Chapter 1

The sun was still hiding when Merlin crawled from his bed. He had much to do before Arthur, Gwaine, Lancelot, and himself were to leave for a two day hunting trip. Merlin slipped into the cleanest looking clothes and made his way to the kitchen. He packed enough food for all of them, and then made his way to Arthur's chamber. To his surprise Arthur was awake and already dressed.

"I wasn't aware that you could be on time."

"Well I'm full of surprises."

Arthur and Merlin made their way to the stables to find Gwaine and Lancelot waiting for them. Apparently, everyone wanted to leave except Merlin. As the four of them left the gates of Camelot, the sun decided to show itself. Merlin was thankful for the warmth that it brought. He closed his eyes and imagined he was still in bed sleeping. Then something hit his chest and he was falling. Had Merlin had his eyes open he would have seen the branch hanging low. His frail body hit the hard earth with a thud.

Merlin opened his eyes, there was a stabbing pain. The breathe was knocked out of him and he just laid there until he was able to breath again. He slowly rose, realizing that Arthur and the others had not noticed him fall. He also realized that they had disappeared from view. He quickly mounted his horse and rode after them.

"ARTHUR! GWAINE! LANCELOT!" There was no response. Great I'm lost. Merlin heard a horse of in the distance. He rode after the noise. He was relieved when he saw his friends. He was about to call out to them when an arrow flew right past him and embedded itself into a near by tree, and then more followed. He rode as fast as he could, catching up with Arthur and the others, who were also under attack.

The men were surrounded. There were about twelve bandits surrounding the four of them. All of them leapt from their horses. The two knights and the prince drew their swords. Arthur stepped protectively in front of Merlin. The bandits charged and the battle began. Arthur already had three men down and Merlin quickly grabbed one of the bandit's swords. Soon there were four bandits. The fight was fair. Gwaine took one the largest of the bandits, Arthur waiting for one to attack him. One attacked Merlin.

Merlin hadn't had much training with a sword. But he could at least block the blows from the bandit till someone could come and help him. Unfortunately, the bandit was able to knock the sword from Merlin's had leaving him defenseless. Quickly looking around to make sure all his friends were occupied, Merlin whispered a spell and the bandit's sword flew out of his hand. Merlin was momentarily distracted by a painful cry from Arthur as a sword made contact with his arm. Next thing he knew a dagger was being plunged into his chest. Pain took over his whole body as he fell to the ground.

Arthur had just finished off his opponent when Merlin fell to the ground. And right after the bandit Merlin had been fighting feel in a limp heap. Lancelot had a satisfied look on his face when he pulled the sword from the bandit's lifeless body. Gwaine was already at Merlin's side, the dagger still sticking out of Merlin's chest. Lancelot tore off a piece of his shirt and pulled the dagger out, replacing it with his shirt as a bandage.

"Arthur, we need to get Merlin back to Camelot. He's not going to last much longer."

"Tie him to his horse and we will be off."

Lancelot carefully picked Merlin up and with the help from Gwaine, Merlin was secured to his horse. The ride to Camelot was quick. All the guards watched with sad eyes as Merlin's horse passed them. The saddle was stained red with Merlin's blood.

"Gwaine go fetch Gaius." Arthur feared for Merlin's life but he had to keep his appearance.

TO BE CONTINUED

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