The Edge of Darkness (7/7)

[mialoco]

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Arthur was sitting in the council chambers listening to some of his father's advisors stroking Uther's ego when a guard came in to announce to Uther that Gaius and his assistant were requesting to see him urgently.

"Show them in." Uther told the guard and sat back to wait.

"Sire," Gaius and Merlin both sketched a small bow.

"What is it Gaius?" Uther questioned.

"Sire, I know what has been making the people sick." Gaius paused as silence descended around the table.

"Merlin here” Gaius indicated Merlin with a wave of his hand, “brought me some rye this morning from the fields that feed the Lower Town that had black, enlarged grains that were weeping. He said that he had encountered the same problem with the rye in Ascetir when they were there. Since both places have had people showing the same type symptoms and people dying, but nowhere else has, I examined and tested the grains as best I could. It looks to be a kind of mold that is producing a poison. I will have to do more testing before I can tell you anything else. I would suggest that you send someone out to have any grain left from last year destroyed as well as the crop from this year in both places."

"Thank you, Gaius. Merlin." Uther told them in dismissal.

After Gaius and Merlin had left, Uther sat there was a strange look on his face.

"I will take some Knights and see that both the fields are destroyed, Father." Arthur said.

"What?" Uther turned toward him with a vague expression. "Oh, yes, Arthur. Very well. See the field in the Lower Town destroyed today and ride out tomorrow or the next day for Ascetir. Council is dismissed."

As Arthur walked out of the council chamber he glanced back at his father still sitting there looking vague. He wondered if his father was hearing the voices of the people that he had executed for sorcery over this illness.

* * * * *

Returning from Ascetir a week later, Arthur left Merlin to see to food for both of them and went to see his father. He found Uther in his chambers reading over some papers.

"Arthur." His father stood to shake his hand and pull him into a semi hug. "Is all well in Ascetir?"

"Yes, Father. We were able to destroy all the affected grain. I have promised them that we will see that they have enough to last them through the coming year. I hope that other areas are expecting a large harvest this year."

Uther nodded his agreement as silence fell between them. Arthur was satisfied to see that his father seemed to have recovered from the stress of the past several weeks. Arthur took a long deep breath and took the plunge he had been planning on the way home.

"Father, do you remember the suggestion I had sometime past about allowing someone else to see to the smaller matters of court?" As Uther took a breath to answer Arthur rushed ahead with his prepared speech. "You were right. It is not needed in Camelot." He paused, and then continued, "As Camelot is now. I do not intend to keep Camelot as it is now, however. I find that like you, I quite like the idea of conquering land to make my own. I fear that I will not have time to spend as you are tending carefully to my people and conquering more lands. I will have need for people to be my eyes and ears in such a large Kingdom. I fear that I will not know how to train people unless I get some experience now, while I have you to help me. I would like to request that you allow me to go out into some of the more distant areas of the Kingdom and establish some minor courts myself. I will oversee them for a time and see how it works. It will be strictly a learning experience right now. Everything near Camelot will remain as it is. While I am gone, I would be able to check the grain of the rest of the Kingdom to see that another incidence such as we have just endured did not happen again. I could also more actively look for Morgana.”

Uther sat for so long that Arthur was afraid that he was going to refuse his request. “Arthur I commend you for thinking ahead. While I do not feel it is necessary at this time, as you say, it might be necessary for you in the future and I would feel better guiding you. You may make your plans and present them to me so that we may discuss them before you leave. We will plan for you to depart in two weeks. That should give you enough time to prepare."

"Thank you, Father." Arthur rose to leave. Just as he opened the door, his father stalled him.

"Arthur, how big do you plan to make Camelot?" His father sounded fondly indulgent.

Arthur pursed his lips. "Well, I had thought to start by uniting all of Albion; I haven't quite decided where I shall go from there." He sketched a nod and closed the door.

He heard his father's roll of laughter as he closed the door. The laughter did not bother Arthur. He had come to realize that his father's thinking was more limited than his own was.

Arthur found a young servant and gave him some orders before he sprinted up the stairs to his chambers to find Merlin there with the fire going and candles lit. There was a tankard of ale on the table.

"The kitchens had to heat something up; they didn't expect us back tonight." Merlin told him. "A kitchen servant will bring it up when it is ready. You can scoot up to the table and I will unbuckle your armor there while we wait." Merlin announced as he came back to the table.

Merlin stood behind Arthur and started working to loose his armor. Arthur swiped the tankard aside and laid his head on the table. "At times like this I almost wish I had magic so I could use it to get this armor off more easily and quickly."

