rabbit hearted boy, part three
Part Two
Part Three
“Scrub the floor, do the dishes, sort out the books, buy the herbs.”
“You forgot ‘clean out the leech tank’.”
Merlin frowned. “Do I really have to?”
“That leech tank doesn’t clean itself,” Gaius stated before moving back round to sit behind his desk.
Sighing, Merlin headed to the door. “All right. I’ll get the herbs first.”
“Thank you. And, no dilly-dallying please.”
“Dilly-dallying?” Merlin repeated. “Me?”
“High up in the castle as we may be, we do have a window Merlin. Was that one of the servants you were talking to yesterday, or the baker’s girl?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” was his stumbling response as he tried to hide his blush and fled.
He left the quarters with every intention of going straight down to the market, but he had only taken one flight of stairs when he ran into Arthur.
“Merlin, where are you going?”
“To the market,” he said, continuing his downstairs causing Arthur to follow him. “Gaius needs some herbs.”
“Ah. Well, I will join you.”
Merlin didn’t bother to respond to that, both of them knowing he would not be able to do so. “Where is Sir Leon?”
“He is in a meeting with the knights.”
“Who’s looking after you, then?”
“I don’t need looking after, Merlin,” Arthur bristled. “Brian was with me, but one of the stable hands couldn’t find something and he went to help,” he added.
“Doesn’t that mean you’re supposed to stay in your chambers until he returned?”
“Well, yes, I imagine it does,” he said breezily as the kept up their pace downstairs.
Merlin rolled his eyes. After many years of friendship and a fair few “incidents” he had stopped taking the trouble to point out to Arthur the problem of his behaviour long ago, but following Arthur’s most recent flight he felt the need to speak. “Don’t you think that after what your father said, you should at least try a little harder?”
“Well…why?”
“You saw how angry he was. The whole castle heard how angry he was, the way he shouted at you after. And didn’t you say your mother started crying?”
For a brief moment Merlin thought he saw a look of discomfort on Arthur’s face, but if it had been there it soon passed.
“They have both done that before.”
“I know that but - oh, why now?” Merlin suddenly exclaimed.
“Why what?” Arthur wondered, but following his gaze, he saw through the window that it had started to rain.
“It couldn’t have waited five more minutes?” Merlin grumbled, mainly to himself as they took the last flight of stairs down.
“It won’t kill you, Merlin. At least, that’s what I’ve heard,” Arthur stated jovially.
Merlin’s confusion at Arthur’s remark didn’t last very long, only needing a moment to recollect that Arthur had never felt rain before. Glancing to his side at Arthur, who kept up his pace as they walked down the main steps into the courtyard, he added, “Sometimes, I really don’t know why you bother.”
They hadn’t even finished going down the steps when the guards spotted them, and one left his post to come up to them. Arthur, however, continued walking. “One day, Merlin. One day.”
Merlin held his jacket close around himself as the light rain fell on them, sharing a look with the guard approaching.
“Sire.”
“Hello,” Arthur greeted the guard with a warm smile.
“Sire, you must go inside.”
“Thing is, I’d rather not.”
“Please, sire,” he said wearily, and took the Prince by the arm.
Arthur sighed but allowed himself to be escorted back.
Merlin shook his head at the pair returning up the stairs before heading out to the market.
Once they were inside the castle, the guard quickly closed the door behind them.
“I can see myself back to my chambers now.”
All of the castle staff were too well aware of Arthur’s behaviour to fall for that one. “I would rather take you there myself.”
Arthur brushed his now damp fringe off his forehead and began to reply, “No, really, I…” He stopped short, examining his damp clothes and feeling something spark inside his head. “Is it windy outside?”
“Only a little, my lord.” When Arthur looked perplexed, the guard supplied, “But I was holding onto you, sire.”
“Yes…” Arthur began, but could not continue. He shook one sleeve, saw he was already starting to dry, and he forgot what he had been thinking.
“There you are!” Brian jogged the rest of the way up to them. “I will take him from here.”
“Better not let the king see you,” the guard mumbled.
Brian shot him a look as if to say, “Don’t I know it,” as he led the prince away. “Well, sire,” he said to Arthur as they began climbing the stairs. “Shall I draw you a bath?”
“A bath?”
“Yes. Then we can get you into some dry clothes before dinner.” Brian said nothing of keeping the king uninformed of this latest endeavour after King Uther’s foul mood the previous day, and keeping prince occupied at least until Sir Leon was ready to take up his post again.
Arthur agreed to this suggestion with the usual air of nonchalance he greeted most situations. As much as he still wanted to see what was outside the castle, and knew Brian was no match for his speed, he quite liked baths; he always had. They were very…relaxing. He always felt very calm when he was sitting in the water; and there were nice bubbles.
Although, once Brian had made the bath and Arthur prepared to get inside the tub, he remembered that the bubbles never lasted very long. Not only that but, he realised as he sunk into the water, he didn’t take much notice of the bubbles once he was inside. Taking a deep breath, Arthur dunked his head into the water, completely wetting his face and hair, before emerging. Sliding back against the side of the tub, Arthur felt very relaxed indeed. He looked around his chambers, taking in the pleasing layout of the room he knew so well.
The sunlight streamed in through the window and flicker against the suit of armour that lived next to his drawers. The armour was decorative more than anything else - they had tried indoor sword and weapon lessons when Arthur was young but these invariably ended up with him dangling in the air when trying to attack an opponent. In addition, he hadn’t been able to summon up the kind of aggression his father and his instructor had both deemed necessary in a fighter, so they had settled on teaching him some defensive techniques and given up. Although Leon had taught him a few more skills, both for defence and attack, he hadn’t had cause to wear the armour - but he often liked looking at it, especially when it was shiny after being dusted.
Today, however, the sight of the armour suddenly reminded him of his father’s scolding the previous day; the lecture Uther had given as his mother sat in the corner, silent tears appearing every so often on her face. The memory created a heaviness in his chest; a weight that he had difficulty naming because of the infrequency of the feeling…
In fact, he could barely remember feeling like this - not to mention thinking like this at all. Words like duty and responsibility and rule rang in his ears, words without meaning that he could usually brush off his shoulders as easily as a gentle summer breeze could lift him two feet off the ground, but today, they hung about him: a load he was unable to lift.
As Arthur turned his gaze to the disappearing bubbles in the tub, a single water droplet fell off his fringe, landing into the mass of water with a loud plop. An insignificant occurrence, one that had probably taken place in every previous bath since he’d had hair. It wasn’t even an action in itself, not something that he had caused to happen; the droplet merely fell off his hair and into the tub because…it could.
And, in doing so, it sparked an idea in Arthur’s head.
*
“Merlin, have you ever been swimming?”
“What?” Merlin looked up from the inside of the leech tank he had the unfortunate task of cleaning. A task Gaius would no longer let him put off, but one that Arthur was now distracting him from, having burst into Gaius’ chambers with an unusual expression on his face.
“You know what swimming is, don’t you?” Arthur wondered. “I have heard about it -”
“Yes, I know what it is,” he replied impatiently, as he continued scrubbing the bottom of the tank with his rag. “I’m just not sure I understand why the subject of swimming is so important that you had to run up here to ask me about it. - And shouldn’t you be with Leon, or Brian, or whoever’s turn it is to babysit?”
Arthur’s dismissal of Merlin’s last comment with nothing more than a flick of his hand, was his first clue that something peculiar was going on. “You did not answer my first question; have you?”
“Well, yes; a few times. There’s a lake not far from the castle that I have been to with some of the other servants. Not in a while though.”
“A lake! That is what I need,” Arthur said excitedly, and his eyes grew wide as he paced up and down the length of the short room.
Glad for Gaius’ absence as he visited one of the ladies who had recently had a baby, Merlin asked, “What do you need a lake for?”
“To swim, Merlin; start paying attention.” Before Merlin could query this desire, Arthur continued, “I wish to…” he paused, hands flailing about with uncertainty before he settled on, “be in water for a long period of time.”
“Right. And you can’t just take a long bath because…”
“I just took one, Merlin. - That is how I think - I mean, why I think I need to try swimming.”
“Why?”
“Because there was something…different about me when I was in it. I mean, I’ve always liked baths.”
“That’s not particularly special, a lot of people do. Or so I hear,” Merlin added, grimacing as he scrubbed at a particularly dirty part of the tank. “I’ve never had one myself.”
