Magic Arrives in Camelot

CAMELOT
Arthur

Arthur had been having an amazing couple of days this past week. His emotional and physical life were both on track, his training had been going well, his hunts were usually successful and according to his father's instructions they had finally caught a sorcerer.

That was what his father thought…. but in all honesty, they had not been able to even find let alone catch a sorcerer and thus Arthur had brought someone worthy of the guillotine.

The man that was to be executed at dawn was named… Kanen.
Now Kanen was no sorcerer…nooo. But he wasn't an innocent man either. He was a rapist, a bandit and a thief. Arthur had caught him raiding a village close to the border and had taken him prisoner, while out on border checks.
He was guilty of raping young girls, murdering innocent men for no reason and stealing food from the hungry.

Arthur could not think of anyone else more deserving of the punishment.

Arthur had been the sole witness that saw Kanen perform sorcery. Or lack thereof, but no one would have guts enough to question the word of the prince, now will they?
He turns his head and sees a familiar figure coming towards him- and then corrects himself, no one would question the Prince, except,
"Morgana," he greets his personal Satan. And gets…. slapped for his trouble.

Arthur jerks in surprise.

No matter how much he pretends to be a tough guy, Morgana's slaps always hurt.
He grits his teeth and whips his head towards her angrily.
"What was that for?!" His voice is low... but anger shines from each syllable.

"I heard that you wanted a gift for your birthday, well there you go." Morgana snarks and when Arthur's disbelief must have shown on his face, she continued,
"You deserve such a gift, I heard that you brought another innocent sorcerer for your dear father to execute in celebration of your birthday. An innocent man, Arthur." Morgana has tears of anger filling her eyes,
"Even if he is a sorcerer he doesn't have to be… guilty." A tear slips down her face, which she angrily wipes off her face and Arthur's anger fades a little.

"He is not." He replies and Morgana whips her head towards him, raising her hand again to slap him once more. He catches her at the wrist though and drags her to a hidden alcove.
"He is not a sorcerer but he is guilty. He is a bandit, a rapist and a murderer."

Morgana who had been furiously trying to get her writs out of his grip, suddenly stops and listens, and Arthur asks her imploringly "Tell me he does not deserve it." he knew Morgana hated injustice- she had been the one person who he had thought would support him in this little act of rebellion...

"He is not a… sorcerer?" Morgana asks him hesitantly, still stuck on the off-handedly mentioned comment.

"No...," he replied and when Morgana started smirking, he hurriedly added, "We couldn't find one." But she still smirked.
She knew that Arthur could find anything. Even things that did not exist if he put his mind to it, let alone a sorcerer. This fact alone would mean that Arthur had not looked hard enough for a sorcerer. For an innocent to kill just to please his father- in her eyes this was growth.

She will never say it but she was glad that Arthur was finally becoming his own man.
Also, It was about time! She had seen Uther rule unjustly and hypocritically for so long.
Even as a child she had disliked the King but once her father died- because of Uther- she had been forced to spend the rest of her days in Camelot with the person who had been responsible for her being an orphan.

Arthur just huffs and leaves Morgana to her smirking and goes to Gaius, he has been needing some massage oil. His shoulder aches from the weight training yesterday and also… he had finished his last bottle on Gwen.

His first picnic with the maid had been amazing, to say the least. They had gotten along really well and had met thrice since then- well 'Met' was an umbrella term for all the stuff that they had been up to.

She had promised to give him a special gift for his birthday. Tonight. He thought about it with excitement.
He hoped that they would finally move forward from what they had done the last time, cover or rather uncover all the bases on his birthday.

But even if they didn't, he'd like to be ready for anything... and thus the oil.

He enters the physician's chambers and doesn't immediately spot Gaius. He follows the clunking noises to a room he swears he has never seen before.
Attached to Gaius's chambers is another chamber that is actually just as big and spacious, even better- it has a window which provides the perfect view of Camelot and its market. There were cupboards and a bed in perfect shape- all in all, it was a very nice room. Not the prince's chambers but it could be as big as knights and had more furniture than it ought to.

He turns back to the noise of movement - the old Physician seems to be cleaning the space.
"Sire?" Gaius exclaims when he sees Arthur, "Can I help you with something?"

The old man was still acting wary. Nowadays, the prince only contacted Gaius if he needed some questions answered and usually, those questions were about magic.

"Yes, Gaius." Arthur goes and sits down on the double bed in the new chambers before continuing, "Why have I never seen these chambers?"

Gaius lets the mop fall and sits down to rest his tired feet, one of the two chairs opposite the bed, he then looks around the room and breathes out a sigh.
"This room used to be where I used to heal magical ailments, only. Patients with magical maladies knew to meet me in these chambers and not the outer ones." He cleared his throat before adding, "Once the King outlawed magic, this room was of no more use, hence locked and used as a storeroom."
Gaius stops there still looking around the room as if remembering, but that does not explain why Arthur is seeing this room now.

