Merlin and Arthur ran into the woods from the old fortress and then stopped, panting. Glancing over at his servant, Arthur sees a decent sized cut on the man's arm, apparently without the skinny man's knowledge.
"What happened to your arm?"
Looking confused, Merlin glances at the ripped cloth. "Oh, I must have caught in on something."
Arthur was a little too happy as he called out, "Let me see. Your first battle wound!"
As he says the says the next part, he reaches for the hem on of his tunic. "Here." he states as he rips off the bottom of his tunic.
Merlin tried to stop him, but it was too late. "Er, no. No, don't...You'll ruin it…"
Arthur was nearly grinning by this point. "Don't worry. You can mend it." He states as he wraps the strip around Merlin's arm.
As quickly as the humor had come, it receded as Arthur realized that the two of them were alone. "Did anyone else escape?"
Merlin simply shook his head.
Fighting a sigh of frustration Arthur voices his plan. "We need to get back to Camelot, gather reinforcements".
They raced back to where they had tethered the horses. They rode for a few minutes before Merlin suddenly started laughing. Arthur was beginning to worry about the man until he heard what sounded like "First battle wound… Ha!" come from the dark haired man.
"What are you on about Merlin? We just fought soldiers that cannot be killed and you are laughing. Why?" Arthur had started off as condescending, but ended up sounding worried.
Merlin bit the edge of his lip to calm himself before he attempted to explain himself. "You called it my first battle wound."
Merlin could see that Arthur was just as confused now, or maybe even more so, as he had been before the answer.
He tried to clarify the situation by stating, "This isn't my first battle wound."
Arthur shot him a puzzled look before asking another question. "If this isn't your first, than what was, when, and with who?"
'Alright, so maybe that was more than one question, but it had been in only one sentence!' Arthur thought to himself.
Smiling, Merlin answered him. "My right shoulder has a large scar from when we fought with maces in the lower town not long after we met."
Arthur's face froze. "I hit you? I don't remember the mace ever making contact with you."
Merlin laughed as he removed his jacket and pulled the back of his shirt up to show Arthur the scar that was clearly made by a mace.
"You are the only person I have ever fought with a mace, Arthur. Gaius can confirm it too. So, not my first battle wound." With that said, Merlin righted his clothing and then pushed his horse into a gallop.