Stand Tall

Part Three: Cowards

Before anyone could even blink, two weeks had run on by. Life was as usual for most of the people in Camelot. Arthur and the knights trained. Merlin worked for no gratitude. The guests kept Gwen busy. Braith, however, kept a strange distance from the others, exploring the edges of a kingdom that would soon be her new home. When she did turn up, usually for dinners and gatherings, she was just as laid-back and sharp-minded as always. Like nothing ever happened.

Merlin walked back down the hall in his usual clumsy fashion. His mind was elsewhere, trying to recall what he'd dreamt of the previous night. Something gold...and something green...water...a language he didn't understand...

Hands clamped down on his shoulders and yanked him around a corner. Just before he kicked his attacker however, he was spoken to.

"Merlin, I need your help," Braith said in a harsh whisper.

"You didn't have to jump on me bandit style. I thought you were going to attempt a murder."

"Poor job of defense, then, mate. Anyway, you know that little fight they're holding? In the honor of Dane and Camelot standing united?"

"What, the Tournament?"

"Yeah."

"What about it?" he asked. The girl looked like she was debating whether or not to say something.

"Let's just put it this way - I'm going to need some armor."

"Oh, no, Braith..."

"What! It'll be perfect! I can fence just fine, and I'll prove to Arthur dear that I'm a force to be reckoned with."

"You do know that's basically just men with weapons throwing their weight around, right?"

"That's what I mean! Only men compete here. Why shouldn't I give it a go?"

"So you're pretty much doing this because it's against the rules?" Merlin asked. This caught her off guard.

"Yes. No. Well, not only because it's against the rules..."

"Fine, fine. What do you need me for?"

"To get armor, and what ever else I might need out on the fighting pitch."

"What's in it for me? I'll probably get put in the stocks - again - if Arthur finds out. You have to give me a really, really good reason to help you break the rules."

"A... peck on the cheek?"

Merlin looked absolutely dumbstruck. She had to be kidding, of course.

"You're right, that'd probably start a war... How about a promise? I have to help you when you ask me to, no excuses, no questions asked."

"...Deal."

---

He shoved the arm piece into place with a clank.

"I think it's... wrong," Braith complained as he donned her in her 'borrowed' armor.

"How so?"

"Ugh, It's loose where it should be snug, and it's tight in all the wrong places!"

"Therein lies the problem with a lady wearing men's armor. You do know that the last time this tournament was held, several men died? Are you sure you don't want to give up?" Merlin urged her.

"Never." she said. Sadly, this was the stubborn response he'd been expecting. The roar of the crowd just outside the tent was overwhelming, a hundred or so people pounding fists and chanting 'fight, fight, fight!"

"Braith, just to be sure - you do know the rules of a proper Tournament, right?" Merlin asked, arms crossed, wondering if he'd made a wrong turn somewhere. Braith spoke, and then slammed the visor of her helmet down over her eyes, to conceal the last trace of femininity.

"I've... got the vague outline."

And into the gauntlet she went.

---

"Braith, what in God's name were you thinking?" Arthur shouted after his fiancée. She would have won hands down if they hadn't disqualified her for her tactics. She did win - and they were all just too stiff to admit it. When she'd taken her helmet off for show after she'd pinned him with the tip of her blade, the king's face went from surprised to dismayed. There was no way a woman was going to beat his son.

"Perhaps I was teaching you a little lesson, Pendragon," she retorted hotly, turning to face him in the square with her lip curled. It was no secret they'd been fighting. About what, no one else but Merlin and Gwen knew. For good reason. An audience was already forming a circle around the arguers.

"You could've just restarted the war!"

"Don't you yell at me."

"You yelled first!"

"Oh, grow up!" the girl bellowed, annoyed now. A heated silence followed. "Look, I'm as un-thrilled by this relationship as you are, but that doesn't mean we can't at least come through as friends. Allies. Right? If we are allied, then so are our kingdoms."

"Arth-" Merlin bounded up to the scene.

"Not now, Merlin. Go ready a bath or something."

"...I hate to interrupt your sweet nothings, but we've got a problem," the servant heaved, still catching his breath. Braith and Arthur exchanged a glance before dashing off after the young servant. Inside the castle, Gawain and Percival had pinned a suspicious and cowardly man to the wall of the corridor. As they trotted up to the knights, Merlin watched Braith's expression carefully. The man they'd pinned was dressed in a fur lined cloak, similar to the one Braith had worn on the day she arrived. Her face first betrayed shock, then worry, and finally a nose-wrinkle of disgust. The man saw Braith and bowed deeply and exaggeratedly.

"My Lady, what a pleasure it is to see you with color in your cheeks!" he said, taking no notice of anyone but the princess.

"Unferth," she said, her voice dry and disdainful. She sighed.

"Who?" Arthur asked.

"The Steward of Dane. My father's advisor, and a stand in if I die or vanish," Braith explained.

"It was he who sent me here. A rumor had been going around that you were gone! They said you'd been run through by one of these Chr-"

Percival gave him a shake.

"They said you'd been executed."

"Whoever said I was dead is a raving lunatic, you can take it from me."

A paranoid thought uncoiled like a snake in Merlin's mind, accompanied by a feeling that his forgotten dream had been of utmost importance.

"Lord Beowulf said you need to come back home," said the greasy-looking steward

"Wait - if he thinks she's dead, how can he want her to come back? That would be impossible," Arthur realized. He may have been pretty thick at times, but he still had his moments of clarity.

"Either he means my dead body," Braith suggested, "or this man's a liar."

"N- my lady-!"

"No, she's right. Put him in the dungeons until further notice," Arthur ordered.

"You can't do that!" Unferth protested as the two burly knights dragged him away. "The All-Mother is coming! You'll be sorry you ever set eyes on that child!" he yelled to the prince, indicating Braith.

The remaining people exchanged worried glances, Braith's gaze lingering just long enough on Merlin to alert him that something was going on.

Something unsettling. Something gold.

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A/N: This seems to be developing rather quickly! Please comment as to what you think of the characters and whatnot. I do love a comment! And what of Merlin's dream? That riddle, gold, green, water, and a foreign language? Answers lie in the future...