*Pokes head out from wall* EEP *Dodges cabbage* Uuuhhhh *Looks again* *Dodges three more cabbages* *Hides* *Looks again* *Dodges cart of cabbages* *voice in background*: "MY CABBAGES!" *holds out white flag* *Slowly creeps out* He-hey guys! B-been awhile *pulls at shir collar nervously* So- uh- how you been? *Dodges tomato* Right well, explanation time I suppose. First of all I am so so so so so so so so so so so so sooooooo sorry that it took me so long to update. College happened and I got busy and met new friends and got busy not to mention my writers block. I got my first BF! Although we broke up after a month… aaannnnyyyway. Very sorry, also my sister is to thank for this update as she actually pushed me to write again yay sister! I hope y'all enjoy and please review, will start working on next chapter ASAP!
Richard lay on his bedroll with his chest bare as his king held his hands over his ribs and whispered several words in the Old Religion, his eyes flashing gold, as he finished the pain in Richard's ribs immediately subsided and he sighed in relief. The young warlock then picked up a roll of bandages and began winding around his chest, binding the ribs.
"Quite the collection of scars," Merlin said semi-casually as he continued in the knight's treatment.
"I could say the same to you sire," Richard said, looking at the king cautiously. The young royal tensed. "I saw them when the druid was treating you, I was the only one" The Knight reassured him. Merlin nodded, relaxing slightly but still tense. "In fact, I believe that you have even more than me," he said, trying to press for information but not sure how to. Merlin hummed slightly but said nothing, after he finished binding the knights ribs he stood up.
"Don't move too much, hopefully, you'll be able to ride again in a couple days, I want to get to Aria as soon as possible, so don't get up without my permission." He ordered, turning to go.
"Sire..." the head knight said hesitantly. Merlin looked back at him, his eyes flashing a warning. Richard sighed inwardly, he would have to pry answers out of the king some other time. "Thank you for caring for me," he said, instead of what he really wanted to. Merlin's eyes softened slightly and he nodded, grinning at the fallen knight as if everything was perfect, even though his eyes held a different story.
"My pleasure Richard, tell me if you need anything else." he then turned and walked away, not giving the knight a chance to ask further questions about his scars. He watched as the king walked over to his own bed role in the center of the camp and put his supplies away before standing and walking towards the woods. Richard sighed as he watched the king walk away.
It had been two days since Leon and Merlin's fight, two days since he was healed by The Great Dragon, and two days since those soldiers had fled to the false king. Two days of sitting and waiting and Richard was highly aware that every second they wasted here was another second that Merlin's uncle knew he was back and vulnerable, the sooner they got to Aria the better. But they were stuck here, because of him, he had tried to tell Merlin that he was perfectly fine and could ride but the young man was having none of it. He sighed again as he laid his head on the ground, obeying the order to not move too much. He was silently debating just getting up and getting everyone to pack up camp while the king was away when Thomas walked up hesitantly. Richard looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?" The knight hesitated before sitting next to him.
"There's something you need to know." The knight said, obviously worried. Richard sat up, ignoring the pain that shot through his ribs.
"What is it?" he asked, his voice deadly serious.
"The other night when I accidentally revealed the pri- King to Sir Percival." The knight stopped, looking guilty, Richard motioned for him to continue. "Well afterwards when he Sir Percival and Sir Gwaine were talking, Percival mentioned something." The knight hesitated for another second before pushing forward "he mentioned that during the Doracha attack that Merlin should have died and that he'd realized then that he had magic, otherwise he wouldn't have survived. I... questioned the p-king about it and he said that-that it wasn't the first or last time he had almost died and that it wasn't the worst either." Richard was already pale at this point and when Thomas continued he felt like he was going to be sick. "It was also mentioned that he had once traveled to the perilous lands." Richard was silent for a long minute before shakily asking.
"H-he said he survived a Doracha attack? and that he had been in worse situations?" Thomas nodded. Richard simply stared at him in shock for a minute. He had heard of the dorocha, no one ever survived their touch, magic or not. Perhaps Thomas had heard wrong? Yes, that had to be it. "Ask Sir Percival to come here, I need to talk to him." He said, still pale. Thomas nodded and stood up, going to look for the large knight. A few minutes later he returned, Percival in tow.
