A Criminal's Burial
Chapter 16
Weeks passed, and the king was still occupied with sorting the fallout from the invasions by Lord Staunton and Southron, which was direly struggling for a new leader. Arthur had called his lords to court and assembled delegations to reach out to both lands.
Rereading the letter Leon had sent from what was formerly Lord Staunton's lands, Arthur sighed and placed it aside on his desk. Leon had reported that Lord Staunton had been terrorizing the peasants in the months leading up to the attack. He had increased taxes to an exorbitant—and nearly impossible—level, blaming the king for the increases. Leon questioned those who had survived the battle at the northern tunnels, and they were primarily peasants, incensed to fight against Arthur's unjust rule.
Meanwhile, Lord Staunton had not widely informed his people of Arthur's "visit," and Leon confirmed that the average peasant in the township would likely be unable to distinguish the king from any other lord or knight. He had simply told his small militia that he was going ahead to request audience from the king and assassinate him in his own throne room while the head knight led them into "battle."
Anyone who had actively dissented against the idea to invade the citadel—or was simply unable to pay the taxes—was subject to Lewis. If Merlin's injuries were to be expected, these peasants met a slow and excruciating end. Following Merlin's account, Leon was able to locate the burial pit, which had been filled in with dirt in the previous weeks. Though it was a morbid and grotesque task, Leon instructed the guards to exhume the bodies that had been unceremoniously dumped there. Despite it being more difficult to dig in the winter frost, Leon ensured that each body was identified and individually laid to rest. He said that he had even found Sir Frederick's body, and that the knight had taken it upon himself to personally lay his brother-in-arms to rest.
This gesture, along with the promise of returning what Staunton stole to restore the township's resources, reinvigorated the peasants' fealty to Camelot. Because of the lingering distrust and the lands losing a majority of their leadership and guards, Arthur would have to be careful in selecting leadership for the lands. However, the king felt like he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that he no longer had peasants who would rebel or simply decide to secede to Mercia instead.
Overall, Leon's report concluded that Lord Staunton had arrogantly believed that he—along with some "minor assistance" from the "meager" forces that Agravaine and Morgana could supply—take Camelot. Fortunately for Camelot, Staunton foolishly listened to Merlin's suggestion to invade through the northern tunnels, which created a severe bottleneck. This bottleneck assured that only those on the frontlines—mostly commanders and the most vitriolic peasants—perished. When a majority of the inexperienced peasants fled back from whence they came, they were met by ground troops on the other side. Most fled, but a few of the poorly armed and even more disastrously armored peasants took a swing at Camelot's troops. This skirmish only killed about twenty of Staunton's men, and were it not for the loss of Sir Frederick and the injuries Merlin sustained, this "invasion" would have been a minor annoyance at best.
Knowing that Lord Staunton's troops were meant as a diversion, Arthur prioritized determining how Morgana and Agravaine had planned their arm of the attack. Though he still felt like he was still missing a few pieces, Arthur managed to put together enough of the story from further investigation and his uncle's interrogations.
To get Arthur out of Camelot—and ideally get some of his most trusted knights killed—Morgana had summoned the strange beast that Merlin described. Agravaine, for his part, came to visit Arthur while he was reviewing the grain yield reports to inform him that there was a "peasant" who was raving about how there was some horrible beast that had burned down his entire nearby village. His uncle had also handed him a very rough sketch of what the creature looked like, and Arthur learned that this scrap of paper—not the bowl of tavern nuts—was responsible for his memory loss. After inspecting the the image, Arthur did not think much of it and stuffed it in his pocket for later. Little did he know, Morgana had drawn an enchantment beneath the scrawl, and the entire time the paper was in his pocket, Arthur would act as he normally would; however, once the charm was removed from his person, he would not retain the memories he had acquired in the meanwhile.
When he asked Merlin and the knights about whether or not he had shown them the image, everyone said that they had not seen it. Arthur could not help but wonder if he simply forgot he had it, thought it wasn't worthwhile to show them such a crude drawing, or if there was some other magical effect that had caused him to keep it. Neither Gaius nor Merlin could say they had ever heard of such a thing. Unfortunately, Agravaine refused to disclose the location of Morgana's hideout, but they began searching for it based on the amount of time that Leon knew Agravaine was gone.
