rabbit hearted boy, part six
Part Five
Part Six
As it happened, Uther wasn’t quite able to keep his promise to Arthur, but it was in part due to reasons outside of his control. Uther had awoken that morning with every intention of speaking to Arthur after he had finished his breakfast tray in his chambers, but almost as soon as he was dressed there was a knock on his door from one of his knights with urgent business.
Uther had ordered the arrest of the sorcerer Alvarr as he looked to be behind the mysterious deaths - deaths that had occurred with no trace of medical reasoning - in one of the lower towns, but upon receiving the information that a similar death had occurred in the main marketplace just that morning, Uther had to spring into action. Gaius had advised Uther on the matter when the deaths had first been brought to his attention, and informed him that sometimes the heart did just give out if people were aging or had a history of illness, but Uther could not spare a minute to find out further. He would not have the people of Camelot falling prey to the machinations of a sorcerer he had already locked up in his dungeons.
Racing out of the castle to follow his knights, Uther stopped only to inform Sir Leon who he happened to see in passing that he had matters to attend, and to tell his son to wait for him inside the castle; he would find Arthur for their promised meeting as soon as he returned.
Arthur was unlucky in this turn of events. Had Uther told Arthur himself, or perhaps thought to pass on the message through someone else, Arthur would have gone about his day as usual while he waited for Uther to return. However, Leon would not go against a direct order given to him by the king, and as the king told him Arthur should wait for him in the castle, Leon would see to it that Arthur would wait in the castle. Leon permitted him to walk about as much as he wished while accompanied, but he would not go outside; and he would certainly not go swimming.
This made Arthur very bored. Merlin was busy doing things for Gaius and he had already seen everything the castle had to show many times before so he did not know what to do. When he said this to Leon, the knight only replied, “Perhaps you should collect your thoughts, sire.”
“My thoughts?”
“Yes. Your thoughts.”
“Do you do that?”
“Sometimes.”
“What kind of thoughts?”
Leon sighed. “Any kind, my lord.”
“But…like what?”
“Perhaps you should think about what you were going to discuss with your father. You mentioned something last night…about the duties of a king,” Leon suggested, when Arthur continued to look blank.
“Oh.” The truth was he could sort of remember saying something Leon along those lines the previous night, but it was very hazy…like that one year when the mist became really thick and from the castle window you could still partially see the town, but something was obstructing it. He refrained from saying as much to Leon, however, as he was looking out the window himself and seemingly collecting his own thoughts.
Arthur tried to follow suit but whenever he tried to concentrate it was like something was blocking him, almost to the point where it felt like something was aching in his head.
When Uther returned it was only early afternoon, but he was well too late. The physician had confirmed the man in the town had died of natural causes, giving him reason to feel hopeful, but by the time he saw Arthur, the prince, deprived of the water for far longer than he had grown accustomed to, could not concentrate.
Uther tried, pulling out some scrolls, telling him the history of the kings and kingdoms and Camelot especially, intending to ease his son into the subject before discussing what would be his responsibilities. But Arthur found even sitting down still hard to grasp, and was constantly fidgeting with his hands, shaking his legs, looking out the window. Uther found this behaviour strange, as Arthur had always been very placid when doing what he wanted, and he had seemed, or at least claimed, to want this, but when he tried to ask him what was wrong Arthur only smiled - that docile, dopey smile the curse had given him.
That was when Uther gave up. “Just leave!” he bellowed.
“What?” Arthur yelped, startled.
Uther stormed to the doors of the hall and opened, where two of the guards and Sir Leon stood waiting.
“You may take him,” he said to Sir Leon, before walking out.
As he fumed through the corridors Uther happened to walk past his wife. He had not seen her since she left the hall the previous night, but as she was with Morgana and her handmaiden he merely nodded at them and continued walking past. However, a few moments later he discovered Ygraine had other ideas.
“Uther!”
He turned just short of the staircase and stared back at his wife standing, now solitary, at the opposite end of the corridor.
“Have you seen Arthur yet today?” she wondered.
“Yes. I have.”
“I see.” Ygraine hesitated a moment longer before inquiring, “Did you…speak with him?”
His own sense of failure rang in his ears as strongly as Ygraine’s words the night before when he replied, “I tried.”
She replied with a smile, and she did not look at him unkindly, but it was the silence that bit at Uther all the way back to his chambers.
*
Arthur was stuck by his own sense of silence. After his meeting with his father - that he did not understand at all - Leon finally took him down to his swimming pool, and while there he slowly began to comprehend what had been the point of it all; which had turned out to none for he had not been able to focus enough. He felt rather sombre for the rest of the day, not just while he was in the water, but even after he had left it and gone to dinner, which Uther was conspicuously absent from.
Arthur thought that Leon had noticed his mood for he had come back to check on him after escorting him to his chambers for the night, something he had not done for years, to make sure Arthur was alright and gone to bed. He had been under the covers then, which appeased Leon who promptly left, but he had felt too serious to fall asleep. After laying there for some time Arthur decided that a walk would do him good and climbed out of bed so he could stroll - or rather sneak - around the castle.
When they had been younger, Arthur and Merlin had learnt what they were sure was every way of getting around the castle unnoticed (it was leaving the confines of the castle building and getting past the castle grounds where Leon always managed to foil them) and Arthur used the memory - these were etched in his brain - to end up in the great hall without being observed by anyone. Or so he had thought, until he heard a surprised gasp uttered far behind his shoulder.
He turned from his place looking out the window to stare at the person standing by the door frames. “Guinevere!”
“Sire.”
He paused, caught off guard by her presence, although it was better than having been discovered by any other castle staff. “I did not expect anyone to find me here.”
She gave him a small smile. “Then perhaps you should have closed the door fully.”
“Oh.”
“I was just walking by and thought someone had forgotten to shut it,” she explained, “but I will leave you alone.”
She started to go, but he moved forward to stop her. “You don’t have to.”
Gwen did not mind staying, but it was quite late and it was probably best that she returned to her cousin’s house for the night so she shook her head and retreated a little further. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“No, I…” Arthur tilted his head, so his gaze was through the closed window and down to the kingdom once more. “The interruption was welcome.”
The admission made Gwen hesitate. “Why?”
“It has not been a particularly good day to be…alone with my thoughts.”
