CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE,
episode four, gwaine.

ISABELLA VALOUR was glad to be back freely in camelot. although she was now very wary of the king and how quickly his opinions would change, she decided to ignore it and carry on with her life.

merlin, isabella and arthur had gone hunting. correction , merlin and arthur had gone hunting and isabella was tagging along, complaining about them hurting the animals.

finally, after a long day, they came to a tavern. "oh, finally! do you know what, you boys go back to hurting the animals while i fetch a drink." she said with a relieved sigh, jumping off her horse and heading down the hell.

"uh, stop right there." arthur scoffed in disbelief as she whipped around to face him, an eyebrow raised.

"you don't seriously believe i'm going to let you wander around a tavern filled with loud intimidating men?" arthur scoffed, making isabella scrunch her nose up at him.

"i'm a lady, i can handle myself but fine. if you must tag along, by all means." she waved her arms up in annoyance as the two boys quickly followed her.

"now remember, we are simple peasants." arthur told them as isabella glanced down at he appearance.

"good job i wore my peasant dress." she scoffed, the only dress that didn't have thousands of gold and jewels on was a simple purple dress, which still was quite extravagant for a peasant.

she had to shove the door open since it was so stiff, and when it opened, her eyes widened in horror. arthur was right! loud, scary, ugly, horrifying men everywhere! everywhere!

"oh, good heavens." she sighed, shaking her head. "where are the ladies?"

"the ladies are at home combing their hair." arthur said, sticking his tongue out at her childishly.

"that wasn't very kind of you arthur, i expect you to behave better than that." she said simply, ignoring his opinion and confidently walking past them and to the bar.

"hello." isabella called out, making the woman at the bar furrow her brows. "hello?" she repeated.

"she said hello." arthur sighed. he didn't think her accent was that strong, however for some reason whenever they met a new person, they could never understand her! that, or they were just ignorant.

"i know what she said. i'm wondering what she's doing here?" the woman sneered as arthur shrugged and isabella smiled.

"same reason as all of these...lovely men are here." she said sarcastically, waving her arm to point at them all.

"what do you want to drink then?" the woman sighed.

truthfully, isabella didn't know much about alcohol. so, she turned to arthur, "i'll have what he's having."

all of a sudden, the door burst open and everyone went quiet. isabella glanced over to see a tall and intimidating man walk over to the bar. "afternoon, mary. business looks good." vincent sneered.

"we have our better days." mary responded nervously.

"i don't suppose you'll begrudge me my share then?" the man smirked as isabella avoided eye contact with everyone, staring ahead of her.

mary gave him a few coins as vincent scoffed, "and the rest?"

"it's all we have got."

"i'll not ask again!" the man pulled a knife out on her as isabella widened her eyes in slight fear.

before she could stop him, arthur was up. "take your hands off her." isabella sent merlin an annoyed look as she rolled up the sleeves of her dress.

vincent launched himself at arthur, who luckily ducked. "i'm gonna make you pay for that." the man growled.

merlin let out a snort, "i'd like to see you try." he chuckled.

"merlin!" isabella snapped, making the boy sigh as he realised that he thought out loud.

isabella mentally screamed, and stood up, yanking merlin up with her. "sorry, sir. my silly friend wasn't talking to you...he's a simpleton, you see." she sighed dramatically, making merlin's face drop. "i said that i was capable of winning a sword fight with my husband and that's when he said his silly comment. good day."  she said, forcing a smile on her face and attempting to pull merlin away.

however, vincent whistled and then multiple men walked in as isabella sighed. "you just had to open your big mouth didn't you, merlin?" arthur snapped in annoyance, smacking the back of his head.

a very, and i mean very handsome man walked over to the three of them, "you three have got yourselves in a bit of a pickle, haven't you?" he said with a small smirk as isabella widened her eyes, looking away as the man glanced at her.

"you should get out of here while you have the chance." arthur said, not noticing the look on isabella's face.

