Drabble: Because he is a good man

[dk323]

Author: dk323
Title: Because he is a good man
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Summary: Arthur will defy the king if he must.
Author's Notes: I wrote this drabble for merlin_ldws a while back (changed the title since then). The prompt was Uther & Arthur: secrets.

A floating candle flame had taken to following Arthur around inexplicably. For two days, this was not the only oddity in the castle.

“How is the search for the culprit progressing, Arthur?”

“We are following a lead, sire. Nothing concrete yet.”

Uther made a noise of disapproval and then he peered at his son. “Where is your servant? He’s usually with you, isn’t he?”

Arthur tensed momentarily before saying, “He has been gravely ill.”

“His illness…did it start two days ago? When the curse began?” The king questioned lightly, though his hard gaze told a different story.

“No, it didn't.”

“Arthur,” The king looked at him discerningly.

With practiced politeness, conveying nothing but vague interest, he asked, “Why do you ask?”

“I’ve had my suspicions about the boy. That’s all.”

“I trust him,” Arthur said firmly.

His father dismissed him with a wave. Arthur felt relieved. Merlin was safe. That’s what mattered.

Arthur had come to an understanding with Merlin about his magic. But now the castle was possessed. Any inanimate object had suddenly come alive.

Merlin was suffering from a strange magical illness that left his magic wild, uncontrolled, as the castle dealt with the effects.

“I’m sorry, Arthur,” Merlin said to him that night.

Arthur only pressed his hand over Merlin’s brow. “You’re burning up.”

“Side effect,” Merlin whispered, his voice raspy, as he shifted position in bed. A glass came to him without Merlin so much as looking at it. He drank the cool water from the animated glass. “I’m sorry you’ve had to lie to your father.”

“It’s a price I’m willing to pay,” Arthur said with conviction.

What Arthur was willing to do for Merlin almost scared him. But he simply could not allow his father to condemn a good man.

Comments

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

That was lovely. I liked that Arthur was willing to lie to his father in order to protect Merlin. Good job with this.

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) I'm glad that you liked this. I could definitely see Arthur defying his father for Merlin's sake. Arthur's already shown that he's not a copy of his father and that he's willing to risk his life for Merlin.

Of course, Arthur and Merlin need to come to an understanding first - I imagine Arthur would have trouble accepting Merlin's magic when he thought they had each other's trust prior to the reveal.

[de-gnome.livejournal.com]

Really liked this.
It showws the strong friendship the two of them share, and subtely shows the respect Arthur has for his father. This is goign into bookmarks.

I've read your fics a ccouple of time and now I have to ask: Where are those bottom two clips from?

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you. :) I'm glad you liked this. I'm glad I managed to convey their friendship and Arthur's respect for his father. I'm flattered you'd put this in your bookmarks, thank you. :) I entered the challenge at merlin_ldws to try my hand at writing drabbles...I still feel that I could improve on drabble-writing, but I'm happy with the ones I've written at any rate. :)

Those last two gifs at the right hand side? They're both from the show "Legend of the Seeker." The fight in the forest gif has Kahlan (woman in the white dress) and Cara (the blonde woman) fighting the enemy and being awesome as they're prone to be. ;)

And the other gif is of Richard and Kahlan who are the OTP of the show. ♥ The show just finished its second season not long ago, and unfortunately it has been cancelled... but there may be a chance the show will find a new channel to air on. It's an American show, so there are 22 episodes per season...definitely a fun ride of a show. :)

[hermitknut.livejournal.com]

This is really great :) It's a really sweet way of showing Arthur's protectiveness, and I love that the title could refer to both Arthur and Merlin :)
Great stuff!
HK

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Aww thank you. :) I'm glad that you enjoyed this. I do love it when Arthur is protective over Merlin. The title just came to me because I liked the last line I wrote and I wanted to emphasize it in the title. But you're right - it definitely can be applied to both Merlin and Arthur. :)

[tbt93.livejournal.com]

This was an awesome drabble! Wonderfully written! You did a wonderful job thanks so very much for sharng you must write more! :)

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) I'm glad that you liked this. Thank you for reading and commenting. :)

I might write some more drabbles - I do have some that I haven't posted yet. I could always use the practice and the feedback is always helpful. :)

[dame-margaret.livejournal.com]

Excellent story.

