Here's the next chap!

Chapter 5

The beginning of next day was essentially a repeat of the first as Arthur and Merlin continued their journey back to Camelot on foot while trying to evade their enemies. Unfortunately the forest was not short of danger.

It wasn't the Saxons or bandits, however, that Arthur should have feared, but rather his own servant's inbred clumsiness that led them into trouble.

He should have known.

It had started when he and Merlin were attempting to wind their way up through a series of ravines and decided to use the natural flow of a river. The water was low enough to allow them to hop foot from boulder to boulder rather then trying to push through the thick brush that lined each side of the banks.

Arthur was a short distance ahead of Merlin who was making his way up over another set of boulders just off to his left. Suddenly Arthur heard a startled yelp and then a large splash.

When he turned he could no longer see his servant. "Merlin!"

He leapt agilely across the rocks and found Merlin on his back, flaying in a pool of water. He was sputtering and seemed to have difficulty getting back up as the rapid downward flow of water pushed against him.

When his head went under, Arthur jump in, cringing as the cold water poured into his boots and swirled around his knees. Bracing himself against the current, he grabbed Merlin and hauled the raven head up out of the water.

"You idiot! What are you trying to do? Drown yourself?"

Merlin coughed. "Shut up, Arthur, and help me up! This water is bloody freezing!" The servant's teeth were already chattering as the cold water rush past his chest, splashing up into his face. As luck would have it, (all bad), he had managed to fall into pocket where the water was channeling between two large rocks in a forceful stream.

Arthur muttered under his breath something Merlin was sure was another insult as he got behind the clumsy servant and slipped his hands under his armpits. He started to haul Merlin up only for the warlock to let out a gasp of pain. A hot, agonizing sensation shot up Merlin's left leg as he shouted for Arthur to stop.

"My foot! It's trapped!"

Arthur immediately eased up but kept his body pressed against Merlin to keep the warlock from falling back into the water.

"Can you wiggle it free?"

He tried but it was wedged tight and throbbed with the slightest movement.

"Can you get your other foot up against the rock, push against it?" Arthur asked.

"I'll try." Merlin strained against the effort trying to ignore the pain shooting up his leg. He shook his head. "It won't budge."

"Hang on." Arthur moved around in front of him, but as soon as he did, Merlin started to fall back into the water having no leverage against the push of the current. Arthur immediately shot out a hand for Merlin to grasp.

By now the warlock was shivering uncontrollably and coughing as water continued to spray up into his face, nearly blinding him.

Arthur found himself in a predicament. If he let go of Merlin the force of the current would push him back under, but he needed to find out what was trapping Merlin's foot.

Seeing nothing handy for Merlin to hang onto, the King drew his sword, plunging it into the sandy bottom at a slight angle next to Merlin's right side. "Grab the hilt and hold yourself up while I see just what kind of mess you've gotten yourself into this time."

Merlin would have snapped back a retort if he wasn't in so much pain and bloody cold to boot! He grabbed the handle of the sword with fingers already starting to go numb and braced against it as Arthur moved up to his trapped leg.

Upon closer inspection of the boulder Arthur immediately discovered the problem. The boulder was cleaved in half. It must have had a large fissure in it and was already unstable when Merlin hopped onto it. It had been enough apparently to separate the boulder. When Merlin fell in, the current must have pushed the broken half over trapping his foot underneath.

"I'm going to try to push the boulder out of the way." Arthur dug his boots into the sandy bottom and braced his shoulder against the rock. He struggled, the veins popping out the side of his neck, but the rock wouldn't shift.

"It's t-o-o he-avy," Merlin chattered as water continued to spray up into his face.

"I need leverage," Arthur said. He clapped a hand on Merlin's shoulder. "Just hang on Merlin while I go find something to use."

"O-Kay. But hur-ry."

Arthur squeezed Merlin's shoulder before dragging himself out of the pool and looking quickly around for something suitable. He cursed when he didn't see anything in his immediate area.

Merlin's teeth continued to chatter as Arthur moved from his line of vision. At least his foot wasn't hurting anymore, but then again he was starting to loose the feeling in his leg.

His numb hands slipped and suddenly Merlin found himself back under the water. He groped frantically for the hilt of the sword trying to keep his hands away from the sharp edges of the blade itself but ended up cutting his hands anyway. He managed to pull himself upright again just as he saw Arthur returning with a long branch.

He was gasping for air, coughing and shivering so badly he could hardly think straight.

