An Unlikely Alliance

An hour later, Merlin and Vortimer sat playing a game of Shatranj, which Vortimer had learned from a Persian trader who happened to be selling a set.

 

Though Merlin was supposed to be concentrating on the game, Merlin found he couldn't. He kept thinking about his conversation with Vortimer just over an hour previous. A born leader. The idea bounced around in Merlin's head.

 

Merlin also realized that in order for him to officially accept Vortimer's proposition, Vortimer's suggestion of alliance must be accepted. Being honest with himself, Merlin realized that was a far shot.

 

"The Shah is dead," Vortimer said, moving his Rukh to a place so that no matter what Merlin did, the Shah would die on Vortimer's next turn.

 

Vortimer put his hands behind his head and admired his move. Vortimer had a smug look on his face, a well deserved one it was, for Vortimer had won three out of three of the games that had been played.

 

As though the fates had been waiting for just that moment, a messenger popped his head through the flap of the medical tent.

 

"The Uther and Aurelianus War Councils have finished discussing your offer, and wish to inform you of their decisions," the messenger said, as if fearful of what Vortimer would do to him.

 

"Marvelous, tell them to come in!" Vortimer said cheerfully, still celebrating his wins.

 

Without another word, the messenger left the tent and fetched the War Council members. In file, just as they had left, the men reentered the tent, forming again around Vortimer's bed.

 

Aurelianus was the first to speak. "Vortimer, the Councils of Aurelianus and Uther have talked and we have ultimately decided that we will accept your proposal of alliance, on two terms."

 

Vortimer attempted to look surprised. "Oh? What might those terms be?"

 

Before answering, Aurelianus looked around and the elite men around him. "Our first term is that the three War Councils that are represented here today be merged into one for the duration of this war and anytime the Saxons should think to attack us again."

 

"Granted."

 

"And our second term is that once this war is over, provided that we win…" Aurelianus trailed off before continuing. "Is that you and I shall share the throne of Britannia, as we both know I am the true heir."

 

Vortimer could not help but be impressed by the audaciousness of the term. Yet, it was true. Aurelianus was the true heir, not he. To give up the throne would be the absolutely right thing to do, but Vortimer was reluctant to give up his throne. As it was, Aurelianus was only suggesting that Vortimer share the throne with him.

 

"I offer a counter proposal," Vortimer said finally, "We share the throne, but either of us will rule of different places. I should get England, as I have lived there all my life, and you should get Wales, as you have lived here for the past almost thirty years. As for the Kingdom of the Picts, you and I should rule it together."

 

Aurelianus thought for only a second before speaking. "Accepted."

 

Without any other words, everyone save for Vortimer, Catigern, Pascent, and Shiroix, who was now lying on his bed again, walked quickly and quietly out of the tent. There was nothing left to attend to, and no reason left to remain in the tent.

 

Merlin began to walk to his own tent as he left, but Aurelianus called to him.

 

"Merlin, we must speak. Come with us."

 

Obeying the simply command, Merlin jogged back over to Aurelianus and the others, falling into stride with Blaise.

 

"Where are we going Blaise?" Merlin asked, curious as always.

 

"You shall see Merlin. Just wait." Blaise said softly, never looking over at the boy beside him.

 

Indeed, Merlin did see where they were going before too very long. They were taking him to the tent where the War Council had held their meeting only the previous morning.

 

As quietly as they had left the medical tent, everyone entered the War tent. Everyone sat down in a chair, leaving Merlin standing at the end of the table closest to the entry flap.

 

"Merlin," Aurelianus started, "I should like to introduce you to some friends of mine. They have been on my side for many years, and are serving on the War Council."

 

Merlin eyed the group before him. There were only three he did not recognize. They must be the friends Aurelianus was talking about.

 

Aurelianus beckoned to one of the three, whom then stood to face Merlin. As etiquette dictated, Merlin bowed before the man. The man acknowledged the bow with one of his own, albeit not as low as Merlin's had been.

 

"Merlin, this is my dear friend Sire Leodegrance, King of Carmelide. He is a fine warrior, and an even greater king."

