Chapter One
Sweat glistened off of the brow of that perfect face as the knight blocked the advance with his shield and counterattacked with a beautiful thrust from his sword. The young knight raised his sword in victory as the other knights in the training grounds marveled at his flawless swordsmanship. This fine, young man had clearly been trained in the art of the sword from before the time he could walk. As the man looked up, the sun gleamed in his hair and he looked like the reincarnate of Adonis himself. That is until…
"You there, servant girl! Take my helmet and sword to the armory, polish my shield, and then when you have finished bring a hot meal to my chambers."
Did I mention this knight also happened to be Prince Arthur, the Crown Prince of Camelot, and the biggest self-absorbed git to ever walk on the face of this earth. Yes, he may be gallant, strong, the greatest fighter in Camelot, not to mention drop dead gorgeous, but Prince Arthur was the most insufferable person I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. Okay, I admit it; I stop and ogle at Arthur while he trains with his knights of Camelot or while he makes his grand entrances during royal feasts, but give me a break, what girl doesn't? That's when his big mouth is closed. When that boy opens his mouth however, so help me I would love to take his princely crown and shove it where the sun don't shine; quite ladylike of me, eh? Well, I'm only a servant girl (as our prince so kindly pointed out) and therefore don't have to be as ladylike as a noble woman such as the Lady Morgana.
Rolling my eyes and biting my tongue so as not to advise Prince Arthur to pull the stick out of his ass, I politely nodded as I have trained myself to do these past few years and walked to the center of the training grounds, retrieving the discarded helmet. As I was bending over I could hear wolf whistles and cat calls coming from the pigs…I mean knights of Camelot…standing around behind me. This routine was getting old by now.
"Come on you all, enough of that. Where is the respect for the lady?" I whipped my head around as these words came out of Arthur's mouth. THIS was new. Every day, Arthur would order me to clean up his discarded armor and chuckle to himself all high and mighty as I was harassed by his knights; never before had the young prince ever defended my honor, but honestly, I was fed up and did not give a damn. I walked over to Arthur and took his sword and, feigning nonchalance, swayed my hips as I walked away. Unfortunately for me, my false demeanor was betrayed by the slight blush on my face as I headed to the armory.
"Wait! You there! Stop! Servant girl…"
"I have a name as you very well know your majesty." I snapped back cutting Arthur off, stunning him into silence. After standing there watching him silently gape at me openmouthed for several long, awkward minutes, I snapped, "Well, I have your orders to carry out sire so I must take my leave." Then, with one overdramatic curtsy I turned on my heel and stormed away.
"Wait, come on now, don't be like that, I'm sorry ok? If it's about the way the guys act I can stop that with no problem. I mean, I know what they say is out of line and all. I just want things to be back to the way they were between us. We were the best of friends and I don't know what happened and now everything is just so different! I miss sneaking out to go hunting and swimming in the creak, then thinking we were so secretive when we snuck back into the castle but in reality your mum just covered up by cleaning up our muddy footprints…." Arthur desperately tried to explain but mid sentence his voice faded out until he was just staring at me, mouth open, like a fish because he realized how what he said would affect me.
"How dare you! How DARE you talk about her like that! It's your father's fault she died in the first place. If it weren't for him and his psychotic beliefs she would still be here!" I exploded in Arthur's face. As I went on, my voice grew louder and shriller until people started to stare. Arthur, noticing this, attempted to calm me down and, due to my slight embarrassment, I quieted down as I continued. "And you know perfectly well that things can never be as they were my prince because now, instead of being the daughter of your nanny, I am just a servant girl. And you know what, even if things could be the same I would never be such good friends with someone as self-absorbed, obnoxious, and duchy as the person you've become. Now I really must go take care of my duties so I'm going to take my leave your majesty." I didn't turn around again as I headed into the armory and therefore, I did not see the doleful look Arthur was giving my back nor did I hear what he whispered to himself next with the sincerity of a man desperately in love.
"Of course I know your name, Elizabeth."
Knock! Knock! "Enter." With that, I opened the door to the last place on earth I wanted to be right now but I could not stall any longer. I had polished Arthur's sword, shield, helmet, gauntlet…all of his armor for that matter…cleaned down the kitchen, and cooked Arthur's meal already so there was no avoiding the inevitable. The Prince had ordered me to bring him a hot meal, so I had to sooner or later and I figured that the sooner I got this over with, the sooner I could leave.
