2nd to last chapter!

Sorry this took too long. I got busy.

Enjoy.

Merlin awoke with a groan and shifted his head from one side to the other. He opened his eyes to see a stone ceiling. He lifted his hand to rub his eyes, but couldn't. He looked down to see that his hands and feet were chained down. He then looked around the room and wished that he hadn't.

All Merlin saw was torture... Well, not torture, but torture equipment. Saws hung from the ceiling, as well as pokers, knives, axes and loads of other objects that Merlin did not know the name of, but still looked horrifying. He looked to the benches to see potions and poisons of all kinds, magic books and what Merlin thought were human body parts. Merlin gulped, slightly scared of what they were going to do to him. A fire burned in a fireplace. Merlin needed to get out of this room and find Gwaine and Uther.

Merlin looked around to see if anyone was watching. He stared at the chains.

"Psna acihn," he whispered, eyes glowing gold. The chains did nothing but tighten painfully. Merlin winced at how tight they had suddenly become. Suddenly, a door slammed shut. Merlin looked round to see a person he didn't wish to see. Merlin suddenly dreaded his fate even more.

Ulric.

"Well, well, well, look who it is. Little Raven, and he's all alone." A wicked grin washed onto his face. Merlin felt like gulping again, but refused to. It would only show the man that he was scared and he refused to do that. Merlin kept a blank, but strong look on his face. He was the boy that beat his best fighter. Not a scared farm boy.

"Where is Usher and..." Gwaine didn't have a name. Merlin thought quickly. "And Joey?" he quickly said. Joey? Why on earth did he say that? Maybe it was because he had a cousin called Joey who chatted up girls and drank like Gwaine.

Ulric laughed. "They're safely locked up, no need to worry about them. You should be more worried about yourself." Merlin's stomach turned upside down at the man's words.

Ulric turned and walked towards the door. He left... and his best fighter walked in. He walked over to where Merlin was chained down and stood in front of him. The giant muscular man grunted beneath his mask. Merlin looked around the room and then nodded at the fighter.

"Nice hobby you got going on here."

Gwaine slammed his fists on the metal door one last time before he leaned his back against it and slid down, sitting on the floor. Uther sighed as his... fellow traveller... huffed and puffed, gasping for air. Gwaine had been trying to get out for ages and nothing that he did worked (of course!). Uther looked away from the man and – for the hundredth time – studied the room. It was nothing but stonewalls and a metal door. Nothing else to say. Nothing.

Not much chance of getting out.

"Well, this sucks," Gwaine commented. Uther nodded in agreement.

The silence continued.

Suddenly, the door opened. Gwaine fell flat on his back, looking up at the guard. Before any words could come out of the man's mouth, Gwaine snapped into action. He kicked the guard in the stomach, then jumped up and punched him around the mouth. The guard fell backwards, hitting his head hard on the wall behind him. The guard lay there unconscious.

Gwaine walked out of the cell and took the sword from the guard's belt. Uther walked out behind him and held out his hand.

"You're good without," he said. Gwaine huffed, and handed Uther the sword.

They then set off to find Merlin.

Merlin looked across the room where Ulric's best fighter lay. He was a good fighter, but very dumb. Merlin had tricked the man into letting Merlin out of the chains. Merlin then used his magic to send the man flying across the room. Without a warning, a bell went off. How did they know that he was escaping so quickly? Unless someone else was escaping too.

Merlin ran out of the room to go and find Usher and Joey.

Gwaine and Uther walked through the corridors that were cold and grey. The two had recently found out that they were in a small, old, abandoned castle. Every corridor looked the same, so Uther and Gwaine couldn't help but get lost. There weren't any guards about and Gwaine guessed that they were all celebrating. Celebrating the capture of Raven and Usher.

They ran through the abandoned old castle looking for a way out. However, they weren't having much luck. Uther opened another door and found nothing. The King was close to screaming. Gwaine was getting bored with Uther being unable to find Merlin or a way out, since he was acting as if he was in charge. Like Gwaine was going to do anything that prat told him to do.

Suddenly, some guards came round the corner. Gwaine and Uther opened a random door and ran in, slamming it shut behind them. They walked backwards away from the door.

