Author's Note: I actually updated a story within a month's time? Shocker! *laugh*
I hope you enjoy the story. Main focus is, as always, the bromance. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the story. The dialogue between Uther and Halig is not mine, except for a few parts.
Chapter One
"Merlin," Arthur drawled, as if testing what it sounded like on his tongue, narrowing his blue eyes in contemplation. Then he looked back at the boy and smiled. "Well, Merlin. I suppose I must go now, as it is nearing midnight. I'll be back in the morning with some candles and food. I hope you'll be alright until then?"
Merlin paused, staring at him, before giving a small nod, tightening his grip around the jacket as if afraid Arthur would change his mind and snatch it back from him.
If Arthur had noticed that, he didn't say or do anything except turn to leave after the response. But he was then stopped by Merlin's quiet and small voice piping up behind him.
"Thank you."
Arthur looked back, and with a soft smile, he gave one slight nod in reply to his gratitude.
...
The servant of the day tottered around in his chambers, organizing items, making the bed, collecting laundry. He was a timid young boy, probably almost as old as Merlin, Arthur compared, with blonde hair and brown eyes. The boy was fidgety when he had nothing to do, playing with his sleeves as he stood in the middle of the room until Arthur gave him all the orders. He also seemed to jump about a feet in the air should Arthur ever make the mistake of trying to engage him in conversation at times.
He wondered if it was partially due to his reputation for short temper and his tendency to overwork all the people who had ever had the honor of being his personal manservant. Perhaps it were those reasons why they all seemed to quit within a few months...
"Williams," Arthur said, and as he suspected, the boy hopped up about eleven inches in the air and dropped the item he was holding, which happened to be a flower vase as the pieces scattered all over the floor. He closed his eyes, his head flopping back on the chair, and tried to reign in his exasperation.
"S-sire, I-I apo - "
Arthur held up a hand to silence him, closing his eyes and pursing his lips with restraint. "It's alright," he forced out, clearing his throat.
"I'll c-clean it up," the boy offered.
"Yes. But first, I'd like another plate of food from the kitchens. I'm feeling more hungry than usual today," Arthur lied, the image of Merlin's nearly emaciated body filtering in through his mind as he said so.
"Yes Sire," the boy said, bowing his head as he spun on his heel and practically fled from the chambers.
...
Halig entered the court with a few knights trailing behind.
Uther glanced up for a second, before looking back down at the parchment he was writing on. "Ah, Halig. You've come bearing gifts?" Uther asked.
"Yes, Sire. A sorcerer boy. But he escaped here last night in Camelot," Halig answered solemnly, his hands clasped behind him.
"Well, don't worry," Uther said without looking up. "We'll soon find him. Have some guards help with the search."
A knight bowed and exited the room.
Halig rushed forward in anxious haste, leaning toward the king. "You need to warn them, Sire. The boy may be dangerous. The informer told me he is not the same as all the other sorcerers."
"How so?"
"He was born with his powers, Sire. His magic is instinctive, and can be activated without any enchantments. And he has little to no control over it. I was told he almost killed an entire room of men once."
"Set up sentries on all the gates," Uther ordered.
"We should search the lower town, Sire. Someone may be harbouring him."
"You think she had help?" Gaius questioned.
"I saw two figures running away," the Bounty Hunter answered.
"Give Halig all the help he needs. I want this boy and his accomplice found."
...
"Merlin?" Arthur whispered to the sleeping boy. When he didn't show any signs of hearing his call, the prince reached his hand out and touched his shoulder.
The reaction was instantaneous. Merlin jerked up from the floor with a gasp, scrambling back into the wall.
"Woah," Arthur said, holding up his hands. "It's alright, Merlin. It's just me. Just Arthur."
Merlin relaxed, a soft sigh of relief passing through his lips, and Arthur wondered what was going through his mind in those first few seconds he awoke. Nothing good, he figured.
"I brought you something to eat," Arthur told him, putting the cloth he gathered the food in on the ground and unfolding it for Merlin to see. "And after you're finished with your food, you could change into these." Arthur placed an entire set of worn clothes beside Merlin, tunic, breeches and other items. They were one of the oldest pairs he still had with him, and the only outfit he could find in his wardrobe that would seem to fit Merlin's skinny form even remotely.