"And now?" he asks, why was Gaius cleaning the room now, after 20 years? Why not just let it remain locked- there was no use for it or was there?

A smile spread across the physician's face, unlike any he had ever seen before. Gaius gets up and picks up the mop again, turning away from him to continue cleaning.
"And now… I have my nephew coming to stay in Camelot. Tomorrow actually!" Gaius was mopping again, not stopping to speak, "He has apparently travelled a lot and is now looking for a stable job."

"A nephew?!" Arthur exclaims he didn't know Gaius had a family. He had never before mentioned one.
"Yes, Sire. My nephew." Looking at Arthur's still shocked face Gaius pauses but continues, "He went missing for a few years and I haven't seen him since he was a wee babe but I often wondered what had become of him…"

After a second, Gaius seems to shake himself from the reverie and adds with a proud smile, "Although, his mother now tells me that he has become a master of many things." He looks around both of the chambers, nods to himself and then adds,

"And since I needed someone here to help out with things- I called him here." Looking at Arthur again, he explains further, "I had taught his mother the art of medicine and science, she tells me that he knows it too- better than her actually. He will be of great help to me here, sire." Gaius finishes as an explanation and Arthur nods.

Gaius was not the oldest man he knew but he was still old and an able-bodied person will be of much use to the physician. But a nephew? He was still having a hard time accepting that Gaius had a family that he didn't know about.

And listening to Gaius, he knew that the physician already thought of his nephew as a god's gift, he sneered mentally. Who knows what kind of a person he was after missing for so many years.

He looked at the physician once again and was shocked to feel a jolt of envy go through him, he couldn't believe himself. He was already jealous of the 'nephew' even before meeting him, but he felt like he had a reason to be.

Arthur had never had a relative that loved him enough to take him in, each of his relatives was a snake looking to take over the throne of Camelot. Gaius was the only one he had trusted to be vulnerable with and now his 'nephew' will come and take Arthur's place. Gaius probably won't need Arthur anymore.

And what kind of a man left his mother alone, if Arthur had a mother, he would have never left her for anything….

He looks back at the physician who had resumed cleaning once more, whistling whilst doing it. Another jolt goes through him, this time of longing. Whoever this 'nephew' was… he was very lucky. To have Gaius and a mother.
In these days of famine and war- most parents and children died- leaving many children orphans and many parents lacking a child. He quickly gets up and leaves, not wanting to delve any deeper in these dark thoughts on the eve of his birthday.

Hours later when he heard the knock on his chamber doors and saw Guinevere- only then did he realize that not only had he forgotten all about their meeting tonight but also the sole reason of why he had visited Gaius. The oil.

*
It was the day of his birthday… many people celebrated, forgetting that it was also the day that his mother had died. That Camelot had lost his Queen.

It was the usual gore, people came to Dance and Eat.
There was going to be entertainment as well for which Arthur had already decided to get piss drunk.
And to add a cherry on top on this beautiful day, there was going to be one more thing- an execution. 20 years since Magic was banned in Camelot. Bleh.
His father was keener on the execution than his birthday- he could understand. If Arthur loved someone as much as his father had loved his mother… maybe he would have held executions too.

Morris, his servant came as usual- always on time and creepily quiet- thinking that Arthur was still asleep.
Arthur waited until he heard Morris leave the chambers, after setting his breakfast before getting up to get fresh and get ready for the day.
He wasn't amazing at getting himself dressed but he usually managed it in 3-to-4 tries.
The first thing to attend was the execution, the day had started to dawn and his father would expect him to be there for the speech, Birthday or no birthday.
He quickly donned his Circlet (to the head) and carried his sword with him to the Balcony where his father was going to be giving the speech.

*
Merlin

For a second he just looks. It is the first time he is actually seeing Camelot.
Last time when he was here it had been completely dark, he had come in like a thief in the night and left before sunrise. But now… the sun was rising, giving Camelot a halo of its own. No one could dispute that Camelot was beautiful. Magnificent with its turrets and the market… the people.

He had landed Thunder a few minutes ago in the middle of the forest to put a glamour on him- making him seem like a normal everyday horse.
He mentally sends a message to Thunder to move forward and together they enter the land of Camelot.

On the way, many random thoughts came to his head. But few stood out, like how for 20 years Uther had started this stupid war against magic and achieved jack shit. Magic was present more dominantly in Camelot than anywhere else he had been (except Ambrosia). There was magic in every stone that lined the Castle, it was in every speck of green in the gardens. Magic was infused in every drop of water. Camelot was a temple for Magic. Like Ambrosia was…. he could sense the history that had formed Camelot into the Kingdom it was now.

As magic itself, he could feel as each speck of dust jumped in joy recognizing his presence. Animals came out of their shelter to greet him, fawns, ducks, rabbits and funnily enough- multitudes of merlin birds. It was like they knew what was about to come.
In the past, his entry to Camelot had felt momentous…. this time, it felt like coming back home.

