CHECKMATE [ARTHUR PENDRAGON]

Chapter 2: Valiant I

Disclaimer: I do not own BBC's Merlin, their characters nor their plot. I do however own the Princess Arwyn and Sir Geralt. Their character and story arcs remain my intellectual property. 

The sun shone through the windows of the castle causing the shadows to taint her complexion as she watched the knights arrive in the kingdom for the tournament – all hoping to strip Arthur of his title as tournament champion. The kingdom was abuzz with excitement as the villagers bustled around preparing for the festivities; the atmosphere made her miss home. Her father loved hosting large tournaments and lavish feasts and a part of her wanted nothing more than to see him ride through those gates however as she did when she was a child, she buried those feelings in a chapter of a book. In the love of learning. So, when Sir Geralt had banned her from leaving the castle grounds, the princess - lacking the energy to disobey and deal with the consequences - had made her way to Gaius' chambers to return the books that she had borrowed.

The room was relatively silent aside from the physician's occasional mutters and the whir of the bubbling potions and remedies accompanied by the turning of pages. It was a peaceful retreat for the young royal as she hid from the responsibilities that were bound to be bestowed upon her the moment she resurfaced. As Gaius hummed away to himself whilst Arwyn absorbed as much information about healing as she could handle, the door swung open causing them both to jolt out of their reveries.

A highly amused chuckle escaped the princess' lips causing her to put her hand over her mouth in modesty as she eyed Merlin who was dressed head to toe in cheap armour. His brow beaded with sweat and his cheeks flushed pink as he panted for air before dropping Arthur's armour on the floor at his feet.

"You look a little worse for wear." She laughed prompting Gaius to turn around to view his ward, a similar chuckle vibrating in his chest.

As the boy looked at her with a scrunched-up nose, he repeatedly slapped his ear before shouting: "Do you hear clanging?"

"Merlin, your manners." The grey-haired man scolded as he went back to his herbs.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Bowing slightly at her feet, Merlin winced in pain. "Ow! Every ounce of my body hurts."

"Wait. I know this one..." Arwyn suddenly exclaimed shocking the servant as he jumped before furrowing his brow at her. "Equal amounts of radish, garlic, bishopwort, helenium, cropleek, wormwood, and hollowleek...boiled in butter with red nettle and celandine." She continued, tapping her chin in thought as she recalled the chapters she had read the previous morning before turning to face the court physician for confirmation: "Correct?"

Chuckling slightly, Gaius nodded with a look of pride at her sense of achievement as she grinned happily.

"You know, you aren't like any other princesses."

"You haven't met any other princesses, Merlin." The court physician chuckled as he checked on the sleeping draught that he was brewing for Morgana.

"Well, she's not how I imagined them to be..."

Arwyn smiled as the boy scowled at his guardian: "I don't see why a title should prevent me from being who I want to be." She shrugged, stealing a slice of apple off Merlin's plate as he sat down. "I would like to be known through merit rather than birth right."

"You're nothing like Arthur."

"I should hope not!"

Gaius smiled at the young pair giggled like children, mocking the prince mercilessly. However, they were soon interrupted by a thunderous knock on the heavy wooden door which prompted the young girl to groan as she came face to face with her knight. She had been avoiding him all morning and, having perfected the art, led him on a wild goose chase but as always, the older man had found her.