Shade 2: Jelousy
It had been six months since Arthur's rescue and it seemed that everything in the palace had returned to normal. Or had it?
Arthur sat down at the table, greeted warmly by a smile from his wife and a hearty breakfast. Merlin leant over Arthur's shoulder, filling his goblet with wine before leaving the room to go and talk to gauis.
"I have something i need to tell you Arthur" Guinevere stated plainly
"What is it Guinevere?" Arthur said picking up his wine
"Im pregnant..."
Queen Guinevere sat smiling, anticipating the excitement and joy she was about to recieve from her husband; instead she was met with a face full of wine.
The news took a while to sink in. Upon registering what his wife had just announced Arthur choked on his wine, sending it spiralling far across the table as he spat it in Gwen's direction.
The Queen sat stunned. Wiping her face with a napkin, she looked up at her husband with a dropped jaw.
"I...I'm sorry Guinevere" He continued "This is excellent news.."
Gwen sighed "You dont sound convinced"
"I am Gwen! I am!" Arthur rushed to his wife's side cradling her hand as he spoke softly "And to celebrate... We will hold a joust! All weekend! In your honour of course..."
Gwen smiled "I would like that very much"
"Good" Arthur rose from his knee's contented, he looked towards the doorframe and briskly tiptoed over to it. Poking his head round the corner, he looked both ways and sighed. "MERLIN!"
*****
The knights of Camelot and its neighbouring kingdoms had been preparing for the tournament all week. Gwaine, Leon and Percival were all so certain they would win, that they took bets. Arthur had been so stressed lately, hopefully the tournament would provide an opertunity for him to relax.
The first day was highly succesfull. Crowds roared for hours as they watched noblemen from many different kingdoms brutally beat eachother to death; after knocking their opponent from the horse, the knights would then finish the show with an impressive sword battle. Out of Camelot's knights however, only two remained.
Sir Leon and Sir Percival trotted to their tent, met by Merlin who began cleaning their helmets.
"I can't wait for tommorow" Leon admitted
"Me too" Percival agreed "Where's Gwaine?"
"In his room" Merlin interupted.
Percival glanced Leon a concerned look before hurrying out of the tent to check on Gwaine.
Softly knocking on Gwaine's door, Percival poked his head around...
"Sulking?" He questioned
Gwaine turned "Get out Percival, I'm not in the mood"
"You don't have to feel bad just because you lost..." said Percival, a childish smirk forming on his face "Or is it just because you've finally realised I'm better than you?"
Gwaine tossed Percival a look of disgust before slamming the door in his face.
*****
The next day Percival didn't even try to reason with Gwaine, it was a lost cause... Instead he focused on doing Arthur proud in the second day of the competition.
A new challenger stepped forward, around 5' 6" he walked slowly, head high and back straight. Confidence oozed from him as he gripped his sword tightly and eyeballed Sir Leon.
Leon shuffled nervously "Who is he?"
"Im not sure, no one is... He's not taken that helmet off since he got here" Merlin said, Fumbling with Leon's codpiece.
"So i don't know who I'm fighting... Great!" Leon sighed.
Whoever this new 'knight' was, he was unstoppable. Tearing through the arena he managed to pulverise Percival, Leon and 3 other knights. Arthur and Guinevere looked on in delight at the effort and skill this young warrior put into his fight. Arthur had seen a sword swung like this only once before... Mordred?
After effortlessly destroying the rest of the competition, it seemed the new challenger was un-defeatable. The king decided he needed to step up. Arthur quickly jumped into his armour, barely having time to breath before he was thrust onto his horse.
Arthur sat on his horse blinded by the gleaming armour of his opponent. He breathed slowly and deeply (getting 'in the zone'). As the horses geered up to charge at eachother, Arthur opened his eyes wide and loosened the reigns; squeezing the horse's stomach with his legs he erupted into a loud "HYAA!".
The two thundered towards eachother. The Crowd, The Queen and the Knights of Camelot held their breath as they saw the king knocked flying from his horse. He closed his eyes and groaned. His opponent quickly wipped out his sword and held Arthur to the ground. The king lay still, a sword at his throat.
The Queen stood up. She looked nervously at Merlin, Percival and Leon who were all stood at the side of her with open mouths.
Arthur squealed quietly as he felt the sharp blade press harder on his neck. Trying to reach his sword, he tensed (making a rather unattractive face). Looking up at the silver helmet of his challenger, Arthur's eyes admitted defeat.
The challenger lifted his sword gently and slid it back into it's casing. Arthur, stunned by this act, stayed grounded to the floor. His opponent stretched out his arm and pulled the young king to his feet, bowing in respect after he did so.
"Thankyou young knight..." Arthur panted "Now please, let yourself be known"
The crowd erupted into applause.The knight hesitated. He balled his fists and looked around at the crowd. Slowly lifting his arms, he grabbed his helmet and pulled it from his head; revealing not what you'd expect.
Arthur stepped back in shock as thick blonde locks emerged from underneath the helmet.
"Your a woman!?" Arthur's voice echoed through the arena as it fell silent.
"Lady Reevena at your service sire" the woman curtsied as well as she could in her armour.
