CHAPTER 14 : TELL THE TRUTH TO SHAME THE DEVIL

When Merlin didn't appear at supper, news spread through the knights that he had had a nasty fall. One knight was shocked, maybe more than expected. He glared across the hall at his manservant who had the decency to drop his eyes.

Later, back in his chambers he screamed, "You, stupid man! What did I tell you? I make the decisions; you have probably undone all the work I have accomplished in the last five months. Now, Arthur and the knights will be on guard. That was a stupid move! Fearing that something might happen to Arthur, they will be with him the whole time. Why couldn't you have listened to me? My father always said your skull was so empty it rattled and now I believe him."

Forgetting his so-called position, Neville punched his brother in the face, pent up feelings of when he had been made fun of within the family, coming to the fore. His brother staggered back and Neville went in for the kill but Reginald was a trained knight and Neville found himself with a dagger at his throat and his brother's bloodied face looming over him.

"As stupid as always! Come on!" He goaded him, "Do your best and before you can even think it, your sorry throat will be cut." He shoved his brother back onto the bed and said, "How am I going to explain my face?"

Neville rolled his eyes saying, "Maybe, you could tell them, you were upstairs in the corridor with Merlin!"

Reginald hauled back and with clenched fist, hit his brother in the face, saying, "Smart arse!" He dumped him off the bed, giving him a few kicks to underline his anger

The young squire Sid, entered the room to see the writhing manservant and fled when Reginald screamed at him to shut the door. This was more than he could take, he no longer wanted to be involved

-0-0-

It was fun living in the castle and Sid didn't mind running messages, helping with the horses or collecting food from the huge kitchens. He didn't however feel comfortable with what Neville had done. He sort of liked Merlin if he had realised who it was that Neville had intended to attack he would never have agreed to go along. He wanted to go home, he missed his mother and he'd had enough of this adventure. He made his way to an area in the servants' kitchen and hid under a staircase and that is where Thomas found him.

Thomas had noticed the scrawny boy dragging around after Reginald and his manservant. He had not, as an outside squire, made friends with any of the Camelot squires. He was most often seen alone but he was well mannered if spoken to and was willing to help anyone who needed an extra pair of hands.

"Are you all right, Boy?" asked Thomas.

"Yes, Sir," said a muffled voice.

"Come on out of there, it can't be that bad…"

"It is, Sir!" said the boy whom Thomas now realised had tear streaks down his face.

"Come on, something to eat will make you feel better." He put his arm around the boy's shoulders and led him into the kitchen, plunking him down on a bench used by squires while they waited for food orders. He smiled at the cook and nodded to the boy, she poured two mugs of fish soup and handed Thomas a quarter of a loaf.

The cook smiled saying, "I remember my first months here. It was hard, I was dead tired and hungry the whole time."

"Thanks, Sally, but I think it is more than that. He looks really scared and guilty all at the same time." He walked over to the boy and motioned him to follow him to a table in the servants' hall. The room was crowded with men and women having their suppers. They paid minimal attention to the man and boy as they seated themselves at an empty table.

"Sir, I can't eat this…"

"Why not?"

"Because, I shouldn't be here."

"Where should you be?" insisted Thomas quietly.

"Nowhere…now!"

"Come on, you'll feel better with something warm in your stomach. You can then go back to your knight."

"I can't…" the boy shuddered as he answered.

"Why not?" The boy looked at Thomas and started to cry and tears dropped onto the table. Thomas continued, "Whatever awful thing you have done, will not be the first time any squire has made a mistake. My mother always told me that you learn by your mistakes." The mention of the word mother opened the floodgates and the boy was now openly sobbing.

"Have you killed your master?"

"No…!"

"Have you killed his manservant?"

"No!"

"Well then, I see no reason why you can't return to his employ."

The boy took a deep breath and said, "But I hurt someone…someone important."

"Who?"

"The king's manservant…" Seeing Thomas shaking his head and realising that he was also the king's manservant, Sid added quietly, "The other one!"

"Merlin?" said Thomas and the boy nodded. "The king's Merlin?" The boy again nodded.

Thomas made a quick decision. He knew that Gaius never came across as scary to most youngsters so he said, "Well, finish your soup and we'll go and see a friend of mine to see if he can help. Wait here, I have to go over to that table."

