A/N: Thank you guys for the awesome reviews! 'Emmmaaarr', post them god dammit! I want to read them, if you don't then I won't update the next chapter. And what exactly do you mean by my obvious plot-geniusness? I seriously don't see any thing "genius" about this story. Anyway, here's the next chapter as I promised bound to be full of errors. Enjoy, and please, please review. Otherwise I'll blackmail all of you and I won't update ever again *Mwahaha!* ^_^

It took some effort to open his eyelids. At first Arthur felt as if they would never open again, but slowly and surely they obeyed him, snapping open with immense pain.

The first thing he noticed was the sound of blood thumping away inside his head. Pulling his strength together, Arthur used his upper body to lift him upwards so he was sitting against the soft pillow that sat neatly behind him.

Glancing out the window Arthur noticed it was still raining pouring down heavily. Somewhere out there Merlin was out there in trouble, and there was no way in hell that he was just going to sit around here and do nothing about it. Arthur was not going to lose Merlin again, not after everything that had happened between them.

Arthur could hear whispering coming from the hallway, not long after Gaius poked his head through Morgana's chamber door spotting him instantly.

"You're awake, sire," Gaius said with a shocked expression on his face.

"Well obviously," Arthur replied groggily as his head exploded with pain.

"Here," Gaius said pulling out a small vile filled with a clear liquid. "Drink this. It will make you feel better."

Swiping the vile out of his hand, Arthur gulped the liquid down in one go. It had a slightly bitter taste, and it made his vision go blurry for a moment, but he found his pain easing away.

"What... what happened?" Arthur queered looking around the room, recognising it as Morgana's. "The last thing I remember is feeling as if someone had clobbered me over the head. Did Morgana or Gwen..." Arthur trailed off noticing that Gaius was shaking his head at his theory. Even he had to admit, the possibility that either Gwen or Morgana knocking him out was slim to none. Well, Gwen anyway... Morgana on the other hand...

"I'm afraid not," Gaius said finally looking quite worried.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked as his stomach began to feel uneasy.

Gaius didn't seem to answer straight away, which made Arthur feel even more nervous, instead the court physician paced anxiously beside the bed.

"Gaius," Arthur raised his voice. "Tell me what's wrong."

Arthur found himself biting his lower lip tightly, almost drawing blood at one point.

"Your wounds... no one here had anything to do with them. They just appeared out of nowhere," Gaius studied Arthur's head, glancing at the bandage that was now completely soaked in blood.

Placing his hands on the bandage, Gaius began unravelling the material until it no longer surrounded his head. Grabbing another piece of cloth he began winding it around Arthur's head until you could no longer see the blood dripping through his blonde hair.

"But how is that possible?" Arthur asked delicately touching the back of his head with his fingers.

The court physician stared at Arthur raising an eyebrow. It was as if he expected the prince to know the answer already. Eventually though, Gaius sighed giving up and explained.

"Merlin and yourself are connected, have you forgotten that?" Gaius asked rather with a hint of fear.

"Of course not!" Arthur exclaimed. He knew that because Merlin shared his soul with him, that Arthur was somehow connected to the sorcerer, which meant that anything that happened to one of them happened...

Arthur's eyes froze in horror and disbelief as he finally realised what had happened.

"Merlin!"

For a moment time seemed to stop dead in its tracks, allowing Arthur to gather himself together as his heart raced faster than he ever thought possible. He even forgot to swallow his saliva at one point, almost choking on it.

"I need to find him." Arthur didn't even need to think about it. Ignoring the pain, the prince gathered himself off the bed and began walking towards the door only to stop when a hand fell onto his shoulder.

"Your father has made it quite clear you are to rest, and I have to agree. This is hard for both of us, but you need to get well first," Gaius spoke softly, it was quite clear to Arthur that Gaius wanted him to go, but if he did no doubt his father would find out and punish both of them.

"Gaius, we both know that this didn't just happen by accident," Arthur growled pointing to his head as he shifted uncomfortably on the spot.

"I know..." Gaius said looking at the bandage that had already begun to absorb the blood. "But..." he began, but Arthur wasn't finished yet.

"And we both know that whoever did this could hurt Merlin again for all we know," Arthur said trying to get his point across before Gaius found anything to say himself. "I have a chance to save him, if I don't do anything soon Merlin could die."

"We don't even know where he is," Gaius commented in a harsh whisperer Arthur didn't even know was possible for the old man.

"Oh..." he replied not knowing what to say. Every glint of hope he had moments ago was now gone, what was he supposed to do now? Just sit around here and do nothing while Merlin was out in the cold probably being torture or even worse.

He could feel that Merlin was scared, Arthur had no idea how but he knew. The rain outside had calmed down slightly and it was beginning to get dark once again.

That was it, Arthur pushed past Gaius and into the corridor topless.

"I am not sitting around here while Merlin's in trouble, I won't! Go tell my father, see if I care." Arthur said to Gaius who smiled slightly, but coughed abruptly as he stared behind Arthur.

