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Chapter Text

It wasn’t an overly strange thing that a Queen was betrothed to a Prince or even a King of another Kingdom and unite their land into one Kingdom. It had happened in the past, which is why some Kingdoms like Mercia and Essetir had grown in size during the past 200 years.

Soon, another event just like that would take place, when the young Queen of Dyred would marry the Prince of Camelot to unite their lands and strengthen their armies.

Said Queen was now on her way to meet her betrothed for the first time, as it had been arranged quite soon after her birth since her father had fallen ill, and the Dragonborn dynasty had to be secured for another generation.

And to the late King Balinor, the young Prince of Camelot seemed like the best choice at the moment.

Murainn, or Mura, agreed with her father’s choice.

Yes, the young Prince was arrogant, but at least he had a heart for his people.

King Cenred was ruthless, sadistic, and cunning, and he thought little of the smaller villages that did not provide his Kingdom with its riches.

Other kings were too old or didn’t have a male heir.

Currently, the raven-haired queen was on her way eastward, to the castle of Camelot behind the White Mountain range that stretched quite far.

But the carriage was back on the main road to the gates.

“Everything will be fine, my lady.” the Queen’s handmaiden said.

“I do have hope for Prince Arthur, even if I am unsure about how living with him will turn out.” Mura looked at the smaller woman in front of her. “We are both still young. He’s just twenty, I’m seventeen.”

“Your father wouldn’t have picked the Prince if he didn’t believe he’d be good for you.”

“I hope so Freya, I sincerely hope so.”

{Arthur’s POV}

Today was a bloody hell.

Just this morning, we had another sorcerer who lost his head on the chopping block.

Then, his mother had said ‘There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic! It is you! With your hatred and your ignorance! You took my son! And I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son.’

Those last words, a son for a son, rang in my head.

And after the execution, my father told me that my betrothed would arrive today.

It’s not that I didn’t want to meet her. I did. But I was in a foul mood after the execution.

Were her words true in any way? Was I going to die within 5 days?

I did not go to greet my betrothed as she arrived. Instead, I went maybe a bit too brutal on my knights.

I did see in Leon’s face, however, that he understood.

As I was taking a break in the shadow of a tree, I saw Gaius leading around a lady.

My breath was caught in my throat, and my mouth ran dry.

The lady had long raven locks of hair, strands braided and twisted. Her skin was probably even more pale than his, or it was an illusion due to the dark blue dress with golden accents on her shoulders and waist. She didn’t have any accessories on, but I could imagine them decorating her and bring out even more of her beauty.

“Ah! Prince Arthur, Queen Murainn has arrived.”

Murainn… my betrothed.

I walked closer to her, took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “My lady.”

Murainn was young, she’d probably not seen 19 winters yet.

“Prince Arthur, it’s an honour to meet you.” my betrothed said, looking me up and down. “I hope we can make a much better acquaintance once you have washed the sweat out of your hair.”

I was mortified.

My future wife grinned. “Our kingdoms do need a strong King to lead them. Perhaps you should continue.”

“My lady.” I nodded with my head and I had an apologetic smile on my face.

“Please, call me Mura.” she said to me, smiling gracefully. “We are to be wed, after all. I prefer a casual approach in private.”

“I’ll remember.”

As I watched her walk away, I noticed that I was enchanted by her beautiful blue eyes. There was just something about her that I couldn’t place.

Mura was lounging in her chair while Freya was fetching food and drinks.

Together, they’d stacked the clothes in the closet, with magic, of course, while the door was locked.

Right now, she was reading an herbal remedy book. The very one that her mother gave her before she left for Camelot to meet with her betrothed.

Perhaps Gaius would be happy with such a book if he didn’t have one of his own.

She did miss Dyred, the familiarity she had with the castle, and all the people living and working there. She was a real woman of the people, and if she hadn’t been betrothed, there was a likelihood that she would’ve married Will, one of the stable boys. Had that happened, other rulers would likely have looked down on her for doing so. Not that it would’ve mattered, the laws of Dyred state clearly that class will never be an issue in marriage.

Then, there was a knock on the door.

The Queen put the book on her lap. “Enter.”

A dark-skinned girl opened the door. “My lady. I’m Guinevere, Lady Morgana’s maid. I’m here to extend an invitation from my Mistress.”

“That is lovely. I shall find her once I’ve had my meal. My own maid, Freya, should be here soon.”

The girl in yellow bowed. “Thank you, my lady. I’ll inform my Mistress that you will visit her.”

Mura nodded. “Of course.” and she turned back to her book as the door closed behind the serving girl.

Not much later, Freya returned with a plate of food that consisted of bread and fruits and some tea.

“Thank you, Freya. Today I only have one more task for you, I need you to prepare me for the feast tonight.” the 17-year-old said. “After that, you may rest. We had a long trip.”

The young maid nodded. “What do you wish to wear tonight?”

“Something… that would impress. It will, after all, be my first appearance in a foreign court.”

Freya nodded. “I think I know the right dress for you.”

“Perfect. I will soon leave to meet the King’s ward, Lady Morgana.”

“I will make sure everything will be in order before your appearance in court.”

Morgana’s Chambers were in the West wing, just beyond the Griffin Landing.

Mura went into the room. “Morgana, you wanted to see me?”

“She’s behind her changing screen, my lady.” the maid said.

The Queen laughed. “Please, call me Mura. I’ve never been quite at ease with people calling me Your Highness and all that. It’s something I put up with in court, but outside of it I’d rather be addressed informally.”

“Of course.” the maid was young, probably just as young as her or at the very least around her age.

Morgana then came out behind the screen, dressed in a skin-tight no-sleeve halter top red gown. “You must be the one my idiotic step-brother’s going to marry.”

“I don’t think I can call him an idiot. He’s arrogant, yes, but that is sadly a quality present in every Prince in this realm. He might be an ass, but I’m sure there’s a good man inside of him.”

“You’ll get to know him better in the upcoming days.” Morgana’s green eyes sparkled with mischief. “I’ve been rude, where are my manners? I’m Morgana.”

“Murainn, but I prefer Mura.”

The King’s ward looked at the young Queen. “Arthur’s quite lucky in the department of looks, it seems. I guess I can only hope you’re nothing like Vivian.”

Mura raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think I know this ‘Vivian’ you are referring to.”

“King Olaf’s daughter, she’s from the far North.” the older woman said. “You’ll meet her, one day.”

“I suppose I will.”

Morgana smiled. “You better get ready for the feast.”

“I should. We will talk later.” and the young Queen left, going back to her own chambers.

His ceremonial robes felt a bit too tight as he was approaching the door of his future wife’s guest chambers. He was sweating underneath the fabric, suddenly finding the spring air too hot to bear.

This entire arrangement had been set up by their fathers 14 or so years ago, to secure their dynasties lived on. At least he was no longer a bargaining chip for his father to marry off, but he certainly hoped that Mura was the kind of woman he wanted for himself.

The stories Arthur had heard about her made her look like a good Queen, one who cared sincerely about her people and would gladly give her life if it meant that her people were prosperous. She was the Queen he’d imagine by his side when he was King, but it didn’t have to mean that they were compatible as a couple beyond that. They had to click in private too.

The blonde opened the door. “Mura, I was thi-” he stopped in his tracks.

There was stuff levitating.

A jug was hanging in the air filling up a mug, a tunic was being washed by an invisible person, a flowerpot was put down on the little side table on a chair and there was a book hanging in the air in front of Mura’s nose while her maid was putting on a necklace.

The young serving girl jumped, but the raven-haired woman calmly looked up. “Oh, hello Arthur. I did not know you were coming.” the book shut itself and plopped down on the chair just like someone threw it there. The jug also placed itself down, turning 180 degrees before sitting still completely. And the tunic just slid into the bucket of water.

“You are a…” the Prince of Camelot couldn’t say the word.

“If you were going to say ‘sorceress’, no. I’m not a sorceress, I’m a witch. There’s quite a clear difference.” the raven-haired woman said, fixing her earrings. “You may leave, Freya.”

The girl looked fearfully at the Prince.

“He’s not going to hurt me, Freya. I can handle myself.” and thte Queen fixed her own belt a little, a silver one that accentuated her waist in the dark blue dress covering her skin.

The servant left.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you on the spot.” Arthur didn’t feel rage. Yes, he was angered. There’d been so much bad magic lately, that he just didn’t want to see it anymore.

“One; you can’t. Two; I didn’t harm anyone by levitating stuff around. Freya’s used to it.”

The blonde put his face in his palms.

“I know you’re confused.” the soft voice of his betrothed said. “But I can easily tell you, magic is neither good nor bad. It is how you use it.”

“So… everything my dad says is a lie?” the Prince of Camelot removed one hand, to look into the blue eyes of the Queen of Dyred.

Mura’s expression turned into a frown. “Well, not everything. There are these things like Necromancy, which is literally conjuring the dead, or bringing to life creatures that harm everything in their path… things that can only be done if one is truly corrupted by magic itself. But healing wounds… that’s not exactly what I would say falls in the category Dark Magic.”

“So… there is a line between good and bad.”

The Dyredian Queen nodded. “There is. And I’ll promise you, I’ll never cross that line.”

“Right.” Arthur looked at the floor. “I won’t tell my father, but you should refrain from using magic in any public space. You can do it in private, but make sure that that door is locked.”

“Will do.” and the raven-haired beauty offered him her hand. “Shall we?”

“Certainly, my lady.” the Prince said with a smile.

The young woman clearly got the joke and was also laughing as they went out the door to the banquet hall, where they were being awaited.

Freya had seen the exchange and was smiling. “Magic might just return to the lands of Camelot.” and she retreated to her bed. There she would wait for her lady to return.

{Gaius POV}

I hadn’t seen Lady Murainn the entire afternoon, but I wasn’t quite surprised when she entered on Arthur’s arm. She seemed in a very good mood indeed.

The woman was beautiful, there was no denying in that. She had a certain charm on her, one that certainly would make her popular among the working class.

That particular charm had also been in Ygraine’s possession, which was one of the many reasons Uther had chosen her as a bride above all other women that were available to him at that time. And it seemed history was little by little repeating itself… if only the similarities would be cut off at a certain point.

Many nobles were looking at the foreign Queen.

I smiled.

Of course, a woman like Lady Murainn would attract the attention of many courtesans, married and unmarried alike. And I can only hope she is wise not to fall into temptation. It is likely that her mother, Lady Hunith, would’ve given her this advice before she left.

I recently received a letter from the Dowager Queen, telling me about her daughter’s gifts.

It was always very likely that their child would inherit powerful magic. After all, King Balinor had been a Dragonlord, quite nearly the last of his kind. And now, his daughter was the Dragonlady, the last of her kind.

I should probably tell her about the Dragon underneath the castle, Killgharrah. But it is likely that he will call out to her soon, if he hasn’t already done so. She will need his help.

Everyone took their seats at the tables when the celebratory horns signal King Uther's entrance.

The man walked to the front, to the royal table where the lady Morgana would be sitting left of Uther, with Arthur to his right and Mura to his right.

“We have enjoyed twenty years of peace and prosperity.” the current King began. “It has brought the kingdom and myself many pleasures, but few can compare with the honour of introducing Lady Helen of Mora!” and he took his seat as there was thunderous applause echoing through the chamber.

The foreign Queen took a little look at her husband-to-be, who had a slightly uncomfortable look as he sat down in his chair.

Then, Lady Helen started singing. The song wasn’t in English, nor was it Latin. It was an older language, one spoken long before the Romans had invaded the southern lands where they now lived.

It was the language of the Old Religion.

Mura blinked as she saw all the courtiers nod off… falling asleep. She realized that the song was a spell!

Quickly, the flames of the candles died as if a gust of wind had simply killed all the flames that had been lit.

The singing woman stepped off the podium, walking forward as cobwebs started to form, covering everyone’s faces as well as the food that was on the table. There were even some on the chandeliers.

The young Queen realized she was the only one still awake and covered her ears.

Lady Helen of Mora was staring straight at Arthur with a vengeful expression. She didn’t seem to notice that there was someone quite wide awake. Then, she pulled a dagger from her dress’s sleeve as she sung the climax of her song, which were 4 different words for ‘dead’.

The Dyredian Queen looked around for something she could use to knock the woman off her socks.

The chandelier.

The witch’s eyes flashed golden and the chain of the chandelier broke, falling heavy on top of the woman.

Silence filled the room as everyone slowly woke up from their spell-induced sleep. The courtiers pulled off the cobwebs that had formed on them, or they had a servant do it while muttering.

Mura looked to the side to see her betrothed and future father-in-law stand up to look at the woman lying down. So, she too took a peek.

Instead of a dark-haired somewhat middle-aged woman, an old and wrinkled up woman from around Gaius’s age was lying there under the chandelier.

Then, that woman used her last strength to pick up the dagger she’d dropped, throwing it at Arthur.

The 17-year-old’s eyes glowed golden again, slowing down Time. She quickly reached for her betrothed, pulling him out of his seat and onto the floor before the ‘spell’ broke.

Instead, the dagger pierced the wood of the back of the chair.

There was one, last cry of agony before she fell face first back onto the carpeted floor.

Arthur looked at his wife-to-be.

She’d saved him, without a doubt using magic to counter what the older woman had done.

Then he realized he was literally lying on top of her, in a pretty compromising position. He quickly got off of her before extending his arms to help her up.

For such tiny hands, the grip they had on his shoulders was pretty damn strong.

“I hope I didn’t crush you.” the Prince sounded apologetic.

Mura simply smiled. “I’m fine. I’m not made of glass, my dear.”

Uther simply stared at the woman who had saved his son’s life.

The 20-year-old scraped his throat. “Father. I’d like to excuse myself. I will escort my betrothed to her chambers, so she will be able to rest. It has been quite an eventful night.”

“It certainly has. You may leave.” the King said.

Arthur then escorted Mura out of the banquet hall. “What was that?”

“A spell disguised as a song.” the secret witch replied. “I was able to stay awake long enough to do something before she killed you. Do you know who she was?”

The blonde nodded. “The mother of the man who was executed before you arrived yesterday. I should’ve guessed something like this was going to happen.”

“Unless you’re a Seer, you can’t.”

“You weren’t there yet when she said the words ‘a son for a son’. It had put me in a foul mood, which is why I wasn’t at the citadel to greet you. My behaviour would’ve been quite erratic and unpleasant.” the Prince told her. “If that had been your first impression of me, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have been able to have any sort of civil conversation after that.”

“I’m glad for your honesty.” the young woman said. “My mother always told me that communication is very important in marriage. I want to heed that advice, as it was a key component of my parents’ relationship. Everyone who knew them said they were quite the happily married couple.”

“I like your mom already.” Arthur said with a smile.

“I’m glad.”

When the pair stood before the door of Mura’s guest chambers, the Camelotian Prince took both her hands in his. “I want to take you on a lunch in the forest tomorrow. I wish to know you better.”

“Of course.” the Dyredian said. “Around when will you pick me up?”

“I shall be at your door around noon. Does that ring fine?”

“Yes. I’ll see you at noon.” and the doors of the chambers closed.

Chapter Text

Arthur knew he should be preparing for the Tournament, which was tomorrow. But he’d been preparing for weeks now, and he needed privacy with his betrothed.

They would still walk the hallways arm in arm, be seated together at the Royal breakfast table, but none of that allowed them to be themselves. While out in the forest, they would be.

And after the Tournament, he would certainly take his betrothed out on a date again.

The Prince had ordered his manservant Morris to ready two horses and also prepare a lunch pack for two.

The kid wouldn’t go with them, as they’d need complete privacy for their talks.

At noon exactly, the blonde knocked on the wooden door.

The Queen’s maid opened the door. “My lady is ready.” and she opened the door further to allow her Mistress to pass through.

Mura once more dressed to impress. Now she was wearing a burgundy red gown, wider than the ones she’d worn before, without decorations but with cap sleeves and a medium high neckline.

“Mura, you look beautiful once more.” he knew he should’ve picked some flowers for her, or another traditional courting gift from a man to a woman. Perhaps next time around.

“Thank you, Arthur.” and she locked her arm with his as they took off.

Freya shut the door behind them.

“My manservant has prepared our horses and packed our lunch.” Arthur told. “We can take off immediately if you wish.”

“I certainly can’t wait to spend some time with you.”

The pair walked down the stairs to the courtyard, where a normal built young man with black curls was waiting with two horses belonging to the Royal stables.

Both of them were already saddled.

The Prince helped the maiden onto the black horse before climbing onto his own. Together, they rode out of the city’s protective walls and into the forest.

The clearing they found was beautiful.

The rays of the sun descended down on the leaves on the ground and the undergrowth that covered it. Birds were chirping melodically, filling the comfortable silence between the couple that laid on the plaid.

Mura’s head was on Arthur’s right shoulder as the man’s fingers had tangled with her raven locks. They both had their eyes closed, enjoying the peace and quiet for as long as it would last. Partially eaten bread was left for the birds and ants to pick up, and some wine had spilled over a patch of moss.

If someone were to find them, they wouldn’t be able to say something inappropriate was going on.

The Prince knew that certain things couldn’t happen before marriage. They could kiss each other, show bits of passion, but they should never lose themselves to that passion… not before marriage anyway.

“I do like this peace.” the Dyredian stated. “I get quite fed up with the buzz of cities at times.”

“I guess everyone would like to get away sometimes.” the blonde sighed. “It might be hard, after I become King, but I still want to find moments so we can be just like this.”

“Well, aren’t you romantic.” and she stomped his side playfully, making the Camelotian Prince smile.

Two pairs of blue eyes found each other. “I wouldn’t want to be a husband who doesn’t care about his wife’s needs and wants in a relationship. I know this marriage wasn’t born from love, but I can at least make an attempt. I hope you will also make an effort.”

“We both have to make an effort, otherwise it will never work out.” the secret witch said.

“I’ll definitely take you out on some more dates.” the 20-year-old traced his betrothed’s right cheekbone. He still had to get used to her having magic. She wasn’t like all those angry sorcerers that had tried to kill him in the past couple years. “We should go back soon, though.”

“Ten more minutes.” Mura whispered, making Arthur laugh.

Mura found this entire tournament quite stupid.

She was sitting on the left side of the Royal box, where Uther would be seated after his speech, flanked by a Knight on each side as protection. Freya was to her left.

On the right side of the box sat Morgana, with Gwen to her right.

Opposite to her reaction, the pair of them were rather excited as the competitors entered the arena.

Uther strutted past the front line of tournament participants. “Knights of the realm, it’s a great honour to welcome you to a tournament at Camelot. Over the next three days, you will come to put your bravery to the test, your skills as warriors, and of course, to challenge the reigning champion, my son, Prince Arthur. Only one can have the honour of being crowned champion, and he will receive a prize of 1,000 gold pieces.” the King announced.

Somewhere to the side, a pretty large box opened, revealing the gold.

Ooh’s and ah’s came from the crowd which had gathered in the grandstands around the sandy pit.

“It is in combat that we learn a knight’s true nature, whether he is indeed a warrior or a coward. Let the tournament begin!”

The crowd cheered as most knights exited the arena, only two remaining to open the tournament.

The Dyredian Queen had to say that her betrothed looked quite handsome and fearsome. Aesthetically, he definitely had the looks of a brave warrior and king.

Uther stopped by Arthur on his way to the stands and spoke to him, and that something only seemed to put Arthur in a worse mood, before the slap on the back came and the King went to sit on his throne.

“It’s going to be fine.” Freya said, touching her Mistress’s shoulder.

“I just have this feeling Freya.” the Queen said. “I can just… feel it. The presence of something that shouldn’t be here.”

As the pair of women were speaking, guards took Arthur and the other knight’s capes, and they put on helmets.

The fight had begun.

Without a doubt, Murainn could say that her husband-to-be was good in combat. He had told her in a rare letter a couple of years ago that he’d been trained to handle a sword for as long as he could remember. He had interesting blow combinations but didn’t shy away from using his physical strength.

The fights continued, and one by one Knights started dropping out each round. Each of them had different styles of fighting.

The foreign Queen felt creeped out by this Sir Valiant. She didn’t know why, but he had a very strange air hanging around him. She felt like she couldn’t trust him

When Arthur was done, Mura and Freya left for Arthur’s tent.

“My dear.” the Prince brought her right hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles again. “I hope you have enjoyed seeing your betrothed getting his ass whooped.”

The raven-haired woman chuckled. “You have quite the sense of humour. I did find the fights interesting to watch. You have quite an interesting sequence of blows, but unlike some others, you fight fairly.” she turned her head. “Speaking of the devil.”

The Knight in yellow with the three snakes on his shield strolled past, eying the blue-eyed woman in dark blue, before going to his own with the assigned servant.

“Are you alright?” the blonde asked.

“I do not know.” Mura grimaced. “I just have a bad feeling. I might talk to you about it tonight, as this is a far to public spot for me to say anything about it.”

“I’ll be able to meet with you after the formalities.” Arthur told her.

“I know. I’ll be there.”

All tournament knights were queued up to meet the Royal family.

Each of them would meet with Uther first, before the King would introduce them to his future daughter-in-law and Lady Morgana. Their maids stood a little further back.

Both Murainn and Morgana were dressed regally, as they should.

Valiant was the very first in line. “Knight Valiant of the Western Isles, My Lord.” he introduced himself.

“I saw you fighting today. You have a very aggressive style.” the older Pendragon complemented

The man with extremely short brown hair bowed slightly. “Well, as My Lord said, ‘To lose is to be disgraced’.”

Uther smiled. “I couldn’t agree more. Knight Valiant, may I present the Lady Morgana, my ward, and Queen Murainn of Dyred, my son’s betrothed.”

The Knight in yellow eyed both women before bowing before them. “My Lady.” he kissed Morgana’s hand first.

“I saw you competing today.” the green-eyed woman stated.

“I saw you watching. I understand the tournament champion has the honour of escorting My Lady to the feast.” he said it in a statement.

Morgana nodded. “That’s correct. Unless Prince Arthur wins, as he is betrothed to Lady Murainn.”

“Then I will give everything to win the tournament.”

She smiles and nodded at him, he nodded back before saying “My Lady.” again before walking away.

Mura was glad he hadn’t looked at her again, probably because she was Arthur’s betrothed.

After a bit, it was Arthur’s turn.

Their greeting was not filled with pride or warmth.

“They all seem rather impressed by Knight Valiant.” the older woman said, meaning the Knights.

“And also, some sort of fan favourite, I see.” the Prince said to his ‘step’-sister before bowing his head to Mura in acknowledgement.

The green-eyed lady winked. “Jealous, My Lord?”

The 20-year-old huffed. “Can’t exactly state I am when my future wife is barely a few feet away. Now if you excuse me, I will go with her.” and he extended his arm to his betrothed, who dutifully took it as they entered the hall beyond the throne room.

Morgana just laughed. “It’s always fun to rile him up a bit. But it’s safe to say Mura’s presence has changed his behaviour somewhat.”

Once out of earshot, the engaged pair turned to each other.

“What did you want to tell me?” Arthur asked.

The Dyredian scratched her lower arm. “I feel a presence of magic that isn’t being used rightfully.”

“How do you know?”

Mura shot her betrothed a look. “I may not look or act like it, but I am one of the most powerful magic wielders out there. I can feel malicious intent. Someone might just die.”

That did mentally alarm the Prince. “I don’t like that.”

“No one likes death to occur.” the raven-haired woman glanced sideways at Valiant, who was joking with some other knights from the realm. “It is unlikely that I’ll be able to prevent it, or anyone else for the matter. I guess we have to hope that the Fates aren’t cruel.”

Murainn’s claim of something bad going to happen came true the next day. She knew something was wrong when Valiant stood up, but Sir Ewan, the Knight he was fighting, didn’t.

The man also didn’t move.

The Queen of Dyred stood up, worrying about the fallen Knight as the crowd cheered Valiant on.

Luckily, Gaius was there with his medical bag, scurrying into the arena as Valiant left the scene. He called over two guards to move the Knight to his workroom, where he might be able to treat the Knight.

The 17-year-old turned to Freya. “We need to leave, now. He needs our help.”

The two secret magic users left the grandstands for the castle, following Gaius and the two guards.

“What are you two ladies doing here?” the old man asked.

“Checking something.” Mura stated, looking over Sir Ewan’s revealed skin. Then she spotted two tiny puncture wounds, far enough apart for a snake.

The Court Physician also observed the two small wounds. He pulled a face. “I can’t mix him an antidote if I don’t have the snake to extract the venom from.”

“I will put him in a magically induced coma.” the young Queen said, placing her hands over the Knight’s eyes before whispering the spell that made her eyes glow golden.

Gaius gaped at her. “You know that what you just did is forbidden by law?!”

“Of course, I do. I’m not stupid.” the Witch said. “Unless you’d like to sneak into Valiant’s chambers, steal his shield, animate the snakes and then chop their heads of… this is our best option.”

“Why do you suspect him?” the old man asked.

“Just that there’s something about what he said last night, the words he said and the way he said it to Morgana. It’s as if… he was prepared to cheat in order to ensure his victory.”

The physician gave her a worried look. “There is a chance that his next opponents tomorrow will defeat him fair and square.”

“And if not, he just might kill Arthur the same way. I need to come up with reserve plans.” Mura looked away. “Just publicly say that it might take a week before Sir Ewan is healed, and keep the doors closed. Valiant might send a snake in to finish the job.”

During the night, the Witch was quite unable to sleep. Especially when she started hearing voices calling out her name. But it seems that whatever it was, it communicated with her telepathically as Freya did not hear it. She wondered what it was that called her name.

The next day, the fights would lead up to the half-finals of the tournament. Those two half finals would decide which two Knights would fight in the finals the next day, the fight that would decide the Champion for this year.

Mura was pretty sure that her betrothed could be Champion again, but she hoped Valiant would lose his half-final. She didn’t want to risk losing Arthur, the King prophesized to unite all of Albion and assure the coming of the Golden Age. She knew she had to save Arthur from death one way or another, damn the consequences it would bring. Perhaps she could enchant Arthur’s sword to be able to cut deep into the enchanted shield or replace Valiant’s enchanted shield with a ‘normal’ copy.

Arthur indeed won his fight against what she’d dubbed the ‘bear Knight’, because of his huge frame. He’d go to the finals that would take place tomorrow.

Sadly enough, Valiant also won the half-final against his opponent, making him the other candidate for the title of Tournament Champion this year. Luckily for that Knight, he was simply knocked to the ground without the aid of the serpents on the shield.

The Queen caught up with Gaius, who told her that the magical coma was somehow helping Ewan fighting off the poison without the aid of an antidote, and he was recovering at quite a rate. She hoped that perhaps Sir Ewan would wake up just prior to the final fight, but she couldn’t wait for that. If that event didn’t happen, she still had to be prepared to save Arthur from death.

