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Arthur breathed a sigh of relief when he spied the flags of Camelot waving above the tree line, Guinevere safely at his side, his knights loyally behind and Merlin trailing along somewhere. That tight knot of *wrong* eased as all he held dear was near and his home was in sight.
It seemed that he wasn’t the only one who felt that relief as Sir Gwaine let out a whoop of joy from the back of the pack, sending titters of laughter through the rest of the knights.
For once Arthur could not find fault with the knight’s unknightly outcry and shared a smile with Guinevere, spurring his horse on faster towards his home.
-
The Knights dismounted quickly when they entered the courtyard, nattering between themselves and handing their horses to the stables hands before heading towards the town, most likely to visit the tavern.
Arthur turned from where he had helped Gwen down to see Merlin doing similar for Gaius.
“Merlin,” Arthur called across the gap between them. “Have the night off. But I expect you back first thing in the morning so George can show you how he has reorganised my sock drawer.”
Arthur smirked at Merlin’s expected grimace, light-heartedness filling him up now that they were all home, and everything was as it should be. So, when he saw Merlin accompany Gaius back to their chambers instead of following the knights he merely shrugged. It had been a long trip after all.
-
Arthur’s feeling of contentment lasted through the night until the morning when he found himself hunched over his desk reading reports. This was not the most enjoyable part of being a King. He had a fond spot for proclamations, hosting banquets was great, and knighting was quite fun, but reports were the most tedious part of kingdom ruling.
It could be worse, Arthur thought to himself, he had a full belly, a warm fire in the hearth and could hear Merlin pottering and muttering in the background.
He fished out the Knight’s reports from their trip from the bottom of his to-do pile and gave them a once over… and then read through them again… and then frowned.
“Merlin,” he started, the cessation of muttering and clanging the only indication his servant had heard, “have you read these reports?”
“Your top-secret-mind-numbingly-dull-reports?” Merlin called out from the recesses of his chambers somewhere. “No sire, I can’t say I have.”
“The knight’s reports from your trip,” Arthur explained. “They are very… vague.”
“Vague? What do mean?”
“I mean, they don’t really say anything.” Arthur felt Merlin come carefully up to his shoulder, Arthur passed the papers up to him. “It’s almost as if they-“
“Don’t remember,” Merlin finished, a strange note of relief in his voice.
“Exactly. Is that possible?”
Merlin shrugged handing the papers back to Arthur. “They were under an enchantment, it’s not unheard of to have missing memories or at least very fuzzy ones.” Merlin retreated back to the table he had been scrubbing. Arthur swivelled in his chair to watch him.
“What do you remember?”
“Pretty much what we already told you,” Merlin said with a shrug. “Lamia put the knights under spell, got them to escort her to those ruins, probably to eat us all. Then tried picking us off one by one. Then you turned up.”
Arthur nodded, turning back to his paper’s, a frown playing on his face.
-
Three days later and Arthur felt like he hadn’t left his chambers since their return. This was why he didn’t like leaving the castle for extended periods any more. It was like the Lords and Councillors waited until they knew he was going to be away to leave reems of reports and paperwork on his desk.
He growled in frustration and crossed out his incorrect calculation on the grain stores audit (for the third time) and was about to screw up the stores masters report and throw it into the fire when a pointed cough pulled his gaze to the corner of the room, where Merlin was watching him with a disapproving eyebrow.
Arthur huffed and straightened out the corners of the parchment before shooting Merlin a look – ‘There, happy now?’
Merlin responding smirk said a very sarcastic – ‘Ecstatic’
Arthur was about to go back to work, he really was, when raucous laughter drew his gaze to the window. Peeering down into the courtyard Arthur saw a smiling Elyan and Gwaine, making their way down to the training grounds.
He sighed and reluctantly turned back to his desk, only to start when he found his manservant now standing at his elbow.
“Just go,” Merlin huffed, holding out the newly sharpened sword towards Arthur.
“But-“ Arthur started, his gaze flickering between his desk and the sword, then back again. Merlin just sighed, a very put upon sigh, and bodily pushed the king out of his chair.
“I will finish your reports.”
“You?”
“Yes me! I can read you know.” Arthur did know, and knew that was strange for a servant, but did come in useful when he needed a speech proof read (or re-written entirely).
Merlin sat down at the desk, in the chair Arthur had vacated, and bent his head over the papers. “Just go,” he said flicking an uninterested hand towards the door. “Go hit your knights with sticks. You’ve been driving me insane.”
