The Disappearance of Camelot, #.05, Stories from the Veil series

Chapter four

Arthur stood at the end of the path with Gawain and Percival behind him. Not too long after he took Guinevere's hand in his. His eyes on Lancelot when he walked to join the knights. Arthur's face was expressionless, his eyes guarded, while Guinevere could feel her body stiffening just by standing beside him.

Merlin waved his hand, their hands lifted up and a red and golden rope appeared around their limbs joining them together. He then tightened the rope by turning his wrist right, before his eyes met Guinevere's for a moment.

Her heart immediately pounded wildly in her chest, and though Merlin was speaking she couldn't concentrate on his words. All she could see was the young boy who'd wandered into their settlement after being cast out from his family because of his powers. Her mother had taken care of him, helped him dress his wounds, and used the vials of ointment created by the witches to heal the burns on his legs. It'd taken for the flowers to bloom twice before he'd plucked up the courage to kiss her, and claim her as his. That was before he was called by The Lady of the Lake and she cut through all romantic notions that Guinevere and Merlin had about a future together. One by one she destroyed every hope Guinevere had harbored in her heart. Merlin's destiny was too great, for one woman to stand between him and his mission. When he left the settlement, to find the king in the making who would wield Excalibur, a discarded Guinevere concentrated on learning the ropes of the pack.

"Guinevere," Merlin's voice made her blink a few times before she nodded. "Do you accept King Arthur as your lord?"

Her eyes locked with Merlin's for a moment before she turned to face Arthur. "I will take you as my lord, and be faithful and loyal to you for the rest of my days."

"Your majesty," Merlin said without emotion, his eyes locked somewhere past them while Guinevere glanced at him.

"I'll take Guinevere, Alpha of the pack, and make her the Queen of Camelot," Arthur replied looking at the wolves and the dragons while putting the iron ring on the fourth finger of her left hand.

"You bear witness to the union between the wolf pack and the dragons of Camelot. From this day on, you must act as one. Your loyalty to both the wolf queen and the dragon king will dictate your actions. Now you must pledge fealty to them, together as a unit, or suffer the consequences," his eyes scanned the wolves and dragons prompting them to bow to both Arthur and Guinevere. The witches, in their own tongue, pledged their loyalty to the alliance forged with the wolf queen and extended an olive branch to Arthur and his dragons. It was all that was needed in order for the red and golden rope to catch fire and disintegrate. "You must now move forward as one."

Arthur's hand moved quickly away from Guinevere's before he addressed his knights. "Make sure everything's ready for our departure," he said to Gawain and Percival. "Lancelot, you'll stay here with the queen's sister and make sure that the territory is secured before returning to Camelot."

"Yes, your majesty," Lancelot replied bowing deeply.

Guinevere watched him walk away when Berhat stood in front of her and Arthur, "Berhat, thank you for coming."

"It's not like me and my girls wanted to be here Evie," she said in a tired voice using the dirty tongue, "Merlin insisted that we must be here to help you."

"Us, you mean," Arthur pressed receiving nothing but a glare from the old woman, "as you wish then," he replied turning on his heels.

"If you do anything to my girls—" Berhat said loudly. "I'll kill you myself, and I don't care what the consequences of your death are, not for me, not for the world of Magic."

"I prefer my whores clean, your girls are quite safe from my knights and myself," Arthur replied without turning to look at them.

"This is why men aren't allowed in our village," Berhat told Guinevere before snapping her fingers and making one of the younger girls in her group step forward with a box. "This is what you requested. Everything you need to protect yourself from the King and his Knights."