"A Westland Seeker in Prince Arthur's Court" by Jodie and Vaidah
A Westland Seeker in Prince Arthur's Court by serendipityxxi and alorarose.
Series: Legend of the Seeker and Merlin
Rated: PG
Summary: Richard and Kahlan hide the box of Orden and hangout in Camelot's dungeons a lot.
Genres: Drama, Romance, Crossover
Disclaimer: All your Seeker are belong to Disney and all your Merlin are belong to Arthur. We do not claim to own anything except the crazy crossover ideas that float around our brains. No moneh is being made off our crack either.
Spoilers: Episode 1x12 of Legend of the Seeker and all of Series 1 of Merlin. This fic starts at the end of 1x12 and assumes teh sexy!tiemz were.. uh not there. (Blasphemy, I know!)
Warnings: Spoilers for Legend of the Seeker up to episode 1x12 and all of Series 1 of Merlin.
Chapter 1: Word count: 3126
Chapter 2: Word Count: 3288
Chapter 3: Word Count: 2773
Chapter 4: Word Count: 1555
Chapter 5: Word Count: 4454
Zedd stopped them when they were twenty miles outside of Camelot on a large hill. In the distance they could see the hazy outline of the castle walls amidst all the brilliant green foliage in the distance.
"Kahlan, I think it might be best if you changed before we enter the city." He began.
Kahlan's forehead crinkled momentarily before she nodded at Zedd and slid her pack to the ground. "You're right. It is probably best to go unrecognized in Camelot, especially if we hope to find the tomb and leave the box there. Are you sure, given everything, that this is the best place to hide it Zedd?" She asked while digging through her pack for her green traveling outfit.
"No safer place for the ultimate magical artifact than a place where no magical artifacts are supposed to be." Zedd replied.
"What?" Richard asked, his own brow wrinkling in confusion.
"There's no magic allowed in Camelot, my boy," Zedd answered while Kahlan disappeared into the trees off the path to change. "So while we're there I am naught but a simple old man."
"What about Kahlan though? Won't they recognize her as a Confessor?" Richard asked immediately concerned. In most every village they had come to, Kahlan's white dress had drawn dozens of people all demanding her attention and advice. However, he well remembered the look on the faces of his fellow villagers back in Hartland when they had thought Kahlan to be a witch. He shuddered to think how close his neighbours, his friends, had come to doing her real damage. He had seen the power of bigotry and he liked it about as much as he liked Darken Rahl. "Why is magic banned in Camelot?" he continued but Zedd waved him off.
"It is a recent thing my boy, only in the last twenty years and has nothing to do with Rahl. And no they will not recognize Kahlan as a Confessor as no Confessor has traveled through Camelot in those twenty years. Its borders have been shut to any and everyone with even the slightest touch of supernatural force which most definitely includes Confessors."
"But why?" Richard would have continued his questioning, but just then Kahlan reappeared from the woods and he fell silent. He was always impressed with her beauty in the Confessor's outfit but the green of her traveling dress brought out the copper highlights in her chestnut brown hair that the stark contrast of the white against her dark hair sometimes didn't. He stared at her momentarily as she picked her way among the trees.
"Let's get a move on." Zedd urged the two. "I'll explain more on the way, Richard."
Richard had no choice but to agree as the wizard of the first order moved on down the trail at a swift pace.
~~~
Merlin looked around him in a frenzy trying to figure out what he could use to pry the tree off Arthur. If the prince were unconscious this would be easy, but no. Merlin was never that lucky. He tried to ignore the stream of insults spewing from his master's mouth and tried to think! Why would a tree suddenly fall anyway?
"You idiot!" Arthur growled. "Maybe I should just send you to fetch someone who can do something!"
Merlin glanced at him and for a fleeting moment contemplated just knocking him out. Things would be so much easier that way....
"Stay put," Merlin said. "I'm going to go find a log long enough." He ran off before he could hear what Arthur was going to say. He couldn't blame him, really. There was a heavy tree lying on his legs. He scrambled up a small hill, trying not to look too pathetic as he kept slipping in the leaves, and looked around for anything long and strong enough that would do. Or anything he could make strong enough.
