Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You can’t ban me from training!” Ariana put her hands on her hips, which probably wasn’t helping the matter when every single one of the several knights in front of her was regarding her with some form of condescension mixed with pity. “I have just as much a right to be here as you lot do!”

“I’m sorry, my lady, but you know only knights are allowed to practice on the training grounds, as per the king’s orders,” Sir Osmund reminded her and she wrinkled her nose; of course Uther would be the reason she was banned from so much as lifting a sword, even though he had been the one to insist both she and Morgana learn to use weapons in self-defense.

“Leon would let me stay,” she complained, referring to one of the few knights who usually bothered to take her seriously.

“Well, Leon’s patrolling the citadel border and doesn’t have a say in the matter,” Osmund answered wryly.

“My father can’t have it both ways where I know how to use a sword, but don’t keep up practicing with it,” she pointed out, frustrated.

“Tell you what,” one of the younger knights around Ariana’s age - she vaguely called his name as Gareth - offered, already grinning at her cheekily, “Hit a target in the center with three daggers and you can hang around, if you like. Maybe we’ll even show you some pointers.”

Ariana huffed - as if they had any pointers to give her when she’d been able to swing a broadsword since she was tall enough to hold one - but obediently grabbed a leather set of short daggers from the wooden table containing the long-range weapons and waved over one of the servants lingering by the castle doorway onto the grass.

“Grab one of those targets for me and move it out of the sun,” she instructed, nodding to the large wooden target. She figured that the less disadvantage she had, the higher chance there was of her being able to hit the target and being allowed to stay on the training grounds.

“The sun’s not that bright,” the servant ventured, glancing up tentatively at the sky.

“Oh, so a bit like you, then,” Ariana muttered, her irritation with the situation bursting out of her before she could stop it, but clearly hadn’t been quiet enough as the knights burst into laughter and the servant flushed slightly as he hurried to grab the wooden target.

“Forgive me, I’ll, er, I’ll put the target on the other side.” He began to carry the target to the other end of the field, hoisting it up in the air to avoid dragging it on the grass.

Behind Ariana, Gareth teased, “Are you going to let a serving boy talk to you like that, princess?” The derision in his tone made her temper smolder.

“Yeah, teach him a lesson,” another knight called as well, a grin in his voice.

Impulsively, Ariana tugged a dagger out of its sheath, readying it before letting it fly and hitting the target dead center before the serving boy had even made it halfway across the field; maybe hitting a moving target would impress the knights more. The boy froze, gaping down at the blade sticking out of the target in shock, and Ariana almost felt guilty for startling him, but then the knights behind her began to laugh and whistle in appreciation.

“Well?” she called, bolstered by the cheering. “Keep going!” The boy stumbled before taking off at a run in his rush to set the target down, but Ariana was faster, tossing another dagger and hitting the target just above her first one. She prepared a third dagger and began to aim, but the boy stumbled and dropped the target as he fell to the grass.

Sighing a little in disappointment - she would have definitely hit the center a third time and perhaps even knocked her previous two daggers aside, if she had put enough force behind it - she pocketed the knife again and took a few steps forward to retrieve the target herself as it rolled across the grass, only to stop when a brown boot pressed down onto the target to keep it from moving further.

“That’s enough,” the boy who owned the boot said and Ariana looked up at last at his face, the target forgotten as she examined the stranger. He was thin and tall, with dark hair and vivid blue eyes and ridiculously-large ears that stuck out slightly from his head, and wore a brown jacket with a blue tunic underneath and a bright red square of cloth tied around his neck. “You’ve had your fun, my friend,” he added with a casual smile and she stared at him, bemused. She had never seen him before, which was a rarity in and of itself; she was sure she could recognize just about anyone in the citadel by their face, at the very least.

“I don’t believe I know you,” she pointed out curiously.

“Oh, I’m Merlin.” He stuck his hand out.

“So I don’t know you,” she confirmed, ignoring his outstretched hand.

“Er, no,” he admitted, hesitating as his hand lowered again and his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Ariana could hear the knights’ amusement fading as they began a hushed conversation; they would quickly lose interest in her any moment now and return to their own training, leaving her out of it yet again.

“And yet you called me ‘friend,’” she pressed, her irritation rising again; this strange boy - Merlin, she reminded herself - had interrupted her one chance to prove she deserved to stay on the training grounds.

“That was my mistake,” he said after a moment, his smile vanishing abruptly.

“Yes, I think so,” Ariana agreed coolly as she turned away to return her daggers to the wooden table.

“Yeah, see, I’d never have a friend who could be such an ass.” She froze, startled, before spinning around to face Merlin again, her long braided hair whipping over her shoulder.

“Excuse me?” she demanded. The knights’ murmured conversation behind her fell silent instantly as several of them sucked in sharp breaths.

“You heard me.” Merlin lifted his chin stubbornly, scowling.

“You can’t speak to me like that!” she pointed out, bewildered by his clear lack of self-preservation.

“What, because you’re a girl?” he retorted. “Being a girl doesn’t just immediately get you out of being an ass.”

Ariana distinctly heard a knight snort with laughter behind her and felt her cheeks heat up as they flushed with anger.

“Well, I’d never have a friend who could be so stupid,” she snapped, flustered; either this boy was incredibly brave or incredibly idiotic, and she was leaning toward the latter. No one had ever spoken so rudely to her before in her life. “Tell me, Merlin,” she added as she forced an air of pleasantry, something she was very used to around visiting dignitaries. “Do you know how to walk on your knees?”

“Er, no?” Merlin seemed taken aback by the question.

“Really? It’s easy.” Ariana grinned, making sure to bare all of her teeth. “Let me show you.” She kicked at the target under Merlin’s foot hard enough that it skittered across the grass and made him stumble to regain his balance, but to her disappointment, he didn’t topple over.

“You don’t want this fight,” he said darkly as he straightened again and Ariana wondered what right a gangly boy like him had to be suddenly so intimidating as he loomed over her.

“Why, what’re you going to do to me?” she asked skeptically as she looked him over briefly; he looked like a light breeze could knock him over, with his twig-like arms and legs. She might’ve even called him scrawny if he had been shorter than her.

“You have no idea,” he answered, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Well, by all means, be my guest,” she blurted out before she could stop herself. Visibly, he hesitated. “Oh, don’t hesitate now because I’m a girl,” she taunted. “Come on, try and get a hit in. Come on!” His lips pressed together hard enough that they turned white, clearly resisting the urge to give in to her goading, and she couldn’t help a smirk; at least she was getting under his skin as much as he had gotten under hers. “Look, I won’t take offense if you don’t even know how to throw a decent punch,” she reassured him, but then, to her surprise, he actually reared back and swung his fist at her.

Reflexes kicking in, she quickly caught his fist and kicked his legs out from underneath him, shoving his arm behind him as she pushed him onto the grass with a knee driven into his back to pin him down. The training grounds were suddenly a rush of commotion as the knights hurried forward, hands on their swords in preparation to draw them; despite how much they often teased Ariana goodnaturedly, they had still sworn an oath to protect her at all costs.

“I have him,” she reassured them before glancing down at Merlin, whose face was pressed hard into the grass. “Not a very smart move, you know. I’ll have you thrown in jail for that.”

“Who do you think you are, the princess?” he spat around a mouthful of dirt and Ariana realized very abruptly that he had absolutely no idea who she was. The concept that someone wouldn’t recognize her was so novel to her that she almost entertained letting it continue, but reluctantly decided against it. She wanted to see the look on his face when he realized he’d tried to pick a fight with royalty.

“Yes, actually. Princess Ariana, lovely to meet you,” she answered smugly and Merlin abruptly went slack underneath her, his mouth falling open in shock as she finally climbed off him and allowed two of the knights to drag him to his feet. “It’s straight to the dungeons with him,” she confirmed to them, pointedly turning her back and ignoring Merlin’s narrowed eyes burning a hole into the back of her head as he was pulled away. She raised an eyebrow expectantly at the knights still staring at her. “So, can I train with you or not?”

“Alright, fine, for that pinning maneuver, you can stay,” Gareth conceded. To her surprise, he sounded vaguely impressed, which made her flush with pride.

“Wonderful,” she said, in a far better mood as she drew her sword. “So who will I be sparring with first, then?”

Hours later, arms aching and fringe matted to her forehead with sweat, Ariana nudged open the door to her chambers with the toe of her boot, too tired to lift her hand to the handle, before stumbling in and collapsing onto her back on her bed to sprawl out and enjoy the coolness of the sheets against her overheated skin.

“Oh, good, you’re back,” Morgana said from the doorway.

“Mm,” Ariana answered dully, tossing her arm over her eyes to rest them for a few moments.

“Are you planning to attend the feast?” Morgana approached the bed, jabbing a finger into the back of Ariana’s hand to get her attention. When Ariana didn’t react, she pressed on, “Uther is insisting that I attend and I refuse to if you won’t. It’s bad enough that we’re celebrating a man’s execution-”

“To be fair, he was practicing magic,” Ariana said dubiously, but she frowned as she lowered her arm from her eyes. The memory of watching the execution the previous day from her window made her stomach twist a little with nausea. The wails from the dead man's distraught mother had haunted her dreams the previous night as well, along with her threat of vengeance.

“Harmless magic, not the dark kind,” Morgana reminded her. “In any case, I don’t think we ought to celebrate a murder with a feast, but Uther’s forcing me to attend, anyway. So if I have to go, I’m taking you with me whether you like it or not.”

“Well, that all depends on if I regain sensation in my legs by then,” Ariana deadpanned.

“Let me guess, you were out training with the knights,” Morgana said as she looked Ariana over, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the state she was in.

“Yes, I was out training,” Ariana sighed heavily as she glanced somewhat self-consciously down at her dirt-smudged tunic and boots in comparison to Morgana’s pristine white silk dress. “And yes, I’m aware I smell like I’ve been rolling around on the grass, before you say anything,” she added quickly and Morgana shrugged.

“So long as you’re self-aware.” She made to pat the top of Ariana’s head before thinking twice about it and plucking a blade of grass out of the golden strands instead. “Shall I ask Gwen to prepare a bath for you, then, before supper?”

“Please,” Ariana agreed vehemently; the soreness in her limbs was becoming more and more predominant by the moment and the idea of soaking in some hot water sounded incredible. It was one of the rare occasions she wished she hadn’t dismissed the idea of a maidservant of her own so quickly when her father had originally suggested it, feeling guilty for all the extra favors she often ended up asking Morgana’s maidservant Gwen for. Then again, she was hardly a normal princess, she mused to herself, and a maidservant would only go behind her back and tell Uther if she tried to sneak out to practice with her broadsword even if the knights didn’t.

“Word is that you had Gaius’s new ward imprisoned today,” Morgana said as she crossed the room to the wardrobe and plucked out a simple green dress, setting it aside for Ariana to put on after her bath. “To greet Lady Helen tonight when she arrives from Mora,” she added in explanation when Ariana wrinkled her nose in instinctive protest to the dress, much preferring soft tunics and trousers. “And no, you can’t get out of it. I tried already.”

“Gaius has a ward?” she asked, distracted by Morgana’s first sentence as she wracked her brain to recall whom she had thrown in prison that day. “Oh,” she recalled as the boy’s face came to mind and the anger he had induced flooded back to her. “Tall boy with a mouth and ears too big for his head, right?”

Morgana let out a rather unladylike snort before catching herself. “Yes, that would be the one. Gwen saw him being dragged off. The poor boy only arrived yesterday in Camelot and you’ve already tossed him into a cell.”

“He ought to keep his big mouth shut, then,” Ariana grumbled. “Besides, he took a swing at me, that was enough to send him to jail.”

“What on Earth did he say to you to upset you so much?” Morgana demanded, amused, and Ariana rolled over to promptly bury her face into her pillow. She knew it would stain the fabric with dirt, but couldn’t bring herself to feel guilty for the maidservants who would have to scrub the stains out later.

“He called me an ass,” she mumbled, feeling her cheeks flush again with anger at the insult.

“Pardon?” Morgana sounded far too delighted to feel any sort of sympathy for her, so Ariana sullenly kicked off one of her boots in Morgana’s general direction, earning a startled yelp from her as she jumped back from the dirty thing before glowering at Ariana. “Very mature of you, princess.”

“That’s ‘knight’ to you,” she retorted stubbornly, kicking her other boot off so that she looked marginally less stupid.

“Well, frankly, at the moment, I’m leaning more towards what that boy called you,” Morgana said, irritated, and Ariana huffed out a breath, turning her head to face Morgana properly.

“Fine, alright, I’m sorry. He got under my skin.”

“I can see that.” Morgana’s eyebrows slowly returned from their high perch near her hairline as she approached the bed and took a seat, carefully untying the ribbon from the end of Ariana’s braid and unraveling the strands with practiced ease. Ariana let her eyes fall shut, allowing Morgana’s fingers to card through her waist-length hair and smooth out the tangles. “You let what others think get to you far too easily, you know,” Morgana pointed out after several long moments, plucking out blades of grass that had wound themselves into Ariana’s hair to toss them into a metal pot by her bed meant for rubbish. “You can’t allow that if you’re going to be queen someday.”

Ariana let out a weary sigh. “You sound like Father.”

“Uther and I may disagree on many things, but the one thing we can always agree on is you,” Morgana pointed out, tapping the end of Ariana’s nose and making it wrinkle in protest. “You wear your heart on your sleeve, anyone can see it. And they’ll use that against you.” She tugged a lock of hair gently enough to make Ariana meet her eyes. “Just be careful, Ari.”

“I will,” Ariana conceded and Morgana smoothed her hair down one last time before climbing to her feet.

“I’ll have Gwen get that bath ready for you,” she called over her shoulder on her way out the door.

“You’re the best!” Ariana called back before finally forcing herself off her bed and over to the wash basin to at least wipe her face clean with a damp cloth.

“If I may have a moment, Ariana?” She lowered the cloth from her face to find Gaius lingering in the doorway.

“It’s about the boy, isn’t it?” she sighed. “I assume Gwen told you.”

“Yes. I must ask you to forgive him, my lady. Merlin is young and means well, but can come across a little, well...” Gaius hesitated.

“Rude? Uncultured? Disrespectful?” Ariana listed off in quick succession. “You can stop me when one fits.” He raised his eyebrow at her dryly and she subsided with a muttered “sorry.”

“All I ask is that you have him released in the morning,” he requested as, to her relief, his eyebrow lowered again. “As a favor to an old man who has looked after you since birth,” he added pointedly and Ariana rolled her eyes goodnaturedly, although the words had done their job as a twinge of guilt found its way home.

“Alright, fine, I’ll have him released. But only because he didn’t actually manage to hit me.”

“He tried to hit you?” Gaius’s eyebrow was back up near his hairline, although she was relieved his disapproval was obviously aimed at Merlin instead of her.

“If I’m being honest, I did sort of goad him into it,” she admitted, flushing slightly with retroactive embarrassment at her own immaturity, before adding quickly, “But I still expect him to spend some time in the stocks for actually doing it. I didn’t think he would.”

“I’ll collect him in the morning and have him delivered to the stocks myself,” Gaius promised, a wry hint of laughter in his voice. “But try not to let him aggravate you so much. You’ll be seeing him around the castle more often these days and I should hate to think you’ll be picking fights with him every time you two spot each other. I still recall the days when you and Morgana were at each other’s throats all the time when she first came to the castle.”

They both shuddered a little at the thought, although Ariana honestly couldn’t imagine ever arguing with Morgana now the way she had back then. Then again, at the time, Morgana’s emotions had still been raw from the fresh loss of her father, and Ariana had been so used to solitude that the sudden constant company had been overwhelming. Over time, though, they had become closer than ever, and Ariana often wondered if Morgana’s company was what it was like to have a sister.

“I’ll try to avoid picking a fight,” she agreed reluctantly as she forced herself back to reality. She could still recall the stubborn set to Merlin’s jaw as he was dragged away while glaring daggers at her, though, and doubted he would make any such agreement of his own.

“Don’t be silly, a shield can’t take the full force of a mace,” Gareth dismissed as he and Ariana made their way through the lower town, Sir Owain behind them. After their training session the previous day, she had impressed them enough to tag along with them down to the blacksmith’s shop to pick up a new set of swords he had made.

“It could if it were sturdy enough, I’d think,” she reasoned, “And if the knight behind it had enough arm strength to hold it steady.”

“We’ll have to test that theory when we get back to the castle, then,” Owain offered behind Ariana. “Although I’m sure you’d rather be wielding the mace than the shield, my lady.”

“You know me too well already,” she answered with a bright grin over her shoulder at him; he was even younger than Gareth, having only been knighted the previous month, and yet he seemed the most open-minded about her joining the knights’ training sessions.

“Oh, look, your new best friend’s here,” Gareth teased, elbowing Ariana and nodding to where she could see an already-familiar mop of black hair making his way across the square.

Remembering her promise to Gaius, she made sure her voice was light and friendly as she called out, “How’s your knee-walking coming along?” Merlin paused for only a moment, his shoulders tensing for a moment, before continuing on without a word. “Oh, come on, don’t run away,” Ariana tried again and Merlin stopped in his tracks entirely.

“From you?” he said incredulously, not bothering to turn around.

“Well, thank goodness, I was beginning to think you were deaf as well as dumb,” she retorted, a little stung by the open hostility; had she really offended him so much by arresting him?

“Look, I told you you were an ass,” Merlin said as he wheeled around to face her properly, a humorless smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I just didn’t realize you were a royal one.” Ariana felt her face heat up, wondering why she had even bothered to try and be friendly, and Merlin raised an eyebrow, clearly delighted that he had flustered her again. “What are you going to do? Get your daddy’s men to protect you?” he taunted.

Gareth snickered behind Ariana, which made her throw a scowl over her shoulder at him before glaring back at Merlin, throwing any guise of friendliness out the window. “I don’t need them to, I could take you apart with one blow,” she snapped.

“I could take you apart with less than that,” Merlin answered, his voice low, and she was suddenly reminded of how he had loomed over her yesterday, intimidating in a way he had no reason to be.

“Sure about that, are you?” she asked and to her surprise, he began to take off his jacket, his jaw clenching. “Well, in that case-” She turned to grab the mace hanging from Gareth’s belt - earning a startled noise of protest from him - and tossed it over to Merlin, who fumbled and promptly let it fall to the ground.

“Oh, she’s going to destroy him,” Owain whispered behind her to Gareth, vaguely awed, and Ariana decided he was her second-favorite after Leon.

