Okay! I'm finally done with my choir tour so I am free to write again! This chapter is a little longer to make up for the separation in chapters. I pray you still like me even though I'm a slow uploader irl.
A shiver brought Alexandra out of her frightening dream and back to the world of the living. She shook from the cold and the images that now stained her mind. Her dream was no work of fiction; no child's fable or parable. Since she was young she had heard stories about what those beasts could do and now she wondered how many of those stories were truth. She also wondered how many of those "beasts" were also human on the inside. The image of Francis's skin tearing as his body was reformed into the large half wolf half human creature seared itself into her eyes.
All that she could do to stop the pictures from coming was to open her eyes into the morning. The sun was barely up so the night chill was still about the place. The windows, although closed, let out any heat that was created in the night and the blanket that Alexandra clutched in her hands was the only thing keeping her from freezing. Her eyes raked the room for Elizabeth until finally finding her curled up in a ball on the ground. She let a small smile roll across her face before embracing the cold of the room. She pulled Elizabeth by the arms up onto the bed and slid her legs under the covers. Her face was pale and her skin warm. Alexandra shook her head before walking over to the dresser to her right. She assumed that Elizabeth had packed everything away last night before taking her place on the floor and that Gaius never got that second visit. The door to the wardrobe opened and closed with a long creak as Alexandra pulled out her least confusing dress. Seeing as though she couldn't bring herself to wake Elizabeth, Alexandra couldn't acquire her help to dress. She slid the dark blue silk over her head and pulled the belt tight around her waist. The lacings up the sleeves where too complicated for her so she simply rolled them up to her elbows. Luckily the fashion in Camelot was for more advanced than Lerasia and her bare arms would not be seen as risqué.
After leaving the simplest note possible on the bedside table for Elizabeth, she slipped on her dark blue slippers and made her way into the hall. It took her a few tries to realize that the staff at the castle was instructed not to bother her. No one said a word to her and when she would try to ask for directions to Gaius's study, they would scurry away before she could get a word out. The last thing that she wanted to do was bother prince Arthur, but with her being incapable of standing up straight last night, she was unable to get a good feel for the directions that she was walking/being dragged.
She knocked as quietly as possible on the door before pulling it open a bit. She poked her head in, realizing that what she was doing was most un-lady like but extremely necessary. The bed to the left of the door was made and the table half cleared from this morning's breakfast. There were a few shirts in a pile next to the door that obviously needed to be cleaned, along with an especially stinky pair of socks. A light shuffling came from the back area of the room and Alexandra quickly pulled her face out of the door way and closed the door. Knowing now that the prince was awake, she knocked loudly on the door and waited for a reply. There was a barely audible response followed by a few quick steps before the door was pulled open to reveal the prince's man servant, Merlin, with a polishing rag in hand.
"Lady Alexandra," he said hesitantly before stepping out into the hall to join her. He threw the rag into the room and closed the door behind him. "Prince Arthur is practicing with the knights right now and won't be back for quite some time." He explained to a slightly fidgety Alexandra. She nodded along with his words and continued to smile while unknowingly twisting her fingers together repeatedly. He looked down at her hands and she stopped herself.
"I was looking for Prince Arthur," she said trailing off at the end before looking up at Merlin with what looked like hope in her eyes. "But I do wonder if I could borrow you for a second." She said more as a question, which Merlin was not accustomed to. Arthur wasn't really the asking type. He looked down at the girl in a surprisingly simple dress and wondered what in the world she could mean by borrowing him. Did she need him to clean or fetch something for her? Did she not have her own servant? He thought remembering the woman from the night before.
"Of course, my lady." He replied professionally. "What can I help you with? Do you need something done?" Her smile widened as she looked up to him.
"Oh, really Merlin? Why thank you!" her sleeve had been falling down her arm for some time now and she finally pulled it back up to her elbow before continuing. "You see, Elizabeth slept on my floor last night because she didn't know where else to go and when I found her there this morning she had a slight chill. I put her in the bed, but I can't seem to be able to find someone to tell me where Gaius's study is. I would really like some medicine for her but I need help getting it. Do you think you could take me there?" she spat out quite quickly, obviously concerned for her servant. Merlin took a second to recognize what she was asking but nodded in agreement.
"Of course I can." He said kindly. Alexandra looked up at him in glee before hurrying to his side. Merlin shook off the weird feeling of status equality before starting off towards Gaius's study.
So there's the 9th chapter. Please tell me if I've messed anything up or if you have any suggestions/comments/concerns. Reviews keep me writing. No matter how much I say it, its still true. I appreciate the support I've gotten so far. Really.