Chapter 1

Merlin knew Hunith was not the one who had given birth to him. That much he had figured that out at an early age, but she didn't know he did. She loved him all the same, she was his mother in everything but blood. She knew who his parents were. She had fallen in love with his father, that much was true, but never had she hinted as to who his mother was. Gaius thought Hunith was his mother, as does all of Camelot, but Merlin knew better. He had seen how bastards and their mothers were treated and Hunith was treated far more kindly. Another reason Merlin knew was a song. One he kept close to his heart.

Over the years people had tried and failed to get the lanky boy to sing, but he downright refused. He would hum, yes, but never would words leave his mouth in such a manner if he had anything to say about it. That was, until the hunt with the prince that went completely wrong.

The hunt had started like any other. Merlin was complaining about harming defenseless animals and Arthur would tell him how girlish he was. This went on for three days. Completely normal, that was, until a bolt from a crossbow came out of nowhere and imbedded itself in the tree by Merlin's head.

Suddenly three men came charging out of the forest. Arthur took one down with his own crossbow before drawing his sword and charging the other two. Merlin figured Arthur could take the bandits, but quickly picked up the dead man's sword and rushed to help his friend, just in case.

~/\\/\\~

The prince had both men on the defensive, but he wasn't sure how long he could keep it that way. He hadn't told Merlin, but he had been feeling ill for the last two days and this morning he had woken with a sore throat, aching joints and a pounding headache. Battling two bandits was not the best idea under these circumstances, but he had little choice. He could fight or let something happen to himself and Merlin, and that last thought was one that he refused to allow happen.

He managed to plunge his sword into the belly of one of the men, but that left his flank open to attack. As he was pulling his weapon from the dying man he felt the other man's blade slice into his thigh. The pain forces him to his knees. He turned his head to see the bandit swinging at his neck only for the blade to fall short as it made contact with the blade protruding from the man's chest. The man fell to the ground, revealing a shaky manservant.

Arthur had never thought Merlin capable of taking a life, but the he was trembling like a leaf holding a sword covered in blood. No sooner had this thought run through the prince's mind than, Merlin threw the offending weapon aside and rushed to his master. Arthur had nearly forgotten about his leg until Merlin whipped off his prized red neckerchief and tied it tightly above the wound. At that moment two things registered in Arthur's mind: One, that hurt and two, Merlin loved that piece of red cloth, but had been willing to sacrifice it to keep him from bleeding out. "Merlin must be desperate if he is using his scarf. Just how bad is it?" Arthur though disjointedly before passing out.

~/\\/\\~

Merlin had run as fast as he could to reach Arthur. He was almost there when the prince let down his guard in order to kill one of his opponents. Merlin pushed himself faster as he saw the blade cut deeply into the dolt's left leg. He could hear the bone break from where he was. As Arthur collapsed Merlin began to shake with anger. As he plunged the sword into the man's unprotected back he used his magic to alter the path of the blade to miss the prince's neck altogether. The fact that the blade hit his own was completely coincidental.

Merlin's rage quickly shifted to panic as he now saw how bad Arthur leg really was. The bone was definitely broken if the position it was in was any indication. It was the amount of blood that worried him the most. If the blade had cut the femoral artery Arthur would bleed out in seconds. With that thought he shifted into what Gaius once referred to as his 'physician mode', used his neck scarf to slow the blood flow, and turned to tell Arthur to be still. Merlin actually had to catch the prince as he slumped to the ground. He was burning up! The wasn't the usual overheating due to battle that Merlin was used to dealing with when the prat was usually knocked out during a battle, this was a fever.

After using magic to slow the bleeding to a manageable level, Merlin set to work on the bone. With a little work Merlin had the sever break healed to a minor fracture. Merlin knew he needed to something about the fever, but he had no clue as to its origin. If it had been caused by infection he could easily remedy it, but Arthur had not been injured in the past week and a half and the new wound hadn't had time to fester.

Arthur needed Gaius, but they were half a day's ride from Camelot and the horses were back at camp, almost a mile away. Without his supplies back at camp he could do little more for his friend. With a little magical help Merlin settled the prince over his shoulder and set off for their camp.

~/\\/\\~

Merlin was surprised that how good of time he had made get back. Twenty minutes, through the forest, with the dead weight of a full grown man to boot was amazing. Soon he had the leg bound and splinted, just in case, and he set to work trying to lower the fever that had spiked since the first time the warlock had noticed it.

