merlin:knight,warlock,prince13

Chapter 13.


The knights all stood in front of Arthur while he gave out his orders for training. "Merlin has unwillingly volunteered to be the target today. First you will act alone he will try and place a weak enchantment on you and you will try and hit him with the flat of your sword. Once you have all had a go at that you will team up in twos then fours then we will all try and hit Merlin. Is that clear!" he was answered by them all shouting "yes sire" he marched over to where Merlin stood wearing chainmail two sizes to big and a helmet that was clearly meant for a child, that was perched at a jaunty angle on his head.
"Don't worry I'll go easy on you." Merlin smiled his goofy smile "I can make no such promises sire, your enemy will not go easy, I hope I prove to be a useful tool sire." Arthur walked back to his knights and ordered the first to charge.
He hesitated at first, not used to facing a weapon less foe. Then remembering what Merlin's weapon was, he charged full pelt. Merlin pointed one hand. The knight dropped to the ground rolled side ways and continued running, Merlin pointed the same hand but as the knight started to perform a similar trick to last time, Merlin muttered something under his breath and the soil turned to mud. Causing the young knight to trip and fall. Merlin bowed to the knight "a valiant effort sir knight, next time keep me guessing." The knight stood up nodded as a sign of respect and walked over to the side of the field.
And so it went each knight stood forward and charged at the young warlock. Who in tern would best them. Some were harder to beat than others. Sir Leon and Sir Lancelot had so far done the best other than Tristain, so far only Tristain had managed to place the flat of his sword to Merlin's side but as his sword hurt the wielder every time he attacked a being of magic Tristain promptly keeled over in sudden burning pain. It was incidentally the moment he discovered the swords punishment or reward depended on the power of the victim. Finally it was Arthurs turn. He started running and Merlin started casting spells and enchantments Arthur dodged and weaved and jumped and rolled. And Merlin allowed his magic to flow to the surface and tried not to laugh as Arthur almost got caught by vines or missed being knocked off his feat by a branch. Arthur was determined to reach Merlin. He was almost there when his friend muttered "forbaernan cirris" and a ring of raging fire sprung up around him Arthur jumped through the fire and swung the flat of his sword to where Merlin was. When the fire died down he realised he had struck a floating branch Merlin was standing just the other side of the now burnt ring of grass. Waving and smiling. Arthur grabbed the branch and lobbed it at Merlin who was tripped over. Arthur smiled ruefully "oh I'm so sorry Em-rys, I didn't mean to do that Em-rys" Merlin went from glaring at the prince, to laughing good naturedly.
Once he had regained his composure he turned to the knights, after getting a nod from Arthur he spoke. "I just used a fraction of my magic. And I meant none of you harm.  Magic is like a sword it is used to protect or to harm. I protect but make no mistake Morganna's army will do all they can to harm you. But as I said magic is a sword it can be used to slash and stab but it can be blocked with shield and dodged with whit's. Once you accept this fact you will find it easier to defend yourself." The knights nodded and listened to him. Some still looked sceptical, here was an untrained servant telling them how to fight. Arthur tried not to smile. Merlin was starting to truly fulfil whatever destiny had been laid out for him but he was doing it in his own way.
"When you work as a team, as you know you need to, play to your strengths. You need to adapt. Magic is wild and unweilding. It is harsh and can do vastly more damage than any sword could ever do." Seeing the knights were not really listening to him he flicked his hands out and Arthur was yanked off his feet and flew through the air coming to a hault in front of Merlin who then used magic to lift him up. His eyes burned a fierce gold and Arthur felt the air leaving him.
The knights all ran forward as a group yelling for Merlin to let the prince go. Merlin stared them down and released the prince. he shouted at the knights, "I am not just a servant,  hell I'm not even a servant anymore not really, the king himself has allowed Arthur to deal with me how he wants. What was your decision sire?" Arthur still gasping for breath said. "I made you my advisor and asked you to help me train the knights in defence against magic." Merlin turned to look at the knights and smiled his normal goofy grin. "I could snap each and every one of you like twigs without lifting a finger I could incinerate you all, but I don't. I never will. I have sworn on my life that I will protect Arthur and Camelot.  But if without any training and any malice I can do what I just did, then make no mistake our enemies will do the same and will kill you so I advise you to listen to what I'm telling you, because if you are not going to listen to me when I am advising you by the princes command, then you may find you die sooner than later."
He turned to leave but stopped when he saw each of the knights raise their swords in salute to him he raised his hand in salute back and started instructing them in how best to avoid harm. Arthur lent across and muttered in his friend's ear. "You didn't need to be so mellow dramatic you idiot." Merlin smiled "but where would be the fun in that my friend" Arthur pushed his friend playfully and was pleased to see things hadn't fully changed when Merlin tripped over and landed in the mud. "Gentleman! The greatest sorcerer ever know!" Arthur laughed as he pointed at Merlin. Lancelot was headed over to give Merlin a hand up when Merlin's eyes went gold and Arthur tripped over as well.
"Gentleman! The once and future king" Merlin laughed as he pointed at Arthur. With the slightest of nods from the prince, Lancelot hit Merlin gently on the head, before whispering "Merlin old friend it isn't a good idea to rile him before he runs at you with a sharp sword. I won't always be here to play go between." Merlin smiled at his friend, shook off the mud and waited for the knights to start their training again.

