Arthur stared down at Merlin, unimpressed.
"Where are you, you little -"
"What are you doing?"
The warlock gave a yelp as he hit his head on the bottom of Arthur's bed frame with a loud thump!
"A-A-Arthur, what are you doing back from training so soon?" he stammered, scrambling out from underneath the bed.
"I left my - That's not important, what were you doing underneath my bed?" Arthur asked, taking in the boy's rumpled appearance and the thin scratches on his face.
"Y-your bed? Oh, I, um, I dropped… something."
"Something?" Arthur said, crossing his arms.
"Yes."
"Was it your brain?"
Merlin glared at the prince and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a soft chirping sound coming from Arthur's feet.
Both looked down to see a black cat curling around the prince's boot, trilling as it stared up at Arthur with vivid yellow eyes.
"Why is there a cat in my room?"
"Well, you see… I was trying something and, well…"
"You let a cat into my room?"
"I don't think let him in is the proper way of putting it," Merlin chuckled nervously.
"You brought a cat into my room?"
"No, no, he sort of, kind of, originated from your room. In a way. Though I guess I did bring the toy in here so -"
"Merlin!" Arthur snapped. "What did you do?"
"So I was thinking about what happened with Valiant and I realized that if I could have just summoned the snakes from his shield myself it would have saved us a lot of time, so I found a spell in the book to bring artwork to life and got a toy cat from the market and, well, the spell worked," Merlin said quickly and finished it off by waving at the cat in a ta-da fashion.
"You brought a cat to life! In my room!"
"You're the one who said not to practice outside of here!"
Arthur glared at the warlock and pointed at the feline. "Turn it back."
"That was the plan, but the book doesn't list the counterspell."
"You," Arthur deadpanned slowly. "Are. An. Idiot. Why would you bring it to life without knowing how to turn it back?"
"I didn't think it was important. He was just a little cat toy."
"Well, as per usual, you thought wrong. I don't want some animal prowling around my room, especially one summoned by that. Get rid of it."
"That's what I was trying to do," Merlin said, gesturing to the bed. "But he keeps running away from me."
Arthur rolled his eyes and bent down.
"Wai-"
The prince scooped up the purring cat, who nuzzled into his vambrace. He held it out, saying, "Here."
"You… He… How did you do that?"
"I don't have all day."
"Right." Merlin came forwards and reached out for the cat.
He then jumped back as the cat hissed and nearly scratched him.
"Menace," he muttered and Arthur snorted.
Meanwhile, the cat, content that Merlin wasn't going to try again, cuddled Arthur's chainmail-covered chest and resumed its purring.
The prince's hand came up unconsciously to settle on the squirming cat's head.
"I'm guessing this explains those scratches on your cheek?" he teased.
Merlin's hand came up to said scratches and he pouted. "He hates me! I think he knows I'm trying to turn him back into a toy and is angry with me."
"It's a cat, Merlin."
"Cats are pretty smart animals."
"Smarter than you, maybe," Arthur snorted.
Merlin noticed Arthur's hand, which had begun scratching the cat's ears and he smirked. "Well, he seems to like you well enough."
Arthur most certainly did not blush when he realized what he was doing. He did, however, shove the cat into Merlin's arms. "Of course it does. Everyone does," he snapped, ignoring Merlin's snort that immediately followed. "Now get it out of here."
Merlin gave the cat an anxious look as it loudly chattered and clawed at Merlin's jacket, all the while staring at Arthur in a clear showing of who it would prefer at the moment. "Right," he said slowly.
A knock came from the door and the two turned as it opened to admit a servant. The man's eyes widened as he caught sight of the prince and he immediately dropped into a bow. "I'm sorry for intruding, Your Highness."
"What is it?" Arthur snapped, completely done with servants.
"Gaius sent me. He is in need of Merlin's help in the lower town."
