Again thank you to all who have favorited and followed my story. Also, If you have any prompts or scenarios you want to see in this story put it in a review and I'll see what I can do with it. I promise to keep this chapter relatively light.
Merlin add a few more logs to the fire in Arthur's chambers; lingering for a moment to try and coax some warmth back into his freezing body. It had been snowing for the past two days and Merlin still hadn't been able to play in it thanks to the ridiculous amount of chores Arthur had been giving him. Once he was sufficiently warmed, Merlin turned to face Arthur.
"Is there anything else you needed from me sire?"
Arthur glanced up from the reports he was reading and fixed Merlin with a look, noting as he did so the way the boy shifted from foot to foot and looked out the window. Smiling he said, "No, I think you're actually all done. Merlin…" This last part was in an exasperated tone as Merlin was halfway out the door, having sprinted for the exit as soon as the words left the prince's mouth.
"Yes, Arthur?"
"I won't allow you to go outside, however, until you put on something warmer. Good servants are hard to come by and I can have you dying of a chill or something."
The boy frowned at Arthur, an inscrutable expression on his face. "I'll be fine; besides, if I do die of a chill you can always have George replace me as your servant."
Arthur gave Merlin a mock horrified look. "Don't even joke about that, George as my servant, ugh." He shuddered. "The man makes jokes about brass, Merlin, brass." Arthur noticed that Merlin had been scooting towards the door while he spoke and sighed. He wasn't going to get away that easily; knowing Merlin's propensity for bad luck he probably would catch his death if he went out dressed as he was. He had on his normal ratty, blue tunic, red neck kerchief, and brown jacket and it wasn't anywhere near warm enough for this weather. "I'm serious, Merlin. If you so much as roll one snowball without putting on something warmer, I'll make sure George gives you lessons on serving for the next month."
Eyes wide, Merlin crossed his arms and pulled a pout. "But that's not fair! Either I get to play in the snow and then suffer through George for a month or I don't get to play in the snow."
Exasperated, Arthur shook his head. Why did Merlin have to be so damned stubborn about everything? "I'm not saying that you can't play in the snow. Just go put on something warmer before you do so."
"I don't have anything warmer, Arthur! It's not fair; everybody else gets to play in the snow and I'm stuck inside. What now?!" He said this as he noticed Arthur rising, a thoughtful look on his face. He walked over to his wardrobe and began digging; letting out a satisfied shout when he found what he was looking for. He held up an old pair of gloves that looked like they had seen some use. "Well, for starters you can put these on. They were my training gloves when I was younger," he told the boy as he tossed him the gloves. "Now, if I remember correctly, some of my old cloaks and boots are packed away in the old store rooms." He grabbed his cloak and walked to the door as he fastened it. "Well, are you going to come and get them with me or stand there gaping like a fish, Merlin?"
Merlin gave Arthur a suspicious look, but followed him anyway. "Why are you being so nice all of the sudden?"
Feigning a hurt look, Arthur said, "I'm always this nice, Merlin! Are you suggesting that I'm not?" Noticing the smirk on the younger boy's face he continued. "Or maybe you're trying to say that I'm being too nice; well if that's the case I can always find more chores for you to do, come to think of it Gaius did mention needing his leech tank cleaned…" Arthur smiled as Merlin spluttered indignantly, trying to form an argument that the prince wouldn't twist against him. When they reached the door that led out to the courtyard Arthur strode out, realizing only a few minutes later that Merlin wasn't following. Exasperated he turned to see the boy standing just inside the doors, a wary look on his face. "What now Merlin?"
"You just said that I couldn't go out in the snow without warmer things or you would saddle me with George. This was a mean trick, Arthur, but I'm not going to fall for it."
Arthur rolled his eyes. "If I recall correctly, I said you couldn't roll a snowball without warmer things on. Now if you want warmer things so you can roll snowballs, I suggest you follow me."
"Do you promise that it's not a trick?"
"Yes Merlin. I give you my word as a knight of Camelot that this is not a trick."
"Oh, ok then," the boy said as he came bounding back up to Arthur's side. They began to walk again, not noticing the group of men casting conspiratorial looks at the pair. Arthur was shaking his head again, smiling. Curious, Merlin asked him why he was smiling. Arthur only chuckled, shaking his one more time.
"I swear, for someone so open and honest, you sure are a suspicious little bloke. I don't get it; you're so honest and you can't tell a lie to save your life and yet you automatically expect everybody else to be lying to you."
Now it was Merlin who was smiling; if Arthur only knew how good of a liar he really was. He opened his mouth to reply, but instead he let out a yelp as something wet and very cold smashed into the back of his head.
"Merlin? What was that for..Aghhh!" Arthur had the misfortune of receiving his snowball in the face as he was turning to see what was wrong with Merlin. He quickly scanned the area, his training as a warrior kicking in. There, in the far corner, stood Gwaine, Percival, Elyan, and Lancelot and each wore suspiciously innocent expressions.
"Merlin, remember how I said you couldn't roll any snowballs? Yeah, well, I lied. Start rolling them; we're under attack."
Both of them, Prince and servant, bent and began rolling snowballs. They were careful to keep their backs to the knights, making it appear like Merlin had fallen and Arthur was helping him up. When they felt they had sufficient amo, the duo turned to look at the knights. Gwaine wore a vaguely concerned look, obviously he feared that his snowball had hurt the small boy, or some such thing. His expression quickly turned to one of shock and determination as Merlin hit him in the face with a snowball. This meant war.
