#although the oc is currently enjoying the merlin/gwen/lancelot tangle for the moment

[jessisnotnormal]

Chapter 10: Test

Masterlist

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There was a definite spring to her step as Jada entered Gaius’ quarters the next morning. Over on the stairs by the window, Merlin looked up from some pages he was bent over, an easy smile greeting her as she bid him good morning.

            “What do you think?” she asked, giving her new dress a twirl.

            His eyes examined the dress, before he nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Looks good.”

            “Thanks. I wasn’t sure blue was really my colour, but I don’t think I look too bad, to be honest.” She’d quite liked the way Gwen’s colour choice had made her eyes seem more blue than grey—it was almost like some kind of magic in itself.

            Apparently Merlin had noticed the difference, too. “No, no. It makes- eyes- um…” He gestured awkwardly to his own eyes, his cheeks turning a little pink.

            Jada laughed. “I’m going to assume that was an attempt at a compliment?”

            Merlin’s laugh was more nervous. “Yeah. Sorry.”

            She laughed again, crossing over to see the pages he had been looking at. “Thanks, then. What’s all this?”

            “It’s tablature.” He sat back, picking up the lute that leant against the step beside him. “You said you wanted to learn?”

            “Aren’t you in work today?” Jada asked, sitting next to him.

            “Not until later. Arthur gave me the morning off while he checks in with Lancelot.” He turned more towards her. “If you still want to learn, I can try to teach you the basics?”

            She smiled. “That’d be great, thanks.”

            Learning the lute proved to be significantly more challenging than Jada had imagined. Despite appearances, it had very little in common with the guitar, and going against most of what was already ingrained in her brain turned out to be quite a struggle. Nevertheless, Merlin was a patient teacher, taking the time to answer each one of her questions and helping her reposition her hands whenever she strayed back into ‘guitar mode’.

            The plucking sequences were the hardest for her to get a handle on, but Merlin guided her through it slowly, until the notes she played gradually started to become less of a disjointed mess.

            “You’re getting the hang of it,” he commented, reaching over to readjust her right hand slightly. “Just remember to keep this in position.”

            “But the position feels so wrooong!” Jada whined dramatically, before sombering again. “Thank you, though. I’m sure you must have wanted to bash your head against something at least once by now.”

            One corner of his mouth lifted. “You really don’t have to thank me so much, you know.”

            She frowned. “What do you mean?”

            He shrugged. “You say it so often. I’m hardly doing anything.”

            “You’re helping me, aren’t you? Why wouldn’t I thank you for that?”

            He seemed almost surprised as he looked back up at her. “Well…”

            At that moment, the sound of bells clanging somewhere in the castle rang out, startling the two of them. Merlin jumped swiftly to his feet.

            “It’s the warning bells…” he frowned, but quickly spun on his heel at the sound of screaming coming from the window behind them.

            Jada also shot to her feet now. “Oh my God…” she gasped, then turned to Merlin. “What’s happening?”

            “I don’t know,” he replied. “But I’m going to find out.”

            He took off running, and Jada followed him out of the castle and into the streets of Camelot. There were dozens of people heading towards them, all wearing ragged clothing as they made for the castle. Some of them were bleeding, some wearing make-shift bandages, and some could only hobble wearily over the cobbles, but all of them had a haunted look in their faces as they passed by.

            Merlin quickly sprang into action, hurrying to the aid of a younger woman as she made her way tentatively through the gates. He guided her over to where Gaius was tending to an older woman as Jada moved to follow his example with the other refugees.

            “You’re safe now, I promise,” she heard Merlin reassure the woman, before he nodded towards Gaius’ patient. “How is she?”

            “Okay,” Gaius replied, dabbing at the woman’s head wound.

            Just then, Lancelot came racing over, his expression equally as panicked as Jada felt. “What happened to these people?”

            Gaius turned to him gravely. “Their village was attacked by a winged monster.”

            Merlin shared a look with Lancelot, then Jada. Could it be the same creature that had attacked them? It had to be, didn’t it? How many other winged creatures could plague Camelot?

            “The knights’ll take care of it, won’t they? Isn’t that what they do?” Even as she asked, she saw the dismay in each of the others’ faces.

            “I fear so,” Gaius replied.

            “But how could they prevail?” Lancelot asked. “I struck the creature squarely, yet it was unhurt.”

            Jada wondered how she could have missed that, but when she thought back to their encounter with the beast, she recalled that her attention had mostly been on Merlin at the time.

            Gaius gave Merlin a meaningful look, before replying gravely. “I’m afraid I do not know.”