Arthur hesitated, warring with himself whether to make a remark about whom exactly was king around here but instead opted for hurrying behind his changing screen to change into his training clothes, which were helpfully already draped over the top.
When Arthur was at the door, pathetically eager to be in the fresh air, he turned back to Merlin who was frowning and scribbling something out.
“Merlin,” Arthur started, ‘thank you’ on the tip of his tongue, but instead he swallowed it down. “If you are going to be taking it easy all afternoon you can bring some drinks down to the knights and me for after practice. Can’t have you getting lazy!”
Arthur practically skipped down the hall. In his elation he didn’t notice the flicker of unease that passed over his servants face.
-
Arthur felt invigorated, alive. His blood pumped through his veins to the beat of his heart and he grinned down at the thrice fallen Elyan glaring up at his from his back.
“Don’t you have kingly things to do?” the Knight complained before accepting Arthur’s hand up.
“Don’t be a sore looser Elyan. Who’s next?” he shouted towards the huddle of knights by the sword rack.
There was a loud chorus of mumbling and a lot of pointing in opposite directions. But fortunately for the knights a mop of black hair pulled Arthur’s attention to his incoming servant, more importantly the large bucket of fresh water he was carrying.
Arthur crowded into Merlin’s space taking the offered goblet before dunking it in the water and taking a large gulp.
“What did you do to them?”
Arthur followed Merlin’s amused gaze to where his ‘round table’ knights were sweating, propped up against the sword rack, Gwaine theatrically draped over the floor, his arm covering his face.
“Alright men!” he called, watching all their heads slowly turn in dread towards their king. “Break!” The sighs of relief could be heard from where Arthur was standing. “Come grab a drink!”
Arthur ignored Merlin’s call of “Arthur wait-“ and watched with amusement as the knights of Camelot descended on the water bucket like children in a market. Cupping the water with their hands, all of them trying to drown themselves in the bucket Merlin was still carrying.
Arthur’s smirk of amusement slowly turned into a frown as he watched his manservant.
The normally chipper, relaxed man was now standing stock still, leaning as far back from the bucket as he could whilst keeping his hold, his gaze fixed down to the left, like… like a servant.
That, Arthur could pass off as Merlin sulking after being dragged from the castle to serve drink. But then Leon stretched out a hand and just for a moment Merlin cringed away, like he was expecting a blow. The servant soon recovered, accepting Leon’s appreciative pat to the shoulder, albeit stiffly.
When the knights had taken their fill Merlin retreated to the far side of the field to watch the rest of the spars, to the opposite side of where the knights were lounging.
Arthur watched him silently pick up Arthur’s spare sword and begin absentmindedly sharpening it seemingly at peace. But Arthur couldn’t get rid of the curl of unease in his stomach.
-
That uneasy feeling was still there the next day. Arthur had just left his council chamber and was taking a gentle stroll around the castle. It was familiar practice to him now. He felt that the natural rhythm of a working castle helped his mind process, it was like a heartbeat calming his senses and letting his mind roam.
Though his mind should have been on the new taxes his mind kept wandering off towards his manservant.
His servant, who had been generously awarded the afternoon off to allow him to accompany the knights to the tavern. But who was instead planning to spend it in Gaius’ chambers helping the old physician.
“He’s not as young anymore Arthur,” Merlin had replied fidgeting, when Arthur questioned him. Arthur had frowned but nodded, knowing that Merlin would be doing whatever he wanted whether Arthur agreed or not.
Caught in his musing Arthur didn’t hear the footsteps coming up behind him until a slightly out of breath voice called his name. He turned, a smile blooming on his face when Guinevere stepped up towards him.
“Guinevere,” he greeted.
Gwen smiled in return. “Your seemed deep in thought Arthur, how did your council session go?”
They began walking the hallway side by side.
“As expected really. It was that idiot Merlin crowding my thoughts.”
“Oh Merlin,” Gwen sighed. “I really must go see him but I am afraid I’ve been too busy since we returned. How is he?”
The concern in Gwen’s voice was odd. Not because she wasn’t usually concerned about Merlin (she was forever telling Arthur to go easy on the boy and that he worked too hard) but this concern was potent, and current, and made Arthur frown.
“He’s alright,” Arthur said carefully, casting Gwen a sideways look. “Though he has been acting a little strangely these past few days. He’s passed up at least two invitations to go to the tavern with the knights. Yet I suppose I shouldn’t complain, he did tend to spend an inordinate amount of time down there.”
