Ew, dodgy chapter D; Sorry guys, whenever I start a long story I always get writers block and one or two of the chapters often suffer the consequences. Bear with me though, and also I'm officially on holidays now so I'll have more time to plan out the rest of the story and write chapters :D
I hope you guys get at least a little enjoyment out of this chapter 3 enjoy:
Merlin flashed a small awkward smile at the scrawny kitchen hand as he flitted past him for fifth time. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he peeked into Arthur's chambers, hoping to find the Prince calmly sitting down and working again. Scanning the empty chambers quickly, Merlin rolled his eyes, if only the bloody prat would put as much effort into avoiding detection from the things that wanted to kill him every second day. Running up the North corridor stairs, Merlin stopped abruptly to stick his head out of the window, hoping to spot the familiar head of golden blond hair. The busy streets of Camelot, with their bright, homely market stores dotting the roads was stunning in the sun-light however was missing the presence of their crown-prince. The brief pause in his now hour long search made him suddenly aware of how tired he was, and the servant let himself rest, his upper body hanging loosely outside the small window.
The young boy who stood outside the kitchens peeling potatoes gazed curiously at the odd raven-haired man who seemed to be walking in a loop. He had already made a game of seeing how many potatoes he could peel before he saw that tiny, almost apologetic smile pass him again, and was up to fourteen before a loud crash sounded inside the kitchen and a grinning man burst through the doors with his arms full of baked treats. Pausing to give a one armed salute, the young man who was most likely a knight tossed a freshly-baked cookie at the thin kitchen hand before darting away.
Kay laughed as he felt the thrill of excitement rush through him, ignoring the angry yells and empty threats that echoed behind him. After coaxing and badgering the giggly doe-eyed maids for a full half-hour in hopes of receiving a slice or two of the magnificent cake that stood seductively on kitchen counter, Kay had almost succeeded, only to be shot down by the plump head chef who had waved her wooden spoon threateningly in the background, as if she were daring him to even try. Moping in the corner, his eyes were drawn to a small plate of biscuits that lay unguarded near the door. With a new determination not to go away empty handed, and more importantly, hungry, Kay had made his way subtly to the plate, grabbing a handful before gleefully sprinting out the door with his prize.
Rounding the corner, the knight let out a yelp as he nearly ran into what seemed to resemble a dead body half hanging out the window. The figure, startled by the sudden noise, reeled itself back into the corridor, eyes wide and flickering around for signs of trouble. Kay, upon seeing that the dead body was not a dead body but a highly powerful wizard by the name of Merlin, breathed a sigh of relief.
"What the hell were you doing?"
Merlin, whose hair was dishevelled and messy, courtesy of the wind had a tinge of worry in his eyes.
"Looking for Arthur."
Kay handed Merlin a cookie, and the manservant absently bit into it, looking distracted as if his mind was working hard at figuring out something.
"Something happened, not sure what, and he just walked out of his chambers without saying anything and I haven't been able to find him since and.." Merlin trailed off, noticing that for some reason he had a half-eaten cookie in his hand.
Kay frowned, "He's probably just stressed over the new tax plans, it's probably better just to leave him alone."
Merlin mumbled some sort of an agreement absently, wondering whether he should ride out into the forest to search for Arthur. As he nibbled on his cookie, Merlin looked quizzically at the assortment of food sitting peacefully in the arms of his friend.
"Where'd you get all the food from?"
Kay smiled sheepishly, "Kitchens?"
Merlin moaned, "You didn't."
Kay continued to grin.
Throwing his arms up dramatically, Merlin threw the remainder of his cookie outside the window.
"I can't believe you fed me that, you've made me a fugitive."
Kay tutted, "That's right, you're who all the cooks fuss over in the kitchen. Adorable Merlin, completely innocent and so very helpful. See now if you were there with me before I bet that chef would have been begging for us to take that cake."
Merlin stared at the knight with a genuine look of horror.
