It took a little longer to update than I predicted because I just didn't feel like writing. The next chapter should be up soon.
Bird in a Cage
...
When the moon was high in the sky Merlin sat up from his bed roll.
With the pretence of getting up to stroke the fire he observed if everyone was asleep. Merlin nodded to himself in contentment. Even Percival had nodded off since he was the one who was supposed to be on night watch. He took the chance to slip away without anyone's knowledge.
Sneaking out of camp he headed down the road back to Wayland.
When he reached the village Merlin cast a spell to distract the two guards as he entered the city. They didn't see him at all. He snuck down some alley ways and headed back towards where he last saw the wagons. He found them by the tavern he had to drag Gwaine away from earlier. The slavers must be staying the night there.
Checking no one was looking Merlin tried to sneak up to one of the cages. The only one who saw him coming were the occupants who he received curious glances from. Their eyes widened in shock when his eyes glowed gold when he whispered a spell that made the lock click open.
He received some scared looks for his use of magic. Merlin knew these were more than likely Camelot citizens but he had to risk it. Magic was a lot more excepted in the border of the kingdom than in the heart of the city because they were so far removed from it all. Most of these people had never even set eyes on their king and he was more of a mythical power than an actual person to them.
Swinging open the metal door the hinges squeaked. "You need to get as far away from here as possible. Go home." The unsure looks changed to gratitude when they realized he was breaking them out. One by one they climbed out and made their way into the dark allies to wait till morning when they could slip out of the Wayland unnoticed by the guards in the crowds.
There were three caravans. He had a similar success with the next one. Looking towards the tavern he didn't see anyone exiting. One more caravan Merlin thought to himself. This was going down a lot smoother than he thought.
Whispering a spell the door clicked open. Then Merlin felt something hard thump into his head and everything went dark.
o0o
The early morning sunlight streamed down on the clearing.
Percival jerked awake realizing he had fallen asleep. 'It was morning already, dam. He was supposed to be keeping watch.' Percival berated himself. Looking around at his sleeping companions he sighed in relief. At least nothing went wrong. One by one he shook the other knights awake.
Gwaine grumbled, rolled over in his bed rolled and covered his head with his blanket to block out the light.
Arthur climbed from his bed roll and stretched. Noticing Gwaine's unmoving form he lightly kicked him in the side. "Get up." He demanded as the other knight groaned and sat up.
"That was totally uncalled for." Gwaine complained, glaring at the prince and rubbed his side.
"If you would have just gotten up I wouldn't have to use force." Arthur replied. He started to put get dressed and observed his slow moving knights. "Come on men. We must be heading back to Camelot." The prince said to encourage them to get moving.
"Where's Merlin?" Lancelot asked when he was more awake. The manservant was usually the first one up but he wasn't usually far from camp. The fire had burned down to coals which was unusual. It was the servants job to keep it going.
"Merlin!" Arthur bellowed. He frowned when he received no response. "Merlin!." He called louder hoping his servant just didn't heard him the first time.
"His bedrolls cold." Elyan exclaimed, he had crouched down beside it to feel it with his finger tips. "Merlin must have been gone a while before we even got up."
"I'll go check the river." Lancelot volunteered. Strapping on his sword belt he moved towards the hills, on the other side was a small stream. When he got to the top he frowned when he didn't see any sight of the servant. Turning around he headed back to camp. "Not there."
"He wasn't in the field he went to sulk in yesterday either. I just checked." Leon exclaimed with confusion.
"Where did he go?" Arthur contemplated out loud.
"Oh no." Gwaine exclaimed with worry in his voice. "I think he went after the slavers by himself."
"Merlin's can be reckless but he's not that stupid." Elyan exclaimed from where he was packing his things.
"I beg to differ." Arthur grumbled. Packing up camp they quickly mounted and headed off towards the border. "I'm going to kill Merlin once I get my hands on him." Hopefully his manservant hadn't gotten himself in too much trouble.
.
Galloping on the main road they cantered to a stop when they ran into a large group of peasants who seemed to be fleeing to towards the border.
"What are you running from?" Leon asked the group.
