Chapter Text
The Kingdom of Elmet had a lot of natural defences, such as the swamps near the border with Mercia, the river and muddy ground at the border with Rheged, the high hills at the border with Deira, and the thick and dense forest at the border with Camelot.
That forest was home to many magical creatures, including Wyverns, and thus not a place Camelotians would willingly enter unless forced to do so. Not even roughed up bandits dared to go there.
Only trained Elmetian warriors could navigate the diverse landscape of the land over which the Fisher King had once ruled in its most prosperous time.
But with the King’s infection, the land of Elmet became sick and died, no longer able to sustain other life than Wyverns and the Impenetrable Forest. The King was magically tied to the lands.
When all seemed lost for the Fisher King, the Dragonlord turned up to nurse the magical infection and maintain the Fisher King’s life, who would eventually pass his magical ties to the lands of Elmet on to a witch or warlock strong enough to carry the duties that came with it.
Generations of Dragonlords and their wives tended to the Fisher King, but he did not deem any of them strong enough magically to carry the weight of Elmet.
But that was to change with the firstborn of Dragonlord Balinor.
Prince Arthur Pendragon of Camelot had been sent to the Northern Plains to capture a group of particular nasty bandits who enslaved villagers to put them to work in other lands.
But the fight the Knights had against the bandits wasn’t going well.
They’d been boxed in, only a few Knights still standing while the number of bandits only seemed to grow no matter how many were cut down by the sword.
As a bandit was standing over the now defenseless Prince as his sword had been knocked out of his hands, a seemingly stray arrow pierced through the bandit’s chest.
The raised sword fell out of his hand and fell like a sack of potatoes onto the damp forest grass.
Soon enough, the Camelotian discovered the arrow had been purposefully fired.
Men and women clad in black and brown leather outfits stormed down the small hills on black horses with swords and spears raised.
They were an organised fighting force.
Arthur took the opportunity to free the men and women who the bandits would’ve sold as slaves had the convoy not been apprehended. He opened the carriages and helped everyone out as chaos was exploding behind him.
He spun around once, only to witness one girl with a tiny stature defeat three tall and beefy men on her own... as her eyes flashed gold.
‘Sorceress!’ was the Prince's immediate thought as he simultaneously took one step back.
Once the three men were down, the sword-wielding sorceress made eye contact with the Camelotian, her eyes now back to cerulean blue.
Their eyes were locked together for a second or two, before the black-haired girl in brown leathers joined her comrades in battle once more.
“Where did these people come from?” Leon then asked, now standing beside his commander-in-chief.
“I don’t know.” the blonde answered. “At least the villagers are now free.”
The battle died down as the last bandits were chased up the hill, where they were hit point-blank with arrows through their chest as archers had been waiting for them up there.
The people who had come down from the hills scattered, diverting their attention to their own wounded as well as the Camelotian Knights who had either been killed or fallen down unconscious.
The girl who the Camelotian Crown Prince had seen using magic approached the two still standing men. “I suppose you two will need some help tending to your wounded.”
“We appreciate the help you’re able to give us until some more of my men are back on their feet.” Arthur did have his right hand close to his sword, which he had picked up from the ground, just to be sure. “Have the bandits been troubling you as well?”
The blackhead shook her head. “Bandits won’t cross the Elmetian border, it’s too dangerous for anyone who does not know the terrain. But we have received pleas for help for some time, as the people felt their own King didn’t respond quickly enough.”
The Prince expressed displeasure on his face. “My father does not prioritise this region.”
“We’ve noticed.” the Elmetian woman said with a dry tone. “I’m Muriel, Princess of Elmet.”
“Arthur.” the son of King Uther stated. “That’s Sir Leon, my First Knight.”
“Pleasure to meet the Crown Prince of Camelot.” Muriel said. “Though I suppose I expected you to be… a little bit different.”
The blonde stared at the Princess in front of him. “What were your expectations?”
“Less civil conversation, more attempts at trying to kill me considering I wielded magic right in front of you.” the girl bluntly replied.
“How…”
“How do I know you know? Because I saw you looking straight at me.” the dark-haired girl threw her braid behind her shoulder. “But I suppose I should be glad that you are the way you are, makes helping you and your Knights a lot easier.” she looked away to observe her own people. “We’ve already been able to eradicate two bandit groups who’ve been operating from the Vale of Denaria, this third group was rumoured to operate from Andor’s Mountain range.”
The Crown Prince nodded. “We are aware that bandits prefer areas which are difficult to reach.”
“Bandits really like unhabitable places. I’m sure they’d love Elmet’s swamps.” the young woman joked.
“I’ve heard of the impenetrable forest. Is it really that bad?” Arthur asked.
Muriel shrugged. “It’s a bitch to navigate the first few times, but you’ll get better at it the more time you spend in there. You learn to live off of Wilddeoren.”
Arthur frowned. “Wilddeoren?”
“They’re like… giant baby rats.” the Princess replied. “Anyhow, I’m gonna search for logs. You wanna join?”
