The Rise of Arthur Pendragon

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Arthur wait!", Merlin called out as he raced after his friend, "Arthur please listen to me. We need to talk." The warlock stared at Arthur with such a serious expression on his face that the King quickly checked around the corner to make sure no one could see them, then he grabbed Merlin's arm and dragged him through a small wooden door into an empty room. Locking the door behind him, Arthur looked at his servant and said, his face showing no emotion at all; "Alright then Merlin, talk." "Umm yes alright then.", Merlin murmured, suddenly uncomfortable, tugging at the red neckerchief he always wore, "Camelot has changed since you've been away Arthur and you may be King but you too must learn to adjust yourself to your kingdom. You can't always make your kingdom adjust itself to you. Magic now has free rein here and sorcerers have nothing to fear anymore, unless of course some idiots decide to use dark magic right under your nose eh Sire?", Merlin grinned at Arthur who chuckled, remembered what was going on and stopped quickly. Shaking his head ever so slightly, which earned him a disapproving look for his master, Merlin continued; "I am a sorcerer Arthur and I will not try and hide it. I've been doing that for too long. Do you know how hard it is to have all this power and not being able to use it? How small and worthless it makes me feel to let others trampled all over even though I could make them pay at the flick of a wrist? Or how frustrating it is to repeatedly save your sorry ass and never, ever get any credit for it?" The young warlock's voice cracked, face a mask of pain and his eyes full of tears. Taken aback by his old friends sudden outburst Arthur muttered; "Merlin... Merlin I'm so, so sorry. I had no idea..." "No, no it's fine. How could you know? I've just been carrying that around with me for so long...", he trailed off, starting blankly ahead of him. Looking at his faithful servant, his best friend, who had always been by his side, never wavering, never tiring, Arthur was overwhelmed, by pride that his friend was so strong, pain because his friend had had to suffer all of this alone, and love for his friend whose side he would never, ever, leave again. Merlin looked up, his dark hair falling into his eyes like it always did, and before he knew what was happening, Arthur had wrapped his arms around his best friend, in a tight embrace. Without another thought, Merlin hugged him back and for a while neither said a word. Then they broke apart and, unable to meet his friend eyes, Arthur whispered; "Merlin, I'm sorry. Can you ever forgive me?" Grinning from ear to ear Merlin replied; "I'll think about it you clot pole." Greatly relived, Arthur opened his mouth to speak but Merlin beat him to it; "Before you go all soppy on me again, we have a monster to kill., remember?" With a cheeky grin Merlin headed out the door. "Come on then your majesty. Let's go." His face red with embarrassment and annoyance, Arthur got up, ran his fingers though his blond hair, and followed.

A/N: I really hope you're enjoying the story so far :P If you are please let me know! Feedback is always welcome :) Also if you have any ideas please tell me them too. Thanks so much for reading!!