Chapter 10

The three of us made it back to the hallway and walked several doors down to the next room. The two watched me as I quickly opened the door and looked inside the room. A girl this time and not just any girl, one I recognized. I frowned as she looked up at me, a deep scowl on her face and chained like the rest of us, but, otherwise, seemingly unharmed.

"You're-"

"Helen," she quipped, "I demand to be released at once! Do you even realize what kind of trouble you'll be in once people realize I'm gone?"

My eyes widened in recognition at the name. The beautiful dark haired girl with a strong face and anger in her eyes was none other than, "Y-you mean you're THE Lady Helen? Like the singer?"

Percival let out a whistle by my side, "Sure looks like her."

"I love your songs!" Daegal almost squealed by my side, pushing past me, "It's an honor to meet you!"

"Yes it's an honor," she preened, "Now let me go, cretin!"

"We aren't the ones who caught you, princess," Percival rolled his eyes at her, "We were brought here like you. We're trying to escape."

She narrowed her eyes at him and huffed, "And why should I believe you?"

Percival pointed at his bruises and then mine, "Would we be in this kind of a shape if we were working with these arseholes?"

Helen contemplated him for a moment, before nodding in agreement, "How did you lot get out then, if you were chained up like me?"

"Merlin's a wizard," announced Daegal, "He got us out and, apparently, did a number on some guards in the hallway," he said grinning at me, "Didn't think we'd miss that, did you?"

I gave him a smile and shrugged, "All in a day's work, I guess."

I looked at Percival, and made a hand gesture towards Helen, "If you would, please."

Percival nodded and took a few minutes to check Helen, before nodding at me, "Let her loose."

I narrowed my eyes at the lock and said the spell under my breath, before grinning, "I'm really starting to get better at that."

Helen immediately took the chains off her wrists and stood, "So you're planning to escape? What's the plan?"

I shifted in my feet and shrugged, "Don't know, yet. Letting all of you free is my first step and, since none of us even know where we are," I shrugged again, "We'll just have to improvise after I let the last guide out."

Helen growled, "Excellent. I'm stuck trying to escape the clutches of a madman with complete fools."

"Madman?" I asked.

She looked at me pointedly, "He was in my room when I awoke," then looked away, "He was a very strong and gallant man. A sentinel."

"Yes," agreed Percival mockingly, "All gallant men are kidnapping criminals," he looked at me and said, "There was no-one there when I woke up."

"Me neither," answered Daegal shrugging.

"There were plenty of guards when I was captured, but the only ones I saw when I got here where the ones in the hallway," I looked at Helen, "There was a woman involved, telling them what to do. Not a man. I guess we should go see what the last guide has to say. You're uninjured, then?"

"Yes."

"Good. Let's get moving," I answered, turning around and heading back towards the hallway to the door I sensed the last guide's presence. I glanced at Percival before opening the door and saying, "And behind door number four…" I looked at the girl sitting on the floor, confusion in her eyes. Her blond hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a t-shirt and dirty jeans, "And you are?" I asked.

She looked at me and frowned, "You're not one of them?"

I shook my head no, before she answered, "Elena. I'm the heiress of Godwin Enterprises," she furrowed her brow, "Do you know why they brought me here?"

"To be sold off to a sentinel from what I was told. I'm Merlin," I gestured towards Percival, "This is Percival and the two behind me is Helen and Daegal. We're going to try to get out."

"Hello," she waved at them, "Will you allow me to join you?"

"There are no guarantees, but, of course, that's what we came in here for," I responded.

"Then I want to come with you," she agreed readily, "Can you free me?"

I released the lock and she smiled, "Wonderful," she said standing up.

"Do you remember anything that happened to you so far?"

"Not really," she cringed, "I'd ran away from my body guards and then was attacked. When I woke up, I was here."

"Pretty much the same as the rest of us," I smiled, "It's alright, we'll figure this all out together. Let's get going, I don't know how long it'll be before they start sending people to check on us."

Elena quickly followed us out to the hallway and peered at Helen, "It's you."

Helen made a face at her, "Whatever."

I arched my brow as I looked at them both and Elena shook her head at me, "We've met."

"Alright, where to now, Merlin?" Percival asked.

