FIC: The Blacksmith's Son (Arthur/Gwen, PG, 11/12) Part I
The Blacksmith’s Son- Chapter Eleven Part I
Chapter: 11/12
Rating: PG
Pairings: Arthur/Gwen, Gwen/Lancelot, Merlin/Arthur BFFness
Disclaimer/references: Merlin does not belong to me.
Summary: He has the hands of a blacksmith but a heart of a prince- if only she could see that. AU fic, in which Arthur is the blacksmith’s son and Gwen a princess- because being epic means being two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that fits, even when the colours have changed.
A/N: Thanks to lovedbyahero for the beta. This is the penultimate chapter, peeps!
For everyone who made it this far without quitting, you deserve a medal..and a cookie.
One, Two, Three, Four Five Part I, Part II , Six , Seven Part I, Part II , Eight, Nine Part I, Part II, Ten
***
When Gwen opens her eyes, she finds herself in a bed that doesn’t feel familiar and a room she doesn’t recognise. Disorientated and confused, she immediately sits up, only to find Merlin dozing in a chair opposite her bed.
“Merlin,” she calls out, her voice raspy.
Merlin wakes immediately. “Gwen!” he exclaims, rushing to her side. He pours her a goblet of water, and she takes it, overcome with thirst.
Once she has drunk from the goblet, she looks at him in bewilderment. “Where are we?”
“We’re in Lyonesse,” he replies. Hesitating slightly, he asks, “Gwen, what do you remember from last night?”
She shakes her head. “Vague things, really. You rescuing me and then the two of us running away from Camelot. I remember being attacked by knights...” her voice trails off. There’s something else, something more important, but her mind can’t quite grasp it. “I was badly injured,” she says, looking at the sleeve of her tunic. It’s in tatters and she tentatively draws it up. She frowns when she sees dried blood there but no wound. “I had a deep cut here,” she states.
“I know,” Merlin says.
She looks up at him.
“I healed you,” he told her. “You were going to die and I had no choice.”
She nods, somehow not surprised. “Then I thank you,” she tells him sincerely. She sees his face light up with a smile. A thought occurs to her then, something that she’d been meaning to ask but hadn’t had the chance. “When we were in Camelot, I noticed that crops popped up in the middle of winter, as if overnight. Was that...you?”
She watches as Merlin’s smile grows bigger. “It was,” he confirms. “I hated seeing everyone starve. I had the power to end all that and I couldn’t just let it happen. It took me ages, though, to get my magic just right. I had all these seeds but none of them would grow!” His smile drops them. “Not that it made a difference when they did grow,” he mutters. “Lancelot took all the crops away.”
“Because he’s a fool,” she tells him. “He believes magic to be evil.” She frowns. “I guess I did too. I didn’t know any different; it’s all I ever knew.”
Magic had been banned in Camelot even before Gwen’s father was king. One day, an eminent enemy of his had bribed a sorcerer to poison the king, in return for grandeur. Gwen’s father had returned from a mission with his fellow knights only to find the kingdom under a powerful spell and his brother dead. No longer being able to trust magical people, he banished many of them to prevent anything like that from happening again.
“Magic is a very powerful thing,” Merlin informs her. “Its potency is enough to corrupt the simplest of souls.”
She smiles at him. “But not you.”
“Not me,” he agrees.
“Camelot needs more people like you, Merlin,” she says.
Talk of Camelot makes her mind think of the situation back home. She thinks of her father, and then of Lancelot and her mind immediately flashes back to last night’s events. That thing that’s just at the edge of her mind is just there, waiting for her to remember, but she can’t.
She tries to recall what happened. She remembers being in a lot of pain and then being dragged across the ground by a knight, and then... and then-
She remembers-
She saw-
Her train of thoughts are disrupted by a knock on the door.
She turns her head in that direction, only to find a knight standing there, looking at her. It takes her a moment to realise that that knight is actually Arthur and her eyes widen in surprise.
Merlin takes one look at Arthur and then at Gwen. “I’ve just remembered that I’ve got to go and ... study the castle windows. I saw this really fascinating one earlier,” he announces, before quickly leaving the room.
Neither of them notices.
Ever so slowly, Gwen gets out of the bed and goes to stand before Arthur.
“Arthur.” His name comes out in a disbelieving whisper and she can’t quite believe that she’s looking at him after all this time.
“Gwen,” he says; his voice just as soft.
The two of them spend a while just staring at one another. She remembers fully then the whole events of last night; of Arthur coming to her in those final moments and rescuing her. But that Arthur who rescued her, the one who stands before her now, is not the same Arthur she remembers. The one in front of her stands with a different kind of a grace; almost majestically. His hair is shorter and his skin more tanned. But the strangest thing for her to see is him dressed as a knight. He wears chainmail and the kingdom’s cape of blue and gold, with an emblem of a phoenix, and it is this outfit that makes him virtually unrecognisable.
“You’re a knight,” she states, somewhat surprised.
“I am a knight,” he confirms.
She smiles then, even if it seems a little uncertain. “That’s great,” she tells him. “I always thought that you would make a wonderful knight. How did it happen?”
“Well, that noble blood I have? It turns out that my mother was Princess of Lyonesse,” he replies, and she can sense the pride in his voice.
She is stunned. “Wow,” she says. She studies his face further, and another feature that strikes her is how regal he looks. Suddenly, she feels incredibly self-conscious. He looks incredible, for want of a better word. Self-assured and confident, he stands tall and proud like any knight would. On the other hand, she stands before him, her tunic in ruins and covered head-to-toe in dirt. And for the first time in her life, she feels completely inferior.
