Upon the sun's rising, Merlin went about his duties to Gaius and arrived back at the castle in time to wake Prince Garrick for their viewing of the town. He rapped his knuckles modestly on the door before letting himself in. He was surprised to find the prince already awake and dressing.
"I did knock." Merlin said in case he hadn't done so loud enough to be excused.
"It's not a problem." Garrick replied with an amused grin.
Merlin nodded but felt uncomfortable with not knowing what to do for the time being. Then he remembered that for Arthur, he'd be fetching breakfast at this time.
"I'll be back right away with your breakfast." Merlin told Prince Garrick who only nodded pleasantly.
Merlin was a little thrown by the prince's kind attitude even as he journeyed through the halls and down the stairs in the direction of the kitchen. Was it strange because Arthur Pendragon, Merlin's usual master, was so irritable in the morning? But surely he knew that there were kinds of people who appreciate the morning light's brightness.
He continued on in his thoughts all the way to the kitchen and was immediately handed Arthur's plate. He decided to himself to deliver both meals, but which first?
"Prince Garrick," Merlin said as he reentered the guest's room.
The prince was sat at the table already in a fresh blue tunic and brown trousers.
"I've brought your breakfast." Merlin told him. "I will leave you to your meal and return shortly. Do not feel rushed, however."
"Oh, Merlin," the prince said before the servant could fully turn away, already heading back to Arthur's plate which he'd left in the hall with a passing maid.
"Yes, My Lord?" Merlin replied.
"Rather than meet me here, meet me at the front steps." Garrick told him. "Prepare the horses in the meantime."
"The horses?" Merlin asked confusedly. "Where are we travelling to?"
"This castle is not the only place in Camelot and I wish to see it all." The prince explained. "We may be gone for a while so supplies may be necessary."
"…yes, My Lord." Merlin nodded understandingly, despite his actual confusion.
He left the prince to his food and promptly retrieved Arthur's plate from the maid in the halls. The prince wished to see more of Camelot? But Merlin had only thought of a few places in the upper towns that would be suitable for a prince. Perhaps Prince Garrick was one to stray from royal conventions.
With these thoughts in mind, Merlin found himself in Prince Arthur's chambers. Of course the young royal was still fast asleep, bare chest faced down in the sheets and his limbs strewn in opposing directions against the bed linens.
Merlin looked over his master with a brief sense of disappointment. Merlin wasn't entirely sure until now whether or not morning sloth was the sign of hard work or simply a bad trait. Surely the proof lied with the man who was already dressed and eating after a long journey west rather than the man who remained in his bed after a day of lounging, reading, and dining.
Merlin traveled to the curtains and pulled them aside with a bit too much pleasure at the sound of Arthur's exhausted groans and complaints.
"Good morning." Merlin announced in a chipper voice with the intention of annoying Arthur further.
"What on Earth are you here for?" Arthur grumbled into the pillows as he pulled his face into them in an attempt to reduce the mid-morning sunshine. "You're supposed to be taking care of Prince Garrick."
"I've brought your breakfast." Merlin told him. "And I thought I should let someone know that it may be late by the time we return to the castle. Perhaps a room at a tavern nearby will be necessary."
"It doesn't matter to me so why bother me so early?" Arthur sighed and his voice was muffled by the pillows.
"I'm just making sure you won't expect me back anytime soon."
"I think I can manage on my own." the prince said and finally looked up at Merlin, squinting in the sunlight.
Merlin stepped between Arthur and the sunlight to act as a temporary shade as the royal looked up.
"You know, you're so gangly that you hardly block the sunlight." Arthur told Merlin.
"Well, see you later, then." Merlin said and left quickly.
The light poured back into Arthur's eyes and made his head ache even when he rocked back on the bed and hid under the covers. Arthur waited until he heard the door shut before sliding the covers down and looking out at the side of the room opposite of the windows.
In perfect honesty, the idea that Merlin hadn't explained why he'd be out bothered Arthur. He knew that Prince Garrick planned to see Camelot and that his manservant would be needed, but did Merlin really have to stay with the prince? What knight depends on a weakling like Merlin?
