Melody (Merlin)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Warning/s: None.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I actually had it written quite a while ago but then life got in the way and I had no time to sort out uploading etc. If you're reading the side-fic to this then that's also been updated, if you read it you'll see where this fits in.

Thanks for reading so far and please review so I know how people are liking the story!

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Merlin woke up and stretched lazily. It was fairly early in the morning, and Percival was still asleep. She watched her husband sleep, watched the way his eyes flickered and his lips quirked up or down. They were both naked and she shivered slightly in the cold of the morning, tucking the covers around her more. This action woke Percival up and he blinked hazily, staring up at the covers on their four-poster bed for a few seconds. He turned to Merlin and smiled slowly, muttering a quick "good morning."

"Morning," Merlin replied, rolling over until she was curled up next to him. She buried her nose in his shoulder. "Cold." Percival radiated heat like the sun, he always had done, even in the dead of winter.

Percival chuckled and wrapped his arms around his petite wife, stroking her back. This elicited a soft "hmmm" from Merlin as she felt warmth streak down her back. "We can have a hot bath soon," he promised, kissing the top of her head. She hummed and nuzzled into his neck. There was a knock at the door, and the rustling of paper.

Merlin frowned. "Who's there?" she queried, too warm now to sit up and investigate the rustling. There was no sound except from footsteps leading away from their chambers. "Odd," she muttered. Then again, odd things happened everyday in Camelot, it wasn't like hearing the rustle of paper would be putting her life in any immediate danger. She decided not to worry about it.

"Don't worry about it," Percival yawned. "Warm enough yet?" His hands stilled on her back, warmth flowing from them into her skin. He checked quickly that none of their windows were open; that had been the cause for Merlin's chill more than once.

"I'm warm," Merlin murmured. "But I could be warmer." She raised her eyebrows and smirked at her husband, letting her hand rest on his chest. He met her eyes and cocked one eyebrow. Merlin giggled and pushed the covers off both of them, goose bumps rising on their skin.

Percival helped Merlin to tug her top on; she had plumped for simple trousers and a shirt today. As he straightened the hem, she caught sight of a crinkled fragment of parchment on the floor. She frowned and questioned Percival, "How long ago was that knock on the door?"

Percival shrugged as he pulled his own shirt on. "About an hour, I suppose." He stepped out from behind their dressing screen and threaded a hand through his short hair, and then a hand over his chin. He ought to shave, although he knew Merlin secretly liked when he didn't.

Merlin scurried across the room and picked up the parchment. It explained the rustling noise, at least. "What does it say?" Percival asked her as she smoothed it out. His wife's petite fingers trailed across the paper quickly, trying to make sense of the scrawl that Percival could just about comprehend.

"'Arthur in a right royal huff about something. Called an urgent council meeting now, come as soon as you're dressed. Gwaine'." Merlin groaned. "We've been an hour!" She detested making anyone angry or upset, and as much as she had to keep up appearances and pretend to hate Arthur, she was close to him really.

Percival snatched his belt from the table and headed towards the door even as he threaded it through the loops in his trousers. "We'd better get going then."

"Where have you been?" Arthur growled as the two hurried into the Great Hall.

Merlin rolled her eyes as she jogged to her normal seat. "We woke up five minutes ago, Arthur, and found the note that Gwaine left us." She shot daggers at Gwaine and settled back into her seat. She and Percival had agreed upon an excuse as they ran down to the meeting, and to them it seemed water-tight.

"I knocked," Gwaine grinned, obviously not bothered by the hold-up in the meeting. His long hair was messily ruffled, either from sleep or from his hands running through it. Percival guessed the former.

"Not loud enough to wake us," Percival countered, squeezing Merlin's hand under the table. He could tell his wife was beleaguered now. He was loyal to his King, but foremost to his wife, and he would protect Merlin from anything whatsoever.

"Whatever you say," Arthur snapped. Merlin tossed her hair from her eyes and stared at the king mulishly. She refused to let Arthur's bad mood bring her down as well, so she plastered a smile onto her face (just to aggravate him).

Leon sensed a possible argument in the air and intercepted swiftly. "The Saxons have entered Camelot." Merlin's smile plunged from her face like Lucifer from Heaven and she seized Percival's hand tightly, rubbing her thumb against his.

Percival clasped her hand in return, a silent "don't worry". "Have they acted so far?" he quizzed, knowing the answer already. If they had committed any offences, the atmosphere would be tenser by far, and Gwaine wouldn't have slipped a note under the door; he would have barged in regardless of the occupants' activity and started screaming blue murder.

Arthur shook his head quickly, his chin resting in his hand and his eyes stormy with worry. Leon stepped in for their distant king again. "Not yet, but we fear it is only a matter of time before they do. We cannot make any moves to remove them as they have shown no signs of hostile means, so we – unfortunately – have to wait until they make the first move to retaliate."

"They could attack our citizens!" Merlin piped up indignantly. "We can't let them be hurt! They're innocent!" Leon nodded as if to agree with her, but before he could so much as open his mouth, Gwaine interjected with his Irish brogue.

"So what precisely do you plan on doing?" he asked the assembly at large, addressing everybody and nobody at the same time. He stared round as everyone fell silent. Gwaine was a doer, not a thinker.

"Well..." Leon began hesitantly. Gwaine had been awoken earlier than usual and could turn from cheerful to grumpy in less than a second. He knew he had to choose his words carefully. "As I said, we can take no action until they act, but we called this council meeting to set in place the boundaries and guidelines for what we will do to punish the Saxons if-" he placed extra stress on his next words, for Gwaine's benefit mostly – "they attack us."

Gwaine settled back in his chair unhappily. Everybody gathered knew that Gwaine was particularly angered by the Saxons, though nobody knew quite why it was them predominantly that irritated him so much. Merlin had made several guesses about the situation, most of them involving his father, but she was convinced that she would never know the reality.

"If they attack and kill one of our citizens," Arthur began, sounding a lot more tranquil than he had before when chastising Merlin for the lateness. "I believe we have the grounds to attack their group and kill all."

Everyone agreed with their king, "yes"s and nods all around the room. "And if they hurt our citizens? Or raid a village?" were Arthur's next words. "We do not have grounds for an attack then, at least not to kill."

"Find them and capture them," Merlin suggested, "without killing them. Then exile them."

Arthur nodded slowly, but Merlin could tell he was not convinced. "I will have to think about these ideas. They are good but all laws have their flaws. I suggest we convene tomorrow morning after we have all had time to think upon this matter."

There was a murmur of general agreement as the chairs scraped back and everyone retreated, leaving Arthur and Guinevere alone in the Great Hall. Merlin sighed as she linked arms with Percival, letting him guide her through the twisted halls of the castle. Why did everything have to be so complicated?