I liked how you showed Arthur's determination to protect 'a good man' from a relatively unjust law.

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :D I'm glad that you enjoyed this. I could definitely see Arthur's sense of justice shining through in this instance. He would do what he could to protect Merlin. :)

[a8c-sock.livejournal.com]

Oh this was excellent. Did so much in so few words. Really underlined Arthur's loyalty to Merlin. Lovely.

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad that I got my message across well enough in few words (considering my tendency for long sentences that need trimming oO). The show usually underlines Merlin's loyalty to Arthur, so I thought it would be nice to show Arthur's loyalty to Merlin (especially *after* the magic reveal, which'll really determine how much Arthur cares for Merlin).

[otterfudge.livejournal.com]

So glad you posted this gem. For all your awesome thousands-of-words multi-chapter epics, you still pack such a punch with this short, sweet piece. Love it.

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Awww, thank you. ♥ Not sure that this is a gem ;), but I do like how the last part of it turned out - the interaction between Arthur and Merlin. I was thinking of editing this before posting it properly, but I decided to stay with the original...just to see what people thought of it. :)

I'm glad that this worked for you. I'm debating posting this other drabble, but I kind of need a second opinion on it. I'm waffling between it being too sappy and then not too sweet (but sweet enough to make you think of kittens? ummm...). IDEK. The drabble was beta-ed months ago, so it has had a look over... but it was probably my first official "Merlin" drabble...ha, how epic. :P I'll cave in a few days maybe...

[rodneyscat.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is beautiful. I love it. I love your Arthur, his determination to do the right thing, to trust his heart in this even if it scares him. Thanks for sharing!

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm really glad you liked this. :) Poor Arthur here is out of his depth, so he's trying to do the right thing and trusting his heart and his faith in Merlin.

Thank you for reading and commenting, I appreciate it! :)

[rebeccama.livejournal.com]

I love it. It is nice to see that Arthur is still willing to lie to his father for Merlin.

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked this. :) Yes, it is. Also, it's especially telling that he's willing to do so even after knowing that Merlin's a sorcerer. That's a huge risk for him to take, to go against his father - no matter if it's a subtle act of defiance like lying.

[rhenia-ra.livejournal.com]

Lovely... and too true! Merlin is just the definition of "good guy."

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :) I'm glad that you enjoyed this. And yes, Merlin is most certainly a good guy - he may not do everything right every time, but he's only human after all.

[slightlytookish]

This is so lovely! I love that Arthur is so protective of Merlin and that he tends to him so gently.

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Aw thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed this. I love protective!Arthur too. Thank you for reading and commenting. I appreciate it. :)

[crazytook.livejournal.com]

man,im such a sucker for the arthur will do things that scare even him for merlin fics. I love how you wrote this so simply, it cut to the heart of the matter on both levels of arthur's motivation. on the one hand, it is for merlin, but on the other hand, it's just what's right. I think you did a very great job of showing -in so few words!- of what it is about merlin's relationship with arthur that makes him a better man and sovereign. also, adorable and to character.
kudos!
crazytook

[dk323.livejournal.com]

Aw thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed reading this and thought I did a good job with portraying their relationship -- and Merlin's effect on Arthur that will make him a better ruler than his father ever was. It was a bit difficult for me to convey all this within the word limit (drabbles aren't my strength), but I'm glad that the message I was trying to get across came through.

Thank you for reading and reviewing. I appreciate it! :)

[crazytook.livejournal.com]

yeah, i always thought that was what was interesting about them in the first place. That Merlin makes Arthur think about gray areas he never would have otherwise thought about. and it's not like merlin tries, really, it's just merlin is merlin and he doesn't meet arthur's expectations, and people like that always make us think.

[dk323.livejournal.com]

You do have a good point there. I agree that people like Merlin who challenge Arthur makes him really rethink things and be a better man as a result. :) And yes, Merlin is just being Merlin -- it's just the way he is. ;)

Thanks for friending me by the way. :)