Chapter 11: A/N I DO NOT OWN MERLIN OR ANY OTHER CHARACTER FROM ARTHURIAN LEGEND(took from all over really), OTHER THAN CASSIE. Hemos sabido llegar is something my grandpa used to say all the time when I was younger, I just had to include it! Means we're there. Now obviously Machiavelli was WAY later than Arthurian england but cunning just didn't seem to cut it for me.
Cassie, Gwen, Lady Morgana, and Sir Bruin were making their way to the castle gardens, the long way, via the training grounds. As they neared them, Morgana began her restless teasing once more.
"So, now that we know you like the knights, and since we are at the training grounds, who do you think is the best looking here?" Morgana asked blithely.
"Hmm, maybe the blond over there, sparring with Sir Leon."
"Sir Agloval? I suppose he is handsome, but he's taken. Three kids, another on the way, lovely wife to boot, Lady Brangaene." Morgana commented idly.
"Shame, he would be a good candidate for marriage. Handsome man, beautiful children, good protector. I'd never go hungry with him." Cassie said jokingly.
"You speak of marriage as if it's a way to secure the future, like you're a cynic. I had you pegged as a romantic." Gwen said, confused.
"Not cynical, I just speak from what I know. My mother and eldest brother were married to secure their future, not out of love. My mother did grow to love my father, eleven children and all. My brother had three children, but the first were twins, so…" Cassie tapered off.
"Oh." Gwen said, at a loss for other words.
"How about him, the one at the target. Attractive right?"
"Sir Bors? Married as well, no children yet." Gwen answered.
"So, I guess now is when you expect me to pick Owaine?" Cassie asked casually.
"Yep!" They both answered cheerily.
"Come on. Let's go to the gardens, por favor." Cassie said, slowly trying out her English.
"All right."
"Fine."
"So, these pranks?" Cassie asked devilishly.
"You'll love them! We all died of laughter. Though, if the Prince asks, we were very indignant and tried extra hard to find out who did it." Sir Bruin told Cassie amusingly.
"I'm listening…" Cassie said with a glint in her eye.
"All right, we'll tell you. Once we get to the shade of the garden and rest." Morgana said offhandedly.
"Oh don't tease!" Cassie cried indignant. And so they made their way to the gardens. It would have taken only ten minutes, but Morgana and Gwen stopped to chat with some other ladies of the court. Introductions were made, pleasantries exchanged. So the trip took the better part of half an hour.
"Por fin! Hemos sabido llegar!" Cassie cried out triumphantly. Once the party found a nice spot of shade to sit under, the stories commenced!
"Seems she really wants to hear those pranks, my lady." Sir Bruin commented.
"Yes I guess she does. Shall we put her out of her misery, Gwen? Or torture her some more?" Morgana asked cheekily.
Gwen played along and teasingly sang: "I don't know, 'Gana. I'm kind of curious what pranks she has up her sleeve." Gwen giggled.
"As am I. For such a small girl, she seems machiavellian." Sir Bruin added with a grin.
"I don't know what you just said, Sir Knight, but I am absolutely offended!" Cassie joked, with an exaggerated gasp and her hand going up to her brow.
"All right, just put her out of her misery, my Lady, and tell her the prank." Bruin told them with a chuckle.
"Both pranks, if you please." Cassie said pointing at Sir Bruin with a nod. "And in Latin so I can understand completely and not partially."
"Okay! So the one we told you about, with the tub. Gwen and I managed to dye Arthur's skin pink! We used some of the clothes dye the seamstress has in her stores and Gwen managed to get a servant to sneak it into his bathwater for the day. We know he takes the LONGEST baths, or at least he did, after that I'm not sure, so the dye was able to really get into his skin. He walked around the castle for a week with pink skin. Uther was furious! And Arthur refused to show his face for a long time. I doubt he ever found out it was us, if what Sir Bruin said is true."
"If you used different colors, he would have walked around multicolored.." Cassie pointed out. At the looks she received she explained:"I did it to my sisters when they bothered me. A little powder mixed into the bathing salts and they come out looking like they've been painted all over."
"So you did that one already." Gwen said downtrodden.
"Yup, a brilliant idea when I found out how they make paints and makeup with the dyes from the far east. They were ignoring me the day before, only talking about what they wanted to talk about. I got angry and pranked them. They got revenge, dyed my hair green for a week." Cassis said with nostalgia clear in her voice, her hand twiddling the necklace..
"Yeah, that was the hair one… except we dyed his blue." Morgana said between chuckles.
"You know, if there's still some of the dye, get a laundry maid to use the dye with soap and change his white shirts and trousers to pink. Or if you can get your hands on his armor, paint something on the back. Those are very good pranks, although the Prince might not take too kindly to his armor being vandalized, I know my brothers didn't" Cassie said with a mischievous glint in her eyes "-when I painted their clothes I mean." she quickly backtracked. 'Necesito tener más cuidado, o si no se darán cuenta de mi pasado.' She thought ruefully.
"I'm liking you more and more by the second, Cassie!" Gwen said.
"Will someone tell me what she said?" Sir Bruin asked, curious.
"Cassie's already done the skin dye to her sisters, and the hair dye was done to her. But she gave us some great ideas for a new prank on Arthur." Morgana answered with a glint in her eye. She was definitely going after Arthur's clothes next!
"Oh, what prank. I know for a fact us knights will be in on it, although not to the Prince, but I really need to get Sir Bedivere back for something he did on our last patrol." Sir Bruin said.
"Can't tell you until it's done!" Gwen sang
"But you won't be sorry about the wait! Actually, Cassie gave us another idea you can try out. You can just mess with his armor, not in a dangerous way, but paint something on it, or something like that." Morgana told the knight.
Soon the three ladies decided it was time to go to the market before lunch, and Sir Bruin changed shifts with Sir Leon.