CHAPTER FIVE
VALIANT ( ii. )

     The tone of the Tournament shifts during the third fight of the day. A knight, Valiant, holds a shield decorated with three jade-colored snakes and attacks his opponent with vigorous aggression that even puts Calliope on her toes.  He is the only Knight in the Tournament that seems to have any chance of beating Arthur, but Calliope senses something off about him.

She can't put her finger on what it is, but Knight Valiant rubs her the wrong way. It's just like the feeling she got about Lady Helen, who turned out to be a witch with intentions of killing Arthur. Calliope shifts her eyes to Knight Valiant as he exits the arena, taking off his helmet with a hungriness in his eyes—a hungriness for blood and victory.

The blonde strolls through the many tents that have been set up outside the arena for the knights. She spots Merlin taking off Arthur's armor by his tent. Calliope stops in front of them, her gaze landing on the blond Prince, his brow caked in a fresh coat of sweat and dirt.

     "You did well for someone that lost to a girl yesterday," she jokes, and he sends her an eye roll.

     "I've already told you that I was going easy on you because I didn't want to hurt you."

     Merlin holds in a laugh as Calliope leans closer to him, "Sure, whatever you must think to sleep at night."

     Their attention is pulled away from Calliope's taunts when Knight Valiant begins walking towards them. Merlin watches him with cautious eyes, seeming to have the same reservations as his friend.

     "Knight Valiant looks pretty handy with a sword."

     Calliope looks him up and down as pride encompasses his every step, "He's too aggressive with his attacks," Merlin and Arthur glance at her, their eyebrows lifting. "Impatient men with swords in their hands are easy to knock down."

     Knight Valiant breathes heavily from his latest fight as his eyes lock onto Arthur. Coming to a halt, he stands across from him with his helmet hanging from his right hand.

     "May I offer my congratulations on your victories today?"

     Arthur offers him a small nod, "Likewise."

     "I hope to see you at the reception this evening," his dark eyes dart to Calliope, "and you also, My Lady."

     He begins to walk away, and Merlin scoffs, "What about me?" Calliope looks at him as he shakes his head. "Creep."

     Arthur lets out a quick cackle of amusement, "Yeah, I think we all know Calliope is no lady."

Narrowing her eyes, she fires back her own retaliation, her words as sharp as the prince's sword, "At least I'm not an arrogant prat."

     He leans towards her with a grin, "Yeah...Whatever you must think to sleep at night," Calliope's face emits annoyance as Arthur turns to Merlin. "For tomorrow you need to repair my shield, wash my tunic, clean my boots, sharpen my sword, and polish my chainmail."

     Merlin throws up his hands in frustration as Arthur walks away from him. He turns his head to Calliope with raised eyebrows, and she shakes her head.

     "No. No way. I'm definitely not doing any chores for that idiot."

     "Cal, please, I can't do all this by tomorrow!"

     She shrugs as she pats his shoulder, "I'm sure you'll think of something, wizard boy."

     Calliope leaves Merlin standing by himself, her playful laughter carrying in the brisk wind. She strolls into the courtyard, heading for the castle to see if Gaius needs any help tending to the knights wounded in the Tournament, but then, a faint whisper echoes through her mind— as if it is only intended for her to hear.

     Calliope.

Spinning around, her cobalt eyes scan every person walking through the courtyard, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. Maybe her mind is playing tricks with her. She shakes it off, turning back, until the voice surfaces once more.

     Calliope.

     Calliope lets out a frustrated huff as she looks over the courtyard again. Her gaze lands on a man standing near the gates— unnoticeable to most— leaning against the wall with a green cloak covering him. She can't see his face, but a terrible feeling courses through her as he tilts his head up.

    Calliope.

A cold and sudden realization dawns in her eyes like she has just been punched in the gut and fear strikes through every bone in her body. Calliope turns away from the man, running up the front stairs leading to the palace. She needs to get to Gaius— fast.

      When she barges into his quarters, Gaius drops the cloth in his hands in surprise. He looks over her startled expression with confusion as she runs up to him.

     "Gaius," she breathes heavily.

     "What is it, child?"

     Her frantic eyes lock with his, "There are things I haven't told you; things in my past that I thought I had escaped, but they're back to haunt me. Gaius, I don't know what to do—"

      Gaius puts his hands on her shoulders, "Slow down, Calliope. You aren't making any sense," he motions for her to sit down at the table. "I'm going to get you a glass of water, and after you've calmed down, you can tell me whatever it is that's bothering you."

