Title: Magic Words
Genre: Romance / History
Rating: T
Pairing: Merlin x Arthur
Spoilers: N/A
Summary: And they shall be among the people and they shall speak truths and whisper secrets. And thou shall know them by their craft… Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.
Word Count: 1,487
Warnings: AU
Disclaimer: Not mine. Summary from the Bible?
A/N: As someone obsessed with the Salem Witch Trials, this needed to happen.
With a sigh, Merlin collapsed onto his mattress, groaned at the soft weight of it, and sinking in. He could not remember a time in his life that he had ever been this tired – and that included those heinous six months when Gaius had had him out at all hours of the night hunting fireflies for some obscure ritual.
The mattress bounced and dipped beside him when Arthur followed his head and collapsed beside him. "I'm so tired."
Rolling over, Merlin pressed his side against the long length beside him, delighting in the simple act of being able to reach out and touch, whenever he wanted. It was still a novelty to him, one that he was looking forward to taking advantage of for many, many years. "Me, too."
"You, too?" The tone was thick with sarcasm, and Arthur turned his head to blink open one bleary eye at Merlin, eyebrow arched in consternation. "Why? Have you had to perform fifty-two – that's fifty-two if you didn't hear me – retrials for the accused? Trying to sift out actual evidence from hearsay? Or have you just been hanging out there, eating and making unwanted comments under your breath?"
Merlin grinned. "I don't understand why you can't just let them all go? I mean – you've released forty-nine of them, why not just release the last couple, too?"
Arthur sighed, sitting up and looking down at Merlin, eyes serious and determined. "Those people were only being held and had only been accused based on spectral evidence. Things that won't hold up in a court of low. I can't prove some woman's spirit didn't accost someone at night." He shrugged. "Maybe people here just have really intense nightmares."
"But – "
"But the remaining accused have more substantial evidence pitted against them. And I'm sorry," he said when Merlin opened his mouth to argue again, "that Gaius happens to be one of them. But I can't show favoritism, especially," he said, poking Merlin in the stomach, making the air whoosh out of him, "since I know that Gaius really is a witch."
Flashing Arthur another cheeky grin, the one that always made him roll his eyes – ah, there it was – and forgive him, Merlin reached up to tangle his fingers in Arthur's hair. "Yeah, I suppose so." Fiddling with the strands, he hesitated, mulling over his words.
"What is it, Merlin?"
He smiled softly. He could never hide anything from him. "I was just wondering," he said casually, trailing a hand down Arthur's side, watching the eyes try to frown at him, but fluttering closed at the sensation, "if you had heard," that trailing hand reach jutting hipbones, fingers splaying and pressing, breath stuttering, "from you dear friend Lancelot recently…"
Blue eyes snapped open. "Are you s-serious?" He words hitched when delicate finger ventured under the waistband of his trousers. "You k-know very well that there is noth – noth – nothing there!"
With a quick twist, Merlin flipped them over, pinning Arthur beneath him, eyes narrows and predatory and gold. "Ah, but I see the way he looks at you, Arthur." He nudged knees apart, settled himself firmly on top of the body splayed beneath him. "He looks at you as if he is imaging doing all" nails scraped down his sides, "sorts," teeth nipped a jaw, "of" hips rolled, "things" hips thrust, "to you," a tongue dipped into a gasping mouth.
Later, much later, while they lazed beside one another, quiet and content, Arthur cleared his throat. When Merlin glanced down at him. "Lancelot," he paused, swallowed, then continued. "He was in love with me – or close to it, I guess, I don't know." He shrugged. "We were very young. He was – is – one of my father's soldiers, but a commoner." When Merlin arched a brow at them, Arthur flushed. "I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that, but, I mean – he was, we were both men, and I – "
"Hey." Merlin brushed a gentle hand through Arthur's hair. "It's alright, little dragon." He smiled. "I thought as much. He looks at you with great affection." At Arthur's terrified expression, Merlin chuckled. "Like someone who's crush had turned into true friendship. You shouldn't snub him so. I won't get jealous." He watched with great interest as the flush, which had almost dissipated, returned full force.
"I mean, that's not, a problem, exactly." It was mumbled so softly that Merlin had to strain to hear it.
Another chuckle. "Well I can do that without being jealous." He flicked the tip of Arthur's nose. "I just meant that I trust you." He ached to ask Arthur what it was that made Merlin different from Lancelot, but wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer. If it was something – fleeting – he didn't want to know yet. Better to live in this dream a little longer. He could wait. Settling Arthur more firmly against his side, he decided to change the subject – lifestyle changes and emotions could only be spoken of for so long before things started to get awkward. "Have you thought about what you're going to do about the remaining accused?"
When Arthur heaved a sigh beside him, it was ragged and deep – clearly it was something that he had been dwelling on for a long time, weeks, perhaps months. "Well there's nothing I can do about them – I'm here to see if any of the accused are not witches. I've done that. It will take a higher power than my temporarily granted position to pardon them. I guess I should tell the villagers that."
Merlin was nodding in agreement as he spoke. "And to settle the people from continuing to accuse new witches?"
"I was actually thinking that maybe you can help me with that…"
"Me?" He sounded skeptical.
"Yeah." Arthur was grinning in a way that was making Merlin decidedly nervous. "I just need to know a little bit more about witchcraft."
"Attention! Attention!" Arthur's voice rang out across the chamber, loud and resolute, broking no argument. The room descended into silence. "I would like to address a few concerns about the remaining accused." He passed, Merlin thought mostly for affect – he was good at things like that. "Unfortunately, the evidence against those remaining is more than I can easily overlook. I have no experience in witchcraft trials, only in general courts of law. As such, those remaining will wait for a higher power than myself to clear their names. But they will be removed from the general prison cells and be placed under house arrest at the local in." When gentle murmuring and conversation began, he held up one hand. "In addition, in order to address the remaining issues some of you still seem to have to accusing new witches," he glared at a few choice individuals who fidgeted in their seats, "there are now pamphlets for your use in order to assist you. Thank you."
Accusing Witches
1. If something happened to you while you were sleeping: it was a dream, not a witch
2. Witches do not bargain with the Devil, nor are they the minions of the Devil
3. If you see someone performing a sacrifice, please alert the authorities, they are a murderer.
4. Midwifes, healers, doctors, farmers – none of these people are witches
5. Please bring any notice of strange signs or symbols to the authorities
6. Please remember that children and vindictive adults have been known to play pranks that might be misconstrued as witchcraft.
7. Medicinal potions are not "magic" – they are healing arts utilizing the items on the Earth that God has given us.
8. People who speak other language or have strange names are not witches, they are foreign.
We live in a world juxtaposed between two eras: the era of our ancestors, of myth and magic, and the era of our children, of truth and religion. We, as the people of a noble and intelligent society, must be able to set aside our differences and, yes, our beliefs, for moments such as these. Are the people who do things differently from us witches – in league with the Devil? Or are they merely different? As different as men and women, but still the same in all the ways that matter. God teaches us to love one another – to be kind to our neighbors – to not judge. Let us be children of the Lord in the way that he intended us to be.
-Arthur Pendragon
Judge, Superior Court