A Manservant's Loyalty (Merlin BBC OneShots)

Blood

Merlin wasn't impressed, which admittedly isn't an uncommon state for the servant to be in. He had plans to have the evening to himself, visit his beloved. a night at the lake would of done Merlin the world of good but Arthur happened, and now he was serving for the royal family at a small, intimate feast consisting of the pendragon family along with a few high noble men.

Merlin knew the only reason he was present was to keep Arthur and Morgana entertained, the two siblings hated nights like this and made sure if they had to endure it then they would have their own fun. That fun coming around every time they call on Merlin to serve them, a witty comment spewing quietly from the servant's mouth as they banter quietly between the three through out the long, dragged out night.

It was nearing the end of the dinner fest when trouble struck, the doors of the privet dinning room getting slammed open, revealing a middle aged woman, her eyes glowing gold. Merlin instinctively pulled Arthur's chair backwards slightly so he could stand in front of the prince.

Arthur wrapped an arm around his servant pulling him back, covering both of their faces as a bright light flashed, sending the world black.

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When Merlin came too, his head hurt slightly but what was more concerning is that he couldn't feel the ground under his feet, it was a quick realisation from the ache in his wrists that he, along with the pendragon family were suspended in the air by shackles, which Merlin could feel the magic coming off them.

"Well good morning your highness's, had a good sleep?" A lady asked with a grin, Merlin glanced to his side where Arthur was, Uther and Morgana hanging beside the prince, struggling against their restraints in slight panic.

"I want to tell you a story, one our precious king might know." The witch said with a grin as she stood in front of Uther, patting his cheek before walking to her rocking chair. Merlin felt his stomach drop having a gut feeling of what this story might entail.

"Once upon a time, a king wanted a heir to his throne, but he knew he couldn't reproduce, so he asked a witch to make his wife pregnant with an heir." She began, a grin widening on her lips at the protests of Uther, her eyes glowing gold, making the room silent of Uther's voice. Merlin's eyes glanced at Arthur's face, confusion clouding his eyes.

"You see Arthur, everything comes with a price. The price of new life is the death of another. A price that your father didn't agree to, when it was revealed that his beautiful wife would pay the price. Anyone else he wouldn't of cared and sorcery would still be in Camelot, but it didn't go his way so he had a temper tantrum, killing thousands of innocent lives. All because he wanted a heir and didn't want to deal with the consequences." The witch stated standing from her seat and grabbing a blade off the table beside her. Merlin struggled slightly against his restraints, knowing that his magic should be powerful enough to cancel out what ever spell she had on his cuffs, as her attention was on Arthur.

"So uther here, isn't your father. He raised you sure, but blood wise you share nothing between you." The witch stated harshly, a sardonic grin covering her face. "Hypocritical if you ask me, All that hatred of everything magical, kills anything that has the slightest hint of magic yet his beloved son, the product of magic stands by his side." The witch made her way over to Uther first, pressing her blade against his cheek.

"Don't worry uther, I'll do you a favour. You see you killed my son, he was using magic to help his father bring in the harvest for your food tax. We were a poor family and didn't have enough gold for a donkey, so everything was done by hand and a little bit of magic. When you outlawed magic, you killed my son in front of me, burning him at the pryer. You're so called knights beat my husband so badly he never recovered." The witch said putting pressure on the blade, breaking skin.