Merlyn's Fate

The Beauty and the Beast P1

For once, Merlyn hadn't felt like training with the knights, mostly due to the fact that they were doing knife throwing, which usually meant she had to run around, carrying the target, praying that the nobles somehow managed to hit the centre rather than her hand. These drills had severely decreased since she'd become Arthur's maidservant, mostly because she made herself scarce whenever the opportunity for this inhumane practice arose, excusing herself to go and help Gaius. Unfortunately, she had to put up with him forcing her to carry around a series of unusually heavy, metal pots for, as far as she was concerned, no apparent reason. Still, it was less dangerous.

"Keep up Merlyn, we've got a busy day ahead." The physician chided, not even looking back to see his struggling dogsbody.

Merlyn rolled her eyes inwardly. "It's a busy day everyday. You and Arthur, you work me to the bone." she huffed,  looking down so that nobody saw her eyes flash gold, the weight on her arms alleviating instantly.

"Do stop moaning. At least the work's interesting." Gaius replied. The servant could swear that she could hear the smirk in his voice.

She waved her hands around exasperatedly. "Gaius, we're collecting pots. We do the same thing each and every Thursday at exactly the same time, when Arthur is throwing daggers at whatever passing servant catches his eye. Nothing interesting ever happens, my arms just get sore."

Of course, some strange man chose this precise moment to grab her by the shoulder, his grip surprisingly strong as he refused to let go.

"Please, we seek Uther Pendragon. Where can he be found?" he rasped, handing the confused witch something which looked like some kind of seal. She felt Gaius' presence beside her as she opened her mouth to stutter something coherent. "We have urgent business with the King." the stranger continued, his pointy ears and hunched movements suddenly grasping at the witch's attention. There was something off, something definitely magical about the man, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. She didn't feel anything sinister, but she kept her guard up, weary of his appearance and demands.

Finally, the physician stepped in, his eyes, which were previously glued to the object in Merlyn's hand, now fixed on the stranger.

"Sorry, any business you have with the King will have to be pursued through the proper channels." he took the seal out of Merlyn's hands, examining it carefully. When he looked at the base, his eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of worry and curiosity. "This is the seal of the House of Tregor. Where did you get this?"

The man grinned, his horrible yellow teeth distracting Merlyn for a second. "It does not belong to me." he stated ominously. This, the servant had already assumed. No noble would dress in the rags the stranger was wearing; they would've been trained on how to stand, act and talk around certain groups of people. He showed none of these qualities, and quite frankly, seemed a little too greasy to be of House Tregor.

"It belongs to me." A woman standing nearby pulled off her hood, revealing her rather pleasant features. Her auburn hair was braided neatly, her cream dress of an expensive design, with what seemed to be gold stitching. Gaius appeared to recognise the woman, uttering some formality before bowing lowly.

"Merlyn." he hissed. She was still quite bewildered, but offered the strangers a quick curtsey and a wide grin, deciding that now was not the time to play the rebel against titles.

∆

Arthur couldn't say that he was surprised when Merlyn disappeared from the training field. She did the same thing every Thursday and, despite his many attempts to catch her, always managed to slip out of his clutches, going to find Gaius whilst he threw knives at a target. He was fairly sure that some of his knights helped her, but he didn't really mind. If he really wanted moving target practice, there were enough servants around to help with that, but most of the time, he was content to instruct others or throw from longer distances if he was up for a challenge. Whenever he did use one of the other servants, Merlyn always came back early, taking the target from them and just daring him to throw a knife at her. He never had, knowing that the consequences would be rather dire.