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'Men at Arms'. Merlin. Redshirts. G.
WHERE IS MY [spoiler for upcoming 'Merlin' episode] ALREADY
Anyway. I wrote this at one of the![[info - community]](https://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
camelot_fleet parties a few weeks ago when ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
heather11483 gave the prompt "Clueless Guard #2/Clueless Guard #3".
This one is for the redshirts.
Men at Arms
Merlin. The knights and guards of Camelot. 970 words. Rated G.
"He wants to be heartened by Sir Leon when he tells them that Camelot needs them now more than ever, and he wants his trust in his prince to be enough, but Bedwyr wonders."
The word spread quickly enough that Lancelot had been cast out for treachery and lies. ("And magic?" said Sir Calhoun. "I heard it was magic."
"That's just the king's claptrap getting to you. Not everyone who's better than you is doing it by magic, Calhoun. In fact, I can guarantee that they're not!"
"'Claptrap', Gaheris?" Calhoun chortled. "Perhaps you'd like to join Lancelot in being cast out for treachery!"
"God save the king, my friend,” sighed Sir Gaheris. “God save him always, especially from himself.") And it was a shame, because Sir Bedwyr had liked Lancelot, who seemed good-hearted though a little clumsy at court. And hadn't they all been a little clumsy at first, overwhelmed by the duty they had just won for themselves?
"You have not been at Camelot as long as I have," Gaheris told him, "so perhaps you will not agree with me, but consider Lancelot one of the lucky ones."
Bedwyr frowns. "Why?"
"He will lead a longer life than us."
+
These are dark days at Camelot if Gaheris is to be believed, and Bedwyr finds himself torn between the evidence of his eyes and the idealism that he is loathe to give up. He wants to be heartened by Sir Leon when he tells them that Camelot needs them now more than ever, and he wants his trust in his prince to be enough, but Bedwyr wonders. Strange monsters come from who knows where, and they are such stuff as nightmares are made of. Strangers come from all over and throw the kingdom into chaos, and each time more and more of his comrades fall.
When Bedwyr became a knight, Camelot was the shining jewel of these territories: wealthy, powerful, and fortified. Kerys envied them, Mercia feared them, and Northumbria courted their favor. This changed when the queen died, or so Bedwyr had heard from one of the squires. That was when magic left the kingdom; it died with her. It left the kingdom weak with grief. One of the cooks said no no no, the queen was killed by a witch, didn't you know. The stories have tangled themselves through the years, and Bedwyr finds that the past is as unclear as the future. It's getting more difficult to tell where the magic ends and where it begins. The superstitious say that there is dissolution in the air, and that the kingdom cannot keep going like this. Something is making the foundations crumble; something is trying to take it apart and start anew.
"Don't listen to Gaheris, friend," Sir Calhoun tells him one day. He slices an apple as they wait on the training grounds for the other knights. Across the field the prince is yelling at his manservant for one reason or another, as the prince is wont to do. "He has been a knight a long time," says Calhoun, "and it’s made him cynical.”
"He doesn't want to be a knight anymore?" Bedwyr asks, as he takes a proffered apple slice from Calhoun.
"That's not what I said,” says Calhoun, “but understand that Gaheris has lost many friends to Camelot's recent... attacks. He is weary."
"But... but he is still a knight," Bedwyr ventures.
"Yes. That is the problem."
+
There are strange things afoot under the earth of Camelot.
Things move by themselves, the guards say. There are horrible noises like the roar of some demon and the clanking of chains. Sometimes the guards fall to an enchanted asleep, and wake up hours later with no idea of what has taken place.
Calhoun rolls his eyes. "The guards are fools. You don't have to pay them too much attention."
"Is it not our duty as knights to honor and respect the people of Camelot?" asks Bedwyr.
And that’s when Calhoun gives him a look that indicates he doesn’t think much of Bedwyr’s intelligence. "No. Our duty is to protect Camelot."
"The guards are idiots," Gaheris agrees, and he doesn't usually agree with Calhoun on much.
"Perhaps these strange things underground," says Bedwyr, a teasing smile on his face, "have to do with Camelot's dark days of which you speak, Gaheris."