Thomas leant over and spoke to a youngish man who stood and followed him across the room. "This is my brother Jed. He will take you to Gaius." The boy completely out of his depth and only too happy to obey someone who had treated him kindly nodded. "Now, finish your bread and the two of you can go."

Thomas bustled as fast as was respectable for a royal servant to get to Gaius before Jed and the boy. There was method in Thomas's idea. The kid would be safe there and with a little bit of persuasion might be able to cast some light on why he claimed to have hurt Merlin.

He arrived first and gave the bewildered court physician a brief idea of what had happened and what the boy had said. "Can you keep him overnight? I'd rather not have him returning to Reginald. He's frightened and upset. Do you think I should tell the King?"

"Give me a few moments alone with him and then I will send word if I think Arthur should come here. He'll probably drop by later on, before he turns in. Maybe, we should approach Sirs Leon or Spenser. Not Gawaine, as he'd have two deaths on his hands before we could even blink."

Their talking had woken Merlin who pulled himself up on his elbow as Gaius fixed his pillows. "What's going on?"

"Nothing for you to worry about, young man," said Gaius, "Arthur is fine but we are going to have a visitor soon and he might say things which are rather incriminating. He's only a kid so don't frighten him."

Merlin nodded and his eyes almost popped out of his head when Reginald's squire was ushered in by Thomas's brother. The boy walked in with his head down and Gaius spoke to him, "Sid, I'm Gaius, do you know who I am?" The boy nodded. "Come and sit by the fire. I believe you might have some information..." he paused and motioned, "…for Merlin."

Sid almost fainted on the spot; he turned red and started spluttering. He had not seen Merlin when he had walked in with Jed. "It wasn't my idea. I didn't know it was going to be you until Neville dragged me out of the room and made me help him drag you and lean you against the wall. I was afraid that you had died…"

Merlin smiled and said, "Well, I didn't, however, I had a mighty fine headache, a sore back and I hurt my ankle…"

The boy couldn't take it and put his head on his knees and sobbed. Gaius walked over to him and said, "See, there was no great harm done and Merlin is alive and getting better. Maybe, you could tell us what happened. Go back to the beginning..."

Thomas nodded at Gaius and left with Jed.

Sid tried his best, explaining how Sir Reginald had offered to teach him to be a squire and his mother had let him go with him. Then, how Neville had joined him as a manservant and how they had come to Camelot for the tournament. His eyes lit up as he confided that that had been the most fun he had ever had.

"It got worse after that, Sir Reginald was always in a bad mood and he and Neville often yelled at each other. He threatened to dump me in the woods, saying that I would get so lost that I would never see my family again." He looked shyly at Merlin, "I was frightened not to do as they said. Sir Reginald could be really nasty and kept saying that the King owed it to him. I don't know what he was talking about but it would make him really very, very cross."

Gaius said, "Well, you did the right thing talking to Thomas. We'll make sure that you get home safely." The boy signed with relief. "But first," Gaius continued, "You could tell us what happened on the stairs."

There was a knock on the door and Leon came in. A knight…Sid would really have liked to crawl under the table but he just put his head down and tried to make himself as small as possible. Maybe, he wouldn't notice him… He had recognised the knight who had come in, as one who often walked and rode with King Arthur. He didn't look frightening but you never knew how people would react when they learned that you had done a wicked thing to one of the king's menservants.

Gaius took Leon on one side and brought him up to date on a few things. "I think we might have solved Merlin's encounter and hopefully the boy will have picked up enough information to enable us to catch Reginald as well."

"What about Arthur? Are we going to notify him?"

"Not just yet. The boy will probably be too afraid to speak in front of the King and if we lose his confidence there goes our opportunity…seems Sid was with Reginald's manservant when he attacked Merlin and helped move him."

Merlin's head had suddenly come up and he said, "I remember! The note was delivered by two pages. They said that no answer was required and left immediately. Did you give it to them?" he asked Sid.

The boy nodded, "Neville said that he couldn't so he gave it to me to give to any page I saw. I went back to him and he said we'd better get upstairs to be ready. I didn't know what he meant, I asked him but he told me to shut up and do as I was told. I knew he was working for Sir Reginald, so I did what he said."

Leon had removed his cloak and thrown it over the table. He felt that he looked less frightening in just his tunic. "Did you ever hear Sir Reginald say anything about hurting Merlin?"

