CHAPTER 12 : HOME THE CARER

Arthur was busy all day. He had wanted to watch the knights' training before attending the council meeting. He put all his effort into keeping busy. It helped pass the time until Merlin came back that afternoon. Sitting waiting in their chamber, the minutes had become hours with hours becoming days.

He'd missed having Merlin beside him ever day. The nights were lonely, filled with worry not only of the disease threatening to reappear but also the prolonged absence of his best friend.

Arthur was strong and competent as a ruler but in his mind, the support received from Merlin increased both and with Merlin at his side he felt invincible. He gave him his time without any ties, his love without reservation and his trust unconditionally. When they were in private, Arthur felt of himself as the copy and Merlin as the original.

He sighed and yelled at Gawaine to put himself into it. "You're dilly-dallying around. Put your heart into it!"

Gawaine was heard to mutter, "Tomorrow, Lads, will be better. Merlin will have him in hand!"

Spenser who was standing next to Arthur smiled at Simon who had been partnered with Gawaine and who was now out of control laughing.

Arthur scowled, "I heard that, Gawaine. Be careful or you'll be practising here all night and you too, Simon." He turned to Spenser saying, "I saw that. Don't encourage them."

"Let's face it, Arthur, Gawaine's telling the truth. Life will be much better for you and us once Merlin is back. You've been a real ogre recently. Having Merlin back will be good for you."

"One day, Spenser, when you meet the woman of your dreams it will all make sense. Come on, the council awaits us." Arthur turned on his heel to return to the castle, Spenser looked over his shoulder smiling at Simon and Gawaine who were half-heartedly sparring.

-0-0-

Merlin made his way through the hallways to the royal floor. It felt good to be up there again. He opened the door letting himself into the chambers. Thomas was waiting for him.

"The squire brought your message. The water is heated and everything ready for you. I put extra logs on the fire and have laid out a snack on the sideboard. The king should be back for lunch and he will as you requested be dining alone. Is there anything else, I can get you?"

"No, thank you. Everything sounds perfect…treat yourself to a well deserved day, well half day off. See you tomorrow morning."

Thomas smiled; his wife would be pleased to see him home early, "Thank you, Sir!"

"Merlin, Thomas…my name's Merlin!

"Thank you, Merlin!" said a smiling Thomas before leaving.

Merlin heard him lock the antechamber exterior door and thought all the more fun as Arthur would have to use his key to unlock it or knock if he'd left it somewhere.

Stripping off, Merlin smiled at the clothes which Thomas had left out for him, casual in-chamber clothes and nightwear. He wandered into the water closet. Thomas had already prepared the bath so Merlin just topped it up with more hot water. He felt really dirty, he'd washed everyday but the idea of a proper soaking appealed to him. He decided he might even have the luxury of refilling the tub for a second soaking once he was clean. He poured lavender oil into the water, swishing his hand around; the water temperature was about right. He slipped in, lying still allowing the heat to penetrate his bones. He then gave himself a good scrub. He washed his hair and bent over the edge of the bath to get a pitcher that had been full of water and upended it over his head. Feeling surprised at the effect a clean head of hair had on a person.

"In dolium aqua calida exhaurient et implete eam." Merlin felt the change in water and when he looked down it was sparkling clean and still the correct temperature. He lay there until he realised he was bored. He laughed as he thought, 'Time spent alone in a bath seems to drag.' He reached for a bath sheet and wrapped it around himself, at the same time, he heard footsteps in the antechamber…the door opened and Arthur stood there.

The look on his face was priceless; he seemed to become younger as the pressure of being alone was lifted from his heart and mind. His seemed to stand taller and his shoulders relaxed. A smile broke across his face and he said, "Merlin!"

Suddenly for some reason Merlin felt shy. Vivid thoughts were running through his head and glancing at Arthur he felt that he had the same ideas. He blushed slightly as Arthur strode toward him saying, "Masquerading as a Roman emperor, are we?"

"No, I just got out of the bath. I was on my way to the fire to dry myself in the warmth."

"You have no shoes on, come here." Arthur put his arm around his waist and Merlin felt himself being lifted up, carried across the room to be deposited still wrapped in the big bath sheet on their special chair in front of the fire. "I presume Thomas built up the fire and laid out your clothes?" Merlin nodded and Arthur said in a very sexy whisper, "Well, I don't think you'll be in too much of a hurry to get into them will you?"

