Chapter Text
It was strange that Merlin had never noticed Lanval before.
Of course, now that he thought about it, probably no one noticed Lanval.
The youth was lanky, thin, resembling a broom with his shock of blond hair. But his eyes were a soft blue, and his pink lips often seemed to be in the slightest of smiles. He watched contentedly as the other knights fought each other in the yard.
As Merlin thought on it, he was fairly sure that Lanval had fought before, that he was no child with a sword; and yet, he couldn’t recall one time that he had ever been rewarded for his efforts.
His shirt was patched up, and every so often, he would let out a sigh.
As he sat in the yard, watching the other knights, Merlin walked up to him, smiling in as friendly a way as he could.
“Lanval, is it?”
“Yes, it is. You’re Merlin,” Lanval said, face breaking into a smile. There was a wistfulness about his eyes that disappeared, and he stood. “Does King Arthur wish to see me?”
“I’m afraid not,” Merlin replied, not missing the way the hopeful light seemed to go out of his eyes. “Why? Did you want to talk to him?”
“It’s nothing,” Lanval promised, and then quickly moved on, saying, “Did you see Sir Percival disarm Sir Gwaine just now? Amazing footwork.”
“Uh huh… If you want to talk to Arthur, you should set up an audience. He’d never begrudge one of his knights some attention, you know,” Merlin said, wondering what had Lanval so down. He didn’t know him very well, but even he could tell something was eating at him.
“I don’t want to bother him. Besides, it’s only a small matter, nothing important in the long run of things,” Lanval said, and his eyes flashed down to his toes, before they looked back at Merlin with a fake smile. “His majesty is a very busy king.”
Merlin didn’t know what to make of Lanval. He seemed amazingly mellow for a knight of the round table, and he seemed to refuse all help. “All right, if you say so.”
He didn’t think much more on Lanval until some time later.
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It was not often that the Queen leveled accusations against one of the knights. In fact, Merlin was fairly sure it had not happened before. It was only a week since he had last talked to Lanval, but the knight had surely landed himself in hot water.
“I take you in, and you proposition and then insult my Queen. You say that your lover is a thousand times more beautiful than Guinevere; well, if you have such a lover, have her show herself,” Arthur boomed from his throne, a cross-looking Gwen sitting next to him.
There had been something off about Gwen for the past day or so. Merlin couldn’t put his finger on it, but she preened in front of the mirror endlessly, and her eyes kept following Lanval about. There was also a sharpness to her eyes, like all the love had been sucked out.
“He claimed that even one of his lady’s serving girls was better than I was,” Gwen said haughtily, a singlemindedness evident in the way she frowned at Lanval and didn’t look at Arthur at all.
Arthur looked more irritated, more like he wanted to bite off Lanval’s head.
“I did not proposition the Queen,” Lanval said weakly, head bowed. “I would never harm you in such a way.”
“Then prove it. Show your lady, and we shall see if she is indeed more beautiful than Gwen,” Arthur insisted, that petulant frown on his face he got when something dear to him was mocked or insulted.
“She will not come,” Lanval said mournfully, head still bowed.
“Then you must go on trial for treason,” Arthur said, in a rather clipped voice. It was as though anyone insulting Gwen was far too much for him to take, and it had to be gotten rid of as fast as garbage.
Gwen had a smug, self satisfied look on her face, one that did not belong there at all. It was as though it actually delighted her to see Lanval punished so, and Merlin couldn’t figure out what would make such a nice person as Gwen act so horrible.
He also couldn’t see Lanval attempting such a thing.
But there had been strange events lately. Ever since some time last week, Lanval had been smiling and laughing a lot, and he’d been extremely generous. He gave out gifts almost as though he were the king himself, though in a rather humble way that suited him well. He dressed in good clothes, but his focus seemed to be most on giving away his riches.
It puzzled Merlin, now that he thought about it thoroughly. Where was Lanval getting his riches? It must be the lady he referred to, but who was she?
As Lanval was taken from the court in chains, Merlin knew he had to get to the bottom of this mystery quickly. Lanval’s life was on the line.