Lady Mithian arrived the next day. Arthur and Merlin were there to greet her and her guard in the courtyard. Arthur gave the lady a big grin.

"Lady Mithian! It's wonderful to see you again," he helped her off her horse, giving the reigns to Merlin for the moment until the stable hands arrived.

"It's wonderful to see you as well, Prince Arthur," she gave him a small but warm smile. She turned to Merlin and nodded at him. "What's your name, servant?"

"My name is Merlin," he gave her his signature goofy grin as his hand ran down the horse's neck.

"It's nice to meet you, Merlin," Mithian nodded her head. Merlin blinked, but his grin fell into something softer.

"And I you, my lady," he bowed his head a bit before turning to one of the stable hands that had arrived to take the horse. He handed the reigns over before taking the Lady's bags that her on top of the horse.

"Let me show you to your quarters you'll be in while you're here," Arthur smiled as he held out his arm. Mithian blinked in surprise before she gave a small grin.

"Thank you."

Merlin walked silently behind them with her luggage as the pair made small talk to catch up with how things had been going in each kingdom.

"How has Nemeth been?"

"Well, a bit warmer this time of year," Mithian spoke quietly. "I suppose it's to be expected though. Father has been cheerier this season than he's been in a while. It's nice to see."

"I suppose it would be," Arthur grinned. "How long are you staying?"

"It depends, I've been told," Mithian gave a small mischievous smile. "I will have to go back to Nemeth at some point no matter the answer we come up with for our fathers."

"Very true," Arthur nodded. Merlin quietly conjured a beautiful red rose and put it in Arthur's free hand without Mithian noticing. Arthur grinned, stopping at Mithian's doors. "Here we are, my lady."

Merlin opened the door to put the luggage down while giving the two a moment. Of course, he could still hear them.

"Thank you, Arthur."

"My lady, will you do the honour of letting me court you?"

"Oh! Where did you get that from?" Mithian laughed in delight. Merlin could hear the grin in Arthur's voice as he replied.

"Magic!"

"Oh, Merlin," Mithian laughed, not fooled at all. "Yes, I would love that."

Merlin chose that moment to come out of the room, after letting his magic sweep the room quickly to make sure all was as it should be. Mithian had joy sparkling in her eyes. Arthur was grinning like a loon. Merlin tried so very hard not to laugh at him.

"I shall see you at the feast, then?"

"Yes, you shall, my lady," Arthur nodded. A woman came up to the two, clearly a servant. Well dressed, so Merlin assumed it was Mithian's personal servant.

"Ah, Elizabeth, you found you're way. I apologize for leaving you back there," Mithian gave the woman an apologetic smile. Elizabeth only smiled.

"It's alright, my lady," she shrugged. "I figured I would acquaint myself with some of the servants on the way here so I can find my way."

"Well, if you have any questions, you can always ask Merlin as well," Arthur laughed. "Gods knows he probably knows all the secret and unused tunnels of this castle by now, too."

Merlin gave a sheepish grin and a shrug but didn't say anything. Elizabeth frowned a bit at Merlin's clothing but also didn't say anything.

"Sire, I do believe Sir Leon asked for your help in the later morning with training the knights," Merlin said. Arthur nodded.

"Very well," He turned to Mithian and bowed. "It was wonderful to see you again, my lady. I shall see you later. And have a good day as well, Elizabeth."

With that, Arthur took off back down the hallway expecting Merlin to follow. Merlin rolled his eyes before turning to Mithian and giving a small bow.

"It was nice to meet you, my lady."

"Yes, Merlin," the princess smiled. "I suppose I shall see you later as well. It is common knowledge that Arthur has his manservant following him almost everywhere."

It wasn't said with malice or anything bad. Merlin just laughed. "I like to think he'd be lost without me."

"Merlin!" Arthur's voice came from a different hallway. Merlin rolled his eyes.

"That's my que," Merlin turned to jog down the hallway to catch up to the Prince, giving a small wave to the women. "See you later!"

The boys made it to training not that long after, Arthur already dressed in his armour. Leon noticed this and smiled a bit.

"Ah, my prince," he nodded. "Thank you for coming. Merlin, could you also go check on Sir Frederick? He got hurt a small bit ago."

Merlin nodded and made his way to the man who was sitting at the table Merlin usually sat at anyways. "Sir Frederick."

"Ah, Merlin," the man looked up, wincing as he moved the wrong way. He stood and lifted his shirt to show a multitude of bruises and a few cuts. "Nothing too serious, but you know how Leon gets."

"Looks a bit painful," Merlin commented. He grinned though. "Let's go to Gauis' so I can get some bruise cream and clean those cuts up for you. Arthur! We'll be back!"

