Two Sides of The Same Coin (Merthur)(Discontinued)

Ritual

Arthur stopped in front of me, his knights already making there way out behind him. Gwaine patted me on the back as he left, muttering something about my girl and.... sorry? Why would Gwaine be sorry? It only took me a moment to figure out. All I needed to do was look at Arthur's face. 

Multiple emotions had shown up, including betrayal, hurt, and something else I couldn't quite identify.

"You didn't tell me that you were courting the Ealdor girl." Arthur's voice was low. I could almost define it as a growl. It was easy to tell that he was upset, and for a moment, I even wanted him to feel jealous. Then I realized what I was thinking and stopped myself. Why would I ever want to hurt Arthur? I scolded myself silently. 

"No! I mean... sort of.... Gwaine tried to set us up, but I like someone else! Not that I'm going to tell you who...." Arthur laughed, sounding relieved. He forgave me. Good. I was worried for a moment there. 

"Alright, Merlin. In that case, I'm really hungry. How 'bout some lunch?" I grinned and instantly split from Arthur's side to grab his lunch from the kitchens. I would serve it in Arthur's bedroom as usual.

A couple minutes later, I was in Arthur's chambers setting down the food. Eggs, sausage, fresh fuit, bread, and some sort of grain dish that I didn't recognize. Arthur wasn't in the room yet, and I was getting hungry, so I grabbed a sausage off of the plate and ate as fast as possible.

Not fast enough. The door opened a moment later and Arthur walked in to see half of a sausage sticking out of my face. It was easy to predict what he would say, even before he said it. 

"Merlin...." He started, pretending to chose his words carefully, "Can you please explain to me what you're doing with my lunch?" I pulled the half eaten sausage out of my mouth and stared at it grimly.

"What does it look like I was doing?" I stalled, trying desperately to think of some excuse. 

"It looks like you were eating it!" Arthur replied. He seemed aggravated. It might do him some good to stay calm more often...

"Well it would seem like I'm eating it..." I started, wondering how I should continue. There was really nothing I could say.

"So what were you actually doing with my sausage in your mouth?" No more stalling. I opened my mouth and decided to run with whatever came out.

"You are the king and all, so.... umm.... Well, you can never be too careful! I needed to make sure that nobody had tried to poison your lunch!" There. That was a fine excuse. Not really, but still.... Arthur shook his head at me, but seemed to accept my answer, even if he didn't believe it for a moment.

"And is it poisoned?" Arthur asked sarcastically.

"No," I started, but had no time to continue. Arthur interrupted me.

"So, can I eat now, then?" I bowed my head, trying to hide the heat that rose onto my cheeks. I stepped back a couple paces to let Arthur sit down, then pushed in the chair for him. Now I stood behind him as he ate. 

I finished my half eaten sausage, this time savouring the taste. Arthur didn't talk while he ate.He never did. Instead he just shoved the food down his gullet hungrily. 

Half way through the meal, a castle runner burst through the doors, catching both of our attention with the noise and sudden movement. 

"The coat of arms!" The skinny boy huffed out, "They found out whose it is! You're needed in the Great Hall, Sire, right away." Then the boy bowed and ran out, probably to get more people. 

Arthur looked at his food longingly for a couple more moments, the sighed and stood up. I didn't know how long the meeting would be, so I left the plate where it was. 

We walked through the castle hallways quickly, but still had a couple minutes before reaching the Great Hall. 

"Who's coat of arms is it?" I asked after a couple moments.

"I don't know, Merlin, that's what we're going to find out," Arthur let the annoyance seep into his voice. I shook my head.

"No, I mean, where did you see it?" I asked. Arthur caught on now and seemed to understand.

"We saw it on the group that attacked us in the woods." Arthur replied. I suddenly remembered. I hadn't seen the symbols, just the green capes...

In another moment, we were inside the Great Hall. The round table was only half full, but more council members were arriving at every moment. Those sitting there all appeared worried and confused. The librarian, Geoffrey, seemed to be the only one to know what was actually happening.

Arthur sat down at the table, and I stood somewhere near the wall, as usual. Usually Arthur started off these meetings, but now Geoffrey was standing across the room, speaking nervously.

"Sire, the coat of arms you gave me was very difficult to figure out. I went through multiple books, multiple times, and still found nothing. When I was just about to give up, well..." Geoffrey took a book out of somewhere and put it down on the table. It was big, brown, and covered with symbols that I instantly recognized as belonging to the Old Religion. This book was supposed to have been destroyed. 

"This book was made before the days of the Great Purge. It focuses on rituals, tales, and creatures from the Old Religion. In it is one of the most dangerous, but greatest ritual that a high priestess could perform. Usually they did it in groups, but an exceedingly powerful woman might be able to succeed on her own..." Geoffrey opened the book and showed the table two different pages. One was headed "The Hield Ritual", and was full of writing. The next showed a picture of a green and black coat of arms type thing. I couldn't see the shape too well from my distance, but it appeared to be a man kneeling in front of a woman. Something about the image had the temperature dropping and my stomach sinking. 

"Yet, solo success is extremely rare, and hardly ever occurred. If the ritual failed, those involved were likely to kill the sorceress themselves." With that, Geoffrey sat down. His eyes darted around nervously. I didn't quite understand what he was trying to say. Nobody else seemed to either; they all seemed even more confused then before.

"What does this ritual do, exactly?" Arthur asked, quietly. The eyes of the old librarian grew suddenly wide.

"Forgive me, Sire. I thought I had told you. The ritual acts as a magnet. Bringing strong men in from nearby villages and making them think that they want to follow her. She'll have thousands by now, all awaiting command." The room was deathly silent, but nobody was confused anymore. We all wanted to be wrong, I think, but none of us were that lucky. 

"You mean to tell me that-" Arthur was cut off, but nobody paid attention to that. The next few word sent fear into all of out hearts.

"Morgana is building an army."

Author's Note: Oh... Dang.... See, I knew that she was planning something, but that just seems a bit extreme.... Do you think it'll be difficult to fight a mind controlled army? I hope not too much... So, tell me what you think! I always love your input!