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A neighbouring kingdom's king was visiting and for Merlin it meant his word had doubled, well tripled. He was now doing rounds for Gaius, helping Arthur and preparing for the King’s arrival. Arthur was hoping to sign a treaty with the King incase of war, so it was for the best if this went well.
This all meant that sleep was very difficult for Merlin to find these days and had even found himself falling asleep on Gwen's shoulder when they were meant to be sorting through laundry. Arthur had been complaining about Merlin’s recent so-called sloppiness quite a lot so Merlin was quite happy when the king arrived which meant his time with Arthur could be less which he could use an excuse of having to end a extra hand around the castle, but this really meant was he was napping in the armoury only occasionally being woken by a knight which usually turned out to be Gwaine.
THe king had arrived a day ago for a two week stay and Merlin once again found himself sleeping in the armoury until he heard a clatter that made him jolt up, he looked around the room and was met with the King himself. King Ban was only a few years older than Arthur, making the two on the same basis of being young rulers, he had brown hair and green piercing eyes that scared Merlin a bit.
The man chuckled, flashing a grin “Didn’t mean to wake you, you looked rather peaceful,” he commented.
“I shouldn’t have been sleeping either way,” Merlin said, quickly standing.
“Your Arthur’s manservant aren’t you, Merlin isn’t it?” Ban questioned and Merlin nodded rather confused why he was talking to him let alone hearing and remembering his name.
“Don’t worry I won’t tell him about this, it'll be our little secret,” Ban told him and winked before walking off with a sword in hand.
Merlin didn’t nap again for the rest of the day and told himself he couldn’t keep doing that, if it got back to Arthur he would be in a lot of trouble and especially if it came from a visiting king but at the same time he made a mental note not to nap in the armoury anymore but use a small alcove instead.
King Ban was rather strange and this continued over the next few days, he would find Merlin’s eyes during long meetings and feast and grin at him or roll his eyes and would seek Merlin out and talk to him endlessly, this was far different to most kings who wouldn’t even bat an eye at a servant. Arthur had noticed this a bit and just told Merlin to stay respectful so that this treaty would go through.
It only became increasingly unusual for Merlin when Ban even came to him in the physician's room and now even the tavern where Gwaine had dragged him. Ban had shown up and drank with them and Merlin now found himself outside with the slightly drunk man walking towards the citadel.
“Your a very handsome man Merlin, none of the men in my kingdom look as elegant as you,” he spoke and Merlin could not respond, how could you to that, he blamed the King’s words on the amount of alcohol he had consumed and kept walking but then Ban grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop and look at him. It was silent, the stillness felt unnatural and then Ban surged forward kissing Merlin with surprising force before Merlin could even realise what was happening.
Merlin pushed himself off the man quickly. “No,” he spluttered the words tumbling out of him.
“You can’t say no,” Ban said, chuckling.
“Why not?” Merlin asked sternly, he wanted to leave.
“Well you want your king to get the treaty signed don’t you,” Ban asked.
Merlin was stuck. He hated this whole situation he wanted out yet he knew he didn’t have one, he couldn’t ruin the treaty for Arthur he had been spending too much time on this but at what cost.
“Yes but-” Merlin began but Ban grabbed his wrists tightly.
“Then you know it’s best to stay in your place then and do as you're told,” Ban hissed and Merlin was hating this other side of the man he was seeing.
He was soon reminded of his place and had been hurt in exchange for any struggle he had against Ban and now found himself bruised and slightly bloody staggering back to his room with a bucket of water which he used to scrub his skin till dawn, luckily not awakening Gaius.
…
“Someone's mopey, it’s not like you have been sitting in meetings day in and day out,” Arthur told Merlin as Merlin put a shirt onto the king.
Merlin nodded in response to Arthur’s word which made Arthur frown. “Spit it out Merlin,” he told the manservant.
“It’s nothing,” Merlin responded and left the room hastily, Arthur couldn’t know. He just couldn’t know, Merlin would not be the one to get in the way of the treaty. He planned to keep it to himself but Gwen commented on his less chipper mood whilst they were clearing plates up from dinner and he broke down telling her everything and that he had been avoiding Ban all day and that he knew he stayed in the physicians quarters and he was completely alone their because Gaius was treating a illness a few villages away.
