Hey! Here's the next chapter! Things are about to go down…

Arthur hadn't taken his eyes off Merlin in hours, silently watching the boy from the corner of his eye.

The way Merlin's shoulders seemed to tense up more and more with every step they took towards Ealdor hadn't escaped the prince's attention. Arthur could hardly blame him. Arguably the worst and most traumatic thing that had ever happened to him had occurred in the place they were directly headed for. Arthur wouldn't have been surprised if one loud noise sent Merlin hightailing it back to Camelot.

But he knew he wouldn't. The boy was too stupidly loyal and selfless for that. Despite all he had suffered in the village and at the hands of its people, Merlin was still heading back to the place of some of his darkest memories to protect the very people who had nearly murdered him and taken his hearing from Kanen and his men.

If it had been up to Arthur, Merlin wouldn't have been stepping foot back in that village. He would have sent a small group of knights back with Hunith to dispose of the bandits and secure the village. It wouldn't have taken more than two days.

The decision hadn't been up to Arthur. It had been up to his father who quite adamantly denied any help to the tiny town. Arthur's heart went out to his manservant when he saw the crushed look on the raven's face. Even if the boy didn't care for most of the people in his village, it was still his hometown, still his mother's home. Besides, he was too compassionate to let anything happen to the people, even if they had abused and ostracized him his entire life.

Arthur didn't think he could possibly love the boy more.

That was why he had even come in the first place. When Morgana had told him her and Gwen were planning to go with Merlin, consequences be damned, Arthur would be lying if he didn't say he hadn't been jealous. Unlike the lady and her maidservant, he didn't have the luxury of being able to just pick up and leave without anyone noticing.

He had wanted to come, if nothing more than to offer some silent support to his manservant as he travelled back to face what would undoubtedly be many demons. But his father would never allow it. Morgana and Gwen were one thing, but for Arthur to leave under the king's nose, he'd have to be insane.

Well, they said love made you do crazy things.

Arthur watched as Merlin and his mother had a silent conversation as they rode along. He had been studying for nearly a year, yet Merlin had no idea. He had every intention of getting nearly fluent at it before surprising his manservant.

If he also wanted to gloat a little about learning it even without Merlin's help, that was neither here nor there.

As they approached the small village, all conversation between the party ceased. Merlin sat up straight in his saddle. Gwen and Morgana exchanged a sad look but kept quiet. Hunith looked as if she wanted to reach out and comfort her son, but even she held back.

Arthur had never claimed to be one for subtlety. He rode up next to Merlin and leaned over, jostling the raven and causing his horse to trot to the side. Merlin turned and narrowed his eyes.

"Look on the bright side: you don't have to do my washing for a few days." Arthur swore he heard Morgana groan and face palm behind him.

Merlin huffed and glared at him. "Yes, because gods forbid you learn how to take care of yourself."

"Merlin!" Hunith chastised with not a little bit of horror in her voice. Merlin just rolled his eyes, but a small smile graced his lips. Arthur took that as an accomplishment.

"I'm simply saying he wouldn't last a day without me, Mother."

"Oh, don't give yourself so much credit, Merlin. You're barely competent enough to keep yourself alive let alone me as well."

He thought he heard more snickering behind him. He'd have to have a talk with the girls later, not that it would do any good.

Merlin simply lifted his middle finger; a gesture Arthur didn't need to understand his language in order to interpret. He barely suppressed a smile as he lightly swatted Merlin's shoulder in annoyance. Never in his life had he met someone so brash yet so damn adorable all at once.

"By the gods, Merlin!" Hunith gasped. Morgana howled from behind them.

The moment of domesticity was broken by a scream coming from the direction of the village. Arthur didn't even glance at Merlin before forcing Llamrei into a full gallop, their party following close behind.

The sight that met them once they broke the tree line was horrifying. Kanen's men were pillaging the entire village. As their horses drew closer, Arthur could see the damage they were doing. One man ripped open a sack of flour, spilling its precious contents all over the muddy floor of a pig's stye. Another pried the lid off of a water barrel and tipped it over. A third trampled over a large garden of carrot tops, ripping some from the ground and tossing them into a wagon as he went.

