Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin (no matter how much I'd like to). I'm just borrowing him for a bit of non-profit fun.

Author's Note: Hi again, I couldn't believe how many people put this on story alert and reviewed. Safe to say I feel ecstatic. Please review on this chapter too. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Arthur's POV

Looking around, I slowly sat up and yawned, automatically checking everyone and everything was where it should be.

Gwaine and Lancelot were already awake and sitting around the burnt out embers of last night's fire. Merlin, it seemed, was no where in sight. Stifling a sigh of annoyance, I stood up and went over to my knights.

"Where is he then?" I asked, no need to ask who I meant.

"We don't know sire, he's been missing since we woke up," Lancelot answered, frowning slightly.

"Any ideas as to where he's gone?" I asked.

"He muttered something about someone called Freya in his sleep, but he said it was a bad dream," Gwaine remembered.

"He also said he heard a noise when collecting firewood last night," Lancelot commented.

"I don't have a clue who Freya is, or what the noise last night was, but I do know when he's troubled, Merlin goes to a lake not too far from here," I said, already beginning to pack up.

Once everything was packed up, they realized Merlin's horse was still with the others, after a moment of indecision, they tied it onto Gwaine's horse, and with me leading the way, began our way to the lake.

At the lake they began to piece together what had happened; by the mark close to the lakes edge, it looked as though several people had surrounded another, I prayed the surrounded one wasn't Merlin, but I had a feeling it was. The rest of the tracks led away from the lake, but one persons tracks weren't there though a few others were deeper, like they were carrying something, or someone.

"Seems like Merlin's got himself kidnapped," Gwaine said dryly.

"He would have fought back," Lancelot pointed out.

I snorted at the thought of Merlin fighting.

"Arthur!" Gwaine shouted.

Lancelot and I ran over to where Gwaine was; nearest to the surrounded tracks. He picked up a piece of torn material; it was the same shade of Merlin's top, except it was dotted with blood.

My blood ran cold at the thought of Merlin, one of my only friends, being hurt, but I pushed my emotions down and began looking for clues as to where they took him.

Unfortunately, the only other tracks any of us could find were the ones leading away from the lake, there were no tracks even leading towards the lake.

"Well we don't have all day, are we all going after him, or am I going alone?" Gwaine asked.

"We're going after him," I said, determined.

We began following the tracks further away from the lake and Camelot, leading us into the no mans land that used to be Cenred's kingdom. The land was riddled with bandits all trying to claim the throne. It was rumoured Morgana was somewhere in the fallen kingdom, but no knights that went in came out without sustaining serious injury from bandits.

"Any idea where we're going?" I asked.

It was beginning to get dark, we soon wouldn't be able to see the tracks, not only because it would be too dark, but also because if I was getting tired then the others would be too.

"I'm going to take a guess," Gwaine said, "and say the tracks lead to there."

He nodded at an old castle; it looked like a place a bandit would stay. Looking down at the tracks I realized Gwaine was probably right, for a change.

"If we rest here tonight, we can rescue Merlin tomorrow when we're better rested," I decided.

Though I had a horrible feeling rescuing my hopeless servant would be a lot harder then it seemed. After all, it was Merlin we had to rescue; he made everything ten times more complicated than it was before.

We unloaded the horses, making sure to tie them up afterwards, and set the camp. Sitting around the fire, I tried to decide who had to go on first watch, since we were in bandit land, one of us had to stay awake at all times.

"Who wants first watch?" I asked eventually.

"Are you offering?" Gwaine quipped.

"I'll do it," Lancelot spoke up.

"Thanks, wake one of us up when you get tired," I patted Lancelot on the back.

Yawning, I lay down and went to sleep.

Lancelot's POV

"Make sure you wake him up when you get tired, not me," Gwaine said, nodding at Arthur; who was already asleep.

I chuckled, waiting until I was sure he was asleep before sitting down by the fire, and staring into the flames.

I knew some druids could talk to people mind to mind, but I wasn't sure if it worked between warlocks and non-magic folk like me, it was worth a shot. I continued staring into the flames, making sure to stay alert at the same time since I was on watch. I focused on how Merlin looked like, everything I could remember.

Merlin? Are you there? Can you hear me? Where are you? I thought, attempting to send them towards Merlin. After a few moments of silence I felt a little silly, though I kept trying, refusing to give up.

We're coming Merlin, hold on. I sighed, I was beginning to get tired staring at the fire. Wrenching myself back to my surroundings, I stood up and leaned against a tree, determined to keep watch of my prince. I tried to reassure myself by thinking about the fact Merlin was a warlock and probably fine, though I had a feeling he was in more trouble than ever.