Uther's Legacy (4)

An intense night can only lead to the sheer awkwardness that ensued that following morning.

Waking up was the strangest experience just yet, especially when I opened my eyes to find a sea of gold and a small tuft of hair twitching left and right in front of me. I blinked a few times, eventually my brain catching up to the fact that this individual was… Ria. And that the other two sources of warmth that were nuzzling on my arms were Guinevere and Mya. Not gonna lie about it, possibly the best setting a man can wake up into. Also, truth be told, the recipe of disaster if someone realized what had just happened. Someone beyond the four of us.

But… I had a plan. A very silly plan, but one that seemed to work as, once we were all awake, once we were all through the first few minutes of reactions at the previous night with lucid minds, we all agreed to use as our best and 'half-true' excuse. And… I can't minimize the reactions themselves. Mya was beaming, chatting happily with a clearly giddy Guinevere as the brunette seemed to have lost that shy edge she showed the previous day… and even on other occasions. She spared me a few looks, some of which had me shiver a tiny bit before she went back to chat with Mya about the lovely morning. Ria? Oh, Ria was perhaps the one I could relate to the most. She was still hugging me for a while as we all 'retrieved our strengths' that were spent the last few hours, she sat on my lap, clinging on me all the while trying to hide her face in a display of embarrassment. Hugging fixed that a little bit, and I could tell that, despite the overall circumstance, she was handling the embrace fairly happily and with ease.

In a way, I was happy with myself. After all, I wasn't just imagining things when it came to her being so spontaneous and 'direct' about her own feelings towards me… yet it sure opened a pandora's box I wasn't sure we were all ready to handle. Specifically Guinevere as she looked the most pleased by this encounter and the one that wouldn't have minded a new meeting to happen within this month or the next one. I definitely left a really good impression on her and… I wasn't sure this was truly the best outcome I could have asked for. Now, the excuse that I came up with to explain why Mya and I remained in that room that night was simple: we went to have a discussion with Arthur and Guinevere, and wine was obviously involved. Then, due to the alcohol, we all fell asleep one by one, with Arthur and I being the last one to do that and ultimately deciding to keep in the room to prevent messes from happening the moment me and Mya walked out of that room. There was a bit of doubt at that explanation, but no one saw any reason to imagine anything too scandalous had unfolded in that room.

Doubt can't be killed, but it can be dulled with confident rebuttals. After all, reaction to doubt was another reason for it to either grow or die out. So it was agreed that, despite the uneasy topic that doubt was tied to, it was only for the best if we didn't snap at those that had a good amount of skepticism. Not too intensely, but just us saying 'no, this is what actually happened and not that' would eventually curb any form of doubt. And, for now, that seemed to do the trick. And we could focus on the 'official' reason that this meeting was called. Because, as I learned, there was an actual issue Ria wanted to talk with me about. Something that was tied to a recent growing problem created by a similar circumstance to what I handled, except unfolding more 'favorably' on her part.

My fellow king had a fairy's problem, but instead of a colony of those trying to destroy her peasants' fields, this one was… a bit more related to a potential bloody civil war. Much to my surprise, the fairies of that region were benevolent towards Ria's rule, but held Merlin in contempt for a reason she wasn't aware about and they were slowly growing restless towards their own king. It was as we were done 'freshen up' for the big reunion that was planned for today and as we went to start the event itself that I finally got a look at the being called Oberon.

Silver-gray hair kept shoulder-length, a pair of dreamy and unfocused blue eyes and mostly white feminine dress with white boots and his butterfly-like wings, also white-colored, acted as a mantle over his shoulders. His form was visible to all much to my surprise, but I was told that Merlin had a hand in making his frame visible to all for the occasion. This magic would falter by the time this meeting was over, thus returning Oberon the anonymity that many of his kind were keen to preserve.

Nonetheless, his presence here wasn't tied to a genuine problem he held towards Ria, but rather a few intense questions he had for me. In fact, just as the greetings were over, the fairy king was instantly drawn into asking questions at me for a specific individual.

"My humblest apologies regarding what happened to your kingdom, King Joseph… but I can't help but be also intrigued by the notion that you could have met my Titania during that circumstance."

I blinked. "Your… Titania?" I knew what kind of figure that one was. I mean, he was one of the most famous figures from Shakespeare's works, but what made little sense to me is why would he consider this individual, which I was quite sure was quite… non-existing due to some personal studies on the matter, had been within that specific fairy kingdom.

