Merlin ran around Gaius' chambers, packing up things he would need out in the woods, which annoyed him beyond reason. He hated going hunting, why did Arthur have to go hunting?
"Arthur wants to spend time outside of Camelot…" Merlin complained to Gaius, as the man sat at his bench, reading something in a book. "He was acting annoyingly rude today, he yelled at me for talking to Gwaine when I was supposed to be bringing him lunch, he doesn't even eat lunch til an hour from now!" Merlin continued on, not noticing Gaius' lack of interest in their talk. "And now I have to go hunting...I hate hunting..."
Merlin finished his packing and turned to Gaius, all ready to go.
"Thanks, Gaius, I feel a lot better, he explained, smiling at his mentor, before wrenching open the door. "I suppose I'm off to hunt now…can't wait."
"Oh, you are leaving?" Gaius looked up and asked. Merlin's mouth fell open.
"Haven't you been listening?" he asked, feeling rather peeved at this. "I was complaining about Arthur and how he's forcing me to go hunting!"
"Forgive me, Merlin, you complain about the king so often these days, I have begun not to listen," Gaius explained and Merlin glared. "But do have fun on your hunting trip."
"I hate hunting…" Merlin whined, as he walked out of the door, shutting it behind him. Gaius was no help at all anymore. Merlin headed out to the courtyard then, where Arthur was already waiting by his horse, Merlin's worn out, old horse behind his.
"What took you so long?" Arthur asked, grinning, as he looked around, the sun bore down on him and made his blonde hair look rather golden. "Come on, Merlin…I want to be back before night fall."
"I am coming!" Merlin barked, packing their belongings onto his horse, he felt badly for her, Arthur's horse only had to carry his large rear end, though, that was no small feat. Merlin chuckled at this as he finally got the horse all packed up, he turned to see Arthur glaring at him. "What?"
"Can we get on with it?" Arthur asked, rather annoyed, as he mounted his horse. Merlin rolled his eyes and did the same, as they kicked their horses into motion and started heading out of Camelot.
Before long they were deep in the woods and there was no turning back now, Arthur was sitting sideways on the horse, trying to shoot a crossbow at a rabbit and with a bit of magic, Merlin made sure he missed. Who wants to kill a little, helpless bunny anyway? Arthur let out a frustrated heave of breath then and turned to sit right on the horse.
"Too bad, sire, I thought you had that one…" Merlin called after him, cheekily; as they started their trot up again.
"None of your cheek, Merlin, everyone misses once in awhile," Arthur explained. "Besides, who could concentrate with you breathing down their necks?"
"I was completely silent!" Merlin retorted, urging his horse faster, so he could ride along side Arthur.
"You can never be truly silent," Arthur told him, giving him a snide smirk. "If you are not running of the mouth, you are just simply breathing…how does one simply breathe so loudly?"
"It's a gift," Merlin said, smiling proudly. "It might not be me either," he continued, feeling confident in their normal banter, at least Arthur wasn't shooting anything. "It might be your poor aim."
"I am a skilled hunter, my aim is better than anyone else!" Arthur told him, matter-of-factly. Merlin nodded, with pursed lips.
"Of course, Sire," he remarked. "Just ask that rabbit back there, he will tell you the same."
"Shut up!" Arthur told him then, reaching out and shoving Merlin in the shoulder. This made him off balance on the horse quite a bit and he went plummeting to the ground, into a well of mud. He yelled out words, mostly swears, as he felt the cold, nasty mud seep into his clothes. And beyond that, he could hear Arthur laughing from above him.
"It isn' funny!" Merlin moaned, trying to find a way out of the thick clenches of mud. Arthur wasn't even going to help him, still pleasantly sitting on his horse. Clotpole!
"It serves you right," Arthur explained. "Make fun of my aim again and see what happens to you!"
"What will you do?" Merlin barked, dragging himself up, he was all dirty now. "Push me off my horse again?"
