The Prince's Assistant

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Early the next morning, Marcus was banging on my door again.

"Get up, Merlin! You have chores do to for me before you wake up the prince." Yeah, that was another part of my chores I had to do, wake up the prince, and occasionally help Marcus with his work. I sighed, getting up, nudging Saph.

"Come on, Saph, you can't stay in here all day." I changed into a clean set of clothes and threw my dirty ones in a corner. Saph begrudgingly got up and stretched on the bed. I smiled down at him, lovingly. "Don't forget to pretend that you're a cat." I opened the door just as he was about to bang on it again; he had a scowl on his face like he usually did these days. He walked away once he knew I was awake.

"Once you finish eating, do the dishes and sweep the floor." He said moving to grab his bowl of porridge and sitting down at his desk reading something; I sat down and started eating. Saph came out of my room, looking like a cat, he slowly moved towards me. Since I wasn't really hungry I gave Saph what was left of my porridge and started working on sweeping the floor, I waited patiently for Saph and Marcus to finish their breakfast. I quickly washed the dishes, grabbed Saph, placed him around my neck then rushed into the hall, passing a couple other servants as I went. Reaching Arthur's door quickly, I calmed my breathing and knocked on the door, not even waiting for an answer I barged in. The room itself was magnificent; it had a couple tapestries hanging on the walls, a few rugs on the floor. In another part of the room there was a table for when he ate in here, a desk was under one of the windows on the other side of the room, there was a dresser on the wall near the foot of the bed and there was another dresser but this one was for important papers. His royal highness was fast asleep on the four poster bed that sat in the middle of the room. I walked over to the side of his bed and shook him.

"Sire, wake up. It's time for you to start a new day fresh from the mistakes of yesterday." I said, not realizing that I had just woken him up with the same thing my mother would say to me when I slept too late. He opened his eyes, glaring at me.

"What do you want?" He demanded, propping himself up with his arms. I sighed, keeping my temper in check.

"I'm sorry to wake you, but you have things that need your attention this morning." I said calmly, rubbing Saph's tail to keep myself from throwing something at him. He scowled at me and got out of bed, stretching.

"Where is my breakfast?" There was a knock on the door.

"That is probably it." I said, moving to open the door. I opened the door and there was a girl, maybe a little older than me, standing there with a tray of food and drink. Taking it from her, I thanked her, turned around and closed the door. I placed the tray on his table. He walked into the room with no shirt on. I nearly dropped the pitcher I was holding. Holy cow, he was fiiine. He had a six-pack and was nicely tanned, I turned red. Quickly, I looked down at the cup I was filling, making it an effort to pay attention to what I was doing and not let my eyes wonder to the handsome man standing next to me. He moved and sat down, grabbing his plate, and started eating. I stood there wondering what I should be doing.

"Well, what are you waiting for? The room won't clean itself, you know." His voice startled me.

"Oh, um, yes, of course, I'll get right on it." I moved to pick something up from the floor but he interrupted me.

"No, not now, idiot, later when we get back."I sighed, of course it would be later. I was told yesterday by the prince himself that I would be following him everywhere today so I could learn what I needed to do for this job. My blood started to boil when he called me an idiot. I wasn't an idiot! Yeah, sure I had no clue what I was supposed to be doing but that didn't give home the right to be rude. I swear if he calls me idiot again I'll sock him, prince or not. I forced a smile to my face.

"Please forgive me, Sire, it is only my first day." I bowed slightly, hiding my face from him so he couldn't see the mocking look I had on my face. He shrugged into his shirt and closed the wardrobe.

"Lets go, training starts in a couple minutes and the prince can't be late." He ignored me completely, I clenched my fist, straightening up. He brushed passed me on his way to the door, I followed quietly not wanting to say something that would bring attention to myself if I could help it. Arthur walked faster than normal, probably trying not to be late, nodding here and there to the few knights that were helping some of the villagers. Walking out side was like a breath of fresh air, literally. It felt amazing to breathe something that didn't smell like stale air. The relief didn't last very long because Arthur led us towards the training ground which smelled like mud, sweat and blood. The clanging sounds of the practice swords reached my ears as we got closer, I walked hesitantly after Arthur, unsure as to why I was here in the first place. The people watching the practice looked our direction as we approached. Soon everyone had noticed that we (well, more like he than we) where there and had stopped what they'd been doing.

"Your Majesty," they bowed, he nodded and waved his hand, signaling that they could continue on with what they'd been doing. Walking toward the back part of the training grounds, where some of the knights where training, he greeted people on his way back but completely ignored some of the lower servants and lower class people. I frowned, if he was to be the next king shouldn't he at least acknowledge his people? 

"Prince Arthur?" He looked over his shoulder at me, annoyance in his eyes.

"What?" I frowned a little bit.

"Shouldn't you acknowledge your people, no matter what class they are, when you pass them?" I asked in the nicest way possible so he wouldn't take offence but he took offence anyway.

"Are you trying to say that I'm ignoring my subjects? How dare you? Who do you think you are, trying to tell me how to do my job! You're nobody, you're worthless, you're replaceable, you're just a servant what could you know of anything that I have to do?" He snapped at me ridicule and disdain clear in his face, my temper rose with every word he spoke. There are sometimes when I just can't hold my tongue, and this is one of those times.

"How dare I? How dare you! You don't know me, what gives you the right to say that I'm nobody, that I'm worthless, that I'm replaceable? Yes, I may be a servant but you listen to me when I say this, just because you're a prince doesn't mean you're any different than the rest of us. Who would you be if you weren't born a prince? I'll tell you, you'd be like any of the rest of us a normal person who actually has to work for their food, their home and their family, to keep them alive for another year." I all but yelled at him, this pompous, arrogant prince thinks he's actually better than the rest of us, I would so hit him right now if he wasn't a prince. He looked shocked that I had told him off, it probably has never happened to this arse, he opened his mouth to say something back when someone called out to him asking him to look at his form or something to make sure it was good. He turned back to me and got up in my face before saying, "After what you said I could throw you in the dungeon, but I can't do that now, but later we will be having a little chat about what you can and can't say to me. Do you understand?" He stressed the word will making sure I heard the unspoken threat in his words, I gulped and nodded slightly. He smirked wickedly at me and turned away, walking to the one knight, leaving me standing there, after realising that he'd gotten his way agian fuming.

If only he wasn't a prince, if only.