Forbidden Love (Rewritten) | Arthur Pendragon

10 • THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

"I was surprised when Ulric came to see you the other day," Gaius said.

Eowyn was arranging the bookshelves and putting the books she was done reading. Days had passed since the wraith had been defeated and Merlin had hidden the sword elsewhere. She had heard that Kilgharrah was more than furious that Uther had been the one wielding the sword and had urged Merlin to get rid of it. In the meanwhile, Ulric O'doley had left town and had returned to East Usad. Eowyn had been there to send him off, thanking him once more for enlighting her regarding Ljosalfars and Old Norse.

"Ah, you know him?" Eowyn put the last book on the shelf and sat at the table where Gaius was working.

"Yes, he's East Usad's Governor-General's son so he's in charge of delivering the fine to Uther every six months,"

Eowyn froze. Her eyes widened as she stared, mouth agape, at her mentor.

"He's the Governor-General's son?" She repeated in utter disbelief.

"You didn't know?"

"No! I had no idea! He just told me he was a knight!"

Ulric was so kind but also very discreet for someone of his status. He was, in some way, the equivalent of Arthur in East Usad yet behaved a lot calmer and placidly.

Gaius laughed and shook his head. "That doesn't surprise me at all coming from him. He has always been like that,"

"You've known him for a long time?"

"Since he's a child," the old man nodded. "Before him, his mother, Lady Sif O'doley was the one delivering the fine and he would always come along. And when his father, Bearach O'Doley, would come to discuss with Uther, he would also come along. He is a great man and a great knight but always acts as if he was not, which is very humble of him,"

Eowyn remained silent for a second. It seemed that Ulric had been following a precise education regarding international affairs since childhood so for him to refer to his visit as "boring politics" might not be a true statement. But he surely did not wish to talk about such a matter with someone he barely knew. Still, the fact he was someone of great importance shocked her greatly, especially the fact that she had been talking so casually to him. She would have shown a lot more formalities if she had known, which was perhaps the reason he had not been entirely honest with his identity.

"Why does East Usad have to pay a fine every six months?" Eowyn then asked. "In the history books I have read, none mentions the reason the kingdom of Usad has been split in half. Weren't Usad and Camelot allies?"

Gaius did not answer immediately. He put his quill down. "Usad and Camelot were indeed allies. But at the time of the Great Purge, Usad had broken the treaty which led Uther to go to war against them,"

"Why did they break the treaty?"

"Even I don't know. Uther never told me,"

"But you do have a theory, do you?"

Gaius stared at Eowyn for a second then nodded. "Usad was called "The Promised Land for the Magical Beings". Magic was present all around the kingdom, even more than it was present in Camelot. So I supposed that when Uther declared the Great Purge...,"

The most plausible theory was that Usad could not barely see their kin being slaughtered so they decided to stand up and go against Uther who then sought retaliation. And as Usad was a smaller kingdom and that, not only Camelot butt also Cenred had attacked the kingdom, they had lost the battles.