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Chapter 2-"Grand Collection"

The crown prince woke up pissed off.

It took him some seconds to figure out why.

Then, a voice called him by his side, and the face of a man with ridiculously big ears appeared above him.

"Merlin…." he muttered, trying hard not to smack the manservant away from his field of vision.

"Yes, sire?"

"Move."

And, even if it was a simply words, with no sign of threat, the black-haired man jumped out of his sight, scared. Maybe that had to do with the fact they had quarrelled the night before. Smirking, Arthur sat up on the bed, ruffling his hair with his right hand and yawing loudly. Looking left at the window, he noticed the other reason he was such in a foul mood: It was raining.

The room was engulfed in a grey darkness, only lit by some feeble candles. Disappointed by the weather, he threw himself back to bed, pulling the velvet cover up over his head.

"Come on, Arthur! He heard the servant cry "It's almost breakfast time!" By the insolent tone in his voice, Merlin wasn't as scared of him as he had previously thought. Wondering what had happened, he slid off the bed, sleepy.

"How come the first thing I hear in the morning is your voice?" Arthur sneered, sitting at the table where breakfast waited.

"Bites me." Merlin admitted, grinning "Whose voice did you prefer to hear?"

"A girl's, of course!" he snapped, looking at the food. It was…proper. Though not very abundant, it was the right amount of food. Merlin did know at least how much the prince should eat, at least. He picked a loaf of bread and a mug filled with milk. He throat was a bit dry from sleeping. He wondered if he had over-slept. Since the sun was nowhere to be seen that morning, he wasn't sure what time it was.

"What time is it?" he asked, drinking the milk.

"I think it's around nine."

"Ah." He said, and took a bite on the bread, regretting it immediately.

"Urgh…This tastes awful!"

"What?" Merlin exclaimed, surprised "It's the same bread you eat every morning!"

"Then, why does it taste different?"

"I don't know!" the servant shouted at the prince, who stared at him "What?! It's not my fault?"

"So, it has to do with you!"

"No! Do you think I'd eat your bread and give you mine instead?"

Arthur narrowed his eyes "I didn't say that."

"Uh…So, hum, I…Ok!" Merlin looked desperate, his eyes shifty." I accidentally dropped your bread on the way here and they didn't have more of that kind, and I was running late, so I replaced it with the bread I usually eat."

Typical. Merlin had screwed up the simplest of tasks and was unable to make up to it. Why did Arthur insist in keeping him as his manservant?

"Because no other manservant would be willing to do what he does for you…" A little voice in his head told him, and he found out that he couldn't argue with the raven-haired boy. Sometimes, he could be so adorably innocent that Arthur couldn't have the guts to fire him. Wait-Adorable? No, that certainly isn't the term. It's more like….dorkily. Because princes weren't supposed to find menservants adorable.

"And I'm so sorry, Arthur! I just panicked, but if…"

"Shut up."

And the younger boy silenced himself, and held back any comments he was about to make. Thank god. He didn't need someone to be a pain in the ass and make his mind even foggier with thoughts.

But he found that the silence was almost as unbearing as the noise. No, more.

"So, hum…." Arthur started, clearing his throat "Where are we going today?"

He didn't believe he was asking for Merlin's opinion and neither did the raven-haired boy.

"Hum… Don't you have tasks to do, like checking on the guards and the knights?"

"Yeah, but that's only in the morning. I'm sure we have all afternoon at our disposal to do what we want."

"Oh." was Merlin's response.

"Then, what are we going to do on the awful weather and stuck inside the castle?"

"You know the castle better than I do, sire." Merlin said, his sarcasm carrying each word.

Arthur though for a bit, and had a brilliant idea. He would show the oldest part of the castle to Merlin. Well, excepting the dungeons and the caves bellow.

"I know, let's see the library."

Merlin, made a confused look.

"Arthur, I know the library. I've even read some books there."

"Not that library, you idiot!" he snapped, undignified. "The one that is closed."

"There is another library?"

"Yeah!" Arthur confirmed, getting up and opening the wardrobe. "Hum, I'm thinking red and black." he mumbled, looking at the messy inside of the closet.

"You can read?" Merlin asked, approaching the prince.

"What? Of course I can!" he exclaimed feeling outraged by Merlin's remark" I was taught when I was five!"

Did Merlin think he was an idiot or what? Wait, he did…

"I mean it like that; it's just that I don't find you bent over a book very often."

"Of course not, I have better things to do!"

"Like killing animals?"

"For example. Now, fetch the black leather jacket and the red, embroidered shirt." he commanded. And the black pants."

"So, you want to do something intellectual for a change?" Merlin teased, bluntly.

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Are you saying I don't do intellectual stuff?"

"Something like that." The manservant mumbled, so low that Arthur almost didn't hear him.

"For your information, Merlin, I'm pretty intellectual." He said, irritated "And for how long do you intent on searching those clothes?"

"Found them!"

