This has actually been ready to post since last week so I'm not sure why I haven't yet. I actually officially graduated last Thursday so I'm just relieved I don't have to worry about that anymore. Been dealing with my dad asking me when I was going to get a job.
Been working on some other fanfictions also. Wrote some one shots if you want to check out my Impulses stories. Been working on my Harry Potter story which is also almost done. I also sat down one day and wrote out the whole slave story I wanted to do. It's all point form but I have a beginning, middle, and an end. Which is more than I usually have when I begin them.
There should only be about two more chapters to this which makes me kind of sad. The conclusion and epilogue. Have most of it written out already just need to write the last scene.
Deviner Captive
"Good luck with that"
...
Uther was pacing when his son showed up. "What took you so long?" The king had already had Percival suite up to fight. His snappishness was to hide his disappointed to see his son since he was almost hoping that he wouldn't show up. He couldn't take losing his only son and heir.
"It took Merlin awhile to put my armor on." Arthur replied as he adjusted his gloves. Luckily he had enough control not to let the blush spread across his face when he thought about what they were really doing.
"That boy is useless. I don't know why I even assigned him as your manservant in the first place." Hearing his father complain about Merlin's incompetence made it feel like old times. Before it was discovered that his simple bumbling manservant was an all powerful sorcerer. Warlock he corrected himself, whatever, Merlin was the exact opposite of being simple.
"Showing up at the last second. I expected more from you Prince Arthur." Gwrthfyr walked up to them and spoke. Arthur glared at the Dyfred king. Merlin showed up beside him and put a hand on his arm for support. He didn't like the way that the other man looked at his manservant. "My champion is already waiting for you in the centre of the ring."
Arthur looked and saw that the behemoth of a man was waiting in full armor that had a large blue feather sticking out of the helmet. He couldn't put this off any long. Pulling his helmet on he felt Merlin give his arm one last squeeze before letting go. The prince marched to the middle of the ring to stand in front of the other champion.
"Remember the terms are no use of magic, no enchanted items included." Altoris announced reminding them of the rules.
Arthur was surprised when Merlin was suddenly beside him tugging at his sword. "I'll just take this then."
"What are you doing?" Arthur asked then he realized what the action meant. "You've had me walking around with an enchanted sword without my knowledge." Arthur sighed.
"I had you pull this sword from a stone in the middle of the woods. What did you think I meant when I said it would make all the difference. It has ruins carved into the blade. It's kind of obvious." Merlin replied back with a roll of his eyes. He was sure that if he could see the princes face he would be glaring at him right now.
"Really an enchanted sword, Merlin." Arthur shook his head.
"Uther has also used it at one point." Merlin revealed while pointing to Camelot's king who was standing with his arms crossed nearby.
"I did not." Uther snapped at the accusation. He wasn't happy to hear that his son had been walking around with a magical item for months. He'd never even suspected the weapon was more than just a normal sword.
"Yes you did. I had this sword made when the Black Knight challenged Arthur to a duel to the death. Tristan was a wreath and not alive at all so there was no way for him to win without some help. I managed to do some research and came across a passage about a blade blessed by dragon fire. So Kilgharrah breathed fire on it and told me, not to let it fall into anyone's hands but Arthur's, in the end though Uther took his place in the fight. So I ended up throwing it into a lake but then..."
"We don't have time for the life of a sword right now." Uther growled cutting the boy off in his ramble. He remembered that occurrence now. When he'd shown up to the armory and found the boy preparing the sword for his sons use. He'd said the sword was a fine one and he'd use it for the fight.
"The point is this sword was made to kill the undead. I used it to defeat Morgana's Immortal army, was what I was going to say before I was rudely interrupted." Merlin had the audacity to shoot a glare at the king. "I'm not sure if it would do anything to a normal person. " Merlin revealed. Then turned to the Dyfred champion." You aren't immortal are you?"
"No." The confused man answered with a raised eyebrow.
"It might be fine to use it then." Merlin shrugged and held the sword out for the prince to take back.
"I don't think so." Altoris stepped between them to stop the transaction. "It goes against the terms of the duel. Nothing that's been enchanted."
