AN: Here's the next chapter. it's not as long as the others have been, only 1414 words, but hopefully it's alright. Thanks to NC, Guest, Guest, bubzchoc, Lya200, Chatterbox818, Juliana Brandagamba, Ladyliz2, BabyGlover, AMJJ, Guest, Guest and NerdGirlAlert for reviewing the last chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin
Arthur smirked at Merlin, who, very maturely, stuck his tongue out at him. Arthur laughed at Merlin, before a stick from behind him flew up to whack him on the head. Arthur spun around, and finding no one, turned to face Merlin, the gold colour fading from his eyes. Everyone started laughing as the ex-Prince yelled.
"MERLIN!"
Once everyone had stopped laughing, Kilgharrah asked a question. "Now why would I make you do that? Why would I want the young warlock to attack the young Pendragon? Anyone?"
Kilgharrah proposed the question as if he was talking to a group of children on the first day of school, and everyone felt compelled to answer.
"To show that Arthur can protect himself." Answered Merlin
"Of course. My shields often act out on their own, to protect me from something I cannot see. When they do this, they're invisible. It's kind of like how whenever someone poisoned my food, I'd just know not to eat it. Though why it didn't work when Bayard poisoned me, I don't know." Arthur looked thoughtful for a second.
"I think I know, Princess. It didn't work, because magic man over here." Gwaine points at Merlin.
"That's my new nickname isn't it." Merlin interrupted.
"You bet. Anyway, it bet that it's because Merlin was there to protect you."
"Exactly. Arthur has magic for when Merlin wasn't around to protect him. All those years, that's how he stayed alive. Eventually, the threats became so dangerous, that you needed outside help, that being Merlin. That's where he comes in." Explained Kilgharrah.
"That makes sense. Before you came, it was always constant vigilance, constant vigilance. But something told me that I wouldn't have to protect myself anymore. That I wouldn't always need to be on alert. That was the day before you showed up. It makes sense. Not that I needed your help, of course."
"Prat. Do you know how many times I've saved your life?"
"Do I want to?"
"Your over-stuffed ego would be taking a beating."
"Then no, I don't want to.
"Clot-pole"
"Don't start this again." Said Kilgharrah, exasperated.
"Just to recap. Merlin and Arthur have magic. Arthur can do awesome shields that protected him before Merlin showed up. Merlin is a Dragonlord and can perform most types of magic. When Merlin showed up, Arthur knew that he wouldn't need to protect himself anymore, and Merlin has saved Arthur's life more times then he can count. Is there anything I missed?" Summarised Lancelot.
"Nope." Arthur said
"That's about it." Agreed Merlin.
"Young warlock, you haven't told them about the prophecy." Kilgharrah warned, in his mind
"I don't want them to look at me differently." Explains Merlin
"You can't keep lying, and they're going to find out anyway." Cautions Kilgharrah
"What makes you say that?" Merlin asks
Kilgharrah answered aloud instead.
"I would recommend contacting the druids, young warlocks. They can help you with your destiny in more ways then one." Kilgharrah said, cryptically.
"KILGHARRAH! Why would you say that?"
Kilgharrah ignores him
"Until we meet again." He calls over his shoulder as he flies over the forest.
"That bloody dragon" Merlin mutters under his breath, watching Kilgharrah fly off.
Everyone stood there for a few minutes, wondering what to do now. Elyan broke the silence
"So, we need to find the druids." Elyan confirms
"Pretty much, yeah." Gwaine says.
"How are we going to do that? They almost never stay in the same place for long. We could search the entire forest and still not find them." Elyan complains.
"Don't be such a pessimist, Elyan. We have Merlin, and he can find them. Right Merlin?" Asked Arthur.
"What? Oh, yeah, I can find them." Assured Merlin.
In truth, he wasn't paying attention. Now that he knew why Arthur had magic, and had been reassured that he was in fact needed, he was procrastinating about telling the Knights, not to mention Arthur, about the prophecy. It wasn't just because he didn't want the knights to look at him differently, though that was a part of it. It was mainly because he specifically said 'no more lies.' In truth, it had just slipped his mind, but he was sure his companions wouldn't see it that way.
