[BBC Merlin]: Dabbling in Falconry - Chapter 2
Title: Dabbling in Falconry
Fandom: BBC Merlin
Characters: Merlin, Gaius, Gwaine, Lancelot, Elyan, Arthur, Percival, Leon
Warnings: None. Though there will be spoilers if you haven't seen series' 1-3.
Summary: Once again, Merlin finds himself in a bit of a situation after he performs a transfiguration spell in his sleep. Things can only get worse when Gwaine gets involved - not to mention when a stressed-out prince and the rest of the knights join in. Can Merlin keep his secret and change back?
Previous Chapter: Chapter 1
-~-PF-~-
[Chapter 2]
Chapter 2
Lancelot found Gwaine and Merlin in the armoury, the latter tucked securely under the knight's arm and looking decidedly unhappy about it. Gwaine was searching through the various leather gloves, glancing at each before appearing to decide something and tossing it away for another one.
"What are you doing?" Lancelot felt compelled to ask.
"I'm looking for a gauntlet."
"I can see that... What for?"
"Falconers wear them as a perch for the birds to alight on. It also prevents you from getting bitten or scratched - they have beaks sharp enough to cut through meat like a cleaver you know."
He went back to sorting through the gloves while Lancelot shot the now-struggling Merlin a glare. The bird closed his beak, fluffed up slightly and went still again, as good as confirming what the warlock had just thought about attempting in order to escape.
"Aha! This one's perfect." Tossing his chosen glove once to himself, Gwaine started striding for the door.
"Now where are you going?"
"To find Elyan - I doubt he's finished packing yet and he's bound to have some spare leather lying around, right?"
Lancelot decided not to comment and simply followed him out and down towards the marketplace.
-~-M-~-
"You want what?"
"Two strips of soft leather."
"What the hell for?"
Elyan was reacting in a similar manner to how Lancelot had earlier. It wasn't that he didn't have the leather; in fact he had plenty and was more than willing to part with the trimmings that he couldn't use in making scabbards for his swords. However, he had learnt quickly - much like the others - that with Gwaine it was always best to ask exactly what you were getting yourself in for. It was a means of making sure that nothing could be traced back to you, just in case Gwaine was up to something less than knight-like.
Gwaine shot Elyan a withering look before holding Merlin up in front of him like he was a prize.
"Meet Merlin's merlin."
There was a pause before Elyan looked at Lancelot for an explanation. From where he was leaning on a large anvil, the man in question shrugged.
"Falconry."
"Ah," with a nod the blacksmith turned back to Gwaine. "Let me guess, you want some strips to use as jesses for its feet?"
Gwaine's eyes lit up. "Exactly! I didn't take you for being interested in birds."
Elyan rolled his eyes at Gwaine's not-so-subtle jibe as he walked over and briefly studied Merlin's feet before turning towards his workbench and a pile of discarded leather of all types.
"I have been around a bit Gwaine. I went out with a hunting party once in another kingdom and they used a pair of hen-harriers to hunt pheasants."
Coming back over with two thin strips of leather roughly a foot long, the blacksmith then proceeded to tie one to each of Merlin's feet, letting most of the length dangle loose. Merlin just let them get on with it, offering no resistance.
Once they were secure, Elyan clasped the ends of both in his hand before Gwaine perched Merlin on the blacksmith's same wrist. It was a method used in order to keep birds secure for when they were outside without having to hold onto their actual feet all the time. Somehow Lancelot doubted Merlin was going to be making any escape attempts anytime soon, but to be fair they weren't to know that he possessed all the flying capabilities of a stick.
Elyan nodded to himself before transferring Merlin over to Gwaine.
"They should do nicely. Where are you going to take it?"
"I figured the training grounds would be best, nice and open."
"Yeah..." Elyan picked up a gauntlet of his own. "I'm coming with you, though we're going to need some meat."
Lancelot had a hard time holding back his chuckle then. Merlin froze, seeming appalled at the idea of eating raw meat. But with no obvious way of getting out of it short of revealing himself, he was stuck. True, he could probably physically eat and process the meat, but Lancelot doubted he was that desperate. The knight took pity on the warlock and decided to try an intervention.
"Aren't you two forgetting something?"
Both paused and Lancelot and Merlin watched, bemused, as they seemed to give that a bit of thought. Elyan then turned around and reached into a box underneath his workbench. When he straightened, he was holding a long piece of thin twine.