    Calliope slowly nods are her thoughts drift back to the man near the gates. She never saw his face, but she knows exactly who he is; that voice, the stature of his body... It could be no one else. He is the man who trained Calliope to kill; the deadliest assassin ever known because of one simple fact:

     He cannot die.

      "Here you go," Gaius hands her a small glass of water as he sits down across from her. "Now, what is it that you need to tell me?"

     Calliope meets his gaze, "The truth," she admits, "of how I really became the Red Dragon."

     Before she can go any further, the door swings open, revealing Merlin stumbling in with all of Arthur's armor. He drops everything in his hands with a loud crashing sound. He looks up from the mess with an innocent smile.

     "Either one of you want to help with this?"

♛ ♛ ♛

     Calliope struggles to keep her eyes open as the second day of the Tournament begins. The cheering from the crowd only worsens her headache. She never got a chance to tell Gaius everything without Merlin overhearing. Calliope glances around in a paranoid way as she makes sure that man is nowhere to be found.

      She's so focused on trying to spot the man that she barely notices Merlin and Arthur walking up to her. She jumps when Arthur taps her shoulder.

     "Are you going to wish me luck?"

     Calliope rolls her eyes, "If you're such a great warrior, as you claim to be, you shouldn't need any luck."

     His smile lifts his face, "For once, you and I can agree, Calliope."

     Arthur gives her a cheeky wink that stirs an odd feeling in her chest, but Calliope doesn't let herself dwell on it because feeling anything at all for Arthur is absolutely ridiculous.

As the prince enters the arena for another round of fighting, Merlin stands beside the blonde, "Is everything okay with you?"

She answers —a little too quickly, "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

     "You seem... jumpy," Merlin replies. "I heard you pacing all night."

     "It's nothing."

     "It doesn't seem like nothing."

     Calliope shoots her gaze to him, "Merlin, have you ever thought that maybe you're a little nosy?"

     "No, not ever."

     "Arthur's right about one thing," Calliope looks back to the arena. "You really are an idiot."

     Calliope watches Knight Valiant closely in the first fight of the day. His opponent is strong and quick; someone that can beat him. Calliope hopes the other knight wins because Valiant just seems like a repulsive person in general.

     And it seems like Calliope's hope will come true as Knight Ewan starts to get the upper hand and almost knocks Valiant off his feet. Valiant lets out a cry of anger as he charges at Ewan, and both of them go to the ground with their shields between them. Calliope furrows her eyebrows as Ewan seems to go limp before a hard blow to the head from Valiant.

     Valiant raises his sword, earning a fit of cheers from the crowd around him, but Calliope senses that his victory is not all it seems to be.

     "I think he's badly hurt," Merlin says as Gaius enters the arena to examine Ewan.

     Calliope glances at Merlin, itching tp express her concerns, "Do you ever get...a bad feeling from Valiant?"

Her comment earns a confused look from the sorcerer, "What do you mean?"

    "I don't know," Calliope watches Valiant as he exits the arena. "When I look at him, I just have this feeling in my gut that tells me to stay away from him."

     "Well, he is unpleasant."

     Calliope manages a small laugh as she shakes her head and shoves Merlin playfully, "Come on, let's see if Gaius needs our help."

     Calliope and Merlin help Gaius get Ewan back in his chambers, and as the day goes on, Calliope senses that something terrible is wrong with him. As she walks closer to the bed and sees the small droplets of sweat on his forehead, she can tell he has a grave fever. Calliope sits down at the table as Gaius puts a cool rag to his head. He hasn't woken in hours. She wonders if he'll wake up at all, which is strange considering all he suffered during the fight was a blow to the head that never even bled. Something deeper is wrong with him.

     Merlin charges into the room quickly after the last fight of the day. He walks up to the bed Ewan lies on; still exhaling sharply with shut eyes.

     "How is he?"

     "It's most odd," Gaius says. "Look at this," Calliope and Merlin kneel beside him with their eyes on Ewan. "See these two small wounds?" Gaius hovers his finger over two angry red dots on Ewan's neck. "It looks like a snakebite."

     "How can he have been bitten by a snake?" Merlin asks. "He was injured in a sword fight."

     "Yet his symptoms are consistent with poisoning: slow pulse, fever, paralysis."

     Calliope looks up at Gaius as he stands, "Will you be able to heal him?"

     "Well, if it is a snakebite, I'll have to extract venom from the same snake that bit him to make an antidote."

     Merlin turns to Gaius, "What happens if he doesn't get the antidote?"

