As the door smashes into the wall Merlin's three personal knights jump to their feet. Pulling their swords out in one swift motion and turning to face the door. Once they see that it's Merlin they lower their swords. Lancelot du Lac is a single man with short dark hair, beard and dark brown eyes, and is the prince's first knight. Gwaine is a man with long brown hair and a beard of matching color, with eyes a forest green. Percival, a man of great size, had short blonde hair. Percival and Gwaine had been together for years, though only few knew about it.
"Merlin what happened? Why are you using your magic?" asks Gwaine. He has yell to be heard over the sound of the wind and objects moving around the room. The three knights re-sheath their swords when they see their prince. Merlin can't answer, his throat is a burning raw mass. Each breath more difficult than the last and his vision becoming unfocused. His eyes burn brighter as more of his magic bursts out of him. This causes the wind to get stronger and storm clouds to gather outside in the sky.
When the prince doesn't reign in his magic after a few moments the trio cautiously move towards him. When he makes no sign that he is aware of their proximity, Lancelot takes a closer look at him. He notices the bruise along the left side of his jaw and the hand shaped bruises around his throat. Being closer has also allowed him to hear the ruff sounds of each of the breaths the prince takes. He notices that they are getting quicker and quicker as time passes. Lancelot takes the prince's face between his hands. He is careful not to put too much pressure on his bruised jaw as he turns Merlin's head until Merlin is facing him.
"Sire, you need to stop, right now." Lancelot says forcefully " you need to stop before you exhaust yourself." Merlin has not released his magic after a few minutes causing Lancelot to sigh. Gwaine steps forward and replaces Lancelot's hands on Merlin's face.
"Merlin, mate, you need to stop your magic before you hurt someone." This gets a response as the prince turns his head to look at Gwaine, a crease appearing on his forehead.
"Gwaine ?" croaks the prince, confusion evident in his voice, even as jagged sounding as it does.
"yeah mate it's me, you need to let your magic go and tell us what happened." says Gwaine gently, but firmly, making the prince look at him again when his eyes had started to wander.
"I'm using magic ?" he asks, still sounding confused.
Gwaine sighs, they had had to do this several times over the years. Whenever too many things were happening at once, such as too many emotions or too much stress, it would cause Prince Merlin's magic to take over. It overwhelmed his other senses, usually resulting in him exhausting himself and passing out. After these episodes the prince would sleep for days at a time. Over the years the three knights had almost perfected pulling the prince out of an episode before he was completely exhausted. Each knight took a turn one after the other after the other until the prince came back to himself. Percival steps forward and takes Gwaine's place, his large hands cupping the prince's head. He is gentle for a man his size, and replies:
"Yes, your magic is causing strong gusts of wind that are making everything fly around your room. You're also forming a storm outside again." explains the knight patiently. Prince Merlin raises his golden eyes to look at the giant knight and realization crosses his face. Immediately the gusts of wind stop and the sky outside begins to clear of storm clouds. The prince's eyes flare bright gold once more as the items return to their original position. His eyes return to their sky blue and the knight releases his face. His breathing evens out but his shoulders are sagging and exhaustion is evident in his face.
"Come on sire, sit down before you fall down." says Lancelot, leading the prince over to the bed as Percival closes the door and locks it. Once the prince is seated, Gwaine kneels in front of him. He gently lifts his chin up so he can better see his bruised throat.
"Did your father do this to you ?" the knight asks, also eyeing the bruise on the young man's face.
The prince nods tiredly:
"Mother is dead." he whispers, eyes closed but the tears still escape from under the closed lids.
"she's dead ?" Gwaine asks, mostly to himself. All three knights look at each other in worry. They all cared for the queen, but they were worried about how it would affect their prince. They knew how close he and the queen had been.
The prince nods again.
"Patrick, James, Catherine and I were called to the throne room. Father says that... The king says that she took her own life and when I questioned whether he was sure or not, he wasn't happy." The prince murmurs the last part, reaching up to feel the tender skin on his jaw and hissing at the sting. The knights exchange looks over the prince calling his father the king. Even with the abuse he still called him father, what could have happened in the last half hour to change that ?
"He said that... he said that he's not my father.." continues the prince. His eyes are glazed over in memory and the knights hope that he's too tired for his magic to take control again. They are shocked at the news about the king not being Merlin's father.
