This was originally going to be a short, light-hearted fic. And then it was going to be a oneshot in 'Plugging up the Plotholes.' But, as always, the characters have decided to take on a life of their own. I can only hope that you will enjoy it XD

This starts during series one- some time after 'The Gates of Avalon' and before 'The Beginning of the End,' so it's a few months (as far as I'm concerned) since Merlin arrived in Camelot.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin

Chapter One

With a poorly-hidden air of proud satisfaction, Roderick pulled his near-brand-new leather boots onto his feet, before completing his new ensemble by hiding his startlingly red hair beneath the helmet he had been provided with. He rose to his feet, before facing the others in the room with a beaming smile.

"Well then," he declared, "I guess I'm off."

Anne, his wife, stepped forward to give him a brief peck on the lips and a whisper of "good luck" before Alice and Erwin swarmed around his ankles, clamouring for his attention. Chuckling, Roderick knelt down and drew the two into a quick hug, before ruffling his son's hair affectionately.

"Now Erwin," he instructed, grinning inwardly at the five-year old's attentiveness "I want to take good care of Alice and your mother while I'm gone. For the rest of the day, you're the man of the house."

Alice looked just about as indignant as a three-year old could at this, but Erwin simply ignored his sister's exclamation of "I dun need him to!" in favour of nodding proudly at his father.

Giving the boy one last nod, Roderick patted himself down once more, making sure he hadn't forgotten anything, before he made his way out of the door of their small wooden house. His family stood in the entrance, waving him goodbye until he was no longer in sight, and Roderick found himself grinning good-naturedly as he walked in the direction of the castle, ducking through various entryways and passages until he found himself in a mid-sized room with the other five recruits who were also due to start guard duty that day. They each exchanged nods of welcome, having made sure to acquaint themselves in the Rising Sun three days prior.

Today, Roderick vowed, as they waited for one of the more experienced guards to arrive and give them their instructions, would be a good day. He was filled with enthusiasm. While the redhead was under no delusions of grandeur- he knew the job would likely provide him with plenty of boredom- he was determined to do his utmost best in whatever tasks he was given. This new job would provide him with with a much more stable income than helping at the stables, as he had been doing for the past nine years. It had to, considering the risk of injury (not that he was planning on getting injured), and he was more than pleased that he would be able to give his family a better life.

After about five minutes of nervous waiting, the six new recruits were joined by a rather stocky older man. He had lines of both mirth and worry littered across his face, and a glimpse of slightly greying dark hair could be seen poking out from underneath his helmet. He cast an appraising eye around the room, with an air which hinted at the fact that he had probably lived long enough to see hundreds of recruits both join and leave, before gruffly introducing himself as being named 'Carsen.'

Standing before the six of them, after they had arranged themselves shoulder to shoulder, Carsen presented them each with the weapons they would be expected to carry from that point on, with an order that they were to take good care of them. Roderick tucked the dagger into a small sheath upon his hip, then palmed his pikestaff nervously- the weight of the weapon in his hand serving to remind him that, as boring as the job may prove, he did had a duty to serve and protect the people. The burden may not have been as great as that of the Knights he had eagerly watched training for so many days in his youth, but it did mean that he may well have to take peoples' lives at some point, in order to protect the majority. He had to force down a small lump of bile at the thought. Maybe life in the stables hadn't been so bad after all...

As Carsen started talking once more, Roderick forced himself to stop with the macabre thoughts. This was for his family. And, honestly, what was the likelihood that he himself would have to take a life? The probability was next to nothing.

"Alright men," began Carsen, "I trust you've all prepared yourselves. This may not be the glamorous or exciting job you likely all wanted while growing up, but it definitely has it's dangers. In fact, there's a lot more to being a guard than you've probably ever thought before."

Roderick gulped nervously. Carsen certainly knew how to make a man uneasy.

As though reading his thoughts, Carsen sent a grim smile down the line. "Right then, I'll be assigning you your posts now. You'll be swapping duties in two week shifts. The Prince doesn't like for any of the guards to get lazy, so he tries to keep us on our toes. Think of the constant change as training- the alertness which comes from it has helped save my life more times than I'd care to keep track of."

The comment would have seemed an exaggeration, had the older man's eyes not been almost startlingly serious. Roderick pondered this from his position at the end of the line, as the others were each given their duties and told who to report to. Was being a guard really all that dangerous?