"you're probably right." the man said, downing his drink before smashing it against vincent's face as isabella grimaced.

the unknown handsome man began to fight anyone in sight, and all of the other men began to fight each other. isabella awkwardly stood back by the bar with mary. "sorry for being so rude earlier. it was nice meeting you." mary said awkwardly.

"it's not a problem...here." isabella sneakily passed the woman five gold pieces as mary widened her eyes.

"where—how—why? thank you." the woman gasped as isabella simply smiled, tapping her nose to show it was a secret.

grabbing chairs left right and centre, she smacked the men's heads in attempts to help arthur and merlin out. "pass the jug, please, my lady." the handsome man said as she did so.

the man began to drink it, as isabella noticed another man coming up behind him. "watch out—" before she could finish, the unknown man had punched him and then turned back to isabella with a charming smile.

"what do they call you then?"

"...isabella." she said awkwardly.

the man shook her hand, which he kissed, "gwaine." he introduced, "it's a pleasure to meet you."

the fight was soon over, gwaine had a knife in his leg and arthur carried vincent to the stocks. "if this man ever troubles you again, send word to camelot." arthur called out.

"the knights will be here within a day." isabella added on, looking at all of the villagers.

"how can you make a promise like that?" mary asked in disbelief.

"because i'm the king's son, prince arthur." arthur introduced as the woman gasped.

"and am i right to believe this is isabella valour? the isabella and arthur pendragon in my tavern!" mary squealed, making isabella laugh slightly.

"it was lovely to meet you, mary." isabella sent her a kind smile, before getting her horse to go ahead and follow merlin and arthur.

THE FOLLOWING morning, isabella valour had to get ready for the melee. aka, a tournament where the privileged knights ride around and hit each other with blunt swords for fun, which isabella unfortunately had to watch.

however, as arthur kept saying, "the melee is the ultimate test of strength, compassion and courage."

whatever that meant!

the princess made sure to remind herself to check on gwaine, who was with gaius, however every time she went to see him, something distracted her. so, she decided to go the village instead.

she brought a few things to help the people get some money, and then, like always, kept some but donated most. while she was walking back to the courtyard, someone bumped into her.

it was gwaine.

he must've had quite a head bump, as he stared at her in shock. "excuse me, my lady, you are...were you made from the Gods? you are an angel on earth."

isabella laughed out loud, a light blush coating her pale cheeks. "firstly, i am no lady, i am a princess. and secondly, no. although, i will allow being called an angel."

his eyes scanned hers in realisation, "i've met you somewhere before...i'm sorry, couldn't help but notice you said you were a princess...are you a princess as in arthur's sibling or wife?"

"fiancée." she corrected, holding her hand out for him to see the emerald ring, the golden sun reflecting on it.

gwaine sighed dramatically. "that's a shame...you definitely wouldn't be swayed be a humble, handsome man like me?" he checked, a charming smirk on his face. 

"listen, take your angel compliment and give it to someone else that catches your fancy." the princess advised, patting his chest before attempting to move away.

"i've only got eyes for you!" gwaine responded cheekily. isabella simply laughed in response and carried on with her walk.

meanwhile, arthur was watching with his jaw on the floor. poor merlin having to stand next to him and hear him complain. "how dare he even look at her."

"she's walking away." merlin responded calmly.

"she just laughed at something he said. why is she laughing at someone that is not me?"

"please, give it a rest. you're scaring me let alone bella." merlin responded, before walking away in disbelief.

that evening, isabella had a knock on her chambers. she opened to see a worried looking gwen. "what's wrong?" she frowned.

"you need to come with me." gwen sighed, grabbing her hand and pulling her out.

they arrived at the local tavern, and isabella was slightly disgusted at the amount of loud, sweaty men in there. "look, it's the princess!" a few of the men beamed, bowing dramatically as she sent them awkward waves.

gwen pulled her over to where the owner, gwaine and merlin stood. "ah, isa! nice to see you." gwaine grinned.

