Another Twist of Fate

Chapter 3: It was...Merlin?


I woke up at sunrise despite the fact that I still felt exhausted, but I stumbled out of my room to see Gaius sitting with an unconscious knight. As I got closer, my heart sank when I saw it was Gwaine. He was breathing raggedly and he looked painfully pale...like Arthur had when he'd...

"He's still breathing...somehow..." Gaius told me. "The knights brought him in thinking he was dead...I believe it is the work of a Nathair."

"Morgana..." I hissed; she could haunt us even from beyond the grave.

"But he will die," Gaius said sadly.

"Gwaine," I shook my head at the headstrong knight. Like many knights his philosophy was 'think first, questions later, if ever', and it had gotten hm into trouble again. No doubt he'd gone after Morgana for toying with his emotions with Eira's betrayal. I'd seen no woman capture Gwaine's heart like that before...and it had been Morgana's plan right from the start. "What was he doing?" I asked.

"He and Percival followed Morgana after we mislead her, it was a foolish attempt made in anger, no one else knew about it...until now, of course," he told me and I shook my head. I out my hand on Gwaine's ice cold forehead and suddenly words I'd never spoken or even read before came to my mind. I said them, and he instantly warmed up...his breathing evened.

But, I was obviously not back to normal myself and I stumbled down to the ground and Gaius helped me onto a stool. He then walked over to check on Gwaine.

"He's...you've cured him!" he exclaimed and I sighed in relief.

"Yeah...I know..." (*1)

"How did you do that?"

"I...I don't know...I just...heard the words in my head..." I told him truthfully, and like Arthur he stared at me in disbelief. "I have to get to work..." I said as I slowly stood up.

"You...you're in no state to work, Merlin, and you haven't had your breakfast..."

"I'll get something on the way," I said and before he could stop me, I was out the door. In fact I had no idea what I was supposed to do today. There was enough wounded knights from the battle for Gaius to care for and I probably should've been helping him. But first I needed to assure myself that Arthur was indeed still alive and that I hadn't been imagining things.

I passed the same friendly faces along the way and once again I was home, I smiled and waved at everyone I passed, feeling happier than I could remember in weeks. But when I reached the kings' rooms I hesitated in knocking when I heard voices. Of course, through the thick wood I couldn't hear what was being said and I wasn't going to use magic to ease drop on the king and his wife, so I only made sure that it was Arthur's voice and left without a word for the armoury. I was sure that there was plenty of armour for me to polish.

It was, after all, my favourite hobby...yeah, of course it was. It did offer me a chance to think in peace and quiet for a while though.

I thought through dozens of possibilities of what the Sidhe would want of me. I thought I'd taken care of the main loop holes in out deal...but at the time I had been concerned for Arhtur...closing loop holes in a ridiculous deal with faerie people hadn't been my main concern.

Would they warp my conditions and somehow make me wrong Camelot? Would they attack Arhtur? The questions and possibilities were endless and it seemed I'd just exchanged one set of troubles for another...but...at least Arhtur was alive.

I'd been sat polishing a pile of armour for several hours when Percival, Leon, Arthur and Gwen came into the armoury, all of them looking at me very strangely. I felt that something very unusual was going on. Were they talking about things behind my back? Had they somehow found out about...no, no...that wasn't possible...was it?

"Ah, Merlin, we've been looking for you," Gwen said to me with a smile. "We were hoping you could help us."

"Help...with what, m'lady?" I asked, perfectly innocently.

"The man on the cliffs at Camlann," she answered and I suddenly felt like a trapped rat.

"A man?" I repeated.

"Yes, a very old man...a sorcerer," she added.

"I really don't..." I blinked.

"So who'd you think he was?" Arthur asked. "All the men seem to be talking about him and no one seems to know exactly who it was. And you do seem to have a knack for knowing these things somehow..."

"Hmm," I nodded as I stared down at the plated metal, I furiously scrubbed at it with the rag until it gleamed.