“Don’t fight Valiant in the tournament tomorrow. He’ll use the shield against you.”

Arthur turned around to see his betrothed had entered his chambers, her maid close behind, functioning as an escort. She had a worried look on her face “I know.”

“Then please, withdraw.” the Dyredian stated. “I don’t want to lose you.”

The Prince shook his head. “I can’t. If I do, I will let my people down, they’ll think I’m a coward. My men wouldn’t follow me into battle anymore if they thought of me like that.”

Mura turned her head to the lit fire. “Then I should let you know, that I’m breaking into the armoury. I will make a magical copy that will not have snakes that will come out on command. If you’re pinned down, that will be your moment to catch him off guard.”

“You’re going to use magic again?” the 20-year-old gave his future wife a look. “You really have to be careful. The guards might spot you.”

“I’ll take protective measures, don’t worry.” and the young Queen left for the armoury.

She used a notice-me-not spell to slip past the guards near the armoury and opened the door soundlessly with just a golden glow of her eyes.

The armoury held all the gear being used by the knights that had been participating in the past 2 days.

As Arthur and Valiant were the only ones left, their gear was placed on tables while the shields and swords of others were scattered elsewhere. So, it was easy to spot the yellow and green snake shield, even in the dark with just a glimmer of moonlight shining through the small windows.

Mura placed a different Camelotian shield behind Valiant’s enchanted shield and whispered: “Write þás gelicnesse ond afæstne þa þæm clute þa.”

The enchanted shield heated up and left an imprint on the shield behind it.

Then, the Witch changed the colours, recreating the paint job of the enchanted shield with minor imperfections that barely anyone would notice if they hadn’t looked closely at the shield before. She took the enchanted shield with her to destroy it with magical fire later.

All geared up, Arthur entered the arena. He was still on guard, but more at rest as he now knew he wouldn’t be killed through a snakebite. As he stood there in the sandy pit, standing in front of the cheater, he put his helmet on.

The knight in yellow did the same.

Then, they clang their swords together lightly to announce the start of the fight.

Mura was keeping a close eye on the brute in yellow.

Both took their stance, and the fight officially began.

Metal clashed against metal, sword against sword and sword against shield, over and over again. Then one attacked, and the other defended. Both Knights were relatively equal, none actually gaining the upper ground in this one where they’d previously been able to defeat their opponent rather quickly.

The Dyredian suspected it was their different fighting styles, but she couldn’t be sure. There were things about sword fighting that she still didn’t quite understand. She might’ve been trained from the age of 7 to be able to wield one just in case. She did observe the fight closely.

After quite some minutes, Arthur knocked Valiant's helmet off.

The Prince, being the nobleman that he was, threw off his own helmet as a sign of respect to his opponent. He also pulled down his mail coif.

That was the moment that the crowd began cheering again.

A couple of blow-defense sequences later, the knight from the Western Isles stepped onto the Prince’s left foot before using an uppercut. This knocked Arthur back and onto the ground.

Valiant used the opportunity to step onto the Camelotian’s shield, basically disarming his opponent.

The blonde though slammed his sword against the snake shield and rolled away before the knight dressed in yellow drove the tip of his sword into his chest. Instead, the sword hit the ground.

The crowd gasped, fear and shock visible on various faces.

Mura almost stood up, her heart calming down as her betrothed was on his feed again.

Just as the fight was going to be resumed, Sir Ewan ran onto the pit, Gaius behind him. He was yelling: “He’s a sorcerer! Valiant’s a sorcerer!”

This caused even more gasps in the crowd.

The King stood up. “Guards!”

The guards at the entrance then stopped the fight.

Uther looked at Ewan. “Tell me what you saw.”

“As he’d pinned me to the ground, one of the snakes on his shield just bit me, Sire!”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes Sire!”

Valiant’s face turned into one showing complete rage. He shoved the guards aside and yelled as he went to attack Sir Ewan.

Luckily for the knight in purple, the guards tackled him and the guards that were standing near Arthur dove on top of the man in yellow.

“Bring him to the dungeons!” the older Pendragon shouted the order. “His execution shall be at dawn!”

There were some surprised faces in the crowd, as well as shocked and dumbfounded faces.

To be honest to herself, the Dyredian Queen was actually relieved.

Arthur looked at his betrothed and saw the relieved look on her beautiful features. He himself wouldn’t say it out loud, but he would privately confess to himself that he too was relieved that this fight was over.

The look in Sir Valiant’s eyes had been close to murderous, which had partially scared him to bloody death.

{Arthur’s POV}

I entered my betrothed’s chambers to escort her to the feast. This time, I had flowers with me as a courting gift. I had Morris and Gwen pick them to form a pretty nice bouquet.

Mura had dressed in my colours, with golden jewellery to adorn her red dress. She looked beautiful in it, although I have to say that dark blue or royal blue brings out her eyes much better. I did feel satisfaction that she was wearing my family colours.

“Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady.” I said, holding them out to her. I knew the line was cheesy, cliché perhaps, but it did make my betrothed grin.

My raven-haired beauty took the flowers from me and took a moment to admire them before turning to her maidservant. “Freya, would you be so kind to put these in the water?”

“Of course, my lady.” and the maid took them before leaving to search for a fitting vase.

Then, I noticed the serpent shield in the corner. “Why’s that here?”

“I need to cast a magical fire spell to burn the paint. The magic was in the paint. You can hang it on your wall afterwards as a… weird trophy, I guess.”

I looked at the shield. “It would look nice above the fireplace. I guess father would approve of it.”

Mura laughed, making me feel warm inside.

“You dad’s crazy.”

“I know. Can’t quite help it though.”

Chapter Text

The first sign that something was wrong and that there was some sort of plague happened on a sunny, normal looking day in Camelot.

First, Gaius found someone dead in the street with skin as white as snow and eyeballs glazed over white and veins turned blackish. The same day, however, someone collapsed during an audience with the King.

“Why didn’t you report it to me?” Uther asked after the physician informed him of a young man who’d collapsed in the lower town whom he’d found during his rounds.

The older man gave him a look. “I was attempting to find the cause.”

“What did you conclude?” the King then asked.

“I don’t think it's time to hurry to conclusions. The scientific process is a long one.” Gaius told.

This evidently made the older Pendragon suspicious. “What are you concealing from me?”

The old grey-haired man shook his head. “Sire, I have seen nothing like it. The victims are dying in 24 hours, and it’s spreading fast.”

“What is the cause?”

“I think you could say that the cause, the most likely cause, is sorcery.”

Evidently, this made the King pull his son aside. Likely telling him to start the search through all chambers.

Mura approached the Court Physician. “Perhaps Freya and I can offer our services. All women in Dyred are trained in the arts of healing.”

“Not until I at least find out it’s not contagious through touch or inhalation.” the man said.

Uther turned to one of the few men he truly trusted. “Gaius, use all hands you need. If you’re right, this city will be wiped out. This is the kind of magic that undermines our authority, challenges all we’ve done. If we cannot control this plague, people will turn to magic for a cure. We have to find this sorcerer, and quickly.”

The healer bowed his head. “Of course, Sire.”

Both Freya and Murainn were in Gaius’s workroom that afternoon, going through every book on diseases, on the regular kinds of plagues and on magical plagues while Gaius was analysing the dead men’s liquidized stomach contents.

That’s when Arthur with two of his Knights burst in. “Sorry Gaius, we’re searching every room in town.”

The old physician raised an eyebrow. “What for?”

“The sorcerer.”

The Dyredian Queen rolled her eyes. Of course Uther would order all rooms to be ransacked just to be able to blame some poor man or woman, even a child.

“But why would he be here?”

The Prince held up his hands. “I’m just doing my job.”

Gaius sighed. “I’ve nothing to hide. Go on, then. Search.”

The guards searched through all the jars, cupboards, linen and plates for material while the blonde looked at the two raven-haired women with books in various piles around them.

“What’s all this?” the 20-year-old asked.

“Trying to help Gaius find what this disease might be.” Mura replied. “Dark Magic can cause a lot of plagues; we have to go through every single one that’s ever been written down to find a possibility.”

“How dark?” Arthur narrowed his eyes.

“That’s the guess.” the 17-year-old looked over at the book in her maid’s hands. “We’re on magically conjured creatures right now. But at least we’ve been able to rule out all creatures that can take on a human form like Pixies, Changelings and Trolls.”

Gaius looked at them with a frown. “Do you know how little that narrows it down?”

“You can also rule out every single air borne disease, but we have to take into account every food borne, and water borne disease.” the maidservant told.

Somehow, that sparked a candlelight in the young Queen. She closed the book she was currently reading and went through the piles that were apparently the ‘unread’ books, mumbling “It should be here somewhere… where is that bloody book when you need it!”

“You have an idea?” the physician seemed surprised.

“Its water borne, of course.” Mura said louder. “I’ll find it, don’t worry. It’s gotta be in here somewhere.”

The old man put his chin in his thumb and index finger. “That… sounds very plausible. I hope you find it before we’re all dead.”

Not much later though, many, many bodies covered with white shrouds were lined up in the courtyard.

The people who’d died were mainly from the Lower Town, but there were courtiers among them as well.

This phenomenon affirmed Mura’s suspicions that it was a water borne disease. Finally, she found the book that she’d been looking for. She quickly scanned the table of contents before rummaging through the book to find the right page.

Freya looked over her shoulders. “An Afanc? Are you sure?”

“It’s gotta be it.” the noble-born woman replied. “Because it’s made of clay, in combination with the spell, it releases toxins in the water source where it lives. Everyone suffering of the disease at the moment the creature is destroyed will be miraculously healed.”

“We’ve got to warn the King.”

Uther sat back in his chair, looking at his future daughter-in-law. “An… Afanc, you say.”

“Yes.” the Dyredian Queen stated. “Your water source has been contaminated by its toxins. Only when the creature dies, the disease will be gone.”

“And you say you found it in a book on… magical creatures?”

Murainn rolled her eyes. “As long as magic and creatures still exist anywhere in this realm, you need to consult every book that could explain what it is and how to fight it.”

“I’ve seen the book father.” Arthur stepped forward. “This beast has to be killed in order for all the sick to be healed. There is no herbal cure. If any of the other beasts in that book are just as dangerous and vicious, we might need it at any time.”

“Do what you have to do.”

As they left the throne room, the Prince turned his head to Mura. “What sort of person could be responsible for conjuring this… Afanc?”

“A very powerful person. It’s most likely to be a Priestess of the Old Religion. I’m not sure how many are left at this moment, but this is definitely dark magic.”

“Can’t argue with you there.”

They went to the dirty underground passages to get to the city’s water supply.

The blonde turned to his betrothed. “You’d better be right about this.”

Then, a low growl could be heard.

Morgana gasped in reaction to the growling.

“You should stay here. Father will slam us both in chains if he knew I’d endangered you.” Arthur stated.

“He doesn’t care about what he doesn’t know. I will come with you.”

“I’m telling you, Morgana, turn back. You could get hurt.”

The green-eyed woman gave him a look. “You could too... if you don’t get out of my way.”

Mura grinned for a second, but the three of them continued down into the dirty underground tunnels.

“How are we going to find it?” the King’s ward asked.

“I just hope we do before it finds us.” the young Queen eyed the torch in her betrothed’s hands. “We’ll need that fire. That’s how we can kill it.”

Morgana turned to the younger woman. “Are you certain?”

“It’s literally in the book. Fire does the trick.”

“That just seems too easy.” the older lady sighed.

The 17-year-old took the other woman’s hand. “It’ll be fine. Trust me, and trust Arthur.”

“Alright.” and they continued, still hearing the echoing growl.

Then, from the shadows, a strange beast with huge teeth creeping on its knuckles came their way, into full view of their eyes.

“Damn, it’s ugly.” Morgana said in disgust, taking a step back.

“Arthur, use the torch!” Mura yelled, also taking some steps back before chanting the spell. “Lyfte ic þe in balwen ac forhienan.”

A gust of rather powerful wind blew through the tunnels, blowing the torch’s flames towards the creature.

The fire incinerated it, turning it to ashes.

Relief went through all three of them.

Gaius entered the council chambers, finding a smiling Uther laughing with his advisors.

“Good news, Sire. There are no new deaths, and those that are sick are recovering.” he said.

“Good.” the King’s face changed. “Strange, I’ve never heard of an Afanc before.”

The old man sighed. “It’s conjured from clay by powerful magic. The type that can only be invoked by an ancient sorcerer, one that has the power to mirror the spirit of life. I found this at the water source.” and he showed his King a cracked eggshell. “It bears the mark of Nimueh. We must be vigilant, Sire.”

The older Pendragon sighed. “Will I never be rid of her?”

“Sire.”

“Leave me!” Uther yelled.

All the advisors exited, leaving the King sitting on his throne with a sombre expression.

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be a regular date day for the royal couple.

They hadn’t exactly counted on getting attacked and chased by a griffin. But it did happen anyway.

The pair of them were running, trying to find cover.

Mura cursed the fact that she was wearing a dress that had a train. She had to hold up a part of her skirt to enable her to run as fast as she did while being pulled along by her betrothed.

Arthur had already broken his sword trying to fight the creature, but its skin seemed to be impenetrable.

Suddenly, there was someone else: a man, with tanned skin and dark brown near black curly hair. His yells and stabs with his own sword temporarily stopped the beast from advancing, but soon enough that sword also broke into pieces.

“C’mon!” the Prince yelled, seeing a large fallen tree in the distance. “Run!”

The stranger threw away the handle and followed the couple into the clearing, jumping over the fallen tree to hide behind it.

The Griffin screeched and flew away back where it supposedly came from.

“It’s gone now.” Mura said, seeing it fly away. Then she turned her head to the stranger. “Thank you.”

“It’s… not-nothing.” and he fell unconscious.

The Camelotian looked down. “He’s got a wound. We’ve got to get him back.”

“Throw him over my horse, I’ll sit behind you.”

The couple brought the unconscious man to the court physician before Arthur was whisked away by his father because there had been reports about raids by a beast in the villages surrounding the city.

“The wound itself is superficial. The fever will pass. He should be fine in the morning.” Gaius told his future queen as he attended the man.

“He did save us from that Griffin.” Mura told. “Though I do wonder what he was doing there in the first place. Perhaps he was traveling to this city. Yet he has almost no belongings with him.”

“We’ll ask him once he’s awake.” the elderly man said. “If he has any bad intentions, I’m sure you’ll know soon enough after that.”

{Lancelot’s POV}

When I saw that young couple running in the forest, I just knew I had to do something to protect them. Even though I didn’t know the two, as I only saw them running by in a flash. They seemed to be of noble blood, if their clothing indicated anything.

But I passed out before I could introduce myself. I sustained an injury to my right side.

I didn’t know in that moment whether I’d live or die, but luckily the couple had taken me with them to see a physician of some kind whose face greeted me when I woke up.

The elderly man was kind, told me I was in Camelot.

I grinned from ear to ear. I was where I wanted to be, where I could hopefully realize my dream.

I’ve always wanted to become a Knight of Camelot, ever since I was a young child. They’re the best of the best, as Prince Arthur wouldn’t accept mediocre. I truly hoped it.

Soon enough, the beautiful woman I’d helped get away from that beast entered. She was young, that was definitely visible on her features, I doubt she was in her mid-twenties. Maybe she was even still a teenager.

“I hope you’re feeling well. Has Gaius been kind to you?” she asked.

“I’m definitely feeling better, my Lady.” I replied.

She smiled at me. “I’m Murainn. What’s your name?”

“Lancelot.”

“It’s nice meeting you, Lancelot.” then she sat down on the chair next to my bed. I couldn’t help it but look into her stunning blue eyes. “If I may ask, what were you doing in that particular part of the forest?”

“I was on my way to Camelot.” I told her. “Ever since I was a child, I’ve dreamed of coming here. It’s my life’s ambition to join the knights of Camelot.” I saw a thinking expression on her face. “I know what you’re thinking, I... I expect too much. After all, who am I? They have their pick of the best and bravest in the land.”

“Are you perhaps a nobleman?”

I raised an eyebrow. “A nobleman? Good lord, no. Why do you ask?”

“Well, there is this little thing-” but Murainn was interrupted by the physician.

“The First Code of Camelot states that only those of noble blood can serve as a knight. Uther created the knights to protect this kingdom from those who wished to destroy it. He knew he would have to trust each of his knights with his life. So, he chose them from the families that had sworn allegiance to him. And thus the First Code of Camelot was born, and ever since that day, only the sons of noble families have served as knights.”

I was disappointed and let my face fall. I couldn’t fault the King’s reasoning; trust was something important to Kings. “I guess I’ll have to leave then.”

The lady shook her head. “Camelot may not allow commoners to become Knights, but Dyred law does.”

“You’re from Dyred?” I asked. I’d only ever heard of Dyredians, they were among the fiercest of them all.

“Yes. I’m the Queen of Dyred.”

I blinked as she laughed.

“I’ll have to pull some strings with my future father-in-law, but you will be a Knight of Camelot in the end. Just indirectly.” and the Queen left.

I couldn’t believe my ears. The woman who I saved was a Queen.

Arthur was kinda surprised when his betrothed joined them for lunch. He should’ve guessed she wanted to do something for the man who saved them from being killed by a griffin.

“You… want a personal guard?” the King asked, also surprised.

Mura nodded. “Yes. And it wouldn’t hurt to have more people in Camelot who are able to fight in times of need. Also, I would be able to go on trips outside the citadel without Arthur. Then Arthur would have extra time for his own duties, and I can go where I would want to go.”

“It’s not a bad idea.” the oldest Pendragon admitted.

“And if it’s not a concern, I would like Arthur to evaluate any candidates that I bring forward. I will, however, select my candidates according to Dyredian law.” the blue-eyed woman specifically stated. “Thus, women and commoners can be part of my Guard.”

Uther gave her a look. “Are you certain you want to go with that?”

“Sometimes, you need to quit looking at ancestry and only assess quality of fighting. Why do you think fighters in Dyred have such a reputation?” the 17-year-old asked. “And with that, you also keep those people away from bandit groups.”

The King looked a bit uncomfortable.

“Don’t worry, Uther. I can just send a message to some of my palace investigators to delve into their background to see if there are any links to criminals or even Nimueh. If it is so, my investigators can find it.” Mura told. “And I’m fairly sure that mister Lancelot, my first candidate, will pass that check.”

“If you receive a report from your investigators, I would also like to read those.” Uther told.

“But of course. Both you and Arthur will be able to read the reports after I’ve read them.”

Dyredian investigators got to Camelot quickly. They were at the city drawbridge at sunset two days later.

Mura knew Matthew and Will, who were father and son, and they were the best investigators in Dyred.

They’d started out as farmers, but Matthew had received the attention of Mura’s mother Dowager Queen Hunith after he perfectly identified a group of bandits by describing their faces to the Knights. Mura had met Will soon after that.

The report came 3 days later, complete with Lancelot’s background story. The story of bandits from the Northern Plains raiding villages south of the Fortress of Idrisholas was confirmed by court reports around the same time, people who’d met Lancelot vouched for his honesty, loyalty and determination for justice.

“This… is very thorough.” Uther stated after he’d read it. “Then I guess I’ll approve this… Lancelot, to be presented to me in two days. I have some time to spare in-between my audiences.”

“I told you Matthew and Will were the best.” the young Queen stated, with a sly smile. “I know my people. They are loyal to me, sometimes to a fault.” she then turned to Arthur. “I hope you have a free spot somewhere in the trails you have now?”

“I’m pretty sure I can fit him in somewhere.” Arthur said.

After Lancelot was presented to the court as a candidate for their future Queen’s guard, Arthur took the man to the training fields.

There, he picked up a pair of brooms, throwing one at Lance before removing the bristles on the one he was still holding.

“I’d like you to kill me?”

The guard candidate’s eyes almost bulged out. “Sire?”

“Come on. Don’t pretend you don't want to.” and the Prince swung around the stick.

The dark-haired man too removed the bristles of the broom he’d been thrown.

“Hell, if I were you, I’d want to. Come on.”

And a fight ensued.

People were looking on as the two men were fighting with sticks.

Lance attacked the young Prince twice, only to be forced backwards a bit. Then, he was thrown into the defence position and had to duck away to avoid a blow to the head.

The pair still continued the fight with the broomsticks, until Arthur hit the other man in the gut.

“Congratulations, Lancelot.” and the Prince tossed the stick away. “You just made basic training.”

Then, all of a sudden, the warning bells went off.

The King and his Heir looked down on the citadel square from the balcony.

“I’d hunt this thing down if I could, but I cannot track a creature through the air.” Arthur told.

The older Pendragon scoffed. “You don’t have to track it. First Greenswood, then Willowdale. The creature’s heading south, towards the mouth of the valley.”

“To Camelot.”

Uther nodded. “You must prepare your knights, Arthur.”

“Have faith, Father. We'll be ready.” the Prince said and went to the main square below to speak to his men, to prepare them for the battle that must be coming.

Once the men had all gathered, he began his speech to them. “The beast is heading for Camelot. It’s fast and agile, but big enough to hit and hit hard. Starting today your training routines will concentrate on an attack strategy. We don’t have much time. Dismissed.”

As Arthur walked away from his men, Lancelot approached him. “Yes, Lancelot?”

“Is there anything I can do, Sire? It’s just...I know that in the event of battle, only a knight may serve.”

The young Pendragon nodded. “That’s correct, Lancelot. And you are not yet a knight. Which is why I’m bringing your test forward. You’ll face me in the morning.”

During the night, Murainn’s sleep was once more interrupted by a raspy voice that communicated with her telepathically.

“Dungeons.” it said. “Follow my voice, Murainn.”

The young Queen hesitated at first, just grabbing a sword to be sure there was no strange intruder.

There was none outside her door.

“Murainn.” there was the voice again.

Rather slowly, the young Queen went down to the dungeons.

At its end, there was a small corridor that was literally hacked out of the rock, and it went down steeply. At the end, there was a huge cave.

“What the-” Mura hadn’t even spoken her whole thought when she was suddenly faced with a dragon.

A real-life, living, fire-breathing dragon.

“You are so small, yet you have such a grandiose destiny.”

The raven-haired lady blinked. “And here I thought dragons were dead. Especially the talking ones.”

“You and I are of kin, young Dragonlady.” the golden eyed monstrosity stated.

“I know that.” Murainn said. “My mother told me when I was old enough to understand.”

The dragon laughed. “I see you are already on your way to fulfil that big destiny of yours.”

Mura blinked. “What destiny?”

“That your path is intertwined with Arthur’s is but a fact. He is the Once and Future King of Albion, and you, Lady Emrys, have to protect him until it’s his time.”

“Emrys is a Druidic legend.” the Queen of Dyred stated. “I’m by far not powerful enough to be anywhere near what they say Emrys can do. I can get why Arthur is the prophesized ruler of Albion, he’s got that leadership quality. But I can’t be Emrys.”

Again, the golden scaled monstrosity laughed. “You are young. You still have to grow into your powers.” and the dragon flew away.

That’s when the young woman saw the huge chain that made it impossible for the animal to leave.

Both Prince and candidate for the future Queen’s guard were dressed in full armour.

Again, Arthur slowly stalked to his place. “Well, here we are. Your final challenge. Succeed and you join the elite. Fail and your journey ends here, Lancelot.” and nodded to the timekeeper. “Your time starts now.”

They put their helmets on and the fight began.

Murainn was there, watching the fight alongside Freya.

She frowned when Lance fell on the ground, not moving, after a simple punch.

The blonde stuck his sword in the ground and removed his helmet, walking towards the flag while shaking his head. “Shame.”

Then, Lancelot suddenly got up and knocked the Prince off his feet, pointing his sword at the golden dragon. “Do you submit, Sire?”

The 17-year-old could only laugh when she saw her betrothed’s face.

That night, Mura knocked on Gwen’s door.

The maid frowned when she saw her future Queen. “My Lady?”

“Morgana told me you’re quite the seamstress.” the Queen of Dyred began. “I was wondering if you could perhaps sow Lancelot a uniform like this one.” she offered a bag to the other woman. “I will of course pay for all the expenses and the hourly wage that you ask.”

“I am honoured.” the blacksmith’s daughter said with a smile.

“I’ll send Lance by tomorrow, if that’s alright with you.”

The dark-skinned woman nodded. “I can fit it between my duties to the Lady Morgana.”

Murainn nodded and left the bag behind.

Early in the morning, Gaius came to Lady Murainn’s quarters with a disturbing look on his face.

He knew the young woman would be up early, as he’d seen Freya in the kitchens early too.

“Oh, good morning Gaius.” Mura said, then she spotted his expression. “What’s wrong?”

“I asked Lancelot about the beast you and Arthur saw.” the physician said. “You know it’s a griffin?”

The 17-year-old nodded. “I recognized it immediately. Why are you asking? Did you find a way to kill it?”

“It can only be killed by magic.”

The raven-haired woman took a deep breath, her nostrils widening. “Uther will never accept that.”

“If Arthur rides out against it, he’ll die.” the elderly man sighed. “Where magic is concerned, our King is blind to reason. And yet...magic is our only hope.”

Mura looked at the books in her cabinet and bit her lip. “Freya, please lock the door. I hope no one will hear us. I have to find that spell.”

“Surely you’re not suggesting…” Freya’s eyes went wide.

“I have to, Freya.” the blue-eyed woman stated. “I am Lady Emrys, I have to protect my King’s life.”

The maid looked at her Lady with fear. “I may not know much about griffins, but I can only imagine the strength of such a beast. Surely there must be another way!”

“This is the only way.” Gaius said.

This only made the former Druid girl angry. “Do you even care what happens to Her Majesty?”

“Freya!” Murainn yelled out.

Freya became silent.

The future Queen of Camelot sighed. “It is my destiny to protect Arthur. I also have to protect Uther, until it is his time to go, when Arthur is ready to take the crown.” she looked at her maid. “I’m sorry for yelling.”

“I shouldn’t be questioning your decisions.” the young maid stated.

“You may always question what I do, Freya.” Mura said. “But this is something I need to do.”

“I understand, my Lady.”

The 17-year-old stood up and walked over to the cabinet stacked with books about spells. “We have to find out which spell I have to use. When do the Knights ride out?”

“Dusk.” the physician replied.

“That leaves us with about seven to eight hours. Skim through all of them.”

It took 5 hours for the 3 of them to get through all the spells and determine the right one.

“I’m never going to be able to do this in two hours.” Mura blinked and sat back in her chair.

“We’ll just keep practising until you have to go.”

The Queen of Dyred turned to her maid. “Please go inform Lancelot that we’ll ride out at dusk.”

