Up, Up and Away; Merlin
Title: Up, Up and Away
Authors: mydoctortennant
Pairings/Characters: Merlin, Gwaine, Gwen, Arthur, Elyan
Warnings: Crack?
Disclaimer: Not real. Despite birthday wishes and night time prayers to Santa (all Hail Amy Pond!) Merlin still isn't mine!
Rating: PG
Summary: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's... Merlin?
Author Notes: Written for mustbethursday3 for her birthday WAY back in September, which is when I did start it... beta'd by sgmajorshipper
My Merlin Prompt Table 2010 :: 2011
Once upon a time, in a land not so far from here, lived a boy with more power than you could ever imagine. Born with a destiny so great you could scarcely believe. He, after all, is a serving boy; servant to the Prince of Camelot, of all people. By all appearances he is not a hero nor is he in anyway spectacular through status; but this boy, this sorcerer, is the most powerful person you would ever meet.
It’s just a shame he’s such a klutz on the side.
He could often be found in the evenings practising his magicks in the confines of his small room, amidst the mess of his adolescent ways. He would mutter spells to himself, try them out on unanimous objects or himself, depending on what the spell was for.
After eating his supper with his guardian, Merlin retired to his quarters to read a few more pages of his spell books before sleeping; if he was to wake anywhere near on time to begin his duties for Arthur the next morning he would have to sleep soon.
He turned the page to read one more spell before turning in for the night. He scanned the page. He laughed to himself as he read the page about weightlessness, “Looks like fun,” he chuckled before he stuffed the book beneath his bed and blew out of his candle, ready to go back to sleep.
X
Arthur woke the next morning on his own accord. That rarely happened if it wasn’t too late already. Where the hell was Merlin? He quickly dressed himself. He looped the end of his belt through itself, then took his sword in his hand; if Merlin was late it usually meant he had over slept and threatening him with immediate death had seemed to be quite a success in the past.
He charged into Gaius’ chambers and noticed that the old man wasn’t there. He was likely to be making his morning rounds. Why hadn’t he woken Merlin?
“Merlin!” he shouted moving up towards the young servant’s room. He frowned when he couldn’t see him, “Merlin?”
“Arthur?” the call was slightly straggled; worried.
“Where are you, Merlin?” the Prince pulled his sword from his belt and slowly sauntered out of his servants bedroom and checked around the physician’s larger room, only to notice his servant out of the top corner of his vision, “Merlin?”
“A little help?” he was clinging onto the railing that guarded the top shelving units that held Gaius’ books. His feet were up in the air, floating above his body. Arthur took all of a second to consider his options before he burst out in uncontrollable laughter.
“What on earth did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Something go wrong, did it?” the amusement was clear on his face. Only Arthur would find this funny. No. Gwaine probably would too. Only Lancelot would sympathise with him. Arthur was still a little bitter that he hadn’t divulged to him that he could perform magic. Luckily for him he hadn’t thrown him straight in the dungeons ready to be burnt at the stake or beheaded the next day like his father would have.
“I didn’t do it!”
“No? You might think me a fool, Merlin, but I don’t see how this could be anybody but yours fault.”
“There are other sorcerer’s in the world. Maybe I’m being targeted.”
“Targeted? Merlin, you’re a servant, who would want to target you?”
“Nimeuh wanted me dead.”
“Annoyed any other powerful sorceresses recently?”
“Other than Morgana, Morgause and any other people they have with them?”
“Why would they make you all floaty?”
“I don’t know! Spite?” he said trying to guide his floating form back towards the floor. Each grab of his hand and it felt as if he was dragging himself through mud. It was resistant against him, his feet flying higher.
“Stay there, I’ll find Gaius.”
“I’m hardly going to go anywhere else!”
“Just,” Arthur pushed his sword back into its sheath, “Don’t go near the window.”
X
No matter what Merlin tried, he couldn’t stop his legs from floating far above his head. He was starting to get dizzy. It wasn’t doing him much good. Gwaine had come by, laughed and left again without trying to help him.
He was dangerously close to the window now, but he couldn’t help himself from going near it;, his feet just wanted to go that way. His arms were tired and his fingers more so from holding onto the banister.
Though he new he should have held on for dear life, his arms ached and there was nothing more he could do.
He let go.