Arthur learned that after he took the audience with the peasant, he decided to pursue the beast. He brought along Merlin, Gwaine, Percival, Leon, and Frederick, the new knight whom Leon had chosen to be responsible for the peasant until they were able to return him to a neighboring village. Packing light because the initial village was not too far away, the six were horrified to find that entire villages—three in total—were reduced to cinders. Almost nothing remained beyond charred earth. They followed the burned lands further and further away from the citadel, and after leaving the third village, the group was attacked by wyverns.
While the knights were occupied fighting a few wyverns, Merlin purposefully separated from the group, luring as many as he could deeper into the forest. He tried to send the wyverns away with his dragonborn abilities, but it did not work—something Merlin now attributed to Morgana. Having little other choice, he summoned the storm and picked off a few with lightning. Merlin was surprised to see the remaining wyverns begin to flee, and he thought that they were listening to him until he could see more scorched earth in the distance. Running to meet it, he came upon the strange beast and the remaining disobedient wyverns. When Arthur asked how he had managed to handle them all without getting hurt, Merlin just laughed and said, "You already know how."
After defeating the beasts, Merlin tried to dispel the storm, but he failed. Instead, he attempted to reunite with the group. Merlin only located Arthur, Sir Frederick, and the peasant. Apparently, Arthur had been the one to separate from the rest, chasing after the wyverns Merlin had successfully lured away. Absolutely drenched and unable to find the remainder of the party, the four decided to postpone their quest to defeat the beast and seek shelter. The peasant said that he knew of a tavern nearby, and everyone readily agreed.
The tavern was not too far away from where he encountered the strange beast, and in hindsight, Merlin was sure that it was no coincidence. According to Merlin, that was where he, Arthur, and Sir Frederick had been captured and transported to Lord Staunton's lands. Once he was poisoned in the tavern—poison Arthur was sure Lewis himself had created—the paper was removed, and Arthur remained in a drugged state the entire week while Merlin and Sir Frederick were tortured for information. Arthur could only assume that keeping him drugged for the week would guarantee Arthur would be less able to defend himself from a later attack.
From Agravaine's interrogations, Arthur learned that he and Morgana intended to lure the entire party closer to Staunton's lands with the wyverns and hopefully kill a few of them with the beast. Morgana did not particularly care whether or not Arthur was killed in the attacks, but she had told Staunton that she commanded the wyverns to leave him alone. If there were other survivors, Morgana planned to leave them to Lewis's sadism with the hopes that someone would leak some information to increase Staunton's confidence. If only Arthur survived, they planned to leak an alternate route.
The peasant had been responsible for bringing what remained of the group to the tavern, and though Arthur and Merlin were sure there had to be others besides the "peasant" and the "bar maid" who served them, they could not recall seeing anyone else. In an attempt to find leads on the peasant, Arthur sent men to investigate the tavern. It was abandoned, and the bowl of nuts that had been Arthur's undoing was still capsized on the bar counter, rimmed with a small amount of the king's blood. Arthur suspected that the true owners had been killed in the village attacks, and that the "peasant" and the "barmaid" had disappeared into the night.
Meanwhile, over the last several months, Agravaine had systemically placed Helios's most loyal men in various roles throughout the citadel. He also had managed to infiltrate the patrol routes, and the single man he had hired was responsible for the deaths of five other knights—killing them all in their sleep while they camped out for the night. Sir Ector's patrol found the campsite, but when they went to search for the perpetrator, the trail rain cold. Arthur put bounties on the "knight," the "peasant," and the "barmaid" despite only having a rough sketch of each. Nearly five weeks later, no one had come to collect.
All in all, Percival and Gwaine had uncovered one hundred and seventeen embeds. In addition to the missing "knight," seventy-one had been killed, twenty-seven had been captured red-handed, and eighteen surrendered without harming a single person. Between these ninety-nine active embeds, Camelot lost sixty-two—twenty-eight guards, five knights, eighteen servants, and eleven peasants and merchants. At this point, the twenty-three injured in the attacks were all expected to survive, though some of them sustained lifechanging injuries.
They had also detained about twenty of Agravaine's hires, who Arthur believed were not involved in the conspiracy at all. These hires primarily hailed from Camelot, and they were all hired in the spring. It seemed Agravaine did not begin his plot until the summer, when Morgana had cemented her alliance with Helios.
