The King's Legacy.docx

Dark brown eyes were staring balefully at the rising sun, as if saying, 'No. You aren't pretty, go away.' The sun however, ignored the new knight's wishes and continued to climb higher in the dawn sky. He was the first one in the courtyard, before any of the knights, and the silence and stillness were contributing to his bad mood.

He had been waiting for five minutes when the prince's servant appeared, causing the twenty one year old to roll his eyes. So the boy was early was he? He still didn't want Merlin here.

"Sir Aldwin," Merlin nodded to him.

"Servant." Aldwin merely glanced at him before inspecting the courtyard. He might have glared at the servant a few weeks ago to scare him, but it did not look like the boy was going to be intimidated. Aldwin would daunt him when Merlin did something that deserved it, like tripping over his own feet and making noise. Or demand to have the servant in the stocks if he spoke out of turn- which happened quite a lot. The knight resisted the urge to scoff just thinking about it.

"Could you watch the horses?" Merlin led his and the prince's horse in front of Aldwin. The knight's black stallion snorted in greeting. Aldwin did not even have time to arrange his face in an offended scowl before Merlin was bounding up the castle steps and yelling his thanks.

Aldwin glowered at Merlin's impertinence but snatched the two horses' reins grudgingly- he did not want to be responsible for losing the prince's horse. He made sure his hands were well away from Aldieb's teeth- the horse had a mean streak with anyone other than the prince.

He spent the next few minutes adjusting Mandarb's saddle and only looked up when he heard the sound of two horses ambling towards him.

"Well, well, if it isn't little Aldwin," a gruff voice taunted. Aldwin clenched his teeth before clearing his face and turning to face the stocky knight who was leading a grey horse.

"That is Sir Aldwin to you, Sir Eadric," he said coldly.

"Oh, sorry, Sir Aldwin. How could I forget?" Eadric scoffed, his stubbled cheeks rising in a taunting grin. Sir Eadric was a squat fortress of a man, short but wide in the chest and shoulders. Aldwin was convinced that he could win an arm wrestle against the strength of the entire army.

"Enough, Eadric," a long suffering voice said, "you are both on the same team you know."

Aldwin and Eadric both frowned at the grinning Gerrick. The knight was leaning casually against his palomino mare.

"I do not need you to defend me, Gerrick," Aldwin frowned at his childhood friend.

"You so sure about that?" Eadric raised his eyebrows.

Aldwin levelled him with a glare and he smugly noticed that the burly knight's face twitched. He did not bother gracing Eadric's comment with a reply. He had heard the other knights' stories of Eadric's temper and it was not something he wanted to be on the receiving end of.

"You both might want to try something called making friends," Gerrick came up to him and nudged his shoulder.

"Something which you seem to excel at doing." Aldwin eyed Eadric sordidly.

"It's an art," Gerrick grinned.

Aldwin sighed and they did not have to wait long until the last two knights joined them. He successfully hid his ire upon noticing that one of them was Sir Winston. The other, Sir Samuel was a good knight, but Winston was insufferable. Even more so than Eadric, Aldwin thought. Winston looked the perfect knight, tall and muscular, not to mention possessed flowing russet hair that had castle maids likening him to a hero out of a poem, or so Aldwin had heard. Until he started speaking that is. The man had the vilest mouth that Aldwin had ever known, and not just because Aldwin had to be careful of what he said around his younger brothers. Winston spoke ill of anyone and everyone, except King Uther and Prince Arthur of course. He even insulted the oldest knight, Cadmon- Aldwin shook his head upon remembering it. Afterwards though, he never spoke an ill word about the man when Cadmon beat him in a duel spanning three seconds flat. Aldwin was too new to have seen any real action but he had no doubt that Winston was a coward.

"Good morning gents," Samuel called and stopped his horse in front of the three knights. Winston eyed them and scoffed, causing Aldwin and Eadric to scowl at him.

"Morning!" Gerrick called loudly, directing everyone's attention. "Perfect day for a hunt, wouldn't you say, Samuel?"

"Oh yes, I only hope the prince does not steal all of the kills."

"You may be disappointed then, Samuel." They all turned to see a grinning Arthur striding toward him. Merlin was following behind and rolling his eyes. The knights greeted him with a bow.

"Well perhaps Merlin will distract him, you feeling particularly clumsy today Merlin?" Gerrick asked. The servant glanced at him in quickly concealed surprise, knowing the lithe man as one of the more dangerous knights, but seemingly took comfort from Gerrick's smile if his next words were anything to go by.

"Oh sometimes it depends on how many chores I have to do," Merlin grinned, causing the grey eyed knight to smother a laugh.

"Is that so?" Arthur asked loftily while taking his reigns from Aldwin.

"Yep," Merlin chirped and was going to say something else before looking at the faces of Winston, Samuel, and Aldwin. Gerrick was hiding a smile and Eadric could not really have cared less. Merlin smiled at Aldwin as he took the reigns to Tilly and staunchly made eye contact with the knight. "Thank you, Sir Aldwin." The knight merely eyed him coolly before turning his attention to Mandarb. Merlin's throat bobbed as he swallowed despite himself.

"You have some gall, boy," Winston spat. Merlin gritted his teeth but Arthur waved his hand impatiently.

