Title: Kidnapping Emrys
Description: Arthur, Merlin, and the knights of the Round Table are on a hunting trip. Yeah, I bet you can already see the problem. Some bandits attack, and take them all captive. But why do they seem to want Merlin in particular? And who's Emrys? (Also Lancelot's not dead because I said so).
Word Count: 2,731
Part 1/1
"Stop being such a girl Merlin," Arthur counters after Merlin complains for just about the hundredth time that day.
"I just think we should stop and make camp somewhere soon," Merlin whines.
"Why, is your little bottom sore?" he taunts.
"Yeah, it's not as fat as yours!"
Arthur rolls his eyes, ignoring the comment, before claiming he found a good spot to stop and start setting up camp.
One moment the group had been sitting by the fire, and the next, fighting a group of bandits that had seemingly come out of nowhere. They were badly outnumbered and soon had a knife to Elyan's throat.
"Drop your weapons or I'll slit his throat!" the leader yells.
Everyone stopped fighting and put their weapons on the floor. One bandit for each knight came around and tied them up. The leader looked around before yelling yet again.
"Where is he!"
The confused knights, minus Lancelot, who had a pretty good idea who he was looking for, seemed to all share the same thought.
Who?
Somewhere behind the trees bordering the clearing, the man they were looking for tensed when the bandit called his name.
"Emrys! Come out or he dies!"
Merlin carefully walked out from behind the trees, holding his hands up.
"Merlin, what are you doing!" Arthur manages to get out before he is silenced with a rough slap to the face.
The leader motions to a bandit carrying a small box reeking with dark magic. He steps forward, towards Merlin.
"What's in the box?" Merlin questions with more seriousness in his voice than Arthur would have ever though possible.
"Just something that will make you... less dangerous. Put it on."
Arthur nearly scoffs at the idea of Merlin being dangerous.
The warlock cautiously opens the box and picks up a small beaded bracelet. Almost as soon as he touched it he dropped it like it was on fire.
"What, are you scared of me? You're a coward," Merlin spits, hardly covering the fear in his voice that the bracelet gave him.
"You know what it is then? Good. Put it on."
Merlin glances up at Arthur before reaching down to pick up the bracelet. It's heavy and has runes carved in the beads.
Saying no more, he slipped it over his wrist. He instantly started to sway. He felt as if all his magic was pushed deep down and locked in an unreachable cage. As empty as he felt, the pain that followed was so much worse. He cried out before falling on his knees, barely awake.
"Oh look at this." The bandit taunts, "The great Emrys on his knees at last."
Stepping away from the knights and towards the kneeling servant, he paused before leaning in, whispering just loud enough for the group to hear, "I'm going to make you pay for what you did."
And then, Merlin passed out.
"Oh look at this. The great Emrys on his knees at last," The bandit says, before walking over to Merlin.
He leaned in close to him before whispering, "I'm going to make you pay for what you did."
What he did? Merlin didn't do anything! He couldn't hurt a fly.
Merlin passed out, his body slumping onto the floor.
"Merlin!" Arthur yells, struggling against his restraints.
"Don't worry, Your Highness," the bandit sneers, "He'll wake up shortly, once his body adjusts."
"Adjusts to what? What did you do to him!"
The bandit ignores him. He motions to one of his men and a thick magical mist fills the clearing.
Magic
Arthur's eyelids begin to feel heavy and he couldn't stay upright anymore. Before he knew it, he, along with his knights, were unconscious.
Merlin wakes up on a cold, hard floor with a pounding headache. Slowly, he sits up before looking around. He was in a dark, damp cell. Well, he and the knights were in a cell. None of them were chained up, minus the magic suffocating bracelet Merlin wore.
"Merlin!" Gwaine yells, the first of the knights to notice him awake.
He gave a small smile in response.
"Merlin what-"
Before Arthur has the chance to finish his sentence, the man from earlier opens the cell door.
"Comfy Emrys?" he sneers.
"My name is Merlin," he replies harshly.
"Merlin feels a bit too... personal. I think I prefer Emrys, don't you?"
"Fine, whatever you want," Merlin says, rolling his eyes, "What do you think I did to you?"
"I don't think, I know that it was you Emrys. And now you will pay."
"Okay then, what is it that you think you know I did to you?"
There was a pause.
"Not to me. To my mother, Nimueh."
Merlin froze.
"Nimueh? She- You are... She had a son?"
The man nodded in response, "Yes, and I was there that day. Hiding. I saw what you did."
"She murdered innocents! She almost killed me!"
"And you killed her!"
There was an uncomfortable pause as the knights took in this information.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to. I- Gaius was going to die!"
