merthur oneshots

wicked ruler

     "Well then tell me, servant," Uther basically spat his words at Merlin. Most people would be kneeling, have their heads bowed, or at least have the grace to look fearful; but merlin had had enough of Uther's tyranny over Camelot. His unwillingness to back down only fueled Uther's anger as he continued.

"Why should we let such an evil thing like magic back into Camelot? Would we not execute a murderer? Magic is no different." His voice was mocking, and it took everything in Merlin to not send Uther flying towards the wall with his own powers.

     It wasn't supposed to become this intense, Merlin didn't know why he was even wasting his time on such a wicked ruler like Uther, while Uther didn't know why he was even entertaining the lowly servants opinions. All merlin had done was whisper while he was serving wine at a meeting.

It shouldn't be illegal in the first place, it's not even bad.

     He just had the misfortune of Uther hearing him, and the king was not going to let s servant mock his judgement.

     "It is the man who is evil, not his magic." He spoke with just as much volume as Uther, only his voice contained compassion while Uther's lacked even passion for what he was saying and instead was filled with anger. "When you kill the person for what they are born with, they are not the evil purging this land, Uther, you are!"

     "I am your king and you will address me as so!" Uther cried indignantly at the lack of respect Merlin showed for the man who deserved less than that. "You will bow to me as your leader or you will be sent to the cells for a week, and I am being merciful in saying that."

      "A king holds compassion for every one of his people, not just the ones who uphold his own spiteful agenda!" Merlin backfired, he would not kneel to this man, to this monster.

     Arthur watched, wide eyed and mouth slightly open, he had never seen Merlin so upset. He didn't know his friend felt so passionate about this. Half of his brain told him to go to Merlin and pull him out of a bad situation before he made it worse, and the other half told him what Merlin was saying was true, and if he ever wanted to become the king Merlin knew he could be, then he would let Merlin speak and make sure Uther doesn't harm him.

     "I will only refer to one man as king of Camelot, and it will never be you, Uther. Your son is not yet the king but he is already ten times the man you will ever be!" Uther stood, eyed wide and nostrils flaring while a small per of him wondered why he hadn't already thrown this boy into the cells yet, but the rest of him told him to stand up for his dignity-he would not let this boy make him look a fool.

      "I will repeat it once more, you will address me as your king and kneel to me or you will be sent to the cells." His voice was raised louder than Arthur had ever heard, and he didn't know why this of all things upset his father so much.

     "I will never kneel to a fool like you." While Uther's voice had raised loud enough to be heard anywhere in the castle, merlin's was eerily low and calm, just scarcely raising above a whisper.

     "Guards!" Uther yelled, and the doors to the throne room swung open, Gwaine and Lance stood at the other side, anxious to see who they would have to drag away.

     "Gwaine, Lance. You needn't drag me away, I will willingly walk away and into the cells of it means I won't bow to a man unworthy of his crown." The warlock turned without another word and walked away, practically leading the knights to the cells instead of the other way around.

     "Father, you mustn't be serious!" Arthur spoke up before Merlin had even made it down the hall. "He made a mistake, just let him go and I'll make sure he never does it again!" Uther turned towards his heir with a look of disappointment,

      "servants know it isn't their place to speak. he should learn to bite his tongue before he doesn't have one to bite." His voice shook with rage as he turned away from Arthur and everyone else. "Leave me!" He cried and everyone turned away and stalked out, not another word spoken to the cruel king.

Five Days Later

     "Here you are, Merlin." Gwen smiled as she brought food to her friend while he remained in his cell. Neither them nor the prince nor anyone knew how long Uther intended to keel Merlin here, but Merlin hardly cared. He was making a point, so every morning he slapped a smile on his face and acted like this wasn't affecting him.

     Arthur had surprisingly made a couple of visits, and he promised Merlin he would visit him today, and Merlin has been looking forwards to that since the words left his mouth.

     Gwen and Merlin chatted for a bit longer before saying something about an outing her and Morgana had planned. They wished each other fairwell and Gwen made her way out of the cells and into the stairwell. When she left she quite literally ran into Arthur, who didn't even check to see who he hit and kept running down to the cell where Merlin was.

     "Merl!" Arthur cried our, happy to see his friend was still okay.

     "Arthur! I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to come." Arthur looked slightly offended but began his little speech.

     "I talk with my father earlier," At the mention of the putrid man Merlin's smile vanished. "He has told me he's prepared to let you out by tomorrow," Merlin could feel hope shining through despite his knowledge that he wouldn't he be let out so easily. "If you apologize for what you've done and acknowledge him as your king, his words not mine." Merlin scoffed and just wanted to scream.

"I will not!" He shouted, louder than he meant to.

"Why not, Merlin! You don't have to mean it! Just say it and you can get out of here. I mean, look at you! You look even skinner than you did before."

"Well apparently prisoners get even less food than servants."

"Merlin this isn't a joke, just say you're sorry and be done with this ordeal!"

"I'm not joking!" He interrupted Arthur. "If i just apologize and leave the cell then there was no point to me holding my ground in the first place! If I call him my king then everything thing I said and everything I believe in has become meaningless!"

"So what?" Arthur countered. "Are you prepared to just become a permanent resident of the prison?" Merlin just glared at Arthur. "Don't give me that look! If you weren't so prideful then you could've never even been in this mess! I'm trying to help you."

"It is not I who has the pride problem, but Uther. I will tell you now that for as long as I may live I am never going to bow to a man who counts his riches along with his body count or that studs his crown with the jewels he has taken from his people! Without us, the royal family is nothing, and Uther needs to recognize that. So I promise you, as long as there is air in my lungs I will never bow down to a wicked ruler like Uther." With that, Merlin turned away from his friend, and prepared to either die for his opinions, or live forever in misery because of them.