Always Be With You - Merthur

Chapter 2

Merlin Pov.

Merlin smiled, happy with the result of his labor. The floor in Arthur's chambers was spotless and gleamed in the sunlight. 

Ignoring the protests of his back, he sat up and flung the cloth into the wooden bucket next to a cupboard about six feet away from him. The water splashed and spilled a bit over the side, but Merlin was a little busy flexing his fingers. 

They had gone numb and were painfully cramped. The skin on his hands turned rough, and he wiped them on his tunic.

Sighing in exhaustion, and groaning when he got up after after scrubbing the floor for over an hour, he went over his list of chores that he needed to finish before tomorrow. 

'Sharpening Arthur's sword, cleaning and polishing his armour, do the laundry,' His eyes traveled across the paper, reaching the bottom. 'Mucking out the stables.'  

Merlin's stomach clenched reluctantly at the thought of it. There was absolutely no chance that he would be able to finish this before midnight. It was already beginning to darken outside, and he had no desire to have to muck out the stables when it started freezing at night. 

He would have to do that right now. Then the chores within the warmth that the castle provided would be saved for last. 

The birds were still very active, they were probably getting ready for their journy to the south. Merlin looked out of the window, watching three birds leaving their nest, probably two parents teaching their child how to fly for a longer time. 

The tiny raven flapped it's wings feverishly, trying desperately to stay in the air, as the mother flew close to it, observing her young. 

Merlin could see that it wouldn't be long before snow started falling in Camelot, wrapping the world in a blanket of snow and ice. Winter's were always hard, but they took serious precautions here, so there weren't any problems. 

That was one of the good things in Camelot. It was very organized, so the winters weren't that bad. Except for maybe, that Guinevere and he then had to light all the fire places in the castle, and there were a great deal of those. More than you would think. 

Last year, they held a competition who lit the most fire places the quickest. Of course, Merlin won by lighting twelve in one hour of running around the castle, because he used his magic to set them aflame in an instant when a room was empty. 

Gwen of course knew that he'd done that, and laughed with him, but she scolded him for using magic inside the castle. After that, Merlin did the rest without it.

They didn't have that back in Ealdor. Sometimes, when the cold was dreadfully harsh, Hunith and Merlin would have to survive off a rabbit for a week. 

luckily, they learned that if you stashed the meat that you had caught when the animals were still around, in your house, and wrapped them tightely in a rag, it would last longer, and you could get through the winter. 

He smiled at the image of his mother. Maybe he should go visit her sometime when spring came.

The silence was broken by the soft murmer of voices coming from the other side of the doors. As he turned his head, Merlin recognized one of them as Arthur, clearly annoyed by the person he was talking to, of wich he hadn't yet found out who it was. 

The prince was arguing with the other in a lowered voice, but got interrupted by the woman. Merlin pushed himself away from the window, turned around, near missed stepping into the bucket, and walked to the door to listen. 

The woman, Merlin now heard was Guinevere, finished her scentence. There was a brief moment of silence. "I'm not doing that." Arthur stated after a few seconds, clearing his throat first, as he audibly turned on his heels to face her.