I do not own BBC's Merlin, their characters or plot lines.

I'm making an effort to update more regularly so we will see if I can keep it up! I make custom dolls and I have quite a few orders I need to be taking care of right now instead of writing but here I am ha-ha.

Wanted to quickly thank GuestM for all the reviews, I enjoy seeing your insights!

Chapter 7

As dusk began to settle over them that evening, the group found a clearing that could be easily guarded and made camp. As much as Arthur hated to admit it, as they made their fire and their stomachs began to rumble, he was glad he had George. His manservant had quickly run down to the kitchens to pack up enough food for their journey. When Percival and Gwaine strolled back into camp having gone down to a nearby river to fill their waterskins, they brought a few trout with them to roast over the fire making for a decent dinner when paired with the bread, cheese and figs George had packed them.

As the knights were clearing away the remnants of dinner and laying out bedrolls around the fire, Merlin stood anxiously rubbing his hands on his legs. "I'm going to go look for more kindling to get us through the night." Lancelot quickly volunteered to join and followed him into the woods. The pair stayed close to each other, comfortably making small talk as they filled their arms with sticks and branches before returning to camp and joining the group sitting on their bedrolls around the fire.

It was Gwaine that finally broke the silence. "Tell us about Ealdor, Merlin. What was it like growing up there?" They all turned to look at him as he weighed the words on his tongue before speaking.

"We never had much. I never knew my father. My mother was desperately in love with him but he was on the run from the king and he left before he even knew she was pregnant. She never even had the chance to tell him about me. It made things difficult on us both, me being born out of wedlock, but she worked incredibly hard to create a good life for us and she earned the respect of the other villagers. We had a small home on the edge of town with a bit of land that we farmed to keep us going. We also had a lovely garden that we grew flowers in and she would take them to market to sell regularly. I suppose that's why I bring Princess Isolde a small bouquet every week, sire." Merlin looked at the king and smiled sadly. Arthur couldn't help but return the smile as unshed tears danced in his own eyes. "She was an educated woman and made sure I was properly educated. She could read, write and speak three languages and while our home only had one room, we had a great many books. We would sit by the fire in the evening and read aloud to each other after supper. She was a wonderful cook. When I first started teaching myself the healing arts, I would spend all day in the forest with Will finding herbs and plants to study and the moment we reached the edge of the forest lining our property we could smell supper was waiting for us and our stomachs would begin growling." The men chuckled at this. "Being who I was; my paternity, whom I chose to love, my interests, my gangly appearance was difficult in our small village and my mother could see that I struggled to fit in. I rarely socialized with anyone but her or Will. When we heard the court physician in Nemeth was looking for an apprentice, she packed my bags and spent all her savings to buy me Tegan over there," Merlin nodded towards the horses tied at the edge of the clearing, "and sent me on my way. That is where I stayed until she took ill and I left my position to move home to care for her." Of course, Merlin left out that the real reason she sent him as far away as Nemeth was that Cenred had heard of his powers and held him captive trying to claim him for his army. "That is, until Guinevere's father sent for me and requested I accompany her to Camelot. Her family is well aware of my … preferences and felt quite secure that her virtue would be safe with me." He gave a cheeky grin at that and the knights laughed. "I've spent so little time with my mother over the past six years," Merlin hung his head, "and I'm going to miss her so much. I struggle with the idea that I'll never hear her laugh again or be wrapped in her warm embrace. She had this incredible ability to make you feel like," his voice cracked and he scrubbed his hand down his face as the tears began to flow, "like you were the most important person in the world while she hugged you. You lot would have loved her, and she you." The men murmured their agreements and Lancelot and Arthur placed a hand on each shoulder and gently squeezed, reminding him he was not alone. He took a deep breath and wiped his face again before looking up. "I think I would like to get some rest so we can get an early start tomorrow."

"Great idea. Elyan, you take first watch and the rest of us hunker down for the night." Arthur commanded and the men all went to their bedrolls.