By the great law of sod, he went straight out of the window towards the lower town. He crashed into one of the walls along the way, grazing his cheek on the stone. The wind carried him towards the tavern. He grabbed onto the chimney breast and clung on for dear life.
Gradually he moved himself down and grabbed onto the top of Gwen’s house.
“Gwen?” he called out knowing that she would be there, “Gweeeeen!”
“Merlin?” he heard her open the door, but she didn’t step out of her home, “Merlin?”
“Gwen! I’m up here!”
She came out of her home then. She looked up, saw him, and laughed. ”What are you doing up there?”
“Somebody’s attacked me!” he said lamely.
“By making you float?”
“Yes! Look, it’s not funny!” he said, seeing exactly the same look on her face as she had when she was informing Merlin about Arthur and his donkey ears.
She apologised, “No, not at all,” she said but her laugh was evident in her eyes and the twitch of the corner of her mouth, “I’m sorry,” she said again, “What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know? Get somebody to get me down? Get Gaius?”
She nodded, “Okay, give me ten minutes. I’ll bring him back.”
X
Merlin had seen Gaius’ surprised expression before, but it was usually before he expressed some great insight into how Merlin was a genuinely unpredictable individual. Now, however it was the look that said “What have you done now, Merlin?”
It wasn’t a look he enjoyed being on the receiving end of.
“Merlin?”
“I know, I know. Please, just help me?”
“I’lll look up what I can Merlin, have you any ideas?”
“No. I don’t know! Just, please; my head hurts.”
“I’ll try everything, Merlin,” his guardian called up to him, there was a small gathering of people looking up at him now. They were used to Merlin and his odd ways, but this really took the biscuit.
“Hurry!”
X
Merlin had been hanging onto the same post above Gwen’s house since that afternoon when she’d spoken to him. He was getting tired and all he could hear now was the joyous shouting from the tavern beside him.
“Merlin?” the young sorcerer looked down to see Gaius hovering by the side of Gwen’s porch out of the main view of the street.
“Sooooo, how do I get down?” Merlin called down to his guardian. The old man looked up at him with that look that told him that he didn’t have any idea what was going to happen to him. It was another look that Merlin dreaded and luckily didn’t see very often.
“It wears off.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Helpful, thank you!”
“I’m doing the best I can! But should I find something, a remedy, how would I get it to you?”
Merlin opened his mouth to answer but soon closed it again and frowned as he looked at his floating body. The man had a point.
X
“I bought you a present,” Gwaine said as he scaled the wall onto Gwen’s roof. Over his left shoulder he had a rope and over his right he had the strap to a bag.
“Great? What is it?”
“Well, for starters, I bought you some food, because Gaius told me to,” he said laying the bag down at his feet. He then flipped the rope off his shoulder and started to tie it to one of the roof supports, “And the rope is for your legs.”
“Oh thank god. The blood is all in my head.”
“Okay, ready?”
“Go,” Gwaine grabbed his right leg and tied the rope firmly around it and pulled down hard. Merlin called out in pain as the blood rushed around back into his legs, and Gwaine wasn’t exactly being gentle. He tied the remains of the rope around his left ankle and secured him.
“I’ll keep an eye on you.”
“Don’t you have training?”
“I’m Arthur’s best knight; I can miss one session. Besides,” he grinned and moved to jump back down the side of Gwen’s house, “I think I can keep an eye on you from the tavern,” the twinkle in his eye gleamed.
Merlin rolled his eyes and grabbed for the food bag by utilising the rope to force his body down to the thatched roof, ‘Of course you can.’ He reached into the grab and pulled out a hunk of bread. He didn’t care for Gwaine’s likeliness to get ridiculously drunk and be no help at all when it came to getting Merlin down, but at least his head no longer hurt.
X
As the afternoon wore on Merlin didn’t see Gwaine again at all. Occasionally he heard a chorus of laughter and he only assumed that his friend had done something else raucous or stupid. He imagined he was building another bill that was ridiculously long and involving no less than a dozen pickled eggs.
Merlin, to put it simply, was bored.
He had been stuck on his friend’s roof for hours now. He had tried to talk her into leading him inside but she couldn’t do it herself and everybody else was busy. He’d spent a lot of his time up there, rocked back and forth on his feet; they were still fighting the rope and the rope was starting to grate on his ankles. He only wished he had his boots on, at least then it wouldn’t hurt half as much.
