Women, Horses, and Trophies
Author: weatherfeather
Title: Women, Horses, and Trophies
Rating: G
Pairing/s: Lancelot/Gwen
Character/s: Arthur, Lancelot, Gwen
Summary: Arthur and Lancelot are the two best jousters in the tournament. They're also in competition for the same woman.
Warnings: none
Word Count: 476
Prompt: #466 Bingo: wedding
Author's Notes: Merlin x A Knight's Tale: Merlin characters in an A Knight's Tale setting. The dialogue is from the movie, with very minor changes. ... So, I thought to myself: this is essentially the way it would go if Arthur were the born-to-it, superior jerk that Adhemar is (and/or that Uther can be) and if Lancelot were... exactly himself. :D
Lancelot tried to guide his horse to a less hostile position in the lineup. It didn't work. He suspects Arthur sought him out here with the intent of exchanging barbs with no chance of it coming to blows before the tournament begins.
"You've done well in my absence," Arthur taunts as he slaps a falsely friendly hand to Lancelot's near shoulder. "On the field and off. Winning trophies, horses, women...." He looks to a certain spot in the stands above the jousting arena where a beautiful woman sits, then back at the royals on their thrones.
Lancelot keeps his eyes fixed on Guinevere's enchanting form in the stands.
Guinevere smiles down at him.
Lancelot maintains eye contact with her as he turns his head slightly toward Arthur. "You put them in that order?" he asks.
"Generally, with few exceptions," Arthur replies with his usual air of arrogance. He looks back to where Guinevere sits. "Beautiful, isn't she? A real thoroughbred trophy. Don't you think so?"
Lancelot breaks eye contact with Guinevere to grimace in the direction of a fence. "You speak of Guinevere as though she's a target," he says disdainfully.
"Isn't she?" says Arthur. He's looking out at the crowd, and he doesn't seem to care for the answer.
"No," Lancelot shoots back. "She is the arrow."
There's a tense silence between them for a moment.
Arthur breaks it. "I've entered into negotiations with her father."
Lancelot's stomach drops.
Arthur must read Lancelot's look of shock as a look of confusion, for he says condescendingly, "I'm to make her my bride."
Lancelot knows that the tradition is to ask a lady's father for her hand in marriage, but he is woefully out of his depth when it comes to the ways of courting nobility. Winning Guinevere's heart may have been enough were she a peasant like him; they could talk to her father any time, and she could refuse all other offers she might receive until then. But Guinevere doesn't know Lancelot is a commoner. She likely expected him to have approached her father already.
Arthur keeps grinding salt into Lancelot's wound as he continues: "She'll be saddled and placed on my mantle. Target or arrow, it makes no difference. I will have her."
Lancelot grips his horse's reins tighter until he hears the leather of his gloves creak. Arthur has him at a disadvantage of experience and training yet again. If Lancelot can just defeat Arthur in this joust, maybe he can win Guinevere's father's favor before they even meet....
Lancelot doesn't need to let his imagination run wild for longer than the length of the sound of a clattering hoofbeat on cobblestone to know that even the thought of a wedding in which Guinevere marries Arthur is completely intolerable.
Lancelot will do whatever it takes to unhorse Arthur and win the day.
Title: Women, Horses, and Trophies
Rating: G
Pairing/s: Lancelot/Gwen
Character/s: Arthur, Lancelot, Gwen
Summary: Arthur and Lancelot are the two best jousters in the tournament. They're also in competition for the same woman.
Warnings: none
Word Count: 476
Prompt: #466 Bingo: wedding
Author's Notes: Merlin x A Knight's Tale: Merlin characters in an A Knight's Tale setting. The dialogue is from the movie, with very minor changes. ... So, I thought to myself: this is essentially the way it would go if Arthur were the born-to-it, superior jerk that Adhemar is (and/or that Uther can be) and if Lancelot were... exactly himself. :D
Lancelot tried to guide his horse to a less hostile position in the lineup. It didn't work. He suspects Arthur sought him out here with the intent of exchanging barbs with no chance of it coming to blows before the tournament begins.
"You've done well in my absence," Arthur taunts as he slaps a falsely friendly hand to Lancelot's near shoulder. "On the field and off. Winning trophies, horses, women...." He looks to a certain spot in the stands above the jousting arena where a beautiful woman sits, then back at the royals on their thrones.
Lancelot keeps his eyes fixed on Guinevere's enchanting form in the stands.
Guinevere smiles down at him.
Lancelot maintains eye contact with her as he turns his head slightly toward Arthur. "You put them in that order?" he asks.
"Generally, with few exceptions," Arthur replies with his usual air of arrogance. He looks back to where Guinevere sits. "Beautiful, isn't she? A real thoroughbred trophy. Don't you think so?"
Lancelot breaks eye contact with Guinevere to grimace in the direction of a fence. "You speak of Guinevere as though she's a target," he says disdainfully.
"Isn't she?" says Arthur. He's looking out at the crowd, and he doesn't seem to care for the answer.
"No," Lancelot shoots back. "She is the arrow."
There's a tense silence between them for a moment.
Arthur breaks it. "I've entered into negotiations with her father."
Lancelot's stomach drops.
Arthur must read Lancelot's look of shock as a look of confusion, for he says condescendingly, "I'm to make her my bride."
Lancelot knows that the tradition is to ask a lady's father for her hand in marriage, but he is woefully out of his depth when it comes to the ways of courting nobility. Winning Guinevere's heart may have been enough were she a peasant like him; they could talk to her father any time, and she could refuse all other offers she might receive until then. But Guinevere doesn't know Lancelot is a commoner. She likely expected him to have approached her father already.
Arthur keeps grinding salt into Lancelot's wound as he continues: "She'll be saddled and placed on my mantle. Target or arrow, it makes no difference. I will have her."
Lancelot grips his horse's reins tighter until he hears the leather of his gloves creak. Arthur has him at a disadvantage of experience and training yet again. If Lancelot can just defeat Arthur in this joust, maybe he can win Guinevere's father's favor before they even meet....
Lancelot doesn't need to let his imagination run wild for longer than the length of the sound of a clattering hoofbeat on cobblestone to know that even the thought of a wedding in which Guinevere marries Arthur is completely intolerable.
Lancelot will do whatever it takes to unhorse Arthur and win the day.