Fate/Tyrants

Chapter 2 - Prince and King

"You fool."

Merlin was chastising Sir Kay. He had caused some trouble with a young man. It ended in a duel that Kay lost. That young man turned out to be a prince from a small kingdom in Gaul. Arthur, or Artoria, had just pulled Caliburn from the stone, and Kay had offended a foreign prince. This was not something they could deal with right now if the prince held a grudge.

"What made you think you could talk to a stranger like that!" Merlin worried, "You are supposed to be a knight."

She sighed. It wasn't like her to get emotional, but the worry she felt was for the sake of Artoria, now Arthur, who would become king.

"I didn't know he was some prince from Gaul. How could I have?" He defended himself, "They just seemed like foreigners meddling in our business."

"And what of it?" It was Arthur who spoke this time, "What right did you have to pester them? They were causing no trouble and even kept to themselves."

For the first time, Kay seemed to have lost an argument. He looked down, almost upset. Almost.

"We should speak to them before they leave." Arthur said, "Apologize for the trouble."

There was a glint in her eye. She wanted to meet them. It was an obvious thing to see, at least to Merlin. Artoria wanted to recruit them. What a king she had raised up.

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Terran, Halsted, and Valentine had begun to pack up their things the following morning. They felt it best to leave as soon as possible after the trouble from the previous day.

"It's so early." Valentine complained, "The sun is hardly even up."

"It was you who suggested leaving early." Halsted chastised him, "If you didn't want to get up, then you should've kept your mouth shut."

"Don't speak badly to me, Perugias." Val said, "I'm your elder, you know."

"I don't particularly care about a one year difference." The dragon responded with a rare smirk on his face, "It only means I'll outlive you."

Valentine made an incredulous face, seemingly offended about his friend's playful words.

The two continued bickering in this way while Terran looked over a map. He wanted to explore the whole island, but he knew about the possibility of conflict now that someone existed who could challenge the monstrous Vortigern. It would probably be best if they left. But there were places he wanted to see, such as Orkney and Londinium.

The young prince huffed in annoyance. He had traveled to Britain originally because of the rumors of the sword in the stone. Now that he has witnessed it being pulled, he couldn't see the rest of the British isles. He didn't want to immediately go back home, but he wasn't sure where to go.

He didn't have much time in his own head before their camp was approached.

"You here for another duel?" Valentine mocked, "You even brought back up this time. A child and a succubus. What band of warriors you seem to be."

"Valentine." Terran said, his voice holding a warning tone, "There's no need to use such ugly words."

Valentine became quiet at his princes' words. The serious tone, as well as the more polite words he used, told him that Terran planned to take care of this personally.

The prince rolled up his map and put it into his traveling bag. He turned to face the three people who approached them.

"I do hope you aren't here to cause more trouble." He said, "I thought a duel would have been sufficient."