A/N:
Surprise! Two chapters in one day?! What? Yes! I was feeling generous, and this chapter certainly was not worthy enough to be posted on its own day so I decided to post it today. :) I'm nervous about this one because I feel like it's not my best :/ although we do have Arthur in this one! Thank you for the reviews! I'm loving them and it's what keeps me from quitting this story. (Not that I will quit on you.) I may not be able to post tmr due to school but I will try my best. After this chapter it's going to better, I promise. PLEASE REVIEW! Thank you.
Merlin was currently sitting, sprawled out on the straw filled cell floor.
He'd just woken up from a peaceful nap, only to have all the memories of what happened earlier plague his mind again.
He reacted only on instinct, seeing that someone was in danger. He will admit that he felt a connection with the Prince when he had first gotten here, not because he looked similar to Arthur, but just for some random reason that he didn't know. Maybe this was part of his destiny too, to meet these people, to meet Alex. He had saved the Prince's life, only to be sentenced to a flogging. But thankfully, the Arudus Prince was able to talk his father out of such a gruesome sentence.
Merlin chuckled, it was quite funny if you thought about it. This was exactly what had happened when he saved Arthur's life for the first time. There was a feast, a dagger, revenge for the King having killed someone's son. Only back in Camelot, he was rewarded the position of the King's manservant, but here, he was rewarded with two nights in the dungeons. Merlin couldn't help but wonder who the man's son was. After James had reactivated the bracelet, and the guards were escorting him out of the room, he happened to glance at the sorcerer, only to find out he had a Druidic symbol on the inside of his wrist.
Merlin shuddered at the memory. Druids were peaceful people, and to see one become so rabid, it was shocking. He understood though, after all, the king had murdered his son, and even if Merlin wasn't there to know if he actually did it or not, he couldn't help but believe the man. The King was worse than Uther, and that said a lot.
Merlin looked down at both of his wrists, noting how the bracelets on each of his arms were fitting a little too snugly. Precautions, Merlin thought, because he was such an evil sorcerer that he had to wear two. He just hoped that he could be able to get another bad dream before the eight months end, resulting in the same thing that happened yesterday morning. Having two bracelets on, if even possible, suppressed his magic down even further out of reach.
Merlin's head snapped up at the creaking sound of a door opening.
He heard footfalls, getting louder and louder as the person neared. He watched as a small light become brighter and brighter, until there was a person standing there, in front of his cell. He held up a hand and squinted his eyes, trying to block as much as the bright light as he could out of the way.
When his vision became used to the brightness, his eyes focused on a blonde haired man.
"Alex?" Merlin asked, he didn't mean to, but his voice came out more like a whimper.
"Hello Merlin." Alex softly spoke.
Merlin finally lowered his hand, and the two stared at each other for a few moments.
Alex's face was blank, showing no emotion at all, but having worked with Arthur all his life and receiving the same treatment, he could tell just by looking into his eyes that they were full of sorrow.
"You," Alex cleared his throat, "you saved my life last night, and I just wanted to thank you."
When Alex's voice cracked, his mask faltered. Maybe the connection that Merlin was feeling with this man was mutual.
"It was purely instinct." Merlin responded, somewhat more weakly than intended.
"Yes, well, if that is merely instinct, then you must be quite powerful." Alex suggested.
Merlin questioned himself. Was this Prince trustworthy? He obviously defied his father for him, and Merlin did feel like he could tell this man his deepest, darkest secrets and he wouldn't tell a soul... So, should he?
"You saw a little of what I could do during my evaluation." Merlin responded.
Alex just nodded. "Your bracelet," he began, pointing to Merlin's right wrist, "How did you deactivate it?"
"I didn't," Merlin muttered, but seeing Alex's confused expression he decided to go on, "I had a bad dream the previous night, and woke up to a vase shattering. I realized it was me when I saw my eyes turned gold in the mirror. When I conjured the candle lights to turn on, I found the metal bracelet in pieces."
"Just from a dream?" Alex asked in awe.
