A/N: aaaaaaaah you thought that was the end? Like hell! XD This keeps going. As I said� EPIC.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

A great tragedy befell Ulster and Ireland. The king Conochbar and his wife and his brood were all slaughtered in the night. The main hall where they were all residing in had been set on fire and the bodies burned until they were nearly unrecognizable. One of the children ran out, but he was shot down and set on fire as well, though not as badly. The arrow wound in his body was that of Connacht�s arrows, though the fire burned the shaft away and left only the arrow head in his body.

The people, outraged, wanted to storm Connacht�s borders and kill the king and queen for such out right treachery. However, they needed a new king and the line of kings was either out of the borders or dead. Queen Maeve heard of the problem and said her husband and her would come and sign a treaty if it would prove to the people that they were innocent of such crimes, for they continuously told Ireland that they had not done anything to their royal line.

The people cried out for their hero, Cuchulainn, to be the new king, for they knew he would lead them well. He was reluctant, however. He never wanted such responsibility and vehemently refused until there was no other alternative for him to go. When he took the throne, he did it with a troubled feeling, though he would lead his people with as much heart as he could. He was their king of heroes, after all!

�I didn�t kill your royal line,� said Queen Maeve to Cuchulainn as she sat at a table with him. �I hate Ulstermen, but I�m not about to kill women and children.�

Cuchulainn eyed Maeve for a moment and grinned. �Really? That isn�t what I saw when you invaded Ulster a few years back.�

Maeve saw a dangerous glint flash in the new king�s eye. She remembered vividly their rapid retreat back to Connacht, and the man who had caused her so much grief in the long run to get that damned bull to her pen. �They ran out on their own, I had no hand in it other than my men defending themselves.�

Cuchulainn leaned back, eyeing Maeve for a moment and nodded. �Fine. You�ll have your treaty, but I want to have a hand in it being drawn up. In fact, I think I want an Ulster scribe to draw it up for me with me present, since I don�t trust a bliven word you say.�

Maeve felt as though she were run through with a very cold, sharp, sword. He was not taking his chances with her and that left her little opportunity to deal; especially with a man who she clearly despised more than anyone else in the world. �If it will please you, then do so. I am just trying to keep you Ulstermen from invading my borders.�

�Your borders are old and boring and used by too many men,� said Cuchulainn, leaning back against his chair a little more, looking very bored. Maeve caught his meaning and turned red, but didn�t say anything. He smirked and clasped his hands together as he rested his elbows on the armrests of his chair. �Now, all we have to us now is the proof that you did not send out any of your men, not that your men didn�t do it by themselves.�

Maeve shot out of her chair and slammed her hands on the table. �I did NOTHING! My MEN did NOTHING! Don�t you DARE make such a claim!�

Cuchulainn eyed her, his gaze becoming very dark. �I�ll make every claim I want. You are the one who offended Ulster and thus offended me, bitch. But I�ll take the treaty as your word and thus keep you from doing any worse damage than you have to my home.�

Maeve opened and closed her mouth, outraged beyond words, looking similar to a fish out of water. She finally let out a roar of a scream of her frustration and stalked out of the tent he had erected for their use out near the border of Ulster. When she had left, Laeg came out of his shadowed hiding place and walked over to Cuchulainn. �Cuchualinn, are you certain of what you are doing?�

�I have never been so certain in my life, Laeg. That woman is up to something, though I�m sure it wasn�t her who ordered a killing of Conochbar and his family. Whoever is was that did kill them all is either very good at disguising themselves, or rogue Connacht soldiers.� He got to his feet and started helping to get the tent taken down with the table and chairs. �We need to get back before they try to claim I�m disappearing on them as I normally would.�

�You knew that was the price of being king, Cuchulainn. That was why you never wanted it,� said Laeg, smiling faintly at his friend. �You�re as wild as the hounds you�re named for and as loyal too.�

Cuchulainn grinned at his friend and laughed, shoving the table on the cart and dusting himself off. Laeg handed him the chairs and he loaded them up as well. When they left to go home, Maeve was still riding back to Connacht with her own people, seething from the insult that she had received from the new king.

Then, there was the growing problem of the tariffs on goods from Ireland and Scotland. She needed to remedy those immediately before she could even begin to bring any semblance of peace to her people. If only they knew how much work she had to go through to simply just get people decent bread grains that they could use. Ireland was too small to accommodate all of Britain and Wales. Scotland was a self sufficient area that was closed off to anyone save the Irish and that was because they were pretty well the same people!

