The Dark Queen of White 1.17

17.

Gareth barged into the chamber where the Princess was trying out her wedding gown. He called on the servants to leave the chamber and latched the door when all the servants had left. She looked up to him in her chemise, and smiled.

"Are you game for a quick one?" Princess Clarity lowered her top to reveal her breasts.

"No, I am not here for that. I am here to ask you on this wedding." Gareth had just returned from an errant for her; to ride back to King Bannion for a scroll. The ride took over three days while he was made to wait for nine days, before he rode back. During that period, she had agreed to the wedding with King Thaddeus. He knew that when he crossed the border to King Thaddeus' land.

"Clare, what of us?" Gareth asked her. He went down on his knees.

"Gareth, we.....I had lost the baby. It was lost when I...."

"Clare, no more lies. I been listening and watching you when you were here." Gareth looked to her face. "Tell me the truth."

"I am ..." The Princess tried to explain but he knew she was lying again.

"No, Clare. You lied to me when you sent me to see King Bannion. The scroll was a fake. You were buying time." Gareth looked around him, and saw the preparation for the wedding. "You had this all planned."

Princess Clarity looked at him and then nodded.

"Yes, I am to wed the King. It was my decision to save the lands that belonged to us." Princess Clarity looked for sympathy from her lover, but he was heartbroken.

"Our baby? The truth?" Gareth asked.

"She died sometime back." Princess Clarity told him. "I had it ...removed with the potion from Merlin. It would be a hindrance to ..."

"Hindrance? My lords, Clare. You are mad. How could you do it?" Gareth asked her.

"It’s the life I had lived before and would be. I am used to it. I am not used to the existence of Man. I lived within the rules of the forest. Merlin told me." Princess Clarity told him.

"Merlin? Why is the wizard involved?" Gareth was in pain. He had to know.

"Merlin is the all wise wizard. He could had stopped me, exposed me to King Thaddeus for my intentions, but he had not. He said these events are predetermined." Princess Clarity reached out for him, but he pulled away. He stood up and turned to leave.

"Gareth of Steinheim, you cannot leave. I am your Queen. Obey me or bear my wrath." Princess Clarity threatened him. Gareth paused in his steps and then continued on.

"Gareth of..." But he had unlatched the door, and left the chamber.

"Damned!" Princess Clarity cursed at Gareth emotions. He was not seeing the bigger scene.

"May I assist, my Queen?" The astral image of Merlin appeared.

"Do you not knock?" Princess Clarity asked. "And stopped addressing me as your Queen."

"I am here in my spirit form. As to my calling you the Queen was my way of addressing all the Queen I had known. I called them my Queen as I served all of them, willingly or unwillingly. It can be said to be my weakness."

"As your Queen, stop Gareth from exposing my intentions before the wedding." Princess Clarity told him. Merlin bowed to the new Queen.

Meanwhile not far from the castle, Gareth stumbled into the tavern and sat by himself in the corner. He ordered for a jug of the local wine and drowned himself in it. He was drinking his second jug when Merlin arrived. The wizard seats himself on the table and produced a mug himself.

"It demeaning for one to drink alone." Merlin helped himself to a mug of the local wine.

"Merlin, you are not my friend, and I prefer to drink alone." Gareth reached for the jug to refill his mug, but Merlin stopped him.

"Clare sacrificed herself for the lands handed to her by her King. She was doing it to protect the people. She would not have a war where lives are lost." Merlin told him.

"Merlin, you are the King's adviser. And you worked with many of them. I am unlike you. I am just a huntsman. I crave only simple things. I ..." Gareth replied.

"If you truly love her, protect her. She may be the Queen, but inside her, she loved only you." Merlin explained to him.

"Merlin, do you really understand us? The real people in the lands? Not the elites and loyalist. The real people who toiled the land daily, the ones who take the animals to grazed the grass." Gareth challenged the wizard. "We are not Kings and Queens. We have our own lives."

"You are wasting my time." Merlin told him and then called on the spell to wipe his memory of the Princess. He was selecting the section of memory that needed wiping. Gareth fell down on the table while Merlin left the tavern. His work was done, and he had to take precautionary steps.

Outside the tavern, Merlin met Alan Bates who was waiting for him.

"Wizard, he was like a son to me. Did you harm him?" Alan asked him.

"Not as much as the Princess. He would be fine, with the spell I have to him. He won't remember it all, but he would be still the loyal Huntsman." Merlin replied. He then continued on.

"My role here is over. The next stages of their lives would be on their own." Merlin told Alan. "I have to find the other King of my own."

With that, Merlin pushed himself pass the huntsman. Alan spit at the path trodden by the wizard and walked himself inside the tavern. He helped himself to the body form of Gareth and carried him back to the castle.