4. Dark Answers
Sadly enough, the most painful goodbyes are the ones that are left unsaid and never explained.
- Jonathan Harnisch
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Arthur woke to a pounding headache and the instinctive knowledge that something was drastically wrong.
That feeling, deep in his gut, was enough to keep him still, force him to breathe evenly as he waited for consciousness to fully return.
He was a prisoner – he knew by the blindfold around his eyes and the ropes that bound his hands behind his back even before the memories of what had happened managed to trickle into place in his sore brain.
Focusing on his other senses, he sifted through the information he could ascertain.
He was still in the forest, that much he could tell. There was a tree at his back, ropes around his body lashing him tightly to it, and the scents of earth and leaves hung in the air. Air that was also laced with the strong odor of wood smoke.
His ears picked up the sounds of rustling cloth, restless horses, clanking armor and weapons and cookware.
The soldiers had made camp, though it was impossible for him to tell if it was morning or evening, or if they were anywhere near the vicinity of where he'd been captured. Probably not. Any half-decent soldier would know not to remain where they captured a prisoner, and Arthur had to grudgingly admit that these were half-decent soldiers.
Merlin!
The thought crashed into him as he finally came completely awake.
What had they done with, Merlin?
For only a second he hoped that they might have let the boy go, but the thought was gone as soon as it came. They would never have released a witness, to scurry home and bring back aid.
So the boy must also be somewhere in this camp, probably bound and restrained as well. Unless of course they had –
Arthur stomped on that thought, refusing to follow it any further.
Merlin was there. He had to be.
Concentrating through the headache, Arthur strained his ears to listen for soft breathing near him – shifting – fidgeting. Anything that would alert him to his servant's location.
He was so focused he almost missed the sound of footsteps approaching. Someone crouched before him and there was the sudden jab of a dull point in his side.
"Sit up, Your Royal Highness. I know you're awake."
The voice was deep, mocking, and unfamiliar.
Arthur sighed and straightened; there was no point in the subterfuge now.
"Do you always awaken your guests by poking them in the ribs with a stick?" Arthur asked.
"Only the ones I really don't like," the man snapped.
"And that feeling is mutual," Arthur spat back.
"I could find something sharper…" The man let the threat linger there in the dark void between them.
Arthur sighed and decided not to rise to the bait. He wished they would remove the blindfold; it was hard to negotiate when he was literally in the dark. "Does your leader realize that simply riding into Camelot's lands with a show of force is enough to be an act of war, let alone kidnapping the Crown Prince? Surely no amount of ransom money is worth that?"
The man annoyingly gave no answer, just rose and moved slightly to the side, rustling around with something he had nearby.
"Is that what this is about? Ransom money?" Arthur was desperate for answers, because all of this made so little sense in his mind. Bandits kidnapped for money, but these men were soldiers – some other king's men. Did someone actually want to start a war and they were using Arthur to accomplish it? The leader had been dressed as a Camelot messenger, had been in Camelot before ambushing them. Was Camelot under attack even now? Was his father all right?
"Why was your leader impersonating a messenger of Camelot? How did you know where to find us?" he demanded, his voice growing with each sentence.
Us. The word pushed Merlin's bloody, bruised and frightened face back to the forefront of Arthur's thoughts. "What have you done with my servant? Where is he?" he asked, his voice cold as ice now.
"I was sent over here to feed you, not to chat," the stranger growled with obvious contempt.
Suddenly, there were hands close to his face, shoving what felt like a piece of bread into his mouth. Arthur jerked his face away and spat – furious.
"I can feed myself!"
"Not with your hands tied to a tree. Eat the food!"
"Where is Merlin?"
Again no answer, just the bread being pushed at his mouth once more, and Arthur's frustration and wounded pride boiled over. Taking a leaf out of his servant's book, he bit down on the grubby fingers – hard.
His reward was a slight howl and then a backhand across the face that was strong enough to snap his head to the side, especially since he couldn't see it coming to prepare. Trying not to openly wince, he moved his jaw for a moment to work through the pain, then turned to face where he believed the man to be once more.
"You going hungry tonight is no skin off my back!" his captor said, obviously angry.
"Tell me where my servant is!" Arthur spat again, every word clipped and every ounce of princely fury he had shoved into the demand.
"Fine," the other man said coldly. Arthur heard a rustling again and figured the food was being put away. "The brat is dead."
The world stopped.
Sound, air, even the sense of feeling his own skin dissolved to nothingness as Arthur's aching brain fought to understand the words that couldn't possibly have just been said.
He was frozen, shoved out of time and sense and reality.
And then, just as suddenly, everything around him and inside of him shattered. The heart that had just that morning acknowledged that Merlin was his closest friend splintered as a silent, anguished cry ripped through him, shredding everything.
NOOOOOOO!
Rage like he'd never felt before filled the void and he strained hard against his bonds for the first time.
"I surrendered!" he roared. "I surrendered to keep him safe! You should not have harmed him!"
"And you should not have killed my brother! You should have surrendered the first time Sir Einar asked instead of fighting!" the stranger hissed back. "There are consequences for your actions, Prince Arthur! A life for a life! Welcome to the real world."
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I know this chapter is very short, but sometimes chapters are just like that. Also, please don't get too used to this update pace – this is something of an anomaly for me. But I'm loving it, and not going to fight it while it lasts.
As always, thanks to Missy for her invaluable help, and to Smuffly and Lizzie for giving me eyes on it before I posted to ease my anxiety.
To all my readers and reviewers – I'm utterly blown away. THANK YOU!