Deviner Captive

Confirmation Dinner

...

Merlin was returning from one of his many trips to the water pump when he was greeted with a boot being thrown at him. "Owe, what was that for?" He questioned his master as he put the bucket down so that he could rub the area it hit on left his arm.

"There's a hole in my best pair of boots. I've told you time and time again to monitor them to make sure they're all fit to wear." Arthur informed him.

The warlock bent down to examine the aforementioned boot to see there was a tiny tare where the leather met the insole. Merlin thought Arthur was over reacting so when his head was still down; he quickly whispered a mending spell so his master wouldn't see his eyes flash gold.

"I don't see anything. You must've been looking for something wrong where there was nothing." Merlin held the boot out for the prince's inspection. The warlock knew he really shouldn't have done it considering the possible situation he had gotten himself into before using his magic for such a menial task but he couldn't help himself.

Arthur snatched the boot out of his hand. "It's gone. I could've sworn it was there a minute ago." The prince furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Look at the time. You better hurry up and take your bath or you're going to be late." Merlin pointed out to distract his master from the missing tare.

"Crap, my father's going to be angry if I'm late again." Arthur immediately started stripping his clothes without even waiting to get behind the dressing screen.

Merlin had to terror his eyes away from the quickly revealing flesh. He could hear a splash in the bathing area, knowing the sound meant the prince had gotten in the tub and it was safe to look again. He walked over to the wardrobe and opened it to view the outfit choices. "Red or blue!"

"Red!" The prince replied followed by a splash as he tried to scrub the smell of horses out of his hair.

Merlin couldn't hold back the roll of his eyes at the prince's predictable answer. Didn't he know there were other colours of the rainbow? The prince should be sick of the colour by now like he was. There was only so much of Pendragon red a man could take. He took the shirt off its hanger and draped it over the dressing screen.

Arthur got out of the tub and dried himself off. He reached up for his clothes and only felt a shirt hit his fingers. "Merlin, are you forgetting something?" He received a confused silence. "Pants."

"Right." The warlock reached back into the wardrobe and grabbed a pair of sandy toned jerkins. Throwing them over the dressing screen, hearing the satisfying smack of it hitting the intended target.

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled in reprimand. A lot of shuffling could be heard as the clothing was fitted into place.

The warlock was surprised at how easy it was to act normal around Arthur when earlier he was dreading looking him in the eye thinking he'd found out about his secrete from someone else. He'd made it through the day and almost considered himself home free. If the king were going to tell on him he would've done it by now.

"I guess I'll be retiring for the evening." Merlin said before turning to leave.

A hand shot out from the dressing screen and caught him by his neckerchief. "Were do you think you're going?" Arthur asked as he stepped out into the open fully dressed with an eyebrow raised.

"I thought I was finished for the evening, you only asked me to help you get dressed." Merlin looked at his master confused.

"I've changed my mind. You can't leave me alone with the women again. I've had to deal with her all day today and now it's your turn." Arthur said as he released his manservant. Retrieving his jacket off the back of a chair.

"You had the knights acting as my body guards against her and now you're just going to hand me over? Sacrifice me to save yourself?" Merlin asked surprised.

"It's not like she can do anything in the middle of the dining hall with everyone else there, especially her father. She won't be able to get you alone because you're arriving and leaving with me. I'll even escort you back to your chambers after." Arthur said in his defense.

Having the prince walk him back to Gaius' after made Merlin feel a little better. "Fine." It wasn't really the princess he was worried about but the king who would also be present. Seeing him tonight would confirm if foreign king had actually seen him doing magic or not, his nerves from before had come back.

…

Merlin had to stop following the prince when the door came into view for the dining hall and take a deep breath. This is it, the moment of truth, now is the time that he'd find out for sure if his secrete had been uncovered.

Arthur turned around and gave him a confused glance when he realized he wasn't being followed anymore.

The warlock had to put all that aside so that he would appear to be acting normal. He continued to follow his master through the threshold, which apparently he was doing a horrible job at since the prince leaned over and asked him. "Are you okay? You look like you're going to pass out." Arthur whispered to his man servant who looked very pale, more than usual he meant.