Feeling aware of his solemn mood, Gwen felt reason to stay; to speak to this Arthur. Even when she had spoken to him in water he had never seemed quite so serious. Making her mind up, she stepped forward to go into the room and turned to close the door behind her, although she thought the better of it a moment later, considering it would be thought improper enough for her to be found in such a room alone with the prince at this time, let alone with the door closed. The thought should have made her mind up to go home, but a look at the sullen prince furthered her resolve and she made certain the door was not properly shut, although more closed than he had left it.
“I hope something very bad has not happened.”
“No, not very bad, just…what always happens.”
“What always happens?” she asked gently.
He shrugged. “I float. My mind, if not my body. I try to think about things, like now, but I know now that soon - whether it be in only a few minutes or tomorrow - I will forget this. Not that this happened, but…”
“But what?”
Arthur eyed Gwen in the dim moonlight streaming through the windows, who wore wonder and concern in her face and found, somehow, he could not finish his sentence with “how I feel”. He settled for mumbling, “Something.” Shaking his head, he uttered a humourless laugh. “I used to enjoy it so much.”
“The floating?” she guessed, and he affirmed.
“It was fun….exciting. I thought it was special that no one else could, and acted like it was a big joke when everyone else got so worried. If Merlin or Leon told me something was a bad idea because I could get blown away, it made me want to do it more, not less. Right now, the thought of it makes me annoyed, but tomorrow morning I’ll probably want it to happen again.”
“What does it feel like?”
Arthur raised an eyebrow curiously at her. “I just told -”
“No, I know, but…” Gwen shuffled her hands as she tried to make him understand. “You said how it makes you feel, not how it actually feels…to be in the air. I…I don’t envy you your condition, but I do envy that you have been able to experience that.”
“Well…maybe you can.”
“How? I don’t mean any offense, but I’d prefer not to get cursed by a sorcerer.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
“Then, what did you mean?”
“I…” Arthur quickly looked forward out the window, before glancing around them, striding over to the door and shutting it firmly.
“What are you…?”
“You’ll see,” he replied quickly, walking back and looking out the window again. Then he turned sharply to her, something like determination in his face as he stretched his palm out in front of her. “Take my hand.”
“Your hand?” she said dimly.
When he nodded the affirmative she continued to look at him bewildered.
“Sire, I…”
“Why did you call me sire?” he wondered suddenly, not having noticed her addressing him as such when she first entered.
“Because you’re the prince.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I’m just Arthur. Who you met at the lake.”
Gwen flushed in spite of herself. “You cannot be just Arthur in here,” she pointed out, surveying the room they were in; the largest and grandest in all the castle.
“Fine, we can discuss that later -”
“We can?” she blustered.
“Yes. Gwen, just take my hand,” he implored. When she hesitated he added, slightly softer, “Trust me.”
Gwen bit the corner of her lip, considering, but somehow found herself placing her palm into his and when Arthur smiled at her - not very widely, and not very clearly either for it was still quite dark - it was warm and gentle and she felt she had made the right choice.
Until he next spoke; “Now I’ve never tried this before so it’s probably best if you hold on tight.”
Eyes widening, Gwen began, “What do you mean you - oooh!”
Gwen’s cut off speech came in response to Arthur’s opening of the window with his free hand; her gasp to Arthur’s consequent increase in height from the wind that wafted in - and her own flight as a result of the firm grasp of their hands.
“Did it work?” Arthur wondered. As the wind was not strong, and Gwen’s weight was bearing him down he had not risen very high off the ground, but he could not tell if Gwen had had moved as well.
“Uh…a little.” Although the action had caused her to lift off the ground, she felt like she was being pulled back down just as strongly as Arthur’s grip held her in place. Her own weight meant she had not risen very far, her feet seemed perhaps only the width of her hand off the ground, and yet it was more than far enough for Gwen. She took a sharp intake of breath and pointed her toes, equal parts shocked and elated to find her feet still did not reach the ground.
“What do you think?”
Guinevere racked her brains but the only words that came to her mind were “strange” and “magical”; the former felt like an insult, while the latter was obvious. “I…I don’t know.”
Suddenly, Arthur felt her hand let go of his, the plop sound of her feet hitting back on the floor muffled by his attention to the fact that he was starting to float higher at a much faster speed. He put his hands out, intending to grip onto the wall in an attempt to stop the movement, but felt two hands clutch his boot tightly before pulling him back down.
Once Arthur’s feet were back on the ground and his hand gripping the ledge Gwen quickly shut the window closed so that he wouldn’t be in danger of being blown away, before looking back at him.
“Thank you, though,” was the response she managed, hoping that she conveyed with her tone, her look (the latter muted in the dark) the strength of her feeling.
“You’re welcome.”
“I should really go now.”
Arthur nodded, and watched silent as she retreated, making his own way back to his chambers not long after. It was only when, while tucking himself under the covers and trying to hold on to the oddly familiar sensation in his chest for as long as possible; for he knew it would soon fade, that it struck him it was something he had only ever before felt while in water.
*
“What are you smiling about?”
The lady looked over at her companion and smiled. “It’s not long before my visit to Camelot.”
“Already?” The reply was meant to sound off-hand, but the sour tone gave away that it was anything but unexpected.
“Now, don’t be cross,” said the woman, sidling over to the creature addressing her and stroked his large wing tenderly. “You know I would take you with me if I could.”
Kilgharrah, for that was the name of the dragon, huffed and shook his large head. “You say that every year, and yet it has not come to pass.”
Nimueh sighed. She cared for Kilgharrah dearly, but he could be most trying on her patience. “For even I have yet to develop the magic that could hide a dragon from sight. - But fear not, I do have a treat for you today.”
Kilgharrah did not care for the word treat; it made him feel like some sort of animal who existed only for their amusement, and as he felt as if most of his companions behaved towards him in that way already, he did not need to be reminded of it with words. However, Nimueh was better than the rest so he would hear her out. “Continue.”
“Come with me.”
Nimueh led him to a part of the land the other sorcerers did not frequent. The Isle where they resided was not particularly large but there was an area all Nimueh’s own, which he knew she used to practice magic she did not want the others to witness. On a stone tablet he saw a clear crystal ball.
“What is this?”