"To use as a creance." He explained.
Gwaine grinned. "Ah yes, how could I forget that?"
Lancelot couldn't believe it. Was Elyan actually getting in on one of Gwaine's crazy schemes rather than standing on the sidelines and quietly pointing out that it was a bad idea, as was usual? Honestly, it was like talking to children and it wore out on even Lancelot's patience.
"No, you idiots. We're supposed to be hunting with Arthur, remember?"
Gwaine, flippant as ever, scoffed. "Eh, he'll get over it."
With that he turned and strode out, heading for the training fields with Merlin trying - and failing - to remain perched upright and Elyan following along behind. Feeling the beginnings of a tension headache coming on, Lancelot rubbed at his temples before hurrying after them.
-~-M-~-
Being a prince who was currently acting as Regent, Arthur was above needlessly befouling the air. Swearing to the sky made one look uncouth and childish and was certainly not appropriate behaviour. He kept his temper in check, appearing calm and collected.
Inside however, he was positively fuming - they were an hour late.
He had been waiting on the edge of the forest just beyond the gatehouse for his servant and his inner circle of knights, gradually getting more and more hacked off. Eventually his patience thinned enough for him to virtually growl at Leon and Percival, who both had the misfortune of having to keep company with the irritated prince.
"What is taking them so long? Merlin I can understand - the idiot is always late. And it wouldn't surprise me if Gwaine is lying in a barn somewhere with one mother of a hangover. But Lancelot? And Elyan?"
"I'm sure it's nothing Sire. Maybe something came up?"
The prince mused that maybe they were together, but it was unlikely. Gwaine, Elyan and Lancelot all lived in different wings of the knights' quarters, whilst Merlin lived with Gaius on the other side of the castle. The likelihood of them all being in the same place was minute. But if that was so then why were all of them late?
Arthur shot a glare towards the tall knight before blowing out an explosive breath; it wasn't Leon's fault and it was unfair to take it out on him - after all, he was on time.
"Well, I guess we'll have to go looking for them then."
With that Arthur stomped - no, walked, because he did have self-control and he wasn't disappointed because he hadn't been hoping for a relaxed afternoon with those whom he considered his closest friends - towards the castle. Behind him Leon and Percival shared a glance before setting off after him, their long legs neatly disguising the fact that Arthur's strides were in fact a little faster than normal.
They made quick progress up through the lower town and on a whim Arthur decided to glance into Elyan's forge as they went past. Any hopes he'd had that Elyan had merely been held up by a customer were dashed when he found it empty of any errant knights or servants.
Carrying on up towards the citadel, they were about to cross the drawbridge and enter the courtyard when Percival stopped, looking towards the open grassy area which was the training ground.
"There they are." He said in his deep voice and the other two followed the knight's gaze.
Sure enough, there was Gwaine and after a moment or two they also spotted Lancelot and Elyan nearby as well. Merlin was nowhere to be seen.
Momentarily surprised that all three knights had turned up on the training ground of all places, Arthur sighed and made his way over to them, making no great effort to hide his irritation.
Elyan and Lancelot spotted the prince first and Arthur was pleased to see both looked something akin to rabbits about to be trampled by a stampeding horse. Standing slightly off to the side, Gwaine had his back to Arthur and seemed to be prodding at something at about chest-height. He was chuntering away to himself, clearly not too happy and was completely oblivious to both the prince standing behind him and the two of his fellow knights who were discretely trying to get his attention.
In no mood for games, Arthur immediately barked in his best I-am-the-prince-and-not-to-be-messed-with voice:
"Sir Gwaine!"
The man whipped around to face him and Arthur noticed that he remained in relatively the same spot and kept his hands behind his back, obviously hiding something he shouldn't be. He appeared momentarily startled before his face broke into a huge grin.
"Prince Arthur, fancy seeing you here!"
It was smoothly done. But if his caginess and the rare use of his title didn't mean Gwaine was up to something, then Arthur would gladly eat his own crown.
"You were all meant to be at the gatehouse an hour ago. I expect that kind of incompetence from Merlin, not my knights." Arthur couldn't be sure, but he was positive he heard a bird-like squawk when he mentioned his manservant. "Care to explain yourselves?"
