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Arthur has been wanting to get out of the castle for awhile now. So sending word that the Knights of the round table were to meet him in front of the stables just before dawn, they set off to go hunting. Most of the castle knows that the group had gone, as it was left to Leon to keep the kingdom running, as well as tell a disgruntled and rather annoyed Merlin where they had gone.
As expected, Merlin didn't take the news that Arthur and the rest of their friends had gone gallivanting in the woods and left him behind well. Unknown to the knight, Merlin was more distressed at the fact that he wasn't there to keep arthur safe, from angry magic users wanting revenge for something Uther did than anything else. Leon heard him grumbling things that would probably have got him arrested for treason had anyone else heard him, before telling him he'd be helping Gaius for the day and disappearing.
It wasn't until later in the day that everything went from peaceful to chaotic, as Sir Tristan came rushing into the council chambers where Leon was having a meeting "there's an army marching upon us" he says breathlessly, clinging to the door in order to stay upright as he'd run all the way from the northern gate. Leon couldn't help but curse quietly, of all the times for Arthur to leave the kingdom in his hands and a god damn siege happens. He couldn't do anything about it either, he wasn't the heir to the throne.
There was a pause for several seconds before agravaine speaks "I shall act as regent until this matter is resolved and King Arthur returns" he has that annoying smirk on his face, as if he expects everyone to instantly agree, yet it brings something to mind almost instantly. They already have someone to act as regent, Arthur had told Leon that he'd given his mother's sigil to Merlin a few months ago, which meant that in no uncertain terms that Merlin was the next heir to the throne, weather he realised it or not!
Leon smiles to himself as he raises a hand to silence everyone "that won't be needed agravaine, we already have a regent" he says, causing everyone to look around in confusion as they hadn't been made aware that Arthur had chosen anyone, hell he isn't even sure Arthur himself knew he'd picked anyone. He looks to Merlin, who had just rushed in and nods "here he is now, Merlin is our acting regent when such a situation arises" he sees how the man freezes in place and silently wills the man not to say anything otherwise, at least until he's spoken to him and explained what the hell is going on.
Dispite his confusion, Merlin nods as he approached the table "I need to speak to Leon, in private" he says in a tone none of them have ever heard before, sending the message loud and clear that he wanted them all out of the room until further notice. The tone made Leon slightly nervous, as the man stood with his hands clasped behind his back until the doors slammed shut, then whirled around to look at him "acting regent?! What the hell Leon!" He all but yells, a startled look on his face as if figuring out exactly what that meant and shaking his head in disbelief and denial.
Leon couldn't help but smile sympathetically at him. It must be alot to take in that you were acting regent at such a stressful time for the kingdom "do you remember when Arthur gave you his mother's sigil?" He asks, wanting to ensure that Merlin remembers being given such a thing before continuing. He relaxes somewhat when Merlin nods with a fond smile on his face "that means he brought you into the family, it means should Arthur become missing or god forbid fall in battle" he starts explaining, watching as Merlin takes everything in and growing more and more shocked "You are the next heir to the throne, right now because of an oncoming siege you are acting regent" he finishes, wincing slightly at the flash of anger in his friends eyes.
He watches as Merlin takes a deep breath, before slamming his hand on the table "that fucking supercilious asshole of a fucking king!" He explodes, pacing the room as even more colourful language about the king comes out of his mouth in a never ending stream. Leon can't help but feel amused and increasingly anxious, as the man doesn't seem to be calming down and they have a seige heading their way in a matter of who knows how long.
Merlin calms down after another round of swearing to high heaven, then sits at the head of the table with his head in his hands "I have to take care of an entire kingdom with no notice and a fucking siege on our hands?" He asks, the seriousness of the situation finally sinking in and Leon can only nod when he turns to look at him "you can do this Merlin, I know you can" he says reassuringly, he's seen what Merlin's like under pressure and he's never cracked dispite the fact that any other person would have.
The man takes a deep breath and nods "get everyone in here, knights, council, Gaius. We need to plan" he says, sitting up straight and giving him a stern look "let everyone know that they answer to me and me alone until Arthur Returns" he adds on, knowing that agravaine would try and get everyone's ear and go straight to Morgana with the news.
Gaius is the first to enter the room, nodding respectfully at him "this is rather unexpected, my lord" he says, eyes sparkling in amusement and pride as Merlin rolls his eyes and chuckles in agreement. Soon the room is full, every knight in the kingdom seems to be present and most of the council keep looking him up and down and scoffing when they can get away with it, the only one brave enough to show his actual feelings on the matter is agravaine, who is outright glaring at him for taking his chance at taking over the kingdom and getting Morgana on the throne.
Once everyone is in the room and Merlin has far too many maps sat in front of him, he raises a hand to silence everyone. Only a few people notice this and quieten down, so Merlin amplifies his voice to be louder than everyone else's "ENOUGH! We have a siege to prepare for and not much time!" he yells, catching everyone's attention enough that he nods and smiles inwardly at himself.
He quickly scans each map, seeing which parts of the castle would need to be guarded the most, so that if anyone did get in there would be knights waiting for them. Once he'd done that he stands and points at each entryway or route in the castle the was easily accessible from the woods "I need 4 or 5 of our best knights in each of these areas, these are the places they think they can get in. I want you to show that isn't the case" he says looking around at his Knights.
