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3223 views! I can't believe it!.O.O.

Wow People! You have all been amazing! Especially all those readers out there and even more all those who reviewed and faved and followed. Just keep reading and I'll keep writing, at least for now. But I'm afraid my updates might get even more delayed after this. I am very sorry about it, but it is simply not in my power to make up time. If only Merlin would rise out of my dreams and help me out.

I have come up with a plan. In a phrase, "A Chapter A Month", policy. Got it, guys?

Also, please, please vote in my poll to choose the pairing you want to see here, because I am having a really hard time deciding and might decide to not have any pairings at all.

And of course I have no chance at all, not the least bit, to be able to own Merlin.


In The Line Of Duty

Chapter 9

Arthur had just started to hope that the day seemed to be finally getting better. After all the events of the unexpectedly long day, he thought they could finally get back to camp, have a delicious dinner, get a good night's sleep and then start heading back to Camelot in the morning.

But, like always, his luck never was that good. He'd kept up a brisk pace towards their provisional camp but had to slow down a bit for Merlin to catch up. As clumsy as ever but thankfully not tripping or falling, Merlin made enough noise lugging all their stuff to scare away all animals in a mile's radius.

Now that Arthur thought about it, the noise was not there anymore. Sighing as he turned around to give Merlin a tongue-lashing for probably either having tripped and fallen to the forest floor or taking a break, his words died in his mouth as he saw Merlin collapse to the ground on his back, all the baggage scattered around him. He was beside the fallen servant within an instant.

"Merlin? If this is some kind of joke, you are so..."

He stopped abruptly as he took a proper look at his manservant, grabbing him by the elbows and shaking slightly, wondering if he was having some kind of seizure.

Merlin looked chalk-white in the dim moonlight as he let out haggard breaths, his slight figure and his clouded eyes barely focusing on anything but skittering around every-which-way.

"Merlin! Merlin! Dammit!"

Arthur cursed as Merlin's eyes, after focusing on his face for a mere second, rolled back into his head but little gasps still left through his teeth, as if he was cold or something. Arthur put his hand to Merlin's forehead, expecting to probably find a slight fever, but all he felt was a cold, freezing coolness emanating from Merlin. His brows furrowing in worry, Arthur rubbed Merlin's arms, trying to get him warmer and also slapped him on the cheek a few times to wake him up but found it was to no avail.

Arthur let out a tired sigh and after one last worried look at the still subtly gasping in cold Merlin, started gathering all their leftover bags onto one shoulder and then lifted Merlin onto the other shoulder. Gritting his teeth against the burden he was carrying, Arthur started walking in the general direction of where they had come from.

The sooner they both got back to the others, the sooner he could find out what was wrong with Merlin.

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Gwaine started his journey back to the land of the living by first familiarizing himself with the vicious pounding of the jackhammer behind his eyes. He shifted where he lay slumped against the wall with a groan and blinked his eyes against the bright dimness of the cell that was relatively more headache-inducing than the inside of his eyelids.

"Wha tha hell?" He gritted out, his accent more pronounced as he sat up tiredly and looked around. Lancelot and Percival stared back at him from their own slumped positions around the cell.

"Welcome back to the world of the waking, sleeping beauty." Lancelot whispered hoarsely with a cough.

"Where's Arthur? And Merlin?!" Gwaine shouted at him as it all came back to him, some creepy guy had come to take Arthur.

"We don't know. They were both gone when I woke up. That guy must have knocked us all out." Percival replied evenly, his brows furrowed in a cute yet troubled manner.

"Seriously?! How could one old guy have knocked us all out? And why would he take Merlin?"

Gwaine had to get some answers, now. Then he had to find a way to get out of here, with their whole group of course.

"We don't know Gwaine. Just calm down for now and let's try to come up with a plan." Lancelot said with a placating gesture.

Gwaine wiped his hand across his face and took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself. Freaking out when he was supposed to be coming up with a plan to get them out would be of no use. Merlin and Arthur just had to be alright.

"Okay. How long do you think we were out?"

"Maybe not more than a few hours. But could be longer." Percival said pensively.

Gwaine nodded and closed his eyes, leaning his head back onto the grimy wall. They all silently waited for the other two to wake up and were rewarded with a groan from Elyan within several minutes. Almost simultaneously, Leon too scrunched up his eyes and slowly opened them to reveal honest brown eyes.

When they were both coherent and had exhausted their question bank about what had happened, getting half-hearted answers from the other three knights, they all fell silent again. It almost seemed like they were waiting for something unspoken to happen. Just as Gwaine was falling asleep with his eyes starting to droop, they all heard the sound and snapped upright.

It was the same screeching sound they had heard earlier. Of that creepy man's dragging axe. It seemed even more ominous this time, somehow. It got louder and louder as a faint fire light became visible.

Within seconds they were all on their feet, the man from earlier had appeared at their cell door again and they all collectively tensed in anticipation but seeing Merlin, Gwaine and Lancelot let out a sigh of relief.

The knights all glared at the hooded figure, afraid to break the wrought-iron silence. The man only lifted up his hand that held the torch and his eyes glowed gold. The knights found themselves suddenly pinned against the walls of the cells by an invisible force—magic—as the door opened and Merlin was roughly pushed in. The invisible force let up within a second, but it was a second too late. As the man had already locked the cell and was starting to walk back the way he'd come.

"Goodnight, boys. Get some sleep. You'll need it tomorrow at the fight."

Came the hoarse voice of the hooded creep as he walked away, chuckling to himself darkly.