            The rest of the day was spent helping as many of the displaced villagers as possible, and it seemed as though most of the castle’s staff had turned out to give what aid they could. By nightfall, Jada was so exhausted that she quickly fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

            In the morning she was due to train with Lancelot again, so she dressed in Ubi’s old (now thankfully clean) shirt and trousers and headed out of the castle grounds. Lancelot greeted her warmly, but before they’d gotten very far into their training session he seemed to become distracted.

            “Is everything all right?” Jada asked, dropping her sword arm for a moment. “Lance?”

            He refocused on her, giving a short laugh at the nickname. “Lance?”

            She shrugged. “I can keep Lancelot if you want. It’s kind of a mouthful, but…”

            “No, no,” he smiled. “I don’t mind Lance.”

            “Lance it is, then,” she grinned. “What’s up, anyway?” She pushed her wooden sword tip into the ground, leaning on it slightly.

            “Prince Arthur has moved my test forward. I’m to face him in the morning.”

            “Really?” Jada felt her eyebrows raise. “How come?”

            “I believe he wants as many knights as possible to stand against the creature. He even changed their training regime this morning.”

            “You mean you have to go up against that thing again?” she frowned. There had to be some way of defeating it, right?

            “If I pass the test, it would appear so.”

            “Do they know how to beat it yet?”

            “Not that I have heard.” His eyes were worried. “Gaius was researching the creature last night, but I do not know if his search was successful.”

            Jada rocked thoughtfully on her sword. There had to be something they were overlooking, but every time she tried to figure out what it could be, she came up empty.

            “Well, at least your first task is only to defeat Arthur,” she tried, hoping to reassure him. “You’ve already faced the creature once, how hard can an arrogant prince be compared to that?”

            Lancelot chuckled, his eyes lighting mischievously. “Well, you certainly could not defeat him.”

            “Hey!” Jada protested, pulling her sword up again to tap him on the arm.

            Lance dodged to the side, blocking her with a cheeky grin, before whirling round to knock her on the back with his own sword. Jada giggled, swinging clumsily at him again as he danced lithely backwards out of the reach of each blow.

            On the fourth, he blocked her again with a teasing smirk. “You definitely need more training.”

            The threat of the creature attacking hung over the city, growing heavier as the day drew on. Its people were kept busy preparing for such an incident, so much so that Jada found herself with little to do and no-one to visit. She ended up heading down to Gaius’ quarters again—though he was incredibly busy with all the extra patients that had arrived from the village—and borrowing Merlin’s lute to practise with. Uther had yet to request her presence for anything, but she thought she’d better be as prepared as she could be for whenever that day came.

            When the morning arrived, bringing Lancelot’s test with it, she joined both Merlin and Gwen in accompanying him to the training ground. They stood to the side once again, slightly apart from the knights that had paused their training to observe also. Lancelot and Arthur stood in the centre of the circle that had formed, both outfitted completely in protective mail. This was no light training session; Lancelot would have to fight as though his life depended on it.

            “Well, here we are,” Arthur announced, echoing his speech from his fight with Grimond. Jada wondered if Lancelot would come to the same fate. “Your final challenge. Succeed and you join the elite. Fail and your journey ends here. Lancelot, fifth son of Lord Eldred of Northumbria…”—He turned, nodding to a man holding a sand timer, who flipped it over at the prince’s signal—“Your time starts now.”

            People around the circle began to clap, and Jada joined in enthusiastically. Lancelot had to win. He had to. It was how things were meant to be.

            The two donned their helmets, and Arthur twirled his sword confidently as they approached each other. Lancelot darted forwards first, slicing his sword right and left expertly, but Arthur managed to dodge or block each blow that was aimed towards him. Nevertheless, it was Lancelot who got the first hit, striking Arthur full-force in the face and sending the prince staggering backwards.

            Merlin and Gwen cheered beside Jada, the pair of them grinning, and Merlin even punched the air excitedly as Lancelot surged forwards again. Arthur recovered quickly, his sword flashing up to meet Lancelot’s with a clash of steel, and then they were just a flurry of silver as they swung and blocked and sidestepped one another.

            Lancelot went for a second hit, but this time Arthur managed to step back out of his reach. Gwen gasped, her hand flying out to grasp Merlin’s jacket beside her and making him jump. He glanced down at her hand in surprise before turning to her in confusion.

            “I’m sorry,” Gwen breathed awkwardly, releasing him and turning back to the fray. Jada felt a small pang of pity for her.

            Her attention was quickly drawn back to Lancelot, however, who seemed to be dominating the battle now from her inexperienced perspective. Arthur seemed barely able to make any aggressive swings, having only enough time to block Lancelot’s manoeuvres as he advanced.

