"Try getting out of that one."
Merlin could hear Claton's voice echoing through his head as he struggled to control himself. His chest was on fire and after figuring out the shape of the letter, Merlin knew that Claton was with Arthur, that the prince had somehow seen the whole thing.
Whilst the visible burn hurt enough, that was only half of it. Arthur had been right in thinking that the burn looked magical. Merlin could feel the magic within it, penetrating his skin painfully. It seemed to be suffocating him, cutting him off from himself. It was only as he closed his eyes in a vain attempt to stop it hurting that Merlin really knew what was wrong. He couldn't feel his magic…
Normally, even when not using it, Merlin was conscious that it was there. It always had been – it was part of who he was. But not now. Now there was only emptiness, a hollowness that scared the warlock more than anything. He felt as if part of him had been torn away, leaving only emptiness and pain in its wake.
Much to his shame, Merlin felt hot tears seeping through the corners of his shut eyes. He truly felt helpless and knew that Arthur was in danger yet there was nothing he could do to help. With his hands tied above him, Merlin couldn't even move to wipe the tears away, instead having to allow them to course down his cheeks silently. Leaning his head back against the wall, Merlin sighed, defeat simply screaming at him.
"Let GO of me!" An all too familiar voice sounded from the passageway near to where Merlin was. Craning his head around, Merlin could just about see the opening where the sounds were coming from.
"Why?" Another horribly familiar voice responded, "If I remember correctly, you were volunteering to come a while ago."
"If you were to remember correctly, you would also remember the condition that went with that. As that didn't happen, I don't see why I should uphold my end of the deal!" Came the indignant reply.
Merlin could hear Claton's laugh echoing through the stone, similar to the way that it echoed through his head. Anxious to see the opening, Merlin twisted even further, before his chest refused to allow him to move any more, the damaged skin almost yelling at him.
But it was far enough. Just as he turned, Arthur came flying out of the entrance, only to land with a loud thud not ten feet from his servant. With his hands tied behind his back, he was unable to break his fall and landed heavily on his jaw. Rolling over, Arthur used his legs to kick himself back upright while eyeing the opening with wariness, watching Claton carefully as the sorcerer emerged. However, Claton completely ignored the prince and strode down to the other end, only pausing to eye Merlin with satisfaction.
"Told you we couldn't have a prince missing out on our party. I should thank you really; you've already provided us with so much entertainment."
Laughing at the look of fury on both Arthur's and Merlin's faces, Claton continued down to the other end and once again began staring into his mystical basin.
After gathering his bearings, Arthur caught a glimpse of Merlin. When he had seen the cave in the goblet, he was seeing things from an advantage point somewhere near the ceiling and it took him a few moments to locate where the boy would be.
Arthur scrambled over to him, horrified by the state that he was in. He almost slipped several times, not being able to balance himself properly on the uneven floor. Awkwardly dropping to his knees, not an easy feat when there is no use of hands, Arthur crawled the last few metres, until he was at eye level with Merlin.
"Are you alright?" He asked, the concern obvious in his voice.
Merlin nodded, not quite trusting his voice to say the same thing without cracking. He couldn't exactly tell Arthur that he couldn't access his magic and how it made him feel like he was being ripped in half.
"What does he want?" Arthur said, struggling furiously with the ropes around his wrists, determined to break free, "He has us both now, why not just kill us?"
"I think he wants to play." Merlin responded, his lips tight. Both boys looked over to where the sorcerer was staring into the basin. Merlin also couldn't understand what he was waiting for. What could possibly be so interesting in a bowl of water?
"Merlin," Arthur began hesitantly, not quite sure how to say what was on his mind, "If we don't get out of this, I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry – for everything. And you're not really a bad servant. In fact, I think you're the best I've ever had, despite forgetting everything and being hopeless with a sword."
