Soz about the delay, stupid internet decided to screw up - one minute im connected the next there is no such thing as wireless internet - or otherwise apparently! Absolutely stupid, if a laptop connects to the internet, it should stay connected until the damn thing is turned off :( I want to hit the stupid box sometimes!
Okaydokey, rant over, and here is the last part to Bandit Attack, hope this was worth the wait. There's a humorous one coming next :D
Last time...
Impossible' Arthur thought his mouth opening in shock, and his eyes wide...He saw Merlin standing silent, he wasn't even going to deny it, he couldn't...Merlin had used magic...
"Merlin, look out!" he yelled, starting forwards...Merlin tried to turn around in confusion, but found he only got halfway around before he realized why Arthur had shouted. Arthur froze as the unthinkable happened, making him drop in sword in shock...
One of the bandits stood next to Merlin, still holding the dagger that he had just forced into Merlin's stomach...
Arthur stood frozen, feeling like his heart had suddenly stopped at the sight he saw. Merlin stood facing the bandit, eyes wide and unblinking, shoulders hunched up in pain. The bandit laughed as Merlin took hold of the dagger, but did not remove it. He saw Merlin open his mouth as if to say something, but couldn't find the words. He was in shock at what had happened.
As the man backed away, with a final sneer in Arthur's direction, he ran through the woods and was away. It took all of Arthur's strength not to go running after him and cut him down where he stood for harming Merlin, but he knew that Merlin needed him. He knew what the bandit looked like; he would be easy enough to hunt down.
Instead, Arthur ran towards Merlin, just as his friend closed his eyes and collapsed forwards. He caught him just in time, turning him over on to his back, holding him up in his arms.
"Merlin…? Merlin, stay with me, you're going to be fine…" he heard himself say.
Merlin didn't need to look to know what the bandit had done. He could feel the pain; feel the life leaking out of him like the blood from his wound. He opened his mouth automatically to call for Arthur, but no words came, they got caught in his throat, along with the oxygen. He couldn't breathe without pain passing through him.
Seeing the bandit leave, Merlin finally felt himself falling, closing his eyes to let the darkness take him, but no sooner had he felt warm arms wrap themselves around him, holding him tight. Then he heard a voice. Arthur.
"Merlin…? Merlin, stay with me, you're going to be fine…"
He opened his eyes to see the young blond holding him up, an unfamiliar look of worry clearly shown on his face. Merlin wondered at Arthur's words. Why was he trying to help? Arthur hated him; he was going to kill him wasn't he? Merlin didn't see any reason to stay, Arthur would hand him over to his father, and his fate would be the same. He found himself closing his eyes once more, only to feel Arthur shake him gently, forcing him to reopen his eyes.
"Don't you dare…Merlin, don't you dare…" Arthur ordered, but his voice was shaky.
"Arthur…sorry…for lying…" Merlin tried to explain, but pain kept preventing him from saying much more.
"Don't talk, Merlin, you'll only use up your energy. I know that might be hard, considering you never shut up. But please, just this one time, do as you're told" Arthur said, smiling weakly.
He was rewarded with Merlin smiling softly back.
"You know that you'd need a miracle to shut me up, Arthur…" he replied, still smiling.
Arthur shook his head, even when close to death; Merlin never lost his sense of humour. He turned to look at the dagger which was still dug into Merlin's stomach.
"Merlin, I'm sorry, but I need to get the dagger out if I'm going to stop the bleeding…."
"I know…" Merlin replied, obviously not looking forward to its removal.
Arthur lifted one of his hands away from Merlin's side, and clutched the hilt of the blade. He looked from the blade, and back to Merlin, seeing the warlock watching the sky with a pained look on his face, ready for what was about to happen. Arthur couldn't help but think that that look, that feeling should never be something that Merlin would have to endure.
Arthur took a tighter hold on the dagger, and one quick movement, the blade was removed from Merlin's stomach and was thrown aside, immediately to be replaced by Arthur's hand, keeping pressure on the wound.
