It all started months ago, with what really should be seen as an everyday thing in Camelot by this point.
Even after the death of Uther and Arthur's subsequent rise to the throne, witchfinders continued to flock to Camelot in the hopes of selling their services to the infamously anti-magic regime.
This one's name had been Aeiden and, in Merlin's opinion, he really had been just like all the rest.
Upon Aeiden's arrival everyone had gathered in the throne room to hear his speech to the king involving wild gesticulations and of course a slightly manic rant on the evils of sorcery. And then the accusations had started. Aeiden told the king he had heard some of the druids he had captured talk of a sorcerer who had been in Camelot and graciously offered his services in finding said evil plotter.
Arthur of course gave him leave and by noon of the next day magical symbols and books were popping up everywhere around the castle.
And then of course Merlin was accused.
To be fair Merlin may have been using a little magic here and there that day to help speed along his chores but he was pretty certain Aeiden hadn't seen a thing. But with the accusation and the poultice Aeiden conveniently found on Merlin's person Arthur had no choice but to send Merlin to the dungeons and order a search of his rooms.
In the end Gaius and Gwen pulled together to find evidence that the witchfinder was the one planting the poultices and such and Arthur happily switched said witchfinder and Merlin's positions.
With a not quite apology from Arthur and a lasting disapproving look from Gaius Merlin returned to his room to straighten the mess.
Then it happened again. And again. And again. It seemed witchfinders had also all figured out that if they could frame the king's manservant (made easier by the sheer growing number of accusations against him) or the Court Physician they might gain a steady position as Camelot's resident expert on magic and live the rest of their lives, theoretically, in comfort.
Merlin really was tired of the whole ordeal, especially the part wherein Arthur always seemed to cave into the idea, when he hit his final straw.
It had only been just over two months and another witchfinder rode into Camelot spouting even more rumors of hidden sorcery in the castle's depths and an even more grandiose speech. All of which was just enough to spur Arthur into giving him leave to roam the castle freely.
Things commenced in the same way with this witchfinder concentrating on Merlin from the start. Merlin had to hand it to him though, the guy really took his time, kept Arthur going with the bare minimum of hints and laid the groundwork pretty well. So well in fact that Merlin wasn't even surprised when Arthur had him dragged from the throne room to the dungeons. Merlin kept himself quite busy wondering how Gaius and Gwen (and maybe Gwaine too seeing as this one was tricky) were going to find enough evidence to get him out of this one.
It turns out that they did managed to get the evidence (all that planning seemed to have been too much for the witchfinder to keep in his head so that when he let Gwen the unimposing servant into his room with the assumption she couldn't read she found all of his plans neatly laid out on parchment in his top desk drawer) but not without consequences.
Because of the long period and subtlety this witchfinder had used to frame Merlin Arthur had ordered the search be infinitely more thorough than any of the previous run downs of the physician's chambers. Gaius had always lectured Merlin profusely about the searches for fear of something actually magical of Merlin's being found (which honestly was Merlin's least favorite part of the repeating ordeal). The search was so thorough that by the time Gwen and Gwaine ran to Arthur with the evidence this time Gaius had just enough time to stop the knights currently ransacking Merlin's room from prying up the floorboard that was continuously squeaking as they stepped on it.
Merlin got quite the lecture from that one. So much so that he had to promise Gaius he would move his magical objects from under the floorboard so that Gaius wouldn't send him away from the castle for good. So much so that he decided to try something new.
Arthur was tired. So much so that he had decided to take the day off and have a bit of a lie in.
Really, he mused to himself as he yawned and finally rolled out of bed, A whole slew of witchfinders over the course of a handful of months will do that to you.
Arthur was also starting to feel a little, very little, not even at all if you asked him directly, guilty. He had really almost believed the last guy to come traipsing in and accuse Merlin. It had just gone so slow. And it gave Arthur time to think about things. And when Arthur started to really think about Merlin nothing really started to make sense anymore.
But then Gwen and Gwaine, Funny it wasn't Gaius that time had barged in with plans and Arthur was left to yet again order Merlin free and banter and pillow throw his way back into Merlin's good graces.
