A/N: I post this for LadyFromPoland. I hope this gets you excited and I hope you have a fun trip this coming week! 3
Chapter 8
"Honestly, Morgana, this couldn't have waited?" Arthur growled.
His adoptive sister glared right back at him and walked around her table to stand right in his face. Gwen clutched a silver dish in her hands. Morgana had just finished eating off of it. Gwen had been about to leave when the conversation had begun.
"No, Arthur, it couldn't. I know you want to spend your time helping Merlin all day. We all do, but we can't. Haven't you seen your father lately? He's become ill! But Gaius can't help him because you're having him look up magical causes to Merlin's condition! When your father heard that, he-," Morgana rambled angrily until Arthur cut her off.
"Father knows?!" he asked incredulously. "Who told him?"
"I-I'm sorry, Prince Arthur. It just sort of slipped out," Gwen spoke up. "I mean, I was tending to him and… I just sort of mentioned that I was glad he had a normal illness and not a magical one like Merlin. I'm so sorry!"
Arthur's temper tapered away. Somehow it was impossible to stay made at Guinevere, especially when she was so apologetic and nervous. She was cute like a little kid could be. Arthur sighed and shook his head. Gwen frowned and looked away from him. She was ashamed of herself. It was obvious to see.
"What has father done?" Arthur asked, voice much more reasonable and calm. Morgana let out a sigh of relief.
"He's ordered a search of all the people Merlin's involved with on a normal basis and a search of all peasants who entered or left the village on the night he collapsed and the morning he was found. The knights are out chasing down innocent people on the roads! If he continues to do this, Camelot will find it hard to attract any more travelers," Morgana pointed out in an exasperated tone. She was getting tired of Uther's snappy attitude about magic. The man never slowed down.
Arthur sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Really, he loved that his father was helping with finding Merlin's attacker, but he would have preferred if his father had remained in the dark. Besides, Arthur highly doubted Merlin was attacked from within Camelot's walls even though he collapsed in the courtyard.
"Alright," he conceded. "I'll go check on father's mental health and try to stop these raids. In the meantime, clean up this mess. Honestly, Morgana, your room looks disastrous."
Arthur was right. Morgana's room was almost completely disheveled. Apparently the king had even ordered the men to search her room. She was with Merlin quite a bit and so they had torn her room apart. Morgana gave Arthur a sour look, but the prince was already walking out with a victorious look on his face. Even Gwen struggled not to smile. Merlin grinned broadly as he followed Arthur out of the room. He thought it had been a very nice joke.
They were halfway down the hall when the voices began to murmur in Merlin's ear again. Merlin winced and covered his ears as though that would stop it. This time, he didn't think the statue was causing these sounds. Merlin himself had started it. He'd been thinking about how nice it was, how special he felt when he saw everyone worrying about him. Then, as though conjured by his thoughts, he was sent back through all the memories he had of people praising him, whether they knew he was listening or not. He heard every word he'd ever heard of people expressing worry over him or positive feelings towards him. While Merlin thought himself underappreciated, the voices grew to so many in number, that he actually fell to his knees.
Unfortunately, there was a table where he fell, and he ended up knocking it over. Arthur spun around like he'd been smacked and drew his sword in fluid motion. He watched the area around the table closely; looking for whatever it was that may have broken it. Was it a physical attack or was there really a magic force in the area?
"No, Arthur!" Merlin whined. He willed the voices to stop and shook his head. He didn't want Arthur to think magic was attacking him. He wanted Arthur to think of magic as a good thing, a power to be used for the good of mankind, just like the power of a king.
"Who's there?" Arthur asked. Of course, he got no response.
Merlin stood up and dusted himself off. He hoped that didn't do anything weird that would make Arthur's eyes pop out of their sockets. Luckily, Arthur's expression didn't change, so Merlin assumed nothing fell off of him and reappeared.
The door behind Arthur swung open, and the prince turned back around. His father walked out of the room talking to a knight. When they spotted Arthur, sword at the ready, both men stopped. Uther coughed twice and gave his son a curious look. Then his eyes landed on the table.