Elyan looked sheepish. Whereas Lancelot was shooting what seemed to be an 'I told you so' glare at the back of Gwaine's head. Gwaine himself was completely unaffected; Arthur had never before met a man more comfortable in his own skin and the prince wasn't sure if the knight even knew the meaning of the word 'embarrassed'.
"We were trying something out - doing a little training if you will."
With that he stepped to the side, revealing what was behind him. It was a bird - a type of raptor with greyish brown feathers, black markings and a blue-grey tail and wings. It was perched on a crudely-made wooden stand; a long piece of twine dangled from the top and was attached to one of the pieces of leather that adorned the bird's feet. Arthur found himself oddly drawn to its eyes though. They weren't dark, bright yellow or even green. In fact, they were a strange cobalt blue.
For a long second, bird and prince stared at each other. Arthur felt a twinge of recognition...
The moment was broken as the bird broke eye-contact when Gwaine prodded at its beak. Arthur realised that the knight was wearing a sturdy leather glove and was holding a piece of bright red meat, no bigger than a thumbnail. He appeared to be attempting to get the bird to open its beak.
"Gwaine? What are you doing?"
"Everyone keeps asking me that," the knight replied waspishly as he poked at the bird's beak again. The bird responded by turning around on the perch, flaring its wings as it nearly fell off in the process. "I can't get it to eat."
"And why are you trying to-"
"I told you," Lancelot spoke up, cleanly cutting Arthur off. "Gaius said it was injured. Didn't it occur to you that maybe that was what's wrong with it?"
"Why did Gaius have a-"
"Its eyes are bright and its feathers are shiny, it's not a starved bird. Raptors are greedy little twats - the bond between falconer and bird is forged in food because their desire to eat overcomes their fear of man. I'm telling you, that isn't what's wrong with it."
"Are you even listening to-"
"They also stop eating when they're full. It was sat on the table when we got there, Gaius probably already fed it."
"That was at least two hours ago; it should have taken even a small bit by now. Maybe-"
"ENOUGH!"
The two bickering knights jumped, as well as the bird. The thing gave a startled squeak and fluttered slightly, before landing on the floor with a thump. Gwaine shot the prince a filthy look.
"You scared it!"
Arthur hadn't meant to and, honestly, how was he to know the stupid thing would give such a violent reaction? But it wasn't prince-like for him to show open concern for servants, so he sure as hell wasn't going to show remorse for scaring a bird. Instead he looked at Gwaine flatly as he leant over to pick it up and put it back on its perch, brushing his fingers along its back and wings after he had done so as a silent apology.
"This is such a farce; whoever you got it from, take it back."
"It's Merlin's."
"What?" Arthur really ought to have known his manservant would have a hand in this.
"According to Gaius he found it injured. He's gone to collect some herbs... though to be honest he should be back by now; it doesn't take even Merlin that long to collect a few plants."
Arthur sighed, still absently stroking the bird's smooth feathers. He couldn't remain irritated with Merlin if that was the case, he was the physician's sort-of-apprentice after all and Gaius wasn't getting any younger - it made sense to send Merlin out to do the grunt-work.
"We'll give him another hour."
It went without saying that after that they would go and search for him, the idiot seemed to attract trouble like flies to honey. He glanced at Gwaine and the knight nodded, picking up on Arthur's subtle suggestion. He looked to the others and they all seemed to be in agreement, apart from Lancelot, who wasn't even looking at him.
Following the knight's gaze he realised he was still stroking the bird. It didn't seem too happy about it either; glaring at Arthur's hand like it was some sort of insult. To be fair, it probably was. Arthur hadn't exactly been paying attention, so he had unknowingly been running his fingers back and forth through the feathers instead of one-way, messing them up.
"Sorry fella..." Arthur murmured, reaching to stroke its head instead.
It promptly bit him.
"Ouch! Fine then you ungrateful sod; you're as good as cat food!"
"Prat."
A long moment of silence greeted that murmured, barely-audible statement. Arthur wasn't even sure he heard it right.
Five pairs of eyes looked around in puzzlement for the source of the word. Lancelot, meanwhile, glared at a warlock who looked very much like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.
Eventually they all gave up, passing the murmur off as either a trick of the wind or a poorly-concealed comment from one of their party. Leon broke the uncomfortable silence.
"What are you trying to give it? Maybe that's why it won't feed."
