A pool and secrets

Chapter Seven

Arthur glared at Merlin and Gwaine as they got ready to depart for westfold tower. The young wizard was smiling and laughing at something the knight was saying to him. He looked away as Percival started to approach him. "We will be ready to leave shortly, my lord." Stated Percival.

The king looked up at the knight and smiled. "Right." Arthur stood and stretched sneaking another look at the pair of men smiling before him. "Okay men, we should get going. We should be at the westfold tower before midday. Gwaine you should patrol up front, Percival you should watch the back and the others should branch around keeping eyes and ears alert. I don't want us to be ambushed again." The men nodded and got into position.

The group had arrived at the westfold tower just before midday and were greeted by the person in charge of the tower. Arthur hopped down from his horse and walked over to the man who came forward to greet the king. He was a tall man with dark chocolate eyes and long brown hair. He had a small beard and look as though he had much experience as a knight. The dark haired man in charge leaned forward and shook hands with the king. "It is a pleasure that you would come to help us, your highness." The man bowed down to the king. "We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. My name is Gaelin and this is Blamir, he is my second in charge, if for any reason you cannot find me he is who you should look for next." Blamir was also tall but he had short blonde hair and looked no older than twenty five years old. He was staring behind Arthur and when Arthur turned around he saw that Merlin was standing just behind the king.

Arthur cleared his throat and the man's attention focused back on the king and he reached over to also shake the hand of the king bowing his head. "Your highness." He said.

"Well it is a pleasure to be here. You sounded like you needed a lot of help in your letter and I am always ready to help my people. We should head in side and you can give us all the details." Arthur stated.

"Of course my king." Bowed Gaelin. "If you tie your horses up to those posts somebody will be by to take care of them."

"Alright. Merlin I want you stay here and help with the horses." Arthur turned around to the knights behind him and beckoned them inside. Everybody started to head inside leaving Merlin behind.

Merlin sighed, turning towards the horses and started to tie them to the posts. "Of course I'm left here to do everything on my own again. One day I'll have a day to myself, no chores just freedom to do whatever I want."

"They are set to attack Tallock tomorrow. It's a small village only about two hours from here. They usually attack mid-afternoon and stay for no longer than an hour. They get the villagers to pile belongings, meat and vegetation on a kart that they have. Tallock is a small village with only one entry and exit available using a kart. I figure that we could leave in the morning and set an ambush for when they attack the village. We could have men lying in wait in the two houses that are next to the exit and block it off with a signal. That way they are blocked in and the kart cannot get anywhere. The groups usually consist of twenty men, that is why I asked for your help. We have only nine men here and we would be outnumbered if we tried to handle this on our own." Gaelin explained.

Arthur was looking at the map in front of him and taking in all that Gaelin was telling him. "Okay, that sounds like a good plan. Cut them off, trap them in and take them down. I agree that we should leave in the morning so that we can see the village for our self and place people where they won't be noticed before it is time to attack. You were right to send for us Gaelin. I was wondering if the leader of this group of men is known by the name Alar. We ran into Alar and his followers about two weeks ago on our way back from Emerald. He ambushed us and tried to kill us."

"Well, all but one of us. He wanted to keep Merlin for another reason." Gwaine said.

"What do you mean another reason?" asked Blamir intrigued.

"It's nothing really just he thought Merlin was pretty and once we were dead he said that he was going to take Merlin and bed him. Like I or the knights would have let that happen though." Arthur stated.

"Well I can understand his desire. He is beautiful" said Blamir.

Arthur stared at Blamir before laughing. "You must be blind. Merlin may have decent looks but I wouldn't go so far to say beautiful." He focused back on the map of the villages surrounding the westfold tower. 'Liar. You also think Merlin is attractive and you have noticed that a lot more lately. The way he smiles I just can't help staring at him sometimes. No stop it! You love Gwen!'

"No I would say that you are the one who is blind to not see his worth. Even if I have just met him, there is something about him that screams he is special, one of a kind." Stated Blamir.

"That may be so. We have gotten off track; we need to focus on this plan. I agree with everything you have said Gaelin. We will leave tomorrow and set up a final plan when we get there. That being said I think we should rest to make sure that we are ready by tomorrow." Arthur said looking everybody in eye.

