Born of Magic

Scars

Merlin kept coming in and out of consciousness all night. Sometimes he would only try to open his eyes for a few moments before promptly passing out again, other times he would mumble the name of whatever knight he believed was currently sitting next to him on Merlin duty.

As soon as the knights and the prince had gotten the servants bleeding under control, they had set up a guard system. Normally only one at a time would be awake and keeping guard, changing knight every few hours or so. But now, with Merlin injured, they wanted to make sure that two people would be awake at all times. One to keep watch for more bandits and another to make sure that "the idiot doesn't tear open his wound again. I do not want to have more of my clothes covered in his blood".

None of the knights had commented on what Arthur had said. They knew that the prince was trying to hide the worry he held for his manservant by pretending that his only concern was that the younger boy had bled all over his chainmail and trousers. Although a little while later, when Gwaine disappeared into one of the three tents he muttered something about moody royalty that demands they are allowed first and last shift.

The first shift had been Lancelot, who had been keeping watch and Arthur, who had taken up Merlin duty with a glare, silently daring the knight to argue about it. Lancelot had done as he was asked without complaint, figuring that Arthur was still angry about being sent away while the dark haired knight worked on Merlin's wound, earlier that evening. Everyone in the group knew that after the servant, Lancelot was the one with the most medical knowledge. Elyan and Percival had gotten out of his hair immediately upon asking, whereas Leon and Gwaine needed more convincing before dragging Arthur away as well.

Lancelot had been able to stabilize Merlin without much trouble, but the need for space wasn't why he had asked everyone else to leave. Merlin's body was covered in scars, scars that the boy never wanted anyone to find out about. Especially considering that most of them had to do with whatever magical being or sorcerer he had dealt with. Lancelot had found out about them after helping him out with a beast once. Just as he had vowed to keep the warlock's magic a secret, he had promised to keep the scars a secret too.

So until Arthur had calmed down and realized that Merlin wasn't going to die, he would do as the prince asked. Lancelot also knew that he wouldn't be able to properly clean Merlin's wound again until morning, so when Percival and Leon came to relieve them, Lancelot went straight for his bedroll and fell asleep.

When Merlin woke up, light was barely beginning to break through the trees. He let out a loud groan and the person next to him immediately reacted.

"Merlin, how are you feeling? Do you need some water?" Merlin was trying to figure out if he had ever heard the Pendragon's voice sound so rushed and concerned before, but came up empty as he tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes.

"Water", he tried to croak, but probably only managed to make incomprehensible sounds. Nevertheless, Arthur brought a cup to his lips, as he slowly helped the servant sit up.

"Elyan", Arthur called out.

"Yes, sire?" A couple of seconds went by before the knight walked into view. "Merlin! You're awake!"

"Wish I wasn't." Merlin grumbled before mirroring the smile on his friend's face.

"Elyan, could you wake the others? I'm sure they will want to see that Merlin didn't die in his sleep."

"Of course, sire." Within a couple of minutes Camelot's finest knights stumbled out of the tents, hastily and messily dressed, especially Gwaine who hadn't bothered with a tunic or socks. Next to him, Merlin could hear the crown prince sigh deeply at the sight of the drunk.