"Indeed. The lady of my dreams. My strong woman, the most precious of goals someone like me could ever aspire to," He 'elaborated' quite diligently.

I noticed that even Guinevere looked slightly unnerved by the overall egoistical purpose of this entire conversation. I mean, nothing wrong to dig more about your ideal girlfriend, but I could tell that Oberon's current state of mind was fairly odd. Especially since he sounded so confident Titania was within the colony of Fairies I had to deal with. And I decided to carefully understand what was up with that by pressing on it.

"I don't recall talking with anyone with that name, or hearing her name being brought up. Could you please give me a description of her appearance so I can try to recall?"

He nodded obediently, possibly because I had worded the question the way he wanted to hear it. As a possible lead to his future wife. I had a degree of suspicion that what he was about to say was going to have me facepalm for some reason. Something of a sixth sense when it came to BS circumstances that left me more perplexed than not. And considering how things have been ever since I came here in this dimension, I had good reasons to believe this was one of those cases.

"She has precious auburn hair with hints of sweet pink, and her eyes sweetly flashes the nature of quiet leaves that vibrantly fall unto the ground. Her grace, her beauty- such is the nature of my love."

…

That sounds like an individual I have met before. And I think I know who it is.

It didn't take long for me to realize who it was and… I frowned. I couldn't exactly be too blunt about it but… I had to try and see if this was actually what Mab had told me when she meant 'she was at fault for this'.

"Apologies, I believe that I've met her before but I have to ask you a few questions… if possible."

The request for permission was equally distributed to both Ria and Oberon, with the latter nodding quickly, while the blonde appeared a bit less enthusiastic over this overall situation. I could tell there was much she was still considering about the previous night and… this entire mess was slowly irking everyone due to how unpleasant it was. It was clear Oberon had pushed for this with some ultimatum that forced Ria's hand in this regard, but I knew that I could fix it all if I had the chance to speak with him and 'trick' him into saving himself.

"How did you learn of this individual?"

"Through an idyllic dream that revealed her to me. At first, I thought it was a dream but… it felt too real. Her touch, her voice, her smile, and her promise to be mine," The fairy king answered truthfully and I could tell he was completely into this whole 'Titania' business. "She is such an angel..."

"Hmm, and you have yet to find her despite the efforts you put in trying to

"Yes, yes… Now, why are those questions important? Are you going to tell me if she was there, yes or not?"

The Fairy King was annoyed by the delay, but I knew I had to go through this length and curves-filled path, only for the sake of getting the possible truth driven into his mind as quickly as possible and before he can reject it once more.

"I've reason to believe, considering what you just told us, that you wouldn't be able to find her despite me telling you where she is," I explained with a serious tone, staring right at the surprised fairy. "From the way you described this entire matter… I believe you are afflicted by some sort of compulsion-like spell that makes you unable to pursue Titania. So, the moment you end up finding the real her, you wouldn't know."

…

"That's… that's ridiculous. Who would have done me such a slight? Me, a king among Faes, Oberon!?"

Lancelot and Tristan tensed up at the louder tone taken by the Fairy King, with Ria, Gawain and Galehaut taking on similar approaches to it.

"Perhaps Titania herself, and with a motivation that is as simple as it can be, while also being within her behavior tied to your best interest. What if that mystic view you have of her, she didn't want it to disappear once you found her."

"That would never happen!"

"And how does she know that?" I argued back, keeping my wits as I could tell that Oberon was heating up at the logic I was bringing up. "People do silly things for love. And she saw the possibility of that love withering with the full truth."

…

"I will check and prove to you that this is stupid! A compulsion spell? On me? I will let you know that..."

He stopped mid-rant, his eyes widened as he stared back at his hand, the palm glowing as it had run a quick 'diagnosis spell' on his body and seemingly found something about it.

"T-That can't be. This… this..."

His palm glowed a bit brighter and soon his whole being was coated with a thin outline of silver… before the magic vanished and what was left was a shocked Oberon… with tears suddenly falling from his eyes. Some of that was made by normal tears, but some blood soon joined at it.

"She… She was… no..."

"Mab. It was Mab," I answered for him, and his gaze was back to me. "She didn't tell me specifically, but there was a matter tied to Uther Pendragon and Merlin, something that convinced her to trick you into this. That you would have loved her more."

Oberon hyperventilated at my words. "Mab? My… My love Mab was behind this? Convinced? Tricked? Hurt? I hurt my love?"