"I can take care of my own servant, Sir Winston. Let's get on with it," he told the knight while mounting his horse. He led the way with Merlin riding beside him and the knights behind. Sir Winston followed right after, with a scowl marring his face and Samuel rode behind him. Aldwin was on Gerrick's right and Eadric on the left- his face remained neutral but he allowed himself to feel just a little excited about the hunt. He was looking forward to an afternoon of good-natured competition.

Unfortunately, the competition turned out to be not so good-natured, when after just an hour into the forest, Aldwin was dearly wishing to pry Winston limb from limb. Gerrick of course, was laughing at both the infuriated Aldwin and at Winston, who was alternating between reciting lines of maudlin romantic poetry to himself and regaling the youngest knight about how green he was. Eadric proved himself to be smarter than Aldwin thought by walking several paces ahead of them, trailing behind Arthur and Merlin.

They had left the horses behind when the trees had gotten too dense and they were now in one of the oldest parts of the forest. The ground was still damp from yesterday's heavy storm, the canopy not allowing much sun to seep through. But there were divots in the ground where the rainwater had run down the slight slope. Arthur was still looking for tracks on the shadowed ground and Winston had finally shut up when Aldwin had finally pinned him with a ferocious glare. There was silence for only a few precious moments when Gerrick came beside Aldwin and whispered in his ear.

"Psst Aldwin... you're so green, you have a sheen. On your face that is not clean!" He laughed and didn't stop.

"My face is clean!" Aldwin hissed.

"I daresay it is not pristine," Gerrick snickered.

"Be quiet back there!" Arthur ordered.

"For we need to find a hare," Gerrick said with a straight face. Behind Arthur, Merlin snorted and stole a glance at the oblivious Winston. Arthur sent Gerrick a warning look which only made the knight duck his head to hide his smile.

"Silence, Gerrick."

"But my name isn't Eric," Gerrick grinned, referring to the quietest knight in Camelot and the five kingdoms, according to Gerrick.

"Why is it you are rhyming when you talk?" Winston asked the blonde knight with a sneer on his face.

Gerrick's smile turned sly. "It is a challenge that I must stalk!"

"That's it!" Arthur called when he picked his way past a large crevice on the ground. "You can help Merlin muck out the horses when we get back."

"What?" Gerrick asked aghast. "But- but it is a talent that I lack!" He then couldn't stop laughing. A smile was grudgingly worming its way on Arthur's face. Eadric chortled at Gerrick who was wiping away a tear from his eye.

"Those are not even good rhymes! Sometimes I wonder about you, Gerrick," Aldwin told him with a dark eyebrow raised. Samuel allowed himself to smile briefly and Winston sneered.

Gerrick straightened and his laughs faded. "Only sometimes?"

Arthur rolled his eyes from where he stood. "Alright, now that you're done, what's say we actually hunt?"

"Yes Sire!" The knights coursed and Merlin gave a loud sigh. The prince eyed him before turning and starting to walk away. But then he stopped when the ominous sound of groaning wood rang loudly through the forest. Everyone looked around when the splintering became louder and extended, and snapping branches could be heard between loud cracks of old wood.

"Sire!" Samuel called out and stared at the tilting poplar tree Arthur was in the path of. The rotten tree gave out one last snap before plummeting downward. The prince was stunned to stillness as were the rest of the knights, but there was one person who acted.

"Arthur!" Merlin yelled and charged toward him. He threw himself into Arthur and was able to send him sprawling forward. The prince recoiled off the ground the same time as the tree did. The sound was deafening. Aldwin could not see over the tree and he was the first one to start towards it. He saw Arthur scramble to his knees and the naked fear flashing in his eyes. Aldwin's mouth went dry for some reason upon seeing that Merlin's legs were completely under the tree. He had his hands over his head and was not moving. Aldwin vaulted over the tree and knelt before Merlin beside Arthur.

"I'm alright!" Merlin called and stared up at the still stunned Arthur. He wormed his way from under the tree. "Lucky that hole was there. But now my breaches are wet." Merlin began to chuckle, which quickly converted into relieved laughter while staring at the deep divot running through the ground and under the fallen tree, right where his legs had been and saved them from being crushed.

The prince spluttered and sprang up to spin Merlin bodily around. When the servant continued to laugh giddily Arthur took a step back.

"I think we can say that is a small price to pay," Arthur breathed, "what luck."

"Are you both alright?" Gerrick asked and looked them over. Arthur nodded dumbly while Merlin flashed a brilliant grin at him. "Good, because you gave me a fright!"

The prince glared at him, making Gerrick feel like the fallen tree between them wasn't there. He had the grace to grin sheepishly, causing both Aldwin and Eadric to smirk at him.

The burly knight gave a laugh. "You're surprisingly brave for a servant," he noted and stared at Merlin like he had something on his thin face.

"Em...thank you?" Merlin scratched his head.

Samuel cleared his throat and looked to the prince. "Did you want to head back to Camelot, Sire?"

Instead of answering, Arthur asked Merlin a question. "Are you alright?"

Merlin nodded and grinned hopefully at Arthur. "Though, if you want to thank me for saving your life, we can go back now."

The prince raised a golden eyebrow at Merlin and clapped his shoulder. "We're moving to a different part of the forest!" The servant gave a half hearted groan before following Arthur back to the horses. Gerrick had roped Eadric into a conversation and Samuel followed quietly. Both Aldwin and Winston were staring at the back of Merlin's head- the youngest knight, with something akin to wonder while...

The King's Legacy.docx

Part I
Crossing the Line

Chapter 1

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Part ICrossing the Line

Chapter 1

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Part I
Crossing the Line