Merlyn's Last Dream

Love in the Time of Dragons P2

Merlyn hated jousting. It was pointless; as far as she was concerned, Arthur had invented the sport just to torture his servants. She couldn't stand it, mostly due to the fact that she was absolutely shit at it which meant that, rather than their usual back-and-forth of tricky footwork and hard blows, Merlyn had to hold a ring above her head in the hope that Arthur would somehow miraculously spear it onto the end of his jousting pole, preferably without taking her eye out.

It wasn't that the servant was lacking faith in her prince, far from it really, but she had to admit, watching as he galloped towards her at full speed was more terrifying than thrilling. Bracing for impact, she was glad to hear the horse just about miss her as the hoop was torn from her hands.

Relieved that she'd managed to survive the jousting, she eyed the training field, hoping that Arthur would switch to some weaponry that she knew how to handle. At that moment, a little sword fighting sounded lovely. She'd even do a bit of mace work if it meant that she wouldn't be trampled in her near future.

Unfortunately, the prince wasn't in the mood for any proper training. After handing her a shield, he proceeded to pick up a mace, hitting the bronze dragon emblazoned on her only manner of defence with as much strength as he could muster.

"Come on, Merlyn. Put your back into it." he chided irritatingly, punctuating his words with another hard hit.

"Sorry, sire." she mumbled unapologetically, deflecting the mace as best she could. Quite frankly, she was far too curious about the Alice situation to be particularly useful and, honestly didn't really want to be Arthur's outlet for whatever internal battle he was struggling with. She'd much rather he just talked to her about these things rather than opting for something akin to manslaughter.

"Pathetic." he cursed, glaring at her as if she'd genuinely offended his honour. "You're pretending to be a battle-hardened warrior, not a daffodil."

Oh, fuck this.

Merlyn rose from where she'd been cowering beneath her shield, deciding that if Arthur just wanted someone to hit, he should've chosen one of his weaker knights. Swallowing her retort, fairly sure that the prince wouldn't care much about the poisonous properties of daffodils, she met his next strike with equal strength. Not willing to wait for his next move, she pushed forward, forcing him backwards. He tried to hit at her again, but she'd broken his sense of concentration and, with a little intervention from a glitter of golden eyes, he mysteriously fell over a tent peg, his mace useless on the floor beside him.

"Tired, sire?" she asked innocently, throwing her shield down beside him. Ignoring his bewildered look, she headed to the weapon's rack, selecting a rather large, heavy hammer. "Maybe this will perk you up."

Arthur seemed to get the message quite quickly. If he was going to pick on anyone, it certainly wasn't going to be his servant.

~

When Merlyn arrived at Gaius' quarters, she was surprised to see that he wasn't alone. Standing next to him, smiling timidly, was the woman she'd seen with the physician only the night before. Now that she could see her properly, she had a sort of motherly, caring air which had been lost under the cover of darkness, her humble awkwardness rather charming.

"Ah, Merlyn." Gaius acknowled her as she closed the door behind her. "I'd like you to meet Alice."

All irritation at Arthur's actions flew from her mind as she stepped forward, beaming widely. She stuck out her hand, which the woman took, her eyes glimmering with warmth.

"Merlyn, it's nice to meet you. Gaius speaks very highly of you." she said, a small smile lightening her expression.

The witch gave Gaius an incredulous look. She very much doubted that the physician had mentioned much more than her name, but she appreciated Alice's attempt at inclusion.