Gwen didn’t rise to Arthur’s gentle teasing, instead her frown creased. “Well I don’t think you can blame him for not wanting to spend extra time with the knights at the moment. I know sometimes I have trouble and it wasn’t nearly as bad for me.”
Arthur stopped, laying a gentle hand on Gwen’s arm to still her movement too. “What do you mean?”
“After our trip with the knights, the Lamia. You know how they were acting…” But Gwen trailed off at the ever-increasing frown on the Kings face. “But you don’t know,” Gwen said with dawning realisation in her voice. “Didn’t the knights tell you?”
“The knights don’t remember anything that happened whilst they possessed.”
“And of course, Merlin didn’t say anything,” Gwen sighed in exasperation.
“Guinevere, what is going on? What did the knights do?”
Gwen stared at the King for a few moments before looking up and down the corridor, seeming nervous. Arthur started to feel a small amount of panic edge it’s into his consciousness. He grabbed Gwen’s shoulder forcing her to look at him.
“What did the knights do to you?”
Gwen looked back at him, her eyes brighter than normal. “Not me Arthur – Merlin.”
-
Arthur barley took any notice of the servants he barged passed and the nobles he ignored as he swept through the castle towards the physician’s chambers.
Anger, worry and unbelievable frustration (a familiar mix when dealing with his manservant) all beat inside his head as he strode forward. Snippets of his conversation with Gwen swept across his mind with every step.
‘They were so awful’…. ‘frightening’…. ‘threatening’…. ‘shoved him into a wall’…. ‘threatened to burn him’… ‘just a servant’…
By the time he barged through the door to Gaius’s chambers the power of speech evaded him. Merlin looked up, startled from the text he had been reading, his wide blue eyes looking up in a moment of shock.
Arthur wondered if that is what he had looked like when the knights, his friends, all turned on him. When the normally jovial Percival backed him into the rock, when Gwaine threatened him with fire, when Leon looked poised to strike him.
Rage like he had never known swept through Arthur’s being as he advanced towards Merlin.
“Show me your back,” Arthur bit out. Merlin stood cautiously from the table.
“Arthur, what’s going on?”
Merlin was watching him with trepidation, but Arthur couldn’t articulate his thoughts. Couldn’t explain what it is he wanted. He just needed to see, to know.
Once he had backed Merlin up towards the wall he flipped him in one flawless move. Ignoring Merlin’s startled yelp, Arthur lifted the back of his servant’s worn tunic and gasped.
Multiple large bruises mottled his servants back. They were so many and so numerous that they had merged together to form one massive expanse of purple, green and black that spread from the small of Merlin’s back to his neck, appearing darker and deeper over the prominent bones of his shoulder blades.
Merlin had now stilled under his touch and Arthur knew Merlin understood what Arthur was seeing.
“It’s really not as bad as it looks,” Merlin said in that small voice that Arthur hated.
“What the hell Merlin!” Arthur shouted, pushing away from his manservant, allowing the tunic to fall back down. “How could you keep something like this from me?!”
Merlin turned around to face Arthur now, raising a hand as if calming a startled horse. “Because it doesn’t matter Arthur.”
“Of course, it matters! It matters that knights of Camelot threatened you! That they used their strength to intimidate!” Arthur paused to drag an angry hand through his hair. “I trusted them! I trusted them to protect you, and Guinevere. How can I trust them now?”
“It wasn’t their fault!” Merlin said fiercely. “Even the strongest men could have fallen to an enchantment, especially to one as ancient as a Lamia.”
Arthur looked back at Merlin with stormy eyes. “If you truly believe that why have you been avoiding them all?”
Merlin didn’t meet Arthur’s eyes then, he looked at the floor and shrugged his small shoulders. “My logic knows this. It will just… take some time. For my brain to remember that they will not hurt me.” But then Merlin seemed to set his shoulders and the meek servant disappeared. “But that is not their problem. It is my weakness that will fade.”
Arthur looked astonished as his manservant drew himself up to his full height, seemingly ready for a fight.
“You shouldn’t have to-“
“Shouldn’t have to what Arthur? They aren’t the first people in Camelot to be cursed and they won’t be the last.”
Arthur looked back at his servant, feeling helpless in the face of Merlin’s resolve. Merlin shouldn’t have to fear his friends, shouldn’t have to lie to protect them, shouldn’t have to hide things from Arthur… shouldn’t have been made to feel small.
“And you will not tell them,” Merlin continued, his determination growing. “They have no memory of their enchantment and I will not be the cause of any pain. What’s done is done, no amount of lectures or extra drills will change that.”