            The tide changed in less than a moment. Arthur swung his blade low, forcing Lancelot to block it, before swinging his fist at his opponent’s face. It connected with a sickening crack and Lancelot was knocked backwards, landing on his back once again as his helmet flew off to roll beside him. Jada felt both Merlin and Gwen deflate in the same moment that she did.

            There was some disappointed clapping from the other knights, apparently signalling the end of the fight, and Arthur stabbed his sword into the ground to remove his helmet.

            “Shame,” he said, standing over Lancelot and bending to remove his sash.

            As Arthur took hold of the fabric however, Lancelot suddenly sprang to life once again, flipping Arthur onto his back and standing above him.

            “Do you submit, sire?” he asked, holding his sword to the prince’s chest. Jada wished she could see Arthur’s face.

            The elation she felt was quickly cut short however, as two guards strode up and seized Lancelot by the arms. Arthur got back to his feet, yanking his sword out of the ground in anger.

            “On your knees,” he growled, and the guards forced Lancelot to obey. Arthur pointed his blade at Lancelot’s chest, holding it there while he fumed.

            Jada sent a worried glance to Merlin. “What’s going on? He won, didn’t he?”

            Merlin shrugged helplessly, seeming just as concerned. Then his face lit up in a smile, his eyes now back on the two men. Jada turned to look too, finding Arthur offering a hand to Lancelot and helping him to his feet.

            “He’s passed,” Merlin murmured. “They’re going to make him a knight.”

            Jada was pleased for Lancelot—she was, really—but she quickly found herself wishing that his knighting ceremony could come at a later date. As it turned out, such a ceremony was to be followed by a royal celebration, during which Uther expected his Royal Bard to perform some sort of tribute to the general nobility of knights. She had until the following evening to prepare, and was now well and truly panicked.

            Lancelot himself seemed to find her stress fairly amusing, chuckling as she flew into Gaius’ quarters past him, the physician, and Merlin to seize the lute and try to come up with something that wouldn’t get her fired on her first job.

            She was certainly no composer, that much she knew, so her best bet was just to learn a suitable song that Merlin already had the tablature for. It was a difficult task for her inexperienced fingers, but after a short while Merlin came to sit beside her and offer what help he could. Together they managed to produce something that seemed passable, and now she just had to practise it.

            Merlin stayed up as long as he could with her, but eventually Gaius declared that it was time they all went to bed. Jada took the hint and bid them goodnight, but Merlin was kind enough to let her take his lute with her to practise with in the morning.

            She was not permitted to attend Lancelot’s knighting ceremony the following morning, due to her only recently holding a position in the royal household, so she continued to practise her song. By the time she looked up from the tablature she and Merlin had transcribed, it was dark out and the braziers in the courtyard were being lit.

            She was going to be late.

            She hadn’t even given any thought to what she was supposed to wear until that moment, but she quickly decided that the dress Gwen had made for her would have to do as nothing else she owned looked even remotely suitable for a royal affair. She threw it on, pausing only to try and make her hair appear more presentable, before quickly deciding to just plait it back and hope it stayed somewhat neat. Grabbing the lute, she sped out the door and headed for the banquet hall.

            It was already full when she arrived, though she was grateful to see that people were mostly milling about with plates and tankards in their hands, laughing with each other as the jovial music played. She’d been expecting a formal sit-down meal at the term ‘banquet’, but was glad to find that this was not the case.

            Her first scan of the room found the other musicians, who were gathered together underneath the great stain-glass windows that covered the length of one wall. Jada moved towards them, set her lute down against the wall, and scanned again.

            Now, she spotted Lancelot, who was sat with Arthur on one of the tables chatting. Both of them had a tankard of ale in their hand, seeming completely at ease as the party went on around them.

            At last her gaze found the dark hair that she’d been searching for. She joined Merlin and Gaius, the last of her jittery adrenaline beginning to subside as Merlin gave her a relaxed smile in greeting.

            “Are you all right?” he asked, taking in her expression. “You look like you might pass out.”

            “Nervous,” Jada replied. “Thought I was going to be late. I’m still not sure I’ve practised enough.”

            Merlin grinned at her in reassurance. “You’ll be fine. And if anything does go wrong, just act like it was meant to happen. They won’t know the difference.”

            She nodded, trying to relax with a sigh. As she did so, her gaze dropped to the plate he was holding in his hands and she frowned. “Merlin, why do you have a giant heap of grapes on your plate?”

            Confusion passed over his face, before he looked down too. Then he shrugged. “I just like them. We don’t get a lot of fancy food like this in my village. Want some? I’ve got some bread here, too…”

            The bread in question was mostly hidden under all the grapes, which Jada was pretty certain was more than any normal human would ever need in their life. She shook her head as he offered it to her, barely holding back her laughter. “No, thank you. I’m fine.”