Merlin nodded slightly, swallowing and pulling Arthur's jacket around him tighter. He then reached for the food, breaking them into smaller pieces and eating them with trembling hands as he watched Arthur set the candles.
Arthur tried to start a fire with flint and steel, rubbing them together. Merlin only had to look once before knowing that he probably didn't have much experience with such things.
"M-may I?" he asked quietly, sticking out a hand hesitantly.
Arthur shook his head, his gaze fixed on his work, but his hands were growing frustrated. "Your wrists are wounded. It will put a strain on them."
Merlin nodded.
It was after a few minutes of poor attempts that Merlin slowly, tentatively, raised a palm, lowered to his side as if he didn't want anyone to see it. He closed his eyes, feeling his magic rush through his veins as he aimed it at the candles.
His eyes flashed gold as he opened his eyes, and the fire kindled on the candle, dancing on the wick.
Merlin looked at Arthur, and saw him staring at him with a strange, unreadable expression on his face. And he couldn't stop himself from ducking his head down, his heart suddenly pounding hard and his gut clenching painfully with fear and nerves as he wondered whether he did the right thing or not.
"I'm sorry," he murmured, shaking his head as his blue darted around on the ground. "I'm sorry. I didn't... I'm very sorry. I... I was... I..."
"It's... it's alright," Arthur replied, sounding somewhat uncomfortable at the display of sorcery. Though he didn't agree with his father's reckless execution of anyone even suspected of using magic, it didn't mean that the years of being taught about how evil and wrong sorcery was hadn't affected him at all. Perhaps not much, but at the very least, a slight bit.
Merlin glanced up at him, doe eyes staring at him with fear and distrust and anticipation of something.
Anticipation of pain. Punishment.
"It's really okay," Arthur reassured, somewhat awkwardly, and then looked at the glowing little flames. "At least the candles are lit now."
Merlin bowed his head and smiled slightly at that, a small, shy smile that was still far from being completely comfortable, but a genuine smile nonetheless that made Arthur feel as if he had truly done something right.
"Well," Arthur said, in a tone that indicated that he was changing the topic, as he leaned back against the wall behind him, his knees up in front of him and his arms hanging off on them casually. "I suspect the food was good, Merlin?"
Merlin nodded wordlessly.
"You are allowed to speak, you know?" Arthur joked with a teasing smirk, though not unkindly.
Merlin paused, remaining quiet for a moment, before he hesitantly replied, "Y-yes."
Arthur's smirk grew into a light smile. "That's better."
Silence ensued for a while. Merlin ate his food in small bites, probably because he knew his skinny body might not be able to handle too much after being starved for so long, of which Arthur could clearly see in the bones poking out a bit through his jacket cloaked tightly around the boy's form. He could only imagine the torment the boy must have been forced to live through with the state of him and the bruises and scars peeking out.
"What happened to you?" Arthur asked softly, after a long period of observing Merlin silently.
"Enslavement," Merlin answered quietly, the faintest hint of bitterness in his voice.
"I suppose such cruelty could only be from that," Arthur replied, in a voice matching the quietness of Merlin's, the golden glow of the candle's light cast over his face emphasizing the attemptively-veiled softness and compassion in his blue eyes. His head tilted back until it touched the barricade as he watched Merlin.
"I suppose," Merlin agreed with a nod, his voice still low, and took another tiny bite of his bread.
"For how long were you, um..." He cleared his throat slightly and raised a hand, and then waving it towards Merlin in a vague gesture. "Kept in slavery?" Arthur questioned, uncertainty and hesitance that didn't belong on a prince's face flickering in his features as he did so.
"Why all these questions?" Merlin responded with a question of his own, too soft to be noticeable, but Arthur could hear the 'none-of-your-concern' tone in his words.
"I didn't mean to pry," Arthur amended, as close to an apology as he could. "I was merely wondering."
Merlin glanced up at him, before looking back down at the half-eaten food contritely. "I'm sorry."
