Chapter Text
It had been two days since Arthur had awoken and his wounds were healing nicely. He was still forbidden by Gaius from doing any heavy training so he was spending his days on more administrative tasks, and there were plenty of those. The reversed lockdown had created a lot of work for Arthur. He and Leon had to supervise all of the knights and monitor the progress of the investigation. Besides the knights, a cleanup of what had been the tavern was still underway, and Arthur was making it a point to visit with the owners of the tavern, the survivors from the fire, and the families of those who did not.
The visits with the survivors of the fire went quite well. They seemed grateful for his help and attention. Arthur had no issues promising them funding until they could recover from their injuries and return to their jobs. Speaking to those who had lost people was more difficult, but Arthur thought that he’d struck the right balance between sincerity and strength.
Arthur still made sure to visit Merlin everyday, usually once but often more. He’d rush to see him in the morning in the hopes that he would be awake, and then when he wasn’t he’d complain to him about all that he had to do that day. Sometimes Arthur found himself asking Merlin’s corpse questions. He dearly hoped that the man wouldn’t remember anything when he woke up.
The nobles had been especially upset as of late. Arthur could even feel resentment from his knights over how the issue was being resolved. Truth be told, part of him wondered why he didn’t just acquiesce and handle things in the way that his father would have. Sure, Arthur had reasons for why he was acting the way that he was, but the whispered accusations that he heard of him being “soft on magic” still bothered him. Magic was a dangerous force, of this Arthur was confident. But he didn’t see why bystanders had to suffer in its eradication. And Arthur was nothing if not stubborn, he would stick to this choice of action until it proved wrong.
That afternoon, as Arthur was in the middle of an argument with Lord James, Sir Gwaine burst into his chambers and cut them off.
“I’m sorry my Lord, but I need to talk to the King urgently,” he said and made to pull Arthur from the conversation.
“Sir Gwaine, this is entirely inappropriate! Sire, I must ask that—”
“We can finish this later James,” said Arthur. Gwaine’s eyes were firm and serious, a rarity for him. Arthur could tell that whatever he needed to tell him, it was important. “It seems that this situation requires immediate attention.”
Sir James looked affronted, but he left the room. Arthur kneaded his temples. He was going to pay for that one later. He turned to Gwaine.
“This had better be worth it,” said Arthur.
“Believe me it is, the girl just left the gates to pick herbs,” he said.
Arthur gaped at him. Had it really worked? “Then what are you doing here!” he roared.
“Elyan is with a squad of knights going to her as we speak.”
Arthur started to make his way out of the room, vaguely planning on donning armour, but Gwaine grabbed him by the arm to stop him. In the process he hit one of Arthur’s still healing burns and he hissed with pain.
“Gwaine!” he shouted, snatching his arm from his grasp.
The man chuckled, “For that reason specifically you can’t come along Arthur.”
Arthur opened his mouth to protest, but Gwaine held firm. “I came to tell you so that when Elyan gets back you’d be ready to see her, not so that you could run off cock-headed!”
Arthur groaned knowing that Gwaine was right. “She’ll be taken to the dungeons when she gets back,” he thought aloud. “Ready a cell. I’ll go and fetch Sir Ranulf, we can get him to identify her.”
Gwaine nodded and sprinted away while Arthur made a beeline to where Ranulf was staying.
As he got closer to the man’s quarters, he began to feel a little guilty for not having visited him more often since his accident. Everything had gotten so crazy that Arthur had unintentionally pushed the man to the side. With this visit, and the girls capture, Arthur hoped to put this right.
When he arrived in Sir Ranulf’s chambers, he found that Sir Bors was there as well.
“Bors, it is good to see you,” Arthur said politely. Leon had told him that Bors had been a bit hesitant about the his strategy. Hopefully those concerns would be alleviated in the next few hours. The man did seem less enthusiastic to see him as he usually did.
“King Arthur,” he said with a tight smile. “What a lovely surprise.”
Arthur forced out a chuckle. “I feel as if it has been far too long since I’ve been at training.”
“Yes it does,” Bors said, “But the city had been in quite a bit of upheaval as of late. Have your injuries been healing well.”
