"We can steal the blades form their room, it will be simple enough to present them to the king as proof" Lancelot suggested, Merlin nodded in agreement.

"I'll get them" Gwaine offered but was quickly shot down by the prince.

"What reason would you have to be in their chambers?" He questioned, "I'll go, I'm a prince I don't need an excuse"

"If you are not back here in 10 minutes I'm coming after you" Gwaine assured him. Merlin beamed. For somebody who claimed to hate royalty, Gwaine had the loyalty and spirit of a great knight.

...

Quietly the prince slunk into the knights chambers under cover of darkness, the knights snoring softly, oblivious to his presence. The swords were no longer on the table, great now he would have to search for them. He started with the chest not far from Oswald's bed, it would seem the most obvious place. The lid opened, creaking lightly, Merlin smiled when the familiar glint of the 'blunt' sword met his eyes, reaching out to grab it, almost dropping the lance when Oswald moaned in his sleep, turning over to face Merlin.

The strange glowing stone around his neck caught the princes eye. It gave off a hint of magic, how odd. Part of his brain chastised him for putting down the sword but his curiosity got the best of him, he looked into the crystal to see a reflection of the sleeping knight. No wait, it wasn't the knight, it was the thug from the tavern! His eyes open. Eyes open...uh oh.

The thug grabbed his wrist, he still outwardly looked like Oswald but now Merlin knew better. Quickly he pulled back and somehow backed himself into a wall. Stupid! He ducked as a knife flew through the air at his head.

"Stop that!" He ordered, his voice held very little authority though and another knife sliced though the wall next to his head.

"Don't you know it's against the law to attack a prince" Gwaine asked walking int the room casually. When Lancelot didn't follow him Merlin stomach did a flip, no telling what Gwaine would do and as much as he disliked the men, he didn't want them killed in cold blood.

"Get out of here!" Ethan ordered

"No" Gwaine smiled defiantly,

"How dare you speak to a knight like that!" Ethan yelled drawing his sword and lunging at Gwaine, who had also drawn his sword, Merlin's hand went to his belt, he didn't bring his, only his throwing knife. Quickly Gwaine disarmed Ethan but had his back turned to Oswald.

"Careful!" Merlin yelled stepping between them not really thinking the action through. He was vaguely aware of Gwaine's eyes widening as something, most likely the hilt of 'Oswald's' sword coming down on the back of his head heavily. After wars his vision was filled with stars and finally nothing.

...

Uther stormed up the hallway with Arthur and Sir Leon in tow, the sounds of swords clashing together could clearly be heard from Oswald and Ethan's chamber. The guards had alerted him some minutes ago and since the fight could still be heard, the brawl must be a heated one.

Whatever he had expected to find in the knights chamber it had not been this. Ethan was getting to his feet as a man, the same man he had punished earlier that day, Gabe or something was pointing a sword at Sir Oswald's chest. However it was not this that worried him. His vision soon fell upon Merlin who was laying on the floor unconscious with a worrying amount of blood seeping through the hair on he back on his head. Arthur was at his side in seconds, carefully turning him onto his back and pressing his palm lightly against the wound.

"What happened here!" Uther roared eyeing everybody in the room.

Oswald reacted by slapping the commoner around the face, resulting in his fall to the ground.

"He attacked us sire" OSwald answered, "The prince came to our aid but this, thug, bought the hilt of his sword down on him"

"It's true sire" Ethan spoke up, "I can vouch for his every word"

"You not only attacked two nobles, but my son!" Uther growled

"I stepped in to help Merlin!" The commoner yelled, "These men are not who they claim to be!"

"Be silent!" The king ordered, "How dare you speak to nobility that way! I will have you hanged"

"No father!" Arthur spoke up from his position near Merlin's paling form, "Gwaine saved us both the other day, I don't believe he would hurt Merlin on purpose, not after helping us the way he did"

"These men are arrogant thugs!" Gwaine yelled, having to be restrained by Sir Leon

"I have heard enough" The king announced, "I banish you, thank my son for that, I'd have you killed were it not for his judgement!"

"Guards, get Gaius!" Arthur ordered as the blood began to seep through his fingers. The king could of been wrong but he was sure he saw Arthur mouth the words I'm Sorry, to Gwaine as he was dragged past, no doubt to be dropped off at the castle gates.

...

Arthur heard the doors to the physicians chamber open, his heart leapt when he saw Gwen enter however it quickly clenched with guilt when Gwaine followed her.

"Gwaine I-"

"It's alright" He waved Arthur off as he gathered his things, "You offered to speak up for me, that's more than I ever expected of a noble"

Lancelot stood up and walked over to Gwaine and began packing his things much to the latters surprise.

"What? You think I'm going to let you be banished alone?" Lancelot grinned, "Come on, before we get ourselves beheaded"

Gwen made her way over to Arthur, their fingers laced themselves together without the pair even noticing until, Gwaine gave a snicker and Arthur felt lot of blood go to his face.

"How is he?" She asked quietly, glancing down at Merlin's form on the bed, a large bandage now wrapped around his head.

"Gaius says he's lucky, any harder and his skull could of fractured" Arthur sighed, "He will be out for at least a day"

"It wasn't me" Gwaine insisted, "It was Oswald!"

"I believe you" Arthur sighed, "I can't convince my father though, I'll just have to hit Ethan and Oswald extra hard tomorrow"

"You can't they are cheating!" Lancelot pipped up much to Arthur's surprise, "They have fake magical swords that look blunt but are actually sharp, we were trying to get them for evidence"

"Well, I will just try and order a search of their chambers" Arthur growled, wanting nothing more than to make those men suffer.

Sorry!

I know this update is super slow but the fact is im super busy with getting back to boarding school and all, plus I am way into Sherlock at the moment and its hard to write Merlin so I decided rather than give you guys crappy chapters I would wait until I felt the passion again. It just took a while.