Stolen moments!
"Merlin…Merlin…………..Merlin".
Merlin slowly forced his eye's open, his vision was disorientated and his eye's were stinging due to the lack of sleep he had endured over the past couple of nights "when will this stop" he groaned as he sat up in bed and pushed his covers off on to the floor.
"Merlin……….Merlin" the voice echoing in the young warlocks head.
"Yes, I'm coming, just wait" he forced between yawns.
Merlin stumbled out of his humble yet satisfying bed, floor boards creaking as he lifted his weight on the floor.
He reached his hand out and grabbed his shirt, then ran his hand through his hair as he stretched and yawned again,
"Merlin" the voice still echoing deep in side his head.
The warlock clenched his fists and gritted his teeth "I'm coming" he growled as he pulled his door open and made his way down the stairs.
Gaius was sleeping in his chair at his desk, Merlin smiled to himself.
He stared at his old mentor for a few seconds before the voice echoed deep inside his head again.
"I thought you were not going to come" the Dragon said in a sneering tone of voice.
Merlin scowled "well when you repeatedly call out my name, over and over again how can I ignore you" me muttered.
"I have some information for you" boomed the great Dragon.
Merlin's eye's flickered to life "information, about what?" he asked in an excited tone.
The Dragon sniggered "Arthur is going to need your help soon to conquer a great threat".
Merlin's eye's grew wide "what threat, when and how can I help him?".
The Dragon's eye's bore into the young warlock "you will know the answer to all three questions when the time is right" the Dragon stretched it's wings and took off.
"Why cant you ever give me a straight answer, why wake me to just give me another riddle" yelled Merlin as the Dragon flew out of sight.
Merlin glared at the torch he was holding in his hand "a great threat, what's new" he spat as he headed back out of the cave.
"Merlin, wake up it's time for you to get up, Arthur will be waiting" the old man's voice seemed to be coming from all sides of the room.
Merlin raised his head slowly, Gaius was standing at his door.
"Great, another day" he moaned as he kicked his covers off.
He laid still on the bed staring at the ceiling, he remembered what the Dragon had said in the cave and sat up sharply.
"I've made you some porridge Merlin, eat up you'll need your strength today" Gaius said as he handed Merlin a spoon.
"I need my strength everyday, what's so special about today" asked Merlin as he sat at the table and shovelled the porridge into his mouth.
"you've had about three hours sleep if that" replied the old physician.
Merlin glanced up from his bowl and gave Gaius a confused look.
Gaius let out a short laugh, "you're not exactly light on your feet Merlin, I heard you go out in the early hours. Do I even want to know where you went?" he said with a curious look.
Merlin shook his head "not really, not like it helped any" he said in a low voice.
Gaius stood patiently behind the young man "Dragons don't always help you know, they love to give riddles, you just have to work out what they are implying" his voice soft and educating.
Merlin spun around, his eye's wide "you know" he whipped.
Gaius handed Merlin a small glass bottle filled with a dark green liquid "about your visits to the Dragon? Yes" he replied "drink this potion, it doesn't taste too good but it will give you an energy boost" he said with a knowing smile.
Merlin smiled and took the bottle, he sniffed it and screwed his nose up "can't taste as bad as it smells right" he joked as he downed the potion in one.
King Uther sat at his throne "I need some of the knights to go to the mountains and investigate the surroundings for me" he was speaking to one of his senior guards.
The guard nodded "yes Sire, whenever you want them to go I will get them ready" the guard replied with a stern expression up on his face.
"I don't want Arthur to know about this though, I fear he will insist on going and I fear he will put himself in danger" he told the guard with a worried look in his eye's.
The guard once again nodded "I will keep this from him Sire, I will send four of our best knights".
The King gave a weak smile "thank you" he said in almost a whisper as he excused his guard.
"Merlin what on earth is wrong with you today" spat Arthur.
"I might as well be training with the corps of a dead cow, or a sheep in your case" mocked the handsome young Prince.
Merlin lifted the shield in front of his chest and struck Arthur's sword with his, knocking the Prince backwards.
"Not bad Merlin, I think you are finally getting the hang of this now" Arthur said in an encouraging tone of voice.
Merlin smiled to himself, he was glad he was wearing a helmet as he could feel his cheeks burning.
He knew he was blushing, he loved to hear the Prince praise him and give him encouragement.
"Right, now just keep it up" whipped Arthur as he lunged at Merlin with his sword.
Merlin was still smiling as he suddenly noticed what Arthur was about to do, Merlin raised his sword and blocked Arthur's blow.
Arthur kicked Merlin's shield out of his hand and knocked him to the floor.
"You're getting better, but not good enough" grinned Arthur as he stood over the young warlock who was laid limp on the floor, he was still clutching his sword in his hand.
