15th Century Girl

Chapter Ten: No Magic in King Uther's Court

They were all silent; Gawain, Gwenievere, Gaius, and Percival, at least until Gaius shut the door. I bit my lip as all eyes were focused on me; I looked up innocently and smiled as I saw grins on all of their faces. “Well, well, well, little Percyla and Arthur, huh? You know you can’t do that stuff until you’re married, right?” Gawain said, tauntingly

           “Oh, shut it, Gawain” I said playfully. Gawain had grown into a brotherly figure for me, and Percival turned into the goofy middle child. I was the young, inexperienced, girl of the group who wanted to try out new things. I smiled and sat down upon the bed that Morgana had previously lain in; I sighed and shook my head, still adorning the grin. At this moment is when a very grave, very pale, Carter entered the room and my heart hit the floor so hard I thought everyone could hear it.

           “The King calls for your presence at his counsel, immediately” He said looking from one man to the next, his gaze stopping and settling on me. His tone was flat and sad, as I exited the room for the second time he wouldn’t even look at me; he only turned away and led the small group to the council chambers. The doors opened and revealed King Uther standing behind his chair with his back turned to us, no one besides him, Merlin, and a very happy Arthur were in the chambers. Uther ordered the doors shut and locked, which was done with extreme efficiency; Uther then turned and re-accounted the tale of Morgana’s attack to us. Gwen and I stood together, nodding every time Uther asked us a question; Uther then walked around and sat down upon his throne, staring at all of us.

           “Magic is in the kingdom, and it has attacked one of my most precious things. We must find this sorcerer and bring him to the gallows. I want every resource exhausted until we find this…..this criminal and bring him to justice!” King Uther cried slamming his fist down upon his chair, we all nodded and Uther dismissed us. Arthur quickly ran to me and pulled me in the direction of his room; Gawain saw this and yelled to us.

            “Be careful, Arthur! You may want to marry her first!” To this Arthur replied

             “You are right, Sir. Gawain, the ceremony is in the morning; all are invited!” Gawain laughed and turned back to Percival who was waiting on him to go to the training grounds. Arthur held my hand and walked with me to his bedroom; where he showed me a map and asked me to pinpoint where we were. I did and his brows furrowed with frustration.

           “What is it?” I asked looking over at him. His eyes glistened and his hair shined in the candlelight, the shadows created by this same light made him look even more dreamy than he already was; if that was possible. The determination that showed on his face made me shiver that such a man would fall in love with a woman like me. Arthur looked up from the map to see me staring at him in a dreamlike state; he smiled at me and kissed my lips quickly; bringing me back to reality. “Arthur” I whispered to him, he looked at me attentively, “Arthur, I…..I love you” I said hesitantly. My hands were clasping and unclasping whilst I started to shake again; Arthur smiled and pulled me into a very strong, very warm hug.

          “Percyla” He said and then he said “Percyla, I love you more” very, loudly. At seeing my uneasiness about his loudness, Arthur leaned down and looked deeply into my eyes “Percyla, I would scream to the heavens my love for you, I would stare my father straight in the eyes and proclaim how I would marry you without his consent, I would kill any man on this earth who tried to even look at you, I would…my god, Percyla, if It wasn’t for my father’s laws about child-birth you would already be impregnated and the Queen of Camelot, and I the King. Percyla, I would do anything, anything! For you, there is nothing on this earth or any other that could keep me away from you; and if anything tried” Arthur paused and smiled “It would be dead very, very quickly” I smiled and was a bit astonished at what Arthur would do. In my life I never contemplated that a man would love me that much; or that anyone would love me that much.