Fear had spread through the kingdom after the rumors of a beast reached them, but now that they could hear the beast's howls cut through the night air they could've died of fear right where they stood. The knights of Camelot stood ready with their prince, Arthur was standing with his manservant next to him, and Merlin was trying to think of every spell that could help to stop this beast with out getting him caught. "Everyone stay calm. This beast stands no chance against us." Arthur's words were meant for his knights but Merlin took comfort in them as well. A massive, hairy body landed 12 feet away from the group before roaring at them. Merlin was ready to both run and faint at the same time, Arthur was doing his best not to tremble before his knights, and his knights were thinking about quitting right then and there just as the beast charged at them.
Arthur and his knights (or what ones hadn't been killed by the beast) couldn't believe it when Merlin cut the head off the beast after almost three hours of battle done by the prince and the knights. Merlin fell to the ground while clutching his right arm, which was bleeding badly from the bite he had taken from the beast. Arthur ran over and knelt down next to Merlin. "Are you going to be ok?" He asked his servant/best friend. Merlin didn't answer, or more he couldn't as he suddenly threw up an alarming amount of blood over himself before falling to the ground convulsing dangerestly. Arthur quickly ordered some of his remaining knights to help him get Merlin to Gaius while the others were ordered to burn the body of the beast.
"Well done Arthur. Another monster lays death thanks to you and the knights of the kingdom." Uther praised. "It wasn't us who killed the beast father." Arthur admitted. "Oh? Well then who is to thank for this kill?" Uther asked. "Merlin is." Arthur answered. "You're servant? He felled the beast?" Uther couldn't believe what he was hearing his son say. "He sliced the head off it after it bit his arm. I couldn't believe it myself but I saw it along with the knights. Merlin is the one who saved Camelot." Arthur explained. "Well where is the boy now?" Uther asked. "With Gaius. He fell ill shortly after killing the beast so he is being cared for." Arthur explained. "When he is recovered bring him to me. I shall see to it that he is rewarded for his action." Uther said. Arthur bowed and leaves, eager to see how Merlin was fairing.
Gaius was relieved to tell Arthur that Merlin had stopped convulsing and was resting peacefully with his wound bandaged. Though Gaius couldn't explain why what happened to Merlin had happened he was sure that Merlin wasn't about to get worst any time soon. Arthur stayed by Merlin's side for most of that night until Gaius kindly ordered the prince to go to bed.
It was a shocked to Gaius when he awoke and found Merlin, wide awake putting away all the books that Gaius had left laying around while researching what the beast could be and how it could be killed. "Merlin? You shouldn't be up yet." Gaius scolded. Merlin gave Gaius a grin, his eyes sparkling with life and energy. "I couldn't stay in bed any longer. That was almost four hours ago." Merlin admitted as he climbed down from the ladder he was on and faced his mentor. "Four hours ago? You've never woken up at that time with out rolling over and returning to sleep." Gaius pointed out. Merlin's grin seemed to grow and Gaius was sure that Merlin's canines had grown an inch or two and appeared sharper then before. "Yeah. I can't explain it but I woke up, more awake then I've ever been before with so much energy that I partly thought about getting started on Arthur's normal list of task early. But I didn't since people would ask questions I figured I'd kill time here fixing up the place till I can do something outside here." Merlin explained. Gaius was really worried about this sudden change in Merlin. "Are you sure you are feeling alright Merlin?" Gaius asked. "Yes I am. Now I already made breakfast and ate mine. The rest is in the pot for you. I better get to Arthur before I end up late." Merlin said before laughing. "Though there's not much chance of that this morning." Merlin added before rushing out the door.
Arthur groaned at the sudden light that filled his room. He sat up to tell whoever had woken him so early that whatever was wrong could wait when he realized Merlin was the one to wake him with a large grin on his face. "Merlin? What are you doing here so early?" Arthur asked in confusion. "I woke up early and couldn't sleep so I did some things at Gaius' till I knew it would be ok for me to head out and get started with my duties. So here I am now. Breakfast?" Merlin had said all that in one breath yet didn't seem to need a breath after it. So Arthur was confused. "What?" He asked before something dawned on him. "There's something different about you Merlin. What'd you do to yourself?" Arthur asked as he got up. "Nothing. I changed out of yesterday's clothes but that's it." Merlin admitted. "Weird. I know something's not the same with you but I can't put my finger on it." As Arthur said it he got closer and closer to Merlin until they were nose-to-nose with one and other. However instead of feeling nervous about it Merlin's grin grew more and his voice dropped to a whisper. "I didn't change anything. Maybe it's you that has changed, Arthur." Arthur felt a shiver run down his spine at the change of tone as well as the slight change in Merlin's behavior.
Arthur couldn't explain it as he sat at his desk with papers before him, but instead of focusing on them he was watching Merlin like a hungry man would watch a piece of meat. Well, more Merlin's ass. Merlin was doing his duties around Arthur's room, his back to Arthur the whole time. Arthur figured that Merlin didn't know that he was watching him but in truth Merlin both knew of the prince watching him and was enjoying it greatly. Though he didn't know why he was enjoying something like this when he normally would be blushing like mad and want to get away from the attention. Right now how ever he was tempted to do the rest of his tasks naked for Arthur. But before he could even begin to remove his jacket a knock at the door drew the attention of both men. "Sire." A male servant said before his eyes landed on Merlin. Both men could see the lust that suddenly filled the servant's eyes when he looked at Merlin. Merlin was flatter to be attracting that of attention from someone he didn't know, but Arthur was pissed. He was thinking to himself how dare a mere servant look at my Merlin like that. Arthur was slightly shocked that he was thinking of Merlin as his but he couldn't really care at the moment. "What do you want?" He snapped at him. The servant jumped and locked his eyes on the prince. "The king has heard that your manservant has recovered and wishes to see him about what happened yesterday." The servant answered. "Fine. You can go now." Arthur was tempted to tell the servant he was fired but held back. He'd save that for if the servant crossed the line and touched Merlin.
Merlin stood with his head held high as he stood before the king. He had no idea where all this confidence was coming from but he kind of liked it. The king seemed to look him over with a strange look in his eyes before speaking to Merlin. "Arthur has told me of what you did against the beast yesterday." Uther began. Merlin smiled and bowed slightly. "Thank you Milord." Merlin said. "No other servant has ever done something as bold and brave as what you did. For that I am willing to give you whatever you wish to thank you for your action." Uther said. Gaius raised a brow at the strangeness of everything. Merlin had gotten up long before him, had cleaned the whole workshop with out complaint or being asked to, Arthur was standing closer to Merlin then normal, Merlin was standing like he owned the castle, and Uther was offering him what ever he wanted. Something was wrong and he wasn't sure just what it was or could be.