~~Arthur's POV~~
"Merlin!"
Hearing my manservant's name, I look back, only to see an empty horse.
Where's Merlin?
I look at the ground, to see Merlin laying there, unconscious. He seriously needs more sleep.
"And Merlin yet again falls asleep on his horse."
I jump off my horse and begin to walk over to Merlin.
"Now, Merlin. Time to-"
"Now princess, let's talk this out."
Looking over, I see Gwaine jump off his horse and walk towards me.
"What are you talking about? We have a days ride until we get there. We can't stop now."
As I reach Merlin, Gwaine stands in front of me, forming a barrier between me and Merlin.
"Gwaine, move."
"I'm sorry princess, I can't do that."
"And why is that?"
"Merlin got no sleep. He's tied. I can carry him on my horse and tie his horse to trot along."
Ugh. Merlin, this is becoming a pattern with you.
"I'll take Merlin, my horse is larger. You tie his horse to yours."
Gwaine gives me a grin and turns to Merlin's horse. I walk forwards and pick up Merlin, carrying him bridal style.
"Percival, can you help me tie down Merlin's legs."
"Yes, sire."
Percival jumps off his horse and comes over to me. I hand Merlin over to Percival. Then, I jump onto my horse. Percival lifts Merlin onto my horse and I hold him steady. Then he goes to each side on Merlin and ties his legs.
"All good, sire."
"Thank you Percival. Gwaine, did you attach Merlin's horse to yours?"
"Yes princess."
"Let's carry on then."
For the next few hours, I used one hand to hold Merlin against me and the other to hold the horse's rein. I like the warmth of Merlin's body against my own and his head resting in the crook of my head.
For the most part, Merlin didn't move, only stirred a few times when Gwaine got too excited in his story telling. When Gwaine did this, I would glare at him and he would roll his eyes and lower his voice. I wanted Merlin to get as much sleep as possible.
When it begins to get dark, I decided it is probably time to make camp.
"It's getting dark now. Let's make camp and we'll ride out at first light tomorrow. Percival, help me with Merlin."
I hear everybody dismount their horses. Percival makes his way over to me and begins to unstrap Merlin's legs.
"Thank you Percival. You're a good knight."
"No problem sire. Merlin is a good friend and I'll help him in anyway I can."
Hearing Percival say that, I feel a warmth inside of me. I know that each of my knights would do anything to protect Merlin.
Percival grabs Merlin from me and I dismount my horse. I take Merlin from Percival and walk over to a flat spot for Merlin. I place Merlin down and here footsteps behind me.
Turning around, I see Elyan standing there.
"Elyan."
"Sire. I wanted to know if you wanted me to start cooking."
"That's no need. I will wake Merlin in five minutes. He will kill me if I let anybody cook dinner."
Elyan chuckles.
"You're right. I'll help set up camp."
With that, Elyan turns around and leaves. I look back at Merlin. He looks so peaceful.
I crouch down and gently nudge Merlin. He stirs but doesn't wake. I guess we're going to do this the hard way.
"MERLIN!"
~~Merlin's POV~~
I feel somebody slightly push my shoulder. I'm not ready to wake up yet.
"MERLIN!"
With that, I shoot straight up. Then, I immediately bang my head against something hard.
Opening my eyes, I see Arthur rubbing his head.
"I always knew you were hard headed, but I never meant it literally."
Arthur glares at me and steps away.
"You need to begin cooking supper."
"You woke me up to cook dinner?"
"Would you rather me cook it?"
I'd rather die.
"Let me just get my satchel and start cooking."
I get up and see the fire has already been started. I should probably thank Gwaine for that.
I open up the canteen to see the soup Gaius packed for me for today. It doesn't look like enough, but enough to feed Arthur and all the knights.
Cooking the food, I can feel a pair of eyes watching me. I look around, but see nobody. All the knights and Arthur are talking between one another. One more look around, I continue back cooking.
Throughout me cooking, I still have a funny feeling but I just decide to ignore it. If somebody wanted to attack, they would.
Finally, the food is done. I grab all the bowls and begin filling them. And we're one bowl short. I guess no dinner for Arthur then.
