Summary: After being attacked and kidnapped by Morgana and Morgause - Merlin, Gwen, Gwaine, Leon and Lancelot find themselves imprisoned in Cenreds castle. With the intention of extracting information about Camelot's magical defences, what will happen when Merlin secrets can no longer remain secrets?
Okay so technically this isn't my first Merlin story - but one first one was discontinued. This one however has been all planned out and I know exactly where I'm going to go with this! It's been rattling around my head for some time and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter One - Fainting Spell
It had only been one month since the rise and the fall of the tyrant Princess Morgana. One month since the kingdom witnessed the death of more innocent people than anyone had the heart to count. It had been one difficult month for every inhabitant of Camelot to help re build their City, their homes, and even their lives.
For one man however, this extra work load was stretching him to the extreme. Merlin was exhausted. The prince had had him running more errands, doing more chores and attending more meetings than he ever had before. Not only this, but due to the number in injuries, both mental and physical, that the people of the city had sustained because of the attack, Gaius also had him running around collecting supplies and dealing out remedies far more than he had in the past. It was enough to make anyone go crazy.
Merlin looked up through his bedroom window to see the sun starting to rise. He hadn't slept that night. Due to a shortage of staff, Merlin had been asked to not only clean and mend Arthurs armour, but that of Sir Leon's and Sir Percival's as well. By the time he had finished, it had been so close to dawn that he thought he had may as well keep going. It was the second night's sleep in a row that he'd missed, and Merlin knew it was taking its toll. There just simply was not enough hours in the day to complete everything that was expected of him.
But he had kept going, despite the exhaustion. He just wanted to be seen to be doing something. With the city being in the state it was, the words Useless Idiot were not two he wanted to be associated with him right now. The two words that for the first time had gone to heart, only a few days after Uther's return to the throne.
Merlin walked in to the Prince's room with a basket full of clean and mended clothing that he had just received from the laundry. He groaned, the room he had spent the morning cleaning and tidying now had objects and clothes strewn everywhere, the bed sheets had been rumpled with the amount of stuff that had been thrown on them, and paper littered the desk. Resigning himself to having to re tidy it, he began to fold the clean cloths and place them back in the cabinet.
At that moment, there was a loud bang as a very stressed looking Arthur charged through the door, a frown on his face. At the state of his room, his frown intensified.
"Merlin I thought I told you to keep this room organised!"
"I did, but-" but Arthur cut him off.
"And let me guess, the stables haven't been done either?"
"No, not yet but-"
"But nothing! Merlin there are people out there that are working their arses off trying to get this city running again, and you're in here just slacking? For once on your life will you stop being such a useless idiot and do something helpful?" At this the Prince stormed out of the room in a flurry of anger, leaving a hurt Merlin in his wake.
Merlin had known that the turmoil of having to save his kingdom was still very fresh within the Arthurs mind, and that he had overreacted, but that hadn't lessened the impact of those words. Since then he had strived to complete everything he had been asked.
Noticing how much brighter the room was getting, Merlin realised he should go and fetch Arthurs breakfast before he was late, the Prince had wanted an early start today. He stood up, but immediately had to grip the wall for support as a dizzy spell overtook him. Waiting until his head had cleared, he made his way slowly out of the physicians quarters and on the way to the kitchens. His legs felt like dead weights as he dragged himself through the long corridors of the castle, trying to keep himself upright and keep his slightly fuzzy mind clear.
He had been so busy concentrating on the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other that he almost missed the gentle call of his name from behind him from one of the newest nobles of Camelot.
"Merlin? Merlin!" At this he stopped and turned to find himself in front of a smiling Gwen. She laughed slightly at the lopsided and apologetic smile he was now giving her – but that laughter quickly died after taking in his full appearance. "What on earth has happened to you!" She cried in astonishment. Although Merlin had always had a rather slight figure, his shirt seemed to hang even looser than usual from his lanky frame. It made Gwen wonder about his eating habits of late, or rather, the clear lack of them. His skin also appeared to have turned to a very palled pale colour, which made the dark circles around his eyes even more clearer. He also seemed to sway, ever so slightly, as he stood gripping the wall, like a man that could simply collapse at any moment.
Merlin's looked turned sheepish. "Huh? Oh nothing, I'm fine." In truth he knew that he had been neglecting himself over the past few weeks. In order to keep up with his work and the needs of the sick and injured he had found little time for trivialities... such as sleeping... and eating. But he thought that he had been covering for himself quite well, but by the look on Gwen's face, clearly not.
