First of all, thanks to all my awesome reviewers of Dragonlord. All your comments were really appreciated.

As always, I own nothing.

It was almost eerily silent. There was no birdsong to indicate life in the forest, no movement or rusting of bushes that suggested that rodents lived among the fallen branches, not even a breath of wind to stir the leave on the trees above. For all he knew, Arthur could be the last person on earth. He took a step forward, his lightweight boots making a slight crunching noise as they moved forward through the dried leaves and branches that littered the forest floor. It was still dark, but the dawn was not far away, he knew. However, he knew that he needed to be ready before the sunrise to make his appearance. He tilted his head to the side, straining his ears, and could just barely make out the sounds of running water some ways to his right - which he hoped was the same river that he remembered. If it wasn't, he was in trouble.

After a quick search, he found a tree that had branches relatively low to the ground and would be easy to scale, and easily clambered up it's trunk, wedging his boots one at a time into forks in the branches to boost himself higher. The wind had picked up a little, brushing gently through the leaves around him and caressing his hair, pulling it away from his face. He clambered higher, trying to force himself from looking down as fear curled in his stomach. He had never had a great head for heights. It was one thing to look out from a tower window - it was quite another to actually be in danger of falling. Finally, he poked his head over the top of the surrounding trees, and his gaze stretched to the horizon, where the sun was beginning to make an appearance.

He shifted position slightly in an attempt to make himself more comfortable in the fork he was currently wedged in, and tilted his head up, waiting.

Nothing.

No sound.

Still, he waited, until the sun was poking up over the tops of the trees. Then, he let out a high, trilling whistle, and waited. A minute later, he did it again. Come on, Merlin. Answer. I know you're up for the sunrise. Come on, please.

An answering whistle came from a nearby tree, and Arthur's head jerked towards the sound, a grin spreading over his face, but a second later, a small bird had taken flight from the place the noise had come from, and Arthur sagged. He tried the whistle again, and several birds called back before taking off into the sky. Arthur did the whistle again, desperately, but with more birds waking, he wouldn't be able to tell if one of them was Merlin.

"Merlin!" he yelled, pleading silently with his friend to show himself. "MERLIN!"

Nothing. No reply.

Arthur sat frozen in place until the sun had risen above the treetops, his breath catching in his throat. What was he supposed to do now? Merlin had told him to call at dawn should he ever come back. And he had. But there was no reply, only the steadily growing noises of the forest during the day. Birds chirped and flitted through the trees. The wind, which had picked up substantially since he had first arrived, now tossed the highest branches to and fro, until Arthur didn't feel safe clinging to their branches, and slowly made his way down.

It was much easier to see in the shade of the trees now than it had been before. The pine needles below his feet crunched delicately with each step, as he moved towards the place he could hear the river running. It was several minutes before he found it - it was further away than he had expected, and tucked away so neatly that it was nearly impossible to find unless you stumbled into it - literally. The river was narrow here, much narrower than Arthur remembered it, but he was probably further downstream than the cave. He scowled down at his boots - which had been soaked as he stumbled into the river, (he now stood up to his knees in quickly-moving water). He began moving upstream, heading towards the mountain he had sat upon with Merlin all those years ago.

His nose was running. He growled in frustration as he rubbed it with his sleeve, only for it to continue. Shivering slightly in the shade of the trees, he continued upstream in the river, as it was easier than trying to maneuver through the dense trees.

It was a good half hour before he saw something he recognized. It was only a bend in the river, but as he turned his head, he caught sight of a tumbling pile of rocks that he remembered. Moving a little faster, he made his way upstream, finally reaching the cave. He let out a shout of delight, splashing out of the river and running up to the cave's entrance, heedless of the fact that he was slipping and sliding in his wet boots.

He reached the cave and stumbled into it, calling out eagerly for Merlin, for Balinor. But there was no glimmer of candlelight in the cave, no sign that anybody was living there. Arthur ventured deeper into the cave, his shoes making soft scuffling noises on the rock floor. He was surrounded by darkness on all sides when he finally found a sign that his time with Merlin and Balinor all those years ago hadn't been a dream. His shoe hit something hard and it clanged as it bounced off the rocky wall. Arthur bent, and, reaching out in the darkness, found a small brass pot. He lifted it up to his eyes, straining to make it out in the darkness. It was dirty, covered in a thick layer of dust that his fingers had left patterns in where he had touched it. It was clear it hadn't been used in a long time…But from what Arthur had seen, Balinor had never let his things obtain a layer of dust - he had always been making sure they were in good working condition.

"MERLIN? BALINOR?" he called into the silence, again and again, his voice raising each time until he was screaming into the darkness, his heart sinking into his stomach as the silence stretched on with no reply. "Merlin?" he finally whispered, voice hoarse, terrified of what had become of his friend.

Nothing, just an eerie, endless silence that pressed up against him in the darkness, until the weight of it forced a sob out of his lungs.

The cave was empty. Merlin was gone.

Two years later, Arthur Pendragon jerked upright in bed, eyes wide, running a hand through his short hair, the memory of the empty cave still playing vividly in his mind.

Okay, there should be another chapter coming soonish.

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