2. We're the last of the heroes
"Merlin! What the hell is this?" Arthur shouted out loud clearly annoyed and shocked to see his chambers in such a mess after he opened the door. There were water buckets, brushes and towels on the floor, his clothes were scattered everywhere and Merlin was standing in the middle of it all holding a piece of his armor which he was just polishing.
"I, uh, tripped over and.. Yeah." Merlin stammered avoiding eye contact, shrugging helplessly and starting to quickly gather everything back in their place. "Tripped over? Same old clumsy idiot!" Arthur huffed and rolled his eyes still annoyed, but Merlin could hear through the tone that he wasn't angry with him, not really. Arthur just had this habit of mocking Merlin for the tiniest reasons, but he did it with affection. He would never admit it, but he cared a lot about his clumsy servant and Merlin knew that, because he cared about his prattish King the same way.
As Merlin kept cleaning the mess he just had to smile secretly. The truth is, all that mess in the room was because of his magic which he had used a little bit carelessly just a moment ago. But it was so much fun! He had felt like an important leader, making the floor to clean up for itself and making the clothes flying around the room on their right places only with simple movements of his hands and some quiet murmurs. Of course it had been stupid and Gaius would've killed him if he'd known. Luckily Merlin had heard Arthur's footsteps early enough and had the time to stop everything and get his magic back under control before he entered.
Even though Arthur had been the King of Camelot for a while now and wasn't as strict with rules as his father had been, magic was still banned in Camelot and anyone who practiced it would be put to death. Merlin wanted nothing else more than to be free to tell everybody about his magic, but that wouldn't happen anytime soon. Arthur was stubborn and it seemed there was no way to convince him that not all magic was for bad. So after so many years serving Arthur, Merlin still had to keep his secret safe with him and try to only use magic when no one saw him.
Merlin was just drying the last water stain on the floor when there was firm knock on the door and Arthur came out behind the screen where he was just changing clothes. "Come in!" He called and soon the door was open and revealed one of the Camelot guards' face.
"Sire, excuse me, Sire, but I was sent to tell you that you are needed in the throne room. There is something urgent you need to hear, Sire." And the guard nodded politely and vanished again.
"Great, just great. What is free time anyway?" Arthur huffed, but didn't see Merlin rolling his eyes for him. "Yeah, well better not ask me that question…" Merlin muttered under his breath and pushed the bucket from his hands in the nearest cupboard and ran after Arthur.
The throne room was already full of people. There were many townspeople, some of them looking quite frightened. Also many knights were there and Gaius was standing near the throne looking worried. Everybody went silent as Arthur marched in and sit on the throne, watching questioningly from a pair of eye to another.
"What's the matter?" He asked and not a moment later one of the townspeople, skinny man with a beard, stepped ahead and spoke.
"Sire, we are here to tell you about a group of bandits that have been harassing people near Camelot. It's not safe to go hunting or collect berries and mushrooms anymore. We are going to starve if we can't use the forest to get food for us and the bandits have also robbed many of us already in the woods. Today one fellow was killed because of these monsters, we have to do something Sire."
The man was visibly shaking at the end of his story, but Arthur wasn't sure what was the cause of it. Clearly the matter in hand was something that needed immediate actions, so he told Merlin to get their horses ready.
Before an hour had passed Arthur and Merlin were galloping with their horses into the woods of Camelot, a group of knights following behind them. They were wandering everywhere, but the only sign of bandits they saw was an old campfire that didn't help them a bit. As the sun was already starting to set, they decided it was better to turn back and try again the next day.
The group had only traveled few miles, when suddenly they heard a thunder above them, followed by huge lightnings that ripped through the sky.
"What's happening!" Arthur yelled when they were suddenly totally soaked as the sky opened and heavy rain whipped them hard. In mere minutes the storm had wrapped them inside and the horses were bouncing everywhere in panic.
"Get down - from the horse - Merlin!" Arthur yelled disjointedly as the rain was pouring down horizontal way because of the raging wind. Merlin jumped quickly down and the next thing he knew was that he was sitting in the ground looking at his horse running away, followed by Arthur's horse.
"Arthur!" Merlin cried out, but in the same second realized Arthur standing against a tree nearby, panting and holding his hand. Merlin rushed to see if he was okay, but Arthur just grabbed his arm and pulled them under a big thick bush.
They were suddenly all alone, they couldn't see any knights, no horses, nothing anymore. In about ten minutes the sunny woods had turned into a black, scary, thundering havoc.
"What the hell just happened, Merlin?" Arthur asked his voice shaking a little because of the abruptly chilly air.
"I have no idea, but it was like magic. I'm not sure if that kind of thunderstorms are normal." Merlin said, flinching when a lightning hit tree not far away from them. He could feel Arthur's strong arm grab his waist instinctively, but he didn't complain. Quite the opposite actually, Merlin loved Arthur's touch as he was trying to protect him (and he did that often.)
After what seemed like an eternity, but was really about an hour, the storm finally calmed down and they could see the clouds retreat, letting the sun rays hit the forest ground again. They were both shaking as their clothes were totally wet, but they had no other choice than to start walking back towards Camelot.
"Well that was something totally new. I've never seen a storm develop so fast before." Arthur said as they were slowly making their way back home.
"Yeah, tell me about it. We have to ask Gaius about that, but I'm sure there was something more in it than just nature." Merlin answered fidgeting with his wet neckerchief, managing only to make the knot even more tighter.
"Here, let me help." Arthur said when he watched Merlin's hopeless attempts of taking the neckerchief off. Merlin stopped and soon he felt Arthur's fingers brushing against his sensitive neck, making the small soft hairs sticking up of the sensation. He had to restrain himself because he wanted to lean back against the warm hands, but that of course wasn't appropriate. He wasn't used to feel another human being's hands against his skin, but he sure wanted to. Soon he was standing there with his wet neckerchief in his hands and staring at Arthur's lopsided smile. "Uh, thanks." Merlin managed to say and flashed a smile before continuing their journey. He could feel Arthur's eyes on his neck and he wondered was it as red as it felt? Because for some reason it was suddenly in fire and Merlin had to concentrate hard so he could forget the feeling of Arthur's hands on his skin.
Another half an hour of walking and suddenly Arthur stopped and shushed Merlin who was just telling about some of Gaius's new potion inventions. Merlin looked at him worriedly and saw the other man looking at every direction furiously, like he was looking for something.
"I heard something." Arthur whispered and Merlin too tried to see if anything was out of ordinary. And then he saw it, an ugly man with a bow behind a tree nearby. "Watch out!" He yelled as he pushed Arthur down and they heard an arrow flying above them.
"RUN!" They both yelled at the same time.
Last Of The Heroes by Sturm Und Drang
youtu. be/T1EPS8hD96k
We're wandering through the dark without a single spark,
without a sign of day
but still through saddest grey in all our hearts will stay
the will to carry on
The fire that's deep inside me is burning on forever
We're the last of the heroes
No we're never to fall
We're the last of the heroes
Till the end of the world
I'm walking through the cold without a light to hold
But till the end I'll go
And just like me you'll see that hope there'll always be
As long as you believe
I know the fire that's deep inside you is burning on forever
We're the last of the heroes
No we're never to fall
We're the last of the heroes
Till the end of the world
We're the last of the heroes
No we're never to fall
We're the last of the heroes
Till the end of the world
We're the last of the heroes
No we're never to fall
We're the last of the heroes
Till the end of the world