"Arthur, what happened?" he asked in a worried tone. Arthur looked between his father and the table, his expression hard to define. Then he quickly sheathed his sword and shrugged.
"I…. wasn't paying attention. I'm sorry, father. It won't happen again," Arthur assured. Uther nodded and looked about to keep walking. Arthur took a step toward the king. "Although, what distracted me was the thought of all the trade and economy we risk losing by interrogating innocent villagers about magic and chasing down travelers on the roads."
"Are you contesting my methods to find magicians?" Uther asked, giving his son a steady, hard look. Arthur shook his head.
"Of course not, Father. I just think it's silly to ruin our city's fortune by looking for a magic user that doesn't exist," Arthur explained. When Uther looked at him funny, he continued. "The maid was mis-informed, your majesty. There's no real proof that Merlin is under an enchantment. Gaius is still looking him over."
The knight looked between the king and the prince, waiting for his next orders. King Uther frowned as he thought. Then he nodded and sighed.
"The prince is right. Order all the knights back to Camelot and discontinue the search," Uther commanded and the knight hurried off to pass it along. "Happy?"
"Quite, Father. Thank you," Arthur bowed his head. "Though, I heard you were ill. Are you feeling better?"
"I would be if Gaius wasn't tied up examining your servant. Honestly, Arthur, you always seem to think of your servant above your country. Should I be worried?" Uther teased and then coughed once.
"No, Sire," Arthur replied with a smile. "However, I do believe you should find your way to the bed. You need to rest until Gaius finds a break to come see you. Actually, I'll send for him right away. Head to your chambers, and Gaius will be up shortly."
"Alright, alright," Uther chuckled and turned back around to return to the room from whence he'd come.
Arthur watched until the doors shut and then began a quick walk in the other direction. On the way, he grabbed a passing servant and told them to get Gaius by order of the Prince so the physician would know Arthur was giving him permission to leave Merlin alone. Merlin followed Arthur, struggling to keep up sometimes because he had no idea where Arthur was headed and almost went the wrong direction a few times.
By the time they got to Arthur's destination, Merlin was a bit aggravated with his lord. He couldn't get tired in this form, but he could definitely get annoyed. Arthur had walked much too fast. It was as though he knew he was being followed and was trying to lose the person behind him.
As it turned out, Arthur was just going to his room. Merlin grumbled. This wasn't quite what he was expecting when the prince took off down the hall. Arthur walked to the window and looked around the room from there. Merlin stopped in the center and stared at Arthur like he was crazy. The prince was just acting so strange today. Sure Merlin had liked the talk Arthur had given him, but it was beginning to lose its charm under the weight of all of Arthur's random turns to get to the bedroom.
Arthur stood by the window and stared out at the courtyard. His eyes drifted over the area where Merlin had been found. Then the Camelot heir turned and looked at the bed. He pressed his lips together and thought for a moment. Merlin sighed and walked to the table where the dishes were still lying because Merlin had since been informed that he was invisible and hadn't cleaned them up. Arthur walked halfway to the bed before he stopped. He backtracked to the window and stopped again.
"What in the world are you doing, Arthur?" Merlin asked. He leaned back against the table, partially sitting on it, as he did on normal days. Merlin didn't notice the small creak the table let out, but Arthur did.
The crowned Prince strolled over to his bed and grabbed the bedpost as he had that morning when Merlin had made the bed. Arthur ran his hand along the sheets and closed his eyes. Merlin frowned in confusion. What was Arthur trying to do?
"Merlin," Arthur spoke up, sounding firm and commanding. He stood up straight and cast his stare over toward Merlin by the table. The young sorcerer's heart beat sped up. Arthur's gaze was fierce and piercing, just as he expected from the young crowned prince. "Pass me my goblet."
Without thinking, Merlin lifted the goblet off the tray and walked it over to his lord. Only when he was stopped in front of Arthur did he realize what he'd done. Merlin's fingers shook and he dropped the goblet. Arthur quickly snatched it up and both men stared. Arthur stared at the goblet. Merlin stared at Arthur.
"H-how…?"