What really made Arthur's blood boil was when he saw one of the bandits slap a young woman clutching a screaming baby. She couldn't have been any older than eighteen. An old man was roughly shoved to the dirt road as two raiders ripped apart a sack of rice he had been trying to heft into his home. A man was on his knees in front of who could only have been Kanen himself, looking as if he were pleading with the monster even as he raised an ax to strike him down.

Arthur had his own opinion about the people, and they weren't very friendly, but that didn't mean he was about to let starving people die at the hands of this man and his men. He threw his spare sword and watched as it imbedded itself in a post directly in front of Kanen. The bandit's head jerked up in surprise. His eyes widened slightly as he saw the prince galloping at full speed towards him, sword already drawn.

Arthur was dismounted and battle ready in one swift movement, already falling into a battle with a masked bandit. He vaguely heard the others ride up from behind him, and the sounds of other fights breaking out filled the space.

Even as he fought for his life, Arthur searched for his manservant. To the left, he saw Guinevere and Morgana wielding swords and taking on three bandits back to back; they were truly terrifying. To the right, he saw Hunith swing a rather large wooden bucket into a bandit's head, effectively knocking him out. But no matter how much he looked, he couldn't find Merlin.

Arthur felt the rising panic. With his utter lack of skill with a sword despite Arthur's numerous attempts to teach him, his utter lack of coordination, his lack of hearing, and his talent for attracting trouble, Arthur felt the panic pertaining to Merlin's whereabouts was justified.

In passing, he managed to catch sight of the boy some feet away. He was pinned up against the doorframe of a small hut with a sword in hand, a bandit two times his size pressing down with a sword of his own. Even from his position, Arthur could see a sheen of sweat across Merlin's forehead as his grip faltered and the sword came dangerously close to the raven's neck.

"Merlin!" Arthur cried, barely managing to parry a blow from an attacker of his own before he was decapitated. He carelessly shoved the bandit away, his eyes solely focused on Merlin as he shoved through the mess towards the boy.

Another raider stepped in his path, effectively blocking his view. "No!" he cried. Merlin couldn't hold out much longer. Fear crept up his spine. He made quick work of dispatching yet another bandit just in time to see Merlin staring down at the slumped form of his attacker. His chest was heaving, his sword was bloody, but he looked mostly unharmed.

Relief swept through Arthur like a cool breeze. Merlin looked up at the prince and smiled when he saw him looking. He gave a small wave. It was so Merlin-like that Arthur had to laugh.

(He would have to figure out how exactly Merlin had managed to kill the man later. It certainly wasn't the strangest thing he'd ever seen the boy do.)

"You'll pay for this! With your lives!" Arthur turned just in time to see Kanen fleeing towards the surrounding woods, what was left of his men following after him like dogs to their master. It was disgusting.

After they left, it was silent. No one seemed to be breathing, let alone moving. Finally, Arthur turned away from the direction Kanen had road off.

The townsfolk were all standing in varying degrees of shock. Some were clutching shovels defensively, others what meager remains of their food they could gather up. Somewhere in the crowd, a baby was still crying.

The one thing they all had in common: pure looks of disgust as they stayed as far away from where Hunith was checking on Merlin as possible.

That didn't sit right with Arthur.

That didn't sit right with him at all.

"Merlin!" he called pointedly, striding over and clasping the raven on the shoulder. The boy looked up, slightly alarmed, but relaxed upon seeing Arthur. "Come on. I'm sure these people have work to do after the attack and we need to start figuring out how we're going to handle it the next time Kanen and his men show."

He felt a hundred pairs of eyes on him as he followed Hunith towards a small house, hand still firmly on Merlin's shoulder. He was sure it wasn't everyday these people saw the Crowned Prince of the most powerful kingdom in the land defending them from attack as if he actually cared for them.

He didn't. The only reason he'd even come in the first place was for Merlin.

He was sure, too, to them, seeing Prince Arthur speaking to their village "freak" as if they were friends was like a kick to the crotch.

He'd like to actually kick some of them in the crotch come to think of it.

"Well, look at this. I never thought I'd see the day. The bastard's skivvying for a prince now."