And so it happened.

Both Murainn and Lancelot took 2 horses from the stables to ride behind the Knights, who were only a couple minutes in front of them.

As they got nearer, they could hear the yell “For Camelot!” from the Knights’ collective mouths.

Not much later, they could hear dying men, swords clanging and breaking, and the screeching and hissing sounds of the griffin. They reached the fallen knights and dismounted.

The young Queen quickly fell to her knees to check on her betrothed’s pulse. “Arthur.” she whispered.

“Well?” Lance was waiting.

The raven-haired woman turned to him. “He’s alive.”

Then, from the smoke, the griffin emerged and hissed.

The new Knight rode into position with a lance in his left hand, standing a couple yards away from the griffin before shutting his visor. “Here goes nothing.”

“Okay, it’s now or never.” and the woman stood up, taking a deep breath as the charge began. “Bregdan anweald gafeluec.”

The first time, nothing happened.

Again. “Bregdan anweald gafeluec.”

Nothing happened, but Lancelot was getting closer.

“Bregdan anweald gafeluec!”

Again, nothing.

The griffin began running at the horse-mounted Knight.

“Bregdan anweald gafeluec!!!”

Finally, the lance flamed blue before hitting the creature dead on, in its heart.

With a lot of screeching, the half eagle half lion creature died before the blue flame at the tip of the lance disappeared.

Mura let out a deep breath and smiled.

Once more, Camelot was safe.

Chapter Text

Morgana was tossing and turning in her bed at night, as she was having a very vivid nightmare.

In this nightmare, she saw the man who was like a brother to her drifting under water in a lake wearing his armour while a woman with long blonde curls and wearing a peach-coloured frilly dress standing over him and holding her arm straight, making no move to save Arthur.

She woke up terrified, whispering his name twice.

Her nightmares were getting more vivid, and more often turned into reality rather than staying a nightmare. Could this one ring true, in the future as well?

None of Gaius’s tonics were working for her.

Was there truly nothing that could stop whatever she was seeing?

Murainn noticed something was off with Morgana in the morning.

The other woman looked quite tired, as if something was disturbing her rest at night.

“You look pretty damn awful.” the younger woman said.

“At least you’re honest about it.” Morgana sighed.

The blue-eyed Queen took the noble lady’s hand. “Gaius’s tonics and draughts aren’t working, are they?”

“No. I always wake in the middle of the night.”

“Tell me, what was the one of last night about?”

Gana’s entire body shook as she took a sharp breath. “I saw Arthur drowning. There was a woman standing over him, blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked even younger than you.”

“Have any of your dreams ever come true?”

Green eyes went wide. “Yes! Do you know what this is?”

“I’ve heard of it.” Mura said, almost in a whisper. “But we shouldn’t talk too loud, we’d alarm the guards and everyone on the Griffing Landing.”

The daughter of Gorlois nodded. “Of course. It’s just… I’ve been struggling with this for a while, and nothing seems to work.”

“I may know someone who can help you.” the Queen of Dyred said, staring into the other woman’s eyes. “His name is Lochru, and I will send for him immediately in the morning. But you cannot speak of this to anyone, you’ll have to meet him in secret.”

“Why? Mura, you’re scaring me.”

Murainn sighed. “Just… don’t freak out about what I’m going to say to you now. It can cost us both our heads and there’s nothing anyone can do for us if this gets out or you freak out.”

“I need to know.” the older woman pressed.

“I’m suspecting you’re a Seer.” the young Queen told. “Don’t worry, you were born like this. So, it’s possible that either your mother or your father had pretty damn powerful magic to begin with.”

“How’s that possible?” Morgana looked horrified.

“Witches and Warlocks are always possible.” she then held up her own hand. “Leoth.”

A ball of white light shone in her hands after her eyes flashed golden.

“You… you’re a sorceress??”

“The Dragonborns have always been.” Mura told. “Ever since the beginning of time. Don’t worry, Arthur knows, and he doesn’t care one bit. It took time to convince him though that I wasn’t about to kill him, but I guess that all the recent attacks by magic users and magical creatures warrant all the questions he had.”

The King’s ward let go of a breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding. “So… were I to have… this ability, Arthur wouldn’t mind?”

The future Queen of Camelot shook her head. “No. Once he’s King, he’ll lift this ban that exists on us. Lochru will help you control your gift, which you’ll need to stay in hiding for just a bit longer.”

“Can’t we just organise a coup and put Arthur on the Throne?” Gana whispered.

“Uther will die once Arthur is ready. The Fates will assure that event.”

The green-eyed woman nodded. “Of course.”

Mura placed her hands on the older woman’s shoulders. “I’ll be here too, Gana. As soon as your Seer ability is somewhat under control, we can advance to other magic. I can’t promise you everything, as every Witch or Warlock has different gifts, but I will do my best to teach you.”

Arthur and Morris hadn’t returned from their hunt alone.

There were two people with them, Aulfric and Sophia of Tír-Mòr, whom they’d rescued.

Yet Mura knew something was off about them the second Morgana’s eyes landed on this Sophia.

“Is everything okay?” the 17-year-old asked.

“That’s her. That’s the woman I saw standing over Arthur in that lake.” the secret Seer whispered, her breath turning uneven. “She’s going to kill him.”

The young Queen made her sit down. “Just take long, calming breaths. Don’t worry Morgana, I’m going to take care of this. If they’re indeed going to kill him, I’ll find out how and do something about it before anything can happen.”

“How are you so certain?” Gana asked.

Murainn smiled. “I may be young, but I’ve had my gifts all my life and I was trained in them the second I moved an object. I’ll find out.” and she left.

That very evening, Mura put a glamour spell on herself as well as a notice-me-not spell. She followed Sophia to her father’s chambers.

“You’ve not been gone as long as I expected.” that was Aulfric’s voice.

“We were interrupted.” Sophia.

“What happened?”

“I was nearly killed. For a moment, I felt what it would be like to die a mortal death. He saved me. Someone so weak, so feeble, saved me! I can’t bear to be like this a moment longer.” that statement made the young Queen frown.

“You won’t have to. Once his heart is yours, the Gates of Avalon will open once again for us and we can regain our true form.”

The 17-year-old took a deep breath.

Yes, she’d heard of the Gates of Avalon. It was the home of the immortal Sidhe. It was only accessible to those with powerful magic, and possibly beyond the abilities of most human sorcerers. She’d been guided there once, catching a glimpse of the world of the dead beyond the vast Lake of Avalon. She’d seen the tower and the hill in the middle of the lake that symbolized the gates.

“I need a little more time.” said the girl.

“You must hurry. Someone can see us for what we truly are. Tomorrow, you have to finish the enchantment otherwise our chance to rid us of these mortal shells will be lost forever.”

Mura quickly left and went to rummage through her books.

If what she heard was true and these two were Sidhe, and Sophia had already partially spelled Arthur to follow her every command, she had to hurry.

“My Lady?” Freya was frowning. “Is something wrong?”

“Arthur might be in danger. Quicky, go get a sleeping draught.” the Queen of Dyred replied. “We may not have much time to save his life. I need to act quick.”

“What is it this time?” the maid asked as she grabbed a sleeping draught from a cabinet close to the ground. “A spell? A beast?”

“Even worse. Sidhe.”

“Leis an draoidheachd a tha air fhàgail annam, cha toir draoidheachd.” her eyes glowed red and Arthur’s ring in her hand glowed golden too.

The ring wasn’t just glowing, it was surrounded by a flame of a Dragon’s fire. The true magic of a Dragonlord.

As soon as the enchantment was done, Murainn turned to a sleeping Arthur. She’d slipped a sleeping draught into his food, to assure she had enough time to break any enchantment that could possibly have been cast on her betrothed. She slipped the ring onto his finger and his body glowed golden. She then kissed his forehead. “I hope you’ll forgive me for this. Fuirichidh na faireachdainnean agad fìor, cha toir geas gaoil air falbh an Tiomnadh agad.”

Again, there was a golden glow in her eyes and around Arthur.

Now, even the most powerful love spell wouldn’t take. Only the Triple Moon goddess could break it.

{Sophia’s POV}

“I’m sorry, I can’t break away from my duties.”

I can’t believe it! Yesterday he was still so willing! Yesterday, he was still in love with me!

“Don’t you love me?” I whispered, hoping to hear the words I needed to hear.

The mortal Prince gave me a look. “I have a betrothed. I can’t. My loyalty is to Murainn. If things were different, perhaps I could’ve loved you.”

Murainn… so she’s the reason my enchantment has failed.

His love for her must be powerful.

I have to kill her, it’s my only way back to Avalon!

So, I set out to find this… Murainn.

She was condemning me to a mortal death, the bitch.

I found her in a secluded part of the Citadel, in something of a secret garden.

At first, I only saw her back, her dark blue dress and long raven hair.

Apparently, the girl had noticed me and turned around.

She was nothing special, she had nothing on me!

“Hello, Sophia.” her voice was filled with disdain.

“I’m going to kill you.” I said, and I pulled my staff.

Yet that staff was pulled out of my hand and into this girl’s.

“Sorry. Not today.” and the bolt left my staff when it was lifted and pointed at me.

Arthur felt a jolt after Sophia was hit with a magic bolt, unbeknownst to him, almost making him trip over.

“Arthur!” Morgana yelled. “Are you okay!?”

The Prince had caught himself by putting his hands against the wall. “I don’t know what that was but… it felt like something inside of me just… bolted. It’s weird.”

“Are you hurt?” the ward asked.

“I don’t feel pain.” the blonde pressed his fingers into his torso in various spots. He didn’t detect anything that could explain whatever he just felt. “It’s not a pulled muscle. Let’s get to the council chambers, father might just get angry if we don’t get there in time.”

Not much later, Murainn came in carrying a wooden staff with a blue orb.

“What is that?” Uther asked as his future daughter-in-law placed it on the table.

“It’s a Sidhe staff.” the young woman replied. “It was in Sophia’s possession. I managed to shoot her with a crossbow before she could use this on me. You won’t be able to find her body, she literally blew up.”

Both Arthur and Morgana pulled a horrified face, each for a different reason.

The Prince was surely wondered how he could’ve missed it, and the King’s Ward because her dream could’ve come true had the young Queen done nothing to prevent it.

“A Sidhe?” Uther’s fingers dug into the wooden table. “Gaius?”

“They are creatures of magic.” the old physician told. “They are masters of enchantments and a cruel race of beings. They are quite dangerous.”

Arthur hung the staff on the wall next to the black burned Serpent shield before taking a couple steps back and admiring the wall. He shook his head.

Both times, magic users of some sort had tried to kill him, and his future wife had to intervene before those users could actually kill them, by magic. And she gifted him with their magical objects.

The Prince wondered how many more objects would adorn his wall. He would never see Murainn as a killer, she was a kind person by heart. His future wife only killed to keep him safe and keep Camelot alive.

Chapter Text

It was Arthur’s Coming of Age ceremony. His 21^st birthday, the very day he would be crowned Crown Prince in front of the court before a night banquet would take place.

The Prince knelt down in front of his father, his betrothed and Morgana standing on the right in their most elaborate dresses.

“Do you solemnly swear to govern the people of this kingdom and its dominions according to the statutes, customs and laws laid down by your forebears?” Uther’s voice boomed through the Ceremonial Hall.

“I do, Sire.” the younger Pendragon replied.

“Do you promise to exercise mercy and justice in your deeds and judgments?”

“I do, Sire.”

“And do you swear allegiance to Camelot, now and for as long as you shall live?”

“I, Arthur Pendragon, do pledge life and limb to your service and to the protection of the kingdom and its peoples.”

The King took the circlet from the pillow Geoffrey was holding. “Now being of age and heir apparent, from henceforth, you shall be Crown Prince of Camelot.”

The whole court applauded as the new Crown Prince stood up and turned around to face the courtiers.

Morgana leaned close to the Dyredian. “So, how does it feel to be the future wife to the Crown Prince of Camelot?”

The younger woman snickered. “No change as of yet.”

“You and Arthur will make a beautiful Royal couple.” the daughter of Gorlois said with a smile.

“You think so?” Mura raised an eyebrow.
The green-eyed woman’s smile became even broader. “Definitely. Look! He’s watching you now.”

Murainn turned her head.

Indeed, her betrothed was looking at her. As he saw her gaze, his eyebrows went up and down in a… suggestive manner and grinning like a madman.

The secret witch chuckled.

Just that moment, the stained-glass window in the back of the hall shattered as a black horse jumped through with a black-armoured knight on its back. The armour was dated, and rather damaged.

The Queen of Dyred couldn’t see the shield, as the unknown knight carried its shield on the left. But she did feel a very dark energy.

Arthur took position in front of his betrothed and stepsister, drawing his sword just like the other knights.

“What in the devil’s name?” it came out as a whisper, but Mura could still hear the King’s words.

The horse trotted closer to the Royals.

Then, the Black Knight threw down his gauntlet.

Gasps could be heard from the courtesans.

As Queen of another court, Mura certainly knew what throwing down the left gauntlet meant: challenge.

A young knight picked it up. “I, Sir Owain, accept your challenge.”

“Single combat. Noon tomorrow. Till the death.” and he rode out of the room, back the way he came.

“Mura, are you alright?” the Crowned Prince asked.

The 17-year-old wasn’t even aware that she was shaking from head to toe. “I just… feel cold.”

“Should I perhaps bring Her Highness to her rooms, Sire?” Lancelot asked.

“That’s a good idea. Please also escort the Lady Morgana to her rooms.”

{Lancelot’s POV}

I still can’t quite believe that My Lady has magic.

Every Camelotian knows that it’s banned, with the death penalty as punishment.

I do wonder… does the Prince know that his future wife is a sorceress?

If he does, he’s either enchanted or his personal convictions go against His Majesty’s policies. If he doesn’t… the consequences are up in the air.

My Lady turned to her maidservant. “Please find Geoffrey and ask him to go through the records.”

“Are you suspecting something, my Lady?” the young maid asked.

“Yes. And it isn’t good.”

I raised an eyebrow as Freya left. “My Lady?”

“I’ll explain in my chambers.” and we continued.

We came to the young Queen’s chambers first.

“I have to admit, your words are scaring me.” Morgana said.

Murainn gave her a sad smile. “I’m sorry, but it is sadly quite scaring what just might be going on.”

I waited in silence while watching the two women’s expressions.

“I think this might be a case of necromancy.”

I looked at my Queen with a horrified expression.

“Necromancy is the most dangerous of all magical practices. Even in the days of the Old Religion, such sorcery was viewed with the utmost suspicion. Which is ironic, as the Old Religion is all about manipulating life and death.” my Queen turned around and dove into some cabinets in her chambers. “Even with magic as dark and dangerous as Necromancy, it’s the intention of the use that counts.”

“What are you looking for, My Lady?” I asked.

“Trying to find out which form of Necromancy has been used.” she said, going through a book that… definitely contained information on magic.

“Any ideas who could’ve done this?” the Lady Morgana sounded scared.

“It’s likely to be a High Priestess of the Old Religion.” Lady Murainn said as she kept going through the decorated pages. “And they’ll certainly have a big grudge against Uther after he destroyed their temple and possibly murdered some of them.”

Yes, that certainly would be a reason to take some sort of revenge.

Then, my Queen stopped.

“Do you have something?” the King’s ward asked.

“There are two options here.” and Murainn pointed at 2 distinct pictures. “Whoever is beneath that armour, is either a Wraith or a Shade.”

“That’s bad… right?”

My Lady pursed her lips. “Sending a Shade back to the Realm of the Dead is rather easy, there’s a simple spell that releases their souls from the magic that resurrected them. A Wraith however… can’t be killed. At least, not with mortal steel. Nor can it be defeated like the griffin. No, it has to be the strongest sword ever crafted, unused in battle, and then burnished in Dragon’s fire. It kills mortal and magical, living and dead.”

“But there are no more dragons.” Morgana gasped.

“There is one left.” my Queen said. “In a cave below this castle, the Great Dragon Kilgharrah is still alive.”

I likely had a bewildered expression. “How do you know?”

Her blue eyes looked into mine. “I am the last Dragonlady.”

“Does Arthur know this?” the King’s ward whispered.

“That I’m the Dragonlady? No. He doesn’t exactly need to know that until one of our children are born with magic.” My Lady replied. “He knows I’m a pretty damn powerful Witch, and that’s enough for now.”

So, His Highness does know.

{Gaius’s POV}

Of course, I should’ve known Queen Murainn would be researching the Black Knight too.

I just knew it the moment I saw her maid running into the library asking for a book on Knights’ crests.

I walked with her after finishing my conversation with Geoffrey.

Morgana and Lancelot were inside the young Queen’s room too.

I eyed them with suspicion.

“They know of my magic Gaius, they won’t say a word to Uther.” Murainn’s words were soothing, assuring.

“You seem to be doing your own research.” I stated.

Balinor’s daughter nodded. “It’s a Shade or a Wraith. I could whisper the spell to send a Shade’s soul back. And if it doesn’t work, we’ll be certain it’s a Wraith. Yet it will cost the life of a young Knight.”

I sympathised.

Sir Owain was young and promising. His death would certainly hit Arthur hard.

“You have to be careful.” I told her.

“I know. I’ll ask Arthur to shield me from the public when I mutter the spell.”

For a second, I sunk in my thoughts. “Perhaps you won’t have to. I can go into the crypts tomorrow. If this man’s coffin is untouched, it’s a Shade. If the body is gone, it’s a Wraith.”

“You know who it is?” Morgana asked, taking a step towards me.

“Yes.” I replied. “It is Tristan de Bois, Uther’s brother-in-law, and Arthur’s uncle.”

“Oh, curses.”

The morning before the mortal combat would take place on the tournament grounds, Gaius went down to the crypts to search for Sir Tristan’s coffin.

He knew it would be too late for Sir Owain, but other lives could be spared with this discovery.

The coffin was stuffed somewhere in the back between a couple others who’d been buried at the same time due to the Great Purge. Many Knights had died raiding places for known sorcerers.

When the court physician found the coffin, it was obvious something had broken out of it. “Definitely a Wraith then.”

He had to warn Uther.

Knowing Arthur, the Prince would want to take up the challenge himself. He was noble like that.

{Uther’s POV}

I was surprised when my future daughter-in-law and my most trusted old friend approached me with worried faces. “What is it?”

“The Black Knight, Sire.” Gaius replied.

“The dead don’t arise.” I dismissed him

“Sorcery is involved.”

I looked at my daughter-in-law with wide eyes.

“It’s necromancy, the art of animating the dead and attempting to gain immortality.” she told.

I nodded. “Continue.”

“Tristan is a Wraith, Sire.” my physician then said.

“Wraiths can’t be defeated.” Murainn then said. “Not unless the object of their revenge is dead, or the sword of the legends in one of Geoffrey’s books actually exists and we can find it.”

I was the object of Tristan’s revenge. He did say he would return… and so it seems that a certain sorceress helped him arise to get back at me. “Why are you telling me this?”

Murainn looked at me. “You know how Arthur is. He truly is a noble clot pole.”

I frowned at her description of my son, but I couldn’t fault her for her words.

My son truly is a man of his people, a feature that will make him a righteous King once my time is up.

“I know he will take up the gauntlet if he can, he doesn’t want anyone else to die for him.”

“What do you propose?” I asked her.

My son’s betrothed pulled a face. “Well… I guess you will have to give him what he wants. His revenge.”

I nodded. “Noted. Dismissed.”

Murainn wasn’t there on the tournament grounds. Instead, she was making her way to the smithy.

“Your Highness?” the blacksmith was obviously surprised that she was there.

“Hello Tom.” the young woman said with a nod. “I need you to craft the strongest sword possible.”

The dark-skinned man didn’t ask any question. “Of course, Your Highness.” and he went inside of his smithy.

The fact that their future Queen was in the Lower Town made all the city dwellers want to have a glimpse of her. Women of the court weren’t often spotted, as they had their own exit out of the city through the Eastern Gates.

Soon enough, the blacksmith hurried out of his tiny hut with an elaborate sword. “I’ve been saving this for a while. It’s the best sword I’ve ever made.”

The Queen of Dyred picked it up, feeling it in her hand. “It’s perfect.”

“Whoever will be its wielder, they’re gonna be damn proud of that sword.”

Mura smiled at the man. “I have no doubt. Thank you, Tom.”

Hiding the sword beneath her robe, Murainn went into the Dragon’s cave.

“Murainn!” the dragon boasted.

The young woman made the sword float in front of the Great Dragon that had just landed on the rock. “I need you to burnish it.”

“Is that a command, young Dragonlady?” Kilgharrah asked, smoke puffing out of his nose.

“Not yet.” Mura replied. “But I can make it so.”

The Dragon snorted, for as far as a dragon could. “A weapon forged with my assistance will have great power. You do not know. You can only guess. You have not seen what I have seen. If you had, perhaps you would not ask this of me.”

“Then tell me.” the 17-year-old demanded.

“In the wrong hands, this sword could do great evil. It must be wielded by Arthur and him alone. Or perhaps you. But no one else!”

The Queen of Dyred nodded. “I understand.”

Golden eyes looked at her, almost piercing her soul. “You must do more than understand. You must promise.”

“I promise.” Murainn said with a nod.

Then, Kilgharrah breathed his fire on the floating metal, burnishing it.

“I wish you wouldn’t do this, My Lady.” Lancelot said as he watched Freya apply the armour plates on their Mistress’s chest and shoulders.

Their Queen had already been in in her mail and royal blue garments, her long and wavy black hair braided tightly, when he had entered her chambers.

“The Great Dragon was clear on this matter. Excalibur is only for me and Arthur to wield, yet it’s Uther who is fighting this creature.” Murainn looked outside, seeing the Black Knight standing there. “Yet I know Arthur isn’t ready to take the throne, and Uther may not wield this blade. I have to jump in before the Wraith kills Uther.”

“Many would be much happier with Uther gone.” Freya murmured.

“True. That includes me too, Freya. But it’s not his time. The Fates will let us know when he is.”

Lance bowed his head slightly. He knew his Mistress was doing this for noble reasons, but his skin still itched. He was her guard, there to protect her. “Where will you be seated?”

“I’ll be hiding in a cramped spot near Gaius. It’s not the best place, but that way I can get onto the field.”

The young Queen was ready in her hiding spot.

She watched as Uther approached the Wraith, the crowd not containing their looks and murmurs of surprise as they saw their King.

“I’ll give you what you’ve come for.”

The fight began after a guard had removed Uther’s cape.

The Black Knight fought brutal, fuelled by anger coursing through its undead body.

With a pretty neat blow, the older Pendragon knocked the Wraith’s helmet off, revealing the disgusting mummified face.

The crowd gasped as they saw what was behind that helmet.

This only seemed to make the undead Knight even angrier than he already was. The creature just slammed the sword against whatever.

Soon, Uther lost his sword and lost his footing.

The fact that the King was now down and without a weapon made Murainn jump into action.

With her helmet on, the woman threw all her weight against the Wraith, knocking the creature backward and away from the King, its sword still lodged in the shield Uther was holding.

The young Queen forced the undead Knight backwards against the wooden fence by swinging the sword.

Behind that fence, the crowd either ran away of fled to higher parts of the tribunes they were sitting in.

Then, Mura stabbed the Wraith in the chest where the heart would usually be.

A white gas was released from the mummified Knight’s mouth, which threw the future Queen of Camelot to the ground. He started shaking from head to toe, the wound where she stabbed him was literally on fire and was making the Wraith burn up from the inside out. And just a couple seconds later, Tristan exploded in pieces of black material.

The crowd was staring, as were Uther and Arthur.

Slowly, the Warrior Queen got up, leaning on Excalibur as she found her footing.

Her betrothed was leaning on the wooden fence in front of the Royal box.

Murainn stabbed Excalibur in the ground, slowly reached for her helmet and pulled it off.

The crowd was watching intently.

“Mura?” the Crown Prince breathed the second the helmet was off.

“Surprised?” the Dyredian asked with a grin.

The King still looked perplexed as his eyes roamed over her armour. “I didn’t know you could fight.”

“Queens of Dyred have been warriors for centuries. Just like Warrior Kings, we are Warrior Queens like Boudica.” the raven-haired woman replied, turning to her future father-in-law. “I had thought my father would’ve told you. Yet apparently, he didn’t.” then she walked over to her betrothed, who was beaming with pride.

“Should’ve known you were badass like that.” Arthur fondly stated.

“Tsk, tsk, Arthur… and you kiss your father with that mouth?”

The Crown Prince softly laughed.

Mura pulled the right side of the circlet on her betrothed’s head down and pushed the other up.

The blonde just rolled his eyes before kissing his beloved.

Inside the palace, the court physician tended to his King’s wounds.

“Whatever Murainn did, she sure as hell saved my life.” the older Pendragon huffed. “I thought you said a wraith couldn’t be killed?”

“Yes, it was remarkable.” Gaius said with a smile. He knew exactly what the young woman had done.

There were few who knew King Balinor was from a line of Dragonlords, and the former sorcerer had been among them. He’d known Balinor rather well, a fact he kept secret.

After the King of Dyred died, his only child would have inherited his powers.

She would’ve used Excalibur to save Uther from the wraith, the sword of legends burnished in dragon’s fire… and as the last Dragonlady, she could command Kilgharrah.

“I will redress your wounds tomorrow.” the elderly man said. “Take good care of it.”

“Of course, Gaius.”

{Uther’s POV}

I wouldn’t ever admit that I was glad for my future daughter-in-law’s perception.

I have no doubt that she will make a good Queen to Camelot, and a good wife to my son. Their children will be strong, and certainly the Pendragon line will flourish.

Murainn is a strange woman, yet her father was a strange man too. I probably shouldn’t be quite that surprised that she has a few hidden talents.

Chapter Text

“The creature you describe has all the characteristics of the Questing Beast.”

The Crown Prince frowned at the Court Physician. “Surely that’s a myth.”

“According to the old books, the appearance of the Questing Beast is supposed to foreshadow a time of great upheaval.” Gaius told.

The King gave his old friend a look of disapproval. “Gaius, it’s an old wives’ tale.”

Arthur felt the temptation to just sigh. “Look, whatever it is, it’s spreading panic. The people fear it will enter the city.”

“Then we must kill it. Arthur, gather the guard together. You ride at dawn.”

The younger Pendragon nodded before leaving the council chambers.

The elderly physician shook his head. “I beg you, Sire, do not dismiss this. The beast is an omen. I’ve seen it come before, the night your wife Ygraine passed away.”

Then Uther lashed out. “I’ve told you not to speak of that night again. I have conquered the Old Religion. Its warnings mean nothing to me now. Arthur will destroy the beast and we will no longer suffer at its hand.”

