they were about to give up and return to Camelot with their tails between their legs.

But they were all exhausted, and desperate, and had no hope left, so they had heard her out. And listened to her explaining how she had known Hunith many years ago when they had lived in Camelot, and how she had once considered them to be friends. And how things seemed to change suddenly after Hunith discovered she was with child… the woman had tried desperately to be there for her, quite happily bragging about how Hunith had been allowed to live next to the guest's quarters in the castle itself because of the king's good graces to her situation. How she had tried constantly to get Hunith out in the world, but how Hunith must've been ashamed of the state she was in because she would refuse to leave her rooms, and how she started turning almost cold the longer into the pregnancy she went, which wasn't like Hunith at all. The woman could only figure it was the pregnancy hormones acting up, and even as she told the knights this story, she had pouted about how Hunith didn't seem to see all the luck that was coming her way since she had the king's protection. And how the king had even had guards stationed outside her room just to make sure Hunith was comfortable and undisturbed by those who may treat her awful due to the bastard child in her womb. In fact, the woman was only allowed in at all as she had some experience with being a midwife, a career she had left behind when she decided to travel instead, and the king thought she might be able to know if something wrong happened to the baby when it was in the womb.

At some point, Leon had to exchange glances with his other knights, poking at the holes and assumptions this woman seemed to have made on her own. The knights, later when they discussed the situation among themselves, and it was pretty clear that they all had the same vein of thought. That Hunith had turned cold, most likely, because she hadn't been there of her own free will. Since she was carrying Camelot's future within her womb, it was far more likely that they had guards stationed outside not to keep an eye on her if something happened to the fetus, but to keep her imprisoned where Uther could make sure that the child would be born without issue. It made sense, considering what little Uther had been forced to inform them about, if only so they could be warned of this woman, and weary about the things she says, because apparently she was far more clever than she first appeared, having seemingly planned her escape as she resided within the very castle meant to both keep her safe and keep her in a prison cell. But such truths were neither here or there, and none of the men who would be sitting at the table would bother to inform the woman how really wrong her assumptions and information was… she had no bearing on what was happening other than the information she had about Hunith.

And according to this woman, she decided to leave Camelot around the time Hunith was meant to give birth, though it was unclear whether she left before or after the babe had been born. But no matter, the woman had been gleeful to explain the many things she had seen over her nearly twenty years of traveling the kingdom… until Leon saw fit to get her back on track, so that she could tell them what she knew about Hunith NOW instead of the Hunith that she knew in the distant pass. And according to the woman's story, a few weeks before, she had been walking through the woods that separated Camelot from Essier, just trying to make her way to one of the border villages, making sure she stayed in their side of the line just in case… when she had came across a woman as she was collecting herbs from the base of a tree. The woman had called out to her because she had been excited to see someone for the first time in miles, but it was quite a surprise when she saw a familiar face looking back up. The woman collecting herbs was twenty years older, with grey starting to collect between the strands of her dark hair, and she had lines in her face that she hadn't had the last time they had met, but the woman swore up and down that she would recognize Hunith anywhere. Even after almost twenty years. She had been so excited to see an old friend, but when she had tried approaching her to catch up on how life had been… Hunith had ran into the forest, leaving her basket on the ground, turned over and spilled as if she couldn't have run away from her fast enough.

And again, the knights had shared a look that said they were reconnecting the pieces and seeing the truth that the woman did not. Obviously, if Hunith saw a woman she had known from Camelot once upon a time, and was still trying to keep hidden, she would have run away instead of making contact with anyone from her old life. As right now, with this story being told to them, it was quite obvious that this woman could have told anybody about her old friend Hunith, and it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities that Hunith feared this could be the kind of information that got back to the king. Or at least his knights, as it had. But when the knights had pushed for more, the woman claimed that she had seen no hair of the child—now a man—that Hunith had once carried inside her womb. But whether or not the child had been with Hunith when all of this had happened was irrelevant. Because when they found her, they were sure he would be there. And they had the next best thing now… Hunith's whereabouts.

Or close enough, at least.

They knew she had been seen between the border of Esstier and Camelot.

So they just needed to see what lay around there.

It had taken them a few days of research and asking the locals what they knew about the land outside their little village. And many claimed they didn't have a single village in that direction for miles, because the village they were in would happen to be the closest village on this side of the border. And with that… he'd been struck by the thought of… what if Hunith wasn't actually living within the borders of the kingdom. It would explain so much about why they couldn't find her even after a year of non-stop searching, and why she was basically only a ghost at this point. Leaving Camelot entirely would have been a comfort, since it was a little more complicated for those who worked beneath the Dragon flag to cross the line between lands without repercussions that might backlash on the rest of the kingdom as a whole. But Leon could be concerned about all the logistics that would come with the next part of his mission if he indeed turned out to be right. And once Leon extended his search to beyond the land they've been born and raised on, it didn't take Leon long to discover only one village in the vicinity of where the woman that had started all of this had told him where she had seen Hunith. A little village that was only a few hours away from where the woman claimed they had been. A little village named…

Ealdor.

