The Lost Prince

1. The Knights of Nelthon

Prince Merlin Ambrosius awoke in the City of Camelot. He rubbed his eyes to rid him of sleep then clutched his royal seal. This was the only thing he had-besides his sword which was forged in the fires of the dragon's breath-that reminded him of Nelthon,  his kingdom. Today was exactly nine years ago that Nelthon was attacked. After a few minutes, he got dressed. He put on his ever-so-trustful neckerchief which hid his royal seal and went into the main part of the chambers. Gaius wasn't up yet. Merlin grabbed an apple off the table and went to go train with his sword before having to wake up King Arthur. Or what Merlin calls him, King Prat. It was not yet light outside so it was the perfect opportunity to train. He couldn't risk being caught training during the day otherwise that would make it suspicious as he pretended to be awful with a sword when in reality, he was the best swordsman in the five kingdoms. But of course, Arthur can't know that.

When he reached a small clearing in the woods with a few practice dummies which he placed-and cloaked with magic so if anyone other than him entered the clearing, they wouldn't see it-he began to train. He enchanted one of the dummies so it would fight him back. He put it on 'extreme mode' and he fought with it for a few seconds before Merlin held the sword to its throat. Merlin always ends up beating it in the first five seconds. He knows Arthur wouldn't be able to do that. He sighed. At least he has improved in his training since he was 14. It used to take him ten to fifteen minutes to beat the dummy on 'hard mode' but now he can do it in seconds. He hated training sessions with Arthur because he has to pretend to be a clumsy idiot when he is anything but.

He does this every morning. He enchanted the other five dummies and fought them off. After about five minutes, they were all on the floor by Merlin's feet. He smiled. Yes, he really has improved. He looked at the sky and saw it was first light already. Time to wake up King Prat. He cloaked the dummies and as soon as he was satisfied, he sheathed his sword-which was also cloaked as he kept it on him at all times-and headed back to the citadel. He made sure to avoid the guards because it could lead to awkward questions like why he was out of the citadel so early in the morning. He made his way to Arthur's chambers to wake him up. He opened the door to find the prat asleep. Merlin rolled his eyes. He went over to the curtains and opened them with the usual "Rise and shine sire." But today without the enthusiasm.

"Merlin." Arthur groaned rolling over.

"You have to wake up Arthur." He said. A small smile played on his lips as he remembered how Ellis, Lewis, Will and James used to get him up. But unfortunately for them Merlin used magic to hang them upside down by their ankles which got them all into hysterics. It was a funny sight to see all of his trusted knights and friends just hanging in the air, laughing their heads off. Luckily that cannot happen to Merlin as Arthur has no magic. "Come on sire, up you get."

"Merlin." He said again but it was muffled as his face was in the pillow.

"Alright then. Suit yourself." And then Merlin grabbed his feet and yanked him off the bed. He landed on the floor with a thump.

"MERLIN!" He yelled.

"You should have got up then shouldn't you?" He asked rhetorically. "Come on up you get." Arthur picked up a goblet and threw it at the manservant's head which he ducked gracefully temporarily forgetting his 'usual' clumsiness. Arthur stared at him with wide eyes. He had never seen his manservant be so graceful in all the time he had known him. Merlin realised his mistake too late. Arthur's getting suspicious. "Come on, let's get you dressed." If there's one thing Merlin's good at that's not magic or wielding a sword, is changing the subject.

"Idiot."

"Prat." Merlin hated being called an idiot because he is not one but he has to act like it. "Come on."