“Owain, may I have your mace, please?” she requested and was immediately rewarded with the handle of the mace pressing into her palm. It was blunt and dull from overuse, but would still bruise someone heavily and perhaps even break some bones if she swung it hard enough. “Come on, then,” she said as Merlin bent to grab the mace and straightened again unsteadily, clearly unused to the weight of the weapon in his hands. She swung her own mace experimentally a few times, noticing that a crowd had gathered around the square. “I warn you, I’ve been trained to kill since birth,” she added wryly. It wasn’t entirely false, she mused to herself; the first thing she had ever done was kill her mother, anyway, even if she hadn’t meant to.

“Wow,” Merlin drawled out, unfazed even by the unfamiliar weapon in his hand, “And how long have you been training to be a spoiled brat?”

Ariana blinked, surprised; even now, he was still insulting her? “You can’t address me like that,” she insisted, trying to somehow drill it into his thick head.

“Oh, yes, forgive me.” He cleared his throat dramatically, which only made her want to slap him. “How long have you been training to be a spoiled brat, my lady?” He even pretended to curtsy, to add insult to injury, and she swung her mace at him. He promptly ducked before taking off at a run through the lower town as she followed him around the market’s stalls and carts, his long legs carrying him faster than she could keep up.

“Would you - just - quit running!” she burst out when he dodged yet another swing from her mace because of his ridiculously-quick reflexes.

“What, so you can take my head off?!” He looked so offended at the thought that despite her anger, she couldn’t help but laugh as she managed to finally land a hit on his shoulder, albeit one that would only leave a small bruise with how distracted she had been by the incredulity on Merlin’s face. He stumbled and toppled back into a pile of hay, blinking in a daze as she lifted her mace to bring it down again. Before she could, though, she stumbled as the mace became caught on something.

Startled, she turned to find the mace’s chain tangled on two meathooks that had somehow joined together. Hurriedly, she untangled the chain only to find that Merlin had staggered to his feet and taken off again. A box toppled into her path, probably from a watching bystander having accidentally kicked it, and she stumbled over it before righting herself again and then immediately tripping over a rope stretched out over the path. She fell to the ground, grimacing as her palms scraped painfully against the cobblestones, and rolled onto her back only to find Merlin swinging his mace over her.

“Do you want to give up?” he demanded and she gaped at him. “Do you? Do you want to give up?”

Insulted that he would even ask, she kicked at one of his knees, sending him sprawling to the ground, before rolling to her feet and grabbing a nearby broom to smash the handle over his head hard enough to dispatch him effectively. He dropped the mace and it rolled away across the cobblestones, Gareth snatching it back up as he and Owain caught up to them and tugged Merlin to his feet to arrest him.

“Wait,” Ariana said quickly as she caught sight of Gaius in the gathering crowd, his expression very obviously disappointed. “Let him go.” Exchanging a startled look, Gareth and Owain released Merlin’s arms as Merlin gaped at Ariana, stunned. “He may be an idiot, but he’s a brave one,” she said in explanation to the knights, pointedly avoiding Gaius’s eyes on the back of her head. “It’s alright, you two go on to the blacksmith’s. I’ll head back from here to wrap these up.”

She held her palms up so that they could see the bleeding scrapes and to her surprise, Merlin winced slightly in guilt as he averted his eyes from the injuries he had caused. With one last look between them, Gareth and Owain nodded and set off toward the blacksmith.

“I asked you for one thing,” Gaius scolded as he pushed his way through the now-waning crowd. “And the moment you two lay eyes on each other, you pick a fight.”

“Sorry, Gaius,” Merlin and Ariana mumbled sheepishly at the same time before turning to look at each other in dawning realization.

“You promised not to start a fight, too?!” Merlin asked incredulously. “But you’re the one who swung a mace at me!”

“Hey, you’re the one who called me names,” she retorted.

“Well, you’re the one who-” Merlin began hotly.

“Children,” Gaius interrupted sternly and they both fell silent, although Ariana felt a little smug at the faint pink tinge of mortification in Merlin’s cheeks as he dropped his gaze to the ground.

“I’m not a child, I’m twenty years old,” she pointed out tentatively to Gaius.

“Well, you could stand to act like it,” he reminded her and while the rebuke was gentler than before, it made her eyes burn with embarrassed tears, to her dismay. “Now get back up to the castle before I have half a mind to tell your father what you’ve been up to, swinging around a mace like some sort of wild barbarian instead of a princess.” Merlin snorted with laughter at the mental imagery and Gaius swatted his shoulder. “You’re no better, Merlin, honestly.”

Ariana didn’t bother to hear Merlin’s protest as she turned sharply on her heel and stormed back up to the castle, relieved that she was a decent distance away before her stinging eyes grew too much to bear and she had to swipe at them with her tunic’s sleeve to get them to stop.

“Honestly, you’d think we were asking you to choose your own funeral,” Gwen teased at the grimace on Ariana’s face as she stared into the depths of her closet hopelessly.

“Just pick a dress already so we can go get this feast over with,” Morgana sighed long-sufferingly.

“As if any dress I pick could compare to that,” Ariana pointed out, looking up from her closet to admire Morgana for the tenth time since she had casually glided into Ariana’s chambers minutes earlier. Her dress was a stunning, rich maroon color and the fabric wrapped around her neck, leaving her shoulders bare. A matching ruby attached to a gold chain dangled from her dark hair over her forehead and her lips were painted a vivid red to match, contrasting her pale blue eyes.

“Oh, this?” Morgana looked down at herself innocently. “It’s just a little something I had in the back of my wardrobe, nothing special.”

“Liar,” Ariana grumbled under her breath.

“What about this one?” Gwen reached into the closet, plucking out a blue dress with silvery threads woven into the skirt and sleeves’ hems in wavy patterns. “Oh, this would bring out your eyes perfectly.” She held it up to Ariana, who squirmed under the attention.

“Can’t I just wear some trousers and a nicer tunic?” she tried and Morgana narrowed her eyes pointedly. Finally, Ariana sighed, snatching the dress out of Gwen’s hands and wincing as the fabric caught on the torn skin of her palms, still not quite healed from her tumble the previous day. “Alright, fine. Just help me with the fastenings once I get it on, Gwen, you know I can never reach them.”

“Of course, but hurry, or you’ll be late.” Gwen ushered Ariana toward the changing screen in the corner of her chambers.

“Yeah, alright, I’m hurrying.” She shucked off her tunic and trousers in favor of sliding on the dress instead. The fabric was softer than she had expected, settling on her shoulders comfortably, and Gwen was at her back in the next instant to lace up the fastenings with practiced ease.

“You ought to leave your hair loose tonight, I think,” she mused as she worked, running her fingers over the tail of Ariana’s braid. “It’ll look lovely once we brush out the tangles.”

“And the knights can mock me for having one more opening for people to grab onto in a fight,” Ariana sighed heavily, but nodded in approval to allow Gwen to remove the ribbon from her braid and begin unraveling it.

“They wouldn’t have to if you didn’t get involved in fights in the first place,” Morgana pointed out from across the room and Ariana huffed.

“Wouldn’t have to if some people learned to stop insulting royalty,” she muttered and Gwen laughed as she grabbed a brush to begin pulling it carefully through Ariana’s hair.

“You’re talking about Merlin, aren’t you?”

“When did you two meet?” Ariana demanded, a little insulted at how mild Gwen’s tone was, as if she was talking about a perfectly regular boy rather than the princess’s new mortal enemy.

“I met him when he was in the stocks yesterday, actually,” Gwen answered. “Sorry,” she added quickly as the brush snagged on a curl and Ariana hissed in discomfort. “Anyway, he seemed perfectly sweet to me, so it sounds an awful lot like you’re the problem here, not him,” she added cheekily and Ariana huffed slightly.

“Well, it sounds to me like you’re a traitor and ought to take the side of the girl you’ve known for years instead of a strange, rude boy you just met yesterday.” Gwen tugged on a lock of her hair in a silent reprimand and she subsided with a goodnatured sigh. “Fine, alright, point taken.”

“Relax, Ari,” Morgana called. “Boys are all like that, they like prodding at people they fancy. You can’t blame him, you’re quite pretty even in those boys’ clothes you insist on wearing.”

“Fancy?” Ariana echoed, choking on air for a moment and coughing to clear her throat. “I don’t want him to fancy me! I want him to be terrified of me! I want him to rue the day he even looked my way!” Then again, she mused as she recalled the way Merlin glared at her, entirely fearless and bold, she doubted that would ever happen.

“Good luck with that,” Morgana deadpanned, clearly just as convinced as Ariana herself. “Are you ready yet or not?” she added impatiently.

“She’s ready,” Gwen decided before Ariana could say otherwise, shoving her out from behind the screen. “Go enjoy yourselves, you two. Make an entrance to remember!”

Ariana sighed long-sufferingly, holding her elbow out to Morgana; she had made a point to escort Morgana to feasts, if only to avoid any boys attempting to court Morgana snatching her away. “Shall we to the banquet hall, my lady?”

“We shall, my lady,” Morgana chuckled, looping her arm around Ariana’s as they made their way downstairs. As predicted, the entire room stopped to stare as they made their way in and Ariana was entirely unsurprised to see every male gaze in the room fixated on Morgana in her stunning red gown.

She let Morgana off her arm so that she could make her way to the front of the hall to greet her father for the first time since Lady Helen had arrived in Camelot; she had done such a good job of avoiding him yesterday in the hope that her hands would have healed enough to escape his attention. To her dismay, he dropped his gaze to her palms instantly, taking in the torn, ragged skin.

“What did you do?” he sighed and she flushed slightly.

“I tripped?” she tried and he raised an eyebrow.

“Try again. More honest this time, if you please.”

“I may or may not have been training with the knights,” she conceded, knowing that was better than the truth that she was really picking fights with peasant boys in town.

“You know I don’t like you training with weapons,” Uther reminded her, his eyebrows furrowing. “A princess shouldn’t be swinging a broadsword around unless she absolutely has to.”

“Yes, well, if I were a knight, that wouldn’t be a problem,” Ariana muttered. She hadn’t meant to say it quite so loudly, but realized it was a grave mistake when his eyes narrowed.

“Don’t be foolish. You’re not going to be a knight. We’ve had this conversation a hundred times.”

“But if I could just prove that I could handle it in the tournament next month-” Ariana tried, but her father held his hand up, cutting her off mid-sentence.

“You cannot handle it. You may be Camelot’s next queen, but until you accept the responsibilities that come with that, you will not be ready to rule.” Ariana felt her cheeks redden with embarrassment. “I don’t want to hear another word of becoming a knight, do I make myself clear?” When she didn’t respond, Uther scowled. “Do I make myself clear, Ariana?”

“Yes, sir,” she mumbled, blinking hard at the stones beneath her feet to keep her eyes from stinging.

“Good.” Uther relaxed slightly, squeezing her shoulder. “Now go get some wine and be back at the head table shortly. Lady Helen will begin her performance soon.”

“I will.” Ariana turned to head over to the large jug of wine waiting on a nearby table, only to find the last person she wanted to see lingering beside it.

“Is he always like that with you?” Merlin glanced between the head table where Uther had taken a seat and Ariana, his blue eyes wide and startled, and she felt her face heat up when she realized he had heard their entire argument.

“Mind your own business,” she retorted furiously, grabbing an empty cup and filling it with wine. “What are you even doing here? I certainly didn't invite you.”

“I’m here with Gaius,” he said, insulted, and Ariana glanced around before noticing Gaius on the other side of the hall, deeply engrossed in a conversation with Geoffrey of Monmouth.

“Well, go rejoin him and quit bothering me,” she snapped and Merlin scowled, angry spots of color making their way into his pale face.

“Maybe I will.”

“Fine,” she said, relieved.

“Fine.” He stormed off across the hall.

Honestly, there could be no way he fancied her, she thought to herself with disgust as she shook her head at no one in particular, taking her cup of wine back up to the head table and settling into her seat at Uther’s side. Morgana was already seated on Uther’s other side, sipping her own goblet of wine delicately and looking every bit the graceful princess Ariana wasn’t.

Ariana glared half-heartedly at her, not that she noticed; it was Morgana’s fault, anyway, for putting the idea into her head that Merlin, of all people, fancied her. What a ridiculous notion, she added viciously in her own head, glowering at Merlin sulking by Gaius's side across the hall. He caught her eye and scowled back before Gaius pointedly elbowed him and he turned away again.

The sound of trumpeting horns caused the crowd to hush and begin taking their seats as Uther stood from his seat.

“We have enjoyed twenty years of peace and prosperity,” he said, his voice echoing throughout the silent hall. Ariana had always admired how it commanded attention instantly, drawing all eyes to him. “It has brought the kingdom and myself many pleasures, but few can compare with the honor of introducing Lady Helen of Mora.” He gestured to the other end of the hall, where Lady Helen strode to a platform and took her place to the sound of applause from the crowd.

Ariana applauded politely, too, still a little shaken and disgruntled both by the argument she had had with her father and her run-in with Merlin, but she was immediately distracted when Lady Helen began to sing. The words seemed unfamiliar, perhaps in another language, and it was moments before Ariana recognized the tongue.

“It’s magic,” she tried to blurt out, but yawned instead as a large wave of lethargy washed over her. Her eyelids grew heavy even as she tried to fight it enough to turn to her father, but to her dismay, he was already nodding off as well, Morgana already fast asleep at his other side with her head resting on her folded arms on the table.

With effort, Ariana turned her heavy head desperately to catch sight of someone awake around the room other than Lady Helen, but it seemed the whole room was falling asleep under the spell - all but Merlin, who had taken refuge in the shadowy stairwell leading up to the balcony with his hands clapped over his ears. His wide, confused eyes met hers and she tried to silently plead with him to do something to stop the singing before she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer, her mind going blissfully blank.

When she woke again, it was to the sounds of confused voices and rustling as people stirred from their unexpected nap. The singing had stopped and all the candles had gone out, the room plunged into darkness. Rubbing her eyes to wipe the exhaustion from them, Ariana sat up in her seat, only to cringe as stringy webs tangled in her hair.

“Oh, disgusting,” she muttered with a shudder as her father stirred beside her. Where there were webs, there were spiders, and she refused to be responsible for screaming if she spotted one near her. Then she noticed why the singing had stopped.

An old woman lay on the floor, crushed under a large chandelier that had fallen from the ceiling. She clutched a dagger in one hand, which she lifted with a weakened arm and threw as hard as she could before collapsing to the floor again, this time dead. Ariana stared as the dagger hurtled towards her, too stunned to think of moving as she took the situation in, but then a pair of hands grabbed her and pulled her out of her chair, yanking her to the floor.

She shut her eyes, half-expecting to land on hard stone and bracing for impact, but the bit of floor she landed on let out a grunt of pain as her elbow drove into it. Startled by the sound, she opened her eyes to find Merlin underneath her, having pulled her out of the way and caught her when she had fallen, although he looked just as surprised at himself as she felt.

“Ariana!” Uther gasped and Ariana looked up to find the dagger that had been thrown at her embedded in the back of her chair. Horror flooded through her; if Merlin had been only another moment delayed, the dagger would have embedded itself in Ariana’s heart instead.

“I’m alright,” she said numbly as Uther hauled her to her feet and then into his arms, clutching her tightly. She let herself press her face into his chest, too shaken to keep from trembling a little as she focused on his racing heartbeat against her forehead.

“You saved my girl’s life,” he addressed Merlin over her head after a moment. “A debt must be repaid.”

Ariana turned in her father’s arms in time to see Merlin climbing to his feet gingerly. “Oh, well-” he began uncomfortably, not quite able to meet her eyes.

“Don't be so modest. You shall be rewarded,” Uther insisted.

“No, really, you don’t have to, Your Highness,” Merlin reassured him, clearly flustered by the entire room’s attention on him.

“No, absolutely. This merits something quite special. You shall be awarded a place in the royal household,” Uther decided, squeezing Ariana again briefly before releasing her to clap Merlin’s shoulder. “You shall be Princess Ariana’s manservant.”

Whatever Merlin had expected, it certainly hadn’t been that as he made a slight choking noise and Ariana wheeled around to face her father as the entire room burst into applause.

“You can’t be serious!” she hissed so that only Uther could hear. “I can’t have a manservant! I’m a girl!”

“Oh, and has being a girl ever stopped you from doing something unconventional before?” Uther retorted under his breath and she grimaced.

Touché, Father, she grumbled in her head.

“At least this boy might keep you out of trouble. And I will not hear an argument on the matter.” Uther turned to examine Morgana next, effectively ending the conversation. Ariana glanced over her shoulder to see Merlin gaping at her, shell-shocked, and scowled at him. Startled out of his shock, he narrowed his eyes back at her.

Well, at least that hadn’t changed, and she decided to take a little comfort in that familiarity in contrast to the rest of her world turning on its head.

Chapter Text

“Rise and shine, princess!” The curtains screeched as Merlin yanked them back, leaving Ariana to whine and tug the covers over her head in protest to shut out the sudden influx of sunlight. “It’s a lovely day outside and here you are, still in bed!” If she dared to look up, she suspected he had his hands on his hips and was looking very disapprovingly at her still curled up under her covers, just the same as every morning since he had first barged into her chambers two weeks ago to report for his first day as her manservant.

“What time ‘s it?” she mumbled around a yawn, finally pushing the covers away and sitting up to rub her eyes as hard as she could to keep them from wanting to close again.

“An hour past sunrise, I think.” Merlin paused as he reconsidered that. “No, maybe two hours past by now. I was a little late getting here. But never mind that. Today’s the day you convince Uther to let you into the tournament.”

“What.” Ariana decided not to bother making it sound like a question.

“The tournament,” Merlin said slowly, as if she were the idiot instead of him, and she promptly threw her pillow at him. Too used to her consistently throwing a pillow at him each morning, he batted it away with ease. “You know, the one you were talking about at the feast that ended with me getting the job of effectively babysitting you?” he elaborated.

“I’m not allowed in that tournament. Or any tournament, for that matter,” she pointed out wearily, too tired to scowl at him for the implication that he was babysitting her. “Only knights can join. Besides, if you heard me talking about the tournament, then you also heard my father making it clear that knighthood is not an option for me.”

“Well, that doesn’t make any sense.” Merlin frowned thoughtfully and Ariana refused to admit to herself that the expression had started to become somewhat endearing, with the little furrow between his eyebrows and the way he tilted his head slightly. “I’ve seen you fight, and I’ve seen the knights practice. You’re just as good as any of them.”

She blinked at him, surprised. “Oh. Well. Thanks for the vote of confidence.” She made a mental note to ease up on trying to get him to quit his job, at least for that day.