Despite only being 17 years old, Crown Princess Muriel Dragonborn of Elmet was an accomplished leader of Elmet’s border patrol. She led 30 of Elmet’s most experienced hunters through the difficult terrain near their borders, and sometimes intervene in border skirmishes in Mercia’s Forest of Ander.
The bandits in the north of Camelot which Camelot’s King obviously didn’t care about were the first issues the Elmetian border patrol had gotten themselves involved in.
King Uther had finally sent Knights of Camelot up to the Northern Plains to apprehend a 3rd group of bandits and their convoy, but it was clear to see that the Knights were not used to the merciless ‘no survivors’ style combat that bandits often employed against their enemies.
The Princess hadn’t waited one more second before ordering an archer to fire the shot to signal the beginning of their assault on the group of bandits who reportedly had their base in the Andor Mountains. She had not expected to encounter the Crown Prince of Camelot, but she supposed that engaging in a civil conversation with him showed her political goodwill.
The Crown Prince and his First Knight had been the only two Camelotians left standing when the assault on the bandit group commenced, giving right to their positions within the fighting force.
“Your men have taken quite a few hits.” the young woman stated as the fire was finally on.
“You can say that.” Sir Leon said. “I don’t think we’ve ever encountered such vicious bandits before. Not even the bandits near our eastern border with Essetir fight like that.”
The Elmetian border patrol leader hummed. “Groups whose main recruits come from Mercia tend to be more vicious in their fighting styles. At least, according to what I’ve heard when I’ve spoken to people living in the border area of our Kingdoms.”
“Bayard’s Knights do tend to use quite some strength behind their blows.” the ginger commented.
Arthur looked at his fellow Royal. “Do you have any recommendations for us to deal with people like this the next time? My father does not approve of failure.”
“In order to take down bandit groups, you have to track them for a long time.” Muriel told. “You will need to constantly monitor their movements, meticulously map out where they are at which time of the day. Then, you can plan a time to take them down at a location they are most vulnerable to an attack.”
“My father won’t divert resources for that.” the young Prince sighed.
The Witch could only offer him a look of sympathy.
She was aware of King Uther Pendragon’s reputation as a ruler. The man was most famous for his no tolerance extremely strict anti-magic laws, but also his old-fashioned way of dealing with internal and external threats to his Kingdom.
And his son was a victim of that.
“Perhaps I could be of use regarding that matter.” the 17-year-old then offered.
The Pendragon heir frowned.
“I have already employed ways of monitoring the bandits active in Camelot’s Northern Plains. I can keep you up to date via pigeon or falcon.” the Elmetian Princess explained.
Camelot’s First Knight looked at his future monarch. “I prefer not to get killed the next time.”
The blonde took a deep breath. “Air mail is perhaps a good idea. My father needs to be kept out of the loop. He is a very… autocratic King.”
“That’s a fact I’m well aware off.” the young woman threw another log into the fire.
“One question… how do you monitor the bandit’s activities? Do you have people undercover in those groups?” the Crown Prince of Camelot asked with a raised eyebrow.
The border patrol leader smiled and whistled a particular tune into the night.
After a second or 3, a tiny creature screeched back, and a tiny Wyvern landed on the woman’s shoulder.
“A dragon?” Arthur asked.
“We have many of these little creatures flying around over Albion. From the land of the Picts to Tir Mor, the Isle of Mora, and the edges of Cornwall.” the Crown Princess of Elmet answered. “We like to know what our enemies are up to, it’s how we prepare our border defence.”
“How… do you communicate with them?” the blonde asked.
“Whistling signals. Of course, my father can actually talk to dragons as he is the Dragonlord, an ability I will inherit once he passes away.” Muriel replied.
“I wish we could talk to our falcons.” Sir Leon sighed, putting his lower jaw in his right hand.
The black-haired lady chuckled. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” she turned back to the Prince. “I’ll send you one of my falcons. You’ll find her sitting on your windowsill in five days, carrying a letter.”
“I’ll await her.” the future monarch of Camelot said. “It was good to meet you, despite the circumstances. And I am glad I did finally meet a sorceress who hasn’t committed evil.”
“Elmet has quite a lot of magical folk that don’t wish harm to come on anyone, and I wish everyone was like them.” the Princess cast her eyes to the forest soil.
“Have you met an evil sorcerer?” the ginger asked.
“Sadly, I have.” the Witch closed her eyes. “Her name was Nimueh. She sought refuge in Elmet after Camelot declared war on all magical things. My father gave her the asylum to live her life, but she was filled with this need for revenge against King Uther… when my father figured out how deep she was lost in that need, he attempted to ban her from Elmet. But Nimueh… she killed my youngest sister Gwenllian in her lashing out against my father.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” the Camelotian Crown Prince said with a sad look on his face.
The First Knight had a mournful expression as well.
“It happened seven years ago, almost to the day. A day does not pass me by without thinking about her. She didn’t possess magic, she was barely half a year old, she could never have defended herself against someone as powerful as Nimueh.”
“I hope you find her one day.”
The future Dragonlord took a deep breath. “I will not be able to defeat her right now, I have to grow stronger first. A High Priestess of the Old Religion is not easily defeated.”