Thread: Don't Lose Your Head Over It: A Merlin RP (SevenxKawa)

Merlin spent the rest of his evening desperately trying to keep his eyes averted, because even though the request had been a simple and straight-forward one, the warlock's interacton with the king had been limited to the worst possible moments. Each time they had been in the same room, the king had either been raging, vying to have someone's head lobbed off, or was too relieved to actually notice him, which Merlin had quite liked. Granted, on one occasion he had got a bit closer to the king than he might of liked to, but the presence of another sorcerer and his intention to effectively put an end to Uther Pendragon's reign via a flesh-eating insect had made things a bit urgent. He could remember quite clearly how vulnerable the king had appeared right then, too - dressed only in dark linens and motionless on the bed he had stopped looking like an angry, imperial statue and had started looking very human indeed. He had used magic then, right under the king's nose he had used it - but even Gaius had conceeded it was the thing to do, because their options had rapidly run out. He had initially worried that the king might have remembered his voice speaking the spell or thought that he might open his eyes just in time to see Merlin's eyes flash gold and would sit up and strangle him to death right upon awakening - but it never happened. In fact, the king seemed unaware that he had even been present at the time, and they had explained away the removal of the insect as being some medical method that Gaius had developed. The death of the sorcerer had been a bit easier to explain, of course, what with the axe in his face and all. No one had believed Merlin had done it, so both he and Gaius had explained it away as an unfortunate series of events that had begun with the warlock tripping and ended with Edwin getting a head full of sharpened metal. People had been much more willing to accept that version of the events, which was actually a little insulting, but as long as it kept people from getting suspicious, then Merlin could easily deal with a few blows to his ego - because it kept the blows away from his neck. And save for a moment of clarity just before the king had been going to what he believed was his death when about to fight the black knight, Merlin had managed to keep the man from really seeing him. And now, on what seemed to be a whim, he was asking Merlin to attend to him for an evening - it was too out of place for him not to be nervous about it and the whole thing left the warlock wondering if he was walking into some sort of trap. Did the king suspect him? Gaius eyed him with slightly inebriated concern at the end of the party and placed a grizzled hand on his thin shoulder, Just stay calm. Gaius said firmly, And don't do anything - There was a long hesitation as the physician waved his hand vaguely and searched for the proper word he finished with a very succinct - stupid. They weren't the most encouraging words and especially not when he was trudging alone up to the king's quarters still wearing the ridiculous mascot's uniform. Outside the door, he fidgeted for a moment and wondered if he was supposed to knock first - he might look ridiculous if he did, but then he might also interrupt something the king's evening snack of kittens, for instance and so he decided it would be for the best. He rapped his knuckles twice against the thick, solid, carved door and then heaved it open enough to slip inside - so that was to say, he didn't need to open it much at all. Practically flattened up against the door, Merlin twisted his fingers into the hem of his tunic when he spotted the king, and he offered a brittle smile before he remembered to bow and after he forgot to downcast his eyes. Sire? Merlin said, I was told you - requested me?