"I'm sure I've heard worse," Arthur dismissed, brushing it off with a shrug of his shoulders.
Merlin slowly put down the piece of bread he was nibbling on, wrapping his arms around his stomach and pulling his legs closer to himself once again, and then he shrugged. "I was caught in the woods using magic without any incants by a slave trader when I was nine. He saw that I wasn't an ordinary magic-user, and he knew that could fetch a great amount of money, so he took me. And ever since then, I was passed around, bought and sold, from one person to another."
"What about your parents?"
A mirthless smile curved the boy's lips, and he looked down at his hands. "I'm sure my mother must have stopped wondering what had happened to me by now."
Arthur paused, before inhaling a sharp breath through his nose.
It must be awful, knowing your family had no idea what happened to you or where you were, spending days and nights realizing that there would be no one there to save you because they probably didn't even know whether you were alive or dead. And what about his mother? How terrible it must be for her, finding out one day that her son had disappeared without her having any idea of his whereabouts, asking herself over and over and searching for an answer in all these years of what might have happened to her son.
"I'm sorry," Arthur said softly, his eyes sincere and his words genuine.
Merlin swallowed, closing his eyes and exhaling a large, shaky breath. "My previous master deemed me useless after a while," he continued, "And then sold me to Master Halig, the Bounty Hunter."
"Why would the Bounty Hunter buy you just so he could sell you again?"
"For even more money," Merlin answered quietly, his small, hunched shoulders bouncing lightly again as he stared down at his hands.
Arthur took all the new relevations in with a deep breath, filling down to the bottom of his lungs, and then released the air out through his nose, his lips tightening in disgust at the actions of such greedy men.
Arthur processed through all the information for a moment, before something caught his attention, and a question roused in his mind.
His thoughtful, distant gaze returned back to Merlin. "What did you mean when you said you weren't an ordinary magic-user?" Arthur vocalized, his eyes knit in confusion and curiosity. "I mean, how is it possible for you to perform sorcery without any incants?"
Merlin stilled, from fear or surprise or both, Arthur wasn't sure. But he could tell by the reluctance in his blue orbs that Merlin didn't want to answer the question, didn't want him to know what it meant.
"I, um... I was born... with magic," Merlin mumbled in response, avoiding his gaze even more than he already was as he ducked his head further down, curling tighter into himself. Arthur knew it was because that fact mustn't really have granted him any kind of respect and kindness by the world, so the hesitance was understandable.
But for a moment, everything felt a bit surreal for Arthur. Years and years of being taught that magic was wrong, that sorcerers were evil, and here he was, having a conversation with and, perhaps, even befriending a magic-user who didn't simply practice sorcery, but was actually born with it.
With those thoughts came dredges of doubt and distrust that had been drilled into him since the very early years of his life.
But then, he looked up at Merlin. Looked up at his doe blue eyes unable to meet his own, his small body full of too many scars and bruises and powers that might have the ability to kill a lot of people in mere seconds, and yet, he was still sitting here in front of him, breathing and alive. He remembered back to the desperate and scared blue eyes following him from the cage, at the genuine gratitude in his quiet 'thank yous' and the small, shy smiles and the fear and shame of himself when he told him that he was born with magic.
And he realized that maybe Merlin wasn't the kind of person who fit the image his father had created in his mind.
Perhaps Merlin was different.
And with those thoughts came relief and contentment.
"I must leave now. People might notice I'm gone, particularly my father," Arthur excused, beginning to get up on his feet with a low groan at the sore muscles of sitting in one position for too long. "But I'll come back. And..." He ran his eyes over the scrawny frame of the boy. "I suppose I'll bring you some more food as well."
...
"Where have you been, Arthur? I've been told you haven't shown up for training practice today," Uther asked as Arthur entered the council room.
"I'm sorry, father. I, uh... I got caught up in a few urgent matters," Arthur lied, hoping his father wouldn't ask what those 'urgent matters' exactly were.
"Nevermind. A sorcerer boy had escaped last night," Uther told his son, his authoritative voice the same hard and regal tone. "It is believed that someone is helping him. Thus, it is your duty to find him. Take some guards with you to search around the castle and city. He must be found. He is dangerous to Camelot."
