Chapter 2

Artoria

I blocked the attack with my sword, sliding it off to the right before attempting to strike back. My brother Kay blocked that retaliation, coming in close and using his armor to knock the attack off course.

Back and forth, we attempted to get one over on each other but failed to do so, and not for lack of trying, of course. We were more than willing to see a victory in our hands. However, a good knight trained us, and our skills were complementary. So, it was inevitable that we ended up in a deadlock of some proportion. Although I will admit, Kay did have an advantage in his attack strength, which required me to dodge more than he was dodging.

After all, even though I might have some supernatural power, according to Merlin, I was still just a girl, a female human, and upper body strength would never be my strong suit.

Instead, I had to rely on lower body strength, which gave me a bit more movement speed and dodging, a little dexterity, and my flourishes to knock blades off course. It was just how one must adapt to one's situation, and my situation is reasonably good nowadays.

Oh yes, the northern kingdom was still absolutely trash. From Wales to the border of what would one day be called Scotland, the kingdom was in constant turmoil, fighting for its survival against Irish and other raiders. The Roman Britons were looking less and less like a stable force. Several mercenaries of the Anglo-Saxon and Jute variety had seized portions of land along the coast that had yet to be strictly sold to them. The current King of the Roman Britons did a splendid job of not solving the problem. Both Kings of the Roman Britons, those within the lowlands and those within the Highlands, seemed foolish.

Rumors I've heard, such as having snuck away at night to listen in at a nearby inn, were not improving my opinion of your old dad and his brother.

His brother was more interested in his survival and expanding his rule than dealing with the fact that his people were being replaced. He doesn't realize that if he keeps this up, the Angles and the Saxons would hold more territory in Roman Britain than the Roman Britons. Something tells me once that happens, the Saxons would turn on him. People don't like to be ruled by foreign Kings; it's that simple. And if your warriors were foreigners, you're the foreign King on their new territory.

As for my father, tales of glorious battle and womanizing—that's what I'd heard. The Court ruled by my father was more in line with Jabba the Hutt's Palace than any true king should have.

From what I understood of my father's trajectory, it was a sad tale. He'd been a good king once, or at least had good qualities for a king, but he had slowly fallen into a monarch not worthy of the title.

But that was to be expected. Merlin had made many prophecies already and told me some of them, indicating that he had taken that path through his foolhardiness. I don't know for sure about that; it could be Merlin was simply telling me a story to try and divide me from my potential father, but I also didn't care enough to go poking around up north. I'd find out the truth the way if I got up north.

I was here, my tiny home on a strip of land between two oceans with the territory of Wales out in the distance.

No, I didn't expect I'd be leaving anytime soon. After all, my 15th birthday was a few days away, and I was not sure this old King would pass before I hit 30.

Sure, there were some reports that he was sick, but there were also reports that he was in good health. And with how confusing those reports tended to be, either one could be true. While I only had a partial story on the matter, making assumptions about that was foolhardy. Instead, I simply did what I did best—integrate into society and prove myself worthy.

Society wanted knights, so I trained to be a knight, and I trained every day. I've come a long way from my first life, where I'd probably never seen a horse. Now, I can ride a horse relatively quickly.

Thanks to Kay and my father, I could duel with the best of them in this life. As a bonus, I'd even picked up some archery, though I was told it was not necessary for my training as a knight. But, I decided to go the opposite way based on my father's opinion. Yes, the knights did not require a bow; they were required to use a sword or lance. Those were what knights usually did, and those were also things that would get you killed from a distance by a person who had a bow. I understood the value of ranged combat. So, I forced myself to learn how to use the longbow. Granted, it was lighter than some of the more exciting variants people were working on, but it was a bow and allowed me to hunt for my food. So, if things were to go extremely bad, I would disappear into the wilderness, kill some deer for a while, and reappear once I was ready to retake my throne or whatever I ended up dealing with.

Deflecting the blade as it came at me again, I sidestepped, attempting to knock the leg out from underneath Kay. He was used to this maneuver and bounced out of the way, leaving me standing there with my blade drawn up defensively. We stood like that for a bit before he lowered his and said, "Well, that's a good three hours of practice. I think we can call it here."

"Three hours, isn't it two and a half?" I mused as more of a joke, which got him smiling as he sheathed his sword. I did the same.