 

Leodegrance grinned widely and moved to shake Merlin's hand. Merlin quickly took note of the man's features; scruffy beginnings of a beard, shoulder-length dark brown hair, a silver circlet on head, fairly young, tall, handsome, muscular, and medium purple eyes.

 

"You have a strong grip boy, a warrior's grip! I expect that you were on the battlefield yesterday winning the battle for us?" Leodegrance said in a pleasant, vaguely Welsh voice.

 

"Yeh shoulda seen him takin' on Vortimer all by himself Leo!" Uther said pride fully, "He was doin' a fine job of it too!"

 

Almost imperceptibly, Leodegrance's eyebrows arched, now full of respect for the young warrior. "Is that so? I suppose my earlier comment has more truth to it than I had expected."

 

Aurelianus decided to butt in before a lengthy conversation started. "And over there is-"

 

"Gorlois!" Uther interrupted, just noticing the man. Upon hearing his name, the small man in the corner beamed at Uther and chest bumped with Uther. The two men began laughing heartily and beating each other on the back.

 

"It's been a long time Uther," Gorlois said, his oversized belly bouncing up and down as he spoke.

 

"Five years it's been! How've yeh been these days? The war had any effect on yeh up till now?"

 

"Ahem!" Aurelianus coughed, beckoning not so subtly to Merlin.

 

"Oh, yes, pleasure to meet you boy. Now where were we Uther?" Gorlois said, barely glancing in Merlin's direction. Apparently the two men were very good friends, but Merlin would never have guessed such. The only thing the two had in common was their circle beards. Other than that, the two were almost complete opposites. While Uther was tall and bulky, Gorlois was short and overweight. Uther had tanned skin while Gorlois was rather pale. The more Merlin observed them, the more differences he observed.

 

Aurelianus let out a sigh. "Quite sorry about that," Aurelianus said, "They're just happy to see each other again. They last saw each other when the two saved each other's lives in an adventure in Normandy five years ago. Needless to say, they became good friends because of it. But that's a tale for another day. There's one more person I want you to meet Merlin. Ulfius, why don't you introduce yourself?"

 

The third person got up from where he was sitting and walked through the crowd of socializing men to Merlin and Aurelianus.

 

The man was in truth, not a man at all, but still merely a boy, maybe a year or so older than Merlin himself. He was slightly taller than Merlin with tanned skin that complimented his shoulder-length ivory-colored hair, which was worn straight in a fashion that reminded Merlin of a flickering flame. The boy had a decidedly Slavic look about him, with hard, unforgiving eyes.

 

Merlin bowed to the boy, but did not receive a bow back. Rather, the boy gave a mere nod of the head, acknowledging Merlin's bow. Merlin wondered how the boy could be so ignorant of Briton customs. "Aren't you a bit young to be on the War Council?" Merlin asked the boy.

 

"Aye. Yet, who said I was on the War Council?" the boy asked in a thick accent that confirmed Merlin's suspicions of his Slavic origin.

 

"Oh, I believe there has been a misunderstanding here," Aurelianus said, "You see, Merlin, Ulfius's father served on my War Council after being exiled from his tribe in the east. Under normal circumstances, I would introduce you to both Ulfius and his father, but… But his father was lost in the battle yesterday."

 

Merlin suddenly felt a pang of guilt. He shouldn't have said what he had to Ulfius. He looked sheepishly over at Ulfius, curious to see what was on the boy's face. To Merlin's surprise, Ulfius had only a touch of saddened emotion on his face.

 

Merlin began to apologize for his behavior, but Ulfius held up a hand to stop him. "Enough about my father. It's best to put that behind us. I'm Ulfius. And you are?" Ulfius said, holding out his hand for Merlin to shake. Merlin gripped Ulfius's hand and shook it firmly twice.

 

"Merlin."

 

"Nice to meet you Merlini," Ulfius said, a smirk crossing his face.

 

Merlin for his part could not believe he was being called Merlini, and moreover, from a person he had only just met! Terribly rude he thought.