"Merlin you look absolutely awful! When was the last time you had a good night's sleep? Or a meal for that matter, you look half starved!" Despite the sharp tone in her voice, concern was written all over her face, especially now that his grip on the wall seemed to be getting tighter.
"Ahh... W-well you see... I've been so busy recently, what with everything going on...that I may have just...forgotten one or two meals?" He scrabbled round for a reply, not liking the way Gwen seemed to be going in and out of focus. Perhaps this no sleeping business hadn't been such a good idea after all.
Gwen moved closer to him and took his arm. "Oh Merlin, how could you get yourself in to state? Come on I'm going to take you back to Gaius, I'm surprised your still standing, you look dead on your feet." She was about to start leading his off when she knew that something was wrong. "Merlin?" she tried getting his attention, but he took no notice of her. His eyes started to droop, before his legs buckled and he slid down the wall he had been gripping hold of and landed on the floor.
"Merlin!" Gwen crouched down in front of him in panic and took his hand. "Merlin talk to me!" She tried shaking his shoulder but he wouldn't respond, her worry was building. "Come on Merlin – Please!" But it was no use, he was completely unconscious.
She could hear footsteps from the from the hallway, familiar footsteps. Standing up, she hurried towards the noise until she saw the familiar looking Prince striding towards her. He looked up and smiled indulgently when he saw her. "Ah Guinevere, I don't suppose you've seen my incompetent servant" He stopped mid-sentence noticing the panicked look on her face. "Gwen, what-?"
"Please come and help!" she cried. "Its Merlin, he's collapsed." A look of concern spread across his face, any trace of a smile had evaporated completely. Arthur hurried quickly behind Gwen as she lead him behind the corner, but stopped suddenly when he saw the state Merlin was in.
Horror clenched at his gut as he took in the scene. It was clear as soon as he laid eyes on his servant what had happened, the malnutrition and exhaustion where too obvious to miss. 'How could I have not noticed?'. Following Gwen he too crouched down in front of his unconscious servant whilst trying to school the expression of pure concern. "What happened?" He tried to say calmly.
"I was just talking to him, then his eyes seemed to glaze over and before I knew it he had collapsed. Oh Arthur he looks awful! How could we not have noticed what he was doing to himself?" There was shame in her voice. Merlin was supposed to be her best friend yet she'd failed to notice the strain he was under. There was also a hint of anger. She knew who was responsible for this.
Arthur didn't reply, he had heard the edge in her voice, and he understood why. "Idiot" He muttered, before placing a firm hand on the boys shoulder. "Merlin! Can you hear me...?" No response. Deciding that the corridor probably wasn't the best place for this, he grabbed hold of one of Merlin's arms and wrapped it round his should and pulled. The ease at which he managed to pull Merlin up did nothing to ease his worry.
"He's so light, far too light."
Arthur practically dragged his servant the short way to the Physicians chamber, Gwen in tow. He kicked the door open harder than was really necessary before carefully placing Merlin on to Gaius' bed. After making sure that the servant looked at least reasonably comfortable, he strode over to the fireplace and ran a hand through his hair.
The anger that Gwen had felt earlier was beginning to bubble to the surface. "This is your fault Arthur! Look at him, he is completely and utterly exhausted, how much work had you given him? I knew he worked hard before, but this?" she ranted, her face flushed in anger for her friend.
Arthur face had paled as she had shouted. He knew that she was right – that the amount of stuff he had expected Merlin to do was ridiculous now he thought about it. He had not only made him work double time for himself, but had also assigned him to serve a few of the knights as well. Guilt started to push its way into the forefront of his mind as he looked down on to his manservant's unconscious form. Why hadn't he just told him it was too much? He would have listened, he would have realised.
The look on his face was enough for Gwen to calm down. She walked the short distance to her lover and placed a comforting hand on his arm and sighed. "I'm sorry Arthur, that was wrong of me" she said softly.
"No your right, I hadn't noticed" he said grimly. He ran his hand through his hair again.
A small noise came from the bed, Merlin was starting to come round. Gwen gave Arthurs arm a squeeze and looked up at him. "Sort this" she said, before heading over to the door. She paused to give the Prince a reassuring smile "I'm going to the kitchen to get him something to eat before he wastes away entirely." Then she was gone, leaving a slightly nervous Arthur to confront his rapidly regaining conscious servant.
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