“Gwen… Gweeeeeeeeen!” he called out. She came outside wrapped in her shawl and smiled up at him.
“What is it, Merlin?” she said crossing her arms across her chest and clinging to the fine material of her shawl. She looked tired, like she was considering going to bed. She yawned, politely covering her mouth with her hand.
“I’m bored.”
“Try and sleep. You’ll be there a long time.”
“But I’m bored,” he whined; had he been able to, Gwen assumed he would stamp his feet and rampage about like a toddler.
She held up her hand to stop him, “I heard you the first time; try and sleep.”
“Standing up?”
“You don’t have much choice, Merlin,” the door to the tavern opened. The ruckus that followed was accentuated by their mutual friend and knight of Camelot being thrown from the tavern. He started to giggle as he landed and rolled around onto his back. He spotted Merlin and started to laugh again.
“Gwen!” he exclaimed with a broad grin on his face, “What are you doing here?”
“Hello Gwaine,” she said with a polite smile. She was more than used to her drunken friend turning up on her doorstep after a night in the tavern. It wasn’t something Arthur approved of, but at the end of the day he knew he could trust Gwaine and he did so a lot more than he could any other of the knights.
“Did you see Merlin?” he said pointing to the servant atop the building, “He’s on top of your house, you know?”
“I had noticed, yes.”
“He is a funny little man.”
“Oi!”
“I should be getting him back to the castle,” Gwen said smiling sympathetically up at her friend, “I won’t be long,” she hooked her hand through his arm and wrenched him from the floor, “I can’t leave him here.”
Merlin watch his two friends walk off towards the castle. Gwaine’s steps were stumbled and uneven, and Gwen was his crutch; “Bored, bored, bored.”
X
At some point during the night Merlin had drifted to sleep.
Gwen left early to go to the castle, yawning to herself after her few hours sleep once she’d helped Gwaine back to the castle. She knew Arthur would be angry today that she’d walked back to her little house without an escort but she’d done it many times over the years; it really wasn’t that big a deal to her. Even if it was to him.
She was early; that she knew. But if Merlin was stuck atop her home then somebody would need to wake the Prince; otherwise he would sleep the day away.
She would rap on his door before she entered. It wouldn’t wake him but if by some miracle he was already out of bed he would know it wasn’t Merlin coming. She’d open his curtains and give him his breakfast and quickly excuse herself before she started going about her other duties. She wasn’t a servant anymore, but there wasn’t anything stopping her from giving Merlin a hand.
When the light hit his face Arthur stirred instantly, “Some warning in future, Merlin.”
“I’m afraid he is still stuck, Arthur.”
The Prince scrambled to sit, “A little warning in future, Guinevere.”
“I knocked. Rather loudly. It would seem nothing could be heard over your racket.”
“I could have you in the stocks for that.”
“You could, but you won’t,” she smiled as she filtered through his draws and handed him a shirt, “I’m not sure when we’ll get Merlin back. Gaius says he could be airborne for a day or a week. He isn’t sure.”
“Serves the idiot right.”
“Arthur?”
“He says he’s being cursed by somebody, but I did some investigating and that book of his had fallen from his bed to the floor. It was open on a spell that did exactly what has happened to him. Something about weightlessness.”
“So he did this to himself?”
“One would think so.”
“Have you told Gaius?”
“Of course.”
X
“Who keeps a tomato and thinks ‘I’ll wait for it to rot?!’” Merlin shouted down to the small group of children that had gathered beneath him. He’d been used as target practise before, but this was ridiculous; he wasn’t even in the stocks!
They aimed another tomato at him and it collided firmly with his chest. He tried to fight them off but there was nothing he could do. Gwaine had secured him to Gwen’s roof good and proper, “Stop it!”
“Hey,” a familiar voice sounded, “Scram,” the kids all ran away. Nobody argued with a Knight of Camelot with a drawn sword, “How you doing, Merlin?”
“Fantastic. You?” he replied sarcastically as he wiped the slush from the inside of a tomato from his cheek in disgust.
“Never better. Deflating yet?”
“No.”
“Give it time.”
“You’re really helpful, you know that.”
“How about I come and keep you company?” he said as he scaled the wall and parked himself at Merlin’s feet and tossed him another piece of bread.
