Protection

Places

A/N Onto the third chapter on May 1st, I have nothing better to do anyway xD I'm a sucker for these types of stories and I know there are probably loads out there but still xD also, I know very limited on concussions, the only stuff I know is from what my friend told me happened to him and what his father did when he had one so that's where I'm getting my info. I also looked up the symptoms as I had no idea most of the symptoms xD
ALSO: Please check out the above photo, it was made by one of my friends and it's amazing and goes great with this chapter! It was made by Robotic_Heart__
Prompts: A couple of training to be knights don't appreciate the way Merlin speaks with Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table so they by myself xD (unless someone has sent this in, if so, please tell me)
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin

Cameron and Gregory had been training for a week under Sir Gwaine to become Knights of Camelot. Gwaine was merciless, he wouldn't let up on them, constantly having them run laps or beating them with a sword. Cameron couldn't stand it, he thought knight training would be easy for him as he had been training since he was a kid. Gregory hated it with all his might, he knew this training would be awful but this was just cruel! Currently they were running laps around the training fields along with the rest of the trainees, each Knight of the Round Table had two trainees to train into knights and they were all as merciless as Gwaine. Just as the knights were about to call it, Cameron and Gregory both knew it, a dark haired servant came onto the pitch and almost instantly the knights were distracted.
"Hey mate! Nice to see that princess hasn't murdered you yet, he didn't seem happy this morning during training!" Gwaine laughs as he slaps the servant on the back. Merlin stumbles slightly before laughing and shaking his head.
"Sorry about that by the way. I may or may not have forgotten to get him his breakfast, slept in, again. He wasn't happy but it's not like he needs all that food anyway, what with all the banquets lately. I feel bad for the trainees, having to go against the prat on a daily basis won't be fun if they can't handle all that running, especially when he's angry." Merlin jokes causing all the knights, even Leon, to start laughing. They all seemed to forget about the trainees who were still running laps around the field so they could talk with this servant.
"Thanks Merlin, he was relentless!" Elyan complains jokingly and all the knights agree.
"When isn't he?" Merlin adds, laughing along with the other knights. Gregory notices he's acting as if he's on equal footing with those knights and as if he was on equal footing with the King.
"Cameron, who's that? I know he's a servant but who's is he?" Gregory asks, wondering if his fellow trainee had heard anything. Cameron shrugs as he turns to look at the servant that was distracting the knights from letting them stop running.
"Who does he think he is, acting as if he is the same as those knights." Cameron growls and watches in anger...maybe a bit of jealously, as all of them laugh at something the servant said.
"MERLIN!" Arthur shouts from where he's standing off to the side, watching all the trainees struggle to run and breathe.
"Well, I guess that's my cue, see you lot later!" Merlin shouts over his shoulder before running off to his King, who slaps Merlin on the back, a little too hard, sending him stumbling forward and then tripping over his own feet. The King laughs along with the knights who watched the duo leave the field together, bantering and laughing with one another. Merlin had been working, secretly of course, as Arthur's personal advisor. The only ones who knew were the Knights of the Round Table, Gauis, and Gwen. Well, Merlin always kind of filled that position and Arthur has always seemed happier when he was with Merlin. Everyone knew it, no matter if they were new to Camelot or not, they knew that if you messed with Merlin, the King would instantly be involved. Everyone but the new trainees, well some of them, the ones that had been to the tavern or somewhere around the town knew better than to mess with the servant. Unfortunately for Gregory and Cameron, they hadn't been somewhere that it was told, so they had no idea how much the servant meant to the King or his Knights.
"Oh yeah, calling it! Return to sword details now!" Leon shouts and some of the trainees groan before going over to where the straw dummies lay. After the knights call it quits for the night, Gregory and Cameron see Merlin and Arthur standing atop of the East Tower. Merlin laughs before saying something to the king which causes him to roll his eyes and shove the servant jokingly, who retaliated by shoving the King, both of them laughing. This shocked the young trainees, the King had the right to push around his servant but not the other way around! Arthur shakes his head and pushes his servant towards the entrance to the castle, telling him something. Gregory growls before heading into the castle, followed closely behind Cameron who seemed to read his mind. This servant did NOT know his own place and he sure needed to learn it, quickly!
"You're dismissed for the night Merlin, I have council meetings all morning so you won't have to come in until around lunch. I'll need your help looking over whatever the councilmen decide plagues them tomorrow morning, mead prices, crop prices, whatever it is." Arthur groans a bit and Merlin laughs.