Those hired in the spring were released to their duties, though Edgar maintained a log of their names in the dungeon, should treasonous behavior emerge at any point in the future. Arthur also sent those who had surrendered back to Southron under the stipulation that they never return to Camelot's citadel, a condition they all readily accepted. For those who had been caught harming or killing others, Arthur had scheduled a series of executions by hanging, which had begun with a handful of men each day earlier this week. Though he did not relish the public executions, he felt them important for his people to see justice be carried out.
At the end of the executions, which were set to end later this week, Arthur had his uncle's execution planned on the following day. He had not been down to visit his uncle, nor did he plan to visit prior to his death. After making the decision and informing his executioner, Arthur had retired early to his quarters, finally able to break down over the betrayal. The king decided that those would be the last tears he shed over his treacherous uncle, and he mentally prepared himself for the day of his execution.
Following Agravaine's execution, Arthur planned a vigil to honor those lost during the attacks, including those who perished in the three razed villages. Despite his men following the path of the beast's destruction, they were ultimately unable to determine how many people had been killed. Arthur's best estimate was right around one hundred. Though that number was relatively small compared to Camelot's population, the citizens were still reeling from the attacks. It felt like absolutely everyone had lost someone, and the pain of being betrayed by their neighbors—and occasionally their friends—created a deep wound in many who called Camelot home.
Arthur determined that he would bury his uncle in an unmarked grave like he had Morgana, who was namelessly buried near her beloved father, Gorlois. To say his last goodbyes, the king himself had made the trip to Gorlois's final resting place. He was only accompanied by Gwaine, who steered the flat cart that carried Morgana's body. Though Gwaine had helped Arthur dig the grave, he had wisely preoccupied himself with finding the horse some grass amid the winter conditions, leaving Arthur alone with Morgana.
Arthur recalled how he sat on the edge of the cart and pulled the blanket that had been covering Morgana's body down around her neck, revealing only his sister's face. Though her face appeared a bit bloated and her skin was discolored with decomposition, he could still recognize her. After using the blanket to wipe the blood that had dribbled from her nose, he appraised the burn from the lightning strike and felt a rush of grief, upset that their stories had to end like this. These last few years had clearly been hard on Morgana, and it showed through the untimely wrinkles cut into her once flawless skin.
Arthur smoothed her hair back, gingerly detangling it with his fingers until she better resembled the Morgana he once knew and loved. Gwen had insisted that they replace Morgana's tattered clothing with one of her old, favorite dresses, which she procured from Morgana's sealed bedchambers. Arthur did not question her when she returned with the dress and tears in her eyes, and he gave Gwen the privacy to wash and dress her former lady for the very last time. Though he could only see glimpses of the dress Gwen had chosen on Morgana's shoulders, he instantly recognized it. It was her purple gown, the one with ornate gold trimming and the gauzy blue sleeves. He always thought purple suited her.
As the grief swept over him in waves, Arthur just talked to her, words interspersed between his open sobs. He shared all of his regrets and remorse, apologizing for how he had let her down, how Camelot had let her down, and how their own father had let her down. Still grappling with the knowledge that it was Morgana who had actually killed his father, Arthur shared his own complex feelings about the matter. Part of him felt betrayed that she had even done such a thing while the other part lamented how his family's tragic end could have been avoided had his father not started the Great Purge following his mother's death. In the previous few weeks, trying to recontextualize how he felt about Morgana and his father, Arthur had primarily come to mourn the people they could have become and the lives they should have shared together.
He told her how he always imagined their lives would have been and how heartbroken he was that such things will never come to pass, how terribly sorry he was for how her final years had treated her. Arthur told her about how he had lifted the ban on magic in Camelot for her. He wished that he had known she was right sooner, and that he had known about her struggles sooner. He wished that he could have lifted the ban for her when she was alive, instead of having to be the one to deliver her killing blow. He wished that it didn't have to come to this, and he promised that he would try to be a good steward of her memory.
Tears spent, Arthur removed the blanket to reveal the full length of Morgana's body. His eyes followed along the burn that extended down her neck and disappeared under the fabric of her dress and stopped at the spot he knew he had stabbed her. Exhaling a shaky breath, he lifted her body, which had softened back up after rigor mortis, and walked towards the grave he and Gwaine had dug. He dropped to his knees and placed her in the grave. Arthur spent a few moments staring at her in her place in the earth before he quietly spent a few minutes straightening out her body, smoothing her dress back out so it flowed around her, carefully placing her limbs, and fussing with her hair.
