Challenge #01832-E008: Rightwise Born... er... Monarch?
"Whomsoever shall pull this sword from the stone is rightwise born King of England."
"Oh! Lookie! I've pulled it out," she said. -- Anon Guest
She was short. She had the sort of chubbiness born of years of feast and famine, with the body deciding to set up ample stores in case of famine. And she was clearly a scullery maid in the entourage of one amongst the many knights, ne'er-do-wells, and nonesuch that had gathered to try their luck.
The maester of ceremony turned to the wizard who had set this all up and said, "Merlin? A word?"
Several knights demanded that the once and future Queen put the sword back so they could make certain it wasn't a trick. Maisy did so without complaint as the maester and Merlin went out of earshot. But they still all clearly heard the maester's voice as he screamed, "YOU SAID YOU HAD ALL OF THIS SORTED!"
After about the fifth knight had tried to pull the sword back out and Maisy effortlessly did so, the message was starting to filter into their lance-addled heads. Maisy was the rightwise born heir to the crown. Knees began being bent. A couple of ne'er-do-wells had a go, just to ram it home for the slow learners.
Merlin reappeared, insisting, "The lore is the lore," as he went. "She's taken the sword, she gets the crown. End of. All I need to do is figure out what the fuck happened to Arthur."
Maisy sighed, "Please don't deadname me," possibly on automatic. Then her mouth caught up with her ears and her reason. "How in the name of Christian loving would you even know my deadname?"
Merlin squinted, matching the orphan baby he'd left to a tavern keeper with the late-teenaged woman before him. "You... used to be Arthur?"
"They called me Wart most of the time, but yes," Maisy adopted a singsong voice. "Everyone thought I was a boy until I realised I wasn't at age seven. And since then, it's been a long and tiring journey to get The Spell and fix myself, and then everyone else's heads. Hello. I'm Maisy. Please don't call me Arthur again or I'll have to smack you."
"She has a mean right hook," said one of the ne'er-do-wells. He had a black eye and a missing tooth as testimony.
"And very accurate knees," added one of the Ruffians, putting a hand over his dented metal Protective.
"Ah," said Merlin. "Yes. Okay. Well, I never accounted for the Scion being Trans. My apologies, Queen Maisy," he bowed. Turned to the maester when he righted himself. "Maester of Ceremonies. It is your solemn duty to announce the lost scion to the lands. Starting with this lot."
The maester sidled up to his Queen. "Er. Is Maisy short for anything?"
"Mairead. Er. Mairead Gospel Drinkwelle."
"Er. Not any more," said the Maister. Then faced the gathering crowd and used his Crier Voice. "Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All hail and swear fealty to Her Majesty the Queen! All hail and swear fealty to Her Majesty, Queen Mairead Gospel Ap Pendragon, rightwise born Queen of England!"
The crowd dutifully chorused, "Hail the new Queen!" thrice over as they unanimously bent the knee.
Maisy, done with holding the sword aloft, clutched it to her ample chest. "Er. This means I keep this now, right?"
"That, and the entire country," said Merlin. "Yes."
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / ChiccoDodiFC]
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I loves this history, camelot , arthur, lancelot, merlin. Ty
one of the best stories !