Merlin let out a loud groan "ouch, my head, did you have to do that? You could have warned me" he moaned as he attempted to rub his head through his helmet.
Arthur rolled his eye's "honestly Merlin, I often wonder how you have managed to survive all these years" the young Prince sighed as he pulled his servant up off of the ground.
"You need to toughen up and fast, weakness is not an attractive trait in a man" Arthur advised as he put his arm around Merlin's shoulder.
"Gwen would prefer you if you had a little more muscle" said the Prince as he tried to hide a sharp laugh.
Merlin pulled of his helmet, picked up his shield and followed Arthur back to the castle "how many times do I have to say I don't like Gwen, not in that way anyway" Merlin growled.
Arthur laughed, he playfully pushed Merlin and ran off.
Four of the Kings Knights approached the mountains on strong bay horses.
The mountains towered over the vast and wild countryside, the sky was turning black as it was getting late "we will set up camp here for the night and head back to Camelot at sunrise" ordered one of the Knights.
All for men sat laughing and talking around the camp fire, suddenly there was a shrill cry.
Two of the Knights pulled their swords, wile the other two drew their daggers and they all headed in different directions to investigate the what had made the cry.
The first Knight headed off to the left, he slowly peered around as he carefully stepped over rocks.
Then there was another shrill cry, then silence.
The Knights called out to each other, only three answered.
There was another shrill cry, then a blood curdling scream.
King Uther paced the floor in front of his throne "they will be back with news soon Sire" his guard said positively.
Footsteps echoed along the corridor out side the Kings court, Uther gazed up and stared at the door watching, waiting, his eye's still and dull.
The door swung open and in marched Arthur "where are my Knights" he ordered as he stood before his father.
King Uther stared at his son with lifeless eye's.
"I am missing four of my Knights, nobody told me they were going out on a job, why wasn't I told?" he asked he had anger in his voice.
King Uther signalled for his guard to leave.
The King turned to his son and looked upon him like only a father could "my dear boy Arthur, I sent your Knights out to the mountains to investigate something and I fear the worst has happened" his eye's filled with pain.
Arthur stared back at his father, he had never seen him like this before.
"What do you fear has happened to my men father" the young Prince inquired.
King Uther placed his hand on upon his son's shoulder and lowered his head "I fear they are dead" he whispered.
Arthur's eye's grew wide, his mouth fell and he stepped back "dead, how, why?" the Prince spluttered his words as he felt his head fill with anger and sorrow.
"Why were my men sent out without me knowing?" he spat at the King.
The King stared into the distance "because I feared you would fall to a terrible fate as well" the King left his son standing alone in the court, alone with his thoughts and personal demons.
Merlin stood facing the Prince in the young warlocks room "why are we putting your armour on in here?" asked the servant as he helped Arthur get into his chain mail.
Arthur sighed "because if my father see's me he will stop me and I must go, I must go see what happened to my men".
Merlin glanced at the armour on his bed, he knew he could not allow Arthur to walk blindly into sudden death, whatever happens on the mountains he knew he had to be there.
He had to be there to help Arthur should he get in trouble, as the Dragon said Arthur was going to face great threat and he had to help him.
"I will come too, I must" Merlin swallowed the words that he wanted to follow in his sentence.
Arthur gazed at his servant "thank you Merlin, I know I can rely on you" he smiled sweetly at the young man that was holding his armour.
Merlin felt the pit in his stomach start to tingle, his cheeks were starting to burn and he felt his knee's go weak.
He coughed and turned away to avoid the Prince seeing his rosy red flushed cheeks.
"I am your servant, I must follow you especially since you are alone, I may not be the best in a battle but that doesn't mean I will not try my best to protect you" Merlin confessed as his hands fumbled with the clasp on the princes wrist armour.
Arthur stared intently at his friend who would so easily give his life to protect him.
"I am lucky" he muttered.
Merlin raised his head to look at the Prince "sorry! What was that" he asked as he noticed the young Princes had said something.
Arthur bit his bottom lip and blew out his cheeks, "nothing, nothing at all just muttering to myself" he gushed as he was trying to cover up his feelings.
Merlin smiled, his eye's bright blue, full of wonder and hope.
Arthur watched Merlin as he rallied around gathering the young Royal's armour and weapons.
"Bring some armour for your self Merlin, you will need to be protected if you are to come with me" the princes voice was once more ordering and commanding, the sweetness in his tone had vanished once again.
Merlin wondered what made the Prince change so quickly, one minute he would be arrogant and commanding, the next he would be sweet and compassionate.
Merlin wondered many things regarding Arthur, some things normal like why did he insist on being such an ass? And others which were more the yearnings of his young reckless heart.
