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Arthur Pendragon, Crown Prince of the shining kingdom Camelot, had had on the whole a blessed life, as princes tend to do, aside from the fact that his mother had died giving him birth and his father King Uther had never smiled again.
Well, that was an exaggeration on Arthur's part. His father had smiled, just not with his eyes. At least not until a few months ago when a scheming harlot had turned up at Camelot's court, entwined Uther in her wiles and Uther had suddenly regained the ability with a soppy expression that made Arthur feel quite ill and also concerned at the sudden change in behaviour. And Arthur had been completely right to be concerned since just one week after marrying, Uther had been struck down with a mysterious disease that Gaius the healer couldn't seem to fight, the harlot Nimueh was ruling as Queen with an appallingly smug look on her face and she was blatantly manoeuvring to have her son from a previous marriage (and Arthur pitied whoever that poor sod of a husband had been) declared Uther's heir.
Clearly that was ridiculous. Arthur was Crown Prince and always would be and he'd bloody earned the title well past simply being Uther's son, what with all the winning tournaments, leading men in battle, killing peasant-terrorising monsters and constantly living up to his father's high expectations besides. Stupid Sir Valiant the Harlot's Son hadn't done any of that, had he?
Unfortunately, when Arthur had pointed this out to, well, everyone at the top of his lungs, his life suddenly became a whole lot less blessed. It rapidly became apparent that Nimueh hadn't just been moving her personal guards into the castle for her own comfort and security and that she'd probably had a lot more to do with Uther's decision to send the soldiers and knights loyal to him and Arthur off to battle bandits than Arthur had realised at the time.
Hence Arthur currently stalking furiously around the limited space available in his own bloody dungeon. Though if stupid Sir Valiant hadn't held a knife to Arthur's foster sister Morgana's throat, the coward, they would never have managed to bring Arthur down. Arthur would certainly never have hidden behind a woman like that to win a fight. Particularly not behind Morgana, who could be quite terrifying and was probably giving stupid Sir Valiant hell right now. Unless they'd locked her up as well, though if they had it must have been in her rooms because if she was down in the dungeons Arthur would have heard the tantrum by now.
Admittedly Arthur had thrown his own, very manly, tantrum on being locked up and there was no way he was going to be kept prisoner like this, but since he'd already discovered that the cell bars were very strong and unbendable, the stone walls well constructed and unmoveable, the window barred and impossible to get to and the new guards annoyingly impervious to both bribes and threats when they'd brought him bread and water, he was forced to give up on the escape plans for a moment.
His father definitely hadn't skimped on the dungeon-constructing front, which was admirable, but when Arthur got out, he was going to make damn sure all of them had a way out that only he knew about in future, just in case.
Arthur had gnawed his way through the hard piece of bread he'd been given, more out of boredom, sheer stubbornness and a need to keep his strength up than because it was particularly edible, when he heard footsteps approaching round the corner to his cell. A few seconds later, Nimueh appeared and Arthur flung himself at the bars in a fury.
"You! Let me out right now, you, you evil harpy!"
Nimueh just smiled slyly and looked Arthur up and down like he was a horse she was thinking of buying. "Hmm, let you out," she said eventually coyly, "I don't think you really want that, princeling. Because you see, when I do, it will be to kill you," she went on with a wide smile and Arthur glared.
"If you were going to kill me, you would have already," he argued as confidently as he could. "Release me now and leave with your stupid son and I won't hunt you both down like dogs when my knights return."
"Ah, but your death is all about the timing," Nimueh said, smirking again. "The king is tied to the land, and the land is tied to the king," she sing-songed and Arthur blinked at her. Was the woman addled? "– and controlling that magic is… difficult," Nimueh finished.
Magic? What? "What are you babbling about?" Arthur snapped.
"You're already tied in, Crown Prince Arthur," Nimueh mocked. "If your father names Valiant crown prince instead before he dies, then no intervention will be required. But he is proving more stubborn than I had anticipated."
"Good," Arthur interrupted her fiercely. "Your son isn't fit to rule, and whatever you have done to my father, he knows it."
"And so you will live, until Uther dies," Nimueh said with a cold smile and Arthur wished fervently she would come a little closer so he could grab her and wring her neck. "And then, well… sacrificing a brand new king will give me all the power I need to raise my Valiant up."
"I'm going to get out, and I'm going to kill you both," Arthur growled, his hands clenched so tightly on the bars that his arms ached.
"Or," Nimueh continued, ignoring Arthur's threat completely and smiling sweetly, "you can make it easy for everyone. Renounce your claim to the throne, and I'll let you live. What do you say?"