The rode into Ealdor with Merlin leading the way mid-afternoon the next day. Merlin had pointed out his home to Arthur and they had almost reached it when a short man walked out of a nearby house and Merlin pulled his mare to an immediate stop and hopped off. The knights quickly came to a stop behind him and looked at each other in confusion before watching Merlin stride to the man, put his hand around the back of his head and pull him to his body before wrapping his other arm around him in a hug. The man only had one working arm and had it wrapped tightly around Merlin's lower back. Merlin was speaking quietly in the man's ear and the man nodded in return, tears in his eyes. Merlin pulled back enough to lightly kiss the man's lips before momentarily resting their foreheads together and then breaking apart and turning back to the knights. Some of the knights looked confused, some shocked, but Gwaine had a sly grin on his face that let Merlin know he thoroughly approved of the display of affection.

As they had all sat around the fire that morning eating breakfast before breaking camp and heading for Ealdor, Merlin introduced the men as his friends without titles and by their first names. "Will these are my friends: Arthur, Leon, Elyan, Percival, Lancelot and Gwaine. This is my oldest friend Will." His friends all nodded a greeting. Merlin turned toward Will before speaking again. "I'm going to take them down to the cottage so we can water and corral the horses. I'd like you to make your way down soon so I can check on those wounds and make sure you are healing appropriately." Will nodded before returning inside his house and Merlin mounted his mare and led the way the rest of the way to his mother's home. When they had all unsaddled their horses and watered and corralled them, Merlin took them inside the modest home.

The men looked around briefly with their bags still slung over their shoulders. "It's not much but it's been home all my life. There is only one bedroom so we will have to just scatter our bedrolls around where we can find the space. Arthur, you will take my mother's bed. It's not what you are accustomed to but it's better than the floor."

"No, Merlin. I couldn't..."

"I insist, sire. If you are comfortable, however, we should be able to fit one or two bedrolls on the floor in there as well. That way we can be a bit more spread out."

"Of course." Arthur answered. "Merlin, may I ask you something?"

Merlin looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "You want to know if Will and I are together?" Merlin guessed.

"Well, yes, I am rather curious about that but that is not what I was going to ask."

Merlin looked surprised. After their discussion on the training field the previous day and then the display of affection they had witnessed moments before, he thought for sure that was what he was going to ask. "Oh. Will and I are not courting. In a way, I suppose we did in our youth. We were each other's first love and I think that feeling doesn't ever fully die. But we outgrew our relationship and decided friendship was far more fitting. What was it you planned on asking?"

Arthur felt strangely at ease after hearing Merlin was not courting the young man. "You and Will spoke when we first met him. Were you discussing your mother's funeral?"

Merlin nodded. "Yes. He and a couple of the men buried her body for me so she could begin her journey to Avalon with dignity. He was telling me the location so I could go and give her a proper funeral." Merlin wiped a tear off his cheek that he hadn't realized had escaped. Gwaine squeezed his shoulder and gave him an empathetic smile. A knock at the door drew their attention away from Merlin's grief. Percival opened the door and Will walked in to the room that was beginning to feel crowded. "Come over to the table, Will. Take a seat and I will help you remove your tunic. Perc, will you go around back and draw a bucket of water from the well?" Percival nodded and took the bucket from Merlin's hand. "Thank you." He said before he turned his attention back to Will. The man closed his pale green eyes as Merlin tried to maneuver the tunic from his injured shoulder and chest. Lancelot stepped forward wordlessly and began helping. Merlin looked up at him and smiled his gratitude. They had finally gotten his tunic removed and Merlin was peeling the dirty bandages from the wounds when Percival returned with the water. "Will, I need to clean the wounds. I think infection is beginning to set in and we need to prevent it from spreading or getting too bad." He got to work with the water and clean rags dabbing and rubbing before he put them down and abruptly stood and walked to the cupboards in the kitchen and began rummaging through them before standing successfully with a bottle of whisky in his hand. "I'm not going to lie to you, this is going to hurt like hell but it is going to help kill the infection. I need a couple of you to come and hold his arms, leaning him into a slightly reclined position so I have access to the wounds." Arthur and Elyan came and took his arms and shoulders in their hands, leaning him back. "Hold him still." Merlin told the men before the leaned towards Will. "I'm sorry love, it will only take a couple minutes." Then he uncorked the bottle and slowly began pouring. Will clenched his teeth closed as hard as he could so he wouldn't scream, a deep desperate growl escaping his mouth instead. When Merlin was done and fanning the area dry with his hand, Will panted in breaths in an effort to regain composure. "Sit back against the wall. I'm going to go see if I can find some yarrow and wild mint. There used to be a decent patch not far from here. I'll be back." Merlin got up, rinsed his hands and walked out of the cottage while wiping his hands on his trousers. Leon jogged after him.

