Chapter 6
MERLIN
“So” Ganymede, or rather, Gaius said while sewing some tears in Merlin's robes. “When did you arrive?”
Merlin shrugs without really paying much attention to the doctor.
“Just this morning, I wasted some time in the lower town, but Tink was irritated by my slowness and made me chase her to the castle.” He responds with his mouth full while eating all the porridge on his plate, he was hungry.
They were in Ganymede's medical ward at that moment, only a few hours had passed since Merlin had his little problem with the knights, but thanks to the gods above he managed to recover and finally reach his previously intended location.
“Strange, I thought you would only arrive next Monday?”
“That was the plan, but old Allan thought it wise not to piss you off, something about you hating Mondays, so he instructed me to come early.”
Gaius laughs, but it doesn't sound genuine, in fact, it almost sounds sad.
“That idiot, always too thoughtful for his own good, I'm surprised that even after all these years he still remembers how hard Mondays are for me. When you send him a letter, say thank you for me, please Merlin.”
“Promise” Merlin grumbles finishing his porridge, he wanted to keep quiet, but he was dying of curiosity and needed to ask. “After all, how did Allan and you meet? I have never heard of a Ganymede in the tribe.”
Gaius sighs and continues sewing.
“It was many years ago, boy.”
"How many?"
“Let’s just say your father wasn’t even born when Allan and I were friends.”
Merlin chokes on air, his father was only 100 when he died, the youngest Dragon King to die since Doha, Merlin's great-great-grandfather, if Gaius was as old as Merlin's father then the doctor really was powerful.
"Cool! I've never met someone so old before! Tell me how many spells you know?”
Gaius finishes his sewing and returns the clothes to the boy.
“Ah, thank you.” Merlin picked up the handles and folds before placing them in his cloth bag. Gaius watches him with a raised eyebrow.
"What it was?"
The old doctor points to the bag and gestures to Merlin.
“Aren’t you going to change your clothes?”
Confused by the suggestion, Merlin analyzes his nightgown, it was long enough to cover his feet and was white and simple overall, Will had gifted it to him when Merlin's height was already over 6'1 feet. Not understanding the problem with his clothes, Merlin arches his own eyebrow at the doctor. He just sighs in exasperation and waves his hand.
“Forget it, just go to bed.”
“But you haven’t even told me about your spells yet!”
Gaius scowled and approached Merlin threateningly, it worked very well despite Gaius being so short.
“Listen to me boy, magic is forbidden in the kingdoms of Camelot, I strongly suggest you stop talking about it out loud.”
Merlin rolls his eyes.
“If not what? Is Uther going to cut off my head like he did Mom?” Gaius recoils as if he had been hit, “I'm not afraid of that demon, I'll do whatever he wants and if he has any problems with me, I'll cut off his head myself!”
Gaius didn't look happy with what Merlin said, but it was okay, Merlin was king of a kingdom in ruins and a people without hope, staining his hands was the worst act his people could do, but in the name of everyone he loved, Merlin would gladly get his hands dirty!
“Go to your bed, Merlin. We’re going to look for a job for you in the castle and, to do that, you’ll have to look a little more presentable and more discreet too, so no magic.”
"But…"
“Merlin!” The young man is silent out of respect “Prince or not, you are under my protection and living under my roof, I demand complete respect from you, so until you can live alone, measure your words, I will not tolerate your disrespect and rebellion.”
It was irritating to have to wait to get justice, but his parents always demanded that Merlin respect his elders, Merlin would follow Gaius' rules, at least until he could stand on his own.
“Very well, I’ll do it your way. Thanks for the food.” He thanked her, getting up from the small chair.
Gaius gave no response, just a brief nod. Deeming that good enough, Merlin walked over to Tinkerbell's perch and picked the little bird off a large stack of books before walking to the small doorway where his room was.
Later that night, when Gaius had fallen asleep on top of his books and Tink had gone back to sleep on top of the wardrobe, Merlin took his time to look around his new home, it was all wood, clay and stones, it seemed so different from what Merlin was used to.
With a sigh, he got up from the bed, the bed too small for him to fit. He walked to the window and sat on the sill, his long legs moving elegantly in the white skirt of his nightgown. The moon illuminated him almost on purpose and owls hooted at him, everything was calm, but there still seemed to be something wrong. At first, when he arrived in Camelot, Merlin attributed these feelings to the blood spilled beneath these lands, but now, within the walls of the kingdom's great castle, Merlin knew something greater was happening.
