A/N: Look at me, updating quickly (ish). Thank you all so much for the reviews! Reading them is always the best part of my day.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Merlin. *shakes fist* BARROWMAN!
...k, maybe that's unrelated, but I've always wanted to it.
Merlin had never been on such a battlefield before. He'd been in fights against bandits and Saxons, dragons and demons, but never anything like this. It seemed as if the lines of troops stretched on forever, armor blinding in the sun. The knights, with their scarlet cloaks, stood out like drops of blood.
He rode at Arthur's side, in only chainmail. The King went fully armored, with his sword already drawn. He held the reins with one hand and stared at the enemy lines.
Very few Saxons were on horseback, but their sheer bulk made up for it. Merlin swallowed. Lot's troops were all in armor, shifting nervously as they waited for whomever led them to give a signal. King Lot himself wasn't on the field.
"Are you sure you don't want to be in the tents with Gaius?" Arthur muttered. Merlin bristled.
"No! Someone's got to look after you!" Arthur chuckled softly. Ector started with sudden realization.
"As you say." Arthur kicked his horse forward and raised his sword. "For Camelot! For Albion!"
"Camelot! Albion!" The troops roared back. Arthur whirled to face the Saxons and booted the horse forward.
"Charge!" Merlin pushed his horse into a run to follow Arthur. Ector launched into a gallop, his sword unsheathed and his squire galloping along at his side. The rest of soldiers followed at a charge. Battle cries from a thousand throats ripped through the air.
Merlin had never considered what it felt like when two armies collided. It was like a shockwave, an earthquake spreading from Arthur and leaving no man unaffected. Merlin fumbled for his sword and slashed at a man on horseback, trying to catch his face without truly killing him.
Live. Keep going. Keep going for Merlin. Arthur kept that chant in his head as he fought. At this point, it was impossible to tell how the battle was going, not when there was a man trying to kill him on each side of him and his heartbeat pounded in his ears.
He was never going to involve his Kingdom in something like this again, not it he could help it.
Screams rang in his ears. Arthur couldn't discern whether they were of his own men or the enemy, he was too busy swinging the sword. Every move that his father drilled into his head, every time that he had thundered through a melee, and he still wasn't prepared for whirling his blade round and slashing open the chest of another man, a peasant that he would never know the name of, never know whether he had a family.
As long as he lived, Arthur would never be used to this.
"My lord!" A page struggled up to him. The boy had a cut on his arm, and he rode bent over as if he was in great pain. But he still rode, and his sword was bloody to the hilt. Arthur grabbed the reins of his horse and brought the beast back a few steps, to behind a cover of his own troops.
"What is it?"
"The Saxons are surrounding the troops on the right flank!" The boy pointed. "They request aid my lord!"
"I'll go." Arthur turned his head and called for Merlin. Merlin's duties had shifted to that of an on site physician who occasionally used a sword, and he was bandaging Ector's arm, his back to the fighting. "Merlin!"
Merlin ducked away from Ector and moved to Arthur, his eyes full of a strange standing horror. Arthur wished with all his heart that he hadn't brought the man with him, that Merlin was safe in Camelot.
"What's wrong?"
"The Saxons are using strategy." Arthur raised his sword and yelled. "Men! Rally to the right flank!"
His soldiers surged forward. Arthur tried to see what direction the battle was heading. For sure there was a majority of red troops, but the grey armor the soldiers from the Orkney was spreading over the field, and the Saxons cut swathes through Camelot's soldiers.
Arthur kicked his horse forward and went back into the battle.
Merlin had given up trying not to kill. Now, it was just a fight to stay by Arthur's side and keep anyone he could alive. Arthur was at least never hard to find-the standard bearer stuck by him, and kept the Pendragon flag waving above their heads.
He heard a shriek of pain. One of the younger soldiers, a lad of perhaps sixteen, crumpled to one knee, holding his side. Merlin reacted instinctively, flinging himself off the horse and next to the boy.
"Where does it hurt?" The boy raised his left arm, his face green. Merlin thanked all the gods he could remember that his horse was between them and the troops, to keep them from being trampled. "Raise your arm."
The boy obeyed. Merlin sucked in his breath. Blood coated him, soaking into his shirt and staining the poorly grafted chain mail. It was a miracle the lad was still conscious, and it would be even more of one if he survived.
"Here." Merlin lifted him to his feet, hearing him whimper. "Can you ride?"
"Yessir."
"Get on my horse, and go for the medical tents, as quick as you can." Merlin grabbed the bag of bandages from the saddlebag and fixed them to his belt. He could hear the wetness in the boy's breathing as he boosted him into the saddle. "Tell them Merlin sent you."
"You're Merlin?"
"Go!" Merlin slapped his horse's flank. The boy plunged away, and it suddenly occurred to Merlin that he'd lost Arthur, and he was on foot.
Where was Merlin? Arthur sliced the arm off one of the Saxons and reared his horse, trying to see over the soldiers. He was sure that he was winning the battle-but that would be worth nothing if he'd gotten Merlin killed.
"Ector!" Arthur shouted. "Where's Merlin?"
"I don't know!" Ector flung his shield up to block a blow from a mace. "I last saw him when we were on the other side of the field!"
"Dammit!" Arthur thrust his sword and killed another man.
