A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I hope I'll see more of them!
Chapter Two:
At first, he was happy to do anything to help his mother, so when she suggested he join Arnid's army, he agreed. The journey to his small kingdom, Norant, took a while, but when he got there, Merlin was easily enlisted. He trained hard everyday, and quickly mastered weapons and fighting. Eventually, the king noticed his skills, and offered him a job as a royal assassin, though no-one would know about him. Of course, this took rigorous training in stealth, wit, and speed, as well as deceit.
Throughout training, Merlin wanted to quit. He knew he was training to kill people as if they were bags of money that would be collected when their heart stops. Still, he knew that his mother needed the money in order to survive, so he kept training and strived to be the best. By the end of training, he had all the skills to be the greatest assassin to ever live.
When he got his first assignment, to kill a particularly outspoken peasant, Merlin realised that it was his chance to escape. If he got attacked by a large group of bandits, it wouldn't be too unreasonable that he would die. While he was making his way to where his target lived, he noticed a few figures lurking about in the woods. He slowed down, and made sure to look as weak as possible. Bandits love an easy target.
Suddenly (or so they thought), the bandits rushed out of hiding, and circled Merlin. With a smirk and a flash of his eyes, he knocked all of them out, and got off his horse. Wandering up to the closest man, Merlin stabbed him right in the chest. Then, he recited a spell he learned while looking through a secret library in Arnid's castle. The man now looked exactly like Merlin, and since he was dead, the spell could never fade.
With an apology, Merlin stabbed his horse. Before he left the group of unconscious bandits, he altered their memory so they thought they killed him, and his horse. To make sure it looked like there was a fight, Merlin stabbed two more bandits, and gave all of them cuts.
When Merlin didn't return after two weeks, the king stated to get worried, and sent a search party to find him. All they found was his dead body, on a bloody scene, along with two dead bandits. Since no-one other than the king knew about Merlin's job, they burnt his body and buried the ashes, instead of giving him a proper burial. Lord Arnid gave Merlin's mother a hefty sum of money, to thank Merlin for "giving up his life for the sake of Norant's safety."
He returned to Ealdor after a year in the forest. Merlin wanted to make sure that no-one was looking for him when he went back to his home, fearing that his mother would be killed if they found her harbouring him. After all, no-one was allowed to leave their job.
Knowing that her son's magic was getting too powerful to hold in, and that keeping him there would be dangerous, she sent him to Camelot, to live with Gaius. Perhaps the boy could become a physician. Before he left, Hunith told him to keep all his skills a secret, and that it might be a good idea to put up the facade of a weak, clumsy fool. Of course, Merlin agreed to do as his mother asked.
As he arrived in Camelot, and saw the mistreatment of a servant, that promise was put to the test.
After he stood up for the poor servant, and called the person mistreating them an ass, that same ass told Merlin to try to hit him. As tempting as it was, Merlin did not like to hit people for the fun of it. On the other hand, maybe he needed someone to teach him a lesson. No. He should just pretend to try and hit him to show that not everyone will allow themselves to be walked over. And so he "tried" to punch him and was sent to the dungeons. Great.
The next day, that prat decided to annoy him again.
"How's your knee walking coming along?" he mocked.
Merlin kept walking, not wanting the prince to have the satisfaction of ticking him off.
"Oh don't run away~"
Staying calm, he turned and replied, "From you?"
As arrogant as ever, the prince said, "Oh, thank god. I thought that you were deaf as well as dumb."
He wasn't going to take that kind of rudeness from anyone, especially a prince.
"Look, I've told you you're an ass. I just didn't realise you were a royal one."
Deciding to mock him a little bit, he continued, "Oh, what are you going to do? Get your daddy's men to protect you?"
Arthur laughed with disbelief. "I could take you apart in one blow."
With truth disguised as cockiness, Merlin said, "I could take you apart in less than that."
"Are you sure?"
That was the last straw, Merlin was going to tear him to pieces, but his mother's voice rang in his head.
'You can't reveal any of your skills, to any extent. It would raise questions. Keep your head low, and don't attract any unnecessary attention.'
He was going to follow what his mother said, but Arthur already shoved a mace into Merlin's hand. Arthur was planning on teaching him a lesson, not knowing that Merlin was far more skilled with a mace than him. Merlin knew he couldn't, or wouldn't, back away, so he decided to use magic to trip up the prince and pretend he didn't know how to properly use a mace. He would have won too, if not for Gaius distracting him. The guards came up and grabbed him when Arthur told them to let him go.
"There's something about you, Merlin. I can't quite put my finger on it."
