A/N: Another chaptered fic? Let's hope I can actually finish it this time and have the chapters a decent length. Motivation, don't fail me now!!
Disclaimer: BBC's Merlin isnot mine in any way shape or form!
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In Merlin's opinion, banquets were completely useless. They were just another excuse for members of the court to get drunk and normally ending up somewhere, upside down and singing like a sailor. He was almost glad to hear that this evening's feast was going to be held to welcome a visiting King, which meant that courtiers were going to have to try and behave themselves. Merlin then realized that this was never going to happen and went back to his sulking.
He had just been informed by the Pretty Prince Prat (Aka Arthur) that he would not be attending the feast and had left him with an impossible amount of chores to complete. He held up Arthur's red tunic to make sure it was clean and scowled at (or more like through) the vibrant fabric as he thought back to earlier that morning.
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"Merlin, you are not coming with me too the feast and that's final." Arthur declared as he crossed his arms over his chest, a sign that he was not going to change his mind anytime soon. Merlin straightened up and met his glare.
"Why not?" Merlin asked, quickly folding up the clothes he had been picking up off the floor. "If I'm not there then who's going to fill your cup or get your food or-" He was silenced by another steely glare from Arthur and tried very hard not to shiver. Arthur must know how scary he looked when he did that.
"You idiot, another servant can do it for me, it's not like you're the only one left in the whole world." Arthur explained, his glare softened and he was back to old, arrogant Arthur again. "Besides you won't have time to attend the banquet, not with all the chores you have to do." He smiled smugly and began to list all the chores Merlin would have to do over the course of the day.
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Merlin growled and dunked the tunic back in the water scrubbing it violently to vent his frustration before pulling it out of the water and squeezing the water out of it, imagining that he was really wringing a certain Prince's neck. He growled and tossed the shirt onto the now finished pile of laundry. He flicked the excess water of his hands before picking up the basket and smiled to himself. When it came to chores he had magic on his side.
---
Uther always made sure that he made a good impression. The radiant red and gold banners rippled gently in the air, a slight breeze coming from the wide open doors of the large hall. The servants had spent a painstaking amount of time making sure that everything was perfect, that the new candles were of level height and set out at exact points a long the table. The dark red table cloths were smooth and set out evenly on the long wooden tables, the floors were spotless and the chandelier hanging majestically from the high ceiling was polished so much that it would shine in the candle light.
It was the complete opposite of how it looked normally, Prince Arthur thought dryly as he watched a small group of servants put the finish touches to the otherwise boring but large hall. He turned to see Morgana and Gwen admiring the splendid decorations; both looked at each other and shared identical, bright smiles as Morgana helped Gwen straighten one of the table clothes. Morgana and Gwen's friendship was almost the complete opposite of Arthur and Merlin's. The girls had pulled off the Servant-and-Mistress-but-still-friends relationship beautifully and Arthur found himself a little jealous. He would never think that he would befriend a servant, and yet some how he and Merlin and formed a very dysfunctional friendship, one that involved mocking, orders and occasionally the stocks and rotten vegetables.
At least it was safe to say that his father didn't suspect a thing when it came to Arthur getting a little too attached to his manservant. Arthur always reasoned to himself that it was because Merlin was completely useless and without Arthur there he would end up getting killed in some freak sheep accident or something like that. Arthur also overused the excuse of saving Merlin whenever he got poisoned or attacked for whatever reason because he was a 'half-decent servant' and for that Arthur knew he was going to Hell for lying. Merlin was terrible, he had improved a little in time but his behavior was atrocious, he acted like He and Arthur, the Crown Prince, were equals.
Merlin really knew how to make Arthur angry, and Arthur wouldn't have it any other way.
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Merlin stumbled into his room. The tasks the prince had set him, though easier to do with magic helping him, had still left him exhausted. He sat down on his bed, reaching down to pull up one of the floorboards and pull out his spell book. As Arthur had forbidden him from attending the banquet, Merlin was just going to have to disguise himself. A small animal would do, like a mouse or something.
He carefully scanned through the pages until he found the spell he was looking for, the áwendednes spell could change the caster's appearance or body. There was nothing about changing into animals here, Merlin shrugged, but it was worth a try.
He silently called on his magic, feeling it rush through him as he read the words aloud. The flow of magic became stronger and stronger and he began to panic as he felt it rapidly grow out of control. He managed the last word before his world turned black.
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Arthur shifted nervously in his seat as he watched the procession of finely dressed servants from the visiting kingdom slowly make their way down the long hall, each line bowing before the table which himself, The King and Morgana were sitting at before they scurried off to the side to make way for the next group. It seemed every visiting family had to bring at least half of their serving staff with them like it was some sort of strange trend.
Finally, the visiting King was announced. King Arden finally stepped forward, a small smile on his face as he gave a small nod to Uther. Arden looked a little younger than his host; his hair was a dark brown colour and almost reaching his shoulders in length. His eyes, in contrast, were a lighter grey colour, and held the wisdom of one how had ruled for many years.
"Arden;" Uther began as he stood up from his seat, "It has been too long since your last visit."
Arden offered another small smile, though Uther did not return the favor. "Indeed it has old friend," Arden stepped forward as he spoke "I hope our stay here strengthens the relationship between our two kingdoms." Arden stepped to the side slightly to reveal the young women who had been behind him.
"May I present my Daughter; Isabel." Arden took her hand and led her forward, she curtsied respectfully.
