Chapter 1

Merlin was sure that any minute now he was going to faint from exhaustion. Swear poured down the sides of his face and the exhaustion was so great that he felt that one more well aimed blow would end his life right then and there. And seeing as Arthur was a brilliant swordsman he really wasn't liking his chances. Though, now that he considered it, death would've been a more attractive option.

He was currently standing, if you could call the half bent position he was currently in due to enormous pain standing, being pummeled to the ground by Arthur's sword. Merlin felt as if his right arm was going to fall of any minute now. Merlin was almost tempted to use his magic to make him stronger.

Then I could beat him into the ground like he's currently doing. Merlin sighed in pleasure. He could almost imagine Arthur's shocked expression at being beaten by his weak and useless manservant.

That would show him. Merlin thought viciously. His daydreaming ended when another harsh blow landed on him. This time his knees buckled from the pressure. The shield strapped to his arm did nothing to protect him and instead enhanced the hit's pressure. Excalibur glinted in the sun and this time when the blow met its target, Merlin barely managed to stay up. He stumbled backwards his breathing erratic.

I should've never bloody made that stupid sword for Arthur. Normally Arthur deciding to vent his anger on Merlin by beating him to a bloody pulp and giving him an over sized shield that he knew Merlin wouldn't even be able able to hold properly let alone shield himself and a rusty shield that couldn't be used to chop vegetables never mind harming a person was perfectly painful in itself. However, today Arthur had decided to use his priced sword which gave Arthur more power in his blows so by noon, the sun had risen high in the sky and Arthur's powerful blows to Merlin's arm were so painful he was convinced he'd have to chop it off because of the pain. I'm going to die. All the times I have been poisoned, strangled and tortured to an inch of my life, I'm going to die because of some stupid training session. Merlin would've found the fact that he would be killed by an obnoxious prat with anger issues despite enduring some of the most dangerous attacks in the five kingdoms quite amusing if not for the fact that he was pretty sure he was still going to be in pain even in the after life.

Arthur delivered another blow and that was it. He fell to the flow like a flower. He really hated that bloody sword said glaring at Excalibur. He hated the dollop head more. Oh how he loathed him. He absolutely despised the soft blond hair plasted to the gloriously tanned face beaded with sweat. And how he hated the impossibly blue eyes that Merlin was sure were pools of water from the lake of Avalon itself which were reduced to slits and the plump red lips in a downward ark, frowning from concentration. And the chiseled jawbone that could cut glass-

Ok. Maybe hate was a bit strong. But he definitely disliked him. Definitely. Probably. Maybe?

"Oh God." Merlin groaned partly due to the pain but partly to do with his feelings for a certain prince.

"Come on Merlin! Stop being such a girl's blouse and put some backbone into it." said Arthur panting from the exhaustion himself.

Merlin's magic couldn't help itself and and sent a cool breeze towards Arthur's direction to cool him down. Another reason why he hated his life was his magic and its infatuation with Arthur. Merlin couldn't even get his magic to conjure up some pillows most of the time but oh no! It had to be besotted with Arthur (much like Merlin himself but if one were to ask him this he would've certainly denied this little fact). When it came to protecting Arthur and complying to his every need, his magic had no problem moving mountains. Hell, they'd materialized the finest pillows made from the softest silk and egyptian cotton when Arthur had a minor case of cold the other week. Merlin had tried to steal it once Arthur was better and was even successful and he had gone to sleep curling his toes in pleasure however the pillows had mysteriously disappeared overnight and Merlin woke with an itchy and sore cheek from rubbing it against the sandy material of his bed linings.

Merlin scowled. Arthur had been using him as a personal punching bag for the past week and taking his anger out on him. Gwen was to be married to Lancelot who proposed to her a few days back and even though Arthur had stopped courting Gwen a few months ago because they didn't have the same love for each other they had before, the wounds were still fresh. Arthur, the jealous prat had been wearing the kicked puppy look that would've melted the coldest of hearts and spent his time being generally moody and childishly petulant to anyone and everyone. Instead of deciding take his frustration out by training the knights, Arthur had decided that Merlin was instead a perfectly good dummy to practise on.