Aside from the fact that Arthur had too much pride at the moment to ask where they were supposed to be headed, it also bothered him that Merlin felt the need to tell him.
"Honestly, does he think I'm Gaius?" the prince muttered to himself.
He glanced at the table where his food sat and he weighed his hunger with his sloth before reluctantly rolling out of bed and heading to the table.
At the same time that Prince Arthur was starting into his breakfast, just outside the castle Merlin and Prince Garrick were mounting their horses with little more than a brief wave from Merlin to Guinevere who waved back dazedly, wondering how someone like Prince Arthur would survive the day without his trusted manservant.
The journey began quickly for the two young men as they left the castle and as much as Merlin tried to give guidance on which places they could visit, Prince Garrick rode ahead confidently insisting he knew of a destination. Merlin could only try to keep up as the prince raced on.
"Where are we?" Merlin asked the prince after a two-hour ride eastward through the woods.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Prince Garrick grinned over his shoulder at the servant.
Merlin looked ahead again at the slim entrance to a cave. Its outer boulders were coated in vibrant green moss and had they stuck to the trail in the woods a while back, they would have walked right over it without even realizing. Now, at a lower level, Merlin spied the way into the cave down a shallow decline followed by a series of smooth and flat rocks, eroded by decades of rain.
"Secure the horses and I'll light a fire." Prince Garrick huffed as he dismounted his horse.
"Fi-"
Merlin clamped his mouth shut, remembering his place. Maybe he could retort to Arthur like that but despite the ease Merlin feels with Prince Garrick, he could turn out as hotheaded a man as Arthur and should anything go wrong, the king would have Merlin take responsibility.
The prince walked on without paying mind to Merlin's self-interrupted response. Merlin obediently went about securing the horses to a slim tree trunk nearby. When he turned back to the prince, he was surprised to find a small fire already lit and a shallow pile of firewood to keep it going.
"Impressive," Merlin told the prince. "You know it takes Prince Arthur so much longer? Actually, I'd say it takes him half an hour but you – you're a natural, aren't you?"
"Nature has always been kind to me." the young lord nodded.
"Born to be a prince, aren't you?" Merlin asked daringly. "Arthur could learn a thing or two."
"Are you two close?" Garrick asked.
Merlin gave him a questioning look and knelt down by the fire. Prince Garrick rested on a boulder rather than the ground.
"Nobody is close to Arthur." Merlin told Prince Garrick. "I mean, his father is of course- Lady Morgana as well. The idea of a royal being close with the help is a bit strange, isn't it?"
"I don't think it would be." The prince said with a serious but smooth shake of the head to disagree. "And it doesn't seem like Arthur was thrilled about me taking you away for the day."
"He hates training new servants." Merlin nodded with his eyes on the fire to hide the doubt he felt in his own words.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a terrible liar, Merlin?" Garrick asked him.
"…you know, this firewood probably won't be enough." Merlin said and rose to a straightened stance. "I'll go collect some now before it gets dark."
"We won't need the fire much longer." Prince Garrick sighed as he stood, bringing a snuffed wooden torch up with him from the ground.
"A torch?" Merlin asked in confusion.
"Someone must have dropped it as they were crossing over the cave's top." Garrick nodded. "I found it while preparing the fire."
Merlin did a quick scan of the area again as if for signs of other guests but found nobody lurking in the shadows or standing in the dimming light of the cooling afternoon. Upon turning back to the fire, Merlin found Garrick holding up a revived torch and he nodded in the direction of the cave.
Merlin put out the fire quickly with stones and followed after the prince as he ventured into the dark cave over slimy rocks that were lathered in soggy moss. The two found their way deeper in at a slow pace. All was going well until Merlin's foot slipped on a rock deeper inside the cave.
Prince Garrick dropped the torch and caught Merlin by his right arm and the left side waist of his tunic, stopping him just inches before the warlock would have struck a rock and fallen unconscious.
Merlin only caught a flickering glimpse of Garrick's worried expression before there was a sizzle, hiss, and then darkness.
