As Merlin feared, he was forced to go on this horse ride through the forest, which really...was so fun for him, honestly! Sitting behind them and only being addressed when one of them needed something. For someone like Gwen, who was passionately preaching about how she used to be a servant, she didn't seem to care even the tiniest bit about him. Even made Merlin walk back all the way to the horses to get a blanket, so she didn't 'get her dress dirty,' and it was no easy walk, they had spent the last half hour reaching that point. Maybe this was just Merlin's bitterness talking, but he couldn't help giving the back of Gwen's head very dirty looks. She didn't notice, and neither did Arthur.
"What was that noise?" Arthur asked, apparently tired of staring at his wife's face. Gwen shrugged. Arthur sat up and looked around.
"I didn't hear anything," The Queen answered, not looking nearly as concerned as Arthur was. "It was probably just an animal."
"You're right..." Arthur nodded, taking a deep breath, and sat back down. Gazing at Guinevere once more, like he was a lovesick puppy. Merlin turned away again, staring off into the woods. Only then, as Merlin ignored the sounds of the couple kissing behind him, he heard something, too. Something that didn't sound like an animal at all. He stood up, heading toward the sound, to see if it was in fact an animal, and really...those two wouldn't miss him.
Walking down the hill, the noises had all but stopped, only a crack was heard here or there, and most of them were made by Merlin. He was just about to turn around when he heard something behind him and stopped, eyes peering to the sides, but the thing...person, was right behind him. He whipped around and there stood a giant, large man, with a club and a dirty white shirt on. Really, the tunic was disgusting, Merlin couldn't help but stare at it. And also, the club...
"Hello..." Merlin's voice cut out, at some point, as the man rose the club up higher. "No need to get angry, big fellow, I was just passing through, I was looking for the lake."
"There is no lake here," man said, roughly, eyes staring down at Merlin, he hadn't blinked once.
"There isn't?" Merlin asked, though, he knew the answer. He took a few steps back. "Hm...that's odd, well, I guess I better be..."
He ran for it, he was a lot thinner, and more limber, he could definitely out run this man. Though, it wasn't just this man anymore, it was now a whole group of large, hairy, dirty shirt men following him. Dammit! There was no out running them, there was jus too many of them, and too many trees. Merlin steadied himself and turned around, putting on his best brute face. He lifted his hand.
"I wouldn't come any closer!" he yelled out, at the crowd of angry, ugly men running toward him. "You really shouldn't..."
But of course they did, so Merlin rose his hand up in the air, calling upon his secret gift and one of the giant men went down. And then, another. They seemed to figure out something was amiss here, because one of them let out a very aggressive scream and threw his club at Merlin. He missed, but he so busy with this, Merlin hadn't noticed one of these men coming up from behind and KONK...suddenly everything went dark.
"...Merlin...Merlin..."
Someone was shaking him, and Merlin's head hurt far too much to take the noise, or the sun light, either. "Leave me alone..."
"MERLIN!" Arthur yelled, shaking him again. Merlin batted open his eyes and glared up at Arthur. He looked worried for some reason...oh right, Merlin had nearly been killed, again. "What the hell were you doing? You had us worried sick."
"I doubt it," Merlin countered, pushing Arthur's hands off him, and shakenly stood up. The world was spinning around him a little bit, but he was otherwise fine. "You were too busy kissing to notice I was gone."
"You should have stayed there, those were your orders!" Arthur yelled at him, eyes traveling over his body, probably making sure he was alright. Merlin did his best to ignore that.
"I don't always have to listen to you..."
"I am the-"
"Arthur!" The Queen interrupted, and Arthur turned back to see what she wanted. Her eyes traveled to the ground, and so did Merlin's and Arthur's. On the ground was a steaming pile of...something, that Arthur decided to jump over and grab Gwen, dragging her away.
"Merlin!" he yelled, and Merlin quickly followed, to behind the clump of trees, when only seconds later, there was a load POP! Arthur released Gwen then, and shoved her toward Merlin. "Stay here, with Guinevere. I am going to go deal with these idiots."
"No," Merlin argued, stepping around Gwen, to get closer to Arthur. "I'm going with you."
"So am I," Gwen added. Arthur rolled his eyes.
"No, both of you will stay here, that's an order from your king, do you understand?"
"Yes...
"No..."
"Merlin!" Arthur yelled, glaring daggers at him. "You will stay here and protect Gwen."
"She doesn't need protecting," Merlin fought with him, one last time. He couldn't let Arthur go alone, what if something happened? No, he had to go. "What will I do to protect her, anyway? She's better with a sword than I am..."
"Merlin, shut up," Arthur told him, one last time. "Stay here."
Arthur walked away, back through the bushes and out of sight. Merlin waited a whole minute before he looked at Gwen and then the area Arthur had walked through. Gwen looked back at him, seeming to already know what he was going to say.
"I will wait here..."
Merlin nodded, before he too, headed back through the bushes. Whatever was flaming before, smelled horribly rotten now, and he supposed he knew why Arthur acted the way he had about it. Merlin continued on, holding his breath until he was clear of that smell. Arthur was no where to be found, but there was no telling where the giant men had gone off to, and if Arthur had even found them yet. His plan was, after all, to keep hidden, and only intervene if Arthur needed him to. Arthur often needed help, but he wasn't nearly as helpless as some might think. He was a good talker when needed, and an even better fighter. Though, it was hardly a fair fight, this time around, with hairy, ugly men and their nasty stink bombs.
(A/N: I have two chapters after this ready to go. At least one is a little bit longer than these last few chapters have been. So, hope you're looking forward to that, and are still enjoying this story, I am enjoying writing it. Also, I was a tiny bit distracted tonight, so this editing job probably wasn't the best, excuse errors, I'll go through it again tomorrow.)