"it is your grace to you, gwaine." the princess rolled her eyes. "what is the meaning of this?" she asked the bar men in confusion.

the room immediately were silenced, and fell into a bow, the owner looked up at her, "your grace, this thief has drunk all of this and says he hasn't any money!" the man said, holding out a piece of paper with many, many drinks written down.

fourteen quarts of mead,
three flagons of wine,
five quarts of cider,
four dozen pickled eggs.

she saw the total and almost threw up.

she glanced at gwaine and merlin to see their reaction. gwaine was smiling, whilst merlin looked truly uncomfortable. after a few moments, isabella handed the paper back to the man. "let them go." she told the owner.

"but—your grace, they haven't any money. they can't leave without paying!" the man said in disbelief.

"well i do. now let them go." isabella ordered. the bar man hesitantly nodded at the man who was restraining gwaine. the man let him and merlin go, and merlin immediately helped gwaine stand up right.

isabella took out her bag of gold which was hidden under her many skirts and placed it in the man's palm. "there's extra as an apology for all the trouble this man most likely caused you. good evening." she said simply before leaving the tavern to catch up with merlin and gwaine.

"thank you, dear princess isa for your compassion!" gwaine slurred happily as isabella shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"i am not doing it for you again. merlin, take him to get some rest. gwen, i'll walk you home." isabella told the group, who all nodded in agreement and went their desperate ways.

ARTHUR PENDRAGON soon found out about what had happened in the tavern. and he was furious. he scolded merlin for putting isabella in an uncomfortable position, and made him and gwaine do an unbelievable amount of chores to pay her back.

and they say romance is dead.

isabella valour on the other hand, was furious at the fact that she had to go to all of arthur's training sessions. she wanted to have a few moments of peace afterwards, but like always, merlin had to tell her something.

another threat to the kingdom, great.

she found him, gwaine and gaius in gaius' chambers, where gaius was wrapping a bandage around merlin's bleeding finger. "i found two swords in sir oswald and sir ethan's chambers. they looked blunt to the eye, but when i touched it, this happened." he explained briefly.

isabella frowned in confusion, "but that is not allowed. the swords are supposed to be blunt, that is the whole point of the tournament." she checked with gaius who nodded, confirming it.

after merlin described the sword a bit more, gwaine stood up. "i've seen those blades in action. they're forged using sorcery..." he trailed off in shock.

"what would they want with such a blade?" gaius asked, not understanding.

"what if they mean to kill arthur in the melee?" isabella spoke up in horror, somehow sitting up even straighter than before.

"in front of all of those people?" gaius questioned, not looking convinced.

"it's the perfect cover." gwaine spoke in realisation, "if they succeed, nobody will suspect it was intentional."

"i need to warn arthur." merlin said immediately as isabella sighed in distress.

"merlin, sir oswald is a knight. he comes from a well-respected family. you cannot accuse him without proof." gaius responded carefully, always looking out for the boy.

"then we need the blade." isabella suggested in determination. merlin agreed and went to stand up, but gwaine stopped him.

"i'll get it." gwaine spoke.

"what if they catch you?" merlin questioned with a worried look in his face. "what reason would you have to be in sir oswald's chamber? no, it's safer if i do it."

the group all hesitantly agreed with the plan, and isabella went back to her daily life as if she knew nothing and slept soundly...unaware of gwaine and merlin currently getting attacked by the two knights.

ISABELLA WOKE with a shock when sir oswald requested an audience with the king. merlin quickly explained to her that sir oswald was the thug from the tavern and was getting revenge on arthur.

the thug went back and forth with gwaine, who showed his true hatred towards knights and their beliefs which only made uther hate him more. the king saw it as a commoner attacking a knight, which was against the knights code.

of course, isabella and arthur had gwaine's back, and continued to fight for him, despite everything that had happened and what he said about knights and royalty. 

it ended with uther deciding to let gwaine go, however he was banished from camelot. if he returned, he would pay with his life.

now, she had to come up with a plan with merlin to save arthur. they spent the whole night attempting to come up with ideas on how they could prevent it from happening. gaius suggested persuading arthur to withdraw, but they all knew he was too proud to ever do that. merlin eventually decided on using his powers to help him in the tournament.

