Red Stones - Chapter 6 - Merthur Fic
Title: Red Stones
Rating: T
Fandom: Merlin BBC
Pairing: AdultArthur/Merlin
Warnings: None
Summary:
Following a familiar call into the forest, Merlin finds himself dropped through time to enter a Camelot he doesn't know. Now he must fulfill his destiny and find his way back home by facing his greatest foe yet - a 14 year old Arthur Pendragon.
AN: Sorry, I've been really sick or on vacation for the last few weeks. School starts tomorrow but I'll try to be faster, I swear.
Also, I finished a video over the break. Check it out on my journal.
Enjoy!
-- -- -- -- --
Chapter 6 - The Fight
It didn’t take long for orphan Archie to start pulling lose strings from his pack to wind together into a necklace. He thought Merlin didn’t notice, but it was hard to miss when you were the only two around and you knew that stone eventually ended up as a necklace. Arthur tried to hide it, and Merlin couldn’t help but grin every time he noticed Arthur being embarrassed about it. Arthur in the future was bad enough about hiding his emotions when he was embarrassed or being too kind. This young Arthur was even more inexperienced, and he wore his emotions like a blush on his cheeks. It was obvious when you were looking for it. When Merlin had pointed out the new jewelry, Arthur had changed the subject to trees and pulled out his map to look busy. Merlin looked over his shoulder and pretended to believe him.
There was no way Arthur could tell where they were from the map. It was a good map, not as detailed as the ones in the future, but still good. However, since they weren’t following a path, the map was pretty much useless for Arthur, who hadn’t known which way he was going from the beginning. Merlin knew exactly where they were though. They were heading out of the Camelot woods and across the open plains. Between them and Ealdor were the forest and cliffs of Ascetir. Merlin had taken the long way through the forest. It gave him more time with Arthur, but he’d done it more for safety reasons than destiny reasons. Bandits liked the plains.
But it was nice spending time with Arthur as well… even if it was a pint sized version who still thought Merlin was generally useless.
“Archie, what kind of people do you like to be around?” Merlin asked as he marked their path by breaking off a twig from a tree which tore a line down the bark.
“My father says you stay around the people you most want to earn the respect of. Vicinity breeds loyalty,” Arthur replied. He was kneeling by a bush, wiggling his finger at a wild hare. “With that in mind, I would like to be around knights. Loyal knights are the best men you can find.”
“And you will have them. More than you can want,” Merlin said. He stood back from the scene, not wanting to scare off the animal that was slowly inching closer to Arthur. “But what kind of people would you choose personally? Anyone in the world… to be your friends.”
Arthur dropped his hand a bit and the hare sniffed the air nervously. Arthur frowned and waved at it again.
“Since I have no knights… Well my nanny used to tell me to be friends with whoever I most wanted… to be like, to be around people I admired,” he said. The hare touched its nose to his fingertips. Arthur smiled and slowly moved to touch the creature’s head.
“Who do you want to be like?” Merlin asked, leaning on the tree and crossing his arms.
“My mother,” Arthur answered without hesitation. “Everyone says she was a wonderful person with wisdom and grace.”
“People say all sorts of things after people die,” Merlin said monotonously. Arthur turned around too quickly and the hare dashed off into the undergrowth. Arthur was glaring.
“Excuse me?” he asked. Merlin stared at him steadily. “Are you trying to say my mother wasn’t wise and graceful?”
“I have no doubt your mother was a brilliant woman,” Merlin said. “But she loved your father very much, and people don’t tend to love someone who is completely unlike them.”
“What?” Arthur huffed out, standing abruptly. He looked uneasy behind his anger. Merlin pushed off the tree and shrugged.
“There must be something in your father that attracted her. Maybe she liked the way his eyes looked after a ride or the way he saw his people. I imagine… the king had a great vision for his kingdom. It just became a little skewed when your mother died,” Merlin explained.
“God, what is it with you?” Arthur groaned, throwing his hands up. “Every time we talk, you try to prove how great my father is.”
