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Arthur felt his stomach sink as Merlin took out a bandit with his magic. The spell had been silent, Merlin had barely moved a muscle. If it wasn’t for the fact that Merlin had been staring daggers at the bandit closing in on Arthur, just as he had tripped over a tree root that definitely wasn’t there a moment ago, one would never have known what had occurred. Arthur, however, was painfully aware of what had transpired and, unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one. Sir Patrick stared at the downed bandit a moment too long before turning his eyes to Merlin, who was slowly moving away from the fight to fade back into the background. Even as sir Patrick rejoined the fight, Arthur caught him stealing glances at his servant, who was back to hiding with horses. But there could be no doubt, the knight knew of Merlin’s magic and that was a problem, perhaps even a bigger problem than the current attack they had found themselves in, and only one thing was certain: Arthur needed to protect his servant.
Arthur kept a very close eye on sir Patrick as they left the site of the attack. Merlin was riding with Gwaine and Lancelot, seemingly having a good time as he could hear them laughing from time to time. With Merlin’s choices of companion, the older knight was unlikely to get even close to his servant, but Arthur took no chances, and made sure to keep a good distance between his servant and the knight. It wasn’t that sir Patrick was known for making rash decisions - he was a pretty methodical person, so Arthur assumed that he was first going through the event detail by detail, making sure that he had his facts straight, and then he’d go over how to present his findings to Arthur, hopefully in private. Not that Arthur would let it get that far, hopefully, he could get the knight alone before he came to Arthur. It would seem the least suspicious.
After an hour’s ride, their party made camp and Arthur assigned roles to everyone, making sure that Merlin was always accompanied by one of the round table knights, and never in the same place as sir Patrick (at least where Arthur couldn’t see). To his credit, sir Patrick was good at pretending that nothing was on his mind. He did seem to look at Merlin a little more than usual, but Arthur knew he only noticed because he was keeping a close eye on him. As for the rest of the knights, they talked and joked like they always did, having no idea of the tension only Arthur could feel.
Arthur made sure to assign himself and sir Patrick for first watch, and waited patiently for everyone to drift off, before leaving his post to join the other knight.
“Sire,” the knight greeted as Arthur joined him. He could tell that the knight was slightly surprised that Arthur had left his post, but decided against questioning it.
“Sir Patrick,” Arthur said a little coldly, keeping a fair distance between. There were a few moments of silence, before sir Patrick decided to share his findings.
“Sire,” he said slowly, as if he was preparing Arthur for a hard blow (he supposed, under other circumstances, it would feel like one), “I have to tell you something regarding your servant.”
Normally, Arthur would have replied with some sort of witty comment about Merlin and his lacking skills as a servant, but now wasn’t the time for it. Instead he replied, “Is that so?”, as if to silently encourage sir Patrick to drop the topic before it even began. The knight did not heed his warning.
“He is sorcerer, sire. I saw with my own eyes that he tripped one of the bandits coming for you. He made nature move with nothing but his mind.”
“I see,” Arthur nodded in the dark, “We better thank him for saving my life then.” He had to make certain that sir Patrick understood his stance on this. There could be no room for debate.
Sir Patrick blinked wildly and then stared at Arthur, clearly trying to figure out if he’d heard the prince correctly. “My lord,” he tried again, slightly bewildered, trying to make sure Arthur understood, “He has magic. We must report it to the king.”
“Why?” Arthur challenged, and he could see the disbelief on sir Patrick’s face clear as day, “He has done no harm. He is loyal to me and to Camelot and, as you said yourself, he used his magic to protect me. Who knows what would have happened had he not used magic to protect me. No one else was close to me, surely I would have been dead.”
“But-” Arthur held up a hand, cutting off any argument sir Patrick could possibly come up with.
“No,” he said firmly, “You will not report him, and you will continue on as you have up until now; by pretending to know nothing.” Arthur’s eyes met sir Patrick’s, silently challenging him to disobey. When sir Patrick averted his eyes, Arthur left him to return to his watch station.
Even as the night watch changed, Arthur did not sleep. He kept his eyes firmly on sir Patrick, as his servant slept soundly on the ground beside him.
Everything seemed relatively normal as the camp started waking up, and Arthur really hoped that sir Patrick had found peace with Arthur’s decision, and let the whole thing be. As the party was just finishing packing the last of their things, it became apparent that he really hadn’t. And this time, he decided that they should take the confrontation with an audience.
“My lord,” he announced loudly, gaining the attention of everyone in their travel party, “I do not believe we can return to Camelot before we have reached a decision.”
Merlin, as well as the other 8 knights, looked at sir Patrick in confusion, and then to Arthur.
“I believe we did reach a decision,” Arthur replied, his voice laced with authority, “But it seems you did not listen.”
“I did, my lord,” sir Patrick continued, and Arthur hated that he did not use the honorific as a way to mock him, but because he genuinely believed to be advising his young prince to do ‘the right thing’. “However, I believe you are letting your personal feelings cloud your judgement. Even you are not above the law.”
