A/N: Long, long, long chapter ahead, get some hot chocolate and a comfortable spot to read.
Happy reading!
CHAPTER 41
The Truths Left Behind.
"Three things cannot be hidden forever; the sun, the moon, and the truth"
—Buddha
"Gwaine?! Owen?!" Arthur whispered in confusion, "What are you doing here?!"
"I'm happy to see you too, Arthur, and for that question I have a good explanation," Gwaine started, "But first of all, how is Merlin, is he alright? Can't see from here,"
"He is fine," Arthur said glancing at his friend for a brief moment, "He's just knocked out cold but he'll come around. What about you two? How did you end up here?"
"We are fine, we are fine, but can we address the real issue here?" Gwaine said flippantly as he moved his hair out his face quite unsuccessfully, "Arthur, Sire, why did you dye your hair black, of all colors? Was it a bet? Because if it wasn't, I mean c'mon, Arthur, let's really think this through and say… red, how about being a red hair? A ginger. Girls for whatever reason have a knack for those guys— Owen, what do ya' say?"
Owen did have something to say, none of them pleasant to the ears as he finished with a very annoyed; "Oh, for God's sake! Wish I was the one knocked out cold."
"Gwaine, I'm serious!" Arthur yelled before controlling his voice again, looking around for any signs of their captors.
"You think I'm joking? I have been sitting here for the past two hours wondering!"
"Oh my God!"
"Gwaine!"
"Fine, alright! For crissake' can't take a joke, Merlin would've agreed though!" Gwaine said shuffling a little on his spot as he stretched his legs as far as they could go, crossing them by the ankles, "No one is around here to keep watch, Arthur, so you can stop trying to break your neck to see behind you. The bad guys left a while ago. Apparently, this is the place where they come to drop their victims; that means us—unattended for obvious reasons – before they leave, presumably, to their camp somewhere nearby to see what they had managed to steal while they decide what to do with us. From what I heard is a big camp so I'm sure they are not going to be interested in two peasants and two knights—no offense Arthur— so, I'm betting they are debating somewhere between selling us or killing us." He shrugged, "Dunno."
"I can't believe—how the hell have you managed to survive this long?" Owen asked disconcerted.
"Raw talent buddy,"
Arthur wasn't listening, he cast his eyes down thinking and straining his brain to work even if he still felt kind of groggy and slow after being hit in the head. Alright, breathe, there's no reason to panic. The moment Merlin wakes up he will be able to lose the ropes so the four of them could escape.
That was the wise thing to do. They were unarmed and apparently outnumbered. If they were lucky they would be able to reach Ealdor and lose them along the way before they notice their absence, probably they wouldn't mind chasing after them, Merlin and him imposed no threat, peasants to their eyes, however, he wondered if they would be willing to go after two knights of Camelot or—
In a moment of sheer panic and realization, he pressed his back painfully against the crooked tree, his hands were painfully tied behind his back too, and as much as he twisted and moved he didn't need to look to know.
"Oh my god," Arthur whispered. They took the vase and not only that but the ring too! The druid ring that Arya had gifted him just this morning!
He wondered, how the hell everything had once again gone so wrong?! He turned so sharply towards Gwaine his neck hurt, the two knights who were still bickering went silent, "What did they take? Do you remember, did they take a ring?"
"A ring?"
"Yes, a ring, from my left hand," Arthur wanted to move his arms but infuriatingly they stayed glued to his sides, "Do you remember?"
"They took your weapons, some food," Owen's voice carried to where he was sitting.
"Merlin's satchel," Gwaine said helpfully, "And your horses. They pretty much took everything, Arthur. If it looked expensive I can bet they took it. Why? Was it important? You were not wearing your royal ring were you?"
Arthur made a vague motion with his head as he turned towards Merlin wishing that by just power of will Merlin would miraculously wake up. The vase, the ring! He remembered now, them leaving the druids just to find that someone had—for reasons unknown to him— gifted them with the vase cleverly hidden among Merlin's things. Why was a matter that could be pondered about later.
Damn it. Just thinking what could happen to his father if the vase was misused was unnerving, and thinking about what Arya could to do him dare she find out that he lost her ring…
He better not leave this camp without any of those things.
So, apparently, escaping was not part of the plan either.
"Merlin, oi, Merlin! Wake up!" He knocked his leg against Merlin's several times, a spark of panic rising inside him. He huffed annoyed, "MERLIN!"
"Don't think that will work, Arthur,"
"What are you two doing here, anyway?" Arthur rounded on Gwaine, giving up on Merlin for the time being, "What are you doing so far away from Camelot. Did something happen? Is my Father alright? Gwen?"
For the first time, Gwaine seemed reluctant to answer before he turned the most serious Arthur had seen him yet, "Let's get out of here before I tell you. Your father is fine, don't look so distressed. Everyone is fine. All I can say is that Gaius sent us to look for you, he sent a note but, alas, I don't know what it says, it was taken away with the rest of our things."
"When did you leave Camelot?"
"Yesterday, we were captured just this morning," Owen sighed, "We went to Ealdor, Gaius confessed to us that you were here in some kind of training. We met Merlin's Mother; Hanna—"
"Hunith," Arthur corrected without thinking, "Her name is Hunith, is she alright?"
Gwaine raised his brows curiously but wisely kept quiet.
Arthur painfully remembered how Merlin and he didn't say more than a quick goodbye to her two days prior thinking they would not take longer than a few hours to come back. Maybe she was worried and just thinking about Hunith being worried made his chest feel tighter, something that had nothing to do with the ropes tied around his torso.
It was a different kind of worry from the one he had always known; returning to Camelot and to his people after an assignment—assuring them they were safe from whatever calamity was about to befall Camelot—, or feel the pride radiating from his father after a successful mission was one thing. But thinking of Hunith and how she would be just glad to have him and Merlin back just for the sake of being safe and sound, damn the kingdom, well, it gave his heart a warm feeling.
"Hunith, yes, she is fine. She told us you went east yesterday morning…" Owen continued, "We followed the path, thinking we would intercept you sooner or later, we were ambushed halfway through though and, well— here we are now, tied to a tree." He said the last bit with every taste of annoyance accumulated in his body.
Arthur hummed, narrowing his eyes at this information. Why had Gaius sent them for? He had known for a while now that Merlin and he had stayed away from Camelot longer than what was wise but it had been necessary, they did things that needed to be addressed. In some analytical way, he supposed he was dealing with the magic side of his future reign.
Arthur looked up, they only have a few hours of sun left.
"Strange, that they have not returned yet," Arthur said quietly as he looked down, maybe these were the thugs that had been attacking the druids? Most certainly. He made a mental note to send advice to Arya once this was over.
The prince felt Merlin stirring by his side and he turned in time to see Merlin blinking confusedly at his surroundings. The sorcerer was trying to come back to his senses more rapidly than what was wise as he trashed against the ropes and spluttered unintelligible words.