-0-0-

As the room grew progressively darker, Arthur smiled. He had Merlin back, everything was right with the world. Merlin was lying beside him with his still damp head on Arthur's outstretched arm. "I missed you!"

"Arthur I couldn't stop thinking that if the disease was carried further into the castle all the knights would die…"

"You worried about the knights? What about me?"

Merlin gave him a friendly nudge in his side, "I couldn't even bear to think that I might lose you. I watched Basil and then Alan die. Arthur, they suffered. Once Gaius knew that there was no hope for them, he kept them deeply sedated to relieve their pain. All I could think of wereothers who had been conscious right until the bitter end. We were blessed that Basil's illness was caught so quickly. Alan must have had it before he returned to the castle and obviously Marcus' illness was not the same. It's a miracle that neither Gaius nor I came down with anything."

Arthur felt that a hug was needed to convince Merlin that he knew what he had gone through.

Merlin nestled in his arms before continuing. "Gaius says that one day, this type of illness will become widespread and he sees entire towns with thousand upon thousands of people, even kingdoms being decimated. He said that it might be years or even centuries but that it would happen. We were lucky to have only two patients, imagine if there had been more than a hundred, there would have been no place to keep them. Only the very generous and brave would be willing to look after them as in most cases the carers would also die. The disease would have spread and the old and feeble would have been the first to go followed by the young especially babies. I thought of Romney's and Mattie's Rupert and it just made me sick. I then focused on Treva and Gaius got quite cross saying that letting my mind dwell upon what might have been, wasn't good. I needed to dwell only in the present. Arthur, I was frightened and you weren't there to tell me that I was being an idiot." Arthur tightened his hold on him.

"So, I decided to think about what would be and I thought of you and the ways you can make me forget practically everything except that is, that I love you so much. Please, Arthur, let me show you again."

Later, Arthur lay with a sleeping Merlin in his arms. Would what Gaius had said actually come to fruition? He knew that disease spread faster in the towns and villages than it did in the open country or in the confines of a large castle with fewer residents. Maybe living cheek to jowl had something to do with it. One day, he would speak to Gaius about it and make plans. He'd worked so hard for his kingdom that thinking of it destroyed by an illness was hard to accept.

Merlin stirred and Arthur glanced down at him and smiled. A cold dread went through his heart if Merlin insisted on helping Gaius maybe next time, he would come down with the disease and die. He involuntarily hugged him to him and woke him up.

"Arthur, you're squeezing the life out of me." His stomach growled and he said, "Aren't you hungry?"

"Only for you!"

"Well, I'm ravenous. What time is it? I haven't eaten since breakfast. Thomas left some food on the sideboard. You stay here and I'll go and get it."

"Wrap something around you, you'll be cold and put on some shoes. I'll put more wood on the fire and we can eat in front of it." Arthur then padded to the armoire and got their dressing robes. Merlin pulled a low table over and put the food on it. There was bread, cold meats and fish, cheese and some stewed fruit. In a small cauldron, there was a thick soup so Merlin put the whole container onto the embers to warm it up.

"Thomas did us proud…" said Arthur.

"A feast fit for a king!" said Merlin with a sly grin.

Warm and well fed, they leaned back and gazed at the fire. Merlin finally said, "Did I miss anything in particular?"

"Nothing apart from some questionable remarks from your friend Gawaine when he heard that you were going to be back among the living…sorry, that sounded callous but you know what I meant."

"What did he say?" Arthur told him and Merlin grinned saying, "No flies on him! He calls it as he sees it. But seriously, once everything is back to normal will there be a memorial ceremony for Basil and Alan?"

"Yes, to begin with we'll toast them as deceased Knights of Camelot at our next banquet but I intend to invite their families to visit over the summer and we can do something special. They died as a result of working as knights of Camelot, they deserve to be remembered in a special way."

But that never came to pass as Basil's family had been wiped out by the same disease which Basil and Alan had brought to Camelot. Alan's brother the young Sir Brynn took time off to visit his elderly father and to return to him Alan's sword which had been a family heirloom and which his father in return gave to him as the surviving son.

The news coming from cities which had had the illness was dire, hundreds dead and families wiped out. For the longest time, the disease was foremost in Arthur's mind. Merlin asked Gaius to speak to him and he was able when encouraged by Gaius to let the past lie undisturbed and think of the present. Arthur then only ever referred to it as that winter.