"Here's your meal your royal highness," I spoke woodenly, with my head down trying halfheartedly to conceal the fact that my eyes were red and swollen from crying as a result of my previous encounter with the prince that day. If I had really wanted to, I could have used magic to make my eyes appear normal and bright. However, I didn't have the energy, nor the will to do any such thing and hey, if Arthur felt even a little bit of guilt or remorse for his previous actions I would see a glimpse of my old friend, the one who actually gave a damn about me, and honestly all I wanted was to have that friend back; but I'd given up the hope of that long ago.
At first Arthur didn't notice anything because my bangs were concealing my eyes quite successfully, and he didn't look up at me at first anyway. After a few moments of me not making some type of saucy remark however, he looked up at me and gasped.
"Elizabeth! Are you all right? Oh how stupid of me, of course you're not all right, you've been crying." Arthur ranted and fretted over the state I was in and for a moment I actually considered the fact that he could have human emotions. But as soon as his hand 'accidentally' grazed my chest, I changed my mind.
"Oh like you care to heartless pig!" I snarled saucily.
"You know what, I don't care about you, you disrespectful, shrill, annoying whore." he retorted simply and coolly. So much for thinking he could actually have some human emotions.
Without another word I stormed out of the prince's chambers and ran down the corridor, tears blurring my vision until I finally sank down against the wall. I waited until the sobs racking my body ceased and took several shaky breaths to calm myself down a bit. When I finally felt able to stand, let alone walk, I stood up, steadied myself, and made my way back to my chambers. As I reached my door I was stopped by the voice of my friendly old neighbor.
"Elizabeth dear, whatever is wrong? Would you like to come inside and talk about what is troubling you over a nice hot cup of tea?" the kind man asked.
"Oh Gaius, that would be wonderful. Are you sure I'm not being a bother?" I replied not being able to refuse the old physician who was my dear friend and teacher when he was being so kind to me. After reassuring me he only wished to help me because he hated seeing me upset, we went into Gaius' house and I sat at the table as he busied himself in making the tea.
"So young one, tell me of your troubles and I will assist you the best that I can." Gaius told me,
and so I did. I explained everything to Gaius in that one afternoon. My story started with the things
Gaius already knew, like how Arthur and I had been the best of friends, inseparable, as young children
who would sneak out of Camelot to go hunting and then go swimming in the creek. I told him all
about how when my mother died, I was forced to work as a servant girl for the royal family and after
that Arthur treated me like I had the plague. He would never speak kindly to me, he would avoid me
altogether most days and if he ever did find the need to address me, he would call me servant girl
instead of using my name. I explained how much the fact that it had been years since I'd heard Arthur
say even my name upset me. The story ended with Arthur's outburst at me today (at which point began
to cry again and it took Gaius several minutes to calm me) and finally, my running and crying until I
eventually ended up back home.
"Elizabeth, I will admit that young Prince Arthur is in the wrong here, however you must give the boy a break. He was raised to treat royalty properly and servants as below him. King Uther has taught him to believe he is always right and never in the wrong. Now I know for a fact that Arthur was appalled at his father when Uther sentenced your mother to death for the use of magic. Remember that your mother was the closest thing Arthur ever had to a mother because his mother died giving birth to him. He loves you both even if he doesn't know the proper way to show it. And even if he never figures out how to properly show you, it is his loss my dear. You are an absolutely wonderful, stunning young woman and Arthur is the one who has lost the most because to tell you the truth, you were the best thing to ever happen to that boy."
"Gaius, you are really a wonderful person. Thank you for everything; you've really made me feel a million times better. Well, I must be going now, they'll be missing me in the kitchen with the preparations for dinner, not to mention the feast taking place in a few days. Gwen will surely murder me if I do not return soon. I'll see you later." I said slightly more cheerful as I hopped off my chair, fixed the redness and puffiness of my eyes with some simple magic, and raced back to the castle's kitchens. I may not have been too thrilled with Arthur, and I was still waiting for a pretty damn good apology before I even considered forgiving him, but I was not letting him keep me from enjoying my time with the people around me who actually cared for me.
And I was in for the most wonderful surprise the next day when the visitor Gaius had been raving about for weeks arrived. The boy would definitely take my mind off of that prick Arthur, however not in the way most people expected him to.