New chapter! I hope you enjoy. I don't own Merlin.
"Merlin... Merlin!"
Merlin rubbed his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows to look at Gaius kneeling next to him.
"There's a group of people here, Gwen's talking to them. I thought you'd want to know."
"Mmph," Merlin pushed himself into a more upright sitting position, "Thanks. Is Arthur up yet?"
"See for yourself," Gaius raised his eyebrows.
Merlin glanced in the other direction and saw Arthur lying on his side a few feet away, still asleep.
"Oh. Well I'd better wake him up then."
"And may I ask why the two of you did not make use of more comfortable sleeping arrangements?" Gaius asked as Merlin stretched and dusted himself off.
"Well...it's a bit boring, isn't it? Sleeping where you're actually comfortable."
"Ah. So you went for the more interesting option then?" Gaius looked at him, unimpressed.
"That's it." Merlin grinned quickly and then turned to get Arthur.
Arthur was difficult to wake. Merlin wasn't sure when they'd fallen asleep, but obviously neither of them had expected it. He shook Arthur again and dodged a swat aimed at his head.
"Come on, rise and shine."
"Merlin... Go away."
"You really should get up. There are people here, you don't want them to learn you're a lazy slug, do you?"
Arthur opened his eyes and looked at Merlin, annoyed, "I am not a lazy slug."
"You can't expect them to believe that unless you get up."
Arthur stood up stiffly, "Idiot."
"Yes, you'll have to hide that, too."
Arthur gave him an infuriated look before turning and walking away. Merlin, smiling, followed him towards where Gwen stood talking to a clump of rather dishevelled people. The knights were helping some of them move disassembled tents to a flat part of the hill. When she saw Arthur and Merlin approach, Gwen broke off what she'd been saying.
"Oh, here they are. Everyone, this is Arthur and Merlin. As I was saying, it's their plan that we're working off of here. Emily was just explaining that they heard our message yesterday afternoon."
A woman with long brown hair near the front of the group nodded. "Most of us," she gestured behind her, "were holed up in an old barn. Our radio doesn't usually work, but it picked up that message and we decided to check it out. We met up with the others on the way. They were sneaking away from one of the armies."
"Well, we're glad to have you. I know that it takes a lot of courage, not to mention trust, to come here, but we do have the power to stop this," Arthur said.
"Thank you," Emily smiled, "I wouldn't be surprised if we were just the first of many."
She wasn't wrong. As the day progressed, more and more people arrived, in somewhat baffling numbers. Merlin had expected, or at least hoped for, the civilians from the nearby vicinity, but he was surprised to see soldiers from all five armies. He'd thought there were only two or three close enough for anyone to arrive that soon. Over the course of the day he spoke to a lot of people, and eventually he learned the reason for this. Apparently, each of the armies had moved towards the surrounding area since he'd last heard information about their locations, which gave some explanation for the large camp that had blocked his and Arthur's way. But the explanations still felt strange, and it stuck in his mind for the rest of the day.
Many of the groups brought food with them, and some even had enough to share with those who had less. As a result, Merlin and Arthur's dinner was better than the food they had been getting used to, thanks to those people who had been able to grow some vegetables and bring them. As they ate, and their friends sat with them, they all discussed what they'd learned from the new arrivals.
"Well, all of them are certainly genuinely interested in peace," Leon said.
"That's good," Arthur nodded.
"What he's not saying is that not all of them seem to think that this will be a successful way of achieving it," Gwain added.
"They're here, aren't they?" asked Gwen. "They must at least think it's somewhat plausible."
"Or they just want to come and watch the failure unfold," Arthur said dryly.
"I don't believe that," Gwen was firm.
"It might help matters," said Gaius, "if they had a little more information."
Arthur sighed, "We don't have a lot to give them, they know why they're here."
"I am aware of that," Gaius spoke levelly, "but from their perspective, the information must seem a little sparse. If Merlin, or you, or Gwen were to speak to them and provide more information they would have more confidence in us."
Arthur considered this, "I'll speak to them when more people have arrived, perhaps in a few days. Until then, if they ask any questions answer as truthfully as you can."
Merlin cleared his throat. The others turned to look at him, "Actually, there is one thing I wanted to address on that subject. If anyone asks who Arthur is, or who we are, it might be better if we didn't tell them the whole truth. It might be a bit difficult for them to, uh, accept."
"What should we say?" Percival asked.
"Just say that we want to help, or that we have some experience in this sort of thing, just don't start talking too much about everything."
The others nodded, though they looked a little confused.
"They don't really think that sorcery is real," he explained, "and, well, they probably won't believe you if you say that Arthur is Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot," he swallowed, "The thing is, there are some rather well known stories about him. And the rest of us."
This brought an uproarious reaction from the people around him, and Merlin found himself having to answer a lot of questions. He spent the rest of the evening explaining the legends to them, to annoyed and amused reactions.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to my beta for helping me edit. Please review with any thoughts you have. I write more often if I think people are actually reading and enjoying this.