"Uh," I answered looking down the end of the hallway, "Looks like there might be a window that way. Good a start as any." I made my way to it and found it had been barred up, not exactly reassuring. I took a moment to view as much as I should from the outside and whispered, "Maybe there's a tunnel somewhere… Not exactly sure how we can get through all those guards. Most of them are sentinels and guides after all."

"We could just use are empathy on them," Helen suggested.

"And what about the others? The mutes and the several wizards around? We might be taken down before we even get a chance. There's too many," I answered, "We have to try and find another way, a full frontal bare down isn't going to get us very far even if we do manage to get past those fences."

Percival took several minutes before agreeing, "Merlin's right. There's too few of us, too many of them and they have weapons. The one's that I can see have definitely had some training or experience. They aren't just regular people and we have no idea how strong any of them really are or how strong the guides' shields are."

"Don't exactly know what kind of tunnels this place has, if any, it's probably some type of sewer system and there'd definitely be no surprise if it was guarded," I answered resolutely, "Should be way less guarded, until they catch up to us, of course."

"We could try to create a distraction. Once we figure out our best escape plan."

"I'm not to that great at using my magic, but I'm ok with fire and explosions, unless anyone else has other suggestions?" I asked.

"Alright, let's start looking around then. Maybe we'll get lucky and find a map," Daegal said.

"Fine, but let's stay close together. It'll be our best chance," Percival accepted.

"Merlin," Elena said quietly when we began to walk away from the window and to the right. I stopped turning to look at her, arching my brow, "I don't know much about using magic," she began, "But I did have a good friend who was sorceress. She told me once that magic is all about your emotions. You have to really want something to make it work right."

I smiled at her, "Thank you, Elena. I'll keep that in mind, any suggestions on using my empathy? I have no training on either thing other than the few times I've used it."

She grinned, "Well, empathy is much the same. I've never attacked anyone with it, but basically it's controlling the emotions you intake and expel. To attack someone with empathy, you're basically expelling strong negative emotions towards them, it's how you break down their shields. You do it hard enough and you can knock someone out, send a sentinel into a zone or a guide into a swoon, but doing it too hard and it can lead to mental harm or even death, but then there's the "spirit world" or entering a sentinel or guide's "mind space." You can attack them that way too, but it's more complex."

"How so?" I nodded as I watched Percival open the door to a stairwell.

"Can you speak up? I'm a latent," he said, "I want to hear this, too."

"Sure!"

Percival started to go down, "Oh and keep alert everyone."

I nodded, "I think I've done the mind thing. Guiding sentinels and I've definitely broken a shield or two, but I hardly know a thing about spirit animals or the spirit world."

"Well the first thing you need to know about the spirit world is your spirit animal," Daegal added, "Can't even enter it without 'em and, secondly, you should not go there alone your first several times. It's hard to traverse, you can get lost in there forever and never come back, although, admittedly, if you're bonded your sentinel might be able to find you in there and save you, but sentinels don't generally travel the spirit world alone either. Still there are a lot of benefits on learning how to use the spirit world, like in this situation, if any of us were bonded, we could use the spirit world to reach are sentinels and talk to them, maybe even give them a sense of direction to find us."

"Why do you need to be bonded if you already know your sentinel?" Percival asked.

"Because it's the bonding link that will allow you to find them in the spirit world, otherwise, you'll just be running around aimlessly," Helen huffed, shaking her head, "You two don't know anything, do you?"

"How can you tell when you found your sentinel?" Percival asked, "You just know? I know there are matchmakers out there, do they just match you up somehow?"

"You feel it," I answered breathlessly at the thought of Arthur, "I knew it the second I saw him. I don't even know how I know, but soon as I saw him I knew. Felt it everywhere. Scared the living crap out of me."

Percival chuckled, "Good to know. At least, I know what to watch out for on that line."

"After you bond, it's supposed to be even better. That feeling, I mean, and being able to read their emotions on automatic, being connected to them all the time."

"I wonder how that would feel," I said musingly.

"It depends on the strength on the bond or something," Helen answered, "I've heard those who initiate a platonic bond feel it only very slightly at first."

"Slightly?" I thought for a second, "It wouldn't be anything like random bursts of energy or some type of feeling, would it?"

Helen paused and turned fully around towards me, "I have heard it describe similarly, you've initiated a bond?"

"I don't know how to initiate a bond, Helen," I said rolling my eyes.

"It's not like it's supposed to be hard," Daegal looked at me, "I mean I've never done it, but it's something along the lines of lowering your shields and accepting him as your sentinel."