 

Aurelianus barked a quick laugh. "I'm sure you two will enjoy being tent mates."

 

"What?" both Merlin and Ulfius exclaimed as one. Aurelianus could certainly tell they weren't getting along well already, so why put them together in a tent?

 

"You heard me."

 

"But I already have Shiroix as a tent mate!" Merlin protested, Ulfius nodding as though he already knew this.

 

"And Shiroix has recently been moved to the medical tent while he heals up, leaving empty space in your tent, and Ulfius here can help to fill it."

 

The two boys had to agree with Aurelianus, though that did not stop them from arguing further.

 

Holding his hands up, Aurelianus spoke forcefully. "It's decided. You two will be tent mates. End of discussion."

 

Before Merlin and Ulfius could protest further, Aurelianus clapped his hands three times to gather the attention of the people in the tent. Once Aurelianus had their full attention, he poured himself a glass of beer, as did the rest of the adults present.

 

"Cheers," Aurelianus said, "To a new alliance with Vortimer against the Saxon invaders!"

"Cheers!" everyone said, clinking their glasses together while beer spilled.

Propositions

When Merlin awoke, he was lying on a bed in a tent. How he had got there, Merlin had no idea. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep under the maple tree in the middle of the night.

 

"Ah, you're awake," Blaise said, entering the tent with Merlin's favorite: pancakes. Blaise put the tray of food on Merlin's lap, and told him to eat.

 

"How did I get here?" Merlin asked before even taking a bite.

 

"When you ran away last night, we let you be. We couldn't just leave you out there, however, and so several hours ago Caedmon led us to you. You two have a psychic connection now Merlin; no matter where either of you are, each of you will always know where to find the other one. It's a gift Merlin, and it saved your life just last night."

 

Vortimer. What had become of him, Merlin wondered. Was he dead? Was he still unconscious?

 

The memory of the previous night's events awoken within Merlin, Merlin found that he couldn't eat. That all he wanted to do was curl up and go back to sleep. He didn't want to know the aftermath of yesterday's battle; he was scared what it was.

 

"Come with me," Blaise said taking the tray off of Merlin's lap and placing it on a small table.

 

Quickly, Merlin threw the covers off of him, and followed Blaise without a word. Merlin did wonder where Blaise could be taking him, but kept his thoughts to himself.

 

Soon enough Merlin did find out where Blaise was going: the infirmary tent in the base camp. Merlin could only think of one reason why Blaise would take him to the infirmary tent. Vortimer was alive, and Blaise wanted Merlin to see that.

 

Blaise held the flaps of the tent open for Merlin and gestured for him to go first. Silent as ever, Merlin nodded his appreciation and walked in. To Merlin's surprise, only two beds were occupied. However, Merlin did notice that there were several people who chose to stand. Doing a quick look around the room, Merlin found that Aurelianus, Catigern, Vortimer, Pascent, Shiroix, the entire War Council and several others he didn't know were present. Vortimer and Shiroix were the only two in beds. Everyone else was gathered around Vortimer's bed.

 

"Welcome Merlin," Aurelianus said, his face down where Merlin couldn't see it, "We've been waiting for you. To save Vortimer the effort of explaining everything twice."

 

Merlin had no clue what Aurelianus meant. To save Vortimer explaining what twice?

 

"Catigern forgives small boy. Small boy didn't lie to Catigern and Catigern is sorry," Catigern said in a deeply solemn voice. To Merlin's utter surprise and terror, Catigern walked over to Merlin and gave him a giant bear hug that had Merlin lifted off his feet and lost in Catigern's giant chest and arms.

 

As Merlin was put back on his feet, he realized that Catigern was the only person in the room without a scratch on him. Everyone else was injured somehow, most of them minor injuries, but injuries just the same.

 

"Shiroix!" Merlin shouted turning to face his friend as he realized that Shiroix must surely have been injured himself. The Shiroix that Merlin saw in the infirmary was far different from the Shiroix he had seen confidently attacking Vortimer last night.

