AN: some time during season 2. a one chapter story separated into eight sections. brownie points to any one who can get the one sentence in ths story thats from a movie! as always, i don't own merlin, just the idea. and for everyone out there who has read a couple of my stories, i know i have an unhealthy obsession with songs, but i promise i'm trying to get over it. and of course, REVIEW!
Do:
It is still dark outside when Merlin is woken up roughly by his master, Prince Arthur. As he blinks the sleep away from his eyes he sees the smile on Arthur's face. Merlin groans loudly because he knows that smile only means one thing.
"Come on Merlin." Arthur says cheerily, "We are going hunting."
Merlin just roles over in his bed and covers his face with his blanket. Before he can get situated though, the sheet is yanked off of him, exposing his body to the chilly predawn air.
"Arthur, why do we have to get up so god-forsaking early?" Merlin asks grumpily. Mornings are not his favored time of day and normally the prince shares his view on them. This day, for whatever reason, was different though.
"You, Merlin, have to get up because I'm telling you to. I on the other hand am up because yesterday I heard that there were an unusually large number of deer in the forest at the moment and want to start hunting before anyone else does. You are coming along to carry my equipment and because you have no choice."
Even though he was tired, Merlin was able to form a complaint. "So you're waking me up to go kill animals? Not only are all the deer going to die, you have to bring me along with you. What kind of monster are you?"
"Right now, an irritated one. Now get moving. As they say, the early birds get the worms!"
"Or a bunch of dead animals thrown at their face." The manservant muttered under his breath, too low for his master to hear.
Merlin sighed heavily before slowly getting out of bed to get dressed. Once Arthur saw that he was not going back to sleep, he made his way to the door.
"Also, I expect the horses ready to go in thirty minutes." With that last comment, he closed the door wit ha big smile still on his face. Merlin waited a moment until he heard the door in the main room shut before walking back over to his bed and crawling under the covers again.
Re:
The sun was just starting to rise by the time the two men were in the forest away from the castle and the rays were lighting up the woods. Arthur and Merlin were moving quietly through the underbrush, following a herd of deer the prince had spotted. The reason they were still tracking it down and not carrying it back to the horses was because every time they would get within crossbow range, Merlin would conveniently (for the deer anyway) trip over something and rustle the plant life, startling the herd. By third time, Arthur was fed up with not catching anything and told Merlin to stay back.
"I swear Merlin, you just can't keep quiet; even when you're not talking you are loud." Arthur said. "Now wait here until I come back." With that, the prince left him in a clearing by himself.
About thirty minutes had passed and Merlin was enjoying the time alone. He laid his body out on the grass and stretched out his limbs. The rays of the sun were shining on his face, filling him with warmth. Even though Merlin didn't like mornings, he loved the way the dawn sky filled with color before changing back to the cerulean blue it normally was during waking hours. He raised himself up into a sitting position while resting his hands on his now crossed legs, facing the rising sun. He was so lost in his musings that he didn't hear the soft footsteps approach him from behind or the sound of a knife being drawn from its sheath. Suddenly Merlin felt a rough hand grab his hair and dig the point of the dagger into the small of his back.
His whole body jerked forward automatically and he screamed.
Mi:
Ten minutes.
It had been ten full minutes and Arthur still couldn't pull himself up off the ground. He had been laughing too hard. Every time he would seem to calm down enough to sit up straight, he would get one more look at Merlin's disgruntled face and fall into a new fit of hysterics, tears flowing from his eyes.
Merlin was not amused in the least. After screaming in bloody murder, he had yanked himself free from the hand and ran for the nearest tree, climbing up it. By the time he was half way up, he had realized that the person had been Arthur. The prince managed to refrain from laughing at his servant's mad dash up the tree, but by the time Merlin had made his way back down onto the ground all ruffled, up the prince couldn't hold it in any longer. Merlin's beady glare just made it worse. This is where the two men found themselves now.
"It was NOT funny, Arthur." The warlock grumbled. This set another round of laughter off that latest for a good three minutes. After what felt like ages to Merlin, the last if the hysterics died down and Arthur sat up, taking a big breath.
"Oh yes it was. I don't think I've laughed that hard for that long in years." The crown prince said with a big cheeky grin on his face.
Merlin just harrumphed. He was in a very bad mood. Not only had he been scared half to death, but also it had been a joke, one that the prince would most likely hold over him for who knows how long.
"You know, you scream like a girl." Arthur commented.
"I do not. Every one screams like that. I bet you would do the same if you had been taken by surprise." Merlin replied.