I thought back to when I let my shields down for Arthur, the feeling, had I accepted him as my sentinel? Did I accidentally start a platonic bond with him? Without even knowing it? Is that why I was feeling stronger? Feeling strange surges of hope and resilience? Determination? I wasn't even as scared as I should be, so certain that, somehow, I will find him again. Then I felt it again, the odd sensation, a positive push of emotions at me. I'd been just taking it in, figuring it was something like adrenaline or my mind trying to keep me from completely breaking down, "I'm not old enough to bond," I whispered, "I'm only 16 and I just met him."

"Maybe it was done in duress? Spontaneous bondings have been known to occur, especially during battle," Percival answered, "I've seen it."

"It's possible, but they were probably over the bonding age. Can't imagine anyone under 18 being allowed in the military," Elena nodded.

"If they're a perfect match, maybe," Deagle added, "I've read about it."

"Are you talking about the 'Windsor guide chronicles'? You realize those books are fiction, don't you?" Helen countered skeptically.

"You don't know that for sure, no-one's ever met the author, he writes under a penname, it could be just as real as anything else," Daegla shot back, "No-one ever said that, besides they didn't technically fully bond, they just initiated it, it's possible."

"How can I know for sure?" I asked, "Is there something I could do?"

"Yes! Of course! You can feel his emotions, right? Why don't you focus on that link and try to send some emotions through to him too?" Elena clapped excitedly.

"Right," I nodded sarcastically, "So simple." I closed my eyes and tried to focus on that feeling. Sighing, I had no idea what I was doing. Find a 'link' she says, what the hell did that even mean? I scratched the thought and just cleared my head, focusing on thoughts of Arthur and frowned, that wasn't getting me anywhere.

"Enter your 'mind scape' first," Helen scoffed.

"Right," I sighed, "I know how to do that." Which I thought I did, but never quite knew if I was doing it right. I focused on my empathy this time and drew myself into my mind, ignoring everything else. My mind was probably different than most people's, I imagined, It was kind of big and electrically charged, everywhere you moved was a static shock, and it was all passage ways and tunnels that never lead anywhere and made absolutely zero sense to me. Gwen had told me that guide's minds were different than sentinels, more emotionally based than rational, my but mind was like a maze that had no end, the only thing to break the tunnels was the one escalator. I didn't know where it went off to, but I was afraid of it. I imagine it lead to worst parts of my mind, somewhere I could lose myself in. I avoided it all costs. I looked around and sighed, where exactly was I supposed to even start? Except I already knew where to go. A simple thought of Arthur and I was already zooming through the tunnels without stopping, I knew precisely where to go. Right to the middle of the maze and I saw it. The connection. It was beautiful and bright and shining, but thin. Fragile, I placed my hand on it and felt it vibrating with energy and nearly cried at the burst of happiness at the feeling of it. I haven't lost him, I had him right here with me this entire time. I didn't know how to send anything through it, so I just placed both my hands on it and imagined sending a charge of electricity through it and I wasn't sure if it worked, but to my surprise I felt a charge come back. It had worked, it was him, I knew it automatically. No words, just emotions, just him and me and our connection. I was so distracted by the connection that I almost missed the flash of grey out of the corner in my eye. I turned to it and saw it whisking into a tunnel. I looked back at the link, not wanting to leave it unguarded. I created a shield around it and strengthened it as best as I could before, taking off after the grey.

I dashed after it as it swirled in and out of tunnels, turning every which way, until finally it stopped in front of a door and disappeared. I studied the door, it was a swirl of colors with an intricate design of a dragon embedded into it. I'd never seen it before, either it was new or maybe I'd never found it in here before. I hesitated before pushing it open and what I saw…. Was nothing. There was nothing behind the door, I could see through it. Was my mind playing weird tricks on me? I furrowed my brows and stepped through the door.

It was a weird sensation, when I made it through the other side, my body wasn't really substantial anymore, or as substantial as it seemed in my mind scape. My body felt like it was buzzing and as I took noticed of my surroundings, I knew I wasn't anywhere near my mind scape anymore, I was in the middle of what looked like a forest. Deep woods in all directions. I looked back at the door and it remained open.

"Merlin," a voice surprised me, I turned back around to and saw him. The majestic dragon I had seen earlier. My breath caught in my throat, "You," I choked out.