"We have rooms set up for you and your men my highness. I Hope that they will be to your liking." Gaelin smiled at the king.

"I'm sure they will be fine. Thank you. Lead the way." Arthur said extending his hand to the door.

Arthur, Merlin and the knights all arrived at Tallock early the next morning and were greeted by most of the people in the village. An elderly man came towards Arthur and his party. "Greetings your highness, why have you visited our small village on this fine day?" he asked.

Arthur hopped down from his horse and placed his hands on the old man's shoulder. "We have come to help you. I hope that we can count on you and the people of the village to help."

The elderly man looked sceptically up at Arthur. "You wish us to help you fight these men?" he asked.

"Of course not. We only wish to hide within your houses and ambush them when they come and attack your village. When we attack, you and the others need to get out of the way. Hopefully we will have enough time to set up places where you can hide until it has finished.

The old man smiled at his king. "Thank you so much. You are a great man to come and help us. Please, do all you must to capture these men. We will forever be in your debt, my lord." The old man tried to bow to Arthur nearly falling over in the process. If it wasn't for Arthur's quick reflexes, catching the old man he would have fallen straight to the ground.

"Easy there. Do not hurt yourself and as king it is my duty to look after my people. These men need to pay for hurting so many of you." Arthur said with a fire in his eyes.

Merlin watched Arthur as he spoke with the elderly man; his eyes and heart filling up with so much love he was sure he would burst. 'This is the man I fell in love with. Such passion he shows for his people makes me understand why I stay by his side, even if it wasn't my destiny to do so. I hope that he never changes from the man I see before me.'

Everybody was in position waiting for the men to arrive. Percival and Gwaine were in the houses on either side of the only way in or out of the village. Everybody else is spread throughout the houses in position waiting for the signal. Merlin was positioned on the top run of one of the barns. He was up there because Gwaine thought he could be a help with his bow and arrow. All of a sudden there was the sound of horses in the distance. Merlin could see through a crack and he spied the group of men as they stoped in front of the elderly man from this morning.

"It's time, old man. Alright all you peasants start loading up the kart so we can be on our way." The obvious leader of the attackers spoke harshly.

"Please we do not have enough to feed you and ourselves." The old man begged.

"Well you will have to starve then; I said load up the kart!" The man marched over to the elderly fellow and slapped him across the face. "Now hurry up, we don't have all day!"

Arthur in disguise went over to the old man and helped him off the ground. A horn sounded signalling the attack. Gwaine and Percival left the houses and pushed loaded karts in front of the exit blocking the men on the kart in. All the knights came out of the houses and started to fight the men. Merlin opened up the small window on the front of the barn keeping an eye on Arthur. The king was doing great in the battle and was defeating men in no time at all. Merlin noticed that a man was starting to creep up on Arthur and he tried to use his magic to make the man go flying away from him. All that happened was it looked like man was pushed on the shoulder so acting quickly Merlin notched an arrow and fired at the man, hitting him in the chest. Arthur turned around and noticed the man fall to the ground with an arrow sticking out of his chest. The attack continued until they had captured half of the men; the other half either died or fled during the ambush.

Merlin raced down to meet up with Arthur. Once he reached the king he smiled. "You did well today Merlin. Thank you for having my back. You truly do have some skill with the bow and arrow." Arthur said. Merlin just stood there staring at Arthur in shock. Arthur turned to all the men, "alright let's start getting everything in order so that we can leave in the morning." Arthur turned to the old man, "is it alright if we stay the night?"

"Of course your highness, stay as long as you like."

"That is very kind of you, but we must be getting back to Camelot quickly. I have a kingdom to run and of course a lovely fiancée to get back home to."

Merlin and Gwaine stood outside the house they were staying in talking and looking up at the stars. Gwaine turned to Merlin, "you did great today Merlin. I dont think there is much more that I need to teach you now." Gwaine said with a smile.

Merlin turned to Gwaine a wide smile on his face. "It is all thanks to you that I can shoot so well Gwaine. I don't know how I am ever going to repay you. You are a great best friend." The two men looked into each other's eyes, when all of a sudden Gwaine grabbed Merlin's shoulders, pulling the wizard towards him and kissed him.

A.N Here is another chapter of A pool and secrets. Hope you enjoyed reading. Sorry if it is not that good, I am typing this with bleary sleepy eyes. Read and review