Arthur looked over some documents, signing them and putting them down as his father handed them to him.
"You will one day understand why I'm doing this, Arthur." Uther said as he tidied up the signed documents on the corner of the desk. "Sign this one. To eradicate once and for all, every sorcerer staining the kingdom." Uther said.
The moment Arthur signed it, he would authorize a fresh sweep through Camelot to find and exterminate anyone practicing or suspected of practicing magic.
Arthur brought the quill to the bottom of the parchment and Uther smirked as he sat himself down, watching Arthur beginning to sign.
Arthur stared at his hand as it began to tremble. He couldn't sign this. He had to wake up! He had to snap out of this. Where was Merlin?
"Merlin…" Arthur managed to force out. Uther's smirk vanished from his face.
"It's been weeks, Arthur, forget about that pathetic little servant." Uther said.
Arthur's hand continued to tremble, and his vision blurred with tears of rage and frustration. Weeks. Weeks of this hell. Hearing his father spouting rubbish again and again and being completely unable to yell what he really thought.
Weeks of Morgana yelling at him to send guards to look for Merlin, who was supposedly missing. Weeks of wishing he didn't know where Merlin was. But he knew.
Merlin was taken to that brothel with his magic bound by the very ring Arthur placed on his hand. Then again… maybe he somehow managed to escape. It was the only thing he could tell himself after failing day after day to break out of this obedience spell he was under.
"You… I will make you… suffer." Arthur hissed with such viciousness that Uther stood nervously, preparing himself for Arthur to snap out of it.
Arthur wished that were true. He pushed as hard as he could against the magic. His mind screaming to the rest of his body to obey but achieving nothing.
"Now listen to me here, boy. You were not yet ready to become king. This was necessary to ensure the safety of Camelot."
Arthur squeezed the quill so hard that it snapped into two and the order for a second purge remained unsigned.
"Stop this!" Uther yelled, forcing another quill onto his hand. "You will sign it!"
Arthur closed his eyes. He felt something. Something small but familiar. Magic. The magic he'd used to free the dragon. It was still within him, sitting, in waiting. But Arthur didn't know how to use it. Not the way Merlin did. Not even the way Mordred did.
"I order you to sign it! NOW!" Uther yelled and Arthur lost his hold of his real self. His whole body went lax, his eyes turned glassy and he moved mechanically once more.
oOoOoOo
Mordred flinched as Uther slammed the door open and threw himself behind a column. His small frame was hidden well around the corner of the corridor. He gripped onto his shirt tightly as his heart raced with fear.
He didn't dare to move from where he was until everything had been quiet for a good while.
Once he was sure Uther wasn't coming back, he sneaked past into the council room, which was empty except for Arthur.
"K-king Arthur?" He asked softly.
Arthur looked at him coldly, nothing like the Arthur he knew. He could sense the magic all over him. Powerful magic that he was too young to even know how to dispel.
"King Arthur?"
"What is it boy?" Arthur hissed, drawing out his sword, holding it as if in preparation.
Mordred flinched, moving back. "L-lady Morgana has been worried."
Arthur stared at him. "My father has ordered me to strike down any witch or sorcerer that comes near me other than Morgana." Arthur said as a warning. Mordred flinched and stepped even further back.
"Is… that the spell you're under?" Mordred asked.
Arthur gripped the sword tighter. "Get out…" He ordered.
"I'll… I'll tell lady Morgana! We'll use our magic to break the spell! You'll see!" Mordred exclaimed and turned to run, only to bump into the demoted king.
"Well, well… the serving boy's little brother has magic? Has Morgana been teaching you?" Uther said coldly. Mordred nearly felt dizzy from fear and hate he felt toward the man.
"Morgana!"
As if she'd sensed the danger ahead of time, she entered the council room in mere seconds after he called.
"Let him go, Uther." Morgana hissed.
"I promised your sister I'd grant you a pardon for practicing magic. This boy, however, will pay the full price of the crime." Uther said, dragging Mordred away.
"You spoke to Morgause?" When Uther didn't respond, Morgana stepped in his way and grabbed onto Mordred's shoulders, trying to shove Uther back. "Get away from him. You kill him you'll have to kill me too." She hissed.
"Arthur, I order you to grab Morgana and take her to her rooms." Uther said.