"Yes you do. I think sometimes Merlin that you really are a girl in disguise. You talk enough to be one."
"Don't let Gwen hear you say that."
Arthur continued on as if he had not been interrupted. "I think that we should give you a girls name. How does Mary sound?"
"My name is NOT Mary and I will not respond to it."
Arthur was silent for a minute. "Ok then."
Merlin didn't expect him to give in so easily "Really?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Well, thank you sire."
"I'll just call you Merlinda instead." No wonder he gave in so easily.
"Prat"
"Idio- Merlinda."
"If you keep calling me that, I'll give you a name."
Arthur snorted at that. "Bet you couldn't come up with one creative enough."
Merlin smiled darkly at this comment. "I don't need to, I already have one. Gwen and me were swapping stories from our childhood, and one involving you came up. It was about a nickname Morgana once called you." Arthur's face suddenly became much graver. All traces of humor were gone. Morgana had come up with many nicknames over the years, but one was particularly awful. It had lasted for months. His only hope was that the name Merlin was referring to was a different one.
Merlin continued with his story. "She came up with it on a whim, but didn't realize how much you were going to over react. She called you it for months. In fact, the only reason she stopped was because you got one of the servants to dump a dozen rats in her room and threatened to burn her favorite dress if she didn't."
Arthur gulped. It was that nickname, and he still hated it. And now Merlin knew it. This was not good. " You know Merlin, I think that you have a very nice name. We should call each other by them. Me, Arthur and you, Merlin."
This only caused a sinister smile to spread across Merlin's face. "Actually I'm starting to think nicknames are good."
Arthur suddenly saw movement behind Merlin. When he looked over the servant's shoulder, his whole body stiffened and his face went white.
Fa:
Thinking that Arthur's change in demeanor was his doing, Merlin kept talking. "You know, I should have brought this up sooner and then maybe-"
"Merlin, shut up" Arthur said quietly, still looking over the boy's shoulder. Merlin however showed no intentions of quieting down. He decided to talk louder. "- we might not have gotten in this problem at all and everyone would still be asleep in their beds-" The prince knew there was only one way to get him to shut up and listen to him, and at the moment, it was worth it.
"Merlin, Please be quiet." He said as softly as he could while still looking be hind his servant's back. This caused him to halt mid sentence and look at Arthur oddly. He NEVER said please, ever. He then noticed the prince's eyes focused on something behind him. Very slowly he turned around and froze at the sight before him.
An extremely chunky looking creature was currently in a staring contest with Arthur. His gave Merlin the opportunity to take in what he was seeing. The beast was probably almost nine feet tall, with lumpy green-brown skin. His face was a bit lopsided and his jaw stuck out in an under bite as a result of the enormous tusks showing from his mouth. A pair of leather breeches was al he had on. A long wooden club with spikes imbedded in it was what he had in his hand.
Arthur had no idea what in the world it was. Merlin on t he other hand knew exactly what they were looking at from the pictures of it in Gaius's bestiary. Right now he was wishing that were where he was seeing it and not in person, standing a mere ten paces in front of him.
"What is that?" Arthur whispered.
"An ogre." Merlin replied. At the mention of his species, the ogre switched who he was looking at. As his eyes connected with the warlock's, he gulped audibly and subconsciously took a step back. This seemed to break the spell that had fallen over the three, rendering them incapable of movement. The ogre started to growl and raised his club to take a swing at Merlin. Seeing that Merlin was too terrified to move, the prince rushed forward and grabbed his arm, pulling him as fast as he could in the opposite direction.
"Run." Arthur ordered, and for once Merlin obeyed without complaint.
The two of them took off through the trees in front of them, hoping to slow it down in the dense forest. It worked, but not enough to actually make a significant difference.
"You keep running while I stay back and try to fight it off," said Arthur. Before he could even slow down enough to turn around, Merlin grabbed hold of his tunic and yanked him forward.
"Oh no you don't. Up against the skin of an ogre, your sword is about as useless as a pin against an elephant. Right now if we want to survive, run." But when did Arthur ever listen to his servant? He stopped, turned around, drew his hunting knife and threw it at the giant ogre. It imbedded itself in the thick skin, but all the creature did was lookdown at the knife and then forget about it. It hadn't even felt the blade. After witnessing the ogre's lack of reaction to getting skewered, the prince decided running was the best option.
The two or them ran as fast as they could until they reached the foot of a huge boulder pile that must have been over two hundred feet high. They paused only for a moment to catch their breath before making there way up the rock formation. The ogre was still behind them and had not given up it chase yet.