"if the king is not your father then who is ?" questions Percival.
"The king says that my mother had a dalliance with Lord Balinor." Replies the prince, looking at each of the knights before turning his gaze to the floor.
"The missing Dragonlord Lord Balinor ?" questions Lancelot, shocked. Again the prince nods a yes.
"He said that he found out about the truth a few years ago, and I was only allowed to live in the castle because of my mother. He then said that my mother was no longer here to protect me and... he tried to strangle me. If Patrick and James hadn't of been there I would be dead. Patrick held him back while James told me to run. He said to find you three and to leave the kingdom until the king is dead and they come find me." the prince explains.
"Pack your things sire, keep the door locked, we'll be back in 15 minutes." instructs Lancelot, Gwaine and Percival following him to the door.
"I can't make you guys leave, this is your home, your kingdom. I don't want to force you to abandon your old life." says the prince, standing up in front of his bed.
"Merlin, mate, you're not forcing us to do anything. You are our Prince and our friend and we'd follow you anywhere. Our place is behind you, protecting you and helping you whenever you need us to. Where you go, we go, that's it." says Gwaine, giving the prince his most joyous smile before walking out the door. Lancelot and Percival follow after him after each nod at the prince. Percival closing the door behind them before Merlin locks it.
The prince grabs his pack and begins stuffing all his lower quality, clothing into the pack. He also adds in an extra pair of boots and an extra cloak. He ties the top of the pack closed before placing it down on the bed. Prince Merlin changes into more comfortable riding clothes. He's just settling his midnight blue travelling cloak on his shoulders when he hears a knock on the door.
"Sire? Are you still in there ?" asks the voice of his mother's maidservant Mary. Merlin unlocks the door and allows her to enter the room. She has her own cloak over her shoulders and her pack in her hand.
"Thank goodness I caught you sire. I heard about what happened in the throne room and I want to say that I'm sorry about your mother. I want to come with you. I've only stayed this long because of your mother and now that you're leaving, my place is with you."
Merlin hugs her tight, breathing in her comfortingly familiar scent.
"Thank you Mary, I wouldn't have had the heart to leave you behind." says the youngest prince, gripping the woman tighter.
"couldn't get rid of me that easily sire, I love you like you were my own son. Do you have any idea where you're going to go ?" she asks him and he releases her from his embrace.
"I'm not sure, the trio and I haven't discussed anything yet. They left so that we could all pack, they'll be back any minute." replies the prince while buckling his sword belt on. He shifts until his sword sat correctly against his hip.
Mary thinks about the situation for a few moments before Gwaine and Lancelot return without their bags.
"Percival is saddling the horses sire." says Lancelot in answer to the questioning look the prince had been giving them.
"we'll have to saddle another one for Mary, she's coming with us." replies the prince, picking up his bag and throwing it over his shoulder.
"Of course sire, do you have a place in mind for us to go ?" questions Lancelot.
"I have an idea sire, if I may ?" Asks Mary. After seeing the prince nod for her to continue she says;
"my brother, Gaius, is the court physician in Camelot. He will most likely be able to help us. And he once practiced sorcery." the prince looks interested while the two knights have a frown on their face.
"what is it ?" she questions them
"Magic is outlawed in Camelot" replies Gwaine, his tone uncharacteristically serious.
"Do either of you know anyone, anywhere else, that will be able to help us in this situation ?" questions the prince. Their frowns deepen as they both shake their heads no.
"Alright, Camelot it is then. Mary, you're sure that your brother will help us ?" Merlin asks the maidservant and she nods her head.
"what about your magic ?" questions Gwaine
"I'm more than capable of keeping my magic a secret, and you four will be able to help me." answers the prince.
"sire, we need to leave, we've already lingered too long. We do not want to be caught." says Lancelot.
"I know" sighs the prince, taking once last look at his childhood room. He allows his knights to escort him and the maidservant out of the room and down to the royal stables. There they find Percival with four large saddled horses. Storm the prince's stallion, Midnight Lancelot's stallion, Brutus Percival's stallion and Lightning Gwaine's stallion. Upon catching sight of Mary and her pack, Percival quickly saddles Merlin's mare. Once finished hands her reigns to Mary while the others go to their own steeds. Everyone attaches their bags to their saddles, riding out of the castle heading westward. The prince keeps looking over his shoulder as they make their way away from his home. Not stopping until the castle is out of sight, hidden behind the tall trees of the forest.