After that discovery, everything happened pretty fast for them, as everything they have been working towards for so long finally came together. They were able to find Hunith in her little run-down shack, and they were able to find the boy she had birthed living beneath the same roof. And from there, they packed Merlin up and made the return trip to Camelot. Leon brought Merlin straight to the king and give a report on the success of their mission, snd once that had been completed, Leon had returned to his own in order to spend time with the family he had still remaining at their estate. And then he returned to duty after a suitable rest that was befitting of a man who had traveled out of the country itself to find one single boy that hadn't even wanted to come. And perhaps this was why Leon decided to keep his distance from the new consort-to-be. Leon might consider it to be guilt that he was feeling, especially after he saw a few key events that proved Merlin might not be being taken care of like he should have been, considering it was him that had to come to Camelot instead of the prince going to him. Leon couldn't stand to see the spirited boy he had been the first to meet, slowly and carefully being reduced to a former spirit of what he had once been. It was… easier, Leon supposed, to put on blinders and just pretend that the mysterious bruises that would show up whenever he saw the boy moving about the castle was the result of his own clumsiness, or perhaps even something he deserved, as terrible as that was to think, for not living up to the stands that should come with being a Pendragon.

But as the seasons themselves are prone to doing, everything started a slow change that not even Leon had been able to predict coming.

Merlin had drunken poison and Leon was assigned to guard him.

Arthur had defied his father and fought his own men to get him what he would need.

Merlin survived and lived long enough to savage their failed treaty.

And then silence for weeks, only to be broken up by the new boy in town that Merlin had taken a shine to. And while Leon had only seen bits and pieces of it all when he happened to be around and they were all scattered around on the training field, it was the first time he recognized real change was coming onto the city, arriving over the horizon like a sunrise arriving after weeks of endless rain that threatened to drown them all. Leon had been there on the field when Arthur had beaten the shit out of those trainees who thought they could treat their consort with anything less than the dignity he deserved. He saw the way Arthur had pushed those men harder than he usually would have, had seen the anger in his eyes and the brutality in the way he had behaved… it was actually a bit concerning considering he was to be their next king. And a king who had problems controlling his anger, was a king that would lead them all to ruin too fast for this knight's liking. But considering this was for Merlin's sake, he found it to be something that was easily overlooked. And to be honest… maybe Leon was alright with the way Arthur was behaving for the time being. It could cause issues later down the line, but for now… Leon was perfectly content to see the poor excuses for new knights they had being ripped to shreds by the very man who would rule them all.

Things took a sudden turn after Lancelot's fraud was revealed to the kingdom as a whole.

Leon couldn't say he was too surprised about that, considering he had felt as if there was something off about the man when he had first met him during a training session. But he had simply assumed the man must've been someone's disgraced son who had been sent to Camelot to become a knight as some sort of demented punishment, which had happened a few times that Leon had seen over his years as a knight. Or perhaps Lancelot had been the bastard child of a noble who had seen fit to cut him from the family, which wasn't exactly rare as Leon had heard of many men who had stepped out of their marriage beds only to be forced to hide away a child to cover the shame and proof of what he had done. Perhaps Lancelot was here to try and get recognition and become a real official member of his family… perhaps he had even stolen his armor from one of his brothers, as Leon doubted a bastard child would've been properly fitted for one of his own. But when it became known that Lancelot was peasant, and had never had any formal training in his entire life, and that Merlin had known of it right from the beginning, well… let's just say Leon hadn't been cursing at his name like many of the other knights, who had felt betrayed by this breech in their protocol and noble code, had done. Leon never had found much use in scorning the peasant people beneath them, and to know Lancelot happened to be one of them only made him… suitably impressed.

But what actually stunned Leon into silence was when he had heard about the way Arthur had, not just defied his father as he had when Merlin had been sick and needed immediate help, but had also verbally yelled at him. Prince Arthur Pendragon… yelling at his father… such a thing hadn't made sense. And when he had learned the fight was about Lancelot, and making him an official knight of the kingdom, even if it hadn't panned out, well… Leon figured he that had to be Merlin's influence at work. Arthur probably would have been the one to put Lancelot on the hangman's noose if the warrior had pulled his little stunt that had shaken their kingdom to its core and tightened up their regulations on how they checked to see if the nobles coming to them were really who they would say they were. So for Arthur to have a different reaction, to deny everything he had been in his attempt to win his father's favor, was nothing less than a major and extraordinary event. And obviously, Leon knew enough to know that Merlin being involved in the situation had been the push Arthur needed, because not even the prince could have denied the skill Lancelot had. And perhaps, he was liable to think on cold nights when the wind howled as if it was trying in vain to imitate the wolves that wandered deep in the forests that surrounded the land they loved… that Merlin might actually be good for Arthur Pendragon.

Really good.