Zedd and his two charges were only two miles away from Camelot when they heard the cursing. It was mid afternoon and the rain clouds they'd spotted earlier this morning had obviously deposited some of their bounty on the land as the grass along the path looked fresh washed, the leaves on the trail slippery and puddles of rainwater lay here and there. Zedd's bushy eyebrows rose at the creativity and volume of the swearing as they drew nearer. Richard blushed a little when they could finally hear exactly what whoever was swearing about. His eyes darted to Kahlan. She smirked at him.
"Trust me. I've heard a lot worse." she assured him. "Being a Confessor is nothing like being a priestess."
Richard only gave her a little shrug and a grin.
"Whoever that is it sounds like they're very frustrated." Kahlan noted.
"Well with the sheer depth of his knowledge of swear words, I'm going to guess bar lout." Richard said.
"No," Zedd disagreed. "That degree of imaginative cursing and name calling could only come from royalty."
They rounded a bend in the trail and as usual Zedd was right. The young man they found trapped beneath a fairly large tree trunk a few feet off the path wore chain mail, leggings and a mudstained red tunic with the insignia of Camelot emblazoned on it in gold. The dozens of minarets that flapped in the breeze off the castle walls made the insignia impossible to mistake.
The young man turned his blond head to them as they approached.
"Hey! You there!" He bellowed with admirable stamina as he'd been screaming for at least the last five minutes constantly.
"Are you alright?" Richard asked, approaching the boy, for he was hardly more than a teenager. Richard felt as if he were fifty despite being barely four years out of his own teens, this boy seemed impossibly young to him with his foolhardy bellowing and curses.
"Do I look alright?" Arthur stared at him in disbelief. "I am stuck under a tree!"
Merlin had finally found a length of tree that would be a perfect lever and tried to pick it up. Unfortunately, it was a lot heavier than it looked... He glanced around him to make sure no one was about then looked at the log and cast a small levitation spell to help him 'carry' it. Once he was sure he could manage, he turned around to head back to Arthur then froze. He hadn't been paying attention to the direction he was going and Arthur was no longer screaming. This was definitely not good.
He looked around him, trying to hear anything. Surely he couldn't have gone too far, could he? He started moving, hoping some of the trees and terrain would look familiar. A sudden shout from Arthur confirmed that he was on the right track and he sped up. He hoped he wouldn't end up in the stocks for this. The tree falling wasn't his fault!
Arthur yelled out the name of his servant, partly annoyed and partly worried. Though he'd never admit the worry. He had no idea what was taking him so long but now he was sitting there with complete strangers and... he tilted his head, hearing a rustling just on the other side of the trail and let out an exasperated sound as Merlin fell down an embarrassingly tiny hill. "Stopped for lunch now, did we?"
"The log was heavy," Merlin let the log in question fall to the ground and stopped when he noticed the three other people beside Arthur. Not good. Not good at all.
Richard had barely crouched beside the boy when his friend appeared out of the woods carrying an impossibly large log.
"I'll bet it was." Zedd agreed, eyeing the new comer intently.
"Are you going to make a lever and get the tree off him?" Richard asked approaching the boy.
"That's what I was planning on," Merlin nodded. He took a tentative step backward, unsure why this man was walking towards him.
"Good idea." Richard replied, taking note of Merlin's wariness and giving him a wide berth while he walked around him to get to the log. "I'll give you a hand if you like." he offered.
"Yes! Please give him a hand!" Arthur moaned. "Otherwise I will be stuck under this tree till I grow old!"
Merlin sighed and picked up his side of the log. "Thank you," he nodded.
"So, what happened here?" Richard asked, muscles straining to lift the log this boy had carried with seeming ease a few minutes ago.
"Uh," Merlin glanced back at the man. "It's quite a funny story actually..."
"What happened is my servant is a complete idiot!" Arthur flailed his arms. "'Don't touch the tree, Merlin. It doesn't look sturdy, Merlin.' IDIOT!"
