Arthur wasn't entirely sure if the rest of the Castle understood that Merlin was actually in service to HIM.
His servant.
Available to do HIS bidding whenever he was needed.
It seemed that at least twice a day he found himself wandering around the areas of the castle that no self-respecting Prince should really be frequenting, looking for his errant manservant.
But today had really taken the biscuit. He returned from a tiring morning of sword practice with his youngest Knights to find his clothes from the previous day still where he'd left them on the floor of his chambers and the remnants of his breakfast slowly going crusty and smelly all over his table. This would not do. This would not do at all! He was due to spend the afternoon in meetings with Uther and had a whole pile of parchments to read and sign beforehand. He refused do so surrounded by rotting fruit and sweaty cheese. He rolled his eyes, huffed and headed out into the hallways bellowing "Merlin!" at the top of his voice and glaring around. He checked all the usual haunts. The stables, the kitchens, the courtyard (where Merlin seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time at the water pump talking at great length to anyone that happened by), the armoury...he was just passing the council chambers when one of his father's (efficient, subservient and always available when they were needed) manservants stopped him to tell him about some kind of medical emergency inside. His father demanded his attendance as soon as possible along with that of the Court Physician. Arthur sent the man back to Uther, saying that he would bring Gaius himself. He thought that maybe there was an outside chance that Merlin might be with Gaius, since he'd started his time in Camelot as apprentice to the Physician and still lived with the old man. Miracle of miracles, as he approached the chambers and called Merlin's name the boy responded, poking his head (rather shiftily, thought Arthur) around the door of Gaius's workroom, blocking the view inside.
Merlin at least had the decency to apologise for being late to his chores, and Arthur rather magnanimously (he thought) pardoned him with a "Don't worry, I'm getting used to it" which he said with only the faintest hint of sarcasm. Merlin was silent and looked at him blanky. The Prince's eyes searched his servant's face awaiting some kind of sarcastic retort. When it was not forthcoming his attention was caught by a small blue forget-me-not bloom sitting in the hollow of Merlin's neck. Arthur's first thought was that it matched the boy's eyes perfectly. His second thought that it looked ridiculous tucked into Merlin's grubby neck scarf. His third thought was that his good for nothing waste-of-air excuse for a manservant hadn't been available to attend to his chores all morning because he had obviously been out in the meadow below the city walls mooning around and picking flowers like some kind of GIRL! Arthur was just puffing up his chest and getting ready to chastise Merlin for his utter uselessness when the boy realised what he was looking at, pulled the little bloom from it's resting place and (rather smugly, Arthur thought) announced, "It's from Gwen, she gave it to me!"
Arthur was livid. He was so livid that he remained speechless for a few seconds. So - instead of performing his duties, or being in the company of his Master, the Crown Prince of Camelot, Merlin had spent the morning canoodling with Gwen! Arthur felt an irrational pang of jealousy shoot through him. How dare the fellow be off with somebody else during work hours! Although he'd never tell Merlin so, he'd come to rely on the boy not only to keep his chambers in order and his person attended to, but also to keep him company. Arthur never tired of teasing him, and Merlin had a quick wit and insolent tongue which although not exactly fitting to his station as a peasant in the service of a Prince, Arthur found extremely entertaining and refreshing. Arthur wanted to shout and huff and to cuff the boy upside the head, but being of good breeding he reigned in his feelings, remembered the business in hand and in his most Princely and commanding tone said, "Tell Gaius that my father wants to see him now!" before storming off back in the direction of the Council Chamber.
...
The Prince was still fuming when Gaius and Merlin arrived at the Council Chamber a few minutes later to inspect the body of a man killed by some kind of mystery illness, but he had to put irritation aside when Gaius said that Sorcery was the likely cause of the blue sickness that had killed this man. He was also somewhat taken aback by Uther's rather panicked reaction to this news. He was dismayed when the King demand that he must lend the physician his servant and began to protest until he looked into his father's eyes and acknowledged the severity of the situation. His heart sank a little. He would have to wait until the end of this crisis to give Merlin a piece of his mind...
