Title: Your Duty
Category: BBC Merlin, (Canon) Gen
Characters/Pairings: Merlin, Arthur
Rating/Warnings: T
Summary: A visiting lord with dubious intentions leaves Merlin feeling the weight of his destiny more than ever. And finally Arthur gives the servant the recognition he deserves.
This was written for the Chronicles of Camelot challenge from the Heart of Camelot.
Thanks to Raeniday at the Heart of Camelot for Beta'ing.
MM
Bright morning sunlight fell into the king's room, creating a rectangle of light on the floor, whilst the window itself was firmly closed against the low temperature outside. The room was unusually tidy considering who was responsible for keeping it that way, but given the pressure the king was currently under, Merlin had felt it necessary to spend more time with his master to provide as much support as possible.
Merlin fluffed the soft pillows on Arthur's bed, whilst he listened to the sounds of said king clunking about his room, no doubt making a mess and thus more work for the servant. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, even though Arthur would have no chance of seeing him, doing so.
Finishing with the pillows Merlin straightened up, inspecting his work momentarily, before he turned away from the bed.
"Is everything ready?" The king spoke his tone sharp, and his expression pinched.
"Of course, Arthur. It's not the first time another noble has visited the castle, we do know what to expect." Merlin said almost casually, as he moved to clear away Arthur's breakfast. The king scowled in the servant's direction before he took a deep breath, trying to release some of the tension in his body.
"Yes, and if things go wrong I can just blame them on you, can't I /Mer/lin."
"I fail to see how something going wrong is my fault /Sire./ I am after all but a mere servant whereas you, are the king." Merlin responded without hesitating, a smirk on his face. Arthur grabbed a fork off of the table, which he then proceeded to throw at Merlin's head, only for the servant to duck out of the way, taking the rest of Arthur's cutlery and plates with him as he made a beeline for the door.
Somehow balancing his load in one hand, Merlin opened the door, where he paused before exiting, and said. "I can see why you're worried if this is how you insist on acting," before he shut the door just as a bang heralded the contact of some unfortunate item against the back of the door.
MM
A few hours later saw the king, his knights and Merlin stood outside of the castle at the top of the courtyard steps. They watched the visitors clatter forwards on their horses.
Near the head of the group rode Lord Deverell. The lord was accompanied by six guards, and two servants. Clattering to a stop, all of the riders dismounted in the centre of the courtyard, the two servants hurrying to relieve their masters of the horses and pass them off to the Camelot stable hands.
Arthur took a few steps down, toward the group, whilst Lord Deverell walked to meet the king. The lord was shorter then Arthur, but quite a noticeable amount thicker. He had hair that looked as though it had once been a deep brown, but was fading to an almost blond grey. He was wearing dark blue robes, which were heavily decorated with small jewels, and make with an excessive amount of fabric to show off the lord's wealth.
"King Arthur." Lord Deverell greeted, an almost tight smile on his face.
"Lord Deverell. I trust your journey was pleasant?" Arthur responded, shaking the offered hand. Deverell nodded, before answering verbally.
"Yes, we did not encounter any trouble."
"I have rooms prepared for you and your companions, if you would like to rest after the journey."
The lord nodded again, before gesturing to the servants who had collected the luggage to take follow. The guards quickly joined their lord standing silently just behind him.
"That would be most kind of you."
"Merlin!" Arthur called, rather unnecessarily as the servant was standing only a few metres away. "My servant here will show you to your rooms." Arthur waved in Merlin's direction as he spoke, as if it was anything less than obvious who Arthur was referring to.
Merlin bowed shallowly before turning to guide the group as instructed.
MM
The sunlight was starting to dwindle as Merlin made his way through the castle, heading towards to feast so he could assume his usual duties as Arthur's servant. The corridors where almost deserted, and with the air still holding the lingering chill of winter, Merlin was prompted to increase his pace. Of course this had nothing to do with being late at all.
Soon enough he arrived at one of the servant entrances to the hall, he gently pushed the door open trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. It was much warmer at the feast; the combined heat coming from both the candles and all the bodies being enough to ward off the nights chill.
He quickly slipped along the edge of the room, grabbing a spare jug as he passed them on a table, and quickly locating himself behind and to the left of Arthur's chair.
There was ample chatter amongst both the guest and the residents, and a comfortable feeling which had most indulging in an excessive amount of wine. Of course whilst Arthur did have some wine, he made sure as to not allow himself to become drunk with it.
The king had noted Merlin's late arrival, but had not drawn any attention to this fact, so Merlin was confident that he was the only one who had noticed.
The feast progressed quickly as people got more and more drunk. Slowly as the conversation started to ebb, people began to retire to sleep off both the alcohol and ridicules amounts of food they had consumed.
