A/N: aaaaaaaaaand another one. Lol Hope ya�ll liked the last one. I loves the gold-pika. XD

Chapter Five

�That horrible, EVIL-�

�I can�t believe such a rotten thing could occur with so many people here!�

�-no good, rotten cocked-�

�A woman! He tried to assault a woman! How dare he! Had I known, I�d have cut off his long john and kept it as a trophy!�

�-son of a whore!�

�ENOUGH!� Merlin�s voice could be heard over the din created by the many male guests and some of the women as well. They quieted down, though the Irish were pretty angry still, especially the men, and especially Fergus Mac Roich of the men from Ireland. He had apparently grown fairly fond of the little queen since he came over to Camelot, as did Conochbar, though not to the extreme that Fergus did.

Godric waved his hands for everyone to look to him. They looked at him as though he�d just appeared there, even though he�d been there the entire time. �The little queen is in her room, at the moment, trying to get some rest. I think it would do us all a bit o� good if we actually did the same and reconvened in the morning when she could preside over this.�

�For once, you actually think with your head, I see,� said Salazar from behind him. �Hatchling.�

�Cub.�

�Boys�� Rowena came up and put a hand on her husband�s shoulder. �Godric is right. We should deal with this in the morning when our heads have cooled and are not addled by wine and mead.�

Salazar nodded and looked to Godric, who was turning a bit pink as Helga scratched his back with her long nails. Merlin leaned against the dining table and looked at the mess of men and women gathered. Conochbar came up to him and nodded to him in greeting. �Please tell us, is Queen Arturia all right? She is very small and I doubt such a small girl could handle fighting off that golden king.�

�I am fine.�

Everyone turned to see Arturia, a little disheveled, walking down the last of the stairs. �I will preside over these matters now.�

Fergus grinned fondly as he watched Arturia toss off her maid servants and sit down in a large chair. The chair wasn�t really that large, but Arturia was so small it seemed as though it was far larger than it was. �Little queen! The scoundrel didn�t take anything away from you, did he?�

�If you are referring to my maidenhead; no, he did not. I would not have allowed him to, despite his best efforts,� she said in a very matter of fact tone. She acted as though the whole affair had been a boring little discussion!

A few of the women looked a bit pink at her statement, however, they didn�t feel it an inappropriate question to inquire given the ferocity of the man in question. Conochbar looked to Arturia and grinned faintly. �The little queen has claws.�

Arturia twitched slightly at the word �little� and sat a little straighter in her chair. �I fail to see how my height comes into this,� she said, her voice a little colder than before. Conochbar wanted to laugh, but felt he might lose his head were he to.

A welsh nobleman spoke up this time. �Your highness, it concerns us, because even if you have that sword, you are still a woman and much smaller than him. We simply worry you were assaulted and harmed in worse ways than most of us can imagine.�

Arturia regarded the Welshman and nodded. �I thank you all for your concern, but it is unnecessary. I am quite capable of fighting against even a grand king of his ilk. I was taught from the age of seven how to fight by one of the best soldiers here, Galain, my chief guard, when even my own father didn�t know of me or even care to know of me.�

Galain nodded toward Arturia as he walked back in. �My men have escorted the lout past Camelot�s borders. He�s headed back to the ocean.�

�Thank you, Galain.� Arturia then turned to the people gathered and leaned back in her chair slightly, thinking. Then, she stood up and put a hand on the table beside her. �Peoples of Ireland, Scotland, Briton and Wales,� she said, �I have need of soldiers to defend Briton against Gilgamesh, for I know he will be back once he gathers his troops in his home. He will be back, but we may have other people trying to attack our home as well. I would not like to have to defend it all myself, but I will if I must. If you have champions you feel you may spare to my ranks, I will be most indebted to you, as will Camelot. If you do not, that is fine. I will still have to journey to find me some head knights, the smartest and the bravest men our country and other countries have to offer, for I need a counsel to consult during times of war and battle.�

Conochbar grinned faintly. �Aye! I will go home and find what I can spare to you! However, I suggest you look amongst your people first!�

�I agree, I plan to when the morning comes,� said Arturia softly, �You never know what sort of gem you will find when you just glance over a bunch of rocks.�

