Always Be With You - Merthur

Chapter 27

Arthur pov

There hung a silence in the air as Arthur made his way towards the court physician's chambers for the umpteenth time this week, luckily, this time not to save his manservants life or the other way around, but to make sure Merlin would follow his orders and get some rest.

He had realised just how worn out Merlin had actually been when the man had fallen asleep in his arms not long after entering the castle. Arthur smiled down at his serene expression. Merlin's head rested on his shoulder, lulling everytime he took a step, as he slept silently. 

Not that it was a surprise after everything he had done while fighting Morgause. In fact, Arthur was impressed that he had held on for so long. He knew he should hurry, but he didn't want to risk waking Merlin from what probably was the first good sleep he'd had in weeks. 

I'm sure the knights will be fine for a bit. Arthur thought quietly to himself. It was all going to be okay now. Merlin had said it. And knowing he was alright felt like surfacing from deep water after a long time of not breathing. It felt like he was finally drawing his first breath in a while. Finally not having to worry about everything.  

The door to Gaius' place was ajar. Thank god, he didn't feel like having to awkwardly try and open it with a person in his arms. Stepping through the door, Arthur noticed the old physician wasn't present in the room, but there was a bed, so he wasn't complaining.

He gently placed Merlin down on the matress and draped the covers over him so he wouldn't be too cold, earning a soft smile on the man's face from the added warmth. When he looked out of the window, snow was falling down gracefully like it had waited for them to finish the battle.

Arthur watched as it slowly piled up against the windows, making it fog up. It was cold. Maybe, a fire would be useful. Arthur rose up from kneeling next to Merlin and smiled at him fondly, feeling his stomach do flips as he realised again that this man was his. And he was Merlin's. He truly couldn't believe what he had done to deserve him.

Looking around, Arthur rubbed his hands together. "Okay, how do I make a fire..." He came to the conclusion, he didn't have a clue. Well, he knew how, of course, he just wasn't very good at it, which wasn't weird or anything, he normally had Merlin to do it for him.

A thought came into his mind and he shrugged. Just use one of the torches outside. He went over to the fireplace to set everything in place. First, two logs of firewood. It was a good thing Gaius had already collected everything to build a fire and had enough for two whole days.

Okay, next was the small flakes of wood, Uhm... Tinder? Arthur placed it between the firewood and got the kindling wood to put on top. Deciding he needed it to last for a bit, he added two smaller pieces of firewood, careful to leave room for the air to circulate around the wood.

He jumped up again and sprinted outside, but not before casting a glance at Merlin, who was still asleep but had curled into himself to preserve the heat that he had. In the corridor, it was noticeably colder than inside the other room. Let's find that fire. It took him a while to come across a torch that was still burning enough, since most of them weren't even lit.

Completely forgotten, probably because everyone had been too busy, protecting the castle to even think of them, but eventually, he found one that looked like it was still decently ablaze and not about to die out. Satisfied, Arthur wrapped his hand around the hilt and pulled it out of its holder, away from the wall.

Of course, there were floor standing candle holders all over the place, but they had been long extinguished. Making an effort to be quick, Arthur stepped back into the room and lit the fire, putting out the torch in a water bucket and going back to sit with Merlin, just until Gaius would return.