"Even now you're making excuses! Did she not do as you asked?"
"She tricked me. You know very well she didn't do as I asked."
"That's too bad. Because of you she's dead. And you're going to pay for that."
He stepped back, allowing a few guards into the cell as they chained his arms above his head.
"You don't want to do this," Merlin warns.
"Don't I?"
"You know what Emrys means correct?"
The man stopped.
So. You mean it's true? You'll really..."
The unspoken words never die hung in the air.
He shakes his head, putting it out of his mind.
"No matter. I can still make you suffer."
"You know I'll get out of here eventually. This flimsy bracelet of yours won't hold me forever."
"I suppose not, but you have another thing holding you back don't you?" he says, glancing over at his friends.
There was another uncomfortable fit of silence before he replies, "Nothing will hold me forever."
"I don't need to keep you forever. Even if it kills me, I will have my revenge."
"And how exactly do you plan on doing that? Exposing me?"
"As much as I know it would hurt you Emrys, I'm not willing to get rid of one of my security measures. It is, after all, one of the only reasons I'm still alive."
"So what's your plan then. Torture? It's honestly not the most original."
"Yes, in fact. Original or not, your still- Well, I guess not. I meant I can still hurt you."
"I'm not a monster," he replies, having heard him heavily imply that he wasn't human, "And both my parents were human, thank you very much."
"Really? How long did it take to convince yourself of that one?"
"Well as soon as I met my father I knew very well that they were both-"
"Don't be stupid Emrys. You know that's not what I meant."
"How dare you imply that Merlin is a monster!" Gwaine yells.
"Quiet!"
"So, what's your plan here?" Merlin asked, gaining the bandits attention once again, "Just to make me feel pain? Honestly you could have come up with something a little more creative."
"I'm not trying to be creative, I'm trying to get my revenge. Nothing any of you say or do can stop that."
"Maybe not, but that's not really much revenge if you ask me."
"Well, I didn't ask you."
Merlin shrugged.
"I know regular torture probably won't do much to someone like you," he began, "but we all have our weaknesses, and I'm willing to bet you're, dare I say it, deathly afraid of fire."
A brief flash of fear showed on his face before returning to normal, so fast that the knights weren't sure it was really there at all.
"Wow, no shit sherlock. I live in Camelot don't I?"
Now, as you can imagine, that left the knights very confused (and not because nobody knew who Sherlock was).
"Hmm, I figured as much."
"It doesn't take a genius. Now can we just get this over with? I'm actually kinda tired."
"You'll be a lot more than tired when I'm done with you. You're gonna wish you could die."
"Yes, I would like to die, when I'm old and gray and my life is complete."
"Ah yes, wishful thinking. You're such a dreamer."
While Merlin knew that he meant he (Merlin) couldn't die, the knights were probably scared he meant to kill him here, while he was still young and very much not gray.
With no more to say, the bandit grabbed a torch from a guard, who got it off the wall, and stepped closer to Merlin.
"We both know that you can handle the pain," the bandit continues, "But can you handle the smoke? Memories of your recurring nightmares?"
"I guess we'll find out," Merlin said coldly, to mask his fear.
"I guess we will."
And with that, he brings the torch to Merlin's outer, upper, left arm, just under his shoulder. Merlin winces at the pain, but doesn't say anything. As the bandit continues, burning other areas, Merlin gets more and more panicked. He tries to take deep breaths, but the smoky smell fills his lungs instead. This only feeds his panicked state and he starts hyperventilating (which doesn't help anything). His legs start kicking out, missing their mark. His brain was clouded, panic seeping deep into his core.
"Stop it! Let him go." Lancelot speaks up before any of the other knights have the chance.
The bandit ignores him so Lancelot continues.
"This is cruel! Feeding off a fear you likely share!"
This gets him to stop momentarily.
"Oh? To know that means... You know his secret, don't you?" he turns to Lancelot.
"If only you were patient! You've been too blinded by your revenge to see that if you only were to wait, you'd be free."
"The Once and Future King is no more likely to free my kind than Uther was."
Still, Lancelot seemed to have struck a nerve somewhere in this conversation because the bandit backs away from Merlin, turning to leave the cell.
"Get him down." he tells the guards and they free Merlin, who has now stopped thrashing and hyperventilating.
He then walks out of the dungeons, the two guards following close behind.
Merlin concentrates his energy on standing. He stares at the back of the man's head as he walks out. Not wanting to provoke him, he stays silent. Once the footsteps of the three men are gone, Merlin falls to the ground coughing, his legs no longer able to hold his body weight. Lancelot slowly got close to Merlin, wisely telling the others to give him room.