Arthur stared at her until her smile faltered. "Never," he swore. "Camelot is mine, and I will never renounce that."
"Fine," Nimueh snarled thrusting her hand out and Arthur was ripped away from the bars and thrown back into the wall with a painful thump. "Then you will die in more pain than you can imagine," and by the time Arthur had got his wind back and struggled to his feet she had gone.
Bollocks. That was actual magic. Nimueh… was a witch. An evil witch, and Arthur and Camelot were in so much trouble.
Damn it, Arthur should have known. He'd always thought magic was simply a matter of peasant superstition before this, but there was no way Uther would have got so besotted without an enchantment and that illness obviously wasn't natural either or Gaius would have found a cure. How had none of them realised something unnatural was going on before?
Come to think of it, magic would explain why Nimueh looked about twenty-four but had a twenty-eight year old son too. Arthur had always thought that was a bit odd.
He gave the cell bars a frustrated kick that hurt his foot, and collapsed onto a pile of straw, folding his arms across his chest and glowering.
Two seconds later, Arthur sprang back to his feet and pressed up against the wall, shielding his eyes against the pillar of sparkling white light that had suddenly appeared in the back of the cell.
Great, more magic? Arthur had only just accepted the possibility of it existing; he wasn't exactly ready to fight off a spell attack. He'd just decided to see what throwing his wooden plate at the light would accomplish when the light slowly died away to reveal a young man standing in its place with his eyes scrunched closed and a nervous expression on his face.
Good. Arthur could hit a man. In fact Arthur really quite wanted to hit someone right then.
He adjusted his grip on the plate and realised the man, who was still lit up in an ethereal sort of way, was muttering to himself. "Fear not, fair princess, you shall go to the ball? No, maybe too direct, um, come on, just think of an opener…"
"What on earth are you talking about?" Arthur snapped in confusion and the light finally stopped completely so the dungeon was only lit by torches again as the man's eyes flew open in shock.
"Aaah!" he yelped and rapped out "Fear not, fair princess, you shall go to the ball!" all in a rush immediately afterwards.
Arthur just stared at him.
"Um," the man said after a moment of looking around the cell, "this doesn't seem to be a kitchen?"
Arthur raised an eyebrow and leaned casually back against the wall, letting the plate drop down by his leg. Whoever this magically-appearing person was, he was clearly too useless to be dangerous to Arthur. "Well spotted," he drawled in reply. "What's your next trick?"
The man's blue eyes focused on Arthur and he frowned, looking about as confused as Arthur was starting to feel. "And, and… you aren't a princess," he said and stuck a hand in his black hair to clutch at his head.
Arthur applauded as sarcastically as he could manage (which was very sarcastically). "I'm in the presence of genius. Whatever gave it away?"
The man glared and folded his arms. "Well there's no need to get snippy."
"No. Need. To get snippy," Arthur repeated dangerously, standing up away from the wall and the man backed off a step. "My father is bedridden and dying slowly from a magical sickness, my charming new stepwitch is ruling my kingdom in his place, her son is usurping my right to the crown, I'm locked in a dungeon waiting to be killed and now I've been joined by a prattling magical idiot! Snippy is the least of what there's a need for!"
The man had started to look interested rather than nervous somewhere in the middle of Arthur's rant and by the end he was frowning thoughtfully. "Okay, some of that sounds right…"
"Excuse me? What about any of this is right?" Arthur shouted but the man had his hands on his hips and was studying Arthur with a dubious expression, ignoring his words completely.
"… but the whole muscled, manly thing definitely isn't right at all," he went on, waving a hand at Arthur dismissively and making Arthur glare at him. "I think there's been some kind of mistake. Hold on," he added and just as Arthur was drawing breath to explain just how much of a mistake everything was, and possibly throw the plate at the infuriating git after all, he vanished again leaving only a couple of glittery bits in the air to show he'd been there at all.
"…that cheeky sod," Arthur spluttered, swiping at a sparkle that was about to land on his nose. "How dare he… and now I'm talking to myself, bloody wonderful, I've probably gone insane from imprisonment and imagined the whole thing."
He'd barely finished speaking when the pillar of white light appeared again, though this time it vanished much faster to reveal the same man standing there with a wide grin and his hands out in a grand gesture.
"Fear not, fai… um, grumpy prince, you shall go to the ball!"
This time Arthur did throw the plate, but sadly the man ducked.
"Hey! What was that for?" he asked indignantly when he straightened up and Arthur threw his hands up in frustration.
"Because I felt like it, you stupid clot!"
"Don't call me stupid," the man said, pointing a warning finger at Arthur. "or I'll make you sorry."