"What'd you make of it, Merlin?" Gwen asked me.

"Yes, Merlin, we'd love to hear what you think," Arthur smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"I think..." I began, lifting the armour up to admire my handiwork.

"Yes?" Arthur asked eagerly.

"...That I'm really good at polishing armour, actually," I finished and put it down. Percival and Leon burst out laughing while Gwen smiled and Arthur frowned. "George did have his redeemable features after all," I smiled and Arthur frowned even more. "Oh, and one more thing...Gaius says Gwaine's going to live," I said then I ran out of the room.

"MERLIN!" I heard Arthur bellow down the corridors at me.

"Arthur...be careful!" Gwen scolded him and then, I knew I was not being chased by the crazed king of Camelot. His wife had just unknowlingly saved my hide! Ha!


I wandered through-out the castle and I saw most of the large rooms being used as temporary physicians quarters for the wounded of the battle as was usual. And there was a lot of wounded people...as usual. With Gaius and others I walked about bringing clean bandages and poultices and general pain relievers to the ailing knights. Mine, of course, were enhanced with magic which greatly helped the knights, but made me feel my exhaustion even more after every spell.

By now, after so many years, I was used to the aftermath that war brought; the sight and smell of the dying, the grotesque wounds inflicted by merciless, immoral enemies. Arthur had told me many times that Camelot's Knights were trained to kill in war, not to wound, because it was far more merciful to the enemy to die on the battlefield rather than to die slowly and painfully from their wounds.

Personally, part of me agreed, but the large part said that all killing was a cruelty, whether men thought they were showing mercy or not, they were still killing. But then I remembered that the enemy was Morgana and her band of equally sadistic mercenaries, who had about as much regard for life as she, herself did. And for what they had done, they all deserved the most agonising and painful death imaginable.

I was slightly worried that there were still men of hers wandering the forests that would attempt harm to Camelot while she was vulnerable, and, as usual I was hoping that my 'funny feeling' would be wrong...But right now, my concern was helping the wounded, so I did.

"Merlin...has anyone seen Merlin?" I heard a voice ask after a while. "Merlin, the King wishes to see you in the throne room," I looked up from the particularly nasty leg wound I was bandaging to see a flustered looking Sir Leon standing there.

"Me?" I asked rather stupidly. But I couldn't think what Arthur would want me for right this minute. "Can it wait? I am a little busy," I said to the knight.

"I...I'll tell him," Leon smiled and with a nod he left.

"You...you should have...gone..." said the knight who's leg I was bandaging. I jumped a little since I'd not expected him to speak, he'd been sleeping deeply for a long time or so I'd been told.

"Arthur is not wounded, you are, he can wait, your leg needs treatment or you could lose it. Do you want to lose a leg?" I replied.

"...N...no...but he's the...he's the king..."

"What's your name, sir knight?" I asked him as I looked up at his pale face.

"I...I am...Sir Galahad," he replied quite calmly. (*2)

"Well, Sir Galahad, it's an honour to meet you, I'm Merlin, now if you don't mind I'd like to finish bandaging your leg," I said and then turned back to my task.

"...Thank you...Merlin..." Galahad said and I smiled; was one knight I wanted to get to know. Many of the knights would've ignored me, being a servant I wasn't necessarily meant to speak unless asked, and certainly not so brazenly to a knight, but this one hadn't seemed to mind. In fact, I think he'd found it rather funny, he would've been smiling if not for the amount of pain he was in...I saw both humour and pain in his eyes.

"There," I smiled after a minute. "Keep off your leg for about a week and it should heal up just fine. No doubt, you'll be fighting again in two," I told him and he sighed in relief. The healing process was of course sped up with magic, but the knights weren't taught healing, at least not in so much detail; he'd never know. "You're a lucky knight, Sir Galahad, but I happen to be very good with life-threatening wounds." I said, hoping to lighten his mood.

"...Life-threatening?" he repeated.