"So he touched the tree and it just fell over?" Kahlan asked, drawing attention to herself for the first time since stumbling upon the whiny young man trapped beneath the tree trunk.
Richard meanwhile had managed to wedge the log under said tree trunk and was wiping his hands off on his pants to ensure a good grip on it when he and the other boy attempted to use the log to move the tree.
"It uh... was apparently looser than I thought," Merlin laughed nervously. "It was dead... I didn't think it would move."
Arthur let out an audible sigh. "Your brains seem to be rotting in your head."
"Well, let's move this tree." Richard cut off the blond boy's obvious opening salvo into a rant he was sure would be carried to epic proportions. Funny, but he reminded Richard of Michael strongly. Richard braced himself and grabbed a hold of the log, waiting until the dark haired boy grabbed it too and then heaved with all his might, muscles cording, sweat beading on his heated skin.
Merlin heaved with all his might also. Alas, it wasn't that much help to Richard.
Once the tree was moved enough, Arthur started to wiggle himself out from under it. His legs were killing him and if anything was broken he knew of a certain servant who he'd be killing. He breathed a sigh of relief once he was free.
Zedd was there to check the young man's legs for injuries once he was free of the trunk while Richard and Merlin panted from their exertion hands on their knees. Kahlan brought over a waterskin and handed it to Richard who took it gratefully.
"Richard, your hands!" She exclaimed in dismay.
The skin of his palms were red and abraded from the rough bark of the log. The Seeker shrugged a little and passed the water to the boy he'd helped. "They'll be alright."
"Thank you," Merlin took the waterskin and immediately offered it to Arthur, who just glared at him.
"Thank you," Arthur said to the old man after he'd looked at his legs. "I'm Arthur Pendragon and this is my soon to be ex-Servant, Merlin."
"He always says that," Merlin waved it off with a small smile.
Kahlan smiled at Merlin's nonchalant way of dealing with the petulant Arthur. "I'm Kahlan and this is Richard and this is - "
"Thaddicus Zorander, at your service your majesty." Zedd interrupted her, bowing to Arthur. He had guessed correctly. He recognized the name and perhaps a little of the arrogance in this boy's face that marked him as Uther Pendragon's son. Zedd had not had much to do with this part of the Midlands and had never actually met Uther Pendragon but the man had appeared at many political meetings that Zedd had once been forced to attend and he well remembered the Pendragon's strident voice and stubborn attitude. "This is the prince of the realm of Camelot we've aided this afternoon." he explained to Richard who also bowed.
"You are heading to Camelot?" Arthur looked between all of them. "Please let me offer you a warm meal as thanks."
"What a munificent gesture!" Zedd exclaimed. "We most humbly accept, as I must confess I'm famished."
Arthur let Merlin help him to his feet and was much relieved that he was only aching and nothing hurt badly. "You must have been walking all day, Please, I have two horses and there are four of us," he offered.
"Uh..." Merlin frowned and counted on his fingers.
"Five." Richard corrected, a little more sharply than he'd intended to. "But you're right I thank you for the offer as Thaddicus here has been complaining about the corns on his old feet all morning."
"For that bit of teasing my boy, I'll invite the lovely Kahlan to share my horse." Zedd responded, shooting Richard a dirty look.
Richard smirked at him. "I'd be happy to walk alongside the horses anyway; I'll need to work up an appetite for that meal you've promised us." He addressed Arthur.
"Nonsense!" Arthur clapped Merlin hard on his shoulder, chuckling as his friend folded into it and winced. "I've been teaching Merlin here how to track and hunt. He should have something caught by the time we make it back to Camelot."
"Y..you're relying on me for dinner?" Merlin laughed a little, hoping it was just a joke. The look on Arthur's face wasn't betraying anything. "Arthur...remember the last time you had me hunt your dinner?"
"Yes but this time there is no famine," Arthur grinned then frowned suddenly. "You come home with a rat and I swear..." he shook his finger at Merlin.
