“Best room in the house!” Merlin repeated, in a very, very disgruntled tone, as he placed pot after pot beneath leak after leak. He was in one of his grumpy moods again, only this time, Belle couldn’t blame him. They were running out of pots to catch all the water in. “Guest room! Unwelcomed guest room! But if he thinks he can get rid of us, I’ve got news for that old walrus! We’re sticking it out!”

“And I say we go back to the woods!” snapped an equally disgruntled Archimedes from his house.

Belle was busy mopping the floor where a leaky patch had spread until Merlin had put...

Belle stood, wrapped up in her cloak, watching as the two horsemen charged one another. It had snowed quite heavily the night before and even though it had stopped, the place was still quite cold.

She was standing with Arthur, Kay, Ector and Pellinore, closer to the former and further away from the latter. The three of them were staring transfixed at the joust, and Belle was grateful that, for once, Kay’s attention was on something other than her.

Looking around the square as the knights charged at one another, Belle sought out another familiar face. The man who held authority over the joust,...

The seconde Arthur stepped into the castle, two large Great Danes flung themselves at him, barking madly. They both knocked Arthur off his feet, much to Belle’s alarm, and then, to her relief, began to lick his face, playfully. Merlin smiled.

“Tiger, Talbot!” snapped a large beefy man with red hair and moustache, seizing their collars and snatching them away. Arthur giggled and then looked up at the man, his smile quickly fading. “Now, look here, Wart!” demanded the man. “What’s the big idea of gallivanting off into the woods and worrying the living daylights out of everyone?!”...