"Two and a half, three. 'tis long enough that we take a break from practicing," he said, amused, stepping away from the dirt patch we had been fighting over and sitting on a bench next to the stables. I followed suit, taking a seat and picking up my water skin, dumping a little bit on myself, but just for drinking the rest, trying to cool down.

"So, Artoria, Dad has been wondering why you've been sneaking out at night," Kay said, surprising me. But then again, I'm not that good at being stealthy, something to keep in mind for my future endeavors.

Putting down the water skin, I said, "Just been trying to pick up some news at the local inn. I like to keep informed of what's going on."

"Hmm, makes sense," Kay said before adding, "Did you hear about that scrap-up between the Romans and the Romano-Britons?"

I raised an eyebrow before saying, "I heard some weird things over there. Romans finally commissioned some forces to return to the island to reinforce the forces there. Some Roman Britons sided with the Roman fort over their king, but beyond that, I haven't heard all the details."

"Okay, not as bad," Kay said before saying, "Neither have I for sure, but what I've heard has been rather interesting. Supposedly, the king of the Roman Britons, Vortigern, assembled an army of his Anglo-Saxon loyalists and marched on the compound, bearing a white dragon on their flags. There was a fight, and it landed in a stalemate, supposedly. However, this is where it gets weird because supposedly, King Vortigern called upon some magical power and unleashed it across the Roman forces."

I raised an eyebrow at that before saying, "Magical power? I know mages and magic exist, but I thought it was supposed to be limited and not very combat-effective. At least that's what Merlin's mentioned to me."

My brother blinked at me again in confusion before nodding, saying, "All right, the dream thing you talk about once in a while. Yeah, that's what I've heard, but apparently, whatever magic he unleashed was a little more effective. It broke the Roman formation and caused such chaos that their attempt to bring Roman Britain back under their rule fell apart. Their leader survived, from what I hear—well, sort of. A Roman officer had taken command of the formation when they arrived. They died—the guy who's been running operations here before the Roman forces tried to realign some forces here. He's still around; he survived."

"Artorius," I nodded, "Good for him. If your commanders are going to nearly get you killed, at least surviving shows that you know what you're doing and will make it more likely that your next officer sent to take him will listen to you."

"Here's hoping Artorius and his band of Romans are the only roadblock between the Roman Britons trying to invade Cornwall."

"Well, that and the Duke of Cornwall," I pointed out, which got a nod from Kay, though he shot back, saying, "True, only so many knights within Cornwall, so many soldiers he can call upon. The only other force that could fight King Vortigern and his Anglo-Saxon mercenaries is King Uther, and, well, from what I hear, he's more of a drunkard than he's ever been."

I shook my head, saying, "I hear the same, but he has defended his part of the kingdom rather well against the Irish and Pict invaders. Who knows, maybe if he's provoked, he'll take action."

I doubted that, but it was an exciting imagination, perhaps a flight of fancy, to think that something good was left in my real father. Granted, I'd never met him, and I shouldn't feel some kinship to him, but he must have been loyal to me if he was willing to send me away somewhere safe. So, I would give him the same loyalty.

Perhaps he was not a great king, but if he was willing to send me away for my safety, he must have some good bone in him somewhere. Granted, Merlin had mentioned that he had threatened the king, but I'm sure he could have stood up tomorrow if he did want to. He was considering, well, considering Merlin tended to be weak-looking.

He showed me some exciting spells and ways to use my imbued magic. I had some sort of blood transfusion from a dragon or some kind of operation. It was confusing; he never precisely explained how it worked. All I knew was that I supposedly borrowed a dragon core that allowed me to produce magical energy. I had yet to master how to use the magical energy fully, but I was learning.

But I could have used it, probably to win the fight with Kay, but that seemed unfair. You don't let a person use steroids in the Olympics. If you don't let a person use steroids in the Olympics, you don't let a person use enhancement magic in combat sports with your friends who don't have enhancement magic. Perhaps it was a foolish way to look at things, but it was the natural way to look at things. If this training had an actual reward, I'd be more inclined to use the magic. But then again, by training without using the enhancement magic, I was making my body and mind stronger when I actually had to use the enhancement magic, improving the output for its use. I could be wrong, but that's one of the ways Merlin had described what I was working on, so probably not.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at Kay before saying, "Well, I don't know about going beyond King Uther's kingdom, but I know we shouldn't waste much more time. We got plenty of other training to do today."

