CHAPTER 11 : CHASING THE GOLD

Arthur smiled as the lodge came into view. It was well set up and there were sufficient beds for up to eight knights with at least four squires being accommodated in a downstairs chamber.

When it had been built, Arthur had decided that he would have a private chamber for himself and Merlin. There was room for a trundle bed if Treva stayed over. The chamber was located behind the huge hearth in the main room which was used for both heating and cooking. The field stones retained the heat and made Arthur's little space warm and cosy. Thomas had overseen the furnishings and there was a large mattress spread over two wooden bed frames.

Any bedding in the lodge was collected by servants and carried back to Camelot to be laundered and returned once the lodge was again opened. Damp ground was one thing when they were camping out but damp sheets were not welcoming and the resident wildlife could cause damage to mattresses and bedding.

Merlin had good memories of staying there. They usually were accompanied by their friends and were quite at ease. It was a pleasant alternative to staying in the castle. However, he sometimes felt overworked as besides accompanying Arthur on all his hunting excursions, he was if they did not bring a cook responsible for all meals. He sighed, anticipating the help of Simon and a couple of squires.

Arthur's accommodation also had a rudimentary water closet which he had wanted to keep secret as he had visions of Gawaine and the others tapping on the door in the middle of the night saying that it was a call of nature as they didn't want to go out in the dark or the rain, or the cold to 'find a tree'.

Merlin had laughed, assuring Arthur that he would put a sign on their door which read, 'Enter Under Penalty of Death!'

"…and you think that will keep a desperate Gawaine out?"

"Yes, if the door is also securely bolted," Merlin had said with a grin.

Gawaine and the others had respected their privacy and no one now mentioned the water closet beyond a few pointed comments from Gawaine of how chilly it had been outside last night in the wind and rain. Arthur always said, "You're a big boy now, Gawaine, quite capable of facing the harsh elements. If you would imbibe less at supper, your outside calls of nature might diminish proportionately."

The others had laughed and had frequently reminded him of this if he was left drinking when they all retired.

-0-0-

They had arrived mid afternoon and soon were settled in. Arthur decided that dusk might be a good time to venture out into the woods to get an idea of what was around. He preferred to start the hunt the following day as then the carcases after they had been field dressed by the huntsman, would be transported back to Camelot. He assured everyone that no one would go hungry as the kitchen had laid by plenty of supplies for the next few days.

Merlin had smiled, watching the two young squires committing all Arthur's words to memory. They were both in their second to last year as squires and were brothers. One a redhead called Rauri and the younger boy a blond called Finian, both names referred to their hair colours.

He was also keeping an eye on Seymour who seemed to have been swept away by the size of the lodge and the convenience of the lean to across the back of it to keep the horses out of any bad weather, which also included an enclosed area for groomsmen to sleep and prepare their own meals.

Seymour had thanked Arthur profusely for inviting him on the hunt. Arthur receiving a glare from Merlin had replied pleasantly, "You are most welcome, hopefully you will be successful."

Arthur left with Spenser and Simon and took Merlin and Finian along. They rode about a mile away and dismounted leaving the squire with the horses and set out into the woods. They were looking for obvious animal trails and tracks.

Spenser was thrilled to find some boar tracks. "Arthur, we should hunt this area tomorrow. There are plenty of tracks probably a whole family." Merlin laughed and said that Gaius was going to be happy as he had also seen rabbit tracks.

Arthur said quietly, "Aah! Merlin, remember you can't kill little bunny rabbits…!"

Merlin grinned back saying, "All I will do is set the traps and hope that what I catch will feed Gaius for two days. Mind you, he does make an excellent rabbit stew, you've tasted it."

"I have and it's delicious but I never felt that I should eat too much as he really enjoys it himself and there is only so much meat on one rabbit."

"Not to worry," said Merlin, "as many villagers can't afford to pay him in coin so he receives chickens and even rabbits instead."

Simon suddenly waved his hand and pointed, on a knoll just beyond range was an adult stag maybe a five pointer. Not a trophy stag but it would be worth hunting if they saw it the following day. Arthur's spirits rose, if this was a preview of what was around the hunt would be successful.

Maybe, they would hunt with the hounds, but he really preferred the stealth method instead of the chase and kill when exhausted. Some animals such as otter and foxes, were seldom used as food except in dire cases but used as sport. That might be fine for some of the establishments but hunting in Camelot was a serious harvest of meat and Arthur did not condone it as a sport for bored knights.

Arthur as a kid had been taken out rabbiting by a huntsman who fascinated him by keeping a ferret in his pocket which he would send in one entry of the warren and then catch the rabbits as they escaped by their back door. Once his fascination with ferrets had paled after being nipped by one, he had then been taken by the feisty little dogs which some of the huntsmen used for the same purpose.

Years later, he'd mentioned it to Merlin who had shrugged his shoulders saying, "Arthur, I don't want a ferret or a terrier, I'm quite capable of setting traps and actually very successful at it."

The groups had marked out areas which had possibilities and returned to the lodge to find out what the rest of the group had accomplished. Arthur was happy to see two braces of pheasant hanging off a tree and he told Rauri and Finian to get plucking. They'd grinned good-naturedly.

-0-0-

Following supper, they sat around describing where they had been and what they had seen. Caedrick said that he had seen huge wild boar trails about two miles to the east and asked Arthur if maybe the following day he could hunt that area. Arthur nodded.

Rook had gone south with Gawaine and had been unimpressed as they had found few large prey tracks but plenty of birds. They had brought back the pheasants.