"Come on Merlin" shouted Arthur annoyed. "Stop being bloody useless and get up"

"Nghh..." groaned Merlin nearly unconscious.

"You've got to be kidding me. That was just the warm up. We still haven't got up to the maces and the crossbow." Arthur said crossing his arms, gaining his energy back and not as exhausted as before because of the cool breeze that had blown some of the heat away.

"Ughh..." Merlin replied. "Ar'thr?" Merlin groaned who had been in the process of lifting his head up but had discovered that he couldn't keep it in place because he was literally bruised all over.

"What Merlin?" said Arthur rolling his eyes, annoyed but worried about Merlin who now that he looked at him seemed nearly unconscious. He knew he had been overworking him. The idiot couldn't even hold up his shield and sword properly and was so weighed down by the armor that he was practically falling down before the practice had even started. Although Gwen and he had separated it still hurt that she would get married to Lancelot so quickly. Though he knew he was being petulant as he barely had any feelings for Gwen but Gwen moving on so quickly had hurt his pride.

"Who's makin' that noise?" Merlin all but whimpered.

"What noise?" Arthur asked.

"That funny clanging sound" Arthur was terribly confused and more than a little concerned. He thought it a good idea if he got Merlin to Gaius's chambers first but remembered that the physician had left for an expedition a few days back and wouldn't be returning until noon tomorrow. He'd have to take Merlin to his chambers and his tummy gave the slightest of jolts as his heart did the same and Arthur had no idea why.

He gently pried the armor off and pulled the sword and shield off of the top of Merlin's body. Softly he took hold of Merlin's body and lifted him off the ground making sure not to jolt him by making any sudden movements. His face softened as he carried Merlin and the funny twinges in his stomach and heart came back. The boy weighed next to nothing and was just a pile of skin and bones in his arms. He made a mental note to feed the boy more. Maybe he could mention it to the cook. As he walked past his knights, he noticed that Gwaine, Percival and Elyan were smirking at him and even Lancelot and Leon were smiling. Gwaine then leaned over to Lancelot and whispered something that made Lancelot laugh and Gwaine's smirk to widen. They were probably up to no good. Arthur feared what Gwaine had come up with this time- his pranks were famous among the citizens of Camelot. He also noticed that the servants were trying to hide their smiling faces as they passed him and Merlin, who was currently asleep in Arthur's arms, and even the guards' impassive faces twitched just a fraction. Gwaine was definitely up to something and it seemed that the whole castle was involved. Arthur mentally groaned.

His attention was pulled back to Merlin as he entered his chambers. He set Merlin on his own bed and drew his covers on top of him. Merlin curled up into a ball and Arthur's jolts of electricity returned in full force. He brushed a strand of hair that was falling over his eyes off of Merlin's forehead while smiling softly to himself. Merlin looked vulnerable then more so than other times and his relaxed features made him look kind of pretty in an awkward sort of way. He stroked Merlin's cheek with the lightest of touches, smiling as Merlin sighed and leaned towards Arthur's hand. He then quickly realised what he was doing and drew his arms back quickly, unsure as to what had come over him. Arthur soon put the incident out of his mind.

He left instructions to a guard coming down the corridor to guard his chambers and to make sure Merlin was left undisturbed. He then told one of the physicians who had taken over Gaius's job while he was gone to tend to any of Merlin's injuries and bruises.

He needed to call a meeting of the round table to hear news about the outlying villages and their pact with Essetir. The various knights came in to the great hall, among them the usual- Gwaine, Percival, Leon, Lancelot and Elyan. They were his most trusted knights. Apart from them only two other knights joined them- Sir Kay who was loyal to him since the day he was born and Sir Ewan who was one of the kindest knights of them all. Gwen, who he had made his adviser along with Gaius sat next to Lancelot. Only two people were missing. Gaius and Merlin. Arthur felt a great sense of belonging that he'd never felt with the knights under his father's rule. His father was a great king but he ruled with a cold fist never allowing the law to be broken no matter what the circumstance. Knights could only be noble men and the sympathetic were weak hearted. He disagreed with both views and even his views towards magic were changing.