It had been surprisingly difficult so far, especially since she couldn’t just fire him without her father finding out and immediately reinstating him; she had loaded him with chores on his very first day, leaving him with a long list of tasks and expecting to run him ragged enough to quit in an exhausted rage, but to her dismay, she had returned to her chambers at the end of the afternoon to find him cheerfully whistling as he scrubbed the floors, the clothes she had purposely thrown around the room washed and neatly folded in her closet and her sword polished and gleaming as it leaned in its scabbard against the wall.

“I didn’t ask you to wash my dress, too!” she had protested when she had seen the blue gown she had worn to the feast the previous night hanging in her closet as well when she was sure she had left it in a crumpled heap in the corner of her room. “Gwen usually takes care of my laundry.”

Merlin had merely shrugged in response, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he wiped down the patch of floor he had been cleaning. “She seemed busy and I had time in between cleaning out the fireplace and polishing your sword. It’s fine, it’s not like I’ve never seen a dress before.”

Ariana had gaped at him in shock, but then assigned him the chore of mucking out the stables in a desperate attempt to get him to quit before the day was through. That had also failed as he unceremoniously threw open the door to her chambers the next morning - startling her awake as it bounced loudly off the stone wall, which she suspected was his intention - and grumbled his way through the next day’s set of chores, but resolutely refused to resign even as the pattern continued, forcing a cheery attitude when she prodded him to see if he felt like quitting yet.

“So, the tournament?” he prompted expectantly, drawing her back to the present.

“You should know what my father’s like by now, he’s not going to agree,” she pointed out as she finally climbed out of bed and headed to the closet, only to find that he had already beaten her to it and laid out a tunic and a pair of trousers while she had been distracted. That was another thing that surprised her about him; he didn’t seem to care at all what she wore and had deferred to her usual pattern of boys’ clothes, which was a refreshing change from how everyone else insisted that she dress.

“So have the knights vouch for you,” Merlin suggested easily. The idea was so glaringly obvious that Ariana was a little disappointed at herself for not thinking of it.

“True, they could,” she conceded, thinking of Leon and Owain in particular. Gareth would require some convincing - perhaps if they wagered on her beating him in another sparring session - but he knew her skill with a sword as much as any other knight did, so if Leon and Owain both fell through, he was also an option. “For once, you actually gave me a good idea,” she said slowly as she mulled the idea over.

“I aim to please, my lady,” Merlin said dryly and Ariana raised an eyebrow.

“If that's the case, you can start today with brushing Hengroen down.” Merlin grimaced at the thought; both of them knew the black stallion Ariana favored was irritable even on the best of days and downright mean otherwise to anyone but her. “Have fun!” she added cheerfully as she collected her clothes, ignoring the glare Merlin threw at her as he stormed out of her chambers.

“Absolutely not. Did I not say I didn’t want to hear any more talk of this knight business?” Uther demanded and Ariana winced; she knew Merlin’s suggestion had been stupid, and yet she had gone ahead with it in the blind hope that Uther would agree. Still, even with Leon beside her for support and Merlin very obviously lingering in the stairwell on the other side of the hall to listen in even though he probably thought he was hidden from view, Ariana felt very outnumbered under Uther’s disapproving frown.

“The tournament isn’t even to the death, it’s only until one of the combatants yields,” she pointed out. “If I can stay in the competition long enough, prove I can handle it-”

“And what do you think that will accomplish?” Uther began to pace, a very obvious sign of his agitation. “If you become a knight, you’ll be expected to accompany them on their missions, and as the princess, you’re needed here in Camelot. You can’t do both.”

“The kingdom needs to see that I can protect myself and our people, so they know they’re in good hands for when I eventually take the throne,” Ariana argued.

“But you’re not ready to face the knights that will enter this tournament,” Uther insisted.

“Actually, sire, I believe she is,” Leon spoke up, unflinching under Uther’s glare turning on him. “And I can think of several of our men who would agree. Most of us have worked with Ariana since she first picked up a sword. She’s bested us in single combat on more than one occasion without so much as a scratch on her.”

“I can do this,” Ariana said when Uther had no argument, turning his attention back to her. “You’re the reason I learned to fight in the first place. Let me prove all those years of practice were worth it.”

Uther pursed his lips before exhaling quietly. “If you can prove yourself in the tournament - and win - then I will consider it. That is all I can promise.”

“And that’s all I ask,” Ariana agreed, catching Merlin’s eye over her father’s shoulder. He grinned widely, giving her an encouraging thumbs-up, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling back; she hated that his enthusiasm was contagious. “Does this mean the ban on practicing on the training grounds is lifted?” she added hopefully. “I do have to practice in the next couple weeks.”

“It seems you’ve left me with no choice but to allow it,” Uther admitted reluctantly.

“She’ll be safe under our watch,” Leon offered.

“See that she is.” Uther inclined his head. “You’re dismissed.”

“My lord.” Leon bowed politely before doing the same to Ariana. “My lady.” He snuck her a small smile, though, and she couldn’t help but grin back, relieved that it had gone as well as it had, considering that every other time she had brought up knighthood to Uther had blown up spectacularly.

“You know, I hired you a manservant to keep you from doing exactly this,” Uther sighed wearily as Leon left the hall.

“It was his idea, actually,” Ariana said.

Merlin’s eyes doubled in size behind Uther as he shook his head frantically and mouthed silently, “What are you doing?”

She pretended not to notice, adding pointedly, “In fact, he was insistent that I mention it to you today.”

“Oh, did he now.” Uther narrowed his eyes as he turned, but Merlin was already hurrying up the stairs and out of sight.

“To be fair, I did choose to act on his idea, so that’s on me,” Ariana conceded once Merlin was out of earshot, not wanting to accidentally get him executed if her father was angry enough at him.

“See that it does not happen again in the future,” Uther said, squeezing her shoulder. “I will not lose my only child because of a serving boy’s foolish ideas.”

Privately, although Ariana would never admit it out loud for fear of inflating Merlin’s ego, she thought that if his idea had been so foolish, then she and Leon would never have been able to convince Uther in the first place.

“I’m beginning to regret convincing you to join the tournament,” Merlin wheezed as he toppled onto the grass, shield dropping beside him as he sprawled out to catch his breath. “I thought you’d use the knights to train with, not me.”

“They’re all busy. Besides, with all those times you tried to pick a fight with me, I thought you’d have a little more stamina,” Ariana mused as she peered at Merlin’s sweaty face, nudging his side with the toe of her boot. “Are you planning to get up again any time today? We’ve only been going for about ten minutes now.”

“Only ten?” He sat up, swiping at his forehead with the back of his sleeve. “Feels like you’ve been swinging at me for hours.”

“Alright, fine, we’ll swap,” she offered, feeling a twinge of guilt for exhausting him so badly as she held her hand out. He grudgingly took her hand and she pulled him up before handing him her sword, warning, “Don’t cut yourself.” She grabbed the discarded shield, pulling it onto her forearm.

“You want me to swing the sword at you?” he said skeptically, glancing down at the broadsword in his hand dubiously.

“I want you to try,” Ariana corrected, adding in a deadpan, “Don’t worry, I’m not convinced you’ll actually manage it.” The familiar stubborn expression she was beginning to get used to by now slid over Merlin’s face as he lifted the sword and swung down, but she managed to bring the shield up in time to block the blade and then drove the shield into his knuckles. He promptly lost his hold on the sword and it landed in the grass. “You’re not supposed to just let go like that,” she reminded him wryly as she went to retrieve the sword again.

“You hit my hand with the shield, what else was I supposed to do?” he protested.

“I barely grazed it, don’t be a baby,” she dismissed. “Now show me again how you were holding the sword.” Scowling, he snatched back the sword from her and closed his fingers around the handle. “Well, there’s your problem,” she said as she examined his hold on the sword, “No wonder you let go so easily, your grip’s all wrong. Here.” She set down the shield before gently tugging on his thumb to position it properly over his other fingers. “It’s the same as making a fist. You never tuck your thumb underneath your other fingers, or the force from any impact might injure it.”

“Oh.” Merlin’s eyebrows furrowed as he memorized how Ariana maneuvered his fingers around the sword handle until he was gripping it properly. “Thanks.”

She shrugged, releasing his hand and reaching for her shield again. “It’s good for you to know how to handle a sword just in case.”

“In case of what?” He frowned, bewildered.

“In case you get attacked, obviously,” she pointed out.

“What, by you?” he deadpanned and she rolled her eyes as she lifted her shield in front of her.

“Just take another swing before I hit you with the shield.” She easily blocked the incoming attack again, but this time, Merlin’s grip held steady on the sword and it didn’t go flying when she shoved the shield into his hand.

“Better?” he asked, catching the impressed look on her face before she could hide it quickly enough and grinning proudly.

“Not good, but better,” she allowed. “Alright, you’ve had your fun, I want to practice offense again. Put on the helmet this time.” Merlin grimaced as he obediently handed over the sword and went to fetch the metal helmet laying in the grass a few feet away. “Maybe we’ll even switch to the mace after this,” she added with a vindictive grin just to make him groan in protest.

“You do know the tournament starts today?” Ariana sighed impatiently as Merlin flitted around her like a ridiculously-tall hummingbird, grabbing the various pieces of her armor and fitting each one over her chainmail. For all his quick movements, though, he seemed to take an eternity to piece together her armor.

“Yes, my lady,” he answered dryly, “You haven’t stopped reminding me since this morning.” He paused on one of the buckles of her armor. “Speaking of which, you were already awake when I got in. That’s a first.”

“Don’t get used to it, I just couldn’t sleep last night,” she answered dismissively.

“Nervous?” he guessed and she felt her face heat up at having been caught, hating how obvious her nerves were as she lifted her chin stubbornly.

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course not.”

“Really,” Merlin said skeptically. “Because I thought anyone would be nervous before a big event like this. Not to mention you’ve got extra pressure because it’s your first tournament, and your father might make you a knight if you win and-”

“Shut up, Merlin,” Ariana interrupted him before his incessant rambling could make her anxiety shoot through the roof any faster. She resolutely ignored his smug look of “I told you so” as he returned to securing her armor under her ribcage.

“That should be it,” he said as he stepped back, handing her helmet to her.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked, pointedly glancing at the sword still lying on the wooden table behind him. He blinked at her, bemused. “My sword,” she reminded him irritably.

“Oh!” He flushed as he grabbed the sword and held it out. “Yeah, you’ll probably be needing that, won’t you?”

“Just a little, yeah,” she answered sharply, snatching the sword and fixing the scabbard onto her belt herself before shouldering past him to the arena.

“That went well, I think,” she distinctly heard him mutter to himself and shook her head to put him out of her mind; she couldn’t win the tournament if she was fixated on what Merlin thought of her.

As she took her place in the lineup of knights, she ignored the eyes on her, clutching her helmet tightly under her arm. She decided to let them think what they wanted about her long braided hair down her back or how tiny she seemed next to the tall, imposing knights on either side of her, but she would prove she belonged there just as much as any of them once the actual battles began. She only had to win one fight on each day of the tournament to make it to the finals, and she had won multiple fights in a row whenever she had trained with the knights, so she knew she at least stood a chance.

“Knights of the realm, it's a great honor to welcome you to a tournament at Camelot,” Uther announced as he stood in front of the lineup of knights. Ariana noticed how he avoided meeting her eyes as he glanced along the row of competitors. “Over the next three days, you will come to put your bravery to the test, your skills as warriors, and this year, to challenge my daughter, Princess Ariana.”

Ariana felt a wave of nausea wash over her as the crowd tittered amongst themselves, but caught Morgana’s eye as she sat with Gwen in the crowd. She knew that Morgana, more than anyone, would be able to see just how nervous she was, even if she kept her expression neutral.

“You can do this,” Morgana mouthed and Gwen gave her a warm smile and a thumbs-up. Ariana forced herself to take a deep breath and exhale as quietly as possible as she stood just a little straighter, bolstered by their encouragement.

“Only one can have the honor of being crowned champion, and he will receive a prize of one thousand gold pieces.” Uther gestured for a servant to display the chest of gold pieces for the crowd to see.  “It is in combat that we learn a knight's true nature, whether he is indeed a warrior or a coward. The tournament begins!” He lifted a hand as the crowd broke into raucous cheers and applause. Privately, Ariana noted her father’s particular choice of pronouns and wondered if it had been deliberate. Knowing him, it probably had been.

As Uther began to make his way to the stands and the knights dispersed to the sidelines for the first round to commence, he stopped at Ariana’s side to clasp her shoulder tightly.

“Here is your long-awaited chance. I trust you will make me proud,” he said quietly enough that only she could hear.

“I will,” she promised, but could feel the nausea making a quick return as he squeezed her shoulder again and continued past her to take his seat in the stands.

As she slid on her helmet, she glanced at her first opponent on the other side of the arena - a wiry-looking man with a black cloth obscuring most of his face and wielding dual curved swords that looked like they had been made in the Far East. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to face him, drawing her own sword as the crowd began to cheer again in anticipation of the fight. This was her element, she told herself. It would be just like fighting any of the knights during training, except with a much larger audience.

A horn blared loudly, signaling the start of the fight, and the man leapt forward, slashing with the right sword first. Ariana ducked quickly underneath the sharp blade and rolled to her feet once she was safely out of the way before swinging her own sword outward.

The knight dodged her blade with equal ease and Ariana barely had time to bring her shield up before his left sword found its way to its target, the steel clanging off the metal shield and denting it. Ariana deflected the sword with some mild effort before swinging her sword back at him. He caught the blade between both of his, pushing it back toward her, and she braced herself to push back, wondering if her physical strength could stand up to his; he was thin enough that she could probably manage it, and his footing was far less secure than hers.

“Go, Ari!” she heard Gwen shout from the stands over the cacophony of the crowd.

“Hold your ground!” Morgana added enthusiastically. Over the knight’s shoulder, Ariana could see Uther leaning forward in his seat, his expression unreadable.

“Drop your sword, little girl,” the knight sneered, his voice muffled underneath the cloth covering his face. “This doesn’t have to end badly if you give up now.”

Even more than the motivation from Morgana and Gwen, the snide remark made Ariana’s resolve to defeat him stronger as she abruptly twisted her hold on her sword, catching the blade on the curved hooks of the knight’s swords and yanking them unceremoniously out of his hands as they clattered to the sandy ground.

“Get him, Ari!” Merlin cheered from the sidelines as Ariana lifted her leg to plant her boot solidly in the knight’s chest, knocking him to the ground and pressing the point of her sword to his throat.

“Do you yield?” she demanded. Grudgingly, the knight nodded and she held her hand out. He clasped it and allowed her to pull him up as the horn blared again to signal the end of the fight.

The crowd burst into applause that nearly deafened Ariana, but she glanced at her father first, relieved to find him smiling broadly as he nodded in approval. She grinned back and raised her sword in a brief salute before sheathing it in her scabbard again and retreating to the sidelines for the next battle to commence.

“Not a bad start,” Merlin offered when she rejoined him.

“Don’t say that or it’ll be bad luck for tomorrow’s match,” she deadpanned, sliding off her helmet and wiping at her sweaty forehead with the back of her gloved hand. “I didn’t think you’d cheer for me,” she added curiously.

“What? I didn’t,” he lied blatantly as he grabbed a clean rag and held it out to her. “You must have been hearing things.” She rolled her eyes, but let it go as she dabbed her face dry with the offered cloth before removing her gloves to set them aside as Merlin set to work removing her armor for her.

The next two knights were already in the middle of the fight by the time Ariana turned her attention to the arena again, the knight with three intertwined snakes on his shield defeating the other with such ferocity that it made Ariana’s stomach turn at the thought of having to face him.

“Knight Valiant looks pretty handy with a sword,” Merlin said with a low, impressed whistle beside her as he removed the last of her armor and she promptly elbowed him hard in the ribs. “What? He does,” he said defensively, rubbing at his side ruefully.

“I have eyes, I can see that for myself without your silly commentary,” she retorted, although her nerves were back in full force as she watched Valiant sheath his sword and approach her, the crowd cheering behind him.

“May I offer my congratulations on your victory today, my lady?” He held his hand out and she took it, planning to shake his hand, but he lifted her hand to brush a kiss over her knuckles instead. She bit back a shudder; she had always hated people kissing her hand and the way it made her skin crawl for hours afterward.

“Likewise,” she managed to force out as she pulled her hand out of his as soon as he loosened his grip enough.

“I hope to see you at the reception this evening.” He inclined his head politely before heading past her to meet his own servant standing several feet away.

“What a creep,” Merlin muttered and Ariana couldn’t help an unladylike snort of laughter, relieved that someone else had seen exactly what she had, before quickly catching herself when she saw Merlin’s delighted grin.

“Yes, well-” She cleared her throat. “For tomorrow, you’ll need to repair my shield, wash my tunic, clean my boots, sharpen my sword, and polish my chainmail.” She dumped her shield and sword unceremoniously on the wooden table beside her armor, ignoring Merlin gaping at her dumbfoundedly.

“You want me to get all that done by tomorrow?” he echoed, stunned.

“Well, they need to be ready for my next fight, don’t they?” Ariana made a show of thinking. “Of course, if it’s too much work for you and you want to quit...”

As predicted, Merlin’s dismayed expression immediately shifted into a stubborn scowl. “Not happening.” He snatched the shield and sword off the table. “I’ll have everything ready by tomorrow.”

“See that you do.” She turned back to the arena just in time to watch Sir Ewan, a knight from a neighboring kingdom, win his match and raise his sword to a cheering audience.

“You were incredible today, Ari!” Gwen said emphatically as Ariana joined her and Morgana at the reception that night. “You made defeating that knight look so easy.”

“I want to say it was, but honestly, he implied I ought to throw the match and it made me so angry that I blacked out for a moment and the fight was over,” Ariana admitted around a sip of wine and Morgana huffed a chuckle, shaking her head.

“Honestly, the nerve of him. You’ve certainly got the others talking about you, though. We overheard Knight Valiant earlier tonight saying you’d be a difficult match, should he face you.”

“Valiant said that?” Ariana raised her eyebrows, surprised; he had seemed so calm and collected during his match and then afterwards when he had approached her.

“Then again, I believe he’s hoping to escort me to the feast if he wins,” Morgana added with a roll of her eyes.

Ariana cast a skeptical look at Valiant on the other side of the hall, surrounded by several fellow knights egging him on as he took a long, long drink from his goblet of wine. “Ugh,” she said succinctly as Gwen giggled.

“Exactly,” Morgana confirmed. “Which is why you have to win so you can escort me instead like you always do.”

“Great, I’ll be sure to add that to my list of incentives to win,” Ariana deadpanned, although it was beginning to feel more like a list of even more reasons to consider herself a failure if she lost either the next day or in the championship match. “Who’s Valiant fighting tomorrow again?”