She looked out the window and saw a messenger come to the castle, baring the banner of Ireland. She stopped and stood up, walking out of her room and down the stairs to the main hall. Merlin was speaking to the messenger, taking the parchment from him and nodding. �Merlin, is it for me?�

Merlin looked over at his pupil. She had been sleeping very little since the rebellions started. It was taking a toll on her health, her complexion was ashen and her eyes had dark circles under them. He worried for his little pupil, though he knew she did a great deal that upset him greatly. He both understood her standing and could not condone some of the things she did. Still, she was like a daughter to him and he could not stand to see her so miserable.

�You should rest, Arturia,� he said softly as he handed her the parchment.

She did not look up at him, but kept her gaze down at the parchment. �I can no show the smallest bit of weakness to these hounds. They will gang up upon me should I show anything they might consider weak.�

This was true, for he had seen such behavior before. Merlin watched her break the seal and head up to the room that had become her prison cell. She hardly came out anymore except to perform tasks that required her presence. She took her meals inside her chambers and only spoke to him or her servant Emiya, who had taken to making her meals himself and dressing her hair himself. The boy had come a long way from the child they had found when he had killed his previous master and crawled his way through the snow to the kitchen entrance. He was an excellent archer and swordsman. He was very fast and used his imaging flawlessly. Arturia had put him through his paces when he was young, which, Merlin suspected, was the reason he was so good at what he was trained to do.

�Please sleep after you read the letter, Arturia. You need proper rest,� said Merlin, watching the form of his student disappear up the stairs.

�All right, master,� she said absently.

Arturia finally opened the letter and looked at it with interest. The wax seal had a stamp of a strange sort of stylized dog or wolf snarling on it. The letter itself was very formal, neatly written and did not look quite like the seal stamped on it would have indicated.

Arturia Pendragon, Queen of Briton,

You are invited to come to the coronation of Ireland�s new king, Cuchulainn, the king of Irish Heroes. His wife and his majesty both wish you to come on this joyous occasion so that he might have the chance to meet his nobles and fellow kings and queens.

Signed,

Cuchulainn, King of Ulster and Ireland

Arturia frowned as she gazed at the letter and looked up when she heard a faint shuffling sound. A man with shaggy white hair that fell into his eyes walked out of the shadows and stopped when he was in the light. His face was drawn and pale, he looked as though he were about to collapse. �Was there a sword fight?� she asked, looking him up and down as she put the note down on a chair.

�Yes,� he said; his deep voice soft and smooth to her ears. He was over six feet tall now and broad shouldered, though his waist and hips were thin. His stomach muscles could be seen through the stretched black leather on his chest and stomach. He moved a little closer and Arturia saw a hurried bandage on his side and shoulder.

�Go to my bed and lie down,� she said. She went over to her sword and scabbard and picked it up, walking behind Emiya as he limped his way to her bed and dropped onto it. �You should know better than to let yourself be hurt so badly, Emiya. I can�t be with you when you do these errands of mine and the potions I give you need to last as far as you going to and coming home.�

�I�m sorry, my queen,� he said softly, watching her through his lashes. Once again, after so long, she felt a strange melting in her belly, much like the time before when she was punishing Emiya for being insolent and the first kiss she ever received from a man. That time she had been healing Cuchulainn, much like she was about to do to Emiya. Would Emiya respond the same as Cuchulainn did when she touched Avalon?

Arturia pulled Emiya�s coat off slowly. She gently untied the sides of his shirt and pulled it off as well, then went for his trousers, noticing he had had some form of a limp. He didn�t protest. He simply laid back and let her small hands work his clothes off of him. When he was younger, he would have protested, and did often, but not anymore. He was used to being patched up by his queen, accustomed to her small hands touching his body in ways he wished she would explore more, though he knew it was only for the sake of healing him up before he was sent out to kill someone else.

He lie naked on her bed, bared to the chill of her room, though he felt warmth from her blanket beneath him and the furs under his legs as well as from the fireplace still burning at the other side of the room. He felt her place Avalon upon his chest and watched her look him over carefully. �You�ve damaged yourself pretty badly, Emiya. How on Earth did you make it home?� she said softly.

�Will power,� he said, smirking faintly.

Arturia looked to him and then looked away, a small pink flush appearing on her pale cheeks. �You should be more careful, Emiya.�

�I try, but things happen,� he said softly and closed his eyes. He felt a strange warmth entering his body through his heart. It pounded harder beneath the heat and made him groan. He felt his wounds heal by themselves and whatever else was damaged on him heal as well. This was a familiar heat, however, for he had become accustomed to Arturia using the scabbard to heal him for many years now.

When he opened his eyes, he saw her staring at his hips, her cheeks more flushed now than they had been previously. He knew what was causing her to stare and he smirked to himself to know it fascinated her still. The pounding of his heart was growing unbearable and he needed her to get the scabbard off him before he did something that both of them would be embarrassed about later. �I�m healed now,� he said, panting heavily as he reached up and touched her cheek to get her attention.

