Merlinfic: Born of Magic 3/12
Title: Born of Magic
Author: Destiny_Chicken
Characters: Arthur, Merlin, Uther, Gaius, OC Lord Aden, OC Lady Alys
Genre/pairing: Slash, Merlin/Arthur
Rating: MA Mature Adult due to language, and explicit sexual content
Word-count: 33,833 total
Chapters: 3 of 12
Spoilers: Mention of 1.1 (The Dragon’s Call), 2.8 (The Sins of the Father) and 2.13 (The Last Dragonlord)
Summary: Arthur suffers yet another blow to the head, but this one causes amnesia. He and Merlin are quarantined to Arthur’s chambers in an attempt to avoid revealing the amnesia to Uther. Once Arthur is cured by Merlin’s magic, strange incidents begin to occur.
Merlin had to lead Arthur to his chambers since he didn’t remember the route. Once inside, Arthur stopped just inside the door, his mouth falling open.
Merlin asked, “What?”
“It’s just everything is so…opulent. The curtains, the furniture, the pillows. The size of the room, or multiple rooms I guess. I really am a prince. I guess I hadn’t absorbed the truth of it before.” Arthur felt embarrassed almost at the luxury of his chambers, compared to what he’d seen in Gaius’ quarters earlier.
“Yeah, well normally you don’t seem overly impressed by your rooms. You just accept it as your due as Crown Prince. You’re really rather an arrogant prat most of the time.” Merlin advised.
Arthur said nothing further but moved into the bedchamber. Merlin steered him to sit on the bed, and knelt to remove Arthur’s boots. Arthur looked down at the black crop of Merlin’s hair. An image flashed in his mind of the dark hair and a cheeky grin, smiling just at him. He closed his eyes in concentration and tried to cling to the picture, to keep it close and covet it and expand it beyond a single image. He was rewarded with another flash of the young man’s face sweating and in pain, and he felt a stab of emotion he wasn’t quite sure how to label. Then, as quickly as it came, it was gone.
Unfortunately, Merlin noticed. “Are you feeling alright, Arthur?"
“I think we both know the answer to that idiotic question is ‘No,’” Arthur snapped.
Merlin responded, raising both hands up, “OK, I’ll back off, don’t upset yourself further. “ Arthur fumed at that statement as well. It was all well and good for Merlin to say ‘don’t get upset’ but he wasn’t the one with no past and feeling horrible in the present.’ He tried to steady himself with some deep breathing in and out.
Merlin offered, “How about a bath? It will help relax the stiff muscles.”
“Yes, that would be good.”
Merlin set to work hauling the royal bathtub out from its alcove, and opened the door a crack to look for signs of the quarantine being enforced. Yes, two guards jumped at the opening door, whirled and lowered their pikes menacingly. Merlin spoke loudly through the slight opening, “Just need hot bath water prepared and delivered here to the door for the Prince’s bath.” Closing the door, he turned back to Arthur, still seated on the bed. “Let’s finish getting you undressed.”
“What?” Arthur gulped. “Did you say you want to undress me?” Arthur’s mind was spinning at that thought, but he wasn’t sure why.
Merlin huffed exasperatedly. He spoke slowly, like to a simpleton, “Dressing and undressing you is part of my job, Arthur. I’ve been doing it for years.”
Unbidden a thought slipped into Arthur’s mind as he continued to stare at Merlin. He wondered, ‘What else is part of Merlin’s job that I haven’t realised? What else has he been doing for me for years?’
Arthur slammed that mental door shut firmly and stood. Merlin came forward and began unbuckling his vambraces from Arthur’s wrists and removed them. Arthur shivered as he felt Merlin’s fingers skim along his arms. Then Merlin was unbuckling the straps at his back, and lifting the breastplate and shoulder paldron over his head. Arthur bit his lip as Merlin’s hands then skated down his back. Merlin loosened the prince’s sword belt and slid it off his waist. “Now lean forward,” he directed Arthur and lifted off the heavy chain mail shirt. Merlin set that aside on the table. He returned to Arthur and undid the gambeson’s ties and slipped the padded tunic off Arthur’s shoulders and arms.
Arthur stood as still as he could while Merlin’s deft fingers moved over his body, removing layer after layer. Each touch felt as if it were burning his skin below. Now that there was just the thin fine linen of his tunic between his skin and Merlin’s long fingers, his breaths had become uneven. Arthur spoke, his voice huskier than usual. “Stop, Merlin. I’ll do the rest.” He couldn’t even imagine Merlin removing his trousers and smallclothes.
