Author's Note: This is late and crappy and short and I have excuses but I shalln't bore you with them. Chapter is dedicated to Caitlyn, because I saw her for the last time until November today.
Chapter Five
Arthur had to admit, picking out ingredients was not exactly the worst possible way to spend his day. He wasn't an idiot and finding what Gaius had written down was quite simple.
However the small detail of having the appearance of being a scrawny manservant was definitely putting a damper on his activities.
Of course he would never confess to finding shopping for the court physician slightly relaxing, because Arthur Pendragon enjoys killing harmless animals, and beating the shit out of his comrades. But he did have to acknowledge that maybe it was less distasteful than he anticipated.
That was of course until he was walking, with some strange root in hand, towards a house to deliver a salve, he suddenly tripped.
At first Arthur thought that Merlin's clumsiness must stem from his unusually large feet, because surely princes do NOT trip, then he noticed a pair of boots from his place on the ground.
So needless to say, Arthur was two seconds away from going completely berserk on whoever was the owner of said boot. Luckily he realized just in time that 1. He was no longer the prince who could easily have the rude arse thrown into the stocks. 2. Whoever owned the shoe was now picking him up by his neckerchief, and he was a lot bigger than Arthur (even if he had been in the right body).
The monstrosity that had tripped him had brought Arthur up to look him in the hideous face.
"I thought I told you to watch where you are going, Merlin." The monster as it was now more clear to Arthur, was a young man maybe two years older than himself, and he spat Merlin's name like it was an insult, and frankly Arthur was insulted.
But of course, the prince of Camelot was not going to stand for that, especially since he had been purposefully tripped.
"Are you joking? You intentionally stuck your foot out!" Arthur couldn't help let his voice go up a few octaves, he was made at this lummox, and he tended to get irate when being held up by a neck scarf.
The lout in question decided, since his target was obviously no match for him that it was okay to let out a horrid bark of a laugh. "And what are you going to do about it?"
For this Arthur had no quick response, and his foe took that as a sign of weakness.
"That's what I thought."
What happened next was kind of a blur.
First, the yob unceremoniously dropped Arthur to the ground, landing one swift kick in his shoulder as he did.
Then when Arthur was mumbling curses under his breath, his tormenter decided it was okay to take the root he had acquired and smash it.
This caused Arthur to finally snap. Not because of the root, per say, but because this cad was pushing him, and no one got away with pushing Arthur.
Instinctively the prince grabbed for his sword and found none, so instead he used the next best thing: his fist.
After a few lame punches, due to Merlin's body's lack of any substantial muscle, the bully began to laugh, and punched Arthur once, sending him sprawling on the ground once more.
"You will pay for this." Arthur looked up at the laughing face, and tried to put as much venom in his voice as he possibly could.
"Oh? And how are you going to make me?" The big oaf leaned down and sneered. "Are you going to get your bum chum prince to do me in?" Then he muttered something along the lines of "Disgusting faggot." And began to walk away, contented with his bullying.
Author's Note: Basically this is the sad love child of writer's block and stress… no promises on the next chapter… although I don't have much to do next week. 3