Oh, how wrong he would be…

Arthur entered his wife’s chambers. “We’re riding at dawn.”

Murainn, who was very likely reading up on the creature they’d faced considering she had a huge old-looking bound book on her table, looked up and nodded. “I’ll be with you, all the way.”

“You don’t have to do this.” the blonde said.

“It is my destiny to stand by your side, no matter what happens or where you go.”

The Prince then looked at the book his future wife had in front of her. “What did you find out.”

“As Gaius said, it is a bad omen. It represents violence, incest and chaos.” the Dyredian told. “Here it says: ‘the Questing Beast is composed of a snake and a leopard. The beast was born of a woman who tried to seduce her brother but was manipulated by a demon to lie with him and accused her brother of rape’.”

The Crown Prince pulled a face. “That’s… dark.”

“That’s just what the legend says.” the raven-haired woman stated.

“So we definitely shouldn’t underestimate this… creature.”

“No. Not ever.” sapphire blue eyes cast themselves on the book again. “There’s one more thing you should know. At the very heart of the Old Religion lies the magic of life and death itself. The Questing Beast carries that power. One bite, you die, and there is no cure.”

It wasn’t an amazing prospect, knowing that you could possibly die by this particular creature’s teeth. But it was Arthur’s duty as the Crown Prince of Camelot, he’d sworn it before his father had placed the circlet on his head.

The young Pendragon looked to his left and smiled at his beautiful betrothed. If he died, he truly hoped that she would still live a long and happy life with someone of her own choosing. Whoever would be her husband, he would be a lucky man.

They followed the giant paw prints and heavy growling sounds to a clearing where there was a cave.

“Stay close, we might need our combined strength.” the Prince said to his men.

The cave itself looked nothing out of the ordinary, though slim for passage. As they went in deeper, Arthur and Mura split away from all the other Knights, leaving them to explore alone.

Then… there was a hissing sound.

‘This can’t be good.’ the Dyredian thought.

And just moments later, she was pushed to the side only to see Arthur getting attacked.

The beast’s paw hit the Prince square in the chest, knocking him down.

Murainn’s eyes flared golden. “Fleoge. Bregdan anwiele gefeluec!”

The sword glowed blue and then flew straight into the Questing Beast’s chest, killing the creature.

The young Queen dropped her torch before kneeling at her betrothed’s side. “Gestepe hole! Þurhhæle!”

But her spell did nothing, it didn’t matter how many times she tried to heal his bleeding wounds.

“Somebody help me!”

Murainn couldn’t contain her grief anymore when she saw Uther crying.

The Questing Beast was slain, but it may have cost Arthur’s life.

She’d always been confident in her ability to heal, as that had been one of her strongest points from the start of her training, but it just wasn’t enough this time. She’d failed Arthur, the Once and Future King.

Everyone around her knew it was dire when they saw their King cry, as the man never showed his emotions.

Currently, her powers meant nothing. So, she basically locked herself in her chambers.

She had to do something.

Lancelot frowned at Freya. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” the maid said. “But… the Prince dying, it’s really… I don’t know how to say it.”

“What did you see when you were in there?”

The tiny raven-haired girl sighed. “As if My Lady hadn’t slept in days; her hair is a mess, books just scattered carelessly around the room. It’s just… I’ve never seen her like this, not in any of the years I’ve served my Queen.”

“It is her betrothed who is dying.” the Knight offered.

Freya just sighed, which made Lance frown.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?” the dark brown-haired man asked.

“My Mistress has never said that she felt anything for her betrothed, and you always just know with her how she feels about someone.” the maidservant told. “She would never be this way for someone she didn’t love, but she has never shared anything with anyone but the feeling of the weight of duty that rests on this marriage.”

“Maybe her feelings have changed.” Lancelot said. “They have gone through some things together now.”

“She would’ve told me if she had feelings for Prince Arthur.”

With every passing hour, the pain in his bones and veins seemed to be getting worse. He was semi-conscious; able to hear the people around him speak, but it hurt too much to reply.

Arthur could hear his father, the man telling him about regretting that he didn’t show more love. He wanted to say that it was okay, that all was fine. He heard Gaius speaking, his tone sombre. Morgana visited, with Gwen, crying while telling him that this couldn’t be the end.

It was deep in the middle of the night when he heard the voice of his betrothed.

“Everything will be just fine.” she whispered in her angelic voice. “I’ve found a way to cure you. Just… promise me that you’ll be the greatest King of them all.”

It sounded like a goodbye.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen from now on, I can only guess a few outcomes.” a hand combed through his wet hair. “I need to go to the Isle of the Blessed, and I don’t know whether I will return from it. I’m sorry if we’ll never meet again. Just so you know, I love you.”

The Crown Prince wished he could open his eyes, to see her sapphire blue eyes shining in the candlelight of his chambers, to see her beautiful face again to engrave it in his memory forever. Then, he felt soft lips kissing his own and he knew those belonged to Murainn.

As she rode out of Camelot on the black mare she got from the stables, the words of the Great Dragon repeated in her mind.

“Go to the place that men call the Isle of the Blessed, where the power of the ancients can still be felt. There you will discover Arthur’s salvation.”

The Isle of the Blessed… of course she knew of the place. All magic users who’d been raised in a magical family knew it.

It was the place where the Triple Goddess had been worshipped in the old days, the lonely Isle holding the once beautiful temple where the High Priestesses of the Old Religion had resided before the Great Purge. It lay in the middle of a lake beyond the White Mountains and the Valley of the Fallen Kings, and north of the Great Seas of Meredor.

Murainn knew there would be an offer.

It was the way of the Old Religion: a life for a life.

It took her hours to get to the lake, and she was surprised to find another horse there, grazing.

Had someone else already discovered this place?

Quickly, she stepped into the boat and whispered ‘Astyre’ to propel the boat across the lake towards the ruins of a once great fortress on the island. She stepped out at the stone platform.

Then, she saw Gaius there lying near lifeless against the altar.

A woman with long black hair twisted back in a red dress was holding up a cup and chanting words.

“Ic, séo héahsácerd, þe ácwile strengþe ealdan æwfæstnesse!”

“Stop it!” the Dyredian yelled.

The strange cup was placed down. “And so we meet.”

Mura looked at her. “I don’t know who you are, but it won’t be his life that you will take.

“It was his wish.” she said. “The Old Religion does not care who lives and who dies! Only that the balance of the world is restored. To save a life, a life must be taken. Gaius knew this.”

“I know this is not the Old Religion, this is just you.”

The woman laughed. “Come now. We are too valuable to each other to be enemies.”

“I share nothing with you.” the Dragonlady said.

“You, too, are a creature of the Old Religion. You should join me.” her smile was cruel.

The 17-year-old snorted. “You think I would join forces with such a selfish and cruel magic? Never.”

“So be it. Ácwele!” and a fireball went flying straight into Murainn’s chest, knocking her down.

The sorceress turned her back on the other woman. “Pity. Together we could’ve ruled the world.”

Gathering her strength, the witch got up only to glare at the High Priestess. She looked up to the dark clouds forming as her anger grew. Then, she stretched out her arm towards them, making the lightning appear. Slowly, she lowered her arm to point it at the other woman.

The lightning struck her before she could defend herself, and she was gone.

‘A life for a life.’ three synchronised women’s voices whispered to her. ‘Prince Arthur Pendragon of Camelot shall live.’ and suddenly, those voices boomed out loud: “Tidrenas!”

And it rained right above the cup that the Priestess had been holding.

‘Let him drink this water, and he shall live.’

Mura looked around, but she saw no one. Then, she rushed over to Gaius.

The physician was still breathing, which made her sigh in relief.

“Gaius, wake up.” the young woman whispered as she lightly shook him.

The elderly man was shocked awake and blinked as he saw he was still alive. “Wh-what?”

“The Priestess is dead, her life has been taken.” Murainn told before retrieving a waterbag. “Which reminds me…” and she stood up, walking over to the cup that was now filled with water. She poured the water in the bag.

As quick as she could, Murainn rode back to Camelot as Gaius was taking it a bit more slowly. His old bones couldn’t handle too much travel anymore.

The second she arrived back, she threw the reins at one of the stable boys and rushed into the citadel, holding up her skirt as she made her way up all the stairs that she had to climb before reaching Arthur’s chambers on the 2^nd floor that looked out over the plaza.

Uther was with his son, holding his boy’s hand as the secret witch barged in. “What-… Murainn?”

“I truly hope this helps.” the Dyredian mumbled as she opened the water bag and poured the water into the small open gap between Arthur’s lips.

“What is it?” the King asked.

“Gaius brew a special tincture.” the young Queen replied. “Juice from some strange berry near the border with Gawaint, boiled in water from a lake in the west and some herbs that were recently imported from Mercia due to the treaty.” it was a stone-cold lie, but she couldn’t exactly tell a magic hating King the truth of the water.

After a couple seconds that felt more like minutes, the Crown Prince started coughing and all his muscles rippled under the skin as they contracted to get good air back into those lungs.

“Oh, Arthur!” the older Pendragon almost cried with happiness as he could finally hug his son again… alive.

“Father… can’t. Breathe!”

Uther quickly released the younger man. “I’m sorry. I’m just… happy to see you alive again.”

Arthur smiled. It was a weak smile, but a smile none the less. “I still don’t feel optimal.”

“I can understand.” the King nodded as he said that. “I will inform our people you’re better again. I truly have to thank Gaius for discovering this miracle cure.”

The 21-year-old just blinked.

“You need to rest some more.” Mura quickly said, placing the bright red cover and the white sheet underneath over her betrothed’s chest while smiling. “We can both leave.”

“No… I want you to stay for a bit.” the blonde said, squeezing the young woman’s wrist.

The older Pendragon smiled. “Just keep it decent, son.”

“Father!” Arthur yelled, his face flushing crimson.

Uther just chuckled as he left.

This made the young Crown Prince groan, before turning his face to his beloved. “Will you tell me what really happened. I heard you went to this… isle?”

“The Isle of the Blessed, yes.” Murainn softly whispered. “It’s one of the spots of pilgrimage of the Old Religion, as the Isle once held the Temple of the Triple Moon Goddess.”

“And the water that I drank?”

“Was given by the Goddess when the bargain was sealed.”

This made the blonde’s eyebrows rise up. “Bargain? What bargain?”

“To save a dying person, another life must be offered instead.” Mura told. “Gaius told me that the Priestess I killed was Nimueh, the very woman who send both the Afanc and the Wraith.”

The Prince let out a breath. “Well, can’t say I’ll be mourning her death.”

“It’s much better now that she’s gone.” and the young woman squeezed her slightly older betrothed’s hand. “No more Necromancy from her.”

Then, the Camelotian placed a hand on the secret witch’s.

“I… I have realized that you have become precious to me.” Arthur said, holding his betrothed’s hands. “I couldn’t imagine anyone else by my side. I do not want to postpone the wedding any longer. I’m going to ask Father, to hold the ceremony in two weeks’ time.”

“I’ll only be just eighteen.” the young Queen said, realizing her birthday was in just 1 week time.

“Which is the perfect marriageable age for a Royal woman.” the blonde told. “There are women who’ve been forced to marry at sixteen or younger.”

“I know.” Murainn sighed. “I just don’t want to rush things.”

“We won’t.” the young Pendragon said. “It’s going to be perfect timing. I guess I just needed to be at the brink of death to realize I do truly love you and that I can’t be a day without you.”

The Dragonlady hummed. “Not even a day?”

“Oh, shut up.”

The dark-haired woman just laughed. “It’s fine, Arthur.” and she kissed his now much warmer lips.

The Camelotian man watched his betrothed retreat from his rooms. Now, he could sleep happily.

Chapter Text

The wedding had taken place in the early times of autumn, while it was still warm, and it had been a beautiful day for a Royal wedding.

Guests from all over Camelot and befriended neighbouring Kingdoms had gathered in the Citadel for the ceremony while people from the Lower Town waited in the square where executions were held to catch a glimpse of the newlywed Royal couple.

In the evening, in the privacy of their wedding bed, the new Crown Princess of Camelot had enchanted their wedding rings with the most powerful anti-love spell to prevent any of them from ever taking a hold over either of them. She had only just broken the Sidhe spell, and she didn’t want to have something like that happen again. But if she would be the victim of such a spell, there wasn’t anyone around to break it.

That day had been nearly 5 months ago, and the Crown Prince and Princess were still very much behaving like they were in their honeymoon period.

And now, workers were cutting into the stone caves beneath Camelot, attempting to find sealed graves of previous Pendragons, their in-laws, Knights and important councillors who had served previous Kings of Camelot.

Neither Arthur or Murainn could actually catch a minute of sleep.

“This is just driving me mad.” the blonde groaned.

“It’s not like we’re the only ones who can’t sleep.” the Dyredian murmured as she turned her face towards the window. “And it’s happening on your father’s orders.”

“Why can’t they just stop at night? I really don’t understand my father at times.”

“Me neither.” and that is when the woman felt a bit… off. She sat up, her face in a frown as she attempted to place the feeling she was having.

The Prince looked at his wife. “Are you alright.”

“I hope I’m wrong… but something bad might just happen.” and Mura got out of bed to put on a decent dress over her skimpy nightgown.

“Should I come with you?” Arthur asked.

The raven-haired woman shook her head. “Only if you truly want to.”

“Then I’m definitely coming.” and he too threw the bed covers off of his partially naked body before getting dressed. He wasn’t going to call Morris for this.

The married couple went down to the catacombs beneath the castle, where they quickly bumped into the Court Physician.

“Your Majesties, I wasn’t aware you were coming here.” the elderly man said.

“It’s a bit hard to sleep, I’m afraid.” Arthur murmured.

“I can only sympathise, Sire.” Gaius said. “I haven’t seen my bed in days either. All these young men seem to get into trouble with falling rocks and cutting themselves on the walls.”

Suddenly, there was a yell for help.

The physician sighed. “Looks like I have to go.”

“I’ll go with you.” Mura said. “I have a bad feeling about tonight.”

“Alright. Just stay close.”

As they got deeper into the catacombs, they found one of the miners hyperventilating.

“Oh dear, what’s happened to you?” the elderly man asked.

“He doesn’t want to tell us.” another miner said. “It seems like he’s… in shock.”

Murainn held up her torch as she looked into the newly discovered tomb. She quickly turned her head away. “Yeah, no one’s been in there for ages.”

“We all smelled the same, Your Highness.” the second miner said with a light bow of his head.

Slowly, the secret witch entered the chamber.

The tomb was filled with old clay pots, candelabras, golden plates and cups, jewellery and statues. A little bit further into the chamber was the coffin, flanked by the statues of a raven on each side. It certainly was a tomb that a tomb robber would love to raid.

One of the miners was crouched down, forehead against the edge of the stone sarcophagus.

The air felt strange, as if there were secrets being told by the walls.

A blue glow had was emerging from the blue jewel on top of the lime stone.

“Hello?” the Queen of Dyred whispered, touching the crouched miner’s shoulder. She shook him a little before he fell on his back, showing his grey and white face with black blood shot eyes.

The miner’s mouth was open, like he’d suffocated.

Mura took a step back. “Gaius… you might want to come in here.”

Even after 5 minutes, the physician hadn’t actually looked at the body.

Murainn lightly shook him. “I know that that blue jewel is pretty, but something’s going on here.”

The elderly man then did look at the body and shocked back into reality.

“Do you know whose tomb it is?” Arthur asked.

“Not sure.” Gaius murmured, slowly stepping closer to the sarcophagus.

“Do you think it might be cursed?”

The Prince quickly got his answer when the physician stepped on a tile that was part of a trap.

From the mouth of one of the stone raves, a dart was shot.

The 18-year-old reacted quickly with her magic, using one of the silver plates to stop the dart.

The elderly man took a deep breath. “You just saved my life. Thank you.”

When the King’s voice was heard, the plate quickly shot back to its former place.

Uther looked around the grave when he entered. “Well, this is quite a find. You see, Gaius, I was right. There is treasure to be found under Camelot. Which of my predecessors do I have to thank for all this Gaius?” he picked up a ring that was on one of the wooden side tables.

“Uh, I’d have to look into it, Sire.” the court physician replied.

The older Pendragon walked around the coffin and saw the body. “How did he die?”

Gaius turned to his King. “He seems to have unwittingly triggered a trap here.”

“To deter grave robbers.” Arthur concluded.

Uther looked around the room again. “Well, there’s plenty in here people would want to steal. Have them secure the tomb. Guarding it is your responsibility, Arthur.”

The blonde nodded sharply. “Yes, Father.”

Suddenly, Murainn groaned.

“Are you alright?” the young Prince’s hands were quickly on his wife’s torso to prevent her from falling.

“I’m just very nauseous.” the Dyredian replied, pinching her nose.

The physician approached her. “You’ve been nauseous quite often this past week.”

“I might just be getting a more sensitive sense of smell.” the young woman stated. “Penrhyn doesn’t have all these tunnels.”

“You should go up.” the King said. “This isn’t a place for a woman.”

Mura snorted, but did leave the tomb with Gaius. Her feeling had been correct; something had happened, and Gaius was nearly killed.

“Who’s going to help you remove the body?” the Queen of Dyred asked.

“I suppose a pair of miners, or perhaps a couple palace servants who helped during the Afanc plague.” the physician shrugged. “You said you had a bad feeling? Is it gone now?”

Murainn shook her head. “Not completely, I’m afraid.” she put the torch in one of the holders along the wall. “It just feels like something even bigger is going to happen. And it’s like… everyone that enters that tomb is immediately drawn to that heart-shaped jewel.”

The next evening, Murainn went to see Gaius again.

The nausea was getting rather frequent, no matter what she ate or how much she ate.

“What can I help you with?” the elderly man said.

“My nausea episodes… it feels like they’re getting stronger.” the Dyredian stated.

Gaius hummed. “How about your other recent symptoms?”

“You mean the sore breasts and cravings? The soreness is going down, cravings are getting a bit crazy. I still have that aversion to meat.” the 18-year-old told. “I’ve cut all wine out of my diet, I’m only drinking water and fruit juices.”

“That’s good to hear.” the physician rummaged through a couple of cabinets of his. “I hope this’ll help.” and he held out a vail with a light pink substance.

Mura raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“I need you to drink it to confirm if I’m right about the diagnosis.”

The raven-haired lady sighed, took the vail and drank the liquid all at once. It tasted just like water, but once down through her oesophagus, her magic started to react.

Gaius blinked for a couple of seconds as he saw the glow, and then smiled.

“Did you confirm your suspicion?”

The physician nodded. “I did.”

A strange silence set it, with the elderly man still strangely smiling.
“Are you going to tell me any time soon?” Murainn asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m happy to say… you’re pregnant!”

That sentence stunned the Queen of Dyred. “Wait… what?” she looked down at her flat stomach before looking back at the Court Physician. “You mean that… I have a babe growing in there?”

“That’s what pregnancy means.” Gaius said, humming as he once again went through his cabinets.

Mura unconsciously placed a hand on her stomach. She then turned her attention to the papers and artifacts from the tomb on the old man’s desk. “What were you doing?”

“Trying to identify that inscription from the sceptre.”

The 18-year-old picked up the paper where Gaius had written the inscription on.

That particular inscription was written in a language with curvy, round symbols. It wasn’t anything she’d ever seen before. Her eyes narrowed and the letters before her eyes started to change.

“He who breaks my heart completes my work.”

The physician let a pot drop. “What did you say?”

“That’s what the inscription says.” Murainn told. “I can’t remember which language it is though.”

“Do you know whose tomb it was?” Gaius asked.

The Dyredian shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not.”

“The tomb we found belonged to Cornelius Sigan.” the Court Physician told. “You didn’t grow up in Camelot, but for those of us that did, Cornelius Sigan was a figure of nightmare.”

That made the young woman raise an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Sigan’s powers. He could change day into night, turn the tides, and legend has it, his spells helped build Camelot itself. In the end, he grew too powerful and the king at that time ordered his execution.”

“If he’s dead, why are you so worried?”

The elderly man sighed. “Sigan couldn’t bear the thought that his wealth and power would die with him, so he became obsessed with finding a way to defeat death itself.”

“And… you think he might have succeeded?” Mura felt that feeling creeping up again.

“Let’s hope not, for all our sakes.”

“You’ve been awfully quiet since you returned from Gaius.” Arthur said as he turned to face his wife.

“He found out what’s wrong with me.” the raven-haired woman said.

The Prince laid his calloused hand on his beloved’s waist. “Is it something terrible?”

“Not exactly.”

The blonde had a worried expression on his face. “Mura… please, tell me.”

“I’m pregnant.”

The tension in the silence between them was thick.

“Arthur?” Mura slowly reached out with her hand to her husband’s shocked face.

The future King suddenly embraced his wife tightly and kissed her lips hard. And he definitely wasn’t going to let go of her soon. His hands roamed everywhere. “I truly am the luckiest man alive.”

“Don’t exaggerate.” the 18-year-old said with a laugh before her husband decided to kiss her again.

Their happy peace didn’t last long.

Suddenly, the warning bells went off as the square filled with screams.

The married pair ran to their windows.

Huge black winged creatures were flying everywhere, people were running away from them.

“Damnit!” Arthur cursed and quickly put on some clothes before leaving their chambers.

Murainn held up her hand. “Astrice!”

One by one, the stone statues burst in pieces of rubble.

The Queen of Dyred turned away from the window and got into one of the few dresses she owned that had laces at the front and not in the back. This particular dark blue dress didn’t reach the floor, making it far easier for her to run around.

As she made her way towards the square, she almost quite literally bumped into Gaius.

The physician put a glass object into her hands. “You need to put Sigan’s soul back in there.”

“I don’t know how.” the raven-haired woman replied.

“There’s a spell.” the elderly man said to her. “It goes like this: ‘Ic thin sawol her beluce, abide thaet ic the alyse’, it should do the trick.”

“Where are you going?” the secret witch asked as the man turned away from her.

“Going to tend to the wounded!”

Mura looked down at the glass object. It was the heart, the same one that had been in the tomb before.

‘So it was that man’s soul all along…’ not that she had many seconds to ponder on that thought, people were dying outside the citadel and those flying creatures looked strong enough to break through the castle walls and then kill everyone inside.

Once Murainn got outside the castle walls, Knights were lying everywhere either dead or unconscious.

Then, one of those creatures was diving down towards one particular Knight… Arthur.

“Astrice!” she yelled, and the creature broke apart as her eyes glowed golden. Then, she made her way to her husband to check on him.

Her beloved was still alive, but she had no way of getting him inside the building.

“Arthur.” the secret witch slightly shook the man, trying to wake him, but he wouldn’t open his eyes. “Please, you have to get out of here.”

“Well, well, well…” a dark voice started, turning the young Dyredian’s head. “Who would’ve thought… the wife of Arthur Pendragon, a sorceress, and a powerful one too.”

“I won’t let you hurt him.” the 18-year-old said, quickly standing up.

Sigan laughed. “You know… I can be a much better husband for you. I can show you so much, young one. I will show you all the powers that I know, and any offspring between the two of us could conquer the world! Wouldn’t you want to be remembered for such greatness?”

“I have no desire to conquer.” Mura stated.

“At his side you will be nothing!” the possessed voice called out. “Merely a wife, to be cast aside once an heir to his legacy is born.”

The raven-haired woman clenched her jaw. “You don’t know Arthur like I do. He would never treat me like that!”

“It’s how all Pendragons have treated their wives.”

Murainn shook her head. “Not Arthur. Never Arthur.”

The ‘immortal’ sorcerer’s eyes narrowed. “Then so it be.”

The woman took a deep breath and whispered the spell. “Ic þín sáwol hér beléac, abide þæt ic þé álíese!”

A blue mist left the possessed man’s body, taking all its life force with it before it was once more trapped inside the glass heart-shaped container.

“We’re definitely going to reseal that tomb of yours.” the Dyredian murmured.

Uther was pacing around. “We must learn our lessons from these terrible events, Gaius.”

Internally, the court physician was hoping for a drastic change in attitude, but it probably wouldn’t be. So he simply nodded. “Indeed, Sire.”

“They prove beyond doubt that I was right. Magic is evil. It is our greatest threat. I have grown complacent, Gaius.” the King sounded furious with himself.

“I wouldn’t say that, Sire.” the elderly man said, hoping for some sort of mood change.

The greying King lightly growled. “We must renew our efforts. We must ensure that all sorcerers and their followers are eradicated from this kingdom.”

Gaius just sighed at that. “Of course, Sire.”

The next morning, Murainn ate breakfast with all the Pendragons.

“It’s not often that anyone calls for a family breakfast.” Uther started. “What is the occasion?”

The Prince squeezed his wife’s hand before clearing his throat. “We have a little announcement to make.”

“Oh.” Morgana just blinked.

“I suppose you remember all the nausea episodes I’ve had this month. Gaius finally found what it was.” Mura began, watching the eyes of her father-in-law and her friend. “I’m with child.”

The King’s ward gasped and the older Pendragon man’s eyes went wide.

The King blinked for a couple of seconds before a smile that split his face appeared. “This is the best news I’ve heard since… since my own wife was!” and he smacked his son quite hard on the shoulder.

Arthur winced, but that didn’t faze the soon-to-be grandfather.

“I hadn’t expected it to happen so soon, but I’m definitely not disappointed at all.” Uther stated. “Your kid will be a strong one. Definitely.”

Morgana only raised an eyebrow while smiling a knowing smile.

Chapter Text

The practice for the jousting tournament was taking place that afternoon.

“That’s got to hurt.” Freya murmured to her Mistress as one of the Knights was un-horsed.

“It’s what men enjoy, my dear Freya.” Murainn told her maid. “It was also done in Penrhyn, if you remember. Though not as often as it is done in Camelot.”

Arthur pushed his visor up. “Fetch me another lance, would you Morris?”

The servant did, and the Prince steered his horse into the lane to go for a joust against one of the more senior Knights. For some reason, he couldn’t go through with the move.

The other Knight pulled out rather than take the advantage.

Once on the other side of the sandy pit, the Crown Prince jumped off and quite literally threw his helmet down onto the sand. “Why did you pull out? I was wide open! You could have unhorsed me.

“I was fearful that I might injure you, Sire.” the Knight, Sir Leon, replied.

“You had the advantage. You can’t afford to hesitate.” the blonde was definitely going to lecture the Knights again on that one.

“I wouldn’t have done if I were facing a different opponent. You are the future King, My Lord.”

This response left Arthur gaping like a fish for a couple seconds, before his face turned stern and his eyes narrowed. “You jousted against me in the tournament last year. Are you saying you let me win?”

“No, My Lord.” the ginger said after a couple seconds of hesitation.