And once again he'd have to cope without Merlin's help. Or company.
He saw the boy again later that morning as he conducted a search of Gaius's chambers. He was still so annoyed by the whole flower-in-the-neck-scarf business that he didn't even acknowledge his manservant who was standing right beside Gaius as his workroom was searched. At least he'd taken off that ridiculous scarf and gotten rid of the flower. Arthur spotted an antechamber and upon asking what it was, Merlin informed him that it was his room. Arthur could have sent one of his men up to check it, but he was a bit curious to see what the boy's private living space was like. So up he went. He was stunned at how utterly chaotic such a small space could be! The bed was unmade, books were piled willy-nilly on every surface, there were half eaten scraps of food on the floor by the bed and the air hung heavy with a concentrated Merlin-ny type odour (which actually, wasn't unpleasant...). It was too good a chance to pass up so in his most commanding voice Arthur called, "Look what I've found - Merlin come here!". Satisfyingly (and rather surprisingly he thought), Merlin was at his side before he'd finished the sentence. As Merlin stood beside him with eyes like saucers Arthur sarcastically said, "I found a place where you can put things, it's called a cupboard". He was a tad put out at Merlin's lack of a sassy response, but figured that maybe the boy knew that he was still in big trouble on account of the morning's tardiness. Arthur continued his search of the room half heartedly. Of COURSE Merlin wasn't involved in any magical wrongdoing but the Prince had to be seen to be checking every room in the Castle. He did begin to feel a little bit unsettled though, because as he continued to carry out his search Merlin just stood silently in the middle of the room shifting his weight from foot to foot and glancing between the Prince and his (unmade) bed in a rather odd fashion. What was all that about?! After a cursory glimpse underneath the bed revealed half an eaten apple and three odd socks and goodness know what other detritus, he decided it was time to leave. He apologised to Gaius and harried his guards from the rooms. His manservant was, he decided, a very strange chap.
...
For the rest of the day, Arthur had very little time to think about his errant manservant and what punishments he could mete out. Dozens more people died of the mystery illness, Tom the Blacksmith miraculously overcome the illness, a magical poultice was found in his home and Gwen was arrested and sentenced to death for using sorcery. Arthur couldn't believe his father's ruling and tried his best to reason with the King, but to no avail. He really couldn't imagine that kind gentle Gwen - Morgana's handmaid - had any hint of magical powers and even if she had, or had asked a sorcerer to cure her father, he really could not understand how this was a crime punishable by death. His father was being totally irrational and simply would not listen to his repeated pleas for mercy.
Arthur was in Council with the King deciding what to do next about the crisis when suddenly Merlin came bursting into the room. The boy had obviously taken a severe blow to the head because he blundered in and began spouting some nonsense about being the real sorcerer responsible for curing the Blacksmith! Arthur could only stand and gawp at him in shock as he insisted that it was his doing and that he would not allow Gwen to die for him. The Prince only came back to his senses when Uther condemned Merlin to death! Arthur could NOT let that happen! OK, the fellow was fairly hopeless at his job and apparently spent work hours making pretty eyes at Gwen but Arthur couldn't imagine life without him now, and his mind raced to think of a way of overturning his father's ruling. He rapidly blurted out "Father please, this is madness! There's no way that Merlin is a sorcerer!" and "He saved my life, remember" and "As Gaius said he's suffering from a grave mental disease" and in a sudden fit of inspiration, "He's in love. With Gwen."
