The Royal Scandal *Book Three*

Magic in the Heart of the People S3 E4

Pushing my braid over my shoulder so that it bounced against my back, I readjusted my grip on Cinnamon's reins as we came to a steady halt at the top of a hill. It was the late afternoon by now and the sun was beating down on us leaving our throats dry and faces red. We'd been out hunting all day and by 'we' I mean Arthur did all the hunting while Merlin and I tagged along. Though I would rather be out here than stuck back at the castle with my sorry excuse for a father nagging and nagging about every little thing and my backstabbing ex-friend.

As I ran a hand over Cinnamon's main I spotted a tiny little village at the bottom of the hill, a tavern right at the front and closest to us. Clearly, Arthur had spotted it as well cause I noticed the smile on his face as he shielded his eyes from the sun and looked down at said tavern.

"You know what you need after a hard day's hunt?" Arthur said.

"Sleep," Merlin answered immediately and I could not agree more. My bed in Camelot was practically calling to me right now.

"A nice cold tankard of mead," Arthur countered, ignoring Merlin's comment before he glanced over at me. "Water for you."

"Sod off," I replied, making Arthur smile widely in response, letting me know that he was in fact kidding and not just being a stupendous moron yet again. Though the jury was still out on that one.

"Mead. Great," Merlin muttered beside me as we started to trot off after Arthur towards the tavern.

We soon reached the bottom of the hill where the only villagers I could immediately see were laughing and chatting outside of the tavern while a few other villagers could be seen doing some work on one of the few buildings they had. We got a few stares as we stopped by the side of the tavern where there was the only bit of shade that we could see. Our poor horses needed to get out the sun for a bit, I reckon.

While Arthur and Merlin began to tie the horses up to a long wooden pole by the wall, I went through a couple of our bags and took out every canteen that I could find before pouring them into the small water trough that ran along the side of the tavern's stone wall. It wasn't like there was no water in there already but I thought they might need some more, even if it was only a little bit.

"No better place to measure the mood of your people than the local tavern," Arthur said as he rested his hands on his hips and waited for Merlin and me to be done.

"Arthur, half the people in that tavern are probably already drunk or at the very least squiffy," I said, standing away from the water trough and making my way over to Merlin's side as he ran a hand through Cinnamon's mane.

"I seriously doubt that, my darling sister," Arthur countered, making me send him a glare at him. "It's not even starting to get dark yet."

"Try telling them that," I muttered, more than a little hesitant to go in there.

"It'll be fine. Come on," Arthur said, gesturing for us to follow him.

"This is one of those moments again where we tell you something isn't a good idea and you ignore us, isn't it?" Merlin said, taking my hand in his, much to the annoyance of Arthur who sent him a death stare.

"You're learning and like I said before, it'll all be fine," Arthur repeated. "But just remember that in here, you're not my servant and Chelsea and I are not royalty. We're just simple peasants like everyone else."

"Simple part's right," Merlin murmured to me.

"What?" Arthur said.

"He said the sun is very bright," I told him.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," Arthur nodded, making Merlin and I quietly laugh as I leant into his side.

As we entered the tavern, it took a few moments for my eyes to readjust to the darker room but when I did I was surprised to see that it was packed full of people. Considering how small the village had looked from on top of the hill, I thought that there would only be like a dozen people at most. Apparently, I was wrong.