A fog covered Merlin's eyes. He was drifting.
Falling.
Something thumped rhythmically inside of him, creating a drumbeat that he synchronised himself to. The rhythm was part of him. It ran through his veins, from the tips of his fingers, to the centre of his…
It was his heart.
Merlin gripped at it with tender fingers, trying to find his vital part. Then the rhythm grew faster and weaker, and his gripping fingers became clawing talons. He gasped as a heat grew in his heart: smothering, sweltering. Too hot! Too hot!
What's wrong? Came an all too familiar voice, who was it? Who? But there was only the fog of darkness and blackness.
I-I don't know... A different voice, but Merlin couldn't identify it. The two voices were different, very different; however they both carried the same edge of emotion to them, what was that emotion again…?
Worry, Identified a soft voice from the back of Merlin's mind. Aaah, yes, now he remembered.
Remembered. With that one action of remembering the voices' emotions, the rest came flooding back.
Elvira. Arthur. Pain. Black. Agony. Torment. Arthur!
"Arthur!" Merlin gasped, his eyes fluttering open. The Prince was staring at Merlin with concern. Concern?
Why would Arthur be concerned? What was wrong?
Merlin tried to keep his gaze on Arthur, attempting to ascertain the cause of Arthur's concern; but his head suddenly lolled, and suddenly he was facing and even more concerned Gaius.
Merlin's hand twitched and his body jerked slightly, as he tried to reach out for Gaius.
"Wh-a?" He slurred, one eyelid drooping.
Arthur made an irritated noise but said nothing.
Gaius' eyebrow rose, but he made no answer to Merlin's unclear question.
Hmmm…
Merlin tried again, "Wh-a 'rong?" he garbled.
Arthur's ringed hand appeared on his forehead, "Gaius, his fever is a lot worse," The Prince cried urgently.
Merlin didn't understand the words. He didn't really care. That hand was somehow helping to cool him down. The hand was soothing. Merlin sighed. Suddenly he didn't really care about his question: he just wanted to lie still forever.
Forever?
"So… what do you reckon's happened to Merlin?" Gwaine questioned, nonchalantly leaning his head against the wall. Lancelot sighed. Again, they showed the signs of being together for too long.
It's only been three weeks… He thought suddenly. The three men – no, knights –had bonded very quickly. They should have been opposites: Lancelot with his uptight desire to be a knight, Elyan's simple need to help his sister, and Gwaine's… frivolity.
Perhaps it was the fact that they met under such stressful conditions, or the fact that they all considered Merlin an important friend, but they'd stood by each other ever since they'd met, they'd become bad-influences on each other – best friends.
Lancelot looked around at his two closest friends. Then he thought about Percival, and worry washed through him.
Percival had gone for a solo mission for Arthur two weeks ago; and he still hadn't returned.
"I don't know, but it's obvious that its something serious," Whispered Elyan, his eyes drooping slightly with sadness.
Lancelot breathed out heavily, and leant against the cold, stone wall, "We just have to wait," He muttered sadly, worrying about his two friends that were obviously in trouble.
Arthur watched Merlin take in slow breaths. Arthur had had enough. He wasn't going to let his father keep three of the bravest men he knew locked up any longer.
Three of the four that he had knighted. Percival had gone missing. Arthur frowned: how many people was he nearly going to lose before god was happy?
The first he'd lost was his mother; he still felt the raw ache in his heart when he thought about how different his life could have been. Perhaps his father wouldn't have made so many mistakes. Perhaps he would have grown up with a more open mind-set; perhaps he would have been completely different. When he thought of all he could have known - the tender kiss of a mother, the feeling of being loved openly by a mother - it made his heart ache as though it couldn't contain its own sadness.
Second was Morgana. Now that he thought about it, Arthur could see a difference in her that had been plaguing her since Morgause. But he hadn't seen it at the time. He supposed that Merlin had noticed; they'd been at odds since Morgana had returned, and he hadn't been surprised when Morgana had made that declaration in the throne room. But Arthur had overlooked it. Arthur had been so shocked when Morgana, the beautiful, strong, compassionate sister that he had known had suddenly turned on the whole of Camelot, becoming a traitorous witch. What had Morgause done to her in the year that she had disappeared?