-0-0-

The spirits of the castle residents was picking up. The winter had been mild and already the earliest of wild flowers were sending up their greenery in the ditches alongside the roads. Windows were open and fresh air was flooding into the castle which had been closed since mid November. Maids were busy starting the seasonal cleaning and thoughts of relocating their bedchamber returned to Merlin and Arthur.

They had visited their new chambers and everything was progressing according to plan. The bedchamber was ready for its occupants. The royal bed was the original. The headboard, posters and wooden canopy had been given a thorough cleaning and the ropes and wood slates to support the mattress had been replaced.

A new horsehair mattress was in place but the upper mattress of down and fleece was not yet present. The bed furnishings, curtains and covers had also been replaced. Merlin had the tendency to giggle when he thought of the look on Uthur's face if he had had been privileged to the fact that a formerly loathed servant boy would be actually sleeping in his bed.

Arthur caught him at it and said, "Merlin, grow up! Think about it. Where else would you sleep?"

"…on a pull out trundle bed or maybe in the manservant's room."

"Remember 'wither thou goest' and as I have no intention of sleeping on a trundle or in the manservant's quarters, it's the king's bed or nothing…"

Merlin looked at the most important person in his life and said, "King's bed it is then!"

Once inside the antechamber, the door directly opposite led to the royal manservant's chamber large enough to have a fair sized bed and adequate space for a chest, table and chair. Pegs on the wall provided space to store clothes. Thomas had his own chambers in the married staff quarters so if needed the space would be used for storage or as Arthur assured Merlin somewhere he could sleep when he was not in the king's favour.

He retaliated with, "Well, it might be handy should I decide to entertain one night!"

"Merlin, any entertaining you will be doing will be with me…"

"But you never know, I might decide I was ready for a change…some young blood."

"Anyone in particular?"

Merlin grinned, no one appealed to him as Arthur did but he wasn't going to let on, so he said off hand, "Ask me later tonight and I might tell you."

Arthur punched him in the shoulder and they continued checking the area.

A corridor led off to the right; off it were doors to various chambers. Arthur's private dining room was ready for them. Besides its door from the interior hallway, it had its own staff door off the main antechamber, allowing the staff direct access to the room without going further into the royal chambers. It could easily seat ten but six or less would be the normal number of guests.

The remainder of the doors led to a meeting room, a sitting room with a large table where Arthur could work and a large bed chamber overlooking the courtyard. Across the end of the apartments was the extended solar and an extra bedchamber.

The meeting room was ready and Arthur's sitting room and his work area only lacked his current parchments, reference books and personal mementos.

Arthur stood in the bedchamber and surveyed it. He reached out and pulled Merlin closer to him. "Is there anything which is not to your liking beside the bed?"

Shaking his head, Merlin said, "No everything is just perfect. The room is bright and airy and even the bed looks less imposing when you're beside me."

"We have a reputation to uphold," so saying Arthur pulled Merlin around and smartly depositing him on the horsehair mattress. He smiled down at him saying, "Don't move, I'll lock the door."

But Merlin did move, the mattress was pricking his back, "I need a blanket of something, it's too itchy."

"Honestly, Merlin, you would never think that we were used to making the best of what was available. Come here, at least we can sit on the bench in front of the hearth and have a good cuddle."

Merlin smiled; deep down it was not only the scratching from the rough horsehair mattress which had been bothering him. He was still not sure about the damned bed. "Arthur's there's no fire and it is still chilly in here. Let's continue checking everything and then we can return to our own chamber."

"You're blushing...I do believe that you are having second thoughts. Come here, everything will be all right even with Uther glaring over my shoulder when we make love."

Merlin shoved Arthur away and then the two of them collapsed laughing on the upholstered bench. Arthur whispered, "You have nothing to worry about, I'll take care of you. I'll be gentle and loving." Merlin grinned at him and putting his arms around his neck, pulled Arthur closer to him.

They continued checking subsequent rooms and Merlin demanded a kiss in each room as a toll, finally deciding that the solar was going to be his favourite room.

Arthur said, "Maybe we should have a cot in the corner, just in case…"

"In case…what? …don't bother I got it! Anyway, how would we explain that to your friends?"

"Knowing you, it probably wouldn't surprise any of them." Merlin gave him the raised eyebrow but Arthur continued, "We might start a fashion, comfy soft furniture in sitting rooms. I bet that would appeal to a lot of people. Just think, on bright sunny afternoons we could recline on the bed admiring the sky and the tops of the trees."

"Then if that is what you want we could relocate the bedchamber in here."

"What and be woken up every morning by the sun? I don't think so!"