"Nhh, Arthur, wha—"
The prince was smiling before he could stop himself,
"Merlin, easy. I'm fine. We are fine. Breath," Arthur instructed as Merlin tried to adjust his eyes to the light, grunting several times due to the effort.
"My head—hurts."
"You have an injury on your head but you should be fine. You must be dizzy, though." He added as an afterthought, "Close your eyes and take deep steady breaths… Like that. One more time—that's it. With me. Keep doing that and it will pass."
Merlin was silent for a few moments.
"It's always unnerving to come back to reality after blacking out," Arthur said, trying to fill the silent. He stared at Merlins' very alive face for a second remembering quite well how empty and soulless the face of Merlin had been in his premonition, "But you are alive, which is what matters, so stop whining,"
"I'm… not whining,"
Arthur scoffed lightly, "Good, then shut up and turn this way."
Merlin blindly turned his face towards Arthur's voice. He tried to move but couldn't and his brain was slowly trying to catch up with the recent events, memories flowing back.
"Stop moving, Christ, you are only hurting yourself, idiot. We are tied to a tree that's why you can't move, now, open your eyes—c'mon," Merlin obeyed as his mind registered what had just been said. Tied to a tree? What had happened?!
"The wound in your head has stopped bleeding," Arthur announced after a quick inspection, he supposed that was due to Merlin's magic so he was glad for it. Finally, he was able to connect his eyes with Merlin's, he moved a little to the side and Merlin's eyes followed, "Your eyes are focused and your pupils are retracting. That's good. No internal damage."
Merlin shook his head trying to clear it, closing his eyes in concentration and feeling disturbed by the fact that he wanted to use his hands and was unable, "So remind me, Arthur, since when did you become a physician?"
He finally said his first coherent sentence and of course it would be to doubt Arthur's medical abilities.
Arthur scoffed in mock anger, "I do listen from time to time to Gaius,"
"Oi, Merlin! Are you awake? How are you feeling, buddy?"
Merlin snapped his eyes open looking at Arthur for answers.
"Forgot to tell you," Arthur said resignedly, "Gwaine and Owen are here,"
A second of silence and then;
"Gwaine?!" Merlin screamed as he craned his neck to see over Arthur's chest but failing, "What?! What are you doing here?! How?!"
"Merlin, do you remember what happened?" Arthur said cutting Gwaine's probably dramatic and certainly long story, he lowered his voice while Gwaine loudly complained.
Merlin jerked unsure, memories softly clicking together, "I do. We were ambushed in the trees after leaving well— you know who."
Arthur nodded grimly, "You think you can free us from the ropes?"
"Yes," The sorcerer looked around the empty forest, he bit his lip in anxiousness searching for any signs of their kidnappers, "But that's not what worries me,"
They shared a look and they both deflated against the tree at the same time.
"I know," Arthur said angrily, "they took the vase, the fucking vase, Merlin, and my ring."
Merlin threw his head back trying to think, "I'm not even worried about that. I had stolen things from more difficult places than a thugs' camp but with Gwaine and Owen here…"
He didn't need to say more; with Gwaine and Owen here using magic was going to be difficult. If not almost impossible. Arthur wondered how Merlin had managed to use magic around Camelot for so long with no one there to cover for him.
Arthur grumbled, "I never thought that seeing my own knights would be bad news,"
"Oi, what are you two secreting about? I'm bored out of my mind, care to share?"
"I'll think of something," Merlin whispered as he urged his magic to start healing him, maybe he could expand his senses to see and hear beyond, however, he needed to recover first.
"Merlin is awake, he's fine," Arthur informed, "Now we need to figure a way out,"
Gwaine shrugged at the best of his abilities, "Been trying for the past few hours, all we can do is wait for them to come back, eventually, they will have to untie one of us,"
"I'm more worried about the fact that they might not come at all," Owen voiced what Arthur had been thinking, "We have been here for hours,"
Gwaine glanced at Arthur for a long moment and Arthur got the feeling Gwaine was hiding something.
"What is it Gwaine?" Arthur finally asked, beside him he could feel as Merlin shifted trying to see over his chest.
"I know only two reasons why they would take so long," He said grimly, "Either they discovered that one of us is important or something they stole is." Gwaine threw Arthur a pointed look.
"So you think they discovered who Arthur is?" Owen asked alarmed.
"Yeah… could be," Gwaine said mysteriously but didn't elaborate.
Arthur and Merlin glanced at each other; either that or they discovered that the ring and the vase are enchanted, magical objects.
And if Arthur's suspicions were true and these are the bandits that have been attacking the druids… well, they must know by now they have been dealing with magical people… Oh, God. If they figured that out… they might think they were druids. Making not only their items valuable but also Merlin and him.
This was not good.
Arthur had come to understand magic is either sold or killed. Either option, however, did not settle well with him.
Merlin and Gwaine were talking now while Arthur was trying to think fast for a plan, he wasn't that worried about their lives, worst case scenario Merlin could use magic… but if word got out that two knights of Camelot were rescued by someone who looked like Merlin…
If word and gossip reached his father…
Arthur realized the world was not ready for Merlin yet, his kingdom was not ready for magic yet… he even wondered if Gwaine or Owen were.
"Someone is coming… three men" Merlin whispered softly, only for Arthur to hear, the prince turned to see Merlin's concentrated face, a second later his golden eyes turned blue again and the sorcerer looked towards Arthur, "Arthur, what do we do?"
He knew what they ought to do, now that they were all awake leaving was the realistic thing to do. The responsible idea. However, leaving meant leaving the vase and the ring behind as well, it would mean losing what they both had fought so hard to keep. Who assured Arthur that by the time he was able to come back with reinforcements the camp would be there? Bandits don't stay in one place too long, or keep possessions for longer; they would probably sell the vase and the ring, the faster they sell it the faster they take evidence away from their hands.
"I see them," Owen alerted, and he didn't need to say more for all of them to grow quiet and alert.
"Remember, you don't know us," Arthur whispered, Gwaine's stare was fixed on his boots but Arthur knew he had listened. He leaned back and looked at Merlin. Soft voices were carrying through the air.
"Arthur, I—" Merlin said anxiously but Arthur beat him at it.
"You have my permission," Arthur whispered towards him, he hoped that phrase alone was enough to convey his feelings, "I trust you,"
Arthur turned his stare away just in time to see two men appearing around his vision.
"Well, well, well, look who has finally decided to wake up,"
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Vance and Garret moved towards the woods in a rather sluggish walk, they were tired and they were hungry and honestly, they should be given a few days off, after all, it had been them who had led the party that had captured the knights in the morning and two peasants later in the day.
They should be rewarded! Two successful robberies in a day, even if two had died, well—successful enough, even if they say so themselves.