"Yes."
There was another long period of silence. "I'm sorry."
Merlin was taken aback. It was so very rare that anyone of nobility said they were sorry to him, he was so used to getting the cold shoulder that he didn't realize his mouth was hanging open until Alex began to chuckle.
"Surprised huh? That a Prince like me would apologize?" Alex said, "Well, I'm not the stuck up Prince everyone seems to think me as. Never judge someone you don't know."
Why couldn't Arthur be more like this? He thought.
"Sorry for what?" Merlin asked.
"For you having to be held here. You saved my life, that deserves an award not," he gestured, waving around with his free hand, "being stuck in a dirty prison cell, suffering."
"Well, on the bright side, at least I get a free day to recover from my beating yesterday." The warlock replied, trying to make a joke. However it did the complete opposite.
"Beating?" Alex asked, concern etched all over his facial features.
"No, no," Merlin reassured him, waving his hands frantically, "the brutality in training yesterday."
"Oh," Alex replied, still not thinking the situation funny.
"Yeah." Merlin awkwardly replied, just to fill the silence.
"Merlin?" Alex muttered.
"Yes, Alex?"
"Thank you, it's not everyday that someone would be willing to put themselves to save another. Let alone, the person that practically kidnapped you."
"You kidnapped me?"
"Well," Alex began, not really knowing how to respond to that, "fathers orders."
Merlin chucked, "your like a friend I used to know." Woah, when did I start using Arthur in the past tense?
"Really?" Alex replied, sounding interested, "and who was this friend of yours?"
"Someone who I used to always save, just like how I saved you." Merlin replied.
A genuine smile appeared on Alex's face before he turned and walked away, leaving behind a Warlock to think about his friend.
Today is the third day. That means it has been three days that the Camelot Prince has been looking for his idiot of a manservant. Three days and no sigh of him, no clue, and no idea of who took him.
Arthur was frustrated, he was angry, his friend was kidnapped and there was nothing he could do about it.
He was also confused. What could they possible want with Merlin? He was only just a servant. He had thought about his earlier theory, of the sorcerers taking him for information, but for some reason, he didn't feel like that was why. He felt as if there was something more here, something that was out of their reach.
Arthur shook those negative thoughts away. No, he told himself. He will find Merlin, and he will not rest until he did.
First it was Morgana, and now Merlin. (Although he would never admit it) Other than his father, they were the two most important people in the Prince's life and they were both taken from him. What higher power had so much against him?
Arthur was currently walking back into castle from a long day of searching, when he heard someone crying. He looked to his right and sure enough, there was Guinevere, crying on the stone steps, leading up into the citadel. He thought about going to her, to comfort her, but being with her just reminded him of Merlin. After all, he was the one who encouraged him to pursue her in the first place, he just felt like it wouldn't be right without him here. So he just trudged on. If Merlin wasn't happy then he couldn't be happy, that's what he decided. That's what he told himself, but deep down inside he just wanted to push everyone away. He wanted to strip himself of his title, curl up into a ball and stay in his room all day long, alone. For some reason, ever since Merlin was taken from him, he felt like half of his soul was taken too. If he couldn't protect his best friend, practically his brother in all but blood, then he didn't deserve to be a Prince.
He could hear Merlin's voice in his head now,
"Your supercilious prat! There's no one who would be a better king than you."
Arthur smiled, the first true smile that had formed on his lips since the incident two nights ago. He never realized how much he depended on the idiot's encouraging words till now, and oh, how much he missed their endless banter.
Before he knew it, he was standing outside of his chamber doors.
Arthur was in denial. He hadn't changed his clothes ever since the first day of their search, and he hadn't even talked to Gaius. It just reminded him too much of the big eared boy he was missing.
He opened his doors, only to witness something he never wanted to see.
"Who are you?" Arthur growled, causing the replacement servant to jump.
"I-I am your new manservant s-sire, King's orders." The boy stammered.
Arthur had a murderous glare on the boy.
Of course, he thought, his father would do something like this.