“This is what I have been working on for the last few months. It can show me whatever and whoever I want to see. I have been making it for you; even though you cannot return to Camelot with us when we visit in secret, you can still look into it.”
“I see.”
“Are you pleased?”
“Indeed. How does it work?”
Nimueh put her hands out and the orb began to light up many colours before transforming into the castle of Camelot.
“Splendid. What are you going to look at?”
Nimueh smiled devilishly. “I think we should pay our friends the Pendragons a visit.”
Colours changed in the orb again, until it became Uther Pendragon - very different since the last time Kilgharrah had seen him, now aging but still the same harsh, unrelenting man.
They watched the stern Uther walk through the grounds of the castle with a grim expression of his face, until he stopped and looked in front of him; what seemed like directly to them in the orb. “Arthur!” he yelled.
“I had thought you said Uther never let his son leave the castle?” Kilgharrah wondered, reflecting on trips Nimueh had made in previous years to Camelot and what she had reported back to him.
Frowning, Nimueh stared harder into the orb. “He didn’t.”
They watched as Uther started walking again, forwards, before stopping and speaking to someone out of their view. Nimueh quickly raised her hands and with a bit of magic she changed the image so that they could see what Uther saw; namely his son, standing in a body of water.
“What’s the boy doing?”
Nimueh ignored Kilgharrah’s question, trying to hear the conversation. She missed Uther’s speech, but, much to her dismay, she heard Arthur’s reply.
“Of course, father.”
It meant nothing to Kilgharrah, who was somewhat bored (as much as he loathed Uther for forcing him into this banishment, and enjoyed seeing the king in a mood, he wanted to look upon Camelot to see the old caves and woods he had once called his home, not the face of an aging man) but to Nimueh who had cast the spell, who had travelled to Camelot each year and spied on the royal family in secret, it was enraging.
“No!” Her cry reverberated throughout the Isle; rippling the water that surrounded them. “So Uther thinks they can get around my spell!” she fumed. “I will show him.”
“What will you do?”
The fury on her face altered into glee, and she placed a gentle hand on Kilgharrah’s wing. “You will see, my pet.”
And she looked so thoroughly evil in that moment, that he excused her use of that other word he hated.
*
The next morning, Arthur woke up, dressed, and sat down on the chair in his room. It felt perfectly normal. Except, he started to realise, that he was thinking about what his father had said to him the day before, asking to meet him this evening to attempt another discussion of a king’s duties. Not only that; he was thinking.
And while thinking he realised, that he had performed his routine all by himself, without his manservant’s help, and had sat down to an empty table for there was no breakfast tray in his room.
Arthur had been through many servants, most unable to keep up with his special needs despite it being Leon’s job to see to the more unusual ones, and his current one was not the most punctual, but to not show up entirely was peculiar, especially when no one else had been sent to see to Arthur in his stead. And even if that were not strange, the absence of Sir Leon by this time in the morning was most extraordinary.
Deciding to leave his room and find out what was going on, Arthur stepped out in the hallway to find…nobody at all. Not altogether strange, but at this time in the morning he normally saw a few of the servants fluttering about. Not to mention that despite not being able to see anyone, he could still hear a lot of noise.
Arthur knew the corridor led out to a balcony that would allow him to look over and see what was going on out in the courtyard, but even from his current sheltered location he could feel a slight breeze blowing at his hair, and decided not to risk it. He instead went the other direction and took the stairs down, and was happy when he reached the floor below to see a familiar face running past.
“Merlin!”
“Arthur! What are you doing? - Where is Sir Leon?”
“I don’t know, I am trying to find him. Have you not seen him either?”
“I did, but about an hour ago.”
“An hour ago, what time do you wake up?”
Merlin shook his head. “There isn’t time Arthur, do you mean you have not heard?”
Arthur paused at the seriousness of Merlin’s tone. “Heard what?”
“Merlin!” another voice cried from across the hall, and looking up Arthur saw Gwen running towards them. “There is none there either!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes! I checked most thoroughly!”
“Checked what?” Arthur demanded, looking back and forth between them. “What is going on?”
Merlin sighed, bracing himself to tell Arthur the news. “There is no water.”
“What?”
“There’s no water, Arthur.”
“But that’s…that’s impossible. There must be water somewhere,” Arthur reasoned.
“There is none in the castle nor any of the town,” Gwen informed him plainly.
“Some of the people from the closest villages have already come to say they have none either. You father has sent the knights to ride out to the other villages to see whether they have any, but they have not returned yet,” Merlin explained.
“But…so the well’s not giving out any water, surely there are supplies kept or something…” Arthur trailed off when Gwen started shaking her head sadly.
“All the supplies have just vanished,” Merlin told him.
“But…” Arthur tried again, unable to say anything else. Suddenly, he turned on his heel and ran down the stairs.
“Arthur!”
He could hear at least one of them running after him, but he didn’t stop, not even when his feet touched the ground floor and he ran out the doors of the castle and Merlin called out, “Arthur, it is windy today!”
He continued until he reached his pool…now nothing more than a large, empty, hole in the ground.
Staring at the gaping, open space Arthur didn’t even realise that he was starting to slowly but surely rise off the ground, until two hands clapped onto his arms and pushed him firmly back down. Arthur raised his head slightly and saw Guinevere standing on his right, her hand still wrapped around his elbow.
She looked at him sympathetically, but seriously. “You need to be inside.”
“She’s right. Come on, Arthur,” Merlin prompted, his hand around Arthur’s other arm and together the two servants began to lead the prince away.
They had almost returned him to the safety of the castle building when, as they were leading him up the castle steps, the doors opened. The courtyard was full of people, all running about in a commotion over the lack of water, and the three had managed to slip unnoticed amongst the disorder; but they could not escape the king’s view now that he stood right in front of them.
“Arthur! What are you doing out here?”
Arthur shrugged as best he could with two people holding him down by his arms, but didn’t have to respond further, for his father turned to stare at the person he had stepped out with.
“Sir Leon! Take Arthur to his chambers immediately!”
Leon nodded instinctively, but couldn’t stop from pointing out, “But, my lord, you just ordered me to -”
“Forget those duties I gave you! Another knight can perform them just as well. Your duty is to the prince. Keep him inside the castle at all times and do not let him out of your sight!”