Ignoring Merlin, Arthur went on with his explanation, “I just never noticed until today that I actually felt different - completely different - when I was in the water. And I remembered, today we went out in the rain. And I’ve never been in the rain before, and after I got wet I felt strange, but then I started to dry and forgot until I had my bath and realised what it was -”
“Slow down, Arthur. What are you trying to say?”
“I think that being in water does…something to me. Something to my enchantment. Like it cancels it. That’s why I want to try swimming.”
Merlin stopped his work at that. They barely ever discussed Arthur’s enchantment, and certainly never in terms of countering it. It was just a given thing, as everyday to them as his own magical gifts. That in itself was odd enough, but Arthur never talked about anything like this; all fidgety as he continued to pace. He actually looked anxious, an expression that seemed out of place on Arthur’s perpetual face of calm, almost as if he didn’t know what to do with himself - or how to even be anxious. “You do look different,” Merlin admitted, slowly.
“I feel different. I feel like something in my brain is moving, Merlin, like it’s…turning!”
“Most people call that thinking.”
Although Arthur’s spell had made him partial to a joke, he did not seem to posses the wit to realise when jokes were being made at his expense so he just continued to look at Merlin impatiently.
“Well,” he began, “if you really think it’s something to do with your enchantment we should tell your father. Or, Gaius at least,” Merlin pointed out, but Arthur was already shaking his head.
“No, my father will not want me to go outside; you know he will not allow it. And it is only an idea now, I must go and find out by myself so that I know for sure water really does effect - well, me - and then I can tell him with certainty.
“That’s…actually not a terrible idea. - Did you bump your head on anything? No encounters with ceilings or anything today?”
“Do you know of a lake that I can swim in? Where I won’t be found?”
Merlin had to think for a few moments, but remembered soon. “Yes, there’s one in part of the woods, past the marketplace. It’s not that far so it won’t take too long to go there and back, but far enough so you won’t be seen.”
“Excellent. I have to go for dinner before Brian realises I am not with Leon -”
“Or Leon that you are not with Brian?”
“Yes - but at dinner I will say I am taking an early night so Leon will be dismissed once they think I have gone to bed and we will leave as soon as we can.”
“Wait,” Merlin called, as Arthur moved to run out the room, “How are we going to get you out of the castle without anyone seeing?”
Arthur shrugged. “You think of something.”
“Right,” Merlin deadpanned to Arthur’s retreating back. “Because that’s always worked so well before.”
*
Luckily for Merlin, his plan actually did work rather well that evening.
Arthur made a show of retiring to his bed early that night, but as he was so often left with nothing to do but stay in his chambers in the evening his announcement was not seen as suspicious. And Merlin had worked so efficiently on the rest of his tasks that Gaius allowed him to wait until tomorrow to complete the last, arranging his books, which gave him the perfect amount of time to organise his and Arthur’s escape.
He still wasn’t entirely sure why he was going through with this - they had tried to sneak Arthur out of the castle plenty of times before and always been stopped - but it seemed more important this time; now that Arthur had a reason, other than simply wanting to really see the outside of the castle walls. Merlin knew he could still end up being scolded, or worse, put in the stocks, for this, but he thought Gaius would understand when he told him that it was to help find a cure for Arthur’s enchantment.
Or, at least, Merlin hoped he would.
Having finished his load of washing up in the kitchen, and therefore all his duties for the day, Merlin returned to his and Gaius’ shared chambers. Expecting to find Gaius asleep by now, he moved to open the door carefully, not wanting to cause any noise so Gaius wouldn’t catch him grabbing his bag before going to Arthur’s chambers.
He had only just cracked the door open however, when he saw the fire still burning and heard the sound of Gaius’ voice. Opening the door fully now but still only seeing and hearing the one inhabitant, Merlin walked in as casually as he could before asking, “Who are you talking to?”
“That would be me.”
Merlin stumbled backwards at the deep, booming voice that came from behind him. His foot knocked into onto of the table legs and, unable to recover from the surprise soon enough, Merlin fell, landing on his behind. The table was made of strong enough stuff to withstand a kick from the somewhat thin manservant, but some of the papers and books flew off, landing on both the floor and Merlin himself.
“Merlin!” Gaius groaned.
“Sorry, Gaius. Sire,” he added, with a nod to the king who hovered behind the still open door. “You surprised me.”
“I can see that.”
“Merlin, I am going to check on Queen Ygraine,” Gaius began, as Merlin rose clumsily.
“Why, is she -” Merlin stopped himself from finishing, the look on Gaius’ face reminding him that if ever there was a time to say as little as possible it was in front of King Uther. As much as he liked the queen, and hoped she was not very ill, it was technically none of his business as to why she would need a visit from Gaius at this time in the evening so he kept his mouth shut. At least, he knew, if it was something serious Gaius may have asked for his assistance, and would certainly look in more of a hurry. And it would prove effective in keeping them occupied while he and Arthur tried to sneak out of the castle.
“I don’t expect to take long, but I hope you will have rearranged those papers by the time I return.”
Merlin nodded. “Of course.”
Uther exited the room first, with Gaius right behind. Merlin moved to begin sorting the fallen items quickly before Gaius could close the door - too quickly - as both men saw him trip over one of the books, and land with his nose inches from the fireplace.
“You know, Gaius,” Uther began as they walked down the corridor and to his wife’s chambers to tend to her headache, “sometimes I don’t know whether that boy should be put in the stocks or made the new court jester.”
Gaius was used to Uther finding his ward incompetent and only prickled slightly at the remark. “I had thought you were not keen on the idea of a jester, my lord” he stated politely. “You seemed to suggest as much the time King Alined visited, and brought his jester with him.”
Uther shuddered. “Oh, he was ghastly. And, you are right Gaius; I do not really fancy having a jester. But court has been rather dull as of late, and your Merlin is certainly entertaining.”
Gaius smiled, and neglected to mention that if entertainment was all that the court desired, Uther merely needed to ask Arthur to court, and open up a window.
*
“Get the window open!”
“Not yet!” Merlin hissed back at Arthur. “We can’t open the window before you’re secure, or you’ll go flying off!”
Arthur rolled his eyes, but allowed Merlin to tie the rope around his waist. “Hurry up, will you? We’ve already wasted enough time.”
“I told you I would have been here sooner if Gaius hadn’t needed me to do something else.” He didn’t tell Arthur that the something else was tidying up a mess of his own making.
“Will he realise you’re gone?”
“I made it look like I’d gone to bed, hopefully he won’t check. And as long as he checks by the time we get out of here it’ll be fine. If we get out of here.”
“It’ll be fine, Merlin.”
“We’ve never managed it before. In fact, I think you’ll recall it’s been a few years since we tried this means of escape, and…”
“And?”
“Well, you’re a little bulkier since the last time I tried to lower you down from a rope. Although, at least you’re not heavier, since you’ve got the weight of a baby or something,” Merlin pointed out, tugging on the secure rope and noticing how little a pull could move Arthur forward. As he looked at the window, and back at Arthur, an idea came to him. “That’s it!”
“What’s…what?”
“I won’t lower you down!”
“And how do you propose I’ll get down then?”
“You lower me down, and then all you have to do is jump out the window. You’ll stay in the air and I can pull you down, easy. We just have to make sure you’ll stay grounded in here.”
Doing that wasn’t as difficult as Merlin might have thought, as they surrounded Arthur with heavy objects for him to grab onto. He then tied the very other end of the rope around his waist and opened the window so that Arthur could lower him down.
Despite the light breeze that rolled into his chambers once the window was open, Arthur managed to anchor himself to the floor and start lowering Merlin down.
“Not so fast!” Merlin called out as Arthur let the rope down, and he went towards the ground.
“It’s not my fault you’re so heavy!” he yelled back, while trying to slow his movements.
“Well, we can’t all be light like you!”
“Well, if you could actually do magic,” Arthur returned to the familiar taunt, “then you could just float yourself to the ground.”
“Just stop talking before someone hears us!”
“Well, if anyone was going to hear us they would have done so by now -”
“Arthur.”
“And they would have -”
“Arthur!” Merlin hissed. “If you must keep talking at least keep lowering me down!”
“Oh. That’s all the rope there is. I thought you had got down already.”
“No,” Merlin said through gritted teeth, “I’m two feet from the floor.”
“So just jump down.”
“I can’t! You’re attached to the other end of the rope.”
“Well, wasn’t the point to pull me down, anyway?”
Merlin couldn’t argue with that. “Alright, move the chairs and things away from you, and stand on the window ledge.”
