The prince tries to refuse taking the bed but his knights are adamant that he does. Merlin settles his pack beside the bed and lays down on his side facing away from where his knights have settled on the floor. It takes only a few minutes for the knight's breathing to even out in sleep, it had been a hard few days for the group. After a few more minutes of simply laying there, the prince gets up and quietly leaves the room. He can see Mary asleep on the cot closest to the fire, but the physician is nowhere in sight. Merlin explores the room curiously for a little while. He picks random books and potions but before long he is bored decides to explore Camelot for a few hours.

He wanders through the market, eyeing the different stalls and vendors. He even comes close to buying a couple of the hot honey cakes he sees. After a few hours of his jaunt through the lower market he hears a commotion on what he assumes to be a training field. He arrives just in time to see a blonde haired man throw a knife at a servant carrying a target. The servant loses his grip on the shield and it falls from his grasp. It rolls on the grass until it rests at Merlin's feet. As the servant bends to pick it up Merlin places his foot on it, preventing the man from doing so.

"Hey, come on , that's enough."* says Prince Merlin

"what ?" asks the blond man

"You've had your fun, my friend."* replies Merlin carefully

"Do I know you?"* asks the other man turning to face Merlin. Upon catching sight of Merlin's bruised face and throat he pauses.

"I'm ... Merlin"* Merlin replies, detecting an air of superiority coming from the blond haired man. Though he could feel concern and curiosity as well. He could see the man looking at his bruised skin.

"so I don't know you then ?"* asks the blond man distractedly, still eyeing the bruises.

"No. I mistakenly called you friend, because one cannot be friends with someone they've just met." replies the prince, bristling at the continued staring of the blond man.

"Obviously. And tell me Merlin, what makes you think you have the right to tell me what to do with my servant ?" asks the man, eyeing Merlin with curiosity.

"Just someone who thinks that all people should be treated fairly. All you were doing was making an ass out of yourself." replies Merlin, letting his temper flare a bit.

"Ahh, I see and Merlin you are making yourself seem rather stupid at the moment. There are those like the king and the nobles, and even the knights who are better than others." replies the blond haired man smirking. He ignores his curiosity and slight concern over the bruises.

"I do not believe that to be true, people are simply people, no matter the title you are born to." replies Merlin stepping closer to the frustrating yet gorgeous blond haired man.

"and what are you going to do to me if I continue to disagree with you Merlin ?" he asks

"you have no idea."* comes Merlin's serious reply

"Be my guest, come on... come on!"* taunts the blond haired man.

Surprising even himself, Prince Merlin takes a swing at the man. Never good at hand to hand combat, the blonde haired man easily catches his arm and twists it behind his back. The gathered crowd breaks out into surprised murmurs, confusing Merlin.

"Who are you?"* Merlin asks through gritted teeth. The sudden movement had caused a searing pain in his throat and he had felt something tear within it.

"I'm Prince Arthur of Camelot, and I'll have you thrown in jail for that."* replies Arthur.

Merlin sighs audibly and looks out at the gathered crowd. He spots Gwaine amongst the many faces. He is already halfway to where he is still trapped by Prince Arthur. This close, Prince Arthur can see the bruising on the man's jaw and throat more closely. He idly wonders what the boy had been up to. Arthur also notices the man with long dark hair coming towards them, hand on the hilt of his sword. In his peripheral vision he sees Merlin shake his head no, causing a scowl to appear on the man's man. He stops in his tracks, body rigid, face set in a scowl. To Arthur he looks like one of the knights when ordered by Arthur not to do something when he is in some form of danger. For the life of him he cannot figure out why a man who appears to be a knight would listen to a scrawny, insubordinate, stick of a man. Prince Arthur signals for a couple of guards to take the man down to the cells and notices that the man watched angrily as Merlin was taken away. The man took one last look at Prince Arthur before angrily striding back into the castle. Before he can think about it too much he sees Leon approaching him from the side. Leon is looking towards where the angry man had disappeared into the castle. He looks worried.

"Is something the matter Leon ?" asks the prince, still distracted by the events with Merlin and the man who had gone back to the castle.

"Sire, it's just that the man you just had sent to the cells and the man who seemed angry arrived in the castle earlier today. I was in one of the corridors as they were walking towards me and I heard the older woman with them refer to someone as sire. When they spoke to me none of them introduced themselves. But the man who went back into the castle started to call the man you had arrested what sounded like prince." replies Leon hurriedly.