     "Then, I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do for him," Gaius explains as he walks over to Ewan. "He's going to die."

     Merlin is silent for a moment as he looks over Ewan, his eyes dawning with a breakthrough as he looks to Calliope.

     "He was fighting Knight Valiant."

     Merlin immediately turns, and Calliope stands to follow him out the door, "Merlin, where the hell are you going?"

     He continues walking at a fast pace as he talks, "This morning I was getting Arthur's armor and I saw one of the snakes on Valiant's shield blink. I think it's enchanted."

     Calliope considers the irrational theory as they walk down the spiral staircase the leads to a wide corridor.

     "That's absolutely mad."

     "Well, what's your explanation for Ewan's snakebite then?"

     Calliope sighs as they walk through the candle-lit corridor that will lead to Knight Valiant's chambers. They pass by a few guards but aren't stopped. Calliope has a bad feeling about spying on Knight Valiant, but it's worth it if Merlin's right. Exposing someone like Valiant would definitely feel good.

     They stop behind a wall as the sound of footsteps thuds against the floor on the other side. Merlin peeks his head out just in time to see Valiant going into his room. Merlin shoots a look back to Calliope and then nods his head in the direction of Valiant's room.

     They make sure no one is coming as they step out from behind the wall. They slowly sneak up to Valiant's door without making a sound, and Merlin barely pushes the door open. The slit in the door is just enough to see everything Valiant is doing.

     Calliope's eyes widen when he dangles a mouse by its tail in front of the shield, and just as Merlin predicted, three dark green snakes emerge with deep hisses as they look over the mouse. She turns her head as the mouse is consumed, and she breaks into a run with Merlin to get back to Gaius's chambers.

     She can't believe what she just saw. Knight Valiant is cheating, and the snakes on his shield have the power to kill all his opponents.

  ♛ ♛ ♛

     After telling Gaius what Calliope and Merlin saw that night, both of them are discouraged. Gaius told them that they have no proof; that the King will always take the word of a knight over the word of a servant and his friend. Calliope knows, deep down, that Gaius is right, but the fact that Valiant may get away with this doesn't sit right with her. She and Merlin need to get proof because the odds are that Valiant will be the one fighting Arthur in the final fight, and that fight will end with Valiant using the shield to kill Arthur; it's the only way Valiant can win.

     Calliope stands next to Merlin as he fastens Arthur's armor. She twiddles her thumbs nervously, itching to tell Arthur everything about Valiant, but she keeps her mouth shut... for once.

     "You're telling me you've got to fight that?"

     Calliope turns her head to the person Merlin is talking about. Her eyebrows shoot up as she looks over the man, taller than anyone she's ever seen and broad with thick muscles that could crush iron.

     "Yes, and he's strong as a bear, but he's slow," Arthur assures as Merlin hands him his shield.

     "And you're fast."

     "Exactly."

     Calliope grins and pats Arthur on the shoulder, "Well, it was nice knowing you."

     Arthur lets out an annoyed sigh, "Thanks for the encouragement, Calliope."

     "You're very welcome."

    Arthur walks away from them towards his fight with the bear-like man; his toughest opponent yet in the Tournament. Calliope crosses her arms over the chest as she observes the fight expectantly, finally ready to see how well this Prince really can fight.

     Arthur doesn't disappoint as he uses every attack skillfully and strategically; dodging each blow with an agility that his opponent cannot match because of his size. He has a heavy step that makes it easy for him to lose his balance, and Arthur takes advantage of that with his persistent swings. He gets the upper hand in the fight, forcing the knight to stumble and lunging forward to hit him in the head with his shield.

     The knight falls to the ground unconscious, and Arthur stands victorious; sealing his spot in the final. Calliope looks to her left as Valiant prepares for his last fight. If he wins, he'll be fighting Arthur tomorrow.

     Calliope doesn't set her expectations high, which is a good thing because Valiant's fight is quick. He wins easily; without using the magic of his shield. Calliope clenches her fists at his fakeness and trickery. The crowd loves him; the King even begins to favor him, and it's all an act.

     "What are you going to do, wizard boy?" Calliope strides up to Merlin as he stands by Arthur's tent. "Looks like the Prince is fighting Valiant tomorrow. It'd be a shame for him to die because of a cheater."

     "You're right," Merlin breathes, "and I think I know what to do."

so, this chapter has a mystery... the cloaked man and his involvement with calliope's story. how do you think calliope really became the red dragon?
remember to vote and comment :)
graphic by sixty6ix