The Lost Prince

6. Knight vs Prince

"Oh, he's only the best swordsman in the five kingdoms." James answered. "He was the one who trained us."

"You're joking right?" Gwaine asked.

"Hey, I resent that." Merlin said, with mock annoyance. The corner of his lips were twitching. It would be entertaining to see Gwaine beaten by Merlin of all people.

"You should see him with a sword. He beat his father's best knight when he was six." James said. Merlin glared at him. They didn't need to know that. "Well you did." James put his hands in surrender, shrinking under the prince's glare. Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Anyway..." Merlin dragged the word out. "Who wants to try and fight me?" James smirked. This could be fun.

"You're on." Gwaine unsheathed his sword, and Merlin unsheathed his own.

"I'll go easy on you." Merlin said.

"More like I will, your highness." Gwaine said. Merlin smirked. This will be fun.

Gwaine swung his sword towards Merlin, and to his surprise, Merlin lazily lifted his sword in movement the knight hadn't seen before, and he was flat on his back, disarmed. Merlin grinned at him, sword pointed at his throat. Gwaine and Lancelot had their mouths wide open. James was laughing. "Not so useless now am I?" Merlin asked sarcastically, still grinning. "I said I was going to go easy on you."

Gwaine and Lancelot's jaws, dropped even more. "You were going easy?" Gwaine was incredulous.

"Yeah, he was." James interjected. Merlin's grin widened. Merlin sheathed his sword, and Gwaine stood up.

"Bloody hell." Gwaine said with awe.

"Do you want to try Lancelot?" Merlin asked Lancelot, turning to him.

"No, I'm good sire." Lancelot said smiling.

"Suit yourself." Merlin said shrugging.

"You're even better than Arthur." Then Gwaine seemed to have an idea, because he smiled mischievously. "When Arthur finds out, you have to spar him. I would love to see the look on the princess's face when you beat him."

"It might damage his ego." Merlin said, and they burst into laughter again. "Come on, we need to get back to the camp. You need to wake up the next person soon. And that person happens to be the prat himself."

"Yeah, it is." Gwaine agreed.

"Come on." Merlin said and he lead them back to the camp they were currently staying in. When they reached the camp, Arthur was awoken by Gwaine, once Merlin and James were in their bed rolls. Arthur groaned, but made nothing off it.

"Make sure you don't wake Merlin up. You know what he's like." Gwaine said to Arthur quietly. Arthur nodded. "By the way, Leon's next." Gwaine and Lancelot went to their bed rolls.

Merlin waited until he could hear the gentle snoring of Gwaine and Lancelot, before he got up and moved over to Arthur. Arthur looked up and, when he saw Merlin approaching, rolled his eyes. "You should be asleep Merlin." Arthur said.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Don't you start. I've already had this lecture with Gwaine and Lancelot." Merlin said. "And you know I don't listen to orders." Arthur's eyes narrowed.

"Merlin, it looks like you haven't had a decent nights sleep in days. You look terrible." Arthur noted.

"Thanks." Merlin said sarcastically, sitting next to Arthur.

"Go to sleep Merlin. You need it." Merlin had no intention of going to sleep. He didn't want to have another vision of the future. They scared him. "Do you want to stay up all night?" Merlin was about to answer, when Arthur cut him off. "On second thoughts, don't answer that." Merlin closed his mouth again. "Go. To. Sleep. Merlin."

"Fine." Merlin said. He can't win this argument. Not with the king not knowing who he is. Merlin sighed. He hated lying to them. But he knows he has to. "Good night Arthur." He said as he trudged back to his bed roll.

***

Merlin had a troubled night. It was the same one from a couple of nights ago. His brother's scream of pain, rattled in his ears. He must have zoned out because he heard Arthur's voice. "Merlin." He snapped out of his reverie.

"Hmm." He responded facing Arthur.

"We're going now."

"Oh. Right." Merlin said, distracted. He went to his horse and mounted. They set off and Gwaine and Lancelot were talking to Merlin's knights.

"I have an important question." Gwaine stated with all seriousness. "Have you ever seen Merlin drunk?" He whispered it so the others wouldn't hear.

The knights looked at each other, then burst out laughing. The knights of the round table, Arthur and Gwen looked at them oddly, but didn't comment. Merlin rolled his eyes. Of course Gwaine would ask that question. "Merlin? Drunk? Never." Then added more seriously, "First off, he was too young, he was 14 when we last saw him. And secondly, he was afraid of what he would do with his magic in case he hurt anyone." He whispered back to Gwaine and Lancelot. They made sure the others couldn't hear anything.

Gwaine nodded in understanding though said, "Damn. I've been trying to get Merlin drunk for years." The knights snickered slightly.

"Yeah, they haven't succeeded yet." Merlin whispered to them. "And they never will."

"You're boring Merlin." Gwaine pouted quietly.

"I'm not boring, I'm cautious." Merlin stated. "I might hurt someone. I can't take that risk."

"Whatever you say, sire." Gwaine said with a bock bow. Merlin glared at him, then looked towards the others who were laughing at something Elyan said.

"Do not use my title. They can't find out yet." Merlin said quietly. "And do not mention anything. Got that?" Gwaine nodded mutely. It was kind of scary to see Merlin act so... Royal. "Good."

"We'll stop here for something to eat before we move on." Arthur said. Merlin gave Gwaine a pointed look, before going over to where Arthur and the other knights were dismounting their horses.