"What are you going to do, sparkle at me? I'll call you anything I bloody well like, I'm the prince," Arthur snapped back.
"A prince in a dungeon. Though perhaps this lovely attitude explains why nobody is rushing to get you out," the man sneered, glaring at Arthur, and Arthur couldn't quite stop the flinch at his words. His knights would try to rescue him, he was sure, if they weren't a hundred miles away and totally unaware. He couldn't blame the servants for not risking going up against Nimueh's men, Nimueh would make sure Arthur was dead before his knights returned (if they ever did) and who knew what would happen to the kingdom and Morgana then?
The situation was dire enough without a wizard-person mocking Arthur for it.
"Get out, whoever you are," Arthur said in a flat voice and he sat down on the straw, facing deliberately away. He heard some shuffling noises but he didn't see any white lights in the corner of his eyes.
"Okay, look. That was unfair and I'm sorry," the man offered quietly after a minute. "Can we maybe start again?"
Arthur sighed and swivelled around to face him, finding that the man had also sat down cross-legged on the stone floor. "Just tell me who you are and what you want," he said wearily.
"Absolutely," the man said cheerfully. "I'm Merlin, and I'm your fairy godmoth-father."
"You're my fairy godmother," Arthur said disbelievingly.
"Godfather," Merlin corrected, with a stubborn look and Arthur tilted his head and smirked.
"I've never heard of a godfather, only fairy godmothers. Shouldn't you be a woman?" he asked sweetly and Merlin scowled.
"Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean we don't exist. And you should have been a princess, so don't start."
"Right. Godfather. Fairy one. Whatever," Arthur said with a shrug. "What good does that do me? And don't say that I shall go to a ball," he added before Merlin could reply. "You've said it three times already and it sounded rubbish every single time."
"Yes, but you shall," Merlin said earnestly, leaning forward and Arthur gave him a baleful look. "I mean, if you want to, that is," he trailed off and Arthur threw a bit of straw at him. "Would you stop throwing things?" Merlin said in annoyance, batting it away.
"Not until you start making sense and stop being useless," Arthur growled. "Why the hell would I want to go to a ball? I want my rightful place back and Nimueh dead, not a dance, fairy."
"Um. Yes, good point," Merlin said, looking slightly discouraged. "Sorry. This whole situation wasn't quite what I was expecting," he went on, gesturing illustratively at Arthur and the cell, "and I didn't really have time to come up with another entrance line that fitted. But I'm here to help you however I can. That's really what I'm for, you see."
All right, so help of any kind, even from a possibly useless fairy godparent was better than no help at all. Probably. Wait a minute… Arthur narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Not what you expected? Shouldn't you have known if you're who you say you are?"
"Uh, well," Merlin said sheepishly.
"Are you sure you're a fairy? You don't really look like one," Arthur pressed and Merlin glared at him.
"Of course I'm a fairy! I sparkle, look," he said, waving a hand and trailing glittery light in its wake.
"Oh, very impressive. Anyway, I heard it was vampires that sparkled," Arthur argued.
"Vampires? That's ridiculous, what kind of rubbish myths does your country have?"
"– and you still haven't proved anything."
"Aha," Merlin said, pointing at Arthur, "I've got a wand. I'll show you," he said and started fumbling at his belt.
"Whoa, wait a minute. That had better not be a euphemism," Arthur protested just as Merlin produced a pointy stick thing from behind his back and waved it at him.
"What?" Merlin said as Arthur sighed in relief and then he went bright red. "Oh! No, you dreadful prat, it's a wand, a magic wand!"
"So I see. Does it do anything more useful than produce sparkly light?" Arthur inquired and Merlin stopped waving it in an annoyed way and looked down, biting his lip. "Merlin," Arthur prompted. "Something useful? That would mean I might actually believe your sorry tale?"
"Well. I can use it to turn a pumpkin into a carriage?" Merlin offered tentatively and Arthur dropped his head into his hands in despair. That was it. He was going to rot in this dungeon until Nimueh killed him and then Camelot was doomed.
"A pumpkin. Into a carriage?"
"Yes," Merlin said and when Arthur looked up at him he had an expression somewhere between embarrassment and defiance. "It's quite an effective spell, it lasts for hours. Or until midnight, depending."
"Merlin. Do you see any pumpkins around here? I'm in a sodding dungeon not a vegetable patch!"
"Uh. Yes. Maybe not so useful right now, that one," Merlin conceded. "I can… turn rags into fancy clothes?"
"How about making a sword, can you manage that?" Arthur said, deciding just to ignore Merlin's last comment.
"…maybe?"