That just made the Once and Future King explode. “It doesn’t matter who I am! I do not expect any special treatment from you, from any of you! Is that understood?”

Firstly, the Knights looked at each other before nodding.

“How am I going to prove myself if my opponents aren't trying their hardest?” Arthur yelled as he entered his chambers, throwing his armour plates on the floor for Morris to pick up. “Everybody always tells me exactly what they think I want to hear!”

Mura could only sympathize as she saw her husband in this exasperated mood.

“All my life I’ve been treated as if I’m special. I just want to be treated just like everyone else.”

The young woman undid some knots in the laces of her beloved’s shirt. “It’s because of who your father is. No one wants to get in trouble with him. You and I both know he can have quite the temper.”

The Prince sighed. “Couldn’t I have been born just another nobleman and not a Prince?”

“Sadly it’s impossible for us to choose how we’re born.” the secret witch replied and placed her palms on her husband’s cheeks. “But do you know why I keep Freya around, apart from the fact she’s a very nice maid who’s used to my thing?”

For a moment, the blonde’s eyes looked at Morris, who closed the doors as he left the chambers. “I guess you can freely tell me now.” and he took her hands in his.

“Freya also functions as a decoy.” Murainn told. “Anyone who doesn’t truly know me could easily mistake one for the other.”

Arthur blinked for a moment, and then smiled. “That… is brilliant.”

The Dyredian raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“It’s bloody perfect.” and the Crown Prince kissed his wife intensely for a couple seconds as he pulled her close. “Now we only need a plan of some sorts.”

Mura hummed. “What would you think of… telling your dad a lie about a strange magical beast, Morris smuggling you to a peasant’s house where you would stay during the tournament, entering one of my kingdom’s Knights in the tournament and you then taking his place after the presentation.”

“You’re so bloody brilliant… you don’t know how brilliant you are.” and he went in for another kiss.

Yet, the sounds of the doors opening stopped them.

It was Uther who entered, and immediately stopped as he saw the position of their hands. “I’m sorry for entering unannounced, I merely wanted to ask whether both of you will join me for dinner?”

“We’ll be there, father.”

“Good.” and the King left.

“That was… embarrassing.” the Queen of Dyred said.

{Uther’s POV}

I was quite embarrassed when I saw my son ready to go at it with his wife, but I’m happy for him.

To be honest, the fact that he can’t keep his hands off of his wife will mean he won’t stray from his wedding bed. I hope she can keep my son interested in her, I can’t afford him to have bastards too.

I was stupid when I was younger, sleeping with too many women to count.

I only had two bastards, both with Vivienne. I’m still mad at myself that I betrayed both Ygraine and Gorlois like that, with such stupidity. The firstborn was believed to have died, and Morgana is here with me not knowing her true parentage. I intend to keep it that way.

It is better that she doesn’t know anything of what transpired.

The announcement of Queen Murainn’s pregnancy will be announced when the swelling of her stomach is visible to everyone in court, which could take another month or 2 according to Gaius.

I wished I could announce it much sooner, so the people of Camelot will know there is another Pendragon on its way into this world and continue our dynasty. That grandchild will rule over both Camelot and Dyred, making our friendship with Godwin even more important than it already is.

During dinner, my son announced that he would have to leave for our northern borders because of a magically conjured beast that had… quite the appearance.

I did notice that Murainn was trying not to laugh or grin, likely due to the hilarity of this beast’s looks.

“But you’ll miss the tournament.” I said.

“As much as I want to compete, my duty to Camelot comes first.” my son told. “And for the tournament, there’s always a next time. This beast, however, could kill our people.”

I nodded. “You are right, of course.”

The next day, Murainn gave Morris some of Lance’s peasant clothes which the Guard still owned. She was sure that they would fit Arthur, as they were both broad shouldered and had quite a prominent chest.

She was supposed to go to Gwen’s home straight after, but as she passed the council chambers, she overheard the private audience someone from the Cornwall region had with the King.

“I was there in person. Odin has put a price on Prince Arthur's head.”

Mura quickly slapped a hand in front of her mouth.

“Surely, he wouldn’t dare.” Uther then said.

“He’s blinded by grief, My Lord. The assassin Myror has accepted the bounty.”

That made the young Queen’s eyebrows rise.

“I’ve heard of this Myror.” said the King.

“I believe he’s heading for Camelot as we speak. I bring you this information at great risk to myself.”

The 18-year-old heard enough and left immediately for the lower town.

Morris and Arthur were already at Gwen’s.

“We may have a problem.” the Queen of Dyred said. “There’s an assassin after Arthur, send by Odin.”

Gwen looked fearful. “What are we going to do now? And why would Odin want Prince Arthur dead?”

“Morris and I will be on the lookout. If either of us sees someone suspicious, or thinks that someone’s asking too many questions, I’ll deal with it.”

The dark-skinned maid frowned. “What are you going to do?”

“I have my way when… dealing with this type of people.” Murainn said, before turning to Arthur. “Would you… perhaps tell me why Odin would send an assassin after you?”

Arthur took a deep breath. “Because I killed his son.”

A silence fell between the strange quartet.

“Odin’s son, Mark, challenged me to a fight. I had no quarrel with him. I asked him to withdraw. Perhaps he felt he had to prove himself. I can still see his face. He looked so scared.” the Prince’s face fell sad.

“You cannot blame yourself.” the maidservant said.

“No one but us knows where you are. If the assassin can’t find you, he can’t kill you.” and Mura nodded at Morris, who took this as his que to leave and attend to his duties.

The blonde turned to his stepsister’s servant. “May I continue to stay here?”

Guinevere nodded. “Of course, for as long as you need.”

Arthur gave her a smile. “Thank you. Mura, who is the man I’ll be portraying in the tournament?”

“I got Lance to agree.” the Dyredian replied.

Arthur nodded. He knew he could trust Lancelot, as the man would literally give his life to protect the people of Camelot and prevent all suffering.

Before the start of the tournament, Morris helped Lance and Arthur prepare for the fight.

“So, how’s married life going?” the Queen’s guard asked.

“Pretty good so far. Nothing major has happened yet.” the Prince replied.

“Just so you know, nothing’s going to stop me from running you through if you lay a hand on her.”

The blonde held up his hands. “Understood. Even though I’m pretty sure she’ll do that first.”

“Sir Lancelot, you have to go.” Morris said. “Your horse is ready.”

The brunet nodded and left the tent to ride into line with the other participants, which began once the King himself was seated in between the Lady Morgana and his daughter-in-law.

Uther stood up. “Knights of the realm, welcome to Camelot. You’ve trained for this day for many years to put your bravery, strength and your skill to the test. Today you will fight for glory and for honour. For this is the ultimate test of courage. And it will be the measure of you as men. For only the most skilful, the most fearless among you will emerge as a worthy champion.”

Soon enough, the Dyredian Knight was back to hand over his horse. “They’re ready for you, Sire.”

And the matches began.

Mura watched how her husband won every single one of his matches, but also looked at the crowd behind the royal box. She was sure that if the assassin would be in Camelot, he’d be watching the tournament as it is exactly the thing Arthur would do.

She observed one of the castle’s kitchen servants sit very close to a dark-skinned man in a purple cape.

They were definitely talking about something that no one should be hearing.

The young Queen looked to her side for a second to see where Uther’s eyes were, but they were on the fighting Knights and was also cheering them on.

The secret witch focussed her attention on the pair, and her eyes glowed golden.

“Everyone believes he is travelling to the northern borders, but I’ve discovered that Arthur’s servant remains in Camelot.” whispered the palace servant.

“Who is this servant?” the man in purple asked.

That’s when the fat man pointed at someone. “That’s him.”

“Why is he working for another knight?”

Murainn closed her eyes, stopping the magic, and turned back to the fight for a second. She definitely had found the assassin and had to keep an eye on him.

As the tournament was still going, she slowly thought of a plan. Perhaps placing an enchantment on the man would help him to be more vulnerable to being caught by the guards.

There were no real spells to make someone clumsier than they were. Yet… love spells made people as reckless as they would ever be.

Myror climbed the walls of the castle. He wasn’t able to go anywhere near the servant’s entrance due to the extreme high number of guards protecting all the castle’s regular entrances. which left him with only one other option: climbing the walls.

It was dangerous as heck, as one misstep could lead to a deadly fall.

But he was almost at the open window.

The assassin tumbled into the room ungracefully and got to his feet before assessing his location. He was in someone’s bedchambers, and the red and gold of Camelot was everywhere.

No candles were lit, either on purpose or because someone was sleeping with their windows open.

Yet there was no figure on the 4-poster bed, he could see it because the curtains were open and the covers still open. The owner of the chambers must still be elsewhere.

The dark-skinned bald man slowly strode forwards and accidentally knocked over a chair that was standing in the middle of the room.

Then, the door to the hallway opened, and a young woman entered.

She was definitely dressed for bed.

Yet, the woman didn’t scream. It is as if she’d expected him.

Then, she began to pronounce words in an unfamiliar language. “Túce hwón frec ðu, Myror. Þec feoh nom gyse. Cume morðor rice ær. Túce hwón frec ðu, Myror.” her eyes glowed golden.

‘Magic!’ was Myror’s first thought, but his brain somewhat disconnected on him. The only thing he could think about were the woman’s intense blue eyes with golden flecks in them. ‘She was beautiful.’

Suddenly, the black-bearded man was sitting on a chair and the hilt of a dagger was protruding from his chest, blood seeping into the clothes he was wearing. And he was dying.

{Gaius’s POV}

Sir Leon took me to the Prince’s Royal chambers.

Once there, I saw Sir Lancelot with an arm around a scared looking Queen Murainn, a couple guards and my King… all looking at the dead body of a man.

I could immediately see the obvious cause of death, as there was a dagger in the man’s chest.

“Yes, that’s Myror.” the man who’d travelled from Cornwall told. “That’s the assassin that was sent to kill Prince Arthur.”

Uther clenched his jaw. “This is just unacceptable! My daughter-in-law was almost killed!” he turned to Lancelot. “I’m glad to know you take your duty seriously. Perhaps having a few more men like you around wouldn’t hurt after all.”

I looked at the pair.

I knew Murainn could be quite the actress. She had to be, or she was at risk of her magic being revealed.

“I’m just glad I was anywhere near to help My Lady.” the commoner Knight said.

My old friend motioned me over. “Discretely get rid of this body. I don’t need the entire court know about this assassin. Understood?”

“Clearly, Sire.”

{Gwen’s POV}

I was just sweeping the back room as His Highness was visited by his wife again.

They did make quite the couple, and they were quite clearly in love… something that couldn’t be said about all royal couples. This match, however, had blossomed into love.

“The assassin’s dead.” the Queen of Dyred said.

Prince Arthur let out a deep breath. “Good to know. How did you discover?”

The Royal woman pulled out a chair. “I overheard a conversation between him and one of the kitchen servants. I’m sure the cook will know his name. He was pretty convinced that you were in the castle, so he broke into our chambers.”

I slapped a hand in front of my mouth.

Her Majesty had been at risk of getting killed!

“Lance and I were waiting outside.” the young Queen continued. “Myror knocked over the chair I put in the middle of the room. Then we incapacitated him.”

I smiled. Of course Lancelot would be there for his Lady.

Recently, the Knight had confided in me that he was slightly attracted to the Crown Princess of Camelot.

I couldn’t quite fault him. Queen Murainn was extremely graceful and anything but a snob like many Princesses and Ladies of noble blood. She was the right type of Queen for our Prince.

“And how did you do that?” the Crown Prince asked.

“Let’s just say… I put him under a little love spell.”

I almost dropped my broom, and my eyes went wide.

Prince Arthur was softly laughing. “Only a little?”

“It was enough to make him unaware of his surroundings.” the Queen of Dyred told. “Then Lance finished the job with the dagger.”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Prince Arthur’s wife was a sorceress! And she’d just freely admitted it to her husband, who was the son of a man who ruthlessly killed sorcerers.

“Perhaps I should share some of that prize money with Lance.” my Prince then said. “I’m just glad we’re not in danger anymore. But I guess I’ll have to persuade my father not to go to war against Odin.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way.”

I looked through the glass, and saw the pair share a kiss. I turned away from that scene.

I can’t believe that Queen Murainn has been able to hide her magic for so long! And it’s quite evident that the Prince knows about it, as his reaction to her usage of a love spell demonstrated.

I continued sweeping. I guess I can only hope that she won’t kill Uther and enchant Arthur to do her bidding, if she doesn’t kill him too and take the throne herself.

The next day, Arthur had his half-final against Sir Leon.

“If I win this match, I can say to myself that Sir Leon didn’t easily let me win.” the Prince said to himself.

Morris watched his master. “Are you still going to reveal yourself?”

“Maybe… maybe not.” the Pendragon heir replied. “I guess I’ll decide after the final, if I win that one. Sir Alinor isn’t stupid.”

The servant just nodded. “You’re good to go.”

Lancelot entered the tent again. “All’s ready. Morris, perhaps you should go and get a lance ready.”

The boy nodded and ran out.

The commoner Knight turned to his future King. “Good luck.” and slapped him on his shoulder.

“Thanks.” the blonde put on his helmet and put the visor down before leaving the tent and getting on the horse, riding into the sandy pit for the match against Leon.

Once more, the pregnant Princess of Camelot was sitting beside her father-in-law while surrounded by the Camelotian Knights who protected her in absence of her Guard and Arthur. She definitely didn’t need them, as she could just use her magic to trip someone, but magic was currently illegal in Camelot. She truly hoped that one day, she could just freely use her magic.

Mura looked down at her stomach. The swell was very light, but she was definitely getting a little rounder down there. She’d rearranged her diet to accommodate for the baby’s needs. Gaius had been helpful determining which foods her stomach would tolerate, and which ones would just come back.

She was lucky Arthur still treated her as a person, albeit pregnant with his child. She didn’t want to be treated like glass. He was protective of her, but what husband wouldn’t be protective over his wife? Only a very bad one who didn’t care, and Arthur certainly wasn’t a man like that.

The joust began, and Sir Leon was left hanging on the side of his horse.

It was quite the comical sight, and quite some peasants were grinning at seeing the position.

Uther cheered and clapped, not knowing it was his own son.

“He always gets so into this.” Morgana said. She had her chair moved next to the other woman. “You get used to it after a while.”

Murainn hummed. “Of course. It is a bit of a man’s thing, isn’t it?”

“It so is.” the King’s Ward told.

The final was about to start, and it was going to be Arthur in disguise as Lancelot versus Sir Alinor.

“Who do you think will win?” Gana asked.

“I have no idea.” the Dyredian said with half a smile. “Both are pretty damn good.”

“That certainly is true.” the green-eyed woman said, leaning back. “I forgot to thank you, for having Lochu helping me. I can finally sleep a lot better.”

“It’s not a problem. People like us do often have to stick together.”

Then, the trumpets announced the final match.

This last match seemed to happen in slow motion for some sort of reason, which had the Dyredian Queen standing on her feet to see what was going to happen.

Sir Alinor was the one un-horsed in the joust.

The crowd roared and clapped for their new champion, who quickly disappeared, only to return without a helmet half a minute later to wave to the crowd.

Though Mura had expected her husband to reveal himself, she smiled at knowing that Lance got the recognition he deserved. She knew he was partially falling in love with her, but her heart belonged to Arthur.

“I’m glad to hear no one was hurt while this assassin was here.” Arthur said to the court while standing in front of his father in those council chambers. He had been redressed in his chainmail and armour plates by Morris and Freya.

“Odin must be made to pay for his actions. We must strike back at him.” Uther decided.

The Prince held up his hand. “Surely you understand the grief he feels for the loss of his son?” playing into his father’s own feelings. “We should try to make peace with him. There’s been enough bloodshed.”

The older Pendragon sat back onto his throne. “Perhaps you’re right.” the drummed on the wooden arms. “How was the rest of your trip? Fruitful?”

The blonde smiled. “Very. I learned a great deal. How was the tournament?”

“Excellent. We have a new champion, Sir Lancelot.”

“I couldn’t imagine someone more worthy to win in my absence.” and he directed a smile at his wife and her guard.

Lancelot snickered for a moment but smiled back.

Chapter Text

It was once again quiet in Camelot, and the royal couple had decided on a lovely picknick in the nearby forest just outside the city walls while servants and other peasants were collecting firewood.

The blonde had his arms tightly around his 5-month pregnant wife, his hands on her swelling stomach. He still couldn’t believe his wife had gotten pregnant so soon in their marriage. He kissed her temple softly.

“Who would’ve expected? Prince Arthur Pendragon so dopey while around his pregnant wife.” Mura whispered, slightly teasing.

Arthur just laughed. “Can you do that little trick again? Show me that horse?”

“Of course.” she turned her attention to the smoking wood a couple meters away from them. “Hors, beride þá heofonum.”

For a couple of seconds, the smoke took the form of a running horse before turning back to regular smoke going upwards into the sky.

“I love you.” the Prince said, kissing his beloved’s temple again.

“I know.” and a comfortable silence fell between them.

Suddenly, one of the commoners gathering firewood shook the Prince’s shoulder. “Did you see it? The smoke, did you see it?”

For a few seconds, Arthur turned paler than he was. “No… we didn’t see anything.”

“Are you blind? You were right here! It was magic, I tell you. There’s sorcery here. We must tell the King.” and she ran off.

There was once more silence.

“Well… shit.”

“Let’s just hope she’s not going to accuse either of us.” the Crown Prince growled.

“It was sorcery you saw, and you’re certain of it?” Uther asked the peasant woman.

“Yes, Sire.”

The King sat back onto his throne. “And you swear this before your King?”

“I swear it.”

Arthur then tried to play it down. “Perhaps your eyes deceived you, a trick of the light.”

The commoner shook her head. “The smoke was alive, I tell you. I feared for my life.”

“I thank you for bringing this to my attention. Your loyalty will not go unrewarded.”

The woman bowed. “Thank you, Sire.” and she was escorted out.

The older Pendragon grumbled. “It cannot continue.”

“I can hunt down those responsible, Father. I promise they will not escape unpunished.”

Uther shook his head. “No. Stronger methods are called for. Send for the Witchfinder.”

Everyone gasped.

Even Gaius looked at his old friend with large eyes. “Sire, is it necessary to resort to such measures?”

“The Witchfinder is a trusted ally, Gaius. His help will be invaluable.” the King said, dismissing him.

Still, the court physician threw the man a disappointed look. “Of course.”

Arthur was just standing against the wall as his wife was cursing his father into next year.

“Uther just can’t think! There are other explanations for these sightings too! He’s a bloody idiot!”

The Prince did internally agree with his wife, even though he could never voice it towards his father because he knew there would be a punishment of some sort hanging over his head if he did. “Are you sure Freya hid the spell books?”

“No one’s gonna look under the floorboards if they’re screwed tightly shut.” the dark-haired woman muttered. “I’m more worried about the innocent person this Witchfinder will randomly accuse.”

“I also fear that that will happen.” the blonde sighed. “So only books about plants are left?”

“Yes. My instructions to Lancelot and Freya were quite clear about that.” Mura said, giving her husband a look of annoyance.

The Crown Prince held up his hands. “Just checking.”

Murainn then looked down at her growing stomach. “It’s likely that our child will be born with magic.”

“I know.” Arthur said. “We’ll just have to be very careful, especially when our babe has arrived.”

“There’s something else you should know. And it’s relevant to our babe.” the Dyredian started.

The Prince of Camelot raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly to the right. “What else is there.”

“I’m the last Dragonlady.” the 18-year-old blurted out. “My father was a Dragonlord, and it has always been that the firstborn inherits that ability.”

The young Pendragon blinked for a couple seconds. “So… that means… what exactly?”

“I can control dragons, basically.” Mura replied.

“There are no more dragons.” the blonde told.

The Queen of Dyred shook her head. “There’s one right beneath this castle, shackled with iron.”

That silenced the warrior Prince.

“His name is Kilgharrah, and he just loves to speak in riddles.”

“You have actually visited this dragon?” Arthur asked.

“He quite literally called me to him.” Murainn told. “He is basically my kin, and I’m the only one he’s got.”

The Prince slowly nodded. “If I’m King, we can free him from his shackles. Alright?”

The young Queen nodded. “I agree with you on that.”

“The Witchfinder will arrive tonight. You might want to check if everything that could relate to any type of magic has been stowed away. Even the smallest thing, and Aredian will present it as evidence.”

The Dyredian nodded. “I’ll go check with Freya.” and she left their chambers.

The Princess of Camelot did check with Freya first, but didn’t return immediately to her husband. Instead, she went to Morgana’s chambers at the Griffin Landing.

The King’s Ward was in a fragile state. Though she had slept well for the past couple nights, she didn’t look like she had, and she was trembling from head to toe.

“Oh, Gana.” the secret witch embraced her fellow magic user. “I know you’re afraid.”

“How are you dealing with this?” Morgana asked.

“Having faith in myself that I can find out the real cause of what people have so suddenly been claiming is sorcery.” Mura replied. As she saw the confused face, she started elaborating. “There are plants out there that give you hallucinations, if you eat them or use them in eyedrops, you start seeing things.”

The Seer squeezed her stepbrother’s wife’s wrists. “I hope you can prove what’s going on.”

The King and his son walked into the Council chamber when it was dark.

“So, where’s he been all this time?” Arthur asked.

“In foreign lands. Wherever the pursuit of sorcery takes him.”

The Prince frowned. “He does all this in your name?”

The older Pendragon shook his head. “The Witchfinder serves no one. He’s a law unto himself.”

As the blonde was about to make a comment about how that would make him unreliable, the Witchfinder himself came out from behind a pillar. “Do you smell it? Do you smell it, Uther?”

“Aredian.” the King acknowledged him.

The man was old and grey, his blue eyes rather strange. “It’s all around us, the foul stench of sorcery. It’s infected your great city like a contagion.”

“I welcome you to Camelot, Aredian. Thank you for making such haste to be here.”

Arthur just looked at his father with a frown.

Aredian huffed. “Well, let’s hope I’m not too late, hmm? For every hour counts in the war against sorcery. Unchecked, it spreads like a disease. It seeks out the young and the old, the weak and the able, the fair and the foul of heart alike. You’ve grown lazy, Uther. You’ve grown idle. Your once noble Camelot is rotten to the core. You stand on the brink of dark oblivion.”

The Crown Prince blinked at that little speech. There were very few who could talk to his father like that.

“Aredian, this is my son Arthur.” Uther said.

The Witchfinder looked at the young Prince. “You’re a great warrior. The finest this kingdom has ever known.”

Well at least that was quite a complement. “Thank you.”

“So, you won't be offended when I say that I shall have no need of you or your knights. The subtle craft of sorcery can only be fought by yet subtler means, methods honed over decades of study, methods known only to myself.”

That made the blonde even more suspicious about the man in front of him.

“We are grateful for your help.” the King then said.

“But gratitude alone can’t keep a man alive. You must put food in his belly.” the man in black clothes said.

“I will pay your price, Aredian, whatever it may be.”

Internally, Arthur did think that Aredian would ask quite the price.

“Well, if I’m not needed, I need to tend to my pregnant wife. I will converse with you tomorrow again.” and he left the chambers.

Aredian then fully turned to Uther. “I hear you acquired a daughter-in-law.”

“Yes. Queen Murainn of Dyred. She’s been quite an exemplary woman, very refined and knowledgeable in many fields. She’s helped us quite a lot in fighting the evil in our Kingdom.” his eyes quietly shone as he talked about his son’s wife. “She’s a lot like my Ygraine.”

The Witchfinder hummed as he heard the King talk. “Is there a chance I can meet with her tomorrow?”

“I’m sure she’ll be at breakfast.”

Arthur had to guide his pregnant wife to the breakfast table. It was getting harder for her to walk as her belly was swelling up to accommodate the babe inside of her.

The Queen of Dyred groaned as she sat down in her usual spot at the Pendragon table.

“You look quite awful.” the King’s Ward offered.

“That’s what you get when this one keeps kicking your insides.” Murainn murmured.

The Witchfinder arrived just before breakfast was served. “So you must be the Lady Murainn?”

“I am. Quite observant, you are.” her voice was dripped with sarcasm.

“Excuse my wife. She’s become very irritable ever since the babe started kicking.” the Prince quickly said as a defence. “Pregnancy hormones, and all.”

Aredian just hummed. “I heard Dyred is quite lenient towards sorcerers.”

“What are you trying to insinuate?” the 18-year-old asked before taking a bite of her grilled fish.

“That you might be sympathising with sorcerers.”

Mura looked into the old man’s eyes. “Even though I might not agree with my father-in-law on every policy he has made, I do respect the current laws.”

Before the man was about to ask another question, the younger Pendragon interrupted him. “I do not appreciate you asking questions that could induce stress in my wife. Stress is harmful to both her and our child. Please do leave her alone.”

The Witchfinder didn’t look very pleased about it but didn’t have much more to say.

Morgana was trying her best to look composed as the man sat down for breakfast next to her.

Arthur was initially leaving for the training grounds but stopped the second he heard his father conversing with Aredian. He just couldn’t trust this man, he was lawless.

“I can’t allow you to speak to Morgana.” Uther said. “She’s fragile enough as it is at this moment.”

“You’ve forgotten that her mother, Vivienne, was a witch.” the Witchfinder said.

“That doesn’t mean that she has it too!”
“On the contrary, dear Uther, it is in her blood.” Aredian’s voice was stone cold. “All offspring of a witch will be a witch too. It’s the law.”

“I refuse to believe that someone of my blood could ever have magic!”

The Crown Prince froze in place. ‘Did father really just say that?’

“You’re blinded by fatherly love, Uther. I’ve seen it with my own eyes! See, you’ve gone idle! And this is why sorcerers keep popping up!”

The younger Pendragon had enough and swung the wooden doors open.

“Son? What’s the meaning of this?” Uther asked.

Arthur stepped inside. “Is it true what I just heard you say? Is Morgana my sister?”

“Arthur-” but before the King could say much, the tip of a blade was pointed right between nis eyes.

“And don’t you dare lie to me!” the blonde yelled. “Even if you refuse to tell me, I can just go down to Gaius and force the truth out of him!” his jaw was clenched. “At least Gaius has always been truthful.”

“You weren’t supposed to know.” the older Pendragon said.

The Crown Prince snorted. “Of course, I was never supposed to know. At least now it makes sense, all those lectures about the downsides on bastard children.”

“It was for your own good.” Uther said, trying to stay calm. He wasn’t able to reach any type of weapon at this moment and Aredian certainly didn’t have anything on him either.

The blonde just rolled his eyes before sheathing his sword. “If you don’t tell Morgana, I will. She deserves to know the truth.” and he left the throne room… his insides boiling with anger.