Once Merlin felt the rope lowering a little further as Arthur took his place, he pushed his weight down, hoping he didn’t injure himself when he fell to the ground. Luckily, as he hadn’t been too far from the ground in the first place, the jump was easy. Merlin fell forwards slightly, but landed on his knees without grazing them, and despite the rope still tied around his waist, Arthur was so light that he could get back up without difficulty.
“You alright?” he called up to Arthur, who was now floating horizontally in the light breeze. At Arthur’s smile and nod of the head, Merlin moved to start bringing in the rope, but his hands had barely started pulling at the material when he heard something, which sounded suspiciously like footsteps: loud ones.
Merlin looked around him nervously, and could see only blackness as the dark night and shadows engulfed the back castle walls. But the noise continued, and he snapped his head round when he heard someone clearing their throat.
“Good evening, Merlin.”
Merlin gulped as the third person now stood in front of him, visible in the pale moonlight. “Evening, Sir Leon.”
Leon smiled, not unkindly. “I would, uh, ask what you were doing out here at this time at night, but it seems rather obvious.”
Merlin glanced around them, trying to come up with some sort of explanation, and in doing so realised that this was no unlucky encounter. Only the servants would be in this area, as the only way into the castle from here was through a back entrance to the servant’s quarters, giving Sir Leon no reason to just be passing by. “You knew?”
“I suspected,” Leon admitted, “from Arthur’s manner when I escorted him to his chambers after dinner. I did not expect to see you involved too, however.”
Merlin blanched slightly at that. Even before, when they’d tried to escape the castle on a regular basis, Leon’s subdued displeasure had always made Merlin feel worse than any scolding he received from Gaius. It was probably because of how much Leon had to deal with from Arthur, and the fact that he knew the king would hold him partially responsible if something had happened. Merlin had been on the receiving end of that when he had been a child, and didn’t relish the memories one bit. “It’s not what you’re thinking,” he began.
“No? Because I think you are trying to sneak Arthur out of the castle.”
“Well, that is actually what’s happening, but we have good reason this time.”
The smile on Leon’s face remained, but he shook his head. “Arthur always says he has a reason; that reason is usually that he thought it would be amusing.”
“I know that is normally the case,” Merlin acknowledged as Leon grabbed onto the rope and started to pull Arthur down gently, “but it is not today. We think there is something that might help Arthur with his enchantment.”
Leon stopped at that, and looked at Merlin. “A cure?”
“Perhaps.”
“Well, we must tell the king.”
“No, I - we are not sure yet, and Arthur thought we should not tell the king until we were certain.”
“Arthur thought?”
Merlin nodded vehemently. “If you had been there when he explained it to me -”
“Wait, he told you about it? But you did not see yourself?”
“Well, no, but,” Merlin said more strongly at Leon’s weary look, “if you had seen how he was, you would understand. He was very different than normal - determined.”
“Well, whatever had that effect on him seems to have worn off,” Leon commented.
Merlin followed his stare to look back up at Arthur, still floating on his side with the rope wrapped around his middle, gazing into the distance with a complacent smile on his face.
“He doesn’t seem any different to me now.”
“That’s why we need to do this,” Merlin insisted.
“What are you looking for?”
“A lake.”
“A lake?” Leon repeated.
“Arthur said he thought that the water had an effect on him; he realised it when he was in his bath. He thinks he needs to swim to find out.”
“So you two were going to all this risk so Arthur could go swimming?” Leon wondered. Without waiting for an answer, he returned to the rope, and began pulling Arthur back down once more.
“I know it sounds a little ridiculous,” Merlin insisted, pausing when Leon glanced at him after the word “little”, “but surely for such a ridiculous problem, it’s not impossible that it would have a similarly ridiculous solution?”
The statement made Leon pause. Continuing to bring the prince to the ground, he explained slowly, “When Prince Arthur was born many people - at least, certainly my parents - were told no cure could be found. But when I started training to be a knight, one of the guards told me that it had been believed tears were the only way to break the prince’s spell.”
Having never heard that, Merlin grew surprised, but it soon confirmed his own belief in Arthur’s idea. “Well, that proves it then.”
“Swimming and crying are two very different things.”
“But they are both to do with water,” Merlin pointed out. “I may not be able to do very much magic, but I know a bit about it. I mean,” he sputtered when he realised his slip up, “not that I know a lot about it - I don’t research a lot about magic, because that’s against the law and I wouldn’t -”
“It’s alright, Merlin,” Leon interrupted.
“It is?” he said, surprised.
“You have magic, it’s not unsurprising that you would want to know more about it when your own powers are…limited. But you don’t strike me as someone plotting against the throne. - Besides, King Uther already knows about your powers. - Just tell me what you know.”
“Well…I haven’t actually read very much, but I do know that water is an important magical power. And Arthur seemed so sure.”
“I seemed what?” Arthur asked, now he was within earshot and vertical, his legs dangling at Merlin’s waist level as the rope coiled on the ground.
Leon looked from Merlin’s sincere expression to Arthur’s silly one and made a decision. “Hold this.”
Merlin wordlessly took the rope from Leon’s hands, before Leon started to move away.
“Stay there, and don’t let him down until I come back.”
“Where’s he going?” Arthur inquired, as Leon disappeared into the servant’s entrance.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, aren’t you going to finish lowering me down?”
“You weren’t complaining a few moments ago.”
“I had a nice view then. And I’m bored of floating now.”
“Sir Leon asked us to wait,” Merlin snapped, and was pleased when Leon reappeared only a few moments later, although he was puzzled as to why he did so with a basin in his hands.
He walked steadily towards the pair, stopping short a few feet in front. Looking a little hesitantly at Arthur, he apologised hastily, “Forgive me, sire.”
Before Arthur could wonder what the apology was for, Leon had tipped the basin, and flung the water inside at the prince. The action drenched Arthur, and did not leave Merlin dry either, but none could miss its third effect: pushing Arthur down as firmly as any hand so that his feet were planted flat on the ground.
Leon and Merlin saw the changing expressions on Arthur’s face before looking back at one another.
“You won’t tell, then?”
*
“I do not have a good feeling about this.”
“We’re almost there, Sir Leon,” Merlin pointed out, as he moved another tree branch out of the way and Leon and Arthur followed. “And I told you, you did not have to come.”
“You would never have gotten out of the castle by yourselves.”
Merlin silently acknowledged that this was most likely true. There had been a few more guards than he’d expected and it was only with Leon distracting them in conversation that he and Arthur had been able to slip past unseen. And he was grateful for the help, but he had not thought Leon intended to join them on the rest of their journey.
His presence had proved valuable. It had not seemed wise to keep the rope around Arthur as it would draw attention to them, so having a third meant he did not have to constantly keep checking Arthur hadn’t been blown away while he led them through the town. However, Leon was a tall man and still in armour, despite being without his knight’s cape and three people skulking around in the shadows were bound to be more noticeable than two.
“Are we there yet?” Arthur asked, as they stepped fully into the cover of the forest and away from the prying eyes of the townsfolk.
“No!” Leon and Merlin yelled in unison.
Arthur guilelessly looked from one to the other, eyes wide and possibly lacking the memory of having inquired the same thing numerous times already.
The companions continued the walk in, one-part confused, two-parts begrudging, silence until they found themselves in a small clearing in the forest. The dense trees surrounding it provided heavy cover all around except for the gap they stood in front of, and the lake itself was as wide as three full-grown men lain flat.
“Here we are,” Merlin said with a smile. “I found it while playing hide and seek once. Almost fell in, actually.”
“Who were you playing hide and seek with?” Arthur wondered.
“I do have friends that aren’t you, Arthur.”
“Since when?”
Merlin rolled his eyes and looked back at the lake. Leon glanced from the lake to Arthur and held back a sigh. “Well, sire?” he prompted.
“Yes?” Arthur replied.
“Uh, aren’t you going to…” he gestured to the lake.
“Oh. Right. Of course.” With a glance between his two companions Arthur walked the few steps that separated them from the lake and jumped in.
The splash sent water droplets raining on Leon and Merlin, but the latter’s groan was drowned out by the whooping laugh Arthur emitted when his head resurfaced.
“He seems to take to it quite naturally,” Leon noted, as they watched Arthur, who had never been given a swimming lesson in his life, move gracefully, almost without effort, across the length of the lake.
“Quite,” Merlin repeated, before his face turned down. “Oh.”
“What?”
“Just something we forgot.”
“Yes?”
“Reminding him that most people don’t swim fully clothed. Also, we didn’t bring a towel.”
“Right. He may be dry by the time we return to the castle?” Leon offered.
“He may.”
