Magic in Camelot

The Once and Future Queen

A tournament was quickly approaching, and though Merlynn usually trained with the knights now, she was sitting on the sidelines watching. The tournament was strictly for lance work, which Merlynn had no use for, so for the next few training sessions she would fall back on her servant duties. Arthur had mounted his horse and held his lance in position, Sir Kay opposite of him. When one of the squires waved a small flag, the two men lowered their lances and charged each other. Arthur's lance collided with the other knight's shoulder plate and knocked him off his horse. When Arthur stopped, Merlynn walked up to him to change out his lance.

"That has got to hurt."

Arthur raised the visor on his helmet. "That's the point, Merlynn. It's not a pillow fight. Fetch me that other lance, will you?"

Merlynn took the broken lance and jogged off the field to grab a new one before returning and handing it to Arthur. Sir Leon mounted his horse next and Merlynn moved out of the way for the next round. Arthur turned his horse to face his opponent. The flag dropped and they charged. Merlynn watched as something happened and Arthur pulled up his lance about a third of the way down the field and turned away from Leon. Leon pulled his lance up shortly afterwards. Leon rode over to Merlynn, who held his reins so he could dismount. They turned back to look at Arthur, Who threw his lance down and quickly dismounted his horse. He pulled off his helmet and began walking over to Lean.

"Why did you pull out, I was wide open? You could have unhorsed me."

"I was fearful that I might injure you, Sire."

"You had the advantage. You can't afford to hesitate."

"I wouldn't have done if I were facing a different opponent." Leon's words stunned Arthur. "You are the future King, My Lord."

Arthur took a couple small steps towards Leon. "You jousted against me in the tournament last year, are you saying you let me win?"

Leon paused before shaking his head, looking away. "No, My Lord."

Arthur looked back at the other knights, who shuffled around nervously. "It doesn't matter who I am. I do not expect any special treatment from you, from any of you. Is that understood?"

The knights all nodded their heads, still shuffling around. Arthur looked around at his knights before storming off the field. Merlynn followed him as he stormed back to his chambers, throwing open the doors.

"How am I going to prove myself if my opponents aren't trying their hardest?" Arthur yelled, throwing off his armor.
"I'm sure it's not happening all the time." Merlynn told him, picking everything up again.

He stopped and faced her. "So it's happening some of the time?"

"No, I'm certain it isn't."

"Now you're doing it. You're telling me exactly what you think I want to hear."

"Yes." Merlynn said bluntly.

Arthur turned to look at her, offended. He threw his gloves on the ground off to the side and started working the rest of his armor off. "All my life I've been treated as if I'm special. I just want to be treated like everyone else."

"Really?"

"You have no idea how lucky you are."

"Well, anytime you want to swap places, just let me know." Merlynn joked.

"That's not a totally stupid idea."

"You're Prince Arthur, you can't change who you are."

"Yes I can."