Arthur had the makings to be a great king someday, as he had been trained to be so since the day he had been born. He had taken all the lessons, which had been far more excessive and demanding when compared to what an education for normal nobles were like. He had taken those lessons into real situations so he could be taught how to think on his feet, something that could only be done with experience itself. He had crafted and perfected his skills as a warrior until he was the best in the land, and knew how to carefully word himself whenever he was needed to speak before a crowd or in a meeting. He was pretty much a perfect prince when his achievements and goals were put on parchment, but it took far more than imitating the kings that had come before to become a good and decent king. To be a great king, one needed to have the heart and the will to follow it even when all others questioned whether or not it was a good idea to do. To be a great king, one needed the courage to step out of the shadows that had bound him all his life, and do what he felt was the right thing, whether or not it was necessarily the easy one. And before Merlin had came to Camelot City, Arthur was well on his way to becoming an alright king. But with the other boy destined to stand by his side, well… Leon liked to think he was only seeing the beginning of what could be the greatest king in Camelot history. If only the prince released the hand ups that stressed him out, like the obsession that he had for Merlin that he had just spent what felt like hours telling Leon all about.

Personally, Leon wasn't entirely sure what to make of the obsession that had apparently been tearing Arthur apart all this time. He had never felt that way for… anybody. Hell, Leon hardly found himself liking any people, let along to like somebody to the point of where it seemed counterproductive and mostly demented. Arthur looked as if he was being driven insane by a slow torture of the highest order, as he had babbled on and on and on about Merlin and how he couldn't stop thinking of him but was terrified of hurting him and all he was wanting to do was change their relationship but it was impossible because he had been having sex dreams that were haunting him. Arthur Pendragon, as the knight's eyebrow twitched once he had realized where this was going, seemed to be having actual sex dreams about his consort. This wasn't exactly the kind of conversation Leon had thought he would be having today, but he managed to keep his cool under a mask of indifference. Leon wasn't here to run away on Arthur because it was strange to talk to the prince, who was usually so closed lipped on such topics, unlike the other knights who preferred to brag over the conquests that had made… half of which Leon had known to be false. But the knight was here to make sure Arthur could keep calm, and be somebody that the prince could talk to. Arthur had precious few people he could actually talk to, and none of which who wouldn't have scorned him brutally if they'd heard half of what Arthur had spewed out at Leon.

And to be honest… Leon wasn't exactly sure he was helping much.

This was out of his experience.

But he wanted to aid the prince in any way that he could, and Leon had hardly ever thought twice about the boundaries society liked to place on them. While it would probably matter a great deal to somebody else who learned the truth of Arthur's marriage to Merlin, Leon personally didn't care if Arthur decided he wanted to make the relationship between them work. He didn't care if the man turned out to be straight or gay or bi or if he simply preferred to be in Merlin's company above all others. Leon had only been hoping that a partnership could form between the two, one that had them standing on equal footing so Merlin the same respect that Arthur carried and Arthur had somebody who had gone and proven time and time again how willing they were to jump into the fray if it was necessary. Merlin, after all, had never been meant to be nothing besides a decorative jewel to stand on Arthur's arm. And it was about damn time that the consort got treated as if he was more than that. But Arthur panicking over the dreams he had been having had brought them to new territory, and this led to be questions that Arthur would need to answer if he hoped to keep going.

If he wanted Merlin in that way…

If he wanted to simply be friends and co-rule the kingdom together…

Or if he should stay away, keeping the bridge that separated them firmly in its place.

Personally, Leon knew that this was a question that only Arthur could answer, and whichever way he decided to go… it would have to be one that he had to live with. It was one thing to be questioning oneself and their identity like the prince was, but it was quite another to show interest in the boy and get close to him only to pull back and decide that kind of lifestyle wasn't for him. Arthur should be allowed to experiment and discover himself like others had managed to do in their youth, though even Leon had the odd experimentation before he decided it wasn't working for him. But Arthur couldn't do that to Merlin, or do it at his expanse. Arthur couldn't toy around with Merlin's emotions, if the boy would even open up to Arthur to begin with, and then decide he had made this huge mistake by simply 'trying it out.' Merlin didn't strike Leon as a man that'd be okay with somebody testing their sexuality on them—if that was even what Arthur was thinking about. So, if Arthur did want to… do anything like what he dreamed about with Merlin, then clearly the prince would have to be 'all in' on this. And being 'all in'… probably includes things neither Leon nor Arthur might have thought of yet. Everything was pretty much in the air, but… Leon thought that the decision Arthur made concerning this topic, would quite likely design the tone for how the rest of their lives were going to be. And how the kingdom was run in the decades to come.

And then Arthur said 'I don't know.'

It was honestly, a pretty pitiful answer for the prince to give when Leon simply asked him whether or not he would risk it all just to see Merlin smile. It wasn't as if it was a very hard question… if you liked somebody enough, then clearly it would mean that you'd do anything to make them happy. If Arthur had said yes to the question, then it was all the answer he needed to get himself kicked into gear to do whatever wallowing he needed to do in order to woo Merlin. If he'd said no, then again… that was all the answer Arthur needed to know that all he would do in the future was try to foster a simple friendship with the boy, if only so they could work together when it came to matters of state. But Arthur had gone and went with… I don't know… and looked at Leon as if he expected him to tell him what to do and how he should do it and what he should be willing to risk to make Merlin happy or win him over in some way. But Leon's been sitting on the cold, hard floor for what had to be you're, and he had listened to Arthur as he ranted and waved and worked himself into a tizzy over something Arthur should have honestly figured out by this point in his life. And Leon refused to be the one that Arthur blamed if everything went wrong with him due to what step he decided to take next concerning Merlin. No. Leon was meant to be just a listening ear for when the prince needed to get something so very deep and heavy off of his chest. Perhaps if Uther had somebody he trusted to speak as Arthur had spoke to him, then perhaps some things would be different about the lives they were living now. But no matter… Leon had done everything that he could do. Listening could only go so far before Leon handed the reins off to Arthur and allowed him to sink or swim all on his own.