When he gets closer to the castle, he hears Uther voice and recognizes it as the speech he had heard when he had entered Camelot in the past. He had hoped that since Ambrosia had been formed that these executions would come to a standstill… but apparently not.
'20 years since the ban on evil Magic' he hears Uther drone…

Merlin dismounts Thunder and pats him on the side, mentally thanking him for the ride.
He then pays the stable boy and gives him specific instructions about his diet. Merlin will still come regularly to make sure that Thunder is comfortable and that he is being given enough apples in his diet. Thunder loves apples and also Merlin will make sure that he is not saddled at all times and take him for flights every other day….
Amidst his worrying, he feels Thunder nuzzle him and mentally chiding him to 'not to worry' making Merlin laugh.

He is just stoking Thunder's mane and distractedly listening to Uther's speech when he feels eyes on him, they are burning a hole in his back- with their intensity. He is curious as to who it is and turns his head towards the direction of the stare. Surprisingly, his eyes come to rest on his Golden Prince.
Arthur's features are not as clear from this far but Merlin is sure that the young prince has seen him and Thunder. Arthur must be admiring his horse… Thunder is definitely a vision.

He jerkily turns away, pats Thunder for the last time and makes his way quickly to the guards stationed around.
He knows his way around Camelot like he knows his own magic… but he is pretending to be new in Camelot… hence, it won't do well for his cover if he didn't ask for directions.

He quickly asks the way to the physician's chambers, making his demeanour as harmless as he could. The guard points toward the opposite side of the Castle and Merlin makes his way across the courtyard.
But before he exits, his curiosity makes him pause to see the person who is being executed- as he was sure that at this moment in time Thomas and his mother were selling their magical candles in Ambrosia.
So, he wanted to find out who actually was being executed, instead.

He looks up towards the executioner's block and his eyes widen in surprise.
He knows the man being executed, in fact, he had killed this man himself. In the past.

Kanen. This was the man that had lead raiding parties on Ealdor, murdered innocent people and raped young girls.
He would have turned his head away in sympathy if someone being executed had been an innocent.
But, now… now he stares straight at the frightened face of the raider.
He hated executions in general but for this one, he stayed and watched it till the end.

He watches as the headman lands his axe on Kanen's head, watches how on the first hit the head didn't sever completely so the headman axes a still alive Kanen once again- many people wince and look away but he continues watching. Death should be painful for people like Kanen, he hoped all the souls Kanen had tortured will get some peace after this.

Once the courtyard has all but emptied, he slowly looks away from the executioner's block, sending a mental thanks to whoever caught Kanen and then makes his way towards the direction the guard pointed the physician's chambers to be.

He didn't look back, not even once but he could feel his prince's eyes boring into his back again. 'It wasn't the horse he had been looking at then', was Merlin's departing thought.

Arthur

He had made his way to the balcony in record time but his father had already started the speech. He had just nodded to Gaius in greeting and moved onto Morgana to do the same. Only to see that she wasn't doing what she usually did- that was scowling at Uther- but looking at someone in the courtyard.

Arthur followed her line of sight and saw the object of her attention. It was a man (no surprise there), but something was most striking about this man.
The said man was currently dismounting his magnificent horse in one smooth glide and then seemed to pay the stable boy for the horse's care.
For a while the man just seemed to shower attention on his horse, then as if feeling eyes on him he suddenly turns his head and looks straight at Arthur.

Arthur would have turned away but he finds that he can't… he swallows instead as his mouth has gone suspiciously dry. Instead of focusing on his father, he focuses on the man who seemed new to Camelot since Arthur saw him asking for directions...

He hasn't been able to take his eyes off the stranger. He is still too far away for Arthur to make out his features but the man looks fit enough to be a knight and given the quality of his horse and the type of clothes he wore… maybe the man was a son of a lord- in Camelot to try out for Knighthood.

That gave Arthur something to look forward to, he needed able-bodied men in his contingent. Maybe he will take the man under him…. His eyes widen at his own thoughts and just for clarification to himself, he shouts in his head. He will take the man under him- for teaching! Not for anything lewd.
Camelot needed men like this one.

Arthur could tell he was capable just by his gait.

The stranger's gait was confident even in a strange city, he walked more like a King than a lord though.
Arthur sees the man pause at the execution, sees the stiffness instil in the body when the said person looked at the accused- Arthur knows what that means- the stranger recognizes Kanen.
That was curious.

He drags his eyes away from the man during the execution but they return to him afterwards.
He doesn't know why, but this man…. There was just something about him….
He gnaws his lips with his teeth, staring at the doorway the man had disappeared into minutes ago.

Everybody had already left by the time he decided to move away from the Balcony… he must have been standing for much longer than he had thought.
He frowns and hurriedly makes his way back to his chambers.
He had much work to do- he needs to send contingents on patrol to look for the Dragon and the Kingdom, needed to train his knights, prepare himself for the feast tonight and remember to ask Gaius for the oil.

This time he will remember.