Until the Last Breath Leaves My Body

by Camelotpointe

A collection of short stories about the characters of 'Merlin'. Includes friendship, drama, comedy and more! Chapters 50 - 53: Too Much to Bear - Merlin is overwhelmed and struggling to cope with the weight of his responsibilities and the secrets he is forced to keep. Gwaine and Arthur are worried about their friend and try their best to help.

3. Sleeveless

Sleeveless

Just my account of why Percival doesn't have sleeves on his chainmail

Disclaimer: I do not own the show 'Merlin', it belongs to the BBC as do the characters in this story.

….

Sir Percival was King Arthur's strongest knight. He was tall as well as powerful and made quite an imposing figure in battle. The only one who could come close to him was Gwaine, but despite the shorter knight's incredible fitness and natural sword skills, he still could not best Percival for strength.

Many of the knights wondered why Percival didn't wear full chainmail. He was certainly strong enough, and it seemed strange that although he would barely notice the extra weight, he chose to go without sleeves. He was the only knight who did so; no matter how skilled the warrior, all except Percival wore full-body protection to prevent being caught off-guard and injured. The mail could be pierced, but it was extremely difficult to do so and even if it were penetrated it helped to lessen the damage inflicted.

Percival knew that many of the other knights questioned why he didn't wear sleeves and why he had his chainmail made as a vest, covering only his torso and shoulders. He knew that some of the more spiteful ones believed that he was simply stuck up about his large biceps, and whispered amongst themselves that someday he would be injured and then he might learn his lesson. But the truth was that, for all his strength and fearsome appearance, Percival had incredibly sensitive skin. Ever since he was a young boy, he had hated the feeling of fabric on his arms. It was scratchy and uncomfortable, and it restricted his movement. Now that he was a knight, he could afford finer material, but he still disliked having something covering his arms, and only wore sleeves when he was forced to by Arthur for formal occasions. The rest of the time he was quite happy to go without.

….

Thanks for reading, hope you liked it!