Merlin's hands seemed to freeze on the buckle for a moment before he chuckled. "I can't believe what I just heard from you of all people. Aren't you afraid that it would turn you evil?"

"Not if the only spell I knew was how to remove my armor quickly. Anyway, I am sure I don't have an evil heart."

"Well, in that case, maybe you can ask the next sorcerer locked up in the dungeons to teach you before his execution." Merlin quipped, laying aside a piece of the armor.

"I just spoke to my father. We are going to be away from the castle for some time. Maybe I will just find a sorcerer while we are away from prying eyes and have him teach me. I can reward him by making him court sorcerer when I am King." Arthur shot back.

Merlin dropped the vambrace he had just removed. He picked it up and laid it on the table without a word, turning back and motioning Arthur to stand so that he might remove the chainmail.

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter," Arthur called out slightly muffled since Merlin was lifting his chainmail over his head.

A serving girl entered with a tray of food and a pitcher of water. "Just set it on the table," Arthur told her. "Merlin will serve me."

Merlin moved all the armor to the floor, out of the way by the wall, and took the plate from the tray to place it in front of Arthur, who had reseated himself in his chair. He picked up the tankard on the tray and poured water into it.

"Here, sit down and have a drum stick and some fruit. Gaius will probably already be in bed, so you will not get much when you get back to your room. You take the tankard of water and I'll just finish my mead."

They ate their dinner in silence; Arthur's earlier statement seemed to sit between them like a gauntlet that neither was willing to pick up right then. Merlin finished his food and prepared the tub for when the water arrived. There was a knock on the door and Arthur just sat at the table finishing his mead and let Merlin open the door for the servants with the water and direct them in preparing his bath.

After the boys had left, Arthur was behind the changing screen getting undressed when he had to duck as a toweling sheet was slung over the top of the changing screen almost hitting him in the face. When he settled himself into the tub, he heard the sounds of Merlin loudly stacking the dishes on the tray. It sounded as if Merlin was angry or disturbed about something. Though Merlin was banging and fumbling around, Arthur almost fell asleep in the warm cocoon of water. In a sleepy voice Arthur commanded, "Come wash the grime off my back, Merlin." As he heard Merlin's footsteps come close, he drew himself up, raised his knees and laid his head on them, exposing his back without ever opening his eyes. "I feel like I could sleep here," he said.

"You will shrivel up like an old man and be all wrinkly when I come to wake you tomorrow if you do go to sleep there." Merlin answered as he began to soap up Arthur's back. Even without opening his eyes, Arthur could tell by his voice that he was smiling as he said it. It made Arthur smile into his knees just knowing that Merlin's smiles were back again.

"Once the water gets cold you would probably stiffen up in that position, too. It would be difficult to get clothes on you. I would just have to throw a blanket over you and call some servants to come carry you down to meet with your father like that. It probably wouldn't sit well with him, either."

Arthur could only manage a short huff.

"Wait, stay like that." He heard Merlin command as he disappeared somewhere.

"You forget that I am the one that gives the orders around here, Merlin." Arthur said, simply out of habit and remained as he was.

Merlin came clattering back to stop beside the tub. Arthur felt the warm water poured over his back to rinse it off and realized that Merlin had gone for the tankard on the table. Arthur just sat with his eyes closed and enjoyed the cascade of warm water, until it was dumped over his head and ran down his face.

"Merlin!" Arthur sputtered as he jerked his head up from his knees.

"Don't you want your hair washed for you?" Without waiting for an answer, Arthur felt soapy hands working through his hair. "You look as if you are too tired to lift your arms."

"You could warn a person before you pour water over their head."

"Like you do?" Merlin asked innocently as fingertips massaged the soap into Arthur's scalp.

"I'm a Prince." Arthur's tone gave his comeback a double meaning.

"You're a prat," was Merlin's response.

Arthur found that he was not interested in the banter with Merlin that he usually enjoyed with those fingers massaging his head. Barely holding back a groan, he did allow himself to lean into them in the slightest way hoping Merlin would not notice.

"Consider this a warning," he heard before water splashed over his head and face several times. "There, now you can lie back and enjoy your bath until it grows cold."

Merlin went around the screen and Arthur could hear him moving around the room as he lay there with his eyes closed.

Hearing the creak of the wardrobe door Arthur spoke up. "Put a dressing robe over the screen for me, too."

As Arthur heard Merlin near the screen, again there was a knock on the door.

