And here's chapter two! STILL NO SLASH
Disclaimer : again, nothing belongs to me.
Yet.
Warning : Set after season four, Reveal fic, Catboy!Merlin, King Arthur Pratdragon, the Knights of Camelot, and a whole lot of MAGIC~
Probably a bit OOC, as I said, this is my first Merlin story!
And it continues, still kind of introductory. (Don't worry, the catboy shall come soon ahaha)
Merlin stumbled for the umpteenth time that day, snapping branches and tumbling into a pile of leaves.
Arthur, who had been watching, huffed exasperatedly. "Really, Merlin, can't you be at least a little quiet? You're scaring away all the animals!"
"Sorry," Merlin mumbled, picking himself up from the ground and not sounding particularly sorry. They'd left the horses in a clearing and were walking around in the woods in groups of two; Arthur with Merlin, Elyan with Gwaine, and Leon with Percival.
Arthur hoped for the sake of their empty stomachs that the others were faring better than Merlin and him. There had been a deer, a fine and graceful creature that was innocently grazing in a small clearing, but as soon as Arthur had raised his crossbow, Merlin had walked right into a tree, falling back and scaring the deer away. Arthur could have sworn that he'd done it on purpose.
Merlin actually wasn't trying to make noise, but he didn't mind that he was. Quite the contrary, he figured it was best to warn the animals away with his own accidental clumsiness.
With that thought in mind, he took a few steps and tripped over a root, just barely regaining his balance. Arthur sighed heavily.
"You really are useless, aren't you, Merlin?" Merlin smiled innocently, actually quite pleased that he'd managed not to land on his face this time. The King rolled his eyes and went back to creeping through the dense trees with his crossbow at the ready. So far, they'd caught nothing. He did not want to return to the clearing empty-handed; he was the King of Camelot! He could best a pheasant at the least, even with Merlin signaling their position to absolutely anything with ears and a sense of hearing.
Then Arthur saw something. It was a small brown rabbit, hopping carelessly on the ground a few dozen feet to his left. He dealt with Merlin promptly, sliding up next to him and slipping a hand over his mouth, telling him with his eyes to be quiet. Merlin nodded, and Arthur removed his hand, crouching behind a tree, keeping the rabbit in his sights.
Merlin looked away from the innocent thing as he heard the thwack of the crossbow going off. Arthur made a small noise of contentment, walking over to his catch and holding it up triumphantly.
"See, Merlin? This is all I ask of you. It's not too hard to stand there, is it?" Merlin cringed at the dead rabbit; its left eye had been pierced. Arthur ignored him. "Come on, let's get back to the clearing. It's getting dark."
Merlin turned around, hoping not to trip over anymore now that they were done hunting and there was no actual purpose for it.
He took two steps, and ended up on his stomach, having tripped over the same root as a minute ago. Arthur frowned down at him, then shrugged nonchalantly and walked off. Merlin glared at his slowly departing form and struggled to his feet.
Well, at least it was over and he didn't have to suffer through seeing more dead animals.
He jogged over to Arthur, narrowly avoiding running into a tree.
Arthur was a little embarrassed at how little he'd managed to catch, but he did say it was Merlin's fault. Merlin gave a fake smile when the knights looked at him. He didn't like it when Arthur mocked him like that, even if it was a daily occurrence.
"That's a lovely bunny you've got there, Princess," said Gwaine, slinging an arm around Arthur's shoulders. Arthur shrugged it off.
"Well, at least we got something, what with Merlin bumbling around as the idiot that he is."
"We've got two pheasants, Sire, would you like for us to prepare one?" asked Leon, holding up a dead bird.
"Elyan and I caught a bear," stated Gwaine, a little drunkenly. Merlin glanced over with an eyebrow raised. Elyan was frowning.
"A small deer is hardly a bear, Gwaine," he said, refusing to play along with the strange knight. Merlin snickered as he listened, trying to start a fire in the middle of the clearing to cook their meal.
"Right," the King proclaimed, clapping his hands together. "We'll cook one of the pheasants tonight, and head back to Camelot in the morning." There were four 'yes Sire's one after the other, and a quiet 'yes Prat' at the end.
Naturally, no one paid attention to that last part.
Merlin began taking the pot and bowls out of his bag, and proceeded to skin the pheasant. He would've just magicked the skin off, since it was a bit of a tedious job, but there were four knights of Camelot and the King surrounding him, so it was idiotic to even think about, even for Merlin.
