Chapter 8

Dawn broke over the forest the next day, scattering diamonds of sunlight across the floor and on Merlin's knees; he sat there, wondering if it might be the last time he saw daybreak, after what he heard last night, he wouldn't be surprised that it was. Even though Merlin didn't want to die, he didn't seem to want to put up a fight either, and he didn't know why. Or perhaps he did know why, and he just didn't want to admit it, as it seemed so childish.

The two brothers were being particularly quiet that morning, this worried Merlin, though he just decided it was probably because of the argument they had the night before. Or maybe it was because they were waiting for something.

Or someone.

A snap of a twig brought all three men to alert they looked up sharply and gazed around. Merlin was about to dismiss it as a bird or a small mammal and go back to his depressing thoughts, when he saw that the brothers had disappeared. Strange, how can people disappear so silently and quickly? It was just like on the night that they had kidnapped him, there was a scuffle behind him and Merlin realised that they one of them had hurriedly put out the last burning embers of the fire. Maybe they were waiting for someone.

Merlin could hear footsteps now, he was certain of it, they seemed to be circling the camp. He stood up slowly to get a better view of the forest, and it was another minute before the person came fully into view.

It was Arthur.

"Merlin?" Arthur's voice was a mix of worry and relief, thank God he had managed to find Merlin in one piece, but he was in a terrible state. He looked paler and thinner than before and his eyes were full of fear, there were three long scratch marks across his cheek and his hair and clothes were covered in dead leaves, though Merlin had hardly noticed.

"You actually came," for a moment Merlin's voice was full of joy, perhaps he wasn't going to die, and perhaps Arthur did care about him.

"Of course I came," said Arthur, "why wouldn't I?"

Arthur looked around; the forest was just how he remembered it, the three tents were still there, but one looked like it hadn't been used for quite a few days. He looked around at the clothes hanging in the trees like some dead animal, it was like a home and a prison at the same time, and it didn't look like the two remaining brothers had left Merlin all on his own. The cooking pots and a spell book were sitting next to fire no longer burning, but still smoking a little.

"You shouldn't have come," Merlin suddenly said, all the happiness had left him, and once again he was filled with dread as he remembered what the brothers had said. They had been waiting for this moment; something very bad was about to happen. "You can't stay here Arthur, you have to leave."

"What?" Arthur's face fell, he didn't understand.

"Just go now!" Merlin shouted.

Too late.

Adiemus burst out of the trees just behind Merlin, taking him completely by surprise, he grabbed Merlin's right arm, pinning it behind his back to prevent him from struggling free and held a knife to Merlin's throat.

"No! Let him go!" Arthur cried in horror, but Adiemus didn't move. Arthur drew his sword, but he didn't know what to do, if he tried anything Adiemus would slit Merlin's throat.

"If you want Merlin alive I think you should listen very carefully to what I say." Alik said, stepping out from the trees and standing between Merlin and Arthur, Arthur lowered his sword.

"What do you want?" He asked, his eyes glancing continuously from Alik, to Merlin, to the knife and back again.

"Three brothers, their minds full of knowledge and power of magic, hiding in the deep forest of a great kingdom, and you never thought why we were here? Why we risked our lives to travel here? Why we lured you out of the safety of your castle to find your precious manservant?" Said Alik coolly, as if he had been planning what he was going to say for so long, and he was glad he was now saying it, now that out of the four men he held the most power.

"No," Arthur admitted, this was no time to lie about anything.

"We may have power and knowledge," Alik continued, "but on the social scale we are nothing, we are the lowest of the low, people like you see us as nothing, as scum. We want more power, we want to look down on the people who treating us like filth, Camelot was once such a good place for people like us, but now it is nothing, anyone accused of using magic is executed, we want to change that. We want to go back to the old days where magic ruled the land. We want Camelot."

"What?"

"You may think us insane, and perhaps we are, but now Arthur, I have you in the very palm of my hand. We have a deal that you have to agree to, or Merlin will die, and you will have the privilege of watching before you die too."

Arthur was almost as pale as Merlin now, he looked at Merlin, who was still standing there motionless, he hadn't said anything, but his eyes were pleading to Arthur, they were telling him not to be stupid, he couldn't give Camelot away for just a servant. But at the same time Arthur could see the fear in Merlin's eyes, he didn't want to die, and Arthur didn't want him to either.

"I'm sorry," said Arthur, slowly shaking his head, "but you've got the wrong person, you may think I'm a Prince so I can do anything, but whatever I say you will still have a whole Kingdom that you will have to defeat."

"On the contrary," said Alik, his eyes gleamed as he thought of what he was going to do, "once you are out the way all we have to do is kill the King, then we will be able to take complete power of Camelot."

