In The Hearts Of Men

Chapter 4

"Merlin?"

Gaius stuck his head round Merlin's bedroom door. He saw the young wizard was lying on his bed, reading the huge book of spells Gaius had given him. All around him, socks danced in the air and paired themselves and boots scrubbed themselves clean. Merlin looked up at Gaius's voice and all the magically manipulated objects fell to the floor.

"Merlin!" Gaius said crossly. "What have I told you about using magic? What if someone saw you?"

"It's ok, everyone's out at that execution, and Arthur gave me the morning off."

"Yes, and if you're not careful it'll be you who's tied to that stake-- Arthur gave you the morning off??"

"Yeh," said Merlin absently, going back to his book. "So I decided to clean my room and do some reading while I can relax."

Gaius was amazed.
"Arthur-- gave you... I don't understand... Is he ill?"

Merlin laughed, but his smile didn't quite meet his eyes.
"No, he and Gwaine and I went out to the tavern last night. Arthur had a little too much and told me not to bother coming into work this morning, because he would be sleeping till noon."

"But you know perfectly well he's at the execution, not asleep," said Gaius.

"Yes, but he always sticks to his word, and anyway... I didn't really want to see someone burnt today."

Now Gaius knew why Merlin seemed so down.

"It's never easy to watch someone be put to death," Gaius said quietly. "I can understand that it must be much more difficult when it is someone of magic like yourself. D... did you know him?"

"We spoke a couple of times, I didn't know he knew magic..." Merlin said sadly. "He seemed nice enough. He was always interested in studying things which he described as 'unorthodox'- obviously he meant sorcery."

"Yes," frowned Gaius. "Although he did commit a fair few crimes, you can't deny that."

"Mm." Merlin pretended to read.
Gaius caught the hint.

"I'll leave you to it, my boy. Enjoy your morning off."

And he left him to his book.