Chapter 4… Whose servant?
A week passed, and Merlin's life fell into a routine. He'd wake up in the morning, deliver the medicines for Gaius, and then he would do whatever he wanted. He had met the other three knights from that first day officially, and befriended them. They all seemed very nice and friendly.
Sir Leon, the blonde curly haired one, was the head knight of Camelot; he was the second in command of the army after Arthur.
The big, tall knight was called Sir Percival, and despite his size he was one of the kindest and gentlest of people Merlin had ever met.
Sir Elyan, the dark skinned one, was good with metal. Merlin had learned from Gwen that their father was a blacksmith.
Gwen, too, had become a good friend to Merlin, despite being a lady. She used to be a maidservant to Princess Morgana, in till her brother was knighted. Although she was of nobility now, and her best friend was the Princess, she hadn't seemed to forget about her friends from when she was a servant. Merlin had seen her more than once, chatting and even helping servants around the castle.
Merlin first met the Princess Morgana when he was delivering a medicine for her, although she doesn't know, and Merlin hopes to the lord she never finds out. He had walked in to find her back to him. She had thought it was Gwen, and had gone behind the screen to change. Merlin, not knowing what to do had pretended he was Gwen, in till the lady in question had come in and saved him.
Merlin had yet to meet the king and queen of Camelot, apart from seeing them briefly around the castle.
Whenever Merlin could, he would spend time with his two friends, Gwaine and Lancelot.
Merlin tried to avoid Arthur, but he met the Prince a few more times. One or two times Arthur didn't notice him, so he walked away without engaging in banter with the Prince. However a few times he wasn't as lucky. Although they never had an argument or fight like the one they already had on Merlin's first few days, they did exchange colourful insults.
The following week was the Queen's Birthday. The whole kingdom was celebrating. However this meant a lot of work from Merlin, as the housemaster of the castle had hired him as a pair of extra hands. He had never appreciated what his servants went through for such an event!
The night of the celebration a feast was held, and Merlin could only go to as hired help. The Queen's Birthday was very different to Merlin's own. Where Merlin's guests were all mostly servants, the invitees to this festivity were all of nobility. The servants were only there to work.
Merlin saw the king and Queen properly for the first time, and a sort of sadness gripped his heart, making him realise he missed his own parents. He'd never been gone from them for so long. King Uther was just as authoritative as his own father, and Queen Ygraine just as beautiful as his own mother.
He was gathering plates of food to serve, when Gwen walked over.
"Hello Merlin," she said kindly.
"Hello Gwen," Merlin returned smiling at her.
"Lovely turnout isn't it?" Gwen chatted. "To think last year I was here to work, this year I'm here as a guest!" Merlin grinned at her.
"Quite a change, next thing you know, you'll be married to a noble or God forbid the Prince and it'll be your birthday we'll be celebrating!"
"God not Arthur!" She laughed "poor his future wife!"
"Come on Gwen," Merlin teased her. "I thought you liked the rough, tough, save the world kind of man."
"No, I like much more ordinary men like you…" She laughed again.
"Believe me Gwen, I'm not ordinary." Merlin reassured her.
"I didn't mean you!" Gwen exclaimed. "I just meant much more ordinary men, like you." Merlin stared at the flushed girl, before he grinned.
"Thanks…" He told her. She blushed harder, before moving away to speak with the Princess, who was looking exceptionally beautiful.
Soon after everyone took their seats, and Merlin moved to stand at the side, like all the other servants. The King gave this speech, before introducing the kingdom's best singer.
Lady Helen began to sing at the other end of the hall. She had a peaceful voice, it made Merlin feel drowsy, but he fought it, he couldn't fall asleep here. He looked around for a distraction, before he realised that everyone else was falling asleep. Not only that, but cobwebs where gathering over them, as if they had been asleep for years.
Merlin quickly deduced what was happening, and covered his ears. He followed the singer's eyesight to Arthur. She was clearly a sorceress wanting to hurt the Prince of Camelot. With a thought, Merlin released the chandelier on top of her, ending the spell she had cast on the hall. Everyone woke up with a start, wiping the cobwebs off themselves, confused at what had happened. Looking over, Merlin noticed that the witch had turned into an old woman who was drawing out a dagger from her bosom.