"Merlin?" he asks quietly.
Merlin looks up quickly. He calms when he sees it's only Lancelot, who was slowly getting closer. The knight catches Merlin staring at his blood red cape and quickly takes it off and throws it away from them. Only about a foot away now, he stops.
"Hey Lance," he says, trying to give a reassuring smile.
"How are you doing?" he asks carefully.
"I'll be fine. It doesn't even hurt that bad. They aren't bad burns."
Lancelot gives him a look so he adds, "I promise."
"If you say so."
No one is really sure what the right thing to say is, so everyone remains silent for a good half and hour or so. Finally, Gwaine decides to break the silence (as Merlin looks much calmer).
"Merlin?" he says, really more of a question.
The man in question looks up.
"Yeah?"
"Am I right to assume what I'm assuming is going on here?"
"That depends on what you assume is going on here."
Cryptic lizard flashbacks*
"Maybe why you'd be scared of fire in Camelot."
Merlin, not even surprised at this point, just nodded.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it. So? What now. Do you hate me? Do they hate me? Do the rest of you even know?"
"Know what?" Arthur asked, frustrated he seemed like the only one that didn't know what was going on.
"I know." Percival spoke up, "Him calling you Emrys was kind of a give away for me."
"Me too," Leon agreed, also having spent some time with the druids.
"Elyan?"
"I'm not really sure when I figured it out. It just fit."
There was a brief pause before Merlin nervously whispered, "Arthur?"
Arthur thought for a moment. He thought back to suspicious behaviors and circumstances that he just passed off as Merlin being Merlin.
"You have magic."
Three simple words that weren't denied.
"I was born with it." Merlin added, "I couldn't help it anymore than I could help having black hair."
"Then why come to Camelot! You'd be killed if anyone found out!"
"Are you going to kill me?" Merlin asked.
"What? No! Why would I do that?" Arthur replied before thinking about the stupidity in that question.
"I could never hurt you Merlin."
"I'd rather die than be banished," he said bluntly.
"Of course you would Merlin," Arthur easily slips into their usual banter.
"So... Are you all, I mean, okay? With me having magic?"
"Of course we are! We're your friends. And besides, you couldn't have an evil bone in your body."
Merlin started tearing up.
"Crying now are we?" Arthur teased.
"No," Merlin denied, wiping his eyes, "I just never dared to hope you all would take it so well."
"Speaking of, why'd you tell Lancelot?" Gwaine asked, a small amount of pain and jealousy in his eyes.
"He didn't." Lancelot explained for him, "I found out when he used magic to enchant my lance during the griffin attack."
"You've known for that long!" Arthur exclaimed, "No wonder."
"I hate to break up the party," Leon started, "But is there any magic you could do to uhm, get us out?"
"I mean, maybe?" Merlin replied
"Maybe?" Elyan repeated.
"I mean, this bracelet is a magic blocking bracelet, so it all depends on whether or not I can break out of it."
"Can't you just take it off?" Arthur asked, then immediately felt stupid for asking.
"Probably not."
"But, you're Emrys, right?" Percival asked, "So really, in theory, it shouldn't be a problem."
"You're probably right." Merlin paused, "So, can I... use magic? To, you know. Try to get it off?"
They all gave him a look that made him just go for it. After thinking for a minute, he had a few spells in mind that might work. The first two didn't do anything. The third gave a bright flash, but nothing changed. He tried three more that had little result. One of them cracked a bead, but it didn't do much else. Finally, he decided to ditch spells and just send straight power to it.
"Okay, uhm, I'm kinda out of spells. So, I'm going to just like... send my magic to it? In like a burst of power. If that makes sense. I'm not really sure what'll happen so you should probably back up for this one."
The knights all backed up and he put out his restrained arm. He then hovered his other palm over the bracelet. He closed his eyes and just focused on sending his energy towards the bracelet. The beads exploded. Merlin, without thinking, put a shield around each bead individually and spared them all from the attack.
"I guess that worked," Merlin commented.
"Good, now get us out of here!"
"Yes sire!"
Instead of just breaking the lock, like a normal human being, Merlin blew the whole door off it's hinges and sent it flying into the other cell doors across from them.
"Way to be subtle Merlin."
"Happy to help sire!"
They left without much trouble. For a while, everyone thought they would be going after the man who attacked them in the first place, but Merlin quickly shut that down.
"There'd be no point. He didn't seem like the type to hurt someone without cause, and I did kill his mother. Besides, I don't like killing if I can avoid it."
And that settled that. No one spoke about this again until after Arthur became king. None of them asked any of the many questions they had, saving them for the right time. When Arthur was king, and magic was free.
The End