“No. I completely agree with you. Your father is a terrible man who kills innocent people who have done nothing wrong, people who don’t even use magic. He kills all magic users because just one made a mistake. It’s not fair. He yells, and he gets angry, and he’s blinded by his revenge. He’s losing his skill as a swordsman. He’s putting on weight. He’s losing his hair. If his temper wasn’t bad enough, his hygiene pushes him over the edge. He’s a disgusting man, inside and out, and he doesn’t deserve an heir like you,” Merlin said.
No sooner had he stopped speaking than Arthur was shoving him roughly, causing him to stumble back into the tree. The prince looked more flushed now than before.
“Shut up!” he yelled.
“Why?” Merlin asked, planting his feet firmly so as not to be knocked over again. “You hate him too, don’t you? You don’t care if someone speaks badly of him. He’s not your father anymore. He’s not your king. If you plan on keeping who you are a secret, you can’t go around getting upset when someone degrades him. You’re thinking it too. You’re just not man enough to admit it.”
“I said shut up!” Arthur said again, trying to push Merlin but failing this time. Merlin shoved his hands out, however, and caught Arthur just right. The blonde hit the dirt and skinned his elbow. He looked up at Merlin in shock. He touched his elbow to scale the pain and then only had eyes for the man who had been so gentle until now. Merlin knelt down and loomed over the fallen prince.
“I don’t want to lie to you, Archie,” he said. “I don’t like your father. Hate is a bit strong, but I definitely fear him. But there is more to a person than what you feel personally for them. Beyond your father is the kingdom he raised. It is prospering. The people are surviving. He is caring for his people. And beyond your father, there are other people to worry about. There is someone I care for and fear even more than the current king. I know they will be the greatest person in the whole world, in everyone’s world and not just in mine.”
“W-who’s that?” Arthur asked, slowly extending his arm out to push himself up.
“You.” Merlin held his breath a moment while he let that thought sink in. “But you are not the best man in the world yet. You have such a long way to go. You must learn to be forgiving and wise. Being king is not an honor. It is a duty. You have a duty to rule with dignity, honor, and justice for the sake of your people. You must learn to love others and most of all to trust your heart. Don’t let others manipulate you.”
“But if I listen to you, isn’t that letting you manipulate me?” Arthur asked. Merlin smiled and shrugged slightly.
“Not if you believe what you’re doing is right in your own heart,” he said. “I’m just counseling you. It’s what wise old men do.”
“You aren’t-!,” Arthur began, and his face flushed. He looked slightly to the right before continuing. “You aren’t that old.”
“Oh? You’ve been calling me a stupid old man the whole time I’ve been here,” Merlin reminded.
“Well you’re not old, alright?” Arthur snapped, pushing himself to his feet and shuffling quickly away. “But you’re still an idiot!”
“Of course, Archie,” Merlin said.
He took a step to follow the blonde and paused. He thought he heard something, or maybe he had felt it. His senses were fighting to claim which one had noticed something odd in the air. Merlin frowned at the forest. He saw nothing with his eyes, but his heart was pounding. He could almost hear it, whispering to him.
“Merlin.” He could hear a woman in his head - a woman he did not know. She sounded coy and, for a moment, Merlin thought he saw her between the trees, garbed in shimmering green, but then she was gone without a move or a sound.
“Hey!” Arthur’s call brought him back. He was up on the next hill. “Let’s go! I want to see this village where you grew up.”
“Ah! Coming!” Merlin called back and hurried to catch up. A magical person or creature might be following, but Merlin would just keep an extra eye out. She didn’t feel like she had any negative intent. So long as she kept to herself, Merlin had no reason to fight her. He just hoped she meant well.
-- -- -- -- -- --
“Hold still,” Merlin scolded when they stopped that evening. The sun had barely begun to set, but Arthur’s elbow had been giving him some discomfort. Merlin had him sitting on a rock while he tended to the injury.
