Hey, sorry about taking forever to post. My Microsoft Word got disabled and I hadn't made a backup for this fic like I had with others. Luckily, everything is back up and running so I'll be posting chapters for this again!
Chapter 7: Scars of a Servant
Arthur groaned as he flipped through a thick book in the castle library. He had been up all night searching through the endless collections of books in attempt to find something to help Merlin. He had given his word that he'd help the sorcerer and he wasn't going to go back on it. Not ever. Arthur had given Merlin several chores to keep the new manservant from discovering what he was up to. He didn't want Merlin giving him that pitied smile that clearly showed that the sorcerer didn't believe there was a way to help.
"Is there anything I may help with?" the keeper of the royal library questioned from his desk. Arthur sighed and closed the book he'd been searching through.
"No, I'm alright, Geoffrey. I'm just doing some research on sorcerers." The old librarian raised a brow. "For educational purposes of course," Arthur clarified, getting up from the chair he had been seated at.
"Of course," Geoffrey repeated before turning his back momentarily. Arthur watched as the man pulled out a book with a leather binding and strange markings from behind his desk. "Try this," the elderly librarian suggested. "Rumor is this text was actually written by a sorcerer before magic was banned in the kingdom. I've destroyed any pages that contained spells, but I'm sure it'll still be of some use with your sorcerer slaying."
"Thank you," Arthur said, taking the book and sitting back down again. Geoffrey nodded and disappeared behind a shelf of books that hadn't been dusted in years. Arthur opened the book, finding that it was actually a memoir of a sorcerer named Balinor. He spoke of his wife and the village he lived in. He also spoke of his magic and the many places where magic thrived in Albion. There was one place that stuck out to Arthur more than the others though. It was called the Crystal Cave. A sketch of it showed a cave with white crystals and the description bellow the image stated that the cave was in the Valley of Fallen Kings and apparently was the place where magic began. Such a place should have some way to help Merlin, shouldn't it? Arthur closed the book and got to his feet. He'd found all that he needed. Now he had to get himself and Merlin the cave.
Merlin swept the stables, grumbling and cursing Arthur silently for giving him so many chores. It didn't help that Gaius had also told him to clean out the leach tank again when he was finished. A groan broke past his lips. Could he just have one day without being ordered about? Just one? Merlin loosened his neckerchief a little as noon ticked by. The sun was high in the sky and beating down on the little stable house hard.
"Merlin?" Merlin turned his gaze towards the entrance of the stables to see Lancelot watching him. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hung open. Merlin frowned at the knight and put down his broom.
"Lancelot? Something wrong?" he questioned, walking over to the knight. Lancelot stepped forward too, reaching out a hand and grabbing Merlin's neckerchief. Merlin froze, realization finally hitting him as Lancelot pulled the only thing covering the wounds around his neck.
"What happened?" Lancelot whispered, looking to Merlin, but the sorcerer refused to meet his gaze. "Merlin?" The warlock pulled away, grabbing back his neckerchief and pulling it back on. He grabbed the broom again and went to finish sweeping the stables, hoping that Lancelot would just leave if he was ignored. Lancelot was not that kind of man though. He followed Merlin into the stables, watching as Merlin unconsciously pulled the sleeves of his shirt down past his wrists. Lancelot suddenly wondered if there were more of those scars. They weren't like the normal ragged cuts like Lancelot was used to seeing. These looked like symbols burnt into Merlin's flesh. Someone had to have done it to him. How else would he have gotten such strange scars? "Mer –" A horse reared up, whinnying loudly before kicking of one off one of its shoes and sending it right at Lancelot's head. Lancelot froze, waiting for the blow, but the horseshoe suddenly arched and smashed into a wood post a foot away from the knight's head. Lancelot's wide eyes turned towards Merlin who quickly turned his face away and went to calm the poor horse. His eyes glinted as he moved. They almost looked golden.
"Lancelot, I need some fresh straw for the horses and they're obviously getting fussy over it. Could you get me some?" Merlin asked quickly. Lancelot attempted to address the scars again, but Merlin kept beating away his questions with his own until Lancelot finally left to get hay for the stables. When the young knight returned with the hay Merlin was long gone. Lancelot sighed and set the hay into the stalls, petting each horse as he made his way back to training. His consciousness nagged at him as he passed through the arena doors to the academy. He shouldn't have backed down. He should have questioned Merlin about the wounds. What if someone was hurting Merlin? Those wounds did look a bit raw.
"Hey, Lancelot!" Gwaine shouted, breaking Lancelot from his thoughts about the poor manservant. "Have you seen Arthur?" Lancelot shook his head and walked farther into the arena, grabbing his sword from a servant along the way.
"Eh, shouldn't worry about it I guess. Merlin, probably just forgot to wake him up this morning," Elyon laughed, swinging his swords at a dummy made up of hay. Lancelot stiffened at the mention of Merlin. Both Percival and Leon noticed the knights mood shift instantly.
"What's the matter, Lance?" Leon questioned, concern present on his face. Lancelot chewed at his lips, wondering if it was his right to say anything, but the knights were Merlin's friends and deserved to know too.
"Sorry we're late!" Arthur shouted. Lancelot shut his mouth and spun around, eyes catching on the young prince and his manservant. "Merlin forgot to wake me this morning." Merlin rolled his eyes at the prince.
"Maybe if you hadn't stayed up all night reading you would have heard me when I attempted to wake you the first time," Merlin countered. The knights laughed at the two.
"Arthur reading? I can't believe it," Gwaine laughed.
"What had you reading so late, Sire?" Percival questioned. Arthur and Merlin both froze, blue eyes meeting in the corner of their eyes. Lancelot felt his stomach turn. Something felt off.
"Oh…uh…"
"Poetry!" Merlin blurted. The knights stared at them both in silence and Arthur glared at his manservant to shut up, but Merlin kept on going. He told the knights about how Arthur secretly enjoyed poetry and even wrote a few himself. Lancelot found it impossible to believe, but the others seemed to fall for it
"Well!" Gwaine shouted, slamming a hand hard against Arthur's back. Let's hope your poetry will be enough to stun the sorcerers we fight today, huh?" Arthur's cheeks burned red, but he simply nodded, going along with the story Merlin had come up on the spot with. He'd kill the sorcerer later.
"Glad you're all here," Gaius said as he appeared by their sides. Everyone gave him their full attention and Gaius motioned for Merlin to join the rest of the servants a safe distance away from the battle ring. Gaius then turned back the knights with a small grin on his face. "Let's begin."