Smirking, Kay crammed another biscuit into Merlin's mouth, "Welcome to the dark side."
Kay sniggered, "What the hell is a clotpole anyway?"
After much persuasion, Merlin had abandoned his search for the prince and the pair had since retreated back to Kay's house. Merlin went because he had a paranoid sensation that the cooks were now hunting in the corridors for him, and Kay because he wanted to eat whilst sitting down. A while had passed since all the food had been devoured, a gallant solo effort from Kay, and the two were now chatting around the knight's bed, Kay curiously noting that Merlin seemed to talk a lot about the Prince.
From his position on the floor, Merlin lazily threw a pillow in the general direction of the knight's voice, "Shut up, it was the first thing that came in to my mind."
Still snickering, Kay threw the pillow back, "If only we were friends back then, I would have kicked his arse for you."
Merlin shook his head, "crazy, sorcerer bird man, remember?"
"You're a sorcerer and I could take you in a fight, doubt I couldn't beat that guy."
"Oh come on, I'm magical, I can make a bloody griffin come out of your arse."
Kay snorted, "Yeh, but you're useless with a sword, I've seen you. And let's face it, if you're fighting in Camelot, you're going to be using a sword." Pausing, Kay shifted himself into a more comfortable position, "Can you really do it though?" pondered the knight."
"Do what?"
Kay grinned, excitement rising up in his voice, "Make a griffin come out of my arse."
Raising his eyebrows, Merlin ignored his friends seemingly positive view on the matter, "I hope not. Anyway, who says I can't use magic in a sword fight? I've done it before," as images of his first encounter with Arthur flooded him, Merlin let out a fond smile, "in fact I nearly beat Arthur once."
Kay, now craning his neck to face the grinning raven haired servant had a look of pure disbelief on his face, "No way!"
Merlin continued to grin, "Uh huh."
Still not believing, albeit now also grinning, the knight felt excitement creep into him, "Prove it."
"I'll help you win a sword fight."
"Today! We can do it during night training."
Night training was something Arthur had introduced to his knights not long ago, it was basically an hour of training as the sun set and then afterwards fights were held between the knights in the night in order for them to get used to fighting in the dark. As allocated, today Kay would be fighting. Merlin, hyped up at the idea of using his magic for something other than chores and saving Camelot, nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
Before they could plan anything elaborate, Gawain swung open the door, bounding happily as he always did when he had some new secret or rumour to reveal to the other knights.
"KAY, you won't believe.." Gawain trailed off as he slowly took in the sight of Kay and Arthur's manservant lying together on the bed. Well, Merlin was lying partially on the floor, with only his feet propped up on the bed and Kay was lying with his head dangling off the edge. It was an odd way to end up after well, doing what couples do, but who was he to judge? At the confirmation in his head that the two were a couple now, Gawain sighed happily at the prospect of having Kay and Merlin at his couples dinner. Then mustering up what he thought was a look of understanding, knowing and teasing all mixed up, Gawain grinned at the pair. Merlin and Kay interpreted it as a look somewhere between constipation and happiness.
With the look still plastered on his face, Gawain winked, "Just you two kids remember that training is in ten minutes, ok?"
By now, Merlin and Kay were standing up next to each other. Gawain, not wanting to intrude on such an intimate moment any longer proceeded to back out of the door, adding the suggestive wiggling of his eye brows into the mixture of looks and winks.
Merlin nudging Kay with his hand, whispered, "What's wrong with his eyebrows?"
Shrugging discreetly, Kay whispered back, "I don't know, but it's creeping me out."