There would be some unfortunate Knights today…

When the Witchfinder returned from his trip through the Lower Town, he brought 3 women with him to the Throne room. “Speak, do not be afraid.” he said to them.

The first woman was shaking as she told her story. “I...I was drawing water from the well, Sire, when I saw them: faces in the water. Terrible faces, like people who were drowned, screaming. Screaming.”

Aredian shushed her before turning to the second woman. “Tell them what you saw.”

The second woman was a lot calmer. “A goblin dancing on the coals. it was dancing in the flames, and it spoke, Sire. My heart near stopped for fear of it.”

“As you’ve heard, My Lord, the incident in the woods was only the beginning, hmm?” his stern eyes stared at the third woman.

“There was a sorcerer, Sire, in the square. There were creatures jumping right out of his mouth.”

“And what manner of creature?” the last woman said, bowing her head slightly.

“Toads, Sire. Great green, slimy things as big as your fist.”

The Witchfinder spread is arms. “The sorcerer laughs in your face. Even now magic flourishes on the streets of Camelot.”

Uther sighed. “I can scarcely believe it.”

Aredian grinned. “Yet it is the truth, My Lord. Fortunately, I've utilised every facet of my craft to bring this matter to a swift resolution.”

Then, Murainn stood up, interrupting the King. “My lord, I wish to ask these women one single question.”

“Go ahead.” the older Pendragon said.

The Queen of Dyred turned her full attention to the women as she sat down again. “Did any of you use Belladonna eye drops recently?”

“But this is sorcery!” the man in black yelled.

Mura held up her hand. “I want my question answered truthfully, without any interruption from you, Witchfinder. Or do I have to remind you that I can have you thrown in the dungeons for disrespecting authority?”

Arthur watched on from his own throne. He knew is wife wouldn’t just threaten with doing such a thing.

The Witchfinder definitely didn’t look happy but shut his mouth.

“Now, please.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” the second woman replied, her eyes cast to the ground.

“I started using them three days before I saw the sorcerer in the square.” the third woman told.

The Dyredian hummed. “You know, Belladonna eyedrops do make your pupils look bigger. But there are quite a couple downsides on the usage of them. Hallucinations is one of the consequences. I believe our dear Court Physician can confirm.”

Uther looked at his old friend. “Gaius?”

The elderly man sighed. “What Her Highness says is true. It is in one of my books about plants with healing properties. I use Belladonna to treat bowel problems, yet under certain conditions, a tincture of the flower can produce hallucinations.”

“This is nonsense!” Aredian yelled.

“I will not let you kill innocents, Aredian the Witchfinder.” Murainn quite nearly hissed. “It is now clear that this time around, there was no sorcery involved. Your services have become redundant, and I do advise you not to play any of your tricks anymore.”

The old man froze. “Wh-what?”

“The problem with guys like you, is that they don’t think.” the Queen of Dyred said, eyes strictly on the Witchfinder. “You’re ruthless, you don’t care about what happens to anyone. All you care about is gold. I would almost believe you’re a Goblin or a troll, and you might as well be, as you are just as greedy as them. Please leave the Citadel.”

“What’s this about?” the King asked before guards could open the doors.

“I had Gaius fetch the apothecary for me this morning after breakfast.” the secret witch began. “He confessed that the Witchfinder had forced him to sell his Belladonna tinctures. If the man didn’t, Aredian would’ve had him burned on the stake. If anything, your friend is a fraud.”

This made the Witchfinder quite pissed. “And why isn’t that man here?”

“Can’t you guess it?” Mura asked before taking a single sip of her tea. “The man is afraid, very much too afraid to say it in public. Also, Gaius and my Guard, Lancelot, were there to confirm.”

The older Pendragon looked at the two men, who both nodded. “So it seems. Guards! Arrest him!”

“What!?” the old man didn’t take so kind to this. “You bitch!”

“Charge him with fraud and treason against the crown!” Uther called out. He’d gone almost as red as the colour of his family crest.

Arthur smirked at his wife, who merely raised an eyebrow, as Aredian was dragged out of the room and dragged into the dungeons.

“Remind me to never make you angry with me.” Arthur said as he was cuddled up with his wife under the sheets of their wedding bed.

“I could’ve made him throw up a toad, you know.” the pregnant witch murmured. “And I would’ve, had your father not let me speak. That was kind of plan B, as I am one of the few who can throw spells around without actually saying them.”

That made the Prince grin. He placed his left hand over his wife’s large belly. “What do you hope for?”

“You mean the sex?” Murainn asked. Her husband hummed. “To be honest, I don’t quite care. Though I know your father really hopes were having a boy. Sometimes, I actually feel like I might be having twins.”

“If we’re having twins, one boy and one girl would be the most optimal outcome.” the blonde said before kissing his beloved. “I’ll love you no matter what.”

“I’d sincerely hope so.” the Dyredian said.

Arthur laid his head back on the pillow. “I found out Morgana is my half-sister.”

“When did you find that out?” Mura asked.

“Same time as you grilled that poor apothecary.”

“Ah.”

“I’m going to tell her tomorrow morning. I doubt Father would’ve told her.” the Crown Prince told.

The Queen of Dyred went through the blonde hair of her husband. “Why are you always so bloody noble?”

“It’s in my blood I guess.”

Arthur went to Morgana’s chambers not too early in the morning.

“My Lady is still changing.” Guinevere told as he entered.

“It is not so urgent.” the Prince said and just leaned against the wall, waiting for his half-sister to come out behind the changing screen.

It took the green-eyed woman about 10 more minutes to get dressed.

“Arthur! What a surprise!” Morgana said. “You can go, Gwen.”

The maid bowed and left.

“So, why are you here?” Gana asked.

“I heard father say something yesterday, and I feel like you should know.” the blonde told. “You might want to sit down for this.”

The secret Seer raised an eyebrow. “Okay, now you’re scaring me.”

“I promise, it’s not something overly scary.”  the Crown Prince sighed. “It’s just… I don’t quite know how to tell you this without… things becoming awkward, I guess.”

Morgana laughed. “Arthur, we’ve gone through our awkward teenage years together. Whatever you’re going to say, it’s not going to change anything.”

“Well, here goes nothing then.” Arthur said before clearing his throat. “Morgana, Uther is your father too.”

Green eyes stared into his blue as they went wide. “You mean that… that…”

“You’re my half-sister.”

The dark-haired woman went silent and sat down on the 4-poster bed. “I can’t believe it… all this time…”

“I’m sorry you had to find out like this.” the Prince said, sitting down next to her.

“Why did he never tell me?” Gana asked, still not quite believing it.

“From what I know, he doesn’t want his dynasty contested.” the younger Pendragon male told. “At least, that’s what I’ve been led to believe. I was always told not to sleep with other women but my wife because if those children find out, they might contest your legitimate heir.”

The green-eyed woman took her brother’s hand. “I won’t ever do that to you. I know you’ll be a much better King than Uther. You’ll be fair and just, as a King should be.”

“Guess I should thank you for having so much faith in me.” Arthur smiled at her.

“I’m honoured to call you my brother.” Morgana said, before snorting. “Though I’m not so proud to call Uther my father.”

“You don’t have to.” the Crown Prince told. “He’s unlikely to acknowledge you anyways.”

“Typical.” the King’s Ward said as she shook her head. “Thank you for telling me.”

“It was the honourable thing to do.” and soon enough, the blonde left.

Chapter Text

The night itself was normal, as it was just another Knighting ceremony.

“Arise Sir Vidor, Knight of Camelot. Arise Sir Caradoc, Knight of Camelot.” the King said after going through the traditional motions with the ceremonial sword. “You have been accorded a great honour. But with that honour comes great responsibility. From this day forth, you are sworn to live by the knights’ code. You have pledged to conduct yourselves with nobility, honour, and respect. Your word is your sacred bond. You will find no one who better embodies these values than my son, Arthur. Follow his example, and you will prove yourselves worthy of your title.”

Then, sword fighting outside the hall’s doors could be heard.

Shortly after, an unknown helmeted knight entered.

The newly made knights drew their swords as the strange Knight approached.

Murainn’s eyes narrowed. She had a strange feeling about this.

Arthur stepped forward, and the left gauntlet was thrown in front of his feet. For a brief moment, he just stared at it before picking it up. “I accept your challenge. If I’m to face you in combat, do me the courtesy of revealing your identity.”

Soon enough, the helmet went off and long blonde hair fell out of it.

“My name is Morgause.”

“Of all the knights in this realm to challenge me now…” Arthur mumbled as he looked out over the square where this Morgause was practicing her swordsmanship.

“I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about this.” the Queen of Dyred stated. “Something tells me that she’s somehow bad news… in one way or another.”

The blonde raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“To be honest with you, I don’t even know myself.” her sapphire blue eyes watched the female Knight. “She might be an omen for something.”

The Prince looked at his wife. “I really feel worried when you say stuff like that.”

“I’m quite worried myself, Arthur.” Mura told. “Just be careful tomorrow morning. Don’t underestimate her, and above all don’t hold back.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

In the night before the battle, Morgana had another nightmare.

In this dream, she saw her father dying, her brother crying, Camelot on fire from a distance, Sir Leon about to be executed, Murainn screaming in agony, skeletons attacking and a cup full of what looked like blood.

She screamed as she awoke from it and breathed hard.

“My Lady?!” Gwen came rushing in with a concerned expression.

“I just had the worst nightmare in months.” the King’s Ward cried. “Oh Gwen, it was awful! There was this… skeleton army, the castle was on fire…”

The maid shushed her Mistress. “It’s gonna be fine, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

The green-eyed woman was still shaking. She couldn’t shake what she’d just seen. Her breath was shaky too as she looked at the floor.

For months, she hadn’t had bad dreams like this one. Visions, yes. She had seen glimpses of her brother laughing at the babe he was holding in his arms, her brother as a King sitting at a round table… ‘glimpses of a future’ as Lochru had told her the last time she’d visited.

But the images she’d seen now… were they triggered by this unknown woman? Would she play a role in the destruction of the place she called home?

Whatever the answer was, it definitely worried her.

Courtiers and commoners alike had gathered at the sandy pit used for tournaments.

Murainn was seated on Uther’s left, and kept a good eye on this Morgause.

There were many unknown dangers, as no one truly knew who she was nor did anyone in Camelot seem to recognize her. Gaius had admitted that there was something familiar about her, but he hadn’t been able to place his feeling.

“The fight is by the Knights’ Rules.” Uther said. “And to the death.”

Soon, the fight began.

It was clear that this woman was a good match to Arthur, as the fight lasted a lot longer than some fights during the tournament soon after Mura first came to Camelot.

Arthur hit his opponent in the arm, which made her lose her sword, and knocked her on the ground.

The helmet clattered off. The crowd stood up.

But instead of killing her, the Prince picked up Morgause’s sword and stuck it into the ground. “I won’t make the same mistake I did years ago. I will not take your life. You are free to leave now.” and he held out his hand for her to take it.

The blonde woman didn’t look happy but took the hand anyway. “I’m glad to know you have a sense of honour.” and she walked away from the pit.

{Morgause’s POV}

I had to admit, my baby brother truly is an honourable man.

I drank from the goblet of wine I’d been served by a few servants as I let my thoughts to over the current Pendragon family.

To begin with, my father. Uther Pendragon.

My mother hadn’t exactly kept it a secret from me once I was able to conjure her spirit. He wasn’t a man you’d proudly call your father, especially if you were a sorceress, and a powerful one too.

I wouldn’t ever want to be associated with the Pendragon name, not as long as that man lives.

Of course, there was my sister Morgana.

We had the same mother and father. We were full-blooded sisters, even though we look very different as we each took after a different parent. I took after our father, and she took after our mother.

I smiled. She did truly embody our mother in many ways as she sat there next to our father.

Then, there was my brother Arthur.

Since he’d grown up almost entirely under our father’s tutelage, I had expected him to be much more like that magic hating bigot. Yet, he was far kinder and more sincere. He was a man of true honour.

Perhaps in a different life or age, I would’ve been proud to call him my brother and King. In this life, however, I can never be his ally.

My brother’s wife had been there too, carrying the next Pendragon heir.

I knew nothing of her, and that was driving me mad.

She wasn’t one of the daughters of Kings closely allied with Uther. She could also be a random nobleman’s daughter who had captured my brother’s attention.

I decided to go for a walk. I heard that the gardens of Camelot are quite beautiful this time of the year.

As I went there, I saw my baby brother with his wife.

The woman’s palms were up and s her eyes glowed golden while light shone from her hands that soon formed the shape of a dragon.

If I could, my chin would’ve been falling on my boots.

Arthur’s wife was a sorceress.

My brother was smiling with joy at the animated dragon. “Thank you, I needed that.”

I went back to my rooms and thought of a new plan.

When dawn had set, Morgause was preparing her horse for her journey back to her Fortress. She turned when she heard hooves clicking on the drawbridge and saw her baby brother.

“You were a good match yesterday. Where did you learn?” the Prince asked.

“My father was a warrior.” that was not a lie. “It’s in my blood, partially, and I did train for a long time.”

Arthur nodded. “That is something we seem to have in common. Perhaps we’ll meet another time.”

The woman smiled. “You know, I did wonder where you got your sense of honour from. But now I know.”

The young man raised an eyebrow at her.

“You inherited that trait from your mother.”

“You knew my mother?” the Prince of Camelot asked.

“I knew her very well.” Morgause smirked. “Find me in three days’ time.” and she rode off.

“Wait!” Arthur yelled, but the older woman was gone, leaving him with too many questions.

{Murainn’s POV}

I stood there, with my eyebrow in the middle of my forehead. “Are you certain you want to do this?”

“This might be the only chance I have to find out more about my mother.” my husband replied. “Father just won’t talk about her, Gaius just gives me this sad face all the time and none of the older generation of nobles will say much that I don’t know already.”

I looked down at my protruding belly. I wasn’t in my third semester yet, so it wouldn’t be much of a problem to travel on horse anywhere.

Women had done it before.

“Whatever you’re going to do, I’m going with you.”

“Mura-” but I didn’t let him finish.

“I am much more than just your wife and the mother of your child. I’m quite the powerful sorceress, and you don’t know a thing about this Morgause. She could be one too.”

Arthur cast his eyes to the ground. “I know. I just… don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t get hurt. I promise.” and I took his hand. “I might be unable to handle a sword, but that doesn’t mean I’m unarmed. Outside this citadel, in only your company, magic is my weapon.”

My husband laid his other hand on top of mine. “I know.”

The pair left the city in the dept of night and rode over the path in the woods until they came at a point where the path split in two.

“Where the hell do we even go now?” Mura scratched the side of her head in confusion.

That’s when Arthur’s horse started behaving weird.

“What is wrong with this horse?” and the animal trotted onto the right path. It’s even dumber than some of my manservants have been!”

“Where are you going?” the Dyredian asked.

“It's not me! It's the horse!”

Murainn shook her head. “So… the horse knows where we’re going. Great.” and she followed her husband.

Of course, their absence got noted once night turned into day and the castle had fully woken up.

And Uther was livid.

“We definitely have to be careful.” Mura mumbled.

Not only were they far outside Camelot, they were in Cornwall. Odin still didn’t like the Pendragons and would probably not hesitate to order an attack the man who killed his son.

“Tell me, Mura, can all sorcerers identify each other?” Arthur asked.

“No, not all of us can, but most of us can feel each other’s signatures.” the woman replied. “Morgause might be a sorceress, but she hasn’t cast a spell yet. So, I definitely can’t confirm anything just yet.”

“I am curious as to why she mentioned my mother.” the Prince said, out of the blue. “She died before I opened my eyes.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

The blonde took a deep breath. “In moments like this, I wish I could at least have some sort of image of her. All I have is a sense of her, almost as though she’s part of me.”

“We’re all carrying parts of our ancestors with us.” the Queen of Dyred told. “I can only vaguely remember my father, like his brown curly hair. I can still feel the texture of his beard sometimes.”

“I’d do anything for even the vaguest memory.”

“Is that why you're so determined to find Morgause? To see what she knows about your mother and what she wants to tell?” Mura asked.

“Is that so wrong?”

The dark-haired woman saw her husband’s pleading eyes and cast her own down. “No, it isn’t.”

In Camelot, Morgana was growing restless.

Arthur and Mura weren’t back yet and it was getting dark.

“My Lady?” Guinevere had entered the chamber. “Are you alright?”

“I don’t know, Gwen.” the noble woman sighed. “I’m… concerned, about Arthur and Mura.”

“Should I ask Gaius for a sleeping draught?” the dark-skinned maid asked.

Another sigh left the green-eyed woman’s lungs. “Yes, maybe that’s a good idea for tonight.”

Gwen bowed and left again.

Gana looked out of her window, which had a sight over the square. She hoped she wouldn’t have another nightmare again, not after all those great months of sleeping. If she had another bad nightmare, she was sure that Morgause was the catalyst for her newest nightmares.

The next day, the pair arrived at a lake with a waterfall.

“It seems your horse has brought us to a dead end.” and Murainn looked at the light brown stallion.

Then, the horse walked forward into the water.

“Now where’s he going?”

The Queen of Dyred laughed behind her hand. “I think you’re going to get wet.”

The Prince gave her a look. “You don’t say.” and he went through the waterfall.

The dark-haired woman just sighed and shook her head before following her husband.

There was an enormous castle after the tunnel behind the waterfall.

Arthur was staring up at the Enchanted Castle.

Mura looked around. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know.” and the Camelotian jumped off of his horse.

“Morgause is definitely a sorceress.” the 19-year-old mumbled. “Question is… how powerful is she really?”

{Morgause’s POV}

I was positively gleaming when I saw my baby brother. Seemingly, just mentioning Ygraine Pendragon was just the right thing to do in the end.

What did surprise me, however, was the presence of his pregnant wife.

I would’ve believed that Father would ban her from leaving Camelot for as long as she was carrying the next Pendragon. Either Uther Pendragon doesn’t have a grip on this woman, which would positively surprise me, or Arthur Pendragon was too weak to deny her anything.

“I see you came.”

“You said you knew my mother. Tell me what you know about her.”

I smiled. “Perhaps you would like to see her.”

“I want that more than anything.” my brother said.

I slightly bowed my head. “As you wish. Now, I have to prepare.”

As I did my preparations, my eyes did wander to my baby brother and his wife.

The dark-haired woman was massaging her husband’s shoulder, whispering something to him. Perhaps words of encouragement, perhaps words of doubts, whatever a wife does for her husband.

I turned to them once more. “It is time. Close your eyes.”

“Arásae mid min miclan mihte þín suna to helpe. Hider eft funde on þisse ne middangeard þín suna wæs.”

As the spell was cast, Ygraine Pendragon appeared. “Arthur.”

Arthur opened his eyes to see his mother standing there in a white dress. His mouth fell open.

“Arthur.” she said once more.

“Mother.” and the Prince went to embrace her.

“My son.” the solid spirit said as they hugged.

In the background, Mura’s eyes narrowed. Her eyes began to glow golden as Morgause’s had when she’d cast the spell.

“When I last held you, you were a tiny baby. I remember your eyes. You were staring up at me. Those few seconds I held you were the most precious of my life.”

The 22-year-old cast his eyes downward. “I’m so sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” the spirit of Ygraine Pendragon said as she touched her son’s cheek.

“It was my birth that caused you to die.” Arthur said.

The dead woman smiled. “No, you are not to blame.”

“I cannot bear the thought that you died because of me.”

There was another sad smile on the spirit’s face. “Do not think it is. I freely gave my life for you.”

“What do you mean?” there was a confused expression on the Prince’s face.

The former Queen of Camelot sighed. “Your father and I consulted Nimueh, as I was unable to conceive. We were rather desperate to have a child… so you were born of magic.”

Confusion was clear on Arthur’s face. ‘Is this just a trick by Morgause or is this real?’

“To create a life, a life must be taken. Your father knew that.” the spirit said. “But you should know, I am so proud of the man you have become for your people, the husband that you are. I have no doubt you will be a great King, if not the best history has ever seen. Care for your wife and your sisters.” and she was gone.

For a moment, there were no other sounds than the young Pendragon’s tears falling on the stone floor.

Morgause stepped forward. “Once the doorway is closed, it is closed forever. I am truly sorry that your learnt of your mother's fate in this way. I can only imagine how it must feel to discover your father is responsible for her death. It is an unforgivable betrayal.” and she left.

The Prince slowly crashed to the stone floor.

“Arthur!” Murainn rushed to her fallen husband.

The man had no physical wounds, but he was an emotional wreck.

“Did you see what I saw?” the blonde asked, a tear falling from his eyes.

“I did.”

“Was it an illusion?” his blue eyes were filled with fear.

Mura sighed. “It didn’t feel like a trick. An illusion spell would probably have involved glamours, but the spell she used definitely wasn’t a glamour spell, nor was it true necromancy, as this was temporary?”

Arthur’s breath shuddered. “I just don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“We should just go home.”

It took the pair a while to reach Camelot from the Enchanted Castle.

The trip had given Arthur time to think, even if he didn’t believe it was enough.

“Maybe we should take a detour to Gaius, see what he’s got to say about this situation. He’s been around long enough to know at least something about what happened. Your father would trust him enough with a secret like that.” Mura suggested.

“That feels like a good idea.” the pair gave the reins of their horses to the stable boys and went towards the physician’s chambers.

They found Gaius preparing some tonics in his workroom.

“Oh! Your Highnesses! Uther’s been worried about your safety!”

“Surely he’d be.” Arthur said bitterly as he sat down on one of the beds reserved for patients.

The elderly man gave him a pained look. “What happened with Morgause?”

There were a couple silent moments before the Crown Prince replied. “She summoned my mother’s spirit, which told me about my conception.”

Gaius’s mouth was slightly open. “Are you sure it was no illusion.”

“I checked.” the Dragonlady then stepped in. “It wasn’t a glamour, nor was it full blown necromancy.”

The Court Physician sighed. “What did your mother’s spirit tell you exactly?”

“Just… tell me the truth.” Arthur stated. “And why did mother’s spirit say sisters, plural form? Do I have more siblings that I don’t know about?” he was ready to kick something.

The old man removed his glasses. “I had warned Uther for the consequences of Nimueh’s enchantment.”

“But he didn’t heed the warnings?” the young Pendragon then asked.

“He didn’t believe it would be his or your mother’s life that would be taken.” Gaius told. “I did warn him that both of them were at risk, and I told your mother too.”

Arthur looked up. “Did she listen to you.”

“She did.” the old physician whispered. “She told Nimueh she’d give her life freely if it meant that you would be born. She was very self-sacrificial… something you got from her, I’m afraid.”

The Crown Prince nodded. “And everything else?”

“As you already know, Morgana is your sister, I won’t deny that.” the former sorcerer took a seat on another bed. “Ygraine knew of your father’s infidelity. I guess she’d hoped he’d have a son that way whom they could adopt. But only two bastard daughters were born, both daughters of Lady Vivienne were Uther’s. Vivienne’s husband Gorlois did not know of this.”

The blonde just buried his head in his hands.

Gaius cast his eyes to the ground. “But yes, you have another sister.”

“That’s Morgause, isn’t it?” Murainn asked, slowly stepping forward. “Morgause is Uther’s other daughter.”

The Court Physician slowly nodded.

The Queen of Dyred turned her head to the window. “Morgause knows, that’s why she was here.”

“What are you suspecting?” Arthur asked.

“Being Uther’s firstborn, she has a claim to the throne.” Mura replied. “She might want to start a war.”

The elderly man sighed. “That’s what I fear too.”

The Prince sighed. “Guess we’ll have to be vigilant then.”

“Any idea what you’re going to do about your dad?” the young Queen asked.

“I need time.”

“Don’t take too much, or you might start overthinking.” Gaius said with a smile, obviously meaning it as a joke.

Chapter Text

Originally, it was only going to be Uther and Arthur welcoming their fellow Royals. Yet Murainn didn’t take no for an answer and forced her body to waddle through the castle to the main square outside.

All three of them were in their formal wear, with crowns and everything.

Mura was only just getting used to wearing red.

The first King to arrive with his entourage was King Alined of Deorham.

“Boy! Is it too much to ask that you might anticipate my needs?”

The young Queen of Dyred did not really like this man, even if it was just for the way he treated his servant… who had been riding a donkey.

After a not so nice exchange, Uther went down the stairs quite quickly to shake his fellow King’s hand. “Alined, you are most welcome on this momentous occasion.”

And they grasp each other’s arms.

“Momentous? Let us hope so.” and the man smiled.

Meanwhile, Arthur was focussing on his wife, and they stood half-way down.

“He doesn’t sound very pleasant.” the dark-haired woman stated.

“He isn’t a man you should get anywhere near.” the Prince said, wrapping his arms protectively around her. “I’ll run him through if it means protecting you and our babe.”

“Of course, you would.”

As Alined’s entourage settled in the palace, King Olaf arrived all the way from his lands in the north east.

The King jumped off of his horse while Arthur had to help the King’s daughter off of hers.

“What kind of welcome is this? You have us hanging around like the last swallows of summer.” he was, however, smirking. There wasn’t much maliciousness in that joke.

Uther grinned back. “You are welcome, indeed, Olaf.”

“May I present my daughter, the Lady Vivian.” Olaf said as Arthur took his place besides his wife.

The King of Camelot bowed. “Lady Vivian. How like your mother you are.” and he kissed her hand. “Olaf, Lady Vivian, may I introduce you to Queen Murainn of Dyred, my daughter-in-law.”

“It is an honour to finally meet you, Lady Murainn.” the Norman politely nodded at her. “Your father always spoke highly of you in his letters before his passing.”

“I hope I’m living up to my father’s standards.”

“I’m sure you are.” the still blonde-haired King smiled.

Vivian on the other hand, didn’t look quite that impressed and snorted.

The older Pendragon cleared his throat. “Arthur, why don’t you show the Lady her guest chambers?”

“Of course, Father.” Arthur bowed to King Olaf before taking Vivian’s hand to lead her inside.

“I’m sorry for my daughter, Lady Murainn.” the man dressed in furs said. “Her mother has sadly taught her to look down upon those with commoner blood.”

Mura bowed her head slightly. “It is alright, Your Majesty. I am used to the snobby type of nobles.”

“I truly love my daughter, but I’m not that proud of her behaviour.”

“I hope everything is to your satisfaction.” Arthur gritted between his teeth, trying to sound polite enough.

The Norse woman walked around the chambers for a bit. “It is... adequate.” she finally said.

“Most of our guests are extremely happy here. I’m sure you will be, too.”

Vivian hummed. “Hm. I am not most of your guests.”

“In...deed.” he almost sighed.

Then, Guinevere entered the rooms.