“Don’t you have to train?”
“They can train without me.”
“That’s what you said yesterday,” Merlin replied as he started to jam as much of the hunk of bread into his mouth at one time.
“Yeah, well, they could do with the extra training,” the pair of them laughed, “I could tie your top half down as well, if you liked.” Gwaine offered. It was an odd position to be in; to be sat at Merlin’s feet with his near six foot friend standing above him.
“I’m going to go with no; it’ll be just as uncomfortable.”
“Okay, well, if you change your mind.”
“I know who to ask.”
X
The birdsong sounded through Camelot in the early morning. The first people woke and started about the town on their chores. The bakers started up their agars and the blacksmiths their fires. On his way to his forge, Elyan looked over to his sister’s house and smiled.
Upon the thatching was a man, not much younger than the blacksmith, fast asleep against the harshness of the straw. For days he had been stuck up there with his feet tied down as the rest of his body wanted to float away into the sky.
It seemed that finally the affliction that had been attacking him for the last few days had lifted.
Slowly he woke as the hustle and bustle of the street below started. As he came around he was acutely aware to his face being rested against the hard roof, the print of the straw on his cheek. It took a moment for him to realise what it meant.
“I’m not floating,” he shouted in glee and scrambled with the ropes. He fumbled so rapidly that he didn’t quite realise his place and slipped from the roof with a yelp. He somehow managed to land on his feet.
His feet.
On the floor.
Not in the air.
On the floor.
He called out in his joy, shouting. Whooping and jumping. He was free.
He ran up to the castle, stumbling over his own feet, having not walked for a few days, but carrying on at a great pace all the same.
“Merlin?” he heard the feminine voice of his best friend call as he ran into the courtyard.
“Gwen! It’s so nice to see you!”
“You’ve seen me every day.”
“But your face! Not the top of your head! I can touch you!” he pulled her into a hug and swung her about in his arms, “I never thought I’d be down here again!”
“You’re a little overdramatic aren’t you?”
There was a firm clearing of a throat behind them. The pair of them turned; greeted by the Prince of Camelot. He tried to frown but he smiled, laughing at his servant and friend and clapped him on the shoulder, “It’s nice to have you back.”
Authors: mydoctortennant
Pairings/Characters: Merlin, Gwaine, Gwen, Arthur, Elyan
Warnings: Crack?
Disclaimer: Not real. Despite birthday wishes and night time prayers to Santa (all Hail Amy Pond!) Merlin still isn't mine!
Rating: PG
Summary: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's... Merlin?
Author Notes: Written for mustbethursday3 for her birthday WAY back in September, which is when I did start it... beta'd by sgmajorshipper
My Merlin Prompt Table 2010 :: 2011
Once upon a time, in a land not so far from here, lived a boy with more power than you could ever imagine. Born with a destiny so great you could scarcely believe. He, after all, is a serving boy; servant to the Prince of Camelot, of all people. By all appearances he is not a hero nor is he in anyway spectacular through status; but this boy, this sorcerer, is the most powerful person you would ever meet.
It’s just a shame he’s such a klutz on the side.
He could often be found in the evenings practising his magicks in the confines of his small room, amidst the mess of his adolescent ways. He would mutter spells to himself, try them out on unanimous objects or himself, depending on what the spell was for.
After eating his supper with his guardian, Merlin retired to his quarters to read a few more pages of his spell books before sleeping; if he was to wake anywhere near on time to begin his duties for Arthur the next morning he would have to sleep soon.
He turned the page to read one more spell before turning in for the night. He scanned the page. He laughed to himself as he read the page about weightlessness, “Looks like fun,” he chuckled before he stuffed the book beneath his bed and blew out of his candle, ready to go back to sleep.
X
Arthur woke the next morning on his own accord. That rarely happened if it wasn’t too late already. Where the hell was Merlin? He quickly dressed himself. He looped the end of his belt through itself, then took his sword in his hand; if Merlin was late it usually meant he had over slept and threatening him with immediate death had seemed to be quite a success in the past.
He charged into Gaius’ chambers and noticed that the old man wasn’t there. He was likely to be making his morning rounds. Why hadn’t he woken Merlin?
“Merlin!” he shouted moving up towards the young servant’s room. He frowned when he couldn’t see him, “Merlin?”
