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Uther didn't expect to see what greeted him as he rounded the corner of one of the lesser used corridors of the castle, in fact he had to double take to make sure he was seeing right! There in front of him were 6 of his best knights kicking and punching the ever living hell out of the poor soul on the floor, what the person had done to deserve such dishonourable behaviour was beyond him "just what do you think you're doing?!" He yells, using his court voice to make sure his displeasure was heard immediately.
He noticed 4 of the 6 knights jumped away from the person, whilst one landed a few extra kicks and the other spat as the king got closer "is this what you think nobility is?! Because I assure you that this is Dishonor of the highest order" he growls, glaring harshly at each man in turn "get out of my sight until I've found a suitable punishment for such brutality!" He yells, watching as they all rush back into the castle before turning his attention to the person still curled up on the floor.
Now he was closer, he realised that this wasn't just any random person that they'd beaten, but Merlin, Arthur's manservant. His anger only rose at this, whilst the boy was snarky and didn't know when to stop talking, he had changed his son for the better and Uther found that he too had begun to enjoy Merlin's company. To see him curled up and shaking as badly as he was made Uther feel suprisingly protective of the boy, so with careful movements he knelt beside him "Merlin?" He says softly, trying not to scare him anymore than he already was "can you move, son?" He asks when the boy makes a noise to show he was both awake and listening, which is far more than Uther had been expecting him to do.
When Merlin moves ever so slightly in an attempt to move onto his back and whimpers loudly, Uther's heart breaks a little. He knows for a fact that this boy very rarely shows how much pain he's in, never mind doing so in front of him which shows far more vulnerability than Merlin had ever dared to show him in the past "hush, don't move anymore. I'm going to try and pick you up, alright?" He doesn't usually ask such things, but Merlin is putting a hell of alot of trust in him whilst he's so vulnerable and Uther isn't about to take that trust lightly.
As soon as he sees a weak nod, Uther moves to stand up placing an arm under the boys legs and supporting his neck in a way he hadn't done since Arthur was a babe. It's only then that he sees the true extent of his foolish knights' actions. He wonders how Merlin is even awake never mind alive when he sees the right side of the boys face completely covered in blood, his ribs feel as if they are broken and his left arm his strangely floppy where it rests against his chest "why would they do this to you? You're the kindest person in this castle. Not to mention You're just a boy" he says softly, looking down at where Merlin had snuggled into his chest and rested his head under his chin.
He took one last look around the corridor of Ygraine's side of the castle, once again wondering what Merlin was even doing down here in the first place or if it was those dishonourable fools that had dragged him there in the hopes that no one would find out, before making his way to Gaius. It didn't take long before half the castle knew that Merlin was gravely injured and their king was carrying him in a protective hold to the physician, which told Uther that it wouldn't be long before Arthur and Morgana appeared to see what had happened and see what they would be able to do in response.
The king stood back as Gaius worked on his ward, watching as he gently cleaned the boys face until it was a pale pink rather than bright red once more. Uther was shocked at the vicious injuries he could see there, both harsh punch marks and long lashes as if one of his attackers had scratched or ran a sharp blade over his cheek multiple times. It was then that Arthur burst in, quickly followed by Morgana and her maid. His son rushed to Merlin's side whilst the women stayed back for a few seconds, both looking horrified at their friends injuries before Guinevere jumped into action and began helping Gaius clean Merlin up.
Arthur and Morgana switched places, one with worry in her eyes the other with fire blazing anger in his. As soon as his son stopped beside him, Uther spoke "I want you to embarrass them on the training Field, I want them flogged, stripped of their knighthoods and any titles they might have and banished" he says in a low growl, obviously taking Arthur by suprise before he smirks and begins to leave the room "make sure they are made an example of Arthur, show that no matter their status the Pendragon's don't tolerate violence against their staff" he finishes, watching as the fire in his sons eyes grows until he's storming from the room and down the corridor.
Uther stays just long enough to learn that Merlin's ribs are in fact broken and his arm is both dislocated and broken, before taking his leave so that the boy could have some privacy as the worst of his pain was seen too. He takes a detour to the training fields and watches from a distance as his son makes good of his silent promise to make all six of Merlin's attackers pay, all six of them are being fought back to back. 4 of them already on the ground groaning in various stages of pain as Arthur goes through many different fighting techniques on them including hand to hand combat, in which Uther can see he isn't holding back in the slightest.
