Can you all believe this is my first sequel? BECAUSE IT IS! I'm really proud of where this is heading to be honest. To bad I have to work my butt off to keep up with you all! I really need to re-write a lot!

But anyways, for all of you new readers, this is the Sequel to The Call of Blood. Feel free to go and take a look, becuase you may be a little confused at what is going on.

Chapter One

Arthur sighed in frustration, before tossing another piece of parchment to the side of his desk. He leaned back and gazed out into the lazy summer afternoon. A breeze whipped through the open window, and ruffled his hair the same way he liked it when Gwen did. He stared at the stack of paperwork he was supposed to be filling out, but felt no pull to actual do them.

He really didn't feel like doing anything at the moment.

Today was the eleven month anniversary of his manservant's disappearance. He didn't know how it happened; in fact he couldn't remember much of that week...it was quite blurry. It still upset him though; he had grown quite fond of the servant, more of a friend really. Not that he would actually admit that.

A knock on the door summoned him from his musing, and the king of Camelot cringed at the sound. Something he would never get used to. Merlin; his previous manservant; never knocked.

He had actually gone through multiple servants since Merlin disappeared. Many of them he ended up firing because they weren't…oh he might as well admit it…Merlin-like. Damn Merlin for being so likable.

"Enter," He sighed allowed, and watched as his current servant, one he had before when Merlin was his official manservant, George enter. He was standing at attention, hands folded behind his back in the perfect servant position. Arthur inwardly shivered.

"Yes?" He asked slightly annoyed at being bothered.

"My lord, I have been informed that the council wishes to meet over… erhm… delicate subjects," Arthur stiffened, knowing exactly what George was hinting at.

It had been over two months that his council had tried to persuade him on that subject. They insisted he give up the thought of ever locating Merlin again, because it had been so long since any clues had appeared. But Arthur had refused to comment or act upon such a thing.

"Inform my wife will you George, I'm sure she will handle this better then I will today," He felt guilty for placing this on Gwen's shoulders, but the last thing he wanted to do this day was forget Merlin.

George bowed and left the room, only to be rudely pushed out of the room as another man stormed into the room looking quite furious. He stormed straight up to the King's desk and slammed his fist down on the fine wood with no remorse.

"Don't you dare listen to those stuck-up old sack bags! They don't know what they are talking about! I'll bet my drinking bill that-"

"Gawain," Arthur attempted to interrupt the ranting knight calmly, as the latter began to pace in eagerness to finish his speech. Only just warming up.

"I mean, Merlin has always been there for you and I think you would be the most heartless bast-"

"Gawain," Arthur insisted, looking annoyed at this point.

"You are not the man I thought you were if you abandon all hopes in finding him. Merlin would never give up if you were somewhere unknown and –"

"GAWAIN shut it!" Arthur finally roared, silencing the knight across the table. The blonde monarch raised an eyebrow, watching as Gawain finally sat down.

"I have no intentions of listening to them, but do you remember what I told you last time you stormed into my chambers to rant at me for pulling back the search parties?" Gawain dipped his head scowling, and mumbled a torn reply.

"If we haven't found any physical evidence chances are there is none, and our best bet is to listen for news not look,"

"And?" Arthur prompted, like he was teaching a small child. Gawain scowled dangerously up at him.

"That the Princess will do whatever he can to find Merlin,"

The King of Camelot rolled his eyes in frustration upon hearing the nickname. And motioned for the knight to leave him alone to his thoughts. Gawain gave a triumphant smile before swaggering out of the room. Arthur returned to gazing out of the room, a slight annoyance of the distractions still in the air.

Only about three minutes later, he officially decided he wasn't a fan of being stuck inside his room for the remainder of the day. He pulled on his leather jerkin; by himself he would like to add, and headed out into the hallways.

This was the same hallway Merlin introduced him to a few months back. It wasn't that he didn't know it existed; he had lived in this castle since he was born, it was just that Merlin showed him that it was never busy during this time of the day.