"Tell me what?" Uther said relived to see his son up and well once again as he grasped his son tightly, brushing up against the wound on his back causing Arthur to push away from his father violently.

"This is all your fault!" Arthur bellowed at his father even louder than he expected, but didn't care in the slightest. His father seemed completely taken aback by his son's outburst.

"Don't raise your voice at me," the king said equalling Arthur's tone.

"Shut up," Arthur spat walking away from his father. Uther looked directly at Gaius who just shrugged as if he had no idea what was going on.

"Don't you dare walk away from me," Uther warned, but Arthur wasn't listening. "Get back here this instant!"

This time Arthur did hear and immediately turned around and paced quickly back towards his father and let loose the hardest right uppercut he could muster. His fist smashed directly into the side of Uther's face knocking him to the floor. He was now clutching his left cheek in pain, as Gaius rushed to his side giving a quick smile to Arthur as he turned around and walked away not even thinking twice about what he had just done, or the consequences that would follow.

*

Uther couldn't believe what had just happened. Did Arthur really just hit him? He soon got the answer as Gaius poked at the tender spot Arthur's fist had connected with.

"Gaius, send for the guards. I want Arthur confined to his quarters, I'm afraid he's out of control," Uther grunted resting his head against the stone wall.

"I'm sorry my lord, I can't do that," Gaius admitted poking the spot again to make sure the kings face wasn't too badly damaged.

"Why not?" Uther glared as he attempted to stand up.

"Because," Gaius said hesitantly, "Arthur is not out of control, he's in love. Even I can see that."

Uther found himself laughing at his court physician.

"Well why didn't he just tell me?" Uther asked glad that his son had finally found a nice woman to have by his side.

"That is not for me to discuss with you, this has nothing to do with me," Gaius answered.

Uther shrugged, he had a point of course.

"At least tell me this woman's name," Uther asked completely forgetting that Arthur had punched him.

"You won't like it," Gaius warned obviously hoping the king would stop asking questions.

"Just tell me!" Uther snapped at Gaius who took a small step back.

"...Merlin," Gaius said reluctantly knowing the consequences that would follow.

"You amuse me Gaius, but seriously, who is my son in love with?" Uther said not believing for a second that Arthur was in love with his manservant who had fled the kingdom.

"You must pardon me sire, but you truly are a blind old man. Arthur loves Merlin. Anyone who dares to look can see that. Have you ever once wondered why Arthur has been acting strange the past few days, just once?" Gaius spoke freely.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," Uther flared his nostrils at this disgusting lie. "Why would Arthur love a simple servant? My son is not some... freak who loves men. I know my son better than anyone. Now just tell me, I promise I won't let anyone find out."

Gaius shook his head and muttered something under his breath that the king couldn't quite make out.

"Whether you believe me or not, that's your choice sire. Now if you excuse me, I'm well behind in my deliveries."

Uther didn't attempt to stop Gaius as he turned around as he was so caught up in his own thoughts. Arthur couldn't possibly be in love with Merlin, it was completely barbaric! If this was true, how hadn't he managed to spot it beforehand? Although, if this was true it just gave him more of a reason to kill Merlin once he found him

The guards had already begun searching through the outer towns, as well as sending a few knights to Ealdor as that seemed the most obvious placed that the servant would go. Sooner or later, though, he would find Merlin and end things once and for all.

*

For some inexplicable reason, Arthur felt so much better after punching his father in the face. If only he'd hit a little bit harder, though, he didn't want to knock his father unconscious, he wanted Uther to feel the pain. Regrettably there was no way he could show the real pain his father was putting him through.

Right now he was inside his chambers grabbing a somewhat clean shirt and putting it on. On the way to his room, there were many people who had stopped to gawk as he walked through the castle shirtless giving them full view of all the bruises on his back.

Makin sure the shirt didn't rub to badly against the wound running down his back, Arthur pulled out his scarlet tunic as well as placing his sword around his waist. He flinched in pain as the scabbard rubbed through his shirt against his back.

Just as he went to leave his room Morgana entered with her hair tied back in an unusual fashion that didn't suit her in the least, as well as wearing her own chain mail.

"What are you doing here?" Arthur asked crossing his arms.

"I know what you plan on doing," she replied imitating Arthur's posture.

"Get out of my way Morgana," Arthur demanded trying to push past her, but she didn't budge. She wasn't going to move until he listened to what she had to say.

"I have no idea what's really going on, or how those marks appeared out of nowhere, but I'm not letting you go out there alone to find Merlin," she said gently.

"It's complicated," Arthur replied in defence.

"Complicated or not, I'm not allowing you to go out there alone in your condition. What happens if something happens to you and there's no one around to help? I would never be able to forgive myself, so that's why I'm coming with you," Morgana said with a deep sigh that was Arthur's sign that she was finished.

"Morgana, as much as I appreciate your help, you're not coming with me," Arthur replied dryly.