Arthur inspected the hilt of his sword sullenly, noting that his habit of clawing at it was slowly coming back. Savouring the last of the sunlight, the prince scanned the courtyard once more, refusing to let the absence of a particular person worry him. Staring dejectedly at the empty spot of which Merlin usually occupied when waiting for training to finish, Arthur mentally kicked himself for letting the idiot out of his sight earlier. Knowing him, he was probably somewhere lying in a ditch right now. Contemplating whether or not to start training or to make his knights wait while he searched for his manservant, a infectious familiar laugh interrupted his thoughts. With a suppressed grin, Arthur turned around to face the source of the laughter, only to see it was accompanied by another figure. Scowling, Arthur looked away angrily. Of course. Merlin had probably ran to the brilliant Kay the moment he had left the room.
"Sorry we're late sire, we didn't realise the time."
Arthur made a point to ignore Kay, fearing that if he opened his mouth something very un-princely like would escape his mouth. Instead the prince adopted his stern face of indifference, motioning to his knights to start training.
In the majority of the training session, Arthur found himself targeting Kay. He was exaggerating small flaws and attacking harder than necessary when demonstrating a move on the knight with no other reason than for some reason Kay's face really irritated him. Deciding to leave off for a break before he killed the bloody knight, Arthur noticed Merlin bored and sitting on ground as always, however this time he was trailing his fingers in the dirt. Walking over, the prince sat down next to his manservant, smirking at the poor stick figures that littered the ground.
"Considering taking the path of an artist, are we Merlin?"
Startled, Merlin withdrew his hand from the ground, unaware that he was even drawing. Smiling, he looked down at his creation before poking his tongue out at the prince,
"Better than anything you've ever done."
Arthur grinned, "Oh yeah?"
His fingertip resting on the ground, the prince began to draw in a trance, a picture of just himself and Merlin, alone with no distractions, under the stars.
"What's that hell is that meant to be?"
Arthur shrugged, formulating a quick story in his mind, "It's me training, but obviously we couldn't expect you to figure that out, not with your non-existent mind. Peering over, Arthur looked over at Merlins picture.
"See, now I'm going to have to ask you what that is because it just looks like you decided it would be fun to make scratches in the dirt.
Merlin, staring down at his picture, knew immediately it was himself performing magic in front of Arthur, and the two of them laughing together. Less capable of making up things on the spot, Merlin stared at the picture dumbly, "Umm, it's a chicken?"
Laughing, Arthur shook his head, "I wonder what goes through that mind of yours."
Merlin grinned, pushing the picture out of his head, "Don't have one remember?"
"Explains a lot."
Seeing that the sun had finally set, Arthur waved his sword to stop his knights. Feeling a sudden fondness towards Merlin, Arthur decided to give him the night off. After all, there was no real need for him to be there, and truth be told he only made Merlin attend because he liked the presence of the gangly servant and his impossibly large ears. But of course he would never tell him that, no, he would stick to the conclusion Merlin had come up with which was that he did it because it was in his prat-like nature to.
"You can go now if you want, I give you permission to leave."
To his surprise, Merlin, who made no secret of how boring he thought training was, shook his head, a grin creeping onto his face.
"Actually, I want to stay tonight. Kay's fighting isn't he?"
There was a small silence as a sort of mood washed over the Prince's face before a short "Yes" was voiced.
Turning towards his knights, the prince motioned to Bedevere and Kay to begin fighting.
Much to his disappointment, he noticed that Kay was winning. The knight seemed quicker than usual and his attacks were well placed as if he were fighting in the daylight and not in darkness.
Hearing the enthusiastic cheers beside him, Arthur felt a pang of jealousy. Merlin had only ever cheered for him and that was only ever on rare occasions.
As Kay brought down the final attack, his sword tip placed perfectly on the nape of Bedeveres neck, Merlin let out a particularly loud cheer, punching a fist into the air.
Kay who was grinning like mad, gave Merlin the thumbs up and as if timed, the two burst into excited laughter as if they shared some sort of an inside joke.
Grimacing, Arthur turned away as the irritating knight winked at his manservant. Seriously, he thought, who the hell still winks.
I hate writers block. I think the Merlin drought is starting to have it's effects on me D; COME ON PEOPLE, WE NEED A TRAILER.