Wonderful, now they were all getting in on it. Elyan held up a bucket, which Arthur only now noticed that he was carrying.
"Its wild boar, the only thing I had that wasn't salted."
Arthur rolled his eyes and resigned himself to joining them in their little crusade whilst they waited for Merlin to get back. He now felt that it was safe to satisfy his curiosity. It was justified, after all; he didn't exactly know much about wildlife other than how to nail them with a crossbow.
"What exactly is it?"
"It's a merlin," was Gwaine's reply and Arthur snorted in amusement. "I know right? Merlin's merlin - it's certainly ironic."
"Are you sure? I've never seen one that colour before."
"Sure it is Perc; it doesn't have brown wings and is too small to be a kestrel." Gwaine picked up the bird and turned it onto its back, poking at its tail to forcibly fan it out and then opening out one of its wings. "Yeah see? The bars on its tail and wings are different."
The bird didn't seem to enjoy being man-handled in such a manner and started screeching - a noise which went right through Arthur and caused him to cringe.
"Alright, it's a merlin. Shut the thing up and put it down will you?"
Gwaine obliged, placing it back on its perch before digging in his ear with a finger on his un-gloved hand.
"Gods, that's almost as bad as the noise a rabbit makes when it's caught by a stoat."
"What, did it damage your delicate ears?"
Gwaine glared at Elyan, not amused.
"Just because you're half-deaf from all that metal-bashing you do, doesn't mean I am."
"This coming from the man who spends almost every night amongst drunken men belting out tavern songs at the tops of their voices?"
"Anyway," said Arthur, cutting off the impending argument. "So if it won't take pork, what should we give it?"
Gwaine shrugged. "Chicken? They eat songbirds, so I guess that would be close enough."
"You seem to know a lot about this Gwaine." Leon observed.
"Hey, I'm a man of many talents." Observations on this comment each man (and bird) kept to themselves.
"Right, let's get on it then."
With that Arthur collared a passing servant and asked for them to bring some raw chicken from the kitchens. The servant wisely kept her mouth shut as to the oddity of this request and hurried away to do as bidden. The prince and his knights all loitered around in waiting, most watching the merlin with open curiosity.
Arthur found himself oddly drawn to it and he couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be something obviously different about the bird besides its colouring. Its strange eyes seemed to contain just a bit too much intelligence and it was glancing between all the men watching it, almost as if it were uncomfortable with the attention. Surely such sentience was impossible for an animal?
To Arthur's amusement it fluffed up the feathers on its head and - quite deliberately, it seemed - turned its back on them, again nearly falling off the perch, before starting to preen itself.
"It seems to have problems with its balance, doesn't it?"
"Leon has a point. It's only moved on its perch twice the whole time it's been on there and both times it nearly fell. Anytime it's been moved other than that was when either Arthur or Gwaine picked it up."
It was a good point. If it couldn't balance on a stationary object properly then it would have no chance with things such as getting into the air, no wonder Merlin brought it in.
"Has it flown?"
Gwaine looked at Arthur in a manner that implied he wasn't all-there in the head and he felt himself bristle in annoyance.
"It's tied to the perch. The string is only long enough for it to fall fully to the floor and not hang itself."
"We should see if it can."
"No. We shouldn't."
Five heads turned to look at Lancelot, who had been oddly quiet through all of this. He may be softly-spoken, but he usually had no problems with giving his opinion.
"Why not?" Gwaine was almost pouting.
There was a pause as Lancelot glanced at the merlin for a second, which Arthur thought an odd gesture.
"Say it turns out that it can fly and it escapes? Do you want to be the one to explain to Merlin that we let it free?"
No, Arthur didn't. It wasn't that he was afraid of Merlin's reaction at all. No, it was just that the man's prattle was annoying enough as it was and the last thing they all needed was for him to start griping on about letting the bird go. There was also a part of Arthur that didn't want to see Merlin disappointed with them like that, but he swiftly pushed that thought from his mind.
"Point taken. Not outside then." Everyone turned their gazes to Arthur.
"What do you suggest then, Princess?"
"The old council-chambers have been fully repaired. They're still not used but there should be noone around. The ceilings are quite high and it's a large room, it should be perfect."
And was it just Arthur, or did the merlin go oddly rigid just then?
"Perfect for what?"
Arthur grinned at Lancelot and he could swear the knight paled slightly.