            At that moment, they heard Lancelot’s laugh ring out over the crowd, and looked over to find him and Arthur grinning at something between themselves.

            “Look at him, Gaius,” Merlin said, apparently continuing some other conversation that Jada had not been a part of. “Does Lancelot not deserve this moment?”

            “I never said he didn’t,” Gaius replied. “But destiny and desserts are not the same thing. You played God, Merlin. You set him on a path of your choosing. Tonight you brought him triumph, but who knows what the future may hold?”

            “Oh, trust me,” Jada interjected. “Lancelot is destined to be a knight.”

            “Yeah, I don’t know what it said on your invitation,” Merlin added with a cheeky smile, “But on mine, it said ‘celebration’.”

            Gaius chuckled, beginning to turn away. “Point taken. Don’t come back too late.”

            “All right,” Merlin grinned, inclining his head for Jada to follow him further into the crowd. They made their way closer to the centre of the room, where Merlin exchanged his plate of grapes for a tankard of mead. He picked one up for Jada, too, and she examined it hesitantly. It smelled surprisingly sweet, and to her surprise tasted just as good. She could hardly even taste the alcohol.

            Gwen joined them while Jada was examining the drink, giving her a curious look as she sipped it warily.

            “We don’t have this back at home,” Jada explained. “All our alcohol tastes pretty foul.”

            Merlin seemed to be paying attention to something entirely different, however, and turned to Gwen with a smirk playing on his lips.

            “You know what?” He licked his lips, clearly enjoying whatever little secret he was about to reveal. “I think our Sir Lancelot might have eyes for you, Gwen.”

            Gwen gave a short laugh in disbelief. “Don’t be silly.”

            “What? So what if he did? Would that really be so bad?”

            Gwen gave an exasperated sigh. “He’s not really my type.”

            “Oh, well there’s a surprise,” Merlin replied. “Sometimes, Guinevere, I wonder if you’d know what your type was if he was standing right next to you.”

            Poor girl, Jada couldn’t help but think, to have a crush on someone so oblivious. She must have the patience of a saint.

            Gwen seemed to take it in good humour, proving Jada’s theory. “You’re probably right.”

            Merlin swapped his tankard for a full one, leaving Jada to wonder just how much alcohol was in it since he’d downed it so fast.

            “So, come on,” he continued after thanking the server. “Just for the sake of argument, if you had to, Arthur or Lancelot?”

            Jada choked on her mead, making an undignified snorting sound as she tried to swallow back her surprise.

            “Are you all right?” Gwen asked, her eyes wide with concern.

            “Fine,” Jada croaked, getting control of herself. She didn’t need to explain that legend to them.

            “So, who would you pick?” Merlin asked again, apparently satisfied Jada wasn’t going to choke to death now.

            Gwen scoffed, replying in a sing-song voice. “But I don’t have to and I never will.”

            Jada was lucky enough not to be taking a swig this time, and managed to disguise her shock as a cough.

            Merlin was still unsatisfied. “Oh, you are no fun, Gwen. What about you, Jada?”

            Jada eyed the two men still sat on the table. She’d only really seen Arthur a handful of times; one of those he’d been rescuing her from her own stupidity, and the others he seemed to be a bit of a spoiled arse. But all the women of legend that had fallen in love with Lancelot seemed to have come to some horrible end. Then again, most of the women of legend full stop seemed to have come to some horrible end.

            “I guess Lancelot?” she answered. “I’m not sure I’d fancy being a queen." Now it was her turn to give Merlin a mischievous grin. “What about you?”

            Before Merlin could answer, Arthur started banging on the table, drawing all the attention to himself as he rose to his feet.

            “Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in a toast to our new recruit-” He pulled Lancelot to his feet beside him with a grin. “Our new knight of Camelot, Sir Lancelot.”

            He raised his tankard, and the room broke out into cheers and applause. Lancelot was beaming.

            “Well, that’s my cue,” Jada said, handing her tankard to Merlin. “Don’t drink it all before I get back.”

            She headed over to the other musicians, picking up her lute and facing the crowd. Stay calm, she told herself. You’ve got this. Drawing a steadying breath, she began to play, the other musicians joining in with their drums and fiddles and flutes right on cue to the familiar tune. Her shaking fingers soon grew more comfortable, and by the time it came to her to sing she was even enjoying herself. Before she knew it, the song was over and she was free to go.

            “Well done,” Merlin congratulated her as she returned, handing her back her mead.

            “Thanks,” she replied. “I think I’m starting to get the hang of this. Now I can eat.”

            He laughed as she headed off to hunt down some food, turning to continue chatting to Gwen. Jada breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn’t messed everything up. Now she could really concentrate on celebrating.

Chapter 11 ->