In The Hearts Of Men

Chapter 3

"You forgot?!"

"Father, I-"

They were stood in the courtyard of the castle. There with them were guards, soldiers and servants, as well as many townsfolk who had turned up to watch. In the centre of the square was a huge bonfire, set with wooden stake, and there were several guards holding brackets in which handsome flames blazed stood around the pile of wood.

The king and prince stood a little away from everyone else, on the stairs. They still had a few minutes before they brought out the prisoner who was to be burnt, and the king was shaking his head at his son, who had arrived very shortly before, with tousled hair and blundering footfalls. It was clear he had only just woken up and had sprinted down.

Uther looked as though he didn't know whether to laugh, hit his son, or hang his head in exasperation.

"Arthur, this sorcerer has been on trial for weeks, his crimes have reeked havoc all around the city. How could you have forgotten?"

"Father, I'm really sorry, I..."

Arthur clutched his head.

"I think someone needs to be going to bed earlier," Uther remonstrated.
Arthur bristled.

"I'm not a child, Father. I merely..." He tried to remember what he had done the previous night. He screwed up his eyes and thought desperately. Suddenly, a far too familiar face strang into his head.

"Gwaine!"

Uther looked around.

"Excuse me?"

"Gwaine and I were out last night!" Arthur said triumphantly, immediately crumpling under Uther's stormy expression.

"You were out with that drunk, when you should have been getting a good night's sleep and preparing for this morning?"

Arthur hung his head.

"I'm disappointed, Arthur," said Uther sternly. He walked away from his son and into the crowd.

Someone clapped Arthur on the back. Turning, he saw Gwaine's grinning face inches from his.

"Great night last night princess," he said happily. Then: "Your dad's wound a bit tight."

Arthur shoved him away.

"Yeah, alright, thanks for that Gwaine," he said grumpily.

"Hey, how's the ol' Mer this fine morrow? I'm guessing he doesn't drink very often," asked Gwaine, smiling ruefully.

"Mer? Merlin?...... Merlin!" Arthur exclaimed after a moment's confusion. He had not thought about Merlin since waking up, and now he thought about it, it was very strange indeed that he hadn't seen him yet.

"I haven't even seen him today," Arthur told Gwaine. "He's probably sleeping it off, the lazy bugger... But I can't remember anything at all from last night, Gwaine. What happened?"

"Jesus, Pendragon, it was messy," chuckled Gwaine. "It was us three and Percival, out in the Ram's Head- barman owes me a favour, we got all our drinks free, by the way," he added, winking rougeishly. "Anyway, we all had our fair share of booze, but I'd say you were the most hammered. Percival was fine, a big guy like him- he can take it. I'm well experienced, so I wasn't too bad, and Merlin only had a few, but he seemed to be enjoying himself much more than he would usually, let's just say that." Gwaine laughed. "When you two got up on the table... God, it was hilarious!"

"Hmmm," Arthur said. "I hope I didn't humiliate myself."

"Not at all, princess, not at all- you need to loosen up," said Gwaine. "Right," he continued. "I'm off. There's a very pretty stall owner who says she'll give me a special offer, and I can't stand these public executions anyway. Do tell me how Merlin is if you see him before me, would you?"
And with that he disappeared into the crowd.