The knock at the door forestalled any reply Merlin might have had to Arthur’s directive to stop undressing him. The servant moved to the door, and the Prince escaped behind the dressing screen. While Merlin was busy with the buckets of hot water, Arthur removed his tunic, trousers and smalls. He thought it must be just a fantasy, an imaginative dream--these strange sensations Merlin was causing with just his elegant fingers. However much a fantasy his mind was showing him, his body was reacting in reality-he was half-hard just from Merlin’s touch through the layers of his clothing. He tried thinking about grain reports and supply lists, anything but Merlin.
Merlin called out, “It’s ready now,” and Arthur stepped out from behind the screen wearing a towel around his waist. Merlin moved over to the fireplace to tend the logs, giving Arthur privacy as he entered the tub.
Once in, he sank up to his shoulders in the warmth and felt himself relax for the first time since the fall. Merlin returned with soap and a flannel. “Let me wash your hair and clean the cut in your scalp.” He knelt on the floor behind Arthur’s back at the tub’s end, wetting the cloth and drizzling the water repeatedly over Arthur’s golden hair. He parted the hair around the wound and gently washed away the dried blood. Then he began soaping Arthur’s wet hair, massaging his scalp as he worked the soap in.
Arthur, eyes closed, nearly groaned with the pleasure as Merlin’s skillful fingers eased the tension from the headache. He managed to stifle it so it was more a ‘mmmph’, rather than an out-and-out groan. He was sure he had never been tended to in such a gentle manner before this--he would have remembered this, memory loss or not, surely.
“Rinse,” Merlin commanded, pushing down on Arthur’s head so he ducked under the water briefly. He then turned his attention to Arthur’s neck and shoulders, searching out the knots in the muscles and kneading them to ease the tension. He stroked across the collarbone, pushing deep with his knuckles. Arthur turned his head to the side to give Merlin better access to a particularly stiff spot, exposing his neck and straining tendons. He sighed to Merlin, “Feels so good…”
‘Has Merlin done this for me before? And what else had he done?’ Arthur wondered again.
Merlin chuckled. “So I do have some talents you appreciate, eh? I’m not the completely worthless manservant you tell me I am.”
“Do I tell you that?”
“All the time.”
“Hmm. Well, your fingers are definitely not worthless right now. Keep doing what you are doing. And that’s a royal command.”
“Yes, s-i-i-re.”
As Merlin washed Arthur’s shoulders and then down to his arms, Arthur wondered how far Merlin was going. He wasn’t sure anymore what kind of a relationship they had, whether it was as friends or something more than friends. It was immaterial, really, as he knew that without memories from before his accident, he wasn’t prepared for ‘something more’, whatever that might entail. Decisively, he sat a bit straighter in the tub, and grabbed the cloth from Merlin’s hand. “I’ll finish washing up here, go do whatever it is you do.”
Merlin puzzled, “Sire?” said for once without a trace of sarcasm. “What I do?”
“You know, when you are servant-ing. You said you took care of my armour--doesn’t it need polishing?” He was staring at a spot on the wall over Merlin’s shoulder...anywhere but at Merlin’s confused face.
Merlin sighed. “Always. For some reason you think it has to shine like the sun. All the better to make you a magnet for bandits and assassins, I suppose.” He lurched up from his kneeling position and handed Arthur the soap. He went to the other room and Arthur heard metal clanking.
“Oi, be careful with that armour.”
“Yes, s-i-i-re.” The sarcasm was back, Arthur noted ruefully.
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It did not take but a matter of hours before Merlin was ready to strangle Arthur himself. The prince was a notoriously bad patient normally, but he was outdoing himself this time. The bath had been pleasant enough; however, Arthur seemed strangely modest at the end. He had nothing to be modest about with his fit body and golden coloring--he looked like a sun god. He had been naked in front of Merlin many times, although Merlin tried not to stare openly. Of course, now Arthur couldn’t recall his previous behavior, and he had been almost shy in front of Merlin. It seemed odd.
Normally, Merlin did not bathe Arthur beyond helping wash his hair, but since Arthur didn’t remember that, he had indulged himself and continued on with the massage and washing. When Arthur exposed his neck to Merlin, it was all he could do to stop himself from bending over and sucking a trail of kisses from the base of his throat to the pulse at his jaw and further up to nibble on his ear. Merlin was even thankful when Arthur put a stop to Merlin’s help, ending the enticement that was Arthur’s skin. He himself wasn’t sure what he would have done once he reached the water line.
