Much had finally relented and dropped the 'King' and the respectful little nod of the head every time they'd spoken. He was calling him Richard now and oddly the last Plantagenet king didn't mind. It was nice to have a friend that wanted nothing more from him than that. No lands, no power, no plans for betrayal. No, Much was exactly the kind of man Richard hoped his subjects were, the ones he'd fought for, and he had met Lydia Bennet in person. She was...interesting. Very opinionated, very of her time it seemed but kind, friendly, and the three of them had spent a most agreeable afternoon planning for a birthday party for Robin Hood.
That in and of itself was unusual. But the man had been a strong supporter of the Lionheart so Richard was happy to help plan his celebration.
The day had been going well, Much had gone to check on his baking and Richard was puzzling over invitations. Not as formal as he was used to them being but apparently that was okay. He didn't quite agree and was about to tell Lydia and Much so when it happened.
An explosion, fire such as he had never seen. Noise louder than any battle ringing in his ears and he found himself thrown back against the far wall, a table, split in two narrowly missing him and in fact in many ways probably protecting him from various bits of debris.
His ears hurt, his head ached and there was a pain shooting along his right shoulder, but he was alive.
"Much, Lydia..." he called, his voice oddly distorted to his still pounding ears. What in gods name had happened.
The King crawled from the side of half a table and moved to find the two of them. He knew little of medicine but he would do what he could. "Can you hear me, answer?!" he called again before stumbling over something slippy. Something...
"God no..." he hissed, dropping heavily to his knees and trying to assess the injuries his friend had sustained. "Much...Much, its Richard, do you hear..."