The Prince's Assistant

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Marianna, please listen to me, my dear. I'm dying and I need you to promise me something. Promise me that you'll go to Camelot and find Marcus. You remember Marcus, right?" I nodded, I barely remembered him from when I was little. My chin wobbled and I bit my lip to keep my tears from falling. She smiled weakly and patted my cheek. "Good, you should find him in the palace as the aunt in the Western Mountains. I know, it's really far away but once you get to Camelot you'll just have to travel a little bit longer, maybe a month or two, but i know you can do it." She started coughing, it sounded horrible. I grabbed the cup of water, that was on the table beside her bed, and gave it to her. She gratefully took a sip and sighed.

Her breathing was labored, it was close to the end.

She looked at me, like really looked at me like she'd never seen me before.

"You are beautiful, my star, I may not have shown you the love that you deserve and I know that I can't change that. But when I look at you I see your father and he was a very beautiful man." she smiled wistfully, I kept quiet, she never talked about my father. " When we first met, it was the night of the spring festival, the flowers were in full bloom and the trees were this magnificent color of green. I was sitting by myself, on the outskirts of everyone, mind you I was no social butterfly back then I was more of a wallflower. When he came up to me, I thought that he was lost and was going to ask me for directions, but when he asked me my name I was so surprised. I just stared at him for the longest while and he thought I was a mute so he asked me to write it in the dirt. I couldn't help but laugh at him." Mother's face was practically glowing, I bit my lip harder, not wanting my mother to see me cry. She took a breath and continued. "From there your father and I spent as much time together as we could, which wasn't much since I barely came into town and he was usually traveling to Agget for work. Soon, we fell in love. But my mother, your grandmother, didn't like our relationship and forbade me to see him. I snuck out almost every night to see him when he was free. We were going to get married but he wanted to become a knight and if he did I would never see him again and I didn't want that for two reasons." She paused to take a drink. "One was because he could die and the other was because I'd never see him again. I pleaded with him one night to stay with me and he did; we made love that night. The next morning I was expecting to wake up with him beside me but all that was beside me was a note telling me that he loved me, but he left anyways because he wanted to be a knight. I got a letter from him a couple months later saying that he was finally a knight; I was pregnant with you then. That was the last I heard from him but I still love him." She was breathing heavily and I tried to get her to lay down and rest. She smiled at me. "You are a spitting image of him, my star."

I sat up breathing deeply and sweating slightly. I hate having this dream, the dream of my mother's death and her last words. "You are a spitting image of him, my star" The words haunted me, I looked out of the window. It wasn't even light yet, I knew that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so I got up. Maybe I'll check out the town, sure everything except the taverns would be closed but there was nothing else to do. I didn't feel like looking like a boy so I pulled one of my dresses out of my bag along with a cloak to cover my face in case I met up with some who knew as a boy. I dressed quickly and quietly, looking over at Saph every couple of seconds making sure I hadn't woken him up. I looked at him as I left my room, still sound asleep. I weaved through Marcus's room and infirmary, almost hitting a couple tables as well as a few books that were placed haphazardly on the tables. I made to the court yard with out running into any of the late night workers. That was the easy part now came the harder part of getting past the guards, hopefully they were nice and would let me out but more times than not they wouldn't let anyone leave or come in. The moon was bright, it was close to the full moon, the light of the moon was helpful but at the same time it was a hindrance. The light showed me where to go nut it also showed the guards that someone was there. I crept up to the guard post by the door that led to the town. Peaking into the room, I saw two guards fast asleep with their heads resting on the table; drool coming out of their mouths. The bottles on the floor showed me the reason whhy they were a sleep when they were supposed to be awake. I sighed, relieved, and went through the door.

The trip to town was quiet and peaceful. The night animals making a beautiful symphony of noises, making the night seem lively. A few lights lit up the streets and I made my way to the tavern. I could hear it before I saw it, the noise of the tavern could be heard streets away. When I found it I paused in front and looked up at it. The Deer Head was an old building, the paint was chipped and falling off. The doors were barely held on and had a few holes in it, the windows on both the first and second floor were broken and patched up with wood so you couldn't really see into the rooms. The sign above the door was probably the newest thing on the outside of the building, it was a large block of wood that was carved to look like a deer. I pushed open the door, caefully, and walked in. The inside was more welcoming than the outside but not by much. There were poeple everywhere; laying on the floor passed out, on tables dancing and taking their clothes off, (thank heavens that they didn't take anything below the waist off) sitting in chairs or on bar stools takling or gambling. I made my way over to the bar and sat down.

"What can I get you, stranger?" the old bartender asked, grabbing an empty glass from behind the counter and placed it infront of me. My hood was still up so he couldn't see my face.

"Um...an ale please?" I said unsertain of what the actually sold at taverns. He chuckled, nodding his head.

"Aye, one ale coming up, little lady." I smiled slightly. Of corse he would know if I was girl or not. I hadn't made my voice deeper and it felt good not to force my vocal cords into a deeper pitch. he gave me my drink, I paid him, and we started talking.

"So where are you from, dear?" he asked while cleaning a couple mugs. I took a sip of my drink before answering.

"A little place called Coral, have you heard of it?" His eye-brows shot up when he heard where I was from.

"Aren't you a long way from home?" I opened my mouth to answer but before I could the doors were thrown open and everyone in the tavern quieted and turn towards the doors. Standing there in all of his glory was Prince Arthur himself. He turned, ignoring all the stares, and marched over to where I was sitting and sat down next to me.

"An ale, please, Art." The old bartender chuckled and got him his drink. The rest of the people went back to what they were doing, I pretended to be absorbed in my drink while I listened to their conversation.

"You sure know how to make an entrance, Prince." he said jokingly. Arthur smirked slightly and took a sip of his ale.

"Shut it, Art, you know you enjoy my entrances."

"Who says? I could be tired of seeing your face, Prince, I could be using you for your money." Arthur laughed.

"Yea, the day I believe that is the day I fall in love with a witch." They laughed and I tensed up. I wish they wouldn't joke about witches, seeing as how I was one. I observed them as they joked and for the first time since I met him i saw him smile. Like really smile, not one of those fake ones that he did for the court or for his fiance, his smile was real and genuine.

It was beautiful.

His eyes would light up and he'd move his hands while he talked, as if he was trying to draw a picture for Art to see. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Arthur turned to me.

"Who are you, Little Lady?"