In a matter of minutes the peaceful courtyard had become a warzone; all of the bystanders had cleared out and Leon had even joined the fight; choosing to side with the prince and Merlin. Secretly Arthur and Leon were impressed, noting the speed and accuracy with which Merlin hurled snowballs; each and every one hit a knight. Neither one of them had seen the brief flash of gold in his eyes as he began throwing. Also noting his accuracy, Gwaine, Percy, Elyan, and Lancelot began to focus on the boy, completely ignoring Arthur and Leon. That was their mistake. Leaving Merlin to fend for himself, the two knights snuck up behind the others. They were both holding two enormous snowballs, which they promptly smashed over the other knights' heads.
Spluttering and laughing, Merlin walked over to join Arthur and Leon. Once again all three held snowballs and they surrounded the others. Merlin grinned cheekily. "Do you surrender?"
"Never! We are knights of Camelot…We'll not accept defeat at the hands of a boy and his princess!"
Merlin raised his snowball threatening, giving a positively evil grin. "You sure?" He said this in such a tone that Arthur had to make sure that it was still actually Merlin standing there. Gwaine gulped and then began to nod, but Lancelot cuffed him good-naturedly on the back of his head.
"Shut up, Gwaine. I surrender." He raised his hands in the air towards Merlin, grinning. "Blimey mate, remind me not to get on your bad side. You're kind of scary and your aim is better than the princess'—erm, Arthur's is!"
Merlin grinned happily. "G-g-good," he stuttered, unable to keep his teeth from chattering.
Arthur felt chagrinned; he had completely forgotten Merlin's state of dress in the moment and he realized now that they had been out here for a good half hour at least. Looking at the others' faces he realized he wasn't the only one feeling slightly bad for the boy. Well, he decided giving a mental shrug, there was only one thing to do now. "Right you lot, you're now our prisoners. Now march, we're taking you to our torture rooms." He winked at the knights, who suspecting what he was up to, played along, grumbling and groaning until they reached the "torture room". Gwaine specifically really got into his role, at one point falling to his knees and clasping Leon's legs "begging" to be spared from the torture room, as he was far too handsome for such a thing. The others just laughed and Leon had gotten Gwaine back up walking; telling him that there was something special waiting for him and his "handsome" face. Merlin was wondering what was going to happen next and so he followed in the rear, laughing at the antics of the "captured" knights. The "torture room" was Arthur's chamber, Merlin realized as the group walked along the corridors.
When they arrived at the prince's chambers they found the fire roaring and seven mugs sitting on the table next to a steaming pot of hot chocolate and a platter of cookies. The knights all sat at the table and began to distribute the hot chocolate and cookies. Merlin had moved to stand in his normal position behind Arthur's chair while they did this. Once all the mugs had been filled and cookies distributed the knights noticed the empty chair at the table and looked around, wondering why Merlin wasn't sitting with them.
Merlin sudden found six pairs of eyes resting on him and he shifted uncomfortably, his hands rubbing up and down his arms as he tried to coax some warmth back into the limbs. "What?"
"Why are you standing back there?" This was Percy who had spoken, genuinely confused as to why the boy hadn't joined them. "Aren't you cold?"
Merlin was now equally as confused. "What do you mean 'why am I back here' this is where I always stand. And of course I'm cold, I just spent half an hour schooling a bunch of knights in a snowball fight." He said this last part with an eye roll and a grin.
Both Lancelot and Arthur looked a little indignant about that statement. Lancelot crossed his arms.
" You didn't school us, Merlin"
Raising his eyebrow as Gaius did, Merlin stopped rubbing his arms and crossed them instead. "Then what would you, Sir Knight, call an eleven year old boy beating four seasoned knights in a snowball fight?"
Gwaine chuckled and Lancelot gave him an incredulous look. "What are you laughing about, he beat you too."
"I know he did, but I'm not too proud to admit that he actually schooled us. I mean look at him, No offense Merlin, but he's a scrawny little git and he never missed us, not once. Along those same lines, we only hit him a few times and were supposed to be trained for combat. If you think about it, it's really quite amusing."
Now Arthur spoke up. "He did have a little help you know," he said, crossing his arms.
Merlin cocked his head to the side, apparently deep in thought. He nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose you did, Sire. How many snowballs did you and Sir Leon throw?"
"Well, I'm not sure about Arthur, but I know you threw nearly twice as many as I did and got hit half as many times."
"Thank you, Leon. How many did you throw, Arthur?"
"Alright, so you did most of the snowball fighting. It was rather impressive, I have to say; given your general lack of coordination I'm surprised that you hit anything. Why didn't you ever tell us you could throw like that?"
"I have many talents, Arthur. And honestly, I spend more of my time ducking objects than throwing them, if you know what I mean."
Percival cleared his throat. "Back to the original point I was making; why are you standing back there and not drinking your hot chocolate? There's a glass for you right here?"
Merlin looked a little confused, then shrugged his shoulders and took a seat. " I didn't realize I was invited to join you guys."
"Why did you think I had seven cups sent up," asked Arthur?
"I just thought somebody couldn't count."
"Not all my servants are as inept as you, Merlin."
"Well…"
"Merlin?"
"Yes, Arthur?"
"Shut up and drink your hot chocolate."
Sorry If the ending is kind of lame, I wasn't sure how to end it.