But no, of course they could not have a few hours to rest; they were also in charge of retrieving the prisoners' belongings and sort them out as Mace had ordered.
The goods they had stolen would be divided for everyone in the camp as usual, however, there was an unspoken but very visible line of hierarchy around the campground that everybody followed, if you dared to take when you were not entitled to, well, good luck trying to keep both your hands attached to your body.
It was a ruthless camp, strict, sometimes brutal but that's how they had managed to survive.
Vance and Garret were somewhere near the top of that hierarchy, and so they had been able to call dibs in a few goods. Garret was not sporting a new knight's sword, courtesy from the loudmouth and obnoxious knight and Vance had now a new ring placed around his index finger.
"I just hope they are awake, aye'" Garret said after a moment, "I hate to carry dead bodies,"
"Mace said not to kill anyone."
"Fuck what Mace said," Garret grumbled but Vance knew he would not disobey. Everyone was low-key scared of Mace.
However, it was strange indeed. Usually, any threats towards the camp were killed and eradicated quickly; warriors, knights, messengers. Anyone who could impose danger was taken care of, the rest were either sold or taken into the camp, willingly or not.
Vance had wanted to kill the four of them but their leader, Mace—which wasn't his real name but he had arms that could pass out as two huge maces so you get the name— had gotten curious about the information they had gathered.
Two knights of Camelot and two peasants incredibly near the druid camp. Mace, just as the rest of them, knew exactly who they were dealing with; the druid, the magical monsters, they were no fools, and yet, months into fighting a silent war against them they still had to figure out the exact location of the magical camp, somehow they always vanished right under their noses, not a single way to track them.
Bloody magic.
That is why they were so good at silent and sneaky ambushes, dealing with magical people had turned out to be a dangerous job; however, the recompenses outshined the inconveniences. Once they had captured a young druid girl, the whole camp lived for six months with the amount of money Uther Pendragon had been willing to pay for her.
They never heard of the girl again.
The discussion of what to do with the four unknown men with Mace had been quite interesting.
"The two knights are a rare sight but what about the other two? They looked pretty normal to me," Garret had said.
"You think they are druids?" Someone asked Mace, "They certainly don't look like druids,"
"And how the hell does that make a difference? No one besides us or the druids wander around these woods. No one else. And they are certainly not ours, are they?" Mace said, slapping his hand against the table for emphasis, no one flinched, "So either they are druids or they went to them for help, either way, they must know something about them and I wanna know what that is,"
"Or they are just two lost stupid villagers," Garret shrugged, "From Ealdor or Torbeor, maybe"
Vance shook his head, "They had horses and one of them was armed with a sword. No villagers owns a sword like that one, they are nobleman,"
The rest kept bickering about this for a long time; nobleman, villagers, druids.
Mace, however, kept his stare fixed on the table… two knights of Camelot in Cenred's kingdom. That alone was unusual. Then, later in the day, his men had captured two peasants, one of them a warrior, clearly, and one of them a scrawny looking man.
So a warrior protecting someone.
Most times his fool comrades couldn't see beyond the obvious. Stupid, most of them. Mace settles his eyes on the table where the belongings of the four men were scattered.
Mace scrambled around the possessions in irritation, nothing catching his eye; a golden vase that could be worth a few pounds, money, food, three swords, one book about the history of Camelot and… he did a double take at the book. Something was sticking out of it.
"This book, who had it? The villagers?" Mace asked raising the item.
"The knights,"
Mace hummed, opening it and—there it was. A folded piece of paper with the royal emblem. That was not unusual, what was unusual was the fact that it wasn't the king's emblem… it was a medical one.
Mace took it and ripped the letter open. He read the two lines, nothing of what it said made sense; however, he knew enough to know who the letter was referring to. It was referenced to Arthur, and everybody knew there was only one prince in Camelot.
"Garret what was the hair color of the warrior,"
"What?" See? Idiots. All of them.
"The color of the warrior's hair, from the ones you found later," Mace had to resist the urge to scream in anger, "The peasants,"
"One was a tall, lanky man, looked like a dead body to me already, blue eyes, pale skin, dark hair." Garret motioned with his hands, "The other one had dark hair too. Brothers most likely,"
Mace was not happy with these news, last time he had heard rumors about Arthur Pendragon he had been a tall, tanned man with blue eyes and hair the color of the sun. So maybe just a rich nobleman passing as a peasant as a safe way to travel.
In anger, he threw the piece of paper to the fire, so no prince, either way, he had plans for all of them, but first thing first; he was hungry.
The bickering around the tent stopped once he stood up to his full height, "Vance, Garret, figure out which one of the two traveling men cooks, we will take him. Leave the knights there, let them starve, I've been waiting to hear news from Camelot for a while now. I'll send Douglas later,"
Everybody suppressed a shiver, Douglas was the most brutal and cold hearted man in the camp, he was in charge of the 'interrogations'…to put it mildly.
"I want to know why they are here, where they were going, the four of them," Mace started to walk out, "And before you go find Luca and take him with ya', he will be our Eagle Eye."
He wanted to know with who he was dealing with, but until then he was just speculating and if there was one thing Mace hated the most besides having an empty stomach was not knowing.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"Well, well, well, guess who has finally decided to wake up?" Garret said out loud as he walked to stand a few paces away from the four captured man. No one answered. He glanced down at Merlin with an evil grin, taking notice of the blood on one side of his face, "Oi, boy, how is your head going? Think I might have gone a bit overboard with my knife right there,"
He laughed as he kicked Merlin's feet with his boot. Vance was watching silently, looking intently at the emotions flashing on the peasants' faces, the younger boy was silent as he kept looking down but he didn't miss the way the other one— the warrior one— shot Garret a look that if looks could kill Garret would be dead ten times already.
Vance raised a brow, interesting, so maybe they were brothers. Garret kneeled down to be at the same eye level with them and Vance let Garret do the talking for the time being. Vance noticed that the knights seemed to be watching intently.
"Usually we would have killed you four but luckily for ya' Mace has decided to keep you two alive," Garret said, as he pushed a grimy finger into Arthur's chest, "which sadly it's not good news either boys,"
"I'll take that for now," Merlin managed to answer,
Garret shot him a look, annoyed at being interrupted, "Now, I don't have time for the usual talk, we know you both are travelers so spill, who is the cook?"
Arthur and Merlin were dumbfounded for a second too long, long enough to annoy Garret.
"Well?! I'm not asking you for the meaning of life boys, talk!"
Merlin shot Arthur a look before answering, "I—I Am."
Vance shrugged, "That settles it then, take him—now is your chance to put that new sword to good use."
Garret straightened and pulled it out from his belt, smirking all the way, he opened his mouth to say something, however, whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the only man who would dare to say something,
"You are welcome," Gwaine tone was relaxed but his eyes were cruel, "best sword there is, fella, worthy weapon of a knight," he spat.