"Alright, thanks Arthur. As long as it isn't crop prices! Now, if it's Magic Laws, I will always be honored to help." Merlin promises and Arthur shakes his head. Arthur and Merlin had secretly been working on changing the current magic laws that had been left in place by Uther. Ever since the king and his knights had found out about Merlin's magic a couple of months ago, not only had all of them grown closer, Merlin no longer felt so alone.
"We're almost done with the laws Merlin, we should be done by next meeting, I will present them then." Arthur promises and Merlin beams at the King before ducking out of the chambers. As he was rounding the corner, he ran into Gregory and Cameron, quite literally. Cameron shoves him back and as he stumbles back, he trips over his own and falls onto the ground, his head hitting the corner of the stone wall. Merlin's hand went up to where his head had been hit and when he pulls his hand away, it's sticky with blood. That's never a good sign, Merlin thinks as Gregory glares at him, his thoughts a bit jumbled.
"Up servant! Now!" Gregory orders and Merlin slowly gets to his feet, stars dancing in his vision. Now that is definitely not a good sign, Merlin thinks and Cameron shoves his again, quite rudely.
"Did you hear that servant? That's what you are, a servant, not a noble, not anything but a piece of dirt." Cameron growls and steps closer to the servant. Gregory kicks his legs out from beneath him, sending Merlin to the ground in a heap along with the sound of a crack. The servant cries out but is shut up quickly by Cameron pressing his hand to the servants mouth. Merlin knows there are tears running down his cheeks, he can't feel them but he can't figure out why. His entire arm is numb along with his head and there's darkness creeping into the sides of his vision. He tries calling out but one of the new trainees has his hand over Merlin's mouth.
"Remember this servant, you are not, and never will be, on equal footing with the Knights, let alone the King!" Cameron growls and quickly punches Merlin, knocking him out quickly before turning to Gregory.
"Go fetch King Arthur, we'll tell him that this is how we found him." He orders and Gregory nods, hurrying off to the chambers that was far up the hall. Cameron quickly checks himself for any blood in a mirror near them and when he finds none he returns to the servants side, pretending to be checking him over. Soon enough, Gregory rounds the corner again, this time with King Arthur at his side.
"Sire," Cameron stands and bows but the King doesn't even acknowledge it, "we were returning from the lower town and found him this way."
Arthur nods, believing their story without even thinking of the flaws in it, mainly as to why the trainees we're going into the King's hallway when their rooms were on the other side of the castle.
"GUARDS!" Arthur shouts as he falls to his knees next to the servant and for a split second Cameron fears he's worked it out. Gregory sends him a worried look but as soon as the guards round to corner, they both school their expressions.
"Fetch Gauis now!" He orders and carefully picks up the servant, trying his best not to jostle him too much. The guard's eyes widen at the state of the boy before nodding and hurrying off towards the physicians quarters, "You two, with me now!" Arthur turns to glare slightly at the trainees and they both nod, follow the King closely. He opens his door with his foot and enters, beckoning for Gregory and Cameron to follow. They both watch in shock as Arthur careful lays Merlin down onto the bed in the King's chambers but didn't get enough time to think about it before the King had turned to them with a glare.
"What happened to him?" Was the first question out of his mouth and he looked downright terrifying.
"We f-found him t-that way S-Sire." Cameron stutters out, bowing again in fear. Arthur's gaze softens slightly at seeing how terrified the training Knights were. He moves to sit next to hit friend, carefully brushing the hair that had been stuck by blood to his forehead away. The door suddenly opens and the court physician walks in, carrying a small leather pouch that was most likely filled with different concoctions and bandages.
"Sit him up carefully Arthur, his arm is obviously broken." Gauis orders and the two responsible watch as the King listens, not getting mad at the fact he had just been ordered by an old man.
"I'm getting too old to be running around the castle Arthur, you guys really need to be more careful." Gauis shakes his head as Arthur follows his previous instructions with a slight chuckle.
"We try Gauis, we really do, I don't think safety likes us all that much." He attempts at a joke but it sounded hollow, even to himself, "Will he be okay Gauis?" He doesn't get an answer in response, just silence as the physician sets to work on his ward, first checking his head.
"He has a minor concussion sire but nothing too bad, he'll need at least a week to recover from that. His arm, however, will take a bit longer." Gauis murmurs as he finishes cleaning the large cut on Merlin's head before wrapping it. Cameron quickly looks at Gregory, they hadn't meant to give him a concussion or anything, they hadn't even meant to break his arm, just ruff him up a bit so that he'd treat the king and the Knights with more respect. Hopefully, since he did have a concussion, he wouldn't remember who attacked him.
