Disclaimer: the BBC owns Merlin and all of its characters, I just like messing with them.
Hi all, here is chapter eight. I hope you like it, please review.
Gaius walked slowly to the prince's chambers, his old arthritic joints aching with each step through the cold castle corridors. When Arthur had explained the situation to him he hadn't really believed the prince, but upon seeing the sincerity radiating from the prince's face Gaius had no choice but to believe him. He had delivered the prince when the lady Ygraine was giving birth and had know the boy ever since, one perk of knowing someone that long is that you can tell if and when they are lying. Whilst Arthur was telling him the story of the boy Merlin, Gaius had sat there with a comforting hand on the prince's shoulder, allowing him to express what he'd been holding in for the past few weeks, he hadn't seen the prince cry since the incident with his dog, but as he recalled the state he had found the young warlock in he had wept freely onto the physician's shoulder.
Finally reaching the heavy oak door Gaius knocked gingerly, waiting for a response. After a few seconds with no response Gaius realised that the prince had already left on his hunting trip a few hours ago so he wouldn't be answering and the boy Merlin wouldn't answer out of fear. Pushing the large door open Gaius stepped in with his medical back on his shoulder before closing and locking the door behind him. Gaius' eyes scanned the room looking for any trace of the slight boy that Arthur had described and found what he was looking for curled on the cold, stone floor near the window. "Oh no." he murmured to himself before striding as quickly as he could over to the teen. "Merlin, are you okay?" he directed the question at the brunette before kneeling, not without difficulty, on to the ground next to the boy.
Gaius placed his hands on the boy's neck; he was freezing cold but luckily still breathing. He shook the boy's shoulders harshly, having no patients for the solid stone floor. Gains had no chance of moving the boy alone and he had promised the prince that he wouldn't tell anyone of Merlin's existence, Arthur was like a son to him and he wasn't about to betray him.
Merlin groaned as he was shook awake, today's events flooding back into his brain. Pulling himself up off the floor he opened his eyes and flinched as the harsh daylight assaulted them.
"Merlin?" Gaius muttered placing a hand on the brunette's back, trying to support the rigid teen. Merlin flinched as Gaius' hand rested on the now reopened wounds on his back. "Oh." the older man frowned before removing his hand and standing up shakily. He plodded gingerly over to the table before opening has medical back and setting a few items on the table. Gaius turned back to the boy before smirking and saying "In your own time then." Merlin blushed before standing up, his joints protesting against the movement. He walked over to the table and sat in the chair that Gaius had pulled out. "Lean forward and remove your shirt please." Gaius asked as he pulled a stopper from a jar, the crème inside of said jar looking remarkably similar to the one Arthur had used previously.
"Are you Gaius?" Merlin questioned leaning forward and complying with the physician's request.
"Yes." he said carefully applying the slave with deft fingers that indicated years of practice. Merlin winced gently as it stung slightly. Gaius wrapped bandages tightly around Merlins torso, trying not to think of the actions that caused the injuries. The poor boy; Arthur had told him little of the boy's past, indicating only that he had been abused for a long time. He was so proud of the man Arthur had become, taking in a boy and looking after him wanting noting in return, it was especially good of Arthur considering what utter would do if he found out. Well, Gaius mused thinking back to the way Arthur had talked about the teen; perhaps he wanted something in return. It was clear as day to anyone with common sense that Arthur was head over heels for the boy even if he didn't know it himself yet. Gaius had no doubt that the prince would do nothing to hurt the boy, but he still wondered if their relationship would end well whatever form it may take.
"Oh," Merlin responded, still worried about what the physician would do about him. "And are you okay with what Arthur told you about me, you won't tell the king?" Merlin asked the uncertainty of the future regarding his magic was eating him alive.
"It wasn't your fault." the old man responded, wanting the youth to know that he wouldn't judge him because he was abused.
"Thanks." Merlin responded, feeling slightly more comfortable with the arrangement now that he knew Gaius didn't mind. However, he was still very annoyed with Arthur for telling the physician about his gifts.
"I'm glad your okay with it, you're the only person other than Arthur who knows about my magic." Merlin said. Suddenly, from behind him, Merlin heard a loud crash and a gasp before a hand gripped his shoulder tightly, causing him to cry out.
"You have magic?" Gaius gasped and then Merlin understood what Arthur was trying to explain, the old man knew nothing of his gifts and he'd just signed his own death warrant.
Arthur was tired; him and the nights had rode out of Camelot and headed east, travelling hours away from the city in hopes of finding larger game. Having found nothing since leaving the Citadel, Arthur ordered the knights to set up camp before night fell stating that 'if they hadn't found any game by noon tomorrow they would return to the castle'. Many of the knights had looked disgruntled at this idea, Arthur suspected their pride would be wounded greatly if they returned after three days empty handed.
