Arthur was cold. He was frustrated. He was tired. But that didn't mean anything to him at the moment. He was worried about his friend and manservant. He was scared that he was never going to find him. He didn't know where to look. It was a horrible day so far and he was praying with a passion to whatever god was out there that he could find his friend soon. He didn't know if he was alive or dead. He was anxious. He looked around him and noticed that his most trusted knights, Percival, Leon, Elyan, and especially Gwaine were looking exactly the same as he felt. None of them saw this coming and none of them wanted it to happen. There was one thing more that Arthur felt, and knew his knights did as well. Guilt! He knew he was guilty of what had happened, and he wanted to fix it. He knew they all did. "But how could this have happened... why did this happen? Why did we... I mean I..." Arthur was rambling in his mind, keeping himself alert as to be able to find his manservant.

He and his knights were in the the woods north of Camelot, about a day or so's ride from the city, they had been here for a while, trying to find some clue as to where their young friend had gone to. They weren't having any luck. They all were reminiscing about how they were led to this forest, this day. The events that took place, that lead their friend away from them. From the light into the dark.

Two Days Earlier...

Arthur and his knights were all on the training field. They were all using their own practice dummies. Arthur was seriously wacking at his dummy. Fuming that his manservant was late once again. He noticed that the other knights were watching him, amused. He glared at them shouting, "What?!" They all just continued to grin. Gwaine of course was the first to instigate some sort of teasing among the other knights. "Well, Princess, it looks like Merlin is late again! I take it your angry?!" He said sarcastically. Arthur fumed even more, earning chuckles from the other knights. Even Leon seemed to chuckle at him. "Well! What the hell do you think I am mad at! Of course, it's Merlin!" He replied to them. "I mean, come on, as he ever been on time for anything?" The knights continued to chuckle a little, but it calmed down some. Leon cleared his throat, "Well, sire, actually, I think he was in the middle of gathering herbs for Gaius." Arthur felt himself calm a little.

"Well he could have been a little bit responsible and let me know! You know what, I think he is just lazing around somewhere in the castle!" He said a little less angrier than he had intended. This little bit of shown empathy from their king, had the knights smiling wider. Elyan, having the more quiet nature like his sister, nodded, "Yeah!" He said, "I think we will find him laying somewhere in the castle laying down sleeping, I mean he is kind of lazy, isn't he sire?" Arthur nodded, looking back to his practice dummy. If he would have kept looking at his knights he would have seen the manservant in question rush up to stand behind him. But before anyone had a chance to say hello, Arthur continued his little tirade.

"I mean, Merlin has the damn IQ of a squirrel. He is lazy, incompentant, irresponsible and a coward!" Arthur knew that none of the thing he said was true. But he was just tired of Merlin's tardiness that he just let it all out. He noticed Leon trying to get his attention, thinking he was agreeing, he continued. "You were right, Leon, he's just a loose mouthed manservant. He shows no respect and has no smarts in that little head of his!" He saw that Leon was frantically trying to get his attention now, he saw that Leon was pointing to behind him. He saw the look of horror on Leon and the rest of hte knights' faces. HE stilled as a voice behind him replied to his last insult.

"Well, excuse me, Your Majesty!" The voice said, Arthur heard the sadness and the shakiness in the voice. He spun around and saw Merlin looking at him with an even more sad expression on his face. Arthur noticed Merlin's eyes seemed almost dazed. "Merlin... um... I..." He started stuttering, trying to figure out what to say. But before he could even really start to apologize, Merlin dropped what he was carrying and turned and ran back toward the castle. But before he actually lost sight of Merlin's face, he could swear he saw tears in his manservant's eyes. He knew at the moment when he lost sight of his servant, he would regret what he said and what just happened.

He wasn't wrong...

~~~( )~~~

Please review for this, I want to be able to cater to all my readers and fans. I would like to make this a story that everyone will like. Thanks a lot!

Emma (MysticRose)