Author's Note: My first ever fanfic, so be gentle with me lol.
Reviews and comments welcome.
slash will come later
Peace.
Chapter one – Nurse Merlin
Merlin POV
If I have to clear up one more pile of horse today I am going to chop my own head off! 'Muck out my horses Merlin, then shine my armour, oh and don't forget to empty my chamber pot. When you've done that I have some more tasks for you" I imitated poorly. "Empty your own bloody chamber pot!"
"What was that Merlin?" a figure stepped out of the shadows of the stable pulling on his riding gloves. Oh crap.
"Oh, nothing sire. Talking to myself" I moved to step around him and escape the stocks for the fourth time that week. Feeling a sudden sharp tug backwards I fell to the ground skimming my knee on a sharp rock. "Ouch!" I said sitting to nurse my wound. "First sign of madness you know." He said readying his horse for what looked like a very long journey.
"Going somewhere, sire?" I asked standing and brushing the dirt from the seat of my ragged and torn breeches.
"Yes, we are" he said, handing me a bag filled with food supplies. I was confused. I didn't normally accompany Arthur on his trips. He was normally crowded by a group of his best knights. "We?" I repeated still clutching the bag in my arms like an idiot.
He had mounted his horse and was looking down at me. "God, Merlin you do look a state and yes, 'we'" he said
I loaded the bag onto the horses saddle "some warning would have been good" I mumbled quiet enough so his royal arse-nesscouldn't hear.
"hurry up Merlin" said the prince glancing down at my fumbling hands. I grimaced "sorry, sire". Putting my foot in the stirrup and... not really knowing what to do next.
Arthur's POV
I felt a sudden rush of unwanted affection as I watched my idiot servant pause with one of his feet in his horse's stirrup. I reached out my hand and chuckled as I hoisted him onto his horse.
"Useless" I said and alerted my horse that we were in motion with a sharp pulling on the reins. It gave a loud neigh and began to trot lazily towards the city gates. Merlin followed suit but yelped as his horse galloped ahead. I couldn't help laughing as I watched him speed towards the gates. Then, realising that Merlin didn't know how to slow down and that the servant didn't know where they were going, I chased after him and caught up quickly. I yelled "Pull up on the reins!" He nodded obediently and did just that almost flying off his horse as it halted vigorously. I doubled over with laughter and shook my head at the idiot. Merlin was breathing heavily and his hair was totally messed as he looked over at me.
"It's not funny" he said through glaring blue eyes.
"It's hilarious" I said, straightening up. "Right, we're actually heading that way, so pull the left side of the reigns. Lightly!" he continued to glare at me and then noticing that this had absolutely no effect on me, turned to sulk in silence.
*********
I had been a few miles before Merlin eventually gave in to his curiosity. "Where exactly are we going?" I turned my head and smiled at him. "Giving up so easily?" He scowled at me which just amused me more.
"Yes. Where are we going?" I looked back to the path we were following to conceal a smirk. "Well, we are going to investigate the ramblings of an old farmer." And when Merlin looked puzzled, as he often did, I explained, "old man Murden claims he saw a magical flying creature of some sort near Camelot and by law we are to investigate every claim. So instead of pulling all the knights away from training this close to the tournament I volunteered to give them a sporting chance-" a smug grin appearing on my face, " – and investigate the 'creature' myself." Merlin scoffed at my arrogance, mumbling something under his breath about 'prat' and then fell silent again.
I looked towards the slowly setting sun. "Hmm, maybe we should stop for the night. I think it may rain and we don't want to be caught in a storm." Merlin nodded stopping his horse impressively and sliding off. I raised an eyebrow. "I think I'm getting the hang of this riding stuff" he said crossing his arms and leaning against the horse, which picked that moment to take a step forward, causing Merlin to fall flat on his face. "Merlin" I sighed and pulled him up by his jacket. "Get the supplies off the horses will you? I'm going to go and get some firewood." I walked towards a bunch of thick oak trees and stepped through a gap in search of a few stray branches.
Merlin's POV
I sat waiting in the cold for a couple hours before I got annoyed. "W..what the h..h..hell is taking so long?" I shivered. Suddenly I noticed a silhouette speeding towards me. As Arthur got closer I saw what a mess he was. He was limping badly, blood covering his head and legs and hands and well, almost everywhere. He staggered over and collapsed onto me. "Ah, sire? Sire! You're too heavy. Ah!" I yelled as I fell backwards the unconscious prince falling with me. I rolled him off and knelt up so I could examine his wounds. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear." I said as I went to the bags to find medical supplies. But finding none, arrogant arse, I had to turn to magic. I checked to make sure Arthur was completely out of it before I placed my hand over his wounds. "Vigoratus" the healing spell worked and I sat back as his injuries began to seal themselves. I fetched a few bits of wood and began to make a fire. It was a long and tedious process but in the end a very rewarding fire burned next to me. Then I turned back to Arthur his features softening as I cleared the blood from his face and hands. I began to try to remove his armour to make him more comfortable when he stirred. "Merlin?" he said trying to sit up. "Eurgh! Ouch." He said clutching his ribs. 'Oops' I thought 'I guess the spell only covers external injuries.'
"Lay back sire." I said pushing him lightly "I think you may have a couple of broken ribs. We'll have to go back to Gaius first thing tomorrow. But first you're going to have to help me so I can take your armour off." I said helping him to sit up. He hissed through the searing pain and was eventually in an upright position. I undid all the various leather straps and removed all bits of metal from his battered body. "There you go" I said and got a blanket from the bags. I rolled one up for a pillow and placed it behind the prince. He lay back and rested his head on it. "Thanks Merlin" he said closing his eyes.
"I've made soup. I think you should eat something, it'll help you to heal." I said ladling some into a bowl and getting a spoon for Arthur. "I can't. Too weak" he said feebly. Sighing, I knelt behind him. I moved his head so it was resting on my lap and started feeding him the hot soup. Eventually he finished it and I moved to get some for myself.
********
As the flames of the fire started to die down, the temperature began to drop rapidly. I could hear Arthur's chattering teeth and went to over to share my blanket with the prince. We lay back to back for a while but after a few minutes I felt Arthur turn over and felt him drape his arm over me. At first my whole body froze from the affectionate behaviour but eventually, being too tired to do anything about it and feeling the heat from Arthur's body warm me from head to toe, I decided to just let it go. Besides, it doesn't feel too bad having the prince pressed up against me like this. Uh-oh, bad Merlin.
