While Looking for Her
Chapter 4
King Bayard and his men have arrived at the bandits' encampment to meet with Cuthbert, the bandit's leader. The encampment is at the side of a stream, backed by a cliff face, surrounded by dense woods. The men around the camp are organizing their belongings and packing up, to be ready to ride as soon as Cuthbert's business is completed.
"A pleasure doing business with you," Cuthbert says as Bayard's chamberlain hands him a pouch with the payment for Arthur. Cuthbert shoulders the pouch and whistles sharply.
Arthur is brought up to Cuthbert, hands bound behind his back, with a hood on his head. He is struggling with his captors, resisting them at each step they force him to take. He is handed over to two of Bayard's men. The hood is removed.
"Good to see you again, Prince Arthur," Bayard says.
Arthur continues to struggle with the men holding him, making inarticulate noises around the gag in his mouth. Bayard steps up to him and removes the gag.
"What do you want, Bayard?" Arthur spits out. "Let me go."
"I thought you might enjoy a visit in Mercia similar to the welcome I experienced in Camelot."
"I've done nothing to you." Arthur looks at him defiantly. "My father will mislike this treatment when he finds out."
"Oh, I will be sure to tell him. You will experience the humiliation I felt at his hands."
"He'll attack. Do you really want a war with Camelot?"
"I don't think so, Arthur. Your father and I are reasonable men. I'm sure we can reach an agreement on what to do with you." He laughs. "Gag him," he says, handing the cloth to another soldier standing nearby.
Arthur is dragged away by Bayard's men to a waiting horse, where he is lifted up and tied so that he cannot escape.
xXx
"Where's Arthur?" shouts Sir Bors, delivering a stunning blow to the side of Merlin's head that knocks him over sideways. "We paid the ransom for Arthur, not you! Why isn't he here?"
"I don't know," Merlin cries, looking around, his head ringing. "We were separated."
Merlin struggles to try to stand, fighting the dizziness caused by the blow. He reaches out his bound hands to steady himself on one of the vertical stones. At the touch his magic senses the elemental power of the configuration of stones. He looks around, dazed. The circle is not unlike the standing stone circle he had rebuilt in the Western Isles. The immense ancient stones focus the power of the earth and the center stone summons the power of the spheres when they align at the right times of year; Merlin can feel magic pulsing under his hands. He removes his hands from the stone and shakes his head to clear it. No time for this now.
He turns back to face Bors. "The men came for me this morning and took me away."
"But where is Arthur?"
"He must still be held by the bandits. Please untie me, Sir Bors." He holds his hands up to the other man. "I must go back to find him."
Bors pulls out his knife and saws at the leather thong binding Merlin's hands. Merlin makes a move away from him. "Wait, Merlin, we'll look for him together," he says.
But Merlin cannot wait. Arthur is in danger; he knows this. Merlin sees that Bors had brought Llamri for Arthur; she's standing beyond the far edge of the stone circle, held by the other knight. He whistles and looks straight at the horse across the distance of the circle, closing his eyes to hide the gold, thinking, "Llamri, come to me."
The horse picks up her head and snorts. She shakes her head, then suddenly rears up, startling the knight holding her reins. Her surge forward to obey Merlin's command tears the reins from his hand, and she trots around the outside edges of the standing stone circle to reach Merlin. She halts in front of him. He strokes her nose, then mounts quickly. Merlin grabs her reins and gallops off in the direction where he thinks the bandits' encampment is. He casts his magic out to find the path ahead to locate Arthur. His sense of urgency that Arthur is in danger drives him and spurs Llamri on.
When he gets to the top of the cliff overlooking Cuthbert's encampment, he slows the horse to a walk to watch from a distance. There is no sign of Cuthbert or any of his men. Instead, the men he sees appear to be soldiers wearing Mercian livery. Merlin studies the scene below, searching for a sign of Arthur. He sees King Bayard barking out orders to his men to organize their departure. Arthur is bound and gagged, tied to a horse being led by one of Bayard's men leaving the camp with King Bayard and his men. Merlin follows.
xXx
Sir Bors stares after Merlin galloping off on Arthur's horse, hands fisted at his sides in frustration. "That idiot!" he thinks to himself. He decides that the king must be told immediately that Arthur was not released as promised, and that he intended to look for him. He sends the other knight to ride hard back to Camelot to deliver his message to Uther and request assistance. A patrol from Camelot would do better to follow his trail to find Arthur and to carry out a rescue.
Furious with Merlin for tearing off on Llamri, Bors mounts his own horse and follows Llamri's trail to try to stop the boy from doing something foolish to endanger the prince. The tracks lead him along the edge of a cliff face, overlooking a narrow valley with a stream meandering through it. He looks down at the camp that the bandits had recently abandoned. He follows the tracks on the trail as it descends to the east, leading him deeper into the heart of Mercia.
As daylight starts to fade, he catches sight of Merlin standing quietly in the woods near a small clearing, watching Bayard's men make camp for the night. Bors looks around carefully before making a move to approach Arthur's servant. Merlin is so intent on his observation of the camp that he seems unaware of his surroundings.
But Merlin must have been spotted; Bors sees one of Bayard's men stealthily approach Merlin from behind. Before Bors can alert Merlin to another's presence, he sees that Merlin must have sensed the soldier's approach because Merlin suddenly spins around, eyes flashing gold, with his hands held rigidly in front of him. The soldier is flung back, collapsing against a tree, dead. Merlin slowly lowers his hands as his eyes return to their normal vibrant blue. He looks down at the soldier with sorrow and regret written on his face. Then he glances up and sees Bors watching. His eyes widen in fear.
