(A/N)

why must i write the first chapter in a matter of days and then take a month to write the second one? i don't know, but i'm going to keep myself from posting each chapter until i have the next one finished. please enjoy this! i have no idea when i'll finish the third so i can post the second lol

Arthur Pendragon was so done with his servant, Merlin.

Alright, that might be a bit harsh, but the young man was fairly incompetent as a servant. This morning, they were meant to have left precisely when the sun was highest in the sky. Arthur did not make it out of his chambers before then.

Perhaps he was being a bit difficult himself. He did make the process of getting ready for the day harder than it needed to be for Merlin. Was it such a crime to want to have some fun and tease his servant at the beginning of the day? No, it was no crime at all, Arthur was the master and Merlin was the servant, and they had gotten a lot closer over the past couple years. He knew Merlin could take it.

Okay, Arthur felt a tiny amount of guilt. Merlin did seem stressed recently, given the huge task the two would have ahead of them. Foreigners had not come from so far in a very long time, in fact, not in Arthur's lifetime. The prince only primarily knew of Odin, Cenred, and Caerleon, as well as a bit of knowledge about more distant rulers like Kings Olaf and Alfred and that of the land of Tregor.

This upcoming journey held the utmost importance as Camelot did not retain many allies at the moment. Peace talks would occur with Olaf and the other kings soon, but Arthur knew that not all of them would truly seek peace. All kings wanted the best for themselves, some the best for their own kingdom. He wouldn't kid himself into believing that any of them, particularly Uther, wanted the best for all the lands.

The Kingdom of Marlin (yes, Arthur would be taking this opportunity to annoy Merlin by calling him Marlin instead) was all the way across the Great Seas of Meredor. Arthur had heard of it, but only in brief passages of his books or in a short description by his tutors growing up. Camelot had not traded with Marlin for a very long time, although Arthur was not entirely sure why. Uther had never told him much about the farther lands. The king chose instead to focus on the nearest enemies (read: every surrounding land; Uther did not make true allies often).

Arthur had read up on the Kingdom of Marlin for this upcoming task, however, as his father had deemed it an appropriate time for Arthur to discover this new part of the world. Arthur knew that this allowance had only been given to serve to Uther's advantage in trading and resources. Arthur only wished he could have learned about the kingdom sooner. He would surely come up on conversation topics for which he was unprepared simply because of the limited time he had to broaden his knowledge on their kingdom.

Despite all of these hindrances, Arthur did know quite a bit about Marlin now. It was a kingdom based on a small system of islands to the west on the far side of the Great Seas of Meredor. They mainly dealt with fishing and collecting resources from the seas.

This food resource was something Uther was eager to have, particularly because of the recent incidents they had had involving their grain. In general, annual yields had been decreasing, and there was also the whole unicorn situation. Camelot did not have many skilled fishers since the kingdom was so far from the coast and they had always had extensive fertile land. Plus, the most desireable fish resided in the western seas, not on the eastern coast of the Great Seas of Meredor.

Arthur's stomach turned a bit thinking about the upcoming weeks with representatives of Marlin. They would surely be bringing some of their fish over in order to entice the nobles into favoring good trade relations between their kingdoms, and Arthur had never liked fish. To be fair, the only fish he had eaten before had been from a village in western Camelot in a small pub. Certainly anything worthy of royals would taste much better.

Arthur focused back on the task at hand. Representatives from the Kingdom of Marlin would be arriving on the western coast of Camelot soon, and their royal family would be visiting as well. Since their peoples were essentially strangers, Uther had decided to show good faith by sending Arthur to personally escort them from the beach to their citadel. Morgana would be coming as well to greet them. Arthur suspected this choice had something to do with the fact that one of the visitors of Marlin would be a prince, but he didn't dare mention it. Morgana hated being paraded around like some prize.

Now that Arthur and Merlin were running late, Morgana and Gwen had departed ahead of them, along with a large escort of knights. Uther didn't want to take any chances with Morgana and any travelling bandits, particularly on such a widely publicized journey. Arthur was more focused on the two women not encountering danger as they had so recently, especially since he knew that Uther cared nothing for Gwen's safety.

Arthur still stood in his chambers now, watching his servant pack away the last of his supplies. Arthur shifted between his feet every now and then, hands resting on his hips as he waited. He was starting to regret chucking nearly every breakfast dish he had used that morning at Merlin. Perhaps he was actually in some kind of pain, and that's why this was taking so long. Or maybe it was just the extra work of cleaning up the area around the table. Regardless of whose fault it was, Arthur could always blame Merlin due to his superiority in status, and they would both be late.