“You can stay at mine Merlin, for as long as you need and I'm so sorry that happened to you,” Gwen told him and he agreed and soon found himself with a blanket and pillow on the floor of Gwen’s small home. Only a few more days he reminded himself, just a few more days.
…
“Guinevere, where is Merlin?” Arthur asked Gwen as she passed him in the early hours of the morning, only two days since Merlin had moved into her house.
“He’s probably running late, he’s been staying at mine so he’s not used to having to wake up earlier to get here,” Gwen replied to him before she kept walking and Arthur was left half dressed and full of questions.
“Why have you been staying at Guinevere’s and following that up with what is wrong with you and don’t say it’s nothing,” Arthur asked Merlin once he had finally arrived and began to dress him.
“Arthur seriously you don’t need to know,” Merlin replied with a sternness he had never heard from him before, he scanned his manservant up and down looking for any clue just as Merlin finished dressing him and then he noticed the colour purple peeking from under Merlin’s sleeve.
The room grew silent and still, neither breathing as Arthur slowly took Merlin’s hand into his and pulled his sleeve up showing a ring of a purple bruise around his wrist and found a near identical one on the other. It was silent and Merlin gave no protest as Arthur took off his jacket and pulled off his shirt to find his chest cut and bruised.
“Who did this to you?” Arthur said quietly and his eyes that had been drawn to Merlin’s chest flickered up to the man whose eyes had welled with tears.
“It does not matter,” Merlin replied
“Who did this to you?” Arthur repeated, it was not stern, he didn't want to be stern with Merlin.
“Ban,” Merlin response was barely a whisper but enough to fuel Arthur up with hatred and pure fury against the man.
“Stay here,” he replied, passing back Merlin’s clothes he had been fumbling with, with his hands and leaving the room without another word.
He didn’t even want to imagine what had happened all he could tell was Merlin had been hurt badly and no man would get away with that. Arthur was mad with himself, he should have noticed, it must have happened around the time when he started staying with Gwen, how long had that been for?
He walked into the meeting hall where he and Ban were meant to be meeting and there he was grinning as usual which faltered upon seeing the scowl on Arthur’s face. All of Ban’s knights were in the room but so were Arthur’s and it was Gwaine, Elyan, Percival, Leon, Lancelot and Mordred who he knew would protect him and Merlin in a heartbeat.
“I want you out of my kingdom immediately or I won’t hesitate to kill you,” Arthur hissed which made the sound of swords being drawn around the room echo, the only two without drawn swords being the kings.
“Arthur what is the meaning of this,” Ban asked with his signature chuckle but it seemed obvious he was uncomfortable, caught.
“I know what you did to Merin,” he seethed, wishing he had the ability to spit venom at the man’s face.
“Arthur, he’s a servant, don’t you think this is all a bit over dramatic,” Ban asked him.
Arthur heard Gwaine murmur some insulting things about the king under his breath and couldn’t help but silently agree.
“Merlin is my friend, so I don't care who you are. I'll kill you if you don’t leave and I'll kill any one who ever touches him again,” he spat.
Ban’s earlier happy demeanour had disappeared and he glared at Arthur before nodding to his knights who followed him out.
“Make sure they leave,” Arthur ordered and he quickly left the room and headed back to Merlin.
Merlin was dressed again when Arthur returned but seemed to have not moved. “Ban’s leaving,” Arthur told him.
“But the treaty,”
“Damn the treaty, what about you? You should of told me, this shouldn’t of happened,”
The room fell silent, nothing but Arthur's stare on Merlin filled the room until the tears filling in Merlin's eyes began to pour down streaking down his face.
Arthur made his movements slow from here, taking a cautious step forward ready to retreat at any sign of discomfort, but there wasn't any he came closer and soon enough was wrapping his arms around his friends and pulling him into an embrace.
Merlin sobbed in his arms all of it pouring out in one as he sobbed and Arthur held him tighter.
"I'm so sorry, I should've known," Arthur whispered into the man's ears as his hand slipped to the back of his head where he ran his fingers through Merlin's hair as the man cried.