"The guards have been scared of the underground for years," Gaheris shrugs. "They're afraid of the dark, nothing more."
But later when Bedwyr talks to the guard named Alcott, his suspicions arise again.
"Wasn't just noises this time!" Alcott confesses. "There were voices! I heard voices!"
"What sort of voices?" asks Bedwyr. "What did they say?"
"It was saying things about the prince! And... and Camelot!"
"Bad things? Alcott, tell me."
But Alcott's recounts are a phantasmagoria of doom and death, destiny and magical bargains, witches and wizards. They sound like nothing so much as the ramblings of a madman, and Bedwyr has to wonder if they are working the man too hard. Alcott is not a liar, so if he is not a madman, then presumably he is telling the truth. Bedwyr finds himself reluctantly preferring that Alcott is mad.
"Your doubts are slowing you," Gaheris says some days later, over pints of ale with Bedwyr and Calhoun.
"My doubts buoy me," Bedwyr protests. "But I suppose that if we hold honor to be sacred, then we are… we are willing to sacrifice many more things for it."
And Gaheris grins at this and seems almost proud. His expression makes Bedwyr uneasy. “But,” Gaheris says, "is it really for honor that we sacrifice?"
Bedwyr says, "But for what else?"
No one has an answer to that.
"A toast then, friends," Calhoun says instead, raising his glass. "For the sacrificed: for all those who have fallen, and for those who have yet to fall."
"Hear, hear," says Bedwyr.
"You are sentimental when you are drunk, Calhoun," Gaheris mutters, amused.
Calhoun replies, "I don't consider sentimentality a defect."
They drink.
Anyway. I wrote this at one of the
camelot_fleet parties a few weeks ago when heather11483 gave the prompt "Clueless Guard #2/Clueless Guard #3". This one is for the redshirts.
Men at Arms
Merlin. The knights and guards of Camelot. 970 words. Rated G.
"He wants to be heartened by Sir Leon when he tells them that Camelot needs them now more than ever, and he wants his trust in his prince to be enough, but Bedwyr wonders."
The word spread quickly enough that Lancelot had been cast out for treachery and lies. ("And magic?" said Sir Calhoun. "I heard it was magic."
"That's just the king's claptrap getting to you. Not everyone who's better than you is doing it by magic, Calhoun. In fact, I can guarantee that they're not!"
"'Claptrap', Gaheris?" Calhoun chortled. "Perhaps you'd like to join Lancelot in being cast out for treachery!"
"God save the king, my friend,” sighed Sir Gaheris. “God save him always, especially from himself.") And it was a shame, because Sir Bedwyr had liked Lancelot, who seemed good-hearted though a little clumsy at court. And hadn't they all been a little clumsy at first, overwhelmed by the duty they had just won for themselves?
"You have not been at Camelot as long as I have," Gaheris told him, "so perhaps you will not agree with me, but consider Lancelot one of the lucky ones."
Bedwyr frowns. "Why?"
"He will lead a longer life than us."
+
These are dark days at Camelot if Gaheris is to be believed, and Bedwyr finds himself torn between the evidence of his eyes and the idealism that he is loathe to give up. He wants to be heartened by Sir Leon when he tells them that Camelot needs them now more than ever, and he wants his trust in his prince to be enough, but Bedwyr wonders. Strange monsters come from who knows where, and they are such stuff as nightmares are made of. Strangers come from all over and throw the kingdom into chaos, and each time more and more of his comrades fall.
When Bedwyr became a knight, Camelot was the shining jewel of these territories: wealthy, powerful, and fortified. Kerys envied them, Mercia feared them, and Northumbria courted their favor. This changed when the queen died, or so Bedwyr had heard from one of the squires. That was when magic left the kingdom; it died with her. It left the kingdom weak with grief. One of the cooks said no no no, the queen was killed by a witch, didn't you know. The stories have tangled themselves through the years, and Bedwyr finds that the past is as unclear as the future. It's getting more difficult to tell where the magic ends and where it begins. The superstitious say that there is dissolution in the air, and that the kingdom cannot keep going like this. Something is making the foundations crumble; something is trying to take it apart and start anew.