Arthur narrowed his eyes and glared at a boy leaning in the shadows of a house. He looked to be about Merlin's age with short brown hair and tanned skin from hours spent in the fields. He wore the same simple clothes as Merlin, Hunith, and all the rest of the villagers: plain browns, blues, and grays made from spare bits of fabric.

Immediately, Arthur didn't like him. And it wasn't just for the bastard comment.

"I don't know who you think you are-"

Arthur was cut off when Merlin burst out laughing next to him. A grin spread across the stranger's face.

"I missed you too, Will," Merlin said around his laughter, surging forward to hug the boy, Will.

Arthur studiously tried to ignore how much he wished Merlin would hug him like that.

When they broke apart, Merlin suddenly gasped in a way that made Arthur's heart flutter. "I've got to introduce you! Arthur, this is Will. He's been my best mate since we were kids. Will, this royal prat here is Arthur."

Arthur scowled and smacked Merlin's shoulder. He said halfheartedly, "That's treason, Merlin." Merlin lolled his head back and grinned at the blonde. Arthur's heart practically melted.

As he spoke, Arthur caught sight of a new sign that could only be Will's name sign. It was three fingers up in a "w" followed by Merlin linking his two pointer fingers together and switching them in the sign for "friend". The implications behind that statement broke Arthur's heart. The fact that Merlin could use such an ambiguous term as "friend" for a name sign that was supposed to be specific enough to identify a person was awful.

Merlin identified Will as his friend.

Which meant it was person specific.

Which meant Will was Merlin's only friend. Not for the first time, Arthur wanted to cry for the raven-haired boy.

Will looked him up and down skeptically. "Not much what I expected of the Crowned Prince of Camelot, I'll say that much. But definitely you're type, Merls."

"Will!" Merlin cried. His entire face burned the color of his neckerchief, clear up to the tips of his ears. Arthur sputtered while his brain momentarily reset itself. Finally, he managed a glare that he was sure wasn't half as scary as he was trying for.

Will raised his eyebrows and looked between the prince and his manservant. He let out a breath of air. "Wait, so you two aren't…" He gestured vaguely between them.

"I don't like what you're insinuating."

Will snorted and leaned back against the building. "Frankly, I don't give a damn what you like."

"William!" someone called from down the street before Arthur could reply.

Will glanced over his shoulder. "Well, best be off to feed the chickens before Mother has my hide. See you bright and early in the morning I assume, mate." He stepped back and bowed mockingly. "Your highness."

What kind of insolent people was this village turning out?

"Come on." Merlin gestured towards a small house at the edge of the road, right in front of where the town morphed into the forest. It was simple, bordering on dilapidated, made of roughly hewn stones and a thatched roof. Arthur could see there was no door. Instead, there was only a doorway covered by a sheet that surely did nothing against bitter winter winds. Gaps in the dried-mud mortar certainly didn't help either. Despite all of it, Arthur could tell the home was loved to the best of its ability. A small vegetable garden that looked well taken care of was attached to the side. A few flowers dotted the dry dirt ground with color.

The prince found it strangely charming.

Hunith was already inside, dishing out something from a pot into bowls on a simple slab of wood with benches that served as a table. The floor was packed dirt and the ceiling nothing but a few rafters and straw. To the left, there was a stone fireplace containing some dying embers, next to it, a wooden cupboard containing both dishes and some articles of clothing. To the right, a few stacks of books and randoms supplies like buckets and rope. A curtain cut the singular room in half and just behind it Arthur could see a single cot with a clearly homemade quilt.

That was it.

Seeing it for himself filled Arthur with an odd feeling. He had realized his manservant hadn't grown up with much, but being faced with the reality of it was so much more. There was clearly only one bed, and knowing Merlin's heart, he had a feeling Merlin was the one who slept on the floor. On top of that, from what he had heard, Kanen had been terrorizing their village for years. They barely had enough food as it was, having to export most of their supplies directly to Cenred, and then Kanen came and took what was left of their meager rations.

Things he had taken for granted, like having a full stomach everyday and sleeping in a warm, soft bed, seemed to have been luxuries for his manservant. Just picturing a tiny Merlin, all bright-eyed and sweeter than ever, feeling the pain of starvation for days on end physically hurt Arthur.

Maybe letting the boy take a sausage off of his plate everyday wasn't so bad. He could certainly do without it, and from the looks of it, Merlin needed it more than him.

