Merlin covered his face with his pillow as the morning light stabbed his eyes. He sighed heavily, sitting up in his bed and trying to rub the heavy feeling out of his eyes. He left his room, grabbing an apple off of the shelf and leaving Gaius to sleep in, the man deserved it.
Leaving his chambers, he made his way up to Arthur's, knowing the prince would be pissy if he didn't get his breakfast. Merlin idly ate away at his apple as he retrieved a plate of food from the kitchens, bringing it up to Arthur's room. He put the food on Arthur's table, walking over to the drapes and pulling them open, "Rise and shine,"
He could hear Arthur groan as he woke up, pulling the covers over his head. He walked over to Arthur, knowing he didn't have the strength to pull the blanket off of him so instead he whispered a spell that yanked the plush blanket onto the floor.
"Hey!" Arthur complained, sitting up and sending Merlin a half hearted glare.
"It's not my fault the baby prince missed his afternoon nap yesterday," Merlin teased, laying out Arthur's clothes for the day and helping him dress.
"You know I think the stables need mucked out," Arthur said as he pulled on his last article of clothing, sitting down at the table and looking at his food, "What is this? There's barely anything here," He complained, gesturing to his plate that consisted a loaf of bread, some cheese, and a few grapes.
"Perhaps the kitchens think you're getting fat," Merlin said, a small grin making its way onto his face. Arthur threw the loaf of bread at Merlin, missing him by just inches, "You see? Your throwing is off, that's a sign of weight gain," Merlin said, picking up the bread and holding it out, "Did you want that?"
"Not anymore, lord knows where your hands have been," Arthur said with a scoff, picking at what was left of his breakfast. He pushed his plate away once it was empty, standing up and grabbing his sword, sheathing it on his belt, "You need to wash my clothes and polish my armor and don't forget to write up a speech for me for the round table's anniversary." He said, briskly walking out of the room to leave his servant to his chores.
Merlin sighed, rubbing his temples before getting to work, he had long since accepted that Arthur would never be grateful for how hard he worked but it was beginning to grate on his nerves. He shook his head as he made his way towards the armory, deciding that polishing would be the first thing on his ever growing list of chores.
"Arthur, think about what you're doing, what will your people think of this?" Merlin said, desperately trying to get Arthur to see reason as he followed the man into his chambers. Ever since the death of his father, Arthur's heart had been closed off to magic but he never imagined the newly crowned king to go this far.
"What else am I supposed to do? Leaving a sorceress to do whatever she pleases will cause nothing but destruction," Arthur said, finally turning around to face Merlin with steely eyes.
"We don't even know if there is a sorceress in Monue, it was just a rumor that some hunter brought to you," He said, trying to reason with the man. It clearly wasn't working as Arthur just shook his head and went to sit behind his desk.
"You know nothing of important matters, Merlin. You're a servant, you polish armor and make beds, so please, stick to what you know," Arthur said, clearly done with having this conversation.
Merlin was taken aback, it wasn't like Arthur to just disregard him as a simple servant. They had been through too much together for Arthur to ever truly believe he was just a servant, but Arthur wasn't exactly in his right mind at the moment. Merlin gave him a silent bow, leaving the room without another word. Clearly Arthur didn't want to talk to him anymore and Merlin was beginning to have the same feeling.
A bad mood was just about oozing out of him as he walked through the corridors of the castle. A few knights on patrol gave him an odd look as they passed but they didn't say anything to him, it wasn't until he passed Gwaine that someone finally spoke to him.
"Merlin! Settle something for us!" The chipper man said as he dragged a fellow knight, Elyan, with him, "Which one of us do you think would stand a better chance picking up a tavern lady while drunk?" Elyan looked like he had no idea how he had gotten into this conversation and wanted nothing more than to get out of it.
Merlin stopped, his bad mood having halted now that he was being assaulted with his friend's rambunctious behaviour, "Definitely Elyan, you would be chugging down glass after glass and not noticing him be the smarter man and sipping his drink," He said, knowing that Gwaine had no self control when it came to liquor.
