Chapter 15

"Merlin...you must wake up, young warlock." The deep voice was softly calling to Merlin, it only took him a moment to realize that it was Kilgharrah who continued to speak into his dreams. "You must open your eyes, Merlin, you are in great danger if you don't wake up soon."

At first, Merlin tried to wake himself up, but the moment he felt his consciousness rising to the surface he felt it being pushed back down. The effort of trying to make himself wake up left him feeling even more tired, in the back of Merlin's head he knew he had to keep trying. In one left effort, he gathered what strength he had left, taking a moment to gather himself once again fighting the darkness that kept him asleep. With one last push he once again felt the darkness trying to push him back down, but he used a bit of magic and with that, his eyes slowly began to open.

At first, Merlin's vision was blurry, after two minutes he started to see it a bit better and that is when he realized he wasn't in Gaius's chambers. It didn't have the same warmth. Instead, it was cold and damp, there could be the sound of rats running around nearby as well. They were also the sound of dripping water, soon his vision cleared and he realized that he was indeed not home but in a prison cell. Merlin at first thought Arthur found out he had magic and locked him up, but after gazing around his cell he soon realized he was in no Camelot cell.

Merlin's mind started to go a million miles an hour trying to figure out where he was, the only thing he knew was how much his head hurt and how feverish he felt. He tried to sit up but as soon as he was an inch up from the bed, Merlin fell right back down, finding he had no strength to move. Even breathing hurt his chest, that was when Merlin remembered how he had fallen ill but after that, it was completely blank. Merlin had no memory of what happened after he had fallen sick, it scared him not knowing if Arthur, Gauis and the others were alright.

Just then Merlin heard a woman chuckle somewhere in the dark, he moved his eyes towards the cell door in time to see Morgana step into his view. Morgana wore a light green dress with gold lining on the bust, sleeve, and train, when her eyes met with Merlin the first thing he saw was pure rage.

"Well, well, well, look who is awake." Morgana said in a very evil tone, as she opened the cell door and strolled towards Merlin on the bed. "But you will soon wish that you hadn't opened your eyes, not after you endure what I have planned No instead you will wish that you were dead when Arthur sees your dead body I look forward to seeing his pain."

The only thing that Merlin could do was glare as Morgana informed him of what she had planned, for him it was hard to think that she was once a kind-hearted person. Merlin wished he was able to tell her how she was not going to win, that Arthur would stop her like had done countless times before. But every time Merlin attempted to muster one single his chest would begin to feel like someone heavy was sitting on him making it harder for him to breathe. No matter what he did there was no way for him to push aside his pain and discomfort, not while the pull of sleep was still at the edge of Merlin's mind.

Morgana placed her right hand on Merlin's left shoulder digging her claw-like nails into his skin, causing him to let out a soft hiss from his lips. Hearing the hiss caused Morgana to let out a small smile, before removing her hand from her shoulder and walking towards the cell door. "Hm, good it seems the illness hasn't taken away your sense of feeling pain, that is very good." Morgana snapped her fingers at someone before turning back around to face Merlin, still displaying her evil smile.

Merlin returned her gaze doing his best not to show any hint of fear for whatever was to come, but that soon changed as soon as a man twice the size of Percival entered the room. The man was wearing a plain gray shirt with black pants, in his hands was a long silver tray but it was too far for Merlin to see what was on it. Morgana who knew stood there looking proud of herself for arranging what was not only on the tray but for getting Merlin into her hands. For Morgana she saw it has a victory and a step closer to getting her throne back, but for Merlin when he saw what was on the tray he saw only what might be coming for him.

As soon as Merlin saw the tools on the tray, he right away recognized them as the tools that the witch hunter had used when Uther called on him to find the witch or warlock. Merlin still remembered how much pain those tools had caused Gauis, now it seemed like Morgana was about to use them on him. There was no way that Merlin would give Morgana the satisfaction of seeing him scared nor to hear him scream. Instead, Merlin was determined to bury himself deep in his mind, so that he could escape from any pain that inflicted on him might be too much for his weak body to take.

Morgana saw how Merlin reacted to seeing what she was going to use on him, however, she did was determined to get the fear she hoped he had at seeing them. She picked up a small thin piece of light brown wood, Morgana placed it back down and looked at the man that had brought in the tools. Then in a demanding and authoritative voice, she spoke to the man knowing that he would do anything Morgana asked out of fear of her powers. "Thoma I want you to bind his hands and feet to the bed, I would hate for him to hurt himself more than what I will hurt him let alone try and run away."

"As you wish my queen." Toma took four long ropes made a consecutive knot on his ankles and wrist and did the same type of knot on the bed. When Thoma was done and was sure that knots were tight, he grabbed Merlin by the face and gave him a sick evil-looking smile and spoke in a harsh tone of voice. "I can't wait to hear you scream little piggy."

Before Thoma could say anymore, Morgana snapped her fingers causing the oversize bodyguard to flinch and take five steps away from the bed. Once Morgana got Thoma away from the bed, she took her place back at Merlin's side before once again reaching for the little thin piece of wood. "I read some books about if I place this in the right spot, it will cause you to feel immense pain." Morgana grabbed Merlin's left wrist and moved the wood into the spot, the manservant tried to get his hand free but found he didn't have the strength to do so.

Seeing Merlin struggling despite the fact his body was too weak, gave Morgana even more pleasure in what she was about to do. Morgana smiled as she pushed the wood into the skin of Merlin's hand, to stop himself from screaming the warlock bit his bottom lip so hard he could taste his own blood. For an hour he held back his screams to Morgana's disbelief, but she wasn't going to give up so she moved to the bottoms of his feel. That was when Merlin couldn't hold it back anymore, he let out a loud scream and after another hour he finally passed out again.

Feeling satisfied with her work, she pulled all the wood out of Merlin, then healed all his wounds except for those that were on his feet. Thoma grabbed the tray and followed Morgana out of Merlin's cell before locking it, once they were out of earshot of the warlock in a low tone the big man asked his queen. "My queen? Why did you heal his wounds? I thought we were going to kill him and send him home so broken that it will cause your brother great pain."

Morgana swiftly turned on her heels to face Thoma, an action that caused her bodyguard to cower back in fear. "It is not for you to question my action remember your place." She said in a harsh tone of voice, causing Thoma to start shaking uncontrollably at the thought he had angered Morgana so much. "If you must know." Morgana let out a sigh, still showing signs that she was still angry and displeased with her bodyguard but in a lower tone she continued by saying. "I plan to send Merlin back not only with a broken body but the mind as well, Arthur will not recognize his servant when I am done with him."

Morgana and Thoma let out an evil laugh, before making their way back up the stairs leaving Merlin trying to find an escape from his pain. The pain was surging from the bottom of Merlin's feel to the top of his head, in that moment all the warlock wanted was Gauis to be next to him saying comforting words. Really Merlin wanted anything to keep his mind off the pain, even Arthur yelling at him would have been welcomed. Slowly Merlin welcomed the darkness that swallowed him, hoping that the next time he woke up it would be a friendly face he would see.

Alright and that was the end of this chapter, I hope that you all enjoyed it. I am so sorry it took me so long to get this chapter done, I rewrite this chapter a bunch of times and wanted to make it perfect. If you guys enjoyed it please leave a review and let me know what you thought of it, and thank you to all those who are following and have also favourited this story and as well. Your support means so much to me, and I will try and bit harder to get the last few chapters done as soon as I can. Thanks all and have a good Day/Night.