"Hold. Just a moment," called Arthur loudly as he stood and stepped out of the tub. He wrapped a towel around himself and walked behind the screen where he called to Merlin. "You can let them enter." He wrapped his wet body in the robe.

Merlin opened the door for the serving boys with buckets to drain the tub.

Merlin had just shut the door after the last boy and was turning around when another knock caused him to squawk in surprise. He glanced at Arthur, now standing by the screen for permission before he opened it.

Arthur simply stood with his arms crossed and watched as more serving boys with hot water filed in and Merlin stood there with a look of confusion on his face.

"Arthur has already had his bath." He told them, glancing from the boys to Arthur then back to the boys again in exasperation.

"I asked them to bring extra water," Arthur spoke up as he stood beside the screen in his robe and watched the procession through his room. "I was too dirty to lay back and relax in that filthy water."

"Yes, Sire," the tone made it a mockery instead of homage.

Arthur thought about how much he had missed that impertinence for the past few months as he walked toward the bathing area leaving Merlin to close the doors after the last of the serving boys.

"Will you be requiring me for anything else?" Merlin’s voice sounded wearily from the other side of the screen.

"Yes, come here." Arthur ordered from the bathing area as he sat on the stool and swirled a sachet through the waters that Gaius made to relax him after a hard day of training the Knights. He heard a loud sigh from Merlin as he rounded the corner of the screen and stopped just looking at Arthur in his dressing gown sitting on the small stool beside the tub.

“Do you require help getting your dressing gown off or was there something else?” His tone was weary, but it was good that the bantering was back. "You got it on yourself and getting it off is much easier. You just untie it and it will almost drop off by itself."

"I can manage the robe, I require you to undress."

"Me, undress? But...why?" Merlin squeaked.

"I require you to undress and get into this water and have a bath. You may use the screen while I find you some clean clothes to wear back to your room. You wouldn't want to dress in those filthy things again after you get clean."

Merlin just stared with his mouth open.

"And close your mouth, you're going to catch flying bugs in there. Better get a move on before the water gets cold."

Proving that he wasn't a total idiot and knew when an opportunity was too good to miss, Merlin quickly sat on the small stool and began pulling off his boots as Arthur walked around the privacy screen. The sound of feet padding toward the screen then the sound of rustling clothes told Arthur that for once Merlin was obeying without question or argument. A small yip from Merlin caught his attention.

“Something wrong?”

“I was just in such a hurry that I caught my nose in the neck of my shirt as I pulled it off.”

Arthur heard the sound of water just as Merlin finished talking. He could not hold back a laugh.

"Do you need your back washed?" Arthur asked as he threw the set of nightclothes that he rarely wore over the changing screen a few minutes later.

For once Merlin was quiet for so long that Arthur thought that he had fallen asleep. "Please." He finally managed in a voice that was raspy and did strange things to Arthur's stomach.

As Arthur had done, Merlin sat up while pulling his knees up to rest his head on them without opening his eyes. Arthur wet the soap and worked up lather on his hands then began rubbing his hands over Merlin’s back as Merlin had often done for him. Merlin groaned his enjoyment and with a shock, Arthur realized that he was enjoying it, too.

Although Arthur thoroughly enjoyed having Merlin wash his back and hair on a regular basis, he had never realized before how sensuous it could be to do it for someone else. He enjoyed feeling Merlin’s musculature beneath his hands. Though he was not as muscled as a Knight was, he did have muscles and broad shoulders. He did not look nearly the bag of bones that he did in his ill-fitting clothes.

When Arthur realized that he had been running his hands over Merlin's back longer than necessary, he reached for the tankard Merlin had used earlier to rinse him off and wet his hair. The sudden splashing of water over his head jerked Merlin out of his lethargy.

"Hey!" The sound died on his lips when he heard Arthur begin to chuckle.

"Spoils the mood, doesn't it?” Arthur said as he started massaging is soapy hands through Merlin's hair.

A slight shrug was Merlin's only answer. Just as he was looking like he was about to start purring like a cat Arthur poured another splash of water over his head that made him look as if he had decided he felt more like yowling and spitting. Another two tankards full of water over his head and all the soap was gone. Arthur rose, readjusted the robe, and tightened the belt again.

"Why?" Merlin was looking up at him still clutching his arms around his knees and now looking like a drowned rat. Arthur unconsciously licked his lips as he watched a drop of water slide down a his neck to disappear behind his knees clutched to his chest. Quickly realizing what he was doing he looked away.

"Maybe if you see how it is you will think before you do something like that in the future."