At this comment, Merlin and the knights looked even more confused, and he could hear them starting to whisper amongst themselves, clearly trying to figure out what was going on.
“I am not letting my feelings cloud my judgement, sir Patrick,” Arthur countered, “On the contrary, I have thought long and hard about the topic. I have never hidden the fact that I disagree with my father on certain subjects, and this certainly is one of them. It seems, however, that you are the one letting emotions cloud your judgement. Anyone with half a brain would know that what you are advocating for is nothing but cruelty. Especially, when we both agreed that the crime in question saved my life.”
Sir Patrick was about to make a comment, before Leon cut in, clearly trying to diffuse the situation. “My lord,” Leon stepped closer to Arthur, but spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear, “May you explain your dilemma to us? Perhaps we can partake in your discussion and reach a satisfactory outcome together?”
Arthur assessed the situation, and looked around at their party. They were stood around a small fire - the only thing left of their camp to put out, before they could leave. As the arguments had begun, the knights had huddled together to talk amongst themselves and naturally created a slight divide on either side of the fire. Arthur, Merlin and the round table knights on one side, and the four other knights on the other. Arthur wasn’t entirely sure of anyone's stance on magic, but he was almost willing to bet his life that Leon did not think ill of it after drinking from the cup of life. Elyan and Percival were both well traveled, and both exceptionally kind and open-minded, so he doubted they’d be particularly against magic either. As for Gwaine and Lancelot it hardly mattered, because if Merlin decided to kill the king tomorrow, they would be the first people to help him bury the body. Their stance did not matter in this situation.
The only people he really needed to convince were the three knights standing behind sir Patrick, looking just as confused as the rest of them.
“We are discussing,” Arthur began slowly, “whether or not allow a man to die for the act of saving my life.”
There were a few surprised gasps among the group, and he could see the three knights eyeing sir Patrick suspiciously. Sir Patrick was quite a few years older than everyone else in the party, and a lot of other knights looked up to him. But they looked up to Arthur and Leon too. They could be swayed to their side if Arthur did not lose his temper.
“That is not remotely what we are discussing,” sir Patrick said with gritted teeth, and Arthur raised an eyebrow. He had to remain calm and rational.
“That is exactly what we’re discussing. You said it yourself. He saved my life, you saw it with your own eyes.”
A knight, roughly the same age as Arthur, said something to sir Patrick that Arthur couldn’t hear, but by the look on him, he seemed to be trying to dissuade him from escalating the situation further. Sir Patrick listened and then turned his attention directly to Arthur again.
“My lord,” he said again, trying to regain a little of his composure, “I do not believe that anyone is above the law. He must be punished accordingly, if you do not wish to bring the topic to your father, I will gladly do it for you. I can understand how it can be hard to condemn a friend.”
Again, the murmurs around him, speculations on who they were talking about, and what had been done. Arthur was quite surprised that even Merlin hadn’t seemed to piece it together.
“Sir Patrick. I will remind you again, that you are advocating for the death of a man, whose only crime is to save my life. I will not allow any harm to come to him. Do I make myself clear?”
“Then, my lord,” and there it was, that slightly mocking tone, “I believe we are in disagreement. If you wish for me to keep my silence, you will have to cut me down where I stand. I will act according to the laws of Camelot and do what is right. I will not condone of you harboring a sorcerer.” He spat out the last word, but Arthur was focused on Merlin’s reaction behind him. He was surprised that he kept his cool. He did note, however, that Lancelot moved a little closer to his servant. That, at least, answered one question.
“I would prefer not to kill you,” Arthur said slowly, but let his hand rest on the hilt of his sword, “Are you truly so blinded by my father’s madness that you cannot see that his war on magic is nothing but cruel and self-destructing. By alienating an entire group of people from our land, we create enemies of the only allies that could hope to protect us from forces that we are otherwise defenseless against.
“And here you are, witness to a sorcerer willingly protecting a member of the royal family who supposedly wants him dead for his very existence, and you conclude that the only course of action is to report him to a king who would surely have him burned at the stake? And for what? Because the king has told you that magic is evil, even as you have witnessed it is not so?”
“It is the law!” Sir Patrick said once more, and Arthur moved a little to the side, making sure Merlin was completely shielded from the increasingly angry knight. “If you do not stop me here, I will report him to the king.”
Arthur smiled a little, “Well, I do implore you to think of the consequences. Should you go to the king and make accusations, I might do the same. If I told my father that you had been enchanted to accuse innocent people of sorcery to create unrest at court, then who do you believe he’d be most likely to believe? Especially if no one else will concur with your story.” It was a bit of a gamble that the knights behind sir Patrick wouldn’t back him, but it’s not like they had come to his defense so far.
