Chapter 11

Arthur had been expecting the council meeting that he guessed would almost inevitably be called the following morning. All the court had been fully aware that a witch's curse had blinded Arthur and also that his condition was incurable. They also now knew the recent news that had spread around Camelot like wild-fire the previous evening: that their prince could now - inexplicably - see again. The council chambers were packed with all the members who should be there, every courtier who didn't need to be there but who found an excuse to be so, and many servants who had also invented reasons for their services to be required in the chambers. Merlin stood with Gaius and Gwen over to one side, with the king seated at the end of the hall, Morgana on his left. His son's seat to his right was empty – hardly surprising given that Arthur was standing respectfully facing him, legs placed slightly apart, hands clasped behind his back, and with all the eyes of the court on him. It was only as he faced the imminent prospect of having to explain to the entire court what had happened, that Arthur realised with relief the wisdom there had been in the sorcerer's bizarre behaviour. Arthur also knew that with no other witnesses besides Gwen, he had a certain flexibility in recounting the recent events. As the whispered conversations around the room died down and the council chambers finally fell silent, Uther fixed his son with his gaze, gave him a little nod, and said, "You may begin."

Arthur took a deep breath. "The facts are easily recounted, my lord. The sorcerer who calls himself Dragoon the Great gained access to my room, having somehow slipped a potion into my cup – "

But before he could go any further his father interrupted him. "And how could that be? Your servant should surely have been even more vigilant than usual?" Uther cast Merlin a dirty glance, and the young warlock suddenly felt his mouth go rather dry.

Arthur shrugged. "Merlin's vigilance and attention to detail haven't always, er, been what they could be…."

As Arthur also glanced over in Merlin's direction, he caught Gwen's eyes. Her finger was rather pointedly grasping her ear as a reminder of the clip round the ear he'd received when criticising servants. Her action wasn't lost on him, and he so he hurriedly added, "…. although it has to be said that Merlin's general level is service is exceptionally –"

He paused as he searched for the right word: "- adequate. But Merlin can scarcely be blamed, sire – who knows what tricks a sorcerer might use to lace a drink with a drug?"

When his father didn't follow the line of questioning any further, Arthur went on: "Anyway, I was drugged, and whilst unconscious, I was bound to the chair, rendering me unable to move, and gagged so that I was incapable of shouting for help when I awoke a couple of hours later. Guinevere, in the course of her duties, entered my rooms, and was also apprehended by the sorcerer and bound. He removed the bandages from my eyes, uttered an incantation, my sight was restored and he left, and then after about four hours we were found."

Gaius cast a rather pointed look at Merlin, who was trying to stifle a grin. Uther, however, had a slight look of suspicion on his face, but it was nothing compared to the expression that Merlin noticed on Morgana's face as she stared at Arthur. There was utter bewilderment and disbelief there, but because Merlin knew her so well, he could also see the annoyance and hatred that were not too far beneath the surface. Merlin's attention was suddenly drawn back to the king as he started to speak once more. "Arthur, when you were found, your gag had been taken off. Why didn't you call out for help as soon as he removed it?"

"The condition for it being removed was that I would not cry out. I had given him my word, as had Guinevere."

Uther was clearly irritated by Arthur's response. "Integrity means nothing to a sorcerer! You should have called out for help, and then we could have arrested him."

Arthur's voice was level and firm as he replied: "My word is my word, to whomever I give it. And besides, my lord, the behaviour of the sorcerer during much of this time can only be described as somewhat deranged. My duty to Camelot is to protect its citizens, and I would not have wished to put Guinevere's safety at risk by any action that might have provoked such an unpredictable and unstable individual."

Merlin rolled his eyes slightly at these last comments. Gaius on the other hand was concentrating hard on looking straight ahead.

Uther gave a little shake of his head, more to himself than anyone else, somewhat baffled by what he had been told. "Arthur, I am finding it hard to understand the motivation for such actions. Did he say anything else to you during this time?"

Arthur look steadily at his father: "Nothing worth repeating, sire."

Uther still looked puzzled: "He gave no reason whatsoever for what he was doing?"

"If he had a reason, sire, then he kept it to himself."

Uther sighed, and gave up trying to take his enquiries any further. He stared at the floor for a few moments before speaking again and giving his judgment. "Whilst this court cannot condone the use of magic, it seems that this sorcery was carried out without Arthur's encouragement or consent – "

He cast a sharp look at Arthur, still not entirely sure that he believed what his son had told him.

"- and it also appears as if on this one occasion it has resulted in some good. The court will note, however, that this is an exception and our stance of total opposition to all magic and to all those who perform it has not changed."

He paused before continuing. "But one final matter, Arthur. How is it that your servant, who was meant to be paying even closer attention to your care and your needs at this time, not only managed to allow you to be drugged, bound and gagged, but then also abandoned you in your quarters for a period of around six hours?"

Arthur's brow furrowed slightly - he hadn't actually asked himself that question yet. His stated intention of going for a ride had been forgotten in Gwen's company and he'd been oblivious to the fact that Merlin had never returned. "Er, he had a few errands to run and then had to check on the horses….."

Uther interrupted: "For SIX HOURS?"

Uther's eyes shifted from his son and once more came to rest upon Arthur's manservant – as did those of Arthur and everyone else in the council chambers. Gaius silently prayed that Merlin had thought up some suitable excuse, whilst next to him Merlin shifted uncomfortably.

Uther asked rather pointedly, "Please tell the court precisely where you were whilst all this was going on?"

"I, er, was running errands as the prince has said – " Merlin suddenly realised to his horror that the keeper of the stables was also present and would know that he had not been there. "- although, I er, didn't actually make it to the stables in the end because I was…."