Her movements caught everyone's attention, as she threw the dagger at Arthur, with accuracy only achieved by magic. Merlin didn't think; he just acted. A flash of his eyes and time slowed down, he ran to Arthur and pulled him out of the way. Suddenly time sped up, and as the two boys fell to the floor the dagger embedded itself into the chair, right where Arthur's heart would have been.
MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA
Arthur stared at the dagger that had been meant for his heart. He hardly heard that shriek of his mother and Morgana, or his father's demand for someone to check on the singer turned old witch. Before he knew it, someone was helping him to use get up on his feet.
He looked over to his rescuer, and was stunned to see Merlin. The boy moved back when the Queen and her daughter ran to Arthur to hug him and make sure that he was alright. The blonde Prince reassured them that he was fine, all the while staring at the brunette. His father came over and grabbed his shoulder, looking him up and down, making sure he was alright. Then the King looked over to Merlin and said:
"You saved my boy's life!" Merlin went red, and dropped his head.
"It was nothing your Majesty." He said modestly.
"No," Uther said, while squeezing Arthur's shoulder. "Such bravery must be rewarded!" The boy went even redder, if that was possible.
"Well if you insist sire," he said shyly.
"I do," the king boomed. "You shall have a position in the Royal household. You shall be Prince Arthur's manservant!"
"What?" Both boys said in unison, but the clapping of everyone in the hall drowned this objection out. The boys looked at each other, before looking away in disgruntlement.
The next morning, Arthur was woken up with a loud bang. He sat up quickly, grapping his sword from next to his bed, shouting, "freeze!" He looked around for the source of the noise, and came face-to-face with around eyed Merlin, holding a breakfast tray.
"Breakfast?" Merlin asked innocently. Arthur stared, before the events of the night before came to him. He groaned, he was stuck with this idiot.
Merlin, oblivious to Arthur's misery, placed the tray on the grumpy Prince's table with a bang, and then opened the curtains. Arthur winced at the bright light. He replaced his sword, and then sat at his table and began to eat.
"You are such a slob!" Merlin declared. Arthur turned to the boy, and saw him scrutinizing the room. There were his clothing from the previous day on the floor, some of his paperwork had fallen off his desk, and pieces of his armour could be found all over the room. Arthur shrugged; it wasn't his job to clean up the place, that's why he had servants. He resumed eating, and Merlin begun to make his bed, and then clean his room, all the while grumbling under his breath. Arthur rolled his eyes; Merlin didn't seem to be a very good servant.
By the time Merlin finished dressing the Prince of Camelot, Arthur had had enough.
"Will you shut up!" He exclaimed. Merlin frowned, but went quiet thankfully, or so Arthur thought. After about two minutes Merlin spoke again.
"Don't you know how to dress yourself?" He grumbled, and Arthur rolled his eyes.
"You are a manservant for a reason," he told the boy. "And you need to call me sire." Arthur didn't miss Merlin's eye roll. "Come on, I have training to do!"
Merlin was slightly more competent in the training field, but Arthur thought that that was because he had been trained himself. However at everything else Merlin was rubbish.
When they went hunting a few days later, Merlin was so noisy, that he scared away all the game. It was the first time in his life when Arthur came back empty-handed. His bad mood and complaints didn't seem to faze Merlin either, who stared around looking cheerful, which didn't help Arthur's bad mood.
One day at training, more than a month later, Arthur stood at the side, observing and evaluating his knights. Merlin stood next to him, sharpening his sword. His knights were good, too good and they knew it. Arthur wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. As Sir Owain lunged at a dummy and sliced his head off, and then turned around and gloated at the rest of them, Arthur heard Merlin snort.
"What was that?" Arthur asked him.
"What was what?" Merlin asked in return.
"Are you not impressed with my knights?" Arthur demanded.
"No I am…" The Prince-turned-servant said hurriedly.
"But…?"
"Well they are a little arrogant, aren't they?" The blonde stared.
"There is nothing wrong with being a proud of your talents," he told Merlin. "Something you know nothing about." The boy rolled his eyes at the insult, but otherwise ignored it, instead he said:
"There's nothing wrong with pride, but arrogance can be dangerous. What if they are in a real fight, and they pose to gloat? All it takes is a moment of distraction for a man to die."
