Malec - the little Mermaid AU

Chapter thirteen

“Wait here”, said Alexander and vanished. Magnus waited for him for about ten minutes until Alexander returned with a dark green board, a bigger cleaning tool and some white sticks in his hands. “I am convinced this will help you communicate.” Magnus raised an eyebrow to show him he didn't know what this was. “If I interpret your facial expression right then do you not know how to use this or-”

Magnus stopped him from speaking and nodded fast to show him this was exactly his thought. “You use this piece of chalk and write your answers on this blackboard. With this cloth you can erase your words and write something new on it.” Then the Prince gave it to him and Magnus looked at all the things. This blackboard was in his left hand and the chalk and cloth in his right hand. He put the cleaning tool on the table and wrote something on it.

When Magnus turned it around so Alexander could see it, he read ‘do you mean like this?’ out loud. “Yes, exactly!” Magnus smiled and erased his words to write something new on it. ‘I remember you asked me after a trip with horses. Is your offer still available?’, was what he wrote down and Alexander nodded. “It is. Do you want to, now?” Magnus nodded and stood up. He took his ‘talking tools’ and together they left the room to change clothes - in their own rooms.

Alexander told Magnus to wait in his room until he would return and take him outside to the stables. When Magnus was alone in his room, he stared at this ‘blackboard’ without knowing what to think about it. Yes, it was useful and a good way to communicate with the Prince. Yes, he was thankful and it would help him a lot. But still, he didn't know how to react. It didn't took long until someone knocked on his door.

“Magnus, are you ready? I'll be waiting here for you to come out.” Magnus stared at the door; he forgot to change clothes so he did this in the fastest way possible. A few minutes later he opened the door only to face a smiling boy with hazel eyes. “This suits you”, he said and together they walked to the stables.

The colour was the same as his eyes. The hair of the horse Magnus was allowed to ride with had the exact same hazel like Alexanders eyes. Next to the hazel one stood a white one in its own stable. Majestical - perfectly made for a Prince like Alexander. “Her name is Ruby”, the Prince said and stroked with his hand over the white horse. “And he”, he pointed at the other horse, “is Romeo.” Magnus smiled at Romeo and came closer. ‘Nice to meet you, Romeo’, he thought.

Then Alexander walked away and came back with two big, brown things shortly after. He gave one to Magnus and put the other one on Ruby. Magnus did the same with Romeo without actually knowing what he did there and why. Then Alexander opened the stable and led his horse outside. Once again Magnus did the same and when they were outside on the courtyard, Alexander helped Magnus to get on Romeo.

Expressing ‘thank you’ with a bright smile was all Magnus could do since his blackboard was in his bag and he didn't want to take it out in this moment. He never rode a horse, he never sat on a horse, he didn't know how to lead a horse. The only thing he was able to do was to do the exact same thing Alexander did. Taking these stick strings in his hand, moving his hands and arms and somehow controlling the animal. Difficult was no expression for the task Magnus had to do. Just like he expected, he fell down - more than once. And Alexander had to help him to get up more than once.

About an hour later, when the castle was far away, Magnus finally managed to sit on the horse for longer than two minutes. “Have you never been on a horse before?”, the Prince chuckled. Magnus shook his head, he has never been on land before. “Oh.. well you're pretty good for someone who does it for the very first time. I was horrible and fell down countless times when I was younger.” Magnus looked at him and smiled. Suddenly, the heard a growl in the distance. “Oh no”, the Prince said and moved his hands to make the horse turn around. Magnus did the same. “There's a storm coming.”