"Okay then, I suppose that there isn't much left to say if that's the way you are going to go about it. If you don't know the answers with one simple question, it is going to be near impossible for you to answer any of the big ones that might plague you for… quite some time to come." Leon finally said, after he stared at Arthur for a long time after the answer he had given him, and the knight stood up on his feet. Arthur's head whipped up, the prince looking at him with almost pure panic on his face, clearly at the thought of being left behind to figure this all out on his own. And Leon looked down at him with this almost pitiful look on his face… he actually felt sorry for Arthur. A lot of the things Arthur had said to him in confidence really had put some thing's into prospective, but… it was not as if Leon could hold his hand and answer these questions for him. The knight breathed out a sigh—nothing more than a puff of air coming from between his lips—and shook his head, deciding to give Arthur just one more little tiny piece of advice that may or may not actually help him figure things out. "You know… I was also there not that long ago, when we were all camping in the woods and you were sleeping with Merlin. Just because you woke up when you did, didn't mean that the rest of us weren't already awake and moving about doing things that needed to be done. And I couldn't help but notice how… how peaceful you seemed to be in your sleep. When you were wrapped around him, you actually looked as if you were relaxed. And I have been on missions with you a time or two before, and Arthur… from the second we left the gates until the second we returned home, you were never relaxed. Even in your sleep, you would look as if you were about to go on the defensive and attack the first person that would try to wake you. But… not with Merlin. And maybe… maybe that's something to think about, don't you think? Maybe… maybe it's time to stop being constantly on the defense, and try being open about… whatever it is that you are actually feeling. Maybe instead of… running away and hiding in corners like this one we are in now, you embrace whatever change might be coming. You'll probably be a lot more at ease about yourself once you take that first step."

Leon decided he had said his piece, when he saw Arthur turning around so he could stare at the wall ahead of them with this almost frighteningly blank look on his face that couldn't be described. But what was done was done, and Leon was sure he had given Arthur a lot to think about. And so, with a simple tilting of his head, Leon murmured a soft 'sire' beneath his breath as his version of a goodbye, before turning on his heels and starting to stride away from Arthur's hidden spot. He was sure that there was something he could do that would be needing his attention… he could probably join Tristian and Dorian, who'd taken to patrolling the walls of the castle just in case of intruders, since there wasn't a proper guard tower or watch set up in place. But however, Leon hadn't made it out of the hall before he was stopped by the quiet voice of Arthur speaking up from behind him to ask him a question that had clearly been hovering about in his mind, and probably had ever since Leon had mentioned it earlier.

"What do you mean by… he could be my only exception?"

Leon blinked, turning back around so that he could look back at the prince, so confused for a second, before his brain caught up with what Arthur was trying to tell him. Earlier, when Leon had been explaining about the many possibilities of what Arthur could be and that he didn't necessarily have to be gay because he… dreamed about doing things with Merlin. And one of the things Leon said, was that it was very possible that Merlin could simply be Arthur's exception to his whole… I love women mantra he had tried to pedal to Leon. But somebody who strictly enjoyed the company of women, would never be so obsessed with another man on this level. But Leon hadn't wanted to continue pushing things Arthur clearly wasn't ready to hear. He had been content to simply sit back to wait until the day he heard of Arthur, as much as Merlin would allow since their history was… complicated at best, embracing whoever it was he wanted to be. He would have waited until that day, and stood behind him should others try to ruin whatever confidence Arthur managed to work towards. As was his duty to the man who would be his king. Even if that meant needing to go against their current king to do so. The fact that Arthur was even asking this question at all was a miracle in itself, and who was Leon to deny him whatever support Arthur needed to get through this.

"Do you think that you are the only man in the world who suddenly ended up finding themselves attracted towards the same sex? You aren't as special as you think you are, sire, if you believe that nobody else has faced a crisis such as this one. And many of them have continued to be with women as if they've never questioned themselves before. Some people… they don't just see a man and decide they are no longer interested in the fairer sex altogether. I've heard of people who enjoy the opposite sex, but then they meet somebody who does share the same… genitalia as themselves and find that attraction. That doesn't mean they abandon what… excitement they got for the other gender. But they do also enjoy the person they've become attracted to, not because of what the person has in their pants, but simply because they enjoy the person themself. For who they are. The attraction itself part comes later, which from what I have been hearing, does seem to fit with what this is. Some people are attracted to ….another person's personality more than what they happen to be carrying on their bodies. Perhaps if you found a woman who happened to embody all that our consort is personality wise, you would be… content with what you find?"