“Sir Ewan,” Gwen supplied. “He seems a rather good swordsman himself, he might even defeat Valiant for you.”

“I hope so.” Ariana glanced at Ewan as well, noticing his sure footing even as he leaned against the stone wall while animatedly discussing something with the knights surrounding him. “If I really have to lose, I’d rather lose to someone like him than Valiant. Even Merlin thinks that man is a creep.”

“Oh, so Merlin is a good judge of character now, is he?” Morgana said, her eyebrows rising as a smirk tugged at her painted lips, and Ariana flushed when she realized what she had said. “Just yesterday, you were campaigning to have the poor boy sacked and now here you are actually listening to him. It’s almost as if you’re starting to like him.”

“Shut up, no, it’s not like that,” Ariana protested desperately in the face of both Morgana’s and Gwen’s growing amusement. “Gwen, don’t you dare tell him I said something nice about him!” she added hurriedly, knowing for a fact that Gwen and Merlin had become close friends over the past month.

“Your secret’s safe with us, you softie,” she teased and Ariana sighed long-sufferingly.

“Why do I spend time with you two again?”

“Because you love us,” Morgana answered sweetly and privately, Ariana agreed.

“Whatever reason you’ve got for barging in here at an hour that isn’t early in the morning, it had better be good,” Ariana deadpanned as Merlin stormed into her chambers the next evening. “Then again, even in the morning, that’s not always welcome and-” She broke off when she saw the severed snake head clutched in his hand. “What is that?” she asked, bewildered.

“This-” Merlin held up the snake head before setting it on the table in front of Ariana, who quickly moved the plate of food she had been eating aside before the snake head touched it. “-came from Knight Valiant’s shield.” Ariana stared at him, startled, and he flushed slightly. “I saw it, those three snakes on his shield came to life. It’s enchanted. One of the snakes came out enough for me to chop its head off and, well.” He gestured at the head on the table.

“You chopped its head off?” Ariana echoed skeptically. “You can barely even hold a sword right, how did you chop a snake’s head off?”

“That’s not the point,” Merlin dismissed, but she caught him turning faintly pink. “Ewan was bitten by a snake when he was fighting Valiant today,” he explained and she recalled how Ewan had been defeated in the match that afternoon even though he had clearly had the upper hand until then, having watched with a cold compress held to her shoulder after she had pulled it during her own match against a massive knight who had looked like he bench-pressed cows to stay in shape. “You can talk to Gaius and see the puncture wounds for yourself, if you like,” Merlin added, drawing her back to the present. “Ewan was beating him, he had to cheat to win.”

“Look, I don’t like the man, either, but accusing him of cheating is a whole other thing,” she pointed out as she picked up the snake head to examine it. “Valiant wouldn’t dare use magic here, anyway,” she added.

“Gaius is preparing an antidote to the snake venom. When Ewan's conscious, he’ll tell you what happened. But if you fight Valiant in the final, he’ll use the shield,” Merlin insisted. “He’ll kill you with it just like he tried to kill Ewan.” When Ariana didn’t look up from the snake head in her hands, he exhaled heavily. “Look, I know we argue all the time, and I’m just a servant, and my word doesn’t count for anything. But I wouldn’t lie to you, Ari.”

She hesitated before setting the snake head down on the table again. “Swear to me what you’re telling me is true?”

“I swear,” Merlin said firmly and she looked up at him again to find him watching her warily. His face was pale, but his jaw was set stubbornly as he met her eyes unflinchingly.

“Then I believe you,” she agreed, albeit reluctantly. She wanted to desperately believe that he was simply lying - it would make everything a lot easier - but if Valiant really was using magic, then she couldn’t risk suffering the same fate as Ewan in the final match the next morning. “I’ll request an audience with my father, you go make sure Gaius has that antidote ready and Ewan’s awake to give his testimony.”

Merlin exhaled quietly with relief, nodding as he hurried out of her chambers. Ariana grabbed the snake head after he left, examining it one last time. It looked like no snake she had ever seen, with its garishly green-colored scales and vividly-yellow reptilian eyes looking like something out of a painting - or a design on a shield. Swallowing the bile rising in her throat, she climbed to her feet and left her chambers to call an audience with the court, taking the snake head with her.

“Why have you summoned the court?” Uther demanded as he entered the council chambers after the rest of the court had gathered and Ariana took a deep breath to fortify herself when she saw Valiant behind him, looking mildly puzzled.

“I believe Knight Valiant is using a magic shield to cheat in the tournament,” she explained, watching the knight’s face for any reaction, but his eyebrows only pulled together in confusion. Either he was genuinely startled by the accusation or an excellent actor, and Ariana couldn’t quite tell which it was.

“What say you, Valiant?” Uther turned to regard Valiant, who shook his head.

“My lord, this is ridiculous. I’ve never used magic.” He tilted his head at Ariana curiously. “Does your daughter have any evidence to support this claim?”

“I do, actually,” she said and watched his expression shift to something slightly more guarded as she placed the snake head in her hand on the council table. Uther picked it up to examine it. “This came from Valiant’s shield. If you look at the shield itself, the design matches this snake’s head. No real snake looks like this.”

“Fetch Knight Valiant’s shield,” Uther ordered a serving boy at the door, who nodded and took off at a run down the hall. “My daughter has no reason to lie to me,” he added to Valiant. “And so if what she says is true, you will be tried for sorcery as per the laws of Camelot.”

“You will see for yourself that the shield is entirely ordinary when it gets here, my lord,” Valiant reassured him, although the quick suspicious glance he threw at Ariana next made her entirely confident that Merlin had been right. To her relief, Merlin entered the council chambers only moments later, taking his place behind her with his hands clasped behind his back in a subservient position she hardly ever saw him take.

“Where’s Ewan?” she whispered over her shoulder and he shook his head.

“Gaius is waking him now,” he replied under his breath. “What’s going on?”

“We’re fetching the shield,” she answered quietly.

“Just be careful near it,” he warned as the serving boy returned, clutching the shield and out of breath from how quickly he had run.

“Give it here,” Uther commanded and took the shield from the serving boy.

“Be careful, Father,” Ariana cautioned, recalling Merlin’s warning, but one sharp look from Uther had her flinching back slightly and biting her lip hard. She noticed Gaius slipping into the council chambers and hissed over her shoulder, “We need Ewan for more proof, go see where he is.” Merlin nodded and took off to join Gaius.

“As you can see, my lord, it’s just an ordinary shield,” Valiant said, drawing Ariana’s attention away from the hushed conversation that had begun between Merlin and Gaius.

“Well, it’s not like he’d just let the snakes come alive in front of everyone,” she pointed out, beginning to grow frustrated.

“Then how am I to know that what you say is true?” Uther demanded.

“I-I have a witness.” Ariana winced at how her voice cracked under his expectant stare. “Sir Ewan was bitten by one of the snakes from the shield in today's match. Its venom made him gravely ill, however, he’s received an antidote. He will confirm that Knight Valiant is using magic.”

“Then bring him forth,” Uther said and Ariana cast a desperate glance at Gaius and Merlin, but Gaius’s expression was solemn as he stepped forward.

“I’m afraid Sir Ewan is dead, sire.” Ariana’s heart plummeted like a stone as she peeked at Merlin next, but he looked as shaken as she felt.

“So you have no proof to support these allegations.” Uther turned to Ariana again, his expression stormy. “Have you seen Valiant using magic?”

“W-Well, no,” she admitted hesitantly, “But my servant fought one of the snakes and-”

“Your servant?” Uther echoed furiously and she fell silent, startled. “You made these outrageous accusations against a knight on the word of a serving boy?!”

“I-” She swallowed back the lump in her throat. “I believe he’s telling the truth.”

“My lord, am I really to be judged on hearsay from a boy?” Valiant prompted.

“I’ve seen those snakes come alive!” Merlin blurted out.

“How dare you interrupt?!” Uther shouted at him. “Guards!”

“Wait-!” Ariana tried to protest as two guards grabbed Merlin’s arms in preparation to march him out of the council chambers.

“My lord,” Valiant said quietly and Uther held his hand up to stop the guards. “I’m sure he was merely mistaken. I wouldn’t want him punished on my account.”

Uther nodded to the guards, who released Merlin again. “Do you see?” He gave Ariana a sharp look that made her feel even smaller than she already felt, surrounded by no one who believed her other than Merlin. “This is how a knight behaves. With gallantry and honor.”

“If your daughter made these accusations because she’s afraid to fight me, then I will graciously accept her withdrawal,” Valiant offered and Ariana bristled, her embarrassment forgotten.

“I’m not afraid of you!” she snapped at him.

“Then what am I to make of these allegations?” Uther turned to her, raising an eyebrow. “If you wish to withdraw, then you may do so without accusing anyone of lying and dishonoring yourself any further.”

“I’m not withdrawing,” she insisted, her face burning with mortification as she swallowed back the lump in her throat and turned to Valiant, forcing a quick bow. “Obviously, there’s been some sort of misunderstanding. Please accept my apology,” she gritted out, not quite able to meet his eyes.

“Accepted,” Valiant said pleasantly, although she could see his eyes narrow minutely at her the moment Uther’s back was turned on him.

“In light of the situation, I’m relieving you of your duties,” Uther added to Merlin, who gaped at him in shock. “I gave you this job to keep my daughter out of trouble, but it seems all you’ve done is encourage her to act poorly.”

“I-I didn’t - I wasn’t-” Merlin stammered, flushing bright red.

“Dismissed.” Uther scowled at him and Gaius took Merlin by the elbow, pulling him out of the council chambers. “And as for you, Ariana,” Uther added, tearing Ariana’s eyes away from the back of Merlin’s head, “I advise that you think long and hard tonight about whether you really want to compete in this tournament, after all.”

“Yes, sir,” she mumbled, too humiliated to say anything else.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Ariana pointed out wearily as Merlin slipped into her chambers long after the council had dispersed. She had been lying awake for hours already, staring at the ceiling numbly as she slowly came to terms with the fact that she very well could die the next day.

“Don’t fight in the final,” Merlin said desperately and she shook her head.

“I don’t have a choice.”

“You do. We can still expose Valiant,” he insisted as he took a seat on the edge of the bed beside her and she frowned at him.

“You know, you were only supposed to be in here because you were my servant, and that’s no longer the case.”

“Are you going to call the guards on me?” he scoffed and she glared back at him.

“I just might. You made me look like a fool out there.”

“Yeah, it looked pretty bad,” he admitted, dropping his gaze away from her. “But I really was telling the truth.”

“I know, and I still believe you,” she conceded, sitting upright again and drawing her knees to her chest to wrap her arms around them.

“Then withdraw,” he suggested.

“I can’t.” She pressed her chin on top of her folded arms. “My father already thinks I’m a coward after what happened tonight. I won’t prove him right. And I can’t rule this kingdom if no one thinks I can handle it.”

“He’ll kill you,” he pointed out. “He’ll use the shield on you. If you fight tomorrow, you’ll die.”

“Then I die.” She scrubbed a hand over her stinging eyes, although whether they burned with exhaustion or tears, she couldn’t say. “I have to go out there and fight. It’s my duty.”

“You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, you know,” he said quietly. “Least of all to me. If it comes down to proving a point or staying safe, I’d rather you take the latter option.”

“Then you don’t know me very well at all, do you?” Ariana cracked a wry smile despite herself, but Merlin didn’t smile back, his expression grim as he climbed to his feet.

“Well, I’m not giving up. I’ll find a way to expose that shield for what it is.”

“Good luck with that,” she called after his retreating back and flopped back against her pillows as the door swung shut behind him, dreading the long sleepless hours that lay ahead.

“Ari? Are you awake?” Morgana poked her head around the door barely a minute later, her hair mussed in a way that meant she had been fast asleep. Her eyes were damp and puffy and she wore a shawl around her shoulders over her nightgown to ward off the chilly air.

“Was it a nightmare?” Ariana guessed; they were becoming more and more frequent, as of late. Wordlessly, Morgana nodded as she made her way to the bed and climbed under the covers beside Ariana, who hauled Morgana close readily. Morgana tucked her head in against Ariana’s shoulder, shutting her eyes tightly as she clutched Ariana so tightly that Ariana feared her skin would bruise. “That bad?” she murmured soothingly, reaching up to smooth down Morgana’s wavy hair.

“Don’t fight in the tournament tomorrow,” Morgana pleaded, her voice trembling.

“Not you, too,” Ariana sighed, although a feeling of unease settled over her; Morgana hadn’t been at the council meeting, so she couldn’t have known about the accusations against Valiant or the shield, and yet how could she have known that Ariana was possibly in danger?

“You don’t understand, I have this awful feeling,” Morgana insisted desperately and Ariana pressed her cheek against the top of her head.

“I’ll be alright, Morgana, I always am,” she lied to keep Morgana from worrying. “And hey, tell you what, you can do my armor yourself, alright? I know you’ll make it air-tight, so no sword can get between the pieces.”

Morgana let out a watery chuckle that nearly broke Ariana’s heart. “And here I thought Merlin was finally beginning to get the hang of it.”

“He’s been sacked, so that’s not an option,” Ariana sighed, carding her fingers through Morgana’s hair. “Father’s angry at him for giving me the idea to compete in the first place.” She didn’t dare upset Morgana by telling her the truth about why Merlin had been fired.

“That’s rubbish,” Morgana mumbled, already half-asleep again under Ariana’s ministrations. “He makes you smile.”

“He does not, he’s an idiot,” Ariana huffed, but couldn’t help a faint smile down at her. “I love you, you know.”

Morgana peered up at her, her half-lidded eyes pale in the darkness of the room. “I love you, too,” she answered cautiously. “But why-?”

“Sleep, Morgana,” Ariana cut her off, not wanting to risk opening the floodgate of suspicious questions as she nudged Morgana’s head back down against her shoulder and went back to smoothing down her hair until her breathing evened out slowly. Despite herself, Ariana slowly dozed off, too, Morgana’s arm heavy around her and grounding her in a way she didn’t think possible.

As Ariana took her place opposite Valiant on the other side of the arena, she grimaced at the self-satisfied expression on his face as he slipped on his helmet. He probably thought she was still mortified after the events of the previous evening, and while that was partially true, she was more preoccupied with how to either expose his shield or defeat him before he could use it on her.

Morgana was still pale with worry as she sat with Gwen in the stands, their arms interlinked as the crowd around them cheered with anticipation for the start of the final match. Uther sat on Morgana’s other side, his lips pursed with disapproval, and Ariana resolutely avoided his eyes as she drew her sword and squared her shoulders. Merlin was nowhere in sight, which probably meant he hadn’t found a way to show everyone what Valiant was up to.

Before Ariana could look around any further, the horn blared and she was forced to block an aggressive first strike from Valiant, the sword slicing into the shield and leaving a large gash in the front. She shoved him back and stumbled to regain her footing, keeping her eyes on his shield instead of his sword like she normally would have. If her theory was right, he would wait for her to be pinned down before he used it, just as he had with Ewan, and so she was safe from the shield for now. She brought her own shield up to block another incoming attack before shoving it forward, knocking it directly into Valiant’s face and pushing his helmet askew. He yanked it off and tossed it aside as she reluctantly did the same, knowing she wouldn’t be allowed a helmet if her opponent didn’t have one.

As she tugged down the chainmail coif covering the top of her head, Valiant swung his sword yet again and she ducked this time, rolling to the side, but he stepped on her shield before she could get up again. She slid her arm out of the straps of her shield so that she was free again, hopping to her feet, but Valiant was faster, slamming her into the wall with his shield as her sword fell from her hand. He kicked the sword away and it spun out of reach as Ariana hopelessly watched it go.

For a split moment, she glanced down at the shield pressing into her - there were only two snakes instead of three now - and saw one yellow reptilian eye blink slowly. Nauseated, she brought up both her legs and braced herself against the wall as she kicked Valiant as hard as she could away from her before he could call the snakes out. Both of them fell to the ground and Ariana scrambled quickly to her feet to look for her sword, but it was too far away.

Suddenly, Valiant hissed, “What are you doing?” The crowd erupted into gasps and whispers and Ariana looked up again to find the snakes coming to life, looking around languidly and hissing curiously. “I didn’t summon you!” Valiant tried again to force the snakes back into the shield.

“He’s using magic!” Ariana heard her father shout from the stands, but didn’t dare take her eyes off the shield in front of her.

“Now they see you for what you are,” she said, but Valiant scowled as he threw the shield at her. She ducked quickly, the snakes hissing and spitting as they sailed over her head, and spun around in time to see the shield land on the ground behind her. The snakes slid out and began to slither toward her feet as she stumbled backwards, but then Valiant grabbed the end of her braided hair, pulling her off her feet and rendering her immobile as she yelped in pain.

“Kill her!” he commanded and she frantically kicked sand at the snakes, but they continued to approach, their fangs baring in preparation to strike.

“Ari!” Morgana shouted and Ariana looked up just in time to see her grab Uther’s sword from his belt, throwing it into the arena. Ariana scrambled to grab it from the ground when it landed, twisting it behind her and slicing through her hair to free herself quickly.

She rolled to her feet and took the snakes out next, beheading them both with one swift blow before turning to Valiant, who was staring at the braid of hair hanging from his fist in shock with his own sword hanging loosely from his other hand. Without hesitation, she stabbed the sword straight through his chest before he could snap out of his surprise. He gaped at her, stunned, and she yanked the sword out as he collapsed to the ground, dead. She stared at him blankly; she had never killed anyone before, and although she wanted to feel guilty, she couldn't quite muster it when she took in the dead snakes at her feet and knew they were only there because of him.

The entire arena was silent for a moment before it exploded into thunderous applause, every single person jumping to their feet to cheer for Ariana. She finally let the tension drain from her shoulders as she lifted the bloody sword into the air, beaming with sheer relief when she saw Gwen and Morgana jumping up and down on the spot, screaming so loudly that Ariana could hear them even over the rest of the crowd, and her father climbing to his feet to applaud her as well, his smile broader than she had ever seen it.

As she made her way to the sidelines to dispose of her armor, Merlin was waiting for her, to her surprise.

“You did it,” he said, grinning widely.

“Is that a note of relief I detect?” she asked and he rolled his eyes.

“You must be hearing things again.” He peered at something over her shoulder, his expression suddenly amused. “I like your hair.”

“My hair?” She felt the back of her head, her mouth falling open in horror when she remembered that most of her hair was still in Valiant’s clenched fist several yards away. “Oh, no,” she said, mortified, and Merlin began to laugh so hard that he had to bend over double, his hands on his knees.