"Don't be melodramatic Merlin," Arthur ridiculed. However he did agree with Merlin, he didn't mind his knights being proud, but there was a difference between pride and too much confidence. "What do you suggest I do then?" He asked his servant in the end.
Merlin posed in his chore, looked up at Arthur, then at his knights. In the end he said, "Let them fight me."
"What?" Arthur asked befuddled.
"If they are too arrogant about their abilities, then they'll really be knocked down a peg or two if they lose to a servant."
"I don't want to humiliate them." The blonde stated. In response he got:
"Better to be humiliated than dead. Besides, if they are humiliated, they are not likely to make that mistake again." Arthur looked at Merlin in surprise.
"You know Merlin, sometimes you say something and you almost sound…"
"What?" Merlin enquired.
"Well I want to say wise, but…" They both looked at each other and said together, "Nah…!" Before laughing.
"What makes you think you can beat my knights?" Arthur asked.
"Because I held my own against you, and let's face it you got lucky when you won." The blonde Prince contemplated the brunette's words.
"Alright Merlin, you're on."
"What?"
"Get ready," Arthur ordered. "You'll duel with one of my knights." With that he walked towards his warriors, not waiting for a response.
The knights stopped what they were doing when they saw Arthur coming their way, all off them smiling, clearly thinking they're about to be praised by him.
"What the hell was that?" He demanded, smiling internally with amusement as he saw the confusion take over their faces. "My mother fights better than that!"
"Sire?" Leon stepped forward hesitatingly.
"You call yourselves night of Camelot!" He shouted at them.
"Sire," Owain said. "What was wrong?"
"Everything!" Arthur exclaimed, enjoying himself a little. "My manservant could beat you all!" A snort came from one of the knights. "Sir Gerald," Arthur singled him out. "Do you think you can beat my servant, with the way you were fighting?"
"Well…" Gerald began, blinking at the question. He looked over at Merlin, and then back at Arthur, before saying with confidence, "yes sire, I can."
"Okay," the Prince smirked. "Prove it."
"What?" The warrior looked shocked.
"Duel with Merlin." He pointed to the way in question; who was choosing a sword, checking their weight in his hand. Gerald barked a laugh. Arthur had to admit; Merlin didn't look like much. However since Merlin had fought Arthur, for several minutes more than the required one, the blonde Prince knew Merlin could do it. Sir Gerald, had barley managed the one-minute against Arthur, when he was qualifying for a knighthood.
Gerald got ready, while the other knights stood around the field with Arthur. Merlin had chosen a sword and shield, and had trotted over to stand opposite Gerald. By now they had also attracted a crowd, as people began to notice what exactly was going on, on the training field. With the growing crowd, the noise level went up. Everyone was shouting, encouraging someone, mostly Merlin. Arthur then realised that if Merlin won, not only was it a lesson to his knights, but also a lift of morale for the people. From the look he was giving their crowd, Merlin realised this too. The blonde winced; this was putting too much pressure on the boy. As Arthur was preparing to give his speech of fair play – it was needed now, due to the crowd – he was approached by Sir Lancelot.
"Sire," the handsome knight said. "Is this wise?" Arthur looked at him, and then replied.
"This was Merlin's own idea, Lancelot." The knight gave, what Arthur thought to be, a long-suffering sigh. Well he did know Merlin, Arthur thought.
"Sir Gerald and Merlin!" He said aloud, and immediately there was silence among the audience, which was growing by the second. "I want a fair fight!" He was about to say the first one to knock the other to the ground wins, but then changed his mind looking at Merlin. "The first one to…" He thought for a bit then got an idea. He walked over to Merlin, and then yanked his neckerchief of his neck, before ripping it in two.
"Hey!" Merlin said indignantly reaching for the cloth too late.
"You can mend it later." Arthur said to him, before raising his voice again. "The first one to take the other's band wins!" There was a loud cheer as the Prince wrapped one of the pieces around Merlin's bicep.
