“So are you going to get spooked tonight?”
Wrenching his eyes open, Arthur sat up straighter in his chair, flexing his fingers out in order to stop them completely stiffening around the quill in his hand. Slightly alarmed, he let his eyes roam his chambers before they eventually fell on Merlin, sitting at the foot of the prince’s bed, rag in one hand, boots lined up next to him. Luckily, his mind half being on the task for once, it meant he had not noticed that instead of trawling his way through the report like he was supposed to be, Arthur had dozed off. It wasn’t his fault, the warning bell had sounded in the middle of the night last night, leading to a wild goose chase around half of Camelot, only to find the man on watch had been at the ale. The prince, as was to be expected, was not best pleased.
“What?” He snapped somewhat bluntly at his servant, having missed half of whatever it was Merlin had been rambling on about (the boy had not stopped talking for the last hour, Arthur had stopped listening a while back), but not wanting to admit he had drifted off. Whilst Merlin may only be his servant, it wouldn’t stop him from ridiculing the prince for as long as he thought he could get away with it.
“Tonight.” Merlin repeated, finally glancing up from his task to observe his master in something that could resemble amusement. Unlike the prince, Merlin was not nearly as unobservant, he had indeed noticed the evening out of his breathing, he knew Arthur had fallen asleep. After letting him rest awhile, he had thought it would be a good idea to wake him up again, not knowing who could walk through the door at any moment. It would do Arthur no good if the King was to walk in, and instead of finding the Crown Prince attending his duties, found him having a nap. Merlin knew he had once again saved Arthur, and once again, the prince wouldn’t even realise.
“What about tonight?”
“Are you going to get spooked?”
“Merlin, what are you talking about? Why on earth would I be getting spooked?”
“Hallows Eve. Oh come on, you must know about that?”
“Merlin, I’ll say it one more time, what are you talking about?”
“Do you not have it here?”
“Merlin!” Meeting Arthur’s gaze with an exasperated sigh, Merlin could tell by the look on the prince’s face that he really didn’t have a clue what his servant was going on about. That in itself surprised Merlin, he thought that everyone joined in the fun of Halloween, but maybe Camelot didn’t. Last year had been different, it had fallen at the same time as Arthur managing to curse the city, any festive had been put aside due to the worry of starvation. Meaning this was Merlin’s first Halloween in Camelot, and it could well be he was on his own with this one. Sitting up straighter, Merlin put the rag down, knowing he was going to need his ducking skills on this one, Arthur tended to throw things when Merlin explained customs he found strange.
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