Hi. Quite a bit of action and a lot or trouble in this chapter. Bet you can guess by the title what this chapter is about
Enjoy.
Uther had been sitting in the Tavern for ten minutes. People hadn't said anything about him being King. Merlin had dealt with his clothes well. He had taken away Uther's jewellery, as Merlin had called it, roughed his boots to make them look old, washed his trousers in mud then washed them poorly in the lake and somehow dyed his top grey. He had even roughed up his leather and even taken away his leather gloves. He looked a right mess. A right peasant.
Just then, Merlin entered the Tavern. He spotted Uther and walked over.
Merlin studied the Tavern. It was coloured dark brown with only two windows so most of the room was lit with candles. There were a number of tables with a range of different people on them. Merlin never really liked drinking, but it was all right at times.
Moreover, this was one of those times.
"How much money did you get for my gloves and the fish?"
"About ten gold coins," he replied as he sat down.
"What?" Uther said in disbelief. Merlin sighed. Uther hadn't had much experience in the world of the peasants.
"Sire, that's a good price for a pair of gloves and four fish round here. It was the highest I could go." Merlin insisted as the Tavern owner came over. Uther sighed. The boy hadn't had much experience in selling goods.
The Tavern owner walked over. She was big and round with spots all over her face. She had big lips and Merlin was sure she didn't get kissed much. This and using the word 'ugly' to describe her would mean he was being far too kind.
"What you want?" she asked in a deep tone. Merlin and Uther had to blink a few times in slight shock of how deep her voice was. After they had recovered Uther put his hand up to tell Merlin to be quiet and let him do the talking.
"We would like a glass of red wine and... Whatever for the boy." Merlin put his head in his hands and shook his head. Posh drinks in a Tavern? No, no and no. Merlin couldn't believe Uther had asked that, he just couldn't. Uther must have been young once and sneaked out to go to the Tavern. However, Merlin was sure he hadn't.
"We only serve mead," said the Tavern owner. Uther didn't look to happy and Merlin spoke quickly.
"We would like two meads for me and my friend here please." Merlin mumbled his words as he spoke. The woman nodded and walked off to go get their drinks. Merlin watched her go and sighed in relief. He turned back to face Uther. Uther grabbed Merlin by the collar of his shirt and yanked him across the table.
"Listen boy, I am not your friend, got it?" Merlin nodded, his face turning red from a lack of air.
"Well you two look like you're good friends," came a voice from across the room. Merlin and Uther looked to where the voice had come from, their heads turning slowly. "Looks more like enemies," carried on the voice. It was a man. He was quite big and had a load of muscle on him. He was also bald and looked like he had a broken nose. He wore rough brown clothes and big boots. Merlin guessed that the man and his many, big, scary friends were all drunk. Merlin had an odd felling that he wasn't going to get his mead.
"We're fine thanks," Uther said. The man stood up and walked over. He grabbed Merlin's collar, lifted him up with ease and placed him behind him. He placed his hands on the table and leaned in close.
"Have I seen you before?" Merlin's face filled with panic. He knew Uther or at least the fact that he was King. Merlin thought fast. Racking his brain for anything.
"You can't of... W-We're from the mountains." Uther raised an eyebrow just like Arthur would. However, the man did not buy it.
"What ya names?" he asked, Merlin smelling the alcohol on his breath. Merlin thought fast. He thought faster than he had event thought before. He thought so fast, his head hurt afterwards.
"I'm Raven and this is... Usher," said Merlin. Uther slapped his forehead. Merlin felt like doing the same, but his head hurt from thinking too fast. The man raised an eyebrow and started to laugh. His friends then started to laugh too. Uther didn't like being laughed at.
"What's so funny about that?" he jumped up. "You're drunk and you're laughing at us? You really need to learn your place." Uther spat at the man. His friends had stopped laughing and were now standing. Merlin looked around knowing what was going to happen.