"Merlin, are we going to be ready any time soon, or do I need to send ahead some other members of the court to keep the visitors entertained for the next week?" Arthur called out. His lips curled in amusement at the familiarly annoyed look which Merlin sent his way. Sure, many servants held quiet distaste for their masters, but Merlin always behaved genuinely around Arthur and didn't have that same fear of his criticisms being perceived and reprimanded. Arthur had thought from day one that this quality of Merlin's was naive and foolish, and it still was in the presence of anyone except Arthur, but it had come to feel quite refreshing as opposed to the usual unconditional deference to his royal authority. Merlin was something special.

"Oh, yes, sire, I apologize for getting a throbbing headache while I had to do so much work." Merlin smiled as he picked up the bags which would supply them for a few days as they traveled to the coast and back. He shot Arthur a pointed look. "I have no idea how that could have happened; in fact, it seems impossible since you were standing there doing nothing that whole time, per usual."

Arthur walked over to Merlin and scruffed his hair a bit, then guided him toward the door with a hand on his back. "Come on, Merlin, or people will wonder what we were getting up to."

He felt great pride at the slight blush that appeared on Merlin's face. Arthur knew Merlin that could rile him up so easily.

"Oh, I'm sure they already are," Merlin teased back, a sly grin spreading across his face. He walked just a bit ahead of Arthur now, not looking back.

Now Arthur blushed, and he knew that Merlin could rile him up easily as well.

The two of them walked side-by-side for the majority of the way, although Arthur pointedly strided ahead a few times. He couldn't let Merlin think he had won, no matter how much he rightfully deserved a place at Arthur's side. He made sure to fall back to his servant once they reached the courtyard. He wouldn't have anyone thinking Merlin was just some lowly servant. For some strange reason, he couldn't bear that idea.

They approached their horses and Merlin began loading their bags onto his horse, Aurelia. Arthur watched as his servant took a moment to pet his horse. Merlin had grown quite attached to her.

Arthur took some snacks from the stable boys and fed some to his own horse before sliding some to Aurelia. He patted the mare absentmindedly as he dug out a few coins from his pouch and tossed them to the stable boys. He nodded at their looks of gratitude and they were on their way, leaving Arthur and Merlin alone and ready to begin their journey.

Merlin seemed to have finished up with their bags and now stood there, appearing to look at Arthur. The prince turned his head and spotted some servants carrying trays of food behind him. That must be it.

"Come on, Merlin, we'll be having plenty of food in a few days, I'm sure you'll steal some off my plates," Arthur said as he returned to his own horse. He didn't even need to turn around to know what Merlin's reaction would be, but the scoff that sounded from the servant's direction told the prince enough. He chuckled and placed a hand on the saddle. "Well, Merlin?"

Merlin rolled his eyes but, after a pointed moment, dutifully walked over to help Arthur onto his horse. Arthur resisted the urge to snort, as that would be highly inappropriate for someone of his status, and actually just to make Merlin suffer. Merlin always took their relationship as a game, one which was evenly matched, and he never backed down from the challenge. He also never let Arthur lose, either. So Arthur nodded in appreciation.

Merlin then climbed onto Aurelia, giving her neck a few rubs as he waited for Arthur's command, not an ounce of annoyance on his face. Arthur jerked his head toward the gates exiting the courtyard.

The two of them rushed out of the kingdom, their horses galloping side by side.

Their journey would carry them westward toward the Great Seas of Meredor, winding through the White Mountains and then a fair amount of wooded area. Arthur wasn't particularly looking forward to passing through the Valley of the Fallen Kings; unlucky things always seemed to befall them there.

Since they hadn't left until late afternoon, they were forced to make camp in the mountains rather than in a forest clearing like they were used to. Arthur looked around warily at the surrounding cliffs; he felt exposed, and it would be very easy for animals or even people to approach them without detection.

Arthur now lay in his bedroll, hopelessly curled up against the scant brush Merlin had been able to find. The servant himself had elected to lean his bedroll against some of their bags. Arthur suspected that he had chosen the bag with their spare clothes.

He stared into the dark sky at the twinkling stars and sighed, his eyes fully open since they wouldn't stay shut. An ugly caw sounded, jerking him from his peaceful reflection and forcing the hairs on his arms to stand up again. He shoved his arms beneath his bedroll.