"Actually, I'm a woods guide back home and I'm pretty good at hunting game. Maybe Merlin would like some help bringing down something larger than a rat?" Richard offered, thinking of the time Zedd had zapped that rabbit he was hunting to a crisp. "Although anything large enough to feed all five of us including Zedd will have to be moose sized." Richard pointed out with a laugh.
Merlin's eyes widened with hope when Richard offered his help.
Arthur looked at Richard a moment. Even though he'd just met them.. they didn't seem like they were an enemy, though lately the enemy has come in strange forms. He glanced at Merlin, who strangely enough has held his own through all the trials they've gone through. "Perhaps you'd learn better from our new friend here."
"Then it's decided. I'll meet you two," He gave Kahlan a wistful glance "back at the castle in a few hours then." He hoped by then Zedd had tricked their new friend into telling him where Kieran's tomb was and had devised a plan to sneak in there without alerting anyone's attention. More than that he hoped he wasn't letting the two of them go off into a trap with this prince. Richard didn't like rulers who treated their subjects like they were lesser, he had seen Michael make use of his power as head Councilor of Hartland far too often in that sense.
"We'll see you then." Kahlan gave him an encouraging smile that Richard couldn't help but return.
Richard clapped Merlin on the back in a much friendlier, less heavy-handed manner than when Arthur did it. "So tell me, what kind of game is there in the area?"
"Thank you," he nodded to Richard. "You didn't have to help me. Don't get me wrong, I'm completely grateful for the help but..."
"It's no problem." Richard cut the boy off. "It's nothing I wouldn't have done anyway. Ze-Thadd gets a little overzealous in his hunting and Kahlan's not really used to it, although she can hold her own." Richard added with not a little pride.
"So how did you come to be the prince's personal servant? You don't seem very used to it." Richard asked as they walked into the underbrush.
"I'm not used to it at all," Merlin laughed. "I don't even have the skills to be a servant but I saved his life... and somehow it turned into something I originally thought of as a prison sentence but, I don't mind so much anymore."
"Why do you stay if it's so awful?" Richard's eyes swept the ground looking for signs of game nearby.
"I have to protect Arthur," Merlin stated as if it were obvious. "Besides, he might seem like a huge prat, but he really does care about his people."
"Well, I hope he deserves your dedication." Richard told him, shaking his head. His quick eyes spotted a pheasant feather in a nearby bush and he pointed it out to Merlin. "I don't suppose there are any blackberry bushes on the way back to the castle?" He asked.
"There are actually, along the trail," Merlin nodded. "Ah! I just remembered. I saw a whole pheasant's nest up the hill!"
"I think I know what we're having for dinner then." Richard said with a smile.
~~~
"So tell me about Camelot, sire, I've heard it is the pinnacle of modern science in this region." Zedd asked from his horse.
"We have our court physician to thank for that," Arthur grinned. "He is very good at what he does."
"Oh? And will he be in attendance at dinner tonight? I've a few problems I'd love to pick his brain about." Zedd enthused.
Kahlan knew why Zedd hoped to meet this physician, he had explained on the trail that Gaius of Camelot would be the one man in all of Camelot who would know where the last Seeker's tomb lay below the castle and how to get past the danger guarding it. What the danger was Kahlan didn't know for Zedd had been tight lipped about it. Kahlan was sure it would not be something she liked once she found out about it though.
"It could be arranged," Arthur said. He smiled when he looked forward again, "There she is. Camelot."
"It is beautiful." Kahlan agreed, taking in the sight of the castle walls, the minarets, the larger guard towers all bathed in the golden light of the slowly setting sun, the red pennants flapping cheerfully in the breeze. It had been a long time since civilization had been a welcome sight, but Rahl's reach did not extend here to Camelot and she would be grateful for the respite from sleeping in the woods. Perhaps even pretending to be someone else for a night or two might be welcome as dark times had plagued the young Confessor for months now. Maybe this would turn out to be an easy mission. Once the box was hidden from Rahl in the tomb of the last seeker they would flee further south and make a more noteworthy trail so Rahl would think they still had the box with them and come after them instead of to Camelot, but maybe once the pressure of actually having the box with them was off they'd be able to relax. relax.
