"Fourteen quarts of mead" Uther growled, "Three flagons of wine, five quarts of cider-"

"I can explain" Merlin tried meekly, Uther ignored him

"Four dozen pickled eggs!"

"That was Gwaine" Merlin explained, "He went to the tavern and...couldn't pay for it...so I did"

"I will not have you squandering our money on such frivolous things!" Uther roared, Merlin swore he heard the castle shake.

"I'll earn it back" Merlin tried, "I'll work or something"

"You most certainly will" Growled Uther, why did Merlin get the feeling he was going to regret saying that?

...

"Bloody king" Gwaine growled

"Shut up and work this is your own doing" Lancelot grumbled, scrubbing some particularly stubborn dirt of a boot.

"I think it's fair" Merlin sighed, picking up another boot, Gwaine stared at him.

"The entire army!" He exclaimed, "It'll take us hours to scrub all these boots!"

"If you'd admit your father was a knight you wouldn't have to" Merlin noted, Lancelot scoffed. The prince found himself growing in respect for the more responsible man, he had offered to help them even though the king had not ordered him to be punished as well.

"I'm not making that mistake" Gwaine grumbled dusting off yet another boot.

"I can't believe Uther has his own son polishing boots" Lancelot piped up giving Merlin a smile.

"Tough but fair" The prince repeated, Gwaine snorted

"If there is one thing I ever learnt from my fathers life, it's that titles mean nothing" He said proudly "It's whats on the inside that counts. And you Merlin, you've got the spirit to match your title, I don't know about Arthur. Not yet"

...

Arthur couldn't help but laugh when he found out why Merlin was skipping practice today. Not because he was sick, but because he was polishing boots. He was still chuckling to himself while he practiced on the training dummy down in the fields.

"You look like you could use some practice" Came a voice, Arthur turned to see Oswald standing behind him.

"You think so?" He challenged

"I know so"

Arthur spread his arms our, openly inviting the knights challenge, he was the best swordsman in the kingdom, he was not afraid. Oswald nodded over his servant Turner and accepted the sword the man offered him. Arthur couldn't help but notice the arrogance the knight had picked up over the last year.

A second later swords clashed, not only had the knight gained arrogance he had lost some of his famed skills, Arthur quickly took the lead without even breaking a sweat. Instead of the graceful style of a knight Oswald was now fighting with the ferocity of a bandit, heavy on the offense and very little defense.

"You're rusty" Arthur jibed, "Not as quick as you used to be"

"Still quick enough to hit you!" The man threatened, ducking out of the block and heading toward Arthur's stomach, which the prince dodged with ease. Arthur turned to strike when he noticed something even stranger than Oswald's sudden attitude change.

"Aren't you left handed?" The prince asked, indicating to the sword in the knights right hand.

"I...just wanted to give you a chance" The knight quipped quickly switching hands and coming at his once more, "Why don't we make this more interesting"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Fifty gold coin, first hit" Oswald challenged, Arthur just smiled.

"Make it a hundred he dared, before swiftly dodging yet another poor attack and tapping the man casually on the chest with his lance, "You can keep your money"

...

Merlin couldn't wait for this day to be over, not only had his father ordered he help Gwaine with the boots but he was now in charge of making sure all the knights visiting from the torments had an official visit. Usually He, Uther and Arthur all split up and took a few but this time Merlin had the job all to himself. Arthur had laughed when he heard the news, unlike his brother the elder prince was having a fantastic day, despite the fact that Oswald had become so different over the past year. It was taking him hours to get through each knight, pretending he wasn't bored by all the stories he had to sit through. Sighing with a mixture of relief and apprehension he entered the last chambers for the day. Oswald and Ethan's.

He wasn't sure if he was angry or thankful that the knights were not in their rooms. Obviously they were still on the training field, he'd have to come back later. As he turned to go he couldn't help but notice two swords laying on the table, why wouldn't they take their swords to training with them? That question was answered when he picked one up to examine it, completely blunt. He chuckled laying it down on the table, surprised to find that his finger was easily sliced open by the 'dull' edge.

"What are you doing in here?" Oswald growled, picking the perfect time to return to the room.

"I was simply looking for you" Merlin sighed, "Royal visit and all"

He quickly judged from the look on the knights face that he wanted that as much as Merlin did and the prince quickly made himself scarce. Heading down to Gaius's for a bandage which the physician quickly applied.

"The sword looked blunt" Merlin finished explaining the story "But when I touched it..."

"You were lucky" Gwaine piped up from where he was sitting still looking hung over, "I've seen those blades in action, they're forged using magic"

"Why would they want them?" Gaius wondered allowed, Merlin remembered the story of Oswald on the training field that morning with Arthur.

"I think that he means to kill Arthur in the malay" Merlin muttered, "Arthur told me OSwald and Ethan have been acting very differently, maybe they turned on him"

"What makes you say Arthur?" Lancelot asked

"If they wanted to kill anybody else they would of on the way to Camelot, the malay is the perfect way to kill the prince" Merlin theorized, "Getting to Arthur any other time is hard, killing him in the malay, they can pretend it was an accident"

"Even you can't convict a knight without any proof at all" Gaius pointed out, "Your father would believe you but the court would never stand for it"

"Then we need to get those blades" Merlin decided

"I'm going to help!" Gwaine announced grinning ear to ear

"Of course" Lancelot sighed

"If I get to piss off a nobel it's worth it!"

Sorry I'm being so slow lately!