Merlin was stunned at the very least. This was the last thing that he had expected to come from the Prince at this moment in time. The tone Arthur was using reminded him of the conversation they'd had when he'd been in the stocks. Raising this point, Merlin asked whether it had been Claton that Arthur had been talking about.
Arthur nodded, "I guess you can tell whose life was on the line then?"
The other boy stared at him in confusion, not being able to figure it out.
"C'mon, Merlin. How slow can you get?" Arthur couldn't stop the smile, despite the situation they were in. It appeared that Merlin never changed, no matter what….
"I've got an idea," Arthur said suddenly, after a few moments of sitting in silence, "If I was to crawl next to you, do you reckon that you would be able to reach my hands?"
Merlin looked up to where his own hands were suspended and then back at Arthur, clearly calculating whether or not he could reach. Trying to pull himself further up the wall, Arthur could see that every movement was sending pain rippling through the 'A' on his chest, yet Merlin seemed determined not to show it, let alone cry out.
"Go for it." Merlin gritted his teeth and pulled against the chains holding his wrists so that he was sitting up straight. Arthur was awkwardly shuffling around to the wall. If it had been any other situation, Merlin would have laughed, he had never seen Arthur looks so clumsy.
"How about here?" Arthur stopped and tried to raise his bound hands as high as he could. The positioning quickly began to strain his shoulders but if Merlin could suffer being burnt, he could suffer a few sore muscles.
Merlin stretched his own hands out, just able to touch the edge of the rope. Pulling his legs into him to give him more leverage, Merlin rose himself to a crouch and found that he was able to get a good grip on the rope. Luckily, although it was tight, the knot was not complicated and Merlin was quickly able to loosen it.
As soon as he felt it loosen, Arthur pulled and was relieved when he felt the accursed rope slide off. Flexing his hands, Arthur tried rubbing his wrists to get some feeling back into them. He heard Merlin gasp behind him and quickly swivelled on the spot, just in time to see his servant slid back down the wall, his eyes tightly shut. Arthur could tell just by looking at his expression that he was in a lot of pain.
"Come on," The prince said quietly, rising to his feet, "We've got to get you out of here."
Arthur studied the manacles binding Merlin long and hard before he attempted to touch them. He could see the cuts on Merlin's wrists where he had obviously tried to pull himself free and was hesitant to do anything that would hurt the boy further.
Finally though, he knew he had to do something. Taking a breath, Arthur immediately sought out the clasp in the metal, determined to pry it open. As soon as he touched it, Arthur felt shocks radiating out and dropped his hands in a mixture of surprise, pain and anger. Looking at the pale servant slumped below him; Arthur's voice came out at barely more than a whisper.
"What the hell has he done to you?"
"The same thing that he is about to do to you."
The mocking voice sounded directly behind Arthur and the prince spun, tensing automatically into a defensive position. Whilst the two had been busy trying to free themselves, they hadn't noticed the sorcerer watching them from the other side of the cave. They hadn't noticed as he slowly approached, a sadistic smile stretched across his face as he saw how hard it was for Merlin to stay conscious and how concerned Arthur was.
"I've told you before, let him go. He has done nothing to you."
"Nothing?!" Claton's voice rose in pitch and he sounded as if he was trying not to laugh. Merlin's eyes were open again now and Claton saw a new type of fear in them – the fear of being exposed. Deciding to drag it out as long as possible, Claton continued, "I suppose 'nothing' could be a good word. Your attempt at fighting back earlier was rather pathetic. Although I was surprised that you even attempted it, I thought you just relied on your friends to protect you."
"At least I have friends to protect me." Merlin quickly responded waspishly, almost making Arthur jump in the process, who really hadn't expected Merlin to say anything, "But what about you Claton? You have no one, not a single person is going to miss you when you're dead."
"Why, Merlin!" Claton replied, this time not attempting to hide his laughter. "You almost sounded threatening then. Have you been around a certain prince for too long?"
