Arthur

Headed to the training grounds

Merlin

About to fight Gwaine

Arthur had just entered the hallway when he heard his name again. "Arthur?"

He sighed, turning to face whoever had called him; the voice sounded unsure and it was weird to hear his name said in that tone. "Yes, did you need something?" He asked. A small blonde servant stood at the foot of the stairs next to a line of buckets.

"Would you help me carry these up the stairs? I can manage them once I get them up there, but the stairs are rather difficult for me."

Arthur hesitated, he needed to get out to the training field to watch Merlin make a fool of himself, but one of his rules was to help anyone who asked and Harold was watching to make sure he followed the rules. "Yeah of course—I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"Anne." Anne picked up one of the buckets and started to move up the stairs one step at a time. Arthur grabbed two and matched her slow pace on the stairs. How many buckets of water was he going to have to carry today?

"Thank you, si—Arthur." Arthur had been greeted all morning by his name and not 'milord' or 'sire' and despite what Merlin might say, hearing his own name that much was unsettling. He didn't know how normal people did it. "Merlin usually helps me get them all up the stairs. I haven't quite built up enough muscle to do them all."

"Do you do this every day?" Arthur asked. It seemed like a lot of work for the small girl to have to carry six buckets of water up a flight of stairs every day.

"No, no, just once a week or so." They made it to the top of the stairs and descended to move the last three buckets, Arthur once again taking two at a time and Anne one.

Arthur didn't bother to ask what all the water was for; he might already be too late to see the end of training and he really didn't want to miss out on teasing material. Teasing material. Arthur can ask the servants about Merlin! This was golden, they would know all the good gossip that Gwen wouldn't tell him out of respect for Merlin. He should have thought of this while he was chatting with the servants doing the washing.

"So Anne," Arthur did in fact listen when she said her name. She hummed in response as she managed to pull herself up another step. "Is there any good gossip about Merlin that I should know?"

The maidservant stopped climbing the stairs for a moment to laugh aloud at Arthur's question. "Not really, mostly just gossip about how Clara—Clara from the kitchen—is sweet on him."

"Oh?" Arthur's eyes widened. This was certainly great information.

"Yeah, there's usually a lot of talk about his various trips and quests with you, but very little gossip. At least nothing of the scandalous kind."

Arthur smirked. "Thank you for this valuable information."

"Remember, you didn't hear it from me. I don't want to get blamed for whatever you plan to do with that bit of gossip."

"Of course." Arthur agreed, setting down the two buckets against the wall at the top of the stairs. "Did you need help with anything else?"

"No, thank you though, Arthur." Anne managed to pick up two of the buckets this time and started off down the hallway.

Arthur paused briefly to grin. He'd have to make sure to tease Merlin about Clara and her apparent crush on him later.

Arthur descended the stairs once more to meet up with Harold and then practically ran to the training field with the other man following closely behind him. He could still see the knights out there, but he couldn't tell whether they were still training or if they had finished and were just loitering around.

His question was answered a moment later when they spotted him. Leon jogged over to him and explained that they were waiting for him so that he could watch as Merlin sparred Gwaine.

"Gwaine? Merlin agreed to spar with Gwaine? He'll be on the ground in less than ten seconds." Arthur said.

"We have a betting pool going on. Two, actually. There's a bet on whether he'll last more than a minute, same as what the new knights have to do, and a second bet on whether Gwaine will disarm him." Percival informed Arthur.

"Put me down for less than a minute but won't be disarmed." Arthur told Percival. He wasn't sure if Merlin could last a full minute if Gwaine was truly trying his best, but he knew that Merlin knew, from their practices alone, how to prevent Gwaine from disarming him. Although now that he thought about it, Merlin had never actually been successful in preventing Arthur from disarming him. Arthur was turning to change his bet when Merlin took charge.

"Alright, I know you're all placing bets over there. Time is up on the betting, we're about to start."

Gwaine looked over to Merlin. "You ready?"

"One moment." Merlin grabbed a helmet from the edge of the field.

"Worried I'll knock you out?" Gwaine taunted.

"Something like that." He actually wanted something to cover his eyes so that he could cheat, just a little bit, and maybe make it out of this without completely making a fool of himself. Merlin turned back to Sir Leon and asked, "Leon, if you would be so kind as to call start."

