Merlin fanfic - It's Time to Begin - chapter three - The First Hurdle
Three months had passed since Arthur had started training Merlin with the staff weapon. It was going better than either of them had ever imagined it could. Now, Merlin was able to hold out for several minutes against several opponents before he was overtaken. Arthur was very impressed and made sure to praise Merlin for a good job done.
It may or may not have been to see Merlin’s bright smile and his ears, cheeks, and nose blush in a very pretty way.
The rest of the Knights were taking on Mages to help them defend themselves when magic wasn’t an option for defense. It was a slow going process, for people that had never really done terribly much to defend themselves physically; it was like starting as a child.
--
Merlin had decided that he wanted to go to the Market and no grumbling, groaning, or reluctance from Arthur would dissuade him.
Arthur not only hated the crush of people that seemed to always be in the Market, but also how it hindered him from doing his job properly. His job, which was to keep Merlin safe. The Market was always congested with people and allowed for too many things to happen without a clear idea of what had happened and who had done it. But Merlin had been unmoved by Arthur’s reasoning.
Arthur passed by what seemed like more people in the Market than was usual. He pressed close to Merlin and helped him push through the overly large crowd of people.
“Merrrrlin, why is there so many people in the Citadel?” he asked, stretching out the ‘r’ in Merlin’s name. He placed a hand firmly on Merlin’s shoulder to keep him within easy reach and to keep Merlin from wandering, as he was wont to do.
“Hmm?” Merlin asked, obviously not really paying attention to Arthur. He was focused on a table with jewelry and daggers. Finally he actually processed what Arthur had asked and responded. “Oh, it’s the tournament. It’s starting next week.”
“The Tournament? What tournament?” Arthur asked, slightly annoyed that Merlin wasn’t really paying attention and how he seemed to think he knew better than anyone about the goings on in the Camelot Citadel.
“The tournament we have every year. It’s the Knights’ Challenge. Or, well, was. This year, the Mages get to play. There will be three tournaments; one is for just the Mages, one is for just the Knights, and then one for teams of Knights and Mages,” Merlin explained distractedly as they finally broke through the throng to stop in front of the table.
“Why has no one been talking about it?” Arthur asked, releasing Merlin when it became apparent they were stopping at the table for longer than a few moments.
Merlin shrugged. “I think all the Knights are signing up and the majority of the Mages will, as well.”
“Are you?” Arthur asked, his voice steely. He wasn’t fond of surprises. It made him uneasy. He preferred to have control of what was happening. Something he was having to compromise with Merlin. Sometimes, he Merlin really got on his nerves.
Merlin picked up a gold cuff with a deep purple stone set in the center. “Do you think Morgana would like this?” he asked, holding it up for Arthur to look at.
“Probably,” he said, barley glancing at the bracelet. “Are you competing?”
Merlin fixed him with a glare. “Of course! I was thinking about joining the knights’ team, but I hadn’t exactly figured out if I wanted you or Leon to be with me on it.”
“What the hell do you mean ‘of course’? Last I checked, there was an assassination attempt made on your life recently.” Arthur ignored the merchant, who suddenly became very interested in the conversation and leaned out of his chair to hear the rest of it. “Your Mum probably doesn’t want you to do it!”
Merlin turned back to his casual perusal of the jewelry in front of him. He replaced the cuff in his hands with a necklace with a silver chain and a large, blue, jagged looking crystal hanging from it.
“My mum already knows about it. I already entered for the single competition. I’m supposed to represent Camelot. If you were the Prince, you would be expected to participate. I’m sure you’d expect yourself to win,” Merlin said without turning to face Arthur again. He asked the merchant how much the necklace was.
Arthur groaned. “Fine, but I’m going to be your partner and you will listen to me.”
“You can’t just make decisions for me!” Merlin cried, spinning to face him with a defiant look on his face.
Arthur groaned inwardly. He hadn’t actually meant to sound like Merlin didn’t have a choice. He had just wanted to put himself in a good position to protect him. It was his job and in no way did it have anything to do with his grudging attraction to Merlin. It was about the job.
“Look, I know that, but it’s my job to protect you. It makes the most sense for you to compete with me. You and I have been working together, and we know about each other’s styles. Leon has no idea how you fight.”
Merlin watched him with pursed lips for a long minute. “Fine,” he finally conceded and Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. Merlin went back to ignoring Arthur completely and paid for the necklace.
Arthur bristled a little at the snub, but held his annoyance in check. He slapped his hand rougher than was necessary onto Merlin’s shoulder. He took Merlin’s annoyed glance at him as a win. Arthur flashed him a baiting smile, all teeth.
