Five Things (3)
I really need to learn how to write lists, instead of novels. I fail.
Fandom: Merlin
Suggested by nightrider101: Five times Uther knew Merlin was using magic and chose to ignore it.
1.
Apart from his son and his ward, Gaius the court physician is the only person in Camelot who is not just another subject to the king. He trusts him, to as much as an extent as he can trust anyone, and after all these years they have known each other Uther has simply grown used to his presence. Sometimes he fears the old man, though - in times of crisis, when he becomes aware that Gaius knows too many of his secrets, that he could become a danger more easily than any other person in the kingdom. These fears always come at night, when the pain in his shoulder keeps sleep away from Uther, and are accompanied by dark thoughts.
Then another plague comes to Camelot, a plague that sweeps through the city, making no difference of peasants and nobles, killing the weak, the old and the very young. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Gaius, after dealing with the sick all the time, catches the sickness himself, but Uther has seen him fight many a plague during the years and the news hit him without warning: Gaius is ill, and will die. He is too old, and too weak after days without rest.
That day, while hurrying to the physician’s house, Uther realises that what Gaius means to him above all else is stability. He has always been there, and is one of the few Uther can talk to about things hidden from the rest of the world. He is one of the few who remember Igraine, and the terrible night she died, and knows the truth Arthur shall never learn. Uther has been scared of the knowledge Gaius holds, but now he is about to lose him, the king realises that the prospect of missing the only one he can confide in scares him even more.
He needs Gaius. Needs his presence, his knowledge and his council, rare as it is that he listens to him. And there is nothing he can do to keep him.
The ache in Uther’s chest as he looks down at his dying friend is different from the paralyzing pain that has filled him when his son lay dying, but it is there none the less, getting stronger the more aware he becomes of how much he will lose.
Morgana’s handmaiden is there as well, and Arthur’s servant - Uther barely notices them, neither the girl’s soft crying nor the boy’s pale, solemn face, but then the boy - Merlin, wasn’t it? - gently touches his arm and asks them both to leave, as there is another medicine he wants to try, and he needs to be alone to prepare it.
From Gaius’ complains Uther knows that the servant boy has no talent for medicine. He knows also that there is no hope for any existing medicine to cure his friend.
When the next day word reaches him that the court physician has miraculously recovered over night and will live, Uther knows it can’t be (just as he has known that there is no cure for the bite of the Questing Beast). But his deeply felt relief makes it easy for him to accept the news as they are given him, and not to question that which works in his favour.
2.
Uther knows it has been magic that saved both him and Arthur from the mystical beast that appeared inside the castle one day and killed his guards. It was coming for them, Arthur standing bravely in front of his father, his sword drawn and as useless as the guards’, and then, suddenly, the roof collapsed and buried the beast beneath it.
Uther has seen Arthur’s servant reach his hand towards the ceiling out of the corner of his eye, and while he paid no attention to it while facing his death, and, worse, that of his son, he knows what it means now, looking at the corpse buried beneath the rubble.
Magic has been at work here, and it has been neither Uther not Arthur who worked it.
The servant, Merlin, stands in the corner of the room, the only one alive but for them, and fails completely at looking innocent.
Beside him, Arthur lowers his sword. “The structure of the castle is becoming frail,” he says, his voice strangely toneless. “We need to take care of that. It could have been any of us standing there, and not some undefeatable creature about to take our lives.”
The king looks at him, then at Merlin, and at Arthur again, and the king that will follow him looks back. For a second Uther can see the future: a potential future that will come to pass should he do what is his right and his duty to do now. Arthur is loyal to him, but he can be wilful when confronted with what he regards as injustice, and he will not stand by and watch someone be executed for saving their lives.
It is a path leading to several destinations, several consequences, none of which Uther is willing to face.
“Yes,” he agrees, looking up through the hole in the ceiling. “What a lucky coincidence.”
3.
Looking out of the window, Uther sees Arthur training with his manservant in the yard. ‘Training’ in this case is another word for ‘Arthur hitting the boy with his sword until he falls over’. Merlin really is remarkably clumsy even for a servant.
A servant who has just recently survived being in a collapsing building by standing beneath the only roof beam that has miraculously remained intact exactly long enough for him to get away unscratched. A servant who has this morning been spared being trampled to death by three panicking horses, because all of them happened to stumble and fall just before they reached him. At once.
A servant who by all rights should burn at the stake by sundown.
Uther watches closely, ready to jump down there and kill the boy himself should whatever power saved him from falling roofs and wild horses also work against princes beating at him with swords, but the boy only falls onto his backside and raises his hands in surrender.