MERLIN... MERLIN...
Waking up is easy, it's difficult to calm down and convince yourself that everything is ok.
Triiiim-triiiim.
Tinkerbell chirped loudly and shrilly, it was still dark outside, but the moon was just about to disappear and give way to the sun, so Merlin decided not to go back to sleep.
“Merlin, good morning, what are you doing up at this hour? It’s barely past six in the morning.” The old doctor was stirring something under the fire and seemed more nervous than surprised to see Merlin standing.
Merlin shrugs. Tinkerbell chirps as a way of saying she was going out and flies out the window.
“I’m fine, just a few nightmares, nothing major.” You lied, Ganymede… Gaius, the old man, seemed very nervous to see Merlin standing, this wasn't just worry, Merlin would check the food next time.
Gaius seems to want to say something, but thinks better of it and leaves it at that.
“Well, since you are already so wide awake, sit down, I made boiled eggs.”
They both sat at the table, Gaius comfortably in his chair and Merlin a little uncomfortable on his stool, honestly, being so tall was inconvenient at times.
He waits for Gaius to turn his face away for a moment before using magic to check something in the food, it seems like there's nothing wrong, so Merlin allows himself to eat a little. The two spend the next few minutes talking about the rules Merlin would have to follow while with Gaius and the jobs Merlin could do to fund his stay until he could support himself.
It's almost seven o'clock before Tinkerbell returns to the medical wing, and Gaius gets up and goes to get a basket full of small vials and jars.
“It’s time to start your first task of the day” he explained, “here, you will make deliveries” Gaius starts pointing to the bottles in the basket. “Hollyhock and fever few for Lady Pernny in the east hall of the castle; Artichokes for the young Reeve from the lowlands, she is the king's stable boy, but she has recently had a son so she won't be able to come for the medicine, be a good boy and give it to her..."
“And how will I know where...” Gaius interrupts him with a light slap on the arm.
“Don’t interrupt an old man talking, Merlin, don’t you know it’s bad luck?”
"Sorry."
Gaius continued explaining and ignoring the young ex-prince's sullen pout.
“As I was saying, before you interrupt me, there will be someone waiting for you at the entrance to the lowlands, his name is Thomas, he will show you the way.” He takes the last bottle. “And this is for Sir Owen, the old man is as blind and deaf as a bat, so be a good boy and warn him not to eat it all at once.”
The young man nodded bored and recited everything to himself a second time, just to check that he understood everything: “Malachy and mallow for Lady Pernny, anchovies for young Reeve and huckleberries for Sir Owen, okay, leave it to me.” He turns around, but Gaius calls out to him again.
"Yes?"
“There is one last thing.” Gaius looks suspiciously at the open door and walks towards his nephew. “Get down young man, you know I’m not as tall as you, come.” Merlin bows and waits for the old doctor to say what is so important. “Listen carefully, son, as I will only remind you once.”
Merlin nods, Tink who has been on his shoulder the whole time, does the same.
“There is a false bottom in this basket, underneath it there is a… well, there is a special medicine, after making all your deliveries, I want you to go to the royal gardens”
Merlin opens his mouth to interrupt, but Gaius shuts him up with a raise of his eyebrows.
“You'll know where it is when you see it, it's on the north wing of the first floor, it has a heavy reddish brown Jatobá door, there's a symbol drawn in gold on it that makes it impossible to miss. Go to the door, knock three times and wait, someone will open it and take the delivery; Don’t say anything, just go and leave the medicine in the person’s hand, you hear?”
The young man and his bird had a curious look on their faces, but they pretended otherwise so the doctor wouldn't fight with them.
“Leave the medicine and leave, understood, sir.”
“Good, now go. Oh, and leave Reeve’s medicine for last, she’s further away.”
"OK."
“And don’t forget to tell Sir Owen…”
“Gaius!” The old man is silent, “I already understand, relax, I will do everything right, I promise.” A roll of the eyes and he turns to leave.
“Merlin…”
The boy sighs, eager to get out and stretch his legs, but turns to the older man.
"Yes sir?"
“I hope with all my heart that you are an honorable prince, I am gladly welcoming you into my home, boy, please don’t make me regret it.”
The atmosphere becomes heavy, but Merlin nods, all excitement gone from his face.
“I understand, sir, I won’t do anything against Camelot for now.”