He paused. It had not, as Gaius had hoped and prayed, occurred to Merlin to have any sort of alibi prepared and as he panicked his mind went blank.

Uther's tone became slightly more dangerous: "Go on…."

All that Merlin could do was to say the first thing that came into his head – which wasn't much: "I was, er, doing stuff."

Arthur raised his eyebrows as he looked at Merlin: "Doing….. stuff?"

His servant nodded nervously: "Mmmm – stuff."

Uther continued to fix Merlin with a piercing gaze. "And would you care to inform the court of the precise nature of this….. 'stuff'."

Merlin hesitated and was clearly floundering, and it was left to his elderly mentor to intervene.

"My lord, if you will allow me to interrupt to explain…."

Uther replied wearily, "Please do."

"The reason, my lord, for Merlin's hesitation is that he did not want to cause trouble for me by informing you that one of the errands that I sent him on was, in fact, to collect rare herbs that were a considerable distance from the citadel. It was, on reflection, unreasonable to send him on such a long mission when he should have been back caring for the prince."

Merlin gave an enthusiastic nod of agreement as Gaius continued, "It is my fault, my lord, and I apologise most sincerely to the prince."

Arthur, who had been standing with his arms folded as he listened to both men's explanations, nodded to him. "Thank you, Gauis. Apology accepted."

Uther let out a long sigh. "Now that we have at least cleared up that little mystery, court dismissed."

The council chambers were immediately filled with animated chatter, but as Arthur turned away from his father to go, there was a look of great relief on his face. He was not the only one to be relieved that the ordeal was over: Merlin and Gaius spoke in low tones to one another as they left together.

"Gaius, thank you SO much!"

"Doing stuff… Merlin, couldn't you come up with anything better than that?"

"I panicked and couldn't think of anything to say."

"You know, Merlin, given all that has happened, I really can't decide which is worse: things coming into your head, or things not coming into your head!"

Merlin grinned but then looked somewhat exasperated: "Why is it that Arthur is so much better at lying than I am?"

The old man cast a sideways glance at him as they walked along: "What do you mean?"

Merlin lowered his voice even further: "He deliberately chose to lie and conceal from Uther what I said to him about magic."

Gaius was silent for a moment as he thought about what Merlin had said. "Maybe his own views on magic are changing. Maybe the time is coming soon for you to reveal to Arthur who you truly are."

Merlin blew out a long breath and raised his eyebrows at the thought of this. "Maybe…."

At this point, however, they both heard Arthur calling loudly for Merlin.

The two men stopped and it was Gaius' turn to raise his eyebrows. "You'd better go and see what his lordship wants. I wouldn't keep him waiting this time if I were you!"

Merlin added under his breath with a grin, "Time to go and do some stuff!"

Gaius smiled and left Merlin to it.

"You wanted to see me, sire?"

Arthur gave a little wry smile at Merlin's choice of familiar and now appropriate words. "Er, yes."

Arthur shifted his weight and seemed to be working up to saying something. But before he could say a word, Gwen walked past them both and Merlin watched as their eyes met. He could tell there was some unspoken communication going on between them as Gwen gave the prince a pointed but good-natured look. The slightly resigned look and almost imperceptible nod she received in reply caused Gwen to give a little laugh as she carried on her way. Merlin was intrigued by the obvious discomfort in Arthur's stance, and stood staring at the now fidgeting prince who wouldn't make eye contact with him.

"Merlin….."

"Yes, Arthur?"

"I, er, just wanted to say….. you know…"

Merlin just stared at him. "No….."

"Well, when I was blind, it was er, I mean, what I'm trying to say is…."

Merlin could see that Arthur's attempt at communicating whatever it was he was trying to communicate was not meeting with any success. So Merlin decided to help the prince out in his usual way – with a little light-hearted sarcasm. "What you're trying to say is that you have finally realised that you are utterly indebted to me for my indispensable help during your blindness and that you are eternally grateful to me."

The last thing that Merlin expected to happen was what did actually happen: Arthur stared at the ground, shuffled his feet around slightly, and mumbled "Something like that…" He was just grateful that Merlin had saved him from having to say the words himself.

"Oh" was all that Merlin could say in reply, and both men stood there fidgeting for a moment, wondering what to say next, before the penny dropped. "Gwen put you up to it, didn't she?!" There was a note of triumph in Merlin's voice at having found Arthur out.

"No!" the prince said defensively – and untruthfully.

Merlin grinned with a sense of satisfaction. Arthur might be good at lying to his father, but he could never lie successfully to him.

"Liar!"

There was a moment when Merlin wondered whether Arthur was going to clout him. But the prince suddenly broke into a grin, put Merlin in a headlock and ruffled his hair enthusiastically before letting him go again. Merlin decided to live dangerously. "What did she do? Threaten not to kiss you again until you'd thanked me?"

"Shut up, Merlin!"

"If I told her you hadn't thanked me yet, you'd be in trouble. What's it worth?"

And the members of the court who were still in the corridors near the council chambers found themselves having to move rapidly out of the path of a servant who was running through the citadel at breakneck speed and the prince who was hot on his heels, and who had a roguish and determined glint in his clear blue eyes.

Author's Note

That's it folks! Hope you enjoyed it – always happy to be reviewed! I guess it went slightly AU at the end, in the sense that it messed slightly with Dragoon's next appearance when Uther was dying, and it DID show Arthur seeing magic being used for good. Hope it hasn't interfered too much with "canon" as I do like to try to make my stories true to the series and "episodes that were missed out"! (with the exception of "The End of the Beginning")

Lent coming up. Will hopefully resume writing with the next story after Easter!