AN: xxtwilightfreak4everxx, BiteMeBlondie, Loopstagirl, ruby890, FireChildSlytherin5, cassandrapendragon

You guys are awesome! Thank you :D

OMGs BiteMeBlondie I felt awful after I got your second review! It spurred me into action though...

Disclaimer: I think we all know by now that Merlin belongs to the BBC and not me. Would I really be writing fan fiction if it did?

I think not

Anyway, here you go, sorry about the wait.

Chapter 8

"You!?" exclaimed the prince. He was staring at him as if he'd come here with no head, or as a ghost or something.

"Um..." Merlin thought he'd better say something "Sire," He decided to bow, respectfully this time.

The prince noticed his outfit, and the fact that a sword hung at his side.

"You're the knight my father has commissioned me to train?" the question was both disbelieving and none too happy. Merlin supposed he could understand why, he wasn't too fond of the prince either. But the king, his –their- father had told him to train and become a good knight, so that's what Merlin intended to do. No matter how much he or the prince hated it –or each other.

"So, have you ever handled a blade before?" asked Arthur, unsheathing his own and swinging it in an arc.

"Um, no My Lord," Merlin spoke the truth, although it was hardly surprising, having grown up in Ealdor.

Arthur's eyebrows shot to meet his hairline; he looked so disbelieving that Merlin might have found the situation humorous had it been directed at another.

"Well, then, this training is going to take a while."
"Um...Okay." Merlin wasn't sure what else to say. He decided to draw his sword, he pulled it out and just managed to stop it slipping from his grasp and meeting the grass by putting his other hand on it. The prince noticed this and smirked slightly. He was going to have fun with this, thought Merlin with a sense of rising dread.

Merlin had a right to feel dread, Arthur had decided to punish him for what had happened the other day. It seemed he had decided to push Merlin to his limits.

"Right, we'll start with some basic exercises." The prince's eyes glinted maliciously.

Sometimes Merlin really hated his life.

After about two hours Merlin still had hardly any talent in swordplay. Arthur was pushing him back, as he did; Merlin stumbled on something and fell backwards, landing hard on the grass. His helmet went flying from his head and rolled away. Merlin looked up to see Arthur standing over him.

"Is it over?"Asked Merlin

The prince smiled, amused "Not yet," He swung a mace over his head "How's your mace work coming along?"

Merlin let his head thump back to the grass with a groan. He hated his luck sometimes, he really did.

"Ouch!"

"I'm sorry, My Lord but I need to clean the wound."
"Yes Gaius" Merlin answered the court physician as he continued to clean the wound Merlin had gained on the back of his shoulder. He had gained it in the mace fight Arthur had made him take part in. Gaius finished cleaning and decided that he would apply some sort of salve to it, to help it heal. He needed a book for the recipe and it just so happened that the book he needed was one on of the higher shelves.

Merlin heard a breaking sound and spun; Gaius had lost his balance and had fallen backwards. Merlin used his magic instinctively, not thinking, and managed to save the physician by moving the bed underneath the old man.

Gaius got up and faced Merlin, shock written on his face. Merlin suddenly realised that Gaius knew what he had done to save him.

"I err... that was-"

"I know what it was!" the physician interrupted "I just want to know where you learned to do it."

"Nowhere," The secret prince answered

Gaius saw the truth in his gaze

"Who are you?" he enquired, suspicious

"I am sir Merlin of Ygrad, my father wishes me to become a knight and he always did say that those of Camelot were the finest, so he sent me here."

"Does your father know?"

Merlin felt relief that Gaius actually believed him, he wasn't a good liar, although this lie had been thought up by another, he just had to say it.

"No," The answer was quiet "I cannot tell him, for I would be dead, or banished before I could say anything more."

That much was true; Uther sure would do that if he found out about his gift.

"You won't...tell the king?" Merlin flinched away slightly, afraid of the 'yes' that Gaius might give

"No, I will not. But if you wish to keep your head, then don't let anyone else know about it."

Merlin stared in disbelief "You, you won't say anything?"

"Not a word. Now-"

Gaius seemed to have put the matter to rest as he set about making the salve, having got the book a moment before his fall. He applied it gently to the wound and then examined the young warlock for any other injuries.