He strode down the corridor in confidence, his feet leading him to the same place he always went to everyday.

Knocking on the door with a louder thud then he anticipated, he entered Gaius' chambers. He glanced about the empty physician area for any signs of its inhabitant, but saw none. Arthur paused for a moment, wondering if this was the time Gaius ran his errands.

A sound of furniture moving across the floor grabbed the young Pendragon's attention, and he looked towards the back of the chamber. There was a door that leads to his previous manservant's room; Merlin had been Gaius' ward. Could it be that Merlin had returned?

Arthur hurried over, and took the stairs two at a time and swung the door open.

"Mer-Gaius!"

Arthur embarrassingly switched names in the middle of his outburst. Gaius was currently leaning against the small bed that belonged to Merlin, attempting to push it against the wall. The king stared for a long moment before speaking up again,

"What are you doing?"

Gaius sat down on the bed with a sigh of exhaustion. The room had been cleaned up considerably; all the clothes that Merlin left around the room were gone. The plank on the floor that Arthur found almost a year ago when he stupidly thought Merlin was a sorcerer was fixed again. The window was open to air out the space with the beautiful summer day.

"Cleaning up the space a little, it's been due for this for a while, I just haven't had time." Gaius replied. Arthur noticed there was quite a bit of dust underneath the bed that Gaius was moving.

"I can help with that Gaius," Arthur offered, walking over to the bed and motioning for him to stand. The older man stood staring startled at the King as he leaned against the wimpy little bed and pushed it with ease to the side of the room. He continued to stare in shock as he reached for the broom leaning against the wall.

"Sire!" He finally exclaimed. Arthur looked up confused at him,

"Gaius?"

"You're the king! You don't need to be cleaning Merlin's room!" Gaius explained his outburst, still surprised he had to say this at all. Arthur blinked several times, and the broom in his hand froze.

"I know…what's the problem?"

"Well," Gaius stared trying to figure out how to say this without touching a nerve, "You're the king, it's a servant's job to clean rooms," Arthur sighed and heavily leaned against the broom.

"You're not a servant, and Merlin isn't here at the moment. So I guess I can do it while you take a break Gaius. You must have been running around all day,"

The physician was thoroughly bewildered. He turned under the King's stern gaze and walked out of the room, still glancing back every other step. He finally walked out into his own chambers and sat down with a book.

Arthur had been having these strange moments, as if he was enchanted. Suddenly acting as if…he was Merlin or something. He seemed to take on the same roles that his ward had done. Helping clean his room, checking up on his in the middle of the day, and now he was even cleaning Merlin's room on his own.

Gaius would have been looking to see if there was an enchantment of the sort if he didn't believe his own theory he had made up of Arthur's peculiar behavior. He believed that Arthur was simply trying to get away from his heavy burden of King. It's not that he didn't like it, he was sure the young Pendragon loved it. But with his best friend missing and a servant trying to replace him; plus the strain of not remembering all his memories from the week of missing Merlin; he was under a lot of stress.

Gaius curiously looked at the door of Merlin's room again in thought. Yes, it must be stress. The minute Merlin returns, in a month, he was sure Arthur would snap back into place.

The physician turned the page, leaning back in the chair to get comfortable. He might as well enjoy it while he can…

"When the hell was the last time Merlin cleaned under here?"

…before Arthur gives up.

0o0

Arthur snuck back into his room, peering around the door to look for evidence of his manservant before crashing into his chambers. With George not here, he didn't have to listen to his gasps of his state.

He sneezed at the dust cloud he left on his sleeve.

How is it possible to fall down into the dust pile while trying to clean it up?

Changing his clothes, and pulling his chainmail over his new tunic. He sighed as he realized he only had five minutes to get down to training his knights, or Gawain would never let him live it down.