The prince tilts his head in thought before asking ;

"Did they say where they're from? Or what they're doing here ?"

"Merlin said that they were from Tamarang, all five of them had been in service to the late Queen Hunith. After her death King Redford reacted violently towards Merlin. I'm sure you saw the bruising on him ?" says Leon and Arthur nods his head. Some of Merlin's comments were making more sense. If he had been attacked by a king, as a servant, he would feel distrust and chafe against the social boundaries.

"Well, after that the group of them left and made their way to Camelot. The woman said that her brother is Gaius."

"And what do you expect me to do with this information Leon?" asks Arthur, unsure himself of what he should do.

"Sire, I only mentioned it in case they have some nobility amongst them. They will be unhappy at the treatment he has received. Perhaps Merlin could be released from the cells tomorrow morning ?" suggests Leon.

"Alright Leon, can you see that that gets done? I wouldn't want to cause problems for my father down the road." replies the prince of Camelot, leaving Leon to stand on the field as he makes his way back to the castle.

Gwaine had woke up about an hour after they had settled down for sleep, something felt wrong. He turned his head and saw Percival close to his side and he could see Lancelot on the other side of him. He turned his head towards the bed, where the prince should be fast asleep, but to his dismay sees that it is empty. Rising from the floor the long haired knight picks up his sword. He attaches it to his belt and exits the physicians chambers. It takes him hours searching before he finds his prince on the training grounds. His anger spikes when he sees another man twisting the prince's arm painfully behind his back. Before he can even think about it he's already striding across the field towards the duo. He has his hand on the hilt of his sword prepared to defend his prince. He only makes it about halfway when he sees the prince sigh and then look towards Gwaine, shaking his head no. Gwaine's scowls fiercely but stops in his tracks. He can see the other man looking at him curiously. When he sees that Gwaine follows Merlin's orders his face takes on a look of both confusion and incredulity. He watches angrily as two guards pull his prince into the castle, towards the cells of the castle. He turns to look angrily at the blond man and that's when he hears what the crowd is saying:

"did you see that man try to fight Prince Arthur ?"

"I can't believe he didn't recognize Prince Arthur.."

Gwaine shakes his head in part amusement and part anger. Only Merlin could pick a fight with another prince while in another kingdom trying to hide his identity. Gwaine strides back through the crowd and into the castle, back towards Gaius' chambers. It takes him only a few minutes to get there and when he does he finds that everyone is already awake and he grimly tells them what happened. And Percival does not take the news well at all; prepared to break him out of the cells and run from the kingdom. Lancelot remains quite quiet throughout Gwaine's news, until he says ;

"He clearly does not want us to make a scene in front of everyone. We will leave him be for now. If he is not released from the cells tomorrow than we will either have to break him out or tell the king who he is."

"But, telling the king Merlin's true identity is exactly what he wanted to avoid doing. We won't be able to stay here." protests Gwaine

"yes, but he also didn't expect to get in a fight with Prince Arthur either. The best outcome will be for him to be released on his own, but we'll need to be ready to make a quick get away." replies the first knight. He is already thinking about where they could go if things didn't get better.

"I don't like this, at all. We're just supposed to leave our prince in a cell all night ?" asks Percival, usually quiet but deeply loyal to their prince.

"There's nothing we can do right now Percival. If we try to do anything now we might just cause more problems for Prince Merlin." replies Lancelot.

The large knight doesn't look happy about it but he nods his head in understanding. He sits down beside Gwaine at the table and the two of them begin to talk quietly. Lancelot paces the room, waiting for Gaius to return.

The two guards pulled the dark haired prince through the halls roughly. This further aggravated his raw throat and he ignored it as they lead him down several flights of stairs. They enter the area housing the cells. They pull him to a stop in front of one halfway down the row, one guard holding him while the other unlocks the cell door. Once the door was opened the guard shoves him in. This unbalanced him, causing him to fall onto the cold, straw covered floor. He feels something in his arm snap as he hits the floor. He cries out in pain causing pain to erupt in his throat. He cradles his broken arm as he lays against the cold stone floor. He is unable to drag himself to the pile of straw that would offer him some warmth. He shivers as he tries to fall asleep.

(All * signify lines directly taken from Merlin tv show or paraphrased)