Merlin didn't respond and Arthur took the break in the conversation to leap into action. He hadn't been trained to kill since birth for no reason and as soon as Claton's attention was on Merlin, had stiffened in his defensive stance. Now the moment was right and he lashed out, throwing himself headlong at the sorcerer's midriff.
Taken by surprise, Claton was thrown backwards off balance but Arthur had timed everything to perfection, as usual. As soon as he felt Claton's balance slipping, he righted his own position and kicked. The foot connected with stomach and it was enough to send the sorcerer clattering backwards, landing with a crash on the boulders behind him.
Not waiting to see the situation, Arthur rushed back to the stunned Merlin and tore at the metal. Although he could feel the shocks radiating through them both, Arthur didn't stop and Merlin didn't complain, even if his teeth were gritted together with pain.
His fingers almost going numb, Arthur finally felt the weakening of the joint and pulled as hard as he could, causing the manacle to open and Merlin's wrist to fall out into his lap.
Before he had time to start on the second, Arthur felt himself being pulled away, strong arms encircling him, stopping his attempt at lashing out. The prince could feel that his feet were barely touching the floor and as hard as he struggled, couldn't seem to break the iron grip.
Before he had time to properly think of a way to free himself, Arthur felt himself being launched into the air again. Luckily, with the use of his hands, Arthur was able to break his fall this time and apart from a few grazes, was unharmed. He rolled onto his back, determined to get back to his feet but before he could do so, the prince felt the cold tip of a sword being placed on his neck. He froze and glared at the sorcerer standing over him, cursing himself for not having noticed that Claton was armed.
"Well, now. You are in trouble." Claton said, his tone dangerously soft. He lightly drew the sword across the exposed skin, causing a trickle of blood to appear. Arthur refused to let himself flinch and didn't look away from Claton's eyes, defiance pouring out of them. He wasn't going to give his enemy the satisfaction of knowing how scared he really was.
Growing angry at the lack of fear the prince seemed to have, Claton pressed the point of the sword deeper into his neck, before raising it high.
"Shame your father couldn't see this." He told the boy before him, "But then again, maybe you are too much of a prat for him to really care."
Raising the sword above his head, Claton paused, reading himself to bring it down on the prince. Before he could do so, he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder and instinctively turned.
"What?"
There came no verbal answer to the sorcerer's question. Instead he was met by a fist that came swinging out of nowhere, the force surprising both Arthur and Claton, not to mention the person to whom it belonged. Claton was thrown backwards and fell with a crash, dazed.
"Only I get to call him that." Merlin told him, his fist still drawn back, although it stung slightly from the impact.
Arthur looked at him in amazement. Since when had Merlin been able to punch like that? By the look of shock on his own face, it appeared that Merlin himself had no idea where that came from. Offering his other hand, Merlin pulled the prince to his feet and both boys stared at the semi-conscious sorcerer at their feet.
"How did you free yourself?" Arthur asked, certain he had been stopped before he had completed undoing the manacles.
"I pulled." Merlin said shortly. He didn't want to tell Arthur that by releasing one of the manacles, it had been enough to reconnect warlock with magic and although it had stung like crazy, the impact of the shocks had been bearable enough to use magic to free himself, "Are you alright?" He continued, gesturing to the cut across Arthur's neck. Arthur subconsciously rubbed his hand over the gash but nodded at the same time, ignoring the smears of crimson that covered his palm.
He bent down and picked up the sword from where Claton had dropped it. He noticed Merlin watching him carefully, as if unsure of what the prince's next actions would be. As much as Arthur wanted to kill the man at his feet, he first wanted to make sure that Merlin was safe. Bemused, he shook his head slightly. Since when had he cared more about a servant than killing an evil sorcerer?
"Come on." He said, "Let's go home."
Supporting Merlin with one arm whilst ignoring his protests that he could walk by himself, Arthur led the way back through the opening. Merlin was happy to let him lead, after all, he had no idea where they actually were, having been unconscious on arrival.