He did not, but by that time it was so late that no one was awake to notice the three men, skulking through the town and back to the castle.
Leon worried all through what remained of the night that there might be reports of three figures wandering about either on the castle grounds or in the town, one leaving a trail of water behind him, but he tried to reassure himself that they had been discreet, and that water dried, and as in the morning the king seemed in the same humour as ever he managed to remain calm.
What concerned him then was that the prince also seemed just as he always was. Leon had been surprised to note that as the delight of the new had worn off for Prince Arthur, swimming had been an entirely sobering experience. In fact, in conversation, when he and Merlin had told him it was time to return to the castle, the prince had sounded…rational. On the journey back, he had been witness to the slow reverse in Arthur’s demeanour. As the water dried slowly, Arthur’s own lightness of weight and mind increased, and by the time the prince was returned to his chambers one who did not know him so well would not be able to tell the difference. Now, Arthur seemed cheerful and carefree, and did not mind at all that he had risen far later than one of his stature was meant to, even if he had no actual duties. Although he had remembered his task, and asked Leon to inform his parents he sought an audience with them that afternoon to discuss a private matter, Leon could not learn what he was going to say, or how he intended to persuade them.
In short, Leon did not know how this Prince Arthur was going to convince King Uther to alter rules he had put in place ever since he had been a baby in order to do something like go swimming. He had never envied Arthur, but as he stood in the corner of the throne room, facing opposite the king and queen as the prince took his place in the centre, he felt that sentiment more strongly than ever.
“Well, Arthur?” Uther looked at his son impatiently. He was a little surprised that Arthur would request a meeting, as it was not something he had ever done before, but he was too old to find much hope from it, and he had many other people to see that so he was in no mood to be kept waiting.
For himself, Arthur didn’t want to keep his parents waiting, but he had some difficulty formulating the words.
“Father, mother,” he glanced between them both, “There is something I wish to say.”
The weight of his tone struck them enough for the king and queen to share a fleeting look but they soon returned their attention to their son.
“I think I have found a sort of solution to my…problem,” he settled on.
Uther and Ygraine instantly sat up straighter, but before they could say what he saw they both obviously wanted to Arthur felt the need to quash their hopes slightly.
“Only a temporary one though,” he added, hastily. “At least, I think.”
“What is it, Arthur?” Ygraine asked.
“Swimming.”
“Swimming?” Uther repeated.
“I, uh, noticed a change when I was in water…” he began, trailing off at the expressions on his parent’s faces. “What?”
“Is that all you found? Only the water?”
“Yes, that is all, why?” he inquired, looking back and forth; at his father’s flat gaze and the side of his mother’s face as she no longer looked up.
“There was…that is to say, we -”
“Ygraine,” Uther stopped her.
“As he now knows by himself, I see no reason to lie.”
“Lie about what?” Arthur demanded, walking forward so that he was now only a few steps from the throne.
“We knew about the water.”
“What?”
“When you were young, Gaius read something that made him think that water would have an effect on your condition. So we tried putting you in water - we even tried keeping you there for a very long amount of time - but as soon as you were dry you were back to yourself again.”
Arthur felt an unfamiliar emotion at his mother’s admission, but his head felt cloudy and would not tell him what that feeling was. “Why wouldn’t you tell me that?”
“It had no long lasting effect,” Uther pointed out, “what was the point when it made no difference?”
“It makes a difference to me! I never realised why I felt different in water, but when I went swimming -”
“When did you go swimming?” Uther wondered.
“Oh. I…” Arthur glanced back at Leon who had hung his head down, which was all Uther needed to know.
Uther stood up from his chair, and glared at the two men standing in front of him. “Sir Leon, did you let Prince Arthur leave this castle?”
“Sire, I -”
“It was not his fault; Merlin and I were going -”
“Merlin!” Uther yelled. Turning to Ygraine he thundered, “I told you we should not have allow him to keep a servant for a friend. And one who has magic!”
“Uther,” she tried to pacify him, but he would not have any of it.
“Have you any idea what could have happened when you left?” Uther demanded of his son.
“Of course I do; I could have flown away,” he said, rolling his eyes, “but -”
“Why won’t you take anything seriously?”
“I am trying to take it seriously, only you will not let me!” Arthur returned, raising his voice; an act that, despite his terror at the king’s fury, Leon had presence of mind enough to note had never happened before.
Uther, however, did not notice. He began to rant about Arthur’s lack of presence of mind, and would not sit, nor stop at any of the queen’s commands.
Arthur shook his head, and saw through the closed glass window that it had started to rain. He felt claustrophobic as the four walls of the room surrounded him, and he thought of the seemingly endless depths of the lake he had swum in. In the midst of Uther’s warning he stormed over to the side of the room, opened a window and stuck his head out.
“Arthur!” Ygraine gasped as Leon started and Uther’s tirade came to a sudden halt, but Arthur did not move.
The window was far too small for him to have flown out of it - it only just about had room enough for his whole head - but despite the strong wind that blew in, he did not fly up either. And, he suddenly realised as his head started to clear once more, that that was probably thanks to the heavy rain droplets falling on his head.
“Arthur, you will move away from there at once,” Uther ordered.
He looked back at his father purposefully. “All right,” he said, following the command, and even shut the window closed. Then, he turned on his heel and bolted out the room.
“Arthur!”
Arthur ran. It was no easy task - his fast movements creating bursts of air around him, each threatening to keep him stuck afloat, not to mention the shouts and sounds of numerous footsteps all running after him - but he kept at it; through the empty corridor, down the staircase, all the way down…
To the courtyard. He practically stumbled out of the castle doors, his breath coming out in short bursts as he finally came to a stop halfway on the steps. Arthur knew he had been lucky not to have encountered any guards on his way, but that luck had run out as three of the numerous guards standing by the castle gates at the opposite end of the courtyard began to approach him.
His attention was diverted by the sound of another pair of footsteps however, catching up behind him. When they stopped he awaited either his father’s booming voice or Leon’s more restrained plea. He was instead met by a much softer tone.
“Arthur.”
He turned to face his mother, who now stood in front of him, a few steps higher up, with a sad sort of smile on her face. The rain came down all around them, growing heavier as the wind washed over them, blowing his tunic up, as well as fanning the train of her dress and her long fair hair, but not Arthur’s feet.
“Ygraine!” Uther’s voice boomed from behind her as he stood on the top step, still sheltered by the overhang of the castle’s roof. “Come back inside at once! - Arthur!” When no one moved - Leon, hovering behind the Uther’s shoulder, while the guards had all paused, surprised by the appearance of the king and queen and the lack of flight on the prince’s part - he yelled, “Guards!” and they resumed their path towards Arthur once more.
Arthur glanced up at the sky, as he continued to get very wet and smiled; a genuine, heartfelt smile, that touched something inside Ygraine; who had grown used to seeing only the simple, happy smiles Arthur’s enchantment had given him. Although there was joy in the wide, open grin Arthur bestowed her, there was sadness in it too, as though he truly realised what he was missing; and in that moment Ygraine had made up her mind.
Tucking the wet locks of her hair behind her ears Ygraine returned her son’s smile. “You shall go swimming.”
“Ygra-”
She continued in the same even tone as if her husband had never spoke. “You shall be allowed to leave the castle. Sometimes,” she added with firmness, causing Arthur’s smile to widen.
The rain started to come down heavier, but Uther was so shocked he walked down into it, sputtering, “But - He - I -”
Ygraine picked up her skirts and turned on her heel so that she faced sideways, and could be seen clearly by both her husband and Sir Leon on her left, and her son and the castle guards, once more stupefied into inaction, on her right. “The Queen has spoken. Thus, you will follow this order with immediate effect.”
Sir Leon and the castle guards all bowed at that, to which Ygraine responded by turning fully and walking back up the steps.
“Ygraine,” Uther started and fell in step with his wife, but he was not quite sure of what had just taken place in front of him nor how he was to proceed. He chose, “The rain will not last long.”
She did not look back at her husband, focusing her attention on the knight before her. “Sir Leon. I trust you will remain here with Arthur and escort him to his chambers when he is ready to return?”
Sir Leon bowed low. “Of course, my lady.”
“Thank you.”
Ygraine stepped into the castle with her husband who moved to stand in her way. She looked at him evenly, waiting patiently for him to begin. It was how most of their more serious talks began. But this time, Uther could not put into words what he wanted to express, and the numerous petitions he had to hear and various duties that awaited him the rest of that afternoon weighed in his head.
Finally, he spoke. “We will discuss this later.”
Ygraine merely nodded. “Yes, Uther. We will.”