Godric smirked and winked at Salazar. �Cub.�

Salazar rolled his eyes. �She has the mind of the old boy, all right, but not the same feel to her. She has more going inside her head than dear Arthur ever did. If anything, she might be a hatchling of the eagle sort.� He gave a smooth glance toward his wife as Godric chuckled softly. Rowena pretended not to notice she was being spoken of. �Either way, she is a hatchling. Your �cubs� don�t have near as much smarts.�

�I beg to differ, old man, but my cubs have among their ranks that lovely girl Hermione Granger and Minerva McGonagall. Both of which have become legends in what used to be our home,� said Godric as he leaned back in his chair.

Salazar seemed to pretend he didn�t hear his friend speak as he looked to Arturia again. �Hatchling. She is definitely a hatchling� and more dangerous than my other hatchling, Tom.�

Maeve blinked and took the paper flowers into her hand, eyeing them still, but smiling at the girl who gave them to her. �They are nice, but if flowers do not grow here, then why is it she knows what they even look like, much less roses.�

Merlin smiled faintly. �We have seen texts with the paintings in them, we have seen paintings with flowers in them on the walls of the castle, we have seen them, but we have not had the pleasure of them.�

�I think I will enjoy these gifts,� said Maeve as she looked down at the girl. �Thank you.� With that, she kneed her horse and made to catch up to her husband.

Arturia, meanwhile, went about watching the young men and boys that were sent by their mothers to learn how to be soldiers. The young men were coming along nicely, the boys just as well. None of them, however, were yet fit to fight except the most senior of the young men. There was some time before Gilgamesh would bring his troops to Briton and attempt to invade, however, she didn�t want to get caught with her skirts flipped. If anything, they would need to protect Camelot whilst she went abroad to find the very best men to be her knights.

Galain came up beside her as she marched across the snow covered field. �Your highness, how are you this morning?�

�I am fine, Galain, thank you for your concern. I trust you sent your men off with orders to give Gilgamesh and his men a fond farewell when you left them?� Arturia smirked faintly when Galain laughed. �Good, I don�t wish him to be too comfortable when he so rudely infringed upon my person like that.�

�Have you thought about the knights and pikemen and archers, m�lady?� asked Galain.

�As well as footsoldiers, though we have plenty of those. The pikemen, too, as they are foot soldiers, also. The archers we might have to ask of the northern villages for, as those need far more training.�

�I have a group of lads who are fair shots,� he said as he stroked his beard thoughtfully. �How much time do you think we have?�

�We are raising an army to fight against Gilgamesh, a king who is supposedly two-thirds god and from long before even the ancients were dreaming of their machines,� she said. �I have read books of this Gilgamesh, chronicled by someone who had the use of a machine that could put page after page of writing without the need to keep inking the press for every page. If only we had that use now, we might be able to give everyone books instead of only allowing a small portion to access the library my father had set up for the people, though I doubt he even knew what he was allowing to be set up, for I doubt very seriously that he even knew what a book was.�

�You still don�t think highly of your father, do you lass,� said Galain as he eyed Arturia from the corner of his vision.

�A man who would go to war simply because he lusted after a woman who was married to another man and then forget the child that would come of it is not likely a man who cares about anything other than his own desires. He reminds me much of the golden king we just shooed away like a horsefly.�

Galain halted his pace and looked to Arturia as she stopped her walking, but didn�t turn to look at him. �I know your assessment is correct, lass, but it still hurts to hear it. I served him and I felt I did aright to do so.�

Arturia turned and gazed at Galain with that doll like face of hers for a moment before bowing her head slightly and walking off. Galain sighed and ruffled his graying hair. He had indeed taught the girl to fight when she was young. She was such a tiny thing when Merlin had told him to teach her that he thought she might break, but she proved that her heart was far stouter than any other he had come across. Despite the chilly mask she always wore, he knew that inside beat the heart of a warrior and a king of knights, like the legends of Arthur the once and future king spoke of. Though she was as calculating as her father, he knew she was far better off for her calculations rarely went far from the path she plotted to begin with.

