"And then the bird said "May I ask what the chicken did?""

Everyone roared in laughter at Gwaine's story. After the laughter died down, Percival added another log to the campfire. They were all sleeping in the forest because Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table had gone to check a series of villages at the edge of the kingdom, bringing Merlin and Gwen. Gwen had fought tooth and nail in order to go with them saying that as Queen, she should check her people as well.

It was Gwen's idea to have a story contest. It had simple rules. You had to tell three stories, two of them true and one of them false. The story all had to be at least two minutes long and all three had to be of the same genre. Meaning you had to tell three funny stories, like Gwaine did, or three adventure stories, which Arthur obviously had.

Everyone stayed quiet trying to guess which one of Gwaine's stories was false. In the end, mostly everyone agreed that the end one with a talking enchanted bird was too far of a push.

"That's everyone, so we should turn in. Percival, you have first watch," Arthur said.

"Merlin hasn't gone," Gwen protested.

"Yeah-"

"I don't think storytelling is a great skill of Merlin's. He's a rubbish liar, and that's what this game is centered about." Arthur pointed out, interrupting Merlin.

Gwen looked at her husband like he had gone insane. "For all you know, Merlin could be a fantastic storyteller."

"How would you know?" Elyan stated.

"I know because of the servant story telling contest in the month of Samhain*."

"What are you talking about?" Leon asked, confused.

Merlin gave the simple explanation "Every year, the servants in the castle hold a spooky story contest in the month of Samhain. Every night, the servants around the castle go to a huge unused room in the castle to listen to the contestants tell their stories. First week, everyone who wants to join tells their story and gets voted by the judges whether they go on or not. After that, they weed out the good people and send them on until there are 3 people left on the eve of Samhain, where the audience votes. The winner gets to tell their best story on Samhain, and is rewarded the title of the best storyteller for an entire year until the next contest."

"Bet you didn't get very far" Arthur snorted.

Gwen looked at him angrily, "Merlin has held the title of best storyteller for 7 years in total, out 9 he participated. He wasn't able to win two of them because he had so much work, he wasn't able to make it."

Merlin blushed at the praise, and Arthur looked properly sheepish at the harsh glare of his wife. "Ok, ok. Merlin, you can try a round." Merlin looked at him, "Why thank you, your most noble sire for giving your permission to tell my most fantastic tales" he said sarcastically.

Gwen looked to him and said, excitingly, "Ooh, ooh, tell the ax hallow murder one."

All the knights looked at Merlin weirdly, not being able to imagine sunshine Merlin being able to tell a murder story well enough to make Gwen so enthusiastic.

"No, you've already heard that one. I've got three in mind. You can tell me if I should use them next year." Merlin looked around him, as everyone got comfortable around the bright fire. Merlin found what he wanted and promptly poured a little bit of water from the pouch, dimming the fire.

*Samhian is the Merlin equivalent to Halloween for those out there who don't know