“I won’t lie, it’s bad,” Gwen admitted as she examined the back of Ariana’s head. “I can clean it up before the feast tonight, but it won't grow back anytime soon.”

“Just salvage what you can, Gwen,” Ariana sighed wearily. “I should’ve cut it a little lower, I know I’m not giving you much to work with.”

“I don’t know, it sort of suits you,” Morgana said thoughtfully behind Ariana, running her fingers over the jagged edges at the base of her neck, and Ariana couldn’t help but admire her in her lovely blue dress and her long dark curls that cascaded behind her like a waterfall. Ariana felt a twinge of envy and grief for her own lost hair. “Maybe a little trim to even it out, but otherwise, you rather look like the boy you’ve always wanted to be,” Morgana added cheekily.

“Thanks, Morgana, that’s just what I wanted to hear,” Ariana deadpanned as Gwen giggled and set to work snipping away the messiest locks with a pair of small shears.

“You do sort of look like a boy now, though. A pretty one!” she added when she saw Ariana’s dull glare in the mirror, earning a laugh from Morgana.

“Great, I can be the son my father always wanted,” Ariana deadpanned, giving up and shutting her eyes. “Just tell me when it’s over.”

After a few more moments of soft snips echoing in her ear, she heard Gwen set down the shears on the table. “There. Open your eyes now.” She opened her eyes warily to find her formerly-waist-length golden hair now ending at the base of her skull and curling around her ears.

“Oh, God, I do look like a boy,” she said, horrified, and Morgana rolled her eyes.

“You look like you, Ari. And you’re lovely whether your hair is short or long. Now go get dressed for the feast, you’re meant to be escorting me, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” Ariana took one last sorrowful look in the mirror before getting to her feet to make her way over to the changing screen.

“Is it really that awful?” Gwen fretted as she helped Ariana slip on the red velvet dress and fastened it around her. “I’m sorry, I know I cut it even shorter than it already was, I just had to make it even.”

“It was awful before you even got your hands on it,” Ariana reassured her. “Honestly, it’d be much worse if you hadn’t fixed it, so thank you.”

“Of course.” Gwen gave her a tentative smile. “I know we were only teasing you before, but it really does suit you.”

“Thanks,” Ariana said, meaning it this time as she managed a small smile back. “And look at this way, no need to brush my hair down anymore before a feast.”

Gwen laughed as she shoved Ariana out from behind the screen. “That is a relief, I don’t have to listen to you complain every time I brush out a tangle. Now go already, you’ll be late.”

“My lady?” Ariana held her elbow out to Morgana, who took it with a smile.

“My lord,” she returned cheekily and Ariana huffed a little as she led Morgana out of her chambers and down the corridor.

“It’s not too late, you know. I think Valiant would probably resurrect himself from the dead to escort you to the feast if I asked him.”

“You would never let him,” Morgana sing-songed before her expression softened as she leaned over to press her lips briefly to Ariana’s temple. “You fought really well today. I’m so proud of you, and if Uther knew what was good for him, he would be, too.”

Ariana had to blink back the stinging in her eyes, leaning into Morgana’s side briefly as the banquet hall came into view. “Thank you.”

“My honorable guests,” she heard Uther announce as they approached the open doors, “I give you Princess Ariana, your champion.” The words were enough to make her smile broadly as she led Morgana into the hall, both of them approaching Uther and curtsying to him politely. “It’s a shame, you always had such beautiful hair,” he mused as his eyes roamed over Ariana's head and she shrugged helplessly.

“Between losing my hair and getting bitten by a venomous snake, I think I’d rather go with the former,” she pointed out.

“A wise choice, indeed,” he agreed, amused. “Morgana, go enjoy the feast. There’s something I must speak with my daughter about.” Obediently, Morgana unlinked her arm from Ariana’s before wandering off. Ariana watched as she joined Gwen at the entrance to the hall, falling easily into conversation with her.

“Is something wrong?” she asked as she turned back to her father.

“Can a father not congratulate his daughter on a well-earned victory?” Uther asked innocently and she raised an eyebrow. It only took a moment for his smile to fade. “I owe you an apology. You were right about Valiant, and I should not have allowed him to make me doubt your integrity.”

“Are you feeling alright?” Ariana demanded warily and her father huffed a wry chuckle.

“If anything, I feel better than I have in years. You’ve proven to me today that you’re a valuable ally in the ongoing fight against magic in our kingdom, and what’s more, you have proven your honor better than any knight I have known.” He retrieved his sword from the scabbard hanging from his belt and Ariana stared at him, stunned.

“You...you mean you’re going to...?” She gestured vaguely at the sword.

“I made a promise, didn’t I?” He gestured for her to kneel and she knelt so quickly that her knee banged against the stone floor hard. She winced, but ignored the pain shooting up her leg as horns blared around the hall to silence the crowd. “Let this be a momentous occasion, for never has a woman been knighted in all of Camelot,” Uther said, his voice booming around the silent hall. “Nor has there ever been a woman more worthy of it.” Ariana’s vision blurred as she felt the flat of the sword touch one of her shoulders, and then the other. “Arise, Princess Ariana...knight of Camelot.”

Ariana nearly stumbled as she stood, dizzy with the sheer relief that washed over her, as for the second time that day, everyone around her erupted into raucous applause and cheers.

“Well done,” her father added under his breath so that only she could hear, squeezing her shoulder briefly with a faint smile. “Now go have fun with your friends. You’ve more than earned it.”

“Thank you,” she breathed, hoping he could hear just how grateful she was, before spinning around and making her way over to the wall where Morgana and Gwen were waiting for her, practically brimming with excitement.

“I knew you could do it,” Gwen gushed as Ariana fell into their outstretched arms, clutching them both tightly.

“I told you he’d be proud of you,” Morgana added, ducking her head with a smile to press a kiss into Ariana’s short hair. “Look at you, a knight after all these years.”

“I’m still coming to grips with it myself,” Ariana admitted as she pulled back, catching Merlin’s eye from where he lingered by the opposite wall. He looked away just as quickly, but Morgana had already noticed their brief eye contact, to Ariana’s dismay.

“Go talk to him already.” She nudged Ariana, who grudgingly let go of her and Gwen to cross the hall to Merlin’s side.

“It isn’t so bad now,” he noted as she approached him and she frowned in confusion. “The hair,” he added by way of explanation.

“Oh,” she said, rubbing the back of her head self-consciously. “Yeah, Gwen cleaned it up.”

“It’s good. Looks good,” he offered. “Congrats on becoming a knight, by the way. That’s great.”

“Thanks,” she said and they both lapsed into silence for a moment as Merlin fiddled absently with his fingers. “I’m sorry you got sacked,” she offered tentatively.

“Oh, no, don’t worry about it,” he dismissed, “Buy me a drink and we’ll call it even.”

Impulsively, Ariana came to a decision even as she answered, “Well, I can’t be seen buying a drink for my servant, so that’s out.”

“I - your servant?” Merlin blinked at her, bewildered. “But your father sacked me.”

“And now I’m rehiring you,” she said easily.

“I think he’ll have something to say about that.” Merlin glanced over her head at Uther on the other side of the hall.

“Well, he’ll just have to get used to it,” Ariana answered firmly.

“You’re just doing this so you won’t have to buy me a drink, aren’t you?” he accused, but he was already starting to smile again.

“Yep,” she confirmed, grinning back at him. “So, bright and early tomorrow morning?”

“As soon as the sun’s up,” he agreed. “By the way, do you want a puppy?”

“A what?” Ariana said delightedly.

Chapter Text

“I regret ever giving you this dog,” Merlin sighed wearily as the massive Rottweiler bared his teeth at him from where he lay across Ariana’s lap as he had every morning for the past three days. “He might actually be worse than Hengroen. Why is it that every animal you own absolutely adores you and hates everyone else, anyway?”

“That’s not true, they tolerate Morgana a little,” Ariana dismissed, rubbing the dog’s ears gently as he promptly gave up on growling at Merlin in favor of leaning into her touch. “Besides, I’ve already arranged for this one to go to a new home in the country so he’ll have more room to run around. He’ll be gone by tomorrow.”

“Good,” Merlin said firmly. “The sooner he’s gone, the sooner I can stop being afraid I’ll get a chunk taken out of me for coming into your chambers each morning. At least Hengroen’s confined to the stables.”

“They’re not that bad, don’t be so dramatic,” Ariana said, rolling her eyes. “And even if you don’t care, I’ll miss Troy when he’s gone. He’s a good dog. Aren’t you, Troy? Yes, you are, you’re the best puppy in the whole wide world,” she crooned and Troy’s tongue lolled out of his mouth as he panted happily up at her.

“Ridiculous name,” Merlin grumbled under his breath as he scooped up the pile of clothes Ariana had left by the foot of the bed to set into the basket he had brought up for laundry.

“Shut up, it’s a perfectly good name,” Ariana retorted. “What would you rather call him, then?”

“I don’t know, I wouldn’t have even kept him long enough to name him, with how vicious he is,” Merlin said, throwing his hands in the air and forgetting he’d been holding a basket of clothes as it fell with a thump to the stone floor. The noise made Troy lift his head and growl at Merlin again. “Oh, hush, you,” Merlin snapped back and Troy whined at the rebuke, his ears flattening against his skull.

“Don’t shout at my child,” Ariana scolded, wrapping her arms around Troy’s neck.

“He’s a dog,” Merlin protested.

“He’s my furry, sweet baby boy and I love him.” Ariana patted the dog’s head fondly and he licked her cheek, making her cringe. “I could do without the slobber, though.” She wiped her face with her sleeve.

“Serves you right,” Merlin snickered, but then promptly had to duck the pillow Ariana threw at his head. “Will you stop smothering the dog with attention and get dressed already? You’re meant to be training with the other knights first thing today.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going.” Ariana clicked her tongue softly to get Troy off her lap before climbing out of bed and heading across the room to grab the tunic and trousers Merlin had laid out for her on the table beside her closet.

As she changed behind the folding screen, she heard Troy growl under his breath at Merlin again as Merlin muttered, “Stop that. I made you, and I can destroy you.”

“Are you threatening to murder my dog?” she demanded sharply as she peeked over the screen in time to see Merlin jump, startled that she had overheard him.

“I was only joking,” he said quickly and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“You had better be.”

Merlin held his hands up in surrender. “Yeah, alright, fine, no threatening the dog, got it. I think I hear Gaius calling me,” he lied and made a hasty retreat out the door. Rolling her eyes goodnaturedly, Ariana went back to pulling on her tunic and cinching a thin brown belt around her waist.

“My lady?” A guard appeared at the doorway as she made her way out from behind the folding screen and Troy sat up abruptly to growl at the newcomer.

“Easy, boy,” Ariana soothed the dog before glancing at the guard. “Yes, what is it?”

“The king requests your presence in the council chambers immediately,” he explained, not quite meeting her eyes. Somehow, she doubted the anxious, pale look on his face had anything to do with the Rottweiler baring his teeth at him from the bed.

“I’ll be right there,” she agreed. When she arrived in the council chambers, though, to her horror, there was a body on the floor.

“Good, you’re here,” Uther said, ushering her forward into the room. “We found him in the square earlier this morning.”

“What happened to him?” she asked worriedly as she examined the corpse, taking in his bluish-white skin and whitened eyes. The sight was almost nauseating and she had to tear her eyes away before it could make bile rise in her throat.

“It’s unlike any illness I have ever seen, but perhaps Gaius might know,” her father answered, although Ariana could tell he was as shaken as she felt just looking at the dead man before them. “Go fetch him, and be quick about it.”

“Yes, sir.” She was glad Gaius’s chambers didn’t lie too far from the council chambers, taking the steps up to the tower a few at a time and calling, “Gaius? Are you in?”

Before she could reach the door and open it, Merlin opened the door slightly instead, peering out through the small crack. “Yes, alright, he wasn’t calling me, I made that up,” he admitted sheepishly when she raised an eyebrow at him. “But I’ll be on my way down now.”

“I actually am here for Gaius, not you,” she admitted before catching sight of a tiny purple flower tucked into Merlin’s neckerchief, vivid against his pale throat.

“Oh.” Merlin flushed when he followed her gaze down, plucking the flower out of his neckerchief. “Gwen gave it to me on my way up here.”

Ariana didn’t know why that made her stomach twist; after all, Gwen had made it no secret that she was friendly with Merlin, and it seemed only natural that something even more would grow between them. “Yes, well-” She cleared her throat. “You can tell Gaius that my father wants to see him now in the council chambers.”

“He’s right here, you can tell him yourself,” Merlin pointed out, glancing over his shoulder.

“Yes, but I also have a servant to do those things when he’s not hiding from me,” she answered sweetly before turning on her heel to descend the stairs again, pointedly ignoring Merlin’s scowl trained on the back of her head.

“Is Gaius coming?” Uther asked impatiently as she re-entered the council chambers.

“I’ve asked Merlin to fetch him, they’ll be on their way now,” she confirmed. Sure enough, only a minute later, Gaius and Merlin entered the council chambers and Ariana noticed the grim expression settle over Gaius’s face the moment he saw the corpse.

“Can you tell what’s wrong with him?” Uther pressed and Gaius grimaced.

“It’s hard to say, sire. This is the second case I’ve seen today.”

“The second?” Ariana echoed, startled. “There are others suffering from the same illness?”

“And why didn’t you report this to me?” Uther demanded.

“I was attempting to find the cause, but I don’t think it’s time to hurry to conclusions. The scientific process is a long one,” Gaius explained, but the fact that he wouldn’t quite meet anyone’s eyes made Ariana doubt he was entirely telling the truth.

“What are you concealing from me?” It seemed her father had the same idea as her.

“I’ve seen nothing like it, sire,” Gaius admitted, “The victims are dying within twenty-four hours and it’s spreading fast. I think we should say that the most likely cause is sorcery.”

“Then we haven’t a moment to lose.” Uther pressed his hand to Ariana’s shoulder, startling her. “We must find the sorcerer responsible,” he added to her. “I want you to conduct a door-to-door search of the entire city. Increase the knights’ presence in the lower town and double the guards on all the gates. And lend Gaius your servant so that they can find a cure all the faster.” He wrinkled his nose even at the mention of Merlin; he had made it no secret how much he disapproved of Ariana rehiring Merlin after the tournament, but couldn’t protest it when she had pointed out that Merlin had been right about Valiant in the first place and had only been trying to protect her.

“I will,” she confirmed her father’s orders, her heart leaping into her throat. It was the first time she had been given any sort of responsibility since she had been knighted and she wouldn’t give up the chance to prove to him that he had made the right decision.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Gaius demanded as Ariana followed the knights into his chambers, wincing already with guilt as they began to look through his books and papers and scattered them about the room.

“Sorry, Gaius, you know we’re supposed to be searching door to door,” she reminded him.

“What for?” Gaius asked, startled as he exchanged a glance with Merlin.

“The sorcerer,” Ariana answered as she went to a bookshelf to pick up a large tome, scanning the title to make sure it didn’t contain any magical phrases.

“Why on Earth would he be here?” Gaius’s eyebrow was beginning to travel upward, a sure sign that he would hold the interruption of his work against Ariana at least for a day or two.

“I’m just doing my job,” she answered defensively, setting the book back on the shelf.

“Well, we have nothing to hide, so go on and search,” Gaius dismissed, turning back to the table he had been conducting some sort of experiment at.

“What are all these books and papers?” Ariana asked curiously as she glanced over the other books on the shelves, taking in their foreign titles.

“My life’s work, dedicated to the understanding of science. You are quite welcome to read through them if you wish,” Gaius answered dryly and she flushed at the underlying disapproval in his voice as she held her hands up in surrender and stepped away from the bookshelf toward the small room in the back, separated by a few stairs.

“And this room?”

“It’s mine,” Merlin admitted. “But there’s nothing in there.”

“I’ll have to be the judge of that,” she pointed out as she climbed the stairs and pushed the door open. She wrinkled her nose at the sight of clothes scattered around the floor, stepping over them carefully to peer into the wardrobe. “Merlin, come here, I found something!” she called and Merlin nearly tripped over himself in his hurry to enter the room. “Look, it’s a wonderful invention called a closet. Call me insane, but I think clothes go in here,” she deadpanned, grinning at the disbelief on his face.

“Well, I’d have time to pick up after myself if I wasn’t running around doing chores for you all day, wouldn’t I?” he huffed, leaning against the doorway to catch his breath.

“Seriously, you live with this mess every day?” She gestured around the room. “It looks like you haven’t cleaned up in here since you arrived in Camelot.”

“Are you going to spend all day in here complaining about my room?” he complained, rolling his eyes, and she resisted the urge to immaturely stick her tongue out at him as she shouldered past him out of the room with a light jab of her elbow to his side. He shoved her shoulder back in return as she passed.

“Children,” Gaius scolded and Ariana turned pink at the rebuke, catching Merlin doing the same out of the corner of her eye.

“How far along are you with a cure?” she asked, clearing her throat to compose herself again.

“It depends on how many more interruptions I get.” Gaius’s eyebrow was dangerously high on his forehead again and Ariana took the hint.

“Yes, alright, I’m sorry. We’re finished here, move out!” she called to the knights gathered at the doorway, following them out into the corridor.

“Where are we to search next, my lady?” Owain asked as she joined the group of knights.

“Morgana’s chambers are next, but be prepared, she’ll be furious with us for poking around,” she warned, gesturing for the other men to lead the way. As they set off down the hall, Ariana nearly toppled over as Gwen rushed past her, knocking into her shoulder hard. “Whoa, hey!” She stumbled to catch herself before steadying Gwen’s shoulders, startled to see tears streaking down her face. “Gwen, what happened?”

“My father,” Gwen choked out through a sob. “He’s got the sickness, I have to see if Gaius has a cure.”

“I’m so sorry,” Ariana said honestly; she knew Tom meant the world to Gwen, and it very nearly broke Ariana’s heart to see her friend in so much pain. “Go ahead, maybe he’ll find something to help.” She squeezed Gwen’s hand tightly before letting go and watching her rush up the stairs to Gaius’s chambers as her stomach twisted with fear and worry; Tom certainly wouldn’t be the last victim claimed by this magical illness if they didn’t find the sorcerer responsible soon.

“Search the far corners of the lower town, I want to make sure we’ve covered every household,” Ariana ordered, watching the knights disperse to search through the houses wearily.