Merlin pulled the sword back towards himself. "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have said anything." He scratched his head.
"No you should've." Arthur crossed his arms in frustration. "What am I going to use then." He knew for a fact that none of his other swords had been brought from the army. He hated using unfamiliar weapons.
"Here. You can use mine." Percival held out his sword for the prince to take. "It's all sharpened anyway just in case I needed to step in." Arthur took the sword and tested the weight. It was then he remembered that when Percival's sword had broken that he'd given him one of his old ones. So at least that problem was solved.
"Clear the field." Altoris announced. Everyone moved to their sides leaving just the two champions . they shook a hands and then each took ten paces away from each other. "Ready, begin."
They circled each other waiting for the other to make the first move. The Dyfred champion took the first wing and Arthur blocked the attack. He could feel his feet slide back under the force of the swing. He knew he wasn't going to be able to fight the way he usually would. It wasn't his strength that would win this fight but his ingenuity.
Merlin was ringing his hands from the side lines. When it looked like the prince was going to be hit he tried to run forward but Gwaine stopped him. "He's doing fine. Don't worry." Gwaine said as he pinned him to his chest.
When the man next attacked Arthur dodged instead of blocked. Swing after swing he just moved out of the way instead of trying to attack himself. Leaving the behemoth a panting mess. Arthur was still in pretty good shape and he decided to make his move then.
The behemoth threw off his helmet in frustration because he found it hard to breath. His wings became more messy. The prince easily side stepped the attacks.
With one powerful swing Arthur knocked the sword out of the large man's hands and swung at his feet making him lose his balance and fall to the ground. Placing his sword at his throat. "Do you yield?" Arthur asked. He didn't want to kill the man who was just doing his duty.
"He does not!" Yelled Gwrthfyr from the side lines. How could they have lost? His champion was more than twice as big as the prince.
Arthur ignored the Dyfred king and looked at the man on the ground for his answer. The man nodded and he removed his sword from his throat. Offering a hand Arthur helped the large man off the ground. They shook with respect for each other.
Camelot cheered loudly for their prince's victory. Arthur turned to his people and waved like he had just won a tournament. Turning his attention back to the true loser of the fight. "Pack your camp up and head back to your kingdom." Arthur commanded the king of Dyfred. "Your champion has lost."
Gwrthfyr growled in the back of his throat.
When Gwaine was sure the fight was over and Merlin wouldn't get in the way he let the boy go.
Merlin immediately pushed his way through the crowd and made his way towards Arthur. He threw his arms around his neck. " You prat. Don't ever do anything like that again. " He said with affection and relief.
"I'll try not to." Arthur replied as he returned the hug. He froze when he heard a voice behind him say his name. Letting go of Merlin he turned and met his father's narrowed eyed look.
"We need to talk." Uther commanded before turning on his heel. Arthur winced knowing this wasn't going to be an easy conversation. He squeezed Merlin's hands. "Now!" His father snapped when he realized that his son didn't immediately follow.
"Good luck with that." Merlin said with a sarcastic tone. Knowing that it wasn't going to be an easy conversation.
.
They entered the kings tent.
Uther poured himself some whine and took a swig. "I'm proud of you for winning the fight, you did well." He took a seat in an ornate chair and wooden desk he'd had the servants bring.
"But..?" Arthur asked, knowing his father was getting somewhere.
"The boy will not be coming back with us." Uther said adamantly. He could see his sons face cloud over at the news. " Magic is still illegal and I won't except him under my roof. If he steps foot back in the kingdom, I will have no choice but to execute him."
"I'm not asking for the magical community or even a druid camp. I'm just asking you to make an exception for one man." Arthur argued back. He couldn't imagine Camelot without Merlin in it. Just the past couple weeks had shown him how drab a future that would be. "Merlin's been living under your roof for years and all he ever did was protect us. I can vouch for him that he would never do anything to harm Camelot."
"No. That's how it would start. You let one go and that leads to thousands more." Uther snapped back. He felt like he was losing control of his only heir and he'd been corrupted by the boy.
