Chapter 10
Merlin swore he would die right then and there. Multiple devices sat in front of him, blinking lights and shrill sounds of the calls sounded as he fumbled to mute them.
Both princes, since birth, had been expected to excel in the military.
Merlin's jobs were further behind the scenes, less recognizable to the masses. He was employed to research the enemy, decide who was a better ally, or a more likely enemy. A clever boy, he passed his classes in school with flying colors, graduating top of his class. But even through his success, no one could deny the clear difference between him and his older half brother.
Arthur was a natural leader on the battlefield. He had seldom opportunities to showcase his talents, but no one doubted his skill. Almost anyone he came in contact with was in awe of his charismatic air. He was more rigid, more familiar with a gun, sharper with his aim, keener in his judgment under pressure. An obviously gifted boy, he was promoted to general status the week after leaving the academy.
Two sides of the same coin, some people would say.
So it shouldn't have come as a surprise to Merlin that he couldn't handle both his own, and Arthur's duties for the afternoon. It had started as a favor for the older prince, but become a something dire.
"What are you doing, Merlin?"
The dark haired boy jumped at the sudden voice, not aware that someone had entered his room. He had his hands gripped on the edge of the table, his knuckles whitening as a result doing so for the past hour.
Gaius stepped warily in front of his nephew. He had gotten wind of talk of a certain, mortally wounded and unstable spotted gallivanting around the castle. The old man, who had learned from experience not to trust the court's rumors for definite information, brushed off the thought. There would be no way anyone would be so stupid to risk aggravating his gunshot injury. But then he remembered it was Merlin he was thinking of, not a normal person.
Merlin's back hunched in defeat, not even faltering for a second. He could sense his uncle's disapproval, but didn't really bother with it anymore. There was no avoiding a scolding. All he could do at this point was to hope that no one else could try to get in touch with Arthur. First by leaving without warning, Arthur had put Merlin subject to another conversation with their stepmother. All of it had been extremely uncomfortable. And while his relationship with the Lady Catrina was considerably better than the one between her and Arthur, that didn't mean he enjoyed her company. And to add onto that, Arthur had bequeathed his personal electronics to Merlin, and along with him, the demands of other panicked officers desperately trying to contact him. Arthur simply instructed Merlin to ignore the calls, and only answer especially urgent ones, and in rare case of emergency, to call him on his direct line.
Arthur made it clear to Merlin that he would be too busy to deal with trivial matters of state. Apparently, he needed the entirety of his attention focused on the issue of Elyan and Gwen's father. Knowing Arthur better than anyone else, Merlin knew better than to deny his request. He wasn't sure how it had happened, but he knew that Arthur had taken an interest in the girl from Mercia. It might have been romantic, or completely platonic, the specifics of their dealings were still vague.
He laid his head down directly on the cool wood of the desk in front of him. He closed his eyes, wanting to drown out the beeps and vibrations around his visage. He answered, his words a muffled collection.
The only things he could make out were "Arthur" and "liar". Gaius simply sighed, and approached the younger man.
"What have you gotten yourself into this time?"
Merlin turned his head, so his profile rested on the surface of the table. He looked at him through his peripherals. "Arthur's a blatantly big headed toad,"
"A toad?" It never ceased to amaze him the nicknames the step siblings made for each other.
"He told me he wouldn't have been busy today, but his phones are ringing off the hook!" he grumbled to himself, "Bloody liar".
Gaius cleared his throat loudly to get his attention again. "I'd like to know how the two of you have returned to speaking terms, or why you've agreed to shoulder his duties. Maybe how it's humanly possible for you to be out of bed, or who it was that you bribed to turn a blind eye to your self detrimental movements." he paused, making sure that Merlin was listening, "But I think I'd like to know something else first,"
Merlin waited expectantly, his big eyes looking up questioningly.
"Where is Arthur?"
His eyes turned into happy crescents, gleaming in the light. He had been held to a vow of silence, a brotherly pact had been made. He had promised Arthur that he wouldn't tell, but that didn't stop his amusement at what was transpire if he did tell.
Gauis didn't like the smug, Cheshire grin on Merlin's face. Merlin had the same smile whenever he thought he was being witty. It usually meant that the brothers were in on something together, something that would end in mischief.
"Merlin," he paused, "Do I even want to know?"
-p-
She didn't know how it came to this.
She didn't even remember why she had agreed to his proposition in the first place.