Part Four
Part Three
“Scrub the floor, do the dishes, sort out the books, buy the herbs.”
“You forgot ‘clean out the leech tank’.”
Merlin frowned. “Do I really have to?”
“That leech tank doesn’t clean itself,” Gaius stated before moving back round to sit behind his desk.
Sighing, Merlin headed to the door. “All right. I’ll get the herbs first.”
“Thank you. And, no dilly-dallying please.”
“Dilly-dallying?” Merlin repeated. “Me?”
“High up in the castle as we may be, we do have a window Merlin. Was that one of the servants you were talking to yesterday, or the baker’s girl?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” was his stumbling response as he tried to hide his blush and fled.
He left the quarters with every intention of going straight down to the market, but he had only taken one flight of stairs when he ran into Arthur.
“Merlin, where are you going?”
“To the market,” he said, continuing his downstairs causing Arthur to follow him. “Gaius needs some herbs.”
“Ah. Well, I will join you.”
Merlin didn’t bother to respond to that, both of them knowing he would not be able to do so. “Where is Sir Leon?”
“He is in a meeting with the knights.”
“Who’s looking after you, then?”
“I don’t need looking after, Merlin,” Arthur bristled. “Brian was with me, but one of the stable hands couldn’t find something and he went to help,” he added.
“Doesn’t that mean you’re supposed to stay in your chambers until he returned?”
“Well, yes, I imagine it does,” he said breezily as the kept up their pace downstairs.
Merlin rolled his eyes. After many years of friendship and a fair few “incidents” he had stopped taking the trouble to point out to Arthur the problem of his behaviour long ago, but following Arthur’s most recent flight he felt the need to speak. “Don’t you think that after what your father said, you should at least try a little harder?”
“Well…why?”
“You saw how angry he was. The whole castle heard how angry he was, the way he shouted at you after. And didn’t you say your mother started crying?”
For a brief moment Merlin thought he saw a look of discomfort on Arthur’s face, but if it had been there it soon passed.
“They have both done that before.”
“I know that but - oh, why now?” Merlin suddenly exclaimed.
“Why what?” Arthur wondered, but following his gaze, he saw through the window that it had started to rain.
“It couldn’t have waited five more minutes?” Merlin grumbled, mainly to himself as they took the last flight of stairs down.
“It won’t kill you, Merlin. At least, that’s what I’ve heard,” Arthur stated jovially.
Merlin’s confusion at Arthur’s remark didn’t last very long, only needing a moment to recollect that Arthur had never felt rain before. Glancing to his side at Arthur, who kept up his pace as they walked down the main steps into the courtyard, he added, “Sometimes, I really don’t know why you bother.”
They hadn’t even finished going down the steps when the guards spotted them, and one left his post to come up to them. Arthur, however, continued walking. “One day, Merlin. One day.”
Merlin held his jacket close around himself as the light rain fell on them, sharing a look with the guard approaching.
“Sire.”
“Hello,” Arthur greeted the guard with a warm smile.
“Sire, you must go inside.”
“Thing is, I’d rather not.”
“Please, sire,” he said wearily, and took the Prince by the arm.
Arthur sighed but allowed himself to be escorted back.
Merlin shook his head at the pair returning up the stairs before heading out to the market.
Once they were inside the castle, the guard quickly closed the door behind them.
“I can see myself back to my chambers now.”
All of the castle staff were too well aware of Arthur’s behaviour to fall for that one. “I would rather take you there myself.”
Arthur brushed his now damp fringe off his forehead and began to reply, “No, really, I…” He stopped short, examining his damp clothes and feeling something spark inside his head. “Is it windy outside?”
“Only a little, my lord.” When Arthur looked perplexed, the guard supplied, “But I was holding onto you, sire.”
“Yes…” Arthur began, but could not continue. He shook one sleeve, saw he was already starting to dry, and he forgot what he had been thinking.
“There you are!” Brian jogged the rest of the way up to them. “I will take him from here.”
“Better not let the king see you,” the guard mumbled.
Brian shot him a look as if to say, “Don’t I know it,” as he led the prince away. “Well, sire,” he said to Arthur as they began climbing the stairs. “Shall I draw you a bath?”
“A bath?”
“Yes. Then we can get you into some dry clothes before dinner.” Brian said nothing of keeping the king uninformed of this latest endeavour after King Uther’s foul mood the previous day, and keeping prince occupied at least until Sir Leon was ready to take up his post again.
Arthur agreed to this suggestion with the usual air of nonchalance he greeted most situations. As much as he still wanted to see what was outside the castle, and knew Brian was no match for his speed, he quite liked baths; he always had. They were very…relaxing. He always felt very calm when he was sitting in the water; and there were nice bubbles.
Although, once Brian had made the bath and Arthur prepared to get inside the tub, he remembered that the bubbles never lasted very long. Not only that but, he realised as he sunk into the water, he didn’t take much notice of the bubbles once he was inside. Taking a deep breath, Arthur dunked his head into the water, completely wetting his face and hair, before emerging. Sliding back against the side of the tub, Arthur felt very relaxed indeed. He looked around his chambers, taking in the pleasing layout of the room he knew so well.
The sunlight streamed in through the window and flicker against the suit of armour that lived next to his drawers. The armour was decorative more than anything else - they had tried indoor sword and weapon lessons when Arthur was young but these invariably ended up with him dangling in the air when trying to attack an opponent. In addition, he hadn’t been able to summon up the kind of aggression his father and his instructor had both deemed necessary in a fighter, so they had settled on teaching him some defensive techniques and given up. Although Leon had taught him a few more skills, both for defence and attack, he hadn’t had cause to wear the armour - but he often liked looking at it, especially when it was shiny after being dusted.
Today, however, the sight of the armour suddenly reminded him of his father’s scolding the previous day; the lecture Uther had given as his mother sat in the corner, silent tears appearing every so often on her face. The memory created a heaviness in his chest; a weight that he had difficulty naming because of the infrequency of the feeling…
In fact, he could barely remember feeling like this - not to mention thinking like this at all. Words like duty and responsibility and rule rang in his ears, words without meaning that he could usually brush off his shoulders as easily as a gentle summer breeze could lift him two feet off the ground, but today, they hung about him: a load he was unable to lift.
As Arthur turned his gaze to the disappearing bubbles in the tub, a single water droplet fell off his fringe, landing into the mass of water with a loud plop. An insignificant occurrence, one that had probably taken place in every previous bath since he’d had hair. It wasn’t even an action in itself, not something that he had caused to happen; the droplet merely fell off his hair and into the tub because…it could.
And, in doing so, it sparked an idea in Arthur’s head.
*
“Merlin, have you ever been swimming?”
“What?” Merlin looked up from the inside of the leech tank he had the unfortunate task of cleaning. A task Gaius would no longer let him put off, but one that Arthur was now distracting him from, having burst into Gaius’ chambers with an unusual expression on his face.
“You know what swimming is, don’t you?” Arthur wondered. “I have heard about it -”
“Yes, I know what it is,” he replied impatiently, as he continued scrubbing the bottom of the tank with his rag. “I’m just not sure I understand why the subject of swimming is so important that you had to run up here to ask me about it. - And shouldn’t you be with Leon, or Brian, or whoever’s turn it is to babysit?”
Arthur’s dismissal of Merlin’s last comment with nothing more than a flick of his hand, was his first clue that something peculiar was going on. “You did not answer my first question; have you?”
“Well, yes; a few times. There’s a lake not far from the castle that I have been to with some of the other servants. Not in a while though.”
“A lake! That is what I need,” Arthur said excitedly, and his eyes grew wide as he paced up and down the length of the short room.
Glad for Gaius’ absence as he visited one of the ladies who had recently had a baby, Merlin asked, “What do you need a lake for?”
“To swim, Merlin; start paying attention.” Before Merlin could query this desire, Arthur continued, “I wish to…” he paused, hands flailing about with uncertainty before he settled on, “be in water for a long period of time.”
“Right. And you can’t just take a long bath because…”
“I just took one, Merlin. - That is how I think - I mean, why I think I need to try swimming.”
“Why?”
“Because there was something…different about me when I was in it. I mean, I’ve always liked baths.”
“That’s not particularly special, a lot of people do. Or so I hear,” Merlin added, grimacing as he scrubbed at a particularly dirty part of the tank. “I’ve never had one myself.”
Ignoring Merlin, Arthur went on with his explanation, “I just never noticed until today that I actually felt different - completely different - when I was in the water. And I remembered, today we went out in the rain. And I’ve never been in the rain before, and after I got wet I felt strange, but then I started to dry and forgot until I had my bath and realised what it was -”
“Slow down, Arthur. What are you trying to say?”
