T, Romance & Friendship, Gwaine & Arthur
Merlin sighed as he laid down to FINALLY get some sleep after lots of chores; namely wash the pots and plates that were used for their supper. He was extremely tired and couldn't wait to sleep. But, just as he had gotten comfortable and closed his eyes, a war cry was heard.
The knights awoke quickly and jumped to their feet, grabbing their swords and immediately defending themselves from the invaders that charged towards them. They were all surrounded, attempting to fight off the offenders.
Merlin stood behind a tree and hid to protect himself, not of the men, but of fear exposing himself as a warlock. He positioned himself so that he was slightly pointing at Arthur who was fighting back two of the men. He whispered a spell and the men both fell to their knees, unconscious. Merlin turned to the others; Percival and Leon were fighting side-by-side, and Arthur had gradually made his way to Elyan's side. They had all seemed to coping well, until Merlin realized that Gwaine was missing from the group. Panicking, Merlin searched around the trees, but something grabbed his ankle. With a yelp, he fell to the moss-covered ground. He looked to his legs to see what was pulling at him, he saw a man, unfamiliar. A sword appeared from nowhere and was plunged straight into the man's back, making the grip on Merlin's ankle loosen. He sighed in relief and looked up at his saviour. Gwaine was stood over him, grinning at him, as Merlin grinned back in thanks.
Just as Gwaine was helping Merlin to his feet, he was pulled by his shoulders by, who obviously was the leader of the bandits; He was bigger and older than the other men, and had a sword, and two knives sheathed in his belt. He pushed Gwaine against the tree and turned quickly to kick Merlin in the head. He hadn't hit him hard enough to knock him out, only to make him weak enough that his magic would completely drain him, and he probably wouldn't wake up. He watched helplessly as the bandit leader put his head directly in front of Gwaine's face. Gwaine remained emotionless as the intruder smiled. "Hello, Gwaine. So good to finally see you again. I missed you." As he began to pull his head in closer, Gwaine spat on his shirt. "Tut, tut. Is that anyway to treat your master?" He pulled out a knife and held it to Gwaine's stomach. "Right, I want you back and I have lots more men to spare. So, if you want your friends to live, then you'll come - no questions asked."
"NO!" Merlin screeched as he slowly got himself up. He swayed and lifted a hand to his head. He pulled it down and found blood. The leader just nodded towards him and a thug put a knife around Merlin's neck.
"He'll be first, answer quickly."
"Gwaine, don't..." Merlin begged. He was too tired to argue. He looked over to Arthur, Leon, Percival and Elyan. They were outnumbered and the odds didn't look good. Merlin closed his eyes, knowing that the only way to help them was Gwaine to accept this monster's 'proposal'.
"I'll go." Gwaine said. He looked at Merlin, mouthing 'I'm sorry' to his friend. The leader smiled and sheathed his knife. He leaned in closer to Gwaine and put his face so that their cheeks were touching. He licked Gwaine's ear and whispered something, but Merlin didn't want to hear or see. The man holding the knife around Merlin's neck pulled away and brought the hilt onto Merlin's head. He dropped to the floor.
Meanwhile, Arthur and his knights, (excluding Gwaine and Merlin), were completely surrounded. It seemed almost impossible to escape, or even win this fight without any life-threatening injury. That was until they had started to pull away and then left altogether. They all checked each other for injury, but came out relatively unscathed.
"Where's Merlin and Gwaine?" Arthur asked. Percival suggested to check around the trees, so they had split up to look for them. Arthur searched around the trees and saw an unconscious Merlin, bleeding on the floor. "Percival, Leon, Elyan! I found Merlin." He shouted. The others soon followed.
"We need to take him to Gaius." Leon commented, looking at the blood.
Percival saw something from the corner of his eye and went over to the glistening object that had caught his attention. He picked it up and closed his eyes in disbelief. "No..." He whispered to himself. Elyan came to sand behind his shoulder, the darker man also staring in horror.
"What?" Arthur just turned his head, but stayed by Merlin, who had begun to stir. Percival lifted the object to Arthur's eyes and watched as the King's face fell. "That's..." A necklace, a gold ring and a silver cresent, hung in Percival's hand. Arthur abruptly stood up and paced, rubbing a hand through his blonde hair. He stopped when he saw tracks heading deeper into the forest. "Leon, take Merlin back to Camelot. Elyan, Percival, your with me." The knights all nodded and Leon heaved Merlin onto his horse and got onto her, and before long they were riding towards the city. Arthur was still looking at the tracks as Elyan and Percival also got on their horses.
"C'mon, Arthur. We can find him." Elyan said. Arthur nodded at him and got on his own horse.