“Well, er, may I present Guinevere. She’ll be looking after you for the duration of your stay. You’ll want for nothing. She is truly one of Camelot’s finest.” the Prince said, the dark-skinned woman bowing as she was being introduced to the Princess.

The blonde woman giggled before turning serious. “Then I fear for Camelot.”

The Crown Prince and the maid looked shocked at the Lady’s blatant rude behaviour.

Freya was lacing the back of her Mistress’s bright red silk dress with golden flowers embroidered on the off-shoulder neckline. It was one of the more extravagant dresses that had been sown by the Palace employed seamstresses after the Royal marriage.

“Morris, please fetch me another shirt. There are holes in this one.” and Arthur threw the white-greyish shirt at his manservant.

The boy caught it. “I’ll get it mended for you, Sire.” he said before opening the closet to fetch another shirt. He gave his master a dark blue one instead.

“Arthur, please don’t throw stuff.” Mura said.

The Prince sighed. “Sorry, I’m a bit irritated with the Lady Vivian at this moment.”

“Want to tell me what happened?” the Dyredian asked, raising an eyebrow at her husband.

“She’s just so… rude to everyone.” the blonde said as he put the second layer shirt on. “First that snort at you, then that comment that she made to Guinevere… I fear for what she may do tonight.”

Murainn hummed. “Her father doesn’t quite approve of most of her behaviour. I have no doubt he’ll say some things if she says something inappropriate.”

Arthur took a deep breath. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to restrain myself if she says something about you.”

“I can defend myself with words, my mother taught me.” the dark-haired woman said.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” the Crown Prince asked, smiling as he put on his dark red sleeveless jacket before approaching his wife.

The Queen of Dyred gave her husband a ‘duh’ type look. “I think your love for me is quite apparent with this bulging stomach at my front.”

The young maid then cleared her throat. “You’re ready to go, My Lady.”

“Thank you, Freya.” and she took her husband’s arm.

The banquet hall was all dressed out for the occasion with the finest white linen tablecloths, wreaths for good luck and the best smelling candles.

As the hosting Royal family, they had to exchange pleasantries with the other royals.

King Alined watched the Royal couple from afar.

The young Prince’s marriage to the Queen of Dyred certainly wasn’t ideal, but he was quite certain that Trickler could lure Arthur astray. ‘Just a drop of a potion with the Lady Vivian’s hair… and he’ll fall deeply in love with her’ the sorcerer in his service had said with a particularly evil laugh.

The young Arthur wouldn’t be the first Pendragon to stray from their wedding bed. A multitude of his forefathers had done the same, enchanted by the beauty of other ladies while their wives had been none the wiser.

It’s not like Lady Murainn was going to keep her husband by her side anyways. Her face was too angular for traditional women’s beauty, her ears stuck out and her curves beside her pregnant stomach were small.

Their marriage had obviously been arranged, so there was likely no real love between the pair.

“Your son and daughter-in-law make quite a pair.” Olaf said to Uther just a couple feet away from Alined.

“Thank you, Olaf.” Pendragon said. “I’m very pleased with this union. I would’ve been pleased too had I arranged something with Godwin.”

“Ah yes, the Princess Elena. I have no doubt she’d be a great match to a Prince or King.”

The King of Deorham snorted. This was one of the many reasons he didn’t want peace to happen, boring talk about marriages and matches. Warfare was economically much better and the subjects that were talked about were way more interesting.

That’s why he needed Trickler’s spell to work. He just needed war.

{Trickler’s POV}

I had brewed the potion perfectly, then stored it in the packaging for eyedrops.

Yes, that would do the trick.

“Sleep well, Prince Arthur. When you wake, may your thoughts be only of Vivian.”

I sneaked into the young Prince’s chambers, where he slept with his wife, to poor the eye drops in his eye.

Then, I muttered the spell ‘Héo hæfþ þín heorte.’ before placing the lock of platinum blonde hair under his pillow. I grinned as I left. “Sweet dreams.”

What the court jester from Deorham didn’t notice was the golden fire that erupted from Arthur’s wedding ring, clearing the potion out of its wearer’s system. At the same time however, Mura’s ring also lit up and soon the two rings were connected by golden magical strings.

Magical fire also burned the lock of hair under the Prince’s pillow, destroying the spell which the jester had cast to make him fall in love with Lady Vivian.

{Arthur’s POV}

As I woke up, I felt extremely well rested.

My mind was ready to sit through whatever meeting I had, and my body felt ready to go to war.

I turned my head to my left and smiled as I saw my beautiful wife. I turned onto my left shoulder and removed a stray lock of her raven hair from her face, which had fallen over her cute button nose during the night. Then, I kissed her cheek.

My love’s long black eyelashes started fluttering and her eyelids opened to reveal those sapphire blue eyes looking back at me. She giggled a little. “Not that I’m against you kissing me awake, but you never quite do that. What’s brought this on?”

“I felt I should appreciate you more.” I answered her. “I had a pretty bad dream last night.”

One of Mura’s elegant eyebrows rose. “What did you dream about?”

“That I was in love with Lady Vivian.”

My beloved started chuckling. “Oh my god. I really would have liked to see your father’s face if that had happened. Perhaps in a different life, that would’ve happened.”

I placed my hand on my lover’s stomach. “What would you and our babe like to have for breakfast?”

“Just some vegetables with potatoes and strawberries will do.”

I kissed her lips this time. “Then that’s what I’ll get you.” and I threw the covers off to get dressed and call Freya over so she could fetch her Mistress’s breakfast.

Alined frowned.

Prince Arthur didn’t look distracted in any way was the peace talks drummed on. He even actively participated in them much to Uther’s surprise and happiness.

The King of Deorham’s expression soured. Something had obviously gone wrong with Trickler’s spell.

‘That idiot’s done it again.’ he mused. ‘He fucked it up again.’

Later, outside the chambers the 5 Kings had been deliberating, he saw a servant carrying a huge bouquet of roses presumably towards one of the Royal chambers.

As the old King followed the servant, he saw that the bouquet was placed just outside Prince Arthur’s bed chambers on a small table. “For whom are those?”

The boy servant lowered his head slightly. “Queen Murainn, Sire. Prince Arthur ordered them two weeks ago for their one and a half year of marriage.”

“Did he now?” the roses were in full bloom, probably recently picked.

“His Highness loves Her Majesty truly. It’s like they were destined to be together.”

After he got that reply, King Alined returned to his chambers where he thew some remaining chicken that he had for lunch at his jester. “You promised he’d throw himself at Vivian! But instead he’s stuck on that idiotic ugly wife of his! You have until the end of tomorrow to scupper these talks. I need war. Do you understand?!”

The malformed man nodded. “Oh, oh, yes, I do. I do.”

“Peace will make me poor, and you know what happens to poor kings. They can’t afford castles, or knights, or jesters.”

“Oh, but Master...”

The man from Deorham clenched his jaw. “Enough. There will be time for snivelling when the axe is over your head. Now there’s work to be done.”

Trickler nodded furiously. “Yes. Yes.”

“How are you feeling, my love?” Arthur asked.

“Like I’m about to burst any moment now.” Mura muttered.

The Prince kissed his wife. “I’ll definitely be letting you decide whether you want more children after this.”

“I think I need a couple years to recover from this.” the Dyredian said. “I should’ve known any child of yours would be just as active and energetic.”

The blonde smiled. “At least I’ll know it’s mine.”

Murainn snorted. “I won’t betray you like that.”

“And I promise never to betray you like that either.” and the Camelotian kissed his wife’s cheek. “Least of all with Vivian. She’s just vile as a person.”

“I’m not worried about the Lady Vivian, Arthur.” the raven-haired woman looked up to the ceiling.

“Then what or who are you worried about?” Arthur asked. “No one’s going to steal my heart away from you, I belong to you, with you.”

“Even when I turn all ugly after this pregnancy?” the secret witch asked.

The Crown Prince smiled. “You won’t ever be ugly to me.”

Mura gave him a look. “You say that now.”

“And I promise that to you. Forever, I’ll be yours.”

Morris then suddenly barged in. “I’m very sorry Sire, but I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?” the blonde asked.

The boy with dark curly hair took a deep breath. “When I was cleaning your chambers today, I found a burned lock of hair under your pillow. I… uh… brought it to Gaius, I found it a bit suspicious. And uhm… he said someone tried to enchant you.”

“What!?!” Arthur’s voice boomed.

“It must’ve been Trickler.” Mura said. “No one but a sorcerer can make butterflies appear from thin air.”

The Prince looked away for a bit. “Whose hair was it?”

“Gaius said it must’ve been Lady Vivian’s.” the servant replied.

The blonde shook his head. “Why would that… jester want me to fall in love with Vivian?”

The Dyredian grabbed her husband’s sleeve. “He couldn’t have acted alone. That man is literally too stupid to have come up with such a plan of his own. Maybe Alined wants war.”

Morris hopped from one foot onto the other. “So… have you been feeling any… affection to the Lady?”

“None at all.” the Prince of Camelot replied. “The spell must’ve failed.”

The boy nodded. “I’ll tell that to Gaius.” and he left.

Arthur turned to his wife. “It must’ve been your magic. I’m so glad that you’re a witch, Mura.”

“Dragonlord magic is extremely powerful. Though, I’ve definitely not reached my full potential.”

{Trickler’s POV}

I have no idea how Prince Arthur managed not to be affected by my spell, but I could not fail.

Perhaps I just have to do it the other way around… make Vivian’s heart belong to Arthur.

Oh yes! That’s brilliant. A woman’s jealousy towards another woman could definitely end in murder. And if Vivian were to murder Prince Arthur’s wife, and Prince Arthur Vivian in his revenge, it would be war!

So I did it… I placed a lock of Prince Arthur’s hair under the Lady Vivian’s pillow and dropped the potion into her eyes. And in the morning, I went to check on her.

I deceived one of the servants and went to bring breakfast to the Lady myself.

I knocked on her door and presented the food as she opened. “Gwen has been detained. I thought you might appreciate breakfast.”

The Norse Princess smiled. “Oh, thank you. How kind. I’m so happy this morning, I could almost forget to eat. Oh, well that looks wonderful. Really wonderful.”

‘Yes, my spell has worked.’ “Pray, My Lady. What has caused such happiness?”

 As the woman took little bites from her breakfast, she shook her head. “I cannot tell, so do not ask.”

“Intriguing. You know, another meaning of jester is ‘keeper of secrets’.”

The woman looked up at that. “Really?”

I started giggling. “No.”

The Lady giggled too. “Oh, Trickler, you mustn’t tell. Not a soul. Especially not my father.”

“Go on.” I said.

“I am in love!” she was literally swooning.

Oh! Alined will be so happy!

I gasped. “How wonderful! With me?”

Vivian giggled before grimacing. “Ugh. With a man more courageous than a lion, stronger than an ox, and so perfectly formed it is as if he has been sculpted by the gods themselves.”

“But it must be me.” of course, I know better.

The platinum blonde swooned. “Oh, just to speak his name brings me pleasure, indeed!”

“Then speak it, you should.”

“Arthur.” and she giggled. “There, I’ve said it! My heart belongs to Arthur!”

I smiled broadly. “Excellent.”

“In fact, I’m gonna tell him now.”

That was even better! “Oh, a brilliant idea!”

The young woman looked around. “Where is Gwen? I must dress.”

“But you look so beautiful, My Lady.” and I turned her towards the mirror with a smirk on my face. “How could he refuse you like this?”

Vivian frowned. “In my nightgown?”

“Why not?”

The Lady puffed her chest, hummed and walked out.

{Morgana’s POV}

I frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Gaius confirmed it to me this morning. That jester definitely tried to use a love potion on me.”

I sighed. Of course, there just had to be magic involved.

“Gaius has also said that Alined wants war, that man believes that peace will cause his Kingdom to decline and fall because there’s not enough money going around.”

I snorted. “That simply means he’s an idiot and doesn’t have good business.”

My little brother just shook his head. “Still, I don’t like it that he’s manipulating others.”

“Perhaps you can’t do anything now, but you can do all you want once you are King.”

“Yet that might be ages away.”

I gave him a look. “If my visions are correct, it might be sooner than we think it will.”

“I just hope I’m ready by that time.”

“I’m sure you’ll be.” I told him. “There isn’t a man worthier than you to wear that crown.”

Arthur laughed. “You don’t want to wear it yourself?”

I huffed. “Nah, I don’t really feel anything for the role of Queen. You and Mura go wear matching crowns, the saps that you two are.”

“Hey!”

I laughed at my little brother before messing with his hair. “Cuz you two are saps!”

Then, for the second time in 24 hours, Morris barged through the door. “Lady Vivian is in your chambers!”

I blinked.

“What?” Arthur asked.

“She… she… she said she loved you.” the panting servant brought out. “She won’t leave!”

My brother sighed. “Seems like I have to inform King Olaf. See ya later sis.”

Uther was about to start his talk about the eastern borders when Arthur showed up. He frowned. “Arthur? What’s going on.”

“I’m sorry Father, but I urgently have to speak with King Olaf.” the Prince told. “It concerns the Lady Vivian.”

The Norman stood up. “What’s with my Vivian?”

“You can speak up, Morris.” the blonde addressed his servant.

“The Lady Vivian is in Prince Arthur’s chambers, Sire.” the young boy spoke. “Our Court Physician believes that a love spell might be at work, Sire.”

The fairly young King grumbled and stormed out. “Vivian!”

“Crap, I locked the doors.” and the servant ran after the wayward King.

The King of Camelot sighed. “Can’t I get through one day without that damned magic showing up!?”

“We might be eternally cursed, Father.” Arthur said.

Then, it was Freya who barged in.

“Her Highness is in labour!”

The young father-to-be froze for a couple seconds before he went running to the physician’s chambers. He knew his wife would be there, as she’d gone down there because she’d been experiencing some strange cramps. ‘Those cramps must’ve been the onset of contractions!’

He quickly opened the doors to the physician’s quarters, but was pushed outside by Gaius.

“Murainn doesn’t need more stress right now. The midwives and I will tend to her.” and he closed the door in front of the Prince’s face.

Arthur then began to pace around as he heard his wife scream. It definitely didn’t feel right to be standing there in the hallway. His wife needed him to be there.

It felt like he’d been waiting for hours when the screams stopped and the healthy crying of a baby could be heard. That was the moment his heart somewhat slowed down.

Uther had arrived too. He too heard a baby’s crying.

The Court Physician opened the door, looking a hundred years older. “Congratulations Sire, you have two very healthy sons.”

The blonde pushed his way inside to find one of the midwives putting a wet cloth on the new mother’s sweating forehead as she was still breathing erratically.

“I’m here for you now, sweetheart.” Arthur said, taking her hands.

“It just had to be twins with you.” Mura grumbled.

The other midwife was bathing the pair of boys, washing away the blood that had come out with them.

“No more children for a couple years.”

“Of course, sweetheart.” and the Prince kissed his beloved’s hands.

The King was looking proudly at the two little bundles of joy that were wiggling in their improvised cribs.

Gaius walked closer to his old friend. “Her Highness already named them.”

“I hope she gave them strong names.” the older Pendragon stated.

“She named the firstborn, the boy in the crib made up of red fabric, Amhar.” the elderly man said, ignoring what his King just said. “And the other one is Kellan.”

Uther looked satisfied. ‘Amhar Pendragon and Kellan Pendragon… not such bad choices.’

“All will be well now.” Arthur said to his lover.

“You’re a prat.” the young Queen said. “A lovable one, but still a prat.”

Chapter Text

“The tears of Uther Pendragon have only begun to fall.” Morgause whispered as she dropped a blood red handkerchief with Uther Pendragon’s tears into a giant bubbling cauldron filled with boiling mud before dropping a large root in next.

The root started screaming as it hit the water.

“These screams will pierce his heart and soul.” the High Priestess whispered with a foul smirk. “Mid þæm wundorcræft þæs ealdan æwþ ic þe hate nime Utheres wopdropan ond þa gemengan mid his blod. Sy he under wittig ond deofol seocnes his heorte afylþ.”

Her eyes glowed and she pulled out the root. “Perfect.”

Now, she only had to enchant a servant to place it under the King’s bed.

Morgause made her way into the Royal palace of Essetir, flanked by her Blood Guard.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Cenred asked, sitting up straight on his throne.

“If you will not leave your castle, then I must come to you.” the blonde woman said, strutting closer.

The greasy haired man hummed. “I see that you’ve lost none of your audacity.”

The Priestess gave him a look. “I wish I could say the same. But I find the great King Cenred cowering in his chambers when he should’ve met me at the border. Perhaps he has lost his nerve. Perhaps he is a coward.”

Then, one of the Knights drew a sword.

The sorceress threw him backwards using her magic, not even muttering a spell.

The other Knights in the room too drew their swords.

Yet, the King held up a hand to stop them. He smirked. “You are very beautiful when you’re angry.”

“Is that why you continue to defy me?”

Cenred chuckled. “Well, you wouldn’t like it if I made it easy for you.”

His blatant flirting caused Morgause to laugh.

“Get the lady a chair!” the King of Essetir yelled to his men.

They randomly pulled a chair from somewhere, as well as a table and goblets.

The brown-haired man poured his guest a drink and sat back down. “I’m certain you’ve not come all this way just to drink, Morgause.”

“You know me well.” said the Priestess.

“Extremely well. And yet, somehow, we’re still close.”

The blonde hummed. “I’ve come to talk to you about our old friend, Uther Pendragon.”

“Yes. I have heard the sad news. He’s finally lost his mind.” Cenred said. “News travels fast.”

“Camelot is weak, weaker than it’s been for years. the kingdom is vulnerable, just as I promised.” the sorceress said before taking a sip of the drink she’d been given.

“Yet it doesn’t change the fact the citadel is still impregnable.”

The blonde lifted her chin. “So, even without his wits, Uther is too strong for you.”

The King laughed for a couple seconds. “You’re a woman of great courage, Morgause, but I don’t think with my sword. An assault on Camelot cannot be undertaken lightly.”

“You forget. I’m a High Priestess, I can make those walls tremble.”

Everyone was noticing it by now.

Uther Pendragon’s mental stability was definitely deteriorating.

It couldn’t really be hidden, not after he started screaming in the middle of Council.

For the King’s sake, Gaius had him confined to his chambers with guards standing in front.

“Is there any explanation for this, Gaius?” Arthur asked.

“During the great purge, Uther drowned many he suspected of sorcery. And some, God help them, were children, killed for the magic they were born with. Maybe his conscience is playing tricks with him. Whatever it is, we can no longer hide this. A king’s hold on his people is a very fragile thing.” the Court Physician replied.

The Prince clenched his jaw before looking at the ground. “The noblemen are already saying I should take over temporarily.”

“It would be the best of decisions.” the elderly man said. “If it’s true what they say, that Cenred’s gathering an army, this Kingdom shouldn’t be without a strong leader.”

The blonde nodded. “I’ll tell the council I’ll accept to be the Prince Regent until my father gets better or succumbs to his mental affliction.”

Gaius nodded. “A good idea, my boy.” and he left for his quarters.

Arthur turned to his wife. “I don’t think I’m ready for this.”

“No one is ever truly ready.” Mura told him. “You forget how young I was when I was crowned Queen of Dyred, and with this destiny thrust upon us… it’s alright to be scared.”

“I just don’t want to make any mistakes.” the Prince whispered.

The secret witch touched her beloved’s cheek. “You’ve got me, you’ve got Gaius, you’ve got Morgana and you’ve got your Knights. We will stay by your side no matter what you decide to do.”

“Will you still be there even if I possibly make the biggest mistake of my life?”

“Yes. Always, Arthur.” and the 20-year-old woman looked at the door. “Well, I should go and check up on our boys. I’ll see you after your council session.” and she quickly kissed his cheek before leaving.

The Once and Future King took a deep breath. There was no going back now, he had to do this for his people. And he went into the direction of the council chambers to inform his father’s advisors about his decision to take the title of Prince Regent.

During the council session, a defence plan was mounted.

“I estimate they will reach the city within two days.” Sir Leon reported.

“Under whose banner do they march?” the newly appointed Prince Regent asked.

“Cenred's, Sire. We knew he was amassing an army...” but the ginger was cut off.

“How many men?”

Leon sighed. “Twenty-thousand, maybe more.”

The Court Physician let his head fall. “I fear that news of the king’s illness has spread beyond our borders. Cenred has seen an opportunity.”

“Then we must find a way to appease him.” the First Knight said.

Arthur shook his head. “If I know one thing about Cenred, is that he won’t be appeased in any way.”

“It could buy us time.” Gaius proposed.

“It could, but Cenred’s ruthless. And we don’t know if he has any allies that don’t want to see anything else but Camelot falling to its knees.” the blonde told.

Leon frowned. “Who are you talking about?”

“My sister.” the Prince Regent said. “Morgause.”

“That… female Knight?” confusion was clear on the ginger’s face, as well as all other court advisors par Gaius, that man knew everything about Uther’s escapades.

Arthur nodded. “She’s a sorceress. She knows she’s Uther’s daughter. She might want to take the throne.”

The elderly man bowed his head. “I’m glad to hear you take that into consideration as well.”

“If she’s involved, we have no other option.” and the youngest Pendragon sat down on the throne that once belonged to his father. “We must prepare the city for siege.”

“Are you sure that is wise?” the First Knight asked.

“The castle is our strongest weapon. No army has ever taken Camelot.”

Sir Leon pursed his lips. “But what about the people in the outlying villages?”

“Give them refuge within the city walls.” the Prince Regent decided.

“And what of their houses, their livelihoods? Cenred will destroy everything in his path.”

Arthur gave him a look. “But they will have their lives. Go. Ready the army.”

“It seems like I’ll see battle for the first time in my life.” Murainn said as she picked up Excalibur. She’d hidden the sword from view in their chambers.

“I’m glad you’ll be with me.” the Prince Regent said. “Even if many won’t like it.”

The Queen of Dyred snorted. “You might be facing some magical traps. You need me for those.”

“True, true.” Arthur whispered.

“Ready?”

The blonde chuckled. “Totally not, but there’s no time to lose.”

“I’ll go talk to Morgana before the siege happens.” and the woman left.

“And I have to talk to Leon.” Arthur too left their chambers to find Leon.

The First Knight was in the courtyard corridor, directing the stream of villagers into the castle.

“Has everyone from the outlying villages been given shelter?”

“As best we can, Sire. They amount to almost 9,000 so far, but they’re still coming.” the Knight said.

The Prince Regent then saw servants drag in grain and animals through the gate. “How long will our provisions last?”

“Depends, Sire, on what losses we sustain.” Sir Leon replied.

“Cenred?”

“Our scouts report he’ll be upon us a matter of hours.”

Arthur sighed. “Damnit.”

The siege had begun.

Cenred’s army easily took in the Lower Town, so the Knights had to seal the citadel.

They almost hadn’t been able to retreat, until Murainn had created a ring of fire to temporarily stop the army’s advancement and give the Camelotian Knights time.

“This is no use.” Sir Leon said. “There are too many.”

The two women looked at each other. They couldn’t be caught doing magic.

Murainn then grabbed her husband’s arm. “I’m going to free the dragon.”

Arthur blinked. “Are you crazy?” he whispered.

“It might be our only chance.” the Queen of Dyred told. “These soldiers don’t have shields.”

“Alright. I trust your plan.”

Mura nodded and ran into the citadel.

The place was filled with villagers whom she had to get around to get down to the dungeons.

Kilgharrah was already waiting for her. “Ah, so I’m finally be freed.”

“Under one condition.” the Dragonlady said.

The Great Dragon chuckled. “And that would be?”

“Help me defend Camelot.” the Dyredian replied. “If you help us defeat Cenred, you can just fly everywhere you want to go. But don’t let me hear you attack innocents, or I will slap you in chains once again. Understood, Kilgharrah?”

“I do.” the Dragon said.

Murainn made her way down the stone steps that had been carved out of the rock. She slightly grumbled as she did it, but it was the only way to guarantee a Camelot victory without losing too much forces. As she approached the spot where the chain was attached, she lifted Excalibur and closed her eyes.

“Ic bebeode þisne sweord þæt hé forcierfe þá bende þæra dracan. Un clýse.” and the Dragonlady brought the sword down, breaking the chain.

The golden scaled dragon roared out loud as he was finally free. His large wings started to flap and he raced out of the cave he’d been trapped in since the end of the Great Purge.

The Queen of Dyred watched the dragon fly away. “I hope this works.” and she went back up.

Fireballs were still being fired.

“The lower town is ours.” Cenred claimed.

Morgause snorted. “That will hardly fill the pages of history. What of the citadel itself?”

“Too strong for now.” the Essetirian mumbled. “I can’t believe you talked me into this.”

“Patience, Cenred.” the oldest Pendragon child said.

Then suddenly, the roar of a dragon could be heard.

‘But that’s impossible!’ the Priestess said.

Yet there was a dragon, flying above Camelot, spewing fire at the army they’d come with.

“You didn’t tell me there was a dragon!” the King of Essetir snarled.

“All dragons are supposed to be dead!” the blonde countered. “They were all killed during the Great Purge! Just like all other magical creatures.”

Cenred snorted. “Then how do you explain this!?” and he pointed up at the fire breathing creature.

“Uther or Arthur must’ve called in the help of a Dragonlord.”

The brown-haired man’s expression soured. “I’m calling off the siege.”

“You can’t!” Morgause yelled. “You promised to get my rightful place!”

“I cannot take the city unaided. That was not our bargain!”

The High Priestess lifted her chin. “You have failed me, Cenred.”

“I would rather fail you, Morgause, then watch thousands of men die.” and the man rode off again.

The oldest child of Uther Pendragon threw her sword to the ground as a tear left her eye. She’d promised herself she would never cry, from the moment on since her mother told her about her biological father.

She’d been betrayed by a man, just like her mother had been.

Morgause placed a hand over her stomach. She could feel the presence of her babe, her heir.

A new plan had to be crafted. A plan so watertight that nothing would escape her.

That new plan would however need time.

And she really needed an ally inside the court.

Chapter Text

The old King had died during the siege, and the mandrake root hadn’t been found until after his death.

Arthur was distraught, as anyone would when a parent died.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t find the root before, Sire.” Gaius mournfully said.

“It’s okay, I know you did everything in your power to save him.” the Prince Regent said with a sigh. “I should’ve known Morgause was planning something like this.”

“You can’t be all-knowing, Sire.” the elderly man said. “Only the Gods are all-knowing.”

The blonde shook his head. “I knew she was my sister, a powerful sorceress too… it was to be expected.”

Mura was watching from the doorway. “Sweetheart, we should let the coroners prepare your father for the audience of respect and the burial.”

