Born of Magic

How to make up a perfect (horrible) lie

To say that Merlin was shaking like a leaf was an understatement. He felt as if all of the lies he had ever told, all of the secrets he held, were now closing in on him at an alarming speed.

The warlock supposed that he knew that it wouldn't be possible to joke his way out of the situation. But he wouldn't be Merlin if he didn't at least try.

"You know me, dollop-head. I'm just too clumsy for my own good." He attempted a smile, but it was more of a grimace than anything.

"Merlin." Arthur said in a tone void of any amusement and made the prince's own knights tense and shift in their places. The servant bowed his head and focused on his trembling hands in an attempt to ignore his master's worried but firm glare.

A warm hand settled upon Merlin's in an act of comfort.

"Merlin, it's okay. You don't have to te-"

"THE HELL HE DOESN'T HAVE TO!" Lancelot was shocked into silence at the outburst of the ever so quiet giant. In fact the whole group was so shocked, they didn't know what to say. Even Merlin had momentarily stopped shaking after hearing Percival raise his voice in such a way for the first time.

"Percival we can't force Merlin to tell us what happened. It's his business not ours."

"You already knew," this time it wasn't Percival who directed his words towards Lancelot.

"What?" Came Arthur's sharp reaction to Elyan's statement.

"Think about it, sire. Lancelot was startled by us, not Merlin's scars. Lancelot was already helping him redress his wound. There was no reaction then, nor was there any reaction from him yesterday after he sent all of us away so that he could treat Merlin. We weren't that far away in case he would need assistance, we would have noticed if he only just found out about them then. Sir Lancelot knew of this before the hunting trip."

Percival, Gwaine and Arthur let Elyan's words sink in as the two subjects of conversation glanced at each other.

"Why wouldn't you bloody tell us, Lancelot?" Gwaine growled out, taking a step closer to the knight and warlock as he spoke. At this point Merlin had had enough of their friends blaming Lancelot.

"He didn't tell you because I asked him to keep quiet about it!"

"You didn't want us to know," the prince made a horrible attempt at masking his hurt. "But you told Lancelot."

"Of course I didn't want you to know! Lancelot was never supposed to find out either!" Merlin was practically shouting at this point. Clearly stressed and upset over the situation.

"Sire, if I may, I only discovered the scars a few months ago. I had walked in on Merlin dressing a wound on his arm in his chambers." Lancelot was trying to hold a stressed out Merlin still as he addressed the crown prince.

"Arthur, please do not force me to talk about it." They could all see the tears glistening in the servants eyes, yet he refused to let them fall, and felt guilty about reacting in the way that they had, when their friend was already in a vulnerable position.

"Merlin, you know I can't let this go. But... you don't have to tell us everything all at once. As long as you do tell us about the scars at some point, in the near future mind you, we won't pressure you." Merlin let out a sigh of relief. "You will, however, tell us about one of the scars by the end of the day."

"I-"

"Merlin."

"Fine, by the end of the day I'll tell you something." At least he would hopefully have time to figure out how to keep magic out of it until then.

None of the knights looked particularly happy about the arrangement but knew not to push it further. Leon, Elyan and Percival started hesitantly making their way back to the supplies in order to make some food. Because no matter their shock, anger and confusion about Merlin's scars, the latter was still hungry and needed all the energy he could get if they were to be able to leave for the castle the next day.

Not a lot of interesting things happened for the remainder of that day. Every now and again a couple of the knights left to gather some more firewood. Elyan and Percival were the only ones who actually knew how to make decent food, now that Merlin was on forced bedrest. Arthur wasn't seen for most of the day, hiding in one of the tents instead. Leon made sure the horses were tended to, whilst Gwaine and Lancelot sat by Merlin's side for most of the day. Gwaine stood for most of the talking, which made it harder for Merlin to figure out what scar and what story to tell his friends about.

Merlin knew that they wouldn't accept being told about one of the smaller scars. Perhaps he should tell them about one of the scars from before Camelot. But he doubted that was their main priority. The knights would most likely demand that he tells them about a scar he got in Camelot. Sundown was approaching way too quickly.

At least the prat had enough sense to not pick the subject back up as they were eating their dinner. But it didn't stop Camelot's crown prince from bringing it up after their dishes were clean and the ale Gwaine had snuck with him had been wrestled out of the drunk's grasp by Percival.

"Merlin," Arthur did not have to say anything else, as everyone had been impatiently waiting for this moment. Well apart from Merlin and Lancelot, the latter was simply worried about his friend but couldn't deny that he too wished to know what exactly had caused the many, many scars.

Lancelot slowly eased the tunic of Merlin's body, so that he could show what scar he would be sharing the story of tonight.

Merlin's breathing was heavy as his torso was yet again on display for his friends to see.

After a few moments the warlock gathered himself enough to press a finger against a scar on his right collarbone. Or, well, technically two scars. It looked like an uneven, sloppy X had been carved into the servant's collarbone. The neckerchief he almost always wore easily hid what his tunics didn't cover themselves.

"I uh... I got this a couple of years ago. During a," the young boy took a couple of breaths, looking down at the hands in his lap, just like he had done that morning. "During a tournament."

"Merlin, who did this to you?" Leon prodded, when his friend hesitated to tell them more.

"Just, just a couple of visiting nobles who said I needed to know my place."

"Know your place?" Arthur inquired.

"They uh... didn't really approve of my attitude. Towards the prince of Camelot. They said that I needed to learn my place as a servant. That I'm beneath them and you. Then they decided to etch a permanent reminder into my collarbone. Although they seemed a bit disappointed when I wouldn't scream." Merlin muttered the last sentence, but everyone heard him clear as day anyway.

Silence filled the air for a few minutes, the knights processing what they had just heard.

"We need names, Merlin." Arthur growled out.

"Too bad, because you're not getting them."

"Merlin, we only want to make sure that you won't be left alone with them again." Leon tried to reason.

"I'm not that stupid Leon. I know at least one of you would do something reckless and end up in trouble. I don't want that to happen."

"You don't want to tell us? Fine! But if anyone in the castle tries to hurt you again, you come to us. I can't have someone find my manservant lying dead in a puddle of his own blood in some corner of the castle. It would look bad for me."

"If you say so, prat."

"I do say so. Elyan, Percival, you have first watch. Everyone else, get some sleep. We leave for Camelot immediately after breakfast."

The knights who didn't have watch duty bid Merlin goodnight and went over to pat him on the leg. Arthur however opted to not walk over to his servant. It looked like he was about to say something, but instead shook his head and marched into one of the tents.

Elyan sat down next to Merlin and told him to get some sleep. As exhausted as Merlin was, he didn't complain and shifted into a more comfortable position on the bedroll before closing his eyes and inviting the darkness.