My Life As A Merry Man (Sequel to The Huntress)

Chapter 11

I'm sitting on my bed when Luke walks in, looking like he might be dying. I watch him silently with a raised eyebrow as he shuts the door and slides down it's length. He takes a few heaving breaths before leaning his head back against the door, shutting his eyes. He looks so tired, I decide to give him a few minutes to get ahold of himself.  

"So, how were the chores?" I ask with a small smirk.  

"Worse than I'd expected." he says, sighing dramatically.  

"What did they make you do?" I ask, fighting back my laughter.  

"Well, after they made me bring your stuff up here - on my own, no less - they had me help out in the kitchen, I had to muck out the stalls - all of them - and clean out the dungeon. You do not want to know how much dried up blood I had to scrape up off that floor. It was beyond gross." he complains.  

I nod and look at the floor to hide my smirk, even though he isn't even looking at me. "You wanna know something?"  

"Will it explain why you find this embarrassing situation amusing?" he mutters, glaring at the ground in front of him.  

"Maybe." I say, smiling to myself.  

I wait for a moment to spark his interest. Once I see him look up at me, I know I've got him hooked. "I had a friend named Merlin who came to where I used to live, he expected to get a place high on the council. Of course, his first day there, he picked a fight with our arrogant Prince. They had a few squabbles together, got on each other's nerves a lot. But one day Merlin came with his uncle, our physician, to a dinner in the Prince's honour. When someone tried to kill our Prince, Merlin stepped in and saved him. Of course, the King was so proud of Merlin's bravery that he appointed Merlin to being the Prince's very own manservant. He was forced to do all of what you said and more. Just be glad you aren't the soldier's fighting dummy."  

He laughs and shuffles his way over to me, sitting right beside me on the edge of the bed. "You miss them a lot. If you miss that place so much, why are you even here?"  

I look down at the ground as tears begin to fill my eyes. 

"Hey, you don't have to tell me. I didn't mean to upset you." he says, placing his hand on mine.  

I shake my head. "It's not you. There are just some bad memories."  

"Then, maybe if you tell me what happened, it will be better." he whispers, sounding as though he's not sure of the idea.  

"It's a long complicated story that wouldn't be very interesting." I say, rubbing my eyes against the pain I had almost forgotten.  

"Kierlan, I don't know what happened but I can tell it was both important and painful. You can tell me if and when you can handle it." he says, pulling out a bit of wisdom I wasn't expecting.  

I look up at him with a questioning look before nodding. "Okay." 

I hear the door creak open as heavy feet step inside.  

"The Sheriff would like you to join us for dinner in thirty minutes, but if you are too busy you can skip tonight." Guy says, an accusing tone to his voice.  

I furrow my eyebrows together as I look up at him, unsure of what he means. He gives a pointed look to something between me and Luke. Looking down, I realize Luke's holding my hand. We quickly let go of each other and stand.  

"No, never too busy to join the Sheriff. It's a honour to be requested to share this place, much more so to eat at his table. The boy here was just checking my hand for any problems." I ramble quickly.  

Guy raises an eyebrow at me. "Problems?"  

I swallow and nod. "Of-of course, you see I have this...twitch. It starts when my hand refuses to move and-and then it just goes out of control. He was checking to see if I needed my medicine or not." 

Guy nods like he doesn't know if he should believe my story - seriously, I don't believe my story, so why should he?  

"Well, maybe you should change out of your traveling clothes and get ready for dinner. A simple dress should be fine. I- we'll see you then." Guy says before retreating back into the dark hallway.  

"Wow..." Luke says, watching the closed door. 

"Yeah, I wonder why he's so weird." I muse.  

"No, not that." Luke says with a barking laugh. 

"Then what?" I ask, looking over at him in shock. 

"I think I just found the best way to getting all the information we'll need." he says, a mischievous smirk growing on his face. 

My stomach drops as I realize this look gives me the creeps almost as much as Guy. "What's that?" 

"I think you've captured our good friend Guy's affection. He's completely into you." he says, sounding proud - of me?  

"That's impossible." I say, shaking my head. 

"Oh, trust me...when you speak about this with Alan tomorrow, he'll tell you exactly what I just did. Then he'll say to get as close to that Guy as you can without revealing who you are." Luke says, smirking again. 

Great, now everything is just going to be harder. "How do I even play this guy in the first place?" 

My stomach drops again at his growing smile.