The prince stops his horse as the day is darkening into evening and it takes a few minutes for the others to notice. Lancelot turns his horse around to rejoin the prince, who is looking back the way they had come. Prince Merlin had just left the only home he'd known for his whole sixteen years of life. He'd left behind his brothers and his sister, and he'd left behind the only life he'd known.
"we'll be back again sire" comforts Lancelot from beside him
"how can you be sure? What if they don't want me around anymore? what if they forget about me? What if they don't come looking for me after the king is dead or if he finds me before he dies ?" asks the prince worry flooding his voice, as he bites at his lip.
"Sire, Merlin, they are your family, no matter who your father is or is not. They will always want you with them." replies the knight, trying to reassure the prince.
"Come on, let's join the others so we can set up camp for the night. The events of today and your magical episode has taken a lot out of you, you look like you can barely stay on your horse." says the knight gesturing for the prince to rejoin the others. The prince nods his head letting Storm follow behind Midnight towards the others.
It takes them only ten minutes to find a small clearing off to the side of the road. One large enough for the five of them and their horses. Percival once again takes care of the horses, Gwaine giving him a hand as Lancelot collects wood for a fire. The prince, exhausted from what happened simply curled up on his side beside Mary and fell asleep. Gwaine brought over a blanket and covered him up while Lancelot started the fire. Mary prepared them some supper, and Percival brought over blankets for the rest of them. They were unable to get the prince to wake up to eat the food prepared for them. So, they quickly ate their food and then laid themselves around the fire to get some sleep.
Gwaine jolts awake suddenly in the middle of the night and he isn't sure what had woken him. He hears a small moan from beside him and he turns his head to look at the prince. He sees him shifting restlessly with a moan or whimper coming from him every few seconds. Gwaine gets up and kneels beside the prince, where he can see a thin layer of sweat on the prince's pale face. He can see his eyelids shift with the restless movements of his eyes beneath.
"Merlin.." he calls and the prince moans again.
"Come on mate wake up ." he calls again. The prince's eyes open slightly, revealing burning golden orbs. Gwaine sighs, he always hated it when the prince's magic took control in response to the prince's dream. It was always hardest to wake him like this. Prince Merlin continues to thrash around, moaning, while Gwaine hurriedly woke the other knights. No one but the knights, the Queen, and his siblings knew about Merlin's magical episodes.
Percival was the first to try and wake him up this time.
"Merlin. Merlin, wake up! You have to wake up." says Percival, leaning down over the prince. The prince's eyes open a bit more, but he continues to move around on the ground with his eyes a bright gold. Gwaine takes his place:
"Merlin, come on you have to wake up. You were already exhausted from the magic you used earlier and this isn't going to help anything." the prince's moaning quiets a little, and the thrashing lessens.
"You are safe Merlin. I don't know what you saw for your magic to take control again so soon after the last time, but you need to wake up !" says Gwaine and the gold in the prince's eyes dims and the moaning and thrashing stops completely. Lancelot takes over from there;
"Sire, come on wake up. Come on just a little more and then you can go back to sleep." he says, gently shaking the prince's shoulder. The prince wakes with a start and he quickly sis up. The small flames of the fire jump high before the gold disappears from his eyes and the fire returns to normal.
"wha... wha hap'n'd ?" questions the prince, falling back onto the ground, his voice slurring with exhaustion.
"You were thrashing around and moaning in your sleep. When I tried to wake you up I saw that your eyes were burning gold again. I woke the others and together we woke you up." replies Gwaine.
"M'sorry... was tryin to keep f'thr from killin m'ther..." murmurs the prince, eyes falling closed once more and drifting back to sleep. The knights look at each other worriedly. Two magical episodes in one day wouldn't be good for the prince's health. The loss of his mother and who he thought was his father was only exacerbating his magical control. Percival laid back down with Gwaine pressed into his side. Lancelot takes first watch over the prince. They needed to watch him for the next few days until his health was back up. When he was exhausted from magic he was more likely to get sick. In their current situation they couldn't afford for something like that to happen.