Thank you to Guest 1 and Guest 2 for reviewing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin
Chapter 6 - A Changed Man
Merlin woke up refreshed and ready to take on whatever destiny threw at him. He slightly wondered why he woke up on the floor, but dashed those thoughts away. He was only going to think positive today.
Gaius was still sleeping before Merlin charged into the other room, effectively waking up the old man.
"Merlin!" he half-yelled, about to scold his ward for waking him up so abruptly before he remembered that Merlin should still be in bed because of the severity of the wound. "Why are you up?"
"Today's a new day Gaius and I intend to enjoy it. Now, I'm off to wake up his majesty from slumber", the happy warlock said before making his way towards the door.
"What about your shoulder?"
Merlin stopped in his tracks. Slowly looking over his left shoulder, he stared at Gaius. At that moment, the physician could've sworn that he saw a glint of red in his ward's eyes. "It's perfectly fine Gaius. There's no need to worry. So don't." he said too calmly before leaving the physician in shock.
As his ward hastily left the room, Gaius knew one thing. He needed to speak with Lancelot again. There was definitely something wrong with Merlin.
"Rise and shine!", Merlin said before pulling the curtains open.
"Merlin" Arthur groaned when the sun hit his eyes. Wait... Merlin! The prince jolted up from his bed and stared at his manservant. "What are you...I mean..."
"Try putting words together Arthur. It actually helps to form sentences"
"Merlin!" Arthur said before throwing a pillow at the warlock. "How are you here?" he asked, remembering the wyvern's attack on Merlin.
"Well, I start by using my legs to support my weight. Then I put one foot in front of the other and..."
"You know what I mean. Last time I checked, you couldn't even open your eyes thanks to that wyvern biting you on your shoulder."
Merlin winced and in a serious tone said, "Oh, my shoulder healed itself. What does it matter anyway? I feel fine. Now, what needs to be done Sire?"
Arthur was stunned. Merlin never called him 'sire' unless they were around nobles or he was annoyed. There aren't any nobles around so..., he thought to himself. Shaking his head, he continued. "Nothing. I had already found a servant to fill in for you because of your condition yesterday."
"So I get the day off"
"Nonsense, it just means that you don't have to do most of your chores. Since you have all this energy, you will assist me while training...Anyway, I'm sure the others would like to see you now that you're fine."
"Ah, does Prince Arthur actually care about me?"
"...Idiot"
The Knights of the Round Table were already on the training field. Arthur was late (as usual) probably because Merlin didn't wake him up on time.
Merlin. The knights wondered how their friend was doing. All of them were worried for the person they considered their little brother. He was so still the previous night - almost dead, they mused.
Their concerns were short lived as Arthur, wearing a scowl, came walking in, Merlin right behind him.
"Sorry I'm late everyone I...", the prince began.
"...couldn't figure out how to put his shirt on correctly" Merlin interrupted.
"Merlin!"
"What? It's true... and don't tell me that it's the shirt's fault!"
The banter continued for a couple of minutes while the knights just stood there, mouths hanging. Just last night their friend could barely open his eyes and now he was standing there, bantering with Arthur as if nothing happened.
"Merlin, you're alive!" Gwaine yelled jokingly.
"It's good to see well my friend" Elyan said. Percival nodded in agreement.
"Merlin, are you okay?" Lancelot asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Merlin said, his eye slightly twitched in annoyance. Why is everyone asking me the same question?
"Well, you were out cold, your shoulder and all being..."
"Why does everyone think that there's something wrong with me?"
"They were just asking Merlin. No need to get upset", Arthur said.
"I AM NOT UPSET!" he yelled, leaving everyone momentarily speechless. Merlin rarely - scratch that - Merlin never got angry, and if or when he did, he hid it really well.
The warlock quickly caught himself before he could say anything else. His eyes softened and he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. I shouldn't have yelled at you Lancelot".
Lancelot, still in shock, snapped out of his daze, gave a half smile, and said, "No harm done".
"And what about me, Merlin. You yelled at me directly - me, your prince!", Arthur complained, ignoring the strange behaving 'Merlin' standing before them.
"Didn't you hear? Prats don't get apologies"
"Merlin!"
"What?"
Arthur growled in frustration. He hated when Merlin outwitted him in their unspoken contest-of-wit...so he settled with doing the next best thing - obnoxious bullying.