And Leon watched as a little furrow formed between the prince's brow to his suggestion, and the knight had to bite back a grin. Ah… so that was how it was apparently. Arthur hadn't considered trying to bed a woman who reminded him of Merlin. He had simply assumed that Merlin was… it… in whatever way Arthur was thinking of. That was almost sweet, in a way, if one neglected to consider all the stalking and the deranged behavior and the nonstop fights and how the consort wasn't afraid to lay a hand on Arthur after everything the prince did to him in the past. But what wasn't sweet was how Arthur turned back around so he could stare at the wall with his frown steady and not a word to Leon of what he had just said. And though Leon had been so adamant earlier about leaving Arthur behind so he could try and figure things out on his own, the knight was hesitant to leave. There was… one more thing that Arthur might like to think of doing just so he could know for sure how he felt about Merlin. But it was really on the more extreme side of things, especially considering the delicateness of the situation and the state in which Leon had found him in, so he wasn't quite sure how Arthur was going to take such a suggestion. But Leon never was the type to shy away from what needed to be said, not if opportunity allowed him the chance to speak without caution.

"Sire… why don't you try… finding a moment of privacy for yourself, someplace in which you will not be disturbed anytime soon. This… open hallway might not be the best place for you… discovering new things about yourself. Because… if you wish to know exactly where your feelings for Merlin lie, I think you need to … try a few things out. Try to… try to picture a woman at first, any kind, I guess whatever your preference would be. The perfect woman, perhaps, in your eyes alone. With the personality and the looks that you desire greatly. And then just simply… try and see if you… react towards it. And then, afterwards, maybe you can try once again. And this time… imagine Merlin how you do in your dreams, or imagine what you would like him to do if he walked into the room and found out what you were doing. You might surprise yourself if you have to… compare the two… reactions that you have."

Leon allowed that last little bit of his sentence to hang in the open air between them, hanging as if it was a fuse and they were just waiting for an explosion to set off and blow them both up in pieces. And Leon saw the exact moment that the prince realized what he was saying, his head whipping around to stare with wide eyes at Leon, his face an odd mid of flustered red and ghastly pale. But it was a reaction that Leon had been expecting, as Arthur's jaw dropped open to gap uselessly at him, his words unable to come pouring out simply because he had been stunned into silence. What Leon had seriously just suggested would happen to be something that was incredibly taboo to speak about among most of the higher circles, which Arthur obviously was. Somebody didn't just go up to the prince himself, without having that kind of relationship and that kind of personality, and start talking about… touching oneself to thoughts of someone they felt like they shouldn't like. And Leon… he had never been one to suggest or talk about such crude things. He felt as if those kinds of activities should've been kept behind closed doors and only spoke about with one's partner, unlike other lesser knights who had no trouble talking openly about such topics.

Leon didn't allow Arthur to gather his bearings before he finally walked away.

X

Merlin Pendragon was feeling pretty good about himself right now, to the point where he was almost downright giddy. In fact, it had been so long since he had felt this good about himself, that he almost would have thought he had to have gotten himself drunk, despite drinking no such substances during the day. But he couldn't help himself! Merlin was practically gliding through the castle with a surety in his steps, feeling as if he was walking on air, or perhaps dancing on the clouds themselves where nobody could touch him. He'd gotten so much of his work done today, so much of his planning worked out through the later half of the afternoon, that Merlin was actually starting to feel like he was beginning to make real progress on what he wanted to see being done to the estate. The consort had nearly forgotten all about his husband plotting to murder him now that Arthur had gotten tired of pretending he was remorseful for how he acted for all those beginning months, considering the whirlwind that his afternoon in the fields had been with Lancelot. The two of them had really ended up getting into it once they had gotten started, discussing the logistics of what had to be done, and deciding what matter needed to be tended to first, and what needed to be done to fix those unfortunate flaws that would crop up once they started poking holes. It had been… exhilarating to see the beginnings of this coming in a full circle.

It almost felt as if Merlin could see this dreary place starting to transform right before his eyes, and the consort held back an excited giggle as he continued moving through the halls of the estate towards his bedchambers, the piece of parchment that held all the notes they had worked out when they had gotten back inside clutched tightly in his hand. The notes hadn't even been the best part of Merlin's afternoon! Night had long since fallen over the hours in which he and Lancelot had been bent over a desk, looking through books and maps and records and whatever else they had needed to check before adding it on their list, and Merlin hadn't seen hair nor hide of Arthur once this entire day! It was a bloody miracle! But Merlin had already sat down at the dinner table and had his meal with his uncle and all the other knights with an empty chair right beside him! The table itself had been so lively, for the most part, without their fair prince reining down on the glow Merlin seemed to have. In fact, there were only four people at the table that seemed to be quiet throughout the meal. But considering three of those four people were Hadrian and Draconis and Ronald, who seemed even more sullen than they normally did with all of them at their table, Merlin was willing to overlook it. Those three knights always seemed as if they were so… separate… from the rest of them, but considering what Merlin knew about one of them… it wasn't too surprising either. The fourth member of the quiet group seemed to be Leon, who had sat at the far end of the table, as he ate his meal, while mostly keeping to himself. Merlin really had tried to hold his eyes when he finally noticed at some point during the meal, but the knight had simply waved him off as if it wasn't important. But Merlin knew, from what personal experience he had on the matter, the importance of being alone when one wanted to be. Sometimes… sometimes the crowds and the people became too much, even for someone who was probably use to it.

