Summary: Arthur, Merlin, and the knights go out to confront a sorcerer hiding out in the Darkling Woods, and Arthur keeps noticing the strange way that Lancelot and Merlin look at each other whenever magic is mentioned. Then when something odd happens he starts to draw conclusions, but with Arthur being Arthur... he gets it all wrong.
Disclaimer: In case you didn't know, I do not own Merlin :)
Arthur watched as his knights and, of course, Merlin sat around the fire. There was a slight chill in the air on this autumn night. There were reports of an evil sorcerer living somewhere in the Darkling Woods so they ventured into the forest to check it out.
They had been sitting in comfortable silence for several minutes now, but Gwaine was the first to speak up by asking, "So, do you think this sorcerer is going to be very powerful?"
Arthur couldn't help but laugh to himself, he couldn't remember a time when a sorcerer didn't pose a viable threat to Camelot. Finally he said rather gruffly, "It doesn't matter if they are very powerful or not, any magic is dangerous so we will have to be very cautious."
Elyan nodded in agreement but Arthur didn't fail to notice Lancelot and Merlin share an uncertain glance with each other. Thinking nothing of it he continued saying, "When we face this sorcerer we need to go in pairs," looking around at everyone by the fire he chose the groups, "Gwaine I want you with me, Lancelot I want you with Percival, and Elyan with Leon," he paused as his eyes came across Merlin, "and Merlin, honestly I don't even know why we bring you to things like this, you can just stay out of the way and hide behind some rock or tree or whatever you usually do- just stay out of trouble, ok?"
Merlin fiddled with his hands before looking Arthur in the eyes. "You know I'm not entirely useless, I can take care of myself," he murmured.
"Of course you're not," Arthur said sarcastically then he turned to address the knights, "So who wants to keep an eye on Merlin to make sure that he doesn't get himself killed?"
Lancelot's head shot up from where he was staring at the ground as he quickly said, "I will!" Then he nodded at Merlin which seemed to say something that only those two understood. The other knights took it as an 'I promise to not let you get killed' nod, but Arthur thought there might be something more to it.
Gwaine looked a little crestfallen at not being the one to watch over Merlin but he soon snapped out of it. He smirked at Merlin and gave him a wink before turning to Arthur, "Don't worry princess, I'll keep an eye on you and make sure that you don't get killed."
Arthur's face grew red as he scoffed, "I don't need anyone to watch out for me."
This time Merlin pitched in mockingly with a bright smile on his face, "Of course you don't, sire."
Arthur grumbled a quiet "I don't" then he grinned and sat up speaking in his most prattish voice, "You know Merlin, I just remembered why we bring you on these trips- don't you have some dinner to make?"
Merlin bit back a sharp reply and instead went to fetch his pot and some herbs to make a stew.
Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction and I wanted to get it in on my birthday (July 5th) but as I was coming back from my Grandma's for our 4th of July party we got caught in a storm so I didn't have time to finish it, but I got this little bit done so I figured I would just post it and see how you guys like it so far :)
I would appreciate reviews and I am open to constructive criticism so please let me know how I am doing and hopefully I'll have this finished shortly.
Until then ~skydoe16