The Once and Future King took a deep breath. “I should leave this room.”

The young Queen strode forward and took her husband’s hand to lead him out the chambers and towards their own, where their boys had slept through the clattering of swords and other upheaval.

Guinevere, who’d been watching them, bowed before she left.

“You should rest, my love.” the secret witch said before her eyes glowed golden and their armour was replaced by their night clothes.

It made the King-to-be smile again. Even though she’d done this particular trick hundreds of times, it had never failed to amaze him what his wife could do with just her willpower.

Murainn wrapped her arms around her lover. “I will be whatever you need tonight.”

“I just need you to hold me.” Arthur said, his voice broken.

“Then I’ll hold you until the morning.” one hand touched the man’s sun-kissed cheeks. “Come to bed, my King. You need to rest.”

Once in bed, the Prince Regent wrapped his arms around his beloved’s waist and pressed his forehead against hers. She and their sons were the only thing that still grounded him.

He knew that war took everything from everyone, but he’d never expected his father’s death to hit him so hard in his heart.

“I’ll spell you to sleep if you won’t fall asleep yourself.” Mura whispered.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” and the blonde closed his eyes.

The next day, noblemen from all around Camelot flocked to the castle to bid their farewells to the old King and pledge a new oath to the heir.

Uther’s body had been laid out on a dais in the middle of the throne room, surrounded by an enormous number of candles. People had laid flowers around the dais. The body itself had been dressed in armour, as Uther had once stated he wanted to be buried in.

As customary, both Arthur and Murainn were wearing black, the colour of their mourning.

Morgana too was dressed in black, as were Gwen, Morris and Freya.

Away from the throne room, other servants were buzzing to accommodate all the nobles who’d be there for the burial today and the coronation of the new King and Queen tomorrow. Of course, there were many protocols for this situation that had been there since the first Pendragon King sat on the throne of Camelot.

“Thank you, for being by my side.” Arthur said.

“Always.” and the secret witch squeezed her beloved’s hand. “I promised.”

A new nobleman waltzed in from the ante chamber corridor. “Arthur. I’m sorry we meet again after this tragedy.”

“Uncle.” the 23-year-old’s brows knit together.

Mura watched her husband’s expression carefully, letting her gaze fly over Arthur’s uncle.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be at your wedding, or at the feast your father threw for your twins.” the dark-haired man told. “I’ve sadly been very busy with raiders from the Northern Plains.”

“Of course. You had to attend to business first.” the Prince Regent’s tone was strained.

“I will remain here for a while after your coronation. I can only imagine how you must feel at the moment, being put on the spot to rule.”

The blonde lifted his chin slightly. “It was sudden, yes. It seems it was my father’s time.”

“It seems so, yes.” and the future King’s uncle went to the body of the former King.

“Uncle?” Murainn asked.

“Agravaine De Bois, my mother’s other brother.” Arthur replied. “I haven’t seen him in ten years.”

That was a little suspicious in the secret witch’s mind. She didn’t trust this Agravaine.

Perhaps she could use her magic to spy on the man.

The burial was simple, without a lot of fanfare.

Uther’s body was carried down into the catacombs and placed in the limestone coffin that had Uther’s image carved into it. The tomb had some riches in it, but not many. Uther hadn’t been an extremely well-loved King by the people, as he ruled with an almost ‘iron fist’. He’d been primarily ruling by putting fear in his people’s hearts and fearing others would find a weakness in him.

“Tomorrow I’ll be King. And you will be my Queen.” the sentence was alien on his tongue. “God, that even sounds strange. I really don’t feel ready for this.”

Mura hummed. “Nobody is, my love.”

“I can’t imagine that my father must’ve felt like I’m feeling now.” Arthur said.

“Even your father would’ve felt like he wasn’t ready.” the raven-haired Queen said. “You’ll grow into it.”

“How was it for you?” the King-to-be asked.

Murainn sat own on their bed. “I felt nervous too, mainly afraid I’d trip over the carpet while making my way towards the throne. I was a pretty clumsy teen.”

The blonde laughed.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, my love.” the secret witch said with a smile.

“I hope you’ll be right.” and the Prince Regent kissed his lover.

The day of Prince Arthur’s coronation had arrived, and the sun was shining over Camelot as if to welcome the new King with its bright rays that were reflected by his golden hair.

Pages were blowing their trumpets as the royal couple was getting ready in the hallway before the heavy wooden doors to the throne room.

Arthur took a deep breath as the doors opened before him. He walked over the red carpet that had been laid out, passing the courtiers and knights who bowed as he passed them. Then, he knelt down on the steps that lead to the small platform with a set of matching thrones.

“Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of Camelot according to their respective laws and customs?” Geoffrey asked.

“I solemnly swear so to do.” the blonde said, his voice steady.

“Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?”

“I will.”

“Then by the sacred laws vested in me, I crown you Arthur, King of Camelot!” and the old librarian placed the golden crown on the new sworn in King’s head.

Arthur stood up and turned around to look out over the courtiers.

Chants of ‘long live the King’ were called, but the new King only had eyes for his beloved.

As those chants stopped, Murainn walked into the room, totally dressed up for the occasion in her royal blue gown with sparkling stones on the top and an A-line bottom that didn’t have a train. She too knelt down on the second step of the stairs.

Now, it was Arthur’s time to ask the vows. “Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of Camelot according to their respective laws and customs?”

“I solemnly swear so to do.” Mura said as she looked into the eyes of her King.

“Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?” the newest Pendragon King asked.

“I will.” the Dyredian answered.

Arthur picked up the Queen’s crown. “Then by the sacred laws vested in me, I crown you Murainn, Queen of Camelot!” and he placed it upon his wife’s head before holding out his hands.

Murainn took the hands of her beloved and climbed the remaining step to join his side.

“Long live the Queen.” the King proclaimed, holding his lover’s hand.

And then, the crowd chanted the same line.

Arthur and Murainn smiled at each other as their people were chanting.

“You look beautiful with that crown.” the blonde said. “I knew you were meant to be my Queen.”

“We were always meant for each other.” the Queen of Dyred stated.

{Agravaine’s POV}

I tried to attend my nephew’s first council as King, but the guards wouldn’t let me in as I hadn’t been appointed as a council member.

However, that Court Physician was allowed in.

I snorted. That old man surely had gone senile over the years.

I knew Uther kept him around as an advisor since he was familiar with the Old Religion and its lore.

Though I couldn’t attend physically, I could look through a little window from a higher floor as the council chamber was rather high, just like the throne room.

“I thank you all for being here today. I know my father’s death was sudden, and I know you have always advised him well.” Arthur started. “I will continue to listen to your advices, but I will create my own council in time.”

“Is that why the Queen is here, my lord?” one of the older members asked.

My nephew nodded. “I trust her with my life, as she trusts me with hers.”

Of course, he would. He was a new King, his wife had been Queen for a couple years before she came to Camelot to meet my nephew for the first time.

“My wife will be part of this council. I trust you all to treat her with the respect she deserves.”

I gritted my teeth. Noblewomen, not even Queens, had never been part of a King’s council.

“It’s time that some things change.” Arthur said. “Firstly, I want to remove the ‘nobleman’ part in the Knight’s Code. All men who are capable fighters should be able to train with the Knights and become a Knight themselves.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” another council member asked.

“Even though I understand my father’s reasoning, I believe men of common descent should get a shot too. However, they won’t be treated different from any other Knight.” the new King said, voice stern. “The level of skill necessary will remain the same.”

The councilmen nodded approvingly, apparently able to find themselves in that new rule.

“I also wish to lift the ban on magic.”

I was definitely shocked.

“But Sire, your father…”

“I’m not my father, Sir Hoben.” my nephew said. “Magic can be used for both bad and good, depending on the user’s intentions. I will have to look deeper into the types of magic that exist, but no longer do magic users have to fear for their lives. I will grant them a fair trial until I’ve put new laws in place.”

Morgause needs to know of this.

The very next day, the new royal decisions were implemented.

Of course, there were still people who believed all sorcery was bad and certain nobleman weren’t able to progress the new law about Knights as it was a privilege taken away.

Morgana almost quite literally jumped into her brother’s arms when he told her of his decisions.

“I think I’m going to invite Lochru into the castle.” Mura then said.

Sir Leon frowned. “Who’s that?”

“A Druid Seer. He’s been helping Morgana to get her ability under control.”

The First Knight blinked. “Wait… the Lady Morgana has magic?”

The Queen nodded. “She was born with it. You sometimes have that when your mother was a High Priestess. That was also a secret once.”

“I… take it that Seers are rare?” the ginger asked.

“Far rarer than your usual sorcerer or sorceress. Though not as rare as those born with magic.”

“There are people who’re born with it?” that fact seemed to surprise the scruffy bearded man.

Murainn nodded. “Witches and Warlocks are very unusual.”

Chapter Text

I have only two more chapters left for this story.

Originally, I had planned for Gwaine to enter the scene like he did in the original series as well as the whole battle against the Immortal Army.

But I am pretty bad at writing battle scenes, so I decided against it.

Instead, I will allude to the battle in the next chapter at the beginning.

I will be sticking to long one-shots for a while, as that seems to be a working formula for me.

Thank you for reading this far into the story. The last chapters will soon be upon you (I'm almost finished).

Chapter Text

The war against Cenred’s Immortal Army troops, aided by Morgause, Agravaine and Helios, had lasted for months.

Months of exhaustion for the Knights of Camelot, months of terror the people of Camelot were subjected to while Morgause reigned… but she had been defeated in the end.

It hadn’t been easy, but King Arthur’s allies had kept true to their promises.

They had to work together to reclaim the citadel.

The battle had forced Murainn to reveal her powers as Lady Emrys, the most powerful Witch in existence.

But with Morgause, Cenred, and Agravaine dead… it no longer mattered.

It started out as a normal day of audiences, catching up on all the work Morgause had neglected during her short reign over the Kingdom of Camelot and also undoing the effects of her brutal reign.

A guard helped an older woman to approach the royal family.

“She has come with a gift for you, Sire.” the guard said.

“What is your name, madam?” the King gently asked.

“I’m Valdis, Sire.” the elderly woman replied. “I know my time will come soon, and I can only be thankful that I’ve been treated well under your reign. You have been kind and compassionate to us. These are the qualities of a real king. That is why I wanted to give you my last possession.”

Arthur leaned slightly forward on his throne. “Madam, it is nothing.”

“I couldn’t find a better King to give this too.” and she waved with her hand to motion a guard forward.

The gift was wrapped in a dirty white cloth.

Carefully, not knowing what was inside, the young King opened it to reveal a horn. “It’s beautiful.”

“He has the power to summon the spirits of the dead.” and the woman starts coughing.

“Give her a proper bed for the night.” the blonde said to the guard escorting the woman. “Get this to Gaius, he might be able to identify it.”

-----

True to that word, the Court Physician was able to identify it. “Cathbhadh’s horn. When Uther attacked the Island of the Blessed, the horn of Cathbhadh was smuggled in before the temple fell. We haven’t heard from them since.”

“The old woman said it could be used to open the door to the spirit world?” Arthur raised an eyebrow.

The elderly man nodded. “I saw it with my own eyes. Long before the time of the Great Purge, I participated in such ceremonies. Each year in Beltain, the High Priestesses met at the Grandes Pierres de Nemeton and invoked the spirits of their ancestors. He holds powerful magic. You have to keep it safe.”

“I definitely will.” the King said. “I’ll have it put in the vaults.”

“I sincerely hope no one will abuse that horn.” Gaius mentioned. “It can cause a lot of things.”

“How do you mean, Gaius?”

The court physician let his shoulders hang. “There are rules one must follow when entering the spirit world. If one of them is broken, the spirit you asked advice from could return to the land of the living. If provoked for whatever reason, they could wreak havoc.”

“So… if I were for example use the horn to ask my father for advice and I break a rule, he could come back here and… set the place ablaze?” the blonde asked.

The magician nodded. “Amongst other things. Spirits are unpredictable, they’re capable of everything.”

“Even murder?”

“Especially murder.”

I have awoken.

Once more, I can return to Camelot to set right what my son did wrong.

Though my son is strong in battle, he has grown soft in his domestic policies.

Instead of sticking with the traditions of Camelot, he has adopted various lenient policies from Dyred to include non-noble fighters into Knighthood and allow farmers to use magic to save their crops.

Though I can understand my son’s decision, magic has no place in the lands of Camelot.

It has to be eradicated.

My daughter Morgana was elevated to the status of Princess. It would’ve been a perfect bargaining chip, but my son had allowed her to forge a relationship with a minor nobleman from Gwynedd.

At least the Knight was a nobleman, and not a former bandit like some of the new Knights.

Arthur was always a little… how do I say this properly? Overly thankful, perhaps.

It is understandable a King would reward the people who aided him in battle, but Knighting peasants?

Most of the former bandits had chosen to wear the colours of Dyred, which was something I could not criticise as Dyred had different rules and regulations for Knighthood.

And I trust my daughter-in-law.

Speaking of her… she had given my son another child, a daughter named Aethelthryth.

The girl had been born not too long after the citadel of Camelot had been retaken from the sorceress Morgause and her troops, and symbolised a new era for all of Albion.

My stupidity had caused endangerment to my son, my legitimate heir, and his sons.

Arthur seemed to have headed my warnings about illegitimate children, considering he just had his 3^rd child with his wedded wife. But he’s still young, he could still make the same mistake I did.

Anyway, I have a few issues to settle.

“We covered the Pawlett to Meldreth area. This includes thirty soldiers at Bawtry. Fifteen to Talan. Ten with the chime. New to Brown. Eleven at Burwelle...” Leon was summing up as suddenly the candelabras which hung above the wooden round table fell on top of the map.

Murmurs from the Knights and present servants could be heard in the room.

Arthur sighed. “I want the table fixed before the next council meeting. Are you okay, Mura?”

“Just fine.” the Queen whispered to her husband as she looked up at the chain hanging from the ceiling.

“Why don’t you go back to our rooms? I’m sure our little girl would welcome her mother back.”

The Dyredian nodded. “I will. Stay on the look-out for weird incidents though, something doesn’t quite feel right.” she stood up and left the council room.

She had felt some sort of weird energy when the candelabras had started to fall.

Isolde, one of her new guards, escorted her back to the Royal quarters.

While the meeting had been going on, Gwen had been taking care of the little Princess.

“I suppose she has behaved well?” Mura asked.

The blacksmith’s daughter nodded. “She’s been an angel. Not that I expected anything different. I’ll leave you alone with your children now, I need to get ready for my date with Lance.”

“Have fun, Gwen.” the mother of 3 said to the maid as she picked up her daughter from the crib.

The darker skinned woman smiled and waved the Queen goodbye before she left.

The Witch then sat down on the bed, she sighed as she looked upon her daughter. She hadn’t known she was pregnant with Aethelthryth while the war against Morgause was raging. Her belly hadn’t expanded like it had during her first pregnancy, nor had she experienced any of the dizzy spells and nausea.

When she’d gone into labour, she didn’t know if the child would survive or if it would be born without defects as she hadn’t had the proper diet during the course of her pregnancy.

But the little girl was just fine and had even displayed a little bit of magic when she first cried.

Murainn hadn’t expected to become a mother again, but there was now another baby which had been created through her and her husband’s love for each other.

After the last battle, in which Cenred and Morgause had been killed, she and Arthur had also adopted the child left behind by those two… Princess Lynette of Essetir.

Lot didn’t want her at his court, fearing that Cenred’s allies would use the opportunity to start an uprising and de-throne the new King of Essetir in favour of the baby Princess. He was still very wary about several nobles who had initially supported Cenred in his conquest of Camelot to make Morgause eligible to become his wife by the Essetirian laws of Royal marriage.

Instead of being raised at the court of Essetir, Princess Lynette was made to be the King’s Ward, his adopted daughter and a ‘step’-sibling for his biological children. The Royal couple would tell her about her biological parents once she was old enough to understand.

The Queen’s mind then went back to the incident in the council room, the falling candelabras. She’d felt such energy before, though she couldn’t quite remember exactly where or who it belonged to.

Now, however, she had to take a little bit of rest before the next council meeting.

-----

There would be a second accident, but that time around there was a personal injury.

“The axe must have fallen from the rack.” Percival stated as the court physician was bandaging the pretty deep gash on his shoulder.

“I’m surprised that an axe fall causes such a deep wound.”

The former bandit group member sighed. “Not as surprised as I am.”

Gaius hummed. “Absolutely. You were lucky not to have been more seriously injured.”

“It's strange...” the tree-trunk broad Knight whispered.

“What is it?” the Queen asked.

“Just before it happened, I felt something, like there was someone there looking at me. I’m sure it was just my mind playing tricks on me.” the commoner said.

The older sorcerer hummed as he handed the Knight something. “Apply a second poultice in the morning. And no training.”

Percival nodded. “Thank you, Gaius.”

The elderly man then noticed Her Majesty’s worried look. “What seems to be the issue?”

“These incidents… I have the feeling it’s got something to do with that horn.”

“It is indeed a powerful instrument. Arthur did lock the object in the vault, did he not?”

Mura sighed. “I suppose he did. He couldn’t have travelled to the Pierres de Nemeton without me noticing. Do you think someone released something without us noticing?”

The court physician hummed. “It could be that the woman who brought the horn in did have the real one once but got replaced by an impressive forgery without her knowledge. It’s possible that this person knew exactly what it was and called forth the spirit of a deceased who is causing all of this.”

“Do you think we can… send the spirit back?”

“I’ll have to craft a potion which isn’t going to taste particularly great. At least then we can see who the spirit is and perhaps reason with it… and we have to find the real horn of Cathbhadh.”

The Witch nodded. “Alright. I suppose I have to inform Arthur about this.”

-----

Murainn found her husband sitting in their private dining rooms. “Arthur? Can I talk to you for a minute?”

The blonde looked up. “Sure, take a seat.”

The 22-year-old sat down on the chair to her husband’s left, fiddling with her hands.
“What’s gotten you so nervous? I’ve never seen you like this.” the King said.

“That’s because I’m not quite sure how to say this without sounding delusional.”

Arthur took his spouse’s hand. “Whatever you have to say, it’s not delusional.”

The young woman sighed. “I think someone may have swapped that horn when it was still in that lady’s possession, and used it to call forth a spirit that’s been causing these incidents to happen.”

The blonde turned his gaze to the book that laid on the table. “I already had a feeling it wasn’t a random accident. Is there anything we can do?”

“Gaius is going to brew us a potion so we can see who the spirit is. And we should send out search parties to find that horn. Only with that horn, we can send that spirit back to where it belongs.”

“Alright, I’ll send out search parties… though I’m unsure where to look.”

Mura looked up at her husband. “I would say that the Stones of Nemeton might be a good starting point, and maybe someone should check out the Isle of the Blessed.”

“Good idea. I’ll send my Knights out immediately. We have to stop the spirit before it kills someone.” the 25-year-old stood up and quickly left the room, his wife’s gaze following him.

I still can’t believe what my son’s done to my once great Kingdom.

Children being taught about magic in schools, peasants freely using it to make others laugh, merchants trading many types of magical objects… it’s a wonder the citadel hasn’t been affected by all of this.

Sorcerers are feeling more and more safe on Camelot’s lands, as my son seemingly does nothing against them. They’re no longer facing executions where they should be perishing.

It wasn’t at all surprising to me that my daughter-in-law didn’t say anything about it, as the Royal family of Dyred has had a long history of welcoming sorcery onto its land and continued to do so after Ygraine.

She was seemingly sensing my presence, freezing in place when I was near before continuing on her path.

The war must’ve made her more sensitive to death and the spirits of the deceased.

Arthur had allowed her to fight in the war, even though the battlefield wasn’t a place for a Lady, but Murainn was a headstrong woman… in many ways exactly what my son needed to ground him.

As the days went on, with the search parties out there and Gaius brewing his potion, several more incidents happened. But this time, it was outside the citadel.

Elyan had a strange accident in the smithy, an arrow ended up in Tristan’s shoulder even though he was far away from the archery fields, and Gwaine ended up in a pile of rotten tomatoes while on the marketplace.

From those accidents, only Gwaine’s could potentially be ruled as extremely unfortunate while the other 2 could very well have been caused by the wayward spirit taking their revenge.

Leon and Isolde had ridden out towards the Pierres de Nemeton near the Camelotian border with Nemeth, and came back 8 days after their departure with the horn.

Apparently, it had been left lying there on a rock.

‘We’re going to need an incredible safe vault. Magic resistant if possible.’ the King said to himself as he walked down to Gaius’s workshop.

His wife was already there, sitting at a table while Gaius was pouring the liquid in tiny glasses.

“I’m glad they were able to find it.” Mura said. “I don’t want to think about a scenario where they would never have found it.”

“Nobody wants that.” the court physician said as he brought over the two tiny containers. “The potion will allow you to see Uther in his spiritual form. Once you are in his presence, you must blow the horn. It is the only way to force him to return to the spirit world.”

Arthur nodded. “Let’s do this.” He then brought the container to his mouth and gulped it down. “Eurgh! It’s ... It’s the most horrible thing I’ve ever tasted.”

The dark-haired queen also pulled a face. “As long as it works… I guess.”

-----

The couple wandered around the darkened hallways of their palace, their hands tightly together.

“Whatever happens today, I will always love you.” the blonde said.

The Queen of Dyred smiled. “I know that, Arthur. I wouldn’t have given you multiple children if that love wasn’t returned. I just don’t want any more of these accidents to happen to our friends.”

“Nor do I.” Arthur then looked at the doors of the throne room. “You go take a peak in the armoury, I’ll check the throne room. We’ll cover more ground like that.”

The Witch nodded. “Just scream if you need help.”

“Kings don’t scream, Mura.” the King said.

Murainn threw her husband a look before leaving him.

The 25-year-old took a deep breath before opening the heavy wooden doors.

The atmosphere inside the room felt eerie, bleak… depressing. The room had also gone incredibly cold, and it made the young King glad he’d chosen to wear a thicker jacket for this ‘ghost hunt’.

Suddenly, the doors shut on their own which caught the blonde’s attention.

An eerie sound could be heard, and the King of Camelot then turned his head to the wooden throne.

The spirit of Uther Pendragon was now sitting on it, dressed in black.

“Father.” Arthur spoke.

“You have disappointed me greatly, son.” the blue ghost said. “You trust others too much. You, and you alone, must govern Camelot. All your life, I’ve been trying to prepare you for the day when you become King. Haven’t you learned anything?”

The young man sighed before he replied. “I watched you rule and I learned that if you don’t trust anyone, you will always live in fear. Your hatred came from fear, not from strength.”

This seemed to anger the previous king. “How dare you!”

“I loved you and I respected you. But I have to govern the Kingdom in my own way. I have to do what I think is right.”

“I won't allow you to destroy everything I built.”

Arthur shook his head. “I am not you, Father. I can’t govern like you did.”

He was then caught off guard, and thrown back onto the stone and cold floor. Unconscious.

“Camelot must come first. Even you.”

“Stay away from him, Uther!” Murainn suddenly yelled out, now also standing in the throne room. “You have done enough harm. You don’t belong here. You have to go back to the other world.”

“It’s MY kingdom!”

“It was your kingdom. But the era of Uther Pendragon has passed. A new King has risen, and Albion is all the better for it.” the woman from Dyred stated.

Suddenly, the spirit of Uther tossed a bench at the Queen.

But the raven-haired woman stopped it, her eyes flashing golden to prevent the wood from hitting her on the head and potentially causing a mortal wound.

The silence that followed after the wood hit the stone floor was eerie.

“You have magic?” the previous king’s tone was… hateful.

“I was born with it, Uther.” Mura replied.

“I arranged for you to marry my son.”

“I hid it, right under your nose. I’ve protected Arthur with it.”

“I will not allow you and your species to poison my Kingdom!”

Murainn gave her father-in-law an apologetic smile. “You cannot eradicate magic, Uther. It’s everywhere.”

“NO!” the former King yelled.

“Bael onbryne!” the Queen of Dyred spoke and her eyes flashed golden.

The spell threw the previous Pendragon King through the wall into the next room.

The woman went to her husband, hoping he’d wake.

The blonde groaned even before he opened his eyes.

“Your father’s spirit hit you with a bench.” she quickly glanced at the wall. “He’s gone for now, but he’ll be back. We need to send him back to the spirit world.”

“We’ll have to be ready with the horn.”

Chapter Text

One evening, there was a grandiose ball at Camelot’s citadel as the people celebrated the 15^th wedding anniversary of King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot and Queen Murainn Dragonborn of Dyred.

People from all over both Kingdoms, noble and common, had arrived at the fortified city to participate in the varying festivities that were organised, such as the jousting tournament or magic competition.

It was a time of great joy as Albion was in its most affluent era since the fall of the Roman Empire.

The Anglo-Saxons were still a threat, even more so since Mercia had fallen.

But that threat was not an obstacle for the wedding celebrations.

At the evening banquet, wine was flowing as magic users entertained the non-magical guests.

Murainn observed the festivities with a smile on her face as her youngest child, Hector (who was 4 years old), was sitting on her lap as she was seated on the grand table on a similar throne to her husband’s but draped in Dyred’s colours.

They’d been married for 15 years now, reigning over non-Anglo-Saxon Albion ever since the spirit of Uther Pendragon had been sent back to the spirit world.

The spirit had attempted to kill the Queen of Dyred and her children, but Arthur blew the horn in time.

That had been the scariest moment of Mura’s life.

No moment from the war against Morgause and Cenred had come close.

Magic was now free to use, which made raising the Princesses of Camelot so much easier.

Not only did the King’s Ward inherit her mother’s magic, Princess Aethelthryth, Princess Órlaith and Princess Lyonesse possessed their mother’s magic too.

The 33-year-old woman hoped she and Arthur had many more years to come, to be alive together to raise their children and hopefully see a few grandchildren being born before their respective demises.

War was, however, constantly looming over them.

The Queen of Camelot preferred to keep her sons closer, but both Amhar and Kellan were now squires and trained to wield a sword in battle.

The old ways of life continued with the next generations of Pendragons.

Though neither twin son had been betrothed already, both had been introduced to Lot’s daughters as well as the daughters of Queen Elena of Gawant. Negotiations were now ongoing.

With the threat of an Anglo-Saxon invasion of Essetir, Lot was rather desperate to marry at least one of his daughters to a Briton Prince as he feared demands from the Anglo-Saxons that he married his daughters off to their Kings and Princes.

At least for now there was peace between sorcerers and those who did not possess magic, a development which had only ever been beneficial to everyone in the two Kingdoms. It allowed their army to become stronger, and better prepared in combat.

Avalon would yet have to wait for their arrival, for they were not yet ready to go there.

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THE END