Satisfied with his work, Arthur took a final lingering glance at his sister before he began covering her body with the loose dirt piled nearby. After he had finished and packed the dirt down, Arthur sat beside the freshly filled grave, feeling remorseful about leaving her grave unmarked. The king stood and wiped the dirt from his pants to look for something, just a small something, that he could use to find her again, should he ever feel the desire to. Settling on a smooth blueish-green rock that reminded him of the color of Morgana's eyes, he placed it above where he knew her head to be.
Staring down at the paltry headstone, Arthur was not sure how long he had spent there before Gwaine returned with the horse. After hitching the horse back up to the wagon, the knight walked over to the king and patted his shoulder. With a solemn, "Let's go," Gwaine steered Arthur back towards the front of the wagon and set their course back to Camelot.
Shaking his head at the memory, which visited him at least as often as the still image of Morgana's face on the battlefield that day, Arthur grounded himself with the paperwork on his desk before him. As additional reassurance, Arthur returned to a letter from one of his lords that managed lands on the border of Camelot. The letter expressed immense relief that Camelot was actually able to defend itself against magical threats, a weakness that had been a silent point of contention amongst himself, his knights, and a few nearby lords. He was thankful for Merlin's quiet sacrifice, as he felt it was unlikely that Camelot had been lucky enough to avoid a real magical threat in all these years; in fact, he had been expecting one to strike, and he was worried that Camelot would not be able to survive with swords and arrows alone.
Though the support amongst his lords and knights was overwhelmingly positive, with exception of a handful of old guards who had participated in the Great Purge, Camelot was still adjusting to the king's decision to lift the ban on magic. News of Merlin's feat had spread like wildfire throughout the citadel in the days following Morgana's failed attack, and overall, a majority of his people supported or were completely indifferent to the decision.
Most of the support amongst the members of the public seemed to come from individuals who had already been or benefitted from clandestine magic users, while others had witnessed Merlin's barrier extend far above the citadel walls. They were in awe, just as he had been. Some had even been moved by Arthur's speech; this group was primarily composed of the people who had adored Lady Morgana, people who supported Arthur as the King of Camelot, people who had been indifferent or on the fence about magic, and people who were truly willing to amend their perceptions of magic users.
However, as Leon initially predicted, not everyone was happy about it. A majority of the driving force behind the dissent were older individuals, who actively participated and fervently believed in the Great Purge. As the weeks progressed, these beliefs spread beyond their initial demographic. This group was still a small minority of Camelot's population, but they had proven to be quite vocal about their beliefs, which were evolving by the day.
Originally, they were resolute that magic users were fundamentally evil, and when Arthur lifted the ban, Camelot would be opening itself up to all manner of magical threats. After about a week, they began spouting off about Camelot's impending doom—which they usually attributed to Merlin, though they have since added a variety of supplemental culprits and scenarios—despite there being precisely no evidence to back these claims up.
Arthur was not sure if anyone could explicitly delineate how these conspiracy theories developed into what they had become. Every day, he watched as they got wilder and more convoluted, and the king felt like he had no tangible means to manage them himself. What had begun with the disagreement that magic users were fundamentally evil spun into the theory that Arthur was, as they called him, a "shadow king," controlled by Merlin's conniving, magical ways.
Through it was common knowledge that Merlin was currently on bedrest in Gaius's quarters—bedrest that Arthur himself had imposed—they refused to believe that 1) Arthur had any control over Merlin and 2) that Merlin was even injured in the first place. They also believed that the only reason Arthur had not announced Merlin's future role in Camelot was because Merlin wanted to get the people comfortable with magic before overtly assuming Camelot's throne. Out of everything they believed, this theory had so far proven to be the most troublesome. If the group did not believe Arthur was acting of his own volition, they would have no reason to believe a word he said.
Though this group often purported that magic users were evil and would use their magic to harm others, the only ones perpetrating crimes beyond the usual petty crime and barfights, were members of this group.
In the days following the announcement, a few magic users made themselves known with the small, benevolent spells that they had mastered. Arthur already had to jail a man, who had taken it upon himself to attack a young woman for revealing her wart-healing talents of all things. Though the woman was shaken more than anything, Arthur still had to jail the man for the assault. He was sure that there would be more of these attacks, and he already had received reports of threats and heckling. However, much to his surprise, the supportive members of the public had stepped up support magic users caught in these situations. They were the ones who protected the outed magic users from both physical and verbal attacks. Arthur was not entirely sure if he approved of average citizens implementing his laws, but considering he—and by extension his lords, knights, and guards—could not get through to them, he had no present intention to stop them.
