Chapter 1
Merlin ran down the stone corridor, heart racing, desperately trying to stay ahead of the man chasing him. It wasn't much of a competition, and if Merlin didn't do something soon he would have no choice but to use his secret weapon, but the consequences of that were also unthinkable.
Suddenly, a small, nondescript door opened to reveal Gwen, harassed and desperate but completely, totally alive. In that moment Merlin could have kissed her, he was so relieved to see her, anyone, who wasn't trying to kill him. "Quick! Get in here!" she shouted to Merlin, who, in his joy, had come to a complete standstill in the middle of the hallway.
He dived past her into the small room beyond and almost immediately tripped and fell on his face. As she closed the door they were plunged into darkness, the only light came from a small window set high above them and Merlin could hear the blood pumping impossibly loud in his ears as all his senses focused on the heavy footsteps that were fading into the distance.
They stayed like that, Gwen listening intently at the door and Merlin sprawled awkwardly on the floor for a full minute after the sound of his pursuer had faded. "Ow!" exclaimed Merlin, as he experimentally stretched his legs and encountered a large stack of wash buckets which crashed noisily to the floor. "Do you think they heard that?" he whispered to Gwen, knowing the answer before she even opened her mouth. "Right, sorry." He interrupted, "let's put as much distance between us and this," he paused and looked around, "linen cupboard. Then you can shout at me as much as want, ok?" Gwen nodded tersely, reaching out her hand grudgingly to allow him to pull himself up.
As he watched her hurry down the exposed corridor in front of him, Merlin sighed, he longed for the sheer dullness of everyday life in Camelot. For the last 5 days he had hardly slept, barely eaten anything and was constantly worrying about where Arthur was. After all, hiding from a Prince in his own city was not easy, not easy at all.