An awkward silence passes between them and it occurs to her that she’s speechless. She had so many things to say, so many things to tell him, but now that he’s within reach, she can’t think of a single word.
As if sensing this too, Arthur gives her a discomfited smile. “I’ll get the servants to bring you some food,” he tells her, “and to run you a bath. I’ve got some knightly duties to attend to, but feel free to roam around the castle. Tomorrow when you are better rested, we will return back to Camelot.”
Gwen nods then. As he leaves to go, she calls out his name. “Arthur!”
He turns around to face her.
“Thank you,” she says, sincerely. “For everything.”
He looks at her intently. “Anytime,” he answers, just like all those times before.
***
Arthur walks away from Gwen feeling a little disappointed. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t imagined what it would be like to be reunited with her. In fact, many times when he was training to become a knight, he would imagine that he’d come back to Camelot, riding on a white horse (and it had to be white), and that he would find Gwen unhappy in her marriage to Lancelot. He’d feel the need to rescue her and she’d be delighted that he had returned. Lancelot would be angry at his intervention and would challenge him to a duel, but Arthur would win, one-handed, and with his eyes closed. Gwen would be so relieved that she’d kiss him deeply, and he would gather her on his horse, where the two of them would ride off into the sunset.
Of course, reality is always different to fantasy and this was no exception.
And while he didn’t expect some extravagant reunion, he didn’t quite expect her look of confusion.
He wanders outside the castle and finds Merlin sitting on a nearby wall, with a frown on his face. Walking up to him, he sees a note in his hand and Archimedes hopping around his feet.
“Bad news?” Arthur asks, going over to sit by him. Upon seeing Arthur, Archimedes lets out a hoot and goes to sit on his lap.
Merlin nods. “Things in Camelot have worsened. Gaius says that Lanceypants threw a hissy fit when the knights didn’t return back to Camelot with Gwen in tow. He’s tightened regulations in Camelot, if that’s even possible, and Gaius is worried about the King.”
“Has he got worse?”
“No, but Gaius is worried that Lancelot will do something to him. Gaius is permanently watching him and he has some knights on his side, but if the prat finds out that we’re returning, I can only imagine the depths that he’ll stoop to.”
“I will not let him harm the King,” Arthur says.
Merlin laughs drily. “For all your words, Arthur, I’m afraid it might not make a difference. Camelot is ages away. The possibilities of what he can do between now and the time we get there are endless.”
Arthur lets out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t plan to leave until tomorrow. Gwen needs to be rested and so do the knights. And now that Lancelot knows help is on the way, we need to make sure that we are really prepared for whatever he has to offer.”
“And what about you, don’t you need rest?”
Arthur gives a snort and goes to sit beside Merlin. “I may be a knight now, but I’m still the same person I was before.”
“Getting by on little sleep,” Merlin muses.
“Among other things, yes.”
“So how did talking to Gwen go?”
Arthur shrugs. “It wasn’t exactly what I expected.”
“How so?”
“She seemed uncertain around me, as if she wasn’t quite sure what to make of me.”
“You’ve got to give her a chance, Arthur. The girl hasn’t seen you in a year and a lot has happened to you both. You can’t expect her to go leaping in your arms with joy.”
“Exactly what has happened since I’ve been gone?”
Merlin hesitates. “I’m not sure if I should be the one to tell you. You need to hear it from her lips.”
“Please, Merlin? I need to know, if only to understand.”
Merlin sighs. “Fine, but don’t think I’m giving you special treatment now that you’re a knight.”
“Please, if anything, I expect you to give me treat me worse.”
Merlin gives Arthur a pointed look before saying, “Gwen was really upset when you left. As in, she walked around in a daze, hardly paying attention to anything anyone said. When her father officially announced hers and Lanceypants’ engagement, Gwen ran out of the room. I don’t know for sure, but I think she went to find you.”
Shock overwhelms Arthur. In all honesty, he never expected her to do that. “But I’d already gone,” he murmurs.
“You’d already gone,” Merlin affirms.
“I feel like such an idiot!” Arthur exclaims. “I shouldn’t have gone. I shouldn’t have run away and left her.”
“How were you to know that any of this would happen?”
“I could have kept in touch, instead of being so stupidly stubborn.”
“You were setting up a new life for yourself here,” Merlin points out. “You thought that there was no hope left between the two of you, so you felt the need to let go of something that wasn’t yours.”
“Well, I thought wrong.”
“Arthur, look at you! And look at the life you’ve forged here. Would you really change all of that?”
“Yes!” he cries honestly. “If it meant ensuring her safety, I would sacrifice everything for her.”
“She managed to hold up her fort, Arthur.”
“Just barely,” he mutters. “She gets imprisoned by a fool and then almost ends up getting killed. And look at her! She’s skin and bones! And so are you.”
“Well, the last time I checked, you couldn’t control a famine. And you shouldn’t think about what’s happened. The past is the past. Focus on the future. Go back to Camelot and kick Lanceypants’ arse to the other side of the country! Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted to do?”
From his lap, Archimedes lets out a hoot of agreement.
Arthur snorts, but a grin plays at his lips.
“And then after that, you can worry about fixing things,” Merlin continues.
“I suppose,” he begins, “that there is a grain of truth in your words.”
“Try not to sound so surprised,” Merlin muses.
***
Part II