The audacity

                       3 years later

I wake up to lancelot cooking again. "What you make this tile Sir Lancelot." I say jokingly walking up behind him. He laughs. "Today were eating eggs and pork. Can you get the plates?" He asks and I nod going to our cupboard.

In the last three years or so Lancelot and I have grown to be almost siblings. Over the years we gradually got closer to Camelot ,  Lancelot and I trained nonstop everyday. My muscles became even more defined and so did his. My hair grew longer up to my rip cage, and my chest grew a little larger. And gratefully I also grew to be 5'9, it's not much but it's better than not getting taller at all. We arrived in Camelot last night and got ourselves settled in my old cottage. Tomorrow would be the day we took Lancelot to become a knight. I've been teasing him about it for the last week.

I gave him one plate and he served the food on one then the next. He put the pans in the sink and I put the plates on the table after placing our cups and serving water. "Smells delicious." I say digging in. "When is it not? I'm an amazing cook, no?" He saunters and I kick him under the table. "Don't test me."I say playfully glaring at him and we both laugh, finishing our food over small talk. "Im going to sharpen the swords. Do we need anything?" I ask putting our plates in the sink and beginning to wash. "No. Maybe some fruits for dinner though." He says taking the last drink from his cup.

When I finished I grabbed my bag and walked to the door. "Than I'll be off!" I exclaim. "Bye!" He says and I shut the door. I make my way to the small town. "Umm excuse me, where is the blacksmith?" I ask one of the ladies in the market. "Over there, turn to the left." She says pointing toward then to the left. I nod. "Thank you." I say and head to where she said. I knock on the door before entering. "Hello. How may I help you young lady?" A man asks cleaning his hands on his apron. "Yes, I was wondering if you could sharpen these for me. They've gone blunt." I say handing him the two swords. He observes the swords, sliding his finger against the edge. "Well your father must've of used these plenty. They won't even cut me." He says showing me his finger. I clear my throat. "Well they're mine. I use them." I say picking my head up. He looks at me wide eyed. "Wow I'm impressed. No woman aside from my daughter has ever shown much interest in swordsmanship. But she's lost interest since a long time ago. You have my respect." He says and I laugh. "Well they should be done by noon. I'll see you then." He says giving me a wave. I nod and then leave.

I finished shopping and went back to the blacksmiths. I thank him and leave with the swords. I begin my walk through the town so I could get home and begin our training. Then men rushed in and grabbed the back of my blouse. "All of you I want your valuables or she dies." He says putting a swords against my neck, his body pressed against mine. Everyone frantically begins to go through their bags.  The knights get here but I don't pay them much mind. 'What were they going to do?' I roll my eyes holding my hand up at the people. "Don't listen to him he's just a total douchebag." I say waving them off. The man presses the sword against my cheek slicing it. "Say that again and your heads next." He says and I scoff. "Do it, you wouldn't. Your just a coward." I say looking at him. His eyes burn fire. "Is that woman an idiot?" Yells an all too familiar voice. I look back at the knights and see no other than Arthur in the front. "Oh goodie. The kings here." I say sarcastically giving them jazz hands. He scoffs. "Let the rude child go. Or you can go in the dungeon till you get court." Arthur says looking at the man. "Believe me you don't want to go there. They feed you bread!" I exclaim and the man presses the sword against my neck harder. "One more word and that pretty neck of your will have a nice deep cut." He threatens and I roll my eyes. "Will you shut up?! Your almost as rowdy as Arthur." I whine grabbing his hand and twisting it behind his back. I throw him to the floor my foot on his back the sword on the back of his neck. I look at his men. "Order your men to stand down or it's your head that'll be on the floor." I threaten the man below my foot. "Stand down! Stand down!" He exclaims and his men do as he said, the knights immediately taking advantage and getting them. I remove my foot from the man and he gets up slowly. I turn for one second to look at the men and am met with a blow to the stomach from the man. I look back at him and kick him in his gut. He bends over and with the handle of the sword I hit him in the side of his neck, knocking him out. The men look at me worried. "Don't worry he's not dead," I say taking a few steps back. " just knocked out for the next hour." I say shrugging then throwing the sword to the floor. I step away and the men make an effort to confront me but the people rush forward grabbing the bags and valuables from the floor. I use it as a chance and run away going to the cottage where Lancelot was on a chair reading.

I close the door. He looks up at me then at my cheek. "What happened?" He asks standing and going to one of our cupboards that held a medical kit. I sit down on the table sighing. "There was an attack in the town. The man actually had the nerve to cut me!" I exclaim in disbelief. Lancelot chuckles. "Oh how dare he?" He says sarcastically and I roll my eyes. "I dealt with it fine, it's just the cut that he got." I say giving him a good view of my face as he washed off the blood. "Well you better not slack off during training. I can't have a handicap trainer, can I?" He says cocking an eyebrow at me I scoff. "Even if I broke both my legs I'd still be able to train you!" I protest and we continue our bickering as he finishes helping my cut.

I jump off the table. "Let's go! With newly sharpened swords, I can even cut the water in the lake!" I say smiling. He returns it. "Alright let's go then. I'll race you to the clearing." He says smirking and I smirk back. "Only if your ready to lose." I say putting my hand on the door. "I wouldn't be so sure." He says and I swing the door open, the both of us dashing into a sprint to one edge of the field. I get there first putting my sword into the ground and leaning on it as I waited for Lancelot. "You cheated didn't you? You had to do something to get here so fast." He claims getting here. I shake my head. "It's just one of the perks of being a woman. We're arrow dynamic." I say smiling. We get ready and run to the other side and he puts his sword down.

For the next forty minutes we run back and forth from one sword to the other. When we finish the forty minutes, without stopping we run to our swords grabbing them the then running to the lake that was a while away from the cottage heading into the woods. When it got into sight I began taking off my shirt then my boots and put them at the shore I quickly took off my pants and jumped in.

"Ooh this is nice!" I exclaim dunking my head in the water, the sweat leaving my body in the cool water. Lancelot jumps in soon after sending a wave at me.

For a while we played in the water until I heard a sound.

I signal for Lancelot to lower his head, to be less noticeable and he listens. I slowly make my way over to our clothes and grab my sword putting it in my hands. I scan the surrounding woods then see the slightest movement behind a tree. I nod my head at Lancelot and he gets out of the water as well. I dry myself and Lancelot leaving our hair wet. I grab my blouse slipping it over my head and put on my boots. I walk to where I saw the movement and Lancelot does the same on the opposite side. I put a hand up to him and he stops. I take a quick step behind the tree but see no one. "Wrong tree." Says a voice behind me and I quickly turn around. The tip of the sword touches their neck and they hold their hands up. "I won't do anything. Just want to know why you ran from the market place." He says. I sigh in relief. "Merlin." I breath out giving me a hug he pats my bag but seems confused. " Umm do I know you?" He asks and I nod. My eyes flash bright turquoise.

'Yes you do.' I think and his eyes widen.

"Anika!" He exclaims bringing me in a hug once more. "Hello. My names Lancelot I'm a friend of Anika. I've been with her these past years." Lancelot say outstretching a hand. Merlin takes it giving him a smile. "I'm Merlin, I was friends with Anika before she left." He says. We begin to walk to our stuff on the shore. "Why'd the king send you?" I say as we walk. Merlin sighs. "He says it's because you could be a danger. But I think it's because he didn't want to see me." Merlin says looking at me. "Why? What happened?" I ask. After a year Merlin and I broke contact because he got busier after the marriage between Arthur and Gwen. Merlin sighs taking a breath.

"Guinevere broke the marriage two months ago."