The Shadow of the Moon

Chapter 3

As they sauntered back to the camp at a slow trot on their horses, Merlin's eyes were glued to Arthur's back: finely muscled and indifferent. So much the same as he remember, the same man he had known and loved unrequitedly since he had grown to know the prattish prince. He felt a butterfly of longing unfurl from its hibernation where it had laid dormant in the dark recesses of his hollow-feeling chest. The nostalgia slices through him.

"I've heard a lot about you" came a soft voice beside him, starling Merlin from his reverie. He looked. It was Mordred.

"I'm sure." he replied darkly smiling tightly at the young knight.

"No no! I mean....from Gwaine." Mordred said panicked, an strange expression in his pallid face. Emrys? Can you hear me? he thought. But despite everything he knew about this man before him, everything he had heard, Merlin showed no sign of hearing him in his mind. Peturbement skittered across his face before he cleared it into a smile as Gwaine joined them.

"I've been singing your prases ever since Mordred here joined us!" Gwaine said rougishly from Merlin's other side.

"Don't you....don't you hate me?" Merlin asked, voice soft and unsure but tinged with a glimmerering candle of hope.

"Hate you?! Merlin!" Gwaine cried in shocked.

"You're still the same Merlin. You're still our friend. We would never forget you." Percey reassured him from behind words pointed at Arthur.

"Plus what you did for my brother....I can't ever thank you enough. Merlin...." Gwaine started but choked off. Merlin smiled awkwardly for the first time in what felt like a year, a blush blooming on his cheeks.

"I mean it, we've missed you" Gwaine continued. Infront of them, Arthur's face screwed into a frown and he huffed a sigh.

"So tell me....what have I missed in Camelot?" Merlun asked unaware of the sulking king.

"Well now! Leon has quite the tale to tell you!" Gwaine cackled.

"Leon?" Percy prompted gently.

"I have a family now. Taffany my wife, and Ruperth and Fyouna, twins." Leon put in with a bashful smile of true joy.

"Oh my gods! That was quick!" Exclarmaled Merlin.

"Well....I've been courting Taffany for two years before....you left. We wanted to keep it a secret from these bawdy fools. We were wed this summer past" Leon blushed, a dopey proud smile across his face thinking of his children and beloved. Merlin laughed, happy for the man.

"What else?" He asked, eagerness bouncing through his voice and shimmering in his eye, a stark contrast to the darkness that still seemed to enshroud him.

"Lancelot's decided fighting isn't for him and so Arthur let him take over the training of the new knights! And....and Lancelot and Gwen got together! Finally I was sick of them making moo eyes at eachother" Elyan gossiped, the with a grin he continued on.

"The way they're going I'll be an uncle soon!" He smiled.

Merlin frowned. Lancelot and gwen? He knew they'd shared something before but he was certain she and Arthur would get together, the King and servant had seemed destined for oneanother. He was sure they had had the kind of romance of legends and his heart crushed a little despite himself for the pain Arthur must have endured. He glanced a loot at Athur's back, riding ahead of them silently, not involved in the conversation. His hair shone in the shafts of shining light of the setting sun that reached down through the trees as they moved away from the dense darkness of the wood where he lived.