"Oh no," Arthur said, looking back at Merlin, a bit dangerously. "It will be much worse than that."
But Merlin couldn't find anything much worse than being covered in mud and riding a horse. That stuff gets stuck places and gets rather hard a bit too quickly. Merlin was just cursing everyone he had ever met when he was reminded that, it actually could get much worse.
Thunder clasped in the air and his horse froze, clearly frightened. No more than two seconds later, a downpour of rain fell over Merlin's head. He growled.
"Oh this is great!" he complained. "Yes, Arthur, let's go hunting, it's a beautiful day!"
More thunder clasped around them, as big blots of lightening filled the sky, Merlin's horse began to shake underneath him. This was just perfect.
"We need to find shelter," Arthur said. "There is a town over there…let's go."
Arthur started off ahead, his horse was actually moving. While Merlin's stood still, even with the hard kicks Merlin was giving her in the sides. She just stood there. He watched as Arthur trotted away and started to panic slightly.
"Uh, Arthur!" he called. "My horse is frozen!"
"What?" Arthur asked, turning back. "What are you talking about?"
"Look," Merlin demonstrated, giving a kick to her side, only for the horse to make a snorting noise. Arthur chuckled then, shaking his head as he turned his own horse around and came back. He grabbed hold of the reins and gave her a tug. They rode side by side from then on. The encouragement of the other not-frightened horse and Arthur's tugs, worked wonders for Merlin's poor, old mule.
By the time they reached the small, barely there town, that consisted of two…count them, two buildings, Merlin was grateful for one thing, the rain washing away all the dried on mud. However, he was ungrateful for how cold he was, and how wet to the bone he was. He was surely going to get a cold after this. The inn, (one of the two buildings,) had a rather long overhang and they managed to get their horses out of the worse part of the rain, before they headed inside.
Inside it was dark, only a few candles were lit, probably to the hide the ugliness of the occupants, the four of them that there were. Merlin waved, slowly, at one of the largest, who was eyeing him something fierce. Merlin gave a weak smile and inched behind Arthur, for safety, who was stupid enough to hit the King of Camelot? Actually, quite a few people were, now that Merlin thought about it.
Arthur walked toward the counter and Merlin was on his tail, not wanting to be alone with the four other burly men. Arthur turned back once and rolled his eyes at Merlin, before smiling to the woman behind the counter.
"Two of your finest, please," he told her and she smiled, sweetly, walking away to get the drinks. Merlin wasn't big on drinking, but at least it would warm him up a bit. The woman returned and placed two goblets in front of them, still smiling her very sweet at him. Merlin decided then, that she was much too lovely to be working in a place like this.
"It's really coming down out there," she examined, glancing toward the door. "Doesn't look like it's going to be stopping much, either."
"From what I know of weather like this, it's not likely," Arthur agreed, taking a drink from his goblet, before letting out an annoyed sigh.
"Look at you two, all sodding wet," she tutted. "Would you lads like a few rooms for the night?"
"I think so," Arthur nodded. "It would be unwise to venture back out there tonight."
"I'll get the keys," she said, smiling again as she walked away. Merlin was rather annoyed about this, however, he would much rather be going back to Camelot, he let out a frustrated sigh then. The woman soon returned, and placed a key in front of Merlin, he never normally had rooms to himself, he normally just slept on the floor of Arthur's, so this was a bit surprising. "You're cute."
"I am?" he asked then, taking himself out of his annoyed musing, quite quickly.
"Mhm," she smirked. "It makes me wonder what you look like all dried up and put together."
"Not much better, I can assure you," Arthur cut in then, snatching the key up from in front of Merlin. "One room will be more than enough," he continued. "And is there a place to keep our horses?"
The woman looked a bit put off then, but nodded.
"Right behind here there is a small barn."
"Thank you," Arthur told her, before turning to Merlin. "Go, get to it."
Merlin growled, cursing Arthur in his head, as he headed toward the door, passing all the burly men and went outside.