The Prince's Assistant

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Get your arse out of that bed immediately, Merlin, you have less than an hour to eat and make yourself presentable!” Marcus cried, banging on the door. Squinting from the bright morning light, I groaned and rolled off the bed, rubbing my eyes wearily. I nudged Sapphire.

“Come on, Saph, if I’ve got to wake up at this un-holy hour so do you.” I mumbled, splashing my face with some water that was in the ewer. Changing into another set of clothes, I trudged into the other room, where Marcus was kinda sorta waiting for me. He was rushing around the room picking up something here or another thing there; when he heard me come in, he stopped and looked up.

“There you are, let’s go. Their Highness’ will be having a meeting with the court this morning and we have been summoned to be present.” He grabbed his medical bag and moved towards the door motioning me to follow. I followed behind him, taking in everything that I could. The castle hallways were not completely bare they had a couple of tapestries with different designs and portraits  of the royal family and their ancestors, occasionally there was a chest, a suit of armor, sometimes a shield or some swords along the wall whether it was on the wall or on the floor. I looked up when Marcus abruptly stopped, almost making me run into his back. I looked past him and saw two huge oaken doors with two guards and an announcer stood in front of them. They looked up when Marcus stopped in front of them.

“Ah, Marcus, you’re here! Finally, the king has been demanding to see you, he was just about to send me to go get you.” One of the guards said, obviously relieved that he wouldn’t have to leave his post to the younger guard. Marcus gave the man a tight lipped smile.

“Yes, well I was a little bit delayed.” He looked pointedly at me; I looked away from him, finding that the brownish spot on the ceiling was more interesting than it had been a couple of minutes ago. The older guard chuckled and pushed the doors open. The room was huge and it had a large table in the middle of the room, it looked like a dining hall but then again it looked like a throne room as well. It’s probably both. Inside of the hall there were a lot of people in the room most of them were male and were dressed in suits of armor, the few women that were in there were dressed in very colorful dresses. What stood out the most was at the end of the hall, there were three beautifully crafted chairs and in them were two men, one was an older looking man then next to him, on his left, was a boy who looked to around the age of eight-teen. But the chair on his right was empty. It looked as though it was waiting for someone to come back, to come and sit on it. I wanted to know who it seemed to be waiting for, but before I could ask Marcus, the older man stood up stretched out his arms, like he was waiting for someone to jump in them and give him a hug.

“Marcus, you’re late. No matter you here now.” He did this half smile thing as he welcomed Marcus. Marcus bowed, at the waste, to him and motioned me to bow as well, I did not completely understand why.

“Your Majesty, please forgive my lateness.” Ah, that’s why. He’s the king, so that must mean that the boy next to him is the prince, my new employer. King Uther waved his hand, dismissing him. He sat back down, motioning the man who had been speaking before we came in to speak again. Marcus moved to the left of the hall, standing next to one of the many pillars that were in the room, I stood next to him.

“Sire, as I’d been saying, the bandits have been attacking the lower villages again. We must send more soldiers to fight them off or else there won’t be a good harvest this year.” The man said; he looked to be an older man, maybe around the age of fifty.  He also looked to be a soldier himself but he also looked to a lord, he was probably a retired captain. The king sighed, half covering his face with one of his hands, before he answered.

“What do you expect me to do? I have already sent as many men out there as I can, Charles, anymore and the castle will have fewer men to protect it, if someone attacks.” The king said, raising his voice slightly. The prince looked over at his father.

“Father, just a couple of men won’t hurt anything, besides a bad harvest means starving people.” King Uther turned toward his son, thought about what his son said and nodded.

“Ten knights should do. Arthur, you shall go with them.”

“Yes, Father.” The prince nodded. I turned to Marcus, a confused look on my face. He looked back and motioned me to stay quiet.

“Anything else?” The king asked. I looked around the room waiting to see if anyone else would say anything, someone did step forward, a young lady in worn clothing. She curtsied quickly and ungracefully.

“Rise, speak what you wish.” King Uther said, tiredly, the girl did as she was told.

“S-sire, please forgive me,” she started, “there have been rumors about a-a couple of m-magic users.” She mumbled the last part but the king still heard her.

“MAGIC USERS, IN MY KINGDOM?” He roared, outraged. “HOW DARE THEY TRY AND SHOW THEIR FACES HERE, AFTER WHAT THEY DID?” The whole room shook with the extent of his voice. The girl cowered where she stood, her face paled and she looked like she was about to pass out. One of the guards gently grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room to wait in another room, for later questioning. “I WANT THEM FOUND, DEAD OR ALIVE. I DON’T CARE!” I was breathing hard by the time he finished speaking. He wanted to kill my people? If he ever found out about me he’d kill me. Wild thoughts went through my head about him somehow knowing what I was and him demanding me to be put to death. Marcus must have known what was going through my head and he placed one hand on my arm, calming me almost instantly. The king stormed out of the throne room leaving everybody at a loss of what to do. Prince Arthur stood up.

“Everyone is dismissed. Marcus, I need to speak with you now.” He left going out the same way his father did but this time people slowly left the room. Marcus latched onto my arm and dragged me with him. Leaving the throne room through the door that the prince had left, we stepped into a smaller room with a round table and a couple chairs. Prince Arthur was pacing behind the biggest chair, he looked up when we came in. Marcus bowed quickly and stood back up without being told to, I did the same. “You wished to speak with me after the meeting, Marcus, what is it?” He kept pacing, Marcus nodded.

“Yes, Sire, I heard that you were looking for a personal serf?” The prince nodded.

“Get on with it I don’t have all day!” He snapped.

“Of course, sire, as I was saying I have found you a serf that can do what you wish.” He said motioning to me. Arthur stopped pacing and looked me over once.

“He’s small.” He stated. “He might do, what is his name?”

“His name is Merlin.”

“He’ll do for now. Follow me, Merlin.” He sneered when he said my name. I moved away from Marcus and closer to Arthur, now that I was closer to him I could see he was quiet good looking. He had dirty blond hair that hung around his face, messily, and he had piercing ice blue eyes. His face was finely crafted with high cheek bones, a strong jaw, straight nose and soft looking lips. I stared at his lips a little longer than I should have but quickly looked away when I realized what I was doing. Arthur looked me over again and I felt my face grow hot. He walked out a different door than the one we originally came in from, expecting me to follow him. I took one last fleeting glace at Marcus before I rushed after Arthur.

(~.~)

Hours after first following Prince Arthur, I stumbled into the room that I was now calling home  and dropped onto my bed, exhausted. Saph moved out of my way as I fell. I was completely exhausted both physically and mentally. Prince Arthur was an arrogant, selfish, rude, and so many, many more. He ordered me to do this and to do that like I was a slave half the time I was with him I wanted to knock his lights out but I didn’t. He finally let me leave after I finished everything he told me to do and it was almost midnight. I eventually fell asleep to thoughts of what he would make me do tomorrow and to the sound of Saph’s purring.