After what seemed simultaneously like an age as well as no time at all, the other recruits had filtered one-by-one from the room, and Carsen was now standing directly in front of Roderick, his dark eyes boring into Roderick's own.

"You, lad- you'll be patrolling the corridors surrounding the physician's chambers for the next two weeks. You're to meet Delbert. The two of you'll be a pair for a long time after today, so you better hope you get along. I'll be the one you report to from now on, so I'll be expecting to hear from you at the end of every day, whether or not anything out of the ordinary happens. Have you got that?"

Roderick nodded fervently. "Yes Sir!" He paused briefly, hesitatingly, before asking the obvious question. "Umm... where-?"

"Where will you be meeting Delbert?"

A nod.

"I'll be taking you there now. I've still got a good half hour before my shift starts, so I figure I'll make sure you know your way and what to keep an eye out for. Now come on."

Without another word, Carsen turned and marched out of the room, Roderick trotting along just behind him. As they walked, the elder man kept up a running commentary.

"Now, you'll probably be seeing a few things on this shift that'll confuse you at first." He raised an amused eyebrow, and Roderick was immediately aware that his shock at the comment was showing on his face. "It's nothing to worry about, lad. The Prince's manservant lives with the Physician, and he's prone to quite a bit of running about and odd behaviour. Best to just ignore him. And don't be too surprised if Prince Arthur comes barging through like he's in a foul mood. Merlin's often late- no surprise, really, with the amount of chores he's given from both the Prince and from the Physician- and Arthur has to come and fetch him sometimes."

"I thought the Prince liked Merlin though." In his years spent in the stables, Roderick had seen a lot of people go past, and in the few months since Merlin had arrived, the Prince seemed to have been smiling a lot more than he had in the past.

Carsen gave a humoured snort. "Oh, that he does. Truth be told, there's no real anger there. I for one believe the Prince actually enjoys having to chase after his servant every now and then. In fact, he probably only gives Merlin as much work as he does so that he has an excuse to get away from his regular duties for a few minutes every now and then."

The older guard gestured around with his arm.

"Now, we're entering the area you'll be helping guard for the next couple of weeks. Delbert'll run you through what to do, but there's no harm in being aware of the basics."

Roderick sped up for a few paces until he was walking beside Carsen. From the sounds of it, every bit of information he could glean about his new job would be a lesson well learned.

Carsen gave an approving nod at the younger man's ernestness.

"Delbert'll show you the route you'll be taking, but the important thing is to keep a sharp eye out. Memorise every nook and cranny you come across, so that you'll be aware at once if anything seems out of place. The same is true for every location you'll guard in the future. Over the next few months, you should make sure to have near perfect knowledge of every corridor in this castle. Knowledge is important in this job, as is quick thinking- you need to remain sharp at all times, no matter what some other people might tell you."

The older man trailed off briefly, leaving Roderick to wonder what exactly these 'other people' would tell him which Carsen found so disgraceful. But before he could ask, the other man had started talking again.

"Keeping a steady pace is important too. Some people try to hurry, but it's best to keep a steady rhythm. Go too fast and you might miss an important detail. Go too slowly and there'll be too big a gap between your patrol and another in the same area. Either way could result in the loss of an innocent person's life, so walk at the same speed we're going right now. Keep all that in mind, and here's hoping you'll be able to survive."

By this point, the two had arrived outside a wooden door, besides which stood a reasonably tall man, also dressed in the attire of a guard. Carsen nodded between the man and the door he stood by.

"This is Delbert. And this here door is the Physician's chambers. I'll be off now. Try not to get into too much trouble. Good luck lad."

With that, Carsen trudged away back the way they had come. And Roderick was left standing awkwardly next to a man of whom he knew nothing but his name, and an extreme amount of nervousness. He could only hope he proved somewhat decent at his job.

He didn't want to think about what would happen if he wasn't.

So what do you think? I personally quite like Roderick, so I hope you and he can get along. As for Carsen...well, he was rather unexpected, but the dude is proving to be quite interesting to me. He'll probably be popping in and out of later chapters.

As you've probably worked out by now, this will be an OC-centered fic. However, that's not to say that the canon characters won't appear. It's more than likely that some of this story will be parts of what happens in the actual episodes, and Merlin and crew are likely to pop in and out.

Review?