I pass a bowl out to each of the knights, including Arthur. Then, I break apart the bread and hand a piece to everybody, including me. After I hand out the bread, I grab all the pots and begin walking to the nearby river.
I eat the bread while walking and finish it by the time I get to the lake. Hopefully tomorrow for breakfast, I'll get more to eat. I shouldn't complain though, food is food.
Finishing washing the dishes, I walk back. Ugh, I forgot that I'll now have to clean their bowls.
Putting on my happy grin, I walk over.
"Now, how was my wonderful cooking?"
Arthur is quick to respond.
"I don't know Merlin. How did you think it tasted?"
Gulp.
"Delicious, like always."
"Really, because there seems to be one empty bowl, with no trace of food ever being in it."
"I wasn't hungry."
Growl.
Damm stomach. Why do you always have to bully me like this?
I see the other knights look at me with a questioning look, and Arthur with his attempt at a Gaius eyebrow.
"Not hungry you say. I guess I will just have to throw out this extra bowl of soup I have here."
Arthur pulls out a partially full bowl of soup. I mean.... if they have extra. But how'd they get extra?
"How'd you get more? I gave you guys all the soup."
"Well, you gave us too much and we put the extra into this empty bowl. Now, do you want it or not?"
My stomach growls again and I walk over to the bowl.
"Are you sure you ate enough? I know how you can-"
"Merlin. Just be happy and eat the food."
My smile becomes genuine this time.
"Thank you, all of you."
Next it's Gwaine to speak up.
"No problem Merls. Always happy to help."
"I'll go wash our dishes."
I look over at Percival.
"Are you sure Percival? There's a lot and-"
"And I'll help. Right Percy?"
Gwaine helping to wash dishes? That's a new one.
"Sure Gwaine. Can always use the help."
With that, Gwaine and Percival go off to wash the dishes. I take a seat on a log and begin eating. Arthur comes and sits next to me.
"Why didn't you make a bowl for yourself?"
I don't look up at him. Instead, I continue looking at my bowl.
"There wasn't enough."
"Well, obviously there is. So, why didn't you take some for yourself in the first place?"
"I always give you guys the same amount each time. I didn't want to give you guys less because there wasn't enough. Anyways, you guys are knights and I'm just a servant."
I feel a hand go on my arm and I automatically look up. Arthur is looking at me dead in the eye.
"Merlin, we both know that you're more then a servant."
My heart quickens. I know I shouldn't feel little butterflies in my stomach, but I do.
"Thanks Arthur. I didn't know you were so sentimental."
He laughs and pulls his hand away.
"Well, don't get use to it. I just don't feel like having to deal with you when you're in a mood. Now, eat up. I didn't give you some of my food for it to go to waste."
I laugh and begin eating. I sure do make good soup.
*Later that night*
I curl up in my bedroll. I should've never slept so much earlier. I feel wide awake.
"Merlin? You awake?"
Looking up, I see Arthur staring at me. He's on first watch.
"Yeah. Is there something wrong?"
"No, nothing. Just saw you moving around and figured you were awake."
"Thank you, by the way."
Arthur gives me a curious look.
"For what? I didn't do anything."
"You let me sleep on your horse for the ride."
"Well, I couldn't just let you continue falling off of his horse, now could I?"
"You could've, but you didn't. Thank you."
"Get some sleep Merlin. We have a long day tomorrow."
Funny enough, I'm able to go to sleep now. But, I still have the feeling of being watched, just like I did earlier.
~~Unknown's POV~~
I've been watching the boy for a day already. He and the prince do have a special connection. The prince first let a servant sleep and ride with him. Then, when Emrys didn't eat, Arthur made all the knights put some food into a bowl to give to him.
Their relationship is rather peculiar. A servant and a prince. Or should I say, Emrys and the Once and Future King. Well, tomorrow we shall see how much loyalty Emrys has to the prince. If all goes according to plan, tomorrow will have proven if my theory is correct.
~~Merlin's POV~~
"Arthur, how much longer?"
"What? Is your little bottom sore?"
"Yeah, it's not as fat as yours."
"Hey! I could have you thrown into the stocks for that."
"But, you won't. I think being stuck out here with you for five and a half more days is punishment enough."
"So, I'm in punishment for as long as you're my manservant. Which according to you is the day you die."
