Discussions Defeating Dullness
AN: I searched for Hexwood fanfics on here and was so horrified when I couldn't find any that I immediately wrote this (although I had admittedly just read Hexwood). Hexwood has to be my favourite DWJ book – I've read it so many times I've lost count and I still find surprises in it!
Rated: K plus for complex themes in the book, but if you've read the book you can read this.
Arthur, High King of Britain, tried not to yawn. Why was it that ever since he became king, he had to sit through so many official functions? Shouldn't he be riding through the streets, waving, or something?
But no. He had to deal with politics. It wasn't fair, he thought petulantly. And it had always been so much easier when Merlin was there to take care of the administration for him. All he'd had to do was king.
It wasn't like that now. Ever since Merlin had vanished – there were rumours that he'd been imprisoned by the same people that had taken Arthur's son from him, but then again, there were rumours that Merlin had swum away with a giant fish, or that he had been careless and sat in the holy seat of the round table, the seat that belonged to Sir Galahad, and Arthur was sure that neither of those were true. Merlin hadn't been careless or in love, as far as Arthur knew, so…
He stifled another yawn. All these officials had such boring voices!
He mentioned the fact to his voices.
There should have been four of them, but the Slave had become fainter and fainter until he stopped completely. Only the Girl Child could talk to him now, and even she said his voice was very faint.
They always do, the Prisoner commented. Arthur had come to rely on his insights ever since Merlin's disappearance.
The Boy wondered whether there wasn't anyone to listen to the officials for him and report the most important information back. Arthur replied that he had tried this once, but the officials had made such a fuss when he had, and that it was easier to nod, smile, catch up on his sleep and ignore them all than it was to pretend that he was treating other officials differently.
The Girl Child nearly made him laugh out loud. Maybe, she suggested, they all go to some school, where they are taught to speak with the most boring voices possible.
Lessons in lying, agreed the Prisoner.
Examinations in putting people to sleep, the Boy proposed. What fun, he added sarcastically.
Arthur tried not to chuckle.
Time passed, and the Girl Child entertained him with one of her stories. It was very good, all about living, as she put it, 'beyond the stars'.
Finally, the officials began to leave. The King breathed a mental sigh of relief.
One man – a rather unimportant but ambitious scribe – was shocked and honoured to find the High King of Britain beckoning to him.
"Sire?"
"Tell me, young man, where did you learn your trade?"
The scribe bowed. "From my father, sire, and he from his father."
"Ah." King Arthur nodded to himself. "Thankyou."
The scribe bowed his leave.
In the privacy of his own head (to his immense relief) three voices were laughing uproariously. He joined them.
I shall go down in history as the first Hexwqood fic-author here! Read and review, please, and you might too (as the reviewers of this wonderful fic).