"You have no idea what you're doing, do you," Arthur stated flatly and Merlin shoved up off the floor in one quick movement.
"Fine," he snapped and paced backwards and forwards, waving his wand agitatedly, "you're right! I have no idea! This was my first assignment and they said it would be easy, that I'd get something classic. So I learned all about dresses and shoes and pretty things because classic always means 'princess in waiting', and then somehow I ended up with you, with the muscles and the hair and the temper, but I have to see it through because apparently it's my destiny," and Arthur leaned back warily because Merlin's pacing had speeded up and his eyes were glowing golden and Arthur thought it was probably best not to get in his way just then, "and I will see it through and you will get your place back and everything will be brilliant," and Arthur ducked out of the way of a silver stream of sparks shooting out of the wand as Merlin turned back and stopped in place, shoulders slumping, "it will work out somehow, I just… don't know how yet," he finished and bit his lip.
Arthur looked up at him from the middle of the great pile of lavender that the straw had turned into at the end of Merlin's speech, caught his eye and nodded slowly. Then he sneezed.
"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to… the lavender," Merlin stuttered and Arthur lifted his hand to stop him.
"No, it's fine. I like lavender," he said, thinking he should probably keep Merlin calmed down. He sneezed again and Merlin twitched. "Though maybe not quite this much," Arthur admitted, because even though he did like lavender, that much of it in a small cell was a bit overpowering.
Merlin waved his wand and muttered something and most of the lavender turned back into straw with just a few sprigs of purple flowers scattered through it. His eyes turned from gold back into blue as he did it and Arthur let out a breath in relief. He supposed that was enough proof Merlin really was magical and not utterly powerless after all.
"So. That wasn't unimpressive," Arthur said after Merlin had sat back down and propped his arms on his knees. Merlin shrugged nonchalantly but one corner of his mouth turned up a little so Arthur thought he was probably pleased. "Why don't you tell me some of the other stuff you can do and I'll come up with a plan."
"We'll come up with a plan," Merlin said firmly and Arthur shrugged.
"Fine, if it makes you feel better I suppose you can join in when you think you know the words," he said in a dry tone and Merlin rolled his eyes and grinned a little at the same time. "Come on then, give me the list."
"Well, I can turn mice into horses…"
"Right, good for causing chaos at least, keep it in reserve."
"…and I can turn rats and lizards into men, as long as you don't need the men to do anything complicated," Merlin continued.
That was more like it. "Could they fight?" Arthur asked intently but Merlin shook his head immediately.
"No, they'd manage sitting or standing and looking impressive, but that's about it," he said and Arthur made a face. Not really good enough for ousting a witch and her private army.
Mind you, wait a minute… "Could you do that in reverse? Turn men into rats and lizards?"
"Ooh," Merlin said enthusiastically. "Yes, yes I think I could," he agreed and Arthur pointed at him and grinned.
"See that is useful. Now we're getting somewhere."
"I might need some practice though," Merlin added, tapping his wand on his boot and looking at Arthur meaningfully.
"Don't even think about it," Arthur said firmly. "A guard will be back at some point, you can try it on him. Then we just need a way to get out of this irritatingly impregnable cell."
"Oh, that's easy," Merlin dismissed. "Locks are really simple to open, I can do that anytime."
Arthur stared at him. "And you didn't think that was worth mentioning, oh say, half an hour ago? I could have been free already!"
"Well if you hadn't started things off by yelling and throwing stuff at me, I might have remembered to say sooner," Merlin said with a bit of bite and Arthur shook his head.
"I'll throw something at you again in a minute. Some helpful fairy godfather you are. Now, this is what we're going to do…"
~
Since it turned out on the arrival of a guard later that night that Merlin was indeed able to turn a man into a small green lizard (for a few hours at least, but Arthur was hoping that was all they would need) and open locked doors, the first part of the plan went swimmingly. They were out of the dungeons and into the armoury in less than five minutes, and if Merlin wasn't too adept at helping Arthur get his armour on to start with, he picked it up fairly fast and once Arthur had his mail on and a sword in his hand he felt much more confident about the proceedings.
He gave Merlin a sword as well, though given the general clumsiness with which Merlin moved behind him through the castle grounds, Arthur was starting to regret that. Good with a wand Merlin might be, but he was clearly going to be useless in an actual physical fight.
By the time they reached Morgana's rooms, Merlin had turned ten more enemy guards into lizards in a variety of bright colours, leaving him flushed with success and grinning like the fool he was. Arthur had to admit that it was rather fun and it certainly let him conserve his strength, but he wouldn't be happy until Nimueh and Valiant were dead or prisoners and his father was on the mend.