“Why don’t you just use your magic and fix it already?” Arthur asked, wincing as Merlin rubbed a wet rag over the scratches. It used to be part of Merlin’s shirt, but now it was a badly ripped off section big enough to clean small wounds. Merlin was no less warm or covered because of it. If he got cold, his jacket would be more than enough to suffice.
“Magic isn’t needed for something as small as this,” Merlin said. “If it was infected and you grew ill, then I would use magic. Right now it’s just a scratch.”
“Oh!” Arthur suddenly exclaimed and snapped his free hand down on Merlin’s cleaning one. “That’s how you fixed your head wound, isn’t it?!” And he looked so joyous that Merlin barely had the heart to tell him the truth.
“No. That wasn’t me. Someone else fixed it for me. I mean, it was magic, but I didn’t do it. And speaking of my head wound, how is it that the greatest knight in all Camelot is so sore about a tiny scrape like this?” Merlin wiggled Arthur’s hand off and wiped off the last bit of dirt he could find on the cuts.
“It isn’t like normal,” Arthur said. “I’ve had plenty worse than this in training, but this one hurts more. It sort of burns. And let’s not forget who gave me this injury.”
“Sometimes the smallest injuries cause the most pain. And if you’d been wearing your jacket, you wouldn’t have scratched your elbow,” Merlin answered. He wrapped Arthur’s arm twice in a thin bandage and tied it on. “I’m done. You’ll live.” And he began to push himself up from the ground.
“Um-,” Arthur started and stopped. Merlin paused too and regarded him curiously. “You… Who do you want to associate with? What kind of person do you look up to?”
Merlin shrugged. “Well, like you, I love my mother, and I look up to my father as well. There are a couple of knights I’ve met, before they were knights, who are very honorable and loyal and a lot of fun to hang out with. And of course, there’s you. Oh! And Gaius.”
“Gaius?” Arthur asked, his face twisting in displeasure. “But he’s so old.”
“Do you not like Gaius? I thought he was teaching you,” Merlin said.
Now Arthur shrugged. “Yeah. I like Gaius. I’ve known him since I was born, but I wouldn’t call him my friend… more like a second father, and you can’t be friends with your father.”
“Why not? I love my father. If I could spend more time with him, I would.”
“Why can’t you?” Arthur asked, standing and gently holding his elbow.
“He died,” Merlin admitted. “Killed fighting some of Cenred’s men… to protect me.”
“I’m sorry,” Arthur said. “He must have been very brave.”
“Yes, he was. I used to be upset about his death, but I know he’s still with me in spirit.” Merlin looked up at the sky and the sun’s dying orange glow squeezing between the branches. Sometimes he could even swear he heard his father speaking to him, but Arthur didn’t need to know that - at this age or at his future age. Some things were better kept secret.
“That’s good then. So who’s your best friend?” Arthur asked, changing the subject in what he must have thought was a smooth manner.
“Hm? Well it used to be a serving girl, but she’s been busy most of the time recently. Right now, my best friend is you,” Merlin said and reached down to search for the flint in Arthur’s bag.
“But I don’t want to be your friend,” Arthur said.
Merlin stopped what he was doing and looked over at Arthur in worried confusion. “What?” He’d thought they were getting on just fine. Arthur didn’t consider them friends?
“I said I don’t want to be a friend,” Arthur reiterated. “I… I want you to come live in the castle with me.”
“The castle?” Merlin asked, still confused. “There is no castle in Ealdor.”
“Idiot! I meant Camelot, obviously,” Arthur grunted and looked uncomfortable. “I know that’s what you’ve been waiting to hear from the start - that I’ll go back. Well I will. I’ll go back to Camelot, but I want you to go back with me.”
“Arthur…,” Merlin began and bit his cheek. He took a short breath and tried again. “Arthur, I -”
“You wouldn’t need to worry about being a servant or anything,” Arthur interrupted hurriedly. He was looking at Merlin pleadingly and took a step closer to the wizard. “I’d get you a good position, like my … my advisor or tutor or something.”