"Yes, I've been waiting for you, young warlock," the dragon answered back.

"But you're a dragon," I gaped, "And you're talking."

The beast rolled its eyes at me, "I'm your spirit animal, Merlin."

"My s-spirit animal is a dragon?" I spluttered.

"I have a name," he growled out.

"And that would be?" I asked still baffled.

"You know my name, Merlin."

And I did. It was on the tip of my tongue.

"Kilgharrah," I whispered.

The dragon smiled at me and nodded. "Where am I?"

"You know that, too."

"I've never been here before."

"We don't have time for this, you know where you are."

"The spirit world," I answered, "But how? I've never seen this door?"

Kilgharrah sighed, "You were so intent on keeping your empathy hidden, that you blocked several parts of your mind. This and I, being one of them. You do not know how powerful you truly are, young warlock, but we do not have time to further get into to this. I will say this only once, do not come back in here without me. Do not walk this world without me. I will take you to your sentinel, you must strengthen your bond. You must help him find you."

"You'll take me to Arthur?" I nodded, "Ok. But I have a lot of questions. Not today, but next time, you'll answer them?"

Kilgharrah gave me an annoyed look, "I will guide you as you need it," he answered vaguely, "Now focus. Think of your sentinel and look."

I nodded and did what I was told and saw it. The link, small and all sparks, my Arthur. I looked back up to Kilgharrah to see a look of approval in his face, "Follow it. Focus on nothing else or you may lose your way. I will come with you, but you must hurry, we do not have much time."

I focused on the link and began following it, picking up speed as I gained confidence in my stride, running as I followed the link, ignoring all the odd creatures and shapes I saw as I ran through. It felt like a long run, until I made it to the place I knew I had to be. Which was apparently a lake and sitting on the edge of a lake was red and white Bengal tiger. Looking tediously into the distance. It was one of the most beautiful creatures I'd ever seen.

"Espen," Kilgharrah called out and the tiger turned to face us yawning. He stood up and moved to reveal Arthur behind him. "Merlin?"

"Arthur!" I called out and ran the rest of the way to him, "Arthur! Fuck, Arthur, I'm your guide! I'm sorry! I was scared. I'm a wizard! Fuck, Arthur!" Arthur ran towards me, saying, "It's ok. I'm not mad, I just want you home. Where are you?" When we met, we tried to hug, but, of course, being practically translucent, we just went right through each other and stopped, "Wow," I whispered and Arthur looking at his hands through my arms answered at the same time, "That feels…"

"Yeah," I said blushing and stepping away, "That was unexpected." The feeling I got from touching him was intense, the mixture of both of our energies was indescribable. Good. Amazing. I didn't know, but I wanted to do it again.

Arthur cleared his throat and nodded, "Right. Where are you?" he asked again.

I shook my head, "I don't know, they drugged me, but there was this girl, her name is Morgause. She's involved and we're at this abandoned warehouse, but we're still in the country. I caused a car accident, but I have no idea when that was."

"The one in London? We know about it, we tracked you as far as the tube, but, somehow, the video cut out after that. Morgause?"

"She's a guide, she said your dad took everything from her. That he said she couldn't bond," I added, "That's got to be a clue. She was in the van when they took me and in the tube when they found me again."

"I'll look into her," Arthur nodded, "Who's we?"

"Huh?"

"You said 'we are in an abandoned warehouse.' Who's we?"

"Oh," I nodded, "There's four other guides with me. They got taken away too. Um The one is called Percival, he said he's the oldest guide to come online and it just happened 3 months ago. The other is Daegal, he said he was the youngest guide to come online, then two girls, the famous singer Lady Helen and Elena, she said she's the heiress of Godwin Enterprises. See? There's a pattern, we're all "commodities," you know? Different in some way. Apparently, they've been doing this kinda thing for a while."

"That's good, Merlin," Arthur nodded, "We have something more solid to work with. Any other names of anyone involved?"

"No," I frowned, "I don't know any others. I do know we're in an abandoned building with over fifty sentinel, guides, wizards, and mutes guarding us. We're trying to find a way out."

Arthur shook his head, "No. You might get hurt, you're safe, just find a place to hide and we'll find you."