Merlin stops and free himself from the embrace, wiping away the tears that stained his face the best that he could and not meeting Arthur's eye.
"Thank you," he said softly and Arthur gave a half hearted smile in return to try and reassure Merlin but Merlin was out of the room instantly.
…
Merlin was different since then, he stayed with Gwen even after Ban's banishment which Arthur was keen to make sure was uphold, Merlin didn't return to the physicians quarters until Gaius was back and Arthur hoped with all his heart that the return of Gaius could lighten Merlin, but it had no affect on him. After a week after Gaius arrived something seemed to dimmer Merlin's mood even more and Arthur finally decided to find out what was wrong.
"You're upset Merlin, tell me what's wrong," Arthur blurted to Merlin, making the man jump whilst he put clothes into the King's cupboard.
"Nothings wrong," Merlin answered without turning.
"Merlin, you've barely said a word these past two weeks and it seemed to worsen around two days ago," Arthur responded, his arms crossed.
Merlin sighed, turning around. "I just feel like I've ruined it for you, you lost the treaty and then two days ago a letter arrived from Ban-" Merlin began but Arthur cut in.
"A letter? What did it say?" He asked.
“He- he said he was sending someone to Camelot to ‘retrieve’ me,” Merlin said and that one sentence made Arthur’s heart drop.
“That- that can’t happen,” Arthur said, his voice half caught in his throat.
“He knows where I live and he probably knows by now that I’m friends with Gwen so it won’t take long Arthur it just seems inevitable,” Merlin replied. “But it was an honour serving you,”
“No,”
“No?”
“No, I won’t let this happen Merlin, no one is anyone gonna get to you if you're in a heavily guarded place so you're going to be by my side at all times,” Arthur told him.
“There’s a thing called sleeping Arthur I’m hoping even with your low intelligence you know what that is,” Merlin responded and Arthur couldn’t help but smile after hearing Merlin joke for the first time in weeks.
“Well Merlin, you would just have to stay here in this room then, best place for you, I am camelots most fearless warrior,”
“Debatable,” Merlin replied and Arthur rolled his eyes causing the sorcerer to chuckle.
“But I will keep you safe Merlin, I promise you that,” Arthur said, turning to a more serious tone and Merlin nodded in response.
Arthur kept to his words he stayed with Merlin at every point of the day and even walked with Merlin to retrieve his things from his chambers and let Gaius know where he would be staying for a bit.
Merlin extinguished the last candle flame in Arthurs room and proceeded to go to his bag of items and pull out a pillow and cover and lay himself on the floor. Arthur sat up on his bed perplexed. “Merlin, what are you doing?” he asked.
“Going to sleep?” Merlin replied his tone questioning wondering if he had done something wrong.
“On the floor?” Arthur questioned.
“Well I don’t see anywhere else for me to sleep, besides I've slept in worse places,” Merlin replied.
“You can sleep on my bed Merlin I would have thought after how many times you have made it you would’ve realised how large it was so come on,” Arthur urged.
“That really doesn’t seem necessary you’ve done so much for me already,” Merlin responded and Arthur just rolled his eyes and walked over to his manservant taking his arm and walking him over to the bed and making him get into it.
“I haven’t done enough for you dollophead now get some sleep,” Arthur responded and soon the two fell asleep side by side.
Merlin’s fear rose as each day passed the fear of someone coming to get him swallowing him and Arthur felt like his only support against thar. Arthur did not want to admit it but his anxiety was rising at the thought of Merlin being taken away it seemed every second he wanted his eyes on the man but there were times in which he couldn’t do that such as when Merlin was meant to be preparing food and he was meant to be in a meeting or when Merlin needed to be doing laundry and he had to be training knights, these were the worst times but he could not describe the relief that would flood over him every time Merlin would show back up.
The time the two spent sharing his bed together was Arthur’s favourite time, he had Merlin so close and so far from harm that it was the only time he could relax except from the small bit of giddiness he had knowing that he had the man he liked in his bed just as he had dreamt of so many times.
But now Arthur was stuck in a meeting with the knights and Merlin was doing a quick errand for Gaius in the lower town and Arthur was stuck forming possibilities in his mind of what could take place so Arthur was left waiting with him to return, but he didn’t.