He looks to Leon next "you'll know who to choose" he says, smiling slightly as the man nods, before turning back to the maps again "I'll need 9 of our best archers up high and spread around the castle, that way we can see all angles and we have cover from above" he continues, pointing to each point around the castle he wants the men to be and hears scattered agreement throughout the room "as many men as we can are to fight in the castle walls, defend the castle and it's people as best as you can" he continues, looking up at the people surrounding him and seeing awe and resounding trust in their eyes as he speaks.
He stands up straight "the rest of the Knights will defend the gates and citadel" he finishes, looking up and around, making eye contact with everyone that looks back at him "I don't know why this army marches upon us, but we are going to do our damndest to protect our people, our homes and everything we stand for. For the love of Camelot" he says, trying to think back on every other speech that he's heard Arthur give in times like these. The Knights put a hand on the swords and nod "for the love of Camelot" they echo back, before they leave the room along with Leon, who's already barking out orders as to where they would be going.
He turns back to the council men "Gaius I need you and Gwen to set up a hospital, use the throne room it's bigger than your quarters" he sees the pride in his mentors eyes grow even more as he quickly moves on "everyone else needs to go prepare, help block the entrances, block the windows where possible and find a place to hide should this army manage to get past the Knights and breach the castle" he says, watching as some members of the council leave to do just that, whilst others like agravine just sit there and wait for the servants to do everything.
He quickly leaves to make sure the servants know what they're doing, all of them are confused about what's happening before accepting him with open arms and heading off to help defend the castle in their own ways. He watches from the ramparts as the Knights take their places, watches as the enemy army grows ever closer and can only hope that everything he's put into place works.
By the time he's got back to the council chambers, everyone had gone and Merlin had no idea what he was supposed to do. He couldn't fight with a sword to save his life, he probably wasn't allowed to given the fact that he was heir to the throne whilst Arthur wasn't here, yet he can't just sit around doing nothing whilst the rest of the castle gets ready to fight, and pacing around isn't very productive.
He ends up going to see the Knights, making sure they had everything they needed and using magic when they weren't paying attention to make sure their weapons and armour were at their strongest, but all too soon he is forced to retreat back to safety when the army finally reaches them.
He watches anxiously from a window as the battle commences, sees the archers take out enemy knights before they've even reached the castle and can't help but feel pride as his knights fight long and hard into the night, switching out and supporting each other whenever possible until the enemy army retreats just as the sun begins to rise the next morning.
It's Leon that brings word that they had won the battle, that Merlin's strategy had worked like a charm, no one had managed to get anywhere near the castle and there had been very little casualties on their side.
Merlin all but collapses in relief "Camelots safe?" He asks, just to make sure that he's heard right and Leon smiles softly before he nods "Camelots safe, my lord. I told you that you could do it" he says, smiling a little wider when Merlin rolls his eyes in fond amusement before getting up "any damages to report of?" He asks, causing the pride that Leon feels to grow exponentially as Merlin had taken his new roll on perfectly "nothing to serious, just surface damage that will be easily fixed" he responds as he leads Merlin to his chambers to finally get some rest.
Arthur returns the following afternoon, the king and knights looking around in confusion as to why things were pilled up in strange ways and why some gates seemed to look damaged, Leon didn't let agravaine get a word in as he all but drags Arthur away the first chance he gets "there was a siege on the castle whilst you were gone" he starts by saying, taking Arthur off guard.
The king immediately straightens up and ensures that everyone was okay "you'll be glad to hear, Merlin had a perfect strategy to protect the kingdom as acting regent" he continues, smirking slightly when Arthur did a double take and then groans in realisation that not only had he forgotten to tell Merlin about that part of giving a sigil, he also had Merlin's temper to contend with when the man heard he was back.
He quickly meets his council and gets to hear everything that happened whilst he was hunting, everyone has something to praise Merlin on and it fills Arthur with pride to know Merlin had done so well, given the fact he'd only known about being regent for 15 minutes before sorting everyone out.
Once the meeting is over, Merlin storms in with a face like thunder. Had this happend any other time Arthur would tease the ever living hell out of him, but now he prepares for a tongue lashing "Arthur Pendragon! What the fuck were you thinking?!" He yells before the doors to the council chambers are even closed.
He looks up from the papers he had been given during the meeting, and bearly supressed a flinch at the glare on Merlin's face "heir?! I'm heir to the fucking throne and you didn't think to tell me this?! I had to find out from Leon during a siege!" Arthur has never heard Merlin curse so much before and can't help but feel bad at the stress he can hear and see coming from the man.
He stands up and rests a hand on Merlin's shoulder "I truly am sorry I forgot to tell you that, Merlin and I appreciate more than you know that you protected the kingdom so well" he says, watching as the anger in his friends eyes begins to melt away and a small smirk grows on his face "I will admit the look on agravaine's face was funny when Leon revealed I was acting regent" he says, snickering quietly to himself which causes Arthur to relax and smile softly "don't think I'm done being pissed off with you" Merlin grumbled after a few seconds, making Arthur roll his eyes and nod as he tries to figure out how to get back into the man's good books once more.
It takes a few days for Merlin to stop being angry at Arthur, but eventually Arthur reveals why he gave Merlin the sigil in the first place "I gave it to you because not only could I trust you with it, but because I'm in love with you" he begins, taking Merlin by suprise, as if he thought the king would tease him or something similar "giving a sigil such as my mother's is a way to bring you into the family like Leon said, but it's also seen as a proposal" he continues, smiling as Merlin's eyes widen slightly "I'd love to be able to court you, if you'd let me, Merlin" he finishes, giving the man a hopeful and loving look as Merlin rolls his eyes, pulling him close and whispers "of course I will, you utter clotpole" before pulling him in for a gentle kiss.