Arthur's Sons (Book 1)

The Moment of Truth (Part 3)

"I won't be able to teach you everything there is to know about fighting with a sword, but you can learn the basics: the stance, how to parry a blow, how to land your own. On my count! One! Two! Three! Four! Now, you may have to watch for the feint. So, keep your feet moving, and only stay in range long enough to land your blow. And again. One! Two! Three! Four!"

Merlyn stands off to the side helping Gwen and Morgana by putting together arrows while she watches Arthur train the villagers and the twins help him by correcting stances and running through the drills themselves.

"There is no way they're going to be able to hold Kanen off." Morgana says watching the small group of male villagers sadly while she sharpens a sword and Gwen quickly agrees.

"Men aren't the only ones who can fight." Gwen says and Merlyn sighs putting down another arrow before standing and walking over to Arthur who has stopped to take a drink from the well while the villagers rest.

"Looks like the battle's already fought and lost." She says looking at the exhausted men sprawled on the grass.

"They'll toughen up." Arthur remarks taking another drink.

"They need to." Merlyn tells him and Arthur raises his brow.

"How are we doing for weapons?" he asks and Merlyn sighs.

"We have plenty of weapons but not enough people to use them, Morgana, Gwen and I believe the women should fight too." Arthur snorts and Merlyn frowns. "Arthur. I probably should have told you this before but the villagers aren't going to get far with swords and spears, it would be best to use them as archers."

Arthur looks at her confused and Merlyn rolls her eyes. "In all the time we've known each other you have never asked how I learned archery and frankly I'm disappointed. Arthur, half the men in this village are accomplished hunters and are better with a bow than almost all the knights in Camelot. We learned from necessity because out here the difference between a plentiful meal and starvation can depend on your aim, I think you will find the best archers in the kingdoms are ploughing the fields."Arthur contemplated this for a moment and Merlyn just sighed before picking up a bow and arrow.

"Hey, Matthew! Can you come here a moment?" Merlyn called the older man who had been leading his horse to the edge of the village, he quickly tied the horse and ran over. Merlyn wordlessly handed him the bow and arrow before turning and picking up an apple. She walked a fair distance and placed the apple on her head with a wicked grin at Arthur who looked horrified.

"Shoot the apple." She called back, Matthew nodded and didn't look concerned in the least. He drew the arrow back and Merlyn made sure to stay as still as she could, Arthur looked between them and tried to step forward to stop him but Matthew loosened the arrow and it shot toward her. Merlyn grinned as the arrow split the apple balanced on her head and managed to catch one half, Arthur looked at her like he was gonna throw up while Merlyn skipped back to Matthew and gave him a clap on the shoulder.

"Nice shot." Matthew smiled nervously as Merlyn lent against him and took a bite of the apple grinning at Arthur. Arthur looked between them speechless before suddenly becoming angry.

"Merlyn! What the hell were you thinking!? If he missed you'd be dead and..." Arthur ranted while Merlyn continued to munch on the apple effectively ignoring him. " And what about the... Merlyn, you're not listening are you?" Arthur narrowed his eyes at her and she grinned.

"Arthur if he was going to miss, I would have made sure he didn't." She told him giving him a pointed look, he stared at her for a moment before sighing.

"Fine we'll see who the archers are and the rest can do sword training." Arthur sighed facepalming while Merlyn skipped up and kissed him on the cheek before returning to make more arrows.