I can't believe it's taken me so long to update this story! Well, yes, yes I can believe it. Here is the next chapter. Hopefully the next update doesn't take as long or longer to happen. Enjoy!
Two.
Merlin wasn't happy. He had been summoned by Arthur two hours earlier than he normally did. The boy wizard had gotten out of bed and had to dress while he ate half an apple and a slice of hard bread for breakfast.
"What is this? You call this penmanship, Merlin? Chickens scratching in dirt is more legible than your handwriting."
"There's nothing wrong with it!" Merlin demanded, making a face.
"Is it written in some sort of secret code, then?" Arthur asked, turning the book upside down.
"No."
"Then what's this word?"
"Knights."
"And this word?"
"Formation."
"Are you sure?" Arthur asked, holding the book close to his face.
"Yes, I'm sure." Merlin answered. He paced around the prince's chambers as its owner continued to tease the young warlock about his penmanship.
"I don't know how you can tell. Merlin, you are possibly the worst writer in the whole kingdom."
"Hey, it's not my fault if you can't read it."
"Actually, Merlin, it is your fault. I thought you said you could write."
"I can. I do." Merlin insisted. "It's just…" His voice trailed off leaving his reply unfinished.
Arthur sensed the change in Merlin and looked at his servant. "It's just what?" He prompted.
"It's just all this talk of war. I don't like it. It makes me feel…uncomfortable."
"Too bad, I don't pay you to feel, Merlin."
"You don't pay me anything, sire," Merlin shot back.
"Yes I do, of course I do. You're a servant not a slave. I've been giving Gaius your pay."
"What?"
The blond waved off Merlin's outburst. "If there's a problem I suggest you take it up with him. But before you do I want you to rewrite this," Arthur ripped out all the pages Merlin had written.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
"Ah, there you are, a nice clean slate," Arthur proclaimed, handing Merlin back the book. "And make sure that you have it ready by this afternoon."
"Right away, Arthur," Merlin groaned. Taking the torn pages and book Merlin stalked out of the Crown Prince's chambers and crossed the courtyard towards the apartment he shared with the Royal Physician.
00000
The young warlock stormed into the apartment walked passed Gaius and dropped into a chair, dropping the notebook on the table with a loud bang.
Gaius turned from his worktable to his ward. "What are you doing home already?" He asked, looking over the top of his eye glasses at Merlin.
"Arthur wants me to rewrite all my notes from the summit meetings. Apparently my writing is the worst ever. He wants me to have it ready before the next meeting this afternoon." Merlin explained as he searched for something useful to start redrafting his notes. "He has a whole army of Royal Scribes at his beck and call. Why doesn't he use one of them?"
"Has it ever occured to you that Arthur trusts you more than anyone?" Gaius offered, returning to his work.
"No, that can't be right." Merlin promised. "He just wants to torture me."
Gaius sighed and put down the seedling he was studying. "Merlin, the reason Arthur doesn't have one of the scribes do it is because they aren't at his 'beck and call' as you put it, but his father's."
"I don't see the difference."
"This is the first time Uther has entrusted something this important to Arthur. That's a lot of responsibilty. You shouldn't blame the prince for wanting to keep those he trusts close to him while he deals with the other rulers and officers. Most of them have been around since before Arthur was born. They are in a position to forget Arthur is the one in charge, since they see him as a boy trying to fill a grown man's shoes. I know from first hand expeirence that it is hard to see the boy who once sat on my knee as a man in his own right.
"And here I thought he was afraid the Royal Scribes were spies that would just report everything to Uther." Merlin thought out loud.
"Oh, I am sure he is aware of that, too." Gaius admitted with a smile. "Now get on with it, you only have a few hours to rewrite everything."
"Yeah, yeah." Merlin dismissed Gaius's warnings and set to work.
The Court doctor watched as Merlin prepared the ink before speaking. "Despite how you feel about the summit now it is a great honor to be present at all," he reasoned. "One that must be taken seriously and with great humility."
Merlin jumped and grimaced. "Oh really, what's so great about it, eh?" he challenged. "So far I've been stuck listening to a bunch of old men drink and talk about past glories and complain about how things were so much easier when they were younger."
Gaius listened to Merlin's rant quietly, waiting for him to finish before he responded. "I know that it seems tough right now, but I believe that you will learn a great deal and not just about battle and war, but how difficult it is to rule a kingdom. We both know that you have a great destiny ahead of you. You must look at this summit as an opportunity to absorb as much as you can. You never know what may come in handy in the future."
As usual Gaius put things in perspective for Merlin and all the anger left Merlin at the physician's advice. "I won't learn anything if I don't finish this before three." he said with a cheeky grin.
"I won't keep you from it then," Gaius promised, finally returning to his own work.