"I'm fine." Merlin said before walking over to stand beside the king's manservant, Ivan.

"Arthur, you're late." Uther addressed his son on his tardiness. In a tone suggesting that it was his own fault even though he knew it was most likely his servant. Arthur refused a better replacement for the boy so it was his own fault was the king's logic.

"I'm sorry, it took me longer to bathe than usual." Arthur said as he took his seat beside his father at the head of the table. "I apologize for my tardiness." He turned to address the guests.

Merlin was handed a whine pitcher by the other manservant. He never understood why they trusted him to serve the drink but not the food. Maybe it was because the food needed to be re-prepared while the whine needed to be only refilled. He shook his head wondering why he was contemplating this when he had more important things to worry about.

The warlock sneaked a peek at the foreign king but from the angle he was at he couldn't see the royals facial expression.

"Since everyone is here now, we can eat." Uther snapped his fingers and many servants brought silver trays to the table. Taking his first bite of a chicken leg signaling that it was okay for everyone else to begin. He reached over to wash the food down with a drink but his goblet was empty. The king looked around for the pitcher only to find it over in his son's servant's hands. "Boy, fill the goblets." Emphasizing his meaning by swinging his cup back and forth.

Merlin was snapped out of his trance by the kings yelling. He quickly skittered over and poured whine into the empty goblet. Knowing it was only proper to serve the other king second he nervously made his way over.

While passing the princess she reached her hand out and grabbed his behind surprising him enough that he almost completely dropped the pitcher over the other kings head. He wondered if anyone noticed but it seemed the two older royals were oblivious but everyone else wasn't.

His heart was beating very fast when he made it to the other king and began to serve him.

Gwrthfyr smirked as the boy's hand shook from nervousness as he poured the whine. 'So he knows I saw him.' He thought to himself with glee. 'The boy must be very brave to appear in my presence then.'

Arthur had watched really surprised as the princess man handled his servant in front of everyone. The girl really has no morals to do that in front of her father. The prince observed as his friends hands shook as he tried to pour the whine. He thought it was from the shock from being felt up by the princess but it was really about the other king's expression.

Merlin heart skipped a few beats when the foreign king looked at him with a knowing expression. There was only one reason to be looked at in that way by a person and it was because they knew your secrete and were going to use it to get what they wanted. He quickly went to serve Matilda so that he could get away from the foreign king. He'd rather take his chances with her.

When his manservant finally made his way over to serve him Arthur leaned over and whispered. "If you're not feeling okay you can leave." The prince suggested while indicating to his shaking hands.

Merlin glanced over at the foreign king. "You know I think I will." He whispered back as he slide the whine onto the table. Bowing to the room before quietly slipping out.

The prince was looking worriedly after him before turning back to his food and trying his hardest not to glare at the princess as they continued eating dinner. Blaming her for his servant's discomfort completely.

.

Once the meal was consumed Arthur pushed his plate away. "Matilda, would you care for a walk?" He asked. Taking the time now to have a talk with her.

"I'd love to." She dabbed her lips daintily with her napkin and rose to take his arm.

He walked her until they were out of site of the dining hall and out of hearing rang of their fathers before dropping his accommodating demeanor.

"You need to stop harassing my Knights and servants?" Arthur was blunt and to the point. He was sick and tired of her behavior.

Matilda scoffed at his demand. "It's just a little bit of fun. Knights aren't usually my thing anyway."

"Then what is your type?" Arthur asked confused. She had seemed pretty interested when she was feeling them up all the time.

"I like to be the dominant one in a relationship and that doesn't happen often with men with more muscle than brains. I'll leave your knights along from now on. And I think you can guess my type?" Matilda declared mysteriously before leaving for her own rooms.

Arthur glared after the retreating princess until even the sound of her heels had disappeared. He took note that she didn't include servants in her declaration.

...

