Merlin's magic (Oneshots) 1

royal blood part 2

During the following few days, Arthur wasn't sure, if he made a huge mistake.
Then again. Balinor HAD saved his life. Benefit of the doubt, am I right?
However, it did distract him a little.
Not enough to forget about Merlin's upcoming sword training. But enough to pay less attention to it than necessary.

Merlin and him met up at the training field early in the morning. Since Merlin was still his servant, obviously Merlin had to get up even earlier than Arthur. Not that Arthur thought about that much.
Because of this, Merlin looked half asleep.
They had about two hours, before he would have to start his duties for Gaius. And then his other duties. Such as helping Balinor and Hunith to prepare for their wedding.
And then helping Arthur again, with cleaning armor and all that sort of stuff that he hated to do so much.

But Merlin was here. And he was ready. And he was paying attention to every word Arthur was saying. Which was a lot different from the last time Arthur had tried to teach him basic self defense. When Merlin had just begun his job as manservant, Arthur had tested his sword skills. And was bitterly disappointed.
Though at the time, Arthur had been quite amused, he wasn't now.
Because Merlin's attacking method's were lacking immensely.
And yet, they were better than what Arthur had expected. But maybe he could explain that with all the experience Merlin had gathered in the last couple of years. Fighting bandits on literally every hunting trip they ever went on, was bound to teach him some things.

Come to think of it – Merlin had never been hurt on those missions so far. Lucky bastard.

"Merlin, it can't be that hard! You need to use both you wrists! Your stance is off. And -", Arthur sighed. Alright, okay. This was frustrating. Merlin would never get knight level by the time his mom got married to a noble.
"Come over here. I think I need to show you a differently."

Merlin was huffing heavily, from all the hits he had gotten. Those were going to leave a bruise. But if he wanted to be a knight, he would have to get used to that.
Merlin complied without complaint. Which was a rare thing in and on itself.

"What's wrong, Merlin? You're awfully quiet today."

Merlin avoided his eyes. He had all morning. He had since Arthur made that deal with Balinor.
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a girl, Merlin. Just come over here. I'm not going to bite your head off."
Merlin came forward, still a little groggy on his legs. Well, maybe it was a mistake to let him wear armor so early on in his training. It looked awfully ridiculous on him anyway.

Merlin bit his lip. He was thinking. Which was always a sign for trouble. Not that Merlin was causing trouble. But something else was causing trouble. Merlin had some kind of sixth sense for such things and Arthur could read on his face just how dangerous Merlin would think a certain situation was going to be.

"Are you still mad that I won't let you learn magic? I've told you already, magic is dangerous. I will not risk you to -"

Merlin smiled a little, and that stopped Arthur.
"I'm just worried about you. Because you are going to have your first lesson today.", Merlin said quietly.

There was much in those eyes. But Arthur kind of doubted that Merlin was worried about Arthur in a safety kind of sense.
"I'm just learning about magic, Merlin. I'm not letting him bewitch me. Or corrupt me. But you can come with, if that'll calm you down."
,Not that you have the time -', Arthur didn't say.
,Or that I have a chance against Balinor.', he didn't think.

"Don't worry, I will be there. Even though I doubt you could be corrupted. But what if Uther finds out? We have to keep this secret.
My father may be safe for now. But if the king finds out you are learning from him, -"