"Since you obviously have so much energy, let's put it to good use"
Arthur put Merlin to 'good use' the only way he knew how - by making him the practice dummy. Arrogant as always, the prince gave Merlin a sword, helmet, and shield while he only took a sword, proclaiming to the others that he didn't need it because 'this would be over soon'.
Arthur took a fighting stance. "Are you ready, Merlin?"
Merlin looked at the prince and mirrored his position. "I should be asking you the same question."
Arthur rolled his eyes and began attacking. Strangely enough, Merlin blocked each blow with ease. Okay, so he picked up a couple things while training with me for the past three and a half years. Big deal, Arthur thought amusingly. It wasn't until he started putting actual effort into his attacks that he realized that Merlin was holding his own quite nicely. This is getting weird.
Things turned serious for Arthur when he was put on the defensive as Merlin began hacking away at him. How the hell did our positions get reversed?
Meanwhile, the knights were in utter shock. Everyone knew that Merlin was useless with a sword, and yet here he was giving Arthur a run for his money. Lancelot looked at the warlock suspiciously. His outburst earlier plus his all-of-a-sudden hidden talent with a sword - it didn't take a genius to figure out that something strange was going on.
Back to the sword fight - taking action, Arthur quickly took control of the situation. After tripping Merlin with the end of his sword, he managed to relieve him of his weapon, hold him at sword point, and declared himself the victor.
"Well done Merlin. Who knew you had it in you?" Gwaine said while patting the warlock on the uninjured shoulder. Looking at Arthur, he began taunting him. "What's wrong princess, is Merlin too tough for you?"
"No. He just got lucky. Anyway, I gave him more items to defend himself with - clearly he had the advantage."
"Sure..."
Before he could counter-argue with the knight, a messenger arrived. "Sire, your father has requested your presence in the throne room...alone".
"I'll be there momentarily", the prince replied. After the messenger left, the prince dismissed the knights from training, Merlin from his duties, and ran off to the throne room. The young warlock was about to leave when Gwaine called after him.
"Merlin, we're going to the tavern for dinner this evening. You should come with us".
"I don't know..."
"Nonsense, after humbling the princess like that, it's the least we could do"
"But Gaius will be expecting me"
"I'm sure Gaius won't mind" Gwaine said before looking to the others. "What say you gentlemen?"
"It sounds like fun" Elyan said.
"I agree" Leon replied.
"Anyway Merlin, you deserve a break and a little fun" Percival commented.
The young warlock's mood suddenly changed. "You know what, that does sound like fun!", he exclaimed happily.
"Great! And don't worry. It's not like you'll get into trouble - that's why you have us for"
"What he really means is that Percival, Elyan, Lancelot, and myself will keep us out of trouble. Gwaine attracts trouble like bees to honey... but we'll keep him in line". At this, the drunk knight scowled.
Clutching his heart dramatically, he said, "I'm hurt Leon - really, I am", causing the knights (except for Lancelot) and Merlin to roar in laughter.
"Actually, I won't be going with you guys tonight"
"Why not Lancelot?" Gwaine asked, mimicking Arthur.
"I need to see Gaius. I haven't been... feeling well lately"
"Fine then... go to your physician and don't spend time with your friends."
"Gee Gwaine, I feel guilty already" Lancelot said dryly.
"Well, that actually works out quite nicely. You can tell Gaius the news then" Leon suggested.
"That's fine by me". Lancelot left the group while Merlin and the others headed to the tavern. Now he knew that there was definitely something wrong. When did Merlin ever willingly go to the tavern?
Not five minutes had gone by since they arrived at the tavern and it all started going downhill, especially when Gwaine started challenging people to drinking contests. What made it worse was the fact that Merlin joined in. The knights, despite their 'vow' that they would keep the group out of trouble, couldn't do anything to stop the scene before them.
Merlin was out-drinking Gwaine - Gwaine, of all people - and still managed to stay sober. In fact, he was the most sober of the whole group. After the drinking game was over (Merlin proclaimed the obvious winner to the drunken knight's horror) the knights decided to order some actual food - a nice plate of salted pork would do the trick.
When the food finally came out, a big chunk of salted pork still steaming on the platter, it was set before them for all at the table to dig in. To the dismay of all the knights, Merlin grabbed the largest portion of pork.