"Shut up, we are not even talking to you—"
"No, clearly you are not, but I'm taking the liberty to join the conversation, you see, I don't have the whole day," Gwaine said, "Free us now that you have the chance, mates, before—"
Garret moved away from Merlin and Arthur to stare down at Gwaine before kicking him in the stomach with his foot, Gwaine doubled over as far as the ropes would let him and spat some blood into the ground.
"Oi! Stop it! He can't even move!" Owen tried as he moved against the tree.
Arthur bit the inside of his mouth so hard he drew blood. Gwaine kept talking and bickering with the brothers, though almost every word just earned him a punch. Arthur's mind was fogging. He needed to choose now. In those precious seconds Gwaine had managed to get the attention away from them, Merlin kicked Arthur's leg.
"I have a plan," Merlin said softly,
"What is it?"
"You are not going to like it," Merlin said quietly, "But—"
"Oi, you two, stop talking!" Vance said with narrowing eyes as he walked towards them, that's when Arthur saw it, the ring glimpsing on his hand. His ring. He kept quiet but Vance saw the flicker of anger before he could hide it. Vance smirked, taking a dagger out of his pocket to cut Merlin's ropes, one by one, "Thanks for the present, by the way, perfect fit,"
He made a show to move his hand in front of his face with a smirk. Arthur was not known for keeping his head down, however, it looked like the time with the druids have helped because for once in his life he bit his tongue and kept quiet.
"That's right, let's all be smart 'bout this," Vance finished the ropes and stared down at Merlin with a grieve stare, "One movement wrong, boy, and all evidence that you ever existed will be your cold body on the floor, we clear?"
Merlin nodded, hands still tied by the front.
"Good," Vance said as he pulled Merlin to his feet by his shirt, Merlin wobbled as he forced his legs to move. To everybody else Merlin looked like he always looked; quite skinny, rather lost, a bit nervous and a tad clumsy, however, Arthur could now see the encouragement on his shoulders and his confidence shining coyly in his eyes.
Arthur knew he didn't need to worry about Merlin. He had seen Merlin tear apart a whole field in less than two seconds…and yet the prince worried when he was tugged by the arm forward with more force than necessary. That would leave a bruise.
"Wait, what are you going to do to him?" Arthur asked as he tried to get his ropes loose, "Where are you taking him? Take me—take me along. If you want a fighter I can fight! He can't—"
"No!" Merlin screamed when Vance mimicked Garret and kicked Arthur square in the chest. Merlin's brain was working overtime. Soon he would be out of reach of Arthur and what should he do then?
"Your brother is rather brave," Vance commented and Merlin jumped as he had been unaware of the situation, "but that will only get him killed—Oi, Garret, finish you stupid bickering and let's go."
"Fine," Garret stared down at Gwaine one last time before he rose to his full height, "We will take care of you lot later," He said sneering down at Owen and Gwaine, "You wanted to know what would happen to you, right? Well, I'm giving you a heads up, before the sun sets you will be begging to be dead, fellas, knights don't usually live to see the next day,"
Arthur trashed against the ropes silently, if Merlin leaves how will he find him? What were they going to do to him? Interrogate him? Torture him? What if he was unable to use magic?
"Edmund, It's fine," Merlin said as Vance tugged him forward and Merlin locked eyes with him for a brief second, "I will be fine,"
His eyes shined gold for the briefest of seconds and Arthur could feel the ropes lose imperceptibly around his chest.
I have a plan. Trust me
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Merlin thought he was ready to enter the camp, his plans coming to a stop in his head when he realized he had underestimated their enemies.
The camp was bigger and more organized that Merlin had thought, he had expected to find a dozen men fighting over the only two available tents. However, there were more tents sprayed along the wide field than he could count while a few bomb fires were warming up and illuminating the path of at least four dozen working men.
Not only that, but there was a wooden tent. Wooden as in build in the place tent. This camp had been here long enough to build and craft something. It was the first time he encountered something like that.
Merlin pushed the fear down and started to quickly analyze the situation, just like Arthur would've done.
Alright, first thing first, leaders, no matter where they come from they have the best facilities, so, the bigger the tent, the best chances that the leader was inside, but that didn't mean the vase would be there. Merlin wondered if the wooden tent was an armory. Vance tugged him forward, passing a couple of men carrying some logs that Merlin just managed to avoid and not crack his head open.
"Thank for the advice," Merlin grumbled and Vance just hauled him harder as an answer, guiding him to the south part of the camp. Merlin looked around, some thugs that didn't look friendly in the slightest threw him a look before they continued with their works.
Uh, so having unknown people here was not unusual. So far this camp was unusual.
Merlin wisely decided not to focus on that right now.
He kept inspecting the camp, he took notice of a strange large tent guarded by two sentinels. He narrowed his eyes. If it was guarded it was worth looking inside it.
"Well, I bet Thomas will be happy to hear he was upgraded," Garret joked and by the way he evilly grinned Merlin wasn't sure how happy Thomas would actually be.
They neared an old man who, by all means, was cooking, the sight way too familiar for it to be anything else. He was bent over a large fire, cooking something in a huge and overused cauldron, the man, Thomas, stirred whatever was inside with a burned stick.
At least, Merlin thought grimly, the upgrade was fast. Thomas didn't even see it coming.
Garret took his sword—well, Gwaine's sword—out from his belt and neither Merlin nor Vance could utter one word before it was done. In one swift motion Garret had pushed Thomas away from the cauldron, one second the man was gasping in surprise, the next his throat was cut open, blood quickly drenching Thomas's clothes as he fell to the ground, lifeless.
"Was that really necessary?" Vance sighed annoyed as if this was a huge inconvenience rather that a brutal murder.
"What—why did you do that?" Merlin screamed, taking one step towards Thomas in hopes to do something, anything, however, he flinched away when Garret pushed Thomas body to the side of the forest as if he was carrying a stack of potatoes, "He, he—"
"He was a lousy cook," Garret dragged the words as he tossed the man's body to the side, he turned around and clapped his hands, "Now get to work, and let's hope you are better, uh boy?"
Garret raised his sword again in his direction and Merlin held his gaze steady, only closing his eyes at the last moment, however, the blade only cut the rope around his wrists and Merlin blinked as he felt the blood run to his hands. Vance was smirking at him as Garret just stalked away towards the large tent.
Merlin breathed in and out several times trying to process what had just happened in less than a minute.
"Forgive that brute," Vance said as he handed Merlin the dropped spoon, "But he is right, get to work… uh, what's your name?"
Merlin opened and closed his mouth twice before he could utter a name, "Will,"
"Alright Will, so, I'll make this clear for ya, alright? Try to escape?" And Vance pointed with his chin where Thomas' body was resting now, "Waiting for the night to make a run?" He again pointed towards Thomas, "Or any other clever plan?" And just for good measure, like a sick joke, Vance shrugged in the direction of the dead man. "That's it. I hope the message was clear, Will."
