Enemies Within - Merlyn [3]

Chapter Seventeen: A Tankard Of Mead And A Tavern Fight

Merlyn was exhausted. Between her long days as Arthur's servant and her late night rendezvouses with Arthur as Emrys she was beat. She was barely sleeping and her magic was out of whack because of it. The last few evenings Merlyn had had to take Arthur to places of magical worth over showing magic because of it. Maybe it hadn't of been the best idea to try and teach him so fast. However, Merlyn thoroughly enjoyed the fact that Arthur was always up for it. He was sometimes a little standoffish and unsure but he never stopped her using her magic. With each little thing she showed him, Merlyn felt more and more confident in that telling him she was Emrys was the right thing to do.

However, first she desperately needed sleep.

It really angered her to see Arthur so wide awake and perky despite being up through the day and night - though he got to sleep at least more than an hour or two at most. Merlyn wasn't going to lie, hearing Arthur tell her they were going on a hunt made her want to cry. Though by some miracle she had convinced Arthur to go off hunting by himself leaving her to set up camp for lunch, tend to the horses ... and truth be told sleep.

Merlyn had set everything up before she had thrown her bag to the floor and lay back against it. She drifted off in seconds. Only to come back to reality as her face was hit by a load of water. Merlyn spluttered as she shot up. Merlyn was barely able to keep back her magic as it reacted to the threat.

"So you wanted to sleep instead of hunt?" Arthur mocked from above her. Merlyn pushed her wet hair out of her face to find Arthur stood above her with his water in his hand. She locked her jaw as she lowered her gaze - she may have been mad at him for waking her up but technically she had fallen asleep on the job. Without saying a word, he left to go back to Brutus whilst Merlyn sighed and pushed herself to her feet. She had his dinner to make.

However, as she moved over to the campfire she had set up ready she found it smoking as if it had already been on. Merlyn blinked in surprise as she scanned the area and realised that someone had cooked ... and kindly left the dishes for her to do. She frowned at that but couldn't help the glance she sent Arthur's way. He had his back to her as he packed up Brutus but Merlyn smiled all the same. Yes he had left the dishes and woke her in rude manner but he had let her sleep in the first place. She had never told him why she was tired but he let it go anyway. He let her catch up on sleep and not have to cook for him.

Quickly, Merlyn gathered up the dishes and cleaned them before she packed up the rest of the site and climbed aboard Major's back. Arthur, who was already on top of Brutus, exaggeratedly sighed at her before he started ranting about how useless a servant she was. During his rant he pulled Brutus over to Major and held out a cloth.

"Eat that while we ride" Arthur demanded before he turned around and began heading away from them. Merlyn frowned as she opened the cloth to find some cooked meat. He had saved her some rabbit. He could be such a soft touch when he wanted to be. Merlyn's stomach growled as her eyes took in the sight of the moist food. She was starving. Happily the young witch got Major to start following Arthur whilst she munched away on her food.

"You know what you need after a hard day's hunt" Arthur suddenly announced as they came over the brow of a hill. He stopped Brutus and looked over his shoulder at Merlyn who shrugged.

"A nice cold tankard of mead."

"Mead, of course" Merlyn chuckled as she nudged Major forward, following Brutus who was trotting down a hill towards a tavern whose chimney smoked away below them in the bottom of the hill. The medium sized tavern was one of only a few buildings around the area but it was quaint. Nothing as bustling as The Rising Sun but perhaps a distant cousin to it.

Quickly the pair manoeuvred their horses to the standing post and dismounting, grabbing the horses reigns. With swift movements, the two horses were secured and Arthur and Merlyn were moving towards the tavern. As they walked, Arthur lent down towards Merlyn so only she could hear.