Cuchulainn had to duck when a spear was thrown at him. He looked to see it quivering in the ground behind him and stared at it for a moment before looking to Sgatha, the warrior witch of Skye. �Oi, either pay attention or don� take from me, hound!� snarled Sgatha. She was a most beautiful woman, eternally youthful do to the conditions for which she was cursed to stay on the island. Her skin was tanned slightly and her black hair was pulled back in a tight braid behind her head. She almost didn�t even resemble the woman who she claimed was her sister, Aife, whose fiery hair and paler complexion were most appealing. He supposed that Sgatha�s skin was because she enjoyed working in the sun most often than being inside with her spells.

�I would if you would let me!� said Cuchulainn, chuckled as he took hold of the spear and pulled it from the ground. �Looking at your hair makes me want to touch it.�

Sgatha�s cheeks darkened before she took the spear from him and moved away. �Just be glad I didn�t kill you myself when you disobeyed my orders to stay inside when I went to fight my sister.�

�The potion you forced on me was weak,� said Cuchulainn, his face scrunching in disgust.

�It was a precaution to keep you inside, but it seems it was indeed too weak for you,� she said before jabbing the spear at Cuchulainn and swinging it around on top of him before he had time to even blink.

Cuchulainn, however, was still far faster than she, blocking and knocking her flat on her back, though he ended up joining her when she kicked his knee. �GAH!�

Sgatha brushed herself off and sat up, eyeing him. �You�re still too crafty for your own good,� she said.

Cuchulainn smirked and put his hands behind his head, his blue tunic stretching just so over his lean torso. He had grown considerably since he had first arrived. His muscles had become more defined, though he still looked a bit stringy. His face still constantly split into a boyish grin that Sgatha felt he would never lose, even if he was old and gray. She doubted he would age the same as everyone around him, anyway, given his lineage. Demigods rarely looked the same as everyone else around them as time wore on.

�Listen, lad, I have need to teach you of a particular spear. It is the gae bolg, a terrible spear that you must cut out of your victim before you can retrieve it,� she said as she stood up. She offered a hand to him and helped him up as he took it. �The wound it creates does not heal no matter if you use potions or spells on the wound to heal it. It is a cursed spear, but it is the best I can teach you to use.�

Cuchulainn was already intrigued, his interest piquing more as she spoke on about the spear she was going to teach him to use. He watched her walk to a chest that he had never seen her open before and pulled out a long spear, longer than him, that was blood red with a barbed spear tip. She tossed it to him and nodded. �That is the gae bolg, the most dangerous weapon you could hope to learn to use. Ferdia won�t even be taught it, for I don�t see him using it as well as you. Your speed and agility are useful in using spears, far better than swords.�

Cuchulainn held it in his hands and gazed at the red spear in awe. His friend Ferdia was not to learn how to use this spear? He felt a little bad that his friend, who he had met when he came to the boat to cross the lake to get to the island, was not going to learn the same things he did, but he also knew he might have need for this advantage later. He felt it in his bones that he might need to learn something far worse and more terrible to fight with than his friend, for something told him he would fight his friend later on in his life. The thought pained him sorely, causing his heart to break slightly, but he didn�t let it get to him too much, for Sgatha was starting to give him a look that clearly called him various names.

�All right, Sgatha, teach me to use this spear,� he said with a boyish grin toward his teacher.

�What is that cannon box car?� asked Arturia as they rode past the village to the big manor not far off.

�It is a tank. Men used these to go across land and destroy entire buildings. Even buildings like the ruins on the edge of Camelot�s lands, though it would take far more shots to take those down,� said Merlin.

Arturia frowned. If only she could have use of that tank! However, she knew it might not do any good against that golden king and his army. No, she needed men, and women if they were good enough, to fight for her.

�My history professor used to teach us many things of the past, as she was a part of it once long ago,� said Merlin as he watched the people pass by to do whatever they were working on.

Arturia looked slowly toward her master. �Your history professor is an ancient?�

�Yes, she is,� he said, smirking faintly at the look of disbelief on Arturia�s face. �Magic has many wonderful and terrible qualities. My history professor doubled as an English teacher and a Literature teacher when she felt the lot of us were too unschooled to pass by her unscathed.�

�She sounds like a formidable woman,� said Arturia.