"He can take as long as he wants, is there anything I can do to help Gauis?" Arthur asks as he watches his best friend whimper in pain at Gauis begins working on his arm.
"Well...never mind Sire, I shouldn't ask." Gauis starts before turning his full attention onto his ward's arm.
"Gauis, what is it? I'll be happy to help." Arthur offers, dying to know what he can do to help his servant. There has to be something.
"It's just that he doesn't have a place to recover, his bed won't do him any good and the patients beds are full. I know I shouldn't ask sire but is there any chance we can have something arranged to help that?" Gauis asks, his eyes staying on Merlin the entire time, not looking up at the King.
"Of course Gauis, guards, have a couple of servants prepare the room closest to mine, is that all Gauis?" Arthur orders as he turns to face the guards and he catches sight of the training Knights still in his room, "You two are dismissed." Gregory and Cameron both bow before sprinting out of the room, terrified for their lives.
"Do you think a servant could stay with him? He needs to be woken every hour or so to check his symptoms." Gauis mutters, knowing it's probably too much to ask from the King.
"I'll stay with him, I'll just have Leon cover for me during the council meeting tomorrow." Arthur offers, "Don't worry, I know what to look for. On the battle field we don't have the luxury of a physician." Gauis smiles over at the King as the guards walk back in, informing him that the room has been readied.
"Is it okay to move him Gauis?" Arthur asks carefully and at Gauis's nod, he wraps an arm around the boys chest, carefully moving him into the room next to him. Usually it was used for visiting Kings or nobles so it was normally kept in tip top shape but now there was a fire going and extra blankets sat at the end of the bed. There was also a chair stationed next to the bed and Arthur silently thanks the servants of Camelot for setting everything up for him. Arthur lays his best friend down on the bed and Gauis gently shakes him awake. Merlin groans in pain before opening his eyes, he looks dazed before closing his eyes again.
"Too bright." He complains softly and Arthur reaches for the curtains that surround the bed, pulling them around to block out the light of the fire.
"Better?" He asks and Merlin nods weakly before groaning again.
"Where are you?" Gauis asks and the servant opens his eyes to look around.
"Guest room in Camelot."
"Good, very good. What's your name?"
"Merlin."
"Good, go back to sleep now, okay?" Gauis orders, nodding his head slightly and Merlin closes his eyes, nodding off in an instant.
"Wake him every hour Sire, ask him one or two questions, simple ones at first but get slowly harder, if he seems to struggle with one that would normally seem easy, call for me." Gauis orders and Arthur nods, taking a seat in the chair next to Merlin. Throughout the night, Merlin seemed to get better but Arthur was still worried but that could just be his tiredness speaking. The first time Arthur woke up Merlin, he complained of a headache and a ringing in the ears but the second time he said it was fine. That morning Leon walks in to Arthur's chambers, looking to ask why he wasn't in the council meeting but he can't find Arthur anywhere in his room. Panicked, he rushes out to the guards to ask where the King is and both guards motion to the door next to them. When Leon enters he find Arthur sitting in a chair next to the bed and upon further inspection, he finds Merlin asleep on the bed, his head and arm wrapped.
"Sire, how long have you been here? You know about the council meeting right?" Leon asks and Merlin rolls over, groaning in pain. Arthur winces at the sound and carefully rolls Merlin back over.
"Merlin was attacked last night, I don't know who it was. Two of the trainees found him. He has a concussion and broken arm, Gauis asked for someone to sit with him as he didn't have the time, so I volunteered. Please cover for me today?" Arthur explains while gently brushing some of Merlin's hair off of his forehead.
"Of course Sire, anything else? Would you like me to send Gwaine or someone up so you can get some rest? You look exhausted." Leon offers and Arthur nods. A couple of minutes later, Gwaine shows up and Arthur lets him take his seat before gently waking Merlin.
"Hmm?" Merlin asks and Arthur notices with a small smile that his friend's eyes looked a little less dazed.
"What's his name?" Arthur asks, motioning to Gwaine, who gives the servant a smile.
"Gwaine, when did you get here?" Merlin answers as he looks over at Gwaine.
"Just now mate, Princess here wanted some rest so I was sent to sit with you." The Knight explains and Merlin nods, laying back down slowly.
"Rest Merlin, when I wake up, we'll wake you, I have a couple questions about last night that I want answered." Arthur says as he walks out, "Wake him every hour Gwaine, ask him questions, if anything is worrisome get me or Gauis, okay?"
"I know what to look for princess, now go get your beauty sleep." Gwaine teases and Arthur shakes his head before going into his own room. Later that day, when Arthur woke up, Merlin was already awake and chatting wrong Gwaine, having been unable to sleep after being woken an hour or so ago.
