Merlyn's Fate

The Once and Future Queen P1

Apparently, since Merlyn had managed to take a lot of time off recently, Arthur had decided it meant that he got to work her twice as hard. At least, she supposed that since she'd mysteriously ended up spending her nights in his bed, the commute was significantly shorter.

She was polishing one of his many shields, watching as one of his men mounted his mare. Arthur was ready impatient as he angled his lance, kicking his horse into a gallop, heading straight towards his knight. Merlyn had never seen the point in jousting, it always seemed unnecessary; you would be stupid to go into battle with the long rods they used: they broke far too easily. As Arthur impaled his knight, the lance practically splitting in two as it ripped through metal armour, the witch thought that she was proved right.

She stood, taking the prince's weapon from his hand, replacing it with a new one. "That's got to hurt." she winced, watching as the fallen noble smashed his head upon the ground, dangling helplessly from his saddle.

"That's the point, Merlyn. It's not a pillow fight." Arthur may have rolled his eyes, but she couldn't see from under his helmet. He turned away, resuming his position on the other side of the field, waiting for Leon to get his golden curls inside his own helmet. They nodded once at eachother before gaining speed, each of their gazes fixed on their opponent. Then, for a single moment, the sun caught Arthur's eye, blinding him, giving Leon the opportunity to unsaddle him; instead of taking the chance, the knight lifted his lance away from Arthur, determined not to harm the future king. Merlyn grimaced, knowing that it was the wrong thing to do: the prince wouldn't take the action well, thinking that he was being pitied or treated differently.

Arthur literally threw his weapon at Merlyn as hard as he could, looking a little apologetic as he pulled off his helmet. Unfortunately for Leon, his mask of anger returned when he saw his old friend, utterly bewildered by his antics.

"Why did you pull out? I was wide open, you could've unhorsed me." he questioned, demanding an answer from the knight.

"I didn't want to injure you, sire." Leon tried not to appear sheepish, but didn't quite have the strength to meet Arthur's rage filled gaze.

"You had the advantage, you can't afford to hesitate." The prince continued as if his knight hadn't spoken, still confused. Merlyn genuinely hadn't known that Arthur was utterly oblivious to the special treatment he was often handed due to his status.

"Yes, I wouldn't have done if I were facing a different opponent." Leon glowered, refusing to back down. "You are the future king, my lord."

The prince looked lost in thought, but his gaze never wavered. "You jousted against me in the tournament last year. Are you saying you let me win?"

"No, my lord." Leon's hesitation was enough to convince almost everyone that he was lying; Merlyn tilted her head slightly. It appeared that the knights, many of whom were much older that Arthur himself, appeared to blame their lack of talent on the fact that they couldn't possibly hurt the prince. It was almost like an unspoken pact between the knights, to blame their failures on status alone. Merlyn had watched almost all of the knights fight on separate occasions, many of them using similar excuses about her gender to wave away the fact that she'd beaten them; it was completely unfair. She'd watched Arthur joust and, although she wasn't sure where it came from due to the ignorance of his men, his superiority was evident in his blows. No one had let him win, they simply couldn't admit it.

"It doesn't matter who I am. I do not expect special treatment from you, from any of you. Is that understood?" The prince had raised his voice, his eyes engulfed in anger and a self doubt that would take more than Merlyn to heal. The knights, at least, had the decency to look ashamed, only able to watch as their future king stormed off, followed closely by a tired Merlyn.