He followed as Merlin led them through the throng.
--
Gwen made a habit of checking on Morgana when she awoke. She and Morgana were early risers, but Gwen was always up before the sun. When she poked her head in to look in on the Lady Morgana, she saw that her blankets and pillows had fallen at some point in the night and all that remained were the sheets and Morgana curled in the middle of the bed.
Gwen shook her head with a small smile and quietly entered the room. She carefully picked up the blanket and tossed it on Morgana. She crouched to gather the pillows that littered the floor, but froze at the low, pained, moan that came from the bed.
“Morgana?” Gwen asked quietly. She didn’t wish to wake her if she had misheard. Then she heard another moan, and the blankets shifted. She stood and stepped close to Morgana’s bedside.
Morgana’s brow was knitted tightly as she tossed and turned in her bed. A light sheen of sweat had broken out over her forehead.
“Morgana?” Gwen said tentatively, hoping to draw Morgana out from her nightmare.
Morgana’s eyes opened, glowing gold.
Gwen sighed and sat on her bedside. She reached over to stroke Morgana’s hair. “I’m sorry you have to do this, Morgana,” she whispered, slowly stroking through her hair.
Morgana whimpered and her eyes flickered, briefly blue before they returned to their previous golden hue.
Gwen gently stroked down her arm, hoping to lend any comfort she could to her friend. After what felt like hours, Morgana finally gasped, awake. She sat straight up in bed panting with fright.
“What is it? Morgana, what did you see?” Gwen enquired gently as she drew Morgana to her. She tightly wrapped her arms around Morgana’s still shuddering form.
“Merlin,” Morgana croaked lowly. “Get Arthur. Get him.” Morgana pulled away from Gwen to look at her with deeply tired and panicked eyes.
“What? Don’t you want the Steward?” Gwen asked in confusion.
“Yes! But Arthur first!” she exclaimed, her eyes now very panic-filled. “Get Arthur. Please, Gwen?”
“Yes, Mi’Lady,” Gwen said and gave her mistress a rushed half curtsy before quickly moving out the door.
--
Morgana finally felt secure enough to move. She quickly put on her baby blue dressing gown and relocated herself to her small breakfast table. She sat stiffly in her large wooden chair, wringing her hands together with worry.
As she waited, she stared at her hands, waiting. Her hands shook. She gripped them tightly and placed them over her heart. She took a deep rattling breath to steady herself.
When a quick rap on her door sounded, her head jerked in that direction, startled.
“Enter,” she called out.
“What’s the problem, Morgana?” Arthur asked without preamble as he burst into the room. He was wearing a hastily put on white tunic and loose, brown breeches. His feet were bare.
“The challenge. Merlin can’t participate. He’ll be hurt or worse. I’m not sure what will happen,” she confessed wearily.
“What? He can’t back out. The first challenge is tomorrow. Everyone will think him a coward!” Arthur said, his gut churning. He didn’t want Merlin to be harmed, but he also knew how much this tournament meant to Merlin. He was so excited. He’d trained harder than he had in weeks; he was moving faster, learning faster.
“He’ll be hurt at the very least. I saw it. He cannot be in the challenge!” Morgana argued tightly. Merlin couldn’t participate.
“I will protect him. I can guarantee that, Lady Morgana,” Arthur assured her with determination. “I don’t think we can get Merlin to agree not to participate, and if we deny him the chance to prove himself…”
“He will be devastated,” Morgana finished for Arthur. She let an agitated breath out and ran a hand through her tangled hair. “He’s going to be injured. I don’t know much, but I know that. I don’t know by whom. But I think it was during the doubles competition.”
Arthur pulled out a chair beside Morgana and dropped heavily into it. He scrubbed a hand over his face. He had been up later than he had wanted to be, thinking of their strategy for the next several days. “The first three days are the singles’ competition. Then it’ll be doubles. So we have time,” Arthur mused quietly.
Morgana hummed in agreement. “I don’t like this, Arthur. There’s something happening that none of us fully realize. Gaius and Nimueh have been keeping secrets. You’ve also been keeping secrets.”
“I haven’t kept anything from you!” Arthur said, aghast at the accusation.
Morgana just looked at him for a long moment. “Perhaps you, yourself, haven’t realized yet.” She shrugged. “Whatever the case is, I feel that we should speak about it at a less pressing moment.”
Arthur looked at her with a very confused expression on his face.