Arthur helps him to his feet and Merlin takes off his helmet, shaking his head to stop the ringing Uther knows only too well. Arthur frowns at him, exasperated, and starts talking, gesticulating to underline his words. Uther cannot make out his what he is saying, but it is clear from what he sees that his son is actually explaining to his servant what he did wrong. He shakes his head in wonder. So this is not about Arthur practicing beating up incompetent opponents, but about Merlin becoming a better fighter.
And Merlin is listening intently, though Uther can tell already that he will never become much of a warrior. Of course he won’t have to worry about it, if the king now sent down his guards to arrest him.
Below, the boys appear to be finished for the day. They collect their weapons, and then Arthur says something to his servant, with a boyish grin Uther has never before seen on his son’s face, not even when he was a child. Merlin laughs, and elbows him in the side in a disrespectful way that would have earned him a day in the stocks or worse had been Uther’s servant. The king’s frown deepens, but Arthur doesn’t seem to mind. Uther watches them until they leave his field of vision, never knowing they were being observed, and can’t help thinking that he has never seen his son so relaxed, so happy.
With a sigh he turns away from the window and returns to the contracts he has been studying.
4.
Even before it is over, Uther knows that execution is not an option.
A storm is raging through the woods, tearing out threes and causing people in heavy armour to fly around like dolls thrown by a child in a tantrum. The sorcerer their attackers have hired to take them out is the only one still standing, protecting himself with an invisible shield of magic. Uther knows him of old - he has been powerful then and is even more powerful now, and yet, after a minute his strength fails him and the magical storm finally takes hold of him and turns him into dust.
There is not the slightest breath of air where they are standing.
If he turned around this moment, Uther knows, he would see Gaius’ apprentice stand half hidden behind the court physician, his hands in the air while he mutters the words needed to summon this magic. He has had his suspicions about him for a long time, and this is all the proof he needs.
If he turned around and saw the boy perform magic, he could order his guards to arrest him. They wouldn’t bother with a trial. Before nightfall he would be executed - best to get through with it before Arthur returned from his latest mission. If the sorcerer resisted, he would be killed on the spot.
This is what would happen if things went well, should Uther turn around and look. But he is overcome by the justified fear that things will not go well. He has just seen a powerful old sorcerer turn to dust. An army is flying through the air around him, along with the better part of a small forest, and he can well imagine what would happen to his guards, and him, should they attack the boy.
The king shivers in the magic that makes the air heavy like a shroud. If this sorcerer ever turned against them, Camelot would be in ruins within an hour. How much easier things would be if Uther knew nothing. If this was the work of the old sorcerer’s magic turning against him, and boy remained just a useless servant who had to follow his orders and didn’t know how to hold a sword.
Uther doesn’t turn around.
5.
It happens when Arthur returns from a hunting trip, and it happens so casually that Uther nearly misses it.
The servant Merlin takes the reins of Arthur’s horse after he dismounted, and the two of them talk as they walk towards the stables. Uther, on his way to his own horse, is still too far away to understand the words, and he doesn’t care - except then Arthur laughs in a way he is not supposed to laugh with servants. For some reason he doesn’t quite understand himself the king stops while he is half hidden from view, making use of the opportunity to see how the two boys act when they believe themselves alone.
There is a bucket of water standing on a bench beside the stables. Merlin knocks it over when he passes it, and Uther watches in disbelief as the water stops just before it can soak the servant’s boots, and flows backwards until all of it has returned to the bucket that is once again standing where it stood before.
His first instinct is to draw his sword and run the boy through. Then the king in him takes over and he is about to have his guards arrest the sorcerer, to have him burned in the city square where everyone can learn of his betrayal and be reminded of what will happen to them should they follow the same path. But just as he is about to call for the guards, he sees Arthur hit the back of Merlin’s head in playful manner, before hissing something at him, and Uther understands that not only did he see what his servant has done, but he has known before.
He knows about Merlin’s magic, and Merlin knows Arthur knows and is comfortable with using it before him. Uther steps back into the shadows as Arthur hastily looks around for anyone to have witnessed the incident, his heart racing with the implications.
By keeping a sorcerer hidden in the city, in the court, the prince has made himself guilty of helping him - a crime punishable by death. If Uther had Merlin executed, he would have to execute his son as well. It is unthinkable.
His mind works through the possibilities. Knowing Arthur, he will not stand back and watch as the boy loses his head - if the king tries to harm him, the entire kingdom will learn what their crown prince has done and Uther will have no choice but to either let go of the law against magic, or to order the death of his only son. This is the first possibility.
The alternative is to do nothing, pretend he didn’t see, and wait for an opportunity to get rid of the sorcerer without Arthur getting in the way.
