Thank you so much to all of you who have reviewed on this, or put it on alert/favourite, it really means a lot!
Another huge thank you to MerlinStar for beta-ing - round of applause for her please everyone!
Pushing the door open, Merlin held his breath as he tiptoed into the workshop. He really wasn't in the mood to be fussed over again; he just wanted things to go back to normal. He had made it halfway to the stairs when his foot caught on an exposed mop and sent it crashing to the floor, pulling a bucket of water over with it and soaking the warlock's shoes.
"You were quiet, sweetheart," Hunith immediately appeared at the top of the stairs, looking down at her son with concern shining in her bright eyes.
"Why are you back? Do you need a rest?"
"No, I'm-,"
"Do you want me to send for Gaius?"
"Honestly, it's-,"
"Or another dose of that tonic, perhaps? That always seemed to help."
"Mother!" Merlin cried, exasperated. "I'm fine, honest. I just have to collect something, I'm meeting Arthur down on the training fields so have to get changed first."
"Oh, right you are then, love." Moving out of the way, Hunith watched as Merlin began rummaging through his numerous belongings, searching. Although he had been bedridden for over a month, the warlock's room was beyond a state. Muttering to himself as he searched, Merlin missed his mother's knowing smile as she watched him work.
Time seemed to trickle away at an increasing rate as Merlin searched, painfully aware that Arthur would be true to his promise and make things harder for the servant if he turned up late. With a sudden smile, Merlin realised that was precisely what he had been waiting for, someone not to treat him differently because it was his first day back, but as if it were the same as any other day. Beginning to actually worry slightly about what the prince might do, Merlin glanced quickly behind him, making sure it was only his mother standing in the door way.
"Reperio meus induviae," he whispered under his breath, allowing the magic to fill him up. As his eyes flashed gold, he heard his mother suck in her breath sharply, but he couldn't help but grin in satisfaction as his shirt came whizzing out from under the bed to land gracefully in his outstretched hand. This was the first time he had used magic since Claton's attack earlier that day. Feeling slightly light headed as he jumped to his feet, but elated at the same time, Merlin didn't hang around long enough to listen to his mother's reprimand. He had a training field to get to.
Sprinting down the corridor as fast as he could, Merlin made it onto the training field with minutes to spare until Arthur made good on his promise. Even from a distance, the warlock could make out the prince sitting in their usual corner, the glint of the sun reflecting of his sword as he expertly twirled it from hand to hand. With a final burst of speed, Merlin pelted across the field, tripped over a branch ten feet away and was sent the last couple of feet on his stomach.
"We have so much work to do," Arthur groaned, climbing to his feet so he could stand over his fallen servant. Glancing sheepishly up from his uncomfortable position, Merlin grinned up at Arthur, hoping to somehow make the prince change his mind.
"If you have better things to do, Sire…" his voice trailing off hopefully, Merlin knew immediately as Arthur bent down and pulled him to his feet with just one hand that any hope of changing Arthur's mind was not going to happen.
"What? And miss the chance to humiliate you? Never." Handing Merlin the spare sword, Arthur couldn't help but smirk at the look of hopelessness on his servant's face. Set him up against an evil sorcerer and Merlin wouldn't flinch. Give him sword training on the other hand, and Arthur could tell it was taking all of the servant's might not to go running for the hills.
"Well, at least you're holding the right end this time, hey, Merlin?"
"Shut up, Sire. That only happened once." Ears burning, Merlin unsteadily held the sword out in front of him, not accustomed to the weight of the weapon. Smirking, Arthur bought his own sword up, and with one sharp flick, sent the weapon flying out of Merlin's hands. Grinning at the astonished look on his servant's face, Arthur picked it up for him and attempted to hand it back to the boy, only to be met by an obstinate resistance.
"Just take the damn thing, Merlin. We are doing this, whether you want to or not, so don't make it harder on yourself."
Snatching the sword from the prince's hand, Merlin subjected Arthur to the best glare he could muster, only to be smirked at in response. This time, the prince took a different approach, first of all showing the boy how to hold the hilt securely to stop it flying from his hand at the first impact. Deciding it would be best to actually talk Merlin through the different tactics before he simply attacked him, Arthur found himself slipping into a role he was more comfortable in. It took all of the prince's effort to stop himself delivering the standard speech he gave to all of his new knights. Somehow, he didn't think Merlin would appreciate it.
