Making Windows Where There Were Once Walls

Enemies and Allies

Merlin was awoken abruptly at dawn by the rattling of keys in the lock of his cell door. As he blurrily looked up, he was slightly comforted to see that it was one of the friendlier guards, Garth, who was waiting for him. "Hey, Merlin, you need to get up if you want to bring Arthur his breakfast on time."

"The dollop-head can wait for his blasted breakfast this morning," Merlin grumbled, "he'll be lucky to get breakfast at all after throwing me in here." If the bastard wasn't going to have him killed or banished, he could stop acting so childish towards him, Merlin thought crossly as he walked out of the cell.

"Have a nice day Garth," Merlin said as he passed the man.

"You too, Merlin. Try your best to stay on Arthur's good side and avoid the visiting nobles as much as possible. I've heard they've been rough with the rest of the royal staff. Even George looked frazzled when I passed him this morning, and you know how proper he is," Garth murmured conspiratorially.

"Thanks for the warning, but unfortunately I won't be able to avoid them, as making sure that all their needs are met are part of the duties of being part of the King's staff," Merlin groaned. "With the nobles' opinion of servants, maybe I'll see you down here sooner than I would like," Merlin sarcastically called out as he started walking up the stairs that led out of the dungeon.

Garth laughed, before yelling after him, "In that case, I hope it's a long time till I see you again, Merlin. Take care."

As he trudged to the kitchens Merlin was lost in thought. He did still feel guilty about hurting Arthur (he thought he probably would always feel guilty about lying no matter how justified it was), and he was always worried that Arthur would change his mind about the whole banishment thing. Last night was a clear indication that Arthur was not hesitant to punish him, even for small infractions. If Merlin were to bring up magic to Arthur, he shuddered to imagine what his punishment for that would be. Arthur had been explicitly clear about never bringing it up.

That was the worst part of this, Merlin thought. He had always assumed that if Arthur ever found out about his magic, he would at least be able to acknowledge it, even if that acknowledgement were part of his execution or exile. Instead, he still had to hide who he was around Arthur. He had lost Arthur's loyalty and friendship, and had not even gained the ability to openly be who he was.

He couldn't risk being separated from Arthur. In addition to the prophecy, he did not want to officially lose his friend (and crush). As it stood he could still believe that eventually Arthur would come around, even if that seemed less and less likely with every passing day, but if Arthur decided to banish him he would have to accept that their bond had been broken.

He turned a corner a corner too sharply, and bumped into someone else. He really need to stop thinking this hard while he was walking places, he always managed to bump into someone (in his head he heard Arthur's sarcastic, "Good, we wouldn't want you to hurt yourself Merlin. You know how dangerous thinking can be for you.").

"Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry-" Merlin began, but froze when he looked up to see one of the Lord's sons, Abram, scornfully looking at him.

"You better watch where you're going boy," he snarled before slapping Merlin across the cheek. Merlin gasped, shocked as he brought his hand up to his cheek. When he did not respond immediately, Abram raised his hand again as a threat.

"What do you say boy when you've been taught a lesson."

"I-I'm sorry my Lord. I will make sure I am paying attention to where I am going in the future, thank you for teaching me this lesson," Merlin responded meekly, cringing away from the noble.