Perching himself on a cold, moss-covered rock, Arthur set his sword down on the ground and sighed. Outside, the rain only seemed to be getting worse, and a cold draft now blew through the dark cave, causing Arthur to shiver involuntary. A day-long hunting trip had somehow turned into a three-day trek in the woods. One wrong turn lead to another, and another, and eventually Arthur had lost his bearings all together. Of course, Merlin annoyingly chirruping into his ear every five seconds was not helping him to focus! It was clear that the two were to spend another night in the soundless forest, and Arthur had settled on the first cave he could find.
Hugging his knees to his chest, Arthur glared at his servant's back, wondering how on earth he had ended up in this predicament.
"How do you expect to make a fire with this wood, Merlin? It's soaked through!' Arthur exclaimed, after a few minutes of watching Merlin struggling to produce fire.
"It was worth trying, sire.' Merlin exclaimed, dropping the logs to the ground and turning to look at the Prince. A sullen face greeted him, and Merlin smiled.
"Come on now, it could be worse,' he tried, joining Arthur on the ground. 'I mean, you've still got me.'
'Is that supposed to make me feel better?' Arthur replied, sounding more sullen than he had before.
'Oh, I didn't expect it to. But lets face it, sire, you'd never make it one night out here alone.' Merlin abruptly stopped smiling as Arthur turned to face him.
'What do you mean by that?' he asked, in a warning voice.
'N-nothing, I just meant-' Merlin paused, searching for an explanation that wouldn't get him thrown out in the rain for the night. 'Well, you know…'
'No, no I don't know.' A crash of thunder rang through the cave, closely followed by a bright flash of lightning. In the few seconds that the cave was lit, Merlin could have sworn he saw his prince flinch.
Merlin stood and headed for the opening of the cave. It had been raining for some time now, and he was almost certain that it had to stop sometime soon. Looking back over his shoulder, Merlin smirked. Arthur had fallen asleep some time ago, his chin rested in his hands. Of course, he had complained for god knows how long about the temperature of the cave, and the fact that Merlin was stupid enough not to be able to light a small fire. Another crash of thunder caused Merlin to retreat back into the cave a few steps. Reaching out his hands, he felt around for the wall and promptly sat down, leaning his head back and trying to get comfortable. As far as he could tell, it would be a long night. Caves were not the most comfortable of places to sleep, and since they had only intended to be gone for a day, they had packed no blankets to sleep under, and, more importantly, no food to eat.
Closing his eyes, Merlin attempted to fall asleep, and he would have succeeded if it hadn't been for the rather unnecessary scream that came from the mouth of Prince Arthur. Flinging his eyes open, Merlin jumped to his feet and rushed over to him, expecting the worst.
'What? What is it?' he asked, slightly panicked, as he took in the wide eyed look on his friend's face. Following Arthur's gaze, Merlin could hardly hold back the smile that appeared on his lips. On the cave wall, where Arthur's head he been only a few moments before, was a spider. Raising his eyebrows, Merlin turned to Arthur.
'Really?' he asked, barely containing the chuckle that threatened to escape his lips. Arthur scowled at his servant, and pointed to the spider.
'That thing was in my hair!' he exclaimed, unamused. Merlin stood looking at Arthur for a few moments before the man spoke again.
'Don't just stand there, get rid of it!'
Jumping into action, Merlin rushed over to the fairly small spider and, picking it up in his hands, he rushed towards the cave entrance and threw it out into the night. Returning to Arthur, Merlin didn't even try to hide his grin.
'A spider, Arthur?' Once again, Arthur scowled at his servant.
'Don't.' he exclaimed, raising a finger in annoyance.