“My lord,” one of the other knights, sir Lukas spoke, and everyone turned to him, “I do not think we can come to an agreement amongst us. So, may I offer a solution?”
“Go ahead.” Arthur nodded in approvement, hoping the young knight would prove himself to be on Arthur’s side.
“Of course, I can only speak for myself, but I do not wish to condemn your… servant to the pyre. In fact, even if he did break the law, I believe a pardon to be sufficient for saving your life. We have precedent for this to be the case with other people breaking the law.” At this, sir Patrick looked slightly bewildered, but sir Lukas did not back down, and it seemed the other knights shared his sentiment, as they encouraged him to keep going. “I do not know if this is possible, since I know very little of magic, but what if we simply…” he side-eyed sir Patrick for a moment, before letting his eyes settle on Arthur or, more accurately, on Merlin behind him, “erased his memory of the event?”
“Are you mad?” Sir Patrick yelled, but Arthur turned to Merlin, who still looked extremely confused at everything. Like the whole conversation was still trying to catch up to him.
“Can you do that?” Arthur asked him, and Merlin blinked a few times before answering.
“Um,” he began slowly, looking to be in complete disbelief that he was allowed to use magic (or maybe still that Arthur even knew of his magic, and didn’t want him dead because of it) “I’ve never tried anything like that before, but it should be possible.”
“Well, if it doesn’t work, we’ll figure something else out,” Arthur tried to give Merlin a reassuring smile, but he wasn’t quite sure that he succeeded.
“I won’t just let you tamper with my head!” Sir Patrick spat and finally drew his sword. Every other knight responded in kind, but Merlin was faster. The ground beneath the older knight sprang to life, roots came curling around his feet, travelling up and around his body, until he was completely trapped. As the roots tangled around his arms, he was forced to let go of his sword, and the man let out a string of profanities as he tried to struggle against the restraints.
Arthur looked at Merlin again, who simply shrugged, “I supposed it was fine this way.”
Arthur nodded curtly, a little too stunned to speak, and watched as Merlin walked closer to sir Patrick. Arthur understood perfectly well who was in power between the two of them, yet he still felt extremely protective of his servant. He could tell that their friends felt the same by the way they seemed to want to move closer as well, but didn’t do it, to show Merlin that they trusted him to take care of it.
“You know, you could just cooperate, and I wouldn’t have to do anything to you. I don’t actually mean any harm either,” Merlin tried to reason with the knight, but to no avail.
“I do not deal with sorcerers,” he spat, but Merlin merely sighed.
He then put a hand on sir Patrick’s forehead, closed his eyes and began. Arthur had never actually heard Merlin utter a spell before, everything he had done had either been silent, or he’d simply been too far away from Arthur for him to hear, so Arthur was quite fascinated to actually see Merlin perform ‘proper’ magic. If it could be classified as such.
It didn’t take many words for Merlin to be done, and he released sir Patrick of his restraints, making the knight fall unceremoniously to the ground. When it became clear that the knight was completely out cold, the party decided to simply tie sir Patrick to his horse and set for Camelot.
Sir Leon took the lead, while the rest followed after. At the rear, Gwaine had sir Patrick and his horse tied to him, trailing behind him, with Arthur and Merlin at the very back, keeping an eye on the still unconscious knight. Though the mood wasn’t as light as it been the other days, it warmed Arthur’s heart to see his knights still smiling, and having pleasant conversations (about magic!).
“I tried to erase his memories a few days back, just to make sure,” Merlin told Arthur, who nodded, but noticed how Merlin didn’t look at him like he usually would. In fact, it seemed that Merlin had avoided looking at him as much as possible. Arthur couldn’t have that.
“Were you surprised?” Arthur asked, trying to break the ice, “That I knew?”
“Yes,” Merlin answered plainly, “To be honest, I still think I’m dreaming. It seems… too easy.”
“Too easy?” Arthur laughed, “We had to erase a man’s memory, because he wanted you dead”
“Yes, but… that’s easily fixed. I’ve always been most scared of… you know… you rejecting me.”
Arthur smiled softly at his servant, who was still pointedly lookíng ahead instead of at the prince. “I know,” he whispered, not quite sure if Merlin heard him. “I wouldn’t do that,” Arthur said a bit louder, and in a more teasing tone of voice, “I would have to find a new servant, and we both know that a good servant is hard to come by.”
Merlin shot him a glance, and Arthur smiled at him. He needed Merlin to know that everything was good between them.
“You sure you’re not mad?”
“Of course,” Arthur replied, “I do think we should have a talk, but I’m not mad at you. I understand why you didn’t tell me.”
Merlin gave Arthur a small smile in return, “Thank you, Arthur. That means a lot to me.”
Arthur wanted to tell Merlin that he should be the thankful one, but he couldn’t quite get the words out. Next time, he promised himself, he’d tell Merlin thank you for all the times he had saved his life. And from this moment on, he would make sure to protect Merlin just as much as he was protecting Arthur.