I really just need some time away from all of this Arthur thought as he sat down to the cold breakfast he had ordered delivered while he slept in. He took his time eating savoring the warmth of the fire in the growing chill of autumn. Finally, realizing how nice the fire was on his waery shoulders, he decided he would do a little fall cleaning (which would certainly show Merlin that he wasn't so much of a useless prat as the manservant liked to tell everyone) . So Arthur started with the affairs of state strewn all across his desk and part of his table, carefully sorting them into dealt with and still to dos and laying them neatly to the side for Merlin to put into storage the next day. (Because Arthur shouldn't have to do everything himself now should he.
Enjoying the coziness of the room and the feeling of accomplishment Arthur moved on to his desk drawers and then even to his closet to sort through his old clothing to be thrown out. (He bypassed his bed because again, Merlin needed some things to do)
The clothes took far longer than the papers and desk had. Arthur's wardrobe seemed to have grown sense the last time he had been in it because he just kept finding old favorites of his. Finally after at least two hours of diggings things out and admiring Arthur was surrounded by three piles of clothes.
He sighed, feeling satisfied with himself and leaned over to begin scooping the definitely keep pile back into the wardrobe, Merlin could do the actual hanging and folding the next day. As he stretched lazily not wanting to get up to retrieve a shirt he had flung a little too enthusiastically the by now late afternoon sun shone past him into the wardrobe and something caught his eye in the bottom corner of the dark wood. Frowning curiously Arthur leaned in, once again blocking the light, and felt the back corner with his hand. He groped around in the dark for a second before his hand caught on a bit of wood sticking up. Pulling, he found it was actually a part of the bottom of the wardrobe. He was about to let it go as his curiosity was sated but he remembered playing in the wardrobe when he was a child and he couldn't for the life of him remember the wardrobe being in such disrepair.
Merlin must have broken it and not wanted to tell me he thought grumpily. Fine then I'll just pull this up the rest of the way and dump it on the clothes he has to mend for tomorrow and see just what the idiot has to say about it he thought to himself with a smirk.
And so Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot, braced himself on the side of the wardrobe and pulled at the board, and promptly fell on his butt with the board in his lap blinking at how easily the board had come loose. Arthur leaned to the side to absently rub his sore bottom and as the sun once again streamed past him into the wardrobe was faced with his second minor shock of the day. Underneath where the wayward board had been there were things. Distinctly not dark wood things.
Arthur wasn't stupid. And he also wasn't as useless as Merlin made him out to be. As clearly evidenced by this little cleaning fit he thought to himself. But really as much as Merlin would rant and rave about Arthur only ever needed the help of one servant, his servant, and so the only servant that had access to his rooms was indeed Merlin. Arthur also kept his doors locked at all times because as the king of Camelot and the son of Uther Arthur found that he could never be too careful. And it had proved useful to him before. Add to that the fact that no one had had to sub in for Merlin recently since Arthur had gotten so fed up with George that for the past two years whenever Merlin shirked his duties or just failed to show up Arthur would just save the chores for the next day and use them to make Merlin's life worse as punishment and Arthur could only come to one conclusion. Merlin did this.
Frowning a bit harder Arthur once again groped inside until he had everything in his grasp and then scooted back and turned around into the light to examine his haul.
He took a second to take everything in, as he told himself a good king would and then promptly screamed, "MERLIN!"
Really, Merlin thought as the king basically kicked in the door and threw a pile of things Merlin and Gaius definitely shouldn't' recognize down on the table where until then Merlin and his mentor had been meticulously brewing a batch of Gauis's famous hangover cure for Gwaine, I didn't actually expect this.
Gauis looked down for a second then at Arthur for a second more. Deciding the fact that Arthur hadn't yet run Merlin through despite the overwhelming evidence on the table that all of those witchfinders had indeed, somehow, been miraculously correct, Gaius joined Arthur in his full out glaring toward Gauis' ward, adding a distinct note of you-have-GOT-to-be-kidding-me with his doubly raised eyebrows.
Merlin, for his part, stood more calmly than he ever imagined he would faced with a similar situation. Finally, prompted by Arthur's semi furious "Well?" Merlin turned with a sheepish sort of grimace to Gaius and said the only thing that would come to him in the moment.
"I told you I wouldn't hide them under the floorboard anymore Gaius"