More than half of the attendees had left, with Lord Deverell and his guards made up the majority of people who still remained.
Merlin shuffled forwards, curious to anything that Deverell may say to Arthur whilst he was drunk. He had only been stood in his, new closer spot for a couple of minutes before the visiting lord decided that he was to retire as well.
"I shall require the use of your servant!" Lord Deverell stated, voice boisterous as he rose on slightly wobbly legs. Arthur blinked in surprise, turning briefly towards his servant, where he registered the look of annoyance on his face. Turning back to the lord, Arthur paused before sighing to himself and responding.
"Of course, Merlin." The king beckoned his servant over with his hand.
Levelling Arthur with a glare Merlin put his jug down on the nearest table before he walked towards Deverell, bowing his head once there. Lord Deverell staggered away from his chair, and would have fallen had he not reached out, grasping onto Merlin's shoulder. Merlin tried not to bend under the heavy weight of the lord. He schooled his features into a blank expression as he waited.
"Well Arthur, I bid you a goodnight." Deverell practically bellowed, whilst Merlin surprised a flinch at the noise as Deverell was standing right next to his right ear. "Boy!" Deverell called when Merlin hesitated to follow, the servant's eyes still trained on the king.
Arthur shot the servant a pointed look, as he remained where he was, and Deverell continued towards the door. Merlin rolled his eyes in response to the king, before turning to catch up with the lord.
MM
Merlin had quickly taken the lead, as it was apparent that Lord Deverell was too drunk to remember the way back to his room. The castle corridors were mostly deserted allowing for Merlin to easily get Deverell to his room, without anything distracting the drunk man.
Soon enough the pair reached the door to lord Deverell's chambers. Pausing at the door, Merlin risked a glance back at the lord and noting that his steps were even more precarious than before. Turning his attention back to the door Merlin rolled his eyes.
The servant held the door open, adopting a subservient pose with his head bent, and arms held behind his back. He stepped forwards into the room once he was sure that Lord Deverell was no longer in the pathway of the closing door. He started to approach before halting as it occurred to him that whilst Arthur let him go about helping without needing to ask, ther nobles viewed a servant's job differently, and that lord Deverell may not like if Merlin tried to take the initiative.
Instead he hesitated, a small flicker of indecision on his face, before Merlin stepped back towards the door casting his eyes down, as lord Deverell clumsily removed his boots.
"You!" Merlin almost jumped at the sudden shout. "Help me change for bed."
Trying not to cringe at the thought of trying to undress Deverell, Merlin crossed the room, quickly reaching for the laces of Deverell's jacket to untie the elaborate laces.
He fumbled with one of the knots at the front of the jacket, fingers slipping uselessly on the fabric.
"Useless!" Deverell cried slapping Merlin's hands away, and causing the servant to step away hastily. "Get me a drink."
Merlin ducked his head, hurrying across the room to the lord's desk in the corner of the room, on which he had spotted a jug which he fervently hoped contained a drink that Deverell liked.
Bracing his weight on the table, with one hand to stop his momentum. His eyes flicked across the paper work on the desk. The written words blurring together, until sheet in particular, on which one phrase stuck out. Merlin blinked once, registering the words, before a grunt from behind the servant pushed all thoughts but getting the drink to the back of Merlin's mind.
He swiped a cup from the untidy dinner table. Breathing a mental sigh of relief that the cup was empty, he quickly filled it with what, turned out to be wine.
"Your drink, my lord." He held out the cup, eyes studiously avoiding Deverell at all cost.
"Seems you can do something right," Deverell said gulping down the wine. Merlin studied the lord from under his eye lashes, hurrying to take the now empty cup away, when Deverell had drained it.
Merlin returned to waiting for instructions, but it appeared that the lord, in his highly inebriated state had forgotten about getting undressed for bed. Instead, waving vaguely in the direction of Merlin, he spoke.
"You're dismissed." Merlin did not look up; instead he bowed, took one step back then turned and exited the room.
Hearing the click of the door behind him, Merlin exhaled deeply, resting the palms of his hands of the wall opposite. Thoughts running at a million miles an hour, he took a few moments to gather himself. Forehead pressed against the back of his hand, Merlin let his eyes briefly fall closed
Once again steady, the servant moved away from the wall, deciding to head back to his and Gaius's chambers to work out what to do. As well as seek advice from the old physician.
MM
Slamming the door to the physician's chambers open without thought, Merlin quickly discovered that Gaius was deep asleep in the dark room, and luckily the noise of his entry had not awoken him.
Merlin's shoulders dropped sharply, upon seeing his mentor already asleep. The door swung closed behind him with a quiet click, as he removed his hand from its surface. The warlock exhaled slowly, resigning himself to thinking of a solution to the issue of lord Deverell tomorrow, and instead concentrating on getting some sleep whilst it was still dark.