“I can’t,” Merlin said, frowning deeply. He didn’t want to dash Arthur’s hopes, but he had no choice in the matter. Once he got Arthur back to Camelot, he would be returning to the future. He couldn’t stay. Besides that, Merlin missed his own Arthur.
“Please!” Arthur whined and took a half step back. “I’m not cut out for sleeping on dirt floors everyday or field work. I know I’m not… but I can’t go back to Camelot on my own. I need you to help me. I can’t survive my father by myself.”
“Yes you can,” Merlin assured. He took a step toward Arthur, and the prince took a step away. “You won’t always have someone to back you up. You have to learn to believe in yourself and just stand up for what you believe is right - without help from anyone.”
“You’re just trying to sound wise so you don’t have to come back with me,” Arthur ground out. “I’d protect your secret from my father. I’d protect you instead of you always protecting me, but you’re just…”
“Arthur,” Merlin tried and reached out to touch Arthur’s shoulder, but Arthur jumped back from him.
“Leave me alone,” Arthur snapped. “I need to be alone. I’m going for a walk.”
And Merlin watched sadly after his tiny prince. He’d somehow convinced Arthur to go back to Camelot, but the prince still had no confidence in himself and had not forgiven his father. Was it even possible to fix those issues now? Especially now, in fact, since Arthur seemed to have lost some bit of faith in Merlin.
-- -- -- --
Preview, Chapter 7 - The Witch:
She had long golden blonde hair and shining green eyes that stood out even at night. She wore a green gown that was just a shade too bright to be mistaken for a tree or bush. It was nearly camouflage. Around her neck was a silver necklace.
"Emrys," she spoke in his mind and held out her hand. "I can show you what's truly troubling his heart."
Merlin gasped and the visions ripped back. "Arthur's...," he began, but Tethalla's eyes went hard.
Arthur shook his head. He cried. "I don't want you to go."
"There is only one person I love." He moved Arthur's bangs from his face in a caressing manner and leaned in to press a kiss to his forehead.
Click HERE for Chapter 7!
Click Here for the MasterPost!
Rating: T
Fandom: Merlin BBC
Pairing: AdultArthur/Merlin
Warnings: None
Summary:
Following a familiar call into the forest, Merlin finds himself dropped through time to enter a Camelot he doesn't know. Now he must fulfill his destiny and find his way back home by facing his greatest foe yet - a 14 year old Arthur Pendragon.
AN: Sorry, I've been really sick or on vacation for the last few weeks. School starts tomorrow but I'll try to be faster, I swear.
Also, I finished a video over the break. Check it out on my journal.
Enjoy!
-- -- -- -- --
Chapter 6 - The Fight
It didn’t take long for orphan Archie to start pulling lose strings from his pack to wind together into a necklace. He thought Merlin didn’t notice, but it was hard to miss when you were the only two around and you knew that stone eventually ended up as a necklace. Arthur tried to hide it, and Merlin couldn’t help but grin every time he noticed Arthur being embarrassed about it. Arthur in the future was bad enough about hiding his emotions when he was embarrassed or being too kind. This young Arthur was even more inexperienced, and he wore his emotions like a blush on his cheeks. It was obvious when you were looking for it. When Merlin had pointed out the new jewelry, Arthur had changed the subject to trees and pulled out his map to look busy. Merlin looked over his shoulder and pretended to believe him.
There was no way Arthur could tell where they were from the map. It was a good map, not as detailed as the ones in the future, but still good. However, since they weren’t following a path, the map was pretty much useless for Arthur, who hadn’t known which way he was going from the beginning. Merlin knew exactly where they were though. They were heading out of the Camelot woods and across the open plains. Between them and Ealdor were the forest and cliffs of Ascetir. Merlin had taken the long way through the forest. It gave him more time with Arthur, but he’d done it more for safety reasons than destiny reasons. Bandits liked the plains.
But it was nice spending time with Arthur as well… even if it was a pint sized version who still thought Merlin was generally useless.