Slamming his hands down on the desk, Arthur snapped. " I can't except that."
"Too bad." Uther replied coolly. "I'm not changing my mind.
Arthur stormed out of the tent growling under his breath at his father's stubbornness.
.
All Merlin had done since Arthur had left with his father was think. Even though they'd won and everything should be good now, something didn't feel right. There was something he was missing. He always got this feeling when Camelot was going to be attacked by a sorcerer and he was getting it now. But why?
The prince came stomping over to his position by one of the fire pits. "How did it go?" Merlin asked. When Arthur hunched his shoulders in defeat Merlin knew it couldn't be good. Discretely he took the prince's hand in his. "What's wrong?"
Arthur didn't know what to tell Merlin. His father was so stubborn in his ways he thought it would be impossible to get him to change his mind unless something big happened. How was he supposed to tell Merlin he couldn't return to Camelot? He couldn't, not after all he went through to get Merlin back. He would find a way to change his father's mind or he wouldn't be going back either. That would change his father's mind fast.
"Arthur..." Uther clamped up when he saw who his son was with. He'd followed Arthur's retreating figure hoping to sort this whole matter out. Judging by the boys open face he had not been informed yet of what their conversation had consisted of. His son's expression spoke of what he thought of him right now.
"I don't want to talk anymore." Arthur snapped at his father. Grabbing Merlin's hand he started to pull him behind as he stalked away. "You need to help me out of my armor."
"I'm not finished with you yet." Uther gave chase.
The knights and soldiers suddenly became quite which they all noticed. Looking around they saw why. The enemy king was walking towards their figures.
Arthur subconsciously placed Merlin's figure behind him protecting him from the other kings sight.
"I just came to tell you I'm leaving." Gwrthfyr had come to their side of camp to inform them of that fact before turning on his heel to leave. He really couldn't stand being around these people another second. All that work had resulted in nothing. How could his plan have failed?
"Wait!" Merlin yelled as he pushed past the two royals. "You contacted Morgana didn't you?" The Dyfred king nodded back. "What happened to her? I expected her to make an appearance but there has been no sight of her."
Uther froze when he heard his daughters name mentioned. He was hoping that she didn't have a hand in this for once. It appears he was asking too much.
"This was originally her idea to attack one of Camelot's allies to force Uther to break the treaty." Gwrthfyr revealed with a sigh. Some how he felt it was the witches fault his plan had failed. It was going so well until he followed her advice. This move was too ambitious too fast. It had caused him to lose control of his pawn, and with it the battle.
Merlin felt his heart sink. " Crap." He grabbed his hair in realization.
"What?" Arthur asked confused what was going on. This wasn't new information so what was he reacting that way for.
"I just realized something." Merlin said. " Morgana's attacking Camelot right at this second. This was a trap all along."
"How do you know this?" Uther asked with suspicion in his voice.
"Just deduction. Morgana suggests a plan that gets Uther and almost all the knights and soldiers out of the kingdom, leaving Camelot practically defenseless." Merlin explained why he suspected this.
A silence grew surrounding his announcement of what be happening back in Camelot.
"I have to go." Merlin suddenly exclaimed and ran out of the circle of people.
Arthur blinked in surprise. "Merlin." He called after his manservant. "Merlin!" He ran in the same direction his manservant had run off in. He found him climbing onto the dragon's back. "I'm coming with you." Arthur declared.
"No, you're just going to get in the way." Merlin exclaimed. Morgana would take his full attention to beat. She was the only magic user that he could name that even came close to his powers. Having Arthur there would just be a distraction.
"I'm coming with you." Arthur said with no argument as he climbed up behind Merlin on the dragon and slid his hands around his slim waist. "She has soldiers too. We'll take care of them and leave Morgana and Morgause to you, ok."
"Stubborn prat." Merlin turned his head to look at his prince. Their cheeks brushed they were so close.
"We're coming too!" Gwaine yelled as he ran to catch up. Followed by Elyan and Percival. They clambered up onto the dragon.
"Let's go." Kilgharrah took off in the direction of Camelot. The knights who hadn't ridden the dragon before held on for dear life.
...TBC