Then again, he would have to tell them someday.
Having successfully started a fire, he made sure it wouldn't die out as soon as he stepped away, and went to find some water. Having found none, he looked around carefully and, satisfied with the knights all blabbering in one place near fire, allowed his eyes to flash gold. He felt the magic flood warmly through his veins as the pot filled with water. It left him feeling calmer than he had all day. He walked back to the fire, placing the pot on the fire so it would boil. He then proceeded to tear the pheasant into small pieces, dropping them into the water.
"Merlin..." said Percival, uncharacteristically speaking before anyone else, yet with curiosity gnawing at him, "what are you doing?"
Merlin blinked innocently. "I'm cooking dinner, what does it look like?"
"You don't cook pheasant like that," piped up Gwaine.
Merlin blinked again. "I'm making stew."
"Don't be a girl, Merlin," Arthur scoffed from where he sat against a log behind Merlin, putting his feet on his manservant's back. "Just cook it on the spit."
"I didn't bring a spit."
"Merlin-"
"I like stew," said Leon, trying to protect the manservant from his obnoxious master.
"So do I," said Elyan, having the same idea as Leon. Gwaine stood up from the log he was sprawled against and stretched.
"Well, I'm going to go find some vegetables for the stew," he stated pointedly, heading off towards the trees under the darkening blue sky with his hands behind his head. Wordlessly, Percival got up to follow him. He was, after all, Gwaine. He was good with a sword, but he was permanently half drunk, often looking for a fight.
The conversation erupted back to a usual rhythm a few minutes later, when they were out of sight. Arthur not-so-slyly asked Elyan what kind of flowers his sister liked. Merlin eavesdropped shamelessly, knowing that Arthur would probably soon forget, so he made note of 'anything purple and pretty and... flowery,' as Elyan so eloquently put it; he could find something later and give it to Arthur so he could offer them to his wife.
Leon was setting down his sleeping mat, as the sun was in the middle of setting, and it would soon be dark. Elyan went to the horses to get his bag to do the same. That left Merlin alone with Arthur.
"Ah, Merlin! Just the man I was looking for." Merlin frowned slightly. That never meant anything good. The King ignored his servant's expression and continued, placing a hand on his shoulder and speaking softly so only he would hear. "I need you to go out and find some-"
"Purple flowers for Gwen?" Arthur frowned in bemusement.
"Er, yes, actually... Merlin, were you eavesdropping?"
"Er... em-no."
"Merlin."
"Yep. I'll find you some flowers, Sire. The Queen shall not be disappointed." Arthur smirked and patted his manservant on the shoulder.
"Yes, thank you Merlin." Merlin gaped. Arthur frowned. "What?"
"I've been thanked! By the prat! Oh, that is... that is extravagant. I must tell everyone!" Merlin mock-gasped. Arthur began to walk away so Merlin wouldn't see the growing smile on his face.
"Yes, Merlin. You do that. I'm sure everyone will listen to you." He paused and spun around on his heels. "Will you ever stop calling me a prat?"
Merlin bit his lip pensively. "Nope," he then replied without hesitation. Arthur raised his eyebrows and spun on his heel again to go get his sleeping equipment. Merlin got up to get his own, seeing the sun disappearing behind the horizon.
Gwaine and Percival returned with arms full of various vegetables, which Merlin took gratefully and plopped into the pot. After a few minutes of stirring, Merlin went to get the bowls, only to find that each and every knight before him already had theirs in their hands, patiently awaiting their meal. They all waited obediently their turns in line as Merlin spooned some pheasant stew into their bowls-well, all except Arthur, who had to get his food first because "I'm the King, shut up Gwaine!" When everyone had their rations, Merlin went to find his own bowl, which had miraculously not been hidden, and walked back to the fire to get his stew... only to find that the serving spoon was gone.
"Gwaine!" The knight in question looked up innocently.
"What?" he asked with his mouth full of pheasant, hiding the large spoon behind his back. Merlin sighed and poured the stew straight from the pot, being careful not to burn himself on the edges.
"Oh, Merlin, this is delicious. You know what, I like stew. I don't even mind that you made it," exclaimed Arthur, taking a few mouthfuls. Merlin smiled bemusedly.