Merlin turned the guards outside Morgana's chamber into two more lizards (purple and orange this time), unlocked the door with a wave of his hand and Arthur charged through.
And then ducked immediately to avoid the large metal vase flying at his head. He caught Morgana, who had been charging in the wake of the vase, by the arms just as there was a yelp and a clatter behind him and Arthur rolled his eyes, because of course Merlin would get hit.
"Oh," Morgana gasped as Arthur pushed her gently away again. "Arthur. And… someone, I'm so sorry," she said, going to help a dazed looking Merlin off the floor and Arthur saw she was in the breeches she wore for the sparring that Uther wasn't supposed to know about . "I thought you were that bastard Valiant."
"No, no, it's fine," Merlin wheezed out as Morgana tugged him back to his feet. "I'm just a bit winded… good throw."
"Oh, that was Gwen," Morgana said proudly, gesturing to the side and Arthur turned to find Morgana's maidservant standing off to the side, also in breeches which was new. She had a large bruise down the side of her face and Arthur frowned in anger. "Arthur, we have to stop Nimueh and Valiant," Morgana said fiercely, following Arthur's glance. "They are evil."
"Yes, Morgana, that is the plan," Arthur said, "or did you think I was running about like this just for a laugh? And there is no we, Merlin and I will stop them and you and Gwen will get somewhere safe."
"Merlin?" Morgana asked scornfully, looking him up and down as Merlin gave her a little wave hello. "Yes, he looks like a matchless warrior. No offence," she added quickly to Merlin and he shrugged.
"None taken," he said. "Fighting isn't really my thing."
"See?" Morgana said, swinging back to Arthur. "You need me, give me a sword."
"No. And I don't need you, Merlin has other useful talents," Arthur argued quickly. They were wasting time here and he needed Morgana to give in and go so he had less to worry about just in case things didn't work out.
"Like what? And who are you anyway? I've never seen you before," Morgana said, frowning at Merlin in confusion.
"He's my fairy godmother, all right?" Arthur snapped.
"Fairy godfather, I told you before," Merlin said in an exasperated voice and Morgana and Gwen looked at them like they'd both gone crazy.
"Your what? Arthur, are you drunk? There is no such thing and if there was, you certainly wouldn't deserve one!"
"He is," Arthur protested and Merlin said "He does!" at the same time.
"He certainly doesn't look much like a fairy," Gwen said in a dubious voice, looking at Merlin.
"He's got a wand," Arthur argued, pointing at it triumphantly. Merlin waved it in illustration and promptly filled the vase that Gwen had set back on a table with lilacs, turned Morgana's bed curtains from plain red into froths of white lace and lit a fire in the grate with a shower of sparks.
Morgana and Gwen looked around with wide eyes and after a minute Morgana shrugged. "All right then. Fairy godmother –"
"Father," Merlin muttered resignedly.
"– whatever aside, you still need more backup. You know I can fight, Arthur."
"No, Morgana," Arthur denied. "I want you out and hidden so you can't be used as a hostage again, and that is all."
"Well, I want Valiant's head," Morgana snapped back, "and you are not going to stop me getting it!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Valiant is mine."
"No," Morgana snarled, striding forward so they were nose to nose, "Valiant is mine. He told me he would force me to marry him, and when I spat in his face and said I would rather die, he hit Gwen instead of me because he 'didn't want to mar my face' before I'd spawned him an heir!"
Arthur heard a shocked gasp from Merlin as he spun away to punch the wall in fury. "That pox-ridden son of a whore," he swore and Morgana gave a short laugh as he spun back to face her, her own fury high in her cheeks.
"Exactly. So give me a sword, and get out of my way."
"Fine, you hate his guts," Arthur said in a tightly controlled voice. "But this isn't practice, and Valiant is good enough to give me a fight. If you don't win –"
"Give me a weapon," Gwen interrupted him and Arthur was so shocked that she would do that he broke off and just stared at her. "We can fight him together," Gwen went on, flushing at his look but with her chin held determinedly high.
"I've been teaching her," Morgana said quickly. "She's nearly as good as I am."
Arthur studied them both silently, taking in Morgana's defiant fury and Gwen's steady determination and then he pulled his longest knife out from his belt and handed it to Gwen hilt first.
"Merlin, give Morgana your sword," he commanded and Merlin handed it over with alacrity, looking relieved. Arthur would rather have Morgana armed with it than Merlin anyway.
"Thank you," Morgana said quietly, gripping the hilt hard and Arthur nodded once.
"If you lose, I will never forgive you," he said equally quietly and when Morgana and Gwen had nodded solemnly back he started to fill them in on the plan.
