No. 9—The Very Noisy Night

Sleeping in Shifts | Tossing and Turning | Caught in a Storm

The wind whipped around Arthur, blowing his jacket flaps away from his body. He plowed into the wind, clutching his crossbow close to his chest, but the wind was too strong. He was barely making headway through the forest.

"I don't think we're going to make it back to Camelot before the storm hits!" he shouted back to Merlin.

"You don't say!" Merlin shouted back. "We need to find somewhere to hunker down!"

Arthur grabbed Merlin. Arthur had hoped to make it out of the woods before the storm hit, but that was not to be.

"This way!" Arthur tugged Merlin around a hill to the lee side where a hollow sat beneath a rocky overhang. "Here!"

Merlin ran to the hollow and huddled down in it.

Rain burst forth, streaming down on Arthur. He hunched in on himself and squeezed next to Merlin. The hollow was a little better, protected from the wind, but not by much. The rain still poured down on them.

"The hunt was a…great idea today, Arthur," Merlin just about shouted over the wind, rain, and growling thunder. He shivered against Arthur's side. "I'm so glad you thought of it."

"You're welcome!" Arthur shouted back. To be quite frank, if he hadn't left when he did, he would have said something he regretted to his father and ended up in the dungeons. Magic this, magic that, do this, Arthur, do that, Arthur, don't get any rest, Arthur, do all my duties for me, Arthur, the entire kingdom is counting on you, Arthur, don't question me, Arthur, just do as I say even if you're not sure I'm right, I don't care if you're near collapse because royalty never gets a break, oh, and by the way, if you ask me one more time about your mother, I'll confine you to your room. Even getting caught in a storm was preferable to spending one more hour stuck in a castle with that overbearing man. He hadn't even tried to catch anything, just stomped around the woods for an hour while Merlin struggled to keep up.

Merlin nudged him. "You look ill."

"I'm fine." Arthur pulled his leather jacket closer around him and pressed his back closer against the rocky hill. Shivers gripped him.

Merlin just stared at him in a look that smacked too much of Gaius's disapproving stare.

Arthur crossed his arms and turned away so Merlin couldn't see his face.

A sudden spurt of rain blew on them. Arthur winced. Cold water trailed down his face and under his shirt collar.

"Turning away from me doesn't make you look any less ill," Merlin said.

"Shut up, Merlin," Arthur said.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I said shut up!" Arthur gripped the sides of his jacket and huddled against the hill.

The sun went down and the storm got worse. The wind changed and blew gust after gust of rain down on Arthur and Merlin. Apparently, Merlin got bored with Arthur's lack of responses so he started singing a tavern song.

Until Arthur smacked him upside the head, that is.

Now his head rested against Arthur's back as he snored. Loudly.

Chills racked Arthur. He coughed hard.

Merlin, naturally, snored on.

A large branch crashed down a few feet from Arthur. He jumped. Good thing that had fallen in the middle of the clearing and not right near the hill.

Merlin's head shot up. "What's going on?"

"Just the storm getting worse." Arthur pulled his sopping jacket around him. "Don't worry your sleepy little head about it, Merlin. I'll keep watch."

"Sorry," Merlin said. "I know you don't like being touched."

"I do not…" Arthur trailed off with an indignant splutter. So what if he didn't like being touched? Men weren't supposed to touch each other! It wasn't like Father ever gave Arthur hugs or rarely even claps on the shoulder. The most he got from him was a backhand to the face.

Arthur coughed again, his lungs straining with the effort.

"That doesn't sound good," Merlin said. "Are you sure you're not ill?"

"I'm not ill," Arthur said.

Merlin was silent for a minute. "I can keep watch over the storm for a while if you want to get some rest."

"I don't need rest," Arthur grumbled, but he curled tighter against the hill and managed to drift off.

Arthur, half-aware, was plagued with clingy wet clothes bringing him chills, and stiffness turning into terrible aches. But he didn't truly wake up until the jingling of horses' bridles and the snap of his father's voice jolted him up.

"There you are, Arthur," Father snapped. "Gallivanting off in the woods. Do you realize you blew off a knighting ceremony?"

Arthur winced. The knighting ceremony. He'd thought he'd be back before that. Of course, he hadn't planned on the waves of thunderstorms coming in all afternoon and half the night. "I'm sorry, I…" He frowned, scanning the clearing. Where was Merlin?

Merlin was in the midst of the knights surrounding Father, glaring at them. A fire was at his feet and a half-cooked rabbit lay right near one horse's hooves.

Arthur's stomach curdled at the sight of food. "I'm sorry, Father, I was not expecting the storms and did not plan accordingly." He crawled out of the hollow and stood up. Pain cracked through his entire body. He stumbled, dizziness running through his head.

"I told you not to leave the castle at all. You deliberately disobeyed me!" Father snapped.

Arthur winced, rubbing his temple. Pain pounded in his head. Worry for Arthur's safety either made Father kinder or angrier than normal. Unfortunately, today was angry. "I'm sorry, I guess I didn't think."

Merlin opened his mouth and stepped forward.

Arthur raised his hand and shot Merlin a look that hopefully read, Don't.

Merlin crossed his arms but closed his mouth.

Father snapped his fingers and pointed to an empty horse. "Get on, follow right behind me. You will feel the consequences for disobeying me and blowing off your responsibilities."

"Yes, sir." Arthur climbed on the horse with a grunt. Father was in rare form today. But, if Arthur was lucky, this anger, the buildup of several months of clashes, would be expended on him in this punishment and they could get along with each other again afterwards.

"But…" Merlin started.

"Merlin!" Arthur snapped.

Thankfully, Merlin fell silent.

Arthur let his head hang as they rode back. He didn't need to look to know where they were going.

Father snapped his fingers again when they got to the castle courtyard. "Dungeons. Now."

"Yes, sir." Arthur slid off his horse, weaving as he made his way into the castle, two knights following on his heels to make sure he went exactly where he was supposed to.