Suddenly, the man punched Uther across the table with a left hook. His friends jumped up and Merlin dodged out of the way, as they threw themselves at him. Before Merlin knew it, the whole of the Tavern had jumped up and become one giant fight. It was kind of typical of a bunch of drunken people to do so. Merlin looked around to see Uther dealing with the man and two of his friends. He looked like he was doing okay so Merlin thought about saving his own skin for the moment as a man ran at him with a knife. Merlin stepped to the right, grabbed the man and threw him over a table. Merlin was quite impressed with himself for doing that. Somewhat proves that he isn't that useless. Merlin jumped to the side again and tripped a man over with his foot, sending him flying into a chair. Merlin looked around for Uther, but he had disappeared. Merlin looked to his left then to his right. Men ran at him from every direction.
Meanwhile, Uther, wasn't having such a great time. He had ended up on the other side of the Tavern, being thrown over table after table. The man and two of his friends were having a good time beating him in. The threw him over yet another table. Uther crashed to the floor on the other side of it. A pain reached through his shoulder that Uther could not ignore. However, Uther had to admit that he had taken worse hits in his life. Uther also had to admit that he was getting sick and tired of being thrown over tables by a bunch of drunk, idiotic peasants that were rightfully below him. Uther stood up, only to find his face meeting someone's fist. He flew into the wall, but did not fall down. He looked at the man and his friends and decided that enough was enough. The man nodded to his two friends to finish him. One walked over to Uther, but didn't get a chance to hit first. Uther swung his fist in the man's face, sending him flying into the other man. Uther quickly pulled a sword from one of the men's belts. The man that had started the fight drew his sword. Uther wasn't going to lose this fight.
However, Merlin was losing his fight. He lay on the floor with three men sitting on top of him. They sat there laughing and swigging back their mead. Merlin fought to get back up, but he knew that it wasn't going to happen. Merlin looked around and saw people fighting one another all over the place. Merlin looked around thinking of a way to get them off of him. Suddenly, two men crashed to the floor, one of them dropping his sword. It skidded across the floor towards Merlin and stopped right in front of him. Now that was very handy and very lucky, Merlin thought. He grabbed the sword and poked one of the men's chubby legs with it. He jumped up, somehow making the other two do the same. Merlin took his chance and ran off, looking for Uther. Merlin didn't bother looking back. Merlin stopped for a moment and looked for Uther. He looked to his right to see Uther and the man that started all this mess sword fighting. The man tried to strike Uther down, but Uther blocked it. Uther then tried to give the man a blow to the head, but ended up being rammed into the wall. Uther kicked the man away. Merlin guessed that Uther could do with a secret hand. Merlin stretched out his hand and whispered under his breath. Suddenly, a candle stand fell to the floor. It rolled quite quickly towards the man and his trouser leg caught alight. The man was quickly distracted by the flames that were working up his leg and burning his skin. Uther hit the man with the other end of the sword, knocking him out. Merlin chose this time to make an escape.
Merlin ran forward and pushed Uther to the side, making him move. They ran for the door. Merlin noticed that a few of the man's friends had noticed them and decided to run after them. Merlin pushed Uther through the door, making him run quicker. You would have thought that Merlin would be used to running away from fights and being chased after working as Arthur's servant... yah, well you're wrong.
They ran out of the Tavern, men running after them from behind. Uther ran ahead of Merlin, sword in hand. They ran past market stands and stores and barged their way through people. Merlin threw a couple of barrels of mead rolling towards them men. Since they were all drunk, they fell over them easier than it was to actually jump over them. Merlin smiled for a moment then ran on after Uther. They ran into the woods and didn't stop.
After about twenty minutes of running, they stopped, gasping for breath.
"I feel like Gwaine," Merlin said. "Starting fights in a Tavern," he shook his head. "Something he'd do. I felt just like him now. Just like Gwaine." Uther stood up straight and raised an eyebrow.
"Usher? Is that seriously all you could think of?"
"Well..." Uther shook his head. He turned and started to walk off. Merlin sighed. He stood up straight and started to walk off after him.
They walked in silence. Well, it only lasted a minute.
"Are we nearly there yet?" Merlin called after Uther.
"No," replied the King. Another minute passed.
"How about now?"
"No."
"How long until we get there?"
"Merlin, how long is a piece of string?"
"I don't know."
"Well done, you answered your own question. Now stop asking if we are nearly there." Merlin nodded and carried on walking, trying to keep up with the fast walking King. Two minutes passed.
"Are we nearly there yet?"
Well? Good? Bad? Other?
Review please.