"No but he used to call him bad names. He said that he was a nuisance and without him all their problems would be solved. He spoke about being a hare or was it a rabbit if someone died…and he would then be rich and so powerful," the boy shook his head shrugging his shoulders. "Then the two of them would get drunk. One day, he was so happy that he even let me eat some of their food which Neville had brought up from the kitchens. But by the next day, he was grumpy again…"

Gaius smiled at Leon spelling, "H-E-I-R," before continuing, "Tell us about this morning, did you hear Sir Reginald and Neville making any new plans?"

"No, I arrived at the door and went in only to be yelled at by Sir Reginald to get out…but I did see that he had a bloodied nose and Neville was on the floor in pain.

"Did you hear anything that would tell you why Sir Reginald asked Neville to attack Merlin?" Leon asked.

The boy remained silent before replying, "I never heard Sir Reginald tell him to do anything. But Neville did say on the stairs, 'He thinks he is so clever...this will show my brother that I am capable of taking things into my own hands!' That's what I remember…"

"Brother?" Gaius looked at the boy sure that he had not heard correctly. Leon's head had snapped up.

"Yes…"

Leon said, "Let me get it clear you said that Sir Reginald and Neville are brothers?"

"Yes, they always have been. Neville was only pretending to be a manservant. When I met him, I was told that he was Sir Reginald's brother," he said glancing at Gaius.

Merlin gave the boy an encouraging smile before turning to Gaius saying, "Well if you're going to be attacked, better the assailant should be the brother of a knight than a lowly manservant."

Sid said seriously, "I'm sorry, Sir, I never meant to hurt anyone and then when I saw it was you I was…"

Merlin said, "Sid, don't worry…in helping to move me you might have saved my life!"

"And the king will be most pleased with that…" added Leon.

Sid decided it was easier speaking to Merlin and Sir Leon, Gaius and Thomas than it was trying to deal with Sir Reginald and Neville. He willingly explained about the room and the leg of the table and how Neville waited until Merlin was up two stairs before swinging at his head. He yawned it had been a long day. He continued, "He also took the note out of your pocket saying that the pages would never remember to say anything about the note. I asked if we should get help for you but he called me stupid and dragged me up the flight of stairs, mumbling that with luck you'd bleed to death" He sat up straight and said, "But you didn't, did you?" and he gave Merlin a relieved smile.

"No, he didn't!" said Gaius. "But I think you're one tired young man who would like to go to bed. See those stairs over there? If you go up them, there is a cot and you can spend the night here. Does that sound good?"

Sid yawned again and nodded at Gaius. Smiling again at Merlin, he walked up the stairs and shut the door.

"Well, well, well!" said Leon, "That was a surprise. Thank God, that Thomas cares enough about the boys to check up on them when he sees one upset. Guess that's the result of having sons of his own."

The door opened and Arthur came in. "So, having a party without me?" he said smiling at them.

"Some party!" said Merlin, "But we have reason to rejoice don't we, Men?"

Gaius started by telling Arthur what Thomas had told him before the arrival of Jed and the boy. Merlin mentioned how he had remembered the note and Leon added more information.

"I'll kill him!" Arthur said.

"No, you won't, Arthur. What he did is not punishable by death and keep you voice down, one important squire is asleep in my old room."

"But you could have died!"

Gaius said, "Highly unlikely! He would have finally crawled back here or someone would have found him on the way."

Arthur scowled; he wanted to leave right now and rout the man out of bed and send him and the annoying knight to the dungeons.

"By the way, they are brothers!" Merlin added.

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yes, according to the boy."

"Can I see him?"

"No, Sire!" said Gaius, "He was very frightened and tired. If you behave yourself, you may see him late tomorrow morning."

Merlin winked at Leon. Gaius might only be the court physician but Arthur trusted him and would not go against his word.

Gaius continued, "I think we should wait until tomorrow to make any moves. I'd like Geoffrey to hear about this, don't you think so, Arthur?"

Arthur nodded, "All right! I'll wait until we've spoken to the boy and also Geoffrey."

Leon got up to leave and said that he would wait to hear what time Arthur wanted to see Geoffrey. Arthur nodded saying that he should bring Spenser with him. Leon wished everyone a goodnight and left.