“I think that being in water does…something to me. Something to my enchantment. Like it cancels it. That’s why I want to try swimming.”
Merlin stopped his work at that. They barely ever discussed Arthur’s enchantment, and certainly never in terms of countering it. It was just a given thing, as everyday to them as his own magical gifts. That in itself was odd enough, but Arthur never talked about anything like this; all fidgety as he continued to pace. He actually looked anxious, an expression that seemed out of place on Arthur’s perpetual face of calm, almost as if he didn’t know what to do with himself - or how to even be anxious. “You do look different,” Merlin admitted, slowly.
“I feel different. I feel like something in my brain is moving, Merlin, like it’s…turning!”
“Most people call that thinking.”
Although Arthur’s spell had made him partial to a joke, he did not seem to posses the wit to realise when jokes were being made at his expense so he just continued to look at Merlin impatiently.
“Well,” he began, “if you really think it’s something to do with your enchantment we should tell your father. Or, Gaius at least,” Merlin pointed out, but Arthur was already shaking his head.
“No, my father will not want me to go outside; you know he will not allow it. And it is only an idea now, I must go and find out by myself so that I know for sure water really does effect - well, me - and then I can tell him with certainty.
“That’s…actually not a terrible idea. - Did you bump your head on anything? No encounters with ceilings or anything today?”
“Do you know of a lake that I can swim in? Where I won’t be found?”
Merlin had to think for a few moments, but remembered soon. “Yes, there’s one in part of the woods, past the marketplace. It’s not that far so it won’t take too long to go there and back, but far enough so you won’t be seen.”
“Excellent. I have to go for dinner before Brian realises I am not with Leon -”
“Or Leon that you are not with Brian?”
“Yes - but at dinner I will say I am taking an early night so Leon will be dismissed once they think I have gone to bed and we will leave as soon as we can.”
“Wait,” Merlin called, as Arthur moved to run out the room, “How are we going to get you out of the castle without anyone seeing?”
Arthur shrugged. “You think of something.”
“Right,” Merlin deadpanned to Arthur’s retreating back. “Because that’s always worked so well before.”
*
Luckily for Merlin, his plan actually did work rather well that evening.
Arthur made a show of retiring to his bed early that night, but as he was so often left with nothing to do but stay in his chambers in the evening his announcement was not seen as suspicious. And Merlin had worked so efficiently on the rest of his tasks that Gaius allowed him to wait until tomorrow to complete the last, arranging his books, which gave him the perfect amount of time to organise his and Arthur’s escape.
He still wasn’t entirely sure why he was going through with this - they had tried to sneak Arthur out of the castle plenty of times before and always been stopped - but it seemed more important this time; now that Arthur had a reason, other than simply wanting to really see the outside of the castle walls. Merlin knew he could still end up being scolded, or worse, put in the stocks, for this, but he thought Gaius would understand when he told him that it was to help find a cure for Arthur’s enchantment.
Or, at least, Merlin hoped he would.
Having finished his load of washing up in the kitchen, and therefore all his duties for the day, Merlin returned to his and Gaius’ shared chambers. Expecting to find Gaius asleep by now, he moved to open the door carefully, not wanting to cause any noise so Gaius wouldn’t catch him grabbing his bag before going to Arthur’s chambers.
He had only just cracked the door open however, when he saw the fire still burning and heard the sound of Gaius’ voice. Opening the door fully now but still only seeing and hearing the one inhabitant, Merlin walked in as casually as he could before asking, “Who are you talking to?”
“That would be me.”
Merlin stumbled backwards at the deep, booming voice that came from behind him. His foot knocked into onto of the table legs and, unable to recover from the surprise soon enough, Merlin fell, landing on his behind. The table was made of strong enough stuff to withstand a kick from the somewhat thin manservant, but some of the papers and books flew off, landing on both the floor and Merlin himself.
“Merlin!” Gaius groaned.
“Sorry, Gaius. Sire,” he added, with a nod to the king who hovered behind the still open door. “You surprised me.”
“I can see that.”
“Merlin, I am going to check on Queen Ygraine,” Gaius began, as Merlin rose clumsily.
“Why, is she -” Merlin stopped himself from finishing, the look on Gaius’ face reminding him that if ever there was a time to say as little as possible it was in front of King Uther. As much as he liked the queen, and hoped she was not very ill, it was technically none of his business as to why she would need a visit from Gaius at this time in the evening so he kept his mouth shut. At least, he knew, if it was something serious Gaius may have asked for his assistance, and would certainly look in more of a hurry. And it would prove effective in keeping them occupied while he and Arthur tried to sneak out of the castle.
“I don’t expect to take long, but I hope you will have rearranged those papers by the time I return.”
Merlin nodded. “Of course.”
Uther exited the room first, with Gaius right behind. Merlin moved to begin sorting the fallen items quickly before Gaius could close the door - too quickly - as both men saw him trip over one of the books, and land with his nose inches from the fireplace.
“You know, Gaius,” Uther began as they walked down the corridor and to his wife’s chambers to tend to her headache, “sometimes I don’t know whether that boy should be put in the stocks or made the new court jester.”
Gaius was used to Uther finding his ward incompetent and only prickled slightly at the remark. “I had thought you were not keen on the idea of a jester, my lord” he stated politely. “You seemed to suggest as much the time King Alined visited, and brought his jester with him.”
Uther shuddered. “Oh, he was ghastly. And, you are right Gaius; I do not really fancy having a jester. But court has been rather dull as of late, and your Merlin is certainly entertaining.”
Gaius smiled, and neglected to mention that if entertainment was all that the court desired, Uther merely needed to ask Arthur to court, and open up a window.
*
“Get the window open!”
“Not yet!” Merlin hissed back at Arthur. “We can’t open the window before you’re secure, or you’ll go flying off!”
Arthur rolled his eyes, but allowed Merlin to tie the rope around his waist. “Hurry up, will you? We’ve already wasted enough time.”
“I told you I would have been here sooner if Gaius hadn’t needed me to do something else.” He didn’t tell Arthur that the something else was tidying up a mess of his own making.
“Will he realise you’re gone?”
“I made it look like I’d gone to bed, hopefully he won’t check. And as long as he checks by the time we get out of here it’ll be fine. If we get out of here.”
“It’ll be fine, Merlin.”
“We’ve never managed it before. In fact, I think you’ll recall it’s been a few years since we tried this means of escape, and…”
“And?”
“Well, you’re a little bulkier since the last time I tried to lower you down from a rope. Although, at least you’re not heavier, since you’ve got the weight of a baby or something,” Merlin pointed out, tugging on the secure rope and noticing how little a pull could move Arthur forward. As he looked at the window, and back at Arthur, an idea came to him. “That’s it!”
“What’s…what?”
“I won’t lower you down!”
“And how do you propose I’ll get down then?”
“You lower me down, and then all you have to do is jump out the window. You’ll stay in the air and I can pull you down, easy. We just have to make sure you’ll stay grounded in here.”
Doing that wasn’t as difficult as Merlin might have thought, as they surrounded Arthur with heavy objects for him to grab onto. He then tied the very other end of the rope around his waist and opened the window so that Arthur could lower him down.
Despite the light breeze that rolled into his chambers once the window was open, Arthur managed to anchor himself to the floor and start lowering Merlin down.
“Not so fast!” Merlin called out as Arthur let the rope down, and he went towards the ground.
“It’s not my fault you’re so heavy!” he yelled back, while trying to slow his movements.
“Well, we can’t all be light like you!”
“Well, if you could actually do magic,” Arthur returned to the familiar taunt, “then you could just float yourself to the ground.”
“Just stop talking before someone hears us!”
“Well, if anyone was going to hear us they would have done so by now -”
“Arthur.”
“And they would have -”
“Arthur!” Merlin hissed. “If you must keep talking at least keep lowering me down!”
“Oh. That’s all the rope there is. I thought you had got down already.”
“No,” Merlin said through gritted teeth, “I’m two feet from the floor.”
“So just jump down.”
“I can’t! You’re attached to the other end of the rope.”
“Well, wasn’t the point to pull me down, anyway?”
Merlin couldn’t argue with that. “Alright, move the chairs and things away from you, and stand on the window ledge.”
