As soon as Arthur felt assured that Uther had indeed left the throne room, he fled to the dungeons, hastily following the path the guards had dragged Merlin along. He caught up with them as they thrust Merlin into a cell, his face glancing off the stone floor. Arthur halted as the guards left and could only stare at the state of Merlin. His face was beginning to bruise and bleed from the guards' brutality and his expression was utterly blank.
"Merlin? I promise I'll get you out," said Arthur as he knelt down beside the bars and reached his hand in between the iron rods. Merlin turned away from he and muttered,
"Maybe this was supposed to happen. It might be my destiny to die now. I've taught you how to protect yourself; you won't need me now to unite the land of Albion."
"No. Merlin" said Arthur, his heart breaking at his friend's utter acceptance of his situation, "I'll always need you. I'm…. always a prat. Remember? I need you there to remind me – no one else is brave enough or stupid enough to." Merlin laughed softly at this but covered it with a cough. He couldn't let Arthur know the absolute dread he felt.
"Goodbye, Arthur" he said quietly. With that Merlin moved to the furthermost corner of the cell where he was obscured from Arthur's vision. Slowly, Arthur rose from his knees, his hands sliding down the cold bars of the prison cell, with one last look at Merlin his mind became set on his next course of action.
Rushing to Gaius and Merlin's shared chambers he was oblivious to the stares his behaviour attracted, as news of the most recent scandal made its way through the castle. Bursting through the chamber door, Arthur was relieved to find Gaius was out and sprinted to Merlin's private chamber. Throwing clothes and other possessions, Arthur scrabbled around on the floor, searching for where Merlin had left his magical tome. His efforts fruitless, he rose to his feet. Since when did Merlin actually look after something! With unnecessary caution, he gingerly opened Merlin's cupboard. Inside, wrapped in a red cloth, was the volume he'd been looking for.
Enchanted by its potential, Arthur slowly sat down on the end of Merlin's bed and stroked the cover. Inhaling deeply he flicked through the pages until he found the spell he wanted. Turning to the window, he whispered "permissum pluit" while bringing his arm down in a vertical swipe. Nothing happened. Again he repeated the phrase and motion. Once again nothing happened. He cursed and threw the book aside. As he sat again on the bed, wondering what his next move should be, the distant sound of thunder began to roll towards the castle. Jumping up, Arthur ran to the window and watched as the people in the courtyard hurried for shelter as the sky opened up and a heavy rain began to fall. Happily Arthur retrieved the book and returned it to the cupboard before racing back in the direction of the dungeons.
