"Thank you Arthur." Merlin said when they had to leave Gaius and walk the long path back up to the opening of the cell corridors. They had not yet talked about what Merlin had said to Gaius but he knew Arthur did not approve of the hope he tried to pass onto him. He just hoped Arthur didn't go so far as to figure out that he was willing to die himself in Gaius' place, for fear that he might try and stop him.
"Of course," Arthur said back, throwing a half smile at the boy walking in step with him. After a slight pause he stopped walking. "Merlin," he called and Merlin swirled back to face the prince, a question on his face. "I just went against my father's wishes, bringing you down here, and unfortunately for you, we can't let anyone know that." Arthur stared Merlin up and down wondering if he knew what he was getting at. A hint of mischief flooded across his feature at the prospect of just what he had to do.
"What?"
"I told people I was going to teach you a lesson down here and since I'm not actually locking you in here, I'm afraid we need proof that I taught you something." Arthur started surveying Merlin remembering how he had tried to punch him twice earlier. "Now," Arthur grabbed Merlin's hand in his own and rested his other arm underneath Merlin's forearm holding it up. "-these scratches are convincing but I'm afraid I give better lessons then that."
"So what-" Merlin was interrupted by the blunt impact of Arthur's fist coming into contact with his left eye. A growling scream of pain emitted from Merlin's lips. He didn't even feel Arthur's hand leaving his arm!
"There. Sorry about that, got to make it look real." Arthur said with a pat on Merlin's back and a smirk that Merlin would have loved to smack off his face. All Merlin was able to do though was stare up at him with his one good eye, the other covered with his hand. To give Arthur some credit, he felt some guilt at the fact that he had hit him directly in the eye but let it pass quickly. "Also, try and hold your stomach a little. Make it seem like you are bruised there. Here, lean on me and we'll walk up."
Merlin walked over to him with a look of pure loathing crossing over him. In moments like these, Merlin wondered why he even bothered saving his life so much.
After a bit, the boys had walked up the stairs and were nearing the guards. Merlin moved the arm that was not holding onto Arthur's shoulders and gripped tight onto the side of his stomach and created a grimace of pain on his face -not that it wasn't easy, seeing as how his eye was still throbbing. He was apparently believable because the guards laughed and padded Arthur's shoulder as they walked by and Arthur just smiled back.
'Way to hit a guy when he's down.' Merlin thought and squeezed his fingers into Arthur's shoulder, hoping to cause him a little discomfort to let him know how he felt, but it made no difference.
When the dungeon was behind them, no guards in sight, Arthur suddenly took away his support and Merlin stumbled from the change. He turned to face Merlin, a small wave of concern flashing over his face at the sight of his beaten manservant. He made a move that almost looked as though he may have been going in to hug Merlin, a way of bringing some comfort to him, but his arm started to curve around and instead he pulled back and hesitantly patted Merlin's arm.
Instead of comfort like Arthur had hoped, the patting made Merlin quickly realize that he was completely head to toe bruised from the floor. Without noticing all Arthur said was, "Good luck Merlin", and walked away at a quick trot.
Luck was something Merlin was in definite need of. Now to prove the witch-hunter, someone the King trusted to hunt witches, could not be trusted when it came to hunting witches and instead appointed witches to be hunted.
'Oh boy.'