Arthur gingerly patted his arm, “Better than expected, Gaius says that I can be back out on the field within the week. It had been nice talking with you, but I have something of confidence to discuss with Ranulf.” Bors gave another tight smile and said, “Of course,” before leaving the room.
“How have you been feeling?” asked Arthur. “I’m sorry that I have not been able to visit with you as much, the city has been very demanding as of late.”
Ranulf laughed, “I understand Arthur, you don’t have to coddle me.” His arm was neatly stitched up, and his missing eye was covered with a patch. Overall, the man seemed better than he had before.
“Thank you for understanding,” said Arthur. “I expect that you would like to know how the search for your assailant has been going.” With those words the man’s calm and easy-going persona became stifled.
He pursed his lips before saying, “I hope that she is found, but I confess that I am worried.”
“Worried about what?”
“Worried that she’ll escape! Bors tells me that you haven’t even been conducting searches!” he seemed to catch himself and lowered his energy levels as he continued. “I am simply worried that this girl will escape, alongside the perpetrator of this arson.”
“You can rest assured then Ranulf,” said Arthur. “I have a team of knights surrounding your assailant as we speak”
Ranulf’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“I have been conducting a very targeted operation to find the person responsible for assault,” said Arthur. “We believe her to be the same person responsible for the recent arson. We managed to put specific traps in place and are apprehending her right now. We just need you to confirm that the woman we caught is her.”
Ranulf’s mouth bobbed up and down before settling in a mean line. “It will be my pleasure sire.”
There was a specific cell that was used for sorcerer interrogations in Camelot. It was small and devoid of windows. The only light came from the torches on the walls, but even when they were lit it seemed to do little good. The darkness had penetrated the very walls. It was a terrible place and Arthur had refrained from using it very often in his reign. But there was a reason why he was using it today. The thick bars that separated the prisoner from his keepers were inscribed with strange markings that were ineligible to Arthur. He could remember when his father first took him down to this and he had asked what they were.
“Symbols of the Old Religion,” he had said gravely. “They keep the sorcerers from practicing their evil craft.” Arthur had wondered how the markings had gotten there in the first place but had known better than to ask his father.
Arthur pondered this question again as he waited with Gwaine and Ranulf for the prisoner to be brought in. They were waiting in the office by the dungeons because nobody could bear be in the actual cells for ay longer than they had to. He had confidence in his men, but he was still anxious about the sorcerer’s capture. If the girl was lost, then it would only amount to more ammunition for those who believed that he was incompetently dealing with the situation. He tried to keep the apprehension from his face, depicting a cool, confident aura.
Gwaine was far less relaxed, the same mania that had possessed him since Merlin’s injury apparent now. Ranulf was the most on edge, he was hunched over and kneading his hands in anticipation.
After waiting for almost an hour, Sir Elyan came into the office. He was roughed up a bit, but did not seem to have any actual injuries. “Did you catch her?” Arthur asked.
Elyan responded with a satisfied grin that calmed Arthur down. “Yeah, we did. The men are bringing her in right now.”
“Did anyone see her being brought in?” asked Arthur.
“We tried to keep it quiet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if half of the city knew that a suspect had been arrested by this time tomorrow.” Arthur sighed, but it was no big matter. Her execution would be public anyway.
“Is the cell ready?” asked Arthur.
“It should be by now.”
“Perfect, let’s go.
The four men walked down to the cells, Arthur in the lead and Sir Ranulf following eagerly behind him. The cell was as dark as it ever was and Arthur gestured for Gwaine to light the torches. Once light swarmed into the room Sir Ranulf gasped.
“That’s her sire. That’s the girl! She was with Morgana!” he looked at her with a smirk on his face. “You thought that you could defy us witch! We found you and what we do to you will make your crimes towards me seem like a mercy!” Arthur generally did not approve of taunting already detained prisoners, but he allowed it in this instance. Ranulf had been through too much.
The girl sneered back to him. She had long, dark hair and angry little eyes. She laughed at Sir Ranulf’s taunts. “Burning me won’t bring your limbs back, or your eye. You won’t be able to use them to murder anyone else. So I can die in peace,” she said.
“And what of the people who died in that tavern fire?” asked Arthur. “You clearly admit to your crimes against Sir Ranulf, but what did those in the tavern ever do to you?”