"I can and I will Arthur Pendragon. Sometimes I wonder if you really are as stubborn as you make out to be," Morgana said raising an eyebrow.

"But..." Arthur began to protest but Morgana cut him off by placing one finger across his lips.

"If you argue the point one more time, I will chain you to your bed so you can't go anywhere," Morgana warned and Arthur knew she would actually go ahead with it.

"Fine," Arthur rolled his eyes squeezing past Morgana towards the stables.

*

Seriously, what was with men and their pride? So far all Arthur had managed to do was glare at her ever since they'd left the princes chambers. Morgana wasn't sure which was worse; the fact that she was risking her own life to go with Arthur, or not going with Arthur with could result in his death. It was a lose-lose situation, so she choose the easy option and decided to go with him instead of doing nothing.

Gwen had spotted Arthur walking through the corridor shirtless who informed Morgana quickly while she was eating breakfast in the dining hall. The second she heard the information, Morgana had a terrible feeling what he planned on doing. Ever since the dreams of the woman in black, there were short moments where she could have sworn there were flashes or Arthur, but merely flashes. They went by so quickly that she had no idea if they were actually him or not, but she wasn't going to take that chance.

It wasn't as if she'd hold him up, and when it came to fighting with a sword she would be able to take care of herself. After all, she was pretty good with a sword if she said so herself. She'd even been able to defeat Arthur in a sword fight a few years back, the loser had to do everything the other commanded for an entire week. Oh what fun Morgana had with that, especially the time she'd made Arthur clean her room not long after placing large spiders all throughout it. The shriek Arthur made when he reached under her bed and one of the spiders began crawling up his arm was highly amusing, particularly because he sounding like a scared little girl. Of course she made him remove all the spiders from her room so she wouldn't have to worry herself that one of them would crawl onto her bed in the middle of the night.

Finally finding their way to the stables, Morgana hopped upon her own horse after helping Arthur get onto his without hurting himself too badly. He still had the bandage wrapped around his head, already it needed to be changed as was beginning to fill with blood. Thankfully she had managed to nick a few strips of the material to use in case they needed it while looking for Merlin in the forest.

"Do you have any idea where to look?" Morgana asked as their horses slowly trotted out of the stables.

Arthur looked as if he could fall off his horse any minute after they reached the city's gates.

"No," was all the prince replied causing Morgana to shrug it off. This was just perfect, they had no idea where they were going and it was still raining. This was probably the longest time it had rained in quite a while now that she thought about it, though last winter was pretty bad also.

An hour had passed and they were now somewhere deep within the forest. The ground was completely soaked and flooded as the water could no longer be absorb into the soil.

So far they hadn't even seen a bird fly past nor had they heard anything that would indicate the forest harboured any form of life. It was just silence all around them except for the occasional raindrop that would drop from the tree's above and into the puddles of water.

Morgana felt a twinged of sympathy for Arthur. It wasn't long ago that she had seen him happier than ever before, only turn into an empty shell as Merlin was drove out of Camelot by Uther. She had a feeling it was Arthur that managed to help him escape, and she was glad for that. To die at the hands of Uther was the worst thing of all. He would show no sympathy for Merlin. If ever Uther honestly found out that his son was in love with another guy, there would be chaos throughout the kingdom. But Uther was thick. Thick and blind, even if the evidence was staring in his face point blank he would refuse to believe it. Of course, though, this was a blessing and a curse.

Hopefully Uther would never find out about the boys relationship. That was the last thing that anybody needed was Uther disinheriting Arthur because he didn't love a woman like he expected his son to. It was something that perhaps the king had never considered, but it was sort of hard to believe that Arthur would be attracted to men. Women all across the kingdom all were dying to have their own piece of Arthur Pendragon, but of course he just wasn't interested. It was around about then that Morgana began to have suspicions of the prince's sexuality.

Of course, that was another story entirely. All that mattered now was to find Merlin before he froze to death... or worse.

Glancing over towards the prince, Morgana thought about the heavy burden that Arthur wore on his shoulders. One day he would become a great king that would rule over all fairly, but that day wasn't meant to be quite yet. Arthur wasn't ready, and as long as Uther still lived he would never be ready.

"Argh!" Arthur grunted painfully as he clutched his hand, falling off his horse face-first into the mud.

"Arthur!" Morgana shrieked quickly hopping off her own horse as she helped the prince out of the mud. Yanking him up in one go, she began removing the mud off his face. "Seriously, you would think that you had some form of balance."

"Shut up," Arthur retorted still clutching his hand.

"What have you done this time," Morgana sighed pulling out the bandage she had been keeping tucked away just in case something like this happened.

"Nothing," Arthur replied letting go of his hand revealing the wound underneath.

It was shallow, nothing to serious, but enough to sting like hell. But then the one lined wound on the back of Arthur's hand began to grow as more and more strokes appeared in his flesh. Both of them looked in horror as the final line was made.

As small droplets of blood appeared on the back of his hand, the lines began to glow red from his blood reading two words that stained their minds.

Help me

To be continued...