Merthur - Arthur's Secret

Chapter 7 - Emrys?

Merlin's POV

I watch as an arrow zips by a large stag. I sigh. Arthur really needs to stop hurting animals.

The stag notices our presence and darts away in the opposite direction. Arthur groans as he watches hopelessly as his pray disappears from sight.

Arthur, Morgana, Gwen and I were all out hunting. It was just the four of us today. Arthur said he didn't want the Knights to tag along because a large group would only scare away the animals.

The actual reason was because we could all tell Morgana had something on her mind and we wanted to help. A bunch of Knights would only make things harder. I knew what the problem was. Morgana didn't know what to do about her magic but she made me swear not to tell anyone so I'm keeping my mouth shut.

We've been hunting for a couple of hours now in the forest. We only managed to catch small animals such as squirrels because I always made sure to scare away the larger ones before Arthur got a chance to shoot it.

This time Arthur spots a rabbit hopping about in the bushes. I see him ready his crossbow. The rabbit still hadn't seen us yet. I purposely drop the javelin I was carrying onto the ground. The rabbit immediately perks its head up and scurries off. I smile. Another animal saved from Arthur.

It seems Arthur wasn't as happy as I was. "Merlin!" He calls angrily, turning his horse around to face me.

"What?" I give him an innocent face as I pick up the javelin.

"Why are you such a clumsy idiot?"

"Do you not love me like this?" I put on my best pouting face.

Arthur starts to get flustered. "No! I uhh I don't mean it like that Merlin!"

He continues to make excuses. I hear Morgana and Gwen trying to stifle a laugh. Eventually I can't hold back back my own laughter any longer. I start to chuckle as I see Arthur realize that I was joking. He starts to turn bright red in embarrassment. He shifts his horse back around to face the path ahead. He brings a hand up to cover the blush on his cheeks.

"That was not funny Merlin."

We all start laughing except for Arthur.

"You should have heard yourself Arthur," Morgana giggles.

The laughter eventually dies down and we continue on for a short while. The sun starts to dip below the horizon and Arthur decides we should camp out for the night. We had planned to hunt for at least a day or two so we had all our supplies.

"We should cut through the Valley of the Fallen Kings in the morning and head back to Camelot then," Arthur finishes explaining.

"But isn't The Valley of the Fallen Kings cursed? Should we really be camping out this close?" I ask nervously as I leap off my horse to start setting camp.

"Aw, are you scared Merlin?" Arthur says sarcastically as the others dismount as well.

"What!? Of course not! Me? Scared?" I cross my arms and puff out my chest a little.

Arthur smirks at me, walks over, and wraps an arm around my waist. "Don't worry. I'll protect you if anything happens."

I blush a little. I hear Gwen and Morgana snickering behind us.

-----

After setting up camp and having a nice meal we settle down to go to sleep.

Gwen and Morgana were already asleep. They must have been tired. Arthur sat by the fire on a long log, he had called first watch.