Nightmares

Part One

I woke up in a field. I sat up and looked around. Merlin was standing across from me. I tried to speak, but nothing came out. I saw that Merlin was holding his side. I stood up and tried to take in my surroundings.

"Merlin?" I finally managed to choke out. He did not look at me. I noticed that his eyes were unfocused. "Are you alright?" I asked as concern began to well within me. I took a step closer to him and his hand fell off of his side to reveal a blood stain.

"Merlin!" I yelled as he fell to the ground. I ran over to him and knelt down beside of him. I placed my hands over his wound to try to stop the bleeding. He was not breathing.

I looked around the field with tears running down my face when I saw someone. It was a man, he was standing in front of me with a bloody knife in his hand. I stood up, my own hands covered in blood now as well.

"You did this?" I asked.

"Of course I did." He said.

"Who are you?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Why?"

"Why not?" He said with an evil smile. I could not speak. I was overcome by pure anger. I ran towards him, knowing that it was a stupid move as I made it. I was met by a blade to the stomach.

I was awoken by screams echoing from down the hall. I knew exactly what was happening. I quickly ran towards Aleya's chambers. I opened the door and saw Aleya thrashing back and forth in the bed. I ran over to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"Ally...wake up." I said. Her eyes flew open and for a moment I thought that they were glowing gold. "It's alright, you're safe." I mumbled as I hugged her.

When we were younger, before we had come to Camelot, she used to be plagued by nightmares. We had shared a room and it was up to me to comfort her in the middle of the night after her dreams.

I stayed there with her for a long while until she finally calmed down enough for me to leave. I waited until she had fallen back asleep before I left to attempt to salvage my night's rest.

Two days had passed since I had the nightmare. I could not sleep no matter how much I tried. I desperately needed sleep, however. I sat in my chambers thinking on what I had seen. I was afraid. I knew that it was impossible for that to come true, but I still was shaken. I had seen Merlin die and I was defenseless to stop it. I hated feeling helpless.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard a knock on the door. I stood and walked over and opened the door to see that Arthur was standing there.

"May I help you?" I asked, not really in the mood to speak with anyone.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he stared at me. Apparently I was not doing a good job of concealing the fact that I had not slept in two nights.

"I'm fine." I said. I threw in a smile in an attempt to reassure him.

"I was wondering if you had seen Samantha." He said.

"Not this morning." I said.

"Are you sure that you're alright?" He asked.

"I'm fine." I lied. I was lying through my teeth, but Arthur did not need to know that.

"You see, my suspicions originate from the fact that normally you would have had some sort of response to my inquiry that made me question as to whether or not you know who I was." He said.

"You see, I understand exactly who you are, I just don't understand why that makes you think that your title makes you better than anyone else." I said in an attempt to act normal.

"Well, if you see her let me know." He said suspisciously.

I shut the door and walked over to the window. I saw Merlin walking through the courtyard. I was relieved to see that he was alright, but I still had a feeling that something was wrong.

"Have you seen Aleya?" Merlin asked as he ran up behind me.

"Not today." I said as I walked. "Why?"

"I haven't seen her in a couple of days." Merlin said sounding a bit concerned.

"I'll try to find her." I said as I walked off.

She had been phased by the nightmare and she did not like to show off her suffering. I pushed open the door to her chambers and saw that she was not there. This worried me tremendously. I stepped out fo the room and walked into the hallway.

I walked down the steps and saw the dragon sitting on the huge rock in the center of the cavern. I held the torch firmly in my hand.

"Hello." I muttered as he looked at me.

"What can I do for you, Aleya?" He asked.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"What is it?"

"I had a dream, a nightmare really. I saw Merlin dying." I said, "I was wondering if that meant anything to you?"

"The young warlock faces many threats. Many of them are yet to be found. In time he will face death at the blade of an enemy." The dragon said. My stomach dropped.

"When?"

"Do not fear, Merlin still has many years to complete his destiny."

"Thanks, I think." I said as I walked out of the cavern.

As I walked into the hallway I saw Merlin. I continued walking and kept my head down. He stepped in front of me, a smile on his face.

"Want to go for a walk?" He asked. I was not sure whether or not he recalled the last two times that we had attempted to go for a walk.

"What about last time?" I asked, "Or the time before that?"

"Third time's the charm." He said confidently.

"Alright." I said with a laugh.

It had not taken us very long to get out of the city and into the forest. We followed the path. The trees were beginning to turn bright shades of orange and yellow due to the impending fall. Everything seemed peaceful as we walked in silence.

The first time we had gone for a walk we had met Lancelot and the griffin that had almost killed us. The second time we met Sophia who turned out to be a Sidhe who wanted to kill Arthur. Perhaps Merlin was right, the third time was the charm.

"Are you going to tell me what's been bothering you?" Merlin asked as we walked. The question had come out of the blue, but I should have known that he would have realized that something was wrong.

"It's nothing." I said, hoping that he would leave it at that.

"You know that you can tell me, right?" Merlin said. I nodded.

"It was just a nightmare, nothing to worry about." I said.

I could tell by the way he looked at me that he wanted to press the matter more, but our conversation was cut short by a bolt hitting a tree right in front of us. Merlin and I both dove into the bushes to avoid being hit by any of the projectiles.

I saw men running out of the bushes towards us. Merlin began to incant spells, but I could see that it was useless. There were too many of them to be stopped. Merlin grabbed my hand and we ran off through the forest.

As the forest opened into a large pasture I could see the castle sitting in the distance. I hoped we would make it, but negativity was rife within my mind. I heard something wizzing through the air and then a loud thump to accompany it.

I turned and saw that Merlin was lying on the ground a few feet behind me. There was a bolt sticking out of his back. I quickly ran back to him and carefully rolled him over, minding the bolt that was sticking from his back.

"You need to go." He said with pain in his voice.

"I'm not leaving you." I said as I tried to think of a solution to this problem. I knew that there was no way that I could carry him, but the bandits were getting closer. I realized that there was nothing that I could do to escape so I grabbed Merlin's hand and waited as our fates got closer.

Arthur had convinced me to go for a walk despite my complaints that I could not find Aleya. He assured me that he was fine when he had seen her earlier. I finally gave in to his nagging and we walked through the woods.

"I still don't get it." I said as we walked.

"It's a test of bravery." Arthur said in reference to the jousting tournament that was coming up.

"Is it dangerous?" I asked.

"Not really, our armour protects us from most of the impact." Arthur said. I opened my mouth to speak when I heard yells echoing through the forest.

"What's that?" I asked as I looked around, trying to find the source of the yelling. Arthur drew his sword.

"Wait here." He said. He ran stealthily through the woods before I could complain. I took a step forward only to feel a hand come over my mouth. I bit the hand and when it pulled away I ran for my life.

The bandits were almost close enough strike when I saw Arthur running up behind me. He motioned for the woods before grabbing Merlin and slinging him over his shoulder. We made it to the woodline when I felt something wrap around my legs. I fell to the ground and struck my head on a rock.

I stopped when I felt as though I was far enough away from my attackers. I cursed myself for not bringing a weapon with me. I was alone in the woods, hopelessly lost and defenseless. I blinked for a moment and when I opened my eyes there were men emerging from the trees. They surrounded me.

"What do you want from me?" I asked. One of them walked forward with a smile on his face.

"You'll be worth a lot on the market, dearie." He said. I glared him before I felt something hit me on the back of the head. I fell into the darkness knowing that I may never return from it.