He had realised that maybe magic was not as evil as he once thought. It was the person behind magic who decided whether to use it for good purposes or not. He thought about the old man who he thought had killed his father and he realised after much thinking that the old man looked devastated when Uther died. And he had confessed to using a love potion on Arthur and Gwen and saved Gwen's life. He may not have been all that he seems.

"Now princess, what have you done with Merlin. We all saw you taking him to your room. Is there something your not telling us?" Gwen and Sir Ewan giggled softly as Gwaine waggled his eyebrows. The other knights seemed to be holding expressions of humor back.

Arthur came out of his reverie and his cheeks flushed as he realised what Gwaine had implied.

"Gaius is not here. I simply offered a bed for Merlin."Arthur said smoothly although a bit of his defensive tone had slipped through.

"But there are are plenty other rooms in the castle sire." said Gwaine, obnoxious as ever and smirk widening as he managed to catch Arthur's slip.

"Yes. Well, Merlin will be comfortable in my chambers."

"Very comfortable indeed" mumbled Sir Kay.

"What was that Sir Kay?" Arthur asked heat rising onto his cheeks although he had no idea about the reason for his embarrassment.

"Oh. Nothing." Kay said unconvincingly.

The rest of the meeting was fairly dull, the most dull being Leon's weekly list of the ongoings around the borders of Camelot. Arthur found himself thinking of Merlin in his bed. He had no idea how a village peasant had managed to weasel his way into Arthur's heart and become his closest friend and adviser. Arthur knew that he would not be the king he was today if it were not for Merlin. And then there was the tingly feelings that were there every time he and Merlin were near each other. He knew that these jolts had been present for a long time - since last year - but Arthur had ignored them. They were however getting worse recently and more prominent and he feared he would soon be unable to hide it. He still didn't know what they meant. They felt like the butterflies in his tummy he had had every time Gwen was near but much stronger and electrifying. But no. It couldn't be-

"...-was a sorcerer who was caught yesterday..." Leon finished. Arthur's attention was quickly diverted at the word 'sorcerer'.

"If you may repeat the news about the sorcerer please Sir Leon." Arthur asked.

"A witch was caught yesterday sire. She is in the dungeons right now."

"And what crime did she commit?"

"She was seen by an eye-witness who saw her performing magic sire."

"Yes but for what use Leon" asked Arthur impatiently.

"She healed the leg of one of her patients sire."

"Then why is she being put in the cells?"

"I'm sorry sire but I don't understand"

"She obviously has done no harm. She was only healing a boy's leg. Take her out of prison immediately."

"Are you suggesting we let the sorcerer go sire." asked Sir Kay wide eyed.

"Yes, I am"

"Are you sure that is wise" asked Leon shocked.

"Yes. Now send word to the guards to release her and tell them to lead her to the hall." said Arthur firmly.

"Yes sire." Leon said and proceeded to bring the woman to court.

She came in a while later looking worn and a bit petrified. Arthur approached her and slowed down when he saw her flinch.

"You are free to go. I apologise for my knight's behaviour. They were unaware that you were not dangerous. As far as I'm concerned. You did not use your magic for evil purposes." said Arthur softly and apologetically at the women and raised his arms to pat her.

The woman looked surprised and very relieved.

"Thank you sire. This will not go forgotten. You are a good man King Arthur."

Arthur smiled at her and told the guards to provide her with anything needed to get back to her village. He dismissed the knights but not before seeing the proud looks upon all the knights' and Guinevere's faces.

"I'm proud of you Arthur. That was a very noble thing you did sparing her life." Gwen smiled and pat him on the back before moving next to Lancelot.

"We might make a good ruler out of you yet princess."Gwaine said smiling cheekily at Arthur before leaving with the rest of the knights.

He retired back to his chambers and sat on his chair realising that he couldn't take a nap as Merlin was occupying it at the moment. He sat on his chair and glanced at Merlin's lips which were now delicately open the tiniest amount before falling asleep thinking of Merlin's fingers and his soft lips.