They sat in silence for a long moment. Finally, Morgana spoke. “Did Gwen tell you where she was going?”
“To get the others,” Arthur replied, staring blankly at the door.
Morgana nodded and they lapsed into silence again. The sun slowly peaked from behind the horizon, painting the sky with bright colors. They both started when they heard a loud knock on the door.
“Enter,” Morgana said loudly enough for her voice to carry through the door.
Gwen stepped in with her head bowed. She was dressed for the day in a green frock. “The Steward of Camelot, Lady Hunith, Gaius, and Merlin have come.”
The group entered in various articles of sleepwear. All were wrapped in dressing gowns but Merlin. Merlin was rubbing his eyes and yawning deeply, his knobby knees on show beneath the hem of his night gown. “I felt magic. Saw Nimueh and followed,” he said sleepily. “What did you see, Morgana? Must’ve been strong.” Obviously still intent on sleep, he slowly climbed into her bed and pulled the covers over him. Morgana snorted when she heard soft snores rising from the mound of blankets.
Gaius looked at the bed with a hint of amusement and annoyance. “That child. He is about as useless in the mornings as a night blooming flower.” Nimueh opted to ignore him completely.
Hunith cuffed Merlin over the head, prompting Merlin to say, “Go ‘way Arthur. No run.”
Arthur snickered at that.
Morgana peered at Gwen with an odd look; she had only requested Nimueh. “Why did everyone come?”
“Guinevere told me it had to do with Merlin, and I felt it appropriate to inform his mother,” Nimueh said with a small shrug. “What did you see, and why did you want Arthur and not us?”
“Arthur seemed like the one most likely to talk sense into Merlin. I did want you; I just knew Arthur would be the fastest,” Morgana said reasonably. She stifled a yawn behind her hand - visions made her exhausted.
Nimueh looked to consider the answer for a moment before accepting it as fact. “What did you see?” Nimueh asked again, getting straight to the point as she was accustomed to doing.
“Merlin was injured, possibly seriously enough to kill him, during the Challenge,” Morgana said and prepared to continue, but Merlin cut her off.
“I’ll be fine,” Merlin interrupted, waving his hand through the air from the bed.
Morgana glared at the lump taking residence in her bed. “I didn’t see who he was. Or if it was a non-magical or magical competitor. I believe that it was in the doubles competition but of that, I cannot be sure.”
Gaius sat on the edge of Morgana’s bed and rubbed a hand over his face. Nimueh stood in the middle of the room with a contemplative look on her face. “Should he withdraw from the competition?” Gaius asked quietly.
“No,” Merlin grunted and tried to burrow deeper into the comforter around him. “I’ll be fine.”
Nimueh shot Merlin a hard glare. “Whatever you think, we know as fact that you won’t be.”
“A million things could happen in that time,” Merlin argued. Giving up the notion of sleep, he sat up. “Visions hinge on decisions. Things change constantly.”
“The cogs have already been put in place. To change them, you have to change,” Nimueh said with an agitated exhalation. “You know that.”
“I want you to withdraw, Merlin,” Hunith spoke up from by the bed.
Merlin turned to her with an aghast look. “Please don’t ask me to withdraw, Mum. I’d be labeled a coward!”
“Better a coward than a dead son,” Hunith said, her eyes narrowing on Merlin.
Arthur cut in. “With all due respect, if Merlin withdraws, it will look like he is too afraid to face the challenge. That could bode ill for the Kingdom, as a whole. The repercussions of him withdrawing are farther reaching than just those that are competing over the next week.”
Hunith turned to look at Arthur with a dangerous glint in her eye. “If my son were to die then it would have farther reaching repercussions than him dropping out of a silly competition.”
“Mum!” Merlin yelped. “It’s not silly! It’s to prove one’s mettle. It’s not about the prize or the title; it’s about proving that you are able to overcome your enemy, albeit in a controlled setting.”
“I fear I agree with Arthur and Merlin,” Nimueh said quietly.
Hunith turned on Nimueh with fire in her eyes. “If he is hurt, I will blame you personally,” she said with venom.
Nimueh lowered her head in acknowledgement. “That is acceptable.”
Merlin whooped and dropped back to the bed with a sigh. “Now that we have worked that out -”
Merlin was cut off by Arthur. “We can go for a run, seeing as you are already up.”
Merlin groaned and pulled the blanket over his head. “Sleeeeeeeep. Morgana can sleep too. We’ll sleep here. I’ll keep her safe from those dastardly visions.”
Morgana snorted, but did look longingly at her bed. She would enjoy sleeping. At least for another hour.