"Thank you, Michel," the boy said and the older servant nodded before glancing at the prince, who dismissed the nervous-looking man with a wave of his hand.
A part of Arthur wanted to pile a load of chores on the warlock's back for this recent misuse (and really, wasn't any use of magic a misuse) of his powers, could he really deny the court physician assistance?
"Did you at least finish your chores before deciding to play around with animals?" he asked the boy, who nodded and gave a hum that didn't sound entirely convincing. "Then go. Make sure you're back in time to deliver my lunch. Hopefully, Gaius will find you more useful. At the very least it will keep you out of trouble."
Merlin frowned before putting on his usual pseudo-smile. "Thank you, Sire," he said, bowing his head. Then he proceeded to shove the cat back into Arthur's arms before darting out the door.
"Merlin!"
Despite the fact that the idiot had to have heard him, Arthur got no response.
He glared down at the cat, who was once more snuggled up to him with a purr. "You are an abomination and I will not have you in my rooms."
The cat gave a cheerful meow.
Arthur scowled and snatched his dagger off the table then stomped out of the room. Once his door was firmly closed, he dropped the cat next to it and waved his hands. "Shoo." He then marched off without a backward glance.
"Sorry Gaius, we're searching every room in town."
"What for?"
"The sorcerer."
"But why would he be here?"
"I'm just doing my job."
"Well, we've nothing to hide. Go on then, search."
Despite the fact that he knew his only magical item was hidden away in Arthur's own wardrobe, Merlin couldn't help the nervous energy building in him as he watched Arthur's men rustle through Gaius's chambers
"What are these books and papers?"
"My life's work, dedicated to the understanding of science. You are quite welcome to read through them if you wish."
Merlin felt the faintest flicker of amusement at the face Arthur made at that, but it quickly died as Arthur turned to his own room.
"What's this room up here?"
"Er, it's mine," he said, stepping forward.
"And what do you expect to find in there?" Gaius asked as Arthur started towards the door.
"I'm looking for material or evidence suggesting the use of enchantments."
Merlin flinched when Gaius patted his back. The physician gave him an odd look as he said, "It's alright. They'll be gone soon and then we can get back to work."
"R-right."
"Merlin, come here. Look what I found."
Merlin jumped at Arthur's voice and rushed into his room, only to see Arthur standing in front of his wardrobe.
"I found a place where you can put things. It's called a cupboard."
"I, uh, right," Merlin said, glancing around his messy room.
Arthur sent him a glare as he closed the cupboard and walked passed him. He pretended to close the door so he could look behind it, but as soon as it was shut, he grabbed Merlin's arm and towed him over to the far side of the room. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you over to the guards right now?" he hissed.
"You… don't have any proof?" Merlin whispered back. At Arthur's unimpressed look, he added, "I can help?"
"Help against your own attack?"
"My a-" Annoyance washed away the fear. "Arthur, even if I wanted to hurt people - which I don't - why would I do it in such an obviously magical way when I know that you know what I am?"
"You're the only sorcerer in Camelot that I know of."
"And you're the only royal prat I know, but I'm sure there are more out there!"
"If you didn't do this, who did?"
"I don't know," Merlin huffed, trying to tug his arm free. "The only other one with magic that I know of is the dragon and considering he's been locked beneath the dungeons for twenty years, I'm guessing he would have done something a long time ago if he could."
"Then how do you think you can help? Can that lead us to the sorcerer?"
"I don't know." Could it? Was there a way to track someone else's magic? He didn't remember seeing something like that in his book. Maybe if he could check the other books in the vaults…
"Then why did you say you could help?"
"I can heal people."
"With that? " Arthur finally let him go, only to cross his arms. "You really are an idiot, aren't you? Did you forget my father has me hunting sorcerers? Everyone is suspicious of everyone else right now. You'd be found out in a moment."
"I could save lives!"
"And lose your own in the process."
"I didn't think you cared," Merlin snorted.
