Arthur rode his horse as fast as it could carry him to that cursed place. He knew the fire was near the brothel, which only added to his soul-crushing concern for Merlin.

But when he got there, the acrid stench of the burnt building struck him and he had to cover his nose with his arm.

"What happened?" Arthur yelled as the guards were turning off the last of the embers or covering the burnt bodies laid out in a row in front of the building.

"A fire, your majesty. The brothel's sub-mistress said it came down from the skies before anyone could react. She believes the owner died in the fire." The guard received the reigns of the horse as Arthur jumped down and advanced toward the woman in question.

"Madam." He called. She looked at him and kneeled, her red eyes from having lost everything pointed to the ground.

"Meredith, your highness."

"Please, there was a servant from the palace brought here weeks ago. What happened to him?" He asked. She paled and looked up at him afraid.

"Y-your majesty… I…"

Arthur held her hands and she looked at him shocked at having even touched a woman like her in front of so many onlookers. "Please madam, I promise no harm will come to you."

"Your majesty… the boy was kept in a room by a witch of your father's choosing." She said. "He was imprisoned… I don't… think he made it out." She said.

Arthur shook his head. "How many people in the building when the fire started?"

"I can't be sure, your majesty. Fifty? Fifty-four? Including patrons. Only ten of us made it out." She said.

Arthur shook his head. He couldn't accept what she was saying and looked at the bodies piling up. "No… Merlin can't be here." Arthur said out loud as he stared at the charred victims.

"Your majesty… We found the ring you described." One of the knights came toward him and led him to one of the victims. He saw the ring his father had forced him to place on Merlin gleaming on a charred finger and he had to look away. He felt sick and weak all at once.

No… it couldn't be… it couldn't. This was wrong, so wrong

"I'm happy to be your servant, till the day I die." He could still remember his candid expression, the blue in his eyes.

"Dollophead." Merlin grumbled in his memories. They had been arguing over some meaningless thing or other.

"I love you, Arthur." Arthur turned to look back at the body and felt shaky. He felt like he was once more under the obedience spell, only this time, the heaviness that weighed him down was nothing but grief.

The vows said at their wedding echoed in his memory.

"I do swear, Merlin, to honour, respect and protect you, and seek to never break that honour." But he hadn't honoured him. The moment he was back he allowed Merlin to entertain the thought of Arthur marrying Elena. He didn't respect him like he deserved and in the end? He couldn't even protect him.

oOoOoOo

Merlin slept for a whole day after they managed to find an inn. Everyone was so distracted with the massive fire in the town that the inn keeper didn't notice Gwaine, who owed the place a hefty amount.

Lancelot felt their cloaks, satisfied to see they were now dry.

"Shouldn't we have gone straight to castle?" Lancelot asked.

"We don't know what's happening over there. Arthur as king with Uther doing underhanded things under Arthur's order? Sounds too strange." Gwaine said and looked at Merlin. "Plus, last I heard, Arthur hated magic too, even if Merlin possesses it. But you knew that."

Lancelot frowned as he looked at Merlin's chest rising and falling. "Yes… I knew of Merlin's magic. But he always was good to me. He believed in Arthur. But… controlling the skies like that? Bringing that fire down? I don't know what could have driven him to that." He said, remembering the bright-eyed warlock that had helped him all that time ago.

Merlin began to whimper in his sleep, tossing and turning.

"Nnh… No… No… Mother…" Lancelot leaned forward and shook his shoulder. "Agh!" Merlin jumped awake and he turned to them afraid, looking around at the darkened room in fear.

"You're alright, Merlin." Gwaine said.

Merlin looked at them and sighed with relief. "I can't believe you found me." He said.

"It was by pure chance that we did. I'm glad we got there in time." Gwaine said. Merlin looked away and shuddered.

"Yeah… just in time." He said softly.

Lancelot reached to hold Merlin's hand, feeling it tremble. Despite his power it was like holding a little bird in his hands.

"What happened, Merlin?" Lancelot asked. Merlin sneered and shook his head.

"It's… you wouldn't believe me."

"How could we not?" Gwaine pushed and Merlin looked at them both, as if trying to see whether they were being honest.

"Arthur did this to me." Merlin said softly. Gwaine and Lancelot frowned, very confused.

"How?" Lancelot asked.

Merlin explained. He started talking about the original spell that landed Arthur in Lady Vivian's bed, how it infuriated Uther, how he ordered him to take Arthur the way he did.

Merlin looked down. "I was supposed to protect him. I gladly accepted but… I never thought… Arthur would do what he did."

"He took you by force?" Gwaine asked very slowly, his voice dark.

"Not really. But… he promised his feelings had changed, I thought we'd fallen in love but then…" Merlin frowned, looking confused, as if he couldn't remember. "Nnnh… the screams…" Merlin covered his eyes. "I can't remember properly…" He whispered and Lancelot and Gwaine looked at each other with concern.