Once Merlin felt the rope lowering a little further as Arthur took his place, he pushed his weight down, hoping he didn’t injure himself when he fell to the ground. Luckily, as he hadn’t been too far from the ground in the first place, the jump was easy. Merlin fell forwards slightly, but landed on his knees without grazing them, and despite the rope still tied around his waist, Arthur was so light that he could get back up without difficulty.
“You alright?” he called up to Arthur, who was now floating horizontally in the light breeze. At Arthur’s smile and nod of the head, Merlin moved to start bringing in the rope, but his hands had barely started pulling at the material when he heard something, which sounded suspiciously like footsteps: loud ones.
Merlin looked around him nervously, and could see only blackness as the dark night and shadows engulfed the back castle walls. But the noise continued, and he snapped his head round when he heard someone clearing their throat.
“Good evening, Merlin.”
Merlin gulped as the third person now stood in front of him, visible in the pale moonlight. “Evening, Sir Leon.”
Leon smiled, not unkindly. “I would, uh, ask what you were doing out here at this time at night, but it seems rather obvious.”
Merlin glanced around them, trying to come up with some sort of explanation, and in doing so realised that this was no unlucky encounter. Only the servants would be in this area, as the only way into the castle from here was through a back entrance to the servant’s quarters, giving Sir Leon no reason to just be passing by. “You knew?”
“I suspected,” Leon admitted, “from Arthur’s manner when I escorted him to his chambers after dinner. I did not expect to see you involved too, however.”
Merlin blanched slightly at that. Even before, when they’d tried to escape the castle on a regular basis, Leon’s subdued displeasure had always made Merlin feel worse than any scolding he received from Gaius. It was probably because of how much Leon had to deal with from Arthur, and the fact that he knew the king would hold him partially responsible if something had happened. Merlin had been on the receiving end of that when he had been a child, and didn’t relish the memories one bit. “It’s not what you’re thinking,” he began.
“No? Because I think you are trying to sneak Arthur out of the castle.”
“Well, that is actually what’s happening, but we have good reason this time.”
The smile on Leon’s face remained, but he shook his head. “Arthur always says he has a reason; that reason is usually that he thought it would be amusing.”
“I know that is normally the case,” Merlin acknowledged as Leon grabbed onto the rope and started to pull Arthur down gently, “but it is not today. We think there is something that might help Arthur with his enchantment.”
Leon stopped at that, and looked at Merlin. “A cure?”
“Perhaps.”
“Well, we must tell the king.”
“No, I - we are not sure yet, and Arthur thought we should not tell the king until we were certain.”
“Arthur thought?”
Merlin nodded vehemently. “If you had been there when he explained it to me -”
“Wait, he told you about it? But you did not see yourself?”
“Well, no, but,” Merlin said more strongly at Leon’s weary look, “if you had seen how he was, you would understand. He was very different than normal - determined.”
“Well, whatever had that effect on him seems to have worn off,” Leon commented.
Merlin followed his stare to look back up at Arthur, still floating on his side with the rope wrapped around his middle, gazing into the distance with a complacent smile on his face.
“He doesn’t seem any different to me now.”
“That’s why we need to do this,” Merlin insisted.
“What are you looking for?”
“A lake.”
“A lake?” Leon repeated.
“Arthur said he thought that the water had an effect on him; he realised it when he was in his bath. He thinks he needs to swim to find out.”
“So you two were going to all this risk so Arthur could go swimming?” Leon wondered. Without waiting for an answer, he returned to the rope, and began pulling Arthur back down once more.
“I know it sounds a little ridiculous,” Merlin insisted, pausing when Leon glanced at him after the word “little”, “but surely for such a ridiculous problem, it’s not impossible that it would have a similarly ridiculous solution?”
The statement made Leon pause. Continuing to bring the prince to the ground, he explained slowly, “When Prince Arthur was born many people - at least, certainly my parents - were told no cure could be found. But when I started training to be a knight, one of the guards told me that it had been believed tears were the only way to break the prince’s spell.”
Having never heard that, Merlin grew surprised, but it soon confirmed his own belief in Arthur’s idea. “Well, that proves it then.”
“Swimming and crying are two very different things.”
“But they are both to do with water,” Merlin pointed out. “I may not be able to do very much magic, but I know a bit about it. I mean,” he sputtered when he realised his slip up, “not that I know a lot about it - I don’t research a lot about magic, because that’s against the law and I wouldn’t -”
“It’s alright, Merlin,” Leon interrupted.
“It is?” he said, surprised.
“You have magic, it’s not unsurprising that you would want to know more about it when your own powers are…limited. But you don’t strike me as someone plotting against the throne. - Besides, King Uther already knows about your powers. - Just tell me what you know.”
“Well…I haven’t actually read very much, but I do know that water is an important magical power. And Arthur seemed so sure.”
“I seemed what?” Arthur asked, now he was within earshot and vertical, his legs dangling at Merlin’s waist level as the rope coiled on the ground.
Leon looked from Merlin’s sincere expression to Arthur’s silly one and made a decision. “Hold this.”
Merlin wordlessly took the rope from Leon’s hands, before Leon started to move away.
“Stay there, and don’t let him down until I come back.”
“Where’s he going?” Arthur inquired, as Leon disappeared into the servant’s entrance.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, aren’t you going to finish lowering me down?”
“You weren’t complaining a few moments ago.”
“I had a nice view then. And I’m bored of floating now.”
“Sir Leon asked us to wait,” Merlin snapped, and was pleased when Leon reappeared only a few moments later, although he was puzzled as to why he did so with a basin in his hands.
He walked steadily towards the pair, stopping short a few feet in front. Looking a little hesitantly at Arthur, he apologised hastily, “Forgive me, sire.”
Before Arthur could wonder what the apology was for, Leon had tipped the basin, and flung the water inside at the prince. The action drenched Arthur, and did not leave Merlin dry either, but none could miss its third effect: pushing Arthur down as firmly as any hand so that his feet were planted flat on the ground.
Leon and Merlin saw the changing expressions on Arthur’s face before looking back at one another.
“You won’t tell, then?”
*
“I do not have a good feeling about this.”
“We’re almost there, Sir Leon,” Merlin pointed out, as he moved another tree branch out of the way and Leon and Arthur followed. “And I told you, you did not have to come.”
“You would never have gotten out of the castle by yourselves.”
Merlin silently acknowledged that this was most likely true. There had been a few more guards than he’d expected and it was only with Leon distracting them in conversation that he and Arthur had been able to slip past unseen. And he was grateful for the help, but he had not thought Leon intended to join them on the rest of their journey.
His presence had proved valuable. It had not seemed wise to keep the rope around Arthur as it would draw attention to them, so having a third meant he did not have to constantly keep checking Arthur hadn’t been blown away while he led them through the town. However, Leon was a tall man and still in armour, despite being without his knight’s cape and three people skulking around in the shadows were bound to be more noticeable than two.
“Are we there yet?” Arthur asked, as they stepped fully into the cover of the forest and away from the prying eyes of the townsfolk.
“No!” Leon and Merlin yelled in unison.
Arthur guilelessly looked from one to the other, eyes wide and possibly lacking the memory of having inquired the same thing numerous times already.
The companions continued the walk in, one-part confused, two-parts begrudging, silence until they found themselves in a small clearing in the forest. The dense trees surrounding it provided heavy cover all around except for the gap they stood in front of, and the lake itself was as wide as three full-grown men lain flat.
“Here we are,” Merlin said with a smile. “I found it while playing hide and seek once. Almost fell in, actually.”
“Who were you playing hide and seek with?” Arthur wondered.
“I do have friends that aren’t you, Arthur.”
“Since when?”
Merlin rolled his eyes and looked back at the lake. Leon glanced from the lake to Arthur and held back a sigh. “Well, sire?” he prompted.
“Yes?” Arthur replied.
“Uh, aren’t you going to…” he gestured to the lake.
“Oh. Right. Of course.” With a glance between his two companions Arthur walked the few steps that separated them from the lake and jumped in.
The splash sent water droplets raining on Leon and Merlin, but the latter’s groan was drowned out by the whooping laugh Arthur emitted when his head resurfaced.
“He seems to take to it quite naturally,” Leon noted, as they watched Arthur, who had never been given a swimming lesson in his life, move gracefully, almost without effort, across the length of the lake.
“Quite,” Merlin repeated, before his face turned down. “Oh.”
“What?”
“Just something we forgot.”
“Yes?”
“Reminding him that most people don’t swim fully clothed. Also, we didn’t bring a towel.”
“Right. He may be dry by the time we return to the castle?” Leon offered.
“He may.”
He did not, but by that time it was so late that no one was awake to notice the three men, skulking through the town and back to the castle.
