Tightening my long black puffer jacket around me I walked against the strong wind. Snow flew around me partly because of the flakes falling from the sky in addition to the old snow that fell a few days ago being swept up once again. I sniffled and wished to pull my hat down but I didn’t want to take my hands out of my pockets. I got to my friend Arthur’s door and used my foot to knock on the door. After a few seconds passed the door swung open and Arthur’s sister Morgana stuck her head out. “Ahh Merlin! It’s good to see you,” she exclaimed. “Don’t worry, Arthur’s almost ready.” I laughed and walked through the door to the warm, cozy apartment. My glasses fogged up making it hard to see so I took them off.
Arthur came out of his room in a nice red long sleeve under a gray military jacket. I raised an eyebrow at the fall outfit, “you do realize that it’s very cold, right?”
“With all of the hot air he exhales he’ll be fine,” Morgana teased making Arthur glare at her. I rolled my eyes at the relationship between the Pendragon siblings. “Stay safe alright, it’s dangerous to walk in Belfast after dark.”
“Don’t worry ‘Gana, I’ve got the police’s profiler escorting me to the pub,” Arthur snickered.
I rolled my eyes and grabbed a thicker coat for him. “I can’t protect you from the cold, and trust me it’s cold.”
Arthur put on his coat and we waved to Morgana as we exited the apartment. I saw him in the corner of my eye shivering and smiled, “Let’s just hurry up. If we take the side road it’ll be faster.”
He smiled, “I knew there was a reason I kept you around, Merlin.” I bumped into him with my shoulder not wanting to take my hands out because of the harsh wind.
“Why couldn’t you’ve picked a nicer day to plan our get together?” I groan as the wind hit my face making my eyes water.
“Well this is Gwen’s free night, and it just wouldn’t be the same!” We laughed for a while but soon we came to a stop and walked in comfortable silence.
After a few minutes I swear I could hear someone walking behind us. I glance back but the snow was too heavy to make out anyone. Steadily I pick up my pace and glance behind us once again. “Is everything alright Merlin?”
I give him a smile, “it’s probably nothing.” However, I couldn’t shake the feeling. Thankfully Arthur just sped up as well without another word. Soon we were a good 15 minutes from the pub when the crunching of snow grew louder. I turned quickly only for my leg to be swept under me making me fall ungracefully to the ground.
The frosty ground attached to me as Arthur yelled out, “MER-” I watched as Arthur quickly turned around being hit on the head. He fell down next to me and I turned my gaze to the attacker.
The man was shaking, whether it was in fear or because of the cold I wasn’t sure. His eyes were crazed and I had the feeling he wasn’t sober. However, when he pulled out the gun I realized he must have kind of planned it. Meaning that the man was most likely high off of the adrenaline pulsing through him. I felt Arthur tense up beside me but I set my gaze on the man. “Give me your money!” He shouted angrily and instead of making the situation worse I simply reached down to my pockets.
“We don’t want any trouble,” I found my wallet and tossed it to the ground. I saw Arthur eye me up like I was crazy as the man bent down to pick up the wallet. Once he was at my level I smacked the back of his head making him faceplant.
I swiftly got to my feet and I was able to push the man onto the ground. He cursed and the gun flew up but instead of pointing it at me he faced it towards Arthur. The gun went off and Arthur let out a cry of pain making my vision go red. I grabbed the man’s hand that was holding the gun and twisted it so he dropped the item. Thankfully I was able to catch it with my other hand and aim it at the man. “Please I’m sorry don’t hurt me,” the man was shaking and I knew he wouldn’t do anything else to us. I saw pain flare up in his face as I punched him in the face and he fell to the ground out cold. I turned towards Arthur who had wrapped the wound with a chunk of his shirt on his upper thigh. I stuffed the gun in my pocket and carefully helped my best friend to his feet.
We hobbled along away from the man knocked out on the ground. “We should call the ambulance for him,” Arthur muttered.
“We should be worrying about you, not him,” All I wanted to do was leave him to freeze, not get him help.
“Merlin, we can’t just leave him,” Arthur argued and I cursed his forgiving heart.
“He hurt you,” I whisper, not trusting to stay strong for much longer.
Arthur stopped our pathetic hobbling and looked back at the attacker. “And you hurt him… we should help him. He could’ve just needed some money. What if he has kids at home who need food? Or what if he doesn’t have a place to stay and needed money to get out of the wind? We don’t know his life. You’re a good man Merlin, let’s help him.”
I sighed because I knew Arthur was right, but I just couldn’t make myself help him. “You can call him an ambulance but I’m not going to. Your injury is my concern…”
“You PUNCHED him! YOU did, not anyone else! Merlin we could’ve just walked away and yet you hit him!” I flinched as Arthur yelled at me, “I thought you worked with the police! Don’t you realize that hurting others isn’t the first thing to do!”
I looked at the snow drifting around us and let Arthur lean on me. He slowly made us walk towards the attacker and I simply helped him. Once we got to the man Arthur sat down on the ground and checked his pulse and the back of his head. I let him and went over to my wallet picking it off the frozen ground. Soon Arthur was on the phone asking for an ambulance and I sighed looking at the man on the ground. He was starting to wake up you could tell from the shaking.
Arthur hung up the phone with a small smile, “don’t worry they’ll be here as fast as they can.”
“Who,” the attacker mumbled shaking harshly on the ground.
“The ambulance, you have a broken nose. And well, I can’t walk you there.” Arthur tried for a joke but the man simply paled.
The man sat up tugging his jacket around himself even tighter. “Why are you helping me? I was trying to rob you.”
“Because it’s the right thing to do. You’re hurt and need help, as simple as that.” I smiled for the first time since all of this because of Arthur's kindness. Arthur caught my eye and tilted his head towards the guy.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have hit you,” I whisper. Looking down at him for a few more seconds before I get on the ground next to Arthur and him. “What’s your name?”
“Gilli,” he whispered.
“I’m Merlin and this is Arthur,” Gilli gave me a surprised look and he frowned.
“I’m sorry for everything... Thank you for helping me, most wouldn’t have done that.”
“I don’t like you, however that doesn’t mean I can hurt you… we’ll call it even. Is that alright?” He nods and Arthur smiles as the sound of the ambulance breaks the quiet night.
