"Another Shock" (Rose)

Upon reflection of our most previous conclusions, I slowly begin to fall behind Merlin. A strange, looming feeling overcomes me. I stop completely. I want to get Merlin's attention to say something, but I'm not quite sure what. "Merl-" A leather gloved hand clasps over my mouth. I immediately struggle and try to scream, but this person's other arm is a force to be reckoned with, wrapped around my small torso, clamping down like the jaw of a lion on the neck of its prey.

Right as we get about halfway in between the two small houses I was snatched near, I hear Merlin's panicked yell over my own screaming mind. "Rose?!"

I try calling out to him when I'm gagged, and somehow restricted with something like ropes, only thicker, and tossed onto a horse. I'm in a frenzy as my captor joins me and kicks the horse into movement. This horse is definitely too fast for even a magician to catch. These bonds are powerful. I cannot move, and I am not weak. I look down to see vines. They way they are holding fast and not budging at all, is how I know they are transfixed upon me using magic.

"Rose!" I hear him, getting further and further away, "Where are you?!"

Magic! 'Merlin!' the voice in my head shrieks helplessly. 'I can't speak! Someone grabbed me! I'm bound, and the vines are reinforced by magic! I can't get away! I'm on a horse! The tracks should be between two of the houses we walked by!'

Tears slip down my cheeks, 'Help me, Merlin ...'

"Lost" (Merlin)

"I will find you!" I scream out to her as I run, my voice whisked away in the wind and lost in the growing distance between us. My lungs are burning like a white-hot flame- more from the terror than the running. Once I spot the tracks, I speed up. Knowing the surrounding area like I do, I take a shortcut. I have a growing sense that I know exactly where they are going.

As I race towards the forest, I think on one detail. She said she was wrapped in vines ... My brain immediately connects this to the murder of the soldiers outside the walls of Camelot. Whoever killed them, must have taken her. It's the same kind of magic. It has to be.

Much to my horror, a sinister voice that makes my skin crawl creeps through my mind and snakes into my thoughts, 'Have fun in the maze I fashioned for you ... Merlin.'

'How do you know my name!' I demand, but my head voice seems to bounce around in my own mind. I feel an undeniable blockage from the man who spoke to me. This was the incentive I needed to crash through the branches of the first trees.

A thick fear courses through my veins when I see that this place is completely different from how it usually is. The veil over this spot is surely one of magic, and putting the pieces together as I blindly press forward, I know that I am lost, and in search of a rogue Woodward coming back for his princess ... and revenge. I give in to the maze that engulfs me, and follow my instincts.

(( From the author: AHHHH, I love/hate this part. What are you all thinking? review/favorite to let me know! ))