The prince looked back just before the knight let his shirt fall. He nodded and turned back to his knights' training. They seemed to be learning something new today. Merlin walked silently with Sir Frederick by his side. It didn't take long to make it Gauis' quarters. The man in question looked up at their entrance and lifted an eyebrow. "Hurt during training?"

"Not bad, I don't think," Sir Frederick gave a sheepish smile as he sat on at the table. Merlin rushed around looking for supplies he'd need. He looked back at the knight as he grabbed a bowl for water.

"I will still be making sure you didn't hurt your ribs further," he raised his own eyebrow and the knight laughed.

"I know, you always were cautious."

"Unlike knights while training," Merlin grinned back as he placed somethings on the table. He went to the cauldron over the fire and put some hot water in it. He blew on it with his magic a bit to cool it down slightly so he wouldn't burn the knight with almost boiling water. He cleaned the cuts that were only bleeding sluggishly before pressing on the mans ribs to check them. Frederick hissed in pain at one particular nasty bruise. "Well nothing is broken or cracked, thankfully. One of your ribs is bruised, so I would take it easy for a few weeks."

"Define taking it easy," Frederick asked with a sigh.

"Anything that doesn't cause you pain," Merlin grinned. "Meaning you cannot train with a sword for at least two weeks. I'll check it again to see how it's doing after that. You can do some stretches as long as you aren't pushing or pulling on your ribs. You might be able to job, but again just be careful."

As he said this, Merlin had taken off the knight's shirt and started to apply the bruise cream. Frederick nodded as he watched the man. Once he was done, he tugged the knight's shirt back on.

"No heavy armour either," Gauis said, watching the two. "Chainmail is fine, but nothing beyond that."

"Yes, sir," Frederick nodded with a grimace. "Sir Leon will probably take me off patrols for a bit."

"He'd be right to," Merlin commented as he put everything away. He clapped his hands once he had finished with a big grin on his face. "Alright, let's go tell Leon the good news."

Frederick rolled his eyes but walked with Merlin back to the training fields. Leon noticed them coming. He waited until they had stopped in front of him and grinned. "What's the verdict, doctor?"

Merlin rolled his eyes but he smiled at the man anyways. "Sir Frederick is to be taken off of heavy duty and heavy training. He is only allowed to wear chainmail, nothing else heavier. He has a slightly bruised rib. I cleaned the cuts and put a salve on the bruising of the skin. I'll check his rib again in about two weeks to see if he can go back to normal duty. He can stretch and do light things. If you see him in pain, don't hesitate to stop him and have him do something else."

Leon nodded and sighed. "Could've been worse, I suppose. Take the rest of the day off, Frederick. I'll have some training you can do tomorrow. I'll confirm them with Merlin or Gauis before then."

The younger knight nodded with a pout. "I still want to watch at least."

He made his way to the table Merlin always sat at, said servant following him to also watch practice as well. They sat in silence as they watched the group, knights and recruits alike all training. George came running up to Merlin, panting heavily.

"Merlin! Gauis needs you in the throne room. One of the knights came back badly injured!"

Merlin leapt up and turned to find Leon or Arthur. Leon seemed to be closer. "Leon!"

He waited for the man to turn to him. "Yes, Merlin?"

"Gauis needs my help in the throne room. A knight was badly injured it seems. Let Arthur know for me?"

Leon's eyes widened as he nodded and shooed Merlin off. Merlin and George ran up to the castle. "What seemed to be wrong?"

"Said a beast attacked them. The other two on the patrol are beaten up, but Gauis said they should be fine to wait. The king is speaking to the other knights now to get the details."

Merlin nodded and burst into the throne room to see Sir Hedas on the floor with blood pooling around him. Merlin ignored everyone else and collapsed next to Gauis as he took stock of injuries.

"I need you to get his over clothes off. They managed to get his armour off, I only just got here myself," Gauis said, voice strong. He was unpacking things he'd needed from one of the baskets he had brought with him. Merlin nodded. One of the knights stepped forward.

"Do you need-" he stopped mid-sentence when Merlin simply ripped the shirt in two and slid each piece off the man. He didn't notice everyone's surprised expressions as he did the same with Hedas' pants. "Never mind."

Noticing a huge gash on the man's leg that wouldn't stop bleeding, Merlin quickly took his belt off to use as a tourniquet. He took a warm, wet cloth given to him by a servant, nodding his head in thanks before he tried cleaning some of the blood off to find the exact location of the leg wound. Gauis was quickly bandaging the more shallow wound on the man's torso.

"Gauis, he needs stitches. This wound is too big, he'll bleed out without them."

"Well, you know what to do, my boy," Gauis said, a bit distracted. "You've been helping me with stitches for a few months now. Hedas isn't awake, so he won't feel it."

