Arthur placed a cool rag on Merlin's forhead and ever so gently pressed down on it. Merlin twitched.
"C'mon, Merlin. I'm getting soooo tired of this." Arthur whispered as he tended to his friend.
Merlin had not moved since three days ago when Arthur had dragged him to Gaius. He had apparently been getting better, but Arthur failed to notice the change, and he was with Merlin 24:7. Uther simply thought that Arthur was out hunting and never once suspected that he was infact looking after his sick manservant.
"Merlin. Are you not listening to me, you idiot?"
Arthur sighed at the lack of a response. Arthur tugged back the blankets and stared at the nasty wound on Merlin's stomach. He and Gaius had bandaged it of course, but it still looked awfully painful. Gaius had said that it was no longer infected that very morning, so that gave Arthur some relief.
Arthur dared himself to look at Merlin's pale face. When he looked he saw blue eyes that were feverishly darting around the room, occasionally closing.
"Merlin!" Arthur smiled at him. Merlin just gave a quivering small smile back.
"Ar-thur?" He breathed, his eyes not really settling on him.
"Yes. How are you feeling"
"Ar-thur..." Merlin slowly closed his eyes.
"Merlin?" Arthur started panicking, if Merlin fell asleep, when would he wake up again?
"Ti...tired..."
"Alright. Sleep then, Merlin." Arthur hated saying it but he knew that he couldn't force Merlin to do something he didn't want to.
"Ar-thur..." Merlin mumbled as he fell asleep. Arthur shushed him gently and went back to keeping him cool.
Arthur was just falling asleep after a long day of looking after Merlin when he heard Merlin tossing around fitfully. Arthur immediatley rushed to his side.
"Shhh. Hush, Merlin. Sleep." Arthur tried to comfort his friend but Merlin couldn't hear him. Then, Merlin jolted into a sitting pisition, scaring the life out if Arthur. Merlin sat still for a moment before crying, gripping his wound.
"Merlin?"
"Arthur! It hurts! It hurts, Arthur." Merlin muttered between sobs. Arthur gently lowered him back to the bed and called for Gaius. When the old man entereed he immediatley ran to Merlins side.
"Merlin! What happened, Arthur?" Merlin sobbed as the two conversed, eventually Gaius gave an order to Arthur and rushed out of the room.
"Merlin? Calm down. I know it hurts."
Merlin shook his head. "It's too much."
Arthur felt anger boil in his veins at the sight of his manservant looking so disorientated. "Who did this to you, Merlin?"
"Just a bandit... I killed him as he stabbed me." Merlin quickly fabricated. He felt the world spinning and soon he'd passed out.
"Great. GAIUS! HE'S FAINTED!" Arthur yelled. Gaius opened the door and just smiled.
"That's good. He's on the mend, Arthur. Let him rest." Arthur soon fell asleep himself in the old chair, smiling in his sleep as he realised that Merlin was healing, granted, slowly, but healing none the less.