Author's Note: This is based off of S03 EP. 7 The Castle of Fyrien, but, in this version, Merlin convinces Arhtur to let him stay with Morgana when she twists her ankle. Might have a magic reveal, or some Mergana!


"Morgana vorcriven!"

Morgana screamed as her horse reared up at the sight of the unexpected snake. She fell off her horse and rolled her ankle.

"Are you alright?" Merlin asked, running towards her.

Merlin grabbed one arm and soon Gwen was there pulling her up with the other.

"Ugh, my leg." Morgana groaned.

"Can you walk?" Arthur asked as he approached, his brow creasing in worry.

"She hurt her ankle: she needs to rest." Merlin said, trying to force her back down when she tried to stand up.

"We don't have that kind of time." Arthur said, looking at the sky.

"We can't go on without her!" Gwen said, looking up at Arthur.

"I can stay with her!" Merlin said.

Arthur looked between Merlin and Morgana. "I don't think you could protect her if bandits showed up."

"But she can't go on. She needs rest."

Morgana looked at Merlin with hatred in her eyes. "I'm fine!" she hissed.

"No, you're not. Gaius taught me how to treat swelling, I could help you."

Arthur looked at Morgana. "He's right, you know. Until your ankle is better, you'll have to stay with Merlin."

"But Arthur, surely you don't think Merlin here could protect me with you gone?" Morgana said incredulously.

Arthur smiled. "Well, he has more to him than meets the eye." Merlin suddenly looked up and smiled one of his goofy grins. Arthur took one look at him, coughed, and changed the subject. "And once your ankle is better you can meet up with us at the Castle of Fyrien."

"Arthur-"Morgana started.

"No, Merlin's right Morgana. Gwen and I will head off in an hour and you and Merlin will stay behind."

Merlin looked like he was about to smile when he helped Morgana up.

"I can do it." Morgana said as Merlin tried to support her while she walked.

"No, you can't, your ankle is badly bruised." Something about the way Merlin said it indicated that he really didn't care if Morgana was in pain or not.

Up ahead, Arthur looked back at them and Morgana wrapped her arm around Merlins shoulders to keep up the pretense.

Arthur nodded and smiled. "Don't get too comfortable with my manservant, Morgana!" Then laughed, like it seemed so impossible for a noble Lady to fall for a manservant.

"That's what I said to you about Gwen, wasn't it?" Merlin muttered, but luckily, Arthur didn't hear him.

Back at the campsite, Gwen and Arthur set to packing up their supplies. Occasionally Arthur would ask, "Are you sure you'll be alright?" and Merlin and Morgana would smile and say, "Yes." But deep down Merlin didn't know what he'd have to do to keep Morgana from running off once Arthur and Gwen were gone.

To keep the show going, Merlin set about making Morgana comfortable; adding extra blankets under ankle to prop it up and behind her back. He then built up the fire and tried to make himself busy by helping Arthur and Gwen pack up their supplies. Morgana would eye him, and occansionally sneer at him when Arthur wasn't looking, but otherwise remained quite.

It was midmorning when Arthur and Gwen said their goodbyes. "Be careful, Morgana," Arthur said, "And Merlin, don't make any moves on her, okay? I wouldn't want you to dishonor her."

Surprisingly, Merlin blushed. "Never." he said awkwardly.

"Make her better, Merlin," Gwen added and hugged him, "so that you can meet us in a few days."

Once their horses had rounded the bend, Morgana said, "What are you playing at, Merlin?"

He sat back down from attending the fire before answering. "Just trying to help Milady."

"Oh, don't try to play the humble servant Merlin," she sneered. "You already tried to kill me once."

"Do you think I'd do it twice?" Merlin whispered, almost to himself.

Morgana snorted. "Oh course not. You don't have the guts."

Merlin scratched his jaw and shook his head.

"What?" Morgana asked, irritated.

"Nothing." Merlin said, but Morgana could clearly hear the evasiveness in his voice.

She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to see through his facade, but all Merlin did was scratch his neck uncomfortably. She changed the subject.

"What are you planning?"

Suddenly, Merlin laughed. "What are you planning, Morgana?"

Morgana saw she was getting nowhere so she just stubbornly turned her head away from Merlin and refused to answer.

Later, when the moon had just risen, Merlin came back from the woods with more firewood for the night. Morgana had still not talked to him, and wasn't planning too, either. Morgana looked at the fire. It didn't look like it needed any more wood, and there was already enough wood there, not even to add the armfull of wood Merlin had just brought back. Either he plans to keep me here forever, or he doesn't like being around me, Morgana thought.

Morgana followed his every move. He apparently had not only gone for wood, but for some herbs. She watched as he prepared a pulltice, no doubt for her ankle. He slowly approached her with the pulltice laying gingerly in his hands. He looked into her eyes as he bent down on his knees in front of her, she took the opprotunity to stick out her chin defiantly.

"I'll need to place this on your ankle," he said slowly.

"Where else?" Morgana said sarcasticly.

A sudden fierceness entered Merlins eyes. "I wanted Milady's premission first before I touched her." He made sure to empthasize Milady.
"You didn't ask before." Morgana said just as fiercly.

"Well," Merlin mumbled as he lifted the bottom corner of her skirt to reveal her badly bruised ankle. It was the first time Morgana had looked at it. It was a blotch of purples and blues, not to mention the ugly red swelling around the bone.

Merlin then began to rub in the pulltice slowly, and no matter how hard Morgana tried to surpress it, she couldn't help but let out a soft moan of relief. The pulltice felt like ice water, and she could see it making the swelling go down.

Merlin was having a hard time not letting out a soft moan himself. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself that she was evil, he couldn't make himself fully believe it. The old Morgana was still in there somewhere, and it was the same Morgana that he couldn't help loving. And feeling her soft, if not badly bruised skin, was making it harder by the second to control himself.

Abruptly he stopped before he started touching other places and broke Arthurs promise. "I'll need to wash that off tomorrow morning, then put a fresh coat on." Merlin managed to say evenly, then hurried and placed himself by the fire. "Goodnight Morgana."


Yay! I finished the first chapter! More to come, (I hope) It's just I'm very bad at commiting myself to writing, but reviews help :)