"Who do you think you're ordering, Uther Pendragon? Arthur is your king!" Morgana hissed but Arthur still grabbed her from under her shoulders and pulled her away. "Arthur? What are you doing?" She struggled against him. Arthur held her firm.
"Morgana! He's under a spell!" Mordred said and Uther shook him so roughly that he really did become dizzy.
"Shut up!"
"Arthur! Stop this!" Mordred heard Morgana cry out as the imprisoned king of Camelot dragged her away.
"Don't struggle." Uther hissed and carried on dragging him away. "Be a good little boy and I'll have your head chopped off rather than burn you on the pyre." He growled.
oOoOoOo
Two hooded figures looked up at the entrance to the brothel.
"I'm not sure about this." The hesitant one said.
"Lighten up over there." The one leading the way said.
"I just don't see why we can't just stay at an inn."
"Because there's unlikely to be any inn willing to take my money." They entered the establishment. The bottom floor was a more broken down version of a tavern, with plenty of poorly dressed girls serving drinks or sitting with patrons.
"Are you sure you also got kicked out of Camelot for impersonating a noble?"
"No, no, my friend. I said that I got kicked out for attacking a noble."
They went to sit down at a table by the corner and a couple of girls came to sit beside them.
"Hi there, sweets." One said. The hesitant one scooted away.
"Good evening, my lady." He said politely and she giggled.
"My friend Lancelot, always so gallant." Said the other.
"Gwaine!"
Lancelot jumped as a woman yelled. "Meredith! Sweetheart!" Gwaine cheered as a middle aged and very beautiful woman stormed over. She slapped Gwaine and followed the sting with a kiss, leaving the lip marks on his cheek.
"You ruffian. Why are you here?" She turned to Lancelot once she noticed him. "And who's this?" Lancelot was just confused.
"A friend. We need to lay low for a little while. Do you think you could help?" Gwaine handed her a small pouch with coins.
She looked at it, felt its weight and smiled. "Come on up. Don't greet the old hag or she'll kick you out." She said and led them to the back.
To Lancelot's surprise, there was a smaller room adjacent, but here only men were sitting. Considering that they looked as poorly dressed as the women, Lancelot quickly realized that this 'establishment' seemed to serve all kinds of 'interests'.
They passed by various doors, some open, some shut, some noisy, some quiet. The woman, Meredith, opened one of the doors leading to an empty room.
"You've got to leave by morning." Meredith said.
"Alas, we do have to move on tomorrow, so we're unable to stay any longer even if you begged us." Gwaine said. "I wish we could have talked some more though." Meredith rolled her eyes.
"Rascal."
But before Gwaine could carry on flirting, a scream echoed from nearby that chilled them both to the core.
"What on earth was that?" Lancelot asked.
Meredith sighed and groaned. "I can't tell you."
"Meredith… come on." Gwaine said. "That wasn't the kind of screams usual to this place." Gwaine said.
"You really are going to get me into trouble again." Meredith said and glanced over her shoulder before shutting herself in the room with them. "Mistress was forced by the king to give one of our rooms to a witch." She whispered.
Lancelot looked at her confused. "Why would the king do that for a witch? He made magic illegal." He said.
"No, not Uther. Uther stepped down due to some scandal. Arthur is the new king. Now he's got Lord Uther running around doing his dirty work. That witch is torturing some new starter that was brought from the palace." She said.
"A new… starter?" Lancelot asked.
"A new prostitute." Gwaine explained. "Meredith… come on… you can't be serious."
"That woman won't even let us meet the poor thing. I have no idea what they're doing to him."
"Him?"
"Prince-no, King Arthur's… serving boy, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I've said too much." She backed up and left the room.
The room was very silent as they both tried to process what they've just heard.
"That… can't be right." Lancelot finally said.
Gwaine and Lancelot looked at each other. "The Arthur Pendragon I know is not the type to have someone tortured." Gwaine said.
"But the Uther I know is." Lancelot agreed. "So… this serving boy…"
They looked up at each other, eyes wide in realization.
"Merlin!" They said in chorus and ran for the door.
oOoOoOo
[Author's note:]
Hey everyone! I'm glad there's some of you still happy to read.
There's something I've been working on for those of you who might be interested.
I'll let you know the details at the end to keep story interruptions to a minimum.