"Teaching it to fly."
[Previous Chapter]
[Next Chapter]
Fandom: BBC Merlin
Characters: Merlin, Gaius, Gwaine, Lancelot, Elyan, Arthur, Percival, Leon
Warnings: None. Though there will be spoilers if you haven't seen series' 1-3.
Summary: Once again, Merlin finds himself in a bit of a situation after he performs a transfiguration spell in his sleep. Things can only get worse when Gwaine gets involved - not to mention when a stressed-out prince and the rest of the knights join in. Can Merlin keep his secret and change back?
Previous Chapter: Chapter 1
-~-PF-~-
[Chapter 2]
Chapter 2
Lancelot found Gwaine and Merlin in the armoury, the latter tucked securely under the knight's arm and looking decidedly unhappy about it. Gwaine was searching through the various leather gloves, glancing at each before appearing to decide something and tossing it away for another one.
"What are you doing?" Lancelot felt compelled to ask.
"I'm looking for a gauntlet."
"I can see that... What for?"
"Falconers wear them as a perch for the birds to alight on. It also prevents you from getting bitten or scratched - they have beaks sharp enough to cut through meat like a cleaver you know."
He went back to sorting through the gloves while Lancelot shot the now-struggling Merlin a glare. The bird closed his beak, fluffed up slightly and went still again, as good as confirming what the warlock had just thought about attempting in order to escape.
"Aha! This one's perfect." Tossing his chosen glove once to himself, Gwaine started striding for the door.
"Now where are you going?"
"To find Elyan - I doubt he's finished packing yet and he's bound to have some spare leather lying around, right?"
Lancelot decided not to comment and simply followed him out and down towards the marketplace.
-~-M-~-
"You want what?"
"Two strips of soft leather."
"What the hell for?"
Elyan was reacting in a similar manner to how Lancelot had earlier. It wasn't that he didn't have the leather; in fact he had plenty and was more than willing to part with the trimmings that he couldn't use in making scabbards for his swords. However, he had learnt quickly - much like the others - that with Gwaine it was always best to ask exactly what you were getting yourself in for. It was a means of making sure that nothing could be traced back to you, just in case Gwaine was up to something less than knight-like.
Gwaine shot Elyan a withering look before holding Merlin up in front of him like he was a prize.
"Meet Merlin's merlin."
There was a pause before Elyan looked at Lancelot for an explanation. From where he was leaning on a large anvil, the man in question shrugged.
"Falconry."
"Ah," with a nod the blacksmith turned back to Gwaine. "Let me guess, you want some strips to use as jesses for its feet?"
Gwaine's eyes lit up. "Exactly! I didn't take you for being interested in birds."
Elyan rolled his eyes at Gwaine's not-so-subtle jibe as he walked over and briefly studied Merlin's feet before turning towards his workbench and a pile of discarded leather of all types.
"I have been around a bit Gwaine. I went out with a hunting party once in another kingdom and they used a pair of hen-harriers to hunt pheasants."
Coming back over with two thin strips of leather roughly a foot long, the blacksmith then proceeded to tie one to each of Merlin's feet, letting most of the length dangle loose. Merlin just let them get on with it, offering no resistance.
Once they were secure, Elyan clasped the ends of both in his hand before Gwaine perched Merlin on the blacksmith's same wrist. It was a method used in order to keep birds secure for when they were outside without having to hold onto their actual feet all the time. Somehow Lancelot doubted Merlin was going to be making any escape attempts anytime soon, but to be fair they weren't to know that he possessed all the flying capabilities of a stick.
Elyan nodded to himself before transferring Merlin over to Gwaine.
"They should do nicely. Where are you going to take it?"
"I figured the training grounds would be best, nice and open."
"Yeah..." Elyan picked up a gauntlet of his own. "I'm coming with you, though we're going to need some meat."
Lancelot had a hard time holding back his chuckle then. Merlin froze, seeming appalled at the idea of eating raw meat. But with no obvious way of getting out of it short of revealing himself, he was stuck. True, he could probably physically eat and process the meat, but Lancelot doubted he was that desperate. The knight took pity on the warlock and decided to try an intervention.
"Aren't you two forgetting something?"
Both paused and Lancelot and Merlin watched, bemused, as they seemed to give that a bit of thought. Elyan then turned around and reached into a box underneath his workbench. When he straightened, he was holding a long piece of thin twine.