Nimueh rolled her eyes at her charges. They had no idea of the changes that had been made for this to happen. They had no idea of the dangers that existed for all of them.
Hunith hmph’d grumpily. “I’m returning to my chambers. I’ll see you all at lunch.”
Gaius followed her out, trying to quietly reassure her of Merlin’s safety.
Nimueh took a deep calming breath and said, “Very well, you all are going to act like children. I will be taking my leave.”
Morgana let out the breath she had been holding to keep herself upright when her door finally closed, leaving just the four of them.
Gwen looked at her worriedly. “You should go back to sleep for a while yet, Mi’Lady.”
Morgana nodded and slowly left her chair, sliding into bed with Merlin.
Merlin sighed and turned into her, wrapping his arms around her. “Knew you’d see it my way. Sleep is great. Arthur ne’er lets me sleep.”
Morgana giggled and snuggled closer into Merlin’s embrace. “He sounds like a menace.”
Merlin grumble he assent. “You have no idea.”
Arthur glared at the now larger lump in the center of the bed. Gwen smiled and crossed the room to draw the curtains, plunging the room into semidarkness. “You’re just going to let them go back to sleep!?” Arthur asked, mouth agape.
“Yes. Morgana needs it and Merlin wants it,” she replied with a small shrug.
“Love you, Gwen,” Merlin mumbled from the bed.
Gwen smiled at them. “Are you staying here, then?”
Arthur looked up at Gwen’s expectant face. Arthur looked back at the fabric covered lump. He exhaled and rubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah. I’ll keep watch.”
Gwen shook her head with a smile. “I’ll bring breakfast in a little while.”
Arthur nodded and let his head rest in his hand on the table.
--
“I do not like this, Merlin!” Hunith complained angrily, watching as her son pulled on a quilted blue velvet coat.
“I’ll be fine, Mum. You shouldn’t worry. Who is really going to try to kill me?” Merlin said dismissively. He pulled on his tall black boats.
“I will worry. I didn’t like the idea of this in the first place. But now, with Morgana’s vision,” she said, “I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Merlin took in a breath, held it for a moment, then released it and looked at his Mum. He saw the disguised worry and slowly lowered himself to his knees in front of her. He took her hands in his own.
“Mum, it’s going to be okay. I can’t just drop out now. Nimueh agrees. I can’t seem afraid of a little competition, which doesn’t have to be to the death. I will yield if I find myself in a position that I cannot get out of. I will yield. I swear, Mum, I won’t die. I may get a few bruises, but nothing serious. Please just have faith in me,” Merlin said softly, looking up at her through his lashes. He knew that look never failed him.
Hunith sighed and pulled one of her hands out of his hold to stroke his face gently. “Oh, Merlin. You’ve grown so much in too short a time,” Hunith said sadly. “I wish you were three again.”
Merlin laughed lightly. “It’s what children do, Mum. Are you sure three? Wasn’t that when I was sure I could help with everything, using magic?”
“And so much wisdom, too.” Hunith laughed, then grew somber again. “Are you sure you have to do this?”
“I do, Mum. I really do.”
Hunith nodded firmly. “Fine. But you will not try to endanger yourself unnecessarily.”
“I’ll have Arthur do all the grunt work,” Merlin assured her, smiling brightly. “He’s good at that type of thing. Trust me on this. He runs circles around me.”
Hunith laughed, her face crinkling. “You two have gotten on rather better than you did at your first meeting.”
Merlin laughed with her. “So we’re good?”
“Yes. We’re fine. I will not be pleased that my son is trying to get himself killed. But I will root for him, regardless of his stupid decisions,” she said resignedly.
“Well, sometimes I get to be stupid and willful,” Merlin said matter-of-factly, as he stood up and dusted off his pants. “With Arthur, he rarely lets me do anything. Do you know how long it took him to agree to take me to the market?”
“Time to go put on a show!” Hunith said, ignoring Merlin’s question.
“Nimueh wouldn’t make you come,” Merlin replied quickly. He hated that his Mum had to be there; he knew she would prefer to be in a little cottage in Ealdor. But she had followed him to Camelot, and that had been that.
“Who else is going to make sure you don’t make a fool of yourself?” she asked with a grin.
“I’ll do that, anyway,” Merlin responded with an easy wide smile.
Hunith laughed, following him out of his room. She caught sight of Arthur falling into step, a pace behind them. She let loose a breath of relief. At least there was someone that would make sure Merlin would be safe in the tournament. Regardless of whatever stupid decisions he made.
tbc
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