The King wedged the pole under the rock, his expression pinched as he saw how pale Merlin had become in the few minutes trapped in the freezing cold torrent. "I may only be able to get it up a few inches, so be ready to pull your foot out."

Merlin nodded. He pressed his other foot up against the rock as a brace while Arthur pushed down on the branch. At first nothing happened but then as Arthur put more weight onto it, the rock slowly started to move. Merlin strained to wiggle his foot free. Arthur applied a little more pressure. "Come on! Come on!" He cursed the wretched rock.

Suddenly the branch snapped near the base and the rock slammed back down and rolled slightly forward. Merlin screamed in agony, but his screams were abruptly cut short as he fell back into the freezing water.

Arthur struggled over to him, lifting the warlock's head out of the water. "Merlin! I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

By now Merlin's lips were nearly purple as he choked and coughed through the pain that was racing up his entire leg now being crushed beneath the boulder.

"It's n-no use, Ar-thur. Too he-avy to move." Merlin was panting now, his bloody hands trying to grip Arthur's chainmail but they slipped weakly back too numb to grab on.

Arthur was frantic. The boulder had Merlin effectively pinned down and the cold water was quickly zapping him of his strength. His only recourse was to try to wedge something stronger under the rock, but Merlin was too weak to hold himself up above the water. Arthur didn't know what he was going to do...unless...

The King shook Merlin vigorously. "Merlin! Can you use your magic to push the rock off?"

"So c-cold," Merlin mumbled, his eyes starting to roll back as shock started to set it.

Arthur slapped his face. "You bloody stupid warlock, don't you dare pass out on me!" The King slapped him again, harder this time, and Merlin's eyes opened and seemed to focus. "Use your magic, Merlin! Push the rock off your foot."

"I can't...so c-cold...hurts...can't think..."

He grabbed Merlin by the face. "Yes you can, because I am not about to let you die on me, you hear that, Merlin? Now used your magic and move the goddamn rock!"

Through agonizing pants Merlin nodded. He clung to Arthur, shivering spastically. His face pinched up and as Arthur watched, Merlin's eyes turned gold. At first nothing happened but as the intensity on Merlin's face increased, the rock began to levitate slowly upward.

Arthur wasted no time and pulled, hard.

Both men were flung backwards into the water as Merlin's foot popped free. "You did it, Merlin! You did it!"

Merlin grimaced a jerky smile before he passed out.

...

Merlin sat groggily up lifting his hand to his face before letting it slide down to his chest. It was then he realized his chest was bare from the waist...correct that, he was completely bare except for his underwear.

His face flushed crimson. "Where are my bloody clothes!"

Arthur, still in pants, but minus the chainmail, padded jacket and tunic, threw another log onto the blazing fire. (One he had started by himself, the old fashioned way, even if it had taken almost a bloody hour to do so while he cursed the unconscious, useless warlock sprawled out on the ground.)

"On the branches drying out." Merlin went to get up to retrieve them but yelped in pain as fire shot up his leg. "Stay there, you idiot. I haven't had a chance to check your leg properly yet."

"I want my clothes!" He insisted, hugging his arms self-consciously about his slim torso.

Arthur smirked. "Didn't know you were such a self-conscious girl, Merlin."

"Just give me my clothes, you prat!"

Seeing the determined look on warlock's face the king rolled his eyes and tossed the garments over to his stubborn servant. "They're still wet."

Merlin snorted and with a flash of gold, like the day before, they were dry. He quickly tugged the tunic over his head. Arthur insisted he leave his pants off though, at least until he could check out Merlin's leg. With the long shirt at least covering his upper body and down past his waist Merlin agreed.

It was not so much about being a self-conscious "girl" as Arthur put it, (okay maybe a little), as it was with the fact that his chest was covered in various scars from injuries sustained over the years, some Arthur was aware of, but most he wasn't and this was what Merlin was attempting to hide.

Maybe Arthur hadn't noticed?

As Merlin fiddled self-consciously with the material of his tunic, Arthur's lips compressed, indicating the king was fully aware of the patchwork array littering his torso when his eyes focused with particular intensity on the center of the warlock's chest.

Though old and faded, the fist size circular scar was the evidence left behind after his battle with the High Priestess Nemwieh when she had tried to strike him down with a fireball during the very first year in his service as Arthur's manservant. The second worst was the puckered scar from the Serket's sting. Luckily it was on his back and he doubted Arthur had glimpsed that, (hopefully).

"Yes, Merlin. I intend to have a chat with you about that and a few others you've managed to hide from me over the years, but first I need to take a look at your leg."