All of it seemed like a blur. Him leading her out away from the Lady Catrina's quarters, him bringing her into the empty hall away from the court's prying eyes, maybe even away from her thoughts of her father and brother; somehow everything else seemed to disappear.
Maybe that would explain how she had been so disoriented, that she had nodded her head when he asked her to spend the rest of the day with him. She could only assume that he had wanted to discuss matters regarding her father's incarceration in private.
That was something she didn't quite understand. She knew that she knew more than her brother, but she would have thought that Arthur would want to go to Elyan before her. After all, she was a no name countryside dweller, while her brother at least held his friendship a better fit to speak of such serious topics. He didn't seem like a patient man, like Merlin, who would talk her through what they needed to do.
Poor Arthur, was just as, if not more so confused at his actions as she was.
He thought he had just wanted to apologize for his actions and behavior from earlier that day. It seemed like a lifetime that had passed since then, when it had only been a number of hours. Evening had barely been upon them, when she found herself standing, for the second time, in the crown prince's quarters.
The room looked drastically different. Arthur had obviously let the help in while they were gone. Though natural sunlight had dimmed outside, the room was illuminated by bright lights. The room looked far larger than it had in the dark. The overpowering stench of alcohol left no trace behind. Much like the blond royal, the room had spun around from her first impression.
She stared in awe, as she watched him hang up the phone in front of them.
"Done," he put the telephone back in its receiver, looking up expectantly at the girl across from him.
"That easy?" she sounded doubtful. She was aware of Elyan's efforts over the past few days. He had been working like a horse to even find information on their father's whereabouts. He had been largely unsuccessful, despite the time and vigor he invested in the search.
So she had a hard time digesting things when she saw, in a matter of seconds, the power of authority.
"Your father has been staying in a facility along the Albion and Mercia borders. But as of just now, he has been released," he stated easily, "All charges dropped, a free man,". All it had taken was a one word command from the commander general to send the lower ranking officers to their knees.
A blend of disgust and disbelief with the kind of power the crown prince held washed over her. But the negative emotions were wiped clean, when she realized her father was all right. She found herself speechless, while Arthur rose to his feet from his seat, and joined her standing. As he got closer, he stopped to lean on the table beside them, his arms crossed, his eyes locked on her.
"Amazing," a small smile of relief graced her lips, her eyes brightened as she looked up at him with gratitude. "After everything, that's all it took?"
His expression mimicked hers, obviously happy to see her more relaxed. But his face turned serious, "My work is hardly done, though,"
She felt sudden shame for rejoicing in her personal victory. Her father had only been one of countless who had been condemned to punishment they didn't deserve.
"I wish I could do what I have done for your father the same for so many others," he stopped, "But doing so would be too dangerous. My father won't miss one man from his cell, but thousands he will,"
She couldn't help but feel bad for the things she had said to him that morning. She thought she needed to remind a prince his responsibility to his people, but it was clear to her now that he understood the burden better than she initially believed.
It was funny how they were synced; every time one of them would avert their direct gaze, the other would pick it up. Gwen stared at his sculpted features, his straight nose, his high cheek bone, his light eyes; the epitome of a blue blooded man. His blond bangs fell over his forehead, resting above his eyebrows, casting a slight shadow over the top portion of his eyes.
"And that's why I need your help," he wet his lips before continuing, "I'm afraid you're the only one that can,"
Her heart fluttered as he looked at her again. She lowered her eyes to the ground at his sudden gaze. But she was still puzzled by his enigma of words. "What do you mean?"
He sighed deeply, "This disaster," his hands were raised up in the air, hoping to make a gesture to describe what he meant, "this madness, with the Lady Morgana,"
She drew in another sharp intake of air. The mention of the traitorous witch made her skin crawl. She had put the woman's name out of her head. But it wasn't just the memory of the pale skinned lady that made her uncomfortable. She couldn't pinpoint why, but the recollection of Arthur's affections for the woman bothered her.
"I don't think that Merlin can handle it,"
"His feelings for her?"
"Exactly," he gritted his teeth, "I love my brother and would sacrifice anything for him, and I'm willing to bet my life that he would do the same. But—"
"You don't think he can betray her," she finished for him.
"Kind of," he turned his jaw a bit away, looking at her through the corner of his eye. It was interesting how she could read him so perfectly, especially after only knowing him for so little time, "He's vowed to protect the throne, his family. But his loyalties lie with her at the same time," he waited to see if she would understand him without him needing to explain further. He was right.
