Balinor's Son

Arthur Knows

"Rise and shine, my lord. It's a new day!"

Arthur opened his eyes a crack and peered into the clearing. He saw the legs of his servant retreating towards the fire. Merlin bent down and collected Arthur's breakfast.

"Merlin?" Arthur groaned. "You're... better?"

"Who's the observant one now?"

Arthur didn't quite know what to do. Merlin was acting the same as he always did. Arthur had had a long night to think about his predicament. As hard as it was to believe, it seemed Merlin was a sorcerer and the son of a dragonlord. Did that make him a dragonlord too? Arthur didn't know. There were a lot of things he didn't know about Merlin. Why was he hiding out as a servant? Why was he waiting so long to strike? He had been close to Arthur for more than a year.

"The other day... you said I wasn't very observant..."

"Huh?"

"You looked very confused."

"Oh."

"Here's your breakfast." He handed Arthur a bowl.

Was it poisonous? If it was, it didn't make sense. Merlin had had plenty of opportunities to do it before.

"Are you okay?" Merlin asked.

"I'm fine," Arthur said coldly. He pushed away the bowl and rose.

Merlin's cheeky smile faltered. "Oh, okay."

"I'll dress myself today."

He stalked away from the sorcerer. He caught sight of Sir Callahan feeding his horse and made his way over to him. He got the knights attention and indicated that he should follow him away from their camp.

"What can I do for you, my lord."

"I want you to ride back to Camelot. Be discrete, I don't want the others to know."
"My lord?"

"I want you to tell my father there's been an unexpected development. Balinor has a son who is here, in Ealdor. Tell him I need more men to take him. I am unsure of his abilities."

"Of course my lord."

Arthur ran a hand through his hair. "And be quick. He is unaware I know of his identity but we can't count on that for long."

"I will have them here by tomorrow morning, my lord."

"Thank you Sir Callahan. You're a good man."

---+---

Arthur had been acting strange all morning. Merlin took note of how he didn't eat his breakfast, he refused to let Merlin help him dress, and he failed to add to the usual banter that dominated most of their interactions. Maybe he was going easy on him to make sure he was fully recovered from his "illness".

Merlin ran up behind him as he and the knights made their way through the field towards the village.

"Arthur! Arthur!"

"Oh, Merlin, hello." Arthur barely looked at him.

"Are you going to question the villagers today?"

"Yes."

"Great!" he panted, trying to keep up with the prince.

Arthur stopped suddenly. "Why don't you spend time with your mother today."

"It's okay. We spoke a lot yesterday. Besides, someone's got to make sure you don't make a fool of yourself."

"It wasn't a question."