Arthur's Sons (Book 2)

The Curse of Cornelius Sigan (Part 1)

It had been just over a year since the Questing Beast incident and things had been relatively quiet since Nimueh's demise. The twins were now six summers and had a productive year between training and studying with fewer threats to Camelot other than the odd assassination attempt. Autumn was in full swing but was already starting to give way to winters cold grip, Merlyn was spending one of the few nights she could get away with, in the arms of her Prince. Which would have been wonderful if the King hadn't ordered workers to begin digging under the castle for the tombs of Camelots forebears in order to increase his own coffers.

"Merlyyyyn." Arthur whined into her back.

"Yes, Love?" She asked tiredly as the banging in the catacombs continued.

"Are you deaf?" He asked sitting up.

"I wish." She huffed.

Arthur exited the bed and began to pace angrily, half-naked, by the fire. "I want you to go down there and tell them to stop."

"But they're working under the King's orders." Merlyn moaned as she pulled the covers back over her head tucking herself into a warm cocoon.

Arthur growled before walking over and ripping the blanket off a very naked Merlyn who squeaked as the cold air kissed her bare skin. "Yes, and you're working under mine." He snapped before dumping the blanket on the end of the bed and walking over to sit in a chair by the fire.

Merlyn pouted before sliding out of bed onto the icy stone floor and began dressing in her clothing from the day before which was far too thin to give her any sort of warmth. Merlyn shivered violently as she tugged on her boots and headed for the door she was stopped however when Arthur threw something at her.

"What's this?" She asked holding up the garment.

"It's a cloak since you seem to only wear those thin clothes all year round, you really need to get yourself something warmer." He told her seriously.

Merlyn huffed and swung the rich blue cloak over her shoulders and tied it securely. "Well since you don't have to buy your clothes yourself you wouldn't understand that I can't afford anything thicker than this, not on my salary while trying to support two children that are growing like bloody trees and shedding clothes faster than I can buy or alter them." She ranted while Arthur looked on guiltily.

"You know they're my children too Merlyn, if you need help all you have to do is ask." He told her gently.

"You already do enough for now, any more and the King will get suspicious." She told him truthfully before walking over and leaning down to kiss his temple gently before breezing out the door to get her task done quickly so she could crawl back into bed for a few hours.

She hurried down to the tunnels to find them oddly silent, she moved along quietly noticing the fallen pickaxes used by the workers and quietly slipped a knife from her boot just in case. She finally came to the end where a hole had been opened in the wall, Merlyn cautiously stepped through and was taken aback by the wealth inside what looked to be a tomb with a large stone sarcophagus in the centre of the room. She moved forward carefully in case of boobytraps until she spotted a man lying by the sarcophagus, she moved to his side and turned him to face her only for her to gasp and scramble back in shock at the sight of his blacken veins and bloodshot eyes. She quickly ran out to find Gaius before someone else befell the same thing as the poor worker.

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After she had informed Gaius they made their way back down to the catacombs with the twins trailing because they too had not been able to get any sleep. Upon entering, Merlyn led them to the body and Arty made a disgusted sound before crouching down to get a better look.