There was a long silence, a cold wind blew through the trees, but it was more the thought of Camelot being ruled by two evil brothers that him shiver, he tried to remain calm, his mind was thinking fast. He couldn't surrender Camelot to these men, but he couldn't let Merlin die, what could he do?

Just keep them talking! He thought, Alik has the most power at the moment, but you can change that, distract him!

"Well?" Alik asked, Arthur suddenly realised that everyone was staring at him, and Adiemus was still holding a gleaming knife to Merlin's throat.

"I'm sorry," said Arthur, he could feel himself relaxing, lowering his shoulders, even though he had no idea what he was saying, it seemed that he knew what to do, and he was waiting for the opportune moment. "I don't understand how your rule is going to work, there's one throne, but two of you."

"I'm sure we'll be able to arrange something," said Alik, looking over his shoulder at his brother.

That was when Arthur struck.

He brought his sword up, and was about to strike down at Alik's head, killing him where he stood, but Alik was quick. There was a clash of metal on metal as Alik brought up a long dagger, preventing Arthur from striking a deadly blow. He smiled cruelly.

"Too slow Arthur, too slow."

Then the fight broke out.

The first thing Arthur thought was to help Merlin, who Adiemus would surely kill now that Arthur had refused his brother's proposal and tried to kill him.

Before Alik could strike back, Arthur dodged past him and ran to Merlin, lashing out with his foot, he kicked Adiemus in the chest. Caught by surprised, Adiemus fell down, releasing his grip on Merlin and sending the knife flying into the air. Merlin struggled away from him.

"Merlin are you alright?" Arthur asked, worried that when Adiemus had fallen he had cut Merlin's throat.

"Arthur look out!" Merlin suddenly cried, pointing at something above Arthur's head.

Arthur turned just it time to see a tree brunch suspended in the air fly past him, there was a roar of anger from Alik, who tried to turn the enchanted branch around and attack Arthur once more. But Arthur knocked it out the air with his sword, breaking it in two.

"Fine little Prince! If you're happy to risk your life for Camelot then so be it, let's see who'd be the better ruler like this shall we? Whoever wins is the true future King of Camelot! Tell you what, to make it fair I won't even use magic, how does that sound?" Said Alik, brandishing his dagger. Arthur wasn't sure whether it was madness or just anger he could see in his eyes, but there was no time to work that out, or even to reply to Alik, as he was forced to dive out the way again as Alik lashed out at him with the dagger.

Arthur lashed back at Alik with all the force he could muster, having being trained to use a sword for many years. He didn't know how much skill Alik had, but he was determined to use all of his and get it over with quickly and get back safely to Camelot with Merlin.

Arthur was surprised at Alik's speed and strength, for a few moments Alik's chest had been defenceless; it would have been easy to kill him while he stood there. But in a matter of seconds Alik had brought up his dagger, which clashed against Arthur's sword and pushed it away from him.

Arthur brought his sword down then tried again, swinging at Alik's legs to try and knock him off his feet, but Alik laughed and dodged out the way before trying to stab Arthur in the head. Arthur brought up his sword just in time to stop Alik as the dagger narrowly missed his face. He tried to knock the sword out of Alik's hand, Alik moved aside but this time was too slow, and with a hastily stifled yelp of pain, blood trickled from Alik's hand. Again Alik tried to stab Arthur, but with another clash of metal Arthur pushed the dagger away from him.

This continued for several more minutes before Arthur realised thing's weren't going his way.

Although Arthur was a good sword fighter, Alik also knew what he was doing and he was quicker and Arthur had a horrible feeling that soon he would tire and Alik would be able to cut him down where he stood.

Arthur turned to Merlin, he suddenly remembered he was still standing there, both Merlin and Adiemus were watching the sword fight, both thinking of something they could do to help, but nothing would spring to mind and they both knew this was Arthur and Alik's battle. And Alik was older and stronger.

"Get out here Merlin!" Arthur cried.

"I can't leave you here!" Merlin said, he glanced at Adiemus who seemed to have completely forgotten that Merlin was right behind them, he was watching the fight intently. Arthur was too busy fighting with Alik to see Adiemus raise his hand to perform a deadly curse. Suddenly Merlin lunged onto of Adiemus, knocking him off his feet, a streak of blue light narrowly missed Arthur and collided with a tree, leaving a black and scorched hole.

The sudden movement out of the corner of Arthur's eye had distracted him, he turned around to see Merlin and Adiemus rolling around on the forest floor like children, throwing kicks and punches at each other.

The few seconds of Arthur staring at the Merlin and Adiemus was about to cost him dearly, Alik had been distracted and took these few moments to his advantage. Arthur turned back to his fight just in time to see Alik lashing out at his stomach with the dagger, he leaped backwards, but was too late.