Hunith ushered them to the table where he took a seat beside Merlin. The bowl in front of him was filled with some mysterious liquid. It was thin and as gray as his bathwater. A few pieces of what looked to be rice floated in the liquid, blown up to two times their size from absorbing the foul liquid.

Arthur nearly gagged.

In his head, he understood that Merlin and his mother had little and he should be grateful for the small bit of food Hunith had managed to scrounge up, even if it looked like she'd taken it from a mud puddle. He even felt a little guilty over accepting the faux broth when they were literally there to try and keep the rest of the people from starving to death.

No matter how much he told himself he was being absolutely awful and completely filling the role of the arrogant prince many thought him to be, he simply could not suck it up and push the food down. He didn't want to offend anyone by turning his nose up to the food, he wasn't that pompous, but he was also a prince and thus had been raised with certain standards.

He was disgusted with himself.

There was Merlin, practically inhaling the mysterious liquid without the slightest grimace. He was probably used to it and knew he had to eat whenever the chance presented itself because one never knew where their next meal would come from. There was Gwen, also unblinkingly eating the food. While she had never appeared starved like Merlin, she was still a peasant and therefore also knew the value of food. And then there was Morgana.

The king's bloody ward was even eating it! What was wrong with him?

"Thank you so much, Hunith. We know food is very scarce right now, but we truly appreciate your hospitality. It is very good for what little resources you have," Morgana said brightly.

Hunith smiled sadly. "Thank you, my lady, but you needn't be so kind. I'm sure this is no where near the standard you and Prince Arthur are accustomed to back in Camelot."

"Nonsense! We're all people here. No one is entitled to more than another," Morgana said. She pushed herself up from the table. "Now, allow me to do the dishes tonight."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly-"

"Please, Hunith. We are guests. It is the least I can do. Besides, I'm sure there is much for you to do before you retire for the evening. Allow me to take one thing from your workload."

Hunith sighed tiredly. Her thin shoulders slumped. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt if you insist. But I must be off to clean the pig's stye for the evening; we may soon need to resort to killing them for food."

Gwen jumped to her feet. "Oh, allow me to help!"

Hunith just smiled kindly at her, even though it looked for a moment as if she were going to argue. Arthur could tell where Merlin got his obstinateness from. After all, the apple supposedly didn't fall far from the tree.

Hunith simply gathered up some supplies and gently guided Gwen outdoors. Morgana gathered up the dishes and headed for a tub of dirty water Arthur had neglected to notice before. As she passed him, she leaned down and hissed in his ear, "You better eat that or you're going to be returning to Camelot missing a few key parts."

Arthur's eyes widened. He hurriedly pushed down a spoonful of the liquid, much to Morgana's smug pleasure.

Merlin also pushed up from the table. "I'd better get some firewood before the sun sets. It'll get cold tonight, and I don't think we want to be without."

Arthur was tempted to follow him, strangely concerned about him being outdoors by himself when Kanen's men could still be lurking about. Arthur's eyes followed him the entire time as he picked up an ax leaning against the door and headed out. After the flap had fluttered shut behind the raven, Morgana whistled. The prince's head snapped up.

"See something you like, Arthur dear?" She inquired teasingly.

Arthur's face burned. "Oh, shut up."

Morgana cackled.

0000

A while later, Hunith sat in front of the dying light of a candle mending a skirt. Gwen was going about sweeping the packed dirt floor with a scraggly looking broom. Morgana was lazily perusing the small stack of books to the one side of the room, pulling one out every so often and flipping through the pages.

Arthur couldn't focus on any one thing.

Merlin was yet to return from going to get firewood, and Arthur would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit worried. He had spent some time practicing sparring maneuvers until he had nearly taken out the curtain separating Hunith's bed from the rest of the room. Now, he was anxiously pacing the length of the tiny house, stealing glances at the doorway every few seconds.

While Arthur admittedly knew nothing of chopping wood, he was sure it didn't take nearly as long as Merlin had been gone.

Hunith looked up from her sewing work to eye him softly. "Is everything all right, your majesty?"