"Mind if I come with, Merlin?" He asked.

"Of course not. I'm not doing anything exciting though. Or are you here for my security because the last time I picked herbs alone I got attacked?" Merlin smirked. "I'm sure I will be perfectly fine if that's the case."

Leon smiled sheepishly. "Maybe it's a little bit about security. But it's also because I wanted to keep you company. I want you to know that you aren't alone in any of this." He stopped and put his hand on Merlin's shoulder and Merlin turned to him. "I lost my mother several years ago and I remember feeling very alone. I don't want my friends to feel that way." Merlin smiles sadly and nods.

"Thank you, Leon. I'm sorry you were alone and I'm sorry you know this pain, but I appreciate your friendship." Leon nodded and dropped his hand so they could continue their trek into the forest.

Merlin and Leon were close to the cottage, Merlin with a handful of plants and Leon with his crossbow in one hand and the feet of a couple rabbits in the other, when a man Merlin had never seen came racing into town and stopping in front of his home. Leon looked at Merlin in confusion and Merlin's brow creased and he shook his head. "Can I help you?" Merlin called out to the man as the came up to the cottage.

The man studied Merlin with a curious but severe gaze before looking back at the door. "This is the home of Hunnith, is it not?" he asked.

"It was but she recently passed away. I'm her son. Is there something I can do for you?" Merlin asked. It was much more polite than the 'who are you and what do you want' that he actually wanted to ask.

"Did she get married, then?" He asked the boy. He was fairly sure he knew the answer but he needed to make sure before he put himself out in the open like that. He had been in hiding so long, he had forgotten how to properly socialize and realized he was probably being a bit rude. "She was always so beautiful; I can imagine any number of men would have lined up to claim her as his."

"No, she never married. The only man she ever loved was my father. She had no desire to share her life with anyone else. I'm sorry, who are you?" Merlin was so confused. These were kind of personal questions to ask.

The man turned to Leon, who had remained silently confused the whole time. "Can you excuse us please?"

Leon looked at Merlin. Merlin chose his words carefully in hopes Leon would receive their meaning. "It's alright. You can return to the others to prepare the rabbits. Please air out the house while you do so." Leon looked him in the eye and gave a subtle nod before returning inside and closing the door but not before opening the window around the corner so they could hear if Merlin got in trouble but the man couldn't see the window had been opened. What Merlin couldn't see was that Leon had dropped the rabbits on the table and everyone but the still recovering Will had gathered around the window to hear. Merlin looked at the man expectantly.

"My name is Balinor. Gaius sent word of Hunnith's death and encouraged me to come and give my respects. He did not, however, tell me about you."

"Why would Gaius send you word of my mother's death. And why would he talk about me?" Merlin countered.

"I'm guessing because your mother told him that I am your father."

Merlin felt all the air woosh out of his lungs. "I'm sorry, what?!" He yelled a little too loudly.

"Ya, well, it's a shock to me too boy. I didn't even know you existed. But here you are. For the best it would seem though. After all, I have a special gift that is passed down from father to son. Am I to assume you know what I'm talking about, that you already know of certain gifts you..."