"But you have to get up anyway, so what's the difference?"

"I prefer waking in a dimly lit room, slowly letting my eyes become accustomed to the light, knowing that the solid lump beside me is you."

"Times must be bad if you have now demoted me to a lump!"

Arthur laughed, "You, Merlin, are the most lovable lump in the whole world and one I am only too willing to awaken to each day."

"Sire, your flattery exceeds even you!" said Merlin wrapping his arms around Arthur and holding him close. He thought back to the day he had come to Camelot, never had he expected to have anything to do with the king…and now. He smiled chuckling.

Arthur felt the chuckles saying, "What's so funny?"

"Life," said Merlin putting his finger under Arthur's chin and tipped his head back so that he could give him a kiss.

Merlin did a final sweep of the chambers before joining Arthur in the antechamber, "Everything is as it should be. Let's get back, I'm ready to move." They walked side by side along the corridor, "There's nothing to worry about. Let Thomas take care of everything. He'll have other servants to help. Now, that I've seen it again, I want to be there."

Arthur grinned, he liked it when Merlin took charge which he often did in their private lives. "Very well, you go ahead and speak with Thomas and I'll let Humphrey know that we're ready to move."

-0-0-

They were approached by senior squire. "Your Majesty, Sir Leon asked that I give you this and wait for a reply."

Arthur took the message and read it. Handing it over to Merlin, he said to the squire, "Cadmus, isn't it?" The squire bowed nodding. "Return to Sir Leon to tell him, I'll see him immediately in my chamber. Then come back as well as I'll need you."

The squire bowed smartly, "Sire!" he said, turned and left the way he'd come.

When he was out of earshot, Merlin commented "What do you make of it?"

"It seems improbable."

"How did they get this close without being apprehended? Where are the lookouts? Surely, you should have been notified?"

They had reached their chambers. Merlin was upset, he had dealt with slave traders before. They ruined the lives of the families who lost children regardless of their age. They disrupted the running of the villages often leaving abandoned farmland in their wake as broken families failed to survive. They were the most despicable of bandits as they had no respect for their captives.

Young men were needed in other kingdoms for mining and agriculture, the former extracted a heavy cost on lives. The demand was there and as to the supply, some people felt that it was fare game to steal and sell boys. Ages could be from nine year old to the late teens. Some never completed the journey to their destination, due to injuries sustained in their capture or accidents along the way. The villages were hit double fold, their young sons were removed and in many cases, fathers defending them were also taken or killed. Women died defending their older children. This resulted in other younger children being left orphans and in villages where there was hardly any food to go around, their lives were less than ideal. An abandoned three year old had little chance of surviving unless it was taken in by another family.

In rare cases the boys were saved. Those seen as too weak to work or injured and not worth saving were abandoned. Some managing to find other villages where they were taken in by caring people and some even lucky enough to make their ways back home. However, many didn't…

For Merlin, closer to home was the situation which had faced Treva. He knew that this wasn't the same but three children of a family had been killed along with their parents leaving Treva as the sole survivor. The boy had experienced physical pain and mental anguish. Merlin thought that life was hard enough without having strangers separate you from your family.

Arthur grabbed a map and threw it on the table. He put an inkwell and a dagger to hold it down. He poured over it finally stabbing an area with his finger. The area was forested well within the boundaries of Camelot and too close for comfort.

"Someone let down the side," he said. "Look, Wickfield is here and there's the Roman bridge, the road leads through Hazelwood, surely someone would have raised the alarm.

Thomas knocked walked in, "Sire, Sir Leon is here."

"Send him in and tell Cadmus to notify Sirs Spenser, Gawaine, Simon, Romney, Aislin and Rook that we are eating here tonight. Notify the kitchen as well."

Thomas bowed and left. He met with Cadmus in the antechamber and together they left to notify Arthur's knights.

Arthur sat at the table motioning for Leon to join him. "What the hell happened? Are the reports documented? The reported death toll is huge and what about the rumours that the bandits are still in the area?"

"First, Arthur, the reports are true. Survivors started arriving in Wickfield and immediately the town council sent messengers on to Hazelwood. From there the news was picked up by one of the guard outposts and news came to us while the guards went immediately to the area of conflict sending back official reports."

"The bandits were surrounded but they outnumbered the guards who had heavy fatalities. These bandits are well armed and experienced." Arthur nodded but Leon wasn't finished, "But we have another problem, a group of squires with accompanying knights is also in the area…"