It had been nearly two sleepless days since she had begun the search for the sorcerer under her father’s orders and her eyes were beginning to burn with exhaustion, but she feared she wouldn’t be able to rest until the mysterious illness disappeared from Camelot for good. The number of bodies were growing in the square and the memory of all the sheet-covered corpses she had passed only minutes earlier made her stomach turn. Even Troy couldn’t cheer her up, as she had had the dog sent away to the countryside the previous day. Then again, perhaps it had been for the best, since she wasn’t sure if animals could get the magical illness and didn't want to find out.

“You look like hell,” Merlin said frankly from nearby as he picked up the bucket he had been pumping water into.

“Thank you, Merlin, that’s exactly what I needed to hear right now,” Ariana deadpanned. “You’re so helpful.”

“Well, yeah, I try to be, usually, and-” He broke off, narrowing her eyes at her. “You were being sarcastic.” As irritated as she was, she couldn’t help but crack a grin at the offended expression on his face. “You do look tired, though. Do you only sleep when you expect me to wake you in the morning?” he added.

She rolled her eyes back at him, acutely aware of the likely-obvious dark circles underneath them. “Don’t flatter yourself. What are you getting water from the lower town for, anyway?”

Merlin glanced down at the bucket in his hands, as if he had only just remembered he was holding it. “Gaius has a theory he wants to test.”

“Well, if he’s got anything, let him know to update my father,” she answered, rubbing her eyes briefly in exhaustion. “He’s getting more agitated with each hour we don’t have an answer to any of this.”

“Try telling Gaius that yourself, I’ve already tried.” Merlin straightened to his full height, raising one eyebrow in a mockery of Gaius as he deepened his voice. “‘You can’t rush science, Merlin. Patience is a virtue.’”

“I don’t know whether it’s impressive or worrying how spot-on that was,” Ariana conceded, shaking her head with wry amusement, before getting distracted by something out of the corner of her eye. “Is that Tom working at the forge?” she asked, surprised. “I thought he had the sickness.”

“Yeah, Gwen said he just woke up feeling better this morning,” Merlin said behind her, grinning. “Maybe there’s a cure after all.”

“Maybe,” Ariana agreed, although something about it made her feel uneasy. “I’m going to make sure he’s really alright, you get that water to Gaius.”

“Right.” She watched Merlin head up the street, water sloshing around in the bucket he held, before crossing the square to Tom’s shop.

“Morning, my lady,” Tom greeted her cheerfully as he hammered a sword into shape.

“I thought you were ill,” she pointed out as she stopped in front of his workbench. 

“Not anymore,” he answered with a mild shrug.

“You weren’t suffering with some other ailment?” she pressed, although with how upset Gwen had been yesterday, she doubted it.

“Oh, you’re joking,” Tom dismissed. “I felt like death itself, not enough strength in me to stir the air. Then suddenly, it was gone. I’m fitter than I was before.”

“That’s remarkable, indeed,” Ariana said skeptically. “Was anyone else with you?”

Tom shook his head. “Just my daughter, Gwen.”

Having dreaded that answer, Ariana had no choice but to ask, “You wouldn’t mind if we looked about your house, would you? Just in case there’s anything out of the ordinary?”

Tom’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “No, of course not, but I didn’t see anything. And Gwen would’ve said if she had, too.”

“I know, but it’s best that my men and I take another look, to be safe,” Ariana reassured him. “I’m sure everything’s fine, it’s just a precaution.”

“‘I’m sure everything’s fine,’ I said.” Ariana lay miserably across Morgana’s bed an hour later, an arm thrown over her eyes. “‘It’s just a precaution,’ I said. And now look. Gwen’s been arrested and I’m about ninety-nine percent positive she’s innocent.”

“Of course she’s innocent!” Morgana snapped from where she’d been pacing frustratedly in front of the bed. “I told you not to arrest her and you went and did it, anyway.”

“I found the poultice under her father’s pillow in front of the other knights,” Ariana pointed out as she sat up again, smoothing down her ruffled hair. “I couldn’t just ignore it. He admitted himself that she was the only other person in the house.”

“Well, we’ll just have to find the real sorcerer before it’s too late,” Morgana insisted. “They’ll burn her at the stake tomorrow morning.”

“Keep thinking of what you can to stall for time, then,” Ariana suggested as she climbed to her feet. “My father’s called for a council meeting shortly to figure out what to do next now that Gwen’s been arrested. He’s convinced this illness will be gone when Gwen’s executed, but I doubt it, considering she’s innocent.”

“You have to save her, Ari,” Morgana pleaded, grasping her hands to squeeze them tightly. “She’s our friend, she has been all our lives. Even if she did have magic, there’s no evil in her heart, you know there isn’t.”

“I know that, Morgana, but the law is the law,” Ariana said quietly, squeezing her fingers in return. “I can’t change that overnight.”

“Things will be different when you’re queen,” Morgana answered fiercely. It sounded more like a threat than a statement and Ariana couldn’t help but feel a little shaken by the ferocity in Morgana’s voice.

“Until then, I’ve got a council meeting to attend. I’ll be back after it’s over.” She squeezed Morgana’s hands one last time before letting go to leave the room and head down the flight of stairs to the council chambers.

“-from the experiments I have conducted, it seems that the water supply is magically contaminated,” Gaius was explaining as she entered, leaning over the empty chair at her father’s side.

“So how can we decontaminate it?” she asked curiously. “It’s not as if we can live off our emergency supply of water forever.”

“Even if the serving girl dies, that doesn’t guarantee the illness will die with her,” Uther added and she wrinkled her nose instinctively, tempted to ask if they could delay the execution until they were sure killing Gwen would stop the illness from spreading, but decided to hold her tongue; when magic was involved, she knew her father would rather execute first and ask questions later. “How do we protect our people? We’ve closed down the water pumps.”

“We have to cleanse the water of the disease, as Ariana rightfully suggests,” Gaius pointed out.

“But how do we do that?” Uther demanded and Gaius hesitated, which was just enough of a pause for the doors to burst open as Merlin stormed in.

“It was me,” he blurted out as the entire room turned to stare at him. “I used magic to cure Gwen’s father. Gwen isn’t the sorcerer, I am.”

“Merlin,” Gaius said as he pushed himself to his feet, “Are you mad?”

Ariana could only stare, feeling as stunned as Gaius sounded. Merlin couldn’t be a sorcerer; he was just her clumsy servant who talked too much and had absolutely no respect for authority of any kind. If he was as powerful as he claimed to be, why did he continue to do her chores day after day and put up with her regular teasing and taunting? Why wouldn’t he have taken any opportunity - and there had been plenty - to kill her and everyone else in the castle before going on his merry way?

“I can’t let her die for me,” Merlin said to Gaius before turning to Uther, whose expression had become stony. “I place myself at your mercy.”

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about-” Gaius tried to say quickly, but Merlin was faster.

“I do.” He lifted his chin stubbornly.

“Then arrest him,” Uther instructed the guards at the door, who moved to grab Merlin’s arms.

“Father, please, I can’t allow this,” Ariana blurted out before she could stop herself. “There’s no way Merlin’s a sorcerer.”

“You heard him admit it just now,” Uther pointed out, but held his hand up to stop the guards and they reluctantly let go of Merlin.

“He’s saved my life before,” Ariana retorted. “Why would he do that if he had magic? You’ve said it yourself thousands of times, sorcery is nothing but evil, but Merlin’s never done any harm to anyone.” She pointedly avoided Merlin’s wide eyes trained on the side of her head.

“Then explain this confession of his,” her father said, eyebrows furrowing.

“He’s got a mental affliction, you see,” she lied and Merlin’s eyes narrowed into a glare.

“I do not,” he said hotly.

“Yes, you do, you’re in love with Gwen,” she answered, crossing her arms across her chest as she finally turned to face him, only to find him gaping at her in shock.

“What?”

“It’s alright, I saw that flower she gave you, remember?” she reassured him, forcing a light, cheerful tone so that the rest of the room would believe it more easily. “I know you fancy her, Merlin, but really, think about it. Sacrificing yourself for her won’t make her fancy you back, it’ll just make you dead.”

Merlin opened his mouth and closed it a few times, looking rather like she’d hit him over the head with her shield. “I’m not in love with her!” he tried again once he managed to regain control of his voice.

“I think it’s clear he’s just trying to protect the girl he loves, isn’t it?” Ariana turned to Uther again hopefully.

“Perhaps she cast a spell on him,” he said dryly and she froze, startled, before he began to chuckle and slowly, the rest of the room followed his lead - all except Gaius, who was now frowning deeply at Merlin in disappointment.

Ariana relaxed again, her heart resuming its normal pace. “Merlin is a wonder,” she allowed, closing the space between herself and her servant to toss her arm over his shoulders and purposely ignoring him trying to squirm away. “But the wonder is that he’s such an idiot.” She ruffled the hair at the back of his head playfully before lowering her hand to clutch his shoulder tightly, meeting his eyes in a glaring contest. “There is no way he’s a sorcerer,” she added, more for his benefit than her father’s, without tearing her eyes from his. He scowled back at her, but let his gaze drop down to the floor, so she knew she had won the silent argument.

“There you are,” Ariana said in relief as she returned to her chambers to find Morgana sitting in a chair at her table. “I’ve been looking all over for you. My father called me to the council chambers again earlier, he wants the execution brought forward to tonight.”

Morgana’s eyebrows jumped up. “We can’t let that happen, we have to prove Gwen’s innocent.”

“I don’t see how we can in time,” Ariana pointed out, scrubbing a hand over her face wearily.

“Gaius may have found something - the real source of the illness,” Morgana admitted, “It’s why I’m here to talk to you.”

“Well, let’s hear it, then,” Ariana said, surprised.

“It’ll need you to disobey the king,” Morgana cautioned.

“My people are dying, Morgana. Our friend is going to be burned at the stake before the night is over.” Ariana pressed her hands to the table. “Whatever you need me to do, just say it.”

“There’s an Afanc in the water supply below the citadel, a creature conjured by magic,” Morgana explained. “Gaius says it’s the source of the plague and it needs to be destroyed. Merlin said he’d wait at the entrance to the water supply for us with torches to light the way. He’s seen the creature, he knows what it looks like. If we can kill it-”

“We’re not doing anything,” Ariana reminded her, “I’ll kill the Afanc, but you need to stay in the castle where it’s safe.”

“The hell, I will,” Morgana retorted fiercely. “Gwen is my friend, too, and you need all the help you can get.”

Ariana sighed heavily; she knew better than to try and push her luck any further when Morgana was in such a mood. “Alright, fine, just grab a dagger or something so you’re at least armed.”

“I’m already ahead of you.” Morgana moved her cloak aside to reveal the dagger strapped to her belt. “Shall we to the square, then?”

“We shall,” Ariana agreed, allowing Morgana to lead the way. They had to duck out of sight of at least three patrolling groups of guards, the curfew Uther had ordered having already started for the night, but made it safely to the square. Ariana had to avert her eyes from the pyre being built in the square for Gwen, feeling yet another sting of guilt for having arrested her at all.

“I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t show up,” Merlin said in relief, holding out two unlit torches as they approached him at the entrance to the tunnel leading down to the water supply.

“Give us a break, we came as fast as we could without running into anyone. If any of the guards had caught us sneaking out, they’d be honor-bound to report it immediately to my father,” Ariana answered, striking her torch against the ground to light it as Morgana did the same for her torch. “He might even blame Gwen for conjuring this creature if we told him about it.”

Merlin grimaced and Ariana wondered if she had actually hit the nail on the head when she had pointed out his feelings for Gwen. She purposely ignored the twist of nausea in her stomach at the thought. “Yeah, that’s fair. Gaius says if we kill it, though, the plague will disappear.”

“Let’s hope so,” she agreed as she and Morgana followed Merlin down into the tunnel. The smell of damp earth and the metallic scent of water reached her nose as they traveled further beneath the ground. “Where did you see the creature?” she asked Merlin, who pointed down a branching tunnel.

“Down that way, in the main reservoir.”

“Alright, both of you stay here while I take a look,” Ariana instructed, unsheathing her sword with her free hand and stepping forward down the tunnel, but Morgana scoffed.

“I’m coming with you, don’t be ridiculous.”

“If Father knew I’d put you in danger, he’d clap me in irons himself,” Ariana retorted, scanning the tunnel ahead as far as her flickering torch could illuminate.

“Well, it’s a good thing he doesn’t know, then, isn’t it?” Morgana said innocently and Ariana briefly threw a glare over her shoulder at her.

“This isn’t a game, Morgana, you could get hurt.”

“So could you, if you don’t get out of my way,” Morgana answered sharply, elbowing past her, and she distinctly heard Merlin stifle a laugh behind her.

“Shut up, Merlin,” she snapped at him before following Morgana down the tunnel, squinting ahead into the darkness. Morgana screamed suddenly, recoiling back, and Ariana broke into a run with Merlin close behind her, catching up to Morgana in time to see the shadow of the Afanc vanishing around the corner. “Are you alright?” she asked worriedly.

“I’m fine,” Morgana reassured her, although she was clearly pale with fright. “It’s fast, but you’re faster, I think.”

“Good to know. Will you please stay behind me now?” She gently elbowed Morgana behind her before proceeding ahead down the tunnel to the reservoir. Before she could lift her torch to scan the area ahead, the creature darted out from the shadows, knocking the sword out of her hand before she could swing it in time. It clattered to the ground somewhere out of sight and she swore under her breath, not daring to take her eyes off the Afanc in front of her as she fumbled blindly for the dagger at her hip.

“Use the torch!” Merlin shouted from the other end of the tunnel and she swung the torch at the Afanc, attempting to drive it back enough to reach her sword. To her surprise, though, the flames seemed to stretch outward and consume the Afanc as it screeched in agony, incinerating it until it was nothing but a pile of ashes on the ground.

“It worked,” Morgana said, relieved, as Ariana found her sword lying only feet away from her and grabbed it to sheath it again. “Are you hurt, Ari?”

“I’m alright,” she confirmed, although she was struggling to wrap her mind around what she had just seen; how could the flame have reached out to the Afanc like that? Maybe she had just swung the torch frantically enough that the flickering light had played tricks on her panicked mind. She shook herself quickly out of her daze. “Merlin, grab a sample of the reservoir water now and let’s get it to Gaius. If it’s safe, we might have just enough time to prove Gwen’s innocence.”

“So the water’s completely clean now?” Ariana peered at the report in Uther’s hands, relieved to see that the numbers were far lower than they had been the previous day.

“There are no new deaths,” Gaius confirmed, “And those that had reported ill previously are recovering.”

“Good.” Ariana finally let the tension drain from her shoulders.

“You did well,” Uther added, clapping her shoulder briefly in approval. “Not many would have risen to the task the way you have these past few days.” She wondered if she should bring up Gwen and how he had so quickly condemned her to death, but decided not to push her luck; it was rare that her father was in such a good mood and she couldn’t risk mentioning magic and angering him again.

“It’s strange, though, I’ve never heard of an Afanc before,” she added to Gaius, who frowned.

“It’s a creature conjured from clay by powerful magic, the type that can only be invoked by an ancient sorcerer. One that has the power to mirror the spirit of life.” He hesitated before bringing out an object from his pocket. “I found this at the water source.”

Ariana inspected the object more closely, her fingers running over the cracked edges before she realized she was looking at an eggshell. “Did the Afanc hatch from this?”

“Yes, but I believe you’ll want to look at it more closely, sire.” Gaius held the eggshell out to Uther, whose expression had darkened. “It bears the mark of Nimueh.”

“Will I never be rid of her?” There was an odd bitterness to her father’s voice that made Ariana look up at him, startled.

“Who is she?” she asked curiously. “Do you know her?”

“She is a wicked sorceress, that is all you need know.” He squeezed Ariana’s shoulder tightly in a way that she knew meant she would get no further answers from him. “Leave me and Gaius to our discussions, you ought to see to it that Morgana’s maidservant is released from her cell.”

Ariana cast a look at Gaius, hoping something in his face would give her more of an answer to the growing questions burning in her, but his expression was impassive. “Alright,” she conceded hesitantly, glancing once more between the two of them before slipping out of the council chambers.

Whoever this Nimueh was, Ariana feared more and more that her attack on Camelot was only beginning, if her father was this worried about her.

Chapter Text

Ariana’s short hair tickled the back of her neck as she stood at the front of the banquet hall, bright candles throwing spots of light around the room and illuminating the golden threads woven into her formal crimson gown, reserved only for particularly important events such as the current treaty signing taking place in front of her. Even though she knew Gwen had salvaged her hair as best as she could after the tournament, it was still somewhat jagged in places, leaving her feeling self-conscious with so many eyes on her.

She glanced around the room briefly, catching sight of a massive red feather poking out above the crowd and following it down to Merlin’s sullen expression underneath the large hat the feather belonged to. Gwen, in a simple yellow gown of her own, pressed her lips firmly together beside him, trembling slightly with the effort of holding in her giggles at his expense, and Ariana had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning when Merlin narrowed his eyes at her in a silent promise of retribution for the silly outfit she had chosen for him.

It had served him right, anyway, she told herself, especially after he had irritated her that morning with yet another snide comment about her being, in his words, “a spoiled, arrogant brat” when she had complained about him waking her so early. Besides, it was his own fault for being so gullible; he had been the one to buy her cover story of the gaudy red robes being the official servants’ uniform.

She was tempted to cross the banquet hall to join him, perhaps reach up and tug down the ridiculous hat over his eyes just to see him flounder for a moment, but her father cleared his throat pointedly and she was brought back to reality, flushing slightly at having been caught in her distraction as she fell to attention at his side. Morgana, radiant as ever in a royal purple silk dress, bit her lip to keep from smiling from her place on Uther’s other side as the two kings finished signing the treaty that would bind Camelot and Mercia in allyhood after years of war.

Ariana knew well enough how long-winded the speeches tended to be during treaty signings, so she allowed her mind to drift while she waited for King Bayard to finish speaking, wordlessly accepting the ceremonial goblet presented to her while Uther took the other. The sooner the speech was done, she told herself, the sooner she could retire to the company of her friends.

She wondered at what point she had even begun to think of Merlin as a friend - after all, up until the tournament, he had been nothing more than a nuisance. Still, he completed each increasingly demanding chore she tasked him with, albeit while complaining the whole time, and Ariana couldn’t remember the last time anyone had bothered to put up with her company so much, even when she wasn’t trying to make them quit their job. Perhaps it was her own fault for rehiring him after originally sacking him, she mused. It had cemented him as her friend whether either of them liked it or not.

As King Bayard droned on about the benefits of the peace treaty they had just signed, Ariana risked another glance over her shoulder now at Merlin and Gwen, desperate for some commiseration during the most boring part of the evening, only to find Gwen standing alone and Merlin vanishing from the banquet hall with an unfamiliar serving girl clinging to his arm. Even as far away as they were, Ariana could see just how lovely the girl was from the soft curve of her jaw and her vivid blue eyes as she led Merlin away.