"How are you feeling?" Percival questioned, sitting next to him. Richard had propped himself up against a tree, Percival leaned against another tree nearby.
"Better," Richard replied, wanting to get to the reason that he had Percival come over in the first place. "However I need to ask you something." The large knight looked at him cautiously, and Richard plowed ahead. "Thomas was telling me about the night that you discovered the truth about Merlin, and everything that was said." Richard paused, trying to figure out the best way to ask his question. "Did the Pri-King" Richard caught himself, it was hard to remember that Merlin was king sometimes, doubly hard to accept, not because he did not think that Merlin would make a good king but because it meant that Balinor was well and truly dead. He sighed slightly to himself before continuing. "Did the king truly get attacked by Dorocha? Did the Dorocha actually touch him." Percival nodded. "Tell me everything." And so Percival did.
He told him about how Arthur and Merlin had been collecting firewood when the Dorocha had attacked again. He told him about how they got cornered in a room and Merlin jumped in front of the Dorocha to save Arthur, how afterward Merlin was only just barely alive but had begged not to be sent back to Camelot but Lancelot had taken him anyway. He then finished the story by telling Richard about Merlin's miraculous recovery and return. The entire time Richard listened with rapt attention and didn't say a word. When Percival was done telling the story Richard simply stared at him for a minute before speaking.
"So Merlin was not only touched by the Dorocha but it went straight through his heart?" The large Knight of Camelot nodded. "I see," he murmured, thinking. "Thank you, Percival, I thought that perhaps Thomas had misheard but apparently not." Percival shrugged.
"I figured he survived because of his magic." he said, obviously confused. Richard nodded.
"I guess so" he lied, Percival didn't need to know what he did, not until he figured out what was going on. Percival left soon after they stopped talking telling him to ask if he needed anything, Richard had nodded but said nothing, too busy thinking.
There was something his King wasn't telling him and that bothered him, how could he have survived the Dorocha? and the Serket? Not to mention the burn on his chest, that certainly looked like it should have killed him, why did he not want to see the druids? even when he was dying, what secret could possibly be so important? How did the druids know that secret? How had the young warlock gotten all those scars? What else wasn't the young royal telling him? Richard pondered these questions late into the night, eventually giving up and going to sleep, letting the soft crackling of the fire soothe him into a deep sleep.
-Line break hereVVVVVVVVVVVVV it's been awhileVVVVVVVV how are youVVVVVVVVV Good good, glad to hear it VVVVV Oh. I'm managing VVVVVVV well it was nice catching up, gotta go now. See ya!VVVVVVVV
Merlin was wondering around in the woods, collecting herbs. In truth he already had plenty of herbs, he was simply avoiding Leon, as he had been for the past several days. As he bent down to pick one particularly rare herb he heard a snap of a branch and stood up, spinning around, hand ready to throw magic at whatever was attacking him. Gwaine stood there, an amused expression on his face, Merlin relaxed and put his hand down.
"Don't sneak up on me like that." He glowered but after a second it disappeared and was replaced by a wicked grin. "Well since you're out here anyway now you can help me collect herbs." Gwaine groaned in response.
"Don't you think you have enough herbs by now? You've been collecting them for two days now." Gwaine was silent for a second while he bent down and picked a plant of the ground. "Is this a herb?" he questioned, bringing it to his face and sniffing. Merlin burst out laughing before speaking.
"Gwaine that's stinging nettle." Gwaine looked at it in alarm and dropped the plant on the ground, grateful for his gloves. And then his face started itching a few seconds later from where the plant had touched his face he reached up to scratch at his face but Merlin called out before he could. "No wait, that'll only make is worse, help me look for jewelweed, that will help, it's a purple flower." He said, deciding to simplify it so that Gwaine can look for it without a complicated description that he would likely forget as soon as he heard. After a few minutes, Gwaine made an 'a-ha' sound and Merlin turned to see him bending down to pick a purple flower from the ground. Merlin's eyes widened in fear as he recognized the plant.
"No wait," he cried, stopping Gwaine from picking the flower, his now ungloved hand inches away from touching it. "that's Corncockle, it's deadly, don't touch it." Gwaine quickly withdrew his hand in alarm "on second thought don't touch anything I'll find it." Merlin said, breathing a sigh of relief. Gwaine glared.
