Arthur’s POV
The only thing I really knew about the man was that he had a pretty daughter with brown hair and a round face. She had rosy cheeks, although she was more pale than most. My mental image of her was blurry, mostly I remember her smile. She had a beautiful smile.
She was raised by her uncle and father. They were nobles, and spent a lot of time in the castle with me.
“Son, you do enjoy playing with the Granville girl, don’t you?” I nodded, grinning happily. She was pretty, and nice, and by far my favourite playmate. She was somehow stronger than most of the boys I played with back then, and loved to wrestle, “Good, you’ll be marrying her when you grow up,”
I DID NOT want to marry her when I grew up, that much I knew. I also knew that it was better not to fight with Father, so I left the room, eyes wide and smile gone.
Whenever I saw her again, my favourite playmate, I didn’t know what to do or say. It was all incredibly awkward for a nine year old and a seven year old.
Also, it was extremely unfair.
I wanted a friend, not a wife. Besides, nobody had decided to tell the girl yet, or her family.
I didn’t want to spend my life with anybody yet. I was nine.
All I knew of the man were my own personal feelings about his daughter. That, and I knew that he hated my father, even if my father loved him.
He hid his hatred well, to be honest. I only caught on one day when I was left alone with him. He looked at me quizzically for a moment or two before asking, “What do you think of your father?”
Well, what did I think of my father? I never saw him, so I wasn’t exactly sure. My father was strict. He was angry. He punished people without a second thought. But he showed kindness to those who stood by him with good food and placement within the palace.
“My father brought this kingdom out of dark times!” I answered enthusiastically with the words I had heard so many times from the workers of the palace as well as Father himself, “He’s a great king!”
The man gave a disgusting snort, observing me disapprovingly, “How often do you actually speak with him, Arthur?”
That was a good question, “Whenever he has to tell me off or give me orders,” I said after a moment’s thought. Gaius was the one who put me to sleep, and I had a servant to give me meals and take me through my day.
The man frowned, disapproval gone almost instantly. “Arthur, do you ever want to run away?” He asked quietly. I looked at the ground, not entirely sure how to answer. “I can take you, if you like. My brother and daughter… We’re all going together. It’s just outside of Camelot, in the lands of Essetir. And the people there are good,” I said nothing. Father would be so angry if I ran away.
“I don’t know…” I muttered quietly, having difficulty with figuring out what to say. I knew what I was supposed to say, but did I really want to stay, now that it had been brought up?
“The town is small,” He continued as though I had said nothing, “And there aren’t too many people. But the people there are smart and good, and they fight for what they believe in… Nobody would ever find us,”
Had Father not entered the room at that moment, I’m not sure what I would have answered. Maybe, instead of becoming a king, I would have been a quiet man, living out my life in a nice village with nice people. My life could have gone so differently.
When I was fourteen, he approached me in the gardens, while his daughter was going to relieve herself.
“I need to ask you again, Arthur… We’re leaving tomorrow. Are you coming?” At that age, I was old enough to know my answer.
“Of course not. I’m the crown prince of Camelot, and I have a duty to my kingdom. You do too, in fact. I’ll be lenient on you, though. I won’t tell my father anything and you will not bother the people of Camelot again. Now leave,” The man seemed shocked when he turned to me, but that quickly grew into anger,
“You were a good kid, Arthur! You weren’t going to be like your father, you were going to be understanding and accepting! You weren’t going to persecute my people reasonlessly! You weren’t going to be a Pendragon!” When the man stepped forward, I stepped back.
Suddenly, I was afraid of the man. The air around him changed, stirring into something of darkness. It felt as though little wisps of the evil aura would reach out and grab me at any moment. He had said my people. The man probably had magic.
I was a child, and I was alone with this sorcerer. With no other option, I turned and ran.
“Bracinga!” I had hardly made it a couple steps when the word rang out, and I found myself suspended in the air, unable to move. I had literally paused mid step, still in my running position.