"Hey Merlin, glad to see you up, how do you feel?" Arthur asks as he walks in, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
"I've been better, my arm is killing me and my head doesn't feel all that good either." He murmurs and smiles over at the prince.
"I know it might be a bit soon but do you remember who did this to you?" Arthur asks and Gwaine sits forward, wanting to know just as much as Arthur who did this to their friend.
"Two of the new trainees, the ones that you're training Gwaine." He mutters and Gwaine growls at the thought of the two of them beating on Merlin.
"Okay, do you know why they did this to you?" Merlin nods but doesn't say anything until Arthur gives him a look.
"...they said I needed to learn my place, thought that I didn't know. They got mad when they saw how I treated you and the Knights." Merlin whispers while looking down, in embarrassment maybe or shame.
"Mate, if we didn't like the way you treated us, then we wouldn't let you. You're our friend." Gwaine promises with a smile. Merlin returns the smile and soon Leon enters the room again, carrying a stack of papers.
"Here is everything that was discussed, war strategies and crop prices, oh and something about the magic laws was mentioned." Leon informs them with a smile while placing the stack of papers on the desk in the room.
"How are you feeling Merlin?" Leon asks and Merlin flashes him a thumbs up.
"I've been better but it was worse last night." Merlin whispers, yawning loudly.
"Leon, can you sit with him? Gwaine and I have some business to attend to." Arthur asks while he stands and Gwaine follows suit. Leon nods, taking the seat next to Merlin, who looked as if he was about to fall asleep.
"Rest idiot, we'll be back before you know it." Arthur promises before rushing out of the room with Gwaine at his side. Merlin smiles slightly before falling asleep after Leon promises to wake him of anything happens. Cameron and Gregory were currently waiting on the training field along with Leon'a trainees. The rest of the Knights trainees were stretching with their lead Knights watching them carefully. Percival and Elyan both turn as Arthur and Gwaine both storm onto the field, anger radiating off of them in waves.
"Percival, Elyan." Arthur calls them over, "Call all the trainees into the council room now please, Gwaine go clear out the council room, now!" Gwaine nods, glaring fiercely over at Gregory and Cameron before running off to the where the council meetings were held. By the time all the trainees arrived, the place was entirely cleared out with the exception of the round table that sat over on the side and the thrones. Arthur walks up to his throne, taking a seat and motions for the Knights to stand with him.
"Now, as some of you must know that my manservant, Merlin is under my protection. He is for me to punish and decide when he doesn't know his place. NOW WOULD YOU TWO LIKE TO EXPLAIN WHY YOU ATTACKED MY MANSERVANT?" Arthur shouts as he stalks closer to the said trainees. Both Gregory and Cameron look downright terrified as the rest of the trainees backed up. Gwaine walks up behind him, his sword drawn and pressed against Cameron's throat.
"He's...he's a sorcerer sire, w-we were only g-giving him what he deserved." Cameron stutters and Gwaine digs his sword into Cameron's throat.
"Not good enough!" Gwaine growls and Gregory whimpers in fear.
"He...he didn't know h-his place S-sire, he needed to l-learn it! We never m-meant to hurt him!" Gregory whimpers out and Arthur lunges at him, slamming him into a nearby pillar.
"Didn't mean to hurt him?! Yet now he's CONCUSSED AND HAS A BROKEN ARM!" Arthur shouts and throws the man back to the ground.
"Now Merlin won't want me to do anything that will hurt you so I won't. A month in the dungeons and once you get out, you are herby stripped of your nobility and banished from Camelot." Arthur orders and calls the guards over to move them into the dungeons.
"Dismissed, all of you. Leon's trainees, he will be with you shortly. Return to training all of you!" Arthur stands and disappears out the door, followed by Gwaine. When they got back to the room that Merlin was staying in, they found him curled up under the blanket with Leon sitting next to him, reading.
"Sire." Leon nods when Arthur walks in.
"Go to your trainees, they've been waiting. I guess you're dismissed from training them this time around Gwaine." Arthur orders with a smile and Gwaine drops into Leon's abandon chair with a laugh. Leon watches with a smile as Arthur pulls up a chair and sits next to his friend. Yes, Merlin was very lucky to have a friend such as Arthur and Gwaine but both of them were equally lucky to have Merlin as their friend.
A/N That took forever! Including all of the A/Ns and side notes, there are 3,846 words in this entire chapter! This took me such a short amount of time it's scary xD I hope you all enjoy and please send in some prompts if you have any <3