Kay was getting up, pulling his sword, before I heard a whistle, drawing our attention from the patch of dirt we were about to train over. Father Ector was moving in our direction; he looked concerned as he stepped forward, waving us to come over. Getting up, Kay sheathed his sword again, and we walked over, bowing and saying, "Good morning, Father."

"Good morning, kids," he said, rubbing his forehead before saying, "Kay, mind taking a walk? Arturia and I have to have a conversation."

Kay looked concerned but nodded, stepping away as Father watched him go. He waited till he was a reasonable distance away before saying, "A bit of news just came in that I think you might want to know."

I raised an eyebrow at that before saying, "Of course, Father. What's the news?"

He looked to the east and thought momentarily before saying, "King Uther took his army out of his lands weeks ago. He had recruited heavily from his Roman British subjects, some Irish subjects he had recently acquired by letting them take over parts of Wales, and some Pictish raiders that he'd paid off."

"And he marched into Roman Britain lands."

"King Vortigern's lands," I said, raising an eyebrow, "but why? They're brothers; they've never fought against each other."

"Openly, no. Uther has always maintained that he believed his brother could return to who he was long ago. Still, King Vortigern's attack against the Roman fort has convinced him otherwise. Uther is marching on Londinium as we speak."

I thought, well, that was new. There was about to be a significant conflict between the two kingdoms of Britannia. What happens after that? Who could say? I think I was hoping for King Uther's success. If he knocked out his brother, that would mean he would have complete control over the kingdom, which, from what I heard, he was rather unlikely to cause problems in the long term, especially if I was to one day rule the kingdom if the prophecy was to be true.

Clearing my throat, I said, "What do you think of his chances?" I asked, and Father Ector looked out to the east again, saying, "Two weeks ago, I think he had a chance. He'd raised together an army of Roman Britons, Irish, and Pictish, something that hadn't been seen before, and he was going to march on the kingdom at the same time the Romans were preparing to relaunch their war on the said kingdom. A two-pronged attack may have knocked the Anglo-Saxons out of Roman Britain and re-established control of the region. Now, it will be one prong, as King Vortigern has knocked out the Roman fort's forces. Even if it wasn't a full defeat of the Romans, it was enough of a defeat that they will not be taking part of the army away from his defensive action against King Uther."

"So, not a good chance," I said, and with a nod, he agreed. Placing a hand on my shoulder, he added, "I don't know if you have any care for the man, but be prepared for the worst. Your time may be coming much faster than we were prepared for."

I nodded as he continued, "I will give you the rest of the day off. I'll keep my ears to the ground and see if I learn more about what's going on in Britannia. You just relax and get some sleep. I know you have conversations with Merlin on your nights; maybe he can give you some information on what's going on that I can't get you."

I smiled and said, "Thank you, Father." He nodded as if he took his hand off my shoulder, and I stepped back, walking towards our tiny home even as I did.

On the one hand, I don't feel anything for this King Uther. I'd never met him, never talked to him. As far as I was concerned, he technically abandoned me. But then, on the other hand, I had been handed over to Merlin against his will, supposedly, so it wasn't his fault—hard to say.

And then again, was it me having second issues with this concept? This was a tangential thought that had occurred to me once or twice over the years as I thought more about my existence.

As my life before this became more of a dream than a reality, I wondered about reincarnation and if I would maintain the memories of my past life into this one forever or if they would slowly fade.

I was 14, going on 15, around the time that some studies of the concept of reincarnation said kids lost all memories of their last life. Granted, I was an atheist in my previous life, so I had not believed too deeply in the concept of reincarnation or gods. But I had done some studies over the years; you didn't just exist without coming across the stories of children who remarked upon things that happened in World War II as if they were there or had knowledge of incidents they should not have. Yes, some of them did turn out to be fraudsters, but some were never solved. So, you had to come to some conclusions that reincarnation was real, at least on a short wavelength. If that was true, then why doesn't everyone remember their past life? The simple answer was they forgot; the new life was so different from the last that they simply started to think about the old life as some sort of dream, a concept they'd run across in their memories, not real. The only reason I was sure this was a second life and not falling for that same line of logic was that I'd run into Being X before my death and come across concepts I'd known before the Roman Empire. For instance, you can't claim something is a complete dream when you have foreknowledge of the future.

