The Once and Future King

Part II: The Noble Knight So Fair

Chapter 1


This is the first so-called Drabble form story. They'll be some summarized parts in bold and others in proper prose. It's still in parts, but there'd be fewer and shorter parts to the condensation.


So our tale begins roughly three weeks after the first arc. As a grumpy Jack goes out into the woods to collect herbs, he is attacked by a fearsome beast as black as a shadow. Gruesome creature this be, the light reveals it to be a giant BEAR, snapping and snarling. This, in a matter of fact, is the same giant bear that happened to have been terrorizing the villages in Berk Country, bringing unnecessary and painful deaths. Whilst the council is busy listening to villagers complain of about this, Jack is busy running for his life and eventually gets mauled to death.

THE END.

Kidding, okay.

So, Jack has not yet been mauled to death, but he's still running and is trying furiously to use magic to save him (to little avail) while furious beast is hot in pursuit. Just as it seems that all hope is lost, an arrow appears out of nowhere and smacks straight into the beast's left eye. The creature howls in pain, as another arrow strikes its back, only to fly off without so much as a scratch. Jack turns and he catches sight of a hooded archer, bow drawn out and arrow in hand. Another flies, but the beast snaps that into half. The archer whips out a sword and slashes the beast, before grabbing onto the flabbergasted Jack and yanking him away. They flee and somehow lose the beast. The warrior and Jack shake hands, with the former introducing himself as Hamish of Dunbroch. Jack introduces himself, but Hamish isn't really paying attention because he attained a bad wound during the battle (somehow). And that's where Jack drags him to Court Physician and…

"Tooth!"

The scolding about to slip off her tongue was abruptly swallowed when she saw what – or perhaps, who - her scrawny apprentice held under his arm. The boy was anxious, helpless even, and she was reminded again that he was still a boy.

"Lay him over here," she instructed, gesturing towards the empty table on the side of the room. Jack helped his companion – whoever he was – hobble towards the examination stand, though the hooded fellow still muttered complaints about 'not needing help'. The brown stain on his tunic however said otherwise. Tooth kept herself busy by gathering the necessary equipment – wine, strips of gauze, cleaning salves and various ointments that might be necessary.

"Really, I don't nee-" The hooded one, who had revealed himself to have quite a mane of brilliant red curls once the hood was drawn back, hissed violently as Jack lowered him onto the wooden surface.

"Look, I really appreciate that you saved my life and everything, but this would be a lot easier if you didn't-"while removing his arm from that of his companion, Jack accidentally jostled him in the ribs, causing the redhead to start cursing in colorful brogue "-resist."

Tooth nudged her fumbling apprentice aside, arranging all the equipment on the work table.

"So, who's this?" she asked the white-haired lad.

"Oh." The boy cleared his throat, gesturing the redead. "Tooth, may I present his lordship, Hamish of Dunbroch, son of the Duke of Dunbroch. Your 'lordship-piness', my master, Toothiana."

Lord Hamish gave her a weak nod, before dropping back down onto the table, groaning.

Jack just went on casually, "Lord Hamish here just saved from this big monstrous bear in the woods. It was-" he stretched arms straight out to their full length "-this long."

Just as he finished his piece, the redheaded lord demanded, "Where's my bow? And the quiver? My arrows?"

"Oh." Jack jerked his head back, glancing at the weapons Tooth had just realized were strewn on the wooden boards. "I threw it on the floor."

"Ye wh't!" The warrior tried to sit up, only to tumble back and groan. Tooth pinned him down straight before he could rise again, methodically cutting up the slashed tunic with a knife in hand. It wasn't standard practice, but the young lord's clothes were already damaged and he was wearing far too many straps to remove it the normal way. The wound seemed to be on the lower right of his torso, and indeed the brown rips on it seemed to indicate so.

"Please hold still," she told the struggling the redhead, who tried to grapple at her arms. "Jack, pin him."

After about two weeks of having to this with the physician, Jack had somehow managed to stop fainting at the sight of blood and actually to be of some help. With the fiercely controlled action as not to hurt the patient, he wrestled with the young lord as Tooth attempted to find the source of the wound.

"I don't need any-"

"Relax, won't you? We're trying to hel-"

"Should'a-" hiss "-let ye-" sharp inhale "-git eaten."

"Somehow, I'm feeling a tad less grateful now."

Tooth ignored the tussle between the teenagers, methodically removed strip after crimson strip of the cloth. It was only after she hit the last layer that she realized something was amiss.

"Tooth?"

She didn't answer Jack's query at once, peering closing at the bloodied cloth stuck to the skin. She glanced up at the young warrior, who seemed to have turned pale yet certainly not from blood lost. The bright blue eyes met Tooth's violet ones, knowing full well what she knew.

Finally, Tooth spoke, "Just hand me the gauze, Jack, and you're done for today."

The boy was aghast at this new instruction. "But I just got here!" His eyes flickered to his redheaded apparent savior, whose own gaze still rested on the physician.

