While on the tour of the Camelot Merlin meets Arthur's horses and dogs.
Yes, there will be mistakes, grammar or others, Sorry for that :)
Also I do not own Merlin or any of the characters there, this amazing piece of art belongs to BBC ;)
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"Alright, so the stables are over there, but those are for the common ones, my horses are over there..." Arthur was explaining to Merlin during his tour around the Camelot.
"Why aren't they in the common one... I mean how special are th..." Merlin started but stopped himself when he saw Arthur's face. Arthur just sighed and rather didn't comment it.
"Can I see your horses then?" Merlin asked hopefully.
"You will be the one who will be mocking them out, so you should meet them... but fair warning, they are not very good with other people... they can be very... lets say moody" Arthur said while walking towards the stables.
"So just like you?" Merlin asked cheerfully. Arthur almost suppressed the chuckle, but really just almost. Merlin smiled proudly about amusing the prince.
"Trust me Merlin, the horses are worse than I... I don't bite or kick, when I am cranky, they do" Arthur said, and Merlin knew that he is not joking now.
"Is that why are they not in the common stables?" Merlin asked
"Yes, when in a bad mood they might hurt some stable hand that would be taking care of some other horse, and I don't want to make their work harder than necessary" Arthur nodded and then stopped and looked at Merlin
"But keep this to yourself. If the king will find out that this was the reason why I wanted private stables, he would cancel them and made the stable hands do it" Arthur said seriously.
That Arthur cared about the common people more than Uther was no secret, but it still made Merlin smile with pride about his master. They entered the stables and three horses neighed and big black horse stomped his hoof on the wooden floor.
"Linx, calm down" Arthur said with authority that was the only thing that Linx was at least little bit responding to. Arthur looked over expecting to see Merlin standing in the corner behind him, but Merlin was not in the corner, he wasn't standing behind Arthur at all. No Merlin was standing in front of big white horse offering his hand to the horse to sniff it. Arthur froze on the spot, already hearing the cry of pain when White, the mare, because she was such a bitch so Arthur couldn't come up with any proper name, will chomp down on Merlin hand. White, however did not bite down on Merlin's hand. She gently lowered her head and sniffed the hand and then place her nose in Merlin's palm. Merlin smiled and started to stroke her nose.
"Hello, I am Merlin, your new caretaker, if it's ok with you beauty" he said softly while stroking her, and Arthur had to say to himself that he is not jealous... of whom he was not sure, but he just was not.
"W-white" he blurted out, and Merlin looked at him "Her name is White" Arthur added and while Merlin was looking at Arthur White got closer and literally snuggled to Merlin, not jealous, Arthur repeated for himself.
Merlin laughed when horse hair tickled his neck "I know White, good girl" he laughed "Now let me go ok? I wanna say hello to your friends as well" he said and stepped away from White and made a few steps towards Linx.
Surely, Linx will not be that cuddly. Arthur is the only one who can get close to him without worry about getting attack, but even Arthur doesn't dare to pet Linx very often.
"Hello Linx, hi handsome" Merlin smiled and offered him his hand. Linx lowered his head and sniffed. His ears happily flicked and just like White Linx placed his nose into Merlin's palm. Arthur was watching it with a shock. Merlin laughed and started to pet and scratch Linx on the neck and behind the ears. Linx did not cuddle Merlin like White did, but he clearly enjoyed Merlin's hands on him. Arthur absolutely did not get how... how can Merlin, a complete stranger, get away with that with his horses.
"Good boy, aren't you?" Merlin talked to Linx quietly. Linx neighed in response and White let out a loud neigh as well. Merlin laughed
"I know White" he said and reached to her to give her a quick pat. Merlin stepped away from Linx and walked to the last horse in the stable, dark brown stallion.
"Don't worry, not gonna forget about you pretty boy"
"Ori" said Arthur and walked over to Ori and petted his neck. Ori was the most friendly among princes horses, but also the most shy about new people so when Merlin walked over to him he made a few steps towards Arthur.
"It's alright Ori, that's Merlin, and he will take a really good care of you" Arthur assured him while petting him.
"Hello Ori" Merlin said quietly, but Ori turned more towards Arthur and pretty much burrowed his head into Arthur's neck. Arthur kept petting him.
"Ori is little bit shy, but he is the fastest stallion around" he told Merlin, who smiled at both Ori and Arthur.