"To use as a creance." He explained.
Gwaine grinned. "Ah yes, how could I forget that?"
Lancelot couldn't believe it. Was Elyan actually getting in on one of Gwaine's crazy schemes rather than standing on the sidelines and quietly pointing out that it was a bad idea, as was usual? Honestly, it was like talking to children and it wore out on even Lancelot's patience.
"No, you idiots. We're supposed to be hunting with Arthur, remember?"
Gwaine, flippant as ever, scoffed. "Eh, he'll get over it."
With that he turned and strode out, heading for the training fields with Merlin trying - and failing - to remain perched upright and Elyan following along behind. Feeling the beginnings of a tension headache coming on, Lancelot rubbed at his temples before hurrying after them.
-~-M-~-
Being a prince who was currently acting as Regent, Arthur was above needlessly befouling the air. Swearing to the sky made one look uncouth and childish and was certainly not appropriate behaviour. He kept his temper in check, appearing calm and collected.
Inside however, he was positively fuming - they were an hour late.
He had been waiting on the edge of the forest just beyond the gatehouse for his servant and his inner circle of knights, gradually getting more and more hacked off. Eventually his patience thinned enough for him to virtually growl at Leon and Percival, who both had the misfortune of having to keep company with the irritated prince.
"What is taking them so long? Merlin I can understand - the idiot is always late. And it wouldn't surprise me if Gwaine is lying in a barn somewhere with one mother of a hangover. But Lancelot? And Elyan?"
"I'm sure it's nothing Sire. Maybe something came up?"
The prince mused that maybe they were together, but it was unlikely. Gwaine, Elyan and Lancelot all lived in different wings of the knights' quarters, whilst Merlin lived with Gaius on the other side of the castle. The likelihood of them all being in the same place was minute. But if that was so then why were all of them late?
Arthur shot a glare towards the tall knight before blowing out an explosive breath; it wasn't Leon's fault and it was unfair to take it out on him - after all, he was on time.
"Well, I guess we'll have to go looking for them then."
With that Arthur stomped - no, walked, because he did have self-control and he wasn't disappointed because he hadn't been hoping for a relaxed afternoon with those whom he considered his closest friends - towards the castle. Behind him Leon and Percival shared a glance before setting off after him, their long legs neatly disguising the fact that Arthur's strides were in fact a little faster than normal.
They made quick progress up through the lower town and on a whim Arthur decided to glance into Elyan's forge as they went past. Any hopes he'd had that Elyan had merely been held up by a customer were dashed when he found it empty of any errant knights or servants.
Carrying on up towards the citadel, they were about to cross the drawbridge and enter the courtyard when Percival stopped, looking towards the open grassy area which was the training ground.
"There they are." He said in his deep voice and the other two followed the knight's gaze.
Sure enough, there was Gwaine and after a moment or two they also spotted Lancelot and Elyan nearby as well. Merlin was nowhere to be seen.
Momentarily surprised that all three knights had turned up on the training ground of all places, Arthur sighed and made his way over to them, making no great effort to hide his irritation.
Elyan and Lancelot spotted the prince first and Arthur was pleased to see both looked something akin to rabbits about to be trampled by a stampeding horse. Standing slightly off to the side, Gwaine had his back to Arthur and seemed to be prodding at something at about chest-height. He was chuntering away to himself, clearly not too happy and was completely oblivious to both the prince standing behind him and the two of his fellow knights who were discretely trying to get his attention.
In no mood for games, Arthur immediately barked in his best I-am-the-prince-and-not-to-be-messed-with voice:
"Sir Gwaine!"
The man whipped around to face him and Arthur noticed that he remained in relatively the same spot and kept his hands behind his back, obviously hiding something he shouldn't be. He appeared momentarily startled before his face broke into a huge grin.
"Prince Arthur, fancy seeing you here!"
It was smoothly done. But if his caginess and the rare use of his title didn't mean Gwaine was up to something, then Arthur would gladly eat his own crown.
"You were all meant to be at the gatehouse an hour ago. I expect that kind of incompetence from Merlin, not my knights." Arthur couldn't be sure, but he was positive he heard a bird-like squawk when he mentioned his manservant. "Care to explain yourselves?"