Merlin had entered the lower town and dropped of the vial he had to give to a sick women and as soon as the door of the house closed in front of Merlin he felt a hand cover his mouth and he began to squirm and then felt some kind of dart being stabbed into his neck just as he was dragged out of sight of anyone.
Night fell and Arthur’s conclusion had been made, he had failed, whoever Ban had sent had come and taken Merlin. “Gwaine, Lancelot and Modred I want you to come with me to Ban’s kingdom, the rest of you will follow orders from Leon whilst we are gone,” Arthur ordered and they all aggregated not anyone wanting to come in the way of getting Merlin back.
They set off immediately riding through the knight to early morning where they arrived at the kingdom. “Modred and Lancelot you to head to the main hall me and Gwaine will check the dungeons and meet back at the horses if you find him,” Arthur ordered as they tied the horses up.
…
Merlin had awoken tied to a horse and then was lifted still through his drowsiness of the horse and towards a castle. He had finally regained full consciousness just as he was placed on the floor of a throne room and a sword was put between his wrists cutting through his wrists freeing his hands. He looked up and was met with a sinister grin, Ban.
“It’s been too long, Merlin, far too long,” he said, stepping forward. “But now things are different, you are in my kingdom now so I am your king and you do as I say,” he said and he was not right in front of Merlin he took his chin into his fingers and tilted his face up till their eyes met. “Is that clear,” he asked.
“Your right there is difference Arthur’s not here and there’s no treaty to uphold, so I can do this,” Merlin said and he swung upwards, his fist meeting with the king’s chin who stumbled back and this caused the knights and guards around the room to draw out their swords.
“That was very stupid Merlin, how did you think that would play out,” Ban asked, a bit of blood dribbling from his chin.
“Quite well in my favour I would guess,” Merlin responded and his eyes flashed gold and he flung Ban backwards and felt the guards and knight charge forward.
When Modred and Lancelot walked into the throne room it felt far to quiet from the outside but the inside showed there were people inside at least a dozen knocked out men including Ban himself, they knew to well this would of been Merlin and then they spotted Merlin sat against a wall his hand holding a sword so tight that his knuckles were white and blood seeping from his shoulder.
“Emrys,” Mordred yelled and Merlin’s eyes sprung open as they came over a state of panic crossing him for a few moments until he realised who it was.
“You're safe Merlin, let's get you out of here,” Lancelot said and with that he lifted Merlin who let his eyes shut and slipped into unconsciousness as the three headed to the horses.
Arthur couldn’t express the relief he felt when he saw Lancelot carrying Merlin he ran over to look at the damages.
“There's a shoulder wound sire the sooner we make camp the sooner it can be tended to,” Mordred told him and with that Arthur took Merlin into his own arms and onto his horse as they headed into the woods.
Merlin awoke just as they stopped and Arthur brought him to a layed out sleeping mat and tugged off his shirt as he began to apply ointment to the wound and wrap it. “I should have kept you safer,” Arthur muttered but it was enough for Merlin to hear.
“That was not your fault Arthur and I’m safe now you don’t need to worry about me anymore,” Merlin told him.
“How can I not worry about you, I spend every thought, every breath, every moment thinking for you,” Arthur told him.
Merlin knew then everything he needed to know and he looked around to find the knights weren’t around still by the nearby lake getting water and he looked back to Arthur and surged forward kissing him and Arthur kissed back reassuring Merlin that the feelings were mutual but then the guilt set in and he pulled away.
“Wait,” he said, the sounds of their breaths filling the air.
“I can’t Arthur,”
“Why not?”
“Because i’ve been lying to you and what i’ve been lying about, you’ll never forgive me for it,”
“That's what you think,” Arthur then said and he leant forward kissing Merlin’s lips gently before pulling back, “Sorcerer,” he smirked.
“What how?”
“I’m not an idiot Merlin, the knights know too, just waiting for you too tell them yourself,”
“But you were raised to hate sorcerers,”
“Maybe, but I believe I was born to love you,” Arthur replied and he kissed Merlin again knowing full well that he would never let harm befall this man again.