CHAPTER 3 : GHOSTS, SQUIRES AND HORSES

Gaius made his way to Arthur's chambers, Merlin tagging along, taking in all the sights and being fascinated by the guards and servants. He saw some young boys his age dressed alike and smiled at them, they smiled back. Gaius told him that they were pages and one day when they grew up they would be knights, Merlin was suitably impressed.

"I'm leaving you here and I'm going in that chamber. Sit on this bench and wait for me while I see the prince. I won't be long. I'm leaving you with my satchel and if anyone asks you, just say that you are with Gaius and holding his things for him."

Merlin nodded seriously, it was very quiet in this corridor and people only spoke in hushed voice. Another boy slightly older walked by carrying a book. He looked down his nose at the rough looking urchin sitting outside the royal chamber but recognised Gaius's satchel and said nothing.

Merlin wondered what Gaius was talking about and then he heard voices near the door and Gaius saying, "Arthur, no! Not until you are well enough to leave this room. You are making life difficult for Charles and Libby."

A voice mumbled something.

"Until, you are better, I want you to stay in these rooms and look after yourself. If you won't listen to me, why do I bother even coming?"

A voice responded and then Gaius said, "That would be good, so I'll see you tomorrow morning and make my decision then. Good day, young Sire!"

A man followed Gaius from the chamber saying, "He's quite the handful when he's sick but I can remember hating having to stay indoors when I felt that I was getting better." Merlin stood up and the man continued, "...and who's this?"

Gaius smiled looked at Merlin and said, "This, Charles, is my new assistant Merlin, today he is my note taker and satchel carried."

"That's an important job you have there, son. You must be smart to assist Gaius."

Merlin nodded and said quietly, "Thank you, sir."

"Alright, we're off to see Sir Manfred now. Come along."

More corridors and more flights of stairs, Merlin's legs began to ache as he climbed stair after stair. This time Merlin went into the chamber and sat on the floor beside the door. There was an old man in front of the fire and Gaius spoke to his manservant explaining about the salves and the wraps which he wanted put on the man's back."

As they walked down to the main floor, Merlin asked if all people in the castle had menservants. Gaius explained that some menservants looked after the elderly knights but the knights had to share them. He then said that the ladies in the castle had maidservants and pages.

"There are ladies here? Like the girls we saw in the hallways?"

"No those are the maids, the ladies dress in beautiful clothes and some are married to the knights."

"Gaius, when we see one, could you point her out so I can tell my Mam 'cause she would like to know what a castle lady looks like?" The day that they did see a lady of the court, Gaius told Merlin and Merlin felt that he had never seen anything so beautiful. Her clothes were shiny, clean and colourful and she had a little page with her to carry her needlework.

Wait until his Mam came back, maybe she would see one as well.

-0-0-

Gaius found that collecting herbs was very relaxing with Merlin. He had a good eye and once he had been shown what they were looking for he scampered off to find more. He carried on a non-stop conversation scattered with questions.

At one point, he stopped dead and closed his eyes. He held his hands out in front of him and waited. Then he opened his eyes and commented, "It was very sad, wasn't it?"

Gaius looked around and then realised that four years ago two of the village children had been abducted and had been found in this dell, garroted. The court physician was shocked and a little unnerved. He had never felt too happy being here but it was one of the better areas for digging up young celeriac. He was astounded that Merlin who must have been three at the time, had been able to pick up on the emotion.

Without missing a beat, Gaius said evenly, "Yes, it was...very sad."

"They didn't understand what was going to happen to them, Gaius, they weren't frightened. The boy told the little girl to close her eyes..."

Gaius glanced at the lad and he had huge tears flowing down his face. He suddenly realised that magic could hurt and his heart went out to the seven year old who had witnessed what the six and nine year olds had experienced.

"Can we go now, Gaius? There's too much sadness for me here."

Picking up his trowel, Gaius put the satchel over his shoulder and taking Merlin's hand walked him out of the dell. They climbed to the top of the hill. "Is it better up here? Let's sit for a while and have a talk."

As soon as they were seated, Merlin started with questions. "Did you see them Gaius? They said that you sometimes come to get the roots here. I asked them if they stayed there the whole time but they said that they only came back when someone comes into the dell. They asked if Robbie is alright?"

Gaius gasped. Merlin looked up at him. "Who's Robbie, Gaius?"

"Well, there used to be three friends, Robbie, Mary and Kenelm. Robbie was sick and his mother wouldn't let him go collecting berries that day and he stayed home and was safe."

"Was he sad when his friends died?"

"Yes, he missed them but the other children were kind to him and let him join up with them."

"Good!" said the seven year old. "Sometimes it hurts meeting people like that. My Mam says to just listen to them and thank them for telling their stories. Will I always see dead people, Gaius?"

"I am not sure Merlin, but I would do what your Mam said and leave them happy and glad that they met you."

"I see other people in the castle, Gaius, but they don't talk to me. They look as if they are busy and walk through me and right through walls. Can you walk through walls? Do you think it hurts when you head goes through?"