Merlin had never actually sparred with Gwaine before. He knew Gwaine would be courteous and let him get his bearings at the beginning of the fight, but he was also Camelot's best swordsman and wouldn't go easy on him the entire time.

Merlin's goal was to just stay in the fight for a decent amount of time, maybe a full minute—just to prove that he could and to spite anyone who bet against him. He also hoped to keep his sword throughout the entire fight. It was well known that Gwaine was the best at disarming an opponent with what Gwaine—and only Gwaine—called 'Gwaine's awesome sword move'. The new knights all got disarmed repeatedly due to Gwaine's awesome sword move during their first few training practices.

Merlin was pretty sure that no one expected him to win, and he knew they were betting on how long he sparred and whether Gwaine would disarm him. Even when he lost the fight, if Merlin could manage to keep a hold on his sword, it would give him immense bragging rights for ages.

Leon nodded towards Merlin, turning the hourglass over as he called "Start!"

The two began to circle each other and after a brief moment Gwaine attacked first. It was just a light swing that Merlin parried easily.

"Don't hold back on my account." He chided the knight.

"Never." Gwaine promised.

Merlin didn't give him a chance to follow through before he lunged forward, attacking quickly.

Gwaine deftly blocked each hit, waiting for a good opening to strike back. He exploited Merlin's weakness on his left side and went on the offensive again, barely giving Merlin time to block the blow. Merlin infused his parries with a bit of magic so that his arms didn't get jarred by Gwaine's blows.

He couldn't use any of his usual tactics in a sword fight. Since he obviously wasn't fighting to kill, he couldn't make Gwaine drop his sword or fall on the ground. Nothing too suspicious. There weren't even any conveniently placed objects that he could have Gwaine's sword get stuck in. His first fight with Arthur had been easier to manipulate than this.

Merlin dodged and parried repeatedly, only daring to make his own movements slightly stronger or faster. No other magical influences to help him as he fought Gwaine.

He watched specifically for Gwaine's weakness, for a chance to exploit his foot sticking out and knock him off balance but that chance didn't come. The knight's foot stayed firmly where it was supposed to be. Merlin realized that the other man was smirking as he defended against Merlin's blows. Gwaine knew Merlin would try to knock him off balance and he had made sure there was no possibility of that happening. Damn him and his ability to actually improve his stance based on advice given!

Merlin wasn't sure how long it had been, but it was long enough that Gwaine switched up his movements, ever so slightly, indicating that he would try to disarm Merlin.

He only knew the signs after hours of watching Gwaine fight the other knights. It was the subtle shifting of his sword in his hands, changing his grip so he could flick the handle just so to knock his opponent's weapon away. Merlin had never succeeded in blocking Arthur when he tried this exact same maneuver, but he knew what he was supposed to do. And this time, he had magic.

Gwaine moved closer and Merlin closed his eyes to hide the gold flashing through them. He slowed down time and spun his whole body around, dodging Gwaine's attack, but ending up too close to Gwaine and facing slightly away from the knight. It wasn't a position in which he could retaliate with his own attack.

The manservant didn't get the chance to come up with a new plan because just as he released his hold on the slowing of time, Gwaine shoved a shoulder into him, effectively knocking him off balance. Merlin went down face first, like that sack of potatoes he dropped down the stairs once.

He sprawled onto the ground gracelessly and he could hear the cheers of the knights as he groaned in pain.

"Sorry about that Merlin. I guess you're the one that needs to be wary of getting knocked off balance." Gwaine said, offering a hand to his friend. Merlin ignored the offered hand, glaring at Gwaine; he had flipped over but still laid on the grass with his limbs spread out in every direction.

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled from the cluster of spectators. "I've never seen you fight that well in your life."

Merlin rolled his eyes from the ground, grinning at Gwaine's responding chuckle.

Leon took this moment to cut off more of Arthur's protests with the announcement that Gwaine had won. "Gwaine is the winner. But Merlin lasted more than a minute and finished in possession of his sword." The knights that had bet on him cheered and Merlin half-heartedly raised said sword in the air from his position still lying on the ground.

A moment later, he dropped the sword and flinched away as it almost hit him.