Merlin nodded and reached for the things he'd need from the basket. George had knelt next to him to try and keep the blood out of his way. The servant had helped a few times and knew how to not be in his way. Quickly, Merlin stitched the huge wound up. It took about a hundred stitches, all down the man's thigh. He wrapped the wound in fresh cloth carefully after cleaning the area thoroughly and undid his belt.

"Done," Merlin took a deep breath, finally looking around. Uther seemed to be staring at him with wide eyes. Merlin blinked at this but ignored him to look at Gauis.

"I took care of everything else while you were doing that, thank you," Gauis shook his head with a sigh. He put a gentle hand on Merlin's shoulder. "I wouldn't have been able to do all of it on my own without things getting even more dangerous. You did a fine job."

"Will he be okay now?" one of the knights stepped forward. Merlin glanced over Sir Hedas' body before looking up to the man who had spoken.

"Most likely," he finally answered. Gauis rolled his eyes at his answer.

"I would like him to stay in my patient's bed for at least tonight. I'll be able to see tomorrow if he will be on the mend or if it will get infected. It shouldn't, but you can never be too cautious. Especially with that many stitches needed. He will need loose clothing as well."

The two knights breathed a sigh of relief. "We were worried we couldn't get here in time."

"You did a fine job," Uther cut in, giving them a small nod. He turned to the physician and his apprentice. "Thank you both. Merlin, when did you have time to learn all of this?"

Merlin gave a sheepish grin. "Mostly when I'm meant to be sleeping. I like reading Gauis' texts on them to try and help as much as I can. Gauis has been teaching me when he can as well. Some days Arthur will dismiss me early to learn with Gauis. Helps when I know how to help in an emergency on the road as well."

Uther frowned in concern. Merlin blinked at this. "Are you still okay with both positions?"

"Of course, your highness," Merlin tilted his head in confusion. "George certainly helps Arthur when I'm not there. And Arthur always knows where I am should he need me for anything."

Uther nodded, seeming to not need to be on that topic anymore. He turned to the knights. "What happened?"

"We were ambushed on the road, sire," one of the knights sighed. "It wasn't supposed to be a huge patrol, only a week. We must have gone a bit farther than planned. We were surrounded by at least ten men trying to ambush us. We managed to get away, especially when we noticed Hedas was that injured. We didn't stop riding until we made it back to the castle. I don't know if we got all of the men, though."

"Well, I'll send out a bigger patrol to find them. Just let Sir Leon know what path you took so he can arrange it," the king nodded. "You did well for being that overwhelmed. Despite your difficulties, I'm proud to call you knights of Camelot."

The knights looked straightened at that, not looking as self-deprecating anymore. Merlin shook his head as he grinned at the two. But he stood, wiping his hands on a clean cloth George handed him. "Are the two of you alright?"

"Oh," one said as they turned towards him. "Should be, I think. Just a few small wounds, nothing nearly as bad as Hedas."

"Are you able to bring him the Gauis' and then we can look at you two as well? Just to be sure and to clean any wounds you do have. Even the smallest cut can lead to a big infection if not well cared for," Merlin raised an eyebrow similar to Gauis. He didn't notice the king smirking at the sight. The knights nodded.

"We can do that, between the two of us."

They stepped forward and carefully lifted the man off the floor. Merlin grimaced at the blood. He'd hate to be the servant who had to clean that up. He followed the knights and Gauis to the man's chambers. A few hours later, Arthur found Merlin with Gauis still. He entered the room after knocking.

"I heard there was a patrol gone wrong and Sir Hedas was injured. How is he?" he asked, closing the door softly behind him. Merlin looked up from the book he had been studying from.

"Well, he's staying here overnight for observation to make sure none of his wounds get infected. He has about one hundred stitches in his right thigh, so he won't be able to train or work for a while. His other wounds didn't need stitches, but they still need to be changed every few hours. It's a miracle the other two weren't badly injured. Had a few bigger cuts, but nother serious," Merlin replied.

"That's good," Arthur nodded with relief. "Will Sir Hedas be staying at the castle to recover or going back home?"

"Up to him, really," Merlin shrugged. "He'll need to stay for the first week or so, but after that, he can recover at home if he wants to."

Arthur nodded once more. "Are you busy? I do need to get prepared for the banquet in a few hours."

"No, I was just studying with Gauis for a bit in case he needed my help with Hedas. But the man hasn't woken and his condition hasn't changed."

Together, they made their way through the castle. "What am I wearing tonight?"

"Probably one of your best outfits. I have to check something real quick but then I'll be up," Merlin disappeared before Arthur could say anything. Arthur only shook his head and continued up. He was sure Leon was waiting for him anyhow.

~O~