But on that note…

He'd had an ARTHUR-FREE DAY!

Merlin bit back another gleeful giggle, squeezing the parchment with all of the notes written across it tighter to his chest. He almost felt as if this parchment could have been his baby! All his hard work—his! And not something that had been forced onto him by another's hand—was going to come to fruition. Merlin was going to be able to, without any 'assistance' from the royal family, get the road he'd been wanting officially set up. Merlin and Lancelot had gone over all of it in an insane amount of detail. And one of the first things Merlin had been all but insistent on was not accepting anything from the Pendragon's. It would have been faster and easier if Merlin had brought his idea to Uther, or it could have been Arthur but Merlin was currently refusing to acknowledge the prince existed, and had the king put some of his men out there to get it constructed. It would have been considered a 'royal road' then, and Uther would most likely try and take it over in some way. He might brush aside what Merlin wanted and set it up so that it had things like… tolls up and down the street that needed to be paid if people were going to use it, only so that pay could end up collected in the Royal coffer's instead of Merlin's pocket, where he could at least see to it being used to give back something to the people. No… Merlin wanted people to be able to travel safely without worrying about whether or not they had the coins in their pockets to get to the estate or get back home.

What Merlin was really concerned about was how he was going to cut down all the trees in the forest that separated them from the closest village. It felt as if it was the most concerning step since nothing else could be done before they managed to clear a pathway. They weren't even going to cut down the entirety of the forest! Of course not! But he and Lancelot had worked out on one of the maps what the best looking path would be that wouldn't take them through all the more dangerous parts of the forest that had… more animal activity or were known to be growing the more dangerous plants. But Merlin was hoping to find a few men—or have one of the others if Merlin… staying here didn't pan out—in the village that wouldn't mind cutting down the trees once they saw the added traffic that could come to their village as a result of the road. And there would be a lot of wood left around that would technically belong to Merlin once all of the necessary trees were taken out of the ground. And Lancelot had been the one to suggest them using it to held fund or make something with it. There are thousands of people out there who would pay for a few lumps of wood to heat up their hearths during the winter but are either too busy with life or unable to cut their own. He could use that gold as a means of paying the men who were able to cut their path, or even save the gold for something else and use all the wood as a means of payment itself. Just as there were many people who would pay for wood they didn't have to cut themselves, there were just as many who would be thrilled to have the next few winters stocked up.

Merlin hated the idea of charging for wood to begin with, but as Lancelot told him… it wasn't practical to give everything away for free just because he knew what it was like to go without.

But that didn't mean Merlin couldn't lower the price to basically non-existent if a lesser family desperately needed it…

Something would have to be done about the road itself, of course, once all the trees had been cleared away. And that was when Merlin had thought of how he could utilize the thousands of sheep that roamed around these parts across all of his land. It was quite similar to how they've been using that one old horse in Ealdor, and what they would do back home inspired him to do that here. When it was the beginning of planting season, and the people back home needed to start making fresh rows to mark where the food was going to grow, they would attach an old plank of wood to the horse's rump and guide him throughout the fields to even out the ground. It might take them a few weeks to do that to this road, but Merlin figured he could have the sheep walk up and down the road to even out the ground so that it would be easier to travel. He didn't want to have the people abandoning the road altogether and marking his first endeavor as a complete failure when they couldn't travel with wagons and such. If Merlin was unable to get the road straight, then the only thing that would left behind on it would be broken wheels and possibly injured people. So yes, having the sheep marching back and forth to flatten out the ground felt as if it was as good of a plan as any, and one that wouldn't include Merlin needing to swallow his pride to ask the royal family to use their men to do it.

But another concern that had cropped up between him and Lancelot was what trouble a sudden road sprouting up might bring. Roads and villages that were on the more isolated side of things were liable to get the most bandit activity, and considering the history both Lancelot and Merlin has had with bandits in the past, it was something that they wanted to work towards putting a lid onto before it could become a problem. But the road itself would be at least twenty or so miles long, considering how far away the closest village actually was and that meant there were thousands of possible spots for bandits to simply hang out at and bide their time for some unsuspecting family hoping to trade goods for whatever they had at the estate. But if they had somebody out there—or a team of someone's—watching out for the road, well… bandits would be far less likely to attack if they had soldiers out there. Which was why Merlin wanted to use the additional wood they would most likely have left over after cutting the path through the trees, to build up two watch towers, so that people could run to for help if the guards themselves weren't already on their way. He wanted to have one set up about three miles away from the estate, and a second one just three miles away from the village itself, so that it was spread across the road a bit, allowing the men there to keep eyes on everything and keeping the peace.

