Disclaimer : Merlin and it's characters do not belong to me :(.
Arthur was feeling bored. Life at the castle was becoming rather mundane. When realisation of how he was feeling broke through his conscience, he knew the answer. Hunting. And so he gathered a party of Knights that just happened to include his favourite people in the world, Lancelot, Gwaine, Leon , Elyan and of course Merlin, defenceless, armour-less, sword-less Merlin, to go hunting, Arthur's favourite pastime.
The day began in similar fashion to how Arthur's hunting trips began. Merlin struggling to load the horses with supplies whilst Arthur looked on laughingly and made scathing comments. Merlin in reply would call him an arrogant prat whilst Arthur pretended not to hear and passerby's looked on in outrage that a servant boy would dare to speak to their King in such a manner.
Finally the party was ready to move on and so they trotted off into the woods ready for an adventure.
It was late afternoon and the hunting party were hungry, tired and frustrated. Unusually for such skilled hunters, they still had yet to succeed in hunting down an animal. The deer's were either too quick for them or they were too slow or in Merlin's case Arthur thought snappily, too clumsy. So it was a dejected party that decided to hang up their shooting boots for the night and to make camp before it became too dark.
Arthur was feeling particularly frustrated with Merlin and perhaps unfairly (he realised but didn't care) blamed him for their lack of success in hunting down dinner. Did he have to trip right at the crucial moment? he thought. And three times. If Arthur hadn't been accustomed to Merlin's clumsiness he would have suspected sabotage. As it was, Arthur had no choice but to accept it was Merlin being Merlin. Arthur didn't dare to ask himself other questions. Like, why did he bring Merlin along to begin with? it would have led to answers Arthur was not yet ready to face.
"Go and stock up on the wood, Merlin." Arthur snapped
"Yes, Sire." Merlin snapped back. Only Merlin could make the word "Sire" sound so insulting. Arthur just glared at him in response.
The rest of the Knights looked at each and grinned rolling their eyes. Merlin and Arthur having a tiff was no unusual sight.
Merlin wondered off to gather the wood. In truth, he was grateful for the opportunity to get away from the rest of the party. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy their company. He did. But right now his magic was suffocating and he needed to give it a little freedom even if it was for something as simple as collecting wood. And he was sick of Arthur and his company. Always blaming him when something went wrong, Merlin thought angrily. As he bent down to gather up the wood his magic had collected, he heard a sound. A sneaky, shifty sort of sound, almost as if someone was stalking him but had just tripped over an unseen piece of root. Merlin froze. Had one of the Knights just seen him use his magic? "Gwaine?" he said out loud nervously.
There was no reply. The skies were slowly turning black, almost as if they were reflecting Merlin's mood. Merlin hadn't failed to notice that the weather tended to reflect Merlin's state of mind. Happy Merlin was a sunny Camelot. Sad Merlin was rainy Camelot and angry Merlin was thunder storms and lightning Camelot. Right now, the skies were cloudy and heading towards thunder and lightning. Merlin was now scared. He could sense himself being watched but not knowing who or what it was made up his mind.
So Merlin ran. Deep into the woods, away from Arthur's camp hoping his chasers would be led far, far away from Arthur, heart pounding, lungs tearing but he ran. His chasers cursed loudly as branches unexpectedly hit them, some tripped inelegantly as previously unseen tree roots made themselves known. Yet Merlin's path remained clear, free of obstacles. And so he ran.
Merlin stopped to catch his breath. He bent forward, hand leaning against a tree as he willed his lungs not to give up on him. And then there was silence. No chasers. No birds singing. No wind. No rustling leaves. Just a deep silence that had a sound of its own.
Fear slowed Merlin's pounding heart. His magical senses tingled. There was something wrong here. He could feel it. Smell it. Taste it. So he stood in silence in the shadow of the tree and waited.
And then it happened. There was a tap on his shoulder and a lilting voice that he knew so well spoke.
"Hello, Merlin."
AN: Thanks for reading, those who managed to reach the bottom :P. I have the second chapter written out pending editing. I'm a terrible writer in that I have no set plan when writing a story so I'm open to suggestions and idea's as to where the story can lead. So please review and give me feedback. Thanks :)