"I believe, King Oberon, you both hurt each other due to the ambition of a man that is no longer here. A man that your current ally, King Arthur, has already disavowed as a terrible king."

The plan had been quite crafty. Break up the two most powerful monarchs within fairydom and then bind the closest to Uther's kingdom to him and his successors. A plan that was built on lies, on deception, on a cruel divide et impera that easily shattered a marriage bound to last forever from the way those two still loved each other even though the highs and lows of their relationship. Ria nodded as the fairy glanced her way and the silver-haired being took a moment to ponder, to elaborate on what he just heard and… draw out a conclusion. One that was, obviously, too bold for the situation.

"My Mab! I-I need to find her. Apologize and… and maybe punish myself for-"

"Stop. Look, King Oberon, that's not the way to take."

He glared at me. "I made a mistake-"

"And so did she, one that caused her much pain. She tries to hide it away from others, but she is suffering because of this. The truth is that you can't expect to have a say until you speak with her," I interrupted sternly. "Calmly, because she too will definitely be as upset to herself as you are to yourself. You have put a genuine effort to prove her love to her, to your 'Titania', so I don't need to explain how you can't just say and then not be her husband. And the situation right now requires you to be there when she is comfortable enough for that talk and make her know you love her."

…

He cried again, this time the sobbing became loud and the annoyance once held by a good part of the room waned away in a form of pity and sympathy for the Fairy King. It was a rather emotional scene, one that drew Mya to tears too, but it still worked in my favor despite the sadness it left behind. Oberon was no longer a pawn to Uther's game, and the ghost of the past that once threatened to carve a kingdom out of lies and greed was now rebuked by Ria's own idealism and my own brand of realism. And with that out of the way… it was time to wrap things up.

The road back home was quite long and fate had a few things to stake against us during that journey as I would soon learn about.

Leaving to get back to Londinium was a priority as we had stayed for long enough.

Still, before we left, Mya and I had the chance to speak with Guinevere and Ria before parting ways. In a rather interesting twist of things, the former was quick to come up to give us both big hugs and deliver one kiss on the cheek for both before pulling away, smiling eye-to-eye at the promise we would have reconvened in less serious circumstances. Ria was a bit more restrained in her 'goodbyes', but she made quite the stretch when it came to the last bit. She asked me to lean a bit down, and she went on for a quick kiss. It wasn't a long one, or a chaste one. It was in the very middle of that, and it left her as red-faced as I was. Like, it wasn't even the act itself that made me feel that, but with who I was doing it and how adorable she looked with that. I just couldn't hold on how sweet the scene felt.

Guinevere and Mya were giggling at our reactions, and it was clear both didn't mind that gesture. I could understand my wife but… the brunette was still a surprise. I just didn't expect her to be this open about this kind of activity considering how soft-spoken she was before that night. She just turned in a more open girl after that, but I could tell it wasn't exactly an unexplainable situation. I had already noticed before that event how in love she was with Ria. So, in a way, she was fine with this because Ria was happy thanks to this.

The brunette was on board with having this kind of open relationship not because she didn't care about traditions, but because she understood that she couldn't exactly be happy with her 'husband' if the blonde felt unhappy about some experiences. That and the fact she developed a liking for me and my wife. I could tell that second reason also played a role in the way she enjoyed our presence around her and her girl-hubby. With the salutes given, it was time to get going and… the trip was particularly uneventful. Lancelot was already poking at us to learn more about the night spent with the fellow rulers.

Despite how that sounded, the French Knight believed our version of the situation, with Tristan making it clear he didn't, but that he had no plans to press on it, preferring to play with innuendos which were meant to joke around Lancelot's antics about some of his questions. All was nice and well despite the embarrassing points of this discussion, or… at least that was the case until we found something in the middle of the road. It was late afternoon, and I was about to call a day and have a camp set up nearby before we resumed our journey back home. It was as I looked in front of us and stared at the ground that my gaze spotted something red and wet on the ground.

There was blood on the path.

The entourage stopped instantly as I ordered for a guard to join me as I studied the blood and why there was so much of it. It looked like two or three people had been bled out in that specific part of the road, and soon I noticed that something was resting on the side, something that looked to be… a pale pink. I approached the bush that was hiding it, and I crouched down to look at the object closely. I tensed up a bit as I recognized a hand. Just a hand. The rest of the body was missing.