Suddenly hearing feet rushing towards him, Arthur looked around and saw his five trusted knights running down the hill and towards the two fallen men. Gwaine and Lancelot were the first two to kneel down beside Arthur and his injured warlock. The others chose to stand around them.
"What happened? How did-Merlin-are you?" Gwaine started.
"One of the bandits – he took him by surprise…" Arthur explained.
"Come on, we need to get wound attended to, and get back to Camelot" Leon ordered.
Arthur let Leon and Gwaine take Merlin from him, and move him under the trees and out of the rain that was just starting. Elyan, Percival and Lancelot fetched the horses that were running around on the top of the hill, and started searching through their packs for anything that would help with Merlin's wound. Thankfully, Gaius had been his normal nagging self before they had left, and had made sure that Merlin had taken some pain reliving potions with him. They would have to suffice until they reached Camelot.
Only when Arthur stood up to watch the men go about their jobs did he start to recognize where he was. It was the same clearing that Merlin had taken him to when they had been chased by bandits the year before. Right around the time that Morgana had fallen down those stairs and had nearly died. Now both Arthur and Merlin had been brought to this place when they were injured. He didn't know what to do. He looked around the camp, unaware of anything he could do to help. He needed to know if Merlin was okay.
He walked over to where Merlin was lying, Gwaine now being the one to keep the pressure on the knife wound, while Leon searched through the bags for something that he could use as a bandage. Eventually, they had managed to bandage the wound up, and the bleeding seemed to slow down. Arthur silently sent his thanks to his men for their fast actions.
Merlin turned to Arthur as he knelt down beside him again.
"Arthur…"
"What did I say about talking, Merlin?" Arthur said, softly.
Merlin laughed weakly. "Since when do I do as I'm told?"
Arthur laughed slightly in reply. He noticed that Merlin had gone ever paler, and his eyes seemed to be getting less focused on the things around him. He looked up, and was surprised to see that only two of the horses were missing. Gwaine and Lancelot came back over to Arthur to help him get Merlin onto one of the horses. Only then did Arthur get up behind Merlin, making sure he wouldn't fall of the horse. Elyan shared a horse with Lancelot, and the seven men took off towards Camelot as fast as they could.
When he saw the gates of Camelot, Arthur thought he'd never been happier to see them. Merlin had fallen unconscious on the way there, and Arthur had to keep checking to see if he was still breathing. Elyan, Lancelot and Percival and ridden on ahead, to warn Gaius, and arriving in the courtyard, Arthur saw two guards with a stretcher ready to carry Merlin up to the Physician's rooms. Arthur immediately followed them up, helping them by holding open doors. He left the knights to take care of the horses.
Gaius had inspected the wound, and then when straight over to the table to collect new bandages, but Arthur didn't miss the look in his eyes when he looked at the injury, and the blood that was starting to flow from it again.
"Gaius? Will he be okay?" Arthur asked, knowing that Gaius wouldn't lie – he always gave a straightforward answer when it came to injuries.
"I do not know. The blade has not managed to pierce any major organs, but it was very deep. Thankfully not deep enough to cause any lasting damage, but if he loses much more blood, that could be enough to kill him" the physician replied.
Arthur could tell that this was hard on him too. Merlin was practically a son to the man. He knew that he wouldn't be the only one to be affected if Merlin were to die. Lancelot and Gwaine were also very close to the young man. Sometimes Arthur thought that the only reason those two had stayed after the whole saving Camelot event was because of Merlin. He knew that they had sworn to protect him and Camelot – they were knights, after all – but he also knew that if Merlin's life was on the line, they would show more loyalty towards their closest friend. Arthur didn't even deserve to be called Merlin's friend. He was a King now. Kings were not allowed to be friends with servants. Besides, he had never treated Merlin the way he should treat a friend – he was always insulting him. He just hoped Merlin knew that he never meant any of those insults to go to heart – they were all just in fun.
Arthur had sat by Merlin's bedside for three days, not leaving for anything. He had servants bring him his food to Gaius' chambers, and had slept on the mattress that he had another servant bring up into the room.
