Hello all. So this story is one that I've been working on for a while, and by that I mean I wrote about half of it and then forgot that I did that! So I finished it up and now I'm ready to give it to you good people. I haven't written in a long time before finishing this so please bear with me on the characters and their interactions, but hopefully it won't be too out of character for the most part. I might publish on a schedule that I need to figure out later on. Anyway without further ado, here you are.

Chapter 1

The Start of it All

The battle couldn't really even be called that. It was more of a scuffle, really. Well, technically speaking, it was an ambush-though a failed one. The knights had been on-edge the entire ride, almost as though they were expecting trouble to appear. When it did, in the form of a small group of mercenaries, shouting something about taking Arthur's head as a trophy, they were dispatched quickly and neatly.

In fact, Merlin barely had time to dismount from his horse and take stock of where his king was before the last man had been cut down with a flourish from Sir Leon.

"Is anyone injured?" Arthur called out. There was a small amount of murmuring as the knight's checked their bodies for hidden injuries. Merlin eyed Arthur with pride welling in his chest. The king, golden hair shining in the morning sunlight, stood stoically, his sword held at an angle, touching the ground slightly. It was not long ago that he had been a naive prince who it seemed at every turn, was on his deathbed.

Gwaine's voice broke through the silence. "Sir Kay has a scrape but it's just barely that."

Sir Kay was a young knight. This patrol would have only been his second ever. Merlin almost felt bad for him. The inexperienced knight looked shaken and was looking around widely into the trees, expecting more enemies to jump out.

"Merlin!" Arthur called. Merlin sighed heavily and turned to see what the King wanted.

It all happened in seconds. There was a click and the sound of an arrow loosing, then a pain in his side that sent the warlock stumbling back into his horse, followed by the angry shouts of several men. In a state of confused shock, Merlin turned his head to see a group of knights tear into a mercenary with a crossbow dangling from one hand.

Then Arthur was there, blue eyes wide and hands hovering over Merlin's side where the arrow was lodged in the soft flesh, piercing through his jacket and shirt.

"Oh no..." Merlin breathed, "This was my favorite jacket."

"Very funny Merlin." Arthur commented with fake annoyance, but it was forced. The warlock knew that the king was just trying to keep some semblance of normalcy in their conversation, for both their sakes.

Dizziness suddenly overwhelming him, Merlin reached out and gripped Arthur's sleeve.

"I think I need to sit down now."

Arthur grabbed both of the warlock's arms and lowered him gently to the ground.

"Sir Leon!" The king called, his voice filling with a hint of panic. The older knight was there in an instant, crouched next to Merlin.

"I can't get a good look at the wound, sire." Leon said gravely. "We'll need to cut away the fabric or remove the bolt."

Merlin made a face. He was wearing his favorite brown jacket and second favorite tunic.

"I-I gu-guess that the sh-sh-shirt is ruined any...way." Merlin stuttered and furrowed his brow at his uncooperative tongue.

Both Leon and Arthur exchanged looks.

A small knife came out of the king's boot a moment later and gently began cutting the fabric, careful not to jostle the arrow too much. Regardless of his efforts to not cause Merlin anymore pain than he had to, the bolt moved slightly with every cut, causing blackness to appear at the edges of the servant's vision.

"No, no, no. Merlin, don't do that. Stay awake." Leon instructed, shaking Merlin a bit to keep him aware. Not that he had been too much in control of falling asleep in the first place.

Somewhere in the background the commotion Merlin didn't realize had been going on until then died down and Sir Elyan stepped forward.

"Sire, I will ride ahead, my horse is the youngest. I'll inform Gaius."

Arthur looked up from his work with thanks in his eyes and nodded. The dark-skinned knight was gone in an instant.

"Gaiu...ss is going t-t-to be so m-m-mad." Merlin said lazily, trying the bring his hand up to cover the wound. Sir Leon, who was now completely supporting the servant's upper torso held his arm down.

Arthur, who was finished with his task of cutting the fabric, shushed Merlin gently and looked to Leon.

"Sir Leon, hold him down. This is probably going to hurt."

Merlin looked down to see what the king was planning as Leon tightened his grip on the warlock's arms. Suddenly the pain was overwhelming, white hot wires of agony ripping up his body, through his chest and cutting off air. Black spots danced in Merlin's vision as it blurred, the two men before him nothing but fuzzy specks of color.

"-just breathe. Merlin, come on, breathe!" Arthur's voice floated into Merlin's consciousness, alerting him to his straining lungs. He sucked in a harsh gasp that made his side flare with pain.

"That's it, good. Breathe, in an out." The king was still saying soothingly.

"-hurting me." Merlin whispered. "Leon."

The knight looked like somebody had struck him and he instantly loosened his grip on Merlin's arms. The warlock was sure that if he lived through this, he'd have bruises.

Arthur was holding a small piece of wood in one hand that was wet with red. Feathers poked out of his fist and Merlin realized that it was the crossbow bolt, but only about half of it. The rest was still lodged in his side.

"Sire." Leon whispered as Arthur removed the squares of fabric. The king's face went white as he stared down at the wound. Curious, Merlin peered down to look for himself.

The remainder of the bolt was lodged solidly in his white skin, a hand's width in from the side of his belly. There was blood smeared around the puncture from where Arthur had been moving the fabric but it was a small amount.

"Leave it in." Merlin breathed suddenly. Both men looked at the servant.

"G-Gaius... Says that um... It'll bleed t-t-too much. L-leave it in." Arthur looked to Leon.

"Merlin... We can't. The ride back to Camelot will jostle it too much." Arthur reasoned, "it could do more harm."

Merlin sat up a little bit, fighting through the pain of any movement. "I'll b-b-bl...bleed out if you... Take it." Words were getting harder to get out.

Arthur sighed and ran his hand through his golden hair, smearing blood into the blond locks.

"Merlin." He said seriously, worry and pain for his servant-no, friend apparent on his face.

Out of the corner of his eye, Merlin saw Gwaine approaching. The rugged knight was carrying something under one arm. His eyes were red and face pinched into a harsh frown.

"Arthur." Gwaine said, using the king's real name for once. "We have to move him. We think that they were alone but we can't be sure."

"A-Arthur... Don't." Merlin pleaded. He didn't want to die of blood loss on their way back, plus the pain of removing the bolt would be unbearable.

The king looked from the two knights back to Merlin.

"I'm sorry." The king said solemnly. Leon's grip tightened once more and the bolt buried in Merlin's side gave a sickening jerk upward.

All the warlock could remember was his pained scream and Arthur's equally pained expression before the darkness finally closed in and brought peaceful numbness.

Hopefully that wasn't too bad! Please, if you liked it, hated it, or felt anything in between give a review or a favorite.