After a quick examination Merlin found out that the prince had hidden swollen nodes in his neck which should have caused his throat to be incredibly painful, swollen joints that would have made the sword fight pure agony, and small blisters on his chest and back. Merlin remembered Gaius giving Arthur a salve for his itch a few days back, but surely Arthur would have mentioned the blisters, unless they formed during the hunt. Suddenly things that had happened over the past few days made even more sense. The grunts when getting up, the winces while eating, and the complaints about the roughness of the shirts. They were all signs that the prince was coming down with something, but they were the kind of things the clotpole did anyway.

Merlin had a limited knowledge of illnesses that were unrelated to injuries, so Merlin used what little he did know as best he could. He knew honey was used to keep infections at bay in wounds, so Merlin spread some over the cut on the prince's thigh before binding the wound up with the last of the bandages he had in his saddle bag. After some thought, Merlin mixed honey and water together and got the blond to drink it despite his lack of consciousness. If the honey water helped with the sickness, good, if it didn't, at least the sweet mixture would give the prat some energy.

After that there was nothing Merlin could do but wait. Merlin didn't know if it was a good idea to try to move Arthur while he was like this, and even if he managed to get him on the horse, he had nothing but magic to keep him there. If he hadn't drained himself with all that healing, he might have attempted it, but he was more than likely to pass out himself if he had to concentrate on keeping the royal on the horse as tired as he was right now. So he would wait. He and Arthur were due back in Camelot by sunset, so, Merlin just needed to keep Arthur from getting worse until Uther sent out a search party looking for them at dawn. Hopefully they would be found by midday. Hopefully.

~/\\/\\~

Around dusk Arthur woke and was delirious with the fever which had spiked yet again. In his panic he managed to rip off the splint and cause the cut to bleed heavily. He didn't seem to feel the fracture as he was soon on feet and threatening poor Merlin with his sword. How he got his hands on the sword the thin man was clueless. Merlin hadn't meant to doze off, but he had, and now Arthur was waving a sword at him and has going to hurt himself.

He tried talking to him but that only seemed to aggravate him worse. He tried everything he could think of shy of using magic, when the idea hit him. If Arthur remembered this and spoke of it later, the raven headed man would deny it, but right now he saw no other way. He was going to sing to the feverish prince. And not just any song, his secret song. His secret lullaby.

After trying to remember how the song started, Merlin began humming. He had never understood the first few word, so he skipped them and started where they did make sense. Softly he began to sing.

"My son, I have nothing I can give

But this chance that you may live

I pray, we'll meet again

If He will deliver us

Deliver us, hear our prayer

Deliver us from despair

These years of slavery grow

Too cruel to stand

Hush now, my baby

Be still, love, don't cry

Sleep as you're rocked by the stream

Sleep and remember my last lullaby

So I'll be with you when you dream"

By this point of the song Arthur allowed Merlin to get close to him.

"River, oh, river

Flow gently for me

Such precious cargo you bear

Do you know somewhere

He can be free?

River, deliver him there"

At this point, he had him seated by the fire and began tending the gash.

"Brother, you're safe now

And safe may you stay

For I have a prayer just for you

Grow, baby brother

Come back someday

Come and deliver us, too"

By the end of the song, Arthur had started to nod off, but as soon as Merlin stopped singing he began to panic again. So, Merlin sang it again and again until the blond was fast asleep. The fever was better, but not gone by midnight and Arthur was not sleeping soundly anymore. So Merlin hunkered down and resigned himself the humming and singing all night. At dawn Merlin fell asleep.

He dreamt about a dark haired woman with green eyes and little girl with brown eyes and blond hair holding the hand of a dark haired toddler. He saw them sing as he was sent off with a man on a horse. The man had dark eyes and black hair. He looked so sad. As the song faded, the man looked down at him and said, "We will see our family again, Emrys. I hope you will be able to forgive us for this. You are our hope for this land, my son. Always know that we love you…"

At this point Merlin was roused from his sleep by the sounds of horses. He quickly rushed to dowse what was left of their fire and hid Arthur as best he could with his bed roll and leaves, before picking up the prince's sword and hiding behind a tree to watch the path. A few moments later he was relieved to see the red cloaks of Camelot knights.

To get their attention he called out with the bird call that the knights use to signal each other. The horsemen stopped dead at the call and quickly dismounted and began searching for the source of the sound. Merlin came out of his hiding place and beckoned to the knights. At first they didn't recognize the servant, but as they came closer they knew they had found the prince. Because, where there was Arthur, Merlin was nearby. So if servant was here, so was the master.