Half an hour later, Merlin's head was reeling. There was no other word for it, the warlock was thoroughly confused. It was all very well in theory explaining what each stance meant and the best way to counteract it, but somehow, the servant didn't think it would make quite so much sense when Arthur came at him with a sword in his hand.
"Ready?" Arthur asked, swinging his sword around him in perfection. Swallowing nervously, Merlin sent his master one last pleading look.
"No?"
"Parry, parry, thrust. Good." Flushed with his success, Merlin grinned at the prince as he tightened his grip on the sword he still had in his hand.
"Thrust, two, three, four. Parry, duck!"
"Duck? Ow!" Hitting the floor, Merlin glared up at Arthur as the prince stood mockingly over him. `Duck` had not been one of the techniques mentioned beforehand, he was sure of it.
"You have to be ready for anything, Merlin."
"Yes, Sire," grumbling, Merlin accepted Arthur's helping hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, only to end up on his back again within a matter of seconds.
"What did I just say? Ready for anything. Get up, Merlin."
"No," the warlock responded, groaning. He was not going to get up, what was the point? He would only end up falling over again.
"Merlin. Get. Up." Sighing at the tone of Arthur's voice, Merlin rolled over and slowly pushed himself to his feet. He had a suspicion the prince wouldn't attack whilst his back was turned, even Arthur wouldn't sink that low. With a flash of his devious smile - one that had been absent for too long - Merlin tensed himself, only hoping Arthur wouldn't notice.
Spinning around and launching himself at the prince's legs quicker than Arthur could blink, Merlin threw himself at the prince. At the very last second, Arthur stepped sharply out of the way, causing the warlock to land with a crash back on the ground.
"Ready for anything." Smirking down at his servant spread-eagled on the ground at his feet, Arthur found his smile was genuine. If Merlin was prepared to attack, it meant they were getting somewhere.
"Can we stop now?" Merlin moaned, spitting out the dirt that had somehow made its way into his mouth during his latest collision with the ground.
"What do you think?"
"Yes?" Merlin responded, unable to hide the hope in his voice. Rolling over onto his back, the warlock froze as Arthur placed the tip of his sword against his neck, pushing him further into the ground.
"Guess again."
Gazing up at Arthur, Merlin didn't notice the sudden chill in the air.
"Shame your father isn't around to see this…,"The voice sounded from above him and suddenly, Merlin wasn't looking up at Arthur, he was staring into the merciless face of Claton. The scene that had played out so often in his nightmares, Claton raising the sword high above before bringing it down on the defenceless prince, whilst Merlin could only watch, trapped by his own weakness.
"No!" the warlock suddenly roared, springing to his feet and attacking the figure in front of him for all his worth. Everything the prince had just taught him being put to use as the warlock continued on his relentless attack.
"Merlin? Merlin! Snap out of it!" It was taking all of Arthur's skills to stop himself being killed by his own clumsy manservant who only five seconds ago couldn't stay on his feet. Ducking a sudden lunge for his head, Arthur felt himself break out in goose-bumps. This wasn't training; Merlin was going for the kill.
"Mer-lin," the prince grunted, trying to hold his own against the ferocious attack. Blocking a swipe at his chest, Arthur caught a glimpse of Merlin's eyes. The far away look that had been present earlier was back, making the normally bright blue eyes look deeply shadowed, and grey. This wasn't good. It had taken the prince ages to get through to his servant earlier, and that was with him simply sitting on the floor. Something was happening to the boy, the Merlin Arthur knew seemed to have vanished. Throwing his own sword to the side, Arthur lunged at his servant. Somehow – and he was never quite sure how – he managed to grab the arm holding the sword and wrench the weapon from the boy's hand.
That wasn't enough to stop Merlin though. He had been defenceless too many times. Swinging his fist back, Arthur ducked just in time as the punch came swinging through the air, aiming for his jaw. Previous experience had shown him what Merlin's punches could do, especially if he was riled up. Before Merlin had time to draw his arm back again, he felt the wrist seize, just as his legs were swept from under him.
Pinning the struggling servant to the ground, it was taking all of Arthur's strength to keep the skinny boy down, anxious to stop him hurting himself more than anything. Slowly, Arthur felt the body begin to relax as Merlin calmed down, yet the prince dared not release him just yet.
