They were on the hunt once more, the dogs had found the scent again, of either the same animal from before, or a different one. But this time, it seemed it was much closer, if by the way the dogs behaved said anything, and for Arthur, who had hunted all of his life...it did. Arthur had gotten separated from the others, chasing the dogs even further than the Knights were willing to go, surging passed bushes and through brooks. They ran and Arthur followed, he saw it again, this time a very long, white tail, it was the same animal as before, and Arthur wouldn't rest, until he at least saw what it was. The only person still with him was Merlin, the shock of this he chose to ignore. Merlin was not built for such sport, but yet he had followed him anyway, and Arthur had suspension it was because he was going to do something to protect the animal, but Arthur vowed to himself not to let that happen. This would be a great kill, a prize to be won, a hearty meal for several days to come.

One of the dogs howled, to get Arthur's attention and the path changed. Now, through low hanging branches, he could hear the dogs up ahead, growling and snarling and Arthur willed himself through the leafy prison, to reach his pray. Upon reaching the dogs, in a lush, fresh green clearing, in the middle, circled by dogs, trained to keep the beast in one spot, until Arthur could come and take care of it himself, was a unicorn. Bright white, a horn, light glimmered off of it. Arthur couldn't believe it, he had never seen such a creature before, in all of his days, and he had fought many a beast, magical and not. This, by far, however, was the most beautiful beast he had ever seen, he thought, for only seconds, that perhaps he would have it's head mounted and placed in his chambers.

That was until Merlin came to his side and let out a gasp, Arthur tried to ignore this, and he lifted his crossbow in the air, pointing it, for the killing blow. The beast stood there, staring at Arthur, for a foolish second, he thought it looked into his eyes. But that was stupid, because it was only just a horse with a horn, nothing else...

His finger played with the trigger, but then suddenly Merlin was in front of him, between him and the beast and Arthur quickly let go, before the thing shot and hit Merlin right in the forehead. And how would Arthur explain that to Gaius?

"Arthur, no!" said Merlin, holding up his hands in front of him, putting himself directly in between Arthur and the beast. Arthur rolled his eyes, and glared at Merlin. "Arthur, please, don't...it's innocent, it hasn't done anything wrong!"

"It's a Unicorn, Merlin," Arthur explained, because perhaps Merlin didn't know, but he did live with Gaius who had been the one who told Arthur of the Unicorn before, and how rare they truly were. It was a gift, to find, to take. It would be well treasured. And his Father would be pleased he had rid the Kingdom of yet another magical beast. "It's a creature of magic..."

"Yes..." Merlin nodded, and pursed his lips. Arthur shooed Merlin out of his way now, thinking this conversation was long over, but Merlin didn't move.

"Get out of the way!" shouted Arthur, and even with this, even with shouting the beast continued to stand there, watching, not moving. Even the dogs had given up and either wondered off, or laid down, in the soft grass. Arthur frowned, when Merlin still didn't move.

"Yes...they are magic, but..." Merlin looked over his shoulder and a smile formed on his lip, as he looked it over. "It is said that they are pure...good." His eyes traveled back to Arthur and he locked them on Arthur's own. Clearly, Merlin was very passionate about this, it made Arthur wonder why. "They are said to heal the Earth."

"That isn't true, those are old tales, the kind you tell children to give them nice dreams...you are a fool to believe them," said Arthur, Merlin frowned at him and his eyes broke away, looking around the lush landscape.

"Look around you," retorted Merlin. "There isn't any water around, why is everything so...green?"

Arthur did look around, but he was feeling a bit put upon now, he hadn't decided what he wanted to do yet, did he trust Merlin or did he follow what he knew his Father would want him to do? This was supposed to be a fun hunting trip, he was not supposed to be faced with a moral dilemma. The beast had done nothing wrong, but it was magical...

Arthur stare around for a moment, looking over Merlin's shoulder, at the thing, which it only stared back at him. Apparently, it was meant to be his choice alone. Merlin's eyes were on Arthur again, when he decided to look back at him, and they were big and blue and pure of hate and Arthur shook his head.

"You really don't want me to kill it...?" he asked, but he knew the answer, and he thought Merlin probably already knew the answer Arthur would give too. And so, instead of pretending any longer, he dropped the crossbow to his side and rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said though, to keep himself from looking like a complete fool. "If you're going to act like such a girl...you would probably start crying anyway."

Even though he was clearly insulting Merlin, and he had every right to, Merlin still smiled at him, and Arthur rolled his eyes yet again, deeply this time. "Thank you, Arthur."