Observing their knightly attire the peasants deemed it safe to answer them.
"We were taken by slavers and are returning home now." One man answered for the group.
"If I could be so bold, how did you escape?" Lancelot asked with a hidden reason.
"We had been left in the market unsupervised when a boy came up and released us from our cages." A young women answered.
"Let me guess, he was tall and lanky with black hair and a red neckerchief." Gwaine stated flatly already knowing the answer. The freed slaves nodded at his description.
"Merlin." Arthur mumbled to himself in exasperation. "Where is he then?" The prince asked looking at the group for his wayward manservant.
A young girl no more than 14 stepped forward."I think I saw one of the slavers knock him out while we were fleeing." She replied shyly in the presence of such intimidating men.
Arthur sighed. 'Only Merlin would get himself caught by slavers while trying to selflessly freeing their cargo. It didn't brood well for what they were going to do to him.' The prince thought to himself.
o0o
When Merlin woke up he was shackled and inside one of the cages himself. He sighed and hit his head on the bars a couple time berating himself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." Look at the situation he had gotten himself into.
He should have convinced Lancelot to come with him to watch his back. He hadn't tried because Merlin thought the knight was so noble when it came to the rules.
Looking around Merlin realized no one was paying attention to him. His captors were eating breakfast and conversing amongst each other. He tired a spell to unlock his shackles when he felt like the power he had just released had been sucked like a vacuum. Looking around Merlin noticed something that had slipped his notice before.
Because of the great purge many slaver and bounty hunter caravans included magic suppressing ruins. He didn't think it was on purpose that he ended up in one that included these. His shackles were ruin free so he guessed they hadn't seen him perform magic to open the cages.
It was just his luck they hadn't upgraded their carts over the past 25 years.
"Your awake are you." A gravelly voice said in observation notices his movement. The slaver looked at the young man through the bars. The man took out a large ring of keys that jingled as he picked one to unlock the door. Once it clicked he swung the door open. Merlin observed the man warily. "You lost us a lot of stock boy." He growled.
Merlin closed his eyes and prepared to be hit but felt nothing. Looking of through his fingers he saw the man still just standing there with a dissatisfied expression.
"I'm not going to hit you boy." He growled. This didn't seem to fit with what Merlin had heard about slavers and what he experienced when he was younger. "We aren't stupid enough to follow that trend. We know that healthy slaves are worth a lot more than sick and injured ones." The man exclaimed like he had high morals; though he was a slaver so that didn't mean much.
"Rowan! " Someone yelled from within the camp.
"Coming!" The man yelled back impatiently. Apparently Rowan, turned and jumped out swinging the metal door closed behind him with a twang. "You'll suffer enough once we sell yah." He walked away leaving Merlin alone again.
o0o
They had Gwaine ask around the taverns while Arthur hid out in the forest so as not to be spotted.
"Apparently the slavers bought a room at The Cracked Hoof but they never actually ended up staying the night. They must be long gone by now." Gwaine revealed the information he had gained by flirting with one of the bar wrenches.
"So they left hours ago." Arthur sighed in dread. "We'll never catch up."
"Don't worry. I also got the information for where they're headed." Gwaine said to placate their worry for their companion.
"Really, that's great?" Lancelot smiled in relief. "Where are they going?"
"Apparently there is a market that deals solely in slaves. There is supposed to be a hug auction in only a day or two." Gwaine explained.
"Where exactly is this market?" Arthur asked, hoping the knight had more precise information.
"It's in Kelton. They have it at a sea port so that they can receive wares more easily from any where." Gwaine replied.
"That's where we need to go." Arthur nodded in understanding. It was a fare distance from Wayland to the channel from here. They had a long ride ahead of them. "Leon I think you should head back to Camelot to inform them we'll be a little longer than predicted."
"The king is not going to be happy about this." Leon said as he mounted his horse.
"We can't just leave Merlin." Arthur replied.
"Be safe." Leon exclaimed before cantering off back in the direction of Camelot.
"We can't just barge in there in our full knight get up though can we. It would cause a panic." Elyan pointed out.
