In a turn of expected events, the man that had hired him as an assassin did not take too kindly to Falcon's dismissal of the deal. He had been aghast that Falcon had turn away, and furious that Falcon also cut all of the man's ties to the guild. Falcon did not like this man, but other than hiring an assassin to kill off a Prince, and being a general scumbag, Falcon did not see a reason at the time to silence the man.
But being the scum of the earth this man did not accept Merlin's tale of the Prince being of pure mind and immediately after Merlin left there was a massive bounty placed on Arthur's head. And Merlin felt responsible for it. The Prat had hardly lived through one killer after him, he would never make it a day with half of all of Albion after him.
So Merlin was going to discreetly inform the Prince of this situation, but, oh where might you ask Merlin found Arthur? Merlin found the Pratdragon just outside the castle the next day, tossing daggers at his poor hapless servant like he was a wooden training dummy.
Finally after Merlin could no longer tolerate the abuse of the servant, and on a lesser scale the dreadful knife throwing technique, Merlin stepped out of the shadows and walked right up to the group of knights.
"Alright, you've had your fun. I think you have done more than enough."
Merlin suspected if it had been anyone but him the young Prince would have tossed them into the dungeons for speaking out. In fact, Merlin watched Arthur draw up a look a cocky arrogance, readying himself for a spat before turning full to glance at his petty rival only to have that mien slip off his face completely.
Merlin smiled his own slightly cocky smile as the Prince was overcome with confusion. Merlin was wearing his street clothes. Bright colors, a blue peasant shirt, and a red torn neckerchief. A far cry from the dark cloak and dagger garb of his assassin life.
Somehow in the Prince's confusion, he had forgotten he had been in the process of tossing around a deadly weapon like it was a toy and his grip had loosened just enough on the knife for it to slip through his grasp slicing a nice little gorge along the palm of his hand as it went.
The Prince cried out in displeasure as the pain hit him and he was immediately surrounded by Knights. Merlin took this second to move back into the crowd, blending in seamlessly. When Arthur looked for him Merlin had already moved behind the Prince and far out of his line of sight. Merlin needed to talk to the Prince alone, and with a cut like that it would surely need to be stitched, and no strong handsome Prince would even agree to be escorted to the physician so it would be the perfect opportunity to talk.
As predicted not a minute later the Prince walked off alone heading into the castle, and Merlin followed. He vaguely entertained the idea of seeing if the Prince would ever notice he was there, but he needed to talk and if he kept to the shadows too long he would lose his chance.
So Merlin ran up to Arthur, matched his pace walking beside the Royal, and started talking without missing a beat. "So Sire, " He said. "But I regret to inform you that there have been a few unforeseen consequences of telling a man that hires an assassin to 'piss off'. I'm afraid there is now a rather large bounty on your head...But don't worry I'll take care of it."
By now the Prince had stopped completely and was staring wide-eyed at Merlin like he had seen a ghost. Merlin raised his eyebrow. Arthur reached out his hand. He steadily moved it closer, and closer to Merlin's side before swiftly poking Merlin in the arm and jumping back with a shout. And then it finally clicked for Merlin and he let out a bark of laughter.
"Oi, Dollophead! Did you really think you had the imagination to dream me up?!"
It was clear the Prince was trying to form words, but the only thing he managed to do was start to turn a deep shade of red. "I-er-but!"
"I can see why the Pendragon color is red," Merlin purred, "It looks so nice painted on your cheeks!"
The red deepened more so. "But my belt! It was-"
"Fixed?" Merlin finished. "Well I would not be in my profession if I left sloppy evidence of my comings and goings everywhere I went, now would I?" Merlin grinned.
It was then finally Arthur's brain caught up with reality and Arthur took a long step back away from the assassin, drawing his sword in his good hand, before willing his blush away. "What are you doing here!? You told me you would be gone! I will call the guards!"
Merlin let out an exasperated sigh. "If you had been listening before, Prat, you would have heard me tell you that the man who originally hired me has now put a bounty out on your head."
Arthur blinked. "A bounty?"