~/\\/\\~

It was nearly sunset by the time they reached Camelot. Arthur was still sleeping feverishly and Merlin was barely able to stay his saddle he was so exhausted. In fact, the knight's took turns riding beside the gangly youth to make sure that he didn't fall and hurt himself. They had come across the corpses of the bandit on their way back to the city. I was clear to the trained eyes of the knights what had happened. This is why they were going to keep the boy from falling. He had saved the prince by killing the bandit and again by treating his injuries. So, by the time they reached the courtyard, the knights had decided who was going to carry the prince, who was going to report to the king, and who was going to help Merlin.

As Sir Oldof and Sir Osric carried Arthur to Gaius's chambers, Sir Edric rushed to inform the king of the events that had transpired. Sir Geraint had been the knight that knew Merlin the best, so he was in charge of seeing that Merlin ate and got some rest. Geraint had seen how devoted Merlin was to Arthur, despite the whole thing with that Cedric turning out to be the sorcerer Cornelius Sigan. If the boy could so easily forgive the royal he deserved to be looked out for.

The new Head Cook of Camelot was a woman to be reckoned, but even she could see that his boy was completely worn out. She had worked in the royal kitchens for years, so she knew all about the cheeky, back-talking lad that served the prince. She knew how he got the job and it was moments like this that she wondered how the poor boy was still alive. She had seen what the prince put him through.

On top of that, she saw how the boy had become the prince's taster ever since the poisoning during King Bayard's visit. Three time she had to have someone fetch Gaius because someone had tried to kill the prince. No one asked the boy to do it, but he did it anyway.

She knew the lad hardly had time to eat on most days and the food he tasted for poisons was often the only breakfast he ate. So when Sir Geraint brought him down to the kitchens she knew something had happened. As Merlin ate the food Audrey gave him, the knight told her what had happened.

At the end of the story the cook looked at the young man falling asleep at the table. There was something about that boy that gave her hope for the kingdom. Because with him there to guide Arthur, there was no way the prince would become the tyrant his father is. The lad was a good influence, and Audrey was determined to see that the boy lived long enough for that future to be born.

Shaking those thoughts from her mind she told the knight he had better get Merlin to his room before he fell asleep right there in her kitchens. She also sent a loaf of bread and some cheese with the knight to give to Gaius for Merlin to eat in the morning.

To say the knight was shocked to see the feared castle cook treat the skinny servant with such love would have been an understatement. She had given the boy the remainder of the King and Lady Morgana's dinner and had watched to make sure he ate every bit of it. The knight knew she would deny that whole thing happened by morning, but he had seen it. So when she told him to take Merlin to bed, he obeyed. This lad had people looking out for him, just like he looked out for the prince.

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By the time they reached the physician's chamber Merlin was leaning heavily on Geraint's arm. Coming through the door, the knight saw Gaius finish tying the dressing on the prince's leg. Without turning to see who came in, Gaius started talking to Merlin.

"You have learned more than I give you credit for, Merlin. Arthur's leg will heal fine as long as he stays off of it for a few weeks. Also, it is a good thing you told Sir Osric about Arthur's other symptoms. It seems he has an adult case of the Chicken pox. Have you ever…" He trailed off when he saw his ward nearly dead on his feet leaning on the arm of a knight. His eyes widened and he turned to Geraint. "What happened?"

Geraint smiled slightly and told Gaius all he knew about what had happened and where Merlin had been for the past half hour. Gaius ushered them towards Merlin's small room and instructed the knight to lay the exhausted boy on the bed.

The knight was shocked at how small the room really was. The bed was hard and small and the entire room was a mess. After looking a little harder he saw that this was the most organized mess he had even seen. The poor servant hardly had time to eat, let alone tidy his own chambers, so he did the next best thing. Orderly chaos.

Back out in the main chamber the knight and physician discussed the ordeal. Gaius caught Geraint up on the details of the prince's condition and then Geraint told Gaius about what appeared to have happened to the sleeping duo and about his talk with Audrey. As the blonde knight handed Gaius the package of bread and cheese, a smile showed on the elderly man's face.

~/\\/\\~

The next morning Merlin was stiff and sore, his throat hurt, and his head was begging for more sleep, but Merlin got up quickly and got ready to serve the prince. He was nearly dressed when he remembered past two days. He finished dressing and quietly entered the main room.

Arthur was sleeping in Gaius's bed and Gaius was asleep in the chair beside it. Arthur still had the sheen of sweat that showed that he still had that fever, but otherwise he looked much better than he had the day before. It was at that moment that his legs gave out on him and he crashed to the floor. Loudly.