Goodbye to the Knight✔️

13. The Horse King

"Oi, chuck us that bottle," A drunk man leans across me, close enough that I can smell the alcohol on his breath. I wrinkle up my nose. His mate, on the other side of Sage, passes it to him and he lurches back down onto the make shift seat, a log laid down beside the fire.

"So laddy, why you here?" He slurs.

"Well, we're here to help with one of the knights horses,"

"One of the 'orses aye?" He rests his elbow on his knee, "I am the King of horses, I, I,'orses, they love me."

I roll my eyes at him and tap my foot anxiously.

"Hey, relax, relax," Sage says from my other side, "just looking at you stresses me out."

"I can't help it," All the knights wandering around so close has me on edge.

"I know ye worried lassy, I am too, but we look less guilty if we just relax and enjoy the night, plus we get food, drink and a warm fire."

I sigh and smile, Sage is right, I need to relax.

"And so I went up to this brown mare and she looked me dead in the eye, and I swear to you, she bowed to me, the Horse King, so I told her to rise and—"

"Yes, ok I'll go grab us some bread rolls and this Horse King" I pat the drunk man beside me, "can tell you all about his horses."

I jump up, and step over the log. Scattered around the fire pit is people clustered in small groups or alone, drunken laughter and dancing spilling out here and there into my path as I weave in and out, of obstacles, making my way towards the food and drinks table.

Never in my dreams, or rather nightmares, would I have imagined my being in this situation, surrounded by knights whilst on the run.

Suddenly I collide with something, which I realise is something alive, and human shaped.

"Watch it scum,"

I grimace and look up to find myself face to face with Peter, just my luck.

I nod, and walk around him, keeping my head down.

I can feel his gaze on my back as I walk away, and my stomach drops, I hope our paths don't cross ways again in the future.

I reach the table without any more run-ins and start pouring wine into two mugs.

"Enjoying the evening?" A low slow voice speaks from the shadows behind the table.

It startles me and I jerk my head up. Intelligent eyes meet me in the darkness and then the man steps forwards into the light. It's the same man from in the tent, the man with a scar, the man who is the owner of Zuri: Killian.

I smile and nod. I put the bottle down and pick up the two mugs with one hand, and then place a few bread rolls in my other, precariously balancing on top of each other.

"Do you need a hand?"

Ummm, mind blank, I quickly stuff some of the bread into my mouth.

"Mmm mm mm." Talking with a mouthful, the number one method of avoiding talking or stalling for more time, and it works every time. My 'mmm'ing translated to 'no thank you'.

"Are you sure?"

I nod, turning around, hands loaded with stuff, and start walking back to Sage. I feel his eyes upon my back and I loose concentration on my grip and accidentally drop one of the rolls. It tumbles to the ground and after a small pause I hear a small chuckle. I can feel my cheeks heating up, big face palm at myself.

I scurry away, trying to draw no more attention to myself, being undercover is only enjoyable to a point, and when you can't even talk and have some fun then it is no good at all, but I mean, at least I don't have to marry the knight.

I reach Sage and plonk myself down next to him. 'Horse King' and his mate have disappeared off leaving Sage and I alone.

"Thanks Ell," He says as I pass him the mug and bread, "mmm this bread is still quite fresh, they must have picked it up from Burnsley today."

"Yeah, it still has the light fluffy feeling."

"Ahaha unlike ours," He laughs. Our bread, although not stale, had been squished a bit during the journey.

"Aye, we can restock at Barnsley, Uncle Fred also told me how the inn's apple pies are to die for."

"He's definitely correct," Sage takes a sip of wine, "last time we were there selling a horse he introduced me to them and damn they are fiiine."

A sudden crash fills the air and I look up to see the table upturned on the grass, food and drink scatter around, and some drunk men throwing punches at each other. The owners of the fists however are so out of it that the punches are going everywhere, not only at the intended target.

"Break it up. Back off Gregory. Now." Killian commands, tongue hard as steel. Both men stumble apart and, even in their drunken haze, look nervously at Killian. The shadows and light of the fire dancing patterns across his hardened face.

"All right time for bed, shows over everyone, lets wrap it up," Luther comes striding out from the main tent, arms open, easing the tension.

Killian nods his head to Luther then strides off into the darkness, that swallows him up quite quickly.

"Leo come and spoke to me whilst you were grabbing food, although we can't sleep on the tent beds, we have been gifted extra bedding for tonight so we will be warmer and more comfortable rather then on only a thin layer."

Leo is turning into one of my favourite humans.

We gather up our small amount of things and I follow Sage into a small tent a little way away from the fire. Lit inside is one small candle that casts shadows across Leo's sleeping figure, wrapped head to toe with only a tuft of his hair sticking out.

Quietly we sneak in and slide under blankets, tomorrow we will need find somewhere to wash, whether at an inn or in a natural source.

"Goodnight Ell," Sage whispers, rolling onto his side and pulling the blankets up to his shoulders.

"Goodnight Sage," I whisper back, my eyes following patterns in the tent roof. Slowly the sounds of people outside die down and at some point I drift off into a blissful sleep.

A/N:

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, not the longest but it came to a good stopping point before the craziness of the next day;) If you guys are enjoying it would make my day if you pressed that stunning outline of a star and turned the centre to a beautiful gold colour ;)

SouthernAlps over and out...