Dislcaimer: Uh... no, I don't own anyone.
I hope you enjoy this one, despite the ending. Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed! It always makes my day. :)
Chapter Four
"Emrys" The child-like whisper echoed through Merlin's mind and he let out a sleepy moan. "Emrys. Can you hear me, Emrys?" Merlin sat bolt upright, his heart suddenly pounding in his ears, not knowing if what he had just heard was a dream or not. He sat for a moment, keeping silent, waiting for the name to echo through his mind once more. Seconds passed without a murmur. Nothing. Merlin let out a shuddering sigh, realising he had been holding his breath.
"Just a dream." He attempted to convince himself. "Nothing is coming for me or for Arthur." The thought of the Prince made Merlin start. Glancing a look out his window, the young sorcerer sighed; he was going to be late again, wasn't he?
Merlin raced around the corner, as fast as he could while carrying Arthur's breakfast. He slowed to a halt when he reached the Prince's bedchamber. He was only a few minutes late, but Arthur would know, he always did. Taking a deep breath, Merlin opened the door, carefully balancing the plate of breakfast.
"Merlin!" Arthur shouted, causing his manservant to wince before he was even able to look up. "What have I told you about knocking, you idiot!"
"Oh… Sorry, Sire." Merlin muttered. In truth, knocking had been the least of his worries.
"One day you're going to burst in on me unclothed or something even worse, so you'd better get into that habit of knocking." Arthur further scolded and Merlin blushed slightly; unsure as to whether or not bursting in on a naked Prince Arthur would be a good thing.
"Your breakfast, Sire." Merlin said quickly changing the subject as he placed it on the table.
"Ahh, thank you." Arthur said, his annoyance suddenly disappeared, seemingly at the sight of food. He flopped back into a chair and reached for a grape, before offering one to his manservant.
"Ah…" Merlin stuttered, baffled by his Prince's sudden and kind behaviour.
"Just take the grape, Merlin." He rolled his eyes with a sigh.
"Thank you." Merlin said, reaching forward to select one.
"Anyway, I want you to muck out my horse's stable and then get to work on that armour." Arthur continued, tearing a piece of bread in half. He looked up at Merlin, when his servant didn't reply.
"Of course, Sire" Merlin hurriedly said with a small nod.
"Good, and then I want you to report back here." Arthur said, his voice giving away no emotion. Merlin frowned at him for just a second and Arthur returned his look, again showing no emotion. Merlin gave a small smile before leaving the room and trudging off to the stables. He was secretly glad that Arthur wasn't treating him any different. It would have been too awkward and weird if he had. Although, Merlin suspected Arthur would want to talk at some stage. He just didn't know when.
Merlin finished his chores in good time and made it back to Arthur around midday. He paused at the door, and smiled to himself as he knocked.
"Enter." Arthur said. When he saw it was Merlin he smiled. "Glad to see something has stuck." He said, referring to the knocking.
"You know me; I'll always get there in the end." Merlin said, with a grin.
"Unfortunately I do know you, Merlin." Arthur told him. "Although, not as much as I thought." He gave Merlin a look, which made his servant look away. "Come on, I want to talk with you about that."
Merlin looked up, his eyes widening as he did so. "Now?" Merlin wasn't sure why he wanted to delay his conversation.
"Yes, Merlin." Arthur sighed.
"Don't you want lunch?"
"I've already had some and I saved some for you." He smiled and offered a sandwich to his servant. Merlin muttered his thanks and took it, before the Prince continued. "I don't want to talk here, these doors aren't exactly soundproof."
"Where then?"
"I know the place." Arthur replied and left the room. Merlin had no choice but to follow in his wake, taking a bite of his sandwich as he did so.
Ten minutes later they reached their destination: the highest point in the castle, overlooking all the Camelot. Merlin suppressed a shiver as the wind cut through him. The tower felt rather rickety, despite being built out of stone. He would have suggested sitting down to shelter from the wind, but the surrounding wall was barely a metre high and would have offered little protection.
"No one will hear us here?" He said, sceptically.
Arthur shook his head.
"Not even Gwen and Morgana?" Merlin said, pointing to where the pair walked a few hundred metres below them in the main courtyard.
"Not even them." Arthur said. Typically, at that exact moment both women looked up, directly at them and waved. Merlin turned raised an eyebrow at Arthur before waving back with a smile.
"I swear, the wind just carries everything away." Arthur replied, adamantly as he waved down at them too. "They won't hear us."
"Sure" Merlin muttered sarcastically, unheard to Arthur, despite believing him. The future King had a point about that wind. They both stood, away from the edge, in silence as they looked out over the city, each of the waiting for the other to speak.
"Who else knows?" Arthur spoke first, his voice barely audible even as he turned towards Merlin.
"You, Gaius and a fair few of my friends and family in Ealdor." Merlin responded truthfully.
Arthur nodded. "I know why you didn't want me to know. It must have been hard."
"Yeah, it was." Merlin said, blinking a few more times than necessary. He still couldn't believe he was having this conversation. "It still is."
"I could believe that."
"You have no idea."
There were a few more moments of silence, before Arthur turned away from the view to look more clearly at Merlin. "So, did you learn... magic, or...?"
"I was just born this way." Merlin said, with something Arthur would have described as a grimace. "I can't help as much as you can't help being Prince."
"Yeah, I can understand that, at least." Arthur said with a nod.
"I'm glad." Merlin turned to smile at the Prince. "And I..." he paused, "I just wanted to say thanks."
"Thanks?"
"For not telling your father, for going against everything he stands for, for protecting me and not turning me in." Merlin finished.
"Don't mention it." Arthur replied. "If our roles were reversed I'm sure you'd do the same."
Out of the corner of his eyes, Arthur saw Merlin look down and away from him. "You see, I'm not sure I would." Merlin said, sadly, looking up and directly into his Prince's eyes.
"You don't mean that."
"I don't know... Really, I just don't..." Merlin said obviously conflicted. "I've never known a father I could go against." Merlin replied, turning away from Arthur and looking out over Camelot again. "I guess I'm lucky to have you as my master." He gave a light grin, once again looking back at the Prince only to be greeted with Arthur's glare. Merlin opened his mouth to say something, but Arthur merely shook his head and took a step backwards.
It all happened in a kind of slow motion and there was nothing Merlin could do, except cry out. As Arthur took a step backwards, he tripped on a loose stone. The Prince's mouth opened in shock as he fell backwards, his body arching almost gracefully over the low wall of the tower.
Hundreds of metres below, Gwen, Morgana and several other Camelot residents watched in a mixture of terror and shock as their Prince fell. Above them, Merlin watched in horror as Arthur's form disappeared from view.
"ARTHUR!" His screaming went unheard, disappearing on the wind.