“Archie, what kind of people do you like to be around?” Merlin asked as he marked their path by breaking off a twig from a tree which tore a line down the bark.
“My father says you stay around the people you most want to earn the respect of. Vicinity breeds loyalty,” Arthur replied. He was kneeling by a bush, wiggling his finger at a wild hare. “With that in mind, I would like to be around knights. Loyal knights are the best men you can find.”
“And you will have them. More than you can want,” Merlin said. He stood back from the scene, not wanting to scare off the animal that was slowly inching closer to Arthur. “But what kind of people would you choose personally? Anyone in the world… to be your friends.”
Arthur dropped his hand a bit and the hare sniffed the air nervously. Arthur frowned and waved at it again.
“Since I have no knights… Well my nanny used to tell me to be friends with whoever I most wanted… to be like, to be around people I admired,” he said. The hare touched its nose to his fingertips. Arthur smiled and slowly moved to touch the creature’s head.
“Who do you want to be like?” Merlin asked, leaning on the tree and crossing his arms.
“My mother,” Arthur answered without hesitation. “Everyone says she was a wonderful person with wisdom and grace.”
“People say all sorts of things after people die,” Merlin said monotonously. Arthur turned around too quickly and the hare dashed off into the undergrowth. Arthur was glaring.
“Excuse me?” he asked. Merlin stared at him steadily. “Are you trying to say my mother wasn’t wise and graceful?”
“I have no doubt your mother was a brilliant woman,” Merlin said. “But she loved your father very much, and people don’t tend to love someone who is completely unlike them.”
“What?” Arthur huffed out, standing abruptly. He looked uneasy behind his anger. Merlin pushed off the tree and shrugged.
“There must be something in your father that attracted her. Maybe she liked the way his eyes looked after a ride or the way he saw his people. I imagine… the king had a great vision for his kingdom. It just became a little skewed when your mother died,” Merlin explained.
“God, what is it with you?” Arthur groaned, throwing his hands up. “Every time we talk, you try to prove how great my father is.”
“No. I completely agree with you. Your father is a terrible man who kills innocent people who have done nothing wrong, people who don’t even use magic. He kills all magic users because just one made a mistake. It’s not fair. He yells, and he gets angry, and he’s blinded by his revenge. He’s losing his skill as a swordsman. He’s putting on weight. He’s losing his hair. If his temper wasn’t bad enough, his hygiene pushes him over the edge. He’s a disgusting man, inside and out, and he doesn’t deserve an heir like you,” Merlin said.
No sooner had he stopped speaking than Arthur was shoving him roughly, causing him to stumble back into the tree. The prince looked more flushed now than before.
“Shut up!” he yelled.
“Why?” Merlin asked, planting his feet firmly so as not to be knocked over again. “You hate him too, don’t you? You don’t care if someone speaks badly of him. He’s not your father anymore. He’s not your king. If you plan on keeping who you are a secret, you can’t go around getting upset when someone degrades him. You’re thinking it too. You’re just not man enough to admit it.”
“I said shut up!” Arthur said again, trying to push Merlin but failing this time. Merlin shoved his hands out, however, and caught Arthur just right. The blonde hit the dirt and skinned his elbow. He looked up at Merlin in shock. He touched his elbow to scale the pain and then only had eyes for the man who had been so gentle until now. Merlin knelt down and loomed over the fallen prince.
“I don’t want to lie to you, Archie,” he said. “I don’t like your father. Hate is a bit strong, but I definitely fear him. But there is more to a person than what you feel personally for them. Beyond your father is the kingdom he raised. It is prospering. The people are surviving. He is caring for his people. And beyond your father, there are other people to worry about. There is someone I care for and fear even more than the current king. I know they will be the greatest person in the whole world, in everyone’s world and not just in mine.”
“W-who’s that?” Arthur asked, slowly extending his arm out to push himself up.
