While this starts off with one of the main players behind Uther's decision to ban magic, and will include many others, it will be a bromance focusing on The knights of the round table, though admittedly most of the focus goes to Arthur, Merlin, Gwaine and Lancelot, and on how they could have been, if the BBC wasn't so fond of shocking plot-twists and killing off vital characters. (Not that I'm complaining, it was a good show, they just stretched the whole Merlin hiding his magic a bit too long). This is also an Alternate Reality/Universe, because I'm adding a few bits of Arthurian Legend in as well.

Warnings! Mentions of blood and dead children. Some Alternate Character interpretations scattered throughout.

A round robin was a circular piece of wood with names carved in it, usually made by pirates conspiring to mutiny so that if they were found, the captain couldn't execute the guy at the top of the list for being the ring-leader.

Nimueh

The sky was a beautiful blue, there were birds singing, and Nimueh wished it was storming to reflect her turmoil as she stared at the bodies of druids, children and babes dead in their mothers' arms, because of Uther's Purge.

Nimueh had loved Uther. He'd come to her and Balinor for help in stopping the civil war, and they had aided him, Nimueh herself had blessed his reign when they finally emerged the victors.

She liked Balinor fine, but the man was always talking about dragons, and the concern that the civil war had killed too many dragon lords on the opposing side. Gaius, for all his simple tricks, was an adept healer, and loyal to Uther having saved their lives many times. Sir Gorlois, without magic, had been a formidable foe on the battlefield.

Ygraine, on the other hand, Nimueh had always been torn about. She was a kind woman, always interested in learning as much as she could of the Old religion, made Nimueh think of her as a little sister; Ygraine had mediated much of their discussions, when their pride sought to tear them apart, she had been invaluable, but Nimueh wished … well, it didn't matter now, Uther had chosen her, and Nimueh had blessed the marriage.

Perhaps she should have cursed it. Things might have turned out better.

But no, she would not have done it, not with Ygraine looking so happy. Nor would she have refused her and Uther's request to use the Old Ways to bring a child to their union, having heard the same rumblings of unrest as time went on and there was no heir to the throne.

She had warned them that there would be a price, for the magic to work, someone would die when the child was born, but she, like them, had just assumed it would be someone else. She would have never knowingly caused Ygraine's death.

She remembered Ygraine's joy when she visited court after doing the ritual. Suffering from the odd morning sickness that afflicted pregnant women had not dimmed the blonde's joy, and she had thanked Nimueh so much for her use of magic.

Now that she knew the cost, Nimueh felt tears burn her eyes at the memory, wishing it had been Uther who had died for the sake of his heir, not Ygraine. The spell, like so many others that she had learned but never had used before, had required someone who had most loved the life coming into the world to die.

And who would love the life they were bringing into the world more than a mother?

Nimueh could never have children, not as High Priestess, it was barred to her, along with the physical pleasures of sharing a bed, by the vows she had taken.

Ygraine's joy had been infectious, she remembered, lost in memories even as she knelt next to the body of a child. And she had been willing to spread that love and joy to Nimueh, making her current situation all the more bitter.

"This child is yours as well." Ygraine had placed Nimueh's hand on her rounded stomach. "Your magic helped me conceive him, though you cannot bear your own, you should be here to see him grow."

"I," A small hit, as if something tiny had kicked her hand, made Nimueh words vanish.

"Did you feel it?" Ygraine asked, giddy like a child herself, and Nimueh laughed in delight as the child kicked again, making its presence known.

She'd kept that joy even as she fell ill, a sign Nimueh should have noticed. Gaius should have noticed, even Balinor should have noticed, and realized that the birth of the child they were all looking forward to would be the death of the woman that they all cared for.

"It happens, sire, her body is focusing on the child's health more than her own. Many a woman has fallen ill while child bearing, and many recover." Gaius had assured them.

Nimueh closed the child's eyes.

"Nimueh, can you promise me something?" Ygraine looked up from her spot on the bed, where she had been confined to keep her strength up. Nimueh looked up from where she was blessing the room to keep its occupants safe from illness and to speed recovery.

"Yes, my Queen."

"Promise me you'll protect and love our child as best you can?"

"Still believe my ritual makes him part mine?" Nimueh quipped, only to have Ygraine grab her hand, looking at her with almost desperation.

"Please?"

"… I swear on my magic, I will love and protect your son, Ygraine." Nimueh had taken both of her hands in one, and placed the other on her swollen stomach. "So mote it be." The babe had kicked as if affirming it had heard the vow.

"Thank you."

Ygraine had died, and Nimueh had only then realized that the spell for the child had taken his mother's life in payment. Uther had mourned, had not touched his son, left him in the care of a wet nurse and Gaius, and Nimueh and Balinor had not been able to reach him in his seclusion.

She had not been there when he'd emerged, over a fortnight later, and declared magic banned from Camelot. She had not wanted to believe it, even when rumors came he had started by tricking Balinor and the Great Dragon into a prison, killing the other dragon lords and dragons with the aid of sorcerers before turning on them.

Then she had gone, and he'd tried to kill her, blaming her for Ygraine's death. She and Balinor had barely escaped with their lives, and Gaius and Gorlois had sided with Uther despite the man's obvious madness.

"He's awfully thorough." A voice noted, heavy with guilt and grief. "It made him a wonderful strategist."

"Get rid of the strongest threats first, the dragons and dragon lords, then the strongest sorcerers, and now the druids." Nimueh agreed, her own voice weighted with the same weight. "We were fools, thinking there could ever be peace."

Balinor knelt beside her. "Kilgharrah, he said that Arthur was the Once and Future King, his birth means Emrys will be born soon."

"The Disir have made the same prophecy. They said they will bring magic back and unite all of Albion." Nimueh had told Ygraine, just before she died. "Do we dare believe it? Uther was prophesized to bring peace to Camelot, look at what he's done."

"It never said how long the peace would last, just that his children would be far greater than him." Balinor reminded her, studying her.

"I hate him, for what he's done." Nimueh whispered. "And yet my heart still cries out for him, for Gorlois, for Gaius, for Ygraine and all we once shared together. And the pain they cause me hurts."

"As does mine, as does Gorlois and Gaius, they let us escape." Balinor assured her.

"Why are you here?" Nimueh asked, and Balinor closed his eyes.

"Gorlois is dead, as is Vivienne, Uther has taken their daughter in to be his ward."

"… He didn't. Gorlois was his most loyal friend!" Nimueh felt sick, what sort of man had she pledged her loyalty to?

"Vivienne practiced the old ways, Gorlois refused to kill her. Uther claimed he was enchanted, and there was no choice but to kill them both to save their daughter."

"Goddess …" Nimueh murmured. "And this is the man who will raise the Once and Future King?" How could anything flourish with such a tainted well?

Balinor said nothing more, leaving her to ride away. They could never stay in one place for long, and though it was the work of a moment for her to bury the bodies, it was still more time than was safe after she'd been lost in her thoughts for so long.

An idea formed, a desperate and wild idea, as she rode from the mass grave.

Fear not, Ygraine, I will not let our son suffer for that man's mistakes.

... In my head canon, Nimueh, Ygraine, Uther, Balinor, Gorlois, and Gaius were the 'round table' of Uther's time as he ended the civil war with their aid. They would have done anything for each other.

Nimueh will eventually get another chapter, next up, well, we skip ahead a bit. These aren't going to be in perfect chronological order, I'm afraid.