Rating K+

Word Count: 250

Challenge Given: Series 3: Beyond Words: Write 100-300 words as a response to this prompt, making sure you don't go above 400 at the absolute maximum. You may use whatever genre, characters, pairings, ratings you like, but you MUST include the word below in your drabble.

Word: Haunting
Definition: remaining in the consciousness; not quickly forgotten. You may also use: haunted

A/N: Had this prompt in my 'ideas' folder since April 2011 and it came instantly to mind when I saw the word.

Haunting

For two long days all the children of Camelot had remained in a deep trance.

For two long days King Arthur had pondered, discussed and worried about whether or not he should give into the sorcerer's blackmail demands.

For two long days, Merlin had been sitting up in his tiny room, whittling away at a long, thin piece of wood, refusing to attend to anything else.

"Your time is up, Arthur Pendragon," the dark haired man intoned. "As we have lost our children to Camelot, so Camelot will lose its children to us."

Then the sorcerer clicked his fingers and every child stood and left their homes, walking stiffly down the road out of the town, deaf and blind to the distraught cries of their families.

Suddenly, from the direction of the castle, came the most beautifully haunting music that any had ever heard. Turning, the adults saw the familiar, tall figure of the king's manservant, striding out from the castle gatehouse, playing a small, wooden pipe.

The children stopped their march, tipping their heads curiously; listening. They paused for a moment, apparently pulled in two different directions, before turning in unison and waiting for Merlin to catch up with them.

Only the children saw the young man's eyes glow briefly gold before he put the pipe back to his lips and resumed his haunting tune. Then, turning on his heels, Merlin marched back into Camelot, with every child following him. Skipping and dancing all the way home.

~o~0~o~

A/N: Most of the drabbles I've posted here are a response to the 'Series 1' challenge at The Heart of Camelot. However, I skipped the 'Series 2' set of twenty because (a) I'm not that inspired by song title challenges and (b) I wanted to catch up on Series 1 and concentrate on other stuff. (Especially 'Born of the Dragon'.)

However, this Series 3 word set seems fun and I'm already half way through writing the final chapter of BOTD so, I'll be continuing to add to this 'fic' now too. Probably once a week - maybe more frequently once BOTD is roughly written.

1/3/13