“But, father -” Arthur argued.
“Enough, Arthur! You will do as I say!”
Uther’s tone was clipped and stern, but it did not stop Leon from interjecting, “With all due respect, sire, you have already sent all of the other knights to search for water.”
Uther recalled the truth of this but would not be swayed, and looked at Sir Leon squarely in the eye. “I have given you your orders. You will follow them. Is that understood?”
Leon bowed humbly. “Yes, sire.”
Uther stormed past and down into the courtyard, without looking at them. Leon tried to hide his disappointment as he smiled politely at Merlin and Gwen.
“Thank you; I will take him from here.”
Merlin and Gwen left Arthur to the knight’s capable hands, and both turned back round to head for the town, while the other two started inside the castle.
Arthur looked at Leon glumly as they made their way up the stairs and to Arthur’s chambers. “Leon?”
“Yes, my lord?”
“I don’t want to just sit and wait while all this goes on,” he admitted.
Leon sighed. “I know, sire. I know.”
*
“Uther?”
“Ygraine.” Uther looked up sharply from his work at the surprise arrival of his wife. “You are still awake.”
“As are you.”
“I have things to see to.” He waved his hands over the papers in front of him, most to do with various issues around Camelot and some correspondence with neighbouring kingdoms that had been neglected in the light of the previous day’s water shortage.
“You need to get some rest. I know you have not eaten properly.”
“I have not had time,” Uther said, rubbing his temples. “And we still need to find a better way of getting water.”
“I thought you said the lack of water had been only confined to this part of Camelot; that the water the knights brought back was only some five, six miles from here,” Ygraine remembered.
“That is true,” Uther pointed out. “But it takes too many knights to get the water and then distribute it amongst the villages that need it, and the town. We cannot be wasting so much time on it; we will have to start rationing the amount of water they bring until we find a solution.”
“But the people! They will suffer of thirst!”
“I cannot waste so many of my men -”
“It is surely not a waste to make sure the people do not suffer.”
“The people will suffer when we are attacked and found wanting.”
“How can you be so sure we are going to be attacked?” Ygraine reasoned. “You said yesterday that you thought this was a sorcerer’s attack against Arthur because a lot of people now know that he regains his balance in water.”
“And I stand by that, but I also believe that this could be an attempt to weaken us before a strike is made.”
“So write to some of the kings and ask them for help!” Ygraine pleaded.
“Never! The moment we tell them of our sufferings they will come and try to take our land.”
“Uther, this is not a time of war!”
“Neither is it a time of peace!”
“Then what do you call this! What have these last twenty five years been, if not peaceful?”
“Peaceful? Ygraine, we have dealt with bad harvests, drought and a son who resembles a twig in a windstorm both in body and in brain. Do you call that peaceful?”
“Camelot has never been attacked. Camelot has friends in other kingdoms.”
“Only because they have always known we are greater than them. We have no arrangements with them that would stop them from attacking us if they chose. And Camelot’s only friends who reside outside of this kingdom are currently in this castle.”
“Not even King Olaf?”
“Olaf will do what suits him best. Besides, Gorlois did mention some troubles he had been having recently, it might be worth his while to take what we have.”
“So you are just going to sit here and try to keep our troubles quiet, and still give out less water to the people?”
“The water is there, the people can get it themselves if what we provide them with is no longer sufficient. And that is not all I am going to do.”
“What is your plan then?”
“I am trying to discover the source of the magic that has caused this so that the spell can be reversed.”
“Have you any leads?”
“A few, but we have not gleaned much yet,” Uther admitted. “However, I have brought forward the execution of the prisoner so we can find out if he knows anything, or can possibly reverse the spell.”
“What prisoner?”
“The one we arrested about a week back. You remember, I told you of him; the sorcerer who had killed all those people while trying to practise his magic -”
“I do remember. I was not aware that he had been sentenced for execution.”
“He was brought before the court. He was found guilty. I did not wish to bother you with his sentencing.”
“The court heard his story when he was arrested and found there was much that pointed to his guilt, but he was not given a trial yet. When did you sentence him?”
“Yesterday. The execution will be set for two days from now.”
“And how will that help our situation with the water?”
“The fear of death may make him reveal some magical secrets.”
“And that is your grand plan?”
“Honestly Ygraine if he had been found guilty his punishment would have been execution anyway.”
“So let him be found guilty at a trial and then execute him.”
“We do not have the time for a trial when we are in danger of dying of thirst, or attack, or both! - What if we wake up tomorrow and the water we are still able to get goes, and we have to go to the outer lying villages for it? What if the next day that water disappears too?”
“I do not wish to keep arguing you with you, Uther -”
“Then perhaps you should just go to bed,” he snapped. “These decisions are not yours to make.”
“Very well. My lord.”
She left sharply, and Uther did not look up when she closed the door without her usual care.
Ygraine was not particularly elegant in her steps either as she made her way back to her chambers. She willed herself to keep calm, and not alert anyone she passed that anything was amiss. She couldn’t have known that while she was having an argument with her husband another had just occurred; this one in a place far away, somewhere Ygraine didn’t even know existed.
*
“What are you doing?”
“I am going to take matters into my own hands!”
“Kilgharrah! You cannot do this! I will find a way to stop Uther from executing Alvarr!” Nimueh tried to reason, after what they had heard from looking into their crystal ball; Uther in the dungeons informing the wizard Alvarr, whom they had both known when he was a child, before they had been banished that he would be executed if he could not return the water to Camelot.
“I don’t know why I have listened to you all these years! It is because of what you have done that they are going to execute Alvarr. I knew his father!”
“As did I!” Nimueh pointed out, but Kilgharrah would not listen.
“I always said you had not taken true vengeance on Uther after he banished us; see, even now, he finds ways to strike at us. But no more.” He flapped his wings and raised himself up, so Nimueh could no longer reach him.
“Kilgharrah, you are going to get hurt!”
He laughed a horrible, maniacal cackling sound. “How can Uther Pendragon harm me?”
“They are many when you are one!”
“I am large and mighty, while they are small. Those men will not know how to kill a dragon; they have not seen a dragon in years.” With swift movements he began to fly away into the air, but Nimueh heard him cry, “I will show them what a dragon really looks like.”
