The Smuggler's Secret

A/N [show-me-your-tardis]

Plot – AU: In which two enemy smugglers are forced to work together. Can they put their differences aside to complete the job, or will their hatred for each other bubble over?

Chapter Four

It had rained for three days.

Each day I ventured out into the icy sheet of rain and returned with two horrible, slimy fish.

I couldn't bear it. The cave was stuffy and uncomfortable. My clothes stuck to my skin, wet with rain. If I had to eat fish one more time, I'd throw up. Arthur's already short temper had shortened considerably, as had mine. We were now snapping at each other at the slightest provocation. Everything he did infuriated me. The way he heaved at the fish. The way he ran his hand through his hair constantly. The mumbling in his sleep. Even his breathing grated on my nerves.

There were times when I could tell he felt the same, times when his hands would jump towards me – as though to hit me – before dropping away.

The rain had to stop.

Or who knows what would happen.

I woke to silence. My first thought was that I was deaf.

I rubbed my eyes and rolled onto my stomach. The jagged parts of the floor dug into me. I looked out the cave opening with my chin resting on the stone. The ground was wet with rain and slick with mud, but finally, the sky had closed. It was full of cloud; white, rain-free cloud. I could have sung with joy.

I looked around the cave briefly and acknowledged Arthur's absence. It didn't surprise me he was gone, I would've left him too.

Yawning, I moved so my forehead was against the cold stone, my arms extended out of the cave, resting on some moss. Birds were singing, there was a light soft breeze on my hands and a weird squelching sound.

My eyebrows drew together as I tried to work out what that rhythmic squelching sound was.

"Wakey, wakey." Arthur said as his footsteps clacked on the rock.

I grumbled. The squelching had been Arthur walking through the mud.

"Come on, Merlin. I got you breakfast, the least you could do is sit up."

I did sit up, and stared at him. He got me breakfast? Why did Arthur get me breakfast?

"You got breakfast?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the rabbit hanging from his belt.

He sat down near the fire and pulled the rabbit free. He had left a trail of muddy, swampy footsteps from outside. I would have complained except we didn't have to stay here any longer and he had gotten me breakfast.

"Yes." He replied, holding the rabbit meat above the fire with an intricate series of sticks.

"Why?" I asked, suddenly suspicious.

"I just thought..." He paused while he pulled out some vegetables (three carrot, two potatoes), "I owed you for the fish. I figured one good meal was equal to four terrible portions of fish." He looked up and winked at me.

I felt heat rise in my cheeks and forced it down. I shuffled forward on my knees and watched him cut the carrot, with one of the throwing knives we were supposed to be smuggling. He looked up and saw me staring.

He shrugged, "You already smashed one of the bottles, it's not like we're going to win now."

I smiled. He was acting weird - nice. Maybe the lack of rain had lightened his mood.

I took the knife from his hands, ignoring the prickle of electricity in my fingers when they touched his skin, and continued chopping the carrot. He returned to the rabbit on the fire.

Once we had cut and cooked all the vegetables and the rabbit, we ate in silence. I watched him lick his fingers when he was done and stand up.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Ready for what?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

He raised one eyebrow, "To finish the job, you idiot."

He turned and walked off without looking back. I sighed. Back to normal, I guess.

"We have to go through that?" I asked.

"Yes." He replied.

"That?"

"Yes."

"But-"

"Don't be such a girl." Arthur said.

He took a step back, and in one swift motion jumped into the waist deep swamp. I flung my arms up to protect my face from splatter.

"Are you coming?" He asked, as he began wading through the mud.

I sighed. The swamp went on for as far as I could see. Just standing here, the smell was horrific. I cringed back. By now Arthur was quite far away from me, if I waited any longer I wouldn't be able to see him.

I held my breath and stepped out onto the mud. The second my foot met the the top of the mud, it sunk straight down. The mud was sticking to my foot and slowly dragging it down.

I placed my other foot onto the mud to balance myself and that too got dragged down. It sucked and squeezed me down until I was waist deep. I kept my hands above my head as I forced my legs to move forward. It was so hard.

My feet couldn't grasp anything and the mud didn't move as I tried to force my legs forward. Then I remembered, I have magic. Arthur wouldn't be able to tell.

I quickly checked where Arthur was, and whispered the spell. The gold lined my eyes and suddenly the mud around me became liquid, it wasn't easy to walk in but it was easier.

I caught up to Arthur relatively fast and he looked at me. Mud was splattered across his face and right about now, he was probably regretting that jump. His eyebrows pulled together as he saw how quickly I had caught up to him.

"How did you-"

"I saw Eldian and Baldwin the other day." I said in an attempt to change the topic.

Thankfully it worked, "What were they doing out here?"

He lost his balance for a brief moment, but quickly caught himself before he fell under.

"I don't know. They were looking for someone. Probably some rival smuggler or something." I shrugged, focusing on dodging a rock in front of me.

"Looking for someone?" Arthur asked, his voice sounded different.

I looked over and saw his face had darkened. I stopped walking.

"Arthur, what's-"

He cut me off smoothly, "Come on, we're almost there."

He pushed passed me, but I couldn't get the look of his face out of my mind. Something was obviously wrong, he was hiding something.

Before I could contemplate this too much, something smacked into my face. I cringed as it slowly trailed down my face. I reached up and wiped the mud off my face.

"Come on!" Arthur shouted, the biggest grin ever on his face.

"That wasn't funny!" I shouted, I scooped a handful of mud and launched it back at him, but he dodged it.

He made running movements, but he didn't get very far. Luckily, I was still walking in something similar to water and I caught up to him quickly. A large glop of mud hit him square in the back of his head, dyeing his hair a dirty brown. I couldn't contain my laughter as he turned to glare at me.