"You. Are. Not. My. New. Manservant." Arthur said sternly as he prodded the boys chest with his finger each time he said a new word. The boy ended up backing into the wall. "You are temporary, only until Merlin comes back to fulfill his duties again."
The servant just gulped, and nodded his head frantically, "yes, of course sire."
"Good." Arthur replied, "Now go make me a bath, and then when your finished with that, go much out the stables."
"But I've already done that today." The servant replied nervously.
Arthur's nostrils flared, and if looks could kill, his temporary manservant would be dead. "Well then do it again." He growled.
The next thing he knew, the servant was out of his sight.
"Much better." Arthur smiled to himself.
The next time Merlin saw Alex, it was the morning of the fourth day. He was finally being released.
The sound of keys rattling was like music to the Raven haired boys ears, and when Alex appeared, well, it was even better.
"Alex!" Merlin greeted the Prince with a toothy smile.
Alex chuckled, "Hello Merlin, excited to be released?"
"Very." The warlock replied as he stood up.
The Prince inserted the key, and opened up the door. Merlin sighed with relief.
"Your not off the hook just yet, you still have another day of training to go through."
Merlin groaned, "Ugh, don't remind me."
Alex just laughed, and Merlin shot him a glare.
"Don't you have Knights to train or something?" Merlin retorted.
Alex sobered up real quick after that.
"Don't remind me." He grumbled.
It was Merlin's turn to laugh now.
"Hey Alex?" Merlin asked.
"Hm?"
"Do you know who that sorcerers son was? You know, the guy that tried to kill you?"
Alex thought for a moment. "I found out his name yesterday but I forgot, I think it started with an A."
"Aiden?" Merlin hoped he wouldn't say yes.
"Yeah! That's it! Wait... How did you know that?" Alex asked.
"He was my manservant on the first day, and then the next day, I was assigned a new one. I got a weird feeling and just knew something was wrong. Aiden was a Druid and so was that man who tried to hurt you, that's when I put the two together, it made sense."
"I'm sorry Merlin." Alex replied.
"Yeah, me too." Merlin muttered. "Did your father really kill him?"
"Sadly yes, but he wasn't innocent. According to my father he had switched loyalties to someone else. He was a threat to this kingdom."
Merlin's heart skipped a beat. Druids had always thought of him as their lord, as their king. The druids are loyal to Emrys, which made Aiden loyal to him too. He's the reason Aiden's dead. He felt like he was going to be sick.
"I killed him." Merlin whispered.
The Prince noticed the sudden change of emotion on the warlock's face. "Merlin, are you alright?" Alex asked as he put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I have to go, thank you by the way, for releasing me." Merlin slipped out of Alex's grasp and walked away. Aiden wanted him to win these games, no, he needed him to, and that is exactly what he was going to do. He was more determined then ever.
He couldn't breathe. He struggled hard against the hands that held his head under water, but their grip was too strong.
He hated this feeling. The feeling of panic, of fight or flight. He craved oxygen.
Just as he was about to lose consciousness, a hand gripped onto his hair and pulled it back.
Merlin gasped and began to breath heavily, trying to take in as much oxygen as possible before being pushed under again. After a moment his head was forced back under, he tried not to think about it, tried to hold his breath for while but he was already so tired that it didn't take long for him to want to gain back access to the oxygen. He struggled against Lord Mason again.
Finally, he was yanked back up.
He coughed, and water came spluttering out, followed by retching sounds emitting from the back of Merlin's throat.
"You have to be able to hold your breath for longer." Mason stated.
"Why?" Merlin croaked out.
"Because, anything can happen in the games. King Edward has powerful sorcerers who will control the game, and when I was a competitor, they had water fill up in the arena. And when they do it again this year, people will start to drown each other, The only reason I didn't die was because I was able to hold my breath for awhile, just in time to be able to fight my way back up. You need to be prepared. My trainer did this to me, and now I will do it to you."
Without warning, Mason dunked Merlin's head back into the water basin.