Elyan looked sheepish. Whereas Lancelot was shooting what seemed to be an 'I told you so' glare at the back of Gwaine's head. Gwaine himself was completely unaffected; Arthur had never before met a man more comfortable in his own skin and the prince wasn't sure if the knight even knew the meaning of the word 'embarrassed'.
"We were trying something out - doing a little training if you will."
With that he stepped to the side, revealing what was behind him. It was a bird - a type of raptor with greyish brown feathers, black markings and a blue-grey tail and wings. It was perched on a crudely-made wooden stand; a long piece of twine dangled from the top and was attached to one of the pieces of leather that adorned the bird's feet. Arthur found himself oddly drawn to its eyes though. They weren't dark, bright yellow or even green. In fact, they were a strange cobalt blue.
For a long second, bird and prince stared at each other. Arthur felt a twinge of recognition...
The moment was broken as the bird broke eye-contact when Gwaine prodded at its beak. Arthur realised that the knight was wearing a sturdy leather glove and was holding a piece of bright red meat, no bigger than a thumbnail. He appeared to be attempting to get the bird to open its beak.
"Gwaine? What are you doing?"
"Everyone keeps asking me that," the knight replied waspishly as he poked at the bird's beak again. The bird responded by turning around on the perch, flaring its wings as it nearly fell off in the process. "I can't get it to eat."
"And why are you trying to-"
"I told you," Lancelot spoke up, cleanly cutting Arthur off. "Gaius said it was injured. Didn't it occur to you that maybe that was what's wrong with it?"
"Why did Gaius have a-"
"Its eyes are bright and its feathers are shiny, it's not a starved bird. Raptors are greedy little twats - the bond between falconer and bird is forged in food because their desire to eat overcomes their fear of man. I'm telling you, that isn't what's wrong with it."
"Are you even listening to-"
"They also stop eating when they're full. It was sat on the table when we got there, Gaius probably already fed it."
"That was at least two hours ago; it should have taken even a small bit by now. Maybe-"
"ENOUGH!"
The two bickering knights jumped, as well as the bird. The thing gave a startled squeak and fluttered slightly, before landing on the floor with a thump. Gwaine shot the prince a filthy look.
"You scared it!"
Arthur hadn't meant to and, honestly, how was he to know the stupid thing would give such a violent reaction? But it wasn't prince-like for him to show open concern for servants, so he sure as hell wasn't going to show remorse for scaring a bird. Instead he looked at Gwaine flatly as he leant over to pick it up and put it back on its perch, brushing his fingers along its back and wings after he had done so as a silent apology.
"This is such a farce; whoever you got it from, take it back."
"It's Merlin's."
"What?" Arthur really ought to have known his manservant would have a hand in this.
"According to Gaius he found it injured. He's gone to collect some herbs... though to be honest he should be back by now; it doesn't take even Merlin that long to collect a few plants."
Arthur sighed, still absently stroking the bird's smooth feathers. He couldn't remain irritated with Merlin if that was the case, he was the physician's sort-of-apprentice after all and Gaius wasn't getting any younger - it made sense to send Merlin out to do the grunt-work.
"We'll give him another hour."
It went without saying that after that they would go and search for him, the idiot seemed to attract trouble like flies to honey. He glanced at Gwaine and the knight nodded, picking up on Arthur's subtle suggestion. He looked to the others and they all seemed to be in agreement, apart from Lancelot, who wasn't even looking at him.
Following the knight's gaze he realised he was still stroking the bird. It didn't seem too happy about it either; glaring at Arthur's hand like it was some sort of insult. To be fair, it probably was. Arthur hadn't exactly been paying attention, so he had unknowingly been running his fingers back and forth through the feathers instead of one-way, messing them up.
"Sorry fella..." Arthur murmured, reaching to stroke its head instead.
It promptly bit him.
"Ouch! Fine then you ungrateful sod; you're as good as cat food!"
"Prat."
A long moment of silence greeted that murmured, barely-audible statement. Arthur wasn't even sure he heard it right.
Five pairs of eyes looked around in puzzlement for the source of the word. Lancelot, meanwhile, glared at a warlock who looked very much like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.
Eventually they all gave up, passing the murmur off as either a trick of the wind or a poorly-concealed comment from one of their party. Leon broke the uncomfortable silence.
"What are you trying to give it? Maybe that's why it won't feed."
Wonderful, now they were all getting in on it. Elyan held up a bucket, which Arthur only now noticed that he was carrying.