Four hours later the knights had completed their training and Merlin was exhausted. Only a few of them had managed to reach him but they were making progress. Arthur stated as much while he and his advisor walked back towards the castle. "Of course Arthur, but this was the first time they had such training. Sire even you can't expect every single one of them to get it perfect first go. Their progress is promising. You're laughing?" merlin turned to his master, Arthur was indeed laughing. Merlin waited for Arthur to stop laughing.  "Sorry it's just I'm still not used to the increased frequency of your wisdom. I'm used to it being a rare occurrence." Merlin merely raised a quizzical eyebrow and continued walking. "I noticed sir Leon returned and left. As did Lancelot. Is there anything I should know?" Arthur bowed his head before telling his friend that Sir Leon had gone to meet Odin and ask for support, Lancelot had gone away to take care of something but would be returning. Merlin listened and nodded. He was concerned, Lancelot had barely spoken to him since his return and knighthood. And if reports were to be believed he and Tristan had nearly come to blows several times.
Merlin suppressed a chuckle as he noticed Tristain standing to one side throwing knifes at a wooden post. He still hadn't told Arthur that Tristain had been helping him train in had to hand combat. It had been Tristain's idea. He had decided that the less magic Merlin used in situations the more at ease people would be. He waved good bye to Arthur, replying "training" when his friend asked where he was going. He chose to ignore the smirk that Arthur gave when the prince saw who Merlin would be training with.
"Its training, just training. I'll check in with you later sire," the two friends went their separate ways Arthurs back was turned when Tristain threw a sword towards Merlin and it was catched with ease by the warlock. Tristain swung his training sword and they started training. Merlin was starting to think he was making progress until Tristain knocked him over. "Merlin, you need to stay focused. I know it may be hard for you to engage your brain sometimes but please just try." Merlin pulled himself up, took a breath and stood ready again "I can't help that your freakishly fast mate, you're like spinning top" they laughed. "Then stop me spinning. Your clumsy, use that to your advantage." Merlin steadied himself and started again. This time as he was going down he twisted taking Tristain down with him. They tumbled for a bit before they came to a rest with Merlin holding a knife to Tristain's throat "now either you let me win that spout or you just got beaten by a county boy Mr knight." Tristain smiled up at his companion. "I couldn't help it. Your ears distracted me. You know I'm not entirely sure this is what they mean when they say swept off ones feet."
Merlin chuckled as he stood up and helped the knight up. "Just be glad I tripped you up instead of throwing you several yards with magic." The knight laughed. "Like you" his sentence was cut short by Merlin gently pushing a hand against his chest as his eyes went gold. Tristain went flying backwards and landed with a thump in the dirt. Tristain threw some mud at Merlin. Soon both had given up being mature and had started just throwing mud at each other. Only stopping when there was more dirt and mud on them than on the ground.
"Didn't really think this through did you. I'm a knight I can get clean relatively easy but I'm fairly certain you still have to use the servants wash room." Merlin shook some of the mud off. "Actually I'm allowed to use the high ranking servants wash room. The one reserved for the servants with higher positions, since I have been awarded the title of partial advisor I have been promoted, besides as long as no one sees I can use magic to get the worst of it off."  Tristain slapped Merlin on the back.  "Its nice to see you are putting your skills to good use Emrys last of the dragon lords and prince of magic." He waved good bye and they went their separate ways.