Series: Legend of the Seeker and Merlin
Rated: PG
Summary: Richard and Kahlan hide the box of Orden and hangout in Camelot's dungeons a lot.
Genres: Drama, Romance, Crossover
Disclaimer: All your Seeker are belong to Disney and all your Merlin are belong to Arthur. We do not claim to own anything except the crazy crossover ideas that float around our brains. No moneh is being made off our crack either.
Spoilers: Episode 1x12 of Legend of the Seeker and all of Series 1 of Merlin. This fic starts at the end of 1x12 and assumes teh sexy!tiemz were.. uh not there. (Blasphemy, I know!)
Warnings: Spoilers for Legend of the Seeker up to episode 1x12 and all of Series 1 of Merlin.
Chapter 1: Word count: 3126
Chapter 2: Word Count: 3288
Chapter 3: Word Count: 2773
Chapter 4: Word Count: 1555
Chapter 5: Word Count: 4454
Zedd stopped them when they were twenty miles outside of Camelot on a large hill. In the distance they could see the hazy outline of the castle walls amidst all the brilliant green foliage in the distance.
"Kahlan, I think it might be best if you changed before we enter the city." He began.
Kahlan's forehead crinkled momentarily before she nodded at Zedd and slid her pack to the ground. "You're right. It is probably best to go unrecognized in Camelot, especially if we hope to find the tomb and leave the box there. Are you sure, given everything, that this is the best place to hide it Zedd?" She asked while digging through her pack for her green traveling outfit.
"No safer place for the ultimate magical artifact than a place where no magical artifacts are supposed to be." Zedd replied.
"What?" Richard asked, his own brow wrinkling in confusion.
"There's no magic allowed in Camelot, my boy," Zedd answered while Kahlan disappeared into the trees off the path to change. "So while we're there I am naught but a simple old man."
"What about Kahlan though? Won't they recognize her as a Confessor?" Richard asked immediately concerned. In most every village they had come to, Kahlan's white dress had drawn dozens of people all demanding her attention and advice. However, he well remembered the look on the faces of his fellow villagers back in Hartland when they had thought Kahlan to be a witch. He shuddered to think how close his neighbours, his friends, had come to doing her real damage. He had seen the power of bigotry and he liked it about as much as he liked Darken Rahl. "Why is magic banned in Camelot?" he continued but Zedd waved him off.
"It is a recent thing my boy, only in the last twenty years and has nothing to do with Rahl. And no they will not recognize Kahlan as a Confessor as no Confessor has traveled through Camelot in those twenty years. Its borders have been shut to any and everyone with even the slightest touch of supernatural force which most definitely includes Confessors."
"But why?" Richard would have continued his questioning, but just then Kahlan reappeared from the woods and he fell silent. He was always impressed with her beauty in the Confessor's outfit but the green of her traveling dress brought out the copper highlights in her chestnut brown hair that the stark contrast of the white against her dark hair sometimes didn't. He stared at her momentarily as she picked her way among the trees.
"Let's get a move on." Zedd urged the two. "I'll explain more on the way, Richard."
Richard had no choice but to agree as the wizard of the first order moved on down the trail at a swift pace.
~~~
Merlin looked around him in a frenzy trying to figure out what he could use to pry the tree off Arthur. If the prince were unconscious this would be easy, but no. Merlin was never that lucky. He tried to ignore the stream of insults spewing from his master's mouth and tried to think! Why would a tree suddenly fall anyway?
"You idiot!" Arthur growled. "Maybe I should just send you to fetch someone who can do something!"
Merlin glanced at him and for a fleeting moment contemplated just knocking him out. Things would be so much easier that way....
"Stay put," Merlin said. "I'm going to go find a log long enough." He ran off before he could hear what Arthur was going to say. He couldn't blame him, really. There was a heavy tree lying on his legs. He scrambled up a small hill, trying not to look too pathetic as he kept slipping in the leaves, and looked around for anything long and strong enough that would do. Or anything he could make strong enough.