"So you're saying he'd only win if he cheated, knew you'd back me up," Gwaine said with a grin, not at all phased that Merlin had sided with Elyan as he dragged said knight back to their post.
Merlin shook his head with a small smile, unsure how Gwaine had managed to cheer him up without even knowing anything was wrong. He went back to his chambers, finding Gaius there, treating a boy who looked sick of a fever. "Is he alright?" Merlin asked with concern.
The old man looked up at him, then back at the boy, "Yes, he'll be fine after a good night's rest but I need to look after him,"
"Do you need any help?" Merlin asked, always having been quick to offer his services. If there was somewhere he could be useful he saw no reason why he shouldn't go there.
"Ah, if you could go to the outskirts of town and find me some herbs, that would be wonderful," Gaius said, grabbing a piece of parchment and a pen, writing down what he needed and handing it to Merlin.
The sorcerer skimmed over the list, judging what he had to gather and how long it would take, "I'll be back before nightfall." He said, picking up an empty basket and making towards the door.
"Merlin," Gaius interrupted, stopping him in his tracks and making him turn around. "You need to know that none of the choices Arthur is making are your fault." He said.
Merlin was caught off guard by the statement but soon reasoned that Gaius had heard of the attack Arthur had ordered on the town of Monue. He frowned slightly as he thought back to the night that he had come oh so close to opening up Arthur's heart, if only he had noticed Morgana's little present that she had left on Uther. "I know…" He ultimately knew that it was Morgana's fault that Uther had died but he knew that he could have prevented it if he had been just a little bit more observant. He gave a soft sigh before turning back around and walking out the door.
"Merlin!" Arthur called as he walked into the physician's chamber later that night, having returned to his own chambers exactly the way he had found it that morning, which was not a good thing.
Merlin was holding a spoon halfway between him and a bowl of soup when Arthur bursted in, looking up at the King with a twinge of hidden irritation, "Yes, my lord?" He asked with a lingering bite in his voice.
"Why is my chamber's a mess? Is it not your job to clean it?" Arthur asked, crossing his arms as he stared at Merlin with that look that he hated so much.
"Sorry, it must have slipped my mind," Merlin said, knowing that no matter what he said, he was going to get the same answer.
"That's no excuse, you had all day to tidy up, what were you doing then?" Arthur prompted.
"I'm afraid that was my fault," Gaius said, stepping into the room and pulling the curtains closed that his the boy whom was still recovering, "I had him gather herbs for me today,"
"So, in other words," Arthur started, "He was at the tavern,"
Merlin's jaw clenched as he forced himself to take slow breaths in order to not yell at Arthur. He just kept repeating him his mind that Arthur was the once and future king. He would come to realized that magic wasn't evil. He would understand one day. But he was finding that harder to believe as the prick dragged him back to his chambers and made him clean the room from top to bottom before letting him go.
"Shh!" Arthur held his hand up and stopped the group's advance, motioning for everyone to fan out and surround the figure he had saw dart behind the bush. Merlin had to suppress the urge to groan, he hated these hunting trips, all they ever did was run around and shoot at animals, he didn't understand why the knights loved it so much. Arthur raised his crossbow and aimed at the figure, finger twitching on the trigger before he heard a shout.
"Sire! It's a child!" Leon called.
Arthur lowered his crossbow, handing it over to Merlin, "Come out from there," He said in an authoritative tone.
A small boy walked out from behind the bush, a black cloak covering most of his body but it was clear that he was skinny, likely malnourished. Merlin immediately felt a sense of pity for the boy, wondering what he was doing in these dangerous woods.
Clearly the king was thinking the same thing so he voiced his question, "What are you doing in these woods?"
The boy looked nervous, glancing between the knights surrounding him, all of which had begun to move back towards Arthur, "I'm trying to find my village. We were attacked and some escaped. I hid in a tree until the danger was gone."