He found a lump on his head where it had been hit with something; it was hidden by the raven hair, yet could be felt.

"Did Arthur give you that?" He asked as he found it.

"Well, not, exactly..." Muttered Merlin "You see I was swinging the mace around and, well..." he trailed off too embarrassed to say more. Gaius understood and laughed quietly.

Prince Arthur, meanwhile, was having a 'discussion' with his father.

"The knight you sent me today was useless!" He yelled, fuming "It was clear the idiot had never handled a sword before in his life!" The prince exhaled deeply, trying to calm down.

The King was taking it well, and spoke calmly

"I'm perfectly sure he can't have been that-"

Uther was interrupted by Arthur's statement "He hit himself on the head with his own mace!"

"Oh,"

The king was evidently surprised at this.

"Yes father, oh, how am I supposed to teach him anything??! Why do I even have to train him?"

"Because, Arthur, he's your cousin." The king lied smoothly, knowing Arthur wasn't ready to hear how he was really related to Merlin.

"He's my what!?" exclaimed the prince his eyes becoming wide.

"Yes, his father sent him here to become a knight." Uther continued, making a mental note to tell Merlin to keep up the pretence.

"Right, well, ah..."

The prince really didn't know what to say

"So I must train him to be a swordsman?" The Prince looked doubtful as to whether it was possible

"Yes, although, test him in every manner of combat so that we may see where his strength lies."
"Yes father," The Prince looked reluctant "Where shall I start?"

"Try his hand at archery tomorrow; see how competent he is in that, if he is not, move on to the many other aspects of combat."

"He has no bow, nor quiver,"

"One shall be supplied to him by the morning."

"As you wish Sire," The Prince bowed once, and walked from the room

Now, Uther had to find his second, secret son to speak with him.

He was rather annoyed to find only the boys manservant in the room, and presently sent him to find him.

There came, some minutes later, a knock upon the door of the court physicians' chambers. An 'enter' was called and Vyorn walked in to find his master.

"My Lord," the young lad spoke after finding his master in conversation with the physician.

Merlin broke off from Gaius and turned to the younger boy. "Vyorn, what brings you here?"

"The King has requested audience, My Lord. He came to your chambers, and I was sent when you were absent."

"I will go to him right away, where is he?" answered the young sorcerer, standing

"He is in the throne room, My Lord; he was awful displeased upon not finding you."

"Then I must hurry, thank you Gaius."

The physician just nodded in acknowledgement and turned away to work of some sort.

Merlin near ran to where the king – his father – was waiting.

He stopped abruptly before the guards "The king has requested my presence,"

The guard announced him and he was granted entrance, after checking to see that him appearance was decent, which thankfully it was.

He walked up to where Uther sat on his throne, and bowed low "My Lord, you sought me?"

"Rise, Merlin," the king looked at him as he spoke "I only wished to inform you about the, ah, interesting conversation I had with your brother earlier. He seems under the impression that you are useless with a sword."

"Well, in truth Sire, there was no need for me to learn in Ealdor, so I did not," Merlin felt a little awkward at saying it, yet it was nothing but the truth.

"Hmmm, well, tomorrow you shall need this," The king presented Merlin with a beautifully crafted bow; it was white and had carvings of the symbol of Camelot. The quiver, full of arrows, matched it perfectly.

"My Lord," Merlin gasped "You have presented me with kingly gifts, yet I cannot accept them, for I feel I do not deserve them,"

"You are the son of a king, you deserve them well enough."

"Very well, I shall not refuse, for that would be quite ungrateful of me Sire, I thank you."

Merlin slipped the quiver around him and checked that he could reach the arrows well enough.

"And Merlin, I told Arthur that you were his cousin, do not tell him otherwise."

"Yes Your Highness, I will keep to your story."

He bowed once more and left the throne room, wondering how good he would be at archery, for his sake, he could only hope it was a strong point of his.

AN: Well, what did you think? I'm really sorry about the really, really long wait, I can only hope that the chapter made up for it, do tell me. A single word would do, just 'bad' or 'good' or 'okay' will suffice.

Oh, and thank you for reading this

S.