it was risky, but it was worth a shot.

so, the morning of the tournament, isabella wished good luck to arthur and then took her place in the stands next to uther and morgana.

the tournament began, and people were loosing as quick as it started, falling off their horses left and right. isabella tried to keep her eyes on arthur, however her eyes unfortunately weren't as quick as she wanted them to be.

however, she did notice either sir ethan or sir oswald, she wasn't sure, head straight for arthur, who luckily ducked and the knight fell off his horse. she couldn't help but clap and have a bigger amount of hope fill her body.

the smile was soon wiped from her face as both her and uther stood up in shock when one of the two knights dragged arthur off the horse. his sword lifted into the air and intended on stabbing arthur, who luckily rolled over and got up.

uther slowly sat down, however isabella was too focussed and kept her eyes on the two men. "come on, merlin." she whispered under her breath.

merlin quickly snapped out of his shock and used his powers to make the saddle straps rip on sir oswald's horse, causing him to fall down. the three of them, because sir ethan got back up were now fighting combat. two against one.

the loud noises of their swords clashing made isabella wince, but her eyes soon widened when she saw another knight getting up to help arthur. "who is that?" uther questioned, isabella looked confused.

"i am unsure, but we should be thankful to whoever they are." isabella responded slowly, her eyes on the four men.

suddenly, the unknown knight managed to disarm sir ethan, and catch his sword, and isabella immediately smiled. her eyes met merlin's and they shared a look of realisation, both of them understood immediately who it was. gwaine.

gwaine and arthur were the last men standing, but as a mutual agreement that they wouldn't fight, arthur took off his helmet.

gwaine moved the top part of his helmet so only arthur could see, and arthur immediately smiled. gwaine, growing confident, removed his whole helmet as isabella began to clap with a small smile.

"you may not like him, sire, but nobody fights like gwaine does, and you have to admire his bravery and loyalty to arthur." isabella said to the king who was watching in shock.

"guards, seize him!"

isabella sighed, rolling her eyes as the guards surrounded gwaine. she picked up her skirts and followed arthur, gaius and the king to the hospital wing where the king demanded gwaine was executed.

"you may want to save your judgment for now, as i think sir ethan—" gaius ripped of a magical necklace of some sort off his neck, "and sir oswald—" he did the same to oswald, "are not who they seem."

gaius pulled off their helmets to reveal the two thugs from the tavern. "sorcery!" the king gasped as isabella tried not to roll her eyes.

"and once again, i owe gwaine my life." arthur spoke up calmly, looking at his father expectantly.

after a long discussion, uther was prepared to overlook the fact that gwaine fought in the melee, however he still believed he should be banished from camelot.

so, isabella immediately went to find gwaine, who was luckily walking through the courtyard to leave. he spotted her and stopped in confusion, "i thought you hated me?"

"and i thought you hated nobles, yet here we are." she smirked, leaning against the castle walls as he returned the small smile.

"get to the point, princess isa. i have until dusk to leave." he raised a brow as she walked in step with him.

"you should be grateful for arthur. he saved your life twice, technically...i suppose it is fair as you did the same to him." she smiled at the man, before turning serious, "you should know, he is not like uther. arthur is fair, and loyal." she began to explain, making gwaine grimace.

"he clearly must be, if he makes everyone feel the way you do...i understand now... how could i compete with a prince?" he wiggled his brows with a charming smirk, making isabella laugh quietly to herself.

"you will write to us, won't you? just... let us know you are safe every so often?" isabella asked worriedly, having grown fond of the man since she met him.

he smiled, his jealousy for the prince getting to marry isabella slowly fading as he realised they could have a beautiful friendship. "i will...i'm sure i'll see you around, princess, it is clear you can't stay away from me for long."

"you had to ruin it," she scoffed, letting him walk past her. "good luck" she called out, smiling when he sent her a wave and was on his way.

gwaine 💗💖💝💓💕💖

btw.
courage - arthur
strength - gwaine
magic - merlin
compassion - isabella (healing)
hotel? trivago.
just for future references 🤩