The "Diary" Inquiry

Just a quick little thing I wrote :) Thanks to WritingReadingLaughing for the great prompt!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters in this story.

"Shut up Merlin!" moaned an exasperated Arthur—that's King Arthur, mind you— from across the training field. As Morgana tried her hardest to penetrate Camelot, he found himself training harder than ever to ensure that when her final attack came, he would be ready. He had been so close to overpowering all four of his best knights, Elyan, Percival, Leon, and Gwaine, before Merlin had opened his big mouth and distracted him.

"I was only trying to tell you that, had they been actual sorcerers, all of your fancy sword-wielding would be useless. You'd be dead by now!" protested Merlin, but his complaints fell on deaf ears.

"And what would you know about sorcery, Merlin?" scoffed Arthur. He rolled his eyes and turned back around. "Let's try that again. Percival—hold your sword higher. Elyan—attack as soon as you can, don't hesitate for even a second. Gwaine—Gwaine!" The knight was staring longingly after a couple of servants crossing the field, arms laden with food for the king's dinner. Gwaine returned his attention to Arthur sheepishly. After re-instructing everyone, Arthur restarted the practice—only this time, he was actually battling against a sorcerer, whether he knew it or not.

What I know about sorcery would surprise even you, Arthur. Merlin smiled mischievously and whispered an incantation under his breath. His eyes glinted gold. Suddenly, Arthur's sword gravitated downwards, as though attracted by an incredibly strong magnet. It wedged itself firmly in the hard soil, and try as he might, Arthur couldn't pull it out. At the same time, Leon swung his sword at Arthur. He had barely enough time to turn it so the hilt faced the king before it hit the armor with a resounding clank. Arthur cursed as a wide-eyed Leon rushed to his aid. Merlin stood watching, satisfied, before Arthur yelled,

"Well don't just stand there, Merlin!" Merlin rushed over and draped Arthur's arm over his shoulder. He and Leon inched Arthur to Gaius' pharmacy, followed by the three other anxious knights.

oOo

Gaius had heard of some strange incidents in his life, but this one took the cake.

"Your sword just stuck in the ground? Just like that?" he asked Arthur as he uncovered the king's wound. It was nothing more than a bruise, but Gaius was agitated for other reasons. He shot an accusatory glare towards Merlin, who was determinedly avoiding his gaze, a sly smile playing on his lips.

"Yes! It was most extraordinary… almost like magic…" Arthur trailed off. Then he laughed. "The only person there who could've used magic without me seeing was Merlin, and Merlin obviously doesn't have magic. It was a mistake on my part—the result of a distraction." Gaius laughed nervously along with Arthur. A mistake indeed.

oOo

Merlin didn't feel bad. Not really… As far as he was concerned, Arthur sorely needed that bruise—the one to his arm and the one to his ego. As Gaius conversed with Arthur, Merlin cast his gaze around the pharmacy aimlessly. Medicines… Books… More medicines… More books… - And then he saw it. The book. It didn't look like much, a worn, yellowed paperback bound in soft leather. But it was the inside that counted. Each musty page crawled with spidery text in the language of the ancient dragons. Yes, the book may not have had the best appearance, but the contents were priceless to the last dragons, to fierce, mighty Kilgarrah and sweet, kind Aithusa. And, of course, to Merlin—the last dragonlord. He glanced around the room in his most nonchalant manner. If anyone saw that book, he wasn't even sure Gaius could save him from the chaos to follow. If anyone ever figured out Merlin had magic, and, god forbid, that there were still dragons in the world, Morgana would only have to sit and watch as Camelot tore itself apart. Merlin was the only hope for the survival of Camelot, and the price of his continued existence was eternal silence about his most potent talent in the world: his ability to wield magic.

Once he was convinced everyone was preoccupied, Merlin edged towards the nearby shelf, on which rested the book. Slowly does it, he thought. He concentrated on the book and whispered under his breath, intending to conceal the book under a close-by poster featuring human anatomy (a lesson Gaius had tried to teach Merlin hundreds of times before, although he always failed.) The book hovered a centimeter in the air and started to slip under the poster…

"Merlin!" Merlin almost died right then and there. His arm, which had been casually leaning on an adjacent table, slipped, and down he went amidst a flurry of papers. "Merlin." He heard Arthur's annoyed voice again. Cheeks burning, Merlin jumped back up.

"Sorry! Must've dozed off. What did I miss?" he asked in a cheery voice. Arthur scrutinized him suspiciously.

