Merlin woke up to a blanket of white covering the castle of Camelot. Arthur would be off gallivanting into the forest today then, off to help another village cope through the tough winter. He heaved himself up off the bed and quickly got dressed, not keeping his feet in the same place for too long for fear that they would freeze to the cold stone tile. Merlin ran over to the bucket to wash his face, but found that it had frozen overnight. Sighing, he turned and headed out of the door to the prince's chambers. Walking in, he found that Arthur's quarters were much warmer that his small box of a room, he supposed that came with being heir to the throne.
"Arthur, get up, it's snowed and the villages need your help."
Merlin moved to open the curtains and shower Arthur's bare back in frozen sunlight through the frosted pane.
"Merlin," Arthur grumbled "One day I will wake you up at dawn, insult you and make you freeze to death and see how you like it."
"The only problem with that is that you'd have to be up before dawn to wake me up, sire, and we all know how hard that is for you." Merlin mocked, walking over to the shelves.
"Shut up or I'll find a new manservant."
"You wouldn't dare, I know I've only been here for a few months, but you wouldn't let me leave."
"If you keep this up we'll find out, Merlin. Now, what were you saying about the villages?" Arthur groaned as he turned over and stretched, only to wince in horrible pain as a muscle in his back twinged like it had been drawn out and twanged. Arthur let out a whimper and froze, not daring to stretch it further.
"Arthur?" Merlin turned to find Arthur still, stretched out on his bed, a look of pain on his every feature. Merlin didn't like seeing him like this, he had only known him for a few months, but he still cared deeply for the prince, even if he was a bit of an arrogant prat sometimes. "Arthur, what is it? What's wrong?"
"I don't think," Arthur stopped to wince once more as the muscle shocked his whole back, "I don't think that I can ride today, Merlin. It's my back."
"What did you do to it?" Merlin gushed, walking over to the man in the bed.
"In training yesterday, I fell, I thought it had gone, but it must have seized up during the night. I can't move Merlin, it hurts more than when I slit that gash between my fingers last May."
"Oh Arthur, okay, stay here and I'll get Gaius, he'll be able to help you, I'm sure."
Merlin ran out of the room to fetch him, when he arrived at their joint quarters, he looked around but Gaius was nowhere to be found.
"Gaius? Where are you?"
"Merlin, Is that you?" A voice called from out in the corridor. Merlin stepped out to face Gwen, "Merlin, I was supposed to tell you, I forgot, I'm sorry. Gaius said to tell you that he had to leave quickly in the night, the king summoned him to the village, he feared that they would not do well in the harsh conditions." Gwen nodded to the window covered in a thick layer of white.
"Alright, thank you Gwen, did he say when he would be back?"
"I'm afraid not Merlin, but if it's anything like the last winter we had, he may be gone for days. Sorry I couldn't be of more help Merlin, but I really should go." Gwen walked off down the corridor, carrying a bundle of freshly cleaned sheets.
"Okay, bye Gwen." Merlin wasn't really focused on what he was saying, and more on what he was going to do about Arthur. He sprinted back into his room, grabbing a spare medicine kit Gaius kept for injuries that needed to be treated quickly. Merlin ran back to Arthur's room with the pack and opened the heavy wooden door.