Things he knew he should never wonder about the future King of Camelot, but never the less things that plagued his thoughts every waking minute of the day.
What does the Prince's touch feel like on his bare skin? How would it feel to place a kiss upon his beautiful lips? How would Arthur react if he was to tell him the truth and confess his love for him?.
These were the thoughts that ran riot in the young warlocks head night after night.
He had enough trouble sleeping without the Dragon calling out his name, he hated it when he was half way through a fantastic dream about Arthur that the Dragon decided to call, like it knew exactly what was going on inside his head and it was doing it's best to prevent him from continuing the dream.
Merlin was struggling with his chain mail, he was having difficulty pulling it over his head.
"Merlin, Merlin, Merlin seriously how hard can it be to put on some chain mail" the Prince's voice asked mockingly.
Merlin removed the armour and gave Arthur a glare "easy for you to say, you have me to help you, who do I have?" replied Merlin before he returned to fighting with the chain mail.
"Here let me help" Arthur said as he grasped the piece of armour and pulled it over Merlin's head, Arthur gave Merlin a grin "you really are a complete idiot" he said as he spun Merlin around to fit the rest of his armour.
Merlin bit his tongue, he wanted to scream at Arthur and say "yes I am an idiot, I'm in love with you, how much more of an idiot can I be".
Instead Merlin just replied with "well you're an ass, so I guess we are even".
Arthur playfully hit Merlin upside the head and let out a short shocked laugh "don't push it".
Merlin longingly stared after Arthur as he left the room, his eye's dreamy, he bit his lip as he gazed at the slender figure of the Prince.
"You are coming right?" Arthur called after the young servant.
Merlin smiled, "wouldn't miss it" he then hurried after Arthur with a huge idiot grin plastered across his slim, handsome face.
As the two young men approached the mountains Merlin got this strong sick feeling in his stomach, he pulled his horse up and clutched his head.
"Can you hear that" he wailed as he dropped his reins.
Arthur stared at Merlin, his face stern and confused "what, I hear nothing" he said as he looked around the vast wasteland.
Merlin dismounted his horse, the beast snarled and flared it's nostrils.
Merlin peered around panicking, "what is that?" he cried.
Arthur dismounted his horse, he grabbed his servants hands and stared at his face.
His face fell cold "your eye's, what is wrong with your eye's Merlin" commanded the Prince.
Merlin stared at Arthur, all he could hear was a shrill cry repeating over and over again in his head.
"What is wrong with my eye's?" he asked his tone begging, he wanted the cry to stop, he felt as if his ears were going to start bleeding.
Arthur watched as he saw his friend fall to the floor clutching his ears.
Merlin went limp and fell silent.
Arthur fell to his side, he lowered his face to Merlin's lips to check if he was still breathing.
He felt the young warlocks breath warm against his face, a sharp sensation hit Arthur in the stomach, he was fascinated by the gentle breathing coming from Merlin.
He placed his hand on his cheek and gently caressed his face with his thumb.
Arthur suddenly remembered Merlin's eye's, they had flashed copper over and over again when he apparently heard the noise that had made him clutch his head.
Arthur leaned in closer to Merlin and gently lifted his eye lids to check his eye's, they were bright, beautiful blue now, no sign of the copper that had taken over them moments before.
Arthur's hand gently stroked Merlin's face, his hand brushed his dark, soft hair then he leaned in lower and placed a soft kiss on his forehead.
"I wonder about you so much, how could a strange little man like you….how could you make me feel like I do? How can someone like you bewitch me like you do? Why don't I want to fight these feelings" Arthur whispered with his eye's closed.
"Just luck I guess" Merlin answered.
Merlin laid on the floor with Arthur leaning over me, he waited for the Prince to respond or hit him, anything other than this awkward silence.
Arthur smiled "well I did say I was lucky" he then leaned closer to Merlin and stared intently into his eye's, his breath against Merlin's cheek, he slowly pressed his lips against those of the warlocks.
Merlin paused before kissing him back, was this a dream?
Was Merlin still unconscious? No he was awake, very much awake.
Arthur pulled away, Merlin looked at him with pleading eye's, as if saying 'please don't stop'.
Arthur climbed to his feet and mounted his horse, "we have to move on now" ordered the Prince.
Merlin's heart sank, Arthur had changed again!
As they headed up the mountain Merlin heard the shrill cry again, this time he wasn't affected.
Arthur stopped dead and looked around confused "what was that" he snapped.
Merlin stared at him "the cry, I don't know, but it's what I heard before".
Arthur glared at the warlock "well lets hope I don't go stupid and clutch my head and fall to the floor".
Merlin stared at the Prince, something wasn't right with him, he had gone from telling him much he felt for him and he had kissed him to now mocking him and sounding almost a stranger.