Merlin cut him off with a hiss. "You need to stop right there." He whispered, looking around. "I don't know what father-son gift you're speaking of but the other," Merlin pulled the collar of his tunic down and to the side to show the scarred brand of the triskelion, "I'm well aware of and I keep hidden from most people. Based on this, I think you can gander a guess why. So, if you can keep it down!" Merlin hissed. Merlin was in shock. He couldn't believe he was meeting his father. He was meeting his magic wielding father with the king of Camelot and his most trusted knights on the other side of the door. Merlin crouched down on the ground, placing his head between his legs and clasping his hands behind his neck. "This is insane. I can't believe Gaius wouldn't give me a heads up." The door swung open and Merlin didn't bother to look up to see who was coming to check on him.

Arthur stood in the door way looking between the mysterious bearded man with his arms crossed and Merlin crouched on the ground in what looked to be a panic attack. A frown pulled his lips and he took a knee in front of Merlin before grasping his arm. "Merlin, are you alright? Can I help you up?" Arthur kindly asked.

Merlin raised his head and looked into the sky-blue eyes of the king he had been slowly falling for since the day he had rescued him from the forest floor after the bandit attack. "Sure, Arthur. Thank you." Merlin took the hand Arthur offered him and both men shivered slightly at the electrical current that ran through their hands when they grasped each other. Now upright, Merlin took a deep breath. "Arthur, meet my father Balinor. Gods know I just did. Balinor, King Arthur of Camelot." Arthur eyed him suspiciously and nodded. Balinor, however, blanched as if he had been slapped and turned to his son with a shocked expression.

"How can you stand here with a Pendragon at your side after everything that they have done to..." Merlin cut him off with wide eyes and a dirty glare.

"I don't know what kind of king Uther was, but Arthur is a good man and I am proud to call him not only my king but my friend. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a friend inside who is waiting for his wounds to be tended to a band of knights that are waiting for my cue to begin preparing supper. If you would like to be civil, you are welcome to come inside. You can tell me about my mother as you knew her and I'd be happy to tell you about her as I knew her." With that, Merlin placed a hand on Arthur's back and led him back inside the house, leaving the door ajar in invitation. Merlin went straight to the table and added the yarrow and wild mint to the mortar he left waiting before adding a few drops of garlic oil and grabbing the pestle to begin making a paste for Will. He was in the middle of applying the paste when Balinor finally came inside and closed the door behind him before crossing the room to watch his son, ignoring the looks he received from the other men in the room.

"Will, I've applied a paste that should help keep infection at bay now that I've cleaned out all that had already begun growing. I'm going to bandage it up well for you. Tomorrow morning, I want you to come back to me and let me reapply the paste and change the bandages. Don't worry, I won't have to clean it again so the worst of it is over." Lancelot helped him to wrap the bandages around his friend before the helped him back into his tunic. "Why don't you head home and get some rest? The more rest you get, the better."

Will nodded before hugging Merlin gently with his good arm. "Thank you, Merlin. I owe you one."

Merlin pulled back and cupped the man's face. "You owe me nothing. You were with her in her final moments to make sure she knew she was loved. You ensured she had safe passage to Avalon. I owe you a debt I can never repay." He kissed his forehead. "Now go get some sleep." Merlin started pushing Will toward the door, his hand on the handle when a woman screamed outside. He yanked the door open and they poured out to see what was going on.

There was a horse frantically running through town with the body of a man slung over its back. Imbedded in the back of the man was an arrow. Balinor ran out into the street, hands raised in front of the horse to get it to stop and calm. When it did, it became apparent that not only was the horse's rider dead, but some had attached a message to the rider using the arrow. Merlin ran forward and ripped the parchment off the man's back and read it out loud for the group of knights to hear. "King Cenred knows of Merlin's location and demands he is returned to his possession immediately. Failure to comply will result in continued attacks." Merlin paled and suddenly everything clicked into place. He looked straight into the eyes of Balinor. "What do I do, father?"