“You.” Merlin held his breath a moment while he let that thought sink in. “But you are not the best man in the world yet. You have such a long way to go. You must learn to be forgiving and wise. Being king is not an honor. It is a duty. You have a duty to rule with dignity, honor, and justice for the sake of your people. You must learn to love others and most of all to trust your heart. Don’t let others manipulate you.”
“But if I listen to you, isn’t that letting you manipulate me?” Arthur asked. Merlin smiled and shrugged slightly.
“Not if you believe what you’re doing is right in your own heart,” he said. “I’m just counseling you. It’s what wise old men do.”
“You aren’t-!,” Arthur began, and his face flushed. He looked slightly to the right before continuing. “You aren’t that old.”
“Oh? You’ve been calling me a stupid old man the whole time I’ve been here,” Merlin reminded.
“Well you’re not old, alright?” Arthur snapped, pushing himself to his feet and shuffling quickly away. “But you’re still an idiot!”
“Of course, Archie,” Merlin said.
He took a step to follow the blonde and paused. He thought he heard something, or maybe he had felt it. His senses were fighting to claim which one had noticed something odd in the air. Merlin frowned at the forest. He saw nothing with his eyes, but his heart was pounding. He could almost hear it, whispering to him.
“Merlin.” He could hear a woman in his head - a woman he did not know. She sounded coy and, for a moment, Merlin thought he saw her between the trees, garbed in shimmering green, but then she was gone without a move or a sound.
“Hey!” Arthur’s call brought him back. He was up on the next hill. “Let’s go! I want to see this village where you grew up.”
“Ah! Coming!” Merlin called back and hurried to catch up. A magical person or creature might be following, but Merlin would just keep an extra eye out. She didn’t feel like she had any negative intent. So long as she kept to herself, Merlin had no reason to fight her. He just hoped she meant well.
-- -- -- -- -- --
“Hold still,” Merlin scolded when they stopped that evening. The sun had barely begun to set, but Arthur’s elbow had been giving him some discomfort. Merlin had him sitting on a rock while he tended to the injury.
“Why don’t you just use your magic and fix it already?” Arthur asked, wincing as Merlin rubbed a wet rag over the scratches. It used to be part of Merlin’s shirt, but now it was a badly ripped off section big enough to clean small wounds. Merlin was no less warm or covered because of it. If he got cold, his jacket would be more than enough to suffice.
“Magic isn’t needed for something as small as this,” Merlin said. “If it was infected and you grew ill, then I would use magic. Right now it’s just a scratch.”
“Oh!” Arthur suddenly exclaimed and snapped his free hand down on Merlin’s cleaning one. “That’s how you fixed your head wound, isn’t it?!” And he looked so joyous that Merlin barely had the heart to tell him the truth.
“No. That wasn’t me. Someone else fixed it for me. I mean, it was magic, but I didn’t do it. And speaking of my head wound, how is it that the greatest knight in all Camelot is so sore about a tiny scrape like this?” Merlin wiggled Arthur’s hand off and wiped off the last bit of dirt he could find on the cuts.
“It isn’t like normal,” Arthur said. “I’ve had plenty worse than this in training, but this one hurts more. It sort of burns. And let’s not forget who gave me this injury.”
“Sometimes the smallest injuries cause the most pain. And if you’d been wearing your jacket, you wouldn’t have scratched your elbow,” Merlin answered. He wrapped Arthur’s arm twice in a thin bandage and tied it on. “I’m done. You’ll live.” And he began to push himself up from the ground.
“Um-,” Arthur started and stopped. Merlin paused too and regarded him curiously. “You… Who do you want to associate with? What kind of person do you look up to?”
Merlin shrugged. “Well, like you, I love my mother, and I look up to my father as well. There are a couple of knights I’ve met, before they were knights, who are very honorable and loyal and a lot of fun to hang out with. And of course, there’s you. Oh! And Gaius.”
“Gaius?” Arthur asked, his face twisting in displeasure. “But he’s so old.”
“Do you not like Gaius? I thought he was teaching you,” Merlin said.
Now Arthur shrugged. “Yeah. I like Gaius. I’ve known him since I was born, but I wouldn’t call him my friend… more like a second father, and you can’t be friends with your father.”