"No one is screaming, Merlin." Lancelot said softly.

"In the dark… the screams… come from the shadows…" Merlin's eyes filled with tears of terror. "I thought… I thought if I burnt it to the ground they would disappear." Merlin sobbed. "But they're in my head."

"Merlin, you've been captive for weeks, maybe you should rest some more." Lancelot insisted.

Merlin shook his head and took several deep breaths before he looked up once more. "Arthur did this to me! Once he was king, I was worthless to him. Even though he knew of my magic by then… he sent me away to that place…" Merlin's eyes filled with anger once more. "If it hadn't been for you… that man… would have been the first of many for the rest of my life… trapped without my magic… weak and… wasting away in the shadows."

It was almost as if Merlin was sending his mind back to that place and Gwaine came closer, cupping Merlin's cheek with his hand. "Hey… you're not going back to that place ever again. You are with us now. We'll figure out what the hell happened to Arthur to make him do this. I'll kick his backside for you." Gwaine said and the flicker of an amused smile broke through Merlin's anguish.

oOoOoOo

Arthur sat in his room, just staring at the flames in the fireplace. He barely heard the knock on the door and didn't react. It was Morgana, who was reading quietly beside him, or probably making sure Arthur didn't try to take his own life, was the one to look up.

"Come in." The door opened and closed and the room remained silent for a few seconds more.

"Your majesty, I must speak with you." It was Gaius. Arthur couldn't even look at him.

Morgana, who had been sitting quietly beside him was the one to invite the healer in.

"What is it, Gaius?" She asked.

"Lady Morgana, your majesty, the person you found wearing the ring was not Merlin."

Arthur took a sharp inhale of air as he felt faint, not daring himself to believe he heard correctly. He turned to look at him. "Gaius… how certain are you?" He asked.

"Very, your majesty. Even with a body so unrecognizable, teeth are fairly well preserved. It allowed me to identify without a doubt that the unfortunate soul in my chambers is not Merlin." He said.

Arthur stood, looking at Gaius, trying to see if there was any semblance of untruth in his face, even if the idea of Gaius lying to him about something like this was laughable.

"So… Merlin escaped?" Morgana asked.

"There's no way of knowing… anyone else of the victims could also…" Gaius started but Arthur shook his head.

"No… no, Merlin has to be alive." He whispered. He couldn't live through this again. To believe Merlin to be gone was not an option for him so soon after Gaius delivered the glimmer of hope.

He stormed out looking for the first guard he could spot. "You! I want all the men available to go and find my manservant Merlin. See if anyone around the lower town saw anyone leave when that fire happened." Arthur demanded.

"Yes, your majesty!" He said and rushed to gather those available.

Arthur watched him go and looked back down at his mother's ring. The one he'd taken off Merlin and took a deep breath to push down the painful knot at the back of his throat. He returned to Morgana.

"Morgana… try to look for him once more. Use your magic. Please." Arthur said.

"I have some books that might be of help, my Lady." Gaius said and Morgana went with him.

oOoOoOo

Morgana passed page after page of the books, barely understanding any of it. She was used to reading, it wasn't that she didn't know how, it was just that the magical jargon went mostly over her head. She was still fairly knew to magic and her powers and she was pretty sure she was wasting more time than necessary.

Mordred sat beside her, diligently reading through the ancient tomes with a little bit more ease, though not much faster than she was.

"Lady Morgana, there's a spell here to look for a lost horse." Mordred said and Gaius looked up, his eyebrow raising in that peculiar funny way that made Morgana think he was both annoyed at you while still considering your words.

"Let's see." Morgana received the book from the child and looked at the details.

The spell itself didn't seem too complicated. But considering it was looking for a horse… could it even work. She turned the book to Gaius as he came closer and waited for him to read through it.

"Hmm. We could try it." Gaius said.

"Could it really work?" Morgana asked.

"It might, but best not to tell Arthur until we know for a fact whether it works or not."

"I completely agree." Morgana had not missed the plates full of food that the servants had taken from Arthur's room every meal. Arthur wasn't eating after he returned from the lower town. Something in her very bones told her to stay by his side after that. Even without her nightmares, she knew not to ignore such a deep feeling when it came to her.

"I can hear him coming, hush now." Gaius whispered as Arthur stomped toward Gaius' chambers.

They knew what that sounded like by now since he would check on their progress multiple times a day in between going out with the knights to look for Merlin or running the necessary council meetings for the day.

"Morgana" Arthur called.

Suddenly, his voice felt like a thousand needles and she gasped, stumbling back and holding her head. She saw what she normally only saw in nightmares.

Grief coursed through her heart as she saw Arthur lying in a pool of blood in the center of the throne room.

Merlin stood over his body, looking down with no love, no affection, only hate.

In his hand, a silver blade dripping with blood at his feet.

"Merlin! What did you do?" She cried out.

Merlin looked up at her, raised his hand and with a glow of his eyes, Morgana was thrown back and everything turned black.