Uther leaves after Arthur knocks the last man out and begins yelling at the rest of his men about nobility and other such things. As he heads back to his chambers, he tells the guards to check in hourly with the physician and Merlin to check how everything is and come back with whatever they had learned. It wasn't until midmorning the next day that Uther heard that Merlin was awake and asking if he would be able to speak to the king, which was a suprise to Uther because the boy very rarely asked to do anything!
He was planning on visiting Gaius' chambers that morning anyway, so made his way there as soon as word got back to him about the boy being awake. When he got there, he wasn't suprised to see that Morgana and Guinevere were by his side, nor that Arthur was sat by his feet talking to him quietly as Gaius pottered about the room working on something or other. As soon as Arthur and Morgana spotted him they got to their feet, Gwen following quickly after "leave us" he says to the three of them, suprised that though they all say goodbye to Merlin in their own ways they do as he asked without complaint.
As he moves across the room he hears Gaius mutter something about a patient and he too leaves the room, much to Uther's amusement. When he gets to Merlin's side, he taken aback when the boy lowers his gaze and bows as best as he can "sire" he whispers "Merlin" he says almost fondly "I'm glad to see you awake" he adds, carefully placing a hand on the boys good shoulder as he takes him in, his left arm is in a sling, he can see his ribs are bound and he may end up with some nasty looking scars on his cheek when his injuries heal, but the boy is looking far better than when he found him yesterday.
Merlin can't quite meet his eyes, but he sees the gratitude shining in them "I believe I have you to thank for that, my lord" he says humbly, making Uther raise an eyebrow and smile slightly as this was a side to the boy he had yet to see "I'm not sure what I did to provoke them, i don't even know where in the castle we were when you found us" he says quietly, looking down at his lap as if waiting for the king to yell "you were in the late queen's side of the castle, my boy" Uther answers gently as he once again starts wondering just how long they had been attacking Merlin before he stumbled upon them.
He can only shake his head and be thankful that he did stumble upon them before they had killed the poor boy "they won't be bothering you any longer, I can promise you that. They have already been stripped of their knighthoods and await the rest of the punishment" he says, watching as relief appears in Merlin's eyes, before apprehension takes it's place "won't that make the other knights angry? I'm just a peasant, my lord isn't such a punishment going too far?" Merlin asks quietly, realising what he'd said and bows his head once more in shock that he was speaking against things that would get anyone else punished.
Uther begins to realise that this boy really doesn't see his own worth and sighs quietly "be that as it may, Merlin. What they did to you was beyond dishonourable, they broke the first rule of the Knights code to protect those that are unable to protect themselves and therefore are unworthy of being a knight" he explains, watching as Merlin began to relax and nod before he smiles at the king "thank you for your protection, my lord. It means more than you know that I'm worthy of such a thing" he says quietly and it's then that Uther knows what he must do.
He pats Merlin's shoulder gently before standing "it's the least I could do for how many times you've protected my son. Just don't make a habit of it" he says with a chuckle as he moves away from the cot Merlin was on, causing Merlin to smile and roll his eyes in amusement "I'll do my best, thank you again sire" he says quietly, turning just enough that he could watch the king leave the room. Uther can't help but smile slightly at the boys curiousity "get some rest, Merlin" he says with a chuckle as he could see he was starting to tire a little, so raises an eyebrow until the boy settles back on the cot.
With that the king leaves, snorting in amusement that both Gaius and Guinevere were waiting outside and the maid shot inside the second he was out the way. It's then he noticed a rather large pile of gifts piled up as well as some more in Gaius' arms, it made him smile that the people of Camelot cared so much for the boy. He made his way around the castle, seeing to the dishonourable fools floggings personally before banishing them on the spot once they had all received their punishments.
It was almost 3 weeks before Merlin was seen out and about again, it wasn't long before he was being summoned by the king to the throne room. Both he and Gaius were confused but went together nonetheless. There Uther bestowed him the title of being a free man of Camelot as he had Gaius a year or so prior. Uther even went as far to make it clear to the whole of Camelot that Merlin and by extension Gaius, were under his and Arthur's protection and that no one were to lay a finger on his staff ever again.