It isn’t very hard to choose.
March 11, 2009
Fandom: Merlin
Suggested by nightrider101: Five times Uther knew Merlin was using magic and chose to ignore it.
1.
Apart from his son and his ward, Gaius the court physician is the only person in Camelot who is not just another subject to the king. He trusts him, to as much as an extent as he can trust anyone, and after all these years they have known each other Uther has simply grown used to his presence. Sometimes he fears the old man, though - in times of crisis, when he becomes aware that Gaius knows too many of his secrets, that he could become a danger more easily than any other person in the kingdom. These fears always come at night, when the pain in his shoulder keeps sleep away from Uther, and are accompanied by dark thoughts.
Then another plague comes to Camelot, a plague that sweeps through the city, making no difference of peasants and nobles, killing the weak, the old and the very young. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Gaius, after dealing with the sick all the time, catches the sickness himself, but Uther has seen him fight many a plague during the years and the news hit him without warning: Gaius is ill, and will die. He is too old, and too weak after days without rest.
That day, while hurrying to the physician’s house, Uther realises that what Gaius means to him above all else is stability. He has always been there, and is one of the few Uther can talk to about things hidden from the rest of the world. He is one of the few who remember Igraine, and the terrible night she died, and knows the truth Arthur shall never learn. Uther has been scared of the knowledge Gaius holds, but now he is about to lose him, the king realises that the prospect of missing the only one he can confide in scares him even more.
He needs Gaius. Needs his presence, his knowledge and his council, rare as it is that he listens to him. And there is nothing he can do to keep him.
The ache in Uther’s chest as he looks down at his dying friend is different from the paralyzing pain that has filled him when his son lay dying, but it is there none the less, getting stronger the more aware he becomes of how much he will lose.
Morgana’s handmaiden is there as well, and Arthur’s servant - Uther barely notices them, neither the girl’s soft crying nor the boy’s pale, solemn face, but then the boy - Merlin, wasn’t it? - gently touches his arm and asks them both to leave, as there is another medicine he wants to try, and he needs to be alone to prepare it.
From Gaius’ complains Uther knows that the servant boy has no talent for medicine. He knows also that there is no hope for any existing medicine to cure his friend.
When the next day word reaches him that the court physician has miraculously recovered over night and will live, Uther knows it can’t be (just as he has known that there is no cure for the bite of the Questing Beast). But his deeply felt relief makes it easy for him to accept the news as they are given him, and not to question that which works in his favour.
2.
Uther knows it has been magic that saved both him and Arthur from the mystical beast that appeared inside the castle one day and killed his guards. It was coming for them, Arthur standing bravely in front of his father, his sword drawn and as useless as the guards’, and then, suddenly, the roof collapsed and buried the beast beneath it.
Uther has seen Arthur’s servant reach his hand towards the ceiling out of the corner of his eye, and while he paid no attention to it while facing his death, and, worse, that of his son, he knows what it means now, looking at the corpse buried beneath the rubble.
Magic has been at work here, and it has been neither Uther not Arthur who worked it.
The servant, Merlin, stands in the corner of the room, the only one alive but for them, and fails completely at looking innocent.
Beside him, Arthur lowers his sword. “The structure of the castle is becoming frail,” he says, his voice strangely toneless. “We need to take care of that. It could have been any of us standing there, and not some undefeatable creature about to take our lives.”
The king looks at him, then at Merlin, and at Arthur again, and the king that will follow him looks back. For a second Uther can see the future: a potential future that will come to pass should he do what is his right and his duty to do now. Arthur is loyal to him, but he can be wilful when confronted with what he regards as injustice, and he will not stand by and watch someone be executed for saving their lives.
It is a path leading to several destinations, several consequences, none of which Uther is willing to face.
“Yes,” he agrees, looking up through the hole in the ceiling. “What a lucky coincidence.”
3.
Looking out of the window, Uther sees Arthur training with his manservant in the yard. ‘Training’ in this case is another word for ‘Arthur hitting the boy with his sword until he falls over’. Merlin really is remarkably clumsy even for a servant.
A servant who has just recently survived being in a collapsing building by standing beneath the only roof beam that has miraculously remained intact exactly long enough for him to get away unscratched. A servant who has this morning been spared being trampled to death by three panicking horses, because all of them happened to stumble and fall just before they reached him. At once.
A servant who by all rights should burn at the stake by sundown.
Uther watches closely, ready to jump down there and kill the boy himself should whatever power saved him from falling roofs and wild horses also work against princes beating at him with swords, but the boy only falls onto his backside and raises his hands in surrender.
