This is a one-shot, no real pairing in it but it is a spanking story. It is from a prompt from parimalik (I'm sorry it took so long to get up). Basic summary, Arthur, Merlin & knights go hunting. Merlin gets hurt and decides to lie to Arthur about his injuries. Arthur finds out and well after he is okay they talk and decide a punishment is necessary.

Arthur's POV

Griffins, super nasty creatures and one has been plaguing the village of Camelot for quite some time now. So, I am taking the knights and Merlin and we are going to go find this one and if we can't convince it to leave us alone, we will kill it. So, all the knights have their orders to meet us in the stables in 1 hour and Merlin should be here by now helping me get ready.

After waiting 10 minutes I decided to at least get changed into some sort of comfortable riding clothes for the day as it is possible that the nest is going to be that far away. When I was behind the curtain, I heard him come into the room. "You're late!"

"I am not, you said to come up when I was done helping Gaius and I just finished doing that. But I am also all packed, so I can help you."

I walked out from behind the curtain looking at him. He was in his typical riding clothes and he actually had his sword with him which I must say did shock me. "Good boy, Merlin you remembered your weapon which is very unlike you."

Merlin just nodded to me and continued packing up my stuff for me. When we managed to get down to the stables the other knights were already there waiting for us just conversing about what was taking me so long. "My servant was taking his time." I laughed along with them.

Lancelot smiled before turning to Merlin. "Does he ever really stop picking on you?"

Merlin just shook his head smirking, "but it is okay, he has done it since the beginning anyway so I'm happy with it."

Then we were off tracking this creature. The nest wasn't as far as I thought it would have been in fact it was actually closer. The problem was trying to track it as it wasn't in its nest when we got there. It took the better part of the day to find it and then well convincing it didn't quite go as planned either.

Merlin's POV

Fighting the griffin and not being able to use my magic was harder than I had thought. Part way through the fight I was behind the front legs when it picked it up and ended up scratching my leg quite badly. Though the tight pants stopped most of the blood from seeping through and a little magic was able to fix my pants in a hurry without anyone seeing.

So, it was all good we killed the griffin though we had tried to reason with it to stop attacking the village and given it options as to exactly where it could hunt for its food. But when it refused to actually listen and decided to treat us as it's next meal well that is when Arthur decided it needed to die. He had come a long way since we had met but still, he was an ass.

On our way back, we came across a massive thunderstorm. Now don't get me wrong, no one here was afraid of a little rain and thunder. But we couldn't see where we were going so Arthur decided to take shelter in a castle that had once been an outpost for the kingdom.

When we got there, he explained that his father had taken him here when he was very young and explained that it was truly a safe haven if he ever needed it. There were 2 maids that use to run it but since taking over the throne Arthur had requested, they return to Camelot and only come out here every 4 months to ensure that everything was still well stocked.

So, a fully stocked castle including a medical room which Arthur insisted we all go and visit to get check out by him. This did scare me, though after a little convincing Arthur seemed to be okay with me being fine and agreed that he didn't have to check me for any wounds. With a little magic I would heal them up when we got back to Camelot. Though if Arthur ever did find out that I had lied to him he would for sure end up spanking me again and this time it would be with his belt and possibly something else added to that.

My mind whirled around as I sat there in the dark of the room waiting for all the knights to come back. A few of them had gotten hurt but no one as bad as my leg. Though they were all laughing and joking when it was time to go to bed, we all crashed for the night. My secret was still safe, I had never had stitches and I wasn't getting them now. It wasn't until morning when things turned bad for me when Arthur started moaning beside me.

"Merlin, wake up. Go get the food!"

When I got up out of my bed I winced ever so quietly. Though in the large room it did echo quite a bit making me cover my mouth.

"Was that a wince?"

"No, you're hearing things, go back to sleep."

Getting up and trying to walk was hard, making me worried that Arthur though he wasn't the most observant of a person would notice. If he did; he decided to not say anything to me about it at all about it well for right now.

At breakfast, Lancelot sat beside me at the table looking at me pick at my food. "Not hungry there, Merlin?"

I just shook my head. "Not really. Think I'm just sore from all the riding from yesterday."

He nodded accepting my answer before going over to talk to Arthur and the other knights. It didn't take long before the pain in my leg was starting to get bad. The weather hadn't changed and since we could stay a bit we decided to remain here until it did clear up. Another day of trying to hide.

Arthur found the deck of cards that I had in his pack for emergency situations like this and they all decided to play. I sat out claiming I was tired and going to bed to lay down for another little bit and would be up to help get dinner for us.

A while later Arthur came to bother me saying that beating everyone was getting boring and he wanted to beat me instead. He wiggled his eyebrows again before grabbing for his belt.

"I have been good, you don't need to beat me today." I got up before falling on my face to the floor, making the mistake of trying to stand on my one leg again.

"You've been good, then why are you falling? Merlin did you get hurt yesterday?"

With hearing that the other knights came over helping him carry me to the medical room.