"Yes. A king's ransom sized one. Which means you will have every low life, mercenary and magic user with a petty grudge after you and your hide and I feel annoyingly responsible for the situation."
Arthur sneered at the assassin. "All you seem to bring with you in trouble. Leave now and I just might not call the knights out on your sorry hide."
"If I leave now you will be dead by the 'marrow."
"Is that a threat?!" Arthur growled moving closer.
"No, SIRE" Merlin hissed out the title like the worst insult. "It is a promise. I know for a fact. I stopped three people plotting your demise just this morning!"
"Lies!" Arthur growled, waving his weapon at Merlin like it would help.
"I speak the truth!"
"How can I trust anything YOU say?!"
It was Merlin's turn to blink a few times before smiling. "You know...out of everyone I have ever met in my entire life, you are the first one I have never told a lie too..." And Merlin met Arthur's eyes and there it was. That small thing. That feeling of all is right with the world and of Merlin's magic buzzing happily, beneath his skin. Merlin wondered if Arthur felt it too. He must, because for the second time he put down his blade.
"Why...?" The prince asked without finishing.
"While it is my job to kill evil, I also take it upon myself to protect the innocent. And I'm not so sure if you're quite that- actually I'm positive you are not that- but I cannot in good faith live with myself if I just left you to die when it was partially my fault and I could stop it."
"You can't be in Camelot."
"Even to protect its crown prince?"
"My father would see you killed."
"I could always kill him first."
That made Arthur stand up straighter and regard Merlin with redoubled cautiousness.
"I won't though," Merlin said truthfully.
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Why not?"
"I told you. I only kill truly evil people. And while I think your Father is a horrible person, terribly cruel and uninformed in the face anything magic, and probably mentally ill," Arthur was gripping his sword again, "I can also see he is not a terrible King." And the confusion was back. "He has lowered taxes, helped fix up the smaller townships that supply food, routinely sends patrols out to keeps the bandits away, and generally dose well for the common folk. " Now Arthur generally looked pleased.
"In fact, I would say he was a good King, if he didn't go stark crazy raving mad at the mention of magic and burn innocent people at the stake for being born different."
"My father is not-...What do you mean born different? Magic users aren't born."
"I mean what I say. A normal person cannot just become a magic user. Every magic user is born with the ability to use it, and while most will never even know of their abilities until puberty or their first try at spellcraft, there are others that are gifted, or perhaps cursed, with much greater power and it makes an appearance wanted or not much more early on in life."
"You can be born with magic?" Arthur practically repeated, wide-eyed once more.
"Yes. Why did you think your Father has the family members of a magic user executed alongside the confirmed sorcerer? Becuase it's a shared trait."
"My father knows...?"
"Yes. He has executed babies still nursing from their mothers for it. Not publically but if the rumors are true he did it by his own hand to make sure the dead was done."
"LYING SORCERER SCUM!" And the Prince was ready to fight again. To call the guards and send Merlin away with his ill-timed comment on rumors and his father, whatever thought process broken asunder. Falcon could see the Prince gripping his sword and making to remove Merlin's head. Merlin had to put his foot down on this.
As quick as Merlin could, with admirably little magic, Merlin pinned Arthur up against the wall, arm twisted up behind his back once more in Merlin's favorite restraint position. "Listen up Pendragon because I'm only going to explain this once. Out of every person in the world, you are the only one so far I have never told a lie too. I find I like that. I am forced to stay here to clean up my mess, but while I'm here I will not tolerate being called a liar by you. If you ask a question you will get the truth. May that be a truth you are looking for or one your mind rejects. Regardless I have not lied yet- do not give me a reason to start now."
Merlin released his hold on Arthur only to notice how the prince stayed in place for a good long second before leaping away again. Something to think over later, however, because Arthur's hand was still bleeding and it had now gotten all over Merlin during the pinning to the wall.
So because Merlin wanted to make sure Arthur did not immediately run to the guard, he insisted on seeing Arthur to the Physician. It was his fault Arthur was cut in the first place after all. And the Prince, in some sort of stunned mutual agreement, didn't tell him no.
Again, please tell me what you all think! I did add about 800 or so words at the end of chapter 1 too!