"Its wild boar, the only thing I had that wasn't salted."
Arthur rolled his eyes and resigned himself to joining them in their little crusade whilst they waited for Merlin to get back. He now felt that it was safe to satisfy his curiosity. It was justified, after all; he didn't exactly know much about wildlife other than how to nail them with a crossbow.
"What exactly is it?"
"It's a merlin," was Gwaine's reply and Arthur snorted in amusement. "I know right? Merlin's merlin - it's certainly ironic."
"Are you sure? I've never seen one that colour before."
"Sure it is Perc; it doesn't have brown wings and is too small to be a kestrel." Gwaine picked up the bird and turned it onto its back, poking at its tail to forcibly fan it out and then opening out one of its wings. "Yeah see? The bars on its tail and wings are different."
The bird didn't seem to enjoy being man-handled in such a manner and started screeching - a noise which went right through Arthur and caused him to cringe.
"Alright, it's a merlin. Shut the thing up and put it down will you?"
Gwaine obliged, placing it back on its perch before digging in his ear with a finger on his un-gloved hand.
"Gods, that's almost as bad as the noise a rabbit makes when it's caught by a stoat."
"What, did it damage your delicate ears?"
Gwaine glared at Elyan, not amused.
"Just because you're half-deaf from all that metal-bashing you do, doesn't mean I am."
"This coming from the man who spends almost every night amongst drunken men belting out tavern songs at the tops of their voices?"
"Anyway," said Arthur, cutting off the impending argument. "So if it won't take pork, what should we give it?"
Gwaine shrugged. "Chicken? They eat songbirds, so I guess that would be close enough."
"You seem to know a lot about this Gwaine." Leon observed.
"Hey, I'm a man of many talents." Observations on this comment each man (and bird) kept to themselves.
"Right, let's get on it then."
With that Arthur collared a passing servant and asked for them to bring some raw chicken from the kitchens. The servant wisely kept her mouth shut as to the oddity of this request and hurried away to do as bidden. The prince and his knights all loitered around in waiting, most watching the merlin with open curiosity.
Arthur found himself oddly drawn to it and he couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be something obviously different about the bird besides its colouring. Its strange eyes seemed to contain just a bit too much intelligence and it was glancing between all the men watching it, almost as if it were uncomfortable with the attention. Surely such sentience was impossible for an animal?
To Arthur's amusement it fluffed up the feathers on its head and - quite deliberately, it seemed - turned its back on them, again nearly falling off the perch, before starting to preen itself.
"It seems to have problems with its balance, doesn't it?"
"Leon has a point. It's only moved on its perch twice the whole time it's been on there and both times it nearly fell. Anytime it's been moved other than that was when either Arthur or Gwaine picked it up."
It was a good point. If it couldn't balance on a stationary object properly then it would have no chance with things such as getting into the air, no wonder Merlin brought it in.
"Has it flown?"
Gwaine looked at Arthur in a manner that implied he wasn't all-there in the head and he felt himself bristle in annoyance.
"It's tied to the perch. The string is only long enough for it to fall fully to the floor and not hang itself."
"We should see if it can."
"No. We shouldn't."
Five heads turned to look at Lancelot, who had been oddly quiet through all of this. He may be softly-spoken, but he usually had no problems with giving his opinion.
"Why not?" Gwaine was almost pouting.
There was a pause as Lancelot glanced at the merlin for a second, which Arthur thought an odd gesture.
"Say it turns out that it can fly and it escapes? Do you want to be the one to explain to Merlin that we let it free?"
No, Arthur didn't. It wasn't that he was afraid of Merlin's reaction at all. No, it was just that the man's prattle was annoying enough as it was and the last thing they all needed was for him to start griping on about letting the bird go. There was also a part of Arthur that didn't want to see Merlin disappointed with them like that, but he swiftly pushed that thought from his mind.
"Point taken. Not outside then." Everyone turned their gazes to Arthur.
"What do you suggest then, Princess?"
"The old council-chambers have been fully repaired. They're still not used but there should be noone around. The ceilings are quite high and it's a large room, it should be perfect."
And was it just Arthur, or did the merlin go oddly rigid just then?
"Perfect for what?"
Arthur grinned at Lancelot and he could swear the knight paled slightly.
"Teaching it to fly."
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