*

Merlin followed Arthur right beside him. He tried his best to ignore the Camelot's servants' golden rule: keeping, at least, a five-metre distance from their masters. That way, the noble in question would not need to be bothered by any unwelcome presence and would walk freely, while their servant would be at a fine distance to get something the noble wanted; simple, but so boring. Walking and talking to Arthur was much more fun. Thus, they could enjoy themselves whilst they wandered around the long aisles of the castle and the prince didn't need to shout at the manservant to keep up with him.

His eyes drifted to the windows. The rain fustigated them, falling almost horizontally in the stained glass. That was one of the things he loved most in Camelot. The colourful windows, painted in red, green and blue and other colours that Merlin hadn't seen that alive before. The droplets of water slipped down the glass, and the small light from outside reflected on them, and was projected by the window to the wall, forming shadows that seemed alive. Merlin wondered if he was the only one that noticed it, for the other servants and noblemen stroll down the corridors with their eyes fixed ahead, looking and not seeing.

Not even noticing the funny and enchanting patterns on the arabesque curves of the castle. Its vaults, mysteriously hanging in the air, decorated with lit candelabra, and enclosing the very place they were standing. How much they were missing for being oblivious and how much Merlin would like to know how the ceiling could be so round and complicated and yet look like a human ribcage, with strange arches.

"Come on Merlin, we haven't got all day!" Arthur protested, dragging Merlin out of his contemplation, and them to turn right in a passage.

The castle was always crowded with servants, bowing to their superiors and getting no bows on return, but Merlin noticed that, the deeper they got into the castle and the further they walked, the more desolate and ancient the castle looked. They faced some stairs, with worn out steps, certainly spent after so many people walking over them over the years. Merlin was worried they would descent to the underground part of the castle, but, fortunately, Arthur went upstairs instead. He really didn't want to go nearer the place the dragon was, especially with Arthur.

The corridors in the floor above were just as dark and considerably more mysterious and, well…scary.

Finally, they reached two big doors, made of mahogany, and Arthur grabbed his set of keys, opening the entrance with great difficulty. It squeaked, loudly, and revealed something that Merlin wasn't quite expecting it to.

"Arthur, this is…"

"Huge?"

"Grand!"

It was astonishing! There weren't many books in the long and tall shelves, but the equipment in the middle compensated it.

He entered, following Arthur, and his gaze was immediately drawn to the big table on the centre of the room, and the prince headed automatically to the shelves in the bottom.

The table seemed to be made of a similar material to the one of the door, and was covered in a thick layer of dust. On top of it, there were many scientific instruments. Test tubes, one still had a strange liquid inside that had surely gone solid a long time ago, rested on their wooden support, like the one Gaius had on his chambers. Merlin picked up the full tube, and lifted it, making some cobwebs attached to the glass break and fall onto the table, with no sound. He stirred it a bit and saw that he was right; the red contents of the tube were like a rock. He placed it back, the mark of his fingers now visible in the container, and directed his look to another instrument. A metal scissor, with sharp ends, so sharp that Merlin decided against touching it, and covered with intricate patterns was on the top of the table. There were also several containers. One made of glass that seemed to be very expensive, and four made of metal, with the same patterns and symbols than the ones of the scissor. They were all equally old and filled with dust. On the centre of the table there was, again, the same symbol. It was circular, and Merlin thought he could figure out an eye and a tail underneath all the dust. It looked like a snake, but he wasn't sure.

"Why are these instruments here?" asked Merlin, tracing the fire with his finger, wiping some of the dust out.

"Before, you know, the Great Purge, Gaius used to execute his duty as the court physician right here, but, since it was too far away for emergencies, he moved to where he is now." Arthur informed him.

Merlin looked around the dusty shelves and saw that there were only two windows, on the right side of the room. What a creepy place for a doctor surgery. If Arthur hadn't lit up two torches in the wall, he wouldn't be able to see a thing!

He abandoned the table and joined Arthur at the bookshelves.

"What kind of books are here?"

"Most of them are scientific or religious, but there are some about hunting and things like that."

He walked slowly around the room, trying to see some book that captured his interest among the piles of red, black a brow covers. "Even though the book that's perfect for me is my book of magic." He though to himself, feeling Arthur passing hastily behind him, directed to a shelf. He looked at the blond and saw him pick up a medium-sized, red leather book.

"What is that?" he asked, walking towards the prince, and hoping that the answer wouldn't be a very sarcastic "It's a book."

"It's my manners book."

Merlin held a laugh"Manners book?"

"Yes." Confirmed Arthur, still absorbed in the book" I learned the costumes and traditions of the Royal household both through this book and my father. This book even says what do do in a hunt, how to dance and how to lift my cup in salute!"

"That's a lot!" Merlin said, and Arthur didn't notice the sarcasm." And don't you still need it to check how to behave?"

"Of course not!" Arthur laughed, putting the book back on the shelf "My current behaviour is totally one of a prince!"

Merlin coughed. Right.

"But what is it doing here?"

"Well, it is a book that belongs only to princes, so I guess they didn't need it anymore, since I'm already of age to be a king."

"Ah." So that was the way it worked. They trained the prince until a certain age. He remembered the ceremony of Arthur's coming of age. So that was all about training. Royalty was confusing.