"Don't listen to Gaheris, friend," Sir Calhoun tells him one day. He slices an apple as they wait on the training grounds for the other knights. Across the field the prince is yelling at his manservant for one reason or another, as the prince is wont to do. "He has been a knight a long time," says Calhoun, "and it’s made him cynical.”
"He doesn't want to be a knight anymore?" Bedwyr asks, as he takes a proffered apple slice from Calhoun.
"That's not what I said,” says Calhoun, “but understand that Gaheris has lost many friends to Camelot's recent... attacks. He is weary."
"But... but he is still a knight," Bedwyr ventures.
"Yes. That is the problem."
+
There are strange things afoot under the earth of Camelot.
Things move by themselves, the guards say. There are horrible noises like the roar of some demon and the clanking of chains. Sometimes the guards fall to an enchanted asleep, and wake up hours later with no idea of what has taken place.
Calhoun rolls his eyes. "The guards are fools. You don't have to pay them too much attention."
"Is it not our duty as knights to honor and respect the people of Camelot?" asks Bedwyr.
And that’s when Calhoun gives him a look that indicates he doesn’t think much of Bedwyr’s intelligence. "No. Our duty is to protect Camelot."
"The guards are idiots," Gaheris agrees, and he doesn't usually agree with Calhoun on much.
"Perhaps these strange things underground," says Bedwyr, a teasing smile on his face, "have to do with Camelot's dark days of which you speak, Gaheris."
"The guards have been scared of the underground for years," Gaheris shrugs. "They're afraid of the dark, nothing more."
But later when Bedwyr talks to the guard named Alcott, his suspicions arise again.
"Wasn't just noises this time!" Alcott confesses. "There were voices! I heard voices!"
"What sort of voices?" asks Bedwyr. "What did they say?"
"It was saying things about the prince! And... and Camelot!"
"Bad things? Alcott, tell me."
But Alcott's recounts are a phantasmagoria of doom and death, destiny and magical bargains, witches and wizards. They sound like nothing so much as the ramblings of a madman, and Bedwyr has to wonder if they are working the man too hard. Alcott is not a liar, so if he is not a madman, then presumably he is telling the truth. Bedwyr finds himself reluctantly preferring that Alcott is mad.
"Your doubts are slowing you," Gaheris says some days later, over pints of ale with Bedwyr and Calhoun.
"My doubts buoy me," Bedwyr protests. "But I suppose that if we hold honor to be sacred, then we are… we are willing to sacrifice many more things for it."
And Gaheris grins at this and seems almost proud. His expression makes Bedwyr uneasy. “But,” Gaheris says, "is it really for honor that we sacrifice?"
Bedwyr says, "But for what else?"
No one has an answer to that.
"A toast then, friends," Calhoun says instead, raising his glass. "For the sacrificed: for all those who have fallen, and for those who have yet to fall."
"Hear, hear," says Bedwyr.
"You are sentimental when you are drunk, Calhoun," Gaheris mutters, amused.
Calhoun replies, "I don't consider sentimentality a defect."
They drink.
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I love that the guards have a vague idea that they are duped by Merlin on a weekly basis. I have this mental image of him writing them all apology cards for knocking them out after he is eventually "outed."
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Apology cards, oh lord. "It was YOU all along!" and Merlin being all, "Umm.. ehehe, we're all friends here, right?"
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Bedwyr says, "But for what else?"
No one has an answer to that.
l;sakdgja;ldskh. That is all.
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lol exactly. Poor sidelined knights! XD
Thanks!
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Alcott is not a liar, so if he is not a madman, then presumably he is telling the truth. Bedwyr finds himself reluctantly preferring that Alcott is mad.
WORD. That's how these things should go.
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LOL I am not surprised you picked that line. Trilemma ftw!
Thanks, Wyrm. <333
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Actually this is giving me fic bunnies. I totally want to write fic about the servants at Camelot, all of Gwen's fellow-maids, their relationships with the knights (which...commoners with knights? idk. Maybe there are some ladies at court after all), the mourning that goes on below stairs when Sir What's-His-Name gets killed and Uther and Arthur seem not to notice. Maybe we should set up, like, a ficathon/community/meme thing where you drabble for each redshirt?