Gwrthfyr had managed to get out of going anywhere the next day claiming that he was ill. Uther asked if he would like Gaius to take a look at him but he declined. Leaving the whole day dedicated to his investigation.

One of his servants woke him up early and brought him breakfast.

The king started to eat but was disrupted when Altoris placed the file on the table in front of him. He pulled it closer to him so that he could read and eat so as not to waste any time. Gwrthfyr became so engrossed in the written words his food became cold and completely forgotten.

The boy was a wonder. He'd played a large part in many events and been in so many battles in the five years he's been here. Been a part of things no servant had the right to. It seemed he toed the boundary between master and servant very often too.

He was sure that there were many things that were left out of the file because it was known to no one but the boy. He must be a very good liar if he could keep his head for five years in Camelot, performing magic right under Uther's nose.

Gwrthfyr got to the part in the folder about the dragon attacks that happened about a year ago. Of course the young sorcerer played a part in that catastrophe too. Did the prince take him everywhere?

The servant accompanied the prince to find a dragon lord to slay the beast after discovering it was the only way and had no other options. The physician informed the king that one dragon lord he heard had been rumored to still be alive named Balinor.

The king stopped and stared at the name. It seemed very familiar name to him. He had a feeling there could be a connection between the two. "Altoris, can you see if you can find a file on the dragon lord Balinor." Gwrthfyr asked his servant.

"Certainly my lord, but what for?" Altoris asked curious why he'd need a different file already.

"Just do it." If it had been any other servant questioning him he'd have had them flogged. His servant shrugged and left to do his bidding. The king went back to his reading.

…

Merlin had gone and gotten Arthur up and brought him breakfast before sending him off to training with the knights. It was just a normal day despite the foreboding he could feel in the air. He was just returning to his room to fetch something but when he walked in he found Gaius in a heated conversation with Lancelot.

"What are you two doing?" The warlock asked. The two snapped their attention to him. With the look he was receiving from both of them he had to fight the urge to back out the door the way he came.

The knight narrowed his eyes. "I was just being informed about the situation you managed to find yourself in." Lancelot crossed his arms and starred him down.

"Oh." Merlin stated sheepishly.

"I think I'll leave you two alone to settle this." Gaius gladly scuttled out of the room shutting the door firmly behind him, ruining his wards escape plans.

"You were seen performing magic!" Merlin winced at the knight's tone. "Just days after I warned you about being careless. Not by just anybody no, but the visiting king of another kingdom." Lancelot ranted trying to get the message through his friend's head that he was worried and afraid for him.

"I know, I was stupid and careless. I've already been told this to me by Gaius." Merlin said with exasperation.

"Accepting you did something wrong doesn't fix the situation. He hasn't told yet but there must be a reason why. Most royals have their own agenda, so he must think that he can get something. What do you think the kings going to do with that information?" Lancelot pointed out.

"I have no idea and it's eating me up inside. I won't be able to relax until he leaves the kingdom." Merlin rubbed his eyes in frustration and exhaustion.

Lancelot sighed and examined his friend. He had the beginning of bags under his eyes from being unable to sleep. Not caused by not having the time because Gaius had informed him Arthur had let Merlin off early but from stress. He knew that if the prince was noticing and giving the boy extra time off because he looked like he was going to faint, that it was pretty bad. Yelling at him wasn't helping the situation.

"How about you try and get some sleep? I'll tell Arthur you're sick, which you basically are, so I won't be lying, and you can't perform your duties today." Lancelot suggested very firmly.

"Fine." Merlin readily agreed feeling like his body was going to give out on him. "Shouldn't you be at training already? You know Arthur hates when anyone's late and you didn't even show up last time. Don't make him regret knighting you after all." The sorcerer pointed out cheekily trying to lighten the atmosphere.

The knight looked at position of the sun out of the window. "Dam, I've got to go. Just try to relax, we'll think of a solution later. You're not alone in this; you have both Gaius and me. You also know that the Knights of the Round Table would do anything for you and if they knew about your magic they'd be right here trying to help you too." Lancelot shot him an encouraging smile before leaving.

...TBC