This is purely being written to practice and improve my creative writing, so constructive criticism is welcome but please no unnecessarily cruel comments. I apologise for any spelling and grammar mistakes and feel free to point any out.


In hindsight, Merlin really should have seen this coming.

If he had thought about it for a second instead of constantly pushing it out of his mind, he would've realised that there was no way he could have avoided them for the rest of his life. Not when they were so desperate to find him, and especially not when he was in Camelot. He hadn't bothered considering the possibility of being found after all this time. As the years had gone by Merlin was lulled into a false sense of security, the thoughts of his past nothing but a distant memory. But now it was coming back to bite him and it was biting hard.

Looking at her now, she hadn't changed as much as he thought she would. Other than a few more scars that could be seen peeking through her clothes, she still looked like the girl he knew all those years ago. Her blonde hair had grown down to her waist, falling in loose curls. Her blue eyes the same sapphire he remembered them to be, perhaps even more piercing than before. The peasant clothes she wore looked strange on her, Merlin didn't think they suited her even though she still looked beautiful in them. In Merlins mind she had been a figure of strength and confidence, yet she was currently on her knees, grovelling to the king of Camelot so he would help her small village.

"Th-thank you so much sire, your kindness knows no bounds," she choked out through sobs of relief.

The king looked down at her with a mix of pity and compassion. "I shall lead a group of knights back to your village and I promise we will help in any way we can."

She looked back at him with misty eyes, "our village has heard of Arthur Pendragon's compassion and generosity, and it is heart-warming to see the rumours are true. We shall forever be in your debt."

Coughing to hide the faint blush creeping up his neck, King Arthur gestured to a servant and told them to find her a room that she could reside in for the time being. Even when ushered out of the courtroom the girl never stopped uttering words of gratitude towards the king.

It wasn't until Arthur looked back at Merlin to see why he wasn't following that merlin stopped staring at the door the village girl had exited out of. Merlin simply grinned at the questioning stare and Arthur knew better than to dwell on his servants' strange actions. The grin slipped off his face the moment Arthur had turned around as he automatically began to follow Arthur back to his chambers.


"You can't seriously be thinking of going, Arthur"

Arthur rolled his eyes, he knew it was only a matter of time before his servant started arguing with him about going. When will Merlin realise that 'I have a bad feeling about it' is never going to be a good enough reason? (Even if Merlin's 'feeling' is right most of the time).

"Her village needs our help and Camelot will never turn down someone who needs help."

"Her village isn't even within Camelot's borders!"

"You heard the girl, she had already gone to Cenred and he turned her away, saying that it was the villages fault for not being able to protect themselves. She had nowhere else to turn, Merlin, we're her last hope."

Merlins voice began to sound desperate. "If Cenred catches you on his land he will take it as a declaration of war. You know he has been itching to start a war with Camelot and this will give him the perfect reason."

Arthur sighed, already sick of this argument, and stared at Merlin with exhaustion clear in his eyes. "Children, Merlin. How could I ignore her plea for help, when I know that if I do those children will still be prisoners to a group of bandits? The bandits could be torturing them, selling them as slaves, and no one would ever save them. How could I live with myself, knowing that? I'm sorry Merlin, but we are helping them and that's final." By the time he had finished the exhaustion in his epression was replaced with a fierce determination.

Not bothering to wait for Merlin's response, he turned away and headed for his chambers in order to sort out the arrangements for this trip.


Merlin watched him walk away, growing more and more frustrated with every step Arthur took. He knew that wasn't going to work, after all he had never been able to convince Arthur out of going before. Why does Arthur never listen to him, when he has never been wrong before? It's starting to feel as if Merlin shouldn't even bother trying at all.

With an annoyed sigh he began to walk back to his room, knowing there was no point following Arthur when he's like that. His thoughts turned to more pressing matters. Merlin wasn't sure he would be able to save Arthur without consequences this time, there was too much at stake. Not only did he have to keep Arthur alive, but he had to make sure that his past and present did not clash. Merlin didn't dare think of what would happen if Arthur and knights were to find out who he used to be. Seeing their betrayed expressions would hurt Merlin more than he cared to admit.

The trip back to his quarters passed too quickly for his liking, and already he has to face Gaius. Even Gaius didn't know of merlins past, and as much as he hated keeping secrets from him Merlin couldn't tell Gaius. No one knew what he had gone through, not even his mother. Hunith had some idea but Merlin refused to talk about it with her, not wanting to burden her with the knowledge of his suffering.

Opening the door, Merlin made sure to have a smile on his face as he greeted Gaius. Gaius looked up from the book he was reading and knew immediately something was wrong. After living with merlin for years he had grown to love him as a son and could distinguish between his fake and genuine smile. Ignoring his curiosity and concern, Gaius merely smiled back as Merlin went straight to his room. Both smiles dropped as soon as the door closed.

Later that night, sleep evaded Merlin, his mind too full of thoughts and worries to relax. There are 2 constant questions that kept resurfacing and nagging at him as he lay there. The first wondering why a professional assassin would lure the king of Camelot out of his castle instead of simply killing him inside it, the second being how he was going to make it out of this situation alive and without a collar around his neck.


On the other side of the castle, a girl tied a strip of parchment to a crow and shooed it away. Watching the crow fly away, the girl's expression morphed into one that did not look like it belonged on her face. It was one of pure malice, a vicious mixture of cruelty and victory. The parchment that the crow carried had just one sentence written on it, 'dragon has been found'.


Thank you for reading the first chapter of 'A deadly Past', Feedback is always appreciated.