bitchprince | Camelot, Saturday

Entry tags:

Camelot, Saturday

The guards of Camelot were up well and early tonight. This, as became immediately apparent to the villagers, would not be one of the peaceful days.

"Search the stables!" Arthur bellowed, stomping across the roads within the city walls as if he owned the place, which technically, it did. "You, check the kitchens. And you, go see about the guards above the South Gate!"

Homes were rifled through, shops were poked at, people were questioned. And all barely after the first rooster had crowed, at that. Whatever was happening, it was obviously big.

[[ the below contains spoilers for Merlin episodes 2x05 and 2x06 ]]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

About ten minutes later, Arthur burst in through the door of his chambers. He didn't even bother to check who was there; he knew who was.

"You need to get out of here! The king's ordered me to arrest you."

Time to report on their progress. Arthur wasn't exactly looking forward to this, but he was hardly going to show it. He gestured imperiously at two certain female 'servants' as he passed them by on his way to the throne room, and didn't bother to check if they were following him - he assumed so.

He pushed open the doors, and stalked into the audience chamber. "Sire," he said, formally, "Lady Catrina. I fear that Merlin appears to have fled."

He could lie straight to his father's face these days. He was not going to think about that.

Gaius had had to reassure Gwen that Merlin was a quick rider; he would surely make it to the northern borders before any of Arthur's men could reach him. With a sigh, he finally managed to drag his water in through the doors of his chamber, and set it down on the table.

He walked up to the small barrel of grain at the back of his workshop, and knocked on it. Lightly.

Mmmmm. Smells like plotty.

"What?" Merlin asked, clinging to the bed sheets he was removing like a scandalized maiden for all of a second before the whole 'arrest you' thing hit. "Why?!"

One certain female 'servant' was having a hard time schooling the WTF off her face. Not because she didn't know Merlin was being searched for high and low; she'd got that quite clearly when a guard had burst into the room where she was sewing and suggested that Merlin might be hiding under the table - or possibly under her skirt.

Him, she at least got to say "Seriously?" to. Arthur while his father was in the room, not to mention Queen Bitchface? (She wasn't being mean; the woman was beating out Arthur for it today.) Not so much.

"The Queen has accused you of taking her Seal," Arthur said, stalking straight on past him. Damn it.

"I didn't take anything!" Yes, because that was important now.

"I don't want to know, and you haven't got time to explain," Arthur said, simply. 'Gathering evidence', whatever it was-- he really didn't care. He took a quick gander through the door on the other end of the room to ensure that there was no one around at all. "If you value your life, you'll leave Camelot right now."

"Leave leave?"

"Until I manage to put an end to this," he said. "Hopefully not long-- look, Merlin, you really don't have time." Uther'd have him executed for less, for god's sakes.

"I--" Merlin, don't make a kicked puppy face. It ruins the drama of the scene.

He grabbed Arthur's jacket, pulling him forward for a quick kiss. "I have my mobile."

Arthur kissed him back as swiftly as he could.

Someone banged on the front door. "Sire?!"

"I'll text," he said, pulling back to throw said door a quick look. Then he pushed Merlin towards the back one. "Just go," he snapped.

And away Merlin went. Because Camelot had somehow gone more insane in the past week.

If that was even possible.

The lid shot up and out of the grain, Merlin came gasping for air. "Let's never do that again, yeah?"

"Hopefully not," Gaius said, stepping aside so he could get out. "They've picked up the trail that we left, but it won't fool them for long."

"Then we'll just have to work quickly, won't we?"

Gaius nodded quickly, and glanced towards the door. "You must get to the Lady Catrina's chambers, and see what you can find," he advised. "But be careful. The guards are still looking for you."

"I... fear he may have slipped our net," Arthur continued. As politely as he could manage.

Catrina's eyes were calculating. And a little suspicious. "You're very quick to give up the chase," she murmured.

Right. This would not be easy. "That is because I know my quarry is long gone," Arthur said, after a long beat, and very carefully. Not that it helped any.

"How can you be so certain?!" Uther barked, with his usual disappointment clearly in his eyes. If it hadn't been that this charade was all for Merlin's sake, Arthur would have flinched worse than he did. As it stood, his eyes merely dulled, a little bit. This was important.

"Well, despite appearances, Merlin isn't stupid," he said, rubbing at his eye to hide it. "He must've gotten wind we were looking for him, and left."

"Outwitting your army in the process," said Catrina, every word emphasised just to attack Arthur's competence. He cautioned himself not to bristle and give the game away.

"It appears so," he said. Lightly.