Part Seven
Part Six
As it happened, Uther wasn’t quite able to keep his promise to Arthur, but it was in part due to reasons outside of his control. Uther had awoken that morning with every intention of speaking to Arthur after he had finished his breakfast tray in his chambers, but almost as soon as he was dressed there was a knock on his door from one of his knights with urgent business.
Uther had ordered the arrest of the sorcerer Alvarr as he looked to be behind the mysterious deaths - deaths that had occurred with no trace of medical reasoning - in one of the lower towns, but upon receiving the information that a similar death had occurred in the main marketplace just that morning, Uther had to spring into action. Gaius had advised Uther on the matter when the deaths had first been brought to his attention, and informed him that sometimes the heart did just give out if people were aging or had a history of illness, but Uther could not spare a minute to find out further. He would not have the people of Camelot falling prey to the machinations of a sorcerer he had already locked up in his dungeons.
Racing out of the castle to follow his knights, Uther stopped only to inform Sir Leon who he happened to see in passing that he had matters to attend, and to tell his son to wait for him inside the castle; he would find Arthur for their promised meeting as soon as he returned.
Arthur was unlucky in this turn of events. Had Uther told Arthur himself, or perhaps thought to pass on the message through someone else, Arthur would have gone about his day as usual while he waited for Uther to return. However, Leon would not go against a direct order given to him by the king, and as the king told him Arthur should wait for him in the castle, Leon would see to it that Arthur would wait in the castle. Leon permitted him to walk about as much as he wished while accompanied, but he would not go outside; and he would certainly not go swimming.
This made Arthur very bored. Merlin was busy doing things for Gaius and he had already seen everything the castle had to show many times before so he did not know what to do. When he said this to Leon, the knight only replied, “Perhaps you should collect your thoughts, sire.”
“My thoughts?”
“Yes. Your thoughts.”
“Do you do that?”
“Sometimes.”
“What kind of thoughts?”
Leon sighed. “Any kind, my lord.”
“But…like what?”
“Perhaps you should think about what you were going to discuss with your father. You mentioned something last night…about the duties of a king,” Leon suggested, when Arthur continued to look blank.
“Oh.” The truth was he could sort of remember saying something Leon along those lines the previous night, but it was very hazy…like that one year when the mist became really thick and from the castle window you could still partially see the town, but something was obstructing it. He refrained from saying as much to Leon, however, as he was looking out the window himself and seemingly collecting his own thoughts.
Arthur tried to follow suit but whenever he tried to concentrate it was like something was blocking him, almost to the point where it felt like something was aching in his head.
When Uther returned it was only early afternoon, but he was well too late. The physician had confirmed the man in the town had died of natural causes, giving him reason to feel hopeful, but by the time he saw Arthur, the prince, deprived of the water for far longer than he had grown accustomed to, could not concentrate.
Uther tried, pulling out some scrolls, telling him the history of the kings and kingdoms and Camelot especially, intending to ease his son into the subject before discussing what would be his responsibilities. But Arthur found even sitting down still hard to grasp, and was constantly fidgeting with his hands, shaking his legs, looking out the window. Uther found this behaviour strange, as Arthur had always been very placid when doing what he wanted, and he had seemed, or at least claimed, to want this, but when he tried to ask him what was wrong Arthur only smiled - that docile, dopey smile the curse had given him.
That was when Uther gave up. “Just leave!” he bellowed.
“What?” Arthur yelped, startled.
Uther stormed to the doors of the hall and opened, where two of the guards and Sir Leon stood waiting.
“You may take him,” he said to Sir Leon, before walking out.
As he fumed through the corridors Uther happened to walk past his wife. He had not seen her since she left the hall the previous night, but as she was with Morgana and her handmaiden he merely nodded at them and continued walking past. However, a few moments later he discovered Ygraine had other ideas.
“Uther!”
He turned just short of the staircase and stared back at his wife standing, now solitary, at the opposite end of the corridor.
“Have you seen Arthur yet today?” she wondered.
“Yes. I have.”
“I see.” Ygraine hesitated a moment longer before inquiring, “Did you…speak with him?”
His own sense of failure rang in his ears as strongly as Ygraine’s words the night before when he replied, “I tried.”
She replied with a smile, and she did not look at him unkindly, but it was the silence that bit at Uther all the way back to his chambers.
*
Arthur was stuck by his own sense of silence. After his meeting with his father - that he did not understand at all - Leon finally took him down to his swimming pool, and while there he slowly began to comprehend what had been the point of it all; which had turned out to none for he had not been able to focus enough. He felt rather sombre for the rest of the day, not just while he was in the water, but even after he had left it and gone to dinner, which Uther was conspicuously absent from.
Arthur thought that Leon had noticed his mood for he had come back to check on him after escorting him to his chambers for the night, something he had not done for years, to make sure Arthur was alright and gone to bed. He had been under the covers then, which appeased Leon who promptly left, but he had felt too serious to fall asleep. After laying there for some time Arthur decided that a walk would do him good and climbed out of bed so he could stroll - or rather sneak - around the castle.
When they had been younger, Arthur and Merlin had learnt what they were sure was every way of getting around the castle unnoticed (it was leaving the confines of the castle building and getting past the castle grounds where Leon always managed to foil them) and Arthur used the memory - these were etched in his brain - to end up in the great hall without being observed by anyone. Or so he had thought, until he heard a surprised gasp uttered far behind his shoulder.
He turned from his place looking out the window to stare at the person standing by the door frames. “Guinevere!”
“Sire.”
He paused, caught off guard by her presence, although it was better than having been discovered by any other castle staff. “I did not expect anyone to find me here.”
She gave him a small smile. “Then perhaps you should have closed the door fully.”
“Oh.”
“I was just walking by and thought someone had forgotten to shut it,” she explained, “but I will leave you alone.”
She started to go, but he moved forward to stop her. “You don’t have to.”
Gwen did not mind staying, but it was quite late and it was probably best that she returned to her cousin’s house for the night so she shook her head and retreated a little further. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“No, I…” Arthur tilted his head, so his gaze was through the closed window and down to the kingdom once more. “The interruption was welcome.”
The admission made Gwen hesitate. “Why?”
“It has not been a particularly good day to be…alone with my thoughts.”