"Well, looked what the cat dragged in," came a voice from behind. Gwaine and Uther slowly turned around . They both turned back to face the door and cursed under their breaths. There behind them was every person who wanted them dead, sitting back, relaxed, with a drink in their hands.

Two men grabbed them and dragged them over to the men in charge: Ulric, Borin and Caldwell.

"Not going to bother asking how you two got out," declared the Scots man. "However, I can tell you that you are now our entertainment for the evening!" The men in the room roared with excitement, drawing their swords and lashing the whips that they had. Gwaine and Uther knew that what was going to happen would be painful.

Suddenly, a door on the other side of the room, burst open. Merlin, ran in, but skidded to a halt, all eyes pinned on him. He gulped, looking around the room.

"Hey, don't let me stop the party." Merlin tried to run back out the door he came in from. However, two men grabbed him and threw him across the room, and he landed in front of Uther and Gwaine's feet. Gwaine helped Merlin to his feet, whilst Merlin brushed the dirt of himself.

Caldwell did not look too happy.

"You again! You and Uther are two right pains in the backside! You are a stupid manservant and he is a dumb King and yet you get out of my hands every single time! I should have kept you drugged up on the way to King Cenred's..." The man's raging outburst slowly stopped. He turned round and to see Ulric and Borin glaring at them.

They didn't know that Usher was King.

They didn't know that he wasn't called Usher, but Uther.

They didn't know that Raven was actually called Merlin and was Prince Arthur's manservant.

They didn't know that Joey was actually called Gwaine.

They didn't know that Caldwell had kidnapped them.

They didn't know that Caldwell was going to double-cross them and get a lot of money for the King and manservant.

"You were going to sell us down the river," declared Borin.

"You lied about them," hissed Ulric.

"I had too. If you really knew who these two were, you'd want to get the money for yourselves. Torture them along the way –"

"Like this WHOLE journey hasn't been torture enough for us already!" Merlin said, butting into the conversation.

"– then you'll just run off never to be seen ever again. Anyway, he asked me to get them, not you!" cried Caldwell.

"Money you say?" chorused both men. All three half-drunken villains turned and looked at Uther, Gwaine and Merlin. All of a sudden, everyone seemed to be standing with weapons in hand. Gwaine stepped forward two steps. He held his hands out in a kind and caring way.

"Gentlemen," he said smoothly. He then paused. "RUN!" he screamed, turning round and shoving past Uther and Merlin. Both King and servant got the message and within a split second were running out the door after Gwaine.

A battle cry came from every person in the room, as everyone gave case after the three. Merlin and the others had run through half the castle before he decided to look back. Men of all shapes and sizes cried out as they chased them. Swords, axes, crossbows, daggers, whips and any other type of weapons were held high in the air. The men were about half a corridor behind them as they ran. For a brief moment, time seemed to slow for Merlin. The sound of his feet slapping on the floor below him echoed around him. The men's cries a faded voice in the distance. His racing heat beat controlling his body. Merlin could see Gwaine and Uther were faster than him because of his foot. Pain rang like a warning bell, loud, clear and unable to be ignored. Merlin looked at his left hand. He now suddenly remembered what he had picked up at the door of the torture room, and that it had been with him all this time. Almost from the very beginning, that stick had been with him. Merlin smiled as his heartbeat increased.

They turned another corner and saw that up ahead was a door. Merlin only slightly heard Gwaine shout something and whatever it was; Merlin guessed that he had told them to really run for the door. Despite the outrageous pain in his leg, he did just that. He picked up his legs and ran faster.

They burst through the door and slammed it shut behind them. They then started running for the woods. Faster and faster they went. The woods were dark and a deadly silence roamed over it. Merlin might have been unable to see the men behind them, but he knew that they were there and very close.

Suddenly, a roaring pain ran through Merlin's bad shoulder. He fell face down on the ground. He knew what had just happened. He had been shot again, shot again in the shoulder. Gwaine and Uther ran back to him, but the man that had shot Merlin was only about a metre away when they got to their injured friend. He raised his sword high; ready to hit Gwaine on the head. Then, suddenly, the man cried in pain and fell backwards. There, in the middle of his chest, was an arrow. Everything happened at once then. Men on horses jumped through the bushes and charged at the men that had been chasing.

And the last thing Merlin saw before he fell into darkness was Arthur jumping off his horse, and running over to them.

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