“Arthur?” the call was slightly straggled; worried.
“Where are you, Merlin?” the Prince pulled his sword from his belt and slowly sauntered out of his servants bedroom and checked around the physician’s larger room, only to notice his servant out of the top corner of his vision, “Merlin?”
“A little help?” he was clinging onto the railing that guarded the top shelving units that held Gaius’ books. His feet were up in the air, floating above his body. Arthur took all of a second to consider his options before he burst out in uncontrollable laughter.
“What on earth did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Something go wrong, did it?” the amusement was clear on his face. Only Arthur would find this funny. No. Gwaine probably would too. Only Lancelot would sympathise with him. Arthur was still a little bitter that he hadn’t divulged to him that he could perform magic. Luckily for him he hadn’t thrown him straight in the dungeons ready to be burnt at the stake or beheaded the next day like his father would have.
“I didn’t do it!”
“No? You might think me a fool, Merlin, but I don’t see how this could be anybody but yours fault.”
“There are other sorcerer’s in the world. Maybe I’m being targeted.”
“Targeted? Merlin, you’re a servant, who would want to target you?”
“Nimeuh wanted me dead.”
“Annoyed any other powerful sorceresses recently?”
“Other than Morgana, Morgause and any other people they have with them?”
“Why would they make you all floaty?”
“I don’t know! Spite?” he said trying to guide his floating form back towards the floor. Each grab of his hand and it felt as if he was dragging himself through mud. It was resistant against him, his feet flying higher.
“Stay there, I’ll find Gaius.”
“I’m hardly going to go anywhere else!”
“Just,” Arthur pushed his sword back into its sheath, “Don’t go near the window.”
X
No matter what Merlin tried, he couldn’t stop his legs from floating far above his head. He was starting to get dizzy. It wasn’t doing him much good. Gwaine had come by, laughed and left again without trying to help him.
He was dangerously close to the window now, but he couldn’t help himself from going near it;, his feet just wanted to go that way. His arms were tired and his fingers more so from holding onto the banister.
Though he new he should have held on for dear life, his arms ached and there was nothing more he could do.
He let go.
By the great law of sod, he went straight out of the window towards the lower town. He crashed into one of the walls along the way, grazing his cheek on the stone. The wind carried him towards the tavern. He grabbed onto the chimney breast and clung on for dear life.
Gradually he moved himself down and grabbed onto the top of Gwen’s house.
“Gwen?” he called out knowing that she would be there, “Gweeeeen!”
“Merlin?” he heard her open the door, but she didn’t step out of her home, “Merlin?”
“Gwen! I’m up here!”
She came out of her home then. She looked up, saw him, and laughed. ”What are you doing up there?”
“Somebody’s attacked me!” he said lamely.
“By making you float?”
“Yes! Look, it’s not funny!” he said, seeing exactly the same look on her face as she had when she was informing Merlin about Arthur and his donkey ears.
She apologised, “No, not at all,” she said but her laugh was evident in her eyes and the twitch of the corner of her mouth, “I’m sorry,” she said again, “What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know? Get somebody to get me down? Get Gaius?”
She nodded, “Okay, give me ten minutes. I’ll bring him back.”
X
Merlin had seen Gaius’ surprised expression before, but it was usually before he expressed some great insight into how Merlin was a genuinely unpredictable individual. Now, however it was the look that said “What have you done now, Merlin?”
It wasn’t a look he enjoyed being on the receiving end of.
“Merlin?”
“I know, I know. Please, just help me?”
“I’lll look up what I can Merlin, have you any ideas?”
“No. I don’t know! Just, please; my head hurts.”
“I’ll try everything, Merlin,” his guardian called up to him, there was a small gathering of people looking up at him now. They were used to Merlin and his odd ways, but this really took the biscuit.
“Hurry!”
X
Merlin had been hanging onto the same post above Gwen’s house since that afternoon when she’d spoken to him. He was getting tired and all he could hear now was the joyous shouting from the tavern beside him.
“Merlin?” the young sorcerer looked down to see Gaius hovering by the side of Gwen’s porch out of the main view of the street.
“Sooooo, how do I get down?” Merlin called down to his guardian. The old man looked up at him with that look that told him that he didn’t have any idea what was going to happen to him. It was another look that Merlin dreaded and luckily didn’t see very often.