Arthur casually rolled his head over to the left, peering over at his servant. Merlin somehow managed to fall asleep peacefully, and was now letting out some amusing snores. Arthur had no idea how Merlin could be so at ease, but, then again, he had always been like that. Unless he disagreed with something, like the nobles' hunting. Otherwise, Merlin was able to find his own comfort in any situation. It was quite admirable, really.

The prince shook himself and decidedly turned his body onto his right side, squeezing his eyes shut. He was a prince, he was the most admirable of them all. If Merlin could do it, Arthur could do ten times better.

Arthur wished he could be ten times better than Merlin; that was impossible, though, he thought lazily. As he drifted off to sleep, his mind stopped trying to figure out who surpassed Merlin in simply being. Apparently his brain decided that that was a hopeless task, as the prince began snoring within minutes.

The prince and the servant usually talked copiously during their journeys, bantering away the boredom of riding their horses for hours on end. Sometimes they delved into serious matters and ideas, particularly if Arthur had some troubling decision to make or if someone they cared for needed rescuing, but mostly they simply made jokes and lightened each other up.

Arthur relished these journeys with Merlin, even if he would never admit it. Camelot had many pretty areas, and his servant only made the peaceful environment brighter by bringing a jovial air. Arthur's world was made less stuffy by twofold.

Now, though, the pair held their breath. They did not speak, they did not look at one another, even. Arthur's eyes darted cautiously around the trees and hills surrounding them. He had to force himself to keep their horses at a slow, quiet pace rather than urge them on and far beyond their current location.

The jovial air had given way to the uneasy misfortune inherent to the Valley of the Fallen Kings. Arthur wasn't entirely sure why, but things always seemed to go wrong there. It was ridiculous; they had been attacked plenty of times in plenty of other places, but this one area stuck out the most. There was something different about their misfortunes here.

He grimaced at a sudden bad taste in his mouth. Perhaps today's misfortune would simply be accidentally eating a bug.

They were about halfway through when something ahead of them creaked. Arthur instantly stuck his hand out and stopped his horse, Merlin soon following suit. They seemed to hold their breath in even more somehow as their eyes trailed around the area.

Arthur swiftly slid off of his horse, patting her a couple times, vainly trying to calm her. A nervous horse would not only make unwanted noise, but could also be startled into running off. Arthur had a feeling that they really didn't want that to happen right here, right now.

Another branch snapped, this time behind them. The prince tensed, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly. He had been hoping the first noise had been an animal. But if there was something both in front of and behind them, they could be surrounded.

Arthur nodded at Merlin and then towards his own position. Without a word, Merlin got off of Aurelia and stood at Arthur's back, their eyes scanning the woods in every direction. Arthur felt an unquiet fear run over him as he gazed up at the steep hill beside them.

They were trapped on two sides, and any enemy could easily choose to either maintain the high ground or slide down and engage them in battle in a heartbeat.

Leaves began rustling from behind a tree that had been in their path, and Arthur slowly drew his sword from its sheath. He stalked forward, carefully choosing his every step and still watching their surroundings out of the corners of his eyes. He focused on the tree.

Suddenly a rabbit came hopping out from behind the trunk, and Arthur definitely did not jump in surprise. Or terror.

Relief flooded over him, replacing the fast beating of his heart. Perhaps there was a family of rabbits around them. Sadly, that relief was short-lived. Who ever actually saw a whole group of rabbits together, anyway? Now that he thought about it, actually, Arthur could remember a time when he had seen a rabbit family.

It turned out that this was not the time to be thinking about trivial things such as that, as a large group of screaming bandits suddenly jumped out from the hills around them. Why they were screaming, Arthur did not know. Sneaking up on them would have made the pair go down much easier and more quickly, although the bandits very clearly had a huge advantage in numbers anyway. This ambush had enough surprise in it already.

Arthur immediately spun around to check on Merlin, who seemed unusually calm. Arthur didn't really understand why Merlin would be so calm, it wasn't as if the servant had any fighting skill that could save them whatsoever. Maybe he just believed in Arthur's skill, Arthur told himself, though that was cause for concern. Against these numbers, that kind of point of view could only mean Merlin had a random head injury.

The servant in question drew his own sword, the one Arthur had given him just in case. Unfortunate situations befell them far too often, so they had to be prepared for anything. Hopefully, Merlin would flail around and accidentally run into one of the bandits, as he was so good at doing on a daily basis.

