A Knights Love

Disclaimer: I do not own anything sadly, hope you enjoy my fiirst Merlin oneshot

Gwen woke to loud banging on her door. She rose steadily and went to answer the door. Stood on the other side, in the early morning light was her best friend, Merlin. Merlin was tall and skinny with dark hair and blue eyes. He had a daft looking smile on his face and a friendly glint in his pale eyes. In his hands he held a bundle of clothes.

"Morning Gwen, How are you today?" Merlin said comfortably stepping into her house. "I brought some of Arthur's clothes like you asked, hope you don't mind" Always the polite one. Gwen had been helping out the royal seamstress since she had fallen ill a couple of weeks ago and offer to take on some of the work load. It just happened to be that most of the clothes she mended where property of the Prince and he usually gave them to her personally, not that she minded.

She took the clothes off Merlin, placing them on her table she offered Merlin an apple. Picking one for her self she walked to the other side of her small house, picked up her clothes and went to get ready for work. When she was certain she was ready and her house was tidy enough she nodded to Merlin and they both exited her small, cosy home.

As they walked towards the castle Gwen looked around the small neighbourhood she had grown up in. It was small and not the best place in the world but she loved it none the less. Everybody was waking up now and on there way to work or opening there shops, she loved this time in the morning when the town was the most alive. Many people waved to her or said hello as they passed on their way to work.

Gwen was Lady Morgana's hand maid and had been in this precision for an extremely long time. She loved her job and considered Lady Morgana to be her friend. There was only one time in her life that she had wanted to quit, to give it all up, it was about a year ago when her father was murdered by the king for using magic. He was innocent and everybody knew it. If Arthur hadn't come to her with concern telling her that her job and home were secure, she would not loose them then he was sure of it , she would have probably left her job. The past year had been hard and Arthur had been so good to her. He meant a lot to her but sadly it could never progress between the two as she was just a commoner and he was of noble blood.

Once they were inside the castle they bid each other good bye and went there separate ways. Gwen headed towards Lady Morgana's chambers to wake the Lady up and Merlin set off to wake Prince Arthur as he was Arthur's manservant. Looking over there shoulders they waved goodbye and went on there ways ready to start a new boring day of serving the royal family of Camelot.

When she entered Lady Morgana's she proceeded in waking her up then run the Lady a bath then began to tidy the room Morgana slept in. This was her daily routine and she welcomed it gladly. Gwen stripped the bed of its sheets, grabbed the dirty clothes Lady Morgana had just slept in and set off to the other end of the castle so they could be cleaned.

She was almost half way there when she collided with a hard body that sent the sheets and herself tumbling to the cold, hard ground.

"Guinevere I'm so sorry are you alright?" The Prince's concerned voice shocked her and she snapped her head up to find Arthur picking up the sheets then extending his hand out so she could get up.

"It was my fault, sire, I should have been watching where I was going" Gwen looked at the ground as she spoke just as a servant addressing the Prince should.

"Guinevere, it was my fault and you know you do not need to address me like that" This brought a smile to her face and she looked up to see his beautiful smile spread across his face. On many occasions he had made it very clear his feelings towards her but they both new that no good would come out of a relationship, no matter how much they wanted it.

"You know I am going to need those sheets back before I get fired for not doing my job right" Arthur laughed slightly as he handed her the bedding back, purposely brushing his hand against hers

"Well we wouldn't want that now would we, I shall walk with you to make sure know more people jump out at you on your way" with this he turned slight like and was just about to walk in the direction he had just came from expecting Gwen to follow.

"Arthur, there really is no need, you must carry on doing whatever you was before I distracted you" She grabbed his arm lightly, warning him with her eyes that it would cause them too much suspicion.

"Gwen, I have already told you that I do not care what other people think" With that he gently stroked her cheek , gave her a heart braking smile then walked past her to continue his business. She watched him go thinking 'If only you knew Arthur then you would care what people thought'. For Gwen had only recently discovered the real reason for her mothers death and the extent of the magic that flowed through her veins. Gwen was scared to death that he would find out and no longer love her or worse have her killed.

Later that evening, Gwen had just returned home after a hard days work, she settled into a chair in her small living room and proceeded to up her feet up. It was then that she felt the presence just outside of her home. She could tell that it wasn't Arthur, Merlin or Morgana but someone else. The man kicked open her door and violently entered her house. She could not see his face as it was covered by a hooded cloak.

"You will help me to kill your beloved Prince" The mans voice was harsh and extremely rough

"I don't know who you think you are but you will leave my home this minute, I will not harm Arthur" Gwen shouted confidently as rage began to bubble inside her.

The man advanced on her , he was too quick for her to run from. In a flash he had his hands wrapped around her throat and was squeezing tight.

"You will do as I say witch or I will expose your dirty ways just like I did to your filthy mother" as the man spoke his grip grew impossibly tighter and she was beginning to get light headed from lack of oxygen.

Upon him mentioning her mother despite her light headedness and the back spots behind her eyes her rage increased ten fold. This man had caused her mothers death, she knew that her mother was killed because she was magical. The woman who had raised her and protected her until she was murdered when Gwen was just six.

The rage continued to build and Gwen raised her arms in a feeble attempt to pull off the mans hands around her pained throat. Suddenly the man let out a loud shout and clutched at one of his hands that had a deep burn. He had let go of her and she painfully gasped, desperate for air to full her aching lungs.

"You will pay for that" The man had taken a sword from his cloak and about to strike her down.

Arthur had been walking on one of his many nightly rounds when he heard voices coming from a nearby house. It sounded like someone was struggling. Walking towards the house he noticed that this house belonged to Guinevere. He quickly became worried as he knew that she lived alone after her Dad was murdered and he brother ran away.

Pulling out his sword he ran into her house to find a hooded man stood about her holding a sword. Arthur ran at full speed and tackled the man to the floor. He slammed his elbow into the mans face once he was down and forced the sword out of the mans iron gip. The man was putting up a strong fight landing blows to Arthur's ribs and face. Arthur only just managed to free his arm from the mans grasp and plunge his sword into the mans heart. The man vanished into dust, it was the most bizarre thing he had ever seen.

"Guinevere, are you ok?" he asked worriedly as he rushed towards where she was sat rubbing her bruised neck on the floor.

He pulled her hand away from her throat to inspect the damage. A loud startled gasp filled the air and Arthur watched Gwen's neck heal itself. The bruise disappeared leaving beautiful flawless skin in its place.

"What- what are you?" Arthur asked bewitched by the sudden way her eyes glowed a bright golden colour.

"I am a witch, well I think that's what I am and that man killed my mother. He wanted me to help him kill you but I wouldn't- I couldn't-" her voice grew hysterical and she began to sob loudly.

Arthur put his arms around her and rubbed her back comfortingly

"Shh calm yourself Guinevere, all is fine" he held her tightly until the tears stopped falling.

"It does not matter to me what you are, you are still so beautiful and I love you even more" he took her face in his hands and kissed her.

After a while of kissing Gwen pulled back and looked deeply into his eyes

"I love you Arthur but this really does not matter to you" she smiled but it did not touch her eyes

"No it does not in fact I have been wanting to ask you this for days now but couldn't find the right moment or enough courage to ask" he bent down onto one knee and took her hand in both or his.

"Gwenivere, will you marry me?" his eyes shined with suspense as he waited hopefully for her answer

"Yes Arthur I will" and with that he pulled her down towards him and kissed her once more.

The End

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