"Ori, Merlin is a friend of mine, you can trust him, alright" Arthur said to Ori, and Merlin's heart missed a beat when Arthur called him his friend. Ori still didn't look convinced about the new gangly boy so Arthur took Merlin's hand in his and placed it on Ori's neck and kept his hand on top of Merlin's hand to keep Ori calm. Ori made a few nervous steps on spot, but Arthur kept talking to him and finished it with a kiss on Ori's nose. Merlin's heart made a little jump at that sight. Ori turn his head towards Merlin and gave him a little friendly nudge. Merlin laughed happily.
"It's ok, I am not good with new people right away eider" Merlin said and began to scratch behind Oris ears.
"I can testify that" Arthur mumbled with a teasing smile. Merlin successfully introduced himself to White, Linx and Ori and after more petting to Linx and White, who looked like taking the stable apart if Merlin dared to not pet them before leaving he and Arthur stepped out side of the stables.
"Well, that went way, way better than expected, and don't worry, Ori will get to used to you in no time, he is the most friendly among these three, he just needs some time to get to know you" Arthur said.
"I am sure we will be fine" Merlin said with a smile.
"Arthur!" Said Uther who was just passing by.
"Father" Arthur replied
Merlin was not fond of Uther so he rather just bowed down and stayed silent.
"Don't you have any duties to do?" Uther asked, totally ignoring Merlin's existence
"I finished the training with the knights, and now I was showing Merlin my stables"
"Remind me why do you need separated stables?"
"I will not share stables with some commons, my horses are not the same as their are. I will not let some stable hand peasant to mess up their care" Arthur said his memorized answer about him being a noble with a fake arrogance in his voice. If Merlin didn't actually know Arthur a little bit by now, he would believe than the prince is a spoiled little brat.
"Of course not" Uther nodded with serious expression and without another word walked away. Arthur looked at Merlin
"I know, don't say it" he said with an eyeroll.
Merlin snorted in amusement, and Arthur smiled at him.
"Come. Kennels are next to see" he said and gently pushed Merlin in the right direction.
"We haven't got dogs in Ealdor, the animals people were keeping there were for work or food... or both" Merlin were saying while walking.
"Ehm... Horses?" Arthur asked with a little concern
"Ehm... both... but my mom and me didn't have horses, so I never even rode one, let alone... you know" Merlin answered
"Well, you need to know how to ride a horse, if you gonna company me on the hunts" Arthur said
"Ehm..." Merlin began
"Don't worry, I'll teach you" Arthur assured him and Merlin couldn't decide if he is more worried or excited about that. Arthur stopped at a wooden door and so did Merlin. Arthur opened the door and let Merlin go first.
"This corridor and then first door on the left" Arthur point the way and Merlin quickly walked that way exited to see the dogs so he was way ahead before Arthur while Arthur was closing the door so none of dogs will accidentally run away. He quickly followed Merlin when he realized that Merlin has literally no self-preservation and will definitely go for petting the dogs, so Arthur will have one armed servant... if Merlin will be lucky. They are hunting dogs and Merlin is a complete stranger, no way this will end up good. Arthur almost ran into that room where the dogs were kept.
"Merlin do not pet... them" Arthur said, but it was too late. Merlin was on the floor with the dogs all over him. However they were not attacking him... well not really. Merlin was kneeling on the ground and petting all the dogs he could reach and the dogs were all trying to get to him for more pets.
"What? What were you saying? " Merlin asked and laughed out loud when one of the dogs licked his face.
"I said don't pet them, they might bite you" Arthur said still in shock about the sight in front of him.
"Bite?" Merlin laughed and cuddled one dog that forced himself in his lap.
"Never mind" Arthur mumbled. One dog, the alpha of the pack named Ripley, Arthur's favorite came to him and placed hit front paws on Arthur's thighs.
"Hey buddy" Arthur said with a smile and bent down to pet him. A cry of surprise got his attention and when he looked up Merlin was gone...well not gone, but under the pile of dogs were no signs of him, the only evidence of Merlin's existence were the laugh and generally happy noises from Merlin. Arthur was watching Merlin's suffering with a fond smile on his face for a bit, but than called the dogs off. They of course listened to Arthur and stepped away from Merlin, but kept happily wiggle their tails excited about the possibility of more pets from their new friend, that is definitely more playful than the knights in Camelot. Merlin looked like he's having a time of his life, if Arthur could guess from the big smile on Merlin's face that caused Arthur to smile as well.
