CHAPTER-1: HUNTING
"Merlin. For heavens sake, would you hurry up!" Arthur called back over his shoulder as he continued to march forward through the dense forest growth.
"Coming, Sire." Merlin replied, somehow making the respectful name sound like an insult. But Arthur just shrugged it off, his mind to focused on the hunt at hand than his manservant's sarcasm.
The pair continued to trek through the forest and tried to keep as quiet as possible, so as to not alert the nearby animals of their presence. Arthur being much more successful in this endeavour than Merlin. It was just another peaceful summer morning in the kingdom of Camelot. With the sun shining high in the sky, birds tweeting merrily to one another, flowers blooming on the forest floor and Merlin was winding prince Arthur up to the best of his abilities by scaring of all the animals in the forest that the prince was trying to hunt. Yes, everything was as it should be, or at least that's what they thought until a loud scream echoed through the trees and broke through the calm.
"What was that?" Merlin inquired, sounding a bit wary.
"It was probably just an animal." Arthur stated, trying to sound confident, but not really convincing anybody, least of all himself.
"Sounds like no animal I've ever heard." The raven haired manservant informed the prince after another pained shriek reached there ears.
"Perhaps your right." Arthur agreed, before turning in the direction that the sounds where coming from and marching off towards them. "Guess we better go and find out it is then." The prince called back with a smile. Merlin merely sighed. He would have tried to talk the prince out of it by saying that running towards the sound of screaming was never a good idea, but he knew that the blond man would only call him a coward and then end up going anyway, so he simply didn't bother.
Arthur raced on ahead of Merlin, desperate to find out what was going on. Was it bandits? An attack from another kingdom? Sorcery? The prince just didn't know and that was something he just couldn't stand. Crouching down in the shrubbery and bushes, Arthur managed to conceal himself from view as he reached a ledge above a clearing. Within the clearing stood around a dozen men and a double horse carriage. The men at first glance appeared to be bandits, but after a quick inspection of their weapons, which consisted of swords, knifes and crossbows, and clothing it was clear that these men weren't just plain old bandits.
"What are we supposed to do now?" One of the men said, turning to the one at the centre of the group, seeming to be the leader.
"We keep looking." The head of the group informed firmly.
"You've got to be joking. Thinus and Berklin haven't come back. You heard the screams. She must have got them. Their dead, and we will be too if we go out there!" Another man in the group exclaimed, sounding fearful beyond belief.
"Grow a pair, would you. Theirs twelve of us and only one of her, she doesn't stand a chance against us. And those screams only confirm that she's here. So there's no way in hell that we're giving up now." The leader told his group confidently.
"Yeah. She'd be a fool to attack us while we're all together." Another of the man stated with a sadistic laugh.
Arthur was shock by what he was hearing. "All these men are out here hunting down one woman? Who is she? Why would they need so much manpower to get her if she is alone? Had she really just killed two men?" Arthur contemplated to himself, he found it hard to believe that a woman was capable of such actions. Being drown out of is thoughts by a rustling behind him. The prince quickly reached up and pulled his manservant down to hide him in the bushes, before the group of men saw him.
"Hey…!" Merlin began to exclaim, before Arthur quickly clasped his gloved hand over the servants mouth to silence him.
"Shhh." The prince shushed and Merlin nodded his head in understanding and Arthur released him. Out in the clearing the group of man where beginning to disperse and head out into the forest. Once he was sure that the men couldn't see him, the blond prince climbed down into the clearing and courteously began to follow them, with Merlin in toe. The Arthur didn't know why, but he felt a strong pull forcing him to follow these men and find this woman. He didn't know whether it was his sense of duty forcing him to know of any protencial treat to Camelot or something else, but he had to know.
Hi everyone, thanks for reading my first chapter.
This idea came to me after completing the video game: Heavenly Sword. The OC that I use in this fic is mostly based off of the main character in the game, but there are some major differences like her name for example.
Anyway I really hope this first chapter has intrigued you enough to want more, and if so please leave me a review.
-Princess Loveless
PS: I do not own Merlin Or Heavenly Sword.