"He's been through so much already,"
"He's protected her once, there's a possibility he'll be tempted to do the same again," he thought back to that morning, "I asked him to join me wholeheartedly in my legal pursuit of Morgana,"
"And he refused?" she had a hard time believing that Merlin would ever deny his older brother.
"No, he didn't," an hand was brought over the lower half of his face, "Though he hesitated,"
"He deserves another chance, does he not?" she wondered aloud. She covered her mouth as if to prevent the words from being said.
Luckily, he wasn't offended. It was actually a prevalent thought that had torn and hindered his resolve. "No doubt he does," he agreed, "But I don't want to risk the possibility. Morgana's made her abilities of manipulation clear," he cleared his throat, himself a victim. "He'll just end up trusting her again, and she'll take advantage of it again,"
A side she never thought she would see in Arthur Pendragon. He was trying to protect his half brother from emotional strife. Probably because he had experienced it personally, and didn't want Merlin to go suffer through the same.
"I'll have to take care of her without him," he shifted his body so he was turned open to her, "Can I count on you for your help?"
"Of course," the compassion in his eyes wouldn't let her say no.
"Brilliant," the relief in his voice was evident. He had been worried she would refuse to go behind Merlin's back. It was clear that they were friends, maybe even more. But he knew that she would want to pull Merlin out of harm's way just as badly as he did.
A brief moment of silence came, but he broke it willingly.
"Merlin's told me something of a letter," He meant the one she had passed along for Morgana.
"Yes," she bit her lip with apprehension.
"Merlin mentioned it to me, but avoids telling me what it says," he stopped, "Do you know if its contents?"
"I apologize, I didn't look,"
Arthur felt foolish for asking. Guinevere wouldn't have opened the letter to peer inside. But he couldn't help but feeling the slightest bit hopeful that she had. Something about Merlin's attitude when talking about the letter made him think of its significance. They were, after all, Morgana's final words to him.
"Don't worry over it, It's fine," he pushed himself up, standing completely erect now. He was towering above her in height, "We should probably start, we've got work to do,"
He began to make his way to the exit of his room. Gwen followed in suit.
Camelot was definitely not what she thought it was going to be. But she had just learned that some surprises weren't all too bad.
-p-
"Get some rest, do you understand?"
"Yes, yes," the dark haired, big eared young man assured with his signature smile. "I'll see you later, Gaius,"
The older man had insisted on staying with his nephew, grilling him with a huge agenda of questions. The list seemed endless, and both sides were exhausted.
"Take care of yourself, Merlin," he added with care before the door closed shut behind him.
Merlin stared at the entrance way to his quarters, and looked around the room. It was quiet.
Once he no longer heard footsteps outside, and was sure he was alone, Merlin pulled open the top drawer to the desk. He lifted up a compilation of papers sitting at the surface, and dug to the bottom. A disguised compartment sat at the end. He looked up again, scanning his surroundings one more time to make sure of his privacy.
Slowly, he lifted a thin layer of wood out from under the parchment.
A familiar, folded sheet of paper was gingerly removed from its hiding place.
Merlin swallowed, as he struggled with a drawer on the other side of the desk, his eyes never leaving the . He pulled an intricately crafted lighter out. He didn't smoke, but kept one handy anytime some foreign visitor came to smoke a cigar or two. It was new looking, unused.
The smile he had put on for Gaius was nowhere to be found.
He unfolded the paper with a delicate hand.
He needed to do this, too many questions were being asked. Arthur and Gwen both knew of its existence, and though they knew nothing of what it said, it was still too dangerous to keep.
Even as young adolescents, Morgana and Merlin had loved riddles. Both had taken likings to puzzles, jesting with each other to solve for the meaning behind the cryptic nature of the game.
It seemed Morgana never outgrew her penchant for playing.
The older prince and Gwen had been left questioning what was written on the paper between his fingers.
Little did they know their wonders revolved around all of one single message had been written in black ink, the single letters drawn beautifully.
His hand began to shake as he lit the flame, letting the small fire consume and burn the paper to crisp. He watched it disappear as he read it back to himself one last time: Emrys.
Never again, he repeated in his head, never again.
He would try over and over to rid himself of the thing even he knew he would never be able to run from.
End Chapter 10
A/N: Arwen is going to be built off a mutual concern for Merlin. Let's be honest, the characters really hold nothing else in common at this point. Love needs a foundation first before it can go into an all out romance! The initial attraction is still there, and to add off of that, you have Thank you for reading, please leave me a review if you want me to continue!