Merlin flushed sheepishly but wisely remained silent.

Arthur used Merlin's neckerchief to clean his foot and lower leg. Though Merlin could tell Arthur was trying to be gentle, he couldn't help but wince. His ankle was swollen and bruised and there was a large abrasion that ran up his calf.

Once clean, Arthur manipulated the limb carefully and Merlin hissed. "I don't think it's broken, but it's badly bruised. I doubt you'll be able to put much weight on it."

"I'm sorry, Arthur. I know how much you wanted to get back to Camelot as quickly as possible."

"Can't be helped."

"You could go on without me, Sire."

"Very funny, Merlin." The King continued to administer to the injury. "It's still bleeding. I'll need to bandage this up with something."

"Arthur, I'm serious. I will only slow you down."

"Trying to be a self-sacrificing idiot again, I see." The King quipped, his jaw suddenly tightening.

"I can take care of myself, you know." Merlin replied indignantly.

"Yes, Merlin. I can see that quite clearly right now," the King drawled sarcastically, but there was an angry glitter in Arthur's eyes, one that was strongly advising Merlin to Shut Up.

So the warlock did just that, clamped his mouth shut, having very little to stand on (figuratively and literally at the moment) in his defense.

Arthur rubbed his chin in thought. "Do you think you can fix it, Merlin...you know with...magic?"

Merlin was surprised again at how easily Arthur seemed to be about bringing the subject of magic up. It warmed him inside even as he shrugged, slightly embarrassed as he confessed. "I usually have about as much luck healing myself with incantations as I have of producing food."

"Terrific."

"I have gotten better at healing others though, including a certain royal prat."

"Is that so?"

Arthur was again trying to mesh the two images of the all-powerful warlock capable of helping defeat an entire army with the clumsy, idiotic manservant before him who had almost succeeded in drowning himself!

After Merlin's reveal and learning all that he had done and the ruses Merlin had used to hide his secret, at first Arthur wasn't sure how he was going to relate to this new "version" of his servant. But Merlin had been telling the truth all along. He really was the same person inside, clumsy idiocy included!

Arthur sat back on his heels. "Why can't you? Heal yourself, I mean?"

Merlin shrugged. "Don't know. Healing spells are tricky to begin with and my magic just seems to work differently on me than it does on others. On the up side I tend to naturally heal a little faster than a normal person, but directing a healing spell onto myself doesn't seem to work very well."

Merlin remembered the attempts to heal himself after Morganna had poisoned him and then pushed him into the ravine. He had injured his leg in the fall and hadn't even been able to summon enough energy to slow the flow of bleeding. Gauis had later attributed this to Merlin's magic being otherwise tied up instinctually trying to rid his body of the poison but even then, without the boy Daegel's help and the tincture, Merlin would have likely not survived. The same had been true the time he'd been stung by the Serket and hit by arrow. If not for Kilgarrah, in both cases, he would have also perished. But Merlin had been able to save Arthur when Gwen, (under Morganna's dark enchantment) had poisoned Arthur, something he had not been able to do before when Arthur had been stung by the Questing beast.

Merlin realized that his healing powers had increased over the years. Some of it, he was sure had to do with Guais' mentoring and learning more about the balance of nature, but most of it was still instinctual. The times he had actually been able to heal others, the power had come from somewhere deep within him and any incantation he might have used had not come from something he had learned but had simply known. It was perplexing to say the least and just one of those things, like many when it came to his unique kind of magic that Merlin would just have to continually discover.

"Well, if you can't heal yourself with magic, then we'll have to treat it the normal way," Arthur said. "After all, you still are a physician, so tell me what I need to do."

And with that warlock and king worked together. Merlin told Arthur which herbs to collect to make a healing paste which Merlin was able to enchant to increase its effects. Arthur sacrificed his tunic for bandage strips and wrapped his leg, as well as Merlin's palms which had been sliced against Arthur's sword in the water while he was struggling to raise himself back up.

Afterwards they rested a bit longer as they ate some of the remaining boar meat. Arthur then doused the fire, making sure to smother it with a lot of dirt so as not to leave behind a smoke column. He then dawned his padded jacket, (which Merlin had finished drying, along with their boots with magic) and his chainmail before helping Merlin up.

Thanks to a numbing spell Merlin uttered under his breath, he was at least able to put some weight on his leg and hobble, preventing the indignantly of Arthur having to hoist him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Leaning against Arthur for support, the two set out towards Camelot again.

TBC...

Reviews appreciated. Hope I am still keeping the characters in canon.