Protection

Poison

A/N I wrote this instead of watching The Force Awakens in my Spanish class xD. My friend, Jay, laughed at the death! I was over here near tears with one of my other friends and he's over there LAUGHING!

Prompt: Merlin tastes Arthur's food for poison every morning, afternoon, and night, and he can't use magic for it as the food is not to leave the kitchen until it's been tested. Of course, it's happened before but this time, Merlin doesn't know until he's in Arthur's chambers. Set while Uther is King and this is a prompt I thought of myself xD

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin

"Merlin! You're going to be late!" Gauis shouts from the main room and is rewarded with the sound of a thump as Merlin falls out of the small, hard bed. Within the next few seconds, the door to Merlin's room opens. The servant stumbles out, half dressed and hurriedly slips on his shirt and boots on. As he's leaving, he grabs a roll off Gauis's table before running off to the kitchens. Multiple of the kitchen staff stop as soon as Merlin enters, watching him instead as he takes a small bite of the prince's bread and cheese, they watch as he takes a sip of the prince's wine, followed by a bite of the sausage. The kitchen staff watch worriedly as Merlin nods, sending a smile to the head cook, before grabbing the plate and rushing out of the kitchen. The waiting kitchen staff sigh in relief before returning quickly to their duties. By the time Merlin arrives at Arthur's room, the prince was awake, dressed, and glaring at the door with a goblet in hand. When Merlin enters, he gets a goblet to the back of the head as he turned to close the door behind him.

"You're late, again." Arthur declares, ignoring the yelp of pain from Merlin.

"Ever so observant Arthur." Merlin comments with a laugh as he sets the food down in front of the expecting prince. Arthur glares at humming servant as he walks around, setting out some stuff that the prince would most likely need later in the day.

"Merlin," Arthur begins as he picks up the fork to start eating, "shut up." Merlin responds with another laugh and before Arthur gets the chance to take a bite, the door opens to reveal the King standing there, in all his glory, looking downright angry with his son.

"Arthur! You were meant to report to the training grounds ten minutes ago! The new recruits have been waiting and a good prince should never leave his people waiting. Now go!" Uther orders and Arthur groans, setting down the fork with a clatter.

"Merlin, armor." Arthur orders and Merlin nods, not saying anything sarcastic in front of the King. As Merlin picks up the armor, the King nods before leaving the prince and his manservant.

"Merlin, you are to clean my room while I'm gone at training. I expect it to be spotless when I return!" Arthur demands as he mentally prepares a lecture for his servant when he returns for, not only making him late, but also making him miss breakfast. Arthur feels a smug smirk tug at his lips as Merlin groans, looking around the cluttered room. After Merlin got him prepared for training, he left and Merlin began to clean. As he starts to puck up the clothing that littered the ground, a wave of nausea and dizziness washes over him and sends him slamming into the wall for support. The servant slides down the wall and puts his head on his knees and waits for it to pass. It was probably just from not eating or lack of sleep but when Merlin finally though about that, he realized that he had a rather large dinner and that he had slept perfectly well last night, so it couldn't be that. Maybe it's Arthur's food? Maybe the assassins finally got smart and made a slow working poison so the taste-tester wouldn't realize it in time? Merlin wonders sluggishly as the wave had barely passed and after a few more minutes, Merlin realizes it wouldn't pass. Merlin stood shakily, momentarily forgetting about the fact that he should probably dump Arthur's food, and stumbles over to where most of Arthur's clothes were thrown all over the floor. His head was pounding as Merlin slowly dips down to pick up the no-doubt dirty clothes. As he continues his work, his headache becomes worse and worse. Another wave of nausea hits him and Merlin's sent to the ground in pain. He stands slowly, the wave not passing and heads to the desk where Arthur normally eats his meals, grabbing the plate filled with Arthur's breakfast before dumping it into the fire. Arthur wouldn't be happy with him but Merlin didn't feel well enough to dwell on that fact for too long. He knew that he should probably go and see Gauis but Arthur would be livid if his room wasn't spotless by the time he returns. As another wave of dizziness hits him along with nausea, Merlin quickly forgets about the thought of Arthur's possible anger and leaves to find Gauis. He should have known he wouldn't get that far and soon he was crashing into the stone floor, followed quickly by darkness.