Moving around the castle was easier than he expected, Tink showed the way, and he quickly followed her, memorizing the corridors they passed through. He went up the East stairs to the second floor, there he knocked on the room with the Pernny family crest and waited until he could hand over the lady who slept there.
The next delivery was to Sir Owen, thank heavens he was a 78-year-old retired knight and widower who still lived in the castle. To get to the old man's quarters, Merlin needed to go down to the lowest floors and close to the dungeons, there was the large wing of the king's men where only the old knights lived.
Merlin smiles at the elderly man and holds out the blueberries to him, Merlin has to guide his wrinkled hand to take it and would have walked away if Tink hadn't pecked his forehead to remind him of Gaius's warning.
"Ah yes, Sir Owen, Gaius told you not to..." The blueberries disappeared in the man's throat before Merlin could finish speaking, disappearing as if they were the last berries he would ever eat.
The young man and his bird watched the scene helplessly before moving again.
“Eh... I'm sure everything will be fine.” He assures someone, maybe the old man, maybe himself or maybe his canary, that he is now looking at him with resignation. Merlin gives the man an apologetic look as he leaves, not one the old man saw.
His next direction was to the lowlands, or, the poorest lands in the kingdom. He crossed the west bridge and walked a few steps before he saw a young man waving at him.
“Hey, Merlin?” He questioned, looking up as they both approached.
“Yes, and you are Thomas, right?”
“Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you my lord, Gaius and my mother told me a lot about you, well almost everything, sorry if it's impolite, but… weren't you a woman?”
Merlin laughed.
“Ah, yes, I usually am, but I thought it would be more prudent to be a man, at least for now, I need to be discreet and, well, long hair like mine would draw a lot of attention, but very short hair too, so it’s better anyway.” It was a lie, a lot of the things Merlin had been saying over the last few days were lies, it was part of seeking justice, he supposes.
The brown-haired boy nodded in agreement with all the easy lies he heard from the mouth of the man he adored as a prince. Thomas began to guide Merlin while introducing everything around him. It didn't take long for them to become friends, and Thomas treated him kindly at all times, explaining where everything was and who Ganymede's most frequent customers were.
Reeve received the medicine for his son, and Thomas took Merlin to the makeup stand he had seen the day he arrived.
“Oh, there you are, our beloved lord!” A fragile voice cheered, and soon the figure of a small lady emerged from behind the many pots of face paint.
“He is as wonderful as we imagined, mother, very cute and polite, you will love him, I mean, even more, of course.”
The old lady's name was Mary Collins, Merlin could feel magic leaking from her like he had never felt from anyone before, it was dark but didn't seem evil. So when Thomas went off to talk to one of his friends, Merlin couldn't help but ask her.
“Lady Mary...”
“Just Mary is fine, my lord.”
“Oh, right. Mary, if you don’t mind me asking, from what source does your magic come?” She urgently ties his mouth shut, almost knocking him over in the process of leaning on him.
“My prince! Who told you such nonsense? Of course there is no magic here, we are in Camelot, it would be illegal.”
“But…” She knocks him to the ground and covers his mouth tighter.
“By the gods my lord, although Gaius was right to worry about you, you don’t know how to be discreet.” Mary withdrew her hand and sighed tiredly. “I apologize, my lord, but I panicked, you understand, right?”
“Of course, Mary, I apologize, I was reckless.”
“Oh dear, what should we do with you? You will be killed if you keep asking questions like that.”
He lowers his eyes, feigning regret, he didn't want to risk telling his plans to the woman and hearing the same thing he heard from Gaius.
“I ask for forgiveness.”
Mary looked at him and sighed before waving her hands in dismissal, a very common act that Allan always did when he wanted to ease Merlin's worries.
“It’s okay, sir, Gaius must have tried to warn me about his magic, but I believe I misunderstood.” She gets distracted by a few vials before sighing and turning to him again. “Anyway, tell me, what do you mean by ‘source’? I didn’t even do spells, around you.”
The young man becomes animated again and lowers his voice to respond.
“I've been sensitive to magic since I was born and, well, you have a very dark but somehow not evil one. It makes sense?"
The old lady's face softens at the boy's childish explanation, she grabs his arm and gently pulls him to her height.
“I don’t know how you found out, darling, but in a way you’re right. I’m a W, you understand?”
“A W?”
She nods sagely as if Merlin understands, but he doesn't.