"I don't… but if you aren't the one who did this - and I'm still not convinced you aren't - then we'd be wasting time dealing with you instead of finding the actual threat."
Merlin bit his lip and glanced at the door. "So what are you going to do?"
"What my father asked. I'm going to look for any signs of a sorcerer."
"And if you can't find any?"
Arthur turned around and stomped out of the room. "How long do you think it may be before you find a cure?" he asked Gaius.
"It depends on how many interruptions I get."
"Of course, I'm sorry." He turned to the guards and gestured them out. "We're finished here."
Merlin watched them leave, then turned to Gaius, who was going back to his work. "Do you think he'll find them, the sorcerer?"
Gaius sighed. "A sorcerer who's powerful enough to do this will never be found searching the town."
Merlin swallowed and nodded.
"No, please. You've got to listen to me! Please, I haven't done anything wrong!"
Merlin turned a corner to see Gwen being dragged down the hall by a pair of guards led by Arthur.
"You have to listen to me, please! I am innocent, I swear! Let me go!" she shouted before turning to see him. "I swear to you! Merlin!"
Arthur turned at the sound of Merlin's name.
"Merlin, please help me! Why won't you listen to me? Merlin, please!"
Arthur stepped off to the side and told the guards, "Take her to the king. I will be along shortly."
The guards looked confused, but did as ordered. As soon as they were out of sight, Arthur grabbed Merlin and dragged him into an alcove. "What did you do?"
"What?"
"I warned you about using that! And what did you do?"
"I couldn't let her father die knowing I could cure him."
"And you didn't think I'd have to look into why he's the only one to recover?"
"Well then, all I have to do is… I'll cure everyone! No one will ever have to know it was magic."
"It's too late!" Arthur hissed, shoving him. "The guards saw the poultice and her father admitted to everyone that Guinevere was the only one around. I can't hide it and we both know my father's going to think she caused the disease!"
"But she didn't! You know that!"
"Of course I do, but my father's not going to listen," Arthur growled before stomping off.
"Arthur!"
"Shut up, Merlin. You've done enough. Just do as you're told before I turn you over myself."
"You idiot!"
"Funny, I thought that was my line," Arthur snorted as he closed the doors to his room. "You should be thanking me for saving you from your own stupidity."
"What else could I do? It's my fault Gwen's going to die!"
"Of course it is, but what do you think is going to happen when you burn and the plague continues. My father will just burn her as well. And then two will be dead for nothing."
"You're the one who sa- Wait, so you don't think I'm the one causing it anymore?" Merlin perked up and Arthur rolled his eyes.
"No, clearly you're too stupid for that."
"Clearly," Merlin huffed.
"You and Gaius need to either figure out what's wrong with the water or find the sorcerer so I can get it out of them," Arthur said, crossing the room to his table. "That's the only way my father can be convinced to let Guinevere go. Has Gaius got any leads?"
"No, but we're going down to check the water supply as soon as he's done talking to Uther. Hopefully, we'll find something there."
"Right, then ge-"
"Meow."
The two blinked, then turned as one to see a black cat curled up on Arthur's pillows, blinking slowly as it watched them.
"Oh, so this is where you've been?" Merlin said, while at the same time Arthur shouted, "This is the seventh time! How do you keep getting in here?"
"Merlin, what are you doing?"
Merlin didn't look up from his searching; he just said, "Looking for a book."
"Care to tell me which one?"
"A book on elements."
"Elements?" Gaius asked, coming closer.
"Yes. Which one would I find them in?"
"Well, most of them. The study of base elements is at the very heart of the scientific process."
"But how would they help me kill the Afanc?" Merlin said without thinking. He finally looked up as his words registered.
"Well, the Afanc is a creature made from earth and water. That's two of the four base elements," Gaius answered, staring at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What about the other two?"
Gaius looked surprised. "Well, perhaps they will destroy it. You want fire. Wind and fire."
