Destined To Be Queen (Arthur Pendragon)

Chapter 23

The forest was quiet except for the wildlife. Birds chirped high up in the trees, singing without a care in the world. Things were peaceful, I stood a distance away from Arthur as he lined up his crossbow about to hit a deer a few feet away. I wasn't one for killing the animals so I left it to him. However it felt nice to get away from the castle for awhile.

Arthur was about to shoot when Merlin came barreling through the brush, making enough noise to scare the deer. The raven haired man had also managed to smack the prince in the face with a few dead rabbits he had tied to a rope. I giggled at his clumsiness and the annoyed look on Arthur's face.

"What was it?" Merlin asked almost clueless to the whole point of hunting. Despite joining Arthur on most of his hunting trips.

"Well it was a deer unfortunately you startled it," I state walking forward, amused by the whole ordeal. The two began bickering making me laugh more "you two are practically married," I joked causing them to stop. Things were quiet for a few seconds before screaming drifted through the woods making us alert.

Without hesitation we rushed through the foliage towards the commotion. There were bandits attacking a young lady and an older man. Not thinking twice I pulled my sword from the sheath on my hip. Glad I was in my leggings and tunic. Arthur followed suit and he began defending the man while I protected the girl.

The Bandit's laughed upon seeing me, mostly at the fact I'm a woman. I smirked twirling my sword with ease. Swinging towards them, they tried their hardest to disarm me. However I never gave them the chance. One man tried stabbing me but I blocked it, twisting his sword right out of his hands. He looked at me stunned as I plunged the tip of my blade through his stomach.

The second man was shocked however he too ended up dead. Not standing a chance against me, seeing as I was trained alongside my brothers by the best fighter within our kingdom. My father. Arthur had taken down his opponents leaving two more. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a branch fall on one of the remaining two, courtesy of Merlin's magic. Luckily no one noticed with all the commotion going on.

The final man looked between the both of us before running back the way he came. I offered my hand to the girl on the ground, which she took and I helped her up. Arthur doing the same for the man. Their clothes were torn but other than that they seemed fine.

"Are you both alright?" I asked wanting to make sure, although my senses told me something wasn't right about them. And my senses were usually right.

Arthur came to stand beside me, resting his hand on the small of my back. A simple gesture but it was his way of seeing if I was alright. Which I was.

"We're fine thanks to you two. I've never seen a lady fight like that. Quiet impressive," the man replied with a smile yet the girl looked at me wearily. Casting her eyes towards Arthur who was still looking down at me. Most likely looking for any injuries.

Anyway when the girl noticed Arthur wasn't paying her any mind she glared at me. As if I was the root of all her problems. There was definitely something off about her.

"Thanks I'm Anastasia and this is Arthur. Future king and queen of Camelot. Welcome to our kingdom," I state giving the girl a smirk at her reaction to my statement. I'm not one to flaunt a title around but the look on her face was priceless. That's what she gets for giving me mean looks.

We brought them back to the castle where they spoke to Uther. Turns out they are from Ti mor but their home was attacked and they were just making there way to see relatives. Uther granted them rooms in the castle saying they were more than welcome to stay awhile. Once that matter was dealt with I went to my chamber for the evening.