�Yes, she is.�

�She�s alive still?� Again, Arturia looked to her master with a severe look.

�Yes, as far as I know, she is still alive and living well with her husband Hohenheim.� Merlin reined his horse closer toward Arturia as the guards moved behind them. The pair ahead of them was looking around to Merlin as though they wanted to listen to this more. He knew the secrecy of the magicians was still somewhat in order, though not as strictly ruled as it had been in the past as they were allowed to do some magic in the open, such as wizards in the employ of kings and nobles, or witches serving as nurses in villages. The healing arts had been all but lost to men, so the idea of the witches and wizards who knew healing far better than men did using what they could to give men the healing they needed when things went awry was a good thing, though that meant more witches and wizards had to be taught that before. That wasn�t that big of a problem, however, since the war left mostly wizards and witches in the world to flourish.

�How could she live so long?� Arturia was clearly puzzled.

�A good number of the professors are either kin to the woman or friends of hers that have been with her since she was a young witch going to that school, Arturia. For three hundred years, she has been in that school with her dear friends from school living there as teachers as well. She used to be the headmaster at once time, too, you know. The headmaster now, I believe, is another ancient, who was around at least fifty years before my history professor was even thought of, before her parents were thought of!�

Merlin sighed and gave Arturia a small smile. He liked it when she tried to work things out on her own. �But I haven�t answered the question yet, I know.� He knew that look anywhere, it was the look of �You�re dodging the question, master� that she would give him when he was prattling on too long and forgetting to actually answer. �Mrs. Malfoy-Elric is half human. Her lineage is a most unusual breed, as is that of her sister, who reigns over the position of Divination teacher like a dictator of a small country. They are both half� elf.�

Arturia fixed Merlin with another of her rather blatantly cold stares, eyes narrowed and glaring at him. �Elves? Faeries?�

Merlin shifted uncomfortably in his saddle. �I have told you often that there are things men do not see that you can, correct? Why not faery folk? Why not mermaids and elves and dragons and gnomes? Why not unicorns?�

Arturia frowned faintly and turned around. �The priests say such things are not real, that they are simply stories told to children for fantasies, but they aren�t real. However, they do not discount magic, but have been known to call it the work of the devil betimes.�

�Do you think I am the work of the devil, Arturia?� Merlin watched Arturia carefully to see his answer. �You have seen things since you were small, Arturia. You have seen garden gnomes running about into rabbit holes, you have seen, at times, a little green elf like creature appear to me and give me a notice or give me something else. You haven�t seen a unicorn, I must admit, though you have seen a centaur at one point in the forest outside of Camelot. They roam there to protect the forest from bad people. The trees, at least, grow there well enough, but everything else living there has all been frozen. The poor centaurs have been trying to find places where they might roam that is still green.�

�Is it frozen at this school of yours?�

That was a question Merlin dreaded to answer. The truth was, Hogwarts was still forbidden territory for the non-magic people. The wards kept up around the village of New Hogsmeade and Gryffindor, which were on two sides of the school, were there to keep men from knowing that in that place, the seasons were not as frightful and green grew in the land. Life was there because of one man who had asked the Creator of All Things to give him that power temporarily so that they could save what they had tried to protect. �Yes,� Merlin lied, though convincingly enough as Arturia turned around again. Well, technically, he didn�t lie, as winter always came on time and froze the land, but spring and summer came and melted the ice of the chilly north Scotland lands.

The manor they were let into was that of one of the nobles Arturia had housed at her coronation. They were greeted pleasantly and allowed to stay for a night or two in order to scout out the prospects of the men the village had to offer. The nobleman in question was a good hearted man that Arturia rather liked, though he was very quiet.

Settling down into their rooms, Merlin was still bothered by Arturia before bed, much like when she was little. �Yes, Arturia?� He took off his cloak and sat in a plush chair by the fair, smiling with a boyish smile at his young pupil.

�Even is she is half human, as you say, master, how can she live for three hundred years? How many husbands has she had?� Arturia sat down in another chair opposite him and placed her hands in her lap.

