Flames of War

The Rising Sun

The routine remained the same for the knights of Camelot: wake up early, train until noon, have lunch, train until evening, have dinner. For the Round Table, it then concluded with a small meeting with the King and then, more often than not, a trip to the Rising Sun at the end of the night.

Gwaine and Leon sat in on council meetings a couple times, Gwaine’s least favorite part of being recognized as the cousin of the King. He complained that Gareth and Gaheris only went to a few council meetings each month while he went to many more. Arthur liked to remind Gwaine that he was, in fact, next in line for the throne if he and Gwen died. It was practice for that. Gwaine felt convinced that the truth was Arthur liked to torture him.

Two and a half weeks of daily training meant everyone involved felt exhausted. Mark and Michael turned out to be exceptional fighters for their age and upbringing. Gwaine enjoyed training them. Mikhail’s skills were evident too, though the Knights of the Round Table were busier keeping an eye on him out of suspicion. It wasn't exactly fair to him; he had been nothing but a model soldier, keeping Fira’s secret hidden.

For her part, Fira had been kept busy gathering herbs and mixing medicines for the war effort. It seemed half of all patrols came back injured if they traveled towards the Perilous Lands or the Northern Borders. Even inside the borders of Camelot, reports of attacks on outlying villages had increased exponentially over the course of a few months. So she kept herself busy.

So it was one morning several weeks after the start of the twins’ training. Fira bustled about the physician chambers inventorying the supplies yet again. She noticed mint was running low when the door opened behind her.

“Percival!” She smiled widely. The knights had been rather elusive the past few weeks. “What brings you here?”

“The King needs us in a meeting. You included.” He held the door open for her as she dropped what she was doing and made to leave. As they walked together towards the King’s chambers, he spoke up again. “You should join us in the tavern sometime.” With a smirk he added, “Galahad misses you.”

Fira chuckled. “Maybe I will. I miss my knights… occasionally.”

“We'll be there tonight.”

They climbed some stairs and reached the royal chambers several minutes later. Percival knocked and Arthur’s voice sounded inside. He called for them to enter.

“Ah, good.” The king nodded at them. “I have a small mission for you.”

Assembled inside were Gwaine, Leon, Elyan, Percival, and Galahad. Gwen was on the other side of the room talking with the servant Kara. Kara had quickly moved up in the serving world and now took over as Gwen’s maidservant. Gwen’s other maidservant, Eva, had left for home to care for her ailing mother.

Fira cocked her head in question. “What's the mission?”

“Patrol,” Arthur told her. “But mostly I want to use it as a training mission for Gwaine’s recruits.”

Elyan nodded. “Where are we going?”

“Border with the Perilous Lands.” Arthur paused before sighing. “I'm going to regret this. But Gwaine you're in charge.”

Gwaine grinned. “Over Leon?”

Leon looked positively put out. Even so, he didn't complain.

“Yes,” the king replied. “I want you in charge because of your recruits.”

“So, I now outrank Leon in the field as well as the council meeting.” Gwaine smirked and winked at Leon.