“Fine,” Arthur snapped, using his frustrated energy to propel him away, towards the door. “Then it shouldn’t be a problem for you to attend me at the Round Table practice session this afternoon would it!”
The door slammed in Arthurs wake.
-
Arthur was always coming up with new training techniques to test his knight’s skills; running around the castle in full armour, swimming in near frozen lakes, pushing loaded carts through the square. All designed to make Camelot’s knights the best of the best.
So, when Arthur’s summons to training included instructions not to wear armour and to leave their weapons in the armoury, an instinctive weariness followed.
His four trusted knights were stood in a row, glancing confusingly at each other by the time Merlin entered the practice grounds.
When Merlin was stood at Arthur’s side facing the row of knights Arthur began.
“As a knight of Camelot, a lot is expected of you.” Arthur began pacing the line, hands tucked regally behind his back. “Bravery, Nobility, Humility, Strength. But you are also required to follow your Kings instructions without question or hesitation. Now,” Arthur paced off to the side, “this training session will test that. I will give instruction’s and there will be no questions, no enquiring and no hesitation.” Each knight tensed in preparation as Arthur’s steely gazed fixed on them one by one.
“Gwaine will go first, followed by Percival, then Elyan, then Leon. Once you have completed your task you will begin a run around the training field until I tell you to stop. Are we clear?”
“Yes sire,” The knights responded.
“Excellent. On my mark you will each approach our target,” Arthur swept a hand towards Merlin standing in front of the group, ignoring the way his servant tensed and threw him a startled look.
It wasn’t unusual that Arthur included Merlin in their training sessions. It was normally as a running target or practice dummy or javelin fetcher. But the knights all wondered what exactly their king had in mind.
Percival rolled his shoulders, Elyan began to bounce on the soles of his feet, Leon clicked his neck, Gwaine swished his hair out of his face.
“… and hug him.”
-
Every set of eyes switched from their ‘target’ to the King. Including said target’s. Their confusion evident.
“Now begin,” Arthur said with a nod, stepping back.
“You just want me to hug him?” Gwaine asked with a frown, having fallen out of his ready pose.
“Is that hesitation Sir Gwaine!”
“Just clarification Princess.”
The smirking Knight walked up to his friend and clasped him a warm hug giving him a slap on the back as he departed.
“Now Run!” Arthur barked.
Gwaine sent Merlin a wink before running off not seeing his friend’s stiff shoulders and grimace.
Before Merlin could recover he jumped as large trunk-like arms wrapped around him almost lifting him off the ground.
He squeaked and felt Percival’s chuckle reverberate through his chest before he was released and tumbled back a few spaces.
Elyan’s hug was a little easier to handle; quicker, more efficient. The knight pulled Merlin in for a quick one arm tug before he went bounding after his brothers.
Merlin noticeably stiffened as Leon approached.
During the time with Lamia Gwaine had been menacing, Percival had been scary, Elyan had been mostly unconscious, but Leon… he had been so different.
But the Knight approaching Merlin wasn’t the tower of rage and insults that had accosted him in that castle. This knight was Leon. Who looked more uncomfortable at the prospect of hugging Merlin than the servant did.
Leon took a step forward, his arms outstretched, before retreating a step and rearranging, planning it out like a battle in his head. Merlin couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
Merlin surged forward and trapped the unprepared knight between his two scrawny arms.
After a moment of what felt like hugging a washboard Leon relaxed, his arm’s coming up to gently envelope Merlin’s back.
But instead of feeling trapped, or scarred, Merlin felt…. Safe.
“Thank you,” he whispered before the Knight drew back.
Leon sent him a confused look. “What for?”
“Doesn’t matter…. Shouldn’t you be running?”
At that the knight startled and started jogging out to follow the rest of the knights.
Merlin watched them for a moment until he felt Arthur’s presence come up beside him.
“Are you alright?” the King asked.
Merlin just grinned, rolling his eyes and giving his King a shove with his shoulder.
“You’re a prat, you know that right?”
Arthur returned his grin. “I have been informed yes.”
They watched the knights for a few more moments before Merlin turned to Arthur contemplatively.
“Is it your turn now?”
It was Arthur’s turn to look confused then. “What?”
“For a hug?” Merlin held his arms out to the King who back tracked quickly.
“No Merlin, absolutely not!”
“Oh, I think you want one.”
“No!” Arthur started running off across the field to his knights.
Merlin gave one last grin before he gave chase.