~
The addition of two extra pairs of hands didn't change things much, but Arthur had to admit to himself that it was a little bit reassuring to have more people on his side, even if they weren't knights.
It was even more reassuring when they ran into a group of guards big enough that Merlin simply couldn't lizardify them all at once and Gwen demonstrated that she was as good with a blade in her hand as Morgana had claimed.
And it felt bloody good to finally be able to fight these traitors and usurpers himself.
Arthur ran his last opponent through and turned to marshal his little troop. They were all slightly rumpled, with Gwen and Morgana looking as fiercely satisfied as Arthur felt and Merlin's eyes back to glowing with that unearthly golden light.
"Everybody doing okay?" he asked just to be sure and got three firm nods in return punctuated by a couple of stars shooting out of the wand that Merlin was now twirling restlessly through his fingers.
They headed down the corridor towards the Great Hall where the sounds of a banquet were drifting to Arthur's ears, passing a couple of servants who looked shocked but relieved at their presence before Arthur told them to scram and keep everyone out of the way.
It was late enough that the banquet would be winding down, which Arthur was grateful for because it meant less people around. Sure enough, when Arthur ducked his head around the door for a quick look, there were far more guards present than guests, and only about twenty of the former anyway.
And Nimueh and Valiant were at the top table in the seats that belonged to Arthur and his father.
He gritted his teeth and pulled back. "They're both there," he said and Morgana smiled grimly. "We'll have to fight through the guards to reach them. Then we stick to the plan: Morgana and Gwen go for Valiant, Merlin and I will take care of Nimueh."
"We know, we know, can we just go?" Merlin said a forceful whisper. "Those guards aren't going to stay reptiles forever, you know."
"Right then. On three: one… two… three," and on three they burst through the doors and were halfway up the hall, Arthur flanked by Merlin and Morgana and Gwen at the rear before the guards had even moved.
"Nimueh and Valiant!" Arthur shouted as the two of them jumped to their feet with astonished expressions. "You are traitors and your lives are forfeit unless you surrender now!"
"Kill them!" Valiant roared to the guards instead and Arthur shrugged. It had been a long shot, and he'd rather fight them anyway.
The guests started to flee with yells and screams of alarm as the guards began to move forward. Arthur saw Merlin's wand come up to his left and then he was too busy fighting the man in front of him to take further notice but from the flashes of light in that direction and Nimueh's outraged scream from the dais, Merlin's lizardification powers were still going strong.
He had been worried that Nimueh would use her magic to fight them off as she had done to Arthur in the dungeon, and she did seem to be trying but fortunately there was so much confusion in the middle of the hall that it was her own guards that were being knocked over. That would change when the numbers thinned though and Arthur just hoped Merlin was strong enough to stop her then.
But when the last still-human guard had been dropped and there was a herd of little lizards scurrying about their feet, Arthur looked up to the dais to find Nimueh had vanished. Morgana and Gwen were already lunging towards Valiant, who seemed to have hung back from the fight so far, with twin battle screams, and Arthur yelled for Merlin and sprinted out of the hall, suddenly sure he knew where Nimueh had gone.
He caught sight of her just before the bend in the corridor before the hall outside his father's chamber and Arthur threw a knife with all his strength over the twenty feet between them. Nimueh had turned to go around the corner so it only hit her shoulder, but at least it knocked her down and when Arthur ran up she was struggling back to her feet, one hand clutching her bleeding arm.
"You fool," she spat at Arthur and before he could even raise his sword to strike he was slammed onto his back on the floor. "You think you can beat me?"
"I think I can kill you," Arthur shot back, but when he tried to get up he found he was pinned to the ground. His sword suddenly grew red-hot in his hand and Arthur had to drop it, hearing Nimueh laugh over his involuntary cry of pain.
This was not good at all, and where the hell was Merlin?
"I think you have that backwards," Nimueh purred, lifting Arthur's sword just as he heard footsteps running towards them, and Nimueh tilted her head. "Your little sorcerer friend to the rescue? I don't think so," she snapped and a fireball flew from her hand just as Merlin came sprinting around the corner.
"No!" Arthur yelled, but it hit Merlin square in the chest and he flew back, hit the ground with a thump and then went still.
"See? Now you're all mine," Nimueh said, smiling viciously down at Arthur and holding the point of his sword just about his throat. "Any last words before I kill your father and then you?"
"I hope you die in agony, you bitch," Arthur snapped, still struggling mightily against the force holding him down, but it did no good.