He tore out of the room, crashing down the corridors, displacing the paths of the servants trying to get to their own destinations. Sliding around a corner and nodding in response to the nobles walking down the hall; he continued to run.

Down two flights of stairs, turn left, then right, another flight of stairs. Out the door, turn left, then straight forward.

The other knights looked up in amusement as he arrived right in time, swinging his sword with ease. It would have been perfect except he forgot one important thing…

"Is that dust in your hair?" Leon asked, raising an eyebrow. Arthur saw a small little piece of dust tumble from his golden locks and he sighed.

"Yes, now let's not ask questions and get started. Pair off, work on footwork. You can't defeat an enemy without proper footwork, Gawain, you're with me," The king of Camelot gained control of the situation, while rubbing his fingers through his hair trying to get the dust out.

"You look agitated today, I fear for my tavern time tonight," Gawain teased, walking up to him with a twirl of a sword. Arthur scowled, before nodding to his sword.

"Just get to work Gawain, focus,"

"On what? Your hair or your sword? Because I have to say both are quite amusing at the moment,"

"Focus on your feet Gawain!" He snarled.

A swing of the sword to the left, then the right, Gawain was talking again. With an excellent block of Arthur's furious strikes, and a perfectly executed move of his right foot, he spoke up in wonder.

"Say I was thinking last night-"

"Dear God, I fear where this is going," A look from an agitated knight shut the king up as he began again.

"Last night I was wondering about the time Merlin disappeared, you know? That really weird week? It seems I'm having some serious trouble remembering what happened at certain points on each day. Friday for a matter of fact is practically blank, yet you would think I would remember panic or search parties or something to do with Merlin, but nothing!"

Another clash of swords and more twisting of feet Gawain attempted to disarm Arthur. Stepping back and twisting his wrist out of the way, Arthur managed to keep a hold of his weapon.

"And I was talking to Elyan and Percival, and you know what? They were saying the same thing!" That finally caught the King of Camelot's attention. Panting, he paused and looked up at the other knight.

"What? They all claim it too?" Arthur asked startled. Gawain stuck his sword in the ground and leaned on it like it was a post. Resting a fist on his side, he looked at the blonde Pendragon.

"You mean you have trouble remembering it to?"

Arthur stalled; he had never discussed this with Gawain or the other knights. He felt it was more personal then something he should concern the others with. But now on the other hand…

"I thought it was just me, but now I wonder…"

"If it could possibly involve magic?" Gawain finished for him, just as Leon and Elyan walked over, having heard the conversation the tow were having.

"It would make sense, if it was a sorcerer who kidnapped Merlin, it could have been that the sorcerer placed an enchantment to make us forget vital points of the week that would clue us in on what happened," Leon thought aloud for the others. At this point Percival wondered over, leaving his partner to take a break.

"I just feel like half the memories I do have been tampered with, like I seem to distinctly remember Merlin asking to come along with us on that trip we took against the bandits and I continuously told him no…but I don't really remember physically doing it. You know?" Arthur asked the knights. All of them nodded in agreement.

"If only we could remember…then maybe we could find Merlin…" Percival sighed. Elyan nodded,

"Do you think Gaius could help?"

Arthur shook his head immediately.

"No, we can't place such a concern on his shoulders," He gestured wildly with his hands, making sure every knight knew not to Gaius with this personal problem. The knights all dipped their heads,

"We don't even know if we are enchanted, so we will only go to Gaius once we are sure," Arthur added. Gawain raised an eyebrow.

"How on earth are we going to figure this out?" Leon brightened.

"We can research in the library?" He suggested, and the other knights groaned at the thought. But when no other could offer a better suggestion, they were forced to face the inevitable.

"Then when we have the time, we can research it," Percival concluded for them.

"Oh joy," Arthur voiced what they were all thinking.

How's that for the start everyone?
Wondering how Merlin is? Review and you might get to find out sooner!

I have so many twists and turns planned for this!