Authors Note: Hi whoever is reading this, if there's anyone reading this. This is my first story so reviews and helpful criticism is very appreciated
Merlin had done some strange things over the past ten years of service to the King, but he was certain he had never done this. As he blinked the sleep out of his eyes he found that he was lying wrapped in fine silk bed-sheets. Ones that he recognized very well, for every morning for the past decade he had made them hadn't he? They were the bedclothes on the bed of King Arthur. Merlin bolted upright and looked around him, it was most definitely the Kings chambers, but thankfully it was lacking in one thing, it lacked the actual King. Arthur wasn't in here, so where was he? Of course the servant was very glad he wasn't in his chambers at this time, but all the same, he should be, where else would he be at this hour?
Arthur was in fact experiencing the same phenomenon as Merlin. Peering blearily at his surroundings, two questions formed in his foggy mind
First: "How did he get here?"
Second: "Why the HELL was he in Merlin's bed?!"
He looked around for his idiot servant, found nothing, and then, satisfied that the prat was missing he went on pondering how he came to be here. He was certain that he hadn't fallen asleep in this bed, that was a horrible thought, falling asleep in Merlin's bed, Arthur shuddered. Just as he was rising to his feet Gaius, the court physician, burst through the door.
"Merlin!" He scolded exasperated "What are you still doing here? Arthur requested your assistance half an hour ago!"
Arthur stood their speechless. He was most definitely not that bumbling idiot.
"Gaius! I'm…I'm not…" He stuttered trying to explain as Gaius shoved Merlin's shirt and neckerchief at him.
"Hurry up boy!" Gaius snapped at him pushing him towards a changing screen.
Deciding Gaius was not going to listen, Arthur changed, surprised when Merlin's clothes fit perfectly.
Avoiding Gaius's looks of pure exasperation Arthur hurried to the door, extremely puzzled.
Merlin studied his reflection warily. The blonde haired, blue eyed, fairly arrogant looking face of King Arthur stared back at him copying his every move. This can't be happening. He thought to himself. But he knew that it was, this wasn't an illusion, wasn't a dream, somehow, someone had taken his brain and stuffed it into the head of the prat everyone else called Sire.
He turned away from the mirror just in time to see himself stumble through the heavy double doors. It was quite funny the way Arthur moved, tripping over himself, falling into plant pots, down flights of stairs, into coats of armor (All the knights in the armory at the time had gotten a laugh out of that, especially Gwaine. "Having fun down there?" He had asked doubling over with laughter before helping what he had thought was Merlin to his feet "You're more drunk then I am!" He had called after him.) He was unfamiliar with the clumsy way his new limbs moved. Merlin (the real one) stared at Arthur. Arthur stared back accusingly as if expecting Merlin to have an answer to this. Merlin just shrugged, panic in his eyes.
"I don't know." He said. "I woke up in your bed, thinking I must've fell asleep while I was doing my chores. And then…" Merlin trailed off gesturing at the mirror, Arthur figured out the rest.
The disguised king took to pacing the room, hands gripping his now ebony hair. "It must be sorcery." He said flatly after a long silence.
A new wave of panic took hold of Merlin. If Arthur was in his body did he have his magic? To test this Merlin recited an incantation under his breath:
"Si ambulavertis ex adverso mihi, ut velit crus" He mumbled the words sounding strange on Arthur's tongue. He pointed his hand at Arthurs worn leather boots, nothing happened. No warmth flowed through him, no power tingled in his fingertips. He was powerless
But Arthur was filled to the brim with power, and if he ever discovered it, well Merlin didn't like to think about the consequences.
~.oo0oo.~
Morgana stared into the cauldron chuckling as she watched her dear brother and his servant flounder around in each other's bodies.
"Oh Emrys." She clucked "Not so powerful without your magic now. And if Arthur found out.." She trailed off relishing the idea. There was a hard knock on the door as if someone really cross, wanted something quite badly, this instant. Morgana glared at the woodwork internally screaming at whoever was knocking for ruining her moment of victory.
"Come in." She snapped making no attempt to mask her annoyance.
"Milady." The dark cloaked Mordred bowed his head curtly.
"Yes? What is it? What do you want?" Morgana glared at the druid.
"Our bandits were wondering if you'd successfully disabled Camelot Milady. They're getting quite impatient." A flicker of fear passed over Mordred's boyish face.
"Don't tell me your afraid of a few simpleminded bandits." Morgana scolded "Yes, our dear friend Emrys has no power, no means to stop us, and if he does some how channel his power though the King, he'll be killed on the spot." Morgana gestured towards the pool of water. In it Mordred saw the panicked faces of his once friends. He smirked. This was too good. Camelot would be theirs within a day.
~.oo0oo.~
Merlin ran his fingers through his now fair hair. This was not good. He was completely defenseless, he had no idea how to use a sword, even though in this body he could probably manage it a lot better, he had no control over his secret anymore, and Arthur couldn't control his magic. If emotions ran to hot, Arthur would use it involenteerly and Merlin's head would be on the chopping block.
"I don't know how we're going to pull this off Merlin." Arthur said pulling him away from his frantic thoughts.
"Pull what off?" Merlin asked rather stupidly.
Arthur shot him his famous 'God you're an idiot Merlin' looks and rolled his eyes.
"This!" He gestured to the both of them. "We can't very well go about insisting that I'm you and you're me! Everyone would think we've gone mad!
"So what are we going to do?"
"Your going to have to act like a King, and I'm, well I'm.." He trailed off going white as a sheet.
"Your going to have to act like a servant!" Merlin sniggered finishing his sentence. Arthur recovered and with an air of arrogance said,
"Of course I'm not! Only when other people are in the room. You'll be doing all the actual chores." He said falling down on the bed cupping his hands behind his head. "Get to it then." He waved his regal looking servant off.
"Cabbage head." Merlin muttered. Both of them were completely focused on the problem at hand, not caring what problems they might face in the future.
Authors note: The spell roughly translated means "Boots walk towards me as if you had legs." I made it up then went on Google Translate and translated it into Latin so it's probably not that accurate.