Though Arthur knew that he could not force his citizens to give up on decades of discrimination perpetuated during his father's rule, he knew that it was his duty to quash threats and acts of violence where he was able to do so. He hoped that one day, they would be able to see the beauty of magic, just as he finally had. He also secretly hoped that all the dissenters got recurring warts in irritating locations, so that they would be forced to suffer or use that young woman's services.
Meanwhile, Camelot's supportive citizens were still eagerly awaiting the king's announcement about what would be happening to Merlin, the kingdom's unexpected savior. Arthur had not quite decided what he would be doing with Merlin. Obviously, it would be inappropriate for him to return as his manservant, but he hadn't really talked to the warlock about what his role would be in Camelot moving forward. Though he had spent a considerable amount of time with Merlin in the last few weeks, learning the truth behind the last five years of his life, Merlin's future in Camelot was the one topic Merlin consistently avoided. After a certain point, Arthur gave up asking, feeling comfortable with their companionable routine, both laying crammed on Merlin's small bed as they talked late into the night. Arthur mostly wanted Merlin to finish healing already, but he felt a bit of apprehension in developing a new routine and working to fulfill their joint destiny.
Arthur initially refused to believe that he could possibly be destined to unite Albion, but in the last few weeks, it seemed likely that he was inadvertently about to make the first step. When he had extended a delegation to Southron to help manage the lands in light of the loss of their leader and many of their lords, he had not expected anything to come of it. However, reports from the members of the delegation indicated that the people, who were dissatisfied with the way Helios ruled, overwhelmingly wanted to join Camelot. Though he initially had no intent to just absorb the land after Merlin killed its leader, Arthur requested that the lords in the delegation continue to support Southron until a formal annexation could be made.
Maybe it really was his destiny.
Smiling, Arthur stood up from his desk and grabbed the new pair of boots that the shoemaker had sent over this morning. A peace offering, Arthur thought, especially after he reclaimed the pair of boots Merlin had "borrowed" immediately following his little stunt. While a part of him was secretly happy that Merlin was actually able to hear the speech himself, the other part of him was irritated at the warlock's absolute disregard for his own health and wellbeing.
As he made his way to the physician's quarters, Arthur chuckled to himself, remembering when he told Merlin that he was going to be confined to his quarters, a guard stationed immediately outside his bedroom door and a pair at each entrance.
"Are you really placing me on house arrest?" Merlin asked, sitting upright in his bed with his usual insubordinate expression.
Arthur pushed the younger man back down to lay on his bed. "No, I am keeping you in the house to rest. Big difference." Grabbing the covers, the king pulled them over Merlin's chest and tucked them in at the edges.
Glaring at the king, Merlin huffed, "Doesn't sound like a big difference to me."
"Well, I'm the king, and I say there's a big difference," Arthur said, though he could not manage a straight face.
Rolling his eyes, Merlin untucked the covers and grumbled.
"Just sleep, Merlin. The faster you heal, the faster you can get around to doing"—Arthur paused with a shit-eating grin—"well, whatever it is you do around here."
The warlock weakly protested, and the king brushed the hair out of Merlin's face. "Just sleep, Merlin," Arthur requested, all jokes aside.
Begrudgingly, Merlin shut his eyes, and Arthur only left the room once he heard Merlin's breaths descend into slumber.
After Merlin's escape to hear Arthur's speech, Gaius had tried to convince Merlin to just sit still and rest, but the warlock was petulantly refusing. The physician had taken his concerns to the king, and Arthur simply decided that if Merlin didn't want to take a break and heal, he would make him. Not that Arthur thought he could make Merlin do anything these days, but he sure was going to try. He knew Merlin could just leave if he really wanted to, but Arthur hoped that he would just behave and rest.
Much to his surprise, Merlin stayed put. He was not sure if was Gaius's tired exacerbation or his own heated lecture about taking care of himself that did the trick, but Merlin didn't slip out once. However, that did not stop Merlin from roping the guards into entertaining him. He knew that Merlin made a new friend of a guard named Aldwin, whom Merlin fruitlessly attempted to teach simple magic tricks, and repeatedly persuaded many of the guards into the dice and card games that Gwaine and Percival brought.