I rolled my eyes, "First of all, I already got hurt and healed myself. Secondly, I'm not going to sit around here and make it easy for them to move us. Thirdly, we're trying to find a safe way to get out, we're not being stupid about it and Percival was in the army, I'm sure that'll help somehow. We'll find a way and you can't do anything to stop me anyway."

Arthur frowned at me, "Merlin, please, I already lost you once."

I frowned right back and said, "I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I'm not going to do anything because I am. Just try and find this place. I left a mark on the room they kept me in, so you know it's here, whether I'm here or not."

Arthur opened his mouth to speak again, but Kilgharra interrupted him, "That's enough. You have your information, now you must strengthen your bond and we must return."

I looked at Kilgharra and back at Arthur and grinned, "Ok, after this is all over, I do want to go over the fact that my spirit animal is a dragon and yours is a cat, just sayin'."

Arthur grinned back at me, "Shut up, you dolt, mine's a tiger."

"Which is essentially a big cat," I smirked.

Kilgharra growled at me and I shrugged, "Ok, ok, what do we do?"

"You must accept each other as a bonded pair. You must share your energies," the tiger spoke up, in a female voice and walked over to sit by Arthur.

Arthur nodded and shrugged at me, "Uh I accept you, Merlin."

Kilgharra huffed in annoyance and I shook my head at Arthur. Thought for a second and stepped over to him until I was standing, literally, inside his body, "Like this, I think."

"Oh," Arthur sighed. I relaxed into Arthur and closed my eyes, smiling in delight, allowing myself to just defuse and let everything I felt just flow from me to Arthur. Arthur must've done the same, because I felt it and it felt even better. I could feel our senses blending more and more, until I didn't know where I ended and he began. I'd never felt more complete.

"We must go now, young warlock," Kilgharra's voice pulled me from my trance, "Or you will be in danger."

Espen nodded, "Arthur."

Arthur and I stepped away from each other, "I will see you soon," I promised.

Arthur hesitated, before nodding resolutely, "Yes."

I tore my eyes away from Arthur and Kilgharra eyed the other half of the link. The one leading me back and I nodded and began walking the way we came, then I ran. I ran because I didn't want to wait a minute longer before I got back to Arthur and the only way I would manage that was outside of the spirit world. I needed to get back to Arthur. Everything inside me vibrated with that emotion and, before I knew it, I was stepping through the door and opening my eyes to see the four other guides, watching me with avid curiosity.

"Merlin? You alright?" Percival asked.

"I'm fine," I answered.

"You were glowing," Helen whispered, "What happened?"

"Glowing?"

"For a second, your body just lit up, but it stopped," Elena added.

I blushed, "I went to the spirit world. I found my sentinel, I told him everything we know, he's looking for us. He has lots of people looking for us."

"Just who is your sentinel exactly?" Percival asked cynically.

I blushed as I answered, "Arthur Pendragon."

"Wait," Helen's eyes bulged out, "Like the alpha prime?"

I nodded, "Yeah, that's him."

"What?" Percival looked at her, "What about him?"

"He's the leader of all the sentinels, his father has been moving heaven and earth to find him a guide," Daegal gasped, "Oh yeah, I'm sure every sentinel in the country under his lead is looking for you."

I nodded, "Let's keep going. Oh and we are platonically bonded. Purely by accident on my part," I shrugged.

We began making our way down the stairs, four flights down until we reached the end, all the while, Deagel mumbled on and on about perfect matches and the sentinel prime to Percival.

"Think this place has a basement?"

"Guess we'll find out," Percival answered, "Let me take a peek before we step out there."

I watched him slowly open the door and look out, before stepping out, "There's no one here."

I furrowed my brow, "At all?"

"No-one," he answered, "Come on."

We all went into what looked like a reception area, old, dusty couches and an empty reception desk. Helen and Elena wandered the space, while I watched the front doors warily. "Here!" Elena said enthusiastically, "More stairs! Going down!"

Everyone else walked towards her, while I continued to watch the door, until Percival announced, "It's clear, Merlin, come on."

I turned towards his voice and walked quickly towards the door. Watching Percival jam it behind us, "Should at least slow 'em."

"I'm starting to think they don't really care what we do in here," I answered.

"We'll see," Percival smirked.

One last flight of stairs and we were at what seemed to be the final door.

I straightened up and we all took a breath as Percival opened the door.

"Ready or not," I whispered.

Author's note:BAM! I'm on a roll! :D Please let me know what you guys think!