00000
"What took you so long, Merlin?" Arthur scolded, smacking the back of his servant's head. "The meeting's about to start and there's no way I was going to delay it because a servant couldn't show up on time."
"Sorry, I'm here now, aren't I?" Merlin uttered, rubbing the sore spot on his head.
"For what it's worth," Arthur said, walking towards the large council room. "It's bad enough that I had to dress myself."
"Oh, how sad for you," Merlin mocked timing it so the sound of the guards opening the door would drown out his words. He followed Arthur into the chamber room making sure to keep five steps behind him.
Most of the Consul members were already there, talking amongst themselves as they waited for the meeting to officially begin. The chatter quieted down as Arthur walked the long length of the table and took his usual seat at the end as head of the Consul. Merlin stalked to the scribe's seat in the corner. The chair made an awful grinding noise as Merlin dragged it across the polished stone floor and sat down. Merlin felt eyes on him and turned to see the entire Consul staring at him, Arthur gave him a particularly hard incredulous look in disbelief.
Merlin nodded his head and pressed his lips together. "Sorry, don't mind me," he insisted and sat down. He purposefully ignored the other men as he sat down and opened the massive tome to a fresh page.
The Crown Prince took Merlin's advice and turned away from him. "Right then," Arthur said, clearing his throat loudly.
The meeting started and Merlin dutifully took notes as required and tried not to fall asleep.
It was nearing late afternoon when it looked like progress was being made. The majority of the consul had agreed that something needed to be done about the rise in Saxon attacks long Camelot's borders, but what
"We will meet them here," Lichen stated proudly, stabbing a point on a large cloth map draped over the table. "And here, we will crush them."
The point was out of Merlin's sight, he couldn't see where the giant knight finger lay. Gingerly, he stood to peer over the map, it was on a plain near
"If you want to waste time," Merlin muttered under his breath.
"What, what did you say, boy?" Lichen challenged, rising to his feet.
"N-nothing," Merlin stammered, lifting the book to his face so that it covered his mouth.
"Wait, I want to hear what he has to say." Arthur stated, holding up a hand to stay Lichen's anger.
"What can this boy know? He barely off his mother's breast and he thinks he knows better then I?"
"You are right Lichen, Merlin is no great mind for warfare, but maybe he can provide us with another perspective that we would normally over looked. After all, this boy has saved my life. The least I can do is give him a moment to speak." Arthur said in a hard voice. He stared at Lichen with a challenge in his eyes.
Lichen stood his ground for a moment before exhaling through his nose and returning to his seat. "As you wish m'Lord."
"Continue Merlin," The Prince commanded with a nod his head.
Merlin swallowed nervously and cleared his throat before speaking. "I only meant that waiting for an army to appear is not your best option. It would provide the enemy scouts the time for a head count and troop position. You wouldn't want to give them the advantage, would you? You would only be playing into the hands of the enemy."
"Would you suggest we do, turn tail and run?"
"No," Merlin could feel his face color at the challenge. "I think you should station a fraction of your troops in the field and hide the rest in the forest."
Arthur nodded at his servant's words. "Let the Saxons think our force is smaller than it really is, giving them false hope that they stand a chance. That's really clever, Merlin."
Merlin grinned at the praise. "Thank you M'Lord."
"Yeah?" Lichen grunted. "And which troops do you want to be in this boogie trap of yours?"
"Are you volunteering?" Merlin shot back, his temper rising.
Lichen sputtered. "What did you say to me?" He spun around to face Arthur. "Are you going to let this little piss ant speak to me that way?"
"Merlin, that's enough," Arthur warned. He nodded his head in the general direction of the table. "Why don't we all take a break? There ought to be refreshments in your chambers. We'll meet back here in, say, three hours. Until then, gentlemen, stay in good health."
Merlin waited with a bowed head as Lichen passed him. He heard the man growl under his bread and failed to hide the dry smile the noise caused. The young warlock headed back to his seat and started to gather his things when he heard Arthur clear his throat.
"Merlin," the prince said, stressing out the first half of his name.
"Sire?" Merlin replied innocently.
"Why do I put up with you? You know that I am being judged. Now, I covered for you by listening to what you had to say, but I will not tolerate your disrespect of Lichen or any other member of this consul, do I make myself clear?"
"Perfectly, sire," Merlin nodded his head vigorously and started to leave the room.
"Where do you think you're going?" Arthur asked, crossing his arms.
Merlin paused at the door, his shoulders slumping in resignation. "Um, lunch?" he knew he had gotten off to easily.
"No, you're coming with me," Arthur ordered and walked ahead of Merlin.
"And where are we going?" Merlin asked tentatively. Normally, Arthur would answer this question with a smart remark, but this time he simply said, "The library."