I was left to wonder if it would affect me down the line. If this life became more real to me than my last one, would the events of this one affect me more? After all, what was I? An heir to a king who was marching against his brother, a man I'd never met. If I were that, without the little bit of salaryman that I had once been, I would feel a bit sorry—knowing that my chances of ever actually speaking to the man were soon to be over, a bit depressed likely. And I did kind of feel that strange need to straighten my head out if only Being X was some sort of constant torture reminding me of what was taken. Then, I probably wouldn't be at risk of falling into just being what this world required me to be. Unfortunately, that wasn't on the menu.

Shaking my head, I stepped into my house, quickly reaching my room and stripping out of my armor. Nothing too impressive; this wasn't high medieval plate mail, and some would demand it, nor was it dark age chainmail. There was a bit mixed into it. There were metal patches over some leather, just enough to defend myself. This was more of a training garb in my mind, but considering most knights didn't have much better, this was probably the best I would get.

I imagined I would like something better, though some heavier plate mail would probably protect me better in the fights that were to come. If Father Ector was right, and Uther was about to die, Merlin's plans were about to unleash themselves, and I was about to step into a scenario where I must unite the kingdom.

It's a tall order—a very tall order. Signing, I got into bed, pulled up the sheets, turned on my side, and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to take me to find out what was happening.

"Hmmm, well, you're here early," came Merlin's familiar male voice. Sighing, I sat up, opened my eyes, and saw that I was no longer in my bedroom but in the classroom, where he had instructed me on various economic theories of this universe, as well as the magic and other civilized stuff I needed to know for what was to come.

"Sir Ector let me go to sleep early, but I might be able to get more information from you about what's going on in Roman Britain territory since his information is rather low at the moment."

Merlin, a white-haired man somewhere between 18 and 26, I would guess (yes, it was an extensive range, but it was also impossible to be sure), scratched his chin before saying, "I'm going to guess the news of your father's efforts reached Cornwall then."

I nodded, folding my arms, "News, yes. Why he's doing it, not so much, especially since I've heard interesting stories over the years where he's a drunkard and a sex maniac and not a good warlord as he claims to be."

"Idle bar talk probably shouldn't take that as too much of a true thing, but it is almost true. Your father has fallen away from a great warrior ever since taking the throne; his love for his wife has darkened his mind in a way..." Merlin shook his head before saying, "His death was prophesied, you know? I told him that he would die poisoned and drunk, that going about the way he did with your mother had doomed his line. That's why he gave you up. But, as the first official daughter and heir to his kingdom, I think he also may have thought that maybe he would get a son so that it wouldn't matter. But he never had another child after you."

Merlin sighed before continuing, "He's recently realized that he is on the trail to the prophesied death. I told him he was drunk and soon to be poisoned. Who was going to poison him? I didn't say; I theorized, but never to him. But he figured it out. Not hard. One of the reasons you are the way you are is because he asked for protection against his brother being placed on you. That's where the dragon core comes from. After all, he figures that his brother, after attacking the Romans, is likely about to begin a campaign against all other principalities on the island. In the scenario where that happens, his brother will poison him and then seize the kingdom, claiming that there is no heir to rule in his stead. And since he has a powerful army in the Anglo-Saxons, no one can complain."

I blinked before saying, "So what's his plan then? If he knew that his brother would seize his kingdom if he died, why would he take his army against his brother? After all, the Romans are defeated, so there's no other aid he can gather."

"Correct, there's no other aid he can gather. And as long as your uncle has access to the Anglo-Saxon mercenaries, there's no hope of preventing a conflict between you and his brother for the throne," Merlin explained. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a goblet, then dumped some sort of alcoholic drink inside it before sipping it.

I stood there momentarily, putting my hand on my chin, thinking before saying, "So remove the mercenaries."

Merlin smiled before saying, "Correct. He's taking his army not to defeat his brother but to defeat his army. If he could destroy the Anglo-Saxon army under Vortigern's control, then his control over the region of the Roman Britons would fall apart. His control will retract back to the area around Londinium, the capital of the Roman Britons. It'll allow all the other areas to break free, as the Anglo-Saxon forces will be severely weakened and unable to respond. He's casting the dice. He's going to cause as much chaos on this island as possible, break up the expected battlefield so that you can pull off the unification that he could not do and end the evil plans of the white dragon."