No, everything was not alright. Merlin wasn't back yet, and it was already well after dark. The gods knew his manservant attracted trouble like flies to honey. What if he was hurt? What if he had been kidnapped? What if he was in danger, and Arthur wasn't there to protect him? What if he was scared, and Arthur wasn't there to comfort him?

Okay, he had no idea where the last one came from. Still, it wasn't a bad thought.

"Does it usually take so long to retrieve firewood?" he asked, glancing again at the sheet like Merlin would magically appear if he looked at it enough.

That would never happen, of course. Magic was outlawed.

But if magic brought Merlin to him right then? He might not mind it so much.

"Hm, I supposed he has been gone a while," Hunith murmured, slight worry creasing her forehead. Gwen looked up imploringly at Arthur with worry of her own clearly shining across her gentle features.

Arthur reached for his sword leaning near the doorway. "I'm going to look for him."

Outside, it was pitch black.

Arthur wasn't used to it. In Camelot, it was never this dark. Even at night, there was always torches glowing in every hallway, and even outside the citadel. There was always the soft glow of a dying fire in his chambers, something Arthur would admit Merlin was very good at keeping up with. In the lower towns, one was guaranteed to find a few candles dotting the windows of the houses no matter what hour of the night.

Here, in Ealdor, there was nothing like that. He had thought it dark inside Hunith's home, but it was nothing compared to the outdoors. Not a single flame could be seen in any window. The air was so inky black that Arthur felt as if it may swallow him whole and he would never be found again.

In hindsight, he probably should have brought a torch.

Even so, he pushed on. His worry for Merlin was more all-consuming than the night could ever hope to be.

Using his hands to guide himself along the buildings in the direction he vaguely remembered there being a community wood pile, Arthur somehow managed to arrive at the end of the lane. The faint glow of a torch graced the night from behind the last house. Arthur could hear voices.

The prince pressed himself up against the rough stones. Merlin had gone alone as far as he knew. There shouldn't be anyone with him, especially since these people had to get in all the sleep they could whenever possible. He doubted that whatever was going on was just a friendly chat.

"…think you can just come back here whenever you want."

Someone laughed. "Yeah, he thinks just 'cause some asshole prince is using him as a bed warmer that he can strut around here like he's worth somethin'."

Anger flared in Arthur. That one sentence was all he needed to hate whoever the voices were. Arthur knew without a shadow of a doubt that even if they were some sort of nobility, Merlin was still worth a thousand of them.

"You shut your damn mouths! Arthur is a better man then any of you will ever be!" There was the sound of flesh meeting flesh and a low grunt of pain.

Arthur bit his tongue so hard he tasted blood. He had known it was a bad idea to allow Merlin to go by himself, especially with his background in Ealdor. But because the raven was more stubborn than a boar, Arthur hadn't tried to stop him. He had been expecting some negative reactions on all accounts when they arrived in Ealdor, but never actual assault. What made it so much worse was even as Merlin was being beaten by people who had no doubt done it his entire life, he was still defending Arthur.

When they got back to Camelot, they were going to have a serious talk about Merlin's self-preservation skills.

"Listen to him, guys! Seems now that he's getting screwed by a royal, he thinks he can just talk to us like that and get away with it!"

More dark, predatorial laughter.

Arthur couldn't believe the audacity these boys had. To insinuate that Arthur would use Merlin in such a way! It made Arthur almost sick just thinking about it.

Despite what he might fantasize about his manservant while he lay alone in his bed, Arthur would rather fall on his own sword then do that to Merlin. His hand gripped the hilt of his sword until his knuckles turned white.

"It's nothing like that! I'm his manservant, nothing more."

Arthur wasn't even going to acknowledge how much those words hurt him to his very core. Merlin was so much more than his manservant, even if he wasn't quite what Arthur would like him to be.

"So, you deny having any sort of feelings for him?" One of the voices inquired, malice practically oozing from his words.

For a moment, there was silence. It was soon broken by the roaring laughter of the entire group. "Aww, poor baby's pining for his knight in shining armor. Hey, make sure you hold the torch high so the deaf freak can be sure to see what I'm about to say next." There was a small pause. "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, bastard. He doesn't care an ounce about you. I bet if we killed you right now, he'd have you replaced in a matter of days. You'd be nothing more than a fleeting thought in his head as he signed the papers for a new servant."

