Forbidden Love (Rewritten) | Arthur Pendragon

2 • VALIANT

"If I could actually feel my arms, I'd pick up the book myself,"

"Don't be so dramatic," Eowyn said, making Merlin scoff.

"We don't all possess inhuman memorization skills, Eowyn,"

"Never mind your arms. What do I do if you get caught?" Gaius said.

"What would you do?" Merlin asked back.

"Well, you just make sure it doesn't happen, for our sakes,"

"Ah! I save Arthur from being killed and I end up as a servant. How is that fair?"

"I'm not sure fairness comes into it. You never know, it might be fun," Gaius tried to cheer up but only Merlin scoffed.

"You think mucking out Arthur's horses is going to be fun? You should hear my list of duties,"

"We all have our duties. Even Arthur,"

"It must be so tough for him with all the girls and the glory,"

"And the daily mouth-watering food and the finest garments," Eowyn sarcastically added.

"He is a future king. People expect so much of him. He's under a lot of pressure," Gaius defended him.

"Ah! That makes two of us,"

The sun had passed the zenith when the preparations for the tournament began. Merlin had left for Gwen's house in the hope of fast learning about armor. As the blacksmith's daughter, she knew more than him and thus would teach him how to put on armor. It was the task of a servant to put the armor on the master's body and as Merlin had never done that in his life, it was a challenge. And Eowyn knew how disastrous it could be. So, in the knights' resting area near the arena, she stood a few feet away from the prince's tent. From where she was, she could see Merlin trying to put the armor on Arthur whose back was facing her. She did not need to see his face to figure out how irritated he must be. Merlin was taking too much time and struggling to find the right piece of armor.

Feeling like this could end in the prince's booming anger, Eowyn waved her hand high to catch Merlin's attention, which worked. She then pointed at her shoulder. It did not seem to help him as a deep frown appeared on his brow so he mimicked putting the voiders on. Merlin's eyes lit up and nodded before putting the voiders on Arthur's shoulder. And then took another piece and lifted it so she could. Eowyn gestured to her forearm and Merlin was about to put it on Arthur's forearm when having seen Merlin's strange behaviour, looked back. At once, Eowyn pretended to be searching for something in her pouch. The siblings let out a sigh of relief when Arthur uttered no comment. Merlin then put the red cape on and gave him his helmet. Looking past the prince, he frowned again when he saw his sister mimicking sword fighting. Arthur seemed to be telling him something and Merlin quickly gave him his sword, before the prince left with a heavy sigh while Merlin showed his appreciation for his sister's help with a thumb up. It went better than he expected.

Eowyn sighed and shook her head before leaving for the arena. Until the guests and watchers, Eowyn was not sitting in the bleachers. As Gaius's apprentices, they had to be ready to aid any knight who would be injured during fights. So they stood at the very edge of the arena. She did not exactly watch the tournament and had instead performed many back and forth between the arena to help carry the soldiers to Gaius's tent and stay with him as his assistant. Observing the court physician in action was the best way to learn about the profession. The old man would even let her examine the knight and ask her questions to test her skills and knowledge.