章 10: Chapter 10
Arturia crossed her arms and silently peeked at Sir Ector and Kay from her location pressed up behind a tree. They were avoiding her; she was sure of it. How else could she explain why they refused to linger around her?
It was too suspicious, and the growing secrecy between them was only further drawing out her curiousity. They made trips back and forth from Bristol, stocking up on food and encampment supplies which she knew they didn't need, but perhaps Kay required it for the town guard?
Kay and Sir Ector soon moved towards the horse stalls after gathering a few pots and pans from the house, and placing them inside a thread-sealed sac. Why bring pots and pans?
She raised a brow from their actions, but quickly followed behind them, choosing to hide behind several bushels of harvested wheat to continue her investigation. The more she observed however, the more confused she became. Food, weapons, blankets, Shirou? She blinked before she rubbed her eyes. Hadn't he gone to a meeting with the Barron?
From her distance, she could see the frown on Sir Ector's face, and the tension in Kay's. What was going on? Better yet, why wasn't anyone telling her? Anger replaced curiousity and she slowly but surely entertained the idea of making herself known; show them not to keep secrets from her. How dare they!
"You shouldn't have done that lad." Sir Ector's voice halted her approach. "What you did may very well spawn a grudge against your family, Ashton or not." What? What were they talking about? She retreated back behind the cover of the bushels and cupped a hand over her ear to hear better. A simple trick she learned from a passing merchant.
"And you think Baron Frederick would have listened any other way?" Kay's voice, she noted absently. "The man's family has just as many connections to the other nobles of the land. Even with Shirou's reputation, the man would hardly be fazed without a show of force. Evidently, something you yourself have experienced, First Knight of Uther."
Sir Ector fell silent, long enough for Arturia to begin mulling the information in her head. She didn't like the conclusions she was running into and only pitied the one that had wronged her guardian.
"I'm sorry lad, for dragging you into this mess." Sir Ector spoke. "I had a gut feeling about today, and damn it if it wasn't right."
"You have nothing to apologize for." Arturia peered over the bushels and watched as Shirou spoke while he worked to secure the reins on a horse. "I would have done it anyway."
Kay knocked Shirou over the head. "And that's exactly why he's apologizing. First the beast, and now this, you've had enough on your plate."
Shirou frowned at Kay, unsure of what he was getting at. Every situation he had involved himself in was of his own volition. Kay and Sir Ector shouldn't have to apologize for something he chose to do himself.
"Good god, you really don't understand?"
Shirou raised a brow as he saddled the remaining horses.
"What you've done for us and for everyone in Bristol is something no one else could have done," Kay spoke as Arturia nodded from behind the bushels.
Shirou had turned Bristol from some no-name town into a center of trade with strategic value. Even as secluded from the world as Arturia was, even she was able to understand Shirou's value to Bristol. Tales of the weapons of the Iron Forge were wide spread in the neighboring towns and were quickly making their way to local kings alike. Even then, word of Shirou's exploits against the beast only further fueled the flame of the famed Beast Hunter.
"Can't you understand why we don't wish to add on to your load?" Kay continued.
"I don't. You and Sir Ector aren't forcing me to take action so what's there to apologize for?"
Kay scratched at his head in frustration. It wasn't fair to continue to add more and more responsibility onto a person so willing to take them all, but that was the point. Shirou may not understand a reason why others would feel sorry for him because he takes what others may consider to be a huge favour as no more than an errand from a friend. Yet this? This was no mere favour, or errand.
"This is completely different," Kay argued. "You've gotten yourself mixed up in a w-"
"Arturia." Sir Ector's voice resounded.
Arturia stiffened as silence dominated the stalls.
Sir Ector sighed as he glared sternly at the blond aghoge peeking up from the bushels of wheat. She would never be suited to be an assassin or thief, he thought before opening his mouth and speaking. "Care to explain yourself?"
Awkwardly, Arturia stepped into view before cooling her expression as if she had done nothing wrong. Arturia's eyes veered off to the stalls before inspiration took place. "I was only doing what you asked of me," she spoke as she strode confidently towards Llamrei's repaired stall. "You told me to feed the livestock."
"Then why the need to hide?"
Arturia stood straight and spoke coolly. "I saw a fray in the wrapping of the bushels-
"Hogwash."
Arturia sent a Kay a scathing glare. "- and decided to see if there were others that needed to be brought to attention."
"There's not a single fray," Shirou spoke out, kneeling from beside the bushels, face set in honest confusion.
Damn it Shirou! Arturia turned to Sir Ector's searching gaze and met it with her own. She wouldn't back down, she was older now, no longer some simple child scornful of pigs. Evidently, Sir Ector knew it as well as he turned to Shirou with cold eyes.
Arturia's breath hitched. He was a tyrant…HE wouldn't dare.
"You will make no more foo-"
"I-got-to-go-bye!" Arturia quickly stammered out before she left in a sprint. What she didn't hear, she couldn't be punished for!
Kay whistled as he watched Arturia run; he had never seen her sprint so fast. Still though, he turned to Sir Ector and Shirou. "That was quite clever, scaring her away like that."
Sir Ector let out his breath and eased the tension in his shoulders. "It's for the best this way. I've already called a favour in with David to take care of her while we're gone."
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"Is something wrong dear?" Lady Abigail asked.
Baron Frederick didn't stir from where he lay staring out the window of the town center, his accommodation for the duration of his stay.