"Gerroff," Merlin eventually muttered, trying to shake the vice like grip on his arm. Immediately, he felt a strong hand pull him to his feet, yet Arthur would not let go.
"What the hell was that, Merlin?" Spinning the boy around to face him, it didn't escape Arthur's attention that Merlin refused to look him in the eye.
"Nothing. You said be ready for anything." Narrowing his eyes at the servant, Arthur didn't need to see Merlin squirm uncomfortably under his penetrating gaze to know the boy was lying to him.
"I think we're done for today. Go back to Gaius and attend to me in the morning." Mutely nodding, Merlin stumbled away, trying to ignore the cold edge to Arthur's words. The problem was, he wasn't lying by not telling the prince what had happened. He didn't know what had happened. One minute he had been training with the prince, next, he had been trying to stop Claton from killing Arthur, then he had found himself pinned to the ground by a furious prince back on the training ground. The warlock couldn't explain it. Not looking where he was going, Merlin didn't notice Gwen until he almost crashed straight into her.
"Merlin!" the maid cried joyfully, taking in the training shirt and knowing it could only mean Merlin was back at work.
"You're alright! How's it going? Has Arthur been gentle?"
"I'm sorry, Gwen," Merlin whispered, hearing his voice crack, "I have to go."
"Oh. Of course." Standing to one side, Gwen frowned in concern as Merlin took off, practically running back to the castle. Turning around, Gwen caught sight of the prince heading towards her, his crumpled brow a clear indicator something was troubling him. And given Merlin's strange reaction, Guinevere was pretty sure she knew what the problem was.
"Sire!" Her call seemed to bring Arthur out of his trance as he looked around wildly for the source of the voice. Part of him was hoping it would be Merlin, ready with an explanation for his strange behaviour.
"Gwen." Striding over to her, Arthur felt his frown deepen as he took in the pain in Gwen's eyes. He had seen Merlin talking to her before he had run off.
"What did he do?" Taken aback by Arthur's sharp tone, the maid simply gazed at the prince, not being sure what he was talking about.
"Who? Merlin? Nothing, he simply said he had to go and ran off. Is he alright?" Sighing deeply, Arthur scrubbed a hand over his face whilst he tried to think of how to answer Gwen. Unlike Gaius, he knew she wouldn't cause Merlin huge amounts of trouble by admitting his concerns about his manservant, but thinking back on his actions, Arthur was beginning to regret lying to the physician.
"No, Gwen, I don't think he is. He just completely flipped out on me and tried to kill me."
"He did what?" the maid's exclamation sounded horror struck, making Arthur reconsider telling her everything. He needed to tell someone though, this was the second time just today Merlin had managed to shake him up more than he would care to admit. Try as he might, the prince was unable to rid his thoughts of the haunted look in Merlin's eye as he had attacked his master.
"Sire…" Gwen continued hesitantly, not certain whether she was overstepping her place by voicing her opinion about the situation.
"You were training with him, weren't you, Milord?" At Arthur's nod, Gwen bit her lip. She still wasn't completely sure what had happened when they had been at the caves, only gaining snippets from Merlin mumbling in his sleep and Gaius's patchy explanations. But the injuries Merlin had come back with gave her enough to know that the warlock was lucky, extremely lucky, to still be alive.
"Could it be that he felt threatened? I mean, the last time he faced someone with a sword, he nearly died. Maybe, it was just too much too soon."
Pondering over her words, Arthur couldn't help but hope that she was right, meaning there wasn't anything darker going on. But still, he was having trouble shifting the image of Merlin's eyes from his mind...
"I hope so, Gwen." Nodding to her, Arthur made to stride off, determined to get back to his chambers and sort out the mess that was his thoughts. He had made it almost halfway back to the castle when a voice stopped him.
"Arthur? Look after him." Blushing, Gwen hurried off, not lurking around to see the prince's reaction. A strange expression crossed Arthur's face as he watched her run off. It was clear that the maid cared for Merlin, the affection was as obvious as it had been with Gaius. Her use of his name rather than any title made the prince smile. He wasn't the only one worried about his manservant.
Striding into the castle, Arthur didn't notice the figure crouched in the shadows by the door, just waiting for him to come inside so he would be able to slip out again. As soon as Arthur had disappeared, Merlin unfolded himself from under the stairs and slipped out of the door, squinting in the sun. With a quick glance around to make sure Gwen had also gone, the warlock set off at a sprint, his destination firmly in mind.
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