Writing Wednesday #4 ~ Salt

Worth Your Salt

The hand landed across his ear, the clap of flesh on flesh ringing through the kitchen. The shattered plate lay at his feet, ribbons of blood running from the lacerations the ceramic had caused.

"You clot!" screeched the housekeeper. "How do you expect to be worth your salt if you can't even keep a dish complete?" Her face had become ruddy as she scolded the boy.

"I'm sorry, Margaret." He forced his tears back, knowing he'd get nowhere with them when it came to the strict housekeeper.

"I know you don't want to be here, Merlin. How many of us do you think wants to be here? But this is your lot, and you might as well make the most of it!" Sighing in frustration, she went back to work, leaving the boy in the corner, clutching his throbbing ear.

It hadn't always been this bad, he mused, swiping salt water from his eyes. Back when Arthur had been the king, things had been fine. Merlin had enjoyed work, even if he did have to clean up after His Royal Pain. He had become a friend of sorts to the crown prince, then an adviser to a king, then...

Well, now with Morgana firmly on the throne, Merlin couldn't help but feel alone. He'd lost his best friend, and now he had nothing; no one to turn to, no one to insult, no one to laugh at him.

Oh, he'd tried to make friends among the staff, how he'd tried. No one had wanted to know him when he was the king's servant, something about him supposedly reporting servant's gossip back to the royal. Now, everyone had spent so long ignoring him, it was a part of life to leave the boy alone.

Where are you now, Arthur, Merlin mused, resigning himself back to work.

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I feel like my first Writing Wednesday for this prompt was great, and now it's sort of gone downhill, and I'm only on number 4.

Side note, I hit 2000 pageviews this week, which is amazing! Thank you to everyone who looks at my blog. Maybe this time next year I'll have hit 5000, but I'll stay happy with what I've got now.

Have a great week everybody, Eve <3