Gaius acknowledged that he couldn't walk through walls but that one day when he was younger, he had been reading and not looking where he was going and he bumped into a wall and he then had a goose-egg on his forehead. Merlin liked that story and started smiling again.

In no time, they had found most of the herbs and flowers which Gaius needed and they ended up near the stream. Gaius opened his satchel and to Merlin's delight took out some bread and cold chicken. After they had eaten, they walked back to the castle.

Gaius worried about the stress which the magic put on Merlin. It was a wonderful thing but it could also be upsetting and for one so young to have such abilities was worrying to him. The boy needed support and someone to turn to until he was able to control his feelings and visions. For some reason, he'd landed on Gaius's doorstep and he was going to keep him with him for as long as was necessary.

He came to when a voice said, "Could Knightly and Pendragon have babies? That would be great fun wouldn't it Gaius? Two babies, one a furry dragon and the other a flying rabbit!"

"It would certainly be fun but as they are both boys, so I don't think it will happen."

"How can you tell that Pendragon is a boy?"

Gaius was stumped for a second but rallied by saying, "Merlin, her name would be Pennydragon if she were a girl..." He smiled at the young boy, who nodded his head in agreement...

The knight's training session was a big hit with Merlin. The colour, the speed, the noise of weapons clashing impressed him as they would any boy his age. His eyes almost popped out of his head as he noticed the young squires helping out the knights carrying weapons and cloaks. Suddenly, there was silence and Merlin noticed that there was a man on the ground not moving and the others were standing around looking at him.

Someone noticed Gaius and called him to come over. Merlin stuck with him and together they walked toward the fallen man. The closer he got, Merlin noticed that the man was really young. He didn't think he was a knight. He seemed to be fast asleep and Gaius said, "Glad, I'm not your squire, Mandon. What happened?"

"I didn't know he was so close and I swung my elbow back and clunk, I hit him in the head."

Gaius went down on his knee. "Lucky for you, I think he's only been knocked out. The way some of you treat the squires, it's surprising that there are ever any new knights in Camelot."

The squire was beginning to moan and Gaius felt his head and his neck. Merlin had seen his mother do this when Joseph fell off his cottage roof. He watched Gaius carefully. "Alright, move back and give him some air. "Nigel, wake up. It's Gaius, come on, open your eyes."

The squire opened his eyes and put his hand to his head, "Ow! That hurts, what happened?"

"The hilt of Sir Mandon's sword and your head met in combat and the sword won. Can you sit up?"

Nigel raised himself slowly hanged onto his head.

"Mandon, take him back, slowly to the Squire Master and, Nigel, no training or leaving quarters tomorrow. I will come to check on you later this afternoon."

Gaius motioned to Merlin and he followed him back to the edge of the training field.

"Do they always hurt the squires like that? It doesn't seem fair does it, as Nigel didn't even have a sword?"

"It was an accident. Mandon was being careless and Nigel wasn't paying attention."

"Like you and the wall. Gaius?"

Gaius smiled, "Yes, Merlin! Like me and the wall."

-0-0-

Next stop was the stables. Merlin was happy to see Sir Richard and he smiled up at Gaius. "Is he in charge of all these horses?"

"No, but he is the riding master for the squires, pages and even the prince."

Sir Richard came over leading a small horse and seeing Merlin asked if he would like to sit on it. Merlin grinned. Gaius smiled and laughed, "No fear in the lad either." Sir Richard whipped Merlin up and deposited him on the palfrey bareback. Merlin automatically gripped with his knees and away the two of them went. The horse behaved perfectly and Gaius sat there watching the interaction between the knight and the boy, hoping that he wasn't going to offer to do something for Sir Richard in return for letting him have a ride on a horse, his first by all accounts. He had visions of a brace of pheasant materializing out of thin air.

"You'll have to introduce him to the prince. He's about the same age and our prince needs company."

Gaius swallowed and thought, 'No way, was the prince ever going to meet Merlin. He was too overbearing and he was afraid what Merlin might do, to retaliate against being bullied.' He said, "I think he'd be a little out of his depth, don't you?"

Merlin was standing with the horse, having a conversation with her. She'd lowered her head to his level and he was rubbing her forehead and talking away. He then turned to Sir Richard and said, "Ghellie likes me and says that I can ride her anytime that you give me permission."

Richard raised his eyebrows, he hadn't mentioned the horse's name but then he shrugged and presumed that Gaius must have told Merlin. Gaius held his breath and smiled. He and Merlin would need to have a little chat when they returned to his chambers.

"Richard said, "Certainly, Merlin, whenever Gaius allows it." Merlin glanced up at Gaius beaming.

They continued the tour of the stables and saw the king's stallion Gideon. Merlin was impressed and Gaius laughed. He knew that he would be even more impressed when he saw Uther on him. Merlin's eye was caught by another black horse, called Solomon. Richard explained that Solomon was Gideon's son and the king's second and upcoming horse.

"He has two horses. He must be really rich!" Richard, Gaius and some of the grooms burst out laughing and Merlin smiled happily. He liked it in Camelot, the people were happy and exciting things happened the whole time.