“It wears off.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Helpful, thank you!”
“I’m doing the best I can! But should I find something, a remedy, how would I get it to you?”
Merlin opened his mouth to answer but soon closed it again and frowned as he looked at his floating body. The man had a point.
X
“I bought you a present,” Gwaine said as he scaled the wall onto Gwen’s roof. Over his left shoulder he had a rope and over his right he had the strap to a bag.
“Great? What is it?”
“Well, for starters, I bought you some food, because Gaius told me to,” he said laying the bag down at his feet. He then flipped the rope off his shoulder and started to tie it to one of the roof supports, “And the rope is for your legs.”
“Oh thank god. The blood is all in my head.”
“Okay, ready?”
“Go,” Gwaine grabbed his right leg and tied the rope firmly around it and pulled down hard. Merlin called out in pain as the blood rushed around back into his legs, and Gwaine wasn’t exactly being gentle. He tied the remains of the rope around his left ankle and secured him.
“I’ll keep an eye on you.”
“Don’t you have training?”
“I’m Arthur’s best knight; I can miss one session. Besides,” he grinned and moved to jump back down the side of Gwen’s house, “I think I can keep an eye on you from the tavern,” the twinkle in his eye gleamed.
Merlin rolled his eyes and grabbed for the food bag by utilising the rope to force his body down to the thatched roof, ‘Of course you can.’ He reached into the grab and pulled out a hunk of bread. He didn’t care for Gwaine’s likeliness to get ridiculously drunk and be no help at all when it came to getting Merlin down, but at least his head no longer hurt.
X
As the afternoon wore on Merlin didn’t see Gwaine again at all. Occasionally he heard a chorus of laughter and he only assumed that his friend had done something else raucous or stupid. He imagined he was building another bill that was ridiculously long and involving no less than a dozen pickled eggs.
Merlin, to put it simply, was bored.
He had been stuck on his friend’s roof for hours now. He had tried to talk her into leading him inside but she couldn’t do it herself and everybody else was busy. He’d spent a lot of his time up there, rocked back and forth on his feet; they were still fighting the rope and the rope was starting to grate on his ankles. He only wished he had his boots on, at least then it wouldn’t hurt half as much.
“Gwen… Gweeeeeeeeen!” he called out. She came outside wrapped in her shawl and smiled up at him.
“What is it, Merlin?” she said crossing her arms across her chest and clinging to the fine material of her shawl. She looked tired, like she was considering going to bed. She yawned, politely covering her mouth with her hand.
“I’m bored.”
“Try and sleep. You’ll be there a long time.”
“But I’m bored,” he whined; had he been able to, Gwen assumed he would stamp his feet and rampage about like a toddler.
She held up her hand to stop him, “I heard you the first time; try and sleep.”
“Standing up?”
“You don’t have much choice, Merlin,” the door to the tavern opened. The ruckus that followed was accentuated by their mutual friend and knight of Camelot being thrown from the tavern. He started to giggle as he landed and rolled around onto his back. He spotted Merlin and started to laugh again.
“Gwen!” he exclaimed with a broad grin on his face, “What are you doing here?”
“Hello Gwaine,” she said with a polite smile. She was more than used to her drunken friend turning up on her doorstep after a night in the tavern. It wasn’t something Arthur approved of, but at the end of the day he knew he could trust Gwaine and he did so a lot more than he could any other of the knights.
“Did you see Merlin?” he said pointing to the servant atop the building, “He’s on top of your house, you know?”
“I had noticed, yes.”
“He is a funny little man.”
“Oi!”
“I should be getting him back to the castle,” Gwen said smiling sympathetically up at her friend, “I won’t be long,” she hooked her hand through his arm and wrenched him from the floor, “I can’t leave him here.”
Merlin watch his two friends walk off towards the castle. Gwaine’s steps were stumbled and uneven, and Gwen was his crutch; “Bored, bored, bored.”
X
At some point during the night Merlin had drifted to sleep.
Gwen left early to go to the castle, yawning to herself after her few hours sleep once she’d helped Gwaine back to the castle. She knew Arthur would be angry today that she’d walked back to her little house without an escort but she’d done it many times over the years; it really wasn’t that big a deal to her. Even if it was to him.
She was early; that she knew. But if Merlin was stuck atop her home then somebody would need to wake the Prince; otherwise he would sleep the day away.