Catrina's lips pursed, and she leaned over towards Uther. "I thought your men aspired to the same high standards that my father instilled in you," she said.

"When I led the army," Uther said, thoughtfully, "They did."

And wasn't that a kick in the pants.

Arthur considered the floor. "There's no saying he's even still in Camelot. He could be anywhere."

"And that," Catrina replied, tilting her head up fiercely, "Is a good enough reason to give up?"

He did bristle, this time.

"I'm not. It's just that I believe that our resources--"

"I've heard enough of your excuses," Uther snapped. "We both have. I want the boy found!"

And anything he said would just make this end... very badly. Arthur bowed his head. "Sire," he said, and then muttered, mostly under his breath, "Milady," before he spun around, and began to stalk out of the audience chambers, past Katchoo and Francine.

It took everything Katchoo had to keep herself from grabbing his arm and hauling him back right that moment -- not her 'place,' not in her servant's role. It was much less her 'place' to keep from peeling Catrina's face like a banana, as tempting as that had been for days now.

She'd already known the situation was dire before they'd arrived; she'd nearly been run over by a pair of guards while struggling with armfuls of wet laundry and it hadn't been hard to deduce they were looking for Merlin when they'd been yelling about it so much.

She counted to five -- slowly, gritting her teeth, glancing toward Francine several times in a hopefully meaningful way -- and muttered a few hasty excuses before backing toward the door after Arthur.

A hopefully meaningful way that meant Follow me so you can make sure I don't come back and peel the Queen's face like a banana? Because Francine was totally on board the follow Arthur train already.

"The hell?" she whispered to Katchoo when they were just (or maybe almost) out of earshot of the royals and struggling to catch up with Arthur.

Arthur's footsteps might have slowed... slightly, for their sake if nothing else. He wasn't really in a for their sake kind of mood, though, so it wasn't much slower.

He was also headed for a quieter part of the castle. Possibly to talk to them. Possibly to tear his hair out in clumps.

Yes. Yes, it had been that sort of meaningful . . . meaning.

"The hell if I know," she hissed back through her teeth. Thank God Arthur wasn't taller, or this catching-up thing would be a much taller (pun intended) order.

At least he was still in visual range; Katchoo'd been trying to memorize the layout of the castle as much as possible but that was a long way from a done deal.

"Why is everyone looking for Merlin?" Far enough away from the audience chamber, that question was thrown at anyone who would listen, though mostly towards Arthur's back. She didn't voice aloud her immediate and most obvious fear as to why; not where anyone who wasn't them could hear.

Arthur's step faltered for a moment. "The Lady Catrina claims he has stolen her Seal," he said, delicately. "So my father has ordered his arrest. He seems to be in a mood for an execution, rather than just cutting his hands off."

"Why would Merlin steal a seal? And why did she have a seal in the castle anyway? They need to live in the ocean!"

The rather colorful and anachronistic oath that came out of Katchoo's mouth was partly muffled by the resounding echo when she slapped her hand against her forehead loudly.

It wasn't just Francine's question that prompted that, by the way.

"And," she said, the look on her face implying something the complete opposite of the scandalized tone she was affecting, "he's just disappeared?"

"Nowhere to be found," Arthur agreed, very, very lightly. "Such a pity. He must be halfway to the borders of the kingdom by now."

Hopefully.

Then he added, "Not that kind of Seal, for God's sakes, Francine."

"Well, it's not likes it would make any more sense for him to steal any other kind of seal." Said not at all grumpily. Or worriedly. At all.

"Think of it like stealing her driver's license, Francie," Katchoo suggested. Which wasn't entirely accurate, but close enough, right?

"Yes, exactly like that, except a thousand times more expensive," Arthur said.

He'd gone for dry, but... Francine-mocking was a little ingrained by now.

"And not replaceable by standing in line for ten hours at the DMV."

Excruciating as that was.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Camelot, Saturday

Arthur's Chambers, Morning

Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Gaius's Chambers, Noon

OOC

Re: Arthur's Chambers, Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Arthur's Chambers, Morning

Re: Arthur's Chambers, Morning

Re: Arthur's Chambers, Morning

Re: Arthur's Chambers, Morning

Re: Arthur's Chambers, Morning

Re: Arthur's Chambers, Morning

Re: Arthur's Chambers, Morning

Re: Arthur's Chambers, Morning

Re: Gaius's Chambers, Noon

Re: Gaius's Chambers, Noon

Re: Gaius's Chambers, Noon

Re: Gaius's Chambers, Noon

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning

Re: Audience Chambers, Later That Morning