Then Arthur got testy. Having Merlin polish his armour was only the start of it. First it was that the noise was too loud (how loud could polishing be, anyway?). Then Arthur complained the room was too bright, so Merlin drew the drapes closed over the windows. Then he demanded something to eat, which Merlin requested from the guards outside the door. Once the simple meal of stew, some cheese and fruit was delivered, Merlin added a powder to the stew, which was Gaius’ concoction for producing the fever. Arthur paced instead of eating.
“What is it now? Why are you pacing about?” Merlin asked a bit tiredly.
“I’m just restless.”
“You are still limping.”
“Well, my knee still hurts, that’s why,” Arthur replied petulantly.
“Sit down and eat something.”
“I’m not hungry now.”
‘The obstinacy of that man.’ Merlin commanded, “You have to eat some stew so you’ll be feverish. Gaius’ powder for the fever is in the stew.”
“Did you just order me to eat?” said the Prince to the manservant in a disbelieving tone, halting his pacing to stare at Merlin.
“Yes.” Merlin took advantage of Arthur’s sudden stillness, and forcibly pushed him with his hands on his chest toward the chair and the food. “And now I’m pushing you about. Eat.”
“I can’t believe I let you get away with this sort of behavior,” Arthur muttered to himself. As he picked up the spoon to start in on the stew, he steeled himself. He managed a few bites before his face turned pale and he lunged from his seat towards the bed and the chamber pot where he emptied his stomach contents.
“So you are still nauseous. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Arthur didn’t answer as he lay on the bed and curled into himself, his back to Merlin. “Go away.”
Merlin replied grumpily, “Sorry, I’m not allowed to ‘go away.’ I am quarantined in this room just like you and believe me, I’m not particularly happy about it right now.” Merlin's role as the physician’s assistant took over now that Arthur had retreated to the bed in evident pain. He gave Arthur the medicines and then told him, “I’ll get Gaius to make up a liquid for the fever-inducing medicine so you can take it without needing to eat. However, you will need to be eating something soon to keep your strength.” Merlin could see the pain-reducing potion was taking effect, as Arthur’s eyes were half-closed already. He was asleep before long.
Finally Merlin had a chance to sit down and rest. He looked about the room, and realized he had yet another problem. There was no other bed besides Arthur’s in which he could sleep. And he wasn’t about to put himself in that position tonight. If bathing Arthur and seeing all that skin had been a form of torture, he couldn’t image what it would be to lie beside Arthur in his bed. No, he’d just have to make do with some blankets and furs piled in front of the fire. He’d get more sleep there.
Merlin settled into his nest of a bed, and drifted off to sleep. He’d probably only been asleep an hour or two, when he realised Arthur was shouting: “Merlin, wake up you idiot!”
He lifted his head and uttered, “Wha’?”
Arthur was glaring at him from his bed, ‘It’s too quiet now; so quiet I can hear your breathing. I can’t fall asleep listening to that!”
“So what? You want me to stop breathing so you can sleep. I don’t think so.” Merlin was fully awake now. “Make up your mind, first it is too noisy then it is too quiet. First you are hungry, and then you aren’t. Next you’ll be demanding candles lit because it is too dark.” It was at this point he was considering whether strangulation or poison would be best to kill Arthur.
“Ssshh. Now you are too loud.” He could see Arthur was rubbing his temples trying to force the pounding in his head to stop. He felt a twinge of pity, abandoned his murder plans, and tossed the blanket over his head as he snuggled deeper in his bed. Maybe that would stifle the loud breathing Arthur was imagining.
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As the bedroom chamber became brighter with the dawn, Arthur moaned. His head was thumping incessantly, and would only get worse with the brighter light. Between the headache and the nausea, he already didn’t feel human. Not having memories was just compounding the feeling.
He stared at the elegant canopy over his bed. Now that he’d had two doses of the mind clarity potion, he considered what he could remember. It was still just vague snatches of images. Merlin, Gaius, and another man he presumed was his father (logically, based on the crown on his head), images of knights in training--each flickered through his consciousness. It was flashes of Merlin most frequently, laughing, grinning, but also tense and worried. Arthur didn’t want to examine too closely just why his mind was focusing on Merlin so much. They did apparently spend most of the time together even without the quarantine in place. ‘Well, that only made sense for the Prince’s manservant to be nearby all the time in case his master needed something.’ And it sounded like Arthur was a needy, arrogant prat with a huge sense of entitlement due to his title. Arthur wasn’t so sure he liked the before-Arthur much at all.
