Decided to add another chapter. Why? Because it's fun to write about a ranting Merlin! Enjoy!

Arthur probably should have known better than to suggest that Merlin be left behind after he sprained his ankle on their latest quest to find some kind of magical creature (he still didn't know what sort of magical creature it was – he had been too busy tactically retreating. And yes, it was tactically retreating, not running away like Merlin had said). It had been a few weeks after the incident in the caves, but Merlin still hadn't completely gotten over it. When Arthur had said that Merlin should remain in the cave (while the rest of them went ahead to defeat the aforementioned magical creature,) Merlin had muttered something under his breath, and although Arthur didn't hear what it was exactly, the tone was unmistakable.

Exasperated, Arthur turned to Merlin "Is this about being left in those caves, again?"

"You try being abandoned, and we'll see how well you take it." Merlin muttered again, folding his arms.

"We didn't abandon you!" Arthur said "We just… had more important things on our mind at that moment."

"Like packing"

"Like packing" Arthur agreed, before suddenly realising what he had said "No not 'like packing', like… like… what abou- Leon was abandoned too!"

"Me?" Leon said confusedly from the corner, pointing a finger at himself, eyebrows furrowed.

"See, you're not the only one who was forgotten about!" Arthur said "And Leon hasn't complained about it!"

"With all due respect Sire" Leon said, while Merlin pushed himself up, wobbling slightly on his left leg "You didn't know that I was still alive after the dragon incident."

"Exactly" Merlin said, arms still crossed "That was excusable; people tend to die when dragons breathe fire on them, and it was just luck that Leon survived, me on the other hand..."

Desperate to defend himself against a glowering Merlin, Arthur fished around for something to say. Sadly, Arthur's brain didn't seem to kick in until after he'd spoken. "I actually knew Leon was alive!" Arthur said triumphantly, before suddenly backtracking after he saw the look of amusement of Gwaine's face and the slightly hurt look on Leon's. "I mean" He said quickly "Leon's a… good Knight… he wasn't… Look, Leon doesn't die!"

"So he wasn't abandoned then?" Merlin asked.

"Yes… No, wait – yes!" Arthur answered. "Hang on; what was I talking about again?"

"Beats me"

"Not now Gwaine!"

"I'll admit it!" Arthur said, throwing his arms up in the air in a sign of surrender "That was the wrong thing to do, and I should have checked on you! But you've done stupid things too, and this is completely different! We need to defeat the… creature, and you've got a sprained ankle. This is the right thing to do."

All in all, Arthur was quite pleased with his logical reasoning, but Merlin only seemed to have latched on to one of the things Arthur had said.

"I've done stupid things? I've done stupid things?" Merlin said indignantly "Do you know how much easier life would be if you listened to me for once?"

"Really"

"Yes!" Merlin said loudly "Remember the Troll? Valiant? Caerleon? Cedric? And that bloody Valley of the Kings? And of these ringing a bell for you?"

Arthur opened his mouth to protest, but suddenly realised that Merlin was actually right. Of course, it wouldn't do for him to tell Merlin that, so instead, he went on the offensive.

"Who dropped the sword when we were trapped in that net?" Arthur asked, as Gwaine settled down on the floor, biting into an apple as he watched the two of them bicker. Leon and Elyan were exchanging looks, while Percival was standing in the corner, an amused look on his face.

"It wasn't my fault it was stuck under your fat arse." Merlin replied.

There was an odd gagging sound as Gwaine began to choke on his apple. To be honest, that was probably a good thing, as it's quite hard to talk when you're choking on an apple. Leon and Elyan seemed to realise this, and made no attempt to help Gwaine, while Percival looked in two minds about helping him or not. Personally, Arthur was quite happy to let Gwaine choke on the apple if it kept him quiet for a bit.

"And whose fault was it that we were stuck in the net in the first place" Arthur pointed out. "It was tiny in there!"

Merlin ignored Arthur, instead saying "Because I was stuck in there with your fat arse."

There was a loud thumping noise as Percival whacked Gwaine on the back, sending the apple shooting out of his mouth, hitting a bewildered Elyan in the face. Arthur spluttered a bit, as Elyan rubbed the spot where the apple had hit. Silence fell, as Arthur tried (and failed rather badly) to think of something witty to say.

"Well you're… shut up."

Merlin gave a smug smile, which made Arthur scowl.

"Are we going or not?" Merlin asked, wobbling forward towards the exit.

"Merlin…" Arthur said, frustrated. "You can't even walk properly."

"I walk better than a drunken Gwaine" Merlin pointed out "And you still brought him along."

"Hey!"

"Shut up Gwaine" Arthur replied automatically, eyes still focused on the wobbling Merlin who was currently leaning on the cave wall for support. "Merlin, what if you trip, or attract bandits or something?"

"Arthur, you're already a bandit magnet already" Merlin pointed out "When haven't we run into bandits when doing anything? Ever?"

There was a mutter of approval from the knights at this, and Arthur fought the urge to turn around and glare at them, though it took a lot of effort. The bandit problem was something he was quite touchy about to be honest. Despite the numerous patrols he'd sent out, the forests were still swarming with bandits. Though he wouldn't admit out loud, Merlin did have a point.

'Then again, at least Merlin could just hide behind a tree again if they ran into trouble'

There was another silence as all of the knights stared at Arthur, who blinked. 'Crap, I said that out loud, didn't I?'

"Yes you did Princess"

"Gwaine, shut up" Arthur said, as Merlin muttered something about 'simpletons hugging trees' which Arthur didn't entirely understand.

Silence fell.

"You know, this really reminds me of one time where I had drunk way too much, and-"

"SHUT UP GWAINE!" shouted Merlin, and to Arthur's surprise, Elyan, Leon and Percival.