Merlin just nodded, in all the places he had been Merlin had never felt so out of place. Arthur and him not only needed to find their things and escape… they needed to come back and eradicate this group. He was still shaken from the brutal show of violence for he to be able to notice exactly what was wrong with this men.
"So, any questions, Will?" Vance asked tiredly as he looked around, Merlin opened his mouth but Vance raised a hand as to silence him, "No, you are not seeing your brother again. No, no use will be begging. He will be dead in a few hours along with the knights. Those questions are always first, be more creative," He said annoyed.
Merlin stuttered before he regained some composure, he looked down at the boiling water, trying to win time, "I—Ingredients, I need ingredients."
Vance raised his brows at him, ring shining as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Down to work, I like it," Vance motioned behind Merlin, five yards away were a few sacks of potatoes resting against a tree along with what looked like a stack of tomatoes, a few oranges that didn't look like oranges and a dead deer that looked fresh from a hunt. Vance saw the look on Merlin's face and laughed, "Will have to make do, now, I'll be keeping an eye on you, so don't think for a second—"
"I can't cook with that," Merlin played offended, at least he was left with Vance, he looked the most reasonable one.
"What—" Vance stared dangerously
"I mean, I—you guys could get food poisoned, those tomatoes are rotten,"
Vance raised his brows, clearly not interested in the slightest and he turned, ready to leave.
"I had food, in my satchel, I… I could manage a good soup with the potatoes, the deer, and the food I had there. I had some plants too that could help, well that is if…"
"If what?" Vance said annoyed, clearly wanting the conversation to be over.
"If you didn't place the food inside the vase," Merlin said shrugging, "You found a golden vase, right? The vase is poisoned, Edmund and I were hoping to get a good deal out of it in the black market—oh yes, it's poisoned, lethal viper's venom covers the insides of the vase, everything that touched it, poom, infected and well…" Merlin turned towards Thomas with sad eyes, "Dead."
"And you think I'll believe ya' uh?"
Merlin turned his eyes away and shrugged, steel eyes as he stared back, "You can always test it,"
Merlin waited almost breathlessly before Vance turned and called over his shoulder,
"Viktor," He barked to a young looking man, too young at least to be there, Merlin thought, "Bring the satchel from the South Tent, it's the one filled with food," He said as he narrowed his eyes at Merlin, never really looking away, "Be quick. And the golden vase? Tell Tobs to be careful with it, I need to talk with Mace about it before anyone touches it and you—" He said as Viktor left, pinning Merlin with a strong stare, "Don't try anything funny, because if I find out you lied about that vase and you were playing with me…"
Merlin smiled, "Wouldn't dream of it, I can't go anywhere right?"
Vance looked at Merlin up and down twice before he walked away, throwing one last look over his shoulder as he went to the same tent his brother had disappeared to.
Merlin's eyes, however, were following Viktor as he dodged and walked around the tents and groups of people until he reached the guarded tent. The man and he exchanged some words, Viktor pointed to Merlin and after a moment the man relented. He stepped inside and came back with Merlin's satchel.
Merlin quickly looked down at the cauldron, pretending to be interesting in the boiling water.
Bingo.
He found the vase.
Merlin walked over to the food pretending to be thinking, not exactly worried about the threats he had received, hopefully, he would be out of here way before sunset.
He sighed as he started to peel a potato just for the sake of doing something.
That is if Arthur ever recovers from the shock. Maybe it wasn't the greatest of ideas to talk to him inside his head after all.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Mace was in his tent waiting when Garret entered, the drapes of the tent billowed a moment later as if an invisible wind had ruffled them.
No one said anything; everything was quiet for a few moments before Garret finally lost it, looking rather fearful so some point to his right, "Knock it off, Luca! No one can fucking see—ugh fuck, do you have to do that?! You almost gave me a heart attack, you boy"
"You are not fun, Garret," Said some voice to his left.
There, where used to be two men in a tent now where three. Luca, a lanky tall young man, with blond long hair tucked into a ponytail gave a crooked smirk, he looked to have appeared from thin air but that was not the case, he had a cape in his hands that until a second ago had been invisible to the human eye.
"So, Eagle Eye? What did you found out?" Mace asked as if he had not witnessed anything out of ordinary. Garret took a few steps away from the blond man, he always managed to scare a few years out of his life.
"Well, I can say that I'm glad you didn't leave Vance and Garret alone, if that had been the case you would know nothing about those four," Luca smirked and Garret angrily crossed his arms. Nothing good ever comes from lashing out at Luca, the only magical being in the camp.
"Stop bragging and just tell me what I wanna hear, kid," Mace ordered and Luca shrugged, letting the one-sided banter die.
"You've got yourself two knights of Camelot, they are on a search of prince Arthur who is supposed to be around Ealdor. I managed to catch a few phrases here and there, and also, the warrior? Edmund if I heard right, he is a nobleman."
"I thought he was an escort for the lanky one," Garret said motioning outside the tent, "He almost fell twice while we brought him here, surely he's the one paying for protection."
Luca shook his head annoyed, "You see but do not observe!"
"I don't have an invisibility cloak like you to stalk people, you annoying brat!"
"But you have eyes, do you not?!"
"Stop it, you two!" Mace banged both his hands against the table, Luca and Garret grew quiet again, "So? He's a nobleman from Cenred's Kingdom traveling south, why?"
"This is where things get interesting," Luca smirked, "They are from Camelot, all of them. You see, the knights know the travelers, they were supposed to meet," The silent question ringed in the air, Mace was not going to ask and Garret was too stubborn. Well, Luca had to work with what he had. "How do you I know that? Easy, when Garret kicked Gwaine did you see the look on the other two? Edmund and Will are his names, right? Fake ones, I can bet. Well. Their faces spoke more than words. The four of them do not only know each other, they are friends."
"So those four were together? How come we found them separately?" Garret asked confused. Luca had to refrain himself from yelling at him.
"You are an idiot,"
"He is," Mace agreed as he sat down on his chair, Garret choose to stay quiet, huffing in silence, "They were meeting halfway, they were in charge of different parts of a mission. Something went wrong…. Probably. Either that or this nobleman is important enough that he needed an escort, so… who is this nobleman that requires two knights to escort him back to Camelot?"
"If he lied about his name we can assume someone important," Luca shrugged.
"And who is the other kid, then? If not a nobleman man too?" Garret asked, "Will, or whatever, who is he? It doesn't make sense that the nobleman and the warrior are the same person, then what use is him?!"
"Now you are asking the right questions," Luca shrugged, "He does not act like a nobleman, he's not a warrior, he's… he's the most mundane man I have ever seen,"
Mace rose from his seat, drumming his fingers against the table, "You two forget one thing; to survive either a man is powerful… or wise. Knowledge is power. The lanky kid knows something,"
Luca snapped his fingers like he had missed that piece of information, "Right. Two knights… a nobleman with the money… and the person who knows information. Vital information. You had a letter directed to Arthur Pendragon, right?"
