This is my first chapter to my semi-reboot of the show starting from Series 4.
Notes before reading[]
- I apologise but Morgana has little role in this chapter.
- Sorry if there are any mistakes! You are free to make minor edits.
- The rest will be submitted ASAP. :D
Read 4x01[]
In the misty night of Holinor, the black gates emerged to a rider. The masked envoy rode into the gates and dismounted his horse, before then walking on foot, entering the citadel of Holinor. He entered a room with a glass ceiling in which there sat the queen in her throne, holding and examining a map; aside from her being there the throne room was deserted. The queen looked relatively old yet she had somewhat of a striking beauty. “What message do you bring from Cenred’s kingdom?” asked Queen Mab in a near-motionless tone. The envoy with the mask over his mouth and head spoke, “King Cenred is dead, and there is little of his army left, while neighbouring kingdoms are yet to seek the land. The place is almost deserted, many citizens of the city fled in fear of the Immortal Army in which has now perished. When the Cup of Life was destroyed, the great army had fallen.” Queen Mab rapidly twitched her lip in what almost seemed like a smirk, she said to practically no one as the envoy was merely an envoy, “I shall have horses prepared immediately, Cenred’s kingdom will be ours”.
Suddenly, the envoy pulled off his mask, revealing himself to be a Knight of Camelot called Lancelot, he screamed to Mab, “no you shall not!” before wielding his sword from his hilt. Out of nowhere Mab screamed at the top of her voice “GUARDS!” As he suddenly heard marching, he put Mab at sword-point and falsely threatened “give me the map or die where you stand!” Before Mab could do anything ten guards in the coat of the Crest of Holinor - with a black cat on it, marched in immediately and surrounded Lancelot. The number of guards were as little as a dozen yet to Lancelot it seemed like an entire army. Suddenly the glass of the ceiling broke, Lancelot’s attention from the guards was all but nothing when a thin man in a mask swung from the broken glass ceiling in a Tarzan-like fashion. The second masked man landed on the ground before raising his hand, his eyes glowed yellow, and the startled guards of Mab were knocked to the ground. The second man in the mask ripped the guise off his face like Lancelot did and revealed himself to be a young warlock named Merlin. Merlin raised his hand towards Mab and did the same thing to her. She flung in the air like she had just been thrown by a catapult. She dropped the map while in mid-air. Lancelot dashed to the floor and picked it up, and said to Merlin, smiling, “I told you I had this under control”. Merlin faintly smiled back and said “it was all a part of the plan...” Lancelot raised his eyebrows and said more seriously in advance, “anyway, we have to go, there will be more guards coming!” Both Merlin and Lancelot ran away while holding the map, to which when they looked at it, it appeared to be of the kingdom of Cenred. They mounted the horse that Lancelot dismounted earlier, and rode off, away from the black gates. Little that they knew, they were being watched and followed as they were riding back to Camelot, by a thin man who also appeared to be wearing a mask. He was young and looked innocent yet slightly clueless in the eyes. He was a spy.
“MERLIN!” shouted Arthur while inside bed. Merlin, who felt tired after last night, lazily walked into Arthur’s chambers ready to put himself in anxiety through another day of serving a prince who doesn’t even know how magnificent he truly is. Merlin stood right in front of Arthur’s bed and sarcastically said “it’s good to see you too Arthur”. Arthur opened his eyes a little more and slightly chuckled before saying “Merlin, I need my armour polished for swordcraft practice this afternoon. I want no slacking around today! Which means no time spent at the tavern, do you understand?” “Yes sire”, answered Merlin in a sarcastic tone again.
Merlin was then carrying Arthur’s armour down the corridor toward his way back to his chambers so he could polish Arthur’s armour. Many commoners walked freely through the great halls as Merlin struggled to pass them. When Merlin got back to his chambers Gaius was in his face lecturing him about the skirmish last night. “Merlin you shouldn’t have risked Lancelot’s life like that! I understand you and him work well together fighting against the evil forces but one day something terrible is going to happen.” Merlin took a deep breath before saying “Lancelot understood the risks...” Gaius looked Merlin in the eye like he didn’t buy what he had said, therefore Merlin continued, “the point is he’s alive and well now. And he is going to hand Arthur the maps of Cenred’s kingdom this afternoon. No need to fuss!” Gaius started speaking again, “you know when Uther returns, he is not going to suddenly put all this trust in the Knights of the Round Table like Arthur does, in fact, I’d be worried that they may lose the honour itself of being a Knight.” Merlin took a deep breath before saying, “we’ll worry about Uther’s return, when he has returned. It’s been several months anyway, god knows whether if he’s still alive or not.” “Morgana’s betrayal hit him hard. He’s like a shadow of his former self. He needs time by himself away to recover, and I can imagine that would be a while after all he has been through”, said Gaius.
That afternoon, the Knights had practice with their swords. Prior to it starting Arthur was surprised to see Guinevere attending. “Hello Arthur” said Gwen happily. “Guinevere! Definitely good to see you out and about,” said Arthur while smiling. Lancelot walked up to Arthur (and Guinevere) holding the map, as he began to spoke, there was a little bit of envy in his eyes as he saw him with Guinevere. Guinevere smiled at Lancelot when she saw him. Lancelot began speaking to Arthur, “I know it’s a little earlier than you expected me to retrieve the papers sire, but here are the maps to Cenred’s kingdom. It has only been six months since the kingdom fell, aside from Mab, no kingdom has expressed interest in claiming the lands. For Camelot, it is definitely gettable.” “Thank you Sir Lancelot, but may I ask how you got your hands on this so quickly?” Lancelot smiled and modestly said, “well, you know me – always trying to get ahead of things.” Arthur couldn’t help but to glare at the maps that were given to him, but he raised his head and said, “that’s why you are clearly the most noble Knight in Camelot,” then he continued in a whisper tone as Gwen watched on smiling, “don’t tell the others” he said while smiling. Lancelot smiled back, and nodded his head saying to Gwen, “Guinevere”, before walking off to prepare for practice.
That night after the practice, the Knights went to the tavern afterwards like they always did.