Merlin mouthed the words and stood up.
"How did you find this out?"
"Erm… It just came to me, you know? Guess your lessons must be sinking in more than we thought."
"Uh, huh," Gaius said, looking unconvinced.
"I need to talk to Arthur."
"Arthur?"
"He'll be able to take the Afanc."
He heard Gaius call after him as he raced out of the room, but kept going until he bumped into Morgana on the stairs.
"They're bringing forward the execution. We have to prove Gwen's innocence."
"That's what I'm trying to do." He steadied her before continuing on his way.
"Please, just tell me what I can do to help," she said, following.
"I've got a plan. I just need Arthur."
"Arthur?"
"Yes?"
The two stopped as Arthur stepped out in front of them.
"What are you doing here?" Morgana asked.
"Same as you I suppose. Checking to see if Gaius has discovered anything new. Merlin?"
"I… There's a monster, an Afanc, in the water supply. That's what's causing the plague."
"That's good. If it's a monster that's causing this then that means there's no sorcerer. I can tell my father and he'll let Guinevere go."
Merlin bit his lip as Arthur turned to do just that. "Wait, Arthur."
"Merlin, we don't have time for this."
"Just listen. Gaius said the Afanc is a creature that's summoned by a sorcerer. If your father finds out he'll just blame that on Gwen too."
"He has a point Arthur," Morgana agreed.
"It seems you do have a brain somewhere in there. So tell me, Merlin, what do you suggest we do?"
"We need to destroy it. Then the plague will stop and Uther may see sense."
"I won't lie to my father."
"I'm not asking you to."
"Leave Uther to me," Morgana said.
"You can't lie to him either," Arthur sighed.
"I won't. I'll just keep him distracted until you two can destroy that beast. Maybe then he'll see sense."
Arthur looked between the two before spinning around and marching off with a huff.
Merlin gave Morgana a grateful look before following.
"You better be right about this, Merlin," Arthur muttered as he led the way to the water supply.
"I am, I swear. You just need to trust me."
Arthur snorted and opened the doors. He grabbed his sword, but Merlin stopped him.
"Gaius said we'll need fire and wind to destroy the Afanc." He pointed towards the torch.
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "And where do you suppose we get wind?"
"Let's just say it's a good thing Morgana decided to stay back."
"You!"
"Do you want to destroy this thing or not?"
"Of course I do, but there has to be another way."
"Maybe, but we don't have time to look. Please, Arthur."
Arthur stared him down before grabbing the torch. "Let's go."
Blue eyes glared into yellow ones. "It has that, that's the only explanation."
"I don't think that's possible," Merlin snickered as he cleaned the hearth.
"It was created from that, why couldn't it have it?"
"He's a cat."
"A magic cat. How else could he keep getting in here?"
"The chambermaids? I've heard quite a few of the kitchen-maids talking about him, maybe some of the girls have seen him sulking outside your door and think he's yours so they've been letting him in."
"Why would anyone think I'd keep a cat?" Arthur scoffed.
"He's cute?"
"You're such a girl, Merlin," Arthur snorted, sitting back and crossing his arms. "No, it's definitely got that. Its eyes even look like yours do when you're practicing."
"I knew you've been watching me," Merlin muttered just loud enough for Arthur to catch. Louder, he added, "That's just how cats' eyes look."
"You need to get rid of it. I can't have some magic cat skulking around my chambers."
"He's not skulking. He just likes you, for some unknowable reason. You should name him."
"I'm not naming it, and neither are you. Do not get attached to this thing, Merlin. It's going straight back to were it came from, understand?"
"I was thinking something along the lines of Palug."
"We are not naming it, and even if we were, we're certainly not naming it that."
"I liked it."
"Shut up, Merlin."
For the record, the cat is not the Cath Palug (who apparently killed Arthur in some stories?). I just needed a name for Merlin to suggest and happened to stumble upon the black cat and couldn't stand the irony.