"My mother gave me that!" Merlin hissed at him angrily. Arthur felt a little guilty, but said nothing as he walked over to Sir Gerald to do the same. When done he walked to the edge of the field with everyone else, to watch.
"Begin!" He shouted and the crowd went wild.
The two in the middle however, didn't react much, except to begin circling facing each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.
It was Gerald who lunged first, his sword connecting with Merlin's shield, who used it to add momentum to the sword and pushing it aside before hitting Gerald on the back with the flat side of his own weapon.
"You would have been dead in a real fight." Arthur heard him tell the knight. He laughed, the idiot was tutoring is knight!
Arthur heard a growl from Gerald, before the young knight lunged again. Arthur shook his head; the pride of his knight must be too high, if a simple comment against his ability makes him so angry. Merlin was right; this was good for his warriors.
Merlin easily deflected the attack. The blond prince was impressed Merlin really was good. He would have never guessed if he had not seen it with the way the boy behaved. When Arthur thought about it he realised that Merlin wasn't as arrogant as the knights. Arthur's opinion went up about his raven-haired manservant.
The fight went on for a while longer, always with Gerald attacking, and Merlin defending. The young boy was constantly giving Gerald advice too! It was quite funny actually.
All of the sudden, Merlin went from defensive, to offensive, and with a few fast moves, he had Gerald on his back, weaponless. Merlin held his own sword to the knight's throat, before bending down and untying the half of his neckerchief from Gerald's arm. He then extended his hand to help the fallen knight get up, after removing his sword. Raising his hand, he held the ripped cloth in the air to the thunder of applause and shouts. Arthur smiled at Merlin, and went to his knights to drive in the lesson they should have learned from this.
They were just packing up, when a serving boy ran to Arthur to tell him that his father required him in the great Hall. A messenger from Ealdor had just arrived!
MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA
Merlin's heart sank as he heard the message that Arthur got. He looked around for his two friends to share in the dilemma, his earlier cheer over his win, completely gone. Unfortunately, Lancelot had already left the field, and Gwaine was too far away, chatting to some of his colleagues.
"Come on Merlin," Arthur called as he made his way towards the castle.
"But I need to put this stuff away," Merlin said hopefully.
"You can do that later, I need you to come with me now." Arthur ordered.
"But…"
"Merlin, now!" The Prince – turned – servant dropped his head and followed the blond boy to the castle. Once there, Merlin peaked at that messenger in the middle of the hall, carrying Ealdor's colours. He took a sigh of relief. He didn't know the messenger; therefore the messenger didn't know him. This one was a young one, with sandy hair and keen black eyes.
When Arthur and Merlin took their place, the King prompted the young messenger to speak.
"Your Majesty," he began. "I bring grave news from Ealdor."
"What has happened?" King Uther enquired.
"The Emrys Prince has disappeared sire," the messenger explained. There was a gasp from the Queen at this news. "We have searched the kingdom, but are yet to find him. King Balinor wishes to ask of you and the other kingdoms, if you could search your kingdoms for our Prince."
"This is terrible news indeed!" Uther affirmed. "We will of course do what we can. For now why don't you get some rest, you must have had a rough journey." He indicated that some servants to take the man to some accommodation and to bring him some food. After thanking the King, the young man from Ealdor followed the servants out of the hall.
The King then turned to his son, "gather some man and leave at dawn."
End of chapter
Thank you to everyone who has been commenting, or adding me/my story! And a shout out to MerlinMorgana1579 for giving me some wonderful ideas!
The idea of Merlin dueling one of the knights to teach them a lesson in arrogance, was something I read in another fan fiction a long time ago. I cannot remember which one it was, so if anyone has any complaints please let me know and I will remove it from the story. I just like the idea a lot, and kind of made it my own. I have done some changes of my own.
To answer a common question that I got; this story does not follow the TV show too closely (like a chapter per episode), this is a different story to that of the one told by the show… the first episode was one of my favorites, especially the way the two hero's of the story meet. There will be other conversations and interactions from the show in this story, but only if it goes with my tale… and that will mostly be between Arthur and Merlin and a few others.
I also haven't decided yet whether Merlin will reveal his magic or not, although magic is legal, Merlin is trying to hide… if he does reveal it, he will keep the extend of it's true force to himself.