Arthur held back a snort at that. Merlin? Dangerous to Camelot? He looks like he can't even fight against a bloody puppy...
"Yes, father," Arthur responded, giving a respectful bow to the king, before taking his leave as he turned on his heel and headed for the doors, a few guards trailing behind.
...
He had directed his group of guards in all the directions that were far, far away from the caves. But he knew that was the least of his problems when he saw a few guards along with the Bounty Hunter in front of a line of people, looking for suspects.
His own search party wasn't the only trouble now.
...
Arthur moved through the tunnels until he reached his intended location.
Arthur knelt down as he placed another cloth of food on the ground in front of Merlin. "I'm late. But I had a good reason. My - " Arthur stopped as he saw Merlin inhale a sharp, trembling breath and quickly swipe at his red-rimmed eyes, his long eyelashes wet as if he had been crying silently. "What's wrong?'
Merlin shook his head, glancing down at his hands and sniffing slightly.
"You're upset," Arthur said.
"It's nothing," he responded hoarsely, sniffling again.
And then he lifted his head up at him, gazing at him through tender blue orbs as if...
As if he was glad to see him here.
"You thought I wouldn't come back?" Arthur asked softly, causing Merlin to return his gaze back to his hands. He lowered down to settle himself beside Merlin as he looked at him, his head tilted slightly to catch his eyes. "I told you I would, didn't I?"
Merlin sniffled a little once more, and smiled as if he thought himself to be ridiculous, shrugging a bit. "I thought I scared you away... I thought you might have changed your mind about coming."
"I'm think I've seen far more scarier things than you, Merlin," Arthur joked, grinning as he poked his side lightly in a teasing manner, which made Merlin nudge sideways a little and smile again, this time another one of his dimpled and genuine, shy smiles that Arthur found himself growing fond of (and the feeling of doing something truly right filled him up with warmth once again).
It was then Arthur noticed Merlin wearing his old, tattered clothes, and when he looked over him, and saw the clothes he had brought for him still lying where he had left them before. "You haven't changed?"
Merlin followed the direction of his sight, his own gaze landing on the clothes.
...
Merlin emerged from behind the wall, practically swimming in Arthur's old clothes. His sleeves reached below his wrists and he bunched them up in his fingers as he fidgeted self-consciously, the tunic hanging off of his bony shoulders and exposing his collarbones, the hemline falling just above his knees, and his trousers were flowing at his ankles, nearly coming underneath his bare heels. His arms were pressed against his sides as if to hold his breeches up, his belt tied clumsily around his waist, and ineffectively as well, apparently.
Arthur laughed at the appearance of the boy, and Merlin blushed.
"You look ridiculous," he commented, grinning widely. And then he walked towards Merlin, stopping in front of him in three steps as stared at the belt with another huff of laughter. "And where in the world did you learn to tie a belt like that?" Arthur teased, reaching up and jerking the knot loose in two tugs, and then he began to tie the belt around Merlin's waist properly.
"I never did," Merlin replied quietly with a low snort.
Arthur's smile faded slowly at those words as his eyes flickered up to Merlin's lowered ones, staring at Merlin silently, before they dropped back down to the belt he was fixing around him. "Of course. I should have known that," Arthur said apologetically.
"It's alright," Merlin absolved lightly in return. "It's nothing big."
Arthur stepped back to admire his handiwork with his hands on his hips, smiling. And then he looked back up at Merlin, removing one hand to wave at his clothes. "What do you think?"
Merlin smiled. "I like them," he said softly, quiet awe and happiness in his mellow eyes as he stared down at them.
But then his lips curled in a faint, forlorn smile as he stared wistfully at his new clothes, raising his hands towards the front of the tunic and taking a grasp of it. "But I don't deserve them," he said, a little above a sad whisper.
Arthur moved slightly closer, placed his hands on his shoulders, and then leaned forward to catch his gaze, causing Merlin's head to lift up a little, his doe eyes watching him. "Too bad," he said, shrugging one shoulder with a smile. "Because they're yours now."
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