"What will I do with them?" Merlin asked already hoping for spending as much time with the dogs as possible.
"Give them exercise at leas ones but ideally twice a day, the cleaning in here is not your duty, other servant will do it while you take the dogs out" Arthur told him and Merlin smiled even more
"Awesome, you hear that guys, we gonna hang out twice a day" Merlin told the dogs who seemed to be as excited about it as Merlin was.
"Alright, let's go Merlin" Arthur said which made Merlin pull off amazingly convincing sad puppy look, so Arthur knew that Merlin is not quiet ready to part with the dogs yet.
"Please..." Merlin said quietly and looked at the dogs.
Arthur already knowing that he lost sighed.
"Fine, but not much longer, alright?" he said.
Merlin began to pet as many dogs he could reach while talking to them and telling him how he can't wait to take them all for a walk, and how much of a fun they gonna have.
"Do you realize that you still will have other duties right?" Arthur reminded him when it looked like Merlin isn't planning to do anything else but to pay attention to the dogs from now on, and we can't have that can we?
"Yep, I know" Merlin said without really paying attention to what Arthur said. Arthur kept himself busy with petting Ripley, who went for a quick pet to Merlin, but then stayed with Arthur the whole time. At least one dog is not a traitor, Arthur thought while giving Ripley a belly rub.
"Merlin let's go, now for real" Arthur said after a while. Merlin didn't look like he want to go yet but he stood up and with some more parting pets to the dogs followed Arthur out of the room. He looked at Arthur and could not suppressed the big happy smile that was on his face.
"I really like dogs" he said as if Arthur could possible miss that fact.
"Really?" Arthur asked amused while considering if he should do it or not. Merlin still with a smile on his face headed to the exit doors
"Hold on Merlin" Arthur stopped him, Merlin stopped and turned to face Arthur
"What?"
"Follow me" Arthur said and began to walk the other direction than the exit was.
Merlin was little bit confused but followed his prince. Arthur stopped outside of one of many doors and turned to Merlin.
"Merlin... recently one dog had pups, but..." Arthur began to talk, but was interrupted by Merlin
"Puppies? You have puppies? Where? How cute are they? Where are they? How they look?"
"Merlin shut up" Arthur stopped Merlin, and Merlin surprisingly fell silent, but kept looking at the door because he correctly guessed that behind these doors are the mentioned pups.
"Merlin, the mother is very protective of them, you may see them, but I really don't recommend you to pet them" Arthur said seriously, knowing if he had just opened the door Merlin would do exactly that. Merlin quickly nodded eager to see the puppies.
Arthur started to regret that he told Merlin about the pups, but opened the door and let Merlin in. Just in case he grabbed the back of Merlin shirt to make sure Merlin will not get too close.
Mother was on the other side of the room laying on the hive dog lair and around her was 5 puppies. The mother raised her head and looked at Arthur and Merlin. She recognized Arthur so she stayed calm, but she tilted her head to side when she looked at Merlin as if asking "And this one is who?" but other than that she wasn't showing any signs of discomfort about Merlin being there and just laid her head back on her paws.
Merlin made quiet "Aww..." while watching the puppies, and Arthur smiled at that and let go of Merlin shirt.
Three curious pups got to Merlin and he immediately sat down and began to play with them. Arthur would maybe try to stop him, but he knew Merlin so he was watching the mother instead in case she would not like her babies to be around Merlin and him. The mother was watching Merlin and the pups, but remained calm. The other two pups joined their siblings as well so Merlin got two more friends to play with. The room was filled with puppies's high-pitched barks and Merlin laugh and talking with the little ones. Arthur squatted down to pet some of the pups as well, but unlike Merlin he kept an eye on the mom just in case.
The play time ended when the pups began to feel hungry and run to her mom to fix that. Merlin and Arthur stood up
"Alright, lets go Merlin" Arthur said and opened the door and gently pushed Merlin out
"Bye guys" Merlin managed to say and waved at the pups and the mother, Arthur snorted in amusement and shook his head.
"They are adorable" Merlin said when he and Arthur walked out on the courtyard.
"You can talk about adorableness Merlin" Arthur thought to himself and smiled at Merlin, who still kept rambling about the puppies.
"Next thing is armory, this way" Arthur said and began to walk towards the armory and Merlin quickly followed him.
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