Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.
Authors Note: First up, thanks to everyone that's reviewed and favourited... anything I've written really! Especially 'A Problem Shared', as I'm rather proud of that one, even if it's not a funny one.
So this next story requires a little explanation. Basically I opened my thesaurus to the word 'protect' and what follows will be a series of oneshots, each based on one of the words in that entry. If I manage it all, there will be 20 chapters (wow!), hopefully of varying genres, themes and lengths, but obviously in most there will be Merlin protecting Arthur somehow. At the moment I have a couple written, some half-written, some I just have ideas for, and some that I'm pretty clueless about, so updates will not be regular! There's no overlying plot though, so I won't be leaving you in suspense or anything!
I think that's it, so here we go with the first entry, screen.
Screen– 1 shelter, hide. 2 protect from detection, censure etc.
Next time he was just going to leave him to be carried off by bandits. Honestly, it was Arthur's own fault! How many times does he have to be told not to enter the Valley of Fallen Kings? It was like speaking to a child! But no, here they go again, Merlin was the one stumbling around, desperately trying to get away from bloodthirsty bandits, while attempting to drag along an injured and barely conscious prat of a Prince. That was the most frustrating part, that Arthur was barely conscious. If he was conscious he could help a bit more to move himself and if he was completely unconscious Merlin could just use magic to move him, but no, he just has to be awkward...
His internal monologue was rudely disrupted by an angry shout that sounded much closer behind him than he'd like. The bandits were catching up.
"Merlin..."
"Shut up Arthur." He interrupted before the Prince could say something ridiculous about leaving him behind. Still, they were going to get caught soon...
Arthur gasped involuntarily as Merlin suddenly swerved to the side. "What are you doing?"
"Be quiet!" he hissed, settling Arthur down behind a tree.
"Merlin, they'll find us hiding" the injured man slurred pessimistically, before finally losing consciousness.
"No they won't," the servant stated assuredly "they won't find where you're hiding." He quickly began pulling pieces of undergrowth over to screen the fallen Prince, looking over his shoulder warily as he heard the bandits crashing closer.
Satisfied that Arthur was well hidden, the warlock rejoined the track they were on previously, not before muttering a quick, but temporary silencing spell; it would be no good if Arthur woke before the bandits had passed and started yelling for him - he was awfullygood at yelling after all. Just in time, the bandits rounded the corner and Merlin set off at a run, careful to avoid leading them past Arthur. "Are you really that slow?" he taunted over his shoulder. The bandits wasted no time in pursuing him.
Luckily, it wasn't long after he'd left Arthur that he ran straight into the path of a patrol from Camelot that had been sent to find them. Unluckily, immediately after barrelling into that patrol, Sir Leon's horse took offence at this disruption, reared, and dealt Merlin a glancing blow to the side of his head to teach him not to run in front of horses without looking.
As a result, it was some time later before the Knights found Arthur, first, having to defeat the bandits and then, having to check over Merlin, who had been knocked out cold. Before he regained consciousness they'd started to follow his trail in the hopes of finding what had happened to Arthur, but had been forced to stop after a short while as Merlin woke and proceeded to vomit up his breakfast due to a severe concussion. Finally, the servant unsteadily led them back to where he'd left the Prince. In fact, he was quite easy to locate in spite of the undergrowth screening him, as Arthur could actually be heard a good deal before he was seen.
"MERLIN!"
The bellow echoed along the valley. The Knights rushed on, calling out to Arthur while Merlin stumbled along behind. He sounded angry, which Merlin thought was rather unfair seeing as he'd just saved the Prince's life again. By the time he reached the others, Arthur was being helped up by Sir Leon and was already glaring at his manservant.
"What?" Merlin snapped irritably.
"Of all the ridiculously useless servants I've known, you surely are the worst Merlin!" Arthur began as Sir Ethan began binding his leg. "What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that you were heavy and I couldn't carry you all the way home." he replied bluntly, then continued before Arthur carried on protesting. "Oh and that if the bandits caught us, they would kill us."
"Merlin! I had everything under control!" the disgruntled prince returned. "It was you that decided to pick a fight with a horse!"
Sir Leon shook his head in exasperation as the two continued bickering. He just didn't understand them sometimes... The amount of trouble the pair got into was almost as impressive as the amount they miraculously managed to get out of.
When they'd heard that Prince Arthur was missing again, having left Camelot with only his manservant again, the King was understandably concerned and sent out several of his best Knights to find them. Of course, Sir Leon knew that he shouldn't have been worried. After all, it seems Arthur needs only Merlin to protect him.
Well there you go! I've started you off with a fairly conventional idea of protection. Some of the others won't be quite as obvious. Anyway, I hope you liked it! Please review in this shiny new box down here...
