Chapter 4

Author's Note: Hey guys! This is the next chapter, so I hope it lives to your expectations. I certainly love to make Arthur suffer for what happened, which I will, but not so soon.

To everyone who favourited, followed or reviewed the story, thank you so much. You don't know how wide my smile becomes everytime I checked my email. So thank you again.

Disclaimer: I never own Merlin. The same goes to the previous two chapters that I had forgotten to put the disclaimer.

On with the new chapter!

Previously...

Leon strains his eyes to see the person, his sword still drawn but lowered.

He finally recognises the man.

" Merlin?"

The boy collapses, his eyes flutters shut.

The boy is lying on right side, his hands seem to be smudged with something sticky. Leon turns Merlin's body to lie on his back.

" What happened? Merlin!" Leon tries to rouse the half- conscious young man.

He crouches next to Merlin and notices the blood- staining the blue tunic- on the stomach area. He peeks at the shirt and winces at the sight of the deep wound. This is a severe wound, supposedly.

" Merlin? Wake up, tell me what to do." He pats Merlin's cheek and when he receives no response, he speaks with calm voice that betrays his panic at the time. " Merlin, hang in there. I'll wake the others, and we are going back to Camelot at once. You need Gaius."

He tries to think whether he is to bring the boy along to the camp or to just rouse Arthur and the knights first and bring them here so that they can help carrying Merlin since it is still quite a distance from there and he has no idea the extent of Merlin's injury and the last thing he wants to do now is to aggravate the wound. He decides on the latter.

Leon is moving to stand up when he feels a hand tugging his forearm. He stops and looks at the servant's face.

Merlin opens his mouth to speak. When Leon sees this, he puts his ear near Merlin's lips, straining to hear the words.

" Don't..."

He's puzzled. " What do you mean 'don't'?"

" Don't... tell them. It's... just a scratch. I.. I can treat this on my own. Can you help?" Merlin's voice is slow, indicating the excruciating pain he is in. Leon nods but hesitates for a while. " But you need- "

Merlin squeezes his arm in assurance, " I can... handle this. I don't want to trouble others for... my own selfish sake. Can you... please grab my bag... near my bedroll? There are some useful stuff in it... that I can use."

The senior knight nods and stands to do as he is requested. Upon arriving at the camp, he feels the urge to wake everyone up and notify them about the incident that has taken place.

But Merlin says that he is alright. I should trust him, he has never lied before.

Leon picks the bag and returns to where he had stumbled across Merlin just a few minutes ago. Merlin is already struggling to stand, his face revealing how much agony he is in. The senior knight holds out his hand to help and Merlin gratefully takes it.

" Thanks."

Leon supports him while walking, and he asks, " Where are we going?"

The young servant lifts his bloodied right hand from pressing the wound and points to the front. " Over there... the river. I need to clean the wound."

" You sure you don't need- "

Merlin nods. " This is nothing serious."

When they reach the riverbank, Merlin walks slowly that Leon is afraid he is going to collapse anytime soon.

" Here, Merlin. Why don't you just lie there? Tell me what to do and I'll help you. But you need to promise that you'll stay awake and tell me what happened." Leon offers, as he is so damn sure that Merlin is going to hurt himself even more.

Merlin hesitates at first, but then he agrees when Leon gives him a look that says, 'you don't have a choice because if you refuse I'll go tell the others and we'll be riding home in no time.'

So Merlin tries as he might to stay awake, trying to recount all that has happened- leaving the bits involving magic- to Leon. At the same time the knight carefully cleans the wound and dresses it neatly.

Just as Leon is done washing his hands from the dried blood, Merlin confesses, " Arthur and the others don't have to know this. That prat will never stop blaming himself and he will... surely get depressed. He has so much more important things... to think about and I don't want to add more to the pile."

Leon opens his mouth to speak, but Merlin continues, " None of you should know about this. I just didn't expect to run into you when I returned to our camp to get my bag. I messed up before this, infuriating Arthur with my funny feelings." He then rummages through the content of his bag, and pulls out a spare tunic. He takes off the bloodied one that he is wearing and puts on the clean red shirt.

" Thank you, Leon. And please don't tell Arthur, or anyone everything that I told you."

Leon helps Merlin stands and slowly they walks to their camp. " You're welcome. You're a good man, Merlin. We are lucky to have you as our friend. Arthur is lucky to have earn your loyalty and friendship. But Merlin- " he pauses.

Merlin looks at him.

" If your condition worsen I will have to tell the others at once."

Merlin smiles. " Alright, then. I should just be sure to have Gaius check it when we get back. Until then, I'll be fine."

He sighs in relief to see that everyone is still asleep when they find themselves at their camp again.

He lies on his bedroll, placing his bag next to him. Picking his discarded jacket from before, he covers himself with it and watches as Leon stealthily returns to his watching spot.

" Leon?"

" Yes?"

He tilts his head to his side to get a better look of the knight. " Can you please... wake me up earlier before anyone else do?"

Leon nods. " Sure."

The young man smiles and shuts his eyes. So far the wound has stopped throbbing. I'll be fine.

/ break/

The journey back to Camelot is kind of quiet except for Gwaine's chatterings of another of his tavern tales.

