"Are you ready to die for your sorcery and lies, Merlin?" A dark voice whispered. Merlin opened his eyes to find he was in the dungeons. On the other side of the cell door stood Uther Pendragon with a very sickly grin painted on his face.
"No... Uther... you're... you're dead." Merlin stuttered in disbelief. How can Uther be standing in front of him and how did he end up in a dungeon cell? Last time he checked he was as good as dead in Arthur's chambers.
Uther's sickly grin grew into an unnervingly big smile. "Don't worry Merlin. Just because I'm dead does not mean that I won't makes sure you die as you should."
"No!" Merlin screamed. "Arthur's my friend and I've only every used my magic to protect him."
"You will pay with your life, sorcerer!" Uther screamed before spitting in Merlin's face.
Then as if right on cue two guards opened the cell door and grabbed an either side of Merlin. He tried to resist, but the guards were to strong and continued to drag him away.
After a mere few seconds Merlin was abruptly thrown on his knees. It was then he looked up to see Arthur giving him a cold stare. It took all of his energy to hold eye contact with Arthur, dreading what was about to unfold.
"You Merlin." Arthur sternly began. "Have been found guilty of lying to your king and practising the use of sorcery. Therefore you are an enemy of Camelot..." As Arthur hesitated Merlin could see a hint of sadness and doubt in his eyes. As though he didn't want say what he was about to next.
Merlin hadn't noticed before that Uther was standing behind Arthur. "He lied to you. He is an enemy of Camelot. He must die." He heard Uther whisper into Arthur's ear.
"Merlin for your treason. I sentence you to death." Arthur finished coldly. It was like the emotion he was feeling only minutes ago had been sucked out of his soul.
"No Arthur please. I'm so sorry. Please, it's not my fault. I was born with magic. Please, I'm your friend." Merlin begged while being dragged to the courtyard. The guards stood Merlin up on the platform and placed the noose around his neck. He couldn't stop the tears from falling, he was really going to die at his best friend's hand. He looked up to where Arthur was standing and he continued to look at Merlin coldly. Arthur gave a nod telling the executioner to pull the trap door open. "No. Please Arthur. No!" He screamed. Right before everything went black Merlin heard Arthur say, "You are no friend of mine."
Merlin woke up a moment later screaming in an intense state of panic. Gaius burst through the door seconds later holding a pillow in a defensive position. "Merlin what is it? Are you okay?" Gaius asked worriedly.
"Oh yeah. Sorry Gaius. It was just a bad dream." Merlin replied feeling embarrassed. Now noticing the pillow in Gaius' hand he asked, "What on earth were you going to do with a pillow?"
"Well I don't know. It was the first thing in my hand." Gaius' face became concerned. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"About the pillow?" Merlin asked in a pretend confused tone.
Gaius knew Merlin was joking and gave him an unamused look. "No. Do you want to talk about the dream?"
"Na it's fine. Thank you Gaius, you're a good friend."
"Get some rest, we'll talk in the morning." Gaius replied before closing the door as he left the room.
Now alone Merlin realised that he was in fact, not dead. This disappointed him greatly. He put his hand to his head to wipe the now cold sweat from his forehead until he noticed a bandage wrapped around his wrist. He check his other wrist to find it bandaged as well. Oh no. He thought to himself. They've seen the scars and cuts. What must Arthur and Gaius think of me. Merlin then jumps out of bed falling to his knees to pull out his magic book from under the floor boards. He quickly flips it to the page containing his trusty razor to find it's no longer there. "Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" Merlin cried frantically. He began searching every square inch of his room. After 20 minutes he gave up realising Gaius most likely confiscated it.
"Damn!" He thought to himself. Knowing there was nothing more he could do tonight, Merlin climbed back into bed and began mulling over his nightmare. He couldn't help but think about how real it felt. What plagued him more was what Arthur said to him just before he woke up. "You are no friend of mine." He whispered to himself. Arthur must hate me for what I did to him. He thought as he felt himself drifting off to sleep.
Thanks so much for reading. I promise things will look brighter for Merlin in the next chapter. R & R's are much appreciated.
