There were many things that could (and did) upset Prince Arthur, but if there was one thing that Arthur couldn't stand; it was when Merlin wasn't doing his bloody job.
Merlin hadn't been around all damn day and Arthur had no idea where he was. He checked Gaius' chambers but Gaius said he hadn't seen him since earlier that morning, he checked the kitchen, the courtyard, even the bloody tavern, yet his idiot manservant was nowhere to be found.
As anyone would expect, Arthur couldn't search for his manservant all day. He had things to do, princely things, to be exact.
Of course, his princely things were much harder to without Merlin.
He had to train future knights, go to a council meeting with his father (which he was not at all looking forward to), prepare for a dubbing ceremony done for a young lad who was now ready to become a proud knight of Camelot, and then attend an important feast again accompanying his father.
As you would imagine, Arthur didn't even think about doing of all this on his own. He just had another servant take Merlin's place until he decided to show up (and when Merlin did he would be in for one hell of a lecture, and would most likely have a few shoes or something thrown at his head).
After a long hard day of work the Prince was aching all over, his muscles protesting every movement.
When he got back to his chambers he half way expected Merlin to be standing there grinning shyly and hoping that maybe, just maybe, Arthur hadn't noticed the fact that he was gone all fucking day; but to his slight surprise he wasn't. No tall, goofy looking boy, with ridiculously large ears, standing in his room, no note stating where Merlin was and when he would be back, not even a single hint that anyone had been there all day (other than Arthur, of course).
Arthur sighed heavily, and plopped onto his bed, the coolness of his sheets soothing his aching back. Arthur laid there for a while, just enjoying the silence and peace of being alone, until he heard it, it was a faint somewhat distant noise, but a noise nonetheless.
Arthur was at full alert within seconds, springing off of his bed, hands pulling a sword out of its sheath effortlessly. Arthur didn't know where the noise had come from or even what it was, honestly the noise was so quiet he had no idea where he should be looking. Until he heard it again, a little louder this time, it was coming from behind his wooden folding screen.
Arthur tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword; he stalked towards the screen quietly making almost no noise as he moved. Arthur inhaled a sharp breath before pushing the folding screen aside.
The moment he saw what was behind it he didn't know whether to curse or laugh; so he did both.
It was a dog, a large slender, black dog with large ears; the top of his head down to the length of his snout was white, his paws were white, as was the tip of his tail, and he had white patch on his chest that Arthur swore looked identical to the outline of a dragon. The dog had a red scarf (that looked identical to the one Merlin whore) on and had deep blue eyes that looked all too familiar to Arthur. Arthur stared at the animal curiously, how the thing had gotten in his chambers, he had no idea but honestly Arthur didn't care. The dog was a sight hound, bred for their speed and hunting skills, Camelot had a few around (mostly for hunting) but Arthur had never seen this one before.
For a while Arthur just stared, and the dog stared back, Arthur didn't know why, but he felt like he knew the dog, like he was connected to him, and the dog's eyes, they were all too familiar, they were curious and loyal, and loving and- Arthur was snapped out of his thoughts when the dog barked.
Arthur shook his head and examined the dog once more, wondering why the dog didn't just move already but then he found his answer, the dog was tied.
It was a thin rope tying the dog in his spot, one end tied to a leather buckle just under the dogs scarf and the other end tied to… nothing. There was nothing there tying the dog down, yet the dog couldn't move.
Arthur sighed, confused and frustrated. The dog barked again, louder this time, like he was just as frustrated as Arthur was and obviously wanted to get untied so he could actually move. "Alright, Alright." Arthur huffed. "Keep it down; I don't want anybody to know you're here, not 'til I figure out why you're here."
He could figure out what the hell was going on later, for now the dog was his main priority.
It didn't take long to untie the rope from the dogs collar, when he finished he stood up from his kneeling position (that he hadn't even known he'd taken) and took a few steps back.
The dog looked harmless enough, but you never know.
The dog stretched, his lean body looking even thinner as he did so. The dog's head tilted slightly, in something of confusion or curiosity, possibly both.
Then the dog started to move towards Arthur and Arthur didn't know whether to keep still or grab his sword.
The dog seemed to have noticed Arthur's body tense, so it sat down, less than a few feet away from Arthur, and smiled, bloody smiled, his pink tongue lolling out of his mouth as he did so.
Arthur was a little taken back, because 'just when the hell did dogs start smiling?' but the thought faded away as quickly as it came, and he had to admit the dog did look pretty cute and –wow, did he just say cute? Crowned prince Arthur Pendragon did not find things cute.
After a moment's thought Arthur began to move towards the dog, still a little wary, but not as tense as he was before.
Once he was in front of the dog, he kneeled down and carefully, very gently, put a hand on the dogs head.
When a second or two passed and the dog didn't react badly, Arthur began stroking the dogs head slowly. He found himself smiling fondly before he even realized he was and honestly? He didn't care.
Arthur's hand made its way behind one of the dog's ears, scratching gently, and the dog's tail began wagging.
Arthur chuckled quietly; they continued on like that for a while, Arthur petting the dog, while the dog just sat there, seemingly content with the contact.
After probably five or so minutes like that, Arthur stopped petting the dog, and the dog let out an immediate whimper in disapproval.
Arthur chuckled again before brushing off his knees and standing, stretching slightly. "They'll be more time for that later," Arthur murmured quietly. "Right now, I need to get some sleep and then solve the mystery of your appearance."
After quickly getting dressed in his night clothes Arthur got into bed and curled under the covers, drifting off to sleep slightly before he heard a soft whimper come from in front of him.
Arthur opened one eye to find the dog standing in front of him, head resting on the bed, blue eyes staring at Arthur pleadingly.
Arthur picked up the hint quickly enough and huffed. "No, you sleep on the floor, see that?" he said sitting up a little, so he could point to the ground. "That's the floor and that's where you sleep." He finished bitterly.
Arthur closed his eyes and tried to sleep but then the dog whimpered again, louder this time, more determined.
Arthur opened his eyes to again see the dog staring at him. "No," Arthur said. "No dogs on the bed." The dog let out a sound that sounded like a mixture between a whimper and a growl.
"Complain all you want, no dogs on the bed." And God, he couldn't believe he was arguing with a dog.
This time the dog stepped back a little, at first Arthur thought he was giving up, until he saw the dog throw his head back and howl. Fucking howl.
"Hey, Hey! Stop that you're gonna scare the shit out of someone." The dog didn't stop, but turned the volume of the howl down slightly.
Arthur swore under his breath, because, he couldn't believe he was going to do this. "Alright, Okay! You win. You can sleep on the bed." Arthur ground out.
The dog immediately stopped howling, let what honestly looked like a triumphant grin pass his face, before jumping on the bed, and curling up next to Arthur.
Arthur wanted to tell the dog to get to the back of the bed, that it was bad enough he was even on his bed in the first place, but he sure as Hell wasn't going to sleep next to him, but he didn't because he didn't know what the dog would do then, and he didn't want to figure out. So instead he just muttered the words "Stubborn ass." And drifted off to sleep.
And although he would never say this out loud, he actually found the dog oddly comforting, and Arthur had a feeling he wouldn't mind having the dog stay a while.