Ariana forced her attention back to King Bayard, unsure why bile rose in her throat. It didn’t bother her that her servant had caught a girl’s attention. It just meant more ammunition for her to tease him with the next day. Besides, after how vehemently he had insisted he had no feelings for Gwen, she knew it was only a matter of time before he fell for some other girl.

What did bother her was that Merlin wasn’t the one to step up to her the next moment to fill the chalice still clutched in her grasp with wine, but some unnamed servant instead. She had specifically told Merlin that she had wanted him there to keep her goblet filled - and, she admitted to herself, some entertainment with how little regard he had for the dull formalities of court - and yet he had snuck off with some serving girl from Mercia. She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as she nodded politely to dismiss the servant at her side once the goblet was full.

“-and may the differences from our past remain there. To your health, Uther,” Bayard concluded his speech with a toast, raising his goblet.

Feeling an immense sense of relief that she could finally do something, Ariana raised her goblet before preparing to take a sip.

“Princess Ariana,” Bayard added and Ariana forced herself to pause and incline her head politely in acknowledgment.

She waited for another beat to make sure he was done, but when he didn’t say anything else, she lifted the goblet again.

“The Lady Morgana,” Bayard said abruptly and Ariana barely stopped herself from exhaling hard in frustration. Did he have to take such long pauses between toasts?

She waited yet again, barely resisting the urge to tap her fingernails against the edge of her goblet.

“And to the people of Camelot!” Bayard gestured around the hall.

That had to be it, Ariana thought as she lifted the goblet yet again to her lips.

“And to fallen warriors on both sides,” Uther said suddenly and she bit her lip hard, hiding her mouth behind the goblet before anyone could see. While it was a valid enough toast, she really just wanted to be done with the pomp and circumstance so she could go ahead and drink enough wine to wipe away the uneasy feeling that had been brewing in the pit of her stomach since she had seen Merlin ducking out of the hall with the Mercian serving girl on his arm.

Blessedly, that seemed to be the end of the toast as everyone took a long sip from their goblets. Not wanting to seem too distracted, Ariana tilted the goblet towards her mouth.

“Stop! Don’t drink it, it’s poisoned!” Merlin pushed his way through the crowd, snatching the goblet out of Ariana’s hand and making her stumble backward in surprise. She caught herself before she could tread on the hem of her dress.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, startled.

“Bayard laced Ariana’s goblet with poison,” Merlin informed the room at large. When Ariana looked over her shoulder, she found her father’s face pale with rage, although at whom, she wasn’t certain.

“This is an outrage!” Bayard thundered, reaching for his sword as his men did the same, but just as quickly, Uther and the knights of Camelot had drawn their swords.

“Order your men to put down your swords, you’re outnumbered,” Uther answered calmly, but Ariana could hear the cold fury in his voice as the doors burst open and more guards rushed in to surround them.

“Now look what you’ve done, you’ve caused a scene,” she muttered under her breath to Merlin, taking the goblet back from him.

“Better a scene than you dead, I’d think,” he hissed back and she had to resist the urge to elbow him, reminding herself of the dire situation at hand.

“I will not allow this insult to go unchallenged!” Bayard protested.

“And on what grounds do you base this accusation?” Uther addressed Merlin.

“Father, it’s alright, I’m sure Merlin’s just been at the sloe gin this evening,” Ariana tried to pacify Uther, but Merlin set his jaw stubbornly, which Ariana knew meant he was about to get himself thrown into the stocks again. Did he never learn to keep his mouth shut around her father?

“He was seen lacing it.”

“By whom?” Uther demanded and Merlin bit his lip.

“I can’t say.” Shock descended over Ariana like a bucket of cold water being upended over her head; the Mercian serving girl had led Merlin out of the hall to warn him of the poison. She felt a twinge of guilt for the sour thoughts that had been plaguing her since that moment.

“I won’t listen to this anymore,” Bayard huffed. “If he won’t even say who his source is-”

“Maybe he’s protecting them from punishment for telling us what you did,” Ariana couldn’t stop herself from blurting out. Even Merlin stared at her, surprised that she had come to his aid.

“You dare-!” Bayard sputtered.

“Be silent, Ariana,” Uther said sharply and she pressed her lips together firmly, her face burning with embarrassment at being reprimanded in front of everyone. “Pass the goblet here.” She handed him the goblet wordlessly and he examined it for a long moment before saying slowly, “If you’re telling the truth, Bayard-”

“I am,” Bayard interrupted.

“Then you should have nothing to fear,” Uther finished calmly. Bayard sheathed his sword, reaching for the goblet, but Uther held it out of his reach. “No. If this does prove to be poisoned, I want the pleasure of killing you myself.” Ariana did her best not to shudder at how terrifying her father could be sometimes as he turned cold eyes on Merlin, who had turned pale, the slightest of tremors in his fists clenched at his sides. “You drink it, boy.”

“But if it’s poisoned, he’ll die!” Ariana argued, ignoring that she had been chastised for speaking only moments earlier.

“Then we’ll know he was telling the truth,” Uther said as casually as if he were suggesting having supper out in the garden on a mild summer day.

“And if he lives?” Bayard said skeptically.

“Then you have my apologies and can do with him as you will,” Uther answered.

“You can’t allow this!” Ariana tried again, ignoring the sharp look he gave her, as Gaius spoke up tentatively.

“Uther, please, he's just a boy. He doesn't know what he's saying-”

“Then you should've schooled him better,” Uther retorted.

“This is getting ridiculous, I’ll drink it,” Ariana decided, snatching the goblet from Uther’s hand before he could stop her.

“No, no, no,” Merlin said hurriedly, taking it just as quickly out of her hand. “I’ll drink it.” He met her eyes even as she opened her mouth to protest. “It’s alright, Ari.” Only the slightest hesitation in his voice gave his nerves away as he lifted the goblet to his lips, their eyes remaining locked as he drained the goblet in a few gulps. A few tense seconds passed as he lowered the goblet and Ariana felt her heart pounding in her throat in anxious anticipation. At long last, Merlin exhaled slowly, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “It’s fine,” he said quietly.

“He’s all yours,” Uther dismissed, turning away as Bayard gestured for his men to arrest Merlin.

Ariana let out a soft breath of relief that there was no poison, after all - maybe Merlin’s new girlfriend from Mercia had set him up to make him look like a fool - and squared her shoulders in preparation to address the idea of getting Merlin pardoned for his rashness, but then she caught sight of the wide-eyed look on his face as he reached for his throat. His breathing had suddenly become shallow and she could hear a horrible rattling with each breath he tried to take that made her heart seize with cold fear.

“Gaius, he can’t breathe!” she managed to call out, stumbling forward a step to catch Merlin as his knees buckled and he collapsed, the goblet falling with a clatter to the stone floor. “You idiot, why would you drink it?!” she snapped at him as she lowered him the rest of the way to the floor and grabbed for his hand, her vision blurring with angry tears as the hall erupted into chaos around them. “You knew it was poisoned!” As Gaius hurried forward through the crowd, Ariana pressed her forehead against Merlin’s impulsively as his unfocused blue eyes met hers. “Stay with me,” she pleaded under her breath so that only he could hear. For a moment, she wasn’t even sure he had heard her, but then his fingers tightened around hers imperceptibly before going slack as his eyes slid shut.

“We need to get him to my chambers,” Gaius said and only years of knowing him gave away to Ariana just how shaken he was by his ward being poisoned in front of him. Sniffling quickly to hide any sign of distress, she clambered to her feet, relieved that Gwen was beside her in the next instant to help haul Merlin’s arms around each of their shoulders to help carry him. Gaius had grabbed the goblet from the floor, clutching it tightly in his hand as they hurried out of the hall and down the corridor to the physician’s wing.

“Will he be alright?” Ariana demanded, her heart hammering in her throat with panic as she helped Gwen haul Merlin up the stone steps to the tower in which Gaius and Merlin lived.

“I can only find out once I check the goblet for the poison they used,” Gaius answered tersely. “Lay him on my bed when you get in, he’s struggling to breathe.” Ariana didn’t need Gaius to tell her that; she could hear the shallow, reedy breaths Merlin struggled to pull into his lungs even now as his head lolled onto her shoulder. Gaius opened the wooden door for them and Gwen and Ariana pulled Merlin onto the cot Gaius normally slept in. Feeling helpless to do anything else, Ariana tugged the thin blankets over Merlin’s trembling shoulders as heat radiated off his skin like a furnace.

“He has a fever,” she told Gaius over her shoulder.

“Fetch some water and a towel,” Gaius instructed Gwen, who hurried to retrieve the water from a barrel in the corner and a clean cloth.

“Can you cure him?” Ariana tried again desperately, grasping blindly for Merlin’s hand and relieved to feel his fingers close unconsciously around hers.

“I need time to examine the - ah.” Gaius peered into the goblet. “There’s something stuck inside.” He reached into the goblet with a metal pair of tweezers to pull the foreign object out. Ariana squinted at it, not recognizing the wine-stained object for a moment, before finally seeing it for what it was - a flower petal.

“His brow’s on fire,” Gwen fretted as she slotted herself in on the other side of the cot, feeling Merlin’s sweaty forehead with the back of her hand.

“Keep him cool,” Gaius instructed and Gwen dipped the cloth into the water she had gathered into a bowl, mopping Merlin’s forehead as he shivered and tried to turn away from the cold touch. Ariana pressed her free hand to his shoulder to hold him still before glancing over her shoulder at Gaius again.

“What is it?”

“A petal from the Mortaeus flower,” Gaius said as he reached for a book and opened it, scanning the contents. Ariana reluctantly released Merlin’s hand to climb to her feet and cross the room to join Gaius, peering at the book worriedly.

“What’s the antidote, then?” she asked.

“It says here that someone poisoned by the Mortaeus can only be saved by a potion made from the leaf of the very same flower,” Gaius read out loud.

“So we find the flower again,” Ariana confirmed. “Simple enough.”

“Not quite,” Gaius warned her. “It can only be found in the caves deep beneath the Forest of Balor. The flower grows on the roots of the Mortaeus tree.”

Ariana grimaced; she had only ever been near the Forest of Balor once during a hunting trip she had snuck out on a few years earlier, and even then, she had been told enough about the haunted trees and magical creatures roaming through the place to keep her distance. “That doesn’t look very friendly.” She pointed at the illustration of a creature beside the image of the Mortaeus flower. It looked like some sort of large reptile with clawed feet and sharp fangs.

“A cockatrice. It guards the forest. Its venom is potent. A single drop would mean certain death. Few who have crossed the Mountains of Isgaard in search of the Mortaeus flower have made it back alive.” Gaius raised his eyebrow at Ariana and she pursed her lips; the Eyebrow of Judgment was really beginning to get out of hand.

“Sounds like fun,” she said stubbornly instead.

“You know it’s too dangerous,” he reminded her.

“And if I don’t get the flower?” she pointed out. “What happens to Merlin?” They both instinctively glanced at Merlin, still shuddering underneath the blankets as Gwen dabbed at his forehead with the damp cloth, her warm brown eyes watching both of them worriedly.

“The Mortaeus induces a slow and painful death,” Gaius admitted quietly at last, not taking his eyes off Merlin. “He may hold out for four, maybe five days, but not for much longer. Eventually, he will die.”

“Then you know I have to go,” Ariana answered just as quietly. “If it weren’t for him, I’d be the one suffering through the poison right now.”

Gaius opened his mouth, but then closed it again without a word, leaving Ariana sure that he was convinced, albeit reluctantly. She returned to Merlin’s side, hesitating before smoothing her fingers through his dark hair to push it off his sweat-slick forehead. He shivered, turning his head unconsciously into her palm, and the goodnatured complaint brewing about how she was being forced to go on a grand quest to a dark and magical and possibly haunted forest - and for a servant, of all people - died in her throat.

“Don’t go dying on me until I get back, you hear me?” she murmured instead, trying to go for an irritated tone and ending up somewhere between fond and affectionate, to her frustration. Ignoring Gwen’s curious and all-too-knowing look, she turned on her heel and left the tower, taking the steps three at a time in her hurry to get to her chambers. Even without help, it took barely a few minutes for her to swap her dress for armor and head down to the stables.

She strode straight past the maids gossiping about how all of the Mercian dignitaries, including Bayard himself and all of their servants, had been locked up in the dungeons on account of the attempt on the princess’s life, dodged around the knights debating how best to prepare for the inevitable retaliatory attack from Mercia, and even waylaid Geoffrey of Monmouth on his way up from the archives, but it was Uther who caught her by the arm right as she was about to step outside the castle, dragging her back inside with such ease that it left her a little disgruntled.

“And where do you think you’re going?” he demanded once the doors were shut again.

“I’m going to get the Mortaeus flower from the Forest of Balor,” she answered firmly. Her father intimidated her more often than not, but she couldn’t bring herself to focus on how angry he was when the sound of Merlin’s rattling breaths still echoed in her ears. “It’s the only antidote for the poison Merlin drank.”

“What’s the point of having people taste for you if you’re going to get yourself killed, anyway?” Uther asked in frustration.

“I’m not going to fail,” Ariana said sullenly, flushing with anger at how quickly he’d assumed she wouldn’t return.

“Ariana, you’re my daughter and only heir.” Uther clasped her chainmail-covered shoulders firmly. “I will not lose you over some serving boy.”

“So, what, his life is worthless?” she snapped back, wriggling back out of his grasp.

“No, it’s worth less than yours,” he retorted sharply and the cruelty of his words left her feeling as stung as if he had hauled back and slapped her.

“You’re wrong,” she said quietly and heard him inhale sharply in anger; he had never liked to hear that he was wrong about anything. “I have to save him. I know I can. Let me take a few knights-”

“No, Ariana,” Uther interrupted, his jaw clenched. “I will not have Camelot’s future queen risked on some fool’s errand.”

“It’s not a fool’s errand. Gaius says-” she tried again.

“Oh, Gaius says?” Uther echoed skeptically, turning to head past her to the council room. “That’s exactly what makes it so.”

“Please,” Ariana begged before she could stop herself, grabbing her father’s hand. He scowled, trying to tug his hand out of hers, but she held on tightly. “He saved my life,” she said desperately. “I can’t just stand there and watch him die.”

Uther was silent for a long moment, his jaw working, before he tore his hand out of Ariana’s grasp. “Then don’t look,” he said, turning his back and walking away. “You are not to leave this castle. Guards, escort the princess to her chambers and do not let her out.”

Ariana could only gape at his retreating back in shock and hurt as two guards flanked her on either side, practically frog-marching her back to her rooms and unceremoniously shoving her inside before slamming the door shut behind her.

“Let me out!” She kicked the door, only earning a sharp pain lancing through her foot in return, before kicking off her boots so that they landed on her red ceremonial gown pooled in the corner and covered the expensive silk in dirt. She undid her armor and tossed the pieces around the room - sulkily tossing her helmet at the door with a dull clang in a particular act of defiance against the guards outside - before collapsing onto her bed and pressing her face hard into the pillow to let it soak up the frustrated tears that fell from her eyes.

Merlin would clean up the mess later, she told herself. He would whine and complain the whole time about how much of a royal toddler she was for throwing her things all over the place, but he would pick up every piece of armor and polish it until it gleamed, as he always did. He would probably wash the dirt stains out of her dress, too, even if that technically wasn’t his job, because it didn’t matter one whit to him if she were a boy or a girl or a knight or a princess.

But Merlin wouldn’t clean up anything anymore. He wouldn’t stroll into her chambers the next morning like he owned the place and yank open her curtains to wake her with a sudden burst of sunlight and a chipper attitude that was both welcome and grating first thing in the morning. He was currently bedridden with poison meant for her coursing through his veins instead, and within a few days, he would be gone, and all because she was confined to her chambers like a child.

After what felt like an eternity, the door cracked open and even without looking up, Ariana could tell by the soft sounds of silk slippers on stone that it was Morgana. The bed sank under her weight as she sat beside Ariana, slender fingers smoothing down her short blonde hair.

“You’ve made an awful mess for Merlin to clean up when he gets better,” she said casually after a moment.

“He’s not going to get better, if Father has anything to say about it,” Ariana muttered into her pillow miserably.

“Yes, Uther told me. And what do you have to say about it?” Ariana tilted her head to see Morgana staring down at her, eyebrow raised expectantly.

“There’s nothing to say about it.” She rolled onto her back, knocking Morgana’s hand off her head. “He was right about one thing, anyway. If anything happens to me, the kingdom wouldn’t have any heir to the throne. Without a queen, Camelot will fall.”

“And what sort of queen do you suppose Camelot wants?” Morgana answered sharply. “One who risks her life to save that of a lowly servant? Or one who does what her father tells her to do?”

“You think I should go,” Ariana realized, relieved that Morgana was on her side.

Morgana shrugged one shoulder. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”

Ariana sighed wearily. “Well, in any case, I can’t even leave this room.”

“Oh, I took care of that.” Morgana casually set a coil of rope on the bed between them and Ariana stared at her. “You'd be surprised what you can get away with having in one hand if you’ve got the cook’s pork pies in the other to bribe the guards with,” Morgana said with a cheeky grin even before Ariana could open her mouth to ask.

“I love you,” she said fervently instead, sitting up and throwing her arms unceremoniously around Morgana, who patted her back briefly.

“Now let’s get you into your armor. No time to waste if you want to be back in time to help Merlin.” Ariana nodded as she scrambled off the bed to gather her discarded armor.

If Merlin lived through this, Ariana decided as Hengroen carried her back to Camelot at a gallop, Mortaeus flower secured in a pouch hanging from her belt, she would hold the fact that she had had to go through a cavern of giant spiders against him forever. Honestly, it had been bad enough that she had had to kill a cockatrice that was very much not pleased to have her in its forest, but then the girl she had rescued from the creature - her features distinct enough that it was a miracle Ariana hadn’t recognized her as the serving girl from Mercia sooner - turned out to be a witch who had tried to kill her in said cavern of spiders, trapping her in the dark to fend off dozens of spiders larger than her own head with spindly legs that Ariana could swear she could still feel crawling along her arms in an attempt to attack her.

She shuddered at the memory of the sensation, causing Hengroen to slow in his pace as he craned his neck back at his rider. She patted his neck to soothe him before nudging his sides with her heels to keep him moving towards Camelot. The sooner she could get home, the sooner she could hand the flower off to Gaius and then take a hot bath in which she would scrub her skin red and raw to get rid of the feeling of spider legs crawling on her.