Garret blinked, so Luca had been eavesdropping since the beginning, "You don't think…"
"They are the royal guard of Prince Arthur, I can bet my money Arthur is somewhere around these woods or towns hiding and those four know where is he," Mace began pacing the tent, "Take me to these knights and the warrior, I'll interrogate them m'self, I'm eager to know how much money Uther Pendragon will be willing to pay for his son,"
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Arthur, Owen, and Gwaine were hidden behind some bushes overlooking the camp from a little hill they had managed to find, close enough to see and observe from a vaguely safe spot, however, being close mean they could be easily be spotted and heard too if they are not cautious.
After Arthur had— finally— managed to break out from his total and utter shock at the fact that Merlin had talked to him inside his head, (Inside his head!) he had managed to untangle himself out of the magically loose ropes. (See: he was so shocked he was moving on pure instinct and years of practice, his face was as serene as always while inside Arthur was having a crisis).
"How the hell—" Gwaine stared when Arthur finally undid his wrist restraints and went to untie Owen and Gwaine, "You don't even have a knife,"
"The brute number one didn't do a good job tying me back when he took Merlin," Arthur said as Gwaine came free, "He loosened mine in the process,"
"Lucky us," Owen said as Gwaine and Arthur quickly undid his. The three of them stood up as they massaged their wrist and stretched their backs, they were alone for now, "Now what?"
Gwaine looked towards Arthur for confirmation but the prince was already moving.
"Now we get Merlin,"
It didn't take them long to find the camp, nearer than they had expected. However, once they began hearing and seeing people they diverted to the north, rounding the camp until they found the little hill, however on their way there they noticed several things.
"Don't you find this…unsettling?" Owen asked.
"What?" Gwaine said as they all flattened against the back of a few trees when they neared the camp more than they had expected and were almost spotted by a few men carrying logs. After it was clear they ran further into the woods and began rounding it again.
"No guards." Was all Owen said.
And Arthur had noticed, the fact that they had no guards in the perimeter tells him that these thugs had not only been here for a while but also, that they were not worried about intruders.
Arthur didn't like this one bit, Cenred must have noticed by now that a camp this huge existed right in his border and yet he had done nothing about it. He shook his head, no use to think about that now.
Now, staring down the hill he almost waited for Merlin to speak again.
Merlin, you there? Arthur tried. Shoulders tense as he waited for a reaction.
Nothing.
Merlin!
Silence.
"God, I'm going mental," Arthur whispered.
"There," Gwaine elbowed him and Arthur snapped out of his thoughts, the obnoxious knight was pointing, "Merlin is there… cooking. Well, go figure."
Arthur glanced down and was relieved to see Merlin in one piece. On the bright side they were all free and relatively harmless; however, Merlin was immersed in the middle of an ocean of enemies. An ocean he still had no idea how to cross.
"I can take maybe ten or fifteen," Gwaine said as he did a quick counting, "Owen here maybe around seven,"
"Oi!"
"And let's assume you can take another ten, Arthur," Gwaine kept going as he gave a defeated sigh, "The numbers are not working with us, I'm afraid. But I'm all in if you are."
Even four against a few dozens sounded right suicidal to Arthur. He truly believed Merlin had a plan, but given the circumstances, he started fearing that Merlin's plan was to leave him there alone to deal with this on his own while Arthur and the rest escaped.
If that was the plan Merlin was right, he definitely didn't like it.
"Look, we could wait, once night falls it will be easy to sneak inside and get him," Owen said lowering himself to the ground, "We are outnumbered here,"
"Don't you remember we had an appointment before sunset?" Gwaine whispered as he lowered himself back to the bushes, "They are going to look for us, we have a few minutes if not less and—
Arthur, don't scream.
Easier said than done.
"Oh for gods—" Arthur almost yelled as he paced back into the trees hoping no one had heard him. Gwaine and Owen followed him with raised brows.
"Arthur?"
And please tell me you are already at the camp.
"Arthur, what is it?" Gwaine said looking around, hand raised for combat, "Where we spotted?"
Me—Merlin? Arthur tried tentatively, raising his fingers to his temples as he tried to control his beating heart. I am—I am at the camp. Arthur pressed his head against the tree in hopes to calm his nerves. God, he had not been prepared and he wasn't prepared when Merlin talked again as he almost jumped out of his skin.
Oh, please don't be having a heart attack. I'm sorry. This was the only thing I could think about with such short notice. Look, if you are here already look north, there's a tent, a small gray one. That's where the vase is, and don't bother trying to answer me, I can't hear you. It only goes one way.
There was silence before Arthur could hear Merlin's laugh, warm and bubbly as always (Inside his head!)
Well, either you are at the camp or you are probably having an aneurysm still tied to the tree. Please God, let it be the first. Arthur, seriously, if you are listening to me you need to just… pretend I'm there with you, alright? That should make it easier.
Arthur took a steady breath and tried to move when Merlin was there again, his conscious nagging in his brain. Warm and fuzzy and calm all at once. Somehow irrevocably Merlin.
Right, asking Arthur to not freak out over this? The clot pole jumps when my eyes shine gold, now my voice inside his head? Ugh, I should have called Kilgharrah instead.
Arthur was so sure this part was not meant for him to hear, however, it was what got him moving.
He? Arthur Pendragon, freaking out? He almost laughed. He had faced a dragon, a high priestess, had made just this morning the most important alliance of his life with the druids, he had seen Merlin's dead body in front of him showed by some magical lake.
Following dumb instructions from his idiotic friend couldn't be that hard. He could do this.
"I'm giving you a year of duties when we go back to Camelot," Arthur whispered incredibly annoyed that Merlin was subjecting him to his and yet could not hear him. That didn't stop him, though.
"Uh… Arthur? What, what happened?" Owen asked confused, sharing a glance with Gwaine, the prince choose to ignore them as he firmly walked back to the hill and leaned down. He looked at Merlin who was hunched as he worked on the cauldron, he seemed to be really concentrated in what he was cooking but now Arthur knew he was concentrated in talking to him.
Arthur blinked as he narrowed his eyes. It wasn't only the hunched posture but his shoulders too, what gave him away.
Merlin was tired.
Arthur blinked, the bubble of anger dying on his chest, so connecting with him mentally requires a lot of effort and magic it appears. That was not good. He saw as Merlin moved his head lower.
North. North. Gray little tent. Do you see it? I hope you do. God, is this even working?
Arthur looked the way Merlin indicated, he could be mad about this later.
"There," Arthur whispered, wishing there was a way for Merlin to know he was listening, "the things they stole from us are there,"
Gwaine looked that way too before pushing Arthur's chest towards the ground when a few men strolled near the hill. They were quiet until they heard their steps fade away.