It was however, Aislin and Seymour who were really impressed. "We saw massive tracks of a wild boar." Aislin held out his arms as far as he could. "The track of land that he has uprooted is huge. There was also the carcase of another smaller mature boar. Seems he'd met his end with the King of the Woods."

"Arthur, better watch out or he'll be challenging you for your kingdom!" Rook said as he laughed.

"Not likely! However, let's make it a challenge, how about a handful of gold to the team which takes him down. You'll work in pairs for three hours and then pass on to the next team. Everyone agreed."

All those interested in the challenge nodded. Not only would it be an honour to take down the boar but the promise of the monetary reward was also to say, mildly interesting.

Six knights were interested in the offer. Because Aislin and Seymour had found the tracks, they were given the opportunity to choose their time slot. They took dawn and the three following hours.

The other two teams tossed for their choice of hours. Spenser and Gawaine chose the late afternoon and early evening while Caedrik and Rook were allocated two to five in the afternoon, not an optimum time but they at least had a chance. Arthur decided that if the boar was not taken on day one, the afternoon team could take either the early morning or dusk slots and the other two teams could toss for their choice. He was pleased with the interest shown, each team could have two huntsmen to assist them, who would also receive bonuses if their team won.

Gawaine lifted his mug in Finian's direction and he stepped forward to fill it. "May the best men win!" he said, raising his mug and scoffing the drink.

"Now, if you gentlemen, will excuse us," Aislin said, "Seymour and I will be retiring so we can be up before the break of dawn. We will take Old 'Arry and Bill with us."

Arthur nodded saying, "Good choice!"

The others sat around the table drinking. Finally, they were ready to turn in and Merlin went to light the candle in Arthur's chamber, before returning to help the squires pack away the unused food and clean dishes.

Suddenly, he heard Arthur bellow, "Merlin!"

He went immediately and found Arthur standing outside his chamber. "Merlin, there was a rat in here, it ran out the door!" No one could see him, just hear him so he grinned at Merlin and continued loud enough for everyone even those in the upper chambers to hear, "You'll sleep in here on the floor beside the door to keep anything else from coming in…!"

"Nice move, Arthur!" Simon said quietly to Spenser. "Guess even Seymour heard that racket,"

Both Seymour and Aislin had heard the racket so the latter said, "Poor Merlin, I'd rather be curled up in front of the fire with the squires than acting as a draft and rat stopper in Arthur's chamber." He tucked his head into his blanket and smiled to himself.

"Arthur can't be afraid of rats, can he?"

"No, he's not!" Aislin said, "Just that once during a siege we were low on meat, Merlin had made the king a rat stew and tried to pass it off as chicken," he laughed. "It backfired as Arthur made Merlin eat it instead. If I remember rightly the siege was broken within two days and we were back to our usual supply of food."

Downstairs, Merlin nodding at the other knights shrugged his shoulders and grabbing his bedroll traipsed off to the chamber behind the hearth. He looked at Arthur sitting on the bed and said, "Very clever! Hopefully, I will be doing more tonight than protecting you from rats."

Arthur smiled lazily and said, "Hopefully!"

-0-0-

Everyone was up early, Aislin and Seymour leaving to find the boar whose tracks they had seen the previous day. They scoured the area carefully and saw where boars had be rooting but did not see anything more than tracks. They came upon three immature boar and Bill managed to get one with an excellent shot with his cross bow, dropping it dead in its tracks.

'Arry and he dragged it closer to the main trail and field dressed it leaving it hanging in a tree. Later in the day it would be picked up and placed on a packhorse.

"Maybe he was just passing through," Seymour suggested but Aislin shook his head with his expertise he felt sure that the boar was around somewhere.

The sun was reaching its zenith and they called off their hunt returning to the lodge to allow Rook and Caedrik to have their chance at the boar and the gold. They also returned empty handed but had to acknowledge that their time of day had not been the best for hunting as most of the animals were resting. They had however found its tracks and shared the knowledge with Spenser and Gawaine who had the late afternoon to dusk slot.

Meanwhile Arthur and his group had done quite well, by mid afternoon they had two stags and a mature doe. Simon also got a young boar and Arthur decided that they would call it a day. The two huntsman with them field dressed their kills as Merlin took Finian and cut across the forest to the lodge to notify grooms to take two packhorses out to Arthur.

As Merlin made his way back to Arthur, his eye caught movement to his right, he grabbed Finian and put his hand over his mouth and turned him to face in that direction and pointed. There on the edge of a gully was a massive boar. Merlin dropped his hand from the squire's mouth and the boy's eyes were almost popping out of his head. He turned in amazement and looked at Merlin who nodded.

Merlin whispered, "Let's keep it to ourselves, I think it is possibly the same boar that was seen by Aislin. We don't know how wide its territory is. Something has probably disturbed it as it should be sleeping at this time. Best time to hunt them is before dawn or after dusk as they feed at night. Caedrik and Rook wouldn't have a chance to get him as it is the wrong time of the day but maybe the others will be lucky."

Finian looked at Merlin in awe. He was so knowledgeable and he enjoyed being with him. All the squires liked the king's manservant and were happy to help him whenever they could.

Merlin searched for the trail and found it. He spotted one misshapen yew tree and he also left specifically placed rocks which tomorrow he should be able to find. Arthur and the others had ridden back to the lodge leaving Merlin and Finian's horses with the huntsmen. They waited until the huntsmen and grooms had loaded the carcases and then left for the lodge with the huntsmen leaving the packhorses to come along later at their own speed. They might be slow but they were strong and could each carry two fair-sized deer.

As they approached the lodge, Merlin smiled at Finian and reminded him of their secret.