Dark Lake
Chapter 1
He liked his pillows full and perfectly placed in the center of his four poster bed. His red, silk covers with the proud head of a lion on it had to be perfectly smoothed out over the bright, white bed linen. Beatrix had to remember this as she cleaned the young prince's room. She had just finished smoothing out the covers with her hands when the door creaked open behind her. She turned around so quickly that a bunch of her thick, chocolate brown hair fell over the left side of her face, she quickly pinned the hair back behind her ear. The golden haired boy stood leaning against the door frame, smiling. He stepped forward till his face was an inch away from Beatrix's. His cool breath on her face made her shiver and his rough hands on her gave her Gosse bumps. "Hello Beatrix you're looking rather fine today, as usual", Prince Arthur whispered, his voice sounding like velvet.
"Stop it", Beatrix smiled. She placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away from her. She turned around quickly to avoid Arthur seeing her cheeks turn the lightest shade of pink. Beatrix picked up the steel bucket and sponge that was standing on the cobblestone floor next to the bed, knelt down on the floor and started scrubbing. Her fingers were already aching from the hours she had spent cleaning the prince's bedroom. She would have never taken the job as a maiden in the royal castle if she had known the prince's bed room was so vast. In the center of the room, opposite the door, stood the four poster bed, to the left of the door was the prince's armor and wardrobe, the armor, which thanks to her, was now sparkling clean. On the right side of the door stood a long dark, wooden table with a wine, red table on top, a glass window surrounded with velvet curtains let light flow in, giving the room a light feeling. There was a thud and Beatrix turned around to see the prince lying in the middle of his bed, arms behind his head and a wide grin spread across his face. Beatrix rolled her sea green eyes. She stood up and threw the wet sponge at him. A look of appall crossed Arthurs face as he looked at the wet spot on the side of his arm. Beatrix was smiling at him, her head slightly cocked to the side. Arthur had grown quite dear to hear event though she would never admit it, and even if the prince did return her feelings, they would never be allowed to do anything about them, a maiden and a prince, it was outrageous. Besides the prince was selfish and stuck up. She had once heard a story that the prince had ordered a servant killed because there had been a fly on his food. Absurd, he may be selfish but he would never kill anyone that was innocent, he wasn't like his father King Uther. Uther was a stern, grey haired man that had been bitter ever since Arthur's dear mother had been killed by magic. That was why Uther hated everything that had the littlest piece of magic in it. Beatrix had seen many great sorcerers and witches hung or behead, and it was a daily thing in Camelot. Arthur had gotten up from his pose on the now crumpled bed and was now moving towards Beatrix with the steel bucket in his hand. Beatrix moved backwards but backed against the table. She yelped as Arthur was now standing in front of her, the bucket in his hand rising above his head. He smiled and tipped the bucket. Soapy water spilled over head and dampened her clothes. The prince was in uproar and was leaning against the table for support. Beatrix moved away from the table towards the door, being careful not to slip on the slippery cobblestone floor. Just as she turned around she lost her footing and slipped forward, the prince who had followed her towards the door, was unprepared and fell backwards as Beatrix fell into him and with a thud they were lying on the cool wet her head stopped swimming, Beatrix first noticed she was lying on top of an equally wet prince. He, of course was in an uproar, then he noticed Beatrix's grim face and his face turned somber.
"I'm sorry", he murmured, "all your hard work ruined". His hand tightened on Beatrix's waist. She just shook her head and slapped the back of her hand across his stone hard chest. Arthur moved his hand to her head and wrapped his fingers in her thick hair; with one swift move he pulled her head towards his. The next thing Beatrix was aware of was Arthur's lips crushing hers. Warmth flooded through her and a small groan escaped from her throat, she felt like the world had disappeared around her and nothing mattered except their lips now moving in sync. The only thing that tore them both out of their trance was a call. Uther's call for his son. Panic rose in Beatrix's throat, her and Arthur's lips parted and with a rough push the prince shoved her off him and on the floor. He was quick on his feet and just in the nick of time, as Uther strolled through the open door. The King stopped at the sight of the exasperated, wet maiden lying on the floor. Uther cleared his throat, expecting an explanation. Arthur shook himself and stammered out a story.
"Sorry about the mess father, the maid, she…um, she didn't make my bed the way I like it so I threw the bucket at her as a punishment", Arthur lied. As the King let out a chuckle a stone fell from Beatrix's heart and Arthur seemed to relax as well. If the King new that his only son and heir was snogging a servant of non-royal blood Beatrix would be accused of enchanting the prince and would be hung. Her friends had told her such a story once, where a maiden fell in love with a prince herself and ended up being hung.
"Well…if that's all", the king got out between snorts of laughter. He turned on his heel and shouted for Arthur to get cleaned up and meet him in ten minutes in the throneroom. Arthur had already turned around and was kneeling, concerned next to Beatrix. He reached out his hand and pulled her onto her feet. She pulled her hand away from Arthur as soon as she was standing properly; she started smoothing out her flowery, blue dress instead. For some reason she was mad that Arthur had lied about them kissing each other, this of course was absurd because she knew what would happen to her if Arthur's father new. She turned towards the door but two strong hands wrapped around her waist again and stopped her. Arthur's steady breathing alerted her that his face was right beside her, he leaned in.
"Meet me in the woods outside the village at dawn", he murmured into her ear. Beatrix closed her eyes and leaned against him. They stood there for a second just holding on to each other, slowly she nodded, unwrapped herself out of the prince's arms and left his room. She turned left into the corridor. Along the walls hung tapestries and flaming wooden torches. All of the tapestries were a beautiful wine red and on them was a proud, roaring, gold lion. The corridor always had a cold, damp feeling and a shiver ran down Beatrix's spine. She turned another sharp left and hurried down a stone spiral staircase, at the last step she jumped over it, another left and she was standing in the castle courtyard. It was busy, colorful stalls plastered the walls, chickens clucked around freely and old ladies sat sewing and telling children fairytales. Beatrix walked straight forward towards large steel gates that marked the village. The village wasn't as grand as the courtyard; it seemed to be all grey and brown. A dirty path led down to the forest, small wooden houses with green gardens and warm, yellowing glowing windows lined the path. Some of the houses had pigs strolling in their garden and some of the houses were small business like Dorian's Bakery or Marlette's Herbs. Beatrix took a right turn and ended on a strip of green grass. The same wooden houses lined the path here too. Finally she stopped at a small house with a brown white goat out the front