One thing that Merlin was better at than Arthur (And as far as the prince was concerned the only thing) was climbing. Within minutes Merlin found himself ahead of Arthur by a considerable amount more than he was comfortable with. As he looked back, he saw Arthur struggling to find a handle on the rock above him. The ogre was closing in and reached out with his cub towards the prince. He scrabbled away from the worst of the blow, but one of the spikes gashed his side, causing him to cry out in pain.
Merlin could see he was too far ahead to be useful. Panicking, he did something in front of Arthur he swore he would never do whilst the man was conscious. He just prayed that Arthur wouldn't notice. He let his instincts take over and the magic flowed from him. His eyes flashed gold as he then called on the rocks to suddenly loosen themselves from their place and tumble down in the direction of the ogre. It was just in time too, for the monster had raised his club again and was bout to strike the prince when the rocks tumbled down the slope, knocking the beast down and burying him in rubble.
The warlock need not have worried about being caught, for Arthur had closed his eyes and brace himself for the fatal blow. He reopened them when he heard the rockslide not three feet from him. The next words out of Merlin's mouth quickly turned him from relieved to incredulous.
"IT WORKED!"
This seemed to anger Arthur greatly. "Do you mean to tell me you caused the rockslide? You could have killed me!" he yelled.
"Sorry for saving your life. I promise I won't do it again." Merlin replied. He made his was down to Arthur offering him a hand to get up to the next level of rock. "Here sire. Up ahead there is a flat spot we can rest." It was a good think too, for Arthur was loosing a lot of blood and having trouble standing steady. By the time the two made it to their destination, the prince could barely stand on his own and had to lie down. Merlin took this time to look around them and realized he had no idea which way was Camelot.
"Arthur, we have a serious problem."
"What is it this time Merlin?" he mumbled.
"Where are we?" at this question, Arthur sat up enough to get a good look at their surroundings.
He let out a big sigh. "Damn it."
So:
"I reckon if we head back now, we can get to where we left the horses by nightfall." Arthur guessed. He was lying down on the ground with his shirt off and pressing Merlin's spare neckerchief against his wound. Its owner was busy digging around in his pocket for something he could use to temporarily sew up the gash with until they returned to Camelot. Not finding anything, he cast a quick glance at Arthur, making sure he was not paying the least bit of attention to anything he was doing. Merlin whispered a few words of the old religion and the two pebbles he held in his hand transformed into a needle and thread.
"Found them, sire." The manservant said cheerfully. He walked over to Arthur and removed the neckerchief from the wound. Using some of the water in his water bag, Merlin rinsed to old blood off the wound and got to work sewing it closed. The injured prince clinched his teeth at the pain but remained silent as the cut was sewn up.
Unlike Merlin, Arthur knew where they were. This was the northern most part of the kingdom, nearest the Mercian border. He knew they were safe, but wanted to get moving as quickly as possible. There was always a small threat, and he didn't want to bring up bad memories from their last encounter. It had ended with Merlin getting poisoned. At that moment, said useless manservant dug a little deeper than necessary with the needle. A grimace reached his face and Merlin smiled apologetically.
"Sorry Sire." To distract himself from bad memories and the pain in his side, Arthur asked Merlin how he knew what the thing was.
"Sometimes at night while I'm laying in bed, I'll read a bit out of Gaius's books. A picture of that thing and a description was in it." Merlin said, still focused on sewing Arthur up.
"It looked a bit like an oversized troll to me." Arthur replied.
"well, ogres could somewhat be considered troll cousins. They are extremely similar, but ogres are very stupid and single minded. They tecnicaly are creatures of magic but have no control over it." Merlin went on some more about the relationships between ogres and trolls for some time, and although Arthur would never admit it, he was quite impressed with his servant's knowledge of the two creatures.
The prince looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was starting to reach the westward side of the sky. He huffed in irritation at having gotten in this situation in the first place, and having to leave the horses back in the clearing, which they were now going to have to walk back to.
"And done!" Merlin cried. Arthur looked down at the gash that was now closed up and had to admit his manservant did a good job, all things considered.
"Well Merlin, I guess you're not totally useless. It looks like Gaius is actually teaching you some thing after all." His stood up slowly and put his shirt back on, wincing as he aggravated the wound. "Now you have to help me get down this blasted rock pile without dying."
It took them another ten minutes to descend, and by the time they made it to the forest floor Arthur was sweating from the exertion. They paused for a second before starting off again in the direction of the horses.