And one of the things Merlin was interested in having, that had actually been a suggestion from Lancelot, was having a bigger cabin style place build directly at the halfway point. A little place that was meant to act like an inn, where the people traveling between the water and the village could rest for the night if it was too late for them to make the complete journey. A place like that would've been a huge deterrent for bandits, especially if the road started getting some serious foot traffic and more and more people started using the place to take a moment off their travels. The more people around to stop them or witness the attack, the less likely any bandits hanging around out there would be to make a move. Merlin had even drawn a little mock image of what he would want the towers and the cabin—big enough to house twenty rooms or more—inside one of the corners of the parchment of what he wanted it to look like. But if Merlin was to be honest… this whole thing was more of a pipe dream than anything of what he wanted to do. It was definitely a goal of his, and something that Merlin wanted to work towards having officially set up, the whole watchtowers and a little resting area, but there were just a few logistics that needed to be worked out if he wanted to figure out how it would even work!

Like what guards would man the towers and keep watch?

Perhaps if Merlin was lucky, he could convince Hadrian and Draconis and even Ronald to put some work into manning the road. But it also seemed as if they'd be pretty reluctant to leave the estate for long periods of time, and having one man at each checkpoint seemed like pretty poor planning on his part! Keeping just three men on that road was hardly going to scare away teams and groups of bandits waiting to swarm and pick through the first carriage they saw, while scaring or even harming the people that had come with it. No… Merlin needed to have much more people on this… he didn't even need an army. He'd simply need to have a few handfuls of people who were good at what they do. Maybe if Merlin was lucky, once the road became more known and populated, there'd be times where a few knights would want to transfer from guarding a different estate and come work at Merlin's… though that also depended on there being a reason as to why the knight wanted to leave behind the family they'd already pledged their loyalty and blades to. So that wasn't exactly something that the consort wanted to rely on… not when it could leave him waiting for months or even years before he had a decent group brought together. Though… maybe if there was a group of men in the village that were interested in taking up arms and becoming the main force behind the protection of the road… that would be good. Lancelot could hardly be the only peasant around that took up a sword, and even if he was, Merlin had a few knights right here at the estate that might give these peasant men proper lessons… but Merlin was just nitpicking. Merlin was simply tossing ideas around in his head, knowing what kind of place that he wanted to end up with, but still working on getting the finer details in place for it.

…

…

…

Well, at least Merlin wouldn't have to worry about anything like debts from the estate's former occupants coming back to haunt him, putting a dent within the pocket he was going to have once the trees were gone, Merlin thought, gazing down at all the squiggles and words and plans marking the parchment in heavy ink, until the whole thing looked as if there wasn't a spot left for them to spare writing on. Lancelot had already done a thorough job of checking out the place before they had gotten there, to such a degree that he had even glanced over the coin records for the estate. He wasn't exactly the greatest when it came to overly complicated math records, especially since the paperwork was in such a mess when he had gotten here, that he had enlisted Hermione to check over it, which she was still in the progress of doing. But she had been slowed down since Jacqui kept throwing more and more work her way, even work that is not considered the usual part of her job… whatever that was about. But Lancelot is competent enough to understand that whatever debts the family had managed to work up over the years in order to keep the estate itself alive after all of this time, hadn't transferred over to Merlin after he took over the place. And while that was a relief for Merlin to hear, he was just lucky this estate hadn't turned into a punishment for him to work through. It would've been just like the Royal family to give him something to do by gifting him the estate to begin with, only to find out it was something they knew he would never be able to get off of the ground properly.

Merlin supposed he could thank his lucky stars that this hadn't been a trap the Royal family had decided so they could laugh while he drowned beneath all the many records and paperwork he would need to just to figure out what he could do to get money coming in to pay those off.

…

…

…

Merlin was just reaching the end of a long and nearly endless looking hallway, which was supposed to lead him to the rickety old door that kept his chambers in the tower away from the main area of the estate, when he heard a noise that had him pausing. It wasn't exactly a startling noise, and if he was being totally honest, he wasn't exactly sure if he had heard it to begin with. It had sounded almost as if it was… a whisper in the wind. Something that had just graced his eardrums and if Merlin had been humming or if Lancelot had accompanied him to his chambers and they were talking, than it was very likely that Merlin would not have heard the sound at all. But… it was extremely late at night, and as far as Merlin was aware… most of the people were already retiring to bed or watch duty outside—of which Merlin still wasn't allowed to partake in because he was their 'consort' and should have a proper sleep—so who would be up here? The consort was still figuring out parts of the estate and what went where, but he's still gotten a pretty good layout of the building, and he was pretty sure that he was nowhere near the bedrooms. In fact, if he remembered correctly, this hall only led to a bunch of different empty rooms. Rooms that were supposed to be used as a study or to store the old odds and ins that a place that was as large as the estate was, would surely collect overtime. Rooms that nobody had any real reason to bother seeing to unless they were there for a specific reason…

Merlin heard the sound again.

A whisper on the wind, only slightly louder but still indistinguishable to the ear.

And well… Merlin had never been one to let things go, especially not when it's happening in his own estate.