Arthur's brows furrowed, he hadn't heard of any attacks recently, and he certainly didn't think that he was in such a bad way with anyone that they would attack his kingdom. Except maybe with… Morgana. "Who attacked your village,"
The boy turned and faced one of the knights, Sir Ector, raising his skinny arm and pointing at him, "He lead them, him and other men with swords and capes,"
Confusion swept over them all for a moment before Arthur remembered an attack he ordered a few days ago, "You're a druid?" Nearly all of the knights gripped the handles of their swords, a few of them actually drawing them.
Merlin felt the color drain from his face at this new information. One of the knights lead an attack on a druid camp? Why? Why would Arthur approve that?
Arthur's jaw was set, staying silent for a moment after the boy nodded, "Kill him, we don't need any more sorcerers in Camelot,"
"Arthur!" Any advancements the knights had made stopped when Merlin yelled at the king, "He's just a boy, you can't possibly think there's any evil in him!"
"No I don't, but I didn't believe Morgana would ever have any evil in her either," Arthur countered, his gaze steely and unfeeling.
Merlin couldn't believe what he was hearing, Arthur, the once and future king, the man who was meant to bring peace to Albion and bring magic back to the land was sentencing a child to death just for being born a druid.
"Emrys, please help me," Merlin froze when he heard the boy speak those words, the death of someone so innocent crashing down on him even harder than before.
"Who is Emrys? Who are you talking about? Another sorcerer?" Arthur asked quickly, not going to let and sorcerer walk free.
"Arthur, are you mad? You're going crazy about magic, just like your father!" Merlin said, trying to convince him to leave the boy alone. He felt like it was his duty, they were kin, he and the druids would always look out for each other.
"Magic is evil Merlin, you know that, the day magic is allowed is the day that Camelot falls," The way Arthur said it was almost a snarl, shocking Merlin to the core. He turned his gaze back to the druid boy, drawing his sword, "Tell me who Emrys is and I might consider letting you live if you vow to stop practicing magic,"
"Emrys is the man that will bring magic back to the lands and end the suffering of my people. He will bring peace to Albion and he is more of a man that you will ever be." The boy said, clearly not about betray Merlin.
Merlin felt his heart ache as he watched the knights approach the druid boy, some looking hesitant, others eager, all Merlin could see was people he thought were his friends about to murder an innocent boy. His feet were moving before he could even think about what he was doing, standing in front of the boy, pushing the child behind him where he would be safe. "Arthur, you need to rethink this, this is not the right thing to do and you know it!"
"Merlin get out of the way," Arthur ordered, he could see a few of his knights faltering, Leon, Elyan, Lancelot, Gwaine, and Percival had already lowered their weapons. A voice in the back of his mind that sounded a lot like his father told him to strike Merlin down too, but that was the last thing he wanted to do. "Someone grab the idiot, then kill the boy,"
The knights only made it forward a single step before Merlin's hand came up instinctively, his eyes bursting with a golden fire, sending each knight who posed a threat flying back at least ten feet. Arthur looked positively shocked, unable to do anything but stare at Merlin.
Merlin's heart was racing in his chest, his rage having all but vanished as he realized what he just did. All this time he had been on Arthur's side, standing beside him, protecting him, making sure he would be there to fulfill his destiny. Now, Merlin was standing on his own, in fact, he was standing against Arthur.
"I'm sorry my lord, I tried so hard to believe in you but I will not stand by and watch you become your father, I'm afraid that would be too much for me to bear. I wish both you and Camelot luck but we shall not be sharing destinies any longer. Farewell my friends," He said as he glanced at the knights whom he'd come to consider his family. And yet he felt magic surge through his veins, inviting him to let go and finally stop hiding his power. The ancient language felt as natural on his lips as English when he spoke it, causing a burst of wind taking him and the druid boy away from that place.
Hey guys! So that was pretty much ALL build up to what's going to happen. Arthur's pretty crazy! But Merlin hasn't given up on him quite yet. Do you think Arthur will change after learning his best friend is a magic user? Or will he keep pushing past Merlin's limit? Comment what you think of it so far and if it's worth an update!