La:
After two hours of walking, they had to take a break. Arthur had almost past out four times and Merlin was starting to get worried. Luckily they came to a small lake and he was able to convince Arthur to rest for a little bit. Despite his insistence that he was fine, Merlin could tell he was drawing on reserve energy just to stay awake. He almost had to force his friend to sit down against a tree near the shore. As if to prove Merlin right, Arthur closed his eyes for what he said would only be a moment but fell asleep instantly. As the prince lay resting against the tree, Merlin decided to have a look around. It wasn't very memorable as far as lakes went, but it was pretty and reflected the stunning sunset perfectly.
Sunset.
It was taking nearly twice as long to go half as far as Arthur initially thought, and Merlin was antsy. They didn't have any hunting gear with them and all the two deer Arthur managed to kill were sitting in a pile next to the horses. They hadn't eaten since early this morning and Merlin was very hungry. As if to confirm his thoughts, his stomach growled loudly.
Sighing, he looked around for anything he could catch for dinner. When he saw nothing he reached out with his magic and sensed the presence of a rabbit. Casting a spell to put it to sleep, he grabbed it and promptly killed it. He normally wouldn't use magic like this, but it was a special circumstance.
With Arthur still asleep, Merlin gathered firewood, lit it and started to cook the Hare. To pass the time, he started to hum an old lullaby his mother used to sing to him. He could never remember all the words, but the tune stuck in his head.
After humming through the song for the fourth time, he saw Arthur stir and slowly open his eyes. How convenient the rabbit was almost done. For a second, he seemed to be confused about where he was but soon remembered as he stood up and winced, feeling the stitched up wound.
He refocused on Merlin when he went back to humming the same tune and saw the rabbit.
"How in the world did you manage to catch that?" he asked.
"Magic." Arthur simply rolled his eyes, obviously not believing him but not caring enough to ask again. Merlin just smirked inwardly. He knew Arthur wouldn't believe the truth even if he told it to him.
The cooked animal was done and the two ate in silence. The sun was now almost completely hidden by the trees, casting them into shadow. Once they were finished, Merlin threw the bones into the woods away from where they were sitting. Arthur then surprised him by breaking the silence first.
"What was the song you were humming?" he asked. Merlin was surprised that the prince had been paying enough attention to realize he had been in fact humming a song and not gibberish.
"It was a lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was younger. I could never remember the words but the melody stuck with me."
"Could you hum it again?" Arthur asked.
A shocked Merlin stared at him for a moment before complying. He was extremely puzzled at these words of Arthur's. He never would ask for anything. He always demanded it.
After finishing the song, Merlin came to a decision and would not let Arthur turn it down. "Arthur, you can't walk the rest of the way to the horses. I think that I should go get them and bring them here."
"Well Merlin, its not your job to think. You're supposed to do what I tell you and I say I'm walking back and don't try to stop me." The servant just crossed his arms. Well, the considerate Arthur was nice while he lasted.
"I won't even have to. You can barely stand up by yourself. There is no way you are going to make it back to the clearing."
"Merlin, you are my servant and must do as I say. We are going now." At that, Arthur started to walk but didn't get more than ten steps before staggering to the side. Merlin hurried over to his side be fore he fell face first into the earth. Once Arthur sat down again against another tree, Merlin smirked at him but said nothing. He had just been proven right and was enjoying it immensely. Arthur didn't say anything either. He simply crossed his arms and glared daggers at his servant for having been correct.
"Now, give me two hours and I'll be back." All Arthur responded with was 'idiot'.
With that settled, Merlin started off on his long walk, but before he was completely out of hearing range, he heard the faint hum of his mother's lullaby floating through the air from the lake he had just left.
Ti:
It was well past midnight by the time master and servant made it to the gated of Camelot, and King Uther was both worried and extremely angry, which he took out on anyone who was unlucky enough to pass his way. His son had been missing for over twelve hours, and the only thing people could say was that he and his ridiculous servant were seen leaving before sun up to go hunting, and were expecting to be back by early afternoon. At first he was irritated at his son for forgoing his duties for sport, but became increasingly worried as the day wore on and his son had yet to come home. When the two finally arrived, a servant was sent to his chambers to inform him of their return.
Arthur knew there would be hell to pay when he arrived home, but was too tired and sore to really think about it at the moment. They hadn't even dismounted when an angry Uther stormed his way down the steps. Arthur rubbed his eyes. He felt awful at the moment and really didn't want to have to deal with his father's irrational temper right now. So he decided to beat his father to the point.