He didn't care about how certain members of the council thought that, as King, he should not be hanging around the sickbed of a servant. His true council members, the ones that he trusted with his life, were the ones whose opinions mattered to him – the ones who fought along him when Morgana had taken over. Even if they hadn't approved, Arthur would still be there, beside the one person he trusted above all others, despite the fact that that one person was an all-powerful sorcerer.
Merlin's health seemed to only be getting worse. Over the past few days, Merlin hadn't woken up once, and Arthur was starting to think that he'd never get to tell Merlin that he didn't care about his magic. What if Merlin died before Arthur could tell him? What if he died thinking that he had hated him because of it?
Arthur sat in his seat and hid his face behind his hands, leaning forwards on his elbows. He was alone in the room, besides Merlin that is.
"Ar…thur…"
Arthur jumped at the sound of Merlin's voice, leaning towards his manservant.
"Merlin? Merlin, come on, wake up…"
'Come on, Merlin, you need to wake up…I need you to wake up…'
Arthur smiled with pure joy when Merlin's eyes fluttered open.
"Arthur? W-What happened?" Merlin managed to croak out.
"You…You were an idiot, as usual" Arthur smiled.
Merlin smiled slightly, before looking around, thinking about what had happened. He couldn't really remember it yet – it all seemed too fuzzy. Then it hit him. He had used magic. In front of Arthur. Magic. He turned back to look at Arthur, the fear in his eyes more obvious than the pain that he was still feeling at that moment.
"Arthur, I swear…I've never-".
"It's okay, Merlin. I've had a while to think about it – your magic, I mean. I wouldn't hurt you because of something like that, Merlin, I thought you knew me better than that…"
"You had just declared your hatred for everything that magic had ever come into contact with, what was I supposed to think?" Merlin replied quickly, before he had had a chance to stop himself.
Arthur took a moment to think over Merlin's words. "You're right, after what I'd said I'm surprised you never turned against Camelot…".
"I would never do that, Arthur, no matter what happened….Wait, did you just admit that I was right about something?"
"Don't get used to it; I won't make a habit of it. But you are going to tell me everything. Including every time you've used magic. I can already think of a few times. Can't believe how obvious it is".
"Yeah, well you were never exactly the sharpest tool in the box, Arthur" Merlin replied.
"And we're back to normal. Somehow, despite now being the King, you've only gotten worse in showing respect".
"Someone needs to keep you in line…"
Arthur laughed at Merlin's comment, making Merlin laugh too.
"I better go fetch Gaius. You just yell if you're in pain, okay? I'll be right back" Arthur finished, walking towards the door.
Suddenly Merlin cried out in pain, making Arthur turn back around and rush to Merlin's side.
"What is it? What's wrong?".
To his complete shock, Merlin started laughing.
"Just testing" he chuckled. "You said 'yell', I wanted to make sure that it would work".
Arthur shook his head, laughing as he continued out the door to find the physician, knowing that everything was going to turn out fine.
Reviews:
MamzelleHermy - How could I ever kill our Merlin? Although saying that, I'll probably end up writing a one-shot where he dies, at some point - who knows? :D Glad you liked Arthur's POV - and a little surprised, didn't think I'd managed it that well :) Thanks for the review!
cooking-ninja18 - hope i didn't keep you waiting too long! how could i ever resist puppy eyes? XD :D thanks for the review! :D
CANDi - sorry about the long wait, stupid internet's been playing up all week! :( at least it's up now, right? *puppy eyes* hehe thanks for the review! :D
poplip - I know, I hate leaving cliffhangers, but I just can't help but write them sometimes - its a weakness :D thanks for the review! :D
TeganL74 - thanks! really happy to hear that people liked it, despite that mean cliffie of mine :D thanks again! really thought I'd screwed up Arthur's POV stuff :) thanks again for the review! :D
Princess Aryana of Camelot - hehe, i know - so mean to leave people with that cliffie! but here's the next part! :D hope it was just as good!
Xx