Arturia moved her cheek into his hand and closed her eyes. Her lips were partially open and inviting, though he knew he was not the one that was invited to them. He put his other hand on hers and moved the scabbard and sword off of him as he sat up. �My queen,� he said softly.

Arturia�s eyes snapped open and she looked up at Emiya, eyes like molten gold. �Are you healed?� She stopped and looked over him, nodding. �You are.� Then, she picked up the scabbard and sword and walked out, skirts making soft noises as she walked out quickly.

He knew what she would be doing as she allowed him time to get dressed. She was more transparent to him the longer he stayed by her side. When she healed him, he would catch her staring at his hips, at his cock, and then she would walk away quickly to get her composure back. She didn�t often lose herself, however. She merely stared in fascination, but when the healing was done, she would be off to simply cool down in her study where he wouldn�t enter unless it was a very important matter he needed to speak to her about. By the looks of her, however, he was certain she was beginning to remember the fact that her body was still that of an untried virgin and that she was eternally stuck with the visage of a young woman. He hips were wide and her shoulders were narrow, though they had grown a little since she worked with her sword, her breasts were small swells and had remained as such since before he had known her.

When Emiya�s body had calmed down, he dressed himself and walked out of the bedroom where she slept. She had a bed set in the main chamber for him to sleep in so he could be close by her side should someone attack her. He looked to the note on the chair she had been reading before she had noticed him. The letter itself had been taken, but the sealed envelope that bore the wax seal she had broken was still there. It was a hound stamp that had been used. The hound had sent her a letter. He glared at the seal and made the envelope burn in his hand without thinking. He would have been fine if she had chosen one such as Bedivere as her consort; however, this hound of Chulainn irritated him more than anything else. He chose to take lovers outside of his own wife and would likely do the same to Arturia if she were taken in any further by him. Bedivere and Gawain had earned his trust long ago and still kept it. Cuchulainn had not and would never earn any trust from him, for he knew the blighter was a scoundrel at heart!

He let the ashes drop and walked out of the room to practice in the firing range. There, he knew, he could clear his head to keep the raging anger inside of him silent and forget the screams of the children and women he had killed over the years.

Mei watched Gilgamesh quietly as he cooed to her stomach. �Just don�t sing, please. I�m afraid you�ll force him to become tone deaf when he comes out.�

Gilgamesh snorted and eyed Mei. �I can sing! I have a fine voice!�

�You have a fine speaking voice, my lord, but not a fine singing voice. Your singing voice is like the screeches of many crows caught by surprise.�

Gilgamesh pouted as he looked away from her. She smiled faintly and stroked his hair. �My king shall have a child from my body soon enough. Asma has also become very large with a child as Fathia has started her morning sickness. You�ll have children growing out of your ears soon.�

Gilgamesh blinked at Mei and frowned. �What? How is that possible?�

Mei chuckled softly and leaned back against her pillows. �It is merely an expression, my lord. I merely meant that you will have as many children as you can possible handle. What will you name ours should it be a boy?�

Gilgamesh looked to her stomach and smiled faintly, boyishly almost. That was a rare look on his young face. �Enkidu. It will be a boy, no doubt. I can feel it.�

Mei nodded and smiled at Gilgamesh faintly. �Then, he shall be named Enkidu as my lord wishes.�

�Call me Gilgamesh, Mei,� said Gilgamesh as he continued to not look at her.

�You are embarrassed to make such a request, Gilgamesh?� asked Mei, knowing full well she was right when his cheeks grew very red.

�I am not!� he snapped and then poutd once more, looking at her belly. �I am simply asking you to call me by my name. We�re alone together and you are a wife to me as are Asma and Fathia.�

Mei smiled faintly and leaned over to him, kissing his cheek. �You�re very sweet, my love.�

Gilgamesh once again blushed heavily and grinned arrogantly at her. �Of course I am. I am the king of all you see and more still than that!�

�Will you go meet with the new king of Ireland?� asked Mei softly.

�No,� said Gilgamesh, looking away and looking very irritated suddenly. �I don�t like associating with these pathetic little kings and queens when they themselves aren�t very interesting.�

�He is said to be the famous Hound of Ulster.�

Gilgamesh looked to her with interest. �That one, hmmm?� He looked to her belly and rubbed it gently, worry etched into his young face. �Not now. After you give birth.�

�What of Asma, then? What if she births while you are away?� said Mei, now starting to glower at him. He shriveled slightly at the sight and then looked away once more.

�Fine, I won�t leave until after Asma gives birth. By then, Fathia should just be beginning to enter the last months,� said Gilgamesh with a grunt.

Mei smiled faintly and kisses Gilgamesh�s cheek once more. �Good.