 

Undoubtedly, Shiroix had a great many minor injuries beneath the sheets that covered him, but Merlin knew the Shiroix had lived years on his own; he'd be fine, just fine with those injuries. That left Merlin only able to see and know what had happened to Shiroix's upper torso, arms, and face. What Merlin saw, nothing could have prepared him for. Shiroix's entire face was cut open, stemming from the left of Shiroix's face and spreading all the way down across his right eye and ending on the right side of Shiroix's jaw. Furthermore, Shiroix had a long cut on his left arm, not as deep as the one across his face but just as serious, that went from his wrist to his elbow. Both wounds were crusted with dried blood, fresh blood seeping from small holes in the dried blood.

 

Shiroix simply watched Merlin as he looked on in terror.

 

"What happened to you?" Merlin finally managed to ask.

 

Shiroix tried to laugh before responding, but his laugh came out as a ragged cough of pain. "What happened was that I learned when a sharp object is flying through the air at you, you duck."

 

It dawned on Merlin then what had happened, who had screamed last night. It had been Shiroix, from Vortimer throwing his scimitar. Judging from the looks of it, Merlin guessed that the scimitar had slashed Shiroix's face, and Shiroix had tried to deflect the blow with his left arm, which only had caused more damage.

 

Merlin would have stared forever at Shiroix's now sliced face had Pascent not spoke just then.

 

"Well we should begin the council immediately. We must discuss what will happen next, and who knows how long that will take!" the small and bookish Pascent said.

 

"Pascent is right," Vortimer said, propping himself up with one arm so as to sit instead of lay. Pascent and Catigern aided Vortimer with this, Pascent fluffing his pillow and Catigern sliding the covers up to Vortimer's bandaged torso. Caedmon had probably broken every rib in Vortimer's body.

 

"What council?" Merlin asked, "What am I here for?"

 

Before anyone could respond, Vortimer looked over at Merlin with shocking blue eyes with a hint of sea green. "This council is for us to determine who the enemy is. I've been told you really aren't Saxons, but if that is so, then the question remains if we should ally and combine our power to drive out the Saxons, or if this war between our two peoples is to continue if we find that we would sooner kill each other than the Saxons. So to settle this, your War Council has told me what your circumstances were. Now it is my turn to tell you what happened."

 

Without waiting for Merlin to respond, Vortimer launched right into his tale.

 

"You see, twenty-six years ago, two men landed in Britannia at Hraefn's ate named Hengist and Horsa. The two were brothers ruling a tribe of Saxons, a tribe of the fiercest and most capable as it would be. At first, my father saw that allowing the brother's to stay would be foolish, and invited them to a feast to tell them they were unwelcome. Alas, the elder of the two brothers, Hengist, brought his beautiful daughter Rowena to the feast. My father couldn't help himself; he was in love with Rowena. After several months, my father went to Hengist and asked if he could have his daughter's hand in marriage. Hengist said yes, knowing full well it would make him Vortigern's father in-law, and as such, Vortigern would be required to allow Rowena's family to stay. So my father asked Hengist if he would stay, on the condition that he and all the Saxons in his land serve as mercenaries under his banner. In return, the Saxons were free to settle as they pleased on the Isle of Thanet.

 

"My father was married to Rowena and soon the two were awaiting the arrival of me, their first child. Only a year after I was born they had Catigern and Pascent here, my twin brothers. All the while, Hengist and Horsa were extorting land and money from my father, gaining more and more control of the country.

 

"One day eleven years ago, my father said no to Hengist and Horsa. He soon found that they didn't accept no as an answer, as a full scale war was launched. My father was a coward and fled the kingdom, leaving me, just a boy at the time, to rule a country and war while taking care of my family. For that, I can never forgive my father.

 

"Now here we are, fighting this endless war against my grandfather and his brother. For the last eleven years it's only been a defensive war. No land has been lost or gained on either side, and few fights. Hengist is keeping his men in his kingdom, waiting for me to attack. When I received word that Deganwy was a secret hideout for some of Hengist and Horsa's troops, it made perfect sense. A sneak attack behind us, and while we're distracted in Wales, Hengist attacks in England. Thus I attacked. I had no idea that the people here were possible allies of mine or else I should not have attacked.