"Will everything out here kill me or cause some horrible side effect." Merlin considered for a second.
"No," he finally replied, making Gwaine relax slightly "just most of it." Merlin finished with a grin, making Gwaine glare at him again. After a few more minutes of searching Merlin found the plant and walked back to Gwaine. He then put the plant on a large rock and got a smaller rock, about the size of a fist and ground the flower to a pulp before scooping it into one hand and motioning for Gwaine to come forward. As he spread the plant on Gwaine's rash the knight looked relieved before speaking.
"Thank you Merlin" the man just nodded silently, Gwaine spoke again after a second or two of silence "you can't keep avoiding Leon you know. You have to talk to him some time" Merlin sighed, he had been expecting this and was surprised it had taken so long for Gwaine to bring it up, though stinging nettle can be a bit distracting. He finished rubbing the plant on Gwaine's rash and began walking away not wanting to discuss it, but Gwaine ran after him and put a hand on his shoulder, turning him around to face him.
"Mate, you can't just ignore him, he's your friend" Merlin snorted doubtfully but Gwaine pushed on "I know you're angry and I know you think he hates you." The roguish knight said, addressing the real reason Merlin was refusing to speak to Leon. Merlin looked at him sadly opening his mouth to speak but
Gwaine cut him off. "He doesn't hate you Merlin, and he IS your friend just as you are his, you both need to talk about it. Otherwise, you'll never get past it." The knight declared in a rare moment of wisdom. Merlin stared at him in shock, Gwaine rarely passed out GOOD advice. After a minute of thinking about what Gwaine had said, Merlin sagged and nodded sadly.
"I suppose you are right Gwaine, I can't just keep avoiding him." Merlin sighed and ran a hand over his face before grinning weakly at his friend. "Thank you Gwaine. I'll try and talk to him tomorrow." Gwaine grinned at him and clapped him on the shoulder as they both began walking back to the camp, laughing and chatting as they walked, Merlin making fun of the knight for his apparent curse with nature. Eventually, the reached the large clearing that they had set up camp in and the two separated, Merlin going to check on his head knight and Gwaine to take his watch.
Merlin walked to where he knew Richard was a smiled to himself when he saw the older knight sleeping. Though his smile faded when he saw the worried expression on the older man's face. Merlin made a mental note to ask Richard what had him looking so worried before walking to his own bedroll and laying down. He looked to the stars as he drifted off and wondered what Arthur was doing at that moment, and silently prayed to the triple goddess to keep him safe.
VVVVVVVV Hello againVVVVVVVV'scuse meVVVVVVVVVVpardon meVVVVVVVVVVV This is almost overVVVVVVVV Aaaaannnnndddd there!VVVVVV
Arthur sighed in frustration, he had been in council meetings all day discussing the potential war on Aria, battle plans, and what losses to expect. Unfortunately, with Aria having magic the losses could be detrimental and many of the counselors were telling him to give up but he refused. He would figure something out, he had to, there was no way he was abandoning his knights. He finally reached his chambers and nodded at the guards before quietly slipping into his rooms, hoping not to wake Guinevere, unfortunately she was already awake and was sitting on the bed reading a book, waiting for him.
"Arthur" she called when he walked in and Arthur sighed, he was too tired to discuss anything else that night. Nonetheless, he turned to his wife and looked at her expectantly. "Perhaps you are being too rash about this, surely the Knights of Aria don't mean any harm, they only asked for aid in protecting their kingdom and finding their prince. It is not as if they demanded the return of magic in Camelot." Arthur sighed and shook his head.
"If that was true then they should have told me about the magic in their kingdom, no this was deceit and I fear what their true plans are for my knights. I refuse to stand by idly while my knights are walking into a trap!" He declared before walking over to his drawers and pulling out his night clothes.
"They likely feared your reaction to the truth, if you were them would you have told the full truth?"
"Yes!" Arthur said, coming out from behind his changing screen, now in his night clothes. "and had they told me the truth I would have sent them away, nothing else. Now, however, they will pay." He finished darkly.
"Art-" His wife began but the young King cut her off.
"I and my knights are leaving for Aria in the morning. It is already decided. If Aria releases my knights unharmed then I will leave peacefully, if not…. Then we will have war."