Merthur One-shots

Uninhibited

Summary: Merlin has to learn to harness his magic during battle. It's not an easy task attempting to fell six people at one time. Tag on some mutually pining idiots and you've got whatever this is.

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There really was no other option to stop them all; he’d have to use the biggest blast of magic he could muster. Merlin wasn’t sure if that would even work since he was surrounded. Usually, when he sent a burst of magic out, it was directional. Taking a deep breath he waited for the onslaught to start.

The first thing Merlin picked up on was the sound of tall grass crunching underfoot. One of the knights behind him had moved but they hadn’t attacked, yet.  Most likely they were waiting for a signal to attack him at once. That’s what made this moment so difficult. Having to stop six people at once, from all directions was near impossible.

The wind shifted abruptly and that seemed to trigger things into motion. Before Merlin could really think things through he gathered his magic and sent it out around him. Hoping it would be enough to stop the attack. For a split second, it seemed like he’d done it, but then a pair of arms wrapped around his chest and he went face down in the grass. 

“Knights one! Merlin zero!” A familiar, prattish voice announced loudly. 

Groaning Merlin rolled over and looked at Arthur with a scowl, “I’d like to see you try and take out six trained knights at once.”

“Come now, Merlin, you need to train just as much as we do. That’s why we are out here helping you hone your skills.”

Merlin hardly thought getting tackled to the ground was a good training method but Arthur did have a point. Having hidden his magic for so many years meant he’d never been given a chance to really fine-tune its usage during battle. This is why he and the knights were currently out in the middle of a grass-covered hill attempting to ‘train’.

Something about it being softer than the training ground meant it’d be better for getting literally thrown around. The only issue was Merlin hadn’t figured out how to throw everyone at the same time. Figures Arthur would want to start with the hardest thing first. The king had spouted off about seeing Merlin handling bandits in his line of sight all the time, but being surrounded was completely different.

It was different, it was terrible! Clearly, his first attempt hadn’t gone very well if Arthur had been able to tackle him so quickly. Looking around revealed that only Elyan and Gwaine had been knocked over. Great, that meant that Merlin’s first attempt had done very little. 

“Round two!” Arthur proclaimed gleefully as he bounced back up and stepped away. “Merlin, you can do this, one more time, come on!”

Arthur’s praise only worked one time in getting Merlin to his feet. His second attempt faired much the same. Except for this time, Elyan managed to stay upright with only Gwaine being knocked backward by a few feet. Lancelot had been the one to send him sprawling to the ground, but at least he offered a hand in helping him stand. 

Merlin lost count of the score after the eighth time he got shoved to the ground. Not that it mattered, the count was still zero. “I need to practice more by myself, I can’t just keep getting thrown around I’m not like you lot,” Merlin grumbled as he sat up but remained still.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Arthur huffed coming over to grab his shoulder.

“I’m not just a wall of muscle, I’ve gotta think first before I strike.”