Leon worried all through what remained of the night that there might be reports of three figures wandering about either on the castle grounds or in the town, one leaving a trail of water behind him, but he tried to reassure himself that they had been discreet, and that water dried, and as in the morning the king seemed in the same humour as ever he managed to remain calm.
What concerned him then was that the prince also seemed just as he always was. Leon had been surprised to note that as the delight of the new had worn off for Prince Arthur, swimming had been an entirely sobering experience. In fact, in conversation, when he and Merlin had told him it was time to return to the castle, the prince had sounded…rational. On the journey back, he had been witness to the slow reverse in Arthur’s demeanour. As the water dried slowly, Arthur’s own lightness of weight and mind increased, and by the time the prince was returned to his chambers one who did not know him so well would not be able to tell the difference. Now, Arthur seemed cheerful and carefree, and did not mind at all that he had risen far later than one of his stature was meant to, even if he had no actual duties. Although he had remembered his task, and asked Leon to inform his parents he sought an audience with them that afternoon to discuss a private matter, Leon could not learn what he was going to say, or how he intended to persuade them.
In short, Leon did not know how this Prince Arthur was going to convince King Uther to alter rules he had put in place ever since he had been a baby in order to do something like go swimming. He had never envied Arthur, but as he stood in the corner of the throne room, facing opposite the king and queen as the prince took his place in the centre, he felt that sentiment more strongly than ever.
“Well, Arthur?” Uther looked at his son impatiently. He was a little surprised that Arthur would request a meeting, as it was not something he had ever done before, but he was too old to find much hope from it, and he had many other people to see that so he was in no mood to be kept waiting.
For himself, Arthur didn’t want to keep his parents waiting, but he had some difficulty formulating the words.
“Father, mother,” he glanced between them both, “There is something I wish to say.”
The weight of his tone struck them enough for the king and queen to share a fleeting look but they soon returned their attention to their son.
“I think I have found a sort of solution to my…problem,” he settled on.
Uther and Ygraine instantly sat up straighter, but before they could say what he saw they both obviously wanted to Arthur felt the need to quash their hopes slightly.
“Only a temporary one though,” he added, hastily. “At least, I think.”
“What is it, Arthur?” Ygraine asked.
“Swimming.”
“Swimming?” Uther repeated.
“I, uh, noticed a change when I was in water…” he began, trailing off at the expressions on his parent’s faces. “What?”
“Is that all you found? Only the water?”
“Yes, that is all, why?” he inquired, looking back and forth; at his father’s flat gaze and the side of his mother’s face as she no longer looked up.
“There was…that is to say, we -”
“Ygraine,” Uther stopped her.
“As he now knows by himself, I see no reason to lie.”
“Lie about what?” Arthur demanded, walking forward so that he was now only a few steps from the throne.
“We knew about the water.”
“What?”
“When you were young, Gaius read something that made him think that water would have an effect on your condition. So we tried putting you in water - we even tried keeping you there for a very long amount of time - but as soon as you were dry you were back to yourself again.”
Arthur felt an unfamiliar emotion at his mother’s admission, but his head felt cloudy and would not tell him what that feeling was. “Why wouldn’t you tell me that?”
“It had no long lasting effect,” Uther pointed out, “what was the point when it made no difference?”
“It makes a difference to me! I never realised why I felt different in water, but when I went swimming -”
“When did you go swimming?” Uther wondered.
“Oh. I…” Arthur glanced back at Leon who had hung his head down, which was all Uther needed to know.
Uther stood up from his chair, and glared at the two men standing in front of him. “Sir Leon, did you let Prince Arthur leave this castle?”
“Sire, I -”
“It was not his fault; Merlin and I were going -”
“Merlin!” Uther yelled. Turning to Ygraine he thundered, “I told you we should not have allow him to keep a servant for a friend. And one who has magic!”
“Uther,” she tried to pacify him, but he would not have any of it.
“Have you any idea what could have happened when you left?” Uther demanded of his son.
“Of course I do; I could have flown away,” he said, rolling his eyes, “but -”
“Why won’t you take anything seriously?”
“I am trying to take it seriously, only you will not let me!” Arthur returned, raising his voice; an act that, despite his terror at the king’s fury, Leon had presence of mind enough to note had never happened before.
Uther, however, did not notice. He began to rant about Arthur’s lack of presence of mind, and would not sit, nor stop at any of the queen’s commands.
Arthur shook his head, and saw through the closed glass window that it had started to rain. He felt claustrophobic as the four walls of the room surrounded him, and he thought of the seemingly endless depths of the lake he had swum in. In the midst of Uther’s warning he stormed over to the side of the room, opened a window and stuck his head out.
“Arthur!” Ygraine gasped as Leon started and Uther’s tirade came to a sudden halt, but Arthur did not move.
The window was far too small for him to have flown out of it - it only just about had room enough for his whole head - but despite the strong wind that blew in, he did not fly up either. And, he suddenly realised as his head started to clear once more, that that was probably thanks to the heavy rain droplets falling on his head.
“Arthur, you will move away from there at once,” Uther ordered.
He looked back at his father purposefully. “All right,” he said, following the command, and even shut the window closed. Then, he turned on his heel and bolted out the room.
“Arthur!”
Arthur ran. It was no easy task - his fast movements creating bursts of air around him, each threatening to keep him stuck afloat, not to mention the shouts and sounds of numerous footsteps all running after him - but he kept at it; through the empty corridor, down the staircase, all the way down…
To the courtyard. He practically stumbled out of the castle doors, his breath coming out in short bursts as he finally came to a stop halfway on the steps. Arthur knew he had been lucky not to have encountered any guards on his way, but that luck had run out as three of the numerous guards standing by the castle gates at the opposite end of the courtyard began to approach him.
His attention was diverted by the sound of another pair of footsteps however, catching up behind him. When they stopped he awaited either his father’s booming voice or Leon’s more restrained plea. He was instead met by a much softer tone.
“Arthur.”
He turned to face his mother, who now stood in front of him, a few steps higher up, with a sad sort of smile on her face. The rain came down all around them, growing heavier as the wind washed over them, blowing his tunic up, as well as fanning the train of her dress and her long fair hair, but not Arthur’s feet.
“Ygraine!” Uther’s voice boomed from behind her as he stood on the top step, still sheltered by the overhang of the castle’s roof. “Come back inside at once! - Arthur!” When no one moved - Leon, hovering behind the Uther’s shoulder, while the guards had all paused, surprised by the appearance of the king and queen and the lack of flight on the prince’s part - he yelled, “Guards!” and they resumed their path towards Arthur once more.
Arthur glanced up at the sky, as he continued to get very wet and smiled; a genuine, heartfelt smile, that touched something inside Ygraine; who had grown used to seeing only the simple, happy smiles Arthur’s enchantment had given him. Although there was joy in the wide, open grin Arthur bestowed her, there was sadness in it too, as though he truly realised what he was missing; and in that moment Ygraine had made up her mind.
Tucking the wet locks of her hair behind her ears Ygraine returned her son’s smile. “You shall go swimming.”
“Ygra-”
She continued in the same even tone as if her husband had never spoke. “You shall be allowed to leave the castle. Sometimes,” she added with firmness, causing Arthur’s smile to widen.
The rain started to come down heavier, but Uther was so shocked he walked down into it, sputtering, “But - He - I -”
Ygraine picked up her skirts and turned on her heel so that she faced sideways, and could be seen clearly by both her husband and Sir Leon on her left, and her son and the castle guards, once more stupefied into inaction, on her right. “The Queen has spoken. Thus, you will follow this order with immediate effect.”
Sir Leon and the castle guards all bowed at that, to which Ygraine responded by turning fully and walking back up the steps.
“Ygraine,” Uther started and fell in step with his wife, but he was not quite sure of what had just taken place in front of him nor how he was to proceed. He chose, “The rain will not last long.”
She did not look back at her husband, focusing her attention on the knight before her. “Sir Leon. I trust you will remain here with Arthur and escort him to his chambers when he is ready to return?”
Sir Leon bowed low. “Of course, my lady.”
“Thank you.”
Ygraine stepped into the castle with her husband who moved to stand in her way. She looked at him evenly, waiting patiently for him to begin. It was how most of their more serious talks began. But this time, Uther could not put into words what he wanted to express, and the numerous petitions he had to hear and various duties that awaited him the rest of that afternoon weighed in his head.
Finally, he spoke. “We will discuss this later.”
Ygraine merely nodded. “Yes, Uther. We will.”
Part Four