"Merlin, will you be able to eat all of this?", asked Leon knowing how the boy never ate a lot.
"I see why not. I'm starving", the warlock replied before tearing off a piece with his teeth. "Oh, this is delicious!" he said with his mouth full.
"Well, I've never seen you eat this much food before, even when it was offered", Percival added, slightly upset that his friend took his favorite portion.
"Then I don't know what I've been missing" Merlin said before proceeding to devour his food.
Percival and Leon gave each other a worried look. Elyan leaned over to Gwaine and whispered, "Do you think Merlin's alright?"
Before he could respond, the warlock interjected, "I'm fine guys, really." The knights were surprised. Elyan and Gwaine were the farthest away from Merlin. Plus with all the noise, he shouldn't have been able to hear them.
"If you say so" Elyan said. The knights dropped the matter and finished their dinner. Afterwards, they headed home in silence, none of them speaking about the way Merlin was acting. Tonight was a weird night, they all thought to themselves as they got ready for bed. A weird night indeed.
When Lancelot arrived at the physician's quarters, both looked relieved. After he explained what happened with Merlin on the training field and Gaius relayed what happened this morning, both agreed that his behavior worsened whenever the shoulder was mentioned. The only question was why.
The sun had almost finished setting over Camelot when Merlin walked in. Both Lancelot and Gaius greeted the young warlock, but, not even acknowledging his friend or his mentor, he went to his room and closed the door. After sharing a worried look, they continued searching the books, hoping to find an answer to what was going on with the warlock.
It wasn't until the sun had finally set that they heard a commotion coming from Merlin's room. At first, it started off with a couple of things falling. When heavy objects were heard crashing to the floor, Gaius and Lancelot became curious.
"Merlin, is everything all right in there?"
No answer. Gaius tried again. "Merlin, are you okay?"
That's when they heard it. Merlin began to scream and the scream quickly turned into a deep, unearthly roar. Startled, Gaius and Lancelot ran to the door. "Open the door Merlin" the physician said. Something heavy was keeping it closed.
"No...Stay awayrrrr!"
"That's it, we're coming in Merlin!" Lancelot yelled before kicking the door. After the third attempt, the door gave way.
The room was in disarray. The bed was turned over, papers and various books littered the ground. Everything was ruined. In the midst of the mess, a pair of red eyes stared at the two men from the darkness.
Immediately, Lancelot pushed Gaius behind him and pulled out his sword. He would not let this creature harm Gaius. Wait, where's Merlin?, he frantically thought. Apparently Gaius was thinking the same thing because he too was searching the room for his ward.
It wasn't long before the creature stepped from the shadows. It's black body almost made it blend with the room. The horns on its head, its fangs, and claws were sharp as daggers. Even the wings were in a menacing position. It wasn't until its red eyes faded to white that the two men gasped.
This was the beast Arthur described to them - the strange looking wyvern. But how did it get here?...and where was Merlin?
Then Gaius noticed something loosely hanging off the wyvern's arm: it was a red neckerchief. Suddenly, everything made sense to the physician - Merlin's behavior, the strange infection, his eyes, everything.
Gaius snapped out of his daze when Lancelot moved to slay the beast. "No Lancelot, stop!" he yelled.
That threw off the knight. "Why?" Meanwhile, the beast, sensing the confusion, took advantage of the opportunity. After growling at both men, it backed up to the corner, jumped through the window and flew away, leaving the neckerchief behind in the ravaged room.
"Why did we let it go? I had it, Gaius!" Lancelot yelled, frustrated that the monster escaped. There was no telling what it could do now.
The physician sighed and left the room. He sat down on his work bench and sighed again. "Oh, my boy".
"Gaius, what aren't you telling me?"
"I didn't let you kill it because that wyvern... is Merlin."
Anatol felt the surge of magic rush through her. Smiling evilly, she looked at Morgana and Morgause. "The curse has been set in motion. Now all we have to do is gather our forces and Camelot will soon be ours."
Muahaha, aren't I evil-ish. XD So, what will happen to our hero now? And what are the three witches up to? Any thoughts?
PLEASE, please review. I've been getting 2 or 3 reviews per chapter and while and I'm not trying to be ungrateful, I would like to read more...please. It puts a smile on my face every time I get one.
Until later,
-STL13