So he had no idea what to do. Should he tell them now and get it over with? Should he tell them in the morning? Should he let the druids tell them? Should keep them away from the druid camp and make sure they never find out at all? He knew that he was just sleep-deprived and would have a clearer mindset in the morning, but he wasn't tired, and he certainly wasn't going to sleep with the guards looking for them. So he resolved to stay guard all night. Which was convenient, because that's what the Knights and Arthur were discussing.
"I'll take first watch." Lancelot said.
"I'll take second." Percival added.
"I'll take the last." Elyan said.
"No guys. I'm not tired. I'll keep watch and you all sleep." Said Merlin.
"Not a chance. You look dead on your feet. No. You, me and the Princess are sleeping tonight, and tomorrow night we'll take watch. How does that sound." Gwaine said, pulling Merlin next to the fire.
Arthur nodded to Gwaine gratefully.
"You may not be tired, but we can't have one person staying guard all night. One, it's unsafe and two, you need to sleep Merlin. I'm sure you didn't get much sleep last night either, what with the hunting trip you needed to prepare for."
Merlin sat bolt upright. Had it really only been one day? In one day, Arthur found out about his magic, and revealed his own. In one day, Arthur had been banished and the Round Table Knights (excluding Leon) had made a dash to the forest with him. In one day, the Knights had accepted who he was and met Kilgharrah, the most cryptic of them all. Had it really only been one day…?
The Knights watched, alarmed as Merlin sat upright and looked as though in deep thought. About thirty seconds had passed, when relaxed, looking pleased and shocked and amused, all at once. Gwaine asked the question on everyone's mind.
"What was that about?"
"I just realised that so much has happened today. You guys and Arthur found out and met Kilgharrah. Today's been massive. So much has happened…" Merlin trailed off, once again thinking.
"Well, I think we all need to sleep. Lancelot's on first watch, like planned. We leave for the druid camp at dawn, so be ready" Arthur ordered.
Everyone nodded and went to Merlin's pack and pulled out the two blankets. The Knights had already stripped off their cloaks, so they had four cloaks* and two blankets. The cloaks could cover one person, and the blankets could cover two. Since they were keeping watch at some point, Lancelot, Percival and Elyan used their cloaks and settled near the fire, but far enough out so they could be woken without disturbing the others.
Arthur grabbed Gwaine's cloak before Gwaine could, and simply stared the the fabric mournfully. The others knew he was missing Camelot and didn't dare interrupt. The he jumped up and also grabbed a blanket, so he had a cloak and a blanket. Gwaine sighed, grabbed the last blanket and walked to where Merlin was sitting, staring at the flames.
"You ok?" He asked.
Merlin jumped. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" He asked with a dopey smile Gwaine that knew was faked, but he decided not to question it.
"Well, there's one blanket left and there's two of us, so…" Gwaine trailed off.
"Oh. You take it. I'm not cold." Merlin lied.
"I know a lie when I see it." At this Merlin scoffed. "Well, maybe not all the time, but that was a lie. What I was trying to say is that we'll share it. It's big enough for two."
"Really? Thanks Gwaine!" Merlin was happy. He thought that as the servant, he wouldn't get anything, but here was Gwaine, willing to share his blanket with a lowly servant such as himself.
So they all got settled. Gwaine and Merlin under one blanket, Arthur on top of a cloak and under a blanket, Percival and Elyan in their cloaks and Lancelot on top of his cloak, just outside the circle. All but Lancelot fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the ground.
*Arthur didn't wear his cloak while hunting
I hope you liked it. As I said, not as long as the last couple have been, but we have gone back to school, so I'm juggling that on top of this. Special thanks to Guest, Lya200, Juliana Brandagamba, Ladyliz2, AMJJ, Guest and NerdGirlAlert for answering the Question of the Chapter. My favourite character is Gwaine because he's comedy relief, badass and very loyal.
The Question of the Chapter is: What is your favourite spell and why? (Suggested by Guest (the one who reviewed under bubzchoc). Thanks for that!)
Just clarifying, whenever I put in the names of who reviewed what, I do it in order of bottom to top, or in this case, earliest to latest. So whenever I write 'Guest', the first one is the earliest one, the second the second-earliest one and so on and so forth. Just clearing that up in case you were confused.
See you in another life. ScruffydaDruid.