He then noticed a door to his right. How come he had not noticed it before? Perhaps because it was almost the same colour of the shelves, he wondered. It was squeezed between them, very tall and narrow.

"Where does this door lead to?"

The prince turned around and eyed the door cautiously, before answering:

"To restricted part of the library."

"More restricted than the library itself."

"Yeah, it's strictly forbidden." He informed him, giving a strange emphasis to the word 'forbidden', his eyes twinkling slightly at the minimum light.

"And I supposed you don't want to enter?" the manservant insinuated, smirking.

"You know me better than I do." And saying that, he grabbed another key and opened the door. The chamber's air was stiff and heavy, and it smelled like mould. The door hadn't obviously been open in a while. The collection in this room was slightly less than the one in the antechamber, but something made Merlin tremble with excitement. There was a very mysterious aura in the room, very still, and yet alive. One could feel a faint heartbeat; a sign of life. His senses were improving since he had arrived in Camelot. It was like his magic reacted better in a place where he couldn't use it, even if Merlin didn't understand why. He inhaled a bit of air. Again, the same heavy feel about it, but now he sensed something else. Some kind of dust; not the one that appeared over time, it was…magical. Incense, he thought, or something of an even sweeter redolence. What kind of place was this?

"I only entered this room once, when I was nine." Arthur told him, lighting up some candles on the wall so they could provide any light to the darkened room. "And I got the sermon of a lifetime."

"Then, how come you have the key?"

"I managed to get a duplicate." He said, smirking. Arthur sure was brave, defying Uther like that.

"Then why haven't you come here before?"

Arthur stared at him, his eyebrow raised.

"You really are a pain in my royal ass, Merlin! I haven't come here because I was a bit too scared of my father. But I'm old enough now to understand whatever lies in here!"

"How…wise!" he mumbled, not believing that the usually reckless prince had behaved reasonably about something like that.

He turned to the room again. It was divided in three rows of tall shelves, with little room in between them. Arthur turned to his right and Merlin went to his left. He wondered what kind of books the room contained to be named as forbidden. Strolling down the aisle, his eyes focused automatically on a big book with a deep red cover. A chilled crept up his neck and he knew the book was dangerous. What told him that? Maybe his instinct? No…definitely his magic. He could feel his body get warmer and his eyes turn golden.

Uneasy, he touched the tome and, instantly, a flash of white light crossed his eyes and he saw images of magic. A woman with hair made of fire screaming words similar to the ones he used to cast spells; a snake slithering towards him, its intention clear, "I want to kill you." it said, voice dragged, and Merlin saw it was enormous. A tower appeared, dissolving the snake, engulfed by flames, surrounded by giants. Then, a blizzard came and swallowed the fire. Merlin felt the cold creeping into his bones, and the tower turned into a castle of ice. It was so confusing and dream-like, but it was painfully real. He gasped and released the book, and it fell on the floor.

He tripped backwards, his back hit the bookshelf behind, rocking some of the books. It had been so quick… He panted heavily, like he had run a mile after a horse, and felt so afraid. He touched the book with his foot, testing. Nothing happened.

That was magic! What kind of magic was that?

"Merlin, don't go around throwing books!"

Merlin jumped.

"Oh, it's you."

"Who did you expected it to be, you idiot?"

Merlin ignored the question and tried hard to catch his breath. The prince bent over and picked the book. Merlin gasped again. Would Arthur see the same as him? If he did, he might thing he was the one to blame!

But the prince just got up with the book in his hand, without even looking at it, mouth open to talk. Then, he stopped, looking at Merlin with his eyebrows united. Staring at him and seeming puzzled.

"What?"

"Merlin…What happened to your eyes?"

The warlock turned around immediately, shocked, and closed his eyes, calling his magic so they would change back.

"What…what do you mean?" he asked, trying to stall the prince, who was now placing a hand on his shoulder. God, he had seen him! He had seen him! Oh my god, he was going to die because of some stupid book.

"Their colour's… different." Arthur said, making Merlin turn around.

He felt his eyes go lighter and a wave of relief crossed him. He opened them and saw Arthur staring intensively at his face.

"I had…something in my eyes!" he tried, lifting his eyebrows high and faking a smile, when his entire body was shaking in terror." M-must be the dust!"

"Yeah…" was the prince's answer "And what book were you reading anyway?"

And, asking that, he opened it and his eyes widened as he saw the drawing of several ingredients. It was a page about potions brewing.

"This…this is a book of magic!"

Merlin faked surprise, and placed a hand on the page, pretending to read it, and brushing his thumb on Arthur's. The prince looked at him, and Merlin felt his cheeks redden, under his gaze. He heart thumped harder and a chilly breeze made him shiver, even if the air in the room didn't flow cold.

"I thought they were all destroyed in the Great Purge." Merlin tried, breaking the silence.

"Apparently not."

"Will you tell your father?"

"He doesn't know we're here, does he?"

"No."

Arthur fell silent.

"L-Let's get out, Arthur."

"Yeah, let's." the prince responded, nervously, putting out the candles he had lit and exiting the room with the warlock, sealing both their lips.

See you next week and thanks for reviewing!

Love,

Kironomi