“Why not? I love my father. If I could spend more time with him, I would.”
“Why can’t you?” Arthur asked, standing and gently holding his elbow.
“He died,” Merlin admitted. “Killed fighting some of Cenred’s men… to protect me.”
“I’m sorry,” Arthur said. “He must have been very brave.”
“Yes, he was. I used to be upset about his death, but I know he’s still with me in spirit.” Merlin looked up at the sky and the sun’s dying orange glow squeezing between the branches. Sometimes he could even swear he heard his father speaking to him, but Arthur didn’t need to know that - at this age or at his future age. Some things were better kept secret.
“That’s good then. So who’s your best friend?” Arthur asked, changing the subject in what he must have thought was a smooth manner.
“Hm? Well it used to be a serving girl, but she’s been busy most of the time recently. Right now, my best friend is you,” Merlin said and reached down to search for the flint in Arthur’s bag.
“But I don’t want to be your friend,” Arthur said.
Merlin stopped what he was doing and looked over at Arthur in worried confusion. “What?” He’d thought they were getting on just fine. Arthur didn’t consider them friends?
“I said I don’t want to be a friend,” Arthur reiterated. “I… I want you to come live in the castle with me.”
“The castle?” Merlin asked, still confused. “There is no castle in Ealdor.”
“Idiot! I meant Camelot, obviously,” Arthur grunted and looked uncomfortable. “I know that’s what you’ve been waiting to hear from the start - that I’ll go back. Well I will. I’ll go back to Camelot, but I want you to go back with me.”
“Arthur…,” Merlin began and bit his cheek. He took a short breath and tried again. “Arthur, I -”
“You wouldn’t need to worry about being a servant or anything,” Arthur interrupted hurriedly. He was looking at Merlin pleadingly and took a step closer to the wizard. “I’d get you a good position, like my … my advisor or tutor or something.”
“I can’t,” Merlin said, frowning deeply. He didn’t want to dash Arthur’s hopes, but he had no choice in the matter. Once he got Arthur back to Camelot, he would be returning to the future. He couldn’t stay. Besides that, Merlin missed his own Arthur.
“Please!” Arthur whined and took a half step back. “I’m not cut out for sleeping on dirt floors everyday or field work. I know I’m not… but I can’t go back to Camelot on my own. I need you to help me. I can’t survive my father by myself.”
“Yes you can,” Merlin assured. He took a step toward Arthur, and the prince took a step away. “You won’t always have someone to back you up. You have to learn to believe in yourself and just stand up for what you believe is right - without help from anyone.”
“You’re just trying to sound wise so you don’t have to come back with me,” Arthur ground out. “I’d protect your secret from my father. I’d protect you instead of you always protecting me, but you’re just…”
“Arthur,” Merlin tried and reached out to touch Arthur’s shoulder, but Arthur jumped back from him.
“Leave me alone,” Arthur snapped. “I need to be alone. I’m going for a walk.”
And Merlin watched sadly after his tiny prince. He’d somehow convinced Arthur to go back to Camelot, but the prince still had no confidence in himself and had not forgiven his father. Was it even possible to fix those issues now? Especially now, in fact, since Arthur seemed to have lost some bit of faith in Merlin.
-- -- -- --
Preview, Chapter 7 - The Witch:
She had long golden blonde hair and shining green eyes that stood out even at night. She wore a green gown that was just a shade too bright to be mistaken for a tree or bush. It was nearly camouflage. Around her neck was a silver necklace.
"Emrys," she spoke in his mind and held out her hand. "I can show you what's truly troubling his heart."
Merlin gasped and the visions ripped back. "Arthur's...," he began, but Tethalla's eyes went hard.
Arthur shook his head. He cried. "I don't want you to go."
"There is only one person I love." He moved Arthur's bangs from his face in a caressing manner and leaned in to press a kiss to his forehead.
Click HERE for Chapter 7!
Click Here for the MasterPost!