The Witch of Camelot

Forty-Six...A Surpsing Request From The King

Chapter forty-six…

I waited many hours for their return but it did not come. Instead I was interrupted in my nervous pacing once again by a loud rapping at the door. I froze momentarily but then urged myself to move. I forced my feet forward to the door and unlatched it pulling it open only very slightly so that I could peer through a narrow gap. Troilus stood on the other side, his face grave.

            Inclining his head he skipped straight to the point, ‘Lady Nimue, please follow me, the King requires your presence.’ Fear gripped me but I obeyed pulling my dark green floor length cloak over my shoulders and going with him attempting to look as if the dread had not once more settled over me, unmoveable in its darkness.

            We walked in silence through the empty corridors, down several flights of stairs, out into the courtyard, across it and through a side entrance into the main castle. Ascending three fights of stairs I found myself standing outside the door to the Great Hall, where the king received all audiences. It had been in an antechamber just to the side that I had waited in on the day of Arthur’s arrival.

            Troilus knocked upon the door, two guards stood at each side and the passage was deserted. I did not know the hour but it was late and the darkness of the castle was lit only occasionally by flaming torches. Evidently this was to be another secret meeting.

            ‘Enter’, rumbled the kings voice from within. I swallowed my fear and attempted to look confident as I stepped into the room after Troilus.

            There was a table in the centre of the vast room and the king’s throne had been moved down from the dais to stand at the head of it. Arthur sat to the right, his face pale in the flickering light of half a dozen candles. Merlin stood behind him, hands resting on the chair back, looking parental even then. Uther rose from his chair as I joined their company.

            He nodded his thanks to Troilus and said, ‘Await outside until you are called and ensure that nobody wonders this side of the castle tonight, especially not the queen or her daughters.’ His use of the plural stunned me for a moment, but a warning look from Merlin told me to keep quiet on the subject until the time was right. ‘Nimue has much to discuss with us tonight,’ he continued, ‘she and Arthur will not require lessons come morning so once it reaches dawn change the guard as usual but do not let any come near here and disturb us; am I understood?’

            ‘Yes Sire, you shall not be interrupted nor spied upon; of that I shall make sure.’ Troilus replied confidently as he bowed and retreated, closing the doors behind him.

            Uther turned so that his back was facing us for a moment; he paced his way up to the dais, then turned and returned to the table in what appeared to be a pointless gesture.

            I bowed, ‘My king, your grace, uncle, what is happening tonight which requires such attention?’ I inquired all formality. ‘Are we on the brink of war?’

            Uther shook his head slightly, watching my reactions thoughtfully as if what I had to say in the situation was of the upmost importance. ‘No Lady Nimue, there is nothing of that sort to threaten us at this current moment in time; it would be a grave circumstance indeed if it did.’ His address puzzled me; he was the king and need not afford such grand titles to a farmers daughter.

            ‘It is of Arthur and his sisters that we are here Nimue,’ my uncle murmured, ‘steps must be taken and they must involve you.’

            I stared from Merlin to the king and back again in surprise. ‘Sisters?’ I repeated, attempting to organise my fractured thoughts into a coherent understanding of what was going on.

            Uther nodded, ‘before I married my Lady Wife she was married to the Duke of Cornwall and with him bore a daughter; the girl Morgause. Unknowingly the queen and I sent the princess Morgana to the court of a Devonshire duke; a close friend and ally of ours so that she could be trained as all girls of her birth are.

However, what we did not know is that Morgause also resided in that court and once she made the connection between herself and my daughter she poisoned the child’s mind against the house of Pendragon. Morgana has been returned to Camelot safely in the care of her mother; the young woman Morgause followed her without our knowledge and came to this very hall this afternoon demanding her rightful place at her mother’s side.

            For now I have accepted this but I dearly wished that I could refuse.’ He paused as if awaiting my opinion and so I gave it to him readily.

            ‘Sire, if this woman is a danger to Camelot and to the noble house of Pendragon then she should be removed, imideantly. Her poisonous words cannot be allowed to take hold.’ I answered steadily.

            Uther allowed a slight smile pull at the corner of his lips; he had known my response would be the same as my uncles. ‘There is one problem however, she cannot be so simply removed…’ he paused again and then fixed me with a stern but dependant stare.

            ‘She is a witch Nimue.’ He concluded softly. That was when I knew why he had called me; my uncle had magic but the best way to defeat a cunning woman is with one of her own kind; and that meant me. My heart leapt up into my throat, which constricted around it, rendering me speechless at the shocking turn of events.