If Arthur notices his servant's peculiar silence today, he chooses to say nothing. But he doesn't.

He is riding at the very front next to Elyan while Gwaine and Percival are in tow. Leon and Merlin are quite left behind.

Now that is unusual. Since when the two have become so close?

Arthur slows down his pace and turns a bit, watching as Leon talks to Merlin in slow voices, and can't help but feel a pang of jealousy at seeing how close the two are getting.

He hasn't spoken to Merlin since he yelled at the young man last night.

" Merlin." He calls out.

Said man turns to look at him, but Arthur does not miss the look on Merlin's face- it contains fear- but it shows just for a while and Arthur even wonders if he really does see it. " Yes, Sire?"

" Why are you not talking to me? The royal asks. Leon glances at Merlin for a brief second, before riding a bit faster to join the others, giving room for the two friends to speak.

Merlin smiles at Leon. He then shifts his focus towards Arthur. " Err.. do you want me to talk to you?"

Upon hearing the stupid question, Arthur tries his best not to fall off his horse. " You have not been talking to me since morning. Look, if it is about yesterday, I'm sorry."

The servant struggles to hide his smile. " What is it? I didn't hear you really well just now. Did the royal prat just apologise to me?"

Arthur laughs, before landing a smack on Merlin's head. " Idiot! Oh well, since you are being such insolent towards your king, I would like it very much to have you muck out my stable as soon as we arrive."

" Dollop- head." Merlin rolls his eyes. He is trying and seemingly successful not to grimace as suddenly the wound starts hurting again. Please, not now.

" What did you say?" Arthur asks, as though daring Merlin to repeat the word.

Merlin shrugs and laughs. " Nothing."

" Merlin!"

/break/

When they arrived at the courtyard, the sun is almost setting and Guinevere's smiling face is the first to greet them.

" Arthur!" She throws herself into Arthur's embrace. " Are you alright? Are there any attack by bandits or mercenaries? Is there anyone hurt?" She asks in a worried tone.

Arthur pulls away of their hug, and answers, " Apart from Merlin's funny feelings, there is none." He stops to look at Merlin, before gazing lovingly at his wife again.

" See, Merlin? There is nothing wrong with our camp last night. Definitely no one spying on us."

Leon throws a glance towards Merlin just in time to see the younger man favouring his side, where the wound is.

If only Arthur knows.

The royal couple move to climb the stairs to get into the castle, holding hands. Arthur stops and turns to see Merlin unstrapping the bags from the saddle. " Merlin, go tend to the horses, and you can proceed with mucking out the stables." With that, he leaves.

Gwaine pats Merlin's shoulder, saying, " Thank you, mate." And so do Percival and Elyan.

Leon studies Merlin's face for a while, trying to find any signs of him bearing the pain. So far, none. He still is fine, Leon thinks. But still he asks. " You alright, Merlin? I can ask a stable boy to do the job and you can see Gaius and have some rest before attending to Arthur for the banquet."

Merlin mentally curse himself for forgetting about the banquet. Of course he will have to help Arthur dress and then be at the hall just to refill Arthur's goblet with wine. He doesn't want Leon to make a fuss about his little injury, though, so he just tries to smile.

" I'm fine, Leon. Thanks for asking. It's alright, I can do that. Besides, Arthur will not be pleased if he found out that I didn't do as I was told." He pulls on the reins and hastily leaves Leon alone at the courtyard, deeply worrying about the selfless young man.

He makes a mental note to ask Gaius check Merlin after this.

/break/

Merlin leads the horses to their respective stalls and secures the lock carefully. The last thing he wants right now is being trampled by the horses had they manage to flee. He then fetches a rake to clean the floor from hays scattering all over the place.

The pain searing in his side forces him to stop working at once. He glances around, hoping that there is no one else nearby, he lifts his shirt a bit to reveal the bandaged stomach and to his terror, he sees crimson red stain on the white bandage.

Damn, it has started to bleed again!

Carefully he places the rake aside and walks to the door. The swift movement causes his vision to swim so abruptly. Swaying from where he is standing, he fumbles for the wall so that he can support his weakening body.

At the very same time he feels his strength waning but he has yet found support. His knees give out and he collapses on the cold stone floor. He tries to focus on anything, or to at least call out for help but he fails to. His blue eyes roll back into his head and he knows no more.

/break/

The smoothness of the feast for Guinevere's birthday celebration swallows Arthur's frustation for Merlin's absence to help him dress for the banquet. Even now, that useless of a manservant is nowhere to be found.

He must have been sleeping, that lazy idiot.

The hall is full with hustle and bustle with voices of nobles and all Camelot knights. So no one notices when a guard enters the hall quietly and walks to Gaius to whisper something to him. He notices that and eyes them for a while, not missing Gaius' face changes upon hearing to the guard. The old court physician stands and slowly moves towards his table, along with his wife and The Knights of The Round Table.

" I'm sorry, Sire for I must take my leave. The guard over there got a report that a corpse was found and requires my presence at once."

The words surprise both the king and queen as well as the knights. " A corpse? Where?" Leon asks, his face mirroring guilt and horror.

Arthur notices the knight unusual behaviour but chooses not to say anything. He too wants to know the details.

Gaius does notice it too, but he answers nonetheless. " The stable, sire."

To be continued...