"What were you staring at, Merlin?" he asked slowly. Merlin emphatically shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry? I wasn't staring at anything. Are you delusional?" he asked, trying to change the topic. His palms were unbearably sweaty. Arthur rolled his eyes (he had a problem with that) and walked over the shelf on which the book rested in plain sight. Merlin started hyperventilating. "I think you may be going mad. Hallucinations are a telltale sign!" he warned loudly, striding over to Arthur and forcefully pulling him away from the shelf. Or at least trying to. Even with a bruised arm the king could hold his servant off without a problem. His eyes roamed across the shelves while he restrained Merlin. First shelf, second shelf, third shelf… Arthur's eyes passed over the book without stopping. Merlin almost collapsed with relief.

And then Arthur pulled the book out.

"Well, what do we have here?" he mused, flipping through the pages. After several heart palpitations and a futile glance at Gaius (he was on his own for this one) Merlin finally responded.

"What? Oh, that silly old thing. That's just my—nothing, honestly—well, I mean, it's really quite a—would you like some food? I would like some food. I would like an apple, to be perfectly honest with you. Would you?" Merlin gulped. Arthur sighed.

"Spit it out, Merlin."

"It's my diary," Merlin blurted.

And the next few days proceeded to be even more hellish than he ever could've imagined.

oOo

For the last three days, King Arthur and Sirs Gwaine, Leon, Elyan, and Percival had all been pestering Merlin non-stop, trying to figure out what was in his diary. Arthur had ordered him to hand over the diary for "safe-keeping". Merlin was going through hell and back to retrieve it. Since the text was in the language of the dragons, only a dragonlord like Merlin could read it. Merlin wasn't about to tell them that, so he fell prey to the barrage of work assigned to him by Arthur—King Arthur. The five of them were making Merlin address them properly too.

Arthur had the art of torture through work down to a science. He'd already ordered Merlin to polish all of his armor and boots, wash all of his clothes and bed sheets, dust his room, muck out his stables, and take care of all the horses. Oh, and who could forget? Merlin had to help out in training; he was essentially the punching bag of all the knights.

"Come on, show some backbone, Merlin!" yelled Arthur, before he nailed Merlin, who was cowering behind a giant wooden wheel, with a powerful jab of his sword. The impact made the wheel shudder so much Merlin could barely keep a hold of it.

After forty-three more strikes, Arthur pulled off his helmet and mussed his hair with his hand.

"Now on to jousting!" he said, smiling wickedly. "Go suit up, Merlin!"

Merlin almost groaned, then thought better of it. He didn't want any days in the stocks too.

oOo

Merlin was deep in sleep when his slumber ended with three powerful knocks on the door. Gaius trundled over, and when he opened it, he was greeted by-

"Sire!" he exclaimed, addressing the king, clearly surprised. "Are you hurt?" Merlin heard the sound of multiple pair of feet entering the room.

"No, no… We just stopped by to talk to Merlin," came the smiling voice of Arthur. Merlin groaned and dragged himself out of bed into the pharmacy, where he was greeted with the grinning faces of Elyan, Percival, Leon, Gwaine, and Arthur. The king grinned jovially. "Merlin! Just the man we wanted to see!" Merlin suppressed a moan. What vile task awaited him this time? Arthur cleared his throat. "After some thought, we decided it best to leave this diary matter alone. After all, who knows what kinds of idiotic things could be written in there? We wouldn't want to be associated with anything so utterly stupid. So, I've made the executive decision to give you your diary back. Happy writing, Merlin!" Arthur winked. Merlin smiled. He couldn't help it.

"Maybe you aren't such a prat after all," he said grudgingly, moving forward to take the diary. Arthur rolled his eyes (again!)

"Shut up, Merlin."

oOo

After his encounter with Arthur, Merlin took to reading his spellbooks by the lake. It induced a certain sense of calm in him (perhaps it was Freya's presence), and he was fairly sure no one would suspect his being there. As long as Gaius didn't mistakenly say he was in the tavern, life had a modicum of calm.

One day, Merlin took his dragon book there. He was practicing some of the dragonlord spells. Had he been paying closer attention, he might've noticed the ghost rustles of leaves behind him or the snapping of twigs. But Merlin, always so faithfully ignorant, noticed nothing.

He opened his book and started reciting under his breath. Even in the woods, it was wise to be careful. Muttering incantations, his eyes roved over the pages. So many spells…

"Merlin!" Merlin nearly had a heart attack for the second time in far too short a time. Arthur and the knights emerged from the foliage. "What are you doing? I told you to clean my room!" The king's eyes settled on the book in Merlin's lap. "Is that…" he trailed off. Merlin gave a tentative smile. "Are you writing in your diary?" Merlin gave a helpless kind of shrug. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"You're such a girl, Merlin."

~ Thanks so much for reading! I appreciate all kinds of feedback :)

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