The first time he caught a guard playing cards, the guard visibly startled as the king walked in. Arthur could tell the man was prepared for a scolding, but he just shook his head and turned his attention to Merlin. The cheeky sod simply insisted, "What? He's even more capable of watching me in here than he is out there." Arthur really couldn't argue with him there.
Tonight was the last night of Merlin's recommended bedrest, and in the morning, the guard outside Merlin's door would finally depart. Over the last few weeks, Merlin had made good progress. Most of his cuts had scarred over, though the worst of them—like the lashes on Merlin's back and the cut on his forehead—were still red, puffy, and raised. Arthur was just happy that they no longer bled when Merlin moved, and he felt immense relief about not having to worry about Merlin reopening his wounds by being, well, Merlin. A majority of his bruises were now either entirely gone or just a yellowing memory. His ribs were finally on the mend, and according to Gaius, the stab wound was doing surprisingly well.
As Merlin's injuries healed, Arthur grew increasingly concerned about Merlin's mental wellbeing. Though in his presence, Merlin had done his best to only show Arthur his usual, jovial self, Arthur could tell that there was a sadness shrouding the younger man. Everything from his slumped and defeated posture to the deep bags under Merlin's eyes belied his assurances that he was alright. Arthur couldn't help but think about how many times Merlin had to have done that over the years. Either his servant was an accomplished liar or he was beyond oblivious. Both possibilities saddened him. Merlin had spent so long silently struggling, and he was too self-absorbed to notice.
Determined to help Merlin heal, the king had also ordered the kitchen to send fatty meals to the physician's quarters, so Merlin could begin putting on weight again. Though Merlin laughed and said that he did not think he would be able to go back to Gaius's usual porridge, he usually picked at his food. Gaius initially dismissed Merlin's lack of appetite, thinking Merlin's stomach must have shrunk during his captivity, but he was growing increasingly concerned that his appetite had yet to return.
After all of Arthur's best efforts, Merlin had only put on a couple pounds in the last few weeks. He still looked gaunt and impossibly thin, his cheeks sinking underneath his prominent cheekbones. What caught Arthur's attention the most were Merlin's hands. He swore that he could see every bone in his hands, knuckles knobbly like those of a much older man, and his wrists were so thin Arthur could wrap his hand around one and his fingers would overlap. Whenever he asked about it, Merlin usually said he was already full or that he wasn't hungry.
Arthur chalked it up to the same reason Merlin had difficulty sleeping these days. Merlin was often plagued by nightmares of his torture and the battle—and Gaius's sleeping potions were usually ineffective. Merlin suspected that due to his time in Lord Staunton's dungeon, he had grown increasingly tolerant of sedatives. Though it was often a subtle expression—an anxious, suspicious glance—Arthur could tell that Merlin still felt uneasy about taking any kind of potion, even the ones that the warlock intellectually understood were safe and would help him heal.
To avoid sleeping as long as possible, Merlin would stay up late with Arthur, talking about anything from utter nonsense to stories that fundamentally changed the king's understanding of the past. By the end of the night when the two eventually fell into a companionable silence, they both became engrossed in thought, Arthur occupied with guilt and Merlin lost in melancholy. Arthur usually would stay with Merlin until the younger man could physically no longer remain awake, and he usually did not leave until after Merlin had fallen asleep. A few nights, upon Merlin's request, he had stayed the entire night, though his back, neck, and joints usually resented that decision. Merlin really needed a better bed.
As Arthur arrived at the physician's quarters, one of the guards at the door opened the door for the king. Nodding his thanks, Arthur made his way inside. For once, it was mostly dark, only a few candles lighting the way up to Merlin's room. The king figured that Gaius was finally taking some much deserved rest. All of the people who had filled his infirmary following the attacks were finally released, and with Merlin on the mend, Arthur wouldn't be surprised if the physician slept a whole week.
When Arthur made his way up the stairs to Merlin's room, the guard stationed whispered, "I think he's actually already asleep, Sire."
Nodding, Arthur slipped inside the room, which was faintly illuminated from the moonlight outside Merlin's window. Sure enough, he could hear the even breaths of Merlin sleeping, and relief swept through him at the sound.
Tired and a bit sore himself, Arthur quietly placed the new pair of boots on top of Merlin's dresser and went back to his chambers to sleep.
End of Chapter 16