Merlin kicked his horse on and passed Arthur, as he passed him he saw his eye's were dull but blood shot.
Merlin said nothing instead continued up the mountains.
As they reached the top Merlin noticed the Prince's eye's were more bloodshot and his face was damp with sweat.
"You have a fever, how do you feel" he asked Merlin.
Arthur stared at Merlin as if he had only just noticed he was there, he looked around dazed.
"Fine, I feel fine" he replied.
Merlin sat on a rock by the camp fire, Arthur sat on the opposite side, he was staring into the flames, his eye's lifeless.
Merlin threw him an apple but he didn't even flinch.
He continued staring into the flames, as if he was hypnotised.
Merlin decided to lay down and try to get some sleep, maybe Arthur was confused by the kiss or maybe he was disgusted with himself.
Merlin's eye's shot open when he felt a cold blade against his throat.
"You made me feel love for you" snarled Arthur "I'm the future King of Camelot, I would never fall in love with a servant let alone a man, I am not sick".
Merlin held his breath, the blade was so close to his throat he feared if he was to breath out then the blade would sever him for sure.
"I am sorry, I never made you feel anything" he begged.
He reached under his blanket and slowly pulled up a dagger and then knocked Arthur off of him.
Arthur's face was soaking wet with fever, his eye's were blood red and his body was ridged.
Merlin instantly knew this wasn't his Prince.
"Who are you?" he yelled at whatever it was who had taken over his body.
Arthur snarled a laugh and lunged at Merlin with his dagger "I'm the future King of Camelot, who are you Wizard" Arthur growled.
Merlin ducked out of the way of the dagger and fell into a rock.
He grabbed his sword and defended himself as Arthur lunged again.
He stepped on the edge of the mountain and saw a flash of evil in Arthur's eye's.
"You're not Arthur" he screamed as his foot slipped off the edge.
He grasped onto the side of the mountain and tried to pull himself up.
Arthur stepped on to the edge and glared down at the warlock "why don't you use that magic of yours to save yourself" he mocked.
Merlin felt himself slipping, he closed his eye's and whispered an incantation.
Arthur flew backwards and Merlin climbed up the mountain side.
He saw Arthur crumpled on the ground, he moved closer gripping his dagger.
Arthur's eye's slowly opened and stared up at Merlin.
His eye's were normal, apart from the strong look of sorrow and pain in them.
"I…I.. I'm sorry Merlin, I don't know what came over me" he said in a soft tone.
Merlin took a deep breath, "it's this place, it brings out the worst in people, we should tell your father that 'Cadar Idris' is a place of evil and should not be set foot on".
Arthur climbed to his feet and stepped closer to the warlock "forgive me" he begged.
Merlin was packing up at the camp fire when he felt a hand on his neck, he spun around to see Arthur staring at him.
Arthur pressed his fingers against the servants neck "your pulse is strong and fast" he whispered.
Merlin stood still waiting to see what Arthur was going to do next.
Arthur's eye's burned into those of the young warlocks.
He let his pressure loosen for a minute before grabbing Merlin by the shoulder and pulled him close, Arthur's breathing was heavy as he pulled Merlin closer to his body.
Merlin could feel the Prince's heart beating extremely fast in his chest.
Arthur ran his finger over Merlin's perfect lips, he leaned in and bit his bottom lip lightly.
Merlin lost control and fell backwards onto a rock.
Arthur gripped his sides with his hands, teasing his hips with his thumbs.
He kissed him with heavy lips, seducing his servant with every last kiss.
Merlin placed his hands on to Arthur's face and kissed him back, hard, teasing his lips with his tongue and his teeth.
Merlin bit harder on the Prince's bottom lip and he gasped.
He thrust his self forwards onto his servant and teased him.
Merlin ran his hand against the soft skin under the Prince's shirt before digging in his nails.
Arthur moaned with pleasure.
Merlin could feel the Prince's smile through his kisses.
"I love you, I don't care if you have but a spell on me Merlin, if you have don't take it off, ever" Arthur said through gasps.
Merlin stared into the Prince's eye's "I've not put a spell on anybody, I would never do that, I only use magic to protect you" whispered Merlin as he gently kissed Arthur.
Arthur smiled "I knew it, all this time, I knew there was something looking after me that couldn't be explained, it was you." he whispered into Merlin's ear.
"My angel" he said as he nibbled on Merlin's lobe.
Merlin grinned "I can show you my magic if you want" he teased.
His eye's full of passion and wanting as he slowly moved his gaze over Arthur's slim figure.
Arthur bit his tongue and gazed longingly at Merlin "oh please do, I don't think I can fight this yearning anymore" he gushed as he pulled Merlin to the floor.