"Don't say I never do anything nice for you," said Arthur, as he pointed a finger in Merlin's face. But then, suddenly, the beast was walking nearer to them and Arthur froze, eyes going wide. It walked right up to Merlin, as if it knew him, yet Arthur knew Merlin had never seen such a thing, just as Arthur hadn't before, either. It nuzzled it's nose right into Merlin's neck and much like a hose, nickered into Merlin's neckerchief, and then it's snout trailed up the side of Merlin's face, sniffing and nipping at the bits of dark hair that started sticking up everywhere.

Merlin laughed, and it was such a pure laugh, so gentle and soft. Not once, in the time Arthur had known him, had he ever heard it before. He reached up and petted the beasts mane. Arthur watched, in some sort of confused fondness. He was glad this made Merlin so happy, but yet was confused about why he seemed to care so much about the animal. The Unicorn seemed to remember Arthur was there suddenly, because it retreated it's attack on Merlin's mess of hair and took a few steps toward Arthur, lowering it's head down, as if it were bowing, to show Arthur respect.

"He's thanking you," said Merlin, and Arthur's bewilderment took him by full force again. But then again, this was a creature of magic, it really wasn't just a horse with a horn, it was much more than that. And Arthur felt his stomach turn a bit, at the thought of what his Father might say to this. Arthur had to think he would be a lot less understanding than what he was about Merlin. Yet, this didn't seam to stop Arthur from reaching out and petting the long neck of the beast, as it's head still bowed before him. It was a beautiful, kind creature, clearly Merlin thought so...

So was it really that awful that Arthur allowed it to live? Perhaps not, and certainly the King never had to know about it. As they rounded up the dogs now and left the creature to do what it will, and headed back in the direction of where Arthur had lost his men. He needed to make sure Merlin understood, quite plainly, what happened here, must never be spoken of again. "We must never tell anyone about this..."

Merlin, who had not stopped smiling for some time now, looked over at Arthur, as they walked next to each other. "You don't want the world to know the best of you? Alright...I suppose I can manage to keep your secret."

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Arthur, eyes narrowing at Merlin. but Merlin's smile only turned into a grin and he shrugged a shoulder.

"Nothing..."

"My Father cannot know I let a...a thing with magic live, he would kill me," said Arthur, knowingly. Merlin nodded along, but he still grinned. "He would force me to hunt it down again...he cannot know."

"I wasn't going to tell him," said Merlin, and now his blue eyes were once again on Arthur and Arthur told himself not to look at him, he was an idiot. But Arthur did anyway. "You did the right thing...I think killing the Unicorn would have been very bad, killing something so pure wouldn't go unpunished, Arthur."

"And what do you know about anything?" retorted Arthur, not because he found what Merlin said completely stupid, but he needed to get them back into their realm, because Merlin was looking at him much too fondly, and soon they would be reaching the Knights and Arthur needed no more rumors about them.

"I read books..."

"I didn't know you could read..." retorted Arthur again. "I'm proud of you, learning new skills like that...perhaps you could learn how to be a proper servant yet."

Finally, a frown formed on Merlin's lips and Arthur was almost sad about it. Merlin had been so happy and Arthur knew he was ruining it, selfishly. "Arthur you really are such a..." Merlin shook his head and his lips curled up into a scowl, and Arthur grinned at him.

"Gracious master?" offered Arthur, he was really, really over compensating for his kindness, by being the worlds biggest Prat right now, and he knew it, he knew it were true, but his ego and his pride were getting the very best of him. "You hardly have to say it...I know." Merlin's mouth stayed in the same sort of irritated scowl and Arthur nodded. "That is what you were going to say, isn't it, Merlin?"

"Sure," said Merlin, as he took a few long strides and walked ahead of Arthur. Arthur let him go, feeling some sort of lonesomeness wash over him. He wished he hadn't treated Merlin so poorly, but there was no going back now. Besides, Merlin needed to remember his place.

(A/N: I knooooow, I am updating again! But you know, it's here, it's ready...I want to share it! Anyway, excuse Arthur's complete rudeness at the end there, I really feel like he would do this in the show sometimes. Be normal, God Forbid, even a little bit nice to Merlin, and then all of a sudden he would just say something rude af and I'm like wow, Arthur...things be gettin' a little too real for ya or...? Also, I was reading something somewhere tonight that said Merlin is 16 in season 1, and Arthur is 21, which okay, I get the Arthur part, but 16?! That's so young to be so heavily burdened, and just wow...someone give that boy a hug!)