A beat passed as they pressed their backs further against one another, bracing themselves for the oncoming fight. Then the bubble burst and swords began clashing, grunts coming from both sides.

Arthur did manage to take out a significant number of bandits and to injure a few more, and it sounded as if the same was true for Merlin. Arthur elected to feel relief and find solace in that fact rather than waste time wondering how it was possible.

Still, the prince had known from the very beginning of the fight that they had no chance. There were simply too many of them, and the bandits battled with a bolder tenacity than the ones Arthur was accustomed to running into (and running through). Perhaps they were from Odin's lands, though that would be a whole problem in itself. Their southern borders had never been very secure in comparison to the rest and some wanderers had stranded themselves in Camelot, but never this many. Additionally, the Valley of the Fallen Kings was much too far north for this to be an innocent case.

Something nefarious was happening here, but it was too early for Arthur to comprehend what it was. For one, he did not have nearly enough information. Also, he had just suffered a rather nasty blow to his head.

Luckily, it didn't knock him out. That was always a good sign. Especially since he was trying and failing to calm his rapidly beating heart as the band of bandits swelled and then tightened around the two travelers.

A yelp from behind him instantaneously sent a chill down Arthur's spine, and in the midst of his shuddering spin, he was forced down onto his knees. The progress he had made in that spin did allow him to spot Merlin from the corner of his left eye.

The servant was conscious, but only just. Arthur's brows furrowed as he took in the streaks of red flowing from somewhere near Merlin's neck. They wouldn't be escaping any time soon.

Arthur himself could, perhaps, but he wouldn't.

At that moment, a woman, taller than the rest of the bandits approached the captured pair from the back lines of the bandits. Arthur eyed this leader's still-sheathed sword and the complete lack of injuries on her body and noticed her calm disposition. Someone seemed to simply tell their followers what to do rather than actually lead them.

"What do we have here?" The leader sneered, her lip curling up and revealing her yellow teeth. Her eyes swept over Merlin, paused for a moment in some sick sort of glee, and then made their way to Arthur. They lingered for a moment before Arthur saw the familiar spark that lit up in people's eyes often on journeys. "Ah, if it isn't the Crown Prince of Camelot himself!"

A repulsive murmur meandered through the crowd of bandits. Apparently the majority of them also hadn't picked up on Arthur's identity until now despite the fact that Arthur was literally bearing a shield and plenty of supplies with the Camelot coat of arms. Not an intelligent crowd, then. Good.

"I would have thought that you would have put up more of a fight," the leader jibed, sending a laugh through her followers. "If I had known that the prince would be this easy to defeat, I would have gone after Camelot's walls much sooner."

"You mean your followers would have gone after Camelot," Arthur retorted, jerking his body in an attempt to escape the grip which three of the bandits held him in. Obviously they were worried about the fight he could put up. "You would just sit back and give orders."

"I'm in way better shape then you are, though, look who's talking." The leader proceeded to smack Arthur across his cheek. Very dignified.

"This one's just a serving boy," said one of the other bandits. He appeared to be second-in-command based on his position next to the leader and air of authority. Every bandit had given the other two space. "He'll be a hassle."

A grin came over the leader's face. Arthur furrowed his brows, glancing back tentatively at Merlin.

"Well, there's no reason to keep a servant around when we have the prince, now is there?" The leader snickered and then straightened her posture, crossing her arms. "Alastor, kill him."

Arthur's stomach dropped.

The second-in-command, who seemed to be called Alastor, took one threatening step forward. His fingers danced across the various weapons on his belt before settling on a dagger.

Arthur watched in horror as the man drew the dagger and raised it above his head. Never before had the prince been so powerless to save his servant.

...or was he?

"Wait!" Arthur shouted, throwing all of his weight around Merlin's side to shield him. The bandits who had been holding him soon regained their grip, but Alastor paused. "You can't kill him!"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't." Alastor rolled his eyes, already readying his dagger to strike.

"I'll give you two." Arthur took a deep breath and put on his most serious face. It wasn't difficult to fake the severity and care when defending Merlin's life. "He's more than just a servant. He's a prince. And I'm in love with him."

(A/N)

thank you for reading! this is a wip (as i said, i've only finished up to the end of the second chapter), so i don't have it ~entirely~ planned out, but i have a general sense of the direction of the story, so expect more sometime soon! i promise i'll try not to abandon it :)

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