In order to get his mind off Merlin and his own continued failure to remember much of his life, Arthur decided to get up as the sun had clearly risen now. He could see his hapless manservant’s black hair barely peeking out of a pile of blankets and furs on the floor.
“MER-lin, up and at ‘em!’
“Nooo,” the pile moaned.
There was movement of the blankets, and Merlin’s head appeared. ‘Oh Gods, his hair was completely messed up and his eyes hooded with sleep. He looked so…endearing.’ Arthur winced visibly, wondering where that thought came from.
“Get up, you lazy daisy!”
“You’ve been waiting forever to say that to me, haven’t you?”
“Yes, ah, no…I don’t know, damn it,” Arthur finished with frustration.
Merlin did get up, and went behind Arthur’s dressing screen to wash a bit. No need to get dressed as he’d slept in what he wore all day yesterday. It’s not like he had more than a change or two of clothing anyway, but he’d forgotten to get them from his chamber before the quarantine began. He began a mental list of what he needed to have Gaius bring him: his pillow, his magic book, his clothes…
“Why were you sleeping on the floor?” Arthur demanded with his brow furrowed, trying to find a reason.
Merlin returned from behind the screen and looked about the room. “Do you see any second bed in your chambers, Arthur?” he asked sarcastically.
“No but this one is big enough for-“ Arthur stopped abruptly, in the middle of gesturing around his bed, with a look of confusion on his face.
“I’d never get any sleep there--you are always tossing and turning, not to mention the snoring.” Merlin thought to himself a bit incredulously, ‘Arthur just invited me to join him in bed and stupidly I have declined the offer.’ But if he were honest with himself, he didn’t want to take advantage of Arthur’s lack of memories by pretending to be more than his friend. ‘Yes, that is all I am, just a good friend.’ Merlin turned towards the fireplace and knelt down to tend the fire, the heat providing a convenient reason why his ears and face had turned red.
“I do not snore.” Arthur declared.
“You can disagree with me all you want, but I heard you last night and have heard you on many nights when we are camping out, so there is really no point in your denial.” Before Arthur could continue the argument, Merlin changed the subject. “Anything to report on remembering more?”
Arthur sighed. “Not really. Still just flashes of images. Just there are some more new ones.”
“Well, that’s something then. But you need to give the medicine more time to work. Here’s this morning’s dose.” Merlin offered the spoon with the clear potion. “What about the pain reliever, do you want that this morning?”
“Maybe later.”
“I’m not going to dress you today. If you are as sick as we are pretending you are, then you should stay in your nightclothes.”
“Pretending I’m sick? This doesn’t feel much like pretending to me.” Arthur rubbed his temples and sighed.
“Your head is still bothering you I see.” Merlin offered, “How about I order up some breakfast for you? Lack of food can cause headaches as well.”
Arthur shrugged his shoulders noncommittally.
Merlin went to the door and cracked it to speak with the guards. “Could you request Gaius come to speak to me and have a simple meal brought up for the Prince? Just some broth and bread.”
Within fifteen minutes, Gaius knocked on the door. Merlin opened it a crack and saw that he and Gaius had bit of privacy with the guards backing away from the door, out of earshot, but staying in sight.
“How are you both this morning?” Gaius queried.
“Me? I’m fine, but I’ll need some things brought here. We can talk later about that. It’s Arthur we need to discuss. He’s still having headaches and nausea. He only ate a little bit at dinner and vomited shortly thereafter. So he didn’t get much at all of the fever-inducing powder. He had a pretty restless night, not sure how much sleep he got. Can you mix the powder into a liquid that would be much easier for him to take? Also, since he’s not eating much at all, I want the food to taste as appetizing as it can to encourage him to eat.”
“Certainly Merlin, I will make a liquid potion immediately. Any results from the mind clarity potion yet?”
“He says just flashes of images, but there are more of them.”
“Hmm, well, that might be a good sign. Hard to say yet. We need patience with this. What was it you needed brought here from your room?”
Merlin recounted, “My other clothes, my pillow, and my magic book.”
Gaius was aghast. “No, Merlin, you can’t have that book right here under Arthur’s nose? What if he finds it? It’s full of notes in your own handwriting. If he sees it, he’ll know you have magic immediately.”
Merlin pleaded, “I’m going to find a really good hiding place in here.”
Gaius said, “Well, until you do, I’m not bringing the book. Why the pillow? Where are you sleeping?”
“On the floor with lots of blankets.”
”We can have a mattress delivered for you to use. You can put it in Arthur’s anteroom for a bit more privacy. I’m sorry I didn’t think to request this last night. I’ll speak to the steward as soon as I mix up the new potion.”
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