Arthur had expected the girl to snap back defiantly, but instead she bowed her head and said nothing.
“Too many demons like yourself,” continued Sir Ranulf. “You can’t murder something without a soul,” he sneered.
“Then I suppose that you cannot accuse me of murder for trying to kill you!” spit the girl.
“Enough of this!” roared Arthur. “I will be asking the questions from here. What’s your name girl?”
She scoffed again. “King Arthur of Camelot deigns to know my name. Perhaps you are better than your father. He killed babes without names.”
Arthur gritted his teeth, “Answer the question, or you’ll lose an eye too.”
The girl narrowed her eyes but responded, “Kara.”
“Why did you target Sir Ranulf?” he asked.
The girl shrugged, picking at the floor.
“But why?” asked Arthur. “He did nothing to you.”
“And I did nothing to him! He’s done plenty to me though. He’s murdered hundreds of my brothers and sisters!” she screamed.
Ranulf laughed darkly, “Of course! I should have known Druid scum when I saw it!” The way that the girl froze told Arthur that it was true. But why would a druid be so violent?
“Scum!” she cried before spitting at their speak. “I never murdered babes!”
“Enough!” roared Arthur. He looked to the girl and said. “You clearly have no remorse for what you’ve done. Your execution will happen soon. Goodbye.” With that, Arthur turned and left the cell, but he could hear her yell, “The great Once and Future King doesn’t even hold trials! You’re just like your father!” as the doors closed.
After they had exited the dreary cold of the dungeons, Sir Ranulf turned to Arthur with a look of relief on his face. “Thank you sire,” he said. “Thank you for this.”
“Of course,” said Arthur, still dizzy from the girls ranting. “I promised you that she would be captured. I take the well-being of knights very seriously.”
“Yes, my lord. I admit that I doubted you for a bit when I heard about what was going on. But I never should have. You have done all that you should have.” Sir Ranulf clapped Arthur on the back before hobbling back to his chambers.
Organizing an execution was not something that Arthur had had to do very much in his time as King so far. Despite his time on the battlefield, at heart he had never enjoyed watching people die. But it was unavoidable in this case. The girl was evil and had no desire to do anything other than hurt his people. So for the first time in years, a pire was being built in Camelot. He could hear the cheering and excitement from the streets. They knew what the building of a pire meant.
That evening was less tense for Arthur and Guinevere than it had been for a few weeks. With the capture of Sir Ranulf’s perpetrator and the arson of the tavern. Arthur felt more accomplished than he had in quite a while. His less extreme approach had worked. He had managed to capture a dangerous criminal without terrorizing the people of Camelot. So he and Guinevere elected to celebrate the occasion. He had George bring up wine, better that what they usually drunk, and they tried their best to have a nice evening.
“I propose a toast,” said Guinevere, her eyes smiling.
“A toast to what?” said Arthur.
“A toast for your sticking with your guns. You did exactly what you thought that you needed to do, and we caught the girl with no searches needed.”
Arthur shrugged, but rose his glass up as well. “Here’s to one challenge accomplished.” They clinked their glasses together and both took a sip before resting in an uneasy silence. Arthur couldn’t help but be a bit on edge. The small intimate environment in his room had reminded him of who wasn’t there. He hadn’t visited Merlin since that morning, and he had a feeling that he needed to go and see him. He said this much to Guinevere.
She sighed. “I don’t know how you can bear to see him so often. Going into his room makes me so sad. I can’t bear to see him lying there.”
“I just can’t stomach something happening to him in that room without me knowing,” said Arthur. Gwen opened her mouth to protest but Arthur quickly said, “I know that Gaius says that he’s fine but I still worry about him. At any random moment something awful could happen and… I just have to be there. I wouldn’t leave his side if I could,” Arthur confessed.
“You can go check on him Arthur,” said Guinevere. “Let… let me know how he is.” Arthur smiled grimly and kissed his wife in the lips. “I will be back soon.
For what seemed to be the hundredth time, Arthur sprinted to the physician’s rooms desperate to see his friend. Gaius wasn’t there, likely out doing his rounds. So Arthur hopped up the stairs to Merlin’s room and opened the door. To his surprise, someone was by his side. It was Mordred.