"No, why the bath?"

Arthur just stood and stared at his bare feet for a few seconds. Finally, he replied in a slightly cocky way to cover his embarrassment. "I knew that since you had spent the time attending me that Gaius would be in bed so you wouldn't have a chance to have anything more than a basin bath in your rooms. I am just making sure that I don't have to smell the stench of the days on horseback in the morning or wait forever for my breakfast because you are late from lazing around in a bath."

Arthur couldn't stay any longer, had to put some distance between them. He had not realized how sensual washing someone could be, how much he wanted to keep touching Merlin. He wondered if Merlin ever felt that way as he washed Arthur's back.

As he turned to leave, he threw back over his shoulder, "I'm going to get dressed and go to bed. You stay there until your water goes cold if you want to. I have left you clean clothes on the screen. Use them. They won't be a perfect fit, but I am sure that they will be fine between here and your room." Arthur turned and walked behind the screen.

"I'll leave the candles in there for you to blow out after you have dressed. Take the single one with you to find your way out when you leave. Just leave everything else here until morning. I am sure that you will have plenty of time to deal with it while I meet with my father." Arthur realized he was babbling and shut up.

"Yes, Sire." Instead of the usual mocking tone, that Merlin employed to annoy Arthur, this time it sounded almost like an endearment.

Arthur was still feeling antsy after he had blown out the candles outside the bathing area and climbed into his bed. He lay there for what seemed like hours listening to the sounds of the water that he knew was caressing Merlin's naked flesh much as his hands had been doing minutes ago. He was growing more and more uncomfortable at the memory of his hands on that exposed flesh and it seemed to make his whole body yearn to caress Merlin as the water was doing. The thoughts shocked and confused Arthur as he realized that he had never cared enough for another person to want to show caring through touch. Charming, wooing, and telling women sweet lies was easy for him when he felt the need to bed someone, but this was different, this need to communicate to another through touch. Arthur had always been terrible at dealing with emotions. He tended to stuff all his emotions, but anger, down until he couldn't feel them anymore. How would Merlin react if he knew? Merlin didn't want this, after all the times he had bathed Arthur and dressed Arthur, he had never acted as if he felt this strange yearning for more touch, this awkwardness. Well, he was Merlin of course he was awkward.

With relief, Merlin saved him from further confusing introspection when he emerged to tiptoe across the room with one single candle, his hand shielding its brightness thinking Arthur asleep. The relief was short lived when it took everything in Arthur not to call out to him, to ask him to join him in his bed.

As the door opened, he lost his battle to keep silent. “Merlin.”

The way that Merlin juggled the candle it must have startled him. “Yes, Arthur.” His voice was low, raspy, and relaxed. It seemed to crawl down Arthur’s spine and curl up in his lower stomach.

He opened his mouth to say goodnight. "Stay?" His mouth betrayed him and he closed his eyes, not able to watch the horror and rejection on Merlin's face. Merlin was the one person in Camelot that would not do something just because Arthur asked it of him. Merlin was his own man and Arthur appreciated that.

He heard the door close firmly and Merlin's key turned the lock, then total silence. He let out a shaky sigh, and lay there in humiliation.

"Where do you want me?" The low voice had him jerking his eyes open in surprise. In the light of the fire, he saw Merlin standing there at the side of his bed settling the unlit candle on the stand.

Arthur raised the coverlet in invitation. "Beside me," he croaked through a throat that would hardly work to get the word out.

Merlin crawled into the bed and they both lay stiffly for a few minutes in silence, neither seeming to know how to deal with this new whatever it was. As Arthur was staring through the darkness toward the canopy trying to decide how he was going to relax enough to sleep, the bed moved beside him and he felt Merlin burrow into his side.

"Merlin, you are hogging the bed," he exclaimed.

" M'm cold," came a muffle from under the coverlet.

"It's always something with you Merlin." Arthur answered as he fought against the smile on his face for just the right exasperation in his tone and rolled on his side to draw Merlin into his body. Merlin never seemed to have trouble knowing and seeking out what he wanted. Maybe Arthur could learn from him. "Better now?" he whispered.

"Mmmmm." The muffled sound of contentment was the only answer. Arthur smiled again and brushed a kiss soft as butterfly wings against the dark hair as he realized that it no longer felt new or strange. It felt like that first glimpse of Camelot's turrets when Arthur returned from a long trip away. "Beside me, Always." Arthur whispered then burrowed his nose into Merlin's hair and let sleep claim him.

The End.