Back at the Camelot castle, Prince Arthur was reading over the Camelot-Sythian treaty as practice assigned by his father, as if Arthur hadn't already had experience in the area.
Due to the lack of seriousness in his task, Arthur's mind wandered too easily. Each place where his thoughts found comfort reminded him of how even if he called for Merlin, he wouldn't come. Arthur dismissed it several times by reminding himself that it was nothing to mind since Merlin was not directly at his disposal for the time being but stray and faint thoughts picked sorely at his side. He couldn't help feeling that something was wrong.
Arthur sighed hesitantly but stood from his desk. He left the treaty open on his desk as he walked past his bed and the thick wooden table at the center of the room's open space. From there he pulled his sword with him by the sheath, hilt upward, and left his chambers.
Arthur sought out Gaius first and asked him of Merlin's whereabouts, claiming that Prince Garrick would be needed shortly. When Gaius claimed ignorance of the situation, Arthur searched for Merlin's servant friend and previous infatuation, Guinevere. She too told Arthur that she'd not been told of the pair's destination and that Merlin seemed quiet unsure of it himself, even as they left. This troubled Arthur even further. By now, his expression had grown serious.
He made haste in leaving the castle after informing the knights of the Sythian Prince's absence. They fanned out to all areas of inhabitance and even headed to the deeper woods in the eastern direction back toward Sythian. Along the way, Arthur's thoughts wove in and out of situation, unsure of whom he was searching for any longer.
Eventually, the only thing to come to Arthur's mind were the words that Merlin had come to wake him that morning for. "I'm just making sure you won't expect me back anytime soon…"
"Is this your idea of a joke?" the prince growled irritably.
"My Lord?" Sir Leon asked the prince. "I'm sorry?"
"No, ignore it." Arthur told him. "…we should fan out further. They could be somewhere far off the trail. We have to find them before the sun sets too far."
"I'm sure Prince Garrick could protect Merlin from bandits and squirrels in the meantime." Sir Leon assured the young royal.
"I'm not worried about Merlin!" Arthur argued curtly. "Prince Garrick is here on behalf of the treaty. Should something happen to him in our kingdom, it could mean war with Sythian! We must find them before it's too late. There are all sorts of dangerous things out in these woods, be them squirrels, bandits, or sorcerers!"
Sir Leon slowly nodded and Prince Arthur instructed the directions they should spread. After the other knights had commanded their horses outward, Arthur slipped down from his own. With an aching pain in his stomach from hunger, he rummaged through his bag for food.
Inside the satchel, he found only a single ruby red apple, for he'd been in such a rush to leave that he hadn't thought to leave prepared. The prince shined the apple on his tunic and went to take a bite of it but a flash of light brown fur flied in front of his eyes, knocking the apple out of his hand in the process.
The frightened squirrel scampered off as Arthur's horse brayed out in surprise. Arthur stood back to avoid getting hit by the panicked horse but in the process, he lost grip with the reigns and the horse galloped forward. Arthur tried at first to run after the horse but it had already passed several meters ahead. Arthur was left on foot in the darkening evening as the sun slowly started to sink. He worried more clearly this time if Merlin would still be alive when they found them, if they would. Arthur decided he'd prefer to find his manservant himself, but him searching alone in such a large forest? It was no time to act spoiled.
Arthur scanned the ground for his apple and found it by a tree trunk a little ways from the trail, having rolled down the sudden decline into the woods. He slid down on the heels of his boots from the trail and swept the apple up on his way. He nearly made his way back but a patch of dark brown contrasting notably from the surrounding yellowish-brown leaves caught Arthur's eyes.
He slinked back down the decline and all the way to the flat ground and took a closer inspection of the patch. It was an imprint of the overturned U shape of a horse's hoof. The fresh, sharp print meant it was recent, too.
Arthur silently but determinedly left the trail behind and ventured on foot after the trail of quick hoof prints in the soft earth. All the while, he could only think to hope that this trail would lead him to Merlin, alive and safe.