Hi everyone!

Updates will be a little slower due to the fact that I'm away with barely any internet.

Enjoy the third chapter!

Merlin stood at one end of the pitch along with Dennis and George. They watched as people from Camelot, Petturi, Féroce and Credulus ran down the track made for the servants. The servant's first game was the Running Race, which involved twenty-three races and twenty-three servants from each kingdom (all male, of course). The servants crossed the line again, which symbolized that the twenty-second race was over, and time for the twenty-third.

Problem was… Merlin was running in this race.

"Don't worry," Dennis said, slapping Merlin on the back… Hard. "If there's one thing I know you're brilliant at its running away from scary things." Merlin looked at Dennis blankly.

"Thanks," he said turning and looking over at the man who had tried to punch him yesterday. He pretended to cut his own throat then pointed at Merlin. "I think."

"That the friend I've heard about, Merlin?" George asked, swinging his sword over his shoulder. "Looks like a lovely fellow."

"I'm racing that." Merlin said, still looking at the other man. George turned to Dennis.

"I'm off, got to get good seats if I want to watch Merlin be pounded into the dirt." George quickly scurried off to the little stands that the servants had made. Merlin huffed and sat down like a little kid on the grass. Dennis kneeled down beside him.

"Look, he's big, you'll beat him easy," Dennis said, trying to be reassuring.

"I've seen him run, he's far faster," Merlin sulked. Dennis smiled.

"Just leave everything to my brilliant plan, Merlin." Merlin turned to Dennis."Are you going to cheat?" .

Dennis shrugged.

"No rule saying I can't," he smiled. He nudged Merlin. "Oh come on Merlin. No one wins these games by playing fair, never have." He laughed. "Anyway, you are the best at running away from scary things…" Dennis got up and wondered off. Merlin gulped loudly.

He did not like that sound of 'scary things'.

Merlin got up and walked over to the starting line. He lined up along with the other three runners. The man that had tried to hurt Merlin the day before glared at him, and Merlin felt even more nervous. Merlin tried to look ahead and not at the man. He tried to block out the thought of Dennis's plan. Merlin looked ahead and thought only of the race. Run to those barrels and back, winner is the one who crosses the line first. Simple… If only Merlin was fast. Merlin stared ahead and focused. Merlin heard servants cheering for their kingdoms, cheering for the servants… Cheering for him. It felt good to be cheered on. Merlin almost likes all this… Almost. Merlin heard the countdown begin.

Three…

Merlin heard something behind him… Barking?

Two…

Merlin looked behind him to see Dennis leaning over a wooden box, smiling gleefully, and, running towards him, a big black dog. Teeth sharp with foam coming out of its mouth and eyes looking ready for a kill. And Merlin was the kill.

One…

Merlin ran.

He sprinted ahead of everyone else, as the dog barked viciously at him. The dog ran past the other runners and ran straight for Merlin, who was running anywhere as long as it was away from the dog. He reached the barrels before anyone else did and jumped straight over them… As did the dog. Merlin ran round the barrels and started running back to the finish line. He looked up and saw the one thing that he needed to get to and fast. Merlin picked up his speed, gave it everything he got and just ran. Sadly, for Merlin, the dog decided to run faster too. Merlin could hear the other servants cheering him on, shouting his name, crying out to him to run faster. Merlin didn't ignore those cries, he did as the asked.

Merlin crossed the line. The crowd of servants cheered. The other competitors crossed the line, huffing and puffing and coming to a stop. However, Merlin wasn't with the other racers. Dennis smiled as he looked over at Merlin.

"DENNIS!" screamed the young warlock. Dennis laughed at the sight of Merlin. The dog barked at him and Merlin climbed higher up the tree. He looked just like a cat.

Dennis was right; Merlin was the best at running from scary things.

Lancelot blocked the sword with his shield, spun round and hit the man on the leg. Gwaine then smashed his shield into the man's face, sending him backwards to the floor. The two were fighting in a Double Sword Battle. They were up against two knights from Féroce and they weren't the easiest of people to beat.

As Gwaine knocked the other man down to the ground, he hoped thatMerlin was having an easier time.

Merlin. Was. Dying.