"How do you know?" Owen asked.
"It's guarded," Arthur said for the first time noticing the man at the entrance and his two swords on his back. He knew Merlin couldn't hear him—which was a relief—but he was proud of this,"You are not that useless, Merlin,"
Gwaine and Owen again shared a look, Owen shrugged, "Maybe he got hit harder in the head than we supposed?"
"So what's the plan?" Gwaine asked, "We need to act now and—"
Whatever Gwaine was saying Arthur wasn't able to hear, Arthur's eyes focused on Merlin, who now had both his hands against the floor. Arthur felt Merlin's presence again and focused on listening.
It must be exhausting then, maintaining a connection with him. He wondered how many could do what Merlin was doing right now.
Vance is somewhere south. I'll make a distraction. Even like this Merlin's voice started to sound feeble. I'll get the vase.
"Got it, I'll get the ring," Arthur said, aware that he was talking to no one but he couldn't help it. As in cue, he saw Vance walking to his left as he gave orders wherever he went, that's when Arthur took notice of the little wooden tent. His brain short circuited for a moment. Something was off about this camp, the way it was organized, the clear hierarchy among the men, even the tents.
He couldn't ponder this anymore as Gwaine slapped his arm and pointed in another direction, the three knights watched as a man, so tall and bulky he could break Percival in two, exited a large tent along with Garret and a lanky blond man.
"Arthur, whatever you want to do let's do it now," Gwaine urged him as they saw them take towards the forest, "I think our sunset appointment has moved a few hours early,"
"We need to wait," Arthur said looking around the camp in search of anything out of ordinary, for Merlin's signal, but nothing was happening, "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, do it, Merlin."
"What? What is he doing?" Owen asked confused, "What is going—"
And then a scream pierced the air.
"Fire!" Someone screamed, "Fire, someone, help!"
Arthur looked around, a tent was on fire, sprouts of fire burning everything in its wake. They heard another explosion sound by the other side.
Another fire, another yell.
People, who had been lazily working around and doing errands, got to their feet, confused between putting off the fire or diving for their swords.
"Where is Mace?!"
"I need water here!"
"Are we being attacked?"
Another fire started east and he didn't need Merlin's voice to guide him.
"Now! Owen with me," Arthur jumped from the hill and quickly made the few meters down in the middle of the panic that engulfed the entirety of the camp, "Gwaine go and help Merlin,"
"Where are you going?!" Gwaine asked, "We should not—uh, damn it."
Arthur and Owen were already running south where they had last seen Vance, quickly mixing in the middle of the chaos. Gwaine huffed in annoyance as a soldier ran towards him with an empty bucket, he trusted it into his hands violently.
"What are you doing standing there? Get some water will ya'?" The soldier did a double take of Gwaine's face, "Wait a seco—"
Gwaine just knocked him out cold with the underside of the bucket. He dropped it, choosing to exchange it in favor of the sword that was resting by the side of the unconscious man now.
"Thanks, buddy, this will work,"
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Merlin rose to his feet once he heard the yells and turmoil that was being created in the camp. He took a second to concentrate and take a steady breath before moving, he had barely managed to connect with Arthur, and yet he felt already drained from energy, he was recovering fast, canaling his magic through his veins already, however, he couldn't pinpoint exactly what had happened.
It wasn't unheard of magical being connecting with not magical people. There was a sect of magic that could do this, the Ameritas where specialized on torturing people with their minds. And yes, connecting with other magical beings was not easy, granted, but decidedly not this hard. He had never before felt this way while taking to Kilgharrah or Iseldir, never so out of breath as he was now.
It was as if Arthur, and every second they had been linked mentally, had been stealing and suctioning every single drop of his magic, not enough to make him feel weak enough to not move, but enough to make him worried. He couldn't understand why, though, was it because Arthur had been born out of it?
A man came running his way and Merlin barely had time to dodge him.
Alright, right now there were more important things to do; like finding the vase. He didn't wait any longer as he crossed the ocean of people; he ignored everything else and ran directly to the armory where he had seen Viktor take his satchel from. As he dived and dashed around the field, he created little fires as he went while he made the thugs carrying water trip over their feet.
He might not be able to take the whole camp down but he could try.
He neared the armory, now unguarded, and dashed inside, there were more things in there than he had expected, money from all parts of the world where clumsily saved inside a wooden box, swords of all kinds were lined against one table, in another jewels, vases, and trinkets were shining merrily at him.
Not only that, but the moment he stepped inside he could feel it, he had not noticed it before, not really looking for it, but he could feel the magic lying around in some artifacts.
What is this place?
He didn't have time to stop to think about that, he felt more than saw the vase on the corner of a table, he took it and placed it inside his satchel, as he went to the exit he knocked off some goblets, coins fell to the ground and scattered around. For a second he was distracted.
He lowered himself to take one between his fingers.
These golden coins… are from Camelot. Not surprising, since they are burglars but—
Merlin did a double take at the tent, ignoring the cries and the yells outside and the nagging feeling that he should be moving. But again there was something in this camp that didn't settle with him.
No normal burglars acted like these ones… a tent filled with things? Just like that? Not even guarded properly? He looked around at the strange trinkets, saving the coin inside one of his pockets. That's when a little-crafted box called his attention, it was filled to the top with Camelot's coin currency. Wait a moment.
He knew this boxes. They were made for royalty.
Merlin snapped the box shut, and there, in the middle of it, was the royal emblem of Camelot engraved on top of it. He passed a hand on top of it.
What was Uther's emblem doing here?
He heard the yells outside the tent dying and he knew he needed to move, in a second Merlin's eyes shined gold and the top of the box came off, he saved it in his satchel too. He could talk about this with Arthur later, right now he needed to leave.
The tent opened and Merlin turned, hands raised ready to place a spell when he saw Gwaine peeking inside.
"Merlin, what is taking you so long?!" Gwaine said as he looked around, eyes huge at the little treasure he had found, he whistled, taking a few rubies from a near pedestal, "Well, now I get it, buddy,"
"Gwaine!" Merlin said relieved as he dropped his hands down, "You managed to break free!"
"I'm happy to see you too, but let's save the stories and hugs for later," Gwaine grumbled as he dived to take Owen's sword from the stack of weapons, dropping the rusty sword he had been fighting with, "Alright, no time for souvenirs, let's go,"
"Where is Arthur," Merlin asked as he stepped outside the tent behind Gwaine, he realized that the chaos was slowly dying as most of the fires had been put out. Merlin's eyes scanned the field, there, several yards away, they both witnessed as Arthur extracted a sword out of Vance's chest, Owen was already fighting as he covered for Arthur. Arthur quickly dived to take the ring out of Vance's hand before wearing it again, leaning away just in time from being impaled.