Uther smiled and gestured to his right where Arthur sat. "My son Arthur-" Arthur dipped his head in return before Uther then did the same thing to his left "-and the Lady Morgana" from where Arthur sat he saw Morgana dip her head in greeting as well.
Arthur gave Isabel a long hard look to take in the detail of her appearance. Her hair was long, reaching to the middle of her back and like her father's it was dark brown. Her eyes were a deep green; it must have been her mother's trait, the colour was made to stand out even more by the fitted dark green dress she was wearing.
The rumors Arthur heard had been correct about her appearance, she truly was striking. But now he would have to find out whether or not the other things he had heard about her were true as well or had he sent Merlin a way for nothing.
The feast was finally under way and Arthur sighed into his cup as he turned to where Isabel was sitting next to him, a little too close for his liking. She had been like this ever since she sat down and Arthur had drowned out most of her conversation. He rolled his eyes as she touched his arm again to try and get his attention. He turned towards her again, his eyes resting on his father and Arden, who talking quietly about something before Isabel drew his attention once again.
"-Don't you think so too?" She finished something Arthur hadn't even been listening too in the first place. He blinked for a moment before replying.
"I'm sorry I didn't quite hear all of that." He replied and she smiled almost too sweetly, eyeing the goblet in his hand and most likely thinking the drink was to blame for his absent mindedness.
"I said that in order for our father's kingdoms to have an even stronger bond-" She began slowly as Arthur began to take another gulp of wine "-Is that we should marry." Arthur almost spat his wine all over her in shock. "It would be very convenient, don't you think so?" She smiled as she returned to her food and Arthur leaned on the table, his face now completely white. He held up his cup for it to be refilled again even though he hadn't even finished all of the wine in the first place.
He turned slightly to see Isabel enjoying her food, occasionally looking up to scan the hall every so often her eyes would rest on something and every time Arthur discreetly followed her gaze, it would always be either on one of the knights or a good-looking servant. It would seem the second rumor about her was true as well. She may have seemed all that sweet but the next handsome face to show up would distract her in an instant. He sighed heavily and was happy that he had forbidden Merlin from coming tonight, she wouldn't be able to take her eyes off him if he were here.
Not that Arthur found his manservant incredibly attractive… No, that would be very weird. He mentally hit himself for thinking such a thing and went back to trying to get himself drunk.
---
The familiar tingle of magic was still running through Merlin as he came to. His body felt strange, almost lighter than it had before. He cracked open one eye to find himself still in his room and groaned as he realized that he was still human. He didn't know how much time had passed since he collapsed but he was glad that he didn't wake up as a toad.
He sat up just as there was a sharp rapping on the door. "Merlin!" Gaius' voice cut through the haze running though Merlin's head. "Are you awake in there?" The door creaked open and Gaius shuffled in. "Honestly Merlin you know how Arthur is when… You're….-" Gaius' lecture trailed off as he stared in what appeared to be a mixture of shock, surprise and maybe a hint of amusement.
Merlin did not like that look one bit. "What?" He asked and one hand flew to his neck as he heard his voice. It was much softer, almost like a girls' voice.
Oh… Crap.
"I'm assuming that magic has something to do with this?" Gaius stated, not really asking. He had hit the nail right on the head as usual. Merlin reluctantly looked down to see that his clothes were now far too big for him and he could see dark hair, much longer than before spill over one shoulder. He looked up in panic just as Gaius left the room and, as if reading his mind, returned with a small hand mirror.
"You don't look bad at all." Gaius said soothingly as Merlin gingerly raised the mirror up to his face. Well being female had changed his facial appearance quite a bit. If you squinted and maybe hopped on one leg you could tell he was still Merlin, his eyes were the same deep blue, his hair was the same dark colour and he still had his high cheekbones. Merlin began to worry as he started to like his new appearance and immediately put the mirror down.
"What am I going to do?" Merlin asked helplessly as he looked up at Gaius, who looked down at the spell book that was still wide open on the bed. The physician picked it up and examined the spell on the page.
"I've heard of this spell but what were you trying to do with it?" He asked, one eyebrow raised.
"I wanted to sneak into the banquet." Merlin explained "Just to keep an eye on Arthur." He added quickly.
"And you thought you could do that as a woman?" Gaius asked. Merlin shook his head.
"No, as a rat or something, I didn't think it would turn out like this."
Gaius sighed and looked over the spell again. "The spell doesn't work for changing humans to animals Merlin." Gaius explained, "Maybe you should read into things more before jumping into action."
"I can see that now." Merlin growled, shaking his head again. "Just tell how I can reverse this, please."
Gaius rolled his eyes and quickly read over the page, "It says here that the spell will wear off after a few days. There is no exact time limit here; I assume that is based on the strength of the sorcerer."
Merlin groaned and collapsed back on the bed, with his amount of magic he could be stuck like this for weeks. Gaius placed the spell book back on the bed. "I will see if I can find you something to wear since your own clothes don't fit you anymore."
Merlin sat up again. "What about Arthur?" He asked, "I'm as late as it is, he could come storming in here any minute?"
Gaius turned back to face him just as he was at the door, "I wouldn't worry about that. The prince saw fit to get very drunk at last nights banquet, I doubt even he would be able to get up till at least midday with the amount of alcohol he consumed."
Merlin relaxed a little and watched as Gaius left the room and shut the door behind him. Now alone Merlin realized that he didn't feel entirely comfortable in his new body and fought down the burning curiosity to see what he looked like under his clothes. His face turned red and he turned and buried his face in his pillow before letting out a very loud and frustrated groan.