Feeling aware of his solemn mood, Gwen felt reason to stay; to speak to this Arthur. Even when she had spoken to him in water he had never seemed quite so serious. Making her mind up, she stepped forward to go into the room and turned to close the door behind her, although she thought the better of it a moment later, considering it would be thought improper enough for her to be found in such a room alone with the prince at this time, let alone with the door closed. The thought should have made her mind up to go home, but a look at the sullen prince furthered her resolve and she made certain the door was not properly shut, although more closed than he had left it.
“I hope something very bad has not happened.”
“No, not very bad, just…what always happens.”
“What always happens?” she asked gently.
He shrugged. “I float. My mind, if not my body. I try to think about things, like now, but I know now that soon - whether it be in only a few minutes or tomorrow - I will forget this. Not that this happened, but…”
“But what?”
Arthur eyed Gwen in the dim moonlight streaming through the windows, who wore wonder and concern in her face and found, somehow, he could not finish his sentence with “how I feel”. He settled for mumbling, “Something.” Shaking his head, he uttered a humourless laugh. “I used to enjoy it so much.”
“The floating?” she guessed, and he affirmed.
“It was fun….exciting. I thought it was special that no one else could, and acted like it was a big joke when everyone else got so worried. If Merlin or Leon told me something was a bad idea because I could get blown away, it made me want to do it more, not less. Right now, the thought of it makes me annoyed, but tomorrow morning I’ll probably want it to happen again.”
“What does it feel like?”
Arthur raised an eyebrow curiously at her. “I just told -”
“No, I know, but…” Gwen shuffled her hands as she tried to make him understand. “You said how it makes you feel, not how it actually feels…to be in the air. I…I don’t envy you your condition, but I do envy that you have been able to experience that.”
“Well…maybe you can.”
“How? I don’t mean any offense, but I’d prefer not to get cursed by a sorcerer.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
“Then, what did you mean?”
“I…” Arthur quickly looked forward out the window, before glancing around them, striding over to the door and shutting it firmly.
“What are you…?”
“You’ll see,” he replied quickly, walking back and looking out the window again. Then he turned sharply to her, something like determination in his face as he stretched his palm out in front of her. “Take my hand.”
“Your hand?” she said dimly.
When he nodded the affirmative she continued to look at him bewildered.
“Sire, I…”
“Why did you call me sire?” he wondered suddenly, not having noticed her addressing him as such when she first entered.
“Because you’re the prince.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I’m just Arthur. Who you met at the lake.”
Gwen flushed in spite of herself. “You cannot be just Arthur in here,” she pointed out, surveying the room they were in; the largest and grandest in all the castle.
“Fine, we can discuss that later -”
“We can?” she blustered.
“Yes. Gwen, just take my hand,” he implored. When she hesitated he added, slightly softer, “Trust me.”
Gwen bit the corner of her lip, considering, but somehow found herself placing her palm into his and when Arthur smiled at her - not very widely, and not very clearly either for it was still quite dark - it was warm and gentle and she felt she had made the right choice.
Until he next spoke; “Now I’ve never tried this before so it’s probably best if you hold on tight.”
Eyes widening, Gwen began, “What do you mean you - oooh!”
Gwen’s cut off speech came in response to Arthur’s opening of the window with his free hand; her gasp to Arthur’s consequent increase in height from the wind that wafted in - and her own flight as a result of the firm grasp of their hands.
“Did it work?” Arthur wondered. As the wind was not strong, and Gwen’s weight was bearing him down he had not risen very high off the ground, but he could not tell if Gwen had had moved as well.
“Uh…a little.” Although the action had caused her to lift off the ground, she felt like she was being pulled back down just as strongly as Arthur’s grip held her in place. Her own weight meant she had not risen very far, her feet seemed perhaps only the width of her hand off the ground, and yet it was more than far enough for Gwen. She took a sharp intake of breath and pointed her toes, equal parts shocked and elated to find her feet still did not reach the ground.
“What do you think?”
Guinevere racked her brains but the only words that came to her mind were “strange” and “magical”; the former felt like an insult, while the latter was obvious. “I…I don’t know.”
Suddenly, Arthur felt her hand let go of his, the plop sound of her feet hitting back on the floor muffled by his attention to the fact that he was starting to float higher at a much faster speed. He put his hands out, intending to grip onto the wall in an attempt to stop the movement, but felt two hands clutch his boot tightly before pulling him back down.
Once Arthur’s feet were back on the ground and his hand gripping the ledge Gwen quickly shut the window closed so that he wouldn’t be in danger of being blown away, before looking back at him.
“Thank you, though,” was the response she managed, hoping that she conveyed with her tone, her look (the latter muted in the dark) the strength of her feeling.
“You’re welcome.”
“I should really go now.”
Arthur nodded, and watched silent as she retreated, making his own way back to his chambers not long after. It was only when, while tucking himself under the covers and trying to hold on to the oddly familiar sensation in his chest for as long as possible; for he knew it would soon fade, that it struck him it was something he had only ever before felt while in water.
*
“What are you smiling about?”
The lady looked over at her companion and smiled. “It’s not long before my visit to Camelot.”
“Already?” The reply was meant to sound off-hand, but the sour tone gave away that it was anything but unexpected.
“Now, don’t be cross,” said the woman, sidling over to the creature addressing her and stroked his large wing tenderly. “You know I would take you with me if I could.”
Kilgharrah, for that was the name of the dragon, huffed and shook his large head. “You say that every year, and yet it has not come to pass.”
Nimueh sighed. She cared for Kilgharrah dearly, but he could be most trying on her patience. “For even I have yet to develop the magic that could hide a dragon from sight. - But fear not, I do have a treat for you today.”
Kilgharrah did not care for the word treat; it made him feel like some sort of animal who existed only for their amusement, and as he felt as if most of his companions behaved towards him in that way already, he did not need to be reminded of it with words. However, Nimueh was better than the rest so he would hear her out. “Continue.”
“Come with me.”
Nimueh led him to a part of the land the other sorcerers did not frequent. The Isle where they resided was not particularly large but there was an area all Nimueh’s own, which he knew she used to practice magic she did not want the others to witness. On a stone tablet he saw a clear crystal ball.
“What is this?”