Gaius stood and said, "Arthur, I know that Geoffrey like me, doesn't sleep much. I'm going to see him and tell him what we know but I can only do it, if you agree to remain with Merlin while I am gone." Merlin blushed, Gaius was a real gentleman and it was true that he hadn't seen much of Arthur today. "But he has to stay in bed and rest his ankle, so no funny business!" He turned to Arthur and bowed, winking at Merlin he left.

Arthur moved over to sit on the side of Merlin's cot but it was too narrow so he pulled up a chair and sat beside him. He took his hands saying, "You really scared me. You looked so awful and were not making much sense."

"Well, let's see how much sense you'd be making if someone whacked you across the head with a table leg, when you were two steps up a flight of stairs and you fell backwards onto the flagstones and cracked your noggin!"

Arthur thought about it for a minute then asked, "Merlin, why didn't you fall forward onto your face?"

"Would you have preferred that?"

"No but if I visualise you on the stairs and someone hits you from behind you should have fallen forward. I'm glad you didn't as you might now have a broken nose and I couldn't have done this." He tipped Merlin's head up and gently laid light kisses on his cheeks and ran his nose down Merlin's and just touched his lips with his.

Merlin smiled, "I remember that I was trying to run up the stairs three at a time. Maybe, I'd half turned realising someone was behind me and he got me in mid step."

"Mmm…" said Arthur as he ran his finger along Merlin's cheekbones before again gently half kissing him.

"Arthur! You can do better than that surely… As long as you don't touch the back of my head, I think you can give me a proper kiss."

Gaius when he returned had the decency to knock on the door and two flustered young men pulled apart…

-0-0-

Once Thomas had served his breakfast and helped him dress, Arthur made his way to Gaius's. Merlin certainly looked better. He was sitting on the chair with his ankle raised. Sid was cleaning out the leech tank. Arthur walked over and ran his hand across Merlin's shoulders, "Are you all right?"

Merlin nodded.

Gaius said, "The swelling is going down nicely but he's not to walk around yet. He can however go back to your chambers later today."

Arthur beamed at Merlin and thanked Gaius. "What result did Geoffrey and you come last night?"

"Well, it is quite possible that they are brothers maybe half brothers. Geoffrey feels that you should act sooner than later as with the boy missing, Reginald might decide to call it a day and sneak off."

"Easily stopped as I can take back the horse I loaned him and he won't be able to go anywhere."

"He could walk!" said Merlin, "Before I got used to horses, I used to walk everywhere."

"Merlin, he's not going to walk. He'll want to get as far away as possible from here, with or without his brother. I've asked Thomas to find out if the brother collected any breakfast for them. Also, I mentioned to some of the knights to keep an eye out for Reginald, they'll report back to me or Leon."

Merlin said, "If he has black eyes and a broken nose, he'd stay holed in his chamber until the colour disappears unless he decides to blame it on a fall. Hey, Arthur, maybe you could send word, that you are going riding and would like him to accompany you! That would add insult to his injury if he has to refuse."

Arthur grinned, "Merlin, has anyone ever told you that you have a nasty streak? Gaius, what do you think? Should we lay a trap for him? Weather's not bad today and it makes sense that I might like to get some air."

"I'll only agree if I can go too!" said Merlin.

"Well, forget that! If you are not up to getting breakfast, you certainly don't deserve to go for a nice ride in the woods. I wouldn't be going off alone with him, maybe some knights who can conveniently fall behind once Reginald makes his way up to ride beside me. I'll take Gawaine and Spenser. The idea is to allow him to approach me and talk, not make him suspicious and scare him away. He's not going to attack me; he wants me as a friend and confidant."

"Why anyone would want you as a friend and confidant is beyond me!" said the voice from the chair near the fire.

"I heard that Merlin! I haven't often heard you complain about the perks of friendship."

Gaius quickly glanced at Sid but he was happily scrubbing the insides of the tank while every now and again, playing with the leeches Gauis had placed in a little bowl. "Be careful, the two of you, little pitchers have big ears."

Merlin started to laugh and it was contagious and the three men ended up laughing. Sid glanced up but as a leech was now attached to his hand, he decided he had better things to do than listen to laughter.

…and so, Arthur left to set up the trap. He was going to enjoy this, just a shame that Merlin couldn't join in the fun.