A Guest in Camelot (Doctor Who/Merlin)

Chapter Five

Disclaimer: The BBC owns everything, I just came up with the plot idea.

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Chapter Five:

All of the knights seem nervous and look to one wearing a helmet for confirmation. “She did ask for it.” She hears him mutter. She smiles and looks around, finally one spins his sword in his hand and moves in for an attack, the attack is predictable and although she was itching to block it in a predictable way, she defends twists and elbows him in the stomach. A lack of armour in training made it an easy blow. She kicks the flat edge of the blade and it flies out of his hand, two knights move to the side to avoid the hit. The losing knight nods, retrieves his swords and avoids eye contact from Amy and ignores the other knights who jeer.

Heartless was never a quality associated with Amelia Pond, and she felt a twinge in her heart for humiliating the young knight, she sees one who is taunting him for being ‘Outwitted by a mere maiden’, immediately she feels annoyed that someone desires to taunt someone for being not as good as they were. She locks eye contact with the knight, he is taller and looks more muscular yet she wasn’t afraid. “You think you could do better?”

A laugh escaped the knight’s mouth as he rocked back on his heels and looked at the other knights almost as if to see if they were hearing the same as him. Nevertheless he stepped forwards and lunged swinging his sword. Amy was not silly enough to try the same defence used before instead she met the other sword half in a lung to support the force; he was strong and pushed her blade to the side. He was strong and Amy needed another tactic.

The blades clicked once more as he attacked, he was slow but powerful. He spun the blade gauging for another attack, he seemed to do this in between each hit weighing her up before the strike. As he hit she turned her back and jabbed the handle of the sword into his upper thigh, he winced and she dragged her foot round kicking his legs from underneath him, his hands land either side of him and Amy placed her feet on the blade and his wrist, her tip of the blade resting a reasonable distance away from his neck, but still making a point that she was the victor. After a few seconds she removed her feet and offered out a hand, the knight accepted it but rested no weight on it as he got up. He shook her hand and then retreated to the edge of the circle with a slight bewildered smile playing on his lips.

Amy looks around the other knights seem more apprehensive and it seems no longer to concern the fact that they were scared to fight a girl. “I will go next.” She turned and smiled widely, “Sir Percival.” Noting that he had a lot more muscle than the other two, he also seemed as though he wasn’t going to underestimate her as much as the others had.

She watched him swing and tried to block the attack, she shouldn’t have been as surprised by the strength that moved her back. She tried not to lose balance and jumped backwards away from his other swing, to stand any chance she needed to be evasive rather than trying to attack. She moved more on her toes wanting to laugh how the continuous running in her life made her more agile. She leapt to the side away from a swing and as he twisted she charged. It was the wrong thing to do, he couldn’t spin the sword around in time but he had another idea. His arm locked around her waist and pulled her in front of him, her arms pinned by her side in front of him. The sword rested in front of her neck and then was placed back into his scabbard. He loosened his grip and moved to stand by her side, his hand still resting on her hip. She could sense it was only in a friendly manor and was relieved.

The one who seemed to have the highest authority stepped forward and stated “You are quite good, with more practice you could do even better. But I am afraid Lady Pond that this is not an open training session.” He approached and lightly prised the sword from her grasp placing hers back where it belonged alongside several other blades.

The red-heads jaw dropped slightly, “Would it have not been better to tell me in the first place before I started fighting? Or is it because of my gender, I believe I have proved my worth anyway.”

The head of the knight tilted forward and shook, “Although not many Ladies fight, that is not the reason you should be excluded from this practice, this is only for Knights and Guards, those who protect the kingdom.”

Amy sighed “Please allow me to train, I am no trouble, I promise, I’m someone new to practice against and if I can disarm some knights they need to be taught more.”

“I understand what you are saying, but why would you want to help Camelot?” She could sense the wariness in his voice.

“I’ve spent a few years helping many places without good reason; I aim to help for the greater good. You cannot expect me to stay in the castle; I will surely tire of having nothing to do. I am unaccustomed to the methods of passing time that the ladies of this age use, I need to be active. Please, allow me to train, to protect, and to earn my stay.”

He sighs, slightly defeated “You will not participate anymore today, it must be agreed to by the King, I have no quarrels with you training with us, none of the others should, but it must be approved.”

She smiled she had achieved something; this opportunity put her in a positive attitude. She watched the men train, thinking of what she would have done and how the others attacked and won, she was learning new tactics but she itched to join in rather than watch from the side lines.

The leader of the group stepped in the centre of the field, she wondered who would attack and was surprised when Percival and another stepped forward to attack at the same time. He was graceful neither side managed to take control. At one point the duo seemed to be winning but a sword was struck out of the way leaving it one on one. Percival stood no chance the knight was skilled and the battle was short lived, the winner was as expected; the mysterious helmet wearing knight.

A few knights turned and Amy followed their eye line. A figure was running towards them. The mysterious knight stepped forward as though the message would be for him. “Amy.” She squinted focusing on the person calling her.

“Gwen?” She questioned although she was most likely right.

“There’s a meal tonight greeting some old friends of the king, you must look presentable.” She stated reaching the girl, her voice was slightly breathless.

“Presentable?” A few of the knights were holding back a laugh.

“I mean no disrespect, Mis- Amy, I simply mean you must bathe and be wearing a dress for the meal, looking more –“Gwen was starting to look a bit uncomfortable.

“I understand what you are saying Gwen, I must get changed. I will see you gentlemen later. Are you to help me prepare Gwen?” she questioned. With a nod of Gwen and a few nods of goodbye she left with her maid to prepare for the night.