"And I meant it. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be dead by the end of this week. Then I wouldn't have to deal with a clotpole like you."
"You should really start to get different-"
I block out Arthur as I start feel a bad feeling in the pit in my stomach. Something is wrong.
"Merlin. Merlin. Merlin!"
That snapped me out of it.
"There's something wrong."
"What could be wrong? Don't tell me it's one of your funny feelings-"
Snap.
All heads turn into the direction of the twig snap.
"You were saying?"
"Shut up Merlin."
Everybody continues watching forwards, at the spot the twig snapped. Suddenly, a bunny jumps out. Arthur begins laughing.
"See Merlin. What'd I tell you? You funny feelings are just that, funny feelings."
"Hey, I'm usually-"
"You know, you should probably listen to your manservant more often. He seems very knowledgeable to know I'm already here."
Everybody turns around at the new voice.
There is a figure standing there in a black hood. Their hood is up, so I can't see their face.
"Who are you and what do you want?"
"Arthur Pendragon, prince of Camelot."
The voice doesn't sound female or male, it just sounds neutral. How can that be? Magic. Of course. This is the sorcerer coming to kill Arthur Kilgharrah told me about.
"You know who I am. May I ask who you are?"
"Why don't you and your knights come see themselves?"
I look around at all the knights. They look at Arthur and Arthur gives them a slight nod of approval. Slowly, everybody descends off of their horses. I guess I should too.
All the knights begin to surround the sorcerer. Suddenly, I hear a voice whispering something in my ear.
"Merlin, stay behind me no matter what. Do you understand me?"
I give Arthur a slight nod and he walks forwards to the sorcerer.
"Who are you and what do you want?"
"Who I am doesn't concern you Arthur Pendragon. It's what I'm going to do to you that should really concern you."
"And what are you going to do to me?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Leon quietly begin to walk up to the sorcerer from behind, most likely trying to capture or kill them.
"Oh, it's simple. I'm going to kill you and nobody will stop me."
Just as Leon approaches the hooded figure, it puts it hand up and suddenly, Leon freezes. Well, everybody freezes besides me and Arthur.
All the knights try to frantically move, only to realize they can't. Arthur looks around at them and then back at me. I give him a helpless shrug.
"Did you really think your knight could do a surprise attack on me?"
"Well, I was hoping he would. What did you do to them?"
"You should be more worried about your fate Arthur Pendragon then your knights. They'll be perfectly fine and you'll be dead."
"Why did you leave my manservant unfrozen?"
"What damage could an unarmed manservant do?"
Arthur looks back at me. He gives me a small smile.
"Do what you want to me. Just leave him and all my knights alone."
"Arthur no-"
"Merlin. It's okay. Just stay back."
Arthur turns back to the sorcerer. He places his sword on the ground.
"You care for the boy, don't you? Your life is about to end and yet, you still bargain for his."
"He doesn't deserve to die. He's a good man."
Let's just hope Arthur feels the same once I tell him I have magic. But, I doubt I'll ever tell him.
"So be it."
The sorcerer brings their hand up and a red ball appears in it. They bring the ball by their face, most likely to put a spell on it. Then, they throw the ball in Arthur's direction.
No, Arthur won't die today.
Using my magic, I slow down time. The red ball of death slowly moves to Arthur, but it's already too close.
I run up behind Arthur and shove him aside.
The next thing I know, a thousand bricks hit my chest and I'm being thrown back. My entire body feels like it's on fire. What is this spell?
My head feels like it's exploding.
"Merlin!"
I hear the faint sound of a voice. It sounds familiar, but I can't think of who it is.
My shoulders and now being shook. I can hear a faint voice continuously calling my name, but it sound so far away.
I open my eyes to see a man's face in front of me. He has blue eyes and blond hair. I know him, but I can't think of a name.
"Come on Merlin, stay with me!"
The voice is begging me to stay awake, but I can't, the pain is too much.
I close my eyes once more and fall into a deep slumber.
The pain goes away. For some reason, I know I'm still alive just sleeping. I want to wake up, but the sleep is too comforting.
Then, all my thoughts completely go away and for the rest of the day, I go into a dreamless slumber.
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Word Count: 2533