Zedd and his two charges were only two miles away from Camelot when they heard the cursing. It was mid afternoon and the rain clouds they'd spotted earlier this morning had obviously deposited some of their bounty on the land as the grass along the path looked fresh washed, the leaves on the trail slippery and puddles of rainwater lay here and there. Zedd's bushy eyebrows rose at the creativity and volume of the swearing as they drew nearer. Richard blushed a little when they could finally hear exactly what whoever was swearing about. His eyes darted to Kahlan. She smirked at him.
"Trust me. I've heard a lot worse." she assured him. "Being a Confessor is nothing like being a priestess."
Richard only gave her a little shrug and a grin.
"Whoever that is it sounds like they're very frustrated." Kahlan noted.
"Well with the sheer depth of his knowledge of swear words, I'm going to guess bar lout." Richard said.
"No," Zedd disagreed. "That degree of imaginative cursing and name calling could only come from royalty."
They rounded a bend in the trail and as usual Zedd was right. The young man they found trapped beneath a fairly large tree trunk a few feet off the path wore chain mail, leggings and a mudstained red tunic with the insignia of Camelot emblazoned on it in gold. The dozens of minarets that flapped in the breeze off the castle walls made the insignia impossible to mistake.
The young man turned his blond head to them as they approached.
"Hey! You there!" He bellowed with admirable stamina as he'd been screaming for at least the last five minutes constantly.
"Are you alright?" Richard asked, approaching the boy, for he was hardly more than a teenager. Richard felt as if he were fifty despite being barely four years out of his own teens, this boy seemed impossibly young to him with his foolhardy bellowing and curses.
"Do I look alright?" Arthur stared at him in disbelief. "I am stuck under a tree!"
Merlin had finally found a length of tree that would be a perfect lever and tried to pick it up. Unfortunately, it was a lot heavier than it looked... He glanced around him to make sure no one was about then looked at the log and cast a small levitation spell to help him 'carry' it. Once he was sure he could manage, he turned around to head back to Arthur then froze. He hadn't been paying attention to the direction he was going and Arthur was no longer screaming. This was definitely not good.
He looked around him, trying to hear anything. Surely he couldn't have gone too far, could he? He started moving, hoping some of the trees and terrain would look familiar. A sudden shout from Arthur confirmed that he was on the right track and he sped up. He hoped he wouldn't end up in the stocks for this. The tree falling wasn't his fault!
Arthur yelled out the name of his servant, partly annoyed and partly worried. Though he'd never admit the worry. He had no idea what was taking him so long but now he was sitting there with complete strangers and... he tilted his head, hearing a rustling just on the other side of the trail and let out an exasperated sound as Merlin fell down an embarrassingly tiny hill. "Stopped for lunch now, did we?"
"The log was heavy," Merlin let the log in question fall to the ground and stopped when he noticed the three other people beside Arthur. Not good. Not good at all.
Richard had barely crouched beside the boy when his friend appeared out of the woods carrying an impossibly large log.
"I'll bet it was." Zedd agreed, eyeing the new comer intently.
"Are you going to make a lever and get the tree off him?" Richard asked approaching the boy.
"That's what I was planning on," Merlin nodded. He took a tentative step backward, unsure why this man was walking towards him.
"Good idea." Richard replied, taking note of Merlin's wariness and giving him a wide berth while he walked around him to get to the log. "I'll give you a hand if you like." he offered.
"Yes! Please give him a hand!" Arthur moaned. "Otherwise I will be stuck under this tree till I grow old!"
Merlin sighed and picked up his side of the log. "Thank you," he nodded.
"So, what happened here?" Richard asked, muscles straining to lift the log this boy had carried with seeming ease a few minutes ago.
"Uh," Merlin glanced back at the man. "It's quite a funny story actually..."
"What happened is my servant is a complete idiot!" Arthur flailed his arms. "'Don't touch the tree, Merlin. It doesn't look sturdy, Merlin.' IDIOT!"