She would rap on his door before she entered. It wouldn’t wake him but if by some miracle he was already out of bed he would know it wasn’t Merlin coming. She’d open his curtains and give him his breakfast and quickly excuse herself before she started going about her other duties. She wasn’t a servant anymore, but there wasn’t anything stopping her from giving Merlin a hand.
When the light hit his face Arthur stirred instantly, “Some warning in future, Merlin.”
“I’m afraid he is still stuck, Arthur.”
The Prince scrambled to sit, “A little warning in future, Guinevere.”
“I knocked. Rather loudly. It would seem nothing could be heard over your racket.”
“I could have you in the stocks for that.”
“You could, but you won’t,” she smiled as she filtered through his draws and handed him a shirt, “I’m not sure when we’ll get Merlin back. Gaius says he could be airborne for a day or a week. He isn’t sure.”
“Serves the idiot right.”
“Arthur?”
“He says he’s being cursed by somebody, but I did some investigating and that book of his had fallen from his bed to the floor. It was open on a spell that did exactly what has happened to him. Something about weightlessness.”
“So he did this to himself?”
“One would think so.”
“Have you told Gaius?”
“Of course.”
X
“Who keeps a tomato and thinks ‘I’ll wait for it to rot?!’” Merlin shouted down to the small group of children that had gathered beneath him. He’d been used as target practise before, but this was ridiculous; he wasn’t even in the stocks!
They aimed another tomato at him and it collided firmly with his chest. He tried to fight them off but there was nothing he could do. Gwaine had secured him to Gwen’s roof good and proper, “Stop it!”
“Hey,” a familiar voice sounded, “Scram,” the kids all ran away. Nobody argued with a Knight of Camelot with a drawn sword, “How you doing, Merlin?”
“Fantastic. You?” he replied sarcastically as he wiped the slush from the inside of a tomato from his cheek in disgust.
“Never better. Deflating yet?”
“No.”
“Give it time.”
“You’re really helpful, you know that.”
“How about I come and keep you company?” he said as he scaled the wall and parked himself at Merlin’s feet and tossed him another piece of bread.
“Don’t you have to train?”
“They can train without me.”
“That’s what you said yesterday,” Merlin replied as he started to jam as much of the hunk of bread into his mouth at one time.
“Yeah, well, they could do with the extra training,” the pair of them laughed, “I could tie your top half down as well, if you liked.” Gwaine offered. It was an odd position to be in; to be sat at Merlin’s feet with his near six foot friend standing above him.
“I’m going to go with no; it’ll be just as uncomfortable.”
“Okay, well, if you change your mind.”
“I know who to ask.”
X
The birdsong sounded through Camelot in the early morning. The first people woke and started about the town on their chores. The bakers started up their agars and the blacksmiths their fires. On his way to his forge, Elyan looked over to his sister’s house and smiled.
Upon the thatching was a man, not much younger than the blacksmith, fast asleep against the harshness of the straw. For days he had been stuck up there with his feet tied down as the rest of his body wanted to float away into the sky.
It seemed that finally the affliction that had been attacking him for the last few days had lifted.
Slowly he woke as the hustle and bustle of the street below started. As he came around he was acutely aware to his face being rested against the hard roof, the print of the straw on his cheek. It took a moment for him to realise what it meant.
“I’m not floating,” he shouted in glee and scrambled with the ropes. He fumbled so rapidly that he didn’t quite realise his place and slipped from the roof with a yelp. He somehow managed to land on his feet.
His feet.
On the floor.
Not in the air.
On the floor.
He called out in his joy, shouting. Whooping and jumping. He was free.
He ran up to the castle, stumbling over his own feet, having not walked for a few days, but carrying on at a great pace all the same.
“Merlin?” he heard the feminine voice of his best friend call as he ran into the courtyard.
“Gwen! It’s so nice to see you!”
“You’ve seen me every day.”
“But your face! Not the top of your head! I can touch you!” he pulled her into a hug and swung her about in his arms, “I never thought I’d be down here again!”
“You’re a little overdramatic aren’t you?”
There was a firm clearing of a throat behind them. The pair of them turned; greeted by the Prince of Camelot. He tried to frown but he smiled, laughing at his servant and friend and clapped him on the shoulder, “It’s nice to have you back.”