Tooth didn't waver from her stance. "While you were gone, Prince Hiccup asked for you. You're his servant first and my apprentice second. Now, go on."

"Didn't choose to be." The boy grumbled.

"The gauze, Jack."

With a heavy sigh, the boy handed her the strips of cloths, giving his new sort found friend one last look. "I'll be back later."

All the redhead returned him was a grunt, but as Jack prepared to leave the room, the wounded fellow called out, "Jack?"

The boy glanced at him in response.

"Thank you."

Jack beamed, before closing the door after him.

Deciding that her apprentice was now out of earshot, Tooth turned back to her patient, eyes focused on the wound itself but thoughts clearly on another matter. "So, young lady, mind telling me why you're dressed up like that?"


Despite the harrowing events that led to its incineration, it hadn't been long before the royal smithy of Berk was restored to its original shine and structure. In a matter of fact, the new ground plan had permitted it expansion in space, giving way for another furnace and a larger study for the blue-blooded apprentice - despite his supposed involvement in the destruction of the first smithy. The forge was completed in under a week thanks to the community pulling their weight and the one-handed, one-legged royal Blacksmith had been said to have broken out in happy tears and well-meant but monstrous yodelling that was presumed to be song.

Indeed, it was good nature bawling that Jack was greeted with as he stepped towards the smith. Fresh slabs of slate had been plastered over the burnt walls, and the parts that had been collapsed had been refitted with new blocks. The place, with its smell, sight and sounds, had become very familiar to Jack, given how often he had to come here.

"Ah, good morrow to ye, young Jack!" the smith greeted, interrupting his own 'singing'. The hook-handed man was pounding away on the blade of a battle axe. To the artists eye, it was no beauty, but to a viking, it was gorgeous. Who cared if it looked like a chunk of harden mud slapped on a stick? The Viking-like Berkians were used to ugliness and their primary concern was with utility.

"Good morrow to you too, Master Gobber." Jack made a flamboyant bow that set the smith cackling, all in accordance to the beat of his hammer.

"His 'ighness has been waitin' in his study about ye for the last 'our," the hook-handed man told the lad as he stuck the tasteless weapon back into the furnace. In a lower tone, he added, "He's not in a good mood."

"When's he ever?" Jack muttered with a roll of his eye. As loyal as the smith was to the House of Haddock, he wasn't a stuck-up like that Asterlundian ass of Sir Bunnymund. Gobber believed that frank criticisms were the best contributions any citizen to his lord, though good-humor always had to injected.

"Now, that's no attitude to take to work, laddie." Gobber clucked his tongue cheerfully. "We must all remember that ultimately we're supposed to slave away our lives till we're feeble and grey." He pondered a moment. "That, or get eaten by dragons."

"One hundred and one lovely thoughts to get through the morning," Jack replied in sardonic amusement as he pushed the wooden study door open. It had only been a week since the rebuilding, but the prince had somehow managed to already clutter his new workspace with parchments, books and diagrams. Many of the scrolls appeared to have stolen straight out of the library – Jack knew that 'stole' was indeed the accurate term, for Sir Fishlegs had been complaining of such. Due to the prince's injury during the fire, writing had been impossible, but thanks to the new manservant that had entered the royal service, dictation had become his highness' primary occupation.

"You're late." The brunette boy was hunched over his newly-fitted desk, flipping idly through a thick volume. Jack had heard that he was usually in the habit of scribbling about this design and that device, but the cast on his arm had forbidden him from doing much else alone.

"Well, sire, I was helping Tooth find herbs," Jack answered, the sourness in his tone hidden behind false grin. "You know, so that you can, well, write your own things again…" This was said in a lower voice.

"Hey, I don't like this anymore than you do, so quit acting like you're the victim." Hiccup – ahem, Prince Hiccup, son of Stoick the Vast, heir to the sovereign land of Berk and her waters (may they all rest in peace come the time of his reign, huzzah, huzzah) – didn't have the curtesy to pretend that he didn't hear Jack. With a huff, he slammed 'Dangerous Beasts and Other Creatures' shut, pushing it to the left of the table with his right hand. Looking at the white-haired servant, he crooked a brow. "Didn't you bring a chair?"

Jack made an expression of exaggerated incredulity. "Does it look like I can fit a chair in my pocket?"

"That's not what -" Hiccup broke off when he realized Jack wasn't being serious. "Just grab a stool from outside, won't you?"

Deciding not to prod another pressure point, Jack did obtain a stool from the smithy before returning to the study. His seat was stuck next to that of the prince's. Without asking, Jack removed a clean sheet of parchment from the drawer, sharpened the charcoal pencil with a knife and brought out the strange box of flat wooden instruments. These were all laid out on the study table, as they were every day when Jack reported for service.

No comments from the prince meant that preparation were sufficient, so Jack sat himself down on the stool, grabbing the pencil. "So," he asked the prince, "what shall we be doing today, sire?"