"Already thought of that. I bought us disguises." Gwaine claimed as he pulled out a set of long cloaks to show them. They were all in non-descript browns and greens. "If we going wearing those red capes we'll stand out like a sore thumb."
"We'll leave our armor hidden here then." Arthur agreed with their assessment. If word reached the market that five knight's were riding towards Kelton the port would be cleared out before they arrived. Unclasping his red Camelot cape he let it drop to the ground. It took a while to removing all his armor without his servants help. Wrapping his armor in the cloak he tied it closed and slipped it into the hollow of a tree.
Grabbing one of the dark cloaks Arthur wrapped himself in a forest green one. He pulled the hood over his head to hide his identity just in case anyone knew what the prince of Camelot looked like.
"Don't we look like a seedy bunch." Gwaine exclaimed as he looked at their cloaked forms. He'd be suspicious if he saw them while traveling but where they were going they would fit right in.
"What about the horses. Aren't they a little high caliber for bandits, or whatever we are?" Elyan asked.
"Easily explained, we're horse thieves." Gwaine exclaimed with a smirk.
"Let's just get to Kelton and we'll deal with making up a back story on the way." Arthur snapped. He set his horse on a fast gallop and the knights followed in his wake.
...
Merlin woke up when someone banged on the bars of his caravan. It sounded like they had waved a sword over the bars. "Get up." A different voice from the night before demanded. So it wasn't Rowan, he wondered what this one's name was. The cage door was swung open and he was dragged out onto the grass covered ground.
The warlock observed his surroundings through his sluggish mind. They weren't in another market he observed. Though there were some huts nearby. Merlin was more dragged than led over to where a small group of slaves were gathered to wait in front of one of the huts he had spotted.
Once Merlin was in place the nameless man stalked off leaving him alone with his comrades.
It was the first time he had been able to interact with the other slaves. Since they had 3 caravans and less cargo Merlin had been placed in one by himself. He was receiving some vary and curious looks from some of the other slaves. The warlock tensed up when he remembered these people had seen him perform magic.
As far as he knew sorcery wasn't outlawed in Mercia. It was more revered. Magic users were sought out for the use of their powers. Many items had been designed to control them. Merlin would rather hide in the shadows than have his powers used against his will out in the open.
"Thanks for trying." A middle aged women patted his shoulder to show that she held no hard feelings against him for his gifts. "We will keep your secret." Merlin sighed in relief when he saw the small group all nod in agreement. If his powers came to light he would be sold to some lord who would use his powers for their own use or maybe even sold back to Camelot so that he could be executed.
Merlin then realized that these people had occupied that last cart. If only he had been a little faster maybe they would all be back home now. Maybe he could do something now. Now that he was out of the cage he should be able to escape. He just had to wait for a moment when he wasn't being watched so closely.
He whispered a spell and he felt the same sucking sensation just as strong as last time. Looking at the shackles he didn't see anything so he rolled them on his wrists and felt a rough patch against his skin. So the ruins were carved into the inside.
He was in more trouble than he thought.
.
Once he got to the front of the line and was led into what he discovered was a healers hut. It reminded him a little bit of Gaius' chambers back in Camelot. He missed his mentor dearly. It appeared every slave was examined to see if they were in good health and not sick or in bad physical shape.
When it was his turn a gruff looking healer beckoned Merlin forward. Other than grey hair this man didn't resemble Gaius at all. It looked like he had seen many battles in his younger days if the scars on his face and arms could tell his life story. The physician even had peg leg on his right side.
It made Merlin question if this man was even a healer at all but a bandit who got too old to plunder and picked up a new career to pay the bills.
"After the examination you'll be sorted to be sold in a certain sector." The bandit physician explained.
Merlin was sure he would just be sold as a servant. He wasn't strong enough to work the fields. A servant once more but this time he wouldn't be getting paid. It was bad enough before when he thought he was underpaid now he wouldn't get anything for his work at all.
"Stripe to only your breeches so that I can get a look at yah." The physician-bandit demanded him.