"Arthur, I'm fine, sire. It is only a little scratch nothing a bit of time and a bandage won't fix. You were so busy helping everyone last night."

He just nodded telling the knights to put me on the table and to pull up my pant leg. His back was to me when they pulled it up and the look on Lancelot's face was horrified before he turned to Arthur telling him to turn around.

"Merlin, you swore to me last night that you weren't hurt. You promised me that you were fine?"

I nodded looking away. "I'm sorry sire."

"You're sorry. Merlin this could have been worse. You could get an infection or die." He took the vase of water he had in his hand and threw it against the wall shattering it.

Wiping a tear away from my eye I looked at him. "I am scared of getting stitches." It came out almost as a whisper. As I was sure he wouldn't understand. He was the crown prince of Camelot, surely, he wasn't scared of getting something as small as a few stitches. But they scared me.

"Merlin, you should have said that last night. Instead though you chose to lie to me, twice! Once last night and once this morning. So here let's get this fixed up and then we can cuddle for a bit but when we get back to Camelot you are being punished. And we will discuss that during the cuddles understood?"

I nodded.

The next hour we spent with me getting stitches and the knights all helping taking turns making me laugh telling me funny stories of Arthur when he was little causing problems and having fun. Sometimes they were of him getting hurt and being sent to Gaius for treatment and then having to return to training. The funniest one had to be when he fell off his horse trying to make it turn and the horse just wanted to go straight, they had been in one of the many fields surrounding the kingdom when it had happened.

When they were done; we were all going to curl up, but Arthur explained that he needed 10 minutes to talk to me alone before everyone joined us. So, they all left explaining they would go get some dinner for us to have and that we could leave for Camelot in the morning.

Arthur looked down at me when we were alone. "Merlin, you understand that what you did was wrong, don't you?"

I nodded. "Yes, I know that lying to you is wrong."

He just huffed at me. "You know the next time you hide something like this that it could be a life-threatening thing and by the time I find out I might not be able to save you."

We had been through this before. He didn't like having to train new servants and him being forced to train one because of something I had done would be even worse for everyone.

"So, when we get back to Camelot tomorrow, you are going to go to Gaius and explain that you got hurt and have him look at your leg too. When he is done with you then you will resume your normal chores for the remainder of the day. Though that night before bed, you will come join me and get a nice belting for what you did. I know it will hurt but you need to learn this lesson."

I nodded to him. "Do I have to tell Gaius about not telling you about the injury?"

He shook his head. "That can stay between us, but Merlin do this again and I won't be so forgiving about it. You will spend a week in the dungeon and then 2 days in the stokes, do you understand?"

I nodded quickly not wanting to have that happen. When the others came back, they had managed to find dinner and bring us in some. We spent the rest of the night just talking about random things that had happened recently and different changes that we wanted Arthur to make.

I dreaded the ride back the kingdom. Well not exactly the ride but what would come after it. Gaius was nice about the cut just rebandaging it for me and sending me on my way to complete my chores. Those did manage to keep my mind occupied until after the evening meal, when I went to Arthur's quarters for the dreaded results.

He had gotten changed into his night clothes before I had arrived, so he was waiting there ready for me to arrive. "You'll be spending the night here tonight. As I doubt, you'll be walking much after this because you could have gotten yourself killed with this stupidity."

I nodded. "Yes sire."

"Very well, hands on the post."

I placed my hands on the post near the rope that he had put there a few weeks ago when he had last belted me. When my hands were tied, he stripped off my pants having me lift my feet to take them completely off.

"Why are we here, Merlin?"

"Because I lied to you about getting injured twice and lying to you about that is bad."

"Yes, now remember last time you lied to me? I said if I ever caught you in a lie again that it would be 20 with my belt. And you lied twice so that's 40."

I gulped hearing him say that. He took a clean sock from the drawer and shoved it in my mouth. "Just to help you keep quiet. I debated for the entire ride today as to let you off easy and with what the other knights said I've decided to do it this way, groups of 10. One tonight, in the morning, tomorrow night and last one will be 15 the following morning."

Without him saying anything more he rained spanks on my butt with his hand. I knew this was just the warm up. He liked to make sure I was nice and sore before he even got to the belt. I don't know how long it was but when he picked up the belt and pulled my feet together, I was crying.

"I'm not going to get you to count. You know you're only getting 10 right now but by the end of all 45 you are getting I promise this lesson won't go away."

The sound of the belt going through the air was only the anticipation of the sting and pain that was to come from it. When the 10 were done instead of untying me Arthur just left me there, standing tied to his bed.

He left and when he came back, he had water for himself. "You can sleep on the floor, don't worry I already told Gaius about you not sleeping there tonight. He and I had a nice talk about what had happened. Though I told him I was dealing with it, so he didn't have to worry about any of it and that this would never happen again."

With that he untied my hands and let me go lay on the floor. I did manage to get some sleep but the knowledge of having to endure that a few more times, I promised myself that I would never lie to Arthur about anything again.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Sparky