"So he touched the tree and it just fell over?" Kahlan asked, drawing attention to herself for the first time since stumbling upon the whiny young man trapped beneath the tree trunk.
Richard meanwhile had managed to wedge the log under said tree trunk and was wiping his hands off on his pants to ensure a good grip on it when he and the other boy attempted to use the log to move the tree.
"It uh... was apparently looser than I thought," Merlin laughed nervously. "It was dead... I didn't think it would move."
Arthur let out an audible sigh. "Your brains seem to be rotting in your head."
"Well, let's move this tree." Richard cut off the blond boy's obvious opening salvo into a rant he was sure would be carried to epic proportions. Funny, but he reminded Richard of Michael strongly. Richard braced himself and grabbed a hold of the log, waiting until the dark haired boy grabbed it too and then heaved with all his might, muscles cording, sweat beading on his heated skin.
Merlin heaved with all his might also. Alas, it wasn't that much help to Richard.
Once the tree was moved enough, Arthur started to wiggle himself out from under it. His legs were killing him and if anything was broken he knew of a certain servant who he'd be killing. He breathed a sigh of relief once he was free.
Zedd was there to check the young man's legs for injuries once he was free of the trunk while Richard and Merlin panted from their exertion hands on their knees. Kahlan brought over a waterskin and handed it to Richard who took it gratefully.
"Richard, your hands!" She exclaimed in dismay.
The skin of his palms were red and abraded from the rough bark of the log. The Seeker shrugged a little and passed the water to the boy he'd helped. "They'll be alright."
"Thank you," Merlin took the waterskin and immediately offered it to Arthur, who just glared at him.
"Thank you," Arthur said to the old man after he'd looked at his legs. "I'm Arthur Pendragon and this is my soon to be ex-Servant, Merlin."
"He always says that," Merlin waved it off with a small smile.
Kahlan smiled at Merlin's nonchalant way of dealing with the petulant Arthur. "I'm Kahlan and this is Richard and this is - "
"Thaddicus Zorander, at your service your majesty." Zedd interrupted her, bowing to Arthur. He had guessed correctly. He recognized the name and perhaps a little of the arrogance in this boy's face that marked him as Uther Pendragon's son. Zedd had not had much to do with this part of the Midlands and had never actually met Uther Pendragon but the man had appeared at many political meetings that Zedd had once been forced to attend and he well remembered the Pendragon's strident voice and stubborn attitude. "This is the prince of the realm of Camelot we've aided this afternoon." he explained to Richard who also bowed.
"You are heading to Camelot?" Arthur looked between all of them. "Please let me offer you a warm meal as thanks."
"What a munificent gesture!" Zedd exclaimed. "We most humbly accept, as I must confess I'm famished."
Arthur let Merlin help him to his feet and was much relieved that he was only aching and nothing hurt badly. "You must have been walking all day, Please, I have two horses and there are four of us," he offered.
"Uh..." Merlin frowned and counted on his fingers.
"Five." Richard corrected, a little more sharply than he'd intended to. "But you're right I thank you for the offer as Thaddicus here has been complaining about the corns on his old feet all morning."
"For that bit of teasing my boy, I'll invite the lovely Kahlan to share my horse." Zedd responded, shooting Richard a dirty look.
Richard smirked at him. "I'd be happy to walk alongside the horses anyway; I'll need to work up an appetite for that meal you've promised us." He addressed Arthur.
"Nonsense!" Arthur clapped Merlin hard on his shoulder, chuckling as his friend folded into it and winced. "I've been teaching Merlin here how to track and hunt. He should have something caught by the time we make it back to Camelot."
"Y..you're relying on me for dinner?" Merlin laughed a little, hoping it was just a joke. The look on Arthur's face wasn't betraying anything. "Arthur...remember the last time you had me hunt your dinner?"
"Yes but this time there is no famine," Arthur grinned then frowned suddenly. "You come home with a rat and I swear..." he shook his finger at Merlin.