Another man from Féroce smashed into him, sending him flying to the ground. Mud splashed up all over Merlin's face. He coughed some out of his mouth and tried to get quickly to his feet. The game of Mixed Ball had been going on for about half an hour now, and Merlin already felt like falling to the ground and crying because of the fact that every part of his body screamed with agony. He was more exhausted that the trial game they had played before the Kingdom had arrived. Merlin got up and ran after the other player. Merlin darted in front of him and snatched the ball out of his hands. Before Merlin knew what was happening, six players on the other team were piling on top of him. Merlin moved about under the men and managed to stick his head out from under them all. Crying out for help, the referee shouted out that the game was paused, until everyone got off Merlin. After six heavy men hand climbed off poor Merlin, he stood up. He looked down at his clothes to see every inch of himself covered in mud. He then looked up at the sky and sighed, shaking his head.

On the sidelines, Gwen walked past many servants until she saw Percival and her brother, Elyan. They were chatting and commenting on the game. Gwen was quite surprised that they actually cared about what was going on with the servant's games. With a few steps, Gwen was part of the conversation.

"Hello Elyan, Percival - wouldn't have thought you two would be watching this" she said, resting her basket that had some bread cheese and wine in it from some serving girls for Dennis and Merlin. The pair had become very popular with all the serving girls and because she was Merlin's friend, she was the perfect person to give the gifts.

"This is Merlin, Gwen, we have to watch," Elyan said innocently, which Gwen did not like.

"He's our friend; we should be there to cheer him on!" Percival paused. "And help drag his lifeless body off the field," he said grinning.

"What are you talking about?" Gwen asked. However, just as she asked, two big men ran past Merlin, one on either side of him. Just as they ran past, they anged against Merlin, flattening him. As the men bounced off him, Merlin flew after them backwards, landing viciously on the ground. Merlin wasn't moving. Gwen's hand flew to her mouth as Percival and Elyan ran onto the field and picked Merlin up then dragging him off. The referee called everyone off the pitch and the other two teams flooded on.

Elyan and Percival let go of Merlin to see if he could stand, but he fell, clinging onto a barrel for support. Camelot's team gulped down water and cleaned their faces.

"Did we... Did we win?" he gasped between breaths. Why was he finding it hard to breathe?

"No, it's a draw," said Dennis, kneeling down beside him. "0 – 0, thanks to our great defence..." He looked down. "We suck at attack big time," he whispered. Gwen placed the basket on the barrel.

"Some serving girls wished me to give you this," she said, taking off the blanket on top to reveal the bread, cheese and wine.

"Cheers Gwen love," Dennis said picking up the wine and getting the cork out. "Just what I need," he stared gulping it down. Gwen stared at him mouth open and after a while Dennis noticed. "Sorry, do you want some?"

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear-"

"No you didn't."

"This is for you and Merlin."

"Merlin's happy with just the bread and cheese"

"What makes you say that?" Gwen said throwing her hands in the air.

"Cuz he's almost half way through the cheese," he said, knocking back the wine again. Gwen looked down at Merlin.

"Merlin!" she said, looking at Merlin, who was holding cheese in both hands and trying to chew a massive mouthful. He looked up at her, feeling very small.

"Porry, hould poo hike hum?" he asked, holding up a handful of cheese.

"No! Just..." Merlin forgot about Gwen the second she said 'no' and went back to eating the cheese. Dennis sighed and walked up to Gwen.

"Look, lady, I get the girls and he gets the gifts, unless its wine cuz that's mine... Hey, did that rhyme?" Dennis asked, smiling cheekily.

"I hink so," Merlin said between a mouthful, looking up for a moment. Behind Gwen, Percival and Elyan were trying to control their laughter. Gwen flew her hands up completely, walking over to a box and sat down on it. Dennis smiled. Another worry out of the picture.

"Right, listen up," Dennis called out to his team. "We and the enemy are drawing. To save time, the other two teams are playing now then we will play Féroce again, but this time we will win. We will be as brutal as they are – knock them off their feet – be quicker than they are, we are already fast enough. We just got to focus 90% on defending and 10% on attacking –"

"Shouldn't we focus more on attacking?" questioned Merlin.

"No, Merlin. If we drop the percentage any lower we can kiss our chances of winning goodbye and – stop eating all the bread and cheese! You'll be sick you twit!"

"But I'm hungry, missed breakfast."

"I don't care just quite it! Merlin you really are –"

An hour later of Dennis shouting at Merlin...

"- And this is why I can't believe you sometimes!" Dennis finished shouting, just in time for their game. "Right, everyone remember, we only need to score one point and we have won. Let's go!" called Dennis.