Now that the thugs seemed to realize that they were under attack they had forgotten all about the fires and had gone to round up on Owen and Arthur.
"We need to do something, we are still outnumbered, we need a distraction," Gwaine said as he looked left and right, two thugs took notice of them and yelled, Gwaine was almost expecting them as he enrolled in a fight with both.
Merlin took his chances, Arthur and Owen were cornered against the wooden tent, with no other thought in mind he raised his hands as he turned his eyes towards the abandoned wooden building, soon fire started erupting from the inside out. The sounds of the fire eating wood reverberating around the camp.
The consuming logs fell to the side, creating a barrier between Owen and Arthur and their enemies, leaving them with a clear path south.
As Gwaine won his battle he turned and stared unabashedly at the roaring fire, Arthur and Owen retracting back miraculously unharmed.
"C'mon, let's round the camp and meet with them so we can get the hell—damn it, damn it, damn it!" Gwaine grabbed Merlin by the collar of his shirt. Merlin lost concentration of the flame as Gwaine tugged him behind the tent. Mace was walking—more like running—down the path shouting instructions left and right, what caught their attention, though, was that the fires began dying as if someone was controlling them.
That's when they noticed a blond man, standing on top of the hill that Gwaine and Arthur had been before, he had his arms raised and his eyes shining gold, as his arms lowered so did the flames.
Merlin almost choked. They had a sorcerer?!
"We need to go. Now."
"But Arthur—"
"Now, Merlin," Gwaine said as he tugged him toward the woods.
"I'm not leaving him!" Merlin screamed, "Arthur!"
From across the field, Arthur followed Merlin's voice.
Arthur mouthed something that Merlin couldn't understand, however, when he took a step back the signal was clear; retreat. Merlin felt something heavy tugging at his chest, after being with Arthur every moment of the day suddenly departing seemed like the wrong idea.
They could try and make it through the field. He was about to propose this, however, they were close enough and yet too far apart when Mace ran in the middle of the camp swaying his sword violently, cutting the air as if slicing invisible bodies as he yelled in blind rage, looking for the reason his camp was destroyed.
Everyone stopped.
For a moment the only sounds that could be heard were those of the fires slowly dying, the calm before the storm followed by the smell of burned bodies, earth, and smoke. But that silence only lasted a second.
Owen and Arthur began walking back before sprinting south.
"Intruders!" Someone yelled. Gwaine and Merlin turned to see that a few thugs had spotted them already, pointing at them with a sword, Gwaine and Merlin didn't stay to hear the rest, "We were being attacked while they were stealing from us! Right under our noses!"
All Merlin could hear was the pulse of his heart in his ears as he willed his legs to move faster, to take him further as he ran behind Gwaine inside the woods.
"FIND THEM!" And the yell of Mace echoed in his ears and in his bones.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Merlin and Gwaine had been running for a few minutes now, neither of them knew exactly where they were but they kept on jumping roots and avoiding arrows as they went. The yells of rage not close enough to be a threat but close enough to put them both on edge.
Every once in a while Merlin would turn, taking advantage of his place at the rear and would throw a spell or two to make the thugs trip, however, when one fell down another seemed to take his place.
"Oh, damn it," Gwaine and Merlin turned to the front, both of them almost going down a cliff that was oh so inconveniently interrupting their run in the forest. They both quickly looked left and right, the canyon seemed to go for miles and miles and just one look down and Merlin was sure Gwaine and him would be dead before getting to the bottom.
The yells and sounds of the thugs started to sound louder.
"Alright, Merlin, any ideas?" Gwaine looked at him with such an intense look Merlin took one step back, "Any ideas at all? Something you would, I don't know, want to share?"
"No, I—we, there's no time to climb down," Merlin started to move to the side, "We need to keep running down the side, c'mon,"
"They will take us down in three seconds with an arrow in open field," Gwaine turned as he faced the forest where the thugs would be appearing any second now. They were surrounded. "Merlin, last few words before, you know, we die?"
"Gwaine?" Merlin asked confused because Gwaine never talks like this.
Gwaine crouched a bit on his spot as he readied his sword, he gave a long breath, like if he had tried everything and yet had failed. An arrow came flying and passed the air between them. Merlin clutched his satchel feeling the weight of the vase in it. Whatshouldhedo, whatshouldhedo?!
He could knock Gwaine out and take care of the thugs on his own, right?
"Merlin, mate, buddy, I think now is the perfect occasion in which we both can stop pretending that you are not a sorcerer and that I do not know because I'm in need of some magic right now," Gwaine huffed as the first thug showed around the end of the forest, he stopped as he smirked, noticing that things were working in their favour, Gwaine turned slightly to see the shocked face of Merlin and grimaced, the thug came running his way and Gwaine cursed under his breath as his sword collided with his.
"Alright, how about if we skip the stunned and shocked part anytime soon?!"
A/N: I just can't make short chapters, can I? I just like to drag things up! But first thing first; sorry for not updating in SO LONG! It's just… I felt like the will to finish has totally left me. For a few days I thought on giving up. BUT I HAVE ALREADY WRITTEN THE END OF THIS STORY. So no matter how long it takes I will finish this. I just had to read all your reviews to give me back the confidence to sit and write this.
Also on January 27 we reached one year with this story! ONE YEAR. That is almost unbelievable. So this is like a late anniversary gift! Thank you for all your reviews, they warmed my heart.
1-So one question answered! Gwaine was the person who back on chapter 8 heard the discussion between Lancelot and Arthur. So he had always known, that is why he always acted a bit different with Merlin, he had been hoping that Merlin would tell him but, alas, he kind of had to force the situation. I'm so glad he finally got to say it out loud. We will see Merlin's reaction about this next chapter.
2- I will not address this in the future, I have decided to cut the adventure with the thugs from three chapters to only this one, but these thugs are like the black market for the kingdoms, the fact that they felt so sure and safe in their camp and had so many jewels and treasures is because they are hired by kings to do jobs they don't want anyone else to find about. Uther has paid them to find druids, the girl they were talking about had been a druid girl, back a few years ago, when he would try to force druids to bring Ygraine back from the dead, of course, that never worked.
They had a wood tent/building because that's where they keep the druid prisoners when they do happen to get one. Magical wood that would prevent them from doing escaping.
3- I used like 10 references from HP, Sherlock (WHO SAW THAT ONE LAST EPISODE OMG?!) and if you squint even a few Game of Thrones references. Hope you caught the part in which Merlin says that three people were coming but only two show up, that was because Luca was there under the invisibility cloak. Ji,ji. Luca is not druid, relax, but he does use magic. He is a traitor to the magical world I guess.
4- Well, that's it! Hope the chapter wasn't boring. I don't know when I will update again but it will be hopefully sooner than a month. I already started it!
Hope to hear from you guys! Lots of hugs!
-Juliet'lovestory-