"Arthur!" Gwaine had managed to make his way to him. The knight was spattered in blood, but his eyes were still full of battle spirit. "Gaheris spotted Hengist!"
"Where?" Arthur reminded himself that he had a Kingdom to look after, and that Merlin's incredible luck had kept him alive before. But dammit, if Merlin died and Arthur never got the chance to find out if Gwaine was telling the truth…he didn't think he'd be able to live with himself.
Gwaine pointed. Arthur turned his horse and finally spotted the Saxon standard, hanging low. Next to it a warrior in rather nice leather armor was hacking one of his men to bits. Arthur narrowed his eyes and took off his helm.
"Watch my back. And keep an eye out for Merlin." Arthur tossed the helm to the side and charged towards Hengist. The king saw him coming and grinned, hefting up a broadsword as big as one of Kai's arms.
Merlin might have been dead because of this man and his invasions. Arthur didn't yell for fury, or fling himself forward like a madman. He let Hengist come to him, broadsword swinging, and thought of his father.
Don't sacrifice speed for strength. A sword is damn sharp, you don't need to chop an arm off someone to kill them. Uther when Arthur was eleven, and had lost to Morgana for the fifth time.
Arthur darted around Hengist and slashed, neatly slicing through the leather armor. It left pieces of hide flapping around the Saxon King, impeding his arms.
Don't do what they expect. Uther when Arthur was five, and his sword still shaky in his hands. Make the sword into an extension of yourself.
Arthur went for Hengist's sword arm. Hengist responded with a chop, one with his broadsword that could have gutted a dragon. Arthur twisted, maneuvering his horse to the side and whipping his blade up. The point caught in Hengist's throat.
His father had been right-a good blade was sharp, and this had been made for a King. It kept going up, spraying warm blood into the eyes of Arthur's horse, onto Arthur's face, over his breastplate.
The horse reared with a high pitched whinny, frantically shaking his head. Arthur had to grab the reins with both hands, compensating his defenses.
It didn't matter. Hengist staggered and fell, all the lifeblood is took to sustain his great bulk flowing over the ground. Arthur stared down at him, and wondered whether Morgaine knew that her ally had just fallen.
"Hengist is dead!" He heard Gwaine's voice echo round his head. Even the cheers from the armies of Camelot were somehow muffled. Ector's exultant call that the Saxons were fleeing, that they were shattered, Kai's roar of triumph (audible across a battlefield), the clashing of arms in celebration, all were distant.
"Arthur!" Merlin. Arthur heard it loud and clear. Merlin was hurrying through the troops towards Arthur - funny, how men cleared a path for him - with a look of concern. "You prat, you're hurt!"
"Am I?" Arthur looked down. Huh. There seemed to blood dripping from beneath his armor. Had Hengist hit him after all? "Are you?"
"No." Merlin got to his horse and touched the edge of his armor. "I don't think it's bad."
"What a relief." Arthur's head seemed less foggy now, though every voice but Merlin's did reverb oddly.
"King Lot's soldiers surrendered." Kai. Arthur saw the blurry figure of the dark haired knight walking to them. "Still no sign of Lot. I'll organize a search of the dead."
"Kai, you might rest." Arthur heard the words from his mouth, but couldn't remember having the thought. "You've done an admirable job."
"Thank you, your highness." Kai's eyes gleamed. "But I'll keep working. Someone must."
Arthur was definitely appointing Kai seneschal.
"Come on, sire." Merlin was leading his horse. "Let's get you to Gaius." Arthur sat in an odd numbness, as the men rejoiced and tossed blessings at him. Were the knights okay? How many were dead? Why wasn't he asking these things out loud?
Arthur felt Merlin's hands on him as he was brought into his tent, as Merlin undid the ties on his armor and eased him onto the pallet. He heard Merlin sigh in relief.
"You aren't badly hurt at all, someone just got lucky. I'll go get some more bandages, I can treat this myself." Arthur caught Merlin's hand. Merlin turned back to him.
"Come back quickly. I want to tell you something." Merlin's cheeks turned pink. Arthur felt satisfaction rise as he watched Merlin leave, and as blackness encroached on his vision.
Merlin hurried to the medical tents, where Gaius and fresh bandages were to be found.
"Gaius?" He ducked inside. It was disorganized, but not quite chaos. Merlin could see Leon sitting on a bench with his leg elevated, Gwaine bickering with a young man about how many bandages were necessary for his arm, and Lancelot, with a purple ribbon still securely tied to his shirt.
That was a relief.
"Merlin!" Gaius appeared at his side. "The King?"
"Only a cut. Do you have bandages?" Gaius held up a handful. Merlin took them with a grin. "Thanks."
"Mmhm." Gaius looked critical. Merlin held out his arms.
"I'm not hurt Gaius!" He had been, a little bit, but well that was what magic was for. Gaius nodded and sighed.
"If you insist. Go treat the King, and tell him that thus far, we have a low death count." Merlin shivered. After all the people he'd seen die, that they could still say that not many died…he shook his head. Arthur was alive.
That was the important thing.
Merlin trotted back to Arthur's tent, with bandages and a clean bowl of water.
"Now then prat, let's see about…" The tent was empty. And Merlin could hear a laugh like a scythe ringing in his ears.
A/N: Don't worry, the next chapter is much longer. Review please?