Lilyanna

Chapter Five

Lilyanna steps into the lower village of Camelot three days later after the pigeon had returned. She had been delayed a couple of days due to flooding rains that had soaked her in seconds and made visibility non-existent.

She can't help but sigh contently. She couldn't believe that she had finally made it after everything she had gone through to reach this moment. After never being anywhere besides her home kingdom, she felt happy to be here, despite the punishment by death laws against magic.

When she passes through the village, she dismounts from her steed, deciding to walk so that she can get a plan on how to get an audience with King Arthur. He was the only way she would be able to get a job, which she needed it to be in the castle if she was going to garner the trust and tutelage of Emrys/Merlin.

She knew she couldn't just walk in, what with Mordred now a knight. He would probably expose her immediately and have her executed by the following morning. The only thing she had going for her was that nobody knew who she was. Her father had seen to that due to her being a disgrace in her father's eyes by having magic.

Lilyanna steps in front of a tavern and immediately finds herself staring into the blue eyes of Emrys.

Emrys immediately opens his mouth to speak, having quickly recognized Lilyanna. But Lilyanna doesn't give the warlock a chance. She quickly covers the man's mouth with her hand and pulls him into an alley between the tavern and the building next to it. She pushes him against the tavern's outer walls and puts her free hand on his forehead as if she were checking him for fever.

With skin-to-skin contact, she summons all of her magic and wills it to put the great warlock under a sleeping spell. Her body warms as her magic responds to her command. She watches as the warlock's eyes droop close and his body relaxes. He then slides to the ground. Asleep.

Lilyanna quickly moves away from Emrys' slumped body. She sighs in relief. She couldn't believe it had worked. She moves away from Emrys and exits the alleyway, making sure no one notices her. She then enters the tavern, hoping to at least stay one night to freshen up and regroup before coming up with a plan to get an audience with King Arthur.

She hated taverns, not that she had much experience with them. She knew a tavern wasn't the type of establishment for a woman, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Inside, Lilyanna keeps her head down to go unnoticed and heads straight to the bar. "Can I have one room for one night?"

The bartender gives Lilyanna a skeptical look. "You meetin' someone here? Cause we don't like your kind in here."

Lilyanna is immediately offended. How dare this man think I sell my body for gold?!

The man tries to intimidate her but it doesn't work. He was nothing compared to some of the men she had already encountered. This man, whose skin was worn from hard labor and clothes that had more stains than Lilyanna could count and that smelled like stale ale was nonsequential to her.

"I just need one of your cheapest rooms for one night." She tries to spell it out for the man.

The man stares at her for five seconds before saying, "Three shillin's."

Lilyanna pulls out the hidden pouch of coins her mother had handed her before she fled and counts out the money before handing it to the bartender.

The bartender grabs the coins and pockets them before turning around grabs a metal key with a string and hands it to her. "Here. The door on the right is at the top of the stairs. It already has two other guests so I hope you know how to defend yourself."

"I can." She tells him confidently while taking the key from the man. "Thank you."

The man just nods and moves down to serve another customer.