�I think I recall asking her something about that once, actually. She told me that she theorized that if she were to just age normally, left alone without the many things that make her young again as she has in her life, she would live a good five hundred years before starting to age past the age of twenty. On her father�s side of the family, they are very youthful looking anyway, but her mother is the one that is the elf.� Merlin tapped his fingers together while he thought about his next answers carefully. �She has been married twice, as far as I know, and the one I know of is her second husband. Her first husband was a wizard from a pure line of wizards, named Malfoy. That is still a very prominent name in the wizard world, actually, as they are one of the few pure lines left after so many married men and women of the non-magic people. Her children from that husband are almost all dead, save two who were born after their father�s death. Edan and Anna, they were named. Edan married the daughter of the headmaster�s wife, from her previous marriage, and Anna went off into the world.�

�However, there is one, actually, that I think is alive. Yes, I think I�ve seen her bobbing about before. She�s insane, you see. I think it�s partly because of the pure line of wizard blood in her, marrying your cousins does that to your children you see. However, she, as I recall, was also tormented as a child because she was the most susceptible to the tormenters when she was growing up. That one died by her mother�s hand, I�m afraid, as she went and killed many many people.�

�And her second husband is this Hohenheim Elric?� asked Arturia.

�Yes, that would be his name. He is the father of one of the former professors of the school, professor of Alchemy, and he also teaches the Alchemy class upon occasion as he is a most accomplished alchemist.� Merlin sipped his water and thought. �He married my history teacher sometime after her first husband died�. At the hands of his own crazy daughter. He married her and they had a daughter who became an accomplished alchemist much like her brother and father. After her was a boy who could bend time as well as turn into a wolf.�

�You mean he was a werewolf?� Arturia was very interested now.

�No, he�s not a werewolf; he changes into a wolf on his own. He�s done it all his life, since he was born.� He sighed and rubbed his face. �Let�s see if I can explain this.� He sat up properly in his seat and looked Arturia in the eye, light blue to her pale gold. �Wolf, which is his name, was born with the ability to change into a wolf. This wasn�t taught to him, which is what happens when most wizards wish to learn how to turn into animals, but he knew it instinctively.� He thought for a moment and decided telling her about the blood was probably best.

�Everyone has magic in their blood, Arturia. From the lowliest peasant to kings themselves, they all have magic in their blood. It�s where human intuition comes from; dreams come from it as well. Luck, also. However, for most humans, this magic level in their blood is very low. For wizards, it ranges to all kinds of levels, but for some, the level is almost so high that it is as though they were made from magic. The current headmaster of my old school is one of this sort. He was born from the purest wizard line possible, which gave him a good bit of insanity to live with, and he grew up to become a very powerful, DARK wizard. He split his soul seven times and then it all came together when he was stuck inside the� place where all human souls go to to be judged. However, his was not to be judged, his was to remain for as long as possible, for he was supposed to come back again when his soul was whole again. That creates some serious magic possiblities in the blood and makes even his SOUL magical. My history teacher is half human and half elf; this makes her blood line very powerful as well with magic, pretty well pure magic. She is currently married to a very accomplished alchemist whose blood line is also very powerful. When you mix blood like that, strange things occur in the children who are the result.�

Merlin sat back and rubbed his head again, a headache coming on. �Wolf is the result of this strange, rather freakish accident occurring in the blood lines. Because of that, he has the weirdest ability to cause time to bend to his will as well as get allergies that cause him to sneeze and change everyone in one area into children. That is why everyone has lived so long, it is because they kept changing into children and teenagers and had to grow up again, over and over and over again.�

Arturia raised her eyebrows, now very surprised. �And what of death?�

�He�s her nephew.� Merlin waved his hand at her, rubbing his temples. �Don�t ask anymore, I am tired and we both need rest.�

Arturia nodded. �Apologies, master,� she said as she stood, �I will go to my room and leave you be.�

Merlin nodded and leaned back in his chair a bit more. �I promise to tell you more tomorrow when there is time.�

Arturia looked back and smiled the faintest smile possibly, though it was more than what she was used to smiling. �I will hold you to that, master.� Then, she walked out and went to her room.

Merlin chuckled. Indeed, she would hold him to it.