Merlin carefully but quickly re-folded the parchment he had been holding onto so tightly that the edges were starting to crinkle, and placed it in the pocket in the inside of his jacket so he could have his hands free if something happened that shouldn't. And then he creeped forward, trying to go easy and on the tips of his toes to prevent the estate's floors from creaking beneath his feet. There were so many shadows this far down, where nobody had bothered to set up a row of torchlights for a place basically abandoned to time, and Merlin felt as if the shadows themselves were almost trying to eat him. As if he was about two seconds away from being swallowed up by an abyss, and nobody in the world would've been able to find his body. But despite the squeezing sensation that he felt in his stomach, Merlin continued walking, placing a hand on the wall to keep his balance and remind him that… he was real and the shadows couldn't be as scary as they felt when compared to the real fears that Merlin had faced in his life. And finally, where he could hear the sounds of the whispers growing loud enough for him to finally understand, he found the end of the hall and was able to peek his head just around the corner to see what was going on.

…

…

…

"Are you really sure that you want to do this? I mean, I know that this is quite a normal thing for the two of you, but I'm the one that's supposed to look out for you just to make sure you aren't discovered by Jacqui, since the girls can only keep him distracted for so long before he realizes you aren't doing what you're supposed to be doing. But that's on a normal night! When it's just the six of us trying to keep things quiet and amongst ourselves. Do you really think it's wise to continue testing our luck when there's an entire houseful of people who are just wandering the home at their leisure? The prince himself is around here, so he could very well stumble upon what we are doing! And the consort! And that whole leave of knights that they brought with them! Which any of them would turn us over in a heartbeat if they even caught wind of what we were doing the second night falls!"

It was Ronald, sounding far more fervent and lively than Merlin could recall the knight ever sounding. And Merlin crouched down as he fused his body against the wall in an attempt to better hide himself as he looked down the hall so that he could better see what was going on. Merlin had to squint due to how dark it was, but he could see a glimpse of Ronald's bright and fiery red hair as a bit of light shined in through the windows because of the full moon. He seemed as if he was talking to himself almost, waving a hand around as a crease of worry in his features reflected off the stain glass of the mirror. But another figure in the shadows moved, making Merlin realize that Ronald wasn't exactly as alone like he had first assumed. In fact, the second figure was simply just too dark, with his jet black hair, that he had almost blended directly into the shadows. Merlin felt his breath catching in his throat when he realized it was Hadrian… the very boy who had somehow managed to use magic to stop himself from ending up crushed to death beneath the very same statue that had gotten scheduled to fall on Merlin by his husband. And the very same man that was somehow able to get away with using magic to make that statue almost… bounce away from him without being caught by the handful of people that were out there.

"I know that we are taking a risk here that we are taking. Do you really think I'd want to be out here in the middle of the night if we didn't have any choice. You and I both know how grumpy he gets whenever we go too long without having this done. We've already stopped for the last several days because we've been too busy with preparing for these people's arrivals. But that's why we came up here so late to begin with. I am sure that Prince Arthur and Consort Merlin will be asleep by now, and they won't be any chance of them stumbling upon what we are doing. Besides, don't think I don't know what you were doing when the group was eating dinner. Intermingling yourself among them when you hate all the chaos and uncertainty they'll bring upon our home. Suppling them with all manner of drinks… Ronald, you were trying to get them drunk just so you could be sure that none of them would be awake enough to come stumbling this way. And even if they did, I'm sure you've already planned a dozen excuses for what they saw by blaming the alcohol, haven't you?"

Merlin blinked, his hands curling around the corner of the wall as he tried to do his best to keep up with what he was hearing. Had Hadrian… had he really said that Ronald had been supplying drinks during dinner… on purpose? Merlin had his eyebrows creasing into the center of his forehead as he thought back onto the meal that had been finished earlier. And… thinking back on it now… he was able to recall the way Ronald had behaved. Laughing loudly at the other end of the table, pulling the people nearest to him into an easy going conversation as if the knights from Camelot were his life-long friends, even though Ronald had barely spoken to them the night before. Markus and Christian had gotten right into it the most, from what Merlin had been able to see at the head of the table where he had been sitting, and if he wasn't mistaken… the two of them would still be passed out at the table. Fallen into some kind of horrid drunken stupor from all the times Ronald had filled up their goblets. Derrick and Tristian were also targets of Ronald, the red haired knight topping off their glasses until it'd be impossible to count how many goblets they had actually drunk. But at least those two had managed to stumble off towards their chamber… at the time, he had simply assumed Ronald had relaxed after they've been at the estate for so long and was starting to let himself loose. But… Ronald had done all of that on purpose? He had purposely supplied his people with drinks so that they were unable to be at their full strength?

And now that Merlin was thinking about it…

He couldn't remember Ronald drinking anything during the dinner.

Sure, Ronald had been carrying around a goblet the entire time, with his wine sloshing over the rim of it every time he had waved his arms in such big, over-exaggerated manner. But had he actually stopped long enough to drink any of it during the entire dinner? Had Ronald stopped telling the over-exaggerated stories he had regaled his end of the table with long enough to have taken one single sip of the wine? Looking at him now from his hiding place, and noticing how Ronald was standing with a sturdy grace when he had been stumbling out of the dining hall in a drunken stupor just earlier that evening… Merlin was only able to come to one single conclusion. Or maybe two conclusions, if he's being specific enough.

One… Ronald was a dangerous player within the game that Merlin hadn't even realized was playing at all.

And two… this whole thing might just be bigger than Merlin had thought it was originally.