"Hmm. Not very inspiring," Nimueh mused. "Don't go anywhere now," she added tauntingly and Arthur bared his teeth in a snarl at his failure as she backed slowly away from him towards his father's room, smirking evilly at him all the time.
He struggled harder and harder, desperate to stop her somehow and feeling nothing but despair when suddenly there was an almighty crack of noise and a flash of blindingly white light. For a split second, Arthur wondered if Nimueh had changed her mind and killed him first and that was what death felt like, but then he heard Nimueh screaming over the ringing in his ears and he forced his blurred vision to focus and saw her standing above him, lit up from within like she was burning from the inside. Arthur found he could move again and crawled on his back along the floor further away from her just as she gave a final piercing wail and simply exploded into a shower of ash that slowly drifted to the floor.
"Wish granted," was the next thing Arthur heard, and he whipped his head round in shock and saw Merlin standing behind him, with his wand out and such a furious look in his golden eyes that Arthur was very nearly afraid of him. But then Merlin lowered his wand and tripped over his own feet rushing over to help Arthur up and Arthur looked into his now-blue eyes and felt such a rush of relief that Merlin was alive it overtook everything else. Besides, Nimueh had definitely deserved it and this was Merlin after all; his involuntary magic turned things into flowers, not monsters, and Arthur owed him his life.
"I thought it was genies who granted wishes," was what Arthur said as he regained his feet and Merlin ducked his head and grinned a little shakily.
"Yes, well. The rules aren't exactly cut and dried, you know," he said.
"No, I don't know, I didn't even know fairy godparents were real until today," Arthur pointed out and Merlin shrugged teasingly, looking a little steadier. "Thanks," Arthur added, squeezing Merlin's shoulder and Merlin gave him a smile that lit up his whole face and Arthur had to look away before he said something really stupid and unmanly. "What took you so long?" he asked instead, letting Merlin's shoulder go and Merlin coughed sheepishly.
"I, um, tripped on the stairs and lost sight of you, and then I got a bit lost," he admitted, "and getting hit by a fireball kind of caught me off guard. Sorry," and Arthur stared at his embarrassed expression and suddenly found he was laughing so hard he had to lean against the wall to stay standing.
Merlin smacked him on the head and then folded his arms and gave Arthur an exasperated look until Arthur got his hysteria back under control. "It wasn't funny."
"It is now," Arthur said, still grinning and Merlin gave up and grinned back.
"Fine, I know, I'm useless. Go check on your father, and I'll send the healer up," he said and Arthur nodded, abruptly serious again now that the adrenaline had worn off a little and he headed quickly down the corridor and into his father's rooms.
He was sleeping peacefully, to Arthur's great relief, and he wasn't sure, but he thought that his father was already looking a little healthier than he had the day before.
Gaius agreed that Uther was on the mend when he arrived a little later and Arthur spent a good half hour sitting at his father's bedside, thanking all the fates that something had sent Merlin to his cell and that everything had worked out all right.
When he finally left and went back down to the hall, he found that Morgana was already overseeing the clean up, getting the servants to cart any of Nimueh's guards that were just wounded off to the dungeons, giving orders to everyone in sight and looking alarmingly pleased with herself. Arthur couldn't see any sign of Merlin or the lizards though.
"Valiant?" he asked Morgana.
"Mostly dead and languishing in the deepest dungeon by now," she answered with satisfaction.
"Only mostly?" Arthur said in surprise and she tossed her head.
"I thought your father might want to see to his execution later," she said lightly but gave Arthur a concerned look.
"Yes, I think he'll like that," Arthur agreed.
"He is getting better then?"
"Gaius believes so," Arthur said and Morgana smiled and kissed him quickly on the cheek.
"Good," she said. "Good," and then hurried away to grab Gwen and tell her something before Arthur could ask if she'd seen Merlin.
Arthur looked around for a moment but everything seemed under control so he went back out to the courtyard and looked around for his fairy godfather. Surely he hadn't just left?
He was starting to think that Merlin had just buggered off, which was frankly really rude, when he saw a familiar figure walking out of the entrance nearest the dungeon steps carrying a wicker basket under one arm. Merlin raised his other hand in a wave and hurried over, the basket bouncing with his steps.
"Arthur. Everything okay?"
"Yes. My father will be fine. What's that?" Arthur said, pointing at the basket.
Merlin nodded at Arthur's answer and gave the basket a little jiggle. "I've been collecting the lizard men. I'll take them somewhere nice and far away before they turn back, save you some trouble."
"Good idea," Arthur agreed and he was just about to suggest Merlin come in and have some dinner with him when Merlin put the basket down and looked around the courtyard thoughtfully.