I tilted my head in confusion before saying, "White dragon? I heard he used that as his emblem for his forces when attacking the Romans."

"Yes, he's been using it intermittently for several decades, though he's now settled on it completely. It might be a sign that he has fallen completely to his designs. It is still a mystery to me what exactly he did."

I tilted my head again before saying, "That would imply that you have some idea of something. Perhaps it's time you start letting me know what you know. After all, if the time of the conflict is coming, I think I should know some of what my uncle is doing. I've been protected here in Cornwall a little too long."

Merlin sipped his drink, looking at me before nodding, saying, "You deserve to know more details. I would hold off on giving you all of it till just before the times are chosen. But using time-stop magic to tell you what you need to know then is hilariously bad taste. Besides, there are more important things to use time for, such as stopping magic." He smiled goofily, looking off into the distance as if he were looking at something he'd seen in the past.

Something about that smile unnerved me. I don't know; it seemed almost inappropriate. Then again, there were times that magic wasn't a common theme, and Merlin was perhaps less sound of mind than I would like. Maybe he was more on the pervert side with some of his magic.

Shaking his head, Merlin leaned back in his chair before saying, "Twenty years ago, give or take, back when we were staging the rebellion to kick the Romans out the first time, your father and King Vortigern disagreed about how to rule the country. Your father believed that the people who live on this land should rule the country. King Vortigern believed we should try to cherish the time of mysteries we still have here. He had the blood of the white dragon, the creature that lived underneath and had been slain some time ago. This gave him his powers, his Mage abilities that he did not have originally. These powers tainted his mind and your father's opinion and made him believe that the wizarding class should rule Britannia. After all, they had once ruled it before the Romans came. Turn to the dark times when people did not know as much as they do now before the Romans came. Your father wanted to keep what the Romans brought, which was good, so the divide led to the conflict, which led to your father believing at one point that he would come against him at some time in the future."

"What is less understood is what the white dragon's blood is doing to him. He's growing in power, are you saying? As he grows in power, his mindset changes from one that seeks to rule Britannia to one that seeks to destroy it. To go beyond what our ancestors and the druids were doing and beyond that to the ancient chaos that did not allow people to live on this island back when it was something else."

"Something else?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as he sipped his drink.

"Old legend," he mused before adding, "Supposedly, this island is built on the carcass of a dragon, a massive one. And supposedly, that is why this place is so fluid in magic. But because of those beliefs, it is also believed that at some point between when humans first arrived on this island and the death of that dragon, this place was so full of magic that monsters were created simply by thought. Creatures that came into being terrorized each other as much as the first humans that made it across this island. I believe that he may want to bring us back to that point at some point in the future, which is maybe why he has no care for the Romano-Britons under his control nor the Saxons, Jutes, or Anglos."

I shook my head before saying, "So he does not want to be a king; he wants to be some evil magic ruler who rules the land of his creation."

"The dark wizard, yes. Will he succeed, or will that magic he took from the white dragon tear him apart? I don't know. All I know is that at this moment, your father marches his army to either stop his brother or at least destroy his army to give you a chance, and it's up to you if you're going to take that chance or run away."

I looked at him with my arms still crossed in front of me. "I will not step away from the already set course. You mentioned a prophecy of a red and white dragon fighting for the right to rule this United Kingdom. If he's the white dragon, I must assume that the dragon core you gave me was from a red one." Merlin nodded in agreement as I continued, "Then we will someday fight. My chances of survival increase by going with the prophecy and becoming the king. This land, this is the prophecy. Does it go any further than that?"

Merlin shook his head, saying, "No, it does not."

"Then it is my choice what happens after that point. As long as I live, I have a chance to do something. So, I will go with the prophecy. I will become the king of Britain, and if I have to kill my uncle to do it, so be it."

"How very like your father," Merlin said, sipping his drink before placing it on the counter. "But enough of this; it is time for us to begin your lessons for today. We'll have to pump in much more knowledge into your noggin because the fights will require as much power as you can draw from that dragon core."

"So be it," I said. "Teach me your magic, Merlin."