He'd almost lost his father, the one man who seemed to be a constant. Others may scorn him, but King Uther was a kind man in Arhur's eyes – Uther had been just in his youth, but his hatred for magic had brought him a long way away from the path of fairness that he once tread. Arthur had sat with his father for a few days in that dark, dark time after Morgana had left. Arthur had watched as his father had moaned with pure heartbreak about a daughter he had lost. And seeing his father lost in the demons of his mind once more, had truly, truly frightened Arthur.
He was losing Merlin. He and Merlin had clashed since the beginning, but the enigmatic serving boy was really beginning to grow on him. At first Arthur had thought the boy to be a stupid idiot with far too much pride, the way that Merlin had challenged Arthur when they'd first met seemed to have proved it. But he had been wrong: Merlin's cockiness on that day hadn't stemmed from pride, but by a sense of righteousness that seemed to penetrate the serving boy's very core. Merlin was brave when he needed to be; Arthur couldn't think of a single important battle that Merlin hadn't stood by his side at. Merlin had become a constant in Arthur's life: like his father. The serving boy was an idiotic, pessimistic, disobedient, naïve, weak, brave, trustworthy, kind… loyal… friend, that Arthur just couldn't stand the thought of losing.
Arthur abruptly stood and exited the room, turning his back on Merlin's suffering face. He was going to fix things.
He entered the cold, stone hallway and begun to walk briskly towards his father's chambers; he wasn't going to lose Elyan, Gwaine or Lancelot. He wasn't going to lose anyone anymore
Arthur… called a soft voice from behind him. Arthur swung round, fear swimming up inside him. He quelled it; there was no need for fear here.
The soft voice laughed, and cold shivers drifted up Arthur's back. His eyes scanned the hall behind him carefully, trying to see as far as was possibly in the poorly lit stone room.
But whatever owned the voice had disappeared; gone without a trace, leaving only Arthur standing in confusion.
Arthur frowned and cautiously began walking again, lest he be attacked by some unknown creature.
After a few dozen careful steps he relaxed once more, deciding that it had been his imagination.
The fear that had pulsed along with his heartbeat now turned into butterflies in his stomach – his father was not one to condone people disagreeing with him. But today Arthur knew what he had to do. He had to save the three men that lay in the dank prison.
Arthur paused with his hand on the handle to the throne room.
Drawing in a shuddering breath, Arthur pushed open the door to reveal Uther's angry face.
This was going to be a struggle.
A.n. sorry that took me such a ridiculous amount of time -_-'
I really should give you guys some warning before I go on haitus… I'm going to take a leaf out of Emachinescat's book and actually schedule a day to update on – Friday. Seeing as I've been such an a*s at updating, I'm going to update on Sunday as well this week, thus finishing this episode.
I have the next two chapters planned, and am going to plan some more soon =D
Reveeeewwwwss =D (spelt wrong, I know =) )
DakotaBeor – Wowwww…. that is a LOT of compliments =O. THANK YOU! Erm, but I'm sorry – I've probably made you mad by not updating in so long ='( sorry…
Emachinescat – Thank you, as always for the lovely words of kindness (and for the amazing promptness of all your stories =) )
LinF – thank you for the kind words – I was worrying that I was getting a bit carried away with the whole Egyptian God thing… =) Her name's Elvira ;) and I'm glad they're in character.
keacdragon – thank you for the kind words =)
lillgenious - =) there is much more evil-y stuff to go, mwahaha! Morgana is definitely going to be pissed, but she's probably used to failing by now =P
bunnymina20 – to be honest, her name was probably one of the most challenging names to come up with – I didn't want something boring like Jenny or anything. I was quite tempted by finding some angel names, but in the end I searched for demonic names on the internet (yes, I'm that sad) and ended up choosing Elvira. Yeah, I love her too – 'cause she's a character that I've REALLY thought about and tried to develop well. I'm glad you thought they were in character, that's what I was aiming for!
Thank you all for the alertists and favers, I'm so happy that my story is appreciated =)