“This is what I have been working on for the last few months. It can show me whatever and whoever I want to see. I have been making it for you; even though you cannot return to Camelot with us when we visit in secret, you can still look into it.”
“I see.”
“Are you pleased?”
“Indeed. How does it work?”
Nimueh put her hands out and the orb began to light up many colours before transforming into the castle of Camelot.
“Splendid. What are you going to look at?”
Nimueh smiled devilishly. “I think we should pay our friends the Pendragons a visit.”
Colours changed in the orb again, until it became Uther Pendragon - very different since the last time Kilgharrah had seen him, now aging but still the same harsh, unrelenting man.
They watched the stern Uther walk through the grounds of the castle with a grim expression of his face, until he stopped and looked in front of him; what seemed like directly to them in the orb. “Arthur!” he yelled.
“I had thought you said Uther never let his son leave the castle?” Kilgharrah wondered, reflecting on trips Nimueh had made in previous years to Camelot and what she had reported back to him.
Frowning, Nimueh stared harder into the orb. “He didn’t.”
They watched as Uther started walking again, forwards, before stopping and speaking to someone out of their view. Nimueh quickly raised her hands and with a bit of magic she changed the image so that they could see what Uther saw; namely his son, standing in a body of water.
“What’s the boy doing?”
Nimueh ignored Kilgharrah’s question, trying to hear the conversation. She missed Uther’s speech, but, much to her dismay, she heard Arthur’s reply.
“Of course, father.”
It meant nothing to Kilgharrah, who was somewhat bored (as much as he loathed Uther for forcing him into this banishment, and enjoyed seeing the king in a mood, he wanted to look upon Camelot to see the old caves and woods he had once called his home, not the face of an aging man) but to Nimueh who had cast the spell, who had travelled to Camelot each year and spied on the royal family in secret, it was enraging.
“No!” Her cry reverberated throughout the Isle; rippling the water that surrounded them. “So Uther thinks they can get around my spell!” she fumed. “I will show him.”
“What will you do?”
The fury on her face altered into glee, and she placed a gentle hand on Kilgharrah’s wing. “You will see, my pet.”
And she looked so thoroughly evil in that moment, that he excused her use of that other word he hated.
*
The next morning, Arthur woke up, dressed, and sat down on the chair in his room. It felt perfectly normal. Except, he started to realise, that he was thinking about what his father had said to him the day before, asking to meet him this evening to attempt another discussion of a king’s duties. Not only that; he was thinking.
And while thinking he realised, that he had performed his routine all by himself, without his manservant’s help, and had sat down to an empty table for there was no breakfast tray in his room.
Arthur had been through many servants, most unable to keep up with his special needs despite it being Leon’s job to see to the more unusual ones, and his current one was not the most punctual, but to not show up entirely was peculiar, especially when no one else had been sent to see to Arthur in his stead. And even if that were not strange, the absence of Sir Leon by this time in the morning was most extraordinary.
Deciding to leave his room and find out what was going on, Arthur stepped out in the hallway to find…nobody at all. Not altogether strange, but at this time in the morning he normally saw a few of the servants fluttering about. Not to mention that despite not being able to see anyone, he could still hear a lot of noise.
Arthur knew the corridor led out to a balcony that would allow him to look over and see what was going on out in the courtyard, but even from his current sheltered location he could feel a slight breeze blowing at his hair, and decided not to risk it. He instead went the other direction and took the stairs down, and was happy when he reached the floor below to see a familiar face running past.
“Merlin!”
“Arthur! What are you doing? - Where is Sir Leon?”
“I don’t know, I am trying to find him. Have you not seen him either?”
“I did, but about an hour ago.”
“An hour ago, what time do you wake up?”
Merlin shook his head. “There isn’t time Arthur, do you mean you have not heard?”
Arthur paused at the seriousness of Merlin’s tone. “Heard what?”
“Merlin!” another voice cried from across the hall, and looking up Arthur saw Gwen running towards them. “There is none there either!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes! I checked most thoroughly!”
“Checked what?” Arthur demanded, looking back and forth between them. “What is going on?”
Merlin sighed, bracing himself to tell Arthur the news. “There is no water.”
“What?”
“There’s no water, Arthur.”
“But that’s…that’s impossible. There must be water somewhere,” Arthur reasoned.
“There is none in the castle nor any of the town,” Gwen informed him plainly.
“Some of the people from the closest villages have already come to say they have none either. You father has sent the knights to ride out to the other villages to see whether they have any, but they have not returned yet,” Merlin explained.
“But…so the well’s not giving out any water, surely there are supplies kept or something…” Arthur trailed off when Gwen started shaking her head sadly.
“All the supplies have just vanished,” Merlin told him.
“But…” Arthur tried again, unable to say anything else. Suddenly, he turned on his heel and ran down the stairs.
“Arthur!”
He could hear at least one of them running after him, but he didn’t stop, not even when his feet touched the ground floor and he ran out the doors of the castle and Merlin called out, “Arthur, it is windy today!”
He continued until he reached his pool…now nothing more than a large, empty, hole in the ground.
Staring at the gaping, open space Arthur didn’t even realise that he was starting to slowly but surely rise off the ground, until two hands clapped onto his arms and pushed him firmly back down. Arthur raised his head slightly and saw Guinevere standing on his right, her hand still wrapped around his elbow.
She looked at him sympathetically, but seriously. “You need to be inside.”
“She’s right. Come on, Arthur,” Merlin prompted, his hand around Arthur’s other arm and together the two servants began to lead the prince away.
They had almost returned him to the safety of the castle building when, as they were leading him up the castle steps, the doors opened. The courtyard was full of people, all running about in a commotion over the lack of water, and the three had managed to slip unnoticed amongst the disorder; but they could not escape the king’s view now that he stood right in front of them.
“Arthur! What are you doing out here?”
Arthur shrugged as best he could with two people holding him down by his arms, but didn’t have to respond further, for his father turned to stare at the person he had stepped out with.
“Sir Leon! Take Arthur to his chambers immediately!”
Leon nodded instinctively, but couldn’t stop from pointing out, “But, my lord, you just ordered me to -”
“Forget those duties I gave you! Another knight can perform them just as well. Your duty is to the prince. Keep him inside the castle at all times and do not let him out of your sight!”