Self-consciously Merlin removed his coat then his neckerchief. He shivered at the cool air that nipped at his skin once he pulled his tunic over his head. He felt naked standing in the room being observed by the man as he circled him. Merlin guessed that was because he might as well be since he was more exposed than he was used to.
Merlin flinched when he was poked in the ribs. He crossed his hands over his chest as if to hide his body from the man's eyes. "I see this isn't the first time you have been captured?" The physician-bandit commented gesturing to the brand mark by his collar bone.
His body was checked over for other scars, the man took note of both the lighting strike from Nimueh on his chest and the serket sting on his back. Other than those his skin was flawless apparently.
The physician-bandit asked to see his teeth even. After the man weighed how many stones he weighed, and tested his muscle mass he marked him down for something on the sheet of parchment he had been making notes on.
Rowan from yesterday walked in to the examination room. He looked down a the parchment that was handed to him by the physician as he left to fetch the next patient."It'll be the brothel for you." He exclaimed with a slight smirk.
Merlin's eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat. "Pardon." He squeaked and his nails dug into his bare arms.
"You didn't expect us to sell you as a laborer did you. We'd get pennies for that." Rowan replied sarcastically at his surprise. "A boy like you would sell high end in that market." The man gestured to his colt like long legs.
"But I'm actually a servant, I have experience at that." Merlin blurted out to try and change their mind. They didn't have to know at how awful he was at it. He was the personal manservant of the crown prince of Camelot, that should mean something.
"You're too pretty to be sold as a mere servant." Rowan patted the boy on his cheek. "You'd be warming your masters bed before long anyways." The man shook his head at the silly suggestion.
"I have no experience with women. Sex or any of that." Merlin wasn't even able to mention the word without blushing deeply.
"A virgin then, even better." Rowan commented as he threw Merlin's clothes at him. Virgins sold for more money.
The warlock had to scramble to catch them. Merlin tugged his shirt back over his head thankful to be clothed once again.
"To the groomers then." The man looked over his dirty and mussed appearance. Merlin had been traveling the country side for a week without a proper bath before he had been captured. He was in a rough state.
Rowan pulled him towards a hut to the side. Pushing the curtain aside he was led into a room that had a lot of women.
Merlin turned his head embarrassed when he caught sight of a nude women getting water poured over her. So it was a bath house then. At least he would be clean he thought to himself trying to find the bright side in this. Merlin was beginning to offend even his own senses.
"What can I do for you?" One of the workers asked. Once again female but of the older persuasion and fully dressed.
"This one needs to be cleaned up from head to toe. Do everything." Rowan tightened his hand on Merlin's shoulder then pushed him towards the women before stalking out.
"Stripe him." The middle aged women commanded her younger workers. He tried to pull away from the many hands pulling at his clothes but the females were stronger than they looked. "Burn these rags." The women commanded as she looked at his thread bare clothes.
Once an item was removed it went directly into the lit hearth. The only item that was sparred were his boots and neckerchief.
Before Merlin knew it he was nude and being pushed onto a chair. A bucket of cold water was poured over his head. He gasped in shock. His feet were grabbed and scrubbed by one of the girls and his nails were cut. Some sweet smelling substance was rubbed into his hair. Another bucket- of warm water this time- was dumped over his head.
The bath part wasn't that bad. It was similar to what he did with Arthur but more public. After that though he was led to another area in the back. Then he knew what burning in hell felt like.
...
Merlin shifted uncomfortably in the new clothes they'd given him as he tried to sit down on the cot he'd been assigned for the had provided him with with a white shirt and leggings to wear. He wouldn't be surprised if it was supposed to support his virgin nature.
He'd been locked in a room with the other male slaves. It was filled with noises of deep breathing and loud snoring.
His groin area was burning like hell.
They called it proper body grooming but Merlin felt it was completely un-necessary. They'd removed all of his body hair except for the short mop they had left on his head. It was shorter than he ever liked to wear his hair because it made his ears stand out more. Merlin swore he had more body hair when he was twelve.
He couldn't believe that most women put themselves through that on purpose.
Tomorrow he was going up on the block. It would be amazing if he could get a wink of sleep that night.
...TBC