"So everything's back the way it should be now. I suppose my job is done," he said, smiling at Arthur and Arthur smiled briefly back and looked around the courtyard himself.
"Yes, I suppose it is," he agreed. "What happens now then?"
"Well, I…" Merlin said and paused looking a bit disconcerted. "I get another assignment. Probably won't be as interesting as this one," he added with a more cheerful tone and Arthur raised an eyebrow at him.
"Pretty dresses and shoes, maybe," he suggested and Merlin laughed a little. "Well, good luck. You weren't such a useless fairy godmother after all."
"And you weren't so bad for a prince," Merlin said cheekily back. He looked hesitant for a moment and then Arthur found himself being hugged, skinny but strong arms wrapped tightly around him and a chin pressed into his shoulder. "See you, Arthur," Merlin said quickly, letting go, and the next second he was gone in the now-familiar column of sparkly light.
"Yeah," Arthur said. "See you."
He waited in the courtyard for a couple of minutes until he felt foolish and went back inside. Merlin was right, it was over and that was that.
Arthur wasn't really going to miss someone he'd only known for a day. He was just feeling off-balance because everything that had happened had been so strange. Anyway, he had a kingdom to sort out while his father recovered and knights to train and Morgana to fight with… he wouldn't have time to miss any random fairies.
That would just be silly.
~
A week later, Arthur dismissed his manservant with a wave of his hand and slumped down in a chair by the fire. Uther was nearly back to his full strength, Valiant had been executed the day before, Arthur's knights and Camelot's soldiers had returned victorious from battling the bandits (much to Arthur's surprise, they hadn't actually been an invention of Nimueh's) and everything was completely back to normal.
Normal apart from the fact that Arthur had found out it was possible to miss someone you barely knew after all.
It was ridiculous really, but Arthur kept catching himself looking for Merlin and his idiotic grin, kept turning to tell Merlin something and being surprised that Merlin wasn't there.
He supposed it was the way Merlin had talked to him that did it, like he was Arthur's equal and they were just two friends not prince and not-prince. A terrible breach of etiquette and bloody insolent to boot, but Arthur had… rather liked it.
But Merlin was probably off being clumsy and grinning at some beautiful princess by now so there was no point in thinking about it anymore. He sighed glumly and stuck his feet out to warm them, then pulled them back just as suddenly with a yelp as there was a whooshing noise and a flash of light right in front of him that left Merlin standing on his hearth.
"Arthur!" Merlin said with a beaming smile, followed by "ow, hot," as he jumped quickly away from the fire and Arthur gaped at him. "So, um. Hello?" Merlin said when Arthur didn't say anything and Arthur grinned helplessly and shook his head.
"Merlin, you idiot. Stop trying to make dramatic entrances, you're terrible at it."
"I'd like to see you do any better," Merlin retorted, putting his hands on his hips. "Anyway, what've you got the fire so hot for? It's only autumn."
"Of course I'd be better at it. I'm a prince; we have natural charisma and presence. No need for flashy light shows at all."
"You could use them to hide your face though," Merlin pointed out thoughtfully. "I'm sure that would be a relief to everyone," and Arthur jumped up to try cuff his head as Merlin laughed and ducked away.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Arthur asked after he'd managed to get in one smack that left Merlin rubbing his hair and still laughing under his breath. "Haven't you got godmothering to get on with?"
"Ah. Not anymore, actually," Merlin said, casting Arthur a slightly nervous look.
"Really?" Arthur said in surprise.
"Yeah, well. I decided it wasn't really for me."
"But you were good at it," Arthur said, still surprised enough to let the compliment slip out. "I mean, you weren't dreadful, we all survived and everything and it probably takes a bit of practice," he covered quickly.
"Yeah, I know. Just… All those different people all the time, no getting to settle down and have friends or a proper home…" Merlin said. "So I'm looking for a change in career just now. Do you think Camelot could use a court sorcerer?" he asked and looked at Arthur hopefully.
"Well," Arthur said, fighting to keep his grin inside. "Can you do more than pumpkins and lizards now?"
"Yes," Merlin said confidently and when Arthur raised an eyebrow at him, he ducked his head. "Um, turns out I'm a lot more powerful than I realised. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to stop Nimueh at all."
"All right then," Arthur said, repressing the impulse to say that lizards and pumpkins would have been good enough anyway. "Come on and I'll introduce you to my father," he went on and Merlin grinned happily and fell into step beside Arthur as they left the room.
"So, fair and grumpy prince," Merlin said as they went down the steps together, "been to any good balls lately?"
Arthur bumped their shoulders together lightly and finally let the grin out.
"Shut up, Merlin," he said.
And they lived happily ever after…