"Yeah, I have been living with the court physician for years, he'd murder me if I didn't pick up a thing or two. Have you ever seen Gauis when he's mad? And it's probably helped that Arthur just seems to attract trouble like no one I've ever met..." I told him, "Well I'd better..."

"Merlin...why do you call the king...Arthur?" Galahad asked me curiously.

"That's his name...unless I've been very stupid over the last few years, isn't it?"

"Well, yes but...he's the king," he said as though I'd done Arthur a major injustice.

"Yes, he is, and it's important not to let that go to his head...otherwise he'd have me enlarging all the doors in the castle and that's too much work for me to handle," I added with a grin. "Well, I be seeing you, Sir Galahad," I waved t him and practically ran from the room.


And so it was that, minutes later, I was stood in the throne room in all it's red and gold splendour, surrounded by men and women all dressed in their best while I was covered in blood from the knights, and dirt from kneeling on the besides people who could afford the best always did make me look even more shabby than usual, but now even a manure salesman would put me to shame.

I'd tried to go to my room to wash up a little, but one of the knights had passed me in the corridor and practically dragged me, kicking and screaming, to the throne room. Why was it so important that I was there without delay? Shouldn't it have been more important to wash off the drying blood and dirt before appearing before the king? Or maybe Arthur really was back to his usual supercilious, clot-pole-lile self and wanted to humiliate me before the court.

"...Ah, Merlin," Arhur had smirked from his throne with Gwen beside him, "So good of you to join us."

"...I...I was..." I'd tried to explain, but I didn't think the court would appreciate hearing that I had prioritised the wounded Knights over them or the king; some of them were awfully self-centred. "I apologise for the delay, Sire," I had said and bowed, then silently took my place beside Gaius. Gwen and Arthur both gave me a strange look that I couldn't describe but I looked away and thought no more about it.

So far, all that had been discussed were the number of casualties, the progress of the wounded, and the state of Morgana's remaining followers. If this had been a Round Table meeting I would've spoken instantly about my fears...but this was not a Round Table meeting, the entire court was present and some of them did not, and would never care for the opinion of a servant. I could see Gaius tense beside me, perhaps he had the same fears as I did.

"What of the Lady Morgana, herself, sire?" one of the couriers asked, and I was surprised that Arthur hadn't already told them she was dead.

"I would've thought that was obvious, she is dead...but I'm afraid, it was not I who killed her," he added, and of course now they erupted in shock. "For the peace we will now enjoy, I have only one man to thank," he said and I felt torn between wanting to hit him over the head with my magical staff or run away and hide in the Crystal Cave where no one could find me...or thank me, again.

I took a step to hide behind Gaius and quickly wondered if I could make up a spell to make myself invisible. My mentor gave me a strangely bemused look and stepped aside so that he wasn't hiding me anymore and I scowled, "Traitor," I muttered at him.

"Who, sire?" the court asked and I prayed that he'd just say to them 'oh, no, really, it was a joke, I did kill my half sister despite the fact that I was dying and I couldn't even stand up by myself, but really, I did kill her, it wasn't my manservant at all, really, it was me'.

"My manservant, Merlin, he saved my life," Arthur said and I died a little inside; the nobles were not going to like that. And of course they practically exploded in disbelief, while I shot a dark glare at the Once and Future King, who's life just I'd saved, and who'd just thrown me to the wolves!


(*1) Yay! Gwaine lives! I just couldn't leave poor Gwaine dead, now could I? Ain't I good to ya?

(*2) According to Wikipedia and my own memory of the book, Sir Galahad appears late in the Arthurian legend so I figured now was as good a time as any to bring him in. And since only three of Arhtur's main knights are still alive, if I wrote a sequel for this story, he will most likely play a major role in it. Of course, I had to ignore the fact that he's the son of Lancelot blah blah blah, but it's not like other things haven't been ignored in this interpretation now, is it?


A.N. Please let me know if you liked it or not, 'cos after the next, and last chapter in this short story, I'm gonna have to decide which one to do a sequel for! And I'm still not in possession of Merlin!