Memory 97: Lonely

As heir apparent Prince Arthur received bows and acquiesces wherever he went. He rather liked it, but sometimes…

He felt lonely.

Sometimes Lord Gorlois, his Godfather would visit, but those times were few and far between. Father was so busy, he was King after all, and that meant he always had to be somewhere.

So Arthur would mostly wander about on his own and look out the castle windows at the training fields. There Sir Ector would train the great Knights of Camelot and Arthur would watch in complete fascination, excited to think of the day he would be one of them.

Lord Gorlois had given him a sword for his sixth birthday, but that was six months ago now. Father kept it in his chambers, telling him it was too dangerous for him to have it in his room. Arthur may have been able to get whatever he wanted from the servants and lesser nobles, but Father was King, and what he said, went.

One day though, things changed. As he watched the Knights train he noticed there was another figure, a smaller figure, standing on the sidelines, watching. Normally nothing could tear Arthur’s eyes from the training, but this smaller figure captured his attention. It looked like another child, Arthur rarely saw other children, except for Lord Gorlois’s daughter, Morgana, who was annoying and a girl.

But this was a boy! Arthur was sure of it! And not a servant boy either! Arthur wasn’t allowed to play with servant boys. This was his chance!

He wasn’t allowed to leave the castle either, but Arthur had ways, sometimes he went out to the river behind the castle and caught bugs. He’d never tried to sneak onto the training fields before, though. It was much easier to be seen from there…

But, Arthur was no coward! He’d risk it! He was sure it’d be worth it and he was more than confident that he could do it too. He knew all about sneaking. The trick was, interestingly enough, not to sneak! Instead he walked down the corridors as if he had been summoned somewhere. The guards merely bowed and left him to go on his way.

It was a little more difficult to get out the training grounds themselves, but Arthur had his ways…mostly hiding behind the large groups of nobles who moved about.

Finally he was out in the sunshine and only a few feet away from the boy and the Knights.

The latter would be a bit of a problem, if Sir Ector saw Arthur out there he’d be back inside before he could plead otherwise. So ducking behind a target out of sight Arthur poked his head out and hissed. “PSST!”

The boy didn’t seem to hear.

“PSSST!”

The boy looked over his shoulder quickly, then turned back to the fields, Arthur couldn’t blame him, Sir Ector had the knights working in formation and it was a very impressive sight.

Still, Arthur wanted to speak to the boy and wasn’t going to give up until he did.

“Hey, you!”

That worked, the boy turned all the way around and stepped closer to the target. He was tall! Very tall, Arthur wondered for a moment if he was a squire, but no, his face didn’t look much older than Arthur’s own.

He stepped out from behind the target board with a grin. “Hello!”

The boy stared.

“Who are you?” Arthur didn’t bother to introduce himself, everyone knew him anyway.

The boy continued to stare.

“Aren’t they great? I’m going to be a Knight too! Are you?”

The boy was still staring.

“Well?! Can’t you talk? There’s a rat catcher in the palace who can’t talk. Are you his brother?” As soon as Arthur asked, he knew that couldn’t be right though, the boy was wearing the clothes of a noble. So why wouldn’t he talk?

“Come on…I can order you to talk,” Arthur grins impishly. “And make you answer all sorts of stuff!”

The boy looked over his shoulder at the knights and Arthur ducked beneath the target.

“Don’t let them see me, they’ll make me go back into the castle.”

Finally the boy spoke. “Prince Arthur?”

“Sssh, not so loud!” Arthur was been somewhat melodramatic, the knights had begun sparring and the clang of sword blades made it unlikely at best that they’d be heard.

“Sire,” the boy bowed.

Arthur waved that off. “You haven’t told me your name.”

“My name?” The boy looked confused for a moment. “Oh, I’m Leon, Sir Ector’s son.”

Sir Ector had a son?! How had Arthur missed that!? This was perfect! This was brilliant!

This was the start of a beautiful friendship!