By the time he finished reminiscing, the sun was up, which he could tell because of all the bustling he heard in the courtyard. There was nothing to do other than think, study, and explore. Merlin knew he wouldn't have much to do, so he brought a few books to study what Gaius does. Herbs, illnesses, injuries, and poisons. He spent the next few days studying, and exploring the catacombs.
On the sixth day of Lord Arnid's visit, Arthur decided to show him the catacombs.
"We have one of the most elaborate catacombs out of all the kingdoms. It's great if there's an enemy chasing you. If you don't spend enough time in here, you'll get lost within five minutes," Arthur explained.
"Yes, I've heard about it even in my kingdom!" Arnid joked.
Hearing the voice of his master and the man he used to work under, Merlin panicked. Calming down, he gathered all of his items and went deep into the catacombs, not forgetting to remove his footprints with magic.
"Hmm, fresh candle wax. It's still hot. Someone must be down here."
Even though he was too far to see Arthur, he recognised the voice and ventured further. This wouldn't be good, but if they searched for a while, and found nothing, they would probably give up.
"There aren't any footprints. Maybe they left."
A wave of relief washed over Merlin, but he knew better than to let his guard down. He stayed in the deeper part of the catacombs for safety. Merlin grew tired and eventually fell into a restless sleep.
During night, three days after the incident, Merlin snuck back into the castle with ease, and went to sleep in his own soft bed. When Gaius woke up, he was startled to find Merlin eating breakfast.
"Merlin! I was starting to get worried about you! What were you doing?"
Not looking up from his food, he stated, "Nothing of importance."
Knowing he wouldn't get an answer from his ward, Gaius gave up and ate some food Merlin offered him. After finishing breakfast, Merlin stood up and said, "Now, I need to attend to his royal prattiness."
When he reached Arthur's room, Merlin felt reluctant. He did tell Arthur he would be gone for a week, so there was no reason to worry. The servant entered quietly, shutting the door behind him, and pulled back the window curtains.
"Rise and shine!"
Arthur just groaned, then after a moment, shot up.
"Merlin! What the heck were you doing? You've been gone for nine days!"
Good thing I prepared an excuse. "The children took longer to recover than I expected. I only came back last night."
Arthur wanted to scoff, but there wasn't any proof against the idea of Merlin going to a village to help people, so he didn't.
"Come on, we need to get you dressed, then give you breakfast, and then I'll do my mundane chores, and you'll go listen to a mundane meeting."
While the king was eating his breakfast, he remembered something.
"Oh yeah. Merlin-" he was cut off by his door opening.
Arthur stood up to greet the guest.
"Good morning, Lord Arnid."
"Good morning, King Arthur."
The name. The voice. He could recognise it anywhere.
"Ah, Merlin, I was trying to tell you that Lord Arnid decided to stay for an extra few days to sign a trade agreement. Say hello to him."
Hiding behind a bed curtain while he made the bed, Merlin changed his voice slightly, and said, "Good morning, my Lord."
Not believing it, he replied, "Come on out, boy. I need to see you to hold a proper conversation with you."
Reluctantly, he stepped out, keeping his back towards the lord.
Wanting to test him, he said, "I knew someone that looks and sounds, exactly like you. Could you turn around for me?"
Merlin noticeably stiffened at the request. Knowing he couldn't refuse, but still not wanting to show his face, Merlin turned towards the lord, with a shirt in front of his face.
Forcing a chuckle, Arnid said, "Lower that shirt. It's not like I'm going to hurt you."
Slowly, he put the shirt down, and pretended to not recognise him, even though the lord clearly recognised Merlin.
"Nice to meet you, my lord."
"The pleasure's all mine, Merlin. Now, I must get going."
The lord turned on his heel and left.
Merlin put his head in his hands, his heart beating wildly in his chest, and muttered to himself, "Why did I have to be here?"
"Did you say something, Merlin?" Arthur asked.
"Nothing, Sire."
"What is it? You're white as a ghost and you never call me that."
"Nothing. He just reminded me of a bad man I knew."
Rolling his eyes, Arthur got up. "I'm going to the meeting. Now that you're back, you'll need to clean my room, wash my clothes, polish my armour, sharpen my sword, clean my boots," he paused with a wicked smile, "and muck out the stables."
Merlin groaned, but didn't argue, and started his work. I know he recognised me, but obviously wasn't dumb enough to say anything incriminating. He might try to get me killed, or worse- Arthur killed. He decided to lock the door for safety. There is that group of assassins. What if they're coming to kill Arthur? Lord Arnid couldn't look suspicious if he was about to sign a trade agreement that would benefit Camelot.
Suddenly, he remembered something that Lord Arnid said before.