Returning to the castle, they first went up to check on the squire Nigel. He had a bruise on his head and Gaius could feel a bump. He told the Squire Master what he advised for the young man and he agreed. Merlin was impressed with all the squires. They were sitting in the communal room waiting for the call to supper. One of them looked at Merlin, "Kid, what are you doing in here? Why don't you go back to the kitchens?"

The boy whom he had previously seen in the corridor outside the prince's room said, "He's Gaius's sidekick. Leave him alone. I saw him this morning. Hey Kid, where did you come from?"

Merlin looked up and answered, "I came from the country but now I live here with Gaius."

"Who are your parents?" enquired another boy.

"My Mam is Hunith and I don't have a father."

"Another bastard!" said another boy and the others laughed. "He won't last long around here. Work gets too hard and he'll sneak away in the middle of the night. How old are you?"

Merlin turned to the speaker and said proudly, "This year, I'm going to be eight years old!"

The young men laughed and one said, "You're still wet behind the ears. Didn't your mother want you, that why she dumped you here in Camelot?"

Feeling tears coming, Merlin turned away. One of the older boys came over and told the others to shut up, adding, "...and you think that you have the qualities that make you suitable to be considered candidates for the knighthood, when you pick on a kid and tease him? Find something better to do with your time or I'll find something for you to do!"

He put his hand on Merlin's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, we're not all like that. My name's Rodick. Who are you?"

"I'm Merlin...and my Mam left me with Gaius but she's coming back to get me at the end of the summer."

"I like your name. Maybe I'll see you around again. Have a good time in Camelot and you'll see the Summer Tournament before your Mam comes back."

Gaius turned at that moment and said, "Merlin, we're ready to go."

Merlin looked back at older boy and saying, "Good Bye, Rodick," he took Gaius's satchel and followed him out of the room.

The door hadn't closed and he was asking about the tournament. Gaius smiled, if Merlin was still with him, that was one week which he knew that the boy would enjoy and never forget regardless of how long he was in Camelot. They made their way back to the court physician's workshop and Merlin remarked that he was tired.

"Well, you sit in front of the fire while I put away my supplies and then we will decide what we are going to do for supper. You get to make the decision, we can eat here or we can go down and eat in the servants' quarters." Gaius kept working and when he finally checked, Merlin was curled up on the cot near the fire, fast asleep. He decided for him and sent word to the kitchen that he wanted food for two sent to his chambers.

He threw a blanket over Merlin and took a book and a small amount of mead and sat reading until the food arrived.

Merlin was woken up and ate well. Then sat on the floor in front of the fire and talked about his day. "Gaius, I didn't like some of the squires they were not friendly and almost made me cry."

"But, you liked Rodick...and Nigel is a nice boy as well."

"No, it was one of the others he said that my Mam dumped me here because she didn't love me any more? What's a bastard, Gaius?"

"Well, it's a nasty word, some people use, not a friendly name to call someone that's for sure...and we know that you weren't dumped here but that I agreed to give your mam a hand by looking after you until she comes back. Right?"

"I don't have to go and see the squires anymore do I?"

"If we do go, it will be together and once they know that you are my helper, they won't ask so many questions. Are you ready for bed yet? I've had a long day and I wouldn't mind turning in early myself. Go and get undressed and I'll come up and tuck you in."

Merlin did as he was told and soon he was settled for the night, with the stub of a candle burning in his room and the door slightly ajar so he could see the fire in the main chamber. He thought about his day and decided that he didn't want to be a squire but he wouldn't mind going into the woods again and he loved the horses.

The crackling of the wood in the fireplace lulled him to sleep.

He wanted Pendragon.

He called and called him but he wouldn't come. He knew he was nearby but he couldn't see him.

He was at the top of a broad flight of stairs and he walked down carefully, coming out in a huge cave.

Again, he called his golden dragon but no answer...he knew he was there as he could feel him.

Something snuffled...and he knew that he was not alone...

He closed his eyes and felt the warmth breath of something much larger than the biggest horse.

He tried to open his eyes but he couldn't and then something touched him, not his body but his mind.

Then it was gone and his eyes opened, something had happened and he knew that there was a sadness in his heart. He was frightened, he was alone and he was lost.

Someone was calling him...he had to go...

"Merlin, wake up, you're dreaming. It's Gaius. Open your eyes, you're safe, don't cry."

"Gaius, something was in the cave and it was very sad but it wouldn't let me see it...and I can't find Pendragon."

"Well, he's probably fast asleep and he doesn't hear you. You can try tomorrow morning when you wake up.

Try to go back asleep, the sun isn't up yet and you have a busy day ahead of you. Sleep tight, Merlin!"

Gaius returned to his room and thought, 'Lucky, I have a good imagination, I need it with that little one."

Of course, then Gaius couldn't fall asleep and he wondered which cave Merlin had seen and what sad thing had happened there. He smiled to himself, an overactive imagination and supper too late was probably to blame for the bad dreams.

Merlin snuggled in to his blanket and smiled, he decided that instead of his dragon he would think of the boy with the golden hair whom he had seen in his dream, standing at the top of the stairs...