Considering its appearance and the lack of smell that would suggest it was rotting, that body part had been 'removed' from the rest just recently. And since the blood was still fresh… the cause of this was still around. I wasn't planning to ignore this presage, not when we could end up ambushed by the thing responsible for this mostly hidden massacre. I looked back at the group and ordered Tristan to follow me while Lancelot was told to set up a small temporary camp away from the nearby woods. In the open, away from possible attacks from whatever was responsible for that bloodshed.

The redhead was soon by my side and yet moved away to take a quieter approach to provide me support for any unexpected ambushes. I asked for him and not Lancelot because I didn't know what caused it. It could have been something that was bound by the ground, or even a bird and… even with my rifle, I doubted I had the good sight to target something of that kind in this darkness. Tristan has better eyes for this scenario, so I needed a long-range specialist while someone was left behind to guard Mya. I was tense, with Aurea Mors unsheathed and ready to move to either defend me or kill any threat trying to attack us. Soon, the trip through the woods ended with a sight that left me incredibly uneasy as the beast we found was quite… big.

It was the largest hound I have ever seen. Way larger than any normal ones. And the red energy coating its fur and the blood red eyes… yep, that was the cause of that attack. But as I gave another look at the blood, ignoring for a moment the black wolf as it growled at me, I saw that the blood didn't reach its mouth. No, it turned and went for its hind leg, the left one was raised from the way it was settled and… there was blood pouring from it as a lance was still stuck through it. I was confused by this behavior. An animal of this kind would have already attacked, even with that injury. But despite the clearly threatening outlook it had, I had enough experience with dogs to know that it wasn't violent or planning to do anything horrible if not provoked. In fact, a closer look confirmed that it was merely threatened. In the corner, with a non-negligible wound and with the fact I was a stranger… yes, this animal was not harmless, but it wasn't outright murderous either.

I carefully sheathed my sword, the red eyes following my actions as I also removed my gauntlets and retrieved something from my bag. The beast's features softened a bit, and its nostrils flared as it perceived a familiar smell. A good one. And it was tied to the small piece of ham that I got for the trip. It wasn't meant to be eaten raw, but I had a thing to have it prepared on the spot when we were camping, just a few slices with some bread and it would be a good meal that filled the belly but not too much.

The hound drooled a bit, ignoring the fact I was now approaching it and… then I threw the ham at it. The beast half-grinned and then caught the piece in its teeth, mauling it and devouring it to the bone before spitting it out. Tilting its head to the side, its nostrils flared again, this time sniffing at my hand and… licking it. I offered a smile, pushing away the awkward feeling of how much drool some licks left on my palm. I returned the favor by carefully rubbing under its chin, the beast further eased at the pleasant touch and eventually I got it so mollified at my presence that I decided to deal with its injury.

Silence reigned supreme, with some whining coming from the big doggo as I carefully removed the spear, using some numbing gel that rendered the process less painful but still as unpleasant as it normally was. Once the weapon was out, I used some water I had saved up in the reinforced glass bottle I keep in my bag to clean up the wound, before finally applying bandages over the injury. I glanced to the side, where the mutt had followed the whole procedure with rapt attention. As soon as I was done, I spared it a smile and then… decided to do something a bit cheeky that was met with some tension… but overall delight from the big ass pup. I reached out for its belly and started to rub it. A shiver went through the hound, but it was soon conquered by the relieving move.

"Aww, who's a good doggy?" I asked happily, letting out some baby talk out of instinct. The hound breathed loudly and anxiously, excited even, its legs twitching with as much delight as its tail was wagging. "Yes, you are. You are~."

Tristan just watched the overall scene within an emotional roller coaster, eventually calming down before the soothing sight as the beast seemed to have been tamed by me. He held back a chuckle at this last scene before starting to move back to the camp as I helped the hound up and started to walk with it. I used my own strength to lessen the weight put on its hurting limb, giving it a chance to move out of this awkward 'corner' and get back to where the camp was.

It took a while to get everyone prepared for this, and, with Mya instantly falling in love with the big and fluffy doggo I just found, everyone was fine to just monitor the situation with a wary but calm look. Lancelot would then tell me that they found a few papers together with the corpses of some druid. From the way he described it, these were part of some underground order of people that had tried to restore Celtic traditions within my realm, their plans revolving around binding this hound to their control but… failing in the process. Hence the attempt to hurt it to weaken it. Quite cruel, if I have to be honest, and something I will have to further investigate if this problem is more widespread than just this one case.

Also, I got a name out of these papers as the beast was known by the druids due to its fairy-like nature.

That day, I reckon, was the day the fluffy pup named Barghest joined the family for good as a pet. At first...