Arthur helps him to his feet and Merlin takes off his helmet, shaking his head to stop the ringing Uther knows only too well. Arthur frowns at him, exasperated, and starts talking, gesticulating to underline his words. Uther cannot make out his what he is saying, but it is clear from what he sees that his son is actually explaining to his servant what he did wrong. He shakes his head in wonder. So this is not about Arthur practicing beating up incompetent opponents, but about Merlin becoming a better fighter.
And Merlin is listening intently, though Uther can tell already that he will never become much of a warrior. Of course he won’t have to worry about it, if the king now sent down his guards to arrest him.
Below, the boys appear to be finished for the day. They collect their weapons, and then Arthur says something to his servant, with a boyish grin Uther has never before seen on his son’s face, not even when he was a child. Merlin laughs, and elbows him in the side in a disrespectful way that would have earned him a day in the stocks or worse had been Uther’s servant. The king’s frown deepens, but Arthur doesn’t seem to mind. Uther watches them until they leave his field of vision, never knowing they were being observed, and can’t help thinking that he has never seen his son so relaxed, so happy.
With a sigh he turns away from the window and returns to the contracts he has been studying.
4.
Even before it is over, Uther knows that execution is not an option.
A storm is raging through the woods, tearing out threes and causing people in heavy armour to fly around like dolls thrown by a child in a tantrum. The sorcerer their attackers have hired to take them out is the only one still standing, protecting himself with an invisible shield of magic. Uther knows him of old - he has been powerful then and is even more powerful now, and yet, after a minute his strength fails him and the magical storm finally takes hold of him and turns him into dust.
There is not the slightest breath of air where they are standing.
If he turned around this moment, Uther knows, he would see Gaius’ apprentice stand half hidden behind the court physician, his hands in the air while he mutters the words needed to summon this magic. He has had his suspicions about him for a long time, and this is all the proof he needs.
If he turned around and saw the boy perform magic, he could order his guards to arrest him. They wouldn’t bother with a trial. Before nightfall he would be executed - best to get through with it before Arthur returned from his latest mission. If the sorcerer resisted, he would be killed on the spot.
This is what would happen if things went well, should Uther turn around and look. But he is overcome by the justified fear that things will not go well. He has just seen a powerful old sorcerer turn to dust. An army is flying through the air around him, along with the better part of a small forest, and he can well imagine what would happen to his guards, and him, should they attack the boy.
The king shivers in the magic that makes the air heavy like a shroud. If this sorcerer ever turned against them, Camelot would be in ruins within an hour. How much easier things would be if Uther knew nothing. If this was the work of the old sorcerer’s magic turning against him, and boy remained just a useless servant who had to follow his orders and didn’t know how to hold a sword.
Uther doesn’t turn around.
5.
It happens when Arthur returns from a hunting trip, and it happens so casually that Uther nearly misses it.
The servant Merlin takes the reins of Arthur’s horse after he dismounted, and the two of them talk as they walk towards the stables. Uther, on his way to his own horse, is still too far away to understand the words, and he doesn’t care - except then Arthur laughs in a way he is not supposed to laugh with servants. For some reason he doesn’t quite understand himself the king stops while he is half hidden from view, making use of the opportunity to see how the two boys act when they believe themselves alone.
There is a bucket of water standing on a bench beside the stables. Merlin knocks it over when he passes it, and Uther watches in disbelief as the water stops just before it can soak the servant’s boots, and flows backwards until all of it has returned to the bucket that is once again standing where it stood before.
His first instinct is to draw his sword and run the boy through. Then the king in him takes over and he is about to have his guards arrest the sorcerer, to have him burned in the city square where everyone can learn of his betrayal and be reminded of what will happen to them should they follow the same path. But just as he is about to call for the guards, he sees Arthur hit the back of Merlin’s head in playful manner, before hissing something at him, and Uther understands that not only did he see what his servant has done, but he has known before.
He knows about Merlin’s magic, and Merlin knows Arthur knows and is comfortable with using it before him. Uther steps back into the shadows as Arthur hastily looks around for anyone to have witnessed the incident, his heart racing with the implications.
By keeping a sorcerer hidden in the city, in the court, the prince has made himself guilty of helping him - a crime punishable by death. If Uther had Merlin executed, he would have to execute his son as well. It is unthinkable.
His mind works through the possibilities. Knowing Arthur, he will not stand back and watch as the boy loses his head - if the king tries to harm him, the entire kingdom will learn what their crown prince has done and Uther will have no choice but to either let go of the law against magic, or to order the death of his only son. This is the first possibility.
The alternative is to do nothing, pretend he didn’t see, and wait for an opportunity to get rid of the sorcerer without Arthur getting in the way.
It isn’t very hard to choose.
March 11, 2009