Arthur felt a sharp searing pain just above his abdomen and looks down to see that Alik's dagger had sliced through his armour and blood was now trickling down him. How was it possible for the dagger to slice to easily through armour? Of course, Alik had said no magic, but he hadn't said no used of enchanted weapons, Arthur was lucky that his sword was still intact.

Maybe it was the pain that gave Arthur a huge wave of determination and strength, or maybe it was because tiredness was starting to get to him, and he wanted to use up the last of his energy before it was too late. Maybe it was Merlin's cry when he saw that Arthur was injured, that reminded Arthur what he was here to do. Whatever the reason, Alik was taken by surprise when Arthur lunged at him one more and his dagger almost flew out of his hands.

Merlin struggled up and away from Adiemus as he watched Arthur once again battling with Alik. He had Alik on a slight slope and he was now backing away slowly but wasn't about to give up the fight. Merlin knew he had to do something or else the two of them might go on fighting like this forever. He gazed around the two fighters, thinking of what he could do, and glanced down to see a tree root just behind Alik's foot.

This time it was both Alik and Arthur who looked up at Merlin's sudden cry, Arthur had no idea what Merlin had just said, but Alik seemed to know what magic spell he had just used, and was now looking around him, worried. He just caught the edge of the tree root that Merlin had sprung up out of the ground and hung there in the air like a rope, but Alik just managed to right himself, he turned to Merlin and laughed.

"Is that the best you can Warlock?" He cackled.

There was a terrible sound, like slicing.

Alik turned his head and looked up at Arthur, a look of complete shock on his face as Arthur drew his sword out of Alik's stomach.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion, Alik looked down at his gaping wound, blood splashed everywhere, he looked completely shocked about what had just happened to him. As Alik fell to his knees he looked up at Arthur again, blood trickling from his face, he tried to say something, for a few moments Arthur thought he was trying to smile about something, but then Alik fell backwards and became motionless.

The silence that followed seemed to last for an age, all three men just stood there trying to let what had happened sink in, they stared down at Alik, whose eyes were still wide open.

A sudden cry broke the silence.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS ARTHUR PENDRAGON!"

Arthur turned to see Adiemus standing there, a knife in his hand, pure wrath was written all over his face as he tried to fight back the tears of rage and sorrow as his second and only other brother lay dead.

Arthur was about to raise his sword again and prepare for another fight, when he saw Merlin standing behind Adiemus, Adiemus didn't even realise that Merlin was standing right behind him, ready to knock him to the ground. It was two against one now; it was obvious who was going to win.

But that was when Adiemus struck.

As fast as a bolt of lightning, he whipped round to Merlin, his knife raised, taking Merlin by surprise.

And drove his knife into Merlin's side.

For a moment Merlin stood there, clutching the hilt of the knife, as he wanted to pull it out, all the colour remaining in his face drained away, and there was nothing left in his eyes apart from a hint of fear and sadness. Then slowly he began to fall backwards.

"NO MERLIN NO!!"

Arthur threw down his sword, catching Merlin just before he it the ground. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. Arthur put his hand over the wound, trying desperately to stop the bleeding, but there was nothing he could do.

"Merlin stay with me please, Merlin can you hear me? Wake up!"

Slowly, Merlin opened his eyes and looked up into Arthur's, Arthur tried to give a comforting smile, but it was hard.

"You really did come." Merlin murmured happily.

"Of course I came Merlin, I could never leave you."

"But I thought you hated me."

"I don't hate you Merlin..." At first Arthur thought it had began to rain, a few drops had fallen onto Merlin's cheek, but then he realised it wasn't rain, it was tears, his tears.

"I'm really sorry." Said Merlin.

"What are you sorry for?"

"I betrayed you Arthur, I kept my magic hidden from you, I kept it a secret for so long. I should never have lied to you, you have a right to be angry with me."

"But I'm not angry with you, not any more. I'm just glad I managed to find you, but I should be the one saying sorry, I came too late."

"I'm just glad you're with me Arthur, here, at the end of everything."

"Don't be stupid Merlin you're not dying! You're going to be OK, I promise you, we can get back to Camelot and Gaius can help you."

"I won't make it to Camelot." Said Merlin, as a flicker of pain crossed over his face, but he tried not to show it.

"I'll carry you!"

"You can't carry me Arthur, you're hurt."

"I can go and get help!"

"There's no one who can help me now Arthur, I'm sorry."

"But I can't just let you die! There must be something I can do! Anything!" Arthur sobbed.

"Just stay me." Merlin muttered as he slowly began to close his eyes.

"No! No Merlin you can't do this to me, I know you, you're stronger than this, you are not going to die. Are you listening to me? You are not going to die! I thought I lost you once and I'm not loosing you again, you can't leave me all on my own!"

But Merlin didn't respond, his breathing grew shallower as Arthur's cries grew louder, he pulled Merlin up into a hug and held him there, as the shining knights came running through the trees.