Merlynn's Secret

Chapter 1

In case it isn't obvious, I don't own Merlin.  

It had been a long and grueling day. One filled with an endless list of chores to do for Arthur and collecting herbs for Gaius. To make matters worse Arthur had informed Merlynn early in the morning that they would be going on a hunting trip tomorrow. Merlynn has always despised being forced into going on Arthurs hunting trips. She dreads having to witness the slaughter of innocent animals. The only upside to going on this trip will be spending the time with Lancelot, Gwaine, Elyan, Percival, Leon and yes even Arthur. Merlynn found that after years of hardship her destiny would only serve to pull them all closer together.

~The Next Day~

"Hello Merlynn, are you ready for the trip?" Lancelot greets and places a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Yep, all set. Now we just need to wait for his royal pratness to arrive."

"Leave it to the princess to be running late for his own damned hunting~ OW!" The rest of Gwaine's sentence is cut short by a firm smack to the back of his head.

"I will not allow you to insult our king," Leon states as he shoots Gwaine a hard stare. Arthur appears, and everyone mounts their horses and readies to leave. The trip starts off like any other. Their conversations are few and far between as they have to keep quiet while hunting. of course, Merlynn manages to scare off as many animals as she can before Arthur has a chance to kill them.

"Merlynn! Hunting is a delicate art that requires speed, agility, stealth, and complete silence." Arthur chastises as Merlynn steps on yet another branch that alerts the deer. After the first time Arthur was annoyed but after several more, he has become fairly angry.

"Sorry Arthur, it was an accident."

"Oh, you're sorry? Well, tell that to the others when we get back to camp. Tell them how it is entirely your fault that this trip has been a complete failure because of how clumsy you are."

"We still have the squirrels you managed to get. Besides I'm sure at least one of them must have had better luck than you did."

"It is not about luck, Merlynn! Hunting is about skill."

"Well, then hunting is a skill that you need to improve upon."

"Let's just get back to camp."

Arthur and Merlynn were last to get back to camp. Arthur noticed that his knights had had far more luck on this trip than he did. Percival had managed a rather large deer and was already preparing it to be cooked.

"Is that all you managed princess? It's not very impressive, is it?" Gwaine asks as Leon's expression remains blank while Lancelot and Percival struggle to hold in their laughter. Elyan and Merlynn are far less successful as their light chuckles resonate around the makeshift camp.

"It was Merlynn's fault. Honestly, how can one person be so clumsy?"

"I said I was sorry," she said through her laughter.

"I'm starting to wonder if it really was an accident. I mean no one can possibly be that clumsy all the time!"

"Leave it to you princess to place blame on poor Merlynn for your own shortcomings." Another round of laughter is heard, only this time everyone joins in save for Arthur. when the laughter dies down the group disperses. Elyan and Percival skin and prepare the meat for dinner. Arthur and Leon go off collecting firewood. Lancelot and Gwaine set up the bedrolls. Merlynn is tasked with cooking the meal as usual. Normally setting up camp would be entirely up to Merlynn. However, after so many years of friendship, the Knights choose to help out their overworked friend.

A few hours and several servings of food later everyone is settled down around the campfire. Gwaine shares yet another one of his tavern stories.

"Well my friend you have done it again," Lancelot said to a slightly dazed Merlynn. He playfully bumps Merlynn's shoulder with his own as he speeks.

"What did I do?" Merlynn asks confused.

"You have made yet another delicious meal. Merlynn, are you alright?"

"Oh, thank you. I'm fine."

"No, my friend, thank you. Are you sure your alright? You seem a bit off."

"I have had this feeling since we left Camelot. A bad feeling. Something is going to happen, Lance, I just know it." Merlynn whispers to her friend.

"I'll help you keep an extra eye out for signs of trouble. Do not worry my friend. We will be fine." Merlynn gives a nod of approval and Lancelot gives his friend a warm smile before tuning back into Gwaine's story.

***

Sometime during the night, their camp is surrounded by bandits. The bandits wait for the early morning sunrise before they attack. The bandits are great in numbers, but their combat skills are weak. Arthur fights off two at the same time knocking one to the ground which leaves him able to run the other one through. Percival takes one bandit out after the other unfazed by the number of bandits coming at him. Elyan is no slouch either. Merlynn keeps a watchful eye on all her friends, using her magic to help when she can. She sees Lancelot and Gwaine back to back fighting off attackers. Leon has rushed to help Arthur.

Merlynn knows that her friends can make quick work of these bandits with little trouble. That is until she sees a man with a crossbow pop out from behind the tree line. He aims it right at Leon. Without thinking Merlynn springs into action running faster then she ever has before. "Leon!" Merlynn screams. The last thing she remembers is a sharp pain entering her stomach before everything goes dark.

It only takes seconds for Leon to process what's just happened. "MERLYNN!" He turns to the man who shot her and impales him with his sword. dead. Leon rushes to Merlynn's side checking her wound. The crossbow bolt is lodged in her abdomen. At Leon's cry, everyone looks to him and the wounded Merlynn. The smiles from their victory had all been wiped from their faces as they race to Merlynn's side. "Merlynn you idiot, why did you do that?" Leon asks. He shakes Merlynn slightly to try and wake her.

"What happened!?" Gwaine bellows out as he sprints over.

"He just...he... jumped in front of the bowman to save me."

"Let's not worry about it now. We need to stop the bleeding, or Merlynn is going to die." Lancelot, ever the voice of reason says.

Leon makes quick work of tearing up one of his tunics to stave off the bleeding. Gwaine unceremoniously rips Merlynn's bloodied tunic enough to reveal his chest. Or rather her chest. The king and his knights are shocked frozen for a few moments. They stare at Merlynn, her chest is quite small but sure enough, there are two vaguely defined breasts.

"We need to hurry," Lancelot is the first to recover from the initial shock, though his voice is low.

They finally manageto bind Merlynn's wound. Percival raps her up in his cloak and gently carriesher back to camp. Elyan runs ahead of the group to fix up Merlynn's bedroll. Heplaces his folded-up cloak where her head will lay. Percival gently placesMerlynn down and the others race about preparing to head back to Camelot and toGaius.