"We really don't want to hear another story about how you got incredibly drunk and did something extremely stupid because of it" Elyan said wearily, as Percival nodded mutely beside him.

"The last story lasted over an hour…" Leon murmured, shooting a glance at the knight in question, who had folded his arms and was looking quite offended at the lack of interest in his drinking stories. He turned away from the rest of the group and started searching around in his bag for something – a something that was most likely alcoholic – muttering under his breath as he did so ("Fine, just let Merlin vent at the princess then…). Talking of alcohol…

"Merlin's always in the tavern!" Arthur protested (though later Merlin would tell him that it came out as more of a whinge then a protest) loudly, pointing at his manservant, whose glare morphed first into a look of surprise, and then incredulity, before finally settling into a look of resigned irritation.

"Why don't you ever come to the tavern with me?" Gwaine complained from the corner, a sulky look on his face.

"Shut up Gwaine" Merlin muttered under his breathe, eyes flickering around the cave, looking decidedly nervous about the subject of his tavern visits.

"I've never actually seen you drunk" Percival said curiously, frowning slightly.

"What do you do in the tavern if you don't get drunk?" Elyan asked, also frowning. Merlin moved his eyes from left to right wildly, as if looking for a new conversation to appear from the shadows.

"What do you do in life if you don't get drunk?" Gwaine asked,

"Not everything revolves around mead, Gwaine" Leon said, looking as if he wanted nothing more than to return to the nice sane life he used to have before all the craziness started. Curiously enough, most of the crazy happenings (trolls, murderous sisters, assassins, dragons and the like) had started to happen after Merlin had arrived in Camelot. Arthur liked to think that Merlin was some sort of bad-luck charm that attracted all the psychos in the local area. Perhaps Merlin had a sign that he waved over Arthur's head whenever he wasn't looking, saying 'King of Camelot here, please attack!'. Actually, now that he thought about it, Arthur wouldn't put it past Merlin to own a sign like that.

"Admit it Merlin, you can be a bit of an idiot sometimes" Arthur said, with a tone that he thought contained a sense of finality. However, his views on his tone of voice were proved incorrect by another interruption from Gwaine.

"Remember that bar fight you started when we first met?"

"Gwaine, I'll buy you a basket of apples if you'll shut up."

"Deal accepted."

Merlin had been staring at Arthur with an expression that reminded Arthur of the look on Merlin's face when they'd been in the caves together – after Merlin had realised that they'd been about to leave without him – the look could only be described as incredulity with a dash of annoyance and just a pinch of resigned acceptance. When Merlin next spoke, Arthur could tell that he trying to restrain himself from doing something stupid…

"And who actually released a murderous gho- nothing… at all into Camelot?" Merlin trailed off, looking awkward again.

…and failing miserably.

"What about a ghost?" Elyan asked.

"Nothing… Nothing…" Merlin said quickly.

"Merlin. We need to go and get firewood. Now" Arthur said pointedly.

"I thought that we had to go defeat that magical creature, or is it no longer a big deal?"

"Gwaine, you're not getting those apples anymore."

"Aw…"

Arthur gestured pointedly to the entrance of the cave, and Merlin sighed slightly and pushed himself away from wall, hobbling after Arthur. When they were out of earshot from the knights (who seemed to be fighting over an apple Gwaine was holding, such was the level of maturity of his knights), Arthur turned and rounded on Merlin.

"Merlin, what did we say about the incident with the horn of Cathbhadh?" Arthur asked.

"We were never to speak of it again." Merlin said reluctantly.

"And what did you just do?"

"I just spoke of it" Merlin said in a flat voice.

"Good." Arthur said. "Now if we're waiting here until your ankle gets better, we really should get some firewood."

"So you're not going to abandon me again?" Merlin asked, brightening up considerably.

"Merlin, I thought we agreed that I didn't abandon you." Arthur said, glaring at Merlin again.

"No, you agreed that you didn't abandon me" Merlin pointed out "I however; still believe that I was abandoned" Merlin said with a slightly cheeky grin, before turning towards the cave, and beginning to hobble back into it.

"You know something Merlin" Arthur said thoughtfully, "there's something I've been meaning to ask you since the horn incident – what did my father mean when he said 'You have-'?"

Merlin froze. Unfortunately he had been balancing on his left leg at that moment, and he toppled to the ground with a loud 'thud'. He quickly pushed himself up into a standing position again. Arthur watched in mild amusement, waiting for Merlin's answer.

"What did your father mean when he said that I had something… well obviously he could have meant a whole range of things… or he could have been lying – or maybe you just misheard him entirely-"

"Merlin."

"Yes?"

"You're babbling."

"That I am" Merlin conceded, sending a slightly desperate glance at the cave.

"Are you going to tell me?" Arthur asked.

"He was going to say that I have, that I have…" Merlin cast his eyes around the forest for a few seconds before finally saying "…a nice neckerchief."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "So you're telling me that your almost murderer's last words, my dead father's last words, was that my servant had a nice neckerchief?"

…

"Yes?"

Arthur stared at Merlin, who was looking anywhere but at Arthur. "You know, I think my ankle's feeling a bit better now, I'll just go and get some firewood…" Merlin blathered, turning and limping away from Arthur as fast as his bad ankle would carry him. It seemed that 'as fast as his bad ankle would carry him' turned out to be as far as the nearest tree, which Merlin tripped straight into, after failing to see a root sticking out of the forest floor. (This, coincidentally, happened to be the way that he had sprained his ankle in the first place). Merlin pushed himself up onto his feet again, and prompty walked into another tree. Arthur shook his head disbelievingly at Merlin's lack of awareness of his surroundings.

Merlin could be so oblivious sometimes.