"He's probably slipping the prince some sort of potion, anyhow. No way someone like him could ever want to be with this monster. He can't even hear! I doubt the prince even knows what he's trying to say with those stupid hand motions he's always making. Knew we shoulda made sure you were actually dead in that well."

That was it. He couldn't stand back and listen to a second more of this. No one, absolutely no one, got to threaten Merlin. Arthur saw red. He marched out from his hiding spot and grabbed the tunic of the nearest boy, some kid with hair as red as fire.

If he hadn't been so furious, Arthur probably would have laughed at the looks on all their faces. There were four boys in total, all surrounding his poor manservant on the ground. He whirled around with the boy's shirt still firmly in his grasp and slammed the body up against the building he had been hiding in only a moment before. The red head slumped to the ground with a satisfying thump. In one swift movement, Arthur swung his sword around and stopped the blade an inch from another boy's, this one brunette, throat.

Arthur got a sick sense of glee from seeing the look of pure terror on the boy's face.

"How about I bash your head in and shove you down a well, huh? We'll see how you like it." Arthur hissed.

The boy's eyes widened impossibly farther. "I-I…p-please, sire…"

Arthur scoffed. "Pathetic. You're nothing but a bunch of cowards. Get pleasure out of torturing little kids, do you? You enjoyed taking a little boy's hearing?"

"I…we, um…"

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret of my own." He stabbed his sword into the earth so it would stand of its own accord. He needed both hands. He wanted to prove to Merlin's abusers that the raven mattered more to him than almost anything, no matter what notions they had gotten into their heads.

He took a deep breath to clear his mind and called on his year of lessons and studies as he skillfully began to sign. "You're just jealous that Merlin has a life while the rest of you will never make anything of yourselves. Merlin says that none of you will ever be half the man I am. Well, I disagree. None of you will ever be half the man he is. You just can't get over the fact that he has more guts than any of you could ever hope to and managed to pick himself up and move on despite the horrific thing you did to him."

Arthur was sure his face was bright red with exertion and fury. The three boys still in front of him were gazing up at him in a mixture of shock and pure terror. Arthur loved it.

"There. Now, get out of here before I run you all through with my sword. If I ever even hear that you were bothering Merlin again, I will personally hunt each one of you down, and there will be hell to pay. Move!"

The prince had never seen people move so fast. They scrambled over to the red head he had knocked unconscious before and dragged him away into the darkness, leaving only Arthur and his manservant, who was still on the ground and looking at Arthur in a similar state of shock.

Arthur knelt in front of the raven and moved the abandoned torch to get a better look at him. There was an angry red mark on his left cheek that would be replaced by a dark purple bruise come morning. A small trail of blood trickled down from a cut. One of the boys must have been wearing a ring.

Arthur tamped down his anger, knowing it would be of no help to either of them. "Are you hurt anywhere else, Merlin?"

Merlin swallowed hard and shook his head, still looking at Arthur in shock. "You-you…"

Arthur raised his eyebrow. "What is it?"

"The-the signs…you learned my signs. When? How? What…" he stumbled over his words.

Arthur smiled softly. "Of course, I did, you fool. Gaius has been helping me to learn for nearly a year since someone wasn't going to offer to teach me."

"Sorry," Merlin murmured sheepishly.

"Yeah, well, I think it had quite a nice effect, don't you?"

"Definitely," Merlin said with a small smile. "But…you really took time out of your schedule just to learn my signs?"

Arthur lifted his hand and before he could stop himself, rested it on Merlin's cheek and brushed the blood away with the pad of his thumb. For the briefest moment, Merlin leaned into his hand, his eyes fluttering shut. Arthur's heart may have skipped a few beats.

"Yeah, I did."

He pulled back and offered Merlin his hand. His heart sank at the loss of contact. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up."

There it is! I'm really happy with that last scene, so I hope you enjoyed it as much as I liked writing it. More action is to come in the next chapter. There should be two more and they"re both going to be in Ealdor. Also, if you need something to look forward to, things are about to get a little steamy for Merlin and Arthur in the next chapter…Stay tuned!

Also, I really just wanted to make those boys out to be the worst people imaginable. Obviously, anything I said is not how I truly feel.