"Dear?"
Baron Frederick turned to his wife and bowed his head low. "Abigail my love, I have made a grievous error."
Abigail furrowed her brows and took a seat beside her husband. She never knew him to be a man to back down from anything, nor did she ever hear him complain. Brushing back her hair behind her ear, she pushed her husband's face back up. He pressed his face into her hand and stared back calmly. "That's more like the man I remember marrying," she spoke. "Handsome, confident," her eyes strayed to the frills Baron Frederick often wore, and narrowed. "…And without frills."
Baron Frederick didn't rise up to the barb.
Now Abigail was worried. He always had something to say about the frills he now wears. "What happened, dear?"
And so, Baron Fredrick spoke about how he'd spoke to the Barron and the Old Knight of Uther, Sir Ector. How he had everything under control, all the pieces in his hands: A means found in a letter to force Sir Ector to comply, and the backing to suppress anyone who would oppose him. That all changed when the Ashton walked into the room.
A dead line of nobility suddenly re-emerging from out of nowhere. It was the stuff of stories, not reality. The Ashton was a wild card, but Baron Frederick was too confident in himself and his own backing that he failed to realize the Beast in the room. Not only a wild card, but a military game changer. A Wizard! He had offended a Wizard! Fire, water, earth, wind, they had control of the very elements. What was an army of a thousand to magic? Absolutely nothing, Merlin and the Witch Morgan was proof of that.
Abigail rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Isn't this the fault of your temper. I always warned you about it, but much good that did." She perked up from a sudden realization. "Dear, don't you understand what you have just done?"
"Doomed our family." Baron Frederick dropped his face into his hands.
"No, you have secured victory for the country." Abigail's eyes flashed in wonder. "A Wizard dear! You've recruited a Wizard! No matter how young he may be, he can use magic like the heroes of children's stories."
Baron Frederick looked up from his hands and sighed. "At the cost of a grudge against my family? There's no way we can stand up to a Wizard, much less rely on the influence of the local kings."
Abigail pursed her lips, her husband was right. But… "You didn't describe him as someone quick to anger? It was only after you insisted on bringing Sir Ector's youngest, wasn't it?"
"What does it matter? I've already offended him, the last of the Ashton line."
Abigail lifted a brow. "Therefore, we make it up to him. That simple."
Baron Frederick simply nodded and turned back to staring out the window of the town center. They would travel at dawn.
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At the dawn of the following morning, Arturia rubbed tiredly at her eyes as she lay awake in bed. She stretched, enjoying the onset of heavenly satisfaction it brought to her joints. Closing her eyes, she lazily pulled the covers back over her shoulders and nuzzled into her feather pillow in an attempt to fall back asleep, the morning still too early. The silence in the house however, kept her awake.
Where was the sound of Kay grumbling after Sir Ector forced him out of bed and into early morning guard duty? Where was the sound of Sir Ector getting ready to visit the town center?
Grudgingly, she forced herself up onto her hands, and promptly swung her feet out of bed, lest she lose her motivation and lull herself back to sleep. The sudden cold of the wooden floor beneath her feet forced her to her senses and woke her completely.
She yawned, a hand over her mouth as she began the process of brushing back her tangled hair. Again, she grew jealous of Kay. He was a natural with a sword, a Knight instructor, and had straight glossy hair, where as she was the exact opposite. Glossy hair aside, she had never been too talented with a sword. All her skill was earned through hard work and dedication while Kay hardly ever trained.
Enough mopping! She shook her head and gathered her clothing, pausing as she glanced at the necklace hidden beneath her pillow that Shirou had gifted for her 'birthday' he called it? She hesitated, but eventually walked over and picked up the necklace. An ivory jewel was embedded at the center which was held together by light interlocking marigold-coloured chains. Where Shirou had attained it from, she didn't know, but it was beautiful.
Her heart beat began to quicken. A Knight has no need of such things, she remembered herself saying.
Pursing her lips, she glanced silently around her before slipping on the necklace and letting down her hair. What did she look like? Was she pretty, or was she ugly? She didn't know as she never partook in the gatherings of the younger women in the town. Her curiousity only continued to grow as she debated against herself. Inadvertently, she made for the mirror, but stopped herself as she realized what she was doing.
A Knight has no need of such things.
She grimaced before she tied up her hair and took off the necklace, letting it sit in her palm as she struggled with what to do. After much debate, she walked back to her bed and once again hid it beneath her pillow. She had gotten up for a reason, and that reason wasn't to look at herself in a mirror.
Why was it so quiet at the time Kay and Sir Ector normally woke up? Her question wouldn't be answered by just staying in her room. Mind made up, she left for the dining area, as breakfast was number one in her family. Hunger was the enemy and she would not allow herself to be defeated because of an empty stomach.
Walking bare foot down the hall to the kitchen, she wondered if she would find out what Sir Ector and Kay were hiding from her. She wouldn't question Shirou as he was always around to help, and she couldn't imagine him hiding anything important from her.
As she entered the kitchen, there was only one thing that she noticed.
Nothing in the kitchen had been used.
Kay and Sir Ector had not been here, and that in itself was suspicious. They always had breakfast in the morning. To not have used the kitchen was impossible. Tentatively, she turned her back on the kitchen and went into the dining room, and there she found her answer.
There on the table, illuminated by the rising sun's golden rays, was a single sealed parchment.
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