"Father, I know you are extremely angry with me right now, but I'm exhausted and can barely stand. Could we please have this conversation in the morning?"
Uther was so surprised by his son's ragged appearance and quiet tone that he decided it was probably a good idea for him to go straight to bed. They would have this conversation when they were both more rested and alert.
"We will continue this conversation in the morning." The king said. He turned to the guards closest him. "You!" he barked, "Help my son to his room and put away his horse." They bowed in obedience and went to do what he ordered.
Merlin had left before the conversation took place and went straight to Gaius's chambers knowing the physician would be needed and want to know what had taken them so long to get back.
The old man was pacing in his chambers when Merlin entered the room.
He stopped moving when he heard the door open and rushed forward, enveloping his nephew in a hug once he realized whom it was. "Merlin, dear boy! Where have you been? I was worried sick."
"Don't worry, Gaius. I'm fine. Arthur on the other hand got gashed pretty badly on his right side. I did my best sewing it up but figured you would want to take a look at it."
Twenty minutes later found the two in Arthur's chambers fixing his bandages. Both Gwen and the lady Morgana were there with them. They had heard the commotion outside and wanted to make sure they were all right. To everyone's surprise, Merlin had actually done a very good job sewing up the wound. Gaius didn't even need to take the stitches out. It was still hurting him, so Gaius asked Gwen to go and fetch a bucket of water, along with some bread from the kitchen.
When she arrived back with everything, the elderly man hung the bucket over the fireplace and began soaking herbs in it that he had brought with him to the room. When Gwen asked what had happened, Arthur was unable to resist her, so he told the three people who hadn't been with them everything that happened. Merlin was force to butt in a few times when the prince stretched the truth more than his companion would let him.
By the time the recount of events was complete, whatever the physician had been doing was finished. He took four goblets out of the drawer and poured them all a small amount of the drink. The four youths looked at him oddly, wondering what it was they were being given.
"It is called tea. A long time ago I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel. I went all the way to the southern part of Rome. The culture was magnificent and one of the things they taught me was how to make tea. It is extremely good for you and had countless uses. I made this one to help relax every body and give you four a better nights sleep."
They all hesitantly took a sip. To their delight this was one of the few things the physician had made that tasted wonderful. Merlin of course had to comment on that fact.
"Well Gaius, I didn't know you were able to make something thing healthy and pleasant tasting." This earned him a whack on the head, causing the girls to snicker quietly at him rubbing the spot Gaius smacked.
Four chairs were pulled up around Arthur's bed, and they all sat down, sipping their tea and eating the slices of bread covered with jam that Gwen had thoughtfully brought up with her from the kitchens.
Do:
By the time the tea was finished, they all were starting to feel its effects and decided to go off to bed. Every one had filed out of the room except for Merlin who had stayed behind to tidy up out of habit.
The two were silent as he went about doing his chores. Arthur was just about to get comfortable and go to sleep when he noticed the slight smile on his servant's face. Once he was finished with whatever it was he was doing, Merlin turned around to face Arthur and leaned against the table.
"What is your smirk about?" Arthur asked warily, although he thought he already knew the answer.
Merlin smiled wider, he had been waiting for this. "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how you left out a rather large part of the story. Its almost as if you don't want to bring up the topic we were discussing. You didn't even tell them the lovely nickname you picked out for me." As he finished his sentence, his smirk grew until it almost stretched ear to ear.
At that moment, Arthur started to feel extremely uncomfortable. During the retelling, Arthur was very vague about what the two of them had been arguing about right before the ogre appeared. He had hope that Merlin would have dropped it but in all honesty that was a false hope; he knew his servant too well. The information he had acquired was blackmail, and they both knew it.
This resulted in a staring contest that lasted who knows how long before Arthur broke eye contact first. Merlin's eyes brightened with delight. Two wins in one day. It was his new record.
With everything that happened over the past twenty-four hours and an ugly gash in his side to match, Arthur decided that for now, it just wasn't worth it. He would deal with the back lash in the morning when he could actually think is complete sentences.
As Merlin left the room, he couldn't resist one last comment, even though he knew it would get him thrown in the dungeons for a week, the stocks for a month and stable duty for the rest of his life.
"Good night Wart. Sleep tight." He was already hoofing it down the hall when he heard the sound of something crashing loudly against the door, startling the guards on duty that night. He heard one last think before turning the corner.
"MERLIN! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU TOMORROW!"
~FINIS~