“But, father -” Arthur argued.
“Enough, Arthur! You will do as I say!”
Uther’s tone was clipped and stern, but it did not stop Leon from interjecting, “With all due respect, sire, you have already sent all of the other knights to search for water.”
Uther recalled the truth of this but would not be swayed, and looked at Sir Leon squarely in the eye. “I have given you your orders. You will follow them. Is that understood?”
Leon bowed humbly. “Yes, sire.”
Uther stormed past and down into the courtyard, without looking at them. Leon tried to hide his disappointment as he smiled politely at Merlin and Gwen.
“Thank you; I will take him from here.”
Merlin and Gwen left Arthur to the knight’s capable hands, and both turned back round to head for the town, while the other two started inside the castle.
Arthur looked at Leon glumly as they made their way up the stairs and to Arthur’s chambers. “Leon?”
“Yes, my lord?”
“I don’t want to just sit and wait while all this goes on,” he admitted.
Leon sighed. “I know, sire. I know.”
*
“Uther?”
“Ygraine.” Uther looked up sharply from his work at the surprise arrival of his wife. “You are still awake.”
“As are you.”
“I have things to see to.” He waved his hands over the papers in front of him, most to do with various issues around Camelot and some correspondence with neighbouring kingdoms that had been neglected in the light of the previous day’s water shortage.
“You need to get some rest. I know you have not eaten properly.”
“I have not had time,” Uther said, rubbing his temples. “And we still need to find a better way of getting water.”
“I thought you said the lack of water had been only confined to this part of Camelot; that the water the knights brought back was only some five, six miles from here,” Ygraine remembered.
“That is true,” Uther pointed out. “But it takes too many knights to get the water and then distribute it amongst the villages that need it, and the town. We cannot be wasting so much time on it; we will have to start rationing the amount of water they bring until we find a solution.”
“But the people! They will suffer of thirst!”
“I cannot waste so many of my men -”
“It is surely not a waste to make sure the people do not suffer.”
“The people will suffer when we are attacked and found wanting.”
“How can you be so sure we are going to be attacked?” Ygraine reasoned. “You said yesterday that you thought this was a sorcerer’s attack against Arthur because a lot of people now know that he regains his balance in water.”
“And I stand by that, but I also believe that this could be an attempt to weaken us before a strike is made.”
“So write to some of the kings and ask them for help!” Ygraine pleaded.
“Never! The moment we tell them of our sufferings they will come and try to take our land.”
“Uther, this is not a time of war!”
“Neither is it a time of peace!”
“Then what do you call this! What have these last twenty five years been, if not peaceful?”
“Peaceful? Ygraine, we have dealt with bad harvests, drought and a son who resembles a twig in a windstorm both in body and in brain. Do you call that peaceful?”
“Camelot has never been attacked. Camelot has friends in other kingdoms.”
“Only because they have always known we are greater than them. We have no arrangements with them that would stop them from attacking us if they chose. And Camelot’s only friends who reside outside of this kingdom are currently in this castle.”
“Not even King Olaf?”
“Olaf will do what suits him best. Besides, Gorlois did mention some troubles he had been having recently, it might be worth his while to take what we have.”
“So you are just going to sit here and try to keep our troubles quiet, and still give out less water to the people?”
“The water is there, the people can get it themselves if what we provide them with is no longer sufficient. And that is not all I am going to do.”
“What is your plan then?”
“I am trying to discover the source of the magic that has caused this so that the spell can be reversed.”
“Have you any leads?”
“A few, but we have not gleaned much yet,” Uther admitted. “However, I have brought forward the execution of the prisoner so we can find out if he knows anything, or can possibly reverse the spell.”
“What prisoner?”
“The one we arrested about a week back. You remember, I told you of him; the sorcerer who had killed all those people while trying to practise his magic -”
“I do remember. I was not aware that he had been sentenced for execution.”
“He was brought before the court. He was found guilty. I did not wish to bother you with his sentencing.”
“The court heard his story when he was arrested and found there was much that pointed to his guilt, but he was not given a trial yet. When did you sentence him?”
“Yesterday. The execution will be set for two days from now.”
“And how will that help our situation with the water?”
“The fear of death may make him reveal some magical secrets.”
“And that is your grand plan?”
“Honestly Ygraine if he had been found guilty his punishment would have been execution anyway.”
“So let him be found guilty at a trial and then execute him.”
“We do not have the time for a trial when we are in danger of dying of thirst, or attack, or both! - What if we wake up tomorrow and the water we are still able to get goes, and we have to go to the outer lying villages for it? What if the next day that water disappears too?”
“I do not wish to keep arguing you with you, Uther -”
“Then perhaps you should just go to bed,” he snapped. “These decisions are not yours to make.”
“Very well. My lord.”
She left sharply, and Uther did not look up when she closed the door without her usual care.
Ygraine was not particularly elegant in her steps either as she made her way back to her chambers. She willed herself to keep calm, and not alert anyone she passed that anything was amiss. She couldn’t have known that while she was having an argument with her husband another had just occurred; this one in a place far away, somewhere Ygraine didn’t even know existed.
*
“What are you doing?”
“I am going to take matters into my own hands!”
“Kilgharrah! You cannot do this! I will find a way to stop Uther from executing Alvarr!” Nimueh tried to reason, after what they had heard from looking into their crystal ball; Uther in the dungeons informing the wizard Alvarr, whom they had both known when he was a child, before they had been banished that he would be executed if he could not return the water to Camelot.
“I don’t know why I have listened to you all these years! It is because of what you have done that they are going to execute Alvarr. I knew his father!”
“As did I!” Nimueh pointed out, but Kilgharrah would not listen.
“I always said you had not taken true vengeance on Uther after he banished us; see, even now, he finds ways to strike at us. But no more.” He flapped his wings and raised himself up, so Nimueh could no longer reach him.
“Kilgharrah, you are going to get hurt!”
He laughed a horrible, maniacal cackling sound. “How can Uther Pendragon harm me?”
“They are many when you are one!”
“I am large and mighty, while they are small. Those men will not know how to kill a dragon; they have not seen a dragon in years.” With swift movements he began to fly away into the air, but Nimueh heard him cry, “I will show them what a dragon really looks like.”
Part Seven