Arthur was a wee bit startled at Merlin's response to this obvious attempt at saving his life. The boy was VERY indignant and claimed that there was "no way" that he was in love with Gwen and that he didn't even think of her "like that"! Well this was interesting...either the boy was too embarrased by his infatuation or he really did not have feelings for Gwen. Arthur was trying to help the silly sod, and Merlin was throwing it back in his face! He mentioned the flower that Gwen had given to Merlin and watched as the boy looked back at him with a dumbfounded expression...then carried on vehemently denying having any feelings for the girl! For a while Arthur forgot that they were in the presence of the Court as he tried to understand what was (or, apparently, was not...) happening between Merlin and Gwen. Miraculously, Merlin and Arthur's impromptu double-act seemed to amuse the King and after cracking a (not very funny) joke about Gwen having bewitched Merlin he relented, letting the boy go after Arthur had insisted that "Merlin is a wonder, but the wonder is he's such an idiot!". The Prince could have collapsed with relief, but instead squeezed Merlin's shoulder tight, looked deep into his eyes and said through gritted teeth in a voice that was not to be argued with, "Merlin is not a sorcerer". Thanks be to the gods, the dumb fellow FINALLY cottoned on that Arthur was trying to save his life and so dejectedly left the room.
...
He was hoping that this would be an end to the crisis and that he may finally have his manservant back. But no. By the following morning, Arthur could no longer cope with the chaos in his chambers and began to tidy things away for himself. He was not in the least bit happy about this but was still convinced that despite the boy's protests Merlin had feelings for Gwen and was spending as much time with her as possible before her execution the following day. Arthur felt terrible about the impending death of Morgana's maidservant, but had no idea what else he could do having already appealed to Uther several times. As he folded clothes he shuddered to think what he would feel like if Merlin had indeed been condemned to death after his idiotic confession. If he was honest with himself he'd not pleaded the case for Gwen's innocence again since Merlin's little outburst at Council...heaven forbid that the King overturn his ruling and sentence Merlin to death after all!
These thoughts were still going through his head when Morgana came unexpectantly to see him. He knew how fond she was of Gwen so was more gentle with the King's ward than normal. He even apologised for the state of his chambers using the excuse that Merlin had not been in today. Morgana announced "Poor Merlin" and started spouting nonsense about him being "a lover" and brave and gallant and it was a shame that other men (i.e. Arthur) wern't like him!
For the love of all that is good, was EVERY female in Camelot infatuated with his manservant!
Arthur of course could not let this pass and although he knew he was being played, decided to do whatever it was that Morgana requested just to prove that he was as good a man as his irritating manservant.
...which was how he found himself (without the King's say-so or knowledge) heading down into the water cisterns below Camelot accompanied by Morgana and aforementioned manservant who had some crazy notion about a mythical creature that he claimed was poisoning the water and thus causing the plague. The reckoning was that if they killed the creature and stopped the plague then Uther would relent and release Gwen. Quite frankly the Prince wasn't convinced about this and suspected Merlin of having totally gone off his rocker, but Arthur couldn't back down otherwise Morgana really would think that Merlin was braver than he, and that really would not do at all! He wasn't entirely sure WHY Merlin came down into the cisterns with him, truth be told - the fellow was gangly, unarmed and obviously very nervous. Still, Arthur had to concede that his servant was not a coward.
Actually, he was glad of the boy's company. The first time that he saw the Afanc - a huge clay covered eyeless creature with rows of very very pointy teeth in a huge mouth - his first instinct was to run like hell! But, Merlin stood his ground which gave Arthur the courage to try to fight the beast. He almost lost his nerve again when he realised that his trusty sword was useless against it's armour-like hide, but Merlin encouraged him to use the flame of his torch and somehow, miraculously a breeze came out of nowhere and fanned the flame and incinerated the beast.
Once the danger was past and the three of them shakily headed back toward the castle, Arthur quietly pondered the days events and reluctantly conceded that his manservant really was not as bad as all that. Merlin been willing to sacrifice himself to save Gwen, he'd used to brains to deduce that a magical beast was responsible for the deaths (apparently he wasn't such an idiot then!) and he'd followed Arthur into the cisterns knowing that it was dangerous, then he'd kept his nerve and helped the Prince overcome the beast.
With all this in mind, Arthur magnanimously decided to forgo punishing Merlin for being such an appalling servant. He was however going to get to the bottom of the story of what Merlin had done to deserve a flower from Gwen, though...