And the next word told Jack how miserable the rest of his day would be - "Diagrams."

~~~0~~~

"I'm dying."

"Stop being so dramatic."

"But it hurts."

"It's just a cramp, Jack. Now, stretch it out, then clench it back. Do it over and over."

By the time he could retreat back to the safety of the home, our manservant had been severely humbled the power of the pen - or in this case, the charcoal pencil. Prince Hiccup was not necessarily cruel, but he was capable of holding grudges. Add that with his obsession with his work, Jack had truly suffered. Conceptually, he understood that the prince wanted to pen down whatever he remembered of his 'Grand Plans' – those 'oh-so-important-that-I'm-going-to-dash-into-flames' notes were burnt in the forge. Unfortunately, much of the Grand Plans consisted of pictures – no, diagrams: all drawn to scale, with exact angles and mechanism in each part. Jack was fortunate to have learnt how to read and write despite his lowly background, but in no way was he an artist. Thus, hour after hour passed with Hiccup insisting he redraw this gear or re-angle that rope until the appearance satisfied him, and so the palms and fingers of the newly appointed manservant suffered. The prince didn't even notice that lunch time had come and gone, or that dinner had too, and Jack had no doubt that they'd have stayed in that study for the rest of the night if Gobber hadn't chased them out (or perhaps just chase Hiccup out – Jack ran out screaming like a man possessed.)

Though Tooth perceived the distress of her apprentice, she didn't coddle him. Following her recommendation of hand exercises, she dropped a bowl of gruel in front of him. Needing to fill his stomach, he eventually did seize his complaints, sat down and ate. Eating however did give him time to recall other things of that he should have remembered.

"Where's Lord Hamish?" was asked with his mouth full. Tooth chided him.

It happened that this inquiry was time with his bedroom door creaking open, so the young lad turned his head towards it. Out stepped a young woman, draped in a robe. Her hair was as red as fire and her eyes as blue as sapphires. Taking the steps towards the common room, she let out a hiss as she pressed an arm to her side.

Staring at her as she hobbled towards them, Jack furtively leaned closer to his master, demanding in softer voice, "Why was there a girl in my room?"

"How are you feeling, dear?" Tooth ignored him to ask their guest.

"Terrible." The girl did looked awfully familiar and her voice sounded so too, carefully lowering herself on a chair at the dining table. Her hand didn't leave her ribs. "I feel as if I've been dragged apart by horses." She turned her gaze towards him, an expectant visage scribbled on his face. He frowned back, not quite understanding.

"Well, both of you are certainly well enough to complaint," Tooth noted dryly as she rose from her seat. "I'll get you something to eat."

After Tooth left the dining table, Jack found that the redheaded girl was staring at him again, as if waiting to say something. Feeling deeply uncomfortable, he scooped up another spoonful of the watery grains and put it in his mouth, eyes fixed on the bowl as if it were talking to him. When he sneaked a glance up at the girl again, he noticed a few things about her. For one, she wasn't that old – heck, she looked younger than him. The robe she wore obviously didn't belong to her, and noting the design, Jack confirmed that the article belonged to Tooth. And now staring had been promoted to glaring.

Unable to take it any longer, he demanded, "Well, what?"

The girl's annoyance was apparent in her tone. "Aren't you going to ask me anything?"

"Like what?"

"Well,-" she made a wild gesture "-you could for ask my name?"

"Fine!" He dropped his spoon, letting it 'plop' defiantly in gruel. "What's your name?"

"Merida."

He pulled a face. "That's a weird name."

"Well, at least it isn't common like Jack," she retorted, folding her arms.

"Wait." Jack was puzzled. "I didn't tell you my name."

The girl contradicted him outright. "You told me in the forest."

"What forest?"

"You know,-" this Merida seemed to be a very agitated character. Her voice rose every second "-the one outside Berk? Where we ran away from this big, scary bear?"

"We did?"

"We most certainly did."

Jack stared at her for a good long while, before admitting, "I don't get it."

She gave him a quick look over, narrowing her eyes. Finally, she said critically, "You're not very bright, are you?"


S/N:

Based on the episode 'Lancelot' from Series One of Merlin.

So after screening many possible candidates, it has come to pass that Lancelot is…Merida.

TADA.

Why?

Coz' I've got the others filling up other spots and she's the easiest to tie in here.

I don't do slash. I also don't do not canonical ships – unless it's for plot.

Up Next: Another chapter of unpredictable size.


A/N:

So this is the first part of the drabble set. It's short, because unfortunately here's a good place for me to break off. The next one should be longer.

So basically, you might be able to tell that I can keep NOTHING in a succinct and self-contained chapter, thus each arc – even in 'drabble' – would be in parts. The difference between novelized writing and 'drabbles' is that in drabbles, I would skip some parts and just explain them in summarized form. Summarized stuff would usually be things that I don't like writing, like action scenes, or filler scenes (like when so and so goes and steals something with no important dialogue). If I think it's important enough though (even an action scene), I'll write it out.

I'd like to hear about your thought about this structure – like whether it's still read-eable and whether you mind, or maybe ways to improve it.