Work Text:
Ever since Arthur made Merlin Court Sorcerer things had been well in Camelot. The aggression and fear toward magic was slowly, but surely, fading. Every knight, servant and member of court had quickly followed Arthur's declarations on magic, especially after seeing the beauty of magic in Merlin's demonstrations. He had even begun to teach magic to a few people interested.
This acceptance, however, was not echoed by Knights of neighbouring nations. Merlin felt eyes on him whenever they visited. He would usually brush it off, their suspicion was warranted given most prior experience, but this time felt different.
Knight Hector was almost obsessive in the way he followed Merlin throughout the castle. Hector eventually seemed to notice that Merlin noticed him and left him alone. Or so Merlin thought.
"Ah- mmm!" Merlin scream was muffled by a rag soaked in something. He looked up to see Hector holding him tight from behind, not giving him a moment to react. Merlin struggled but couldn't help but slip into sleep.
When he woke, Merlin found himself in the woods, fairly far from the castle. His hands and feet were bound and his mouth was covered tightly with his own neckerchief. Hector was building a pyre.
He tried to crawl away, but Hector heard his shuffling and turned back to him.
"You're awake. That's good. Traditionally witches are to be burned while still awake." Hector snirked down at him.
Merlin almost rolled his eyes when Hector called him a witch. He didn't even know basic magic used terminology. Not that that was the main issue here.
A rustling from the bushes turned both of their heads. Voices called out, shouting for "Merlin!" repeatedly.
Hector grabbed Merlin and held a dagger to his throat. Merlin could see Arthur and the Knights emerge from the bushes. Except… Elyan was missing from the group.
"Hector. Put down the knife and we can talk about this." Arthur said firmly.
Holding the dagger close enough to Merlin's throat that he began to draw blood, Hector shook his head. "No. No. You are going to let me go."
Arthur paused and looked away, clearly thinking of his next point. "…If you slit his throat, we will kill you. If we let you go and you kill him later, we will find you. Right now, you can let Merlin go and have a chance in court. Magic is only recently outlawed, so there may be a chance for your redemption-"
"Redemption? For wanting to cleanse the world of this- this evil? You're a coward, King Arthur." Hector all but spat out. Then a wicked smile crossed his face as he held his head high. "I will gladly die for magic to be outlawed."
Hector lifted the dagger with the intent of jamming it harshly into Merlin's throat, when an arrow flew straight into Hector's own throat.
The knight fell to his knees, grasping at the arrow as blood pooled around him. Arthur dashed forward to catch Merlin, still bound and unstable. Hector grabbed at Arthur's cape, letting out a garbled attempt at speech. "Ar- sh… el. Pl. s."
Arthur kicked him away and began untying Merlin.
Elyan ran up from where he had snuck off to, empty crossbow in hand. "Is Merlin okay?"
The neckerchief now lowered from Merlin's mouth, he smiled at Elyan. "I'm fine. Thanks to you."
Elyan grinned back and helped Arthur with Merlin's restraints.
-
The knights decided to celebrate Merlin's rescue at the tavern. The warm room was filled with merry and cheerful people, likely just overjoyed the King himself was buying them all drinks for a victory they didn't not contribute to nor care for.
Arthur raised a mead filled goblet and cheered loudly. "A toast to Merlin's first attempted murder on his life!"
His fellow knights followed the toast, along with some clueless tavern goers, but Merlin did not join in with them.
"People have tried to assaniate me before, Arthur." Merlin corrected.
"…I really shouldn't be surprised by that." Arthur realised. "Who precisely?"
"Specifically targeting me? Morgana and Morgause." Then he added offhandedly, "But then there's also a lot of people who just tried to murder me when I got in their way of, well, killing you."
Arthur nodded. "That makes sense."
A look of curiosity appeared on Elyan's expression. "Who got the closest?"
"Definitely Morgana. I'm just lucky she didn't know I was Emrys. She actually totally could've killed me- but she just enchanted me and then sent me out to kill you."
"Sorry, what?"
"Ask Gwen about it."
"It is a wonder you're still alive, Merls." Elyan looked at him with wonder. "Are you sure you're not immortal or something?"
Merlin blinked. "Uh."
"Do not tell me you're immortal as well as everything else." Arthur glared in disbelief.
"I don't know if I'm immortal! I'm probably not. Probably."
"He's definitely immortal." Elyan smirked.