“Fine, be like that. I would have rather kept from using force, but if that’s the way it must be… I’ll ask my brother to leave a message for that sad excuse for a king,” The man was going to kill me, I was so sure. Or he would keep me his prisoner in some dark place for the rest of my life. No. No, I didn’t want this sorcerer to take me away! I wouldn’t let him!
But I was stuck. I couldn’t move and nothing I could say would stop him.
So I screamed. I screamed as loud and long as I could. Somebody was bound to hear. It was a castle after all, and if that didn’t attract their attention, I was doomed.
In only a couple seconds, the noise was sharply cut off. My voice stopped working, although I had hardly heard the man use a spell.
“You insolent little wench! You’re paying for that!” My mouth tasted sour, but that hardly registered when the man, who was a great deal larger than myself, roughly picked me up and ran us towards the main exit of the courtyard.
Not quickly enough, however. The guards which had been absent only moments ago filled in all the exits, leaving no room for escape.
Even if I couldn’t see everything, I knew that the man was now cornered.
“Put the boy down, Granville! If you value your neck, let the Prince go,” I was still tense, in mid-step, but a word muttered under the man’s breath let my muscles relax, and stay that way. As before, I had no control, but now I was limp.
And suddenly the arms that supported me were gone, and I crumpled to the ground, still unable to move or make a sound.
“What have you done to my son?” It was Father. He shouldn’t be here. Not with a man who had magic and was obviously anything but hesitant to use it on the king.
My friend’s father let out a nervous chuckle, “Well, that’s just the thing, Uther my friend,” He started. “I found him like this! Had no clue wha-”
“I know you have magic,” Father cut the man off angrily. “I heard your words of sorcery. If you value your neck, you’ll tell me what you’ve done!”
The man above me clucked, “Nothing horrible, Uther Pendragon. He’ll recover in an hour or so. If you don’t give him to me, I can do much worse,”
From my position on the ground, I didn’t see much of anything. I did, however, hear my father’s amused laugh directly before a dull thud.
Something landed next to me.
The only thought I had was that one of the guards must have snuck up behind the man and hit him in the head.
A servant gently carried me to my bedchamber, where, finding myself completely bored with lack of movement and speech, I drifted to sleep.
When a handmaid nudged me awake, it was still dark. She dressed me in fine clothes and dragged me to the balcony overlooking the square. Here, I witnessed my first execution.
The man who had tried to take me away was beheaded and I hated every moment of it.
His brother and daughter had run to that town he always spoke of.
Perhaps I would not have noticed the evil of sorcery had similar things not happened again and again.
My manservant, Merlin, had in fact saved me from one, maybe two.
Although I did not enjoy seeing people die, it seemed necessary in order to wipe magic out of Camelot.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
And here he was, Merlin, the one person who I trusted most in the world, telling me, in all seriousness he had magic. He practiced that evil, for reasons only God knew.
How could he? Not only the magic bothered me, but the fact I had been lied to for so long. How much of it was made up? The relationship between me and the man I loved seemed to be built on lies.
What if the love was a lie? All just something made up by a man who was powerful enough to play that game.
I was confused, and I was angry. Merlin? How could it be Merlin? I couldn’t be here, I just couldn’t. Why Merlin?
I stood up, biting the inside of my mouth to keep from saying anything. This was going to be difficult, but I had to…
I had to know it wasn’t him. I wasn’t under his influence.
“You have an hour to leave Camelot. I never want to see you again.”
Author's Note:
Three weeks since the last chapter, and I think that was fairly good.
Since school is starting up again, I may end up writing chapters in class out of boredom and posting them more often. It could go the other way too, however, and, with schoolwork and studying, I might not be able to post for while. I'm really not sure yet.
I was just wondering, and you don't have to answer, where my readers are from. I know I have readers in places like Australia and The United States, but where else? I'm really curious!
Tell me what you think of the chapter please, and remember to vote if you liked it!
I love you all so much!
Ooh, also, some of you may have noticed that there's now a video posted with every chapter. It's the most awesome video trailer ever! My awesome friend DollopheadedMerlin made it! Don't ya love it? I think it's the coolest thing ever, really.