 

"I do not beg for your forgiveness. I know my mistake cost many lives and I can never hope to make up for every loss of life. But if we join together, this war will be over sooner! Far less will die if we join hands than if we remain neutral to one another! Alone, we are weak against the Saxons. But together; together we stand a chance. Together we can send them back to Germania to live out the rest of their days in shame and indignity! Now what do you say; do I have a new ally today or do we part ways?"

 

The room was quiet for several minutes as Vortimer looked everyone in the room straight in the eye, forcing them to look away. All but Merlin that is, who calmly held Vortimer's stare. To Merlin's surprise, Vortimer smiled at Merlin.

 

"Normally men, I'd leave you to discuss amongst yourselves, but seeing how I am injured as I am… Well, if you could discuss outside it would be greatly appreciated," Vortimer said in a pleasant voice to the men around him. Everyone except Catigern, Pascent and Vortimer got in file to leave the tent. Uther walked over to Shiroix and carefully picked him up in his giant arms.

 

"You boy!" Vortimer said, pointing a finger at Merlin, "I would like you to stay. I wish to speak to you. Also, Catigern and Pascent, I would like to speak to the boy alone if you would please."

 

Merlin watched as Catigern and Pascent obediently followed their brother's orders. Merlin couldn't wrap his head around it; Catigern and Pascent twins? It didn't make any sense.

 

"Sit boy," Vortimer said once the tent was empty save for Vortimer and Merlin.

 

Merlin obeyed Vortimer, and sat on the foot of Vortimer's bed, careful not to sit on Vortimer's legs.

 

"What's your name?" Vortimer asked.

 

"My name is Merlin."

 

"You're a great warrior Merlin."

 

Whatever Merlin had been expecting to come from this conversation, it most certainly was not that.

 

"I beg your pardon?" Merlin asked politely. He wasn't sure if he should trust Vortimer or not, and treated him as such.

 

"You were born to fight Merlin. A day will come when no one can match your skill with the blade. I suspect you'd be a great tactician and strategist. You are a born leader, just as I was. People want to take orders from you Merlin. They want to serve you. To them, it's an honor to serve under your leadership. And your fighting only makes them respect you even more Merlin. I expect great things will come of you someday, and I hope that I get to see it."

 

"I'm sorry, I don't think I understand."

 

"What do you mean you don't understand? Did you see how the War Council looked at you when you entered this tent? They were in awe of you Merlin; they were glad to have you on their side. You could potentially kill them all if things were otherwise.

 

"Merlin, I have a proposition for you. You don't believe me about your abilities, so I'll give you the chance to prove your worth to yourself. If my proposal of an alliance is accepted by your War Council, then I will be your puppet in the War Meetings."

 

"What does that mean?" Merlin asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

 

"It means that you and I will hold private conferences just before the Meetings and you will tell me what you think our next move should be. Should you make any errors, I shall advise you on what is brilliant and what is foolish. However, this will most likely be far and few between, if ever. Most of the time, we will go with your strategy, which I will voice in the Meeting and try to get it accepted."

 

Merlin thought about this for several seconds. Accepting Vortimer's offer would mean he would have raw power behind him, even if it was channeled through the king. But…

 

"Sire, you said that this was a proposition. What do I have to do in return?" Merlin asked, knowing full well that Vortimer wouldn't offer anything free.

 

Vortimer merely smiled without his eyes and stared Merlin down. "You are right, this is not free. My condition is that I will give you my voice in the War Meetings, only if you serve me by being a bodyguard of mine from now until a month after the end of the war if and when we win."

 

"Deal." Merlin said without a second thought. It was perfect; Vortimer was giving Merlin a greater position of power by this proposition, both by using his voice in the Meetings and allowing Merlin to be his bodyguard. If Vortimer happened to betray, then Merlin was close and could eliminate him if necessary. It would have been foolish if he hadn't taken the opportunity.

"Excellent."