"Er, thank you!" Gwaine grunted in approval.
"The vegetables really make it nicer, you know."
"It was lovely, Merlin," said Percival, already having finished his and passing his bowl back to Merlin. The rest of the knights all grunted in approval, leaving Merlin rather amused. He was still grinning as he was handed all the bowls and went to put them back in the bag with the pot. Then again, the knights always ate his food when they dragged him out on a hunt, and they always thought it was good. Even if Merlin wasn't much of a cook.
As he went to sit down beside Arthur, Leon walked over and patted him on the head. "Thank you, Merlin," he said good-naturedly. Merlin frowned.
"What for?" Well, he was a bit dense, at times. But Leon laughed all the same.
"For the food, what else?"
"Oh." Merlin blushed slightly at his incompetence. "Well then, you're welcome." Leon smiled lightly and walked back over to the other side of the fire. Merlin smiled bemusedly. It wasn't every day Leon was so open to him. Maybe he was finally warming up to the King's servant.
They all sat in silence for a while, the crackling of the fire the only sound.
A short while later, most of the knights had gone to sleep in their respective areas. The only left sitting by the fire were Arthur, Merlin, and Gwaine, though the latter could barely keep his eyes open.
"You should go to sleep, Merlin. I'll keep watch," said Arthur, gazing at the night sky. Merlin walked out of his line of sight, seemingly to go to sleep. In truth, he was dragging a snoring Gwaine over to his bedroll so he could speak to Arthur. Arthur stared at him, slightly annoyed, as he came back and plopped right back down next to him.
"Merlin-"
"Arthur." Arthur silenced himself. Something in his manservant's voice was different, more confident, and just a little desperate. Merlin hesitated for a moment, not sure what to say.
"What is it?" prodded Arthur, suddenly curious.
Merlin looked out at the sky, the light of the stars reflected in his blue eyes. "Do you think all magic is bad?"
Arthur paused for a moment in his answer. Merlin had asked him this a few times before, yet his answer was always the same. He tried to pretend that he didn't see his friend's face fall at his unchanging reply. "Well... magic corrupts. It's probably not bad to begin with, but it worsens people, makes them want things that they might be able to get with their newfound powers."
Merlin gazed at him, his expression more intense than ever before. "That doesn't answer my question."
Arthur tried not to squirm under the stare. "Where is this coming from, Merlin?" Merlin hastily turned away again, this time looking at his boots.
"Oh, well, you know... Morgana... could it have happened differently, is all?"
Arthur sighed. They'd been through this. "Merlin, she was already gone. There's nothing we could have done."
"Are you so sure?"
"Merlin-"
"What if there was another magic user in Camelot, a good one, and they could have taught her to use her gift for good? Would she have still grown so full of... hate?"
"Magic is illegal. There are no 'good' sorcerers."
"How do you know?"
"Well, why do people begin to study magic in the first place? It's evil, it is. It changes people, makes them go bad. They should stay away."
"What if they had no choice?" Merlin insisted, dangerously close to revealing himself. "What if they were born with it, and had to learn more about it to be able to control it?"
Arthur frowned. "Merlin, what on earth are you on about? If there's something you want to tell me, you'd better come out and say it." Magic wasn't just something you talked about. It was a force to be reckoned with, more powerful than any sword if used correctly. It was very dangerous to tamper with; to even be seen speaking to a magic user could signify your death. No, it wasn't something you could really go into depth and discuss about.
"Nothing, Sire." It sure didn't sound like nothing. Merlin had so much more to say... but wasn't sure how to say it.
"Is this about Will in Ealdor?" Arthur suddenly asked, thinking to understand.
"He... magic was used to save you, Arthur. Doesn't that... change... anything?"
"He saved me, and I am grateful. Yet he still died, as is the fate of all sorcerers. Perhaps he wasn't all bad; the magic hadn't corrupted him yet. But he was one of a kind, if it was the case." He got up from the hard ground and stepped over a few sleeping bodies to get to his bedroll. He didn't notice the tears glistening in Merlin's eyes, shining in the firelight.
Merlin didn't look at Arthur as he slid beneath his thin blanket and prepared himself for the second day of hunting.
Arthur pondered Merlin's words as he sat atop his blanket, keeping watch.
Nope, still no catboy lol (soon, my friends, soon!)
Don't worry. The real story starts after this, I swear.
Please review!