I fully believe that all of the knights knew about Merlin’s magic
Let’s be honest, he was not exactly subtle about it
Arthur’s the only one who doesn’t know
And all the knights think they’re the only ones who know so they never tell anyone to protect Merlin
Gwaine found out after he and Merlin were jumped by some bandits once whilst walking in the forest. Merlin was off to the side whilst Gwaine fought. One bandit had taken off after Merlin and Gwaine turned around, ready to save his friend to find that the bandit had just tripped, knocked himself out cold. But Gwaine had seen that root move, Merlin had been looking at it, and it had happened before as well
Leon was always looking out for his friends, constantly watching them in a battle. Checking for signs of fatigue or struggle to help if needed. That’s how he noticed Merlin’s eyes flash gold and a branch swing into the face of Merlin’s attacker
Elyan and Percival pieced it together around the same time. Merlin would start at the side lines and somehow always end up in the middle of the fight and come out with nothing more than a scratch. At first it just seemed like a stroke of luck, but it kept happening and happening and happening until is surely couldn’t be a coincidence at all
Gwen can of course be included in this. She had suspected all along. Time and time again, Merlin would somehow get himself into ridiculously complex and risky schemes in which he should either be dead afterwards or in prison, and yet he always turns out fine, always there to save the day. It seemed obvious to her, but she would never corner him about it
Learning that their friend had magic helped them battle the internalised magicphobia that they had been brought up with. They had been told it was evil and dangerous and any sorcerer deserved to die. And then they would look at Merlin, realising that none of that could be true if their friend had magic
And so none of the knights ever went to Merlin about how they suspected he had magic. What if he got scared? Ran away into the night because he thought he would be executed?
And so Merlin never knew that they knew, left to feel alone with the burden of his destiny
Leon in A Servant of Two Masters is genuinely my favourite thing
Leon is always protecting Arthur, probably since Arthur was a child, making sure he isn’t in danger
He knows all about Arthur and Merlin’s friendship and how it’s so incredibly different from the usual and expected relationship between a servant and master
And then Merlin comes along looking for a crossbow and Leon just gives him an even bigger one, not even questioning it when Merlin says he’s off to kill the one person Leon has tasked himself with protecting at all costs
“Alright, Merlin. Kill the king if you must, no harm done. Have a great day”
AND THEN JUST WALKS OFF LAUGHING
I honestly can’t with Leon, my immortal, chaotic, motherhen knight that is just trying to keep the other dumbasses alive
for the hug prompts, perhaps a celebratory hug with gwaine and someone of your choice after gwaine has successfully thrown a pair of socks onto the battlements? sorry if that's too specific, if it's easier to do another scenario then that's completely fine :)
Thanks for the first request! The hug isn’t involved as much as I thought it would but I certainly enjoyed this.
Hug prompts can be found here:
Gentle rays of moonlight were the only things illuminating the square outside the castle. Gwaine and Lancelot were glad for it, they supposed, for despite struggling to see, no one could see them. They were essentially invisible. That didn’t stop them from also hiding behind a small collection of barrels, however. It’ll add to the effect, Gwaine had assured him as he dragged Lancelot over.
“Right,” Lancelot started, looking around to make sure they were alone as he removed the leather bag from his shoulder, “I wasn’t sure what would work best so I brought a slingshot, crossbow and a club. You brought the eggs, right?”
“Well…” Gwaine replied, slowly opening up his own bag.
“Right, Gwaine?”
“I can assure you I found something much better,” he insisted. Lancelot peered inside cautiously to find socks. A lot of socks. A vast array of lots and lots of colourful socks.
Lancelot sighed. “You want to cover the battlements in socks?”
“It’ll be fun. Imagine Leon’s face,” Gwaine said with a smirk. “I say to use the club, slingshot might not be powerful enough. You throw, I’ll hit.”
“I’m going to regret this,” Lancelot muttered despite the smile tugging at his lips.
Gwaine brushed his hair away from his eyes as he gripped the worn club with both hands, not even resisting the excited grin on his face. Lancelot threw the balled up socks once, twice, countless times, so many missing their mark that the two knights had to gather them up again.
The longer they spent out in the square, the more likely it would be for someone to catch them, and the feeling was exhilarating. The adrenaline surging through your veins, the rush of blood coursing through your very being as your heart hammered in trepidation. Whilst Gwaine was used to fooling around and getting himself into dangerous scenarios, Lancelot rarely had this much daring fun. He was glad that Gwaine had convinced him.
And then one went over, Gwaine throwing up his arms in glee as he yelled out in excitement. Lancelot rushed over, wrapping his arms around his friend’s shoulders in elated celebration as he tried to ssh him despite the laughter flowing out of both of their mouths.
They continued to hit the socks up to the battlements, quickly perfecting the art until all of them were up there. Identical grins stretched across the breathless knight’s faces. It had taken all night and the sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon but it was worth it.
“What are you two doing here? You’re never up this early,” Leon queried as he approached on his early patrol of the castle after hearing the loud yells and laughs they’d been making, looking concerned as he anticipated another ridiculous scheme.
“Nothing!” they exclaimed in sync, hurrying back into the castle, still chuckling to themselves as Leon watched them in confusion.
It was over an hour later when Leon had made his way to the battlements to find a vast array of lots and lots of colourful socks. He gave an exasperated sigh as he rubbed his eyes. Those two, he thought, will be the death of me.
He glanced up to see Gwaine and Lancelot staring at their handiwork in admiration from the otherside of the battlements. “You, both of you,” Leon started as he walked towards them purposefully. They ran away in response, goofy smiles still decorating their faces. “Hey! Come back here!”
And so began a monthly tradition of where to place the socks to frustrate Leon the most.
