Outsider POV fic
Hi! Wondering if anyone has any idea what fic I'm talking about. It was about 30k, and from the POV of a group of mercenaries, canon-era. They were the few survivors from that time in one of the season 4 2-parters when merlin brought down a cave tunnel. They pretend to be Camelot knights for Reasons, only for the real ones to show up and go along with it. I believe Arthur pretends not to be the king.
I also distinctly recall merlin trying to use the spell from the Lancelot episode in the climax on arrows, only for them to be too quick for him to cast it properly. I *also* remember one of the mercenaries casually dropping that Merlin's magic use violates, like, every ethics code. He turns grass into bread(?) and gives it to the knights, for example. he also does some wacky complicated time magic so the stew they make at camp has less time to cook. I believe the mercenaries get properly knighted by the end.
There's also a magic reveal, but I can't quite remember how it plays out. Magic revealed is a central theme, but the actual confrontation between merlin and arthur wasn't much to comment on. Not a ship-fic, moreso an outsider POV type-deal. It read in tone and length like it could've been a legitimate episode, y'know? That's all I've got. Thanks for the help :)