Then there had been the mysterious orb of light, she recalled as the spires of the castle grew closer, which was an enigma that she didn’t know if she wanted solved. It hadn’t seemed to want to harm her like the witch or the spiders - if anything, it had just floated in the empty air beside her to illuminate little footholds in the rock that she’d used to hoist herself up and out of the cave slowly after she had tucked a Mortaeus flower safely into her pouch. The orb had been magical, there was no doubt about it, and she knew magic meant nothing but bad news - and yet the orb had simply dissipated once she had been out in the open air of the forest.

No, she corrected herself, it hadn’t simply dissipated; it had waited for her to brush her gloved fingers against it in an impulsive moment of curiosity and then dissipated, but not before flooding her with a deluge of warmth, like she was suddenly sitting right in front of a roaring campfire or receiving an embrace from Morgana or Gwen, enveloping Ariana in a sense of security she’d hardly ever felt before.

She tugged on the reins to slow Hengroen to a halt as a group of four knights met her at the citadel gate, Sir Leon at the helm. Swallowing, she slid off her saddle, allowing one of the knights to lead Hengroen away - but not before Hengroen snorted and attempted to nip the man’s fingers in protest - before taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, hands on her hips.

“What’s all this for, then?” she demanded, sounding a lot bolder than she felt.

“We’ve, er, been ordered to arrest you,” Leon admitted cautiously.

“And you can,” she reassured him, relaxing marginally when she saw how hesitant he seemed to actually arrest her. “If you’ll permit me a fifteen-minute headstart.”

He blinked at her, bemused. “My lady?”

“You were at the banquet,” she reminded him. “You saw what Merlin did for me. I have the antidote for the poison, I can save him. Just give me fifteen minutes to get it to him and then you’re free to barge into Gaius’s chambers and arrest me.”

Leon hesitated. “You know what your father’s like. He won’t be happy.”

“He’d let Merlin die to teach me a lesson,” Ariana retorted, “Yes, I’m well aware of what he’s like.”

Leon glanced at the remaining two knights behind him - both of whom had been under Ariana’s direct training ever since her knighthood and would defer to her over him - and exhaled heavily. “You have ten minutes,” he conceded. “Take the northern stairwell, less guards to stop you and you’ll get to Gaius faster. If your father asks, you were just too fast for us.”

Ariana couldn’t help a relieved smile. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She threw her arms around Leon in a quick hug before taking off at a sprint, ducking around marketgoers in the citadel square and taking the northern stairwell as Leon had suggested. She took the stairs three at a time, just as she had while going down two days earlier, and very nearly stumbled through Gaius’s chamber door, breathless and panting.

“You got it!” Gwen gasped, her chair screeching against the stone floor as she leapt to her feet and hurried to catch Ariana before she slumped over in exhaustion.

“I got it,” she wheezed, unhooking the pouch from her belt and handing it over to Gaius as he abandoned his workbench to join them. “How is he?” she asked as she caught her breath, casting a glance to the bed only to find Merlin looking even paler than when she had left him, soaked in sweat and his lips tinged blue.

“Much worse, I’m afraid,” Gaius said as he retrieved the flower from the pouch and examined it. “An enchantment was involved in the poison, it amplified the effects on him. You arrived just in time for the final stage.”

“What?” Ariana’s head spun and her knees buckled as Gwen steadied her again; she had thought she had made it back with more than enough time to spare. “But - but I got back so quickly.”

“You couldn’t have known about the enchantment. Even we didn’t know until after you'd left,” Gwen reassured her, guiding her to the chair she had abandoned earlier. Ariana collapsed into it, feeling like her legs were on fire with how fast she had run up to the tower as she looked Merlin over. Gaius had changed him out of the silly outfit Ariana had made him wear to the banquet and into a soft-looking blue tunic instead while she had been away, but even that was soaked through with sweat, much like the rest of him.

“Is the flower enough?” she asked hoarsely, reaching for Merlin’s hand to clutch it again. His fingers were icy against hers and barely twitched in response to her touch. “Can you make the antidote?”

“Yes, it’s in perfect condition,” Gaius reassured her, preparing a mortar and pestle to grind up the leaves from the flower’s stem. She let the tension drain marginally out of her shoulders as she laced her fingers with Merlin’s, hardly even aware she was doing it.

“It had better be, I climbed through a cave full of giant spiders for the damn thing,” she muttered and Gwen’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline as she settled on Merlin’s other side, kneeling on the floor.

“Spiders? But you’re terrified of spiders.”

“Yes, and after what just happened, that fear’s entirely justified. I’m never letting this one live it down.” Ariana lifted Merlin’s hand intertwined with hers, shaking it a little before lowering it again as he gasped a weak, rattling breath - the same one that had haunted her since she had left.

She reached up with her free hand before she could stop herself, smoothing his damp hair back from his forehead. His skin burned to the touch, despite how cold his fingers were, and despite how irritated she was by everything she had had to go through in the past few days for him, she felt her heart wrench when he moaned pitifully, turning his head into her hand.

“Shh,” she murmured instinctively. “I made it back, it’s alright.” His eyelids fluttered briefly at the sound of her voice as he settled, his fingers curling weakly around hers, and she called over her shoulder, “Gaius, is the antidote ready yet?” When he didn’t answer, she tore her eyes from Merlin’s anguished face to find that Gaius had stopped crushing the leaves, staring into the mortar grimly. “What is it?” she asked, dread sinking in the pit of her stomach.

“The poison was created using magic,” Gaius admitted hesitantly, “We may need magic to make an antidote.”

Bile rose in Ariana’s throat at the thought, but even before she could decide whether it was worth the risk or not, Gwen spoke up tentatively, “But we can’t. It’s forbidden, even if we could.”

“I’ll make it work without it,” Gaius decided, giving Ariana a brief nod to acknowledge her indecision. She exhaled quietly, ducking her head to press her forehead against Merlin’s cold knuckles so that Gaius and Gwen wouldn’t see the burning tears in her eyes. “I’ll need some fresh water, Gwen,” Gaius requested and Gwen sniffled before climbing to her feet to leave the room. “Ariana, if you could grab a clean cloth from Merlin’s room?” Swallowing, Ariana climbed to her feet and reluctantly untangled her fingers from Merlin’s to head up the small set of stairs to his room.

The room was still a mess - as if anything else could be expected from Merlin - with rumpled sheets thrown over his cot and clothes strewn over the floor. The red neckerchief he had been wearing on his second day in Camelot - the day he had first walked up to Ariana with full confidence and absolutely zero self-preservation - lay on the tiny table by his bed and she snatched it up instinctively. He could wash it later, she reasoned, once he'd recovered.

As she descended the steps again to return to Merlin’s side, she heard the sizzle of the potion brewing and felt the tension in her shoulders ease slightly; somehow, Gaius had gotten the antidote working. Gwen rushed in a moment later with a bowl of water, which Gaius poured into the cup he had prepared for the antidote with a quiet thanks to her. Gwen settled back on the floor opposite Ariana’s chair, her hands clasped in silent prayer as she chewed her lip worriedly. Ariana dabbed at Merlin’s forehead with the neckerchief, mopping up the sweat as best as she could.

“Hold his nose,” Gaius instructed and Gwen reached over to pinch Merlin’s nose, forcing his mouth open as Gaius poured the antidote in. “Swallow, Merlin,” he urged quietly.

“Can’t blame him for resisting it, most of your remedies taste awful,” Ariana deadpanned to try and ease the frantic pace of her own heart as she gave up on mopping Merlin’s forehead and slid her hand into his again. There was no reaction from him, not even a twitch of his fingers against hers. Even his chest had stopped moving, the rattling breaths slowing to a halt.

“Did it work?” Gwen asked anxiously and Gaius brushed her back gently to press his head against Merlin’s chest. “He’s stopped breathing. Gaius? Why isn’t it working?” Gwen asked behind him, her panic growing. Ariana swallowed the lump in her throat, her fingers tightening around Merlin’s, but the grim expression on Gaius’s face in the next moment made her freeze.

“His heart has stopped,” he said quietly.

“But - but he took the antidote,” Ariana blurted out, bewildered. “It should have worked.”

“He’s dead?” Gwen breathed as her voice cracked.

“But...that can’t be right,” Gaius said, sounding vaguely like he had been hit over the head as he sat back on the stone floor beside Gwen numbly. “It was his destiny. He can’t be dead.”

“It was my fault,” Ariana realized as hot tears blurred her vision. “I didn’t get here quick enough.”

“Ari, no,” Gwen tried to console her around a sob, but Ariana shook her head as tears splashed down her cheeks.

“I took too long getting out of the castle, and then getting to the forest, and then the cave of spiders, and - but, wait, I was supposed to have four days, not two!” she snapped suddenly, a wave of anger overtaking her as she glared tearfully at Merlin, dull and lifeless in front of her. “I got here in half the time I was told! And I did not fight a cockatrice and escape a crazy witch and climb through a cave full of giant spiders for him to die on me now! Wake up, you idiot!” She slapped him hard across the face, but all it accomplished was his head flopping sideways against the pillow, a red mark blooming on his pale cheek.

“Ari!” Gwen gasped, scandalized.

“You don’t get to drink poison for me and then die even after I risked my neck to get you an antidote!” Ariana shouted at Merlin, although he seemed perfectly content in being too dead to hear her. “And you certainly don’t get to leave me when I just got used to you! Don’t pretend you’re dead just to get out of chores, wake up!” She wanted to hit him again, but the anger was draining out of her as fast as it had appeared and she collapsed back into her chair, burying her face into her hands.

“I should’ve looked after him better,” Gaius said in a trembling voice and Gwen climbed to her feet to hug him tightly, but Ariana didn’t bother to look up as she pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes.

“Oh, that’s disgusting,” a voice rasped from the bed, “You’re old enough to be her grandfather.” Ariana dropped her hands to gape at Merlin, who was blinking bemusedly at all of them as he pushed himself up onto his elbows. “Did someone hit me?” he asked next, probing his cheek with a wince.

“I knew it!” Ariana pointed at him wildly and he stared at her, stunned. “You lazy halfwit, you were pretending to die to get out of chores!” Gwen hiccuped a laugh at the hint of hysteria in her voice. “Of all the nerve,” Ariana huffed as she settled down again, but Merlin was already peering at her face far closer than she would have liked, blue eyes that she had only moments ago thought she’d never see again examining the obvious tear tracks on her cheeks.

“Were you crying?” he asked, horrified.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she retorted immediately, but then gave up the pretense and pressed her face into his shoulder as hard as she could, not caring that his tunic was damp with sweat and her nose was uncomfortably mashed into his collarbone.

“Ariana!” Gaius and Gwen said sternly at the same time, but Ariana felt more than saw Merlin hold a hand up to stop them before his arms carefully slid around her.

“I’m here,” he said quietly. A choked sob escaped her before she could stop it and heat flooded into her cheeks with embarrassment, but all that happened was a minute tightening of Merlin’s arms around her. She took a moment to wipe her eyes on the collar of his tunic - what were a few more droplets of water when the whole thing was soaked through? - before pulling back reluctantly to examine his face.

He was still worryingly pale and wobbling slightly as he sat upright, but despite that and the steadily-reddening mark left on his cheek where she had slapped him - it would definitely bruise, and she felt a twinge of guilt - he was smiling broadly, even if it was tinged with exhaustion. Finally, she managed a tiny smile back at him, the sheer relief that he was alive flooding through her.

Merlin opened his mouth to say something, but there was a knock on the door in the next moment and Ariana jerked back from him like she’d been burned as Leon peeked around the door.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” he said when he noticed Merlin sitting up and Ariana was surprised to find that he seemed sincerely relieved. “Alright, time to go, princess.” He gestured to the corridor.

“Go?” Merlin echoed, bewildered.

“Oh, yeah, I’m being arrested for getting you the antidote that saved your life,” Ariana explained with a shrug and he gaped at her. “It’s fine, I’ll be out in a week. Probably. Plenty of time for you to recover and get back to work,” she reassured him, which did nothing to ease his confusion.

“Don’t make me drag you out in chains, Ari, the king’s angry enough as it is,” Leon sighed and Ariana held her hands up in surrender, getting to her feet and making her way to the door.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming.” She glanced over her shoulder to find Gaius drawing Merlin into a tight embrace, Gwen soon following him, and decided that a week in chains wouldn’t be so bad if this was the reason for it. “Hey!” she called and the three of them looked up, startled. “Remember me fondly even though I’m a criminal now!”

Another teary giggle sputtered out of Gwen and Gaius rolled his eyes goodnaturedly, but Merlin grinned widely, lifting his hand to wave as Ariana was led out of sight by a fondly-exasperated Leon. If she memorized how Merlin’s smile was far too large for his face and made his eyes crinkle at the corners in that split second before she rounded the corner, that was for only her to know.

The screech of curtains being pulled back roughly startled Ariana awake and she bolted upright in bed before sighing wearily and collapsing back against the mattress when she recognized Merlin’s bright smile on the other side of the room.

“You’re not due back at work until tomorrow,” she mumbled, pulling the pillow over her head to hide her face. She had been finally allowed out of the dungeons late the previous night once Uther had decided she had served her time, even if she hadn’t and wouldn’t apologize for sneaking out of the castle against his wishes. Then again, Morgana had snuck her a small loaf of blueberry bread from the kitchens, which had been more than enough incentive to stick out the week without apologizing, even under her father’s disapproving scowl.

“Gaius says I’m fit as a fiddle,” Merlin answered cheerfully. “And would you look at that, it’s a lovely day outside! No war with Mercia, King Bayard and his men are going home to their kingdom peacefully. Truly cause for celebration! Rise and shine, princess!”

Ariana didn’t bother to stir, far too exhausted from sleeping in a cell for the past week to deal with Merlin’s usual morning-person attitude, no matter how much she had secretly missed it.

“I think I preferred you when you were unconscious,” she grumbled instead and pointedly ignored his footsteps coming closer, keeping her head firmly underneath her pillow and preparing to kick him if he tried to take her warm, cozy blankets from her, but then the bed sank slightly under Merlin’s weight as he sat on the edge of the mattress.

“So, um, Gwen told me about your fear of spiders,” he ventured uncomfortably.

“‘Course she did,” Ariana muttered irritably. “You two are a menace together, always conspiring against me. I don’t like it. Next, you’ll turn Morgana against me. Probably already have, knowing you two traitors.”

“And I heard you going on about going through a cave full of giant spiders among other things when I was, you know, actually dying,” he emphasized, ignoring her. “And not faking it like you thought I was.”

“You were faking it,” she retaliated, unwilling to consider the alternative - that he had really been gone for at least a moment - as she swung her pillow around to swat him. He batted it away absently and she finally noticed the serious expression on his face.

“I’m trying to say ‘thank you,’ you brat.” Still, the corner of his mouth twitched, giving way to a smile, and she rolled her eyes before kicking him, although it was really more of a nudge of her toes against his hip since she didn’t have the heart to put any force behind it.

“Yeah, you, too. But if you tell anyone I cried over you, I’ll kill you myself.”

That earned an actual laugh out of him as he climbed to his feet and tugged her blankets off the bed. “Yeah, alright, you softie, your secret’s safe with me. Come on, get up.”

“I hate you,” Ariana huffed as she rolled her way out of bed.

“No, you don’t, and I have proof,” Merlin sing-songed as she made her way across the room to grab the clothes he had already laid out for her, promptly ducking out of the way when she swung a fist half-heartedly at him as she passed.

“Insufferable, that’s what you are,” she retorted, wishing she had a hairbrush within easy reach to throw at him, but smiling all the same.

“A-hem.” Both of them jumped, wheeling around sheepishly to find Uther in the doorway. “Leave us,” he addressed Merlin, who ducked his head in a rare show of subservience, but cast Ariana one last tiny grin before slipping out of her chambers.

“You owe him an apology,” she pointed out unapologetically as she retrieved the set of clothes she would wear for the day - a soft tunic that would go well under her chainmail and armor, along with a pair of boy’s trousers - and set them at the foot of her bed. “If it had been up to you, he wouldn’t be here right now.”

“And you would have been safe,” Uther reminded her. “Without having to climb through - what was it again that you kept complaining about to every guard that passed your cell? Oh, that’s right, a cave full of spiders bigger than your own head.”

Ariana distinctly heard Merlin stifle a snort of amusement from just outside the closed door. “Go away, Merlin!” she shouted at the door and heard his muffled laughter as his footsteps retreated down the hall. When she turned back to her father, he was shaking his head, although the small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth reassured her that he wasn’t as irritated as he seemed.

“Honestly, you and that boy,” he muttered. “You’re like children around each other.”

“I won’t apologize for saving his life,” she said firmly. “I made that clear the day I came home.”

“I would have thought a week in the dungeons would make you see sense, but clearly not,” Uther said and gestured to her bed, silently offering her a seat. She obediently sat on the edge of her bed, fiddling with her fingers - an old, anxious habit of hers when it came to being reprimanded by her father. "The woman you met in the forest, did she say anything to you?"

Startled at the turn the conversation had taken, Ariana shook her head as she dropped her gaze to her hands in her lap. "Not much, she was too busy trying to get me killed. I assume she was Nimueh? The sorceress who poisoned the water supply? She sounded like she knew me, but I'd never met her before. Why would she want me dead?"

"She is a sorceress, nothing more to it," Uther dismissed. "Those who practice magic know only evil. They despise and seek to destroy goodness wherever they find it. That is why she wanted you dead."

"It's strange," Ariana admitted, "When she had me cornered, she could have killed me easily. But she said that my destiny wasn't to die at her hand and left me to climb out of the cave."

"You must've been scared," her father said and when she dared to look up again, his expression was unreadable.

"More that I wouldn't get back in time than for my safety," she admitted honestly and then added to relieve the sudden tension in the room, "Although the spiders didn't help."

Uther cracked a wry smile at that. "Well, I can’t say I’m entirely pleased with the way you have been conducting yourself. You throw yourself into danger far too recklessly for your own good. But for what it’s worth, you did the right thing in rescuing your manservant, even if you were disobeying me.”

She stared at him, stunned. “What?”

“I’m proud of you, Ariana. You may not be a perfect princess, but you’re a good person.” He squeezed her shoulder briefly. “Never forget that.”

She blinked a few times to get her bearings again before managing a tentative smile at him. “I won’t.”

“Good.” He ruffled her short hair briefly in a rare, playful gesture. “Now get ready for the day or you’ll be late for training with the knights. And make sure that servant of yours actually puts your armor on properly. After a week off, he’s probably out of practice.”

“Yes, sir.” She watched him leave her room and shut the door behind him before rushing to get dressed, unable to stop smiling.