"Actually, I'm a woods guide back home and I'm pretty good at hunting game. Maybe Merlin would like some help bringing down something larger than a rat?" Richard offered, thinking of the time Zedd had zapped that rabbit he was hunting to a crisp. "Although anything large enough to feed all five of us including Zedd will have to be moose sized." Richard pointed out with a laugh.
Merlin's eyes widened with hope when Richard offered his help.
Arthur looked at Richard a moment. Even though he'd just met them.. they didn't seem like they were an enemy, though lately the enemy has come in strange forms. He glanced at Merlin, who strangely enough has held his own through all the trials they've gone through. "Perhaps you'd learn better from our new friend here."
"Then it's decided. I'll meet you two," He gave Kahlan a wistful glance "back at the castle in a few hours then." He hoped by then Zedd had tricked their new friend into telling him where Kieran's tomb was and had devised a plan to sneak in there without alerting anyone's attention. More than that he hoped he wasn't letting the two of them go off into a trap with this prince. Richard didn't like rulers who treated their subjects like they were lesser, he had seen Michael make use of his power as head Councilor of Hartland far too often in that sense.
"We'll see you then." Kahlan gave him an encouraging smile that Richard couldn't help but return.
Richard clapped Merlin on the back in a much friendlier, less heavy-handed manner than when Arthur did it. "So tell me, what kind of game is there in the area?"
"Thank you," he nodded to Richard. "You didn't have to help me. Don't get me wrong, I'm completely grateful for the help but..."
"It's no problem." Richard cut the boy off. "It's nothing I wouldn't have done anyway. Ze-Thadd gets a little overzealous in his hunting and Kahlan's not really used to it, although she can hold her own." Richard added with not a little pride.
"So how did you come to be the prince's personal servant? You don't seem very used to it." Richard asked as they walked into the underbrush.
"I'm not used to it at all," Merlin laughed. "I don't even have the skills to be a servant but I saved his life... and somehow it turned into something I originally thought of as a prison sentence but, I don't mind so much anymore."
"Why do you stay if it's so awful?" Richard's eyes swept the ground looking for signs of game nearby.
"I have to protect Arthur," Merlin stated as if it were obvious. "Besides, he might seem like a huge prat, but he really does care about his people."
"Well, I hope he deserves your dedication." Richard told him, shaking his head. His quick eyes spotted a pheasant feather in a nearby bush and he pointed it out to Merlin. "I don't suppose there are any blackberry bushes on the way back to the castle?" He asked.
"There are actually, along the trail," Merlin nodded. "Ah! I just remembered. I saw a whole pheasant's nest up the hill!"
"I think I know what we're having for dinner then." Richard said with a smile.
~~~
"So tell me about Camelot, sire, I've heard it is the pinnacle of modern science in this region." Zedd asked from his horse.
"We have our court physician to thank for that," Arthur grinned. "He is very good at what he does."
"Oh? And will he be in attendance at dinner tonight? I've a few problems I'd love to pick his brain about." Zedd enthused.
Kahlan knew why Zedd hoped to meet this physician, he had explained on the trail that Gaius of Camelot would be the one man in all of Camelot who would know where the last Seeker's tomb lay below the castle and how to get past the danger guarding it. What the danger was Kahlan didn't know for Zedd had been tight lipped about it. Kahlan was sure it would not be something she liked once she found out about it though.
"It could be arranged," Arthur said. He smiled when he looked forward again, "There she is. Camelot."
"It is beautiful." Kahlan agreed, taking in the sight of the castle walls, the minarets, the larger guard towers all bathed in the golden light of the slowly setting sun, the red pennants flapping cheerfully in the breeze. It had been a long time since civilization had been a welcome sight, but Rahl's reach did not extend here to Camelot and she would be grateful for the respite from sleeping in the woods. Perhaps even pretending to be someone else for a night or two might be welcome as dark times had plagued the young Confessor for months now. Maybe this would turn out to be an easy mission. Once the box was hidden from Rahl in the tomb of the last seeker they would flee further south and make a more noteworthy trail so Rahl would think they still had the box with them and come after them instead of to Camelot, but maybe once the pressure of actually having the box with them was off they'd be able to relax. relax.