“I come from a lineage of ancient W’s who from the beginning made deals with creatures on the other side, if you know what I mean” His eyebrows rise and fall as if they both share a secret. Too bad Merlin had no idea what she meant.
“Mary!” A young woman with swollen eyes appeared in front of the tent and seemed to look for Mary among all the bottles and jars.
“Ah, a customer! Listen, my lord, I won't be able to talk any more today, however, if you are interested in my skills, come back tomorrow, it will be a pleasure to have you as my apprentice if you want to know more about us W women.” She whispers. "Between you and me, my son isn't the best when it comes to these skills, of course it's not his fault since we W are usually just women, but something tells me you'll do just fine."
And so he's being dismissed and heading back to the castle, all the while thinking about what Mary meant by being a W. It's only when he's passing through the courtyard that a voice is able to snap him out of his immersion. “Don’t stop moving, Tobias, I’m teaching you a lesson by not giving you a rest!” The voice was booming, loud and clear for all to hear, a voice that would frighten even the bravest of men, nothing like Merlin's. The owner of said voice couldn't be more different, either. Appearing to be 5'9 tall and weighing more in muscle mass than in fat, looking at the imposing figure, Merlin could not imagine anything other than the sun itself, strong and bright, attracting everyone to orbit around it. “Tobias, stand up!”
The man clothed in the sun sneered, his powerful voice brimming with venom and his hands hurling daggers at the shield of a poor fallen man.
It was only when said shield rolled out of the man's hands - Tobias - that Merlin managed to divert his attention from the human sun.
The men orbiting around the nobleman - as there was no way the blonde could be anything other than a nobleman - laughed at the poor boy's situation, which infuriated Merlin.
“Hey, that’s enough for today, don’t you think, my friend?” Everything was dead silent, not that he minded, but it was surprising, even a dark-skinned young woman had stopped working to look at the scene before her.
“What did you say?” A toothy grin appeared on the sun-clad man's face, Merlin felt a sudden urge to punch him.
“Leave the guy alone, you already showed everyone who the alpha male is and all that nonsense, now leave him alone.”
The idiot, because calling himself the sun was offensive to the star-king, seemed perplexed, as if he were too stupid to understand that someone had told him 'no'. The blonde approached, eyes half-closed and thick eyebrows furrowed in amused confusion.
“Do I know you?”
“No,” Merlin shifts his basket to his other arm and holds out his hand. “I am Merlin.”
The others behind the noble laugh and, out of the corner of his eye, Merlin catches a glimpse of the young woman from before cooing at him.
“Then I don’t know you.” From the provocative tone, Merlin realized that the blonde was mocking him and lowered his hand.
"No."
“Yet you called me friend.”
“Well, my mistake, silly mistake, I know, after all I would never have a friend who was as much of an asshole as you.”
“Or I would be friends with someone as stupid and nosy as you” He laughed, again the crooked smile graced his lips, they were beautiful lips. "Tell me, Merlin, has anyone ever warned you that it's not wise to mess with someone stronger than you?"
Merlin bent down to eye level with the blonde man.
“And has anyone ever told you not to attack the weakest, where is your honor?”
The idiot licked his lips and the smile disappeared for good, looking closely, Merlin could almost tell that there were fangs hidden by the pink mouth.
“Do you know how to walk on your knees, Merlin?”
“I never had to, men prefer to kneel for me.”
The predatory smile returned, but it didn't show his teeth.
“Want to find out what it’s like to be on your knees?”
Tink, who watched everything from above her friend's curls, shook her head resignedly and flew away, she already imagined where everything would end.
Merlin looked the man up and down and batted his eyelashes twice before laughing scornfully.
“Don’t you think I’m too much for you, little man?” As soon as the mockery left Merlin's lips, everyone watching went back to their tasks or simply walked away as quickly as possible, but while everyone looked horrified, the man dressed in the sun seemed to be very amused by the situation.
“That was an insult, I could arrest him for that.” Suddenly the idiot seemed excited about the situation and Merlin had a terrible feeling, but now that the shit was done, there was no going back.
“And who would you be to make such a threat, the king?”
The blonde's laughter intensified, and suddenly Merlin was being pulled by the collar of his tunic, coming face to face with the other man.
“No, I’m his son, Arthur.”
Call him crazy, but Merlin couldn't contain his laughter as he was led away by the guards, he should have been worried about causing problems for Gaius, but it was ridiculous how easily he got himself into with the damned prince of Camelot.