Thirty Eight

By the time Merlin gathers his senses, he realises its pitch black and he's trapped in an enclosed space. And his head aches and pounds something terrible.

Like he's been run over by a carthorse.

Then he remembers what had happened. And fear douses his whole body like a bucket of ice cold water being thrown over him. His heart sticks in his throat. He winces at the pain in his head.

Right. He thinks, once thinking becomes less painful, and his eyes attempt to adjust to the dark. There's a crazy madman out to kill Arthur, and I'm stuck in a... cupboard? Probably the small storage room whose door he'd been leaning on previously. Merlin's about to use magic to blow open the door, the very words to do so on the tip of his tongue, when he feels something warm, and wriggling and breathing move against him.

Merlin freezes.

Perhaps Eldric had trapped him with some kind of magical beast. A venomous snake that might inject poison into his veins. Or a great beast with horrible, sharp teeth that would tear great gouges in his skin. Or a winged giant bird, with great talons that could rip him apart. Or...

Merlin readies his magic, defensive spells switched for those on the tip of his tongue in an instant.

He's about to curse the thing back to whatever god forsaken hell hole it crawled out of but...

Then the thing gives a very human, manly, groan.

"Why do I feel like someone's stabbed me in the gut?" Gwaine's voice rings out in the darkness, and Merlin breathes a sigh of relief.

"You alright?" He asks, trying to keep the worry from his voice. If Gwaine had been stabbed...

"Yeah, think so... blade didn't go too deep..." He groans again "just got a nice gash. He bashed me on the head and lobbed me in here. Doors locked by what looks like a deadbolt..." and looking up at the door, Merlin can just about make out exactly that in the gloom. No trouble for magic though.

"I can pick locks." Merlin tries to pull himself to his feet, attempting valiantly to ignore the way the world was lilting and spinning in the darkness. Predictably, he ends up on his rear again.

"You alright?" Gwaine repeats his question back at him.

"Mmm..." Merlin mumbles "give me a minute..."

"I'm not sure we have one... He's gone to kill Arthur... we could have been in here hours... I don't know... Long enough for me to have sobered up..." Gwaine groans again.

"He said he wanted to kill him in front of people... he'll wait 'till daylight. Until the meeting in the great hall! The knighting ceremony Uther's holding! That's when he'll strike!"

"He took my sword." Gwaine says lowly into the blackness. "How're we going to save Arthur? We'll probably get locked up for attacking a Squire... I..." he takes a deep heaving breath, and Merlin wonders how bad his injury is. "We have no proof... I... are you prepared to risk... I don't know... this could mean everything... your life even... you might be killed before we can even try... I..." Here he takes another deep breath, as if struggling with something. "I can't lose you again."

Merlin freezes.

"W...what? I..." Merlin gives a nervous laugh. "I don't know what you mean."

"I think you do." Gwaine's eyes are sharp and focused in the darkness, staring at the boy before him. Not hit of a smile or joke on his usually jovial face. "I can't lose you again... Merlin."

Merlin heart feels like it's stopped.

He can't know!

He can't!

No-one can!

"W..who?" Merlin laughs nervously again, eyes wide, heart in throat, voice jittering around like "My name's Aaron... Aaron Syrme... I..."

Merlin thinks' he's going to be sick. No one can know! Or he'll have to leave! Arthur will be in danger! He's not Merlin he's not! He cant be! Not here. Here he's just Aaron, and...

"You can't fool me, Merlin."

Merlin's eyes are adjusting to the dark, and he can make out Gwaine's face, serious and calm in the gloom.

"No one, not in the whole of Camelot and beyond, drinks like you in a pub. Half a pint Merlin? Honestly!"

"I... It's... I'm not... I... I'm not me!" Merlin stammers though trying to find the right words to convince the roguish knight otherwise.

"Merlin." Gwaine reprimands and Merlin knows the game is up, he's been found out, he was given away... by... by...

"My drinking habits gave me away?!" Merlin splutters in disbelief, and stares at Gwaine as his whole body physically slumps.

"So I'm right?" Gwaine breathes a sigh of relief, and Merlin suddenly feels big, strong arms wrapping around his torso. "You did seem so familiar. I wondered why. Why Aaron was so much like Merlin, but...Gods Merlin... Gods... I... we... I thought we'd lost you forever."

"We?"

"The knights and everyone. Guinevere, The Lady Morgana, Arthur even! Gods Merlin we thought you'd probably fallen off a cliff by now or something!" A long silence reins, and then it dawns on him. "Oh no... nooooo. They knew didn't they? Those gits all knew and you didn't tell me!?"

"It was Arthur's idea..."

Gwaine grits his teeth and looks tempted to bash someone's head against the stone walls, whether his own or Merlin's, the warlock isn't sure.

"Arthur's Idea?! Never-had-a-good-idea-in-his-life Arthur?! And you listened?! You... You Idiot! This is a stupid, dangerous, get-you-killed idea!" He gripped the front of Merlin's tunic and shook him by the shoulders. "What on Earth was Arthur thinking!"

"I..."

"What on Earth were you thinking!?"

"Gwaine..." comes the tiny voice "You hurting me..."

And Gwaine, big strong Gwaine, looks down at the boy, the tiny boy before him, because Merlin's not much more than that, and unfists his hands from Merlin's shirt, where it had been pulling tight around his neck. Where purple bruises poked out from the edge of a lopsided scarf.

"You're hurt?" Gwaine suddenly feel like all the air in the room has evaporated, and he can't breathe.

"I'm fine." Merlin murmurs stubbornly, and Gwaine supposes that means he's not fine at all, but the boy doesn't want to worry him, or Arthur. Arthur... Gwaine sighs, head softly dropping down onto Merlin's skinny shoulder. Merlin adjusts his scarf again, a soft woollen brown one, not at all like his usual neckerchiefs, so it covers the bruising.

"What were you thinking?" He all but whispers into the fabric of Merlin's servant's garb. "Uther thinks your some kind of hocus pocus sorcerer of doom or something, he'll kill you!" There's a long awkward silence. "Merlin?" Gwaine frowns. More silence. Gwaine feels a knot of unease build in his stomach. He feels slightly sick. "You're not a sorcerer?" He half laughs. Then his eyes grow wide, staring at the boy before him. At idiotic, normal, silly Merlin. "Are you?"

The silence tells him all he needs to know.

A/N: This chapter is for GeorgiPorgiePuddingandPie! Because it's her Birthday today! :D :D :D

Yeyyyyyyy! My little Georgi's all growing up *wipes theatrical tear* :'3 xxx

Ok... I'm posting this as two mins past midnight, but hey! Biiiirrrthhhdayyyyssssss! WHOOOOOPPPP! :D :D :D xxx

Have a whelming one Georgi! :D :D :D xxx

Hope all you readers liked this chapter! Drop me a review if you did!

Lenle G.
Have a