Camelot's team flooded onto the field. Merlin was last to get on. He didn't like this game what so ever. It was foul, eviler than Morgana, painful, hell itself and many other explicit things that Merlin thought about the game. He stood near the other end, by his team's goal post. He stood about a quarter of the field away from the goal and got ready for hell to start again. The referee held his hand up and then dropped it.

The game started it.

Men from Féroce smashed into Camelot's team. Merlin saw out of the corner of his eye, Gwen looking quite shocked at the sight of the game, and then fear for her friends and fellow servants. Merlin knew what was going on in her mind. She feared for him the most because he was 'not as strong as everyone else'. That was Gwen's nice way of saying 'You're weak' (the way Arthur and Dennis put it). Merlin sighed as he watched some of Camelot's servants tackle the other team's players, but failed, meaning they were able to run up the pitch and try to score... Meaning Merlin had to 'try' and defend. Merlin took two steps to the right and got ready to tackle the giant man. The man ran straight into Merlin, knocking him flying to the floor. He didn't move for a second, but then looked up at the man who was running off towards the goal.

Merlin got to his feet and started running at the man. He had seen Dennis and other servants tackle people, why can't he?

Merlin ran right up to the man and lunged himself and the man. Merlin slammed into the man, only to be pushed backwards a second later. He went backwards and landed on his butt hard, but he also caused the man to drop the ball.

"No Merlin! Don't even think about tackling!" cried Elyan.

"This game is about strength, and you have none!" shouted Percival.

"You have no manliness what so ever! Do not try to do the manly things! You are weak, weak! Don't attempt things that are out of your league!"

"You will die! You are weak!"

"Elyan! Percival!" Gwen said, shocked. "What are you doing?"

"Encouraging our friend to do the right thing," Elyan said, as if it is obvious.

"Yah, we'd like him to come out of this alive you know," Percival commented, carrying on for Elyan. Gwen looked at them and shook her head.

"Come on Merlin! You can win this! Come on!" she stared to shout.

As soon as Elyan and Percival saw Merlin starting to get up, they started to tackle Gwen and cover her mouth to shut her up, but she kicked, fussed and did not shut up. Merlin heard Gwen's cries and started to get up. He saw the ball and the other player picking it up. Merlin charged at the man, catching him off guard, so Merlin was able to knock him to the ground. As soon as he was down, the other player let go of the ball, and as quickly as he was on the man, Merlin was off him and reaching for the ball. He picked it up, the mud on it spreading all over his hands. Merlin looked at the goal then at the ball then at all the players running towards him. He was never going to make it past them all. He breathed in deep and dropped the ball...

He kicked it...

The ball went flying...

It went over the goal...

The servants cheered as Camelot had won...

Smash!

The sound of breaking glass echoed across Camelot...

"MERLIN! Same window twice!" cried Dennis in frustration.

"Are you sure he can kick it from this far away? It does seem a bit... Impossible," said King Cordon, King of Credulus.

"I don't know about anyone else, but if you are telling the truth, and he can kick it through a window from this far away, I won't throw you in the stocks for hours upon end," sighed King Vern, King of Petturi. All four Kings nodded in agreement.

"Look, we are telling the truth," said George. "We weren't playing too close to the castle. We were playing here and this is where Merlin kicked it from" he explained, trying his best to look like he wasn't scared of their all mighty power over his, and others lives. Dennis nodded towards Merlin to kick the ball.

Merlin looked quickly at all four Kings. Uther wasn't impressed to see him in the middle of all the trouble as ever. Wymer had tamed his once very wild beard and cut his hair slightly. His dark blue eyes were on Merlin, waiting for him to kick the ball. Cordon was a tall man with dark brown hair, combed neatly back. His orange uniform that symbolized Credulus stood out more than Camelot's red. Vern's grey, old hair was left to hang around his shoulders, seeking desperate attention and help. His grey coat of arms went perfectly with the rest of his lifeless glow.

Merlin dropped the ball…

He kicked it…

Smash!

The sound of breaking glass echoed across Camelot.

All four Kings stared in wonder at the broken window then at Merlin. George walked up to Merlin.

"You've hit that window three times now Merlin… What did that window ever do to you?" he questioned, looking up at it in wonder.

"I don't know… Maybe it's something to do with the fact that it's Morgana's old window…"

What did you think? Shall I put this story down as humor?

Review please?