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Is Gwen, like, king of the maids because she is obviously Morgana's favorite? And Arthur's too, these days. And totally, what are the knight/servant/guard relationships like?
Cook #4/Stableboy OTP! Scullery Maid/Dungeon Guard#2 is a close second.
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Hmmmmm maybe it's part of Arthur's journey, like he's going to start caring and have the round table and things, and then the brotherhood starts up. (Seriously, Uther and Arthur are all "What about HONOR?!" and I was like SHE JUST KILLED FIVE OF YOUR MEN IN COLD BLOOD WHEN SHE COULD PROBABLY HAVE JUST KNOCKED ON THE CASTLE DOOR WTF WTF!
Oooh, or are the other girls jealous? Is dungeon guard #3 totally jealous because she's so pretty, he could give her a decent home, really, if she would just stop mooning after knights and royalty. Do some of the knights not give a crap about sleeping with maids, or is it okay as long as they don't want to marry? Are the guards commoners or knights-in-training?
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Are humans such insects to the magical kind? History shows yes, I guess. Man, I kind of don't want Morgause to be another Nimueh. Like, at the end, I hope she was angry because her truth was thwarted, and not that her lie was exposed.
Are the guards commoners or knights-in-training?
Good question! I wonder. I don't know historically how it all works out. I wonder if a knight ever fills in for a guard if a guard is sick or something. But maybe they see guarding as like below them, so if they have to do this, they shove the duty off to the newbie knight.
Wait, do the knights sleep in the castle? Maybe the guards do, in barracks?
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Yeeeah. I really like that we still don't know how much she was telling that was truth, how much was a lie, what she twisted. Was that Igraine? How was Arthur really conceived? I WANT TO KNOW MORE. Also I am looking forward to some Gwen/Morgause interaction. They both care for Morgana so much!
Hm, I think historically you are a page and then a squire and then a knight (?). Yeah, I wonder if they mutter about the guards sometimes. "I found them asleep last night," Sir Owen used to grumble. "Either they're asleep or chasing their die halfway down across the castle."
I...think so? Yeah, they must.
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Yes, is it Uther or Morgause telling lies? Does Morgause think she's being truthful even when she's lying, 'cos someone lied to her previously? Who is misinformed? What the hell is Merlin getting himself into? He just keeps on digging his own grave and digging his own grave. Sheesh.
Those guards, always going on about their haunted dice! XD
'Cos the knights are nobility, right, so they probably have their own... private quarters? I suppose Pierrefonds is big enough to accomodate them all.
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Maybe they both are. Gaius does admit Uther used magic for Arthur's birth, but do we know Igraine didn't know about it? Or is Gaius wrong too? Who did Morgause hear this all from anyhow? Arthur didn't realize Gaius practiced magic--does that mean that Uther has always been anti-magic, and just used Nimueh in hypocritical desperation? Or was he pro-magic before it killed his wife? The idea that you needed a life for a life and that was what happened to get Arthur, did we actually know that before this episode or was that just fanon?
Lol, and the voices in the dungeons! (Does everyone know about the dragon?)
Probably, yeah. And there are all those nobles we see every so often, probably they live there too. Hm. Do the other maids live in the castle, so Gwen is an abnormality?
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Ya that's all there in 1x09. Uther and Nimueh were friends and he welcomed her at court, so she must've known Ygraine. I forget if Ygraine explicitly consented to being magically inseminated, but I had assumed so, and I also forget if it's canon or fanon that Nimueh didn't know it was going to be Ygraine that died. So. Probably Gaius turned non-magical shortly after Ygraine's death.
(Does everyone know about the dragon?)
Doesn't seem like it, does it? But how did Uther put it under the castle without people finding out? That's a whole story in of itself. Maybe to the people, the Dragon is like the bogeyman. Mothers say "Eat your vegetables, Billy, or we'll feed you to the Dragon under the castle!" and the drunks in the public houses say "They say that the dragon is as big as the castle itself, and has three heads!"
Or maybe Gwen's house is still in the lower castle, somewhere.. like in some courtyard.. or something.
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