Arthur would normally be the most upset about their lack of success but with thoughts of Merlin speeding around his head he found it very hard to care about anything. The brunette had got the wrong idea when he assumed that he had told Gaius of his magic. Arthur trusted the physician, perhaps more than his own father, but he wouldn't risk Merlin like that; the boy was perhaps the only friend the prince had ever had and he wouldn't risk anything that could get the boy taken from him.
Arthur had tried to repress the thoughts he had had about the brunette when they first met for many reasons. First, Merlin clearly wasn't looking for and didn't need a relationship at this exact moment in time; he needed chance to heal and sort through everything that happened to him without feeling pressured into a relationship.
Secondly, Arthur wasn't even sure if Merlin liked him and he wasn't going to say anything about his feelings unless he was sure that Merlin felt the same way. Arthur had sometimes heard the younger man call out in the night, muttering things like "I'm sorry" and "I owe you" no doubt referring to the fact that Valiant had looked after him for most of his life (albeit, not very well). He didn't want Merlin feeling like he owed him; he didn't want Merlin to love him back out of some weird sense of obligation.
Third, Arthur had finally admitted to himself at least, that he loved Merlin but what kind of love it was he wasn't sure. The prince had never experienced love; his farther had been to busy grieving his mother to love him as a child. All of his nannies and previous servants had suffered him because they were paid and although all of the knights had always respected him he lacked the ability to befriend them. Growing up Arthur had always had a lot of pressure on him to be the next king, pressure set by his people, his father and most importantly himself. He had grown up very quickly and often found no humour in the knights crude and offensive banter; feeling far to responsible for them to actually join in with their playfulness.
So the lack of any close relationships had damaged Arthur more than he liked to admit; he couldn't remember ever feeling love for anyone or anything. He knew that every time he saw Merlin his heart fluttered and his throat closed up, he would automatically calm if he was in the presence of the brunette, Merlin gave Arthur a new perspective on life, offering him a different way to look at things. He felt completely and honestly content and peaceful when he was with the warlock the only problem was he didn't know whether he loved Merlin or if he was in love with Merlin.
Fifth, Merlin had magic. Arthur had known for a long time that he disagreed with his fathers views on almost everything to do with the running of the kingdom, especially his views on magic. He liked to think of magic as a sword; used by the right person it could do good things, like liberate a community or destroy an evil beast, but in the wrong hands it could create a dictator or destroy innocents. Meaning that it was the user of magic that was evil not the actual magic. Arthur found it very hard to believe that Merlin was evil, in fact the thought of Merlin harming anything made him want to laugh. Recalling the great dragons words, Arthur felt more content with his decision that magic and more specifically Merlin, wasn't evil "You and the warlock are two sided of the same coin, destined to stay together, neither will succeed without the other by their side."
The last reason was the one that feared the prince the most and it could be summed up in two words; Uther Pendragon. His fathers distaste for homosexuality (assuming for a moment that he was actually in love with Merlin) was no secret, he had already removed two knights from his immediate presence after discovering that they preferred men and Arthur dreaded to think what his father would do if he discovered that his only son had spent so many of his teenage years training with the knights because they turned him on more than any of the women at court ever had. His father had no problem expressing his disappointment in his only son and Arthur really didn't want to disappoint him again.
Arthur was pulled from his musings as Leon placed a hand on his shoulder. The prince had been sat quite far away from the group, on his own in the shadows as the rest of the group sat around the campfire laughing.
"Are you okay sire?" Leon asked removing his hand from the prince's shoulder; he always worried about the prince. Arthur was nine years his junior and had always struggled more than most with relating to the other Knights.
"Fine Leon," Arthur asked suddenly defensive; he felt as if Leon could tell his thoughts just by looking at him, his worries and his fears. "Shouldn't you be relaxing with the others?"
Leon bowed lightly, muttering "Very well sire." Before returning to the others at the campfire, the prince watched as the older man sat down at the fire and immediately joined in with the conversation.
Arthur sagged against the tree, his thoughts calmed after ranting to himself but his adrenaline running high after Leon's unwelcome interruption. Sighing to himself he frowned, what am I going to do? Thinking for a while Arthur finally came to a conclusion, tomorrow whether they found something to hunt or not he was going to return to Camelot and pour his very confused heart out to Merlin, in hopes that he will understand. Before coming up with a plan to integrate Merlin into the community and then he would make sure that the warlock never left him again, whether they were lovers or just friends. And he made a vow for himself as well, he promised that he would never abandon Merlin, and he would never mistreat him and he would be everything that the warlock could want.