Having done what was needed at the castle Merlin told the same servant boy who brought him the sword to go tell the stablemen to ready his horse. The servant boy ran off as quickly as he could without delay. Slowly following the servant boys path Merlin headed to the stables. Many of the court officials attempted to stop him and ask him questions about the matter but he brushed them off, much to their annoyance.

Despite being about ten minutes behind the boy due to people bothering him the stablemen had already saddled his horse as well as bridled him. Being very pleased with this, he thanked the two of them and headed off to see the witches coven.

* * *

A boy about fourteen years of age with long golden hair and simple brown ragged clothes was currently collecting eggs for his family's breakfast. He wasn’t very strong looking, nor did he look like he could be a warrior and looked like he would be better off as a squire than a king. Mud was all over him which contrasted his bright blue eyes but almost matched his tanned skin.

He and his family lived in a cottage located in a rather dense forest. Most people wouldn’t dare to enter the forest out of fear of getting lost or worse, attacked the various creatures and Fey that made it their home.this made it the perfect spot for his family though. They were a small coven of Witches that had adopted him when he was a baby. Since he was the only one that wasn’t a witch he would usually go to sell their medicine and to buy supplies. This made him quite knowledgeable about the towns and what regular people were like.

“Arthur!” his younger step sister, Morgana called out from the cottage. She was about twelve years of age and was dressed in a long dress made from the same style of ragged clothes that arthur wore. her green eyes glowed under her long hazel hair and not a single speck of mud adorned her body.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Arthur shouted back as he grabbed the last of the eggs from the chicken roosts. She stuck out her tongue at him in return and shut the door.

“That girl can’t even give me a lick of decency as her elder.” Arthur said to himself as he shook his head.

Walking inside he set the aggs on the table near a cooking pot which had been filled with water and hung over a small fire in the fireplace. The cottage walls were made of clay and dirt but were smooth as any painted wall. There was a loft above with all of their bedding and blankets laid out overtop of a mix of different soft items such as wool, straw, and feathers. Below was a table with a bench and two reclined chairs. More tables lined the wall to the left and right of the door that were covered in herbs, spices, and different mixing instruments. A large fireplace that held the cooking pot was in the cottage directly in front of the door.

Other than Morgana there were two others in the house. One was an older woman in her fifties who was sitting in one of the reclined chairs next to the fireplace and whittling a stick so that it might burn better in the fire. The other was a younger woman around the age of twenty eight who was mixing together several herbs while Morgana watched at the table to the left of the door.

“I see that you found more eggs than usual.” the older woman said as she counted out around a dozen eggs.

“They’ll lay more by the afternoon for us to use in tonight's dinner so I don’t think that cooking all of them now would be an issue.” Arthur said with a smile. The woman smiled back and began picking up the eggs and dropping them carefully into the now boiling water.

“Then we shall have a very filling breakfast today.” the older woman said as she ruffled his hair.

“Please stop doing that, Mother Ramus?” Arthur asked as he pulled away a little.

“But I always love the reaction that you give me.” she said with a sweet smile.

“How many did we get this time?” the younger woman interrupted as she continued mixing what looked like a salve.

“Twelve, Rhea. How is that ointment coming along?” Arthur asked.

“Keep asking and I’ll never have it done.” Rhea replied as she continued to mix the crushed ingredients together.

“I was only asking because we have a customer who paid ahead of time for it so I would rather them not think that we stole their money.” Arthur replied with a hint of sass. Mother Ramus hit him on the head with the stick she was whittling beforehand.

“Don’t worry, it’s almost ready. You need to learn some patience.” Morgana said with a condescending smile.

“Says the one who can’t wait for me to finish collecting eggs before calling me in.” Arthur rebutted. She huffed and stuck her nose up at him as a response.