With this kiss I...............
The dungeon was dark, cold and had a distinct musty aroma lingering in the air.
Uther had never noticed that smell before, he had never hung around in the dungeon long enough to notice anything other than it was the perfect to place to send someone who questioned his judgement or authority.
However right now the smell was the only thing that he could think of, it filled his nostrils, hit the back of his throat and made his stomach retch.
King Uther was left to kneel on the cold and hard floor, his arms chained to the wall.
Nothing but silence surrounding him, the only sound was the sound of his deep heavy breathing, his nostrils flaring with rage and hate.
This was no way for a King to be!
Chained up in his own dungeon by his enemies.
Camelot had been stormed during the night by an army of bandits, sorcerers and anybody who cared to join them that had been cast out of Camelot by King Uther over the past twenty years since the death of his late wife and Queen.
The bandits had stormed the castle killing the guards and anybody who stood in their way.
They ripped the King from his chambers and slung him in the castle dungeon alone, they had chained him to the wall like an animal, the same way he had had them chained up before either killing them or casting them out.
Now he was to suffer the same fate, but not before he had witnessed the fall of Camelot and the death of his only son Arthur.
Leon a young but roguish looking man, handsome with dark skin and dark hair, almost exotic in appearance apart from his pale grey eye's, which looked oddly out of place on this beautiful man, pushed the last prisoner into the cells.
As he pushed her Gwen lost her footing and hurdled straight into the arms of Prince Arthur.
The Prince's eyes burned with fury as he glared at the bandit.
"You may be a bandit and have no manners, but she's a woman, if you ever touch her or Morgana I swear I will kill you" Arthur snarled as he comforted a weeping Gwen.
Merlin sat at the back of the cell with his head buried in his arms.
Anybody who saw him would think he was either beside himself with fear or he was weeping like Gwen.
Instead he was attempting to recite his best most powerful spells from his magic book.
If only he could conjure a lightning bolt to blast the bandits into the deepest fiery pits of hell, or right now he would settle for just being able to blow the cell doors off, or maybe just get the keys off of the bandit and open the doors.
Once Arthur, Morgana, Gwen, Gaius, the knights and himself were free they could fight the bandits and take Camelot back from their evil clutches.
Instead his mind was numb and blank, he could think of nothing.
The best he could think of was an animating spell, he could bring the nearby broom to life and have it move a couple of inches, but what would that do other than confuse the bandit.
Maybe he could whack the bandit over the head but a broom wasn't going to do much damage, what he needed was a spell to either send the bandit to sleep or on a much harsher note kill him, its not as if that thought had never crossed the bandits mind, he would kill one or even all of them if he had the chance.
Gaius took a place on the floor next to the young warlock.
As the old physician steadied himself on the wall to lower himself on to the ground Merlin took hold of his arm to help him down.
The old man let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, he was tired and not to mention worried.
He worried for the King "god only knows what they are doing to Uther" he muttered quietly to himself, but not quiet enough.
Merlin heard what he had said and he leaned in to the old man and gave a half smile half frown.
"Uther will be fine, he's strong, I will think of something trust me" the young warlock whispered trying not to let Arthur over hear him and Gaius talking.
Gwen was still weeping in the arms of the Prince, Arthur's face was stern and full of hate as he continued to stare through the cell bars at the bandit who stood smirking at the prisoners.
"Don't give him the satisfaction Arthur" warned Gaius.
The bandits gaze shifted to the old physician and he stared coldly "tell me old man, do you fear death" mocked the bandit as he stood closer to the cell bars and drew his dagger.
Gaius raised his eye brow and bit his tongue, no matter what he said the out come would only resolve in him being killed or one of the others would be killed by trying to save him, Gaius knew it would be young Merlin who would try to save him and he knew Merlin was needed to help them all escape.
So the old man remained silent and did his best to ignore the bandits taunts.
The leader of the bandits a man called Evrain stood coyly in the Kings court smiling to himself.
"Camelot shall be mine, I will be a far better King than Uther Pendragon" he gloated to his congregation of fellow bandits.
He stroked the arms of the throne and laughed "the throne of Camelot, its a lot smaller than I thought it would be".
The rest of Evrain's army scoured the castle and the village, raiding houses and rooms in the palace.
Taking jewellery, clothes, food and anything of value.
Two of the army were ripping Gaius' apartment apart, looking for anything that they could salvage or sell.
"Why do you always have to make a mess" asked a curious young female voice.
The men turned to see a young pretty, mystical looking woman standing in the doorway observing the room.
"Evrain said to check everywhere for goods" replied the older man of the two.
The woman let out a wry smile and narrowed her eyes towards the door at the top of the stairs.
"Let me check up there, maybe I will find something amongst the mess you lot call searching, I mean honestly do you really have to tip everything up side down" she said as she pushed passed the men and made her way up to the small room.
She slowly pushed open the door and peered around the dark room, there was no light inside, the only light was the glow that reflected from the main room.
The room was sweet if not a little boring, barely any furnishings, only a simple bed and a cupboard.
There was clothes scattered over the floor, the bed sheets were hanging off the bed and there was a plate on the floor with a half eaten sandwich on it.
She smirked to her self, this room belonged to a male and a young male at that, but just how interesting was this boy, she thought to her self as she lifted up a bed sheet and peeked under the bed.
She frowned, her beautiful red lips contorted into a slant on her ivory, soft skin, her forehead became creased and her hair fell in front of her eyes.
She backed up and blew the hair out of her eyes, as she stepped back the floorboard under her foot creaked which caught her attention, she tapped her foot on the loose flooring and a flash of excitement crossed her face.
Her pale blue eyes sparkled as she bent down and lifted the floor board.
She reached in and pulled out something that was wrapped in a red piece of cloth, she studied the object intently before peeling off the cloth to reveal a book, a thick old book.
She flicked the pages, her eyes wandering over the images and words, her fingers stopped flicking as she realised the book was of magic.
Her head shot around in panic as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs, she shoved the book under the blanket and fumbled with the floor board to place it back where it was before someone realised she had found something.
The older man of the two bandits strolled into the room and met her gaze with a curious expression on his face.
"Did you find anything up here?" he asked as his gaze skimmed the room.
The woman shook her head and forced a slight smile "only half of a stale sandwich and dirty bed linen".
The older man scrunched his nose and rolled his eyes, then turned and left the room without even looking back.
The woman gave a sigh of relief as she grabbed for the book and placed it under her cloak so she could smuggle it out of the room without being seen.