"They should be here by now," Morgana said, her voice high with worry.
"I'm sure they'll be along soon," Gaius comforted. The two stood just beyond a grate that blocked entry to one of Camelot's sewage tunnels, a single saddled stallion beside them. On the other side of the horse stood Guinevere, who fiddled anxiously with the straps, double checking and then triple checking them for security. She checked, perhaps for the sixth time, the knots of two small bags she had tied to the saddle, one full of bread and the other, a smaller one, contained a meager number of coins. Strapped on the other side of the horse was a sword her father had made. Gaius had mentioned multiple times that Merlin didn't need a sword (not that he really knew how to use one), but Arthur had insisted she find the boy one. Gwen hadn't questioned him. She knew that while helping Merlin escape was ultimately for Uther's sake, this small sword was Arthur's way of apologizing.
A finely forged weapon was, at any rate, the only way Arthur really knew how to communicate.
"They should be here," Morgana repeated, and Gaius opened his mouth yet again to try and comfort the ward, when someone called out his name.
"Gaius," Merlin hissed, his face against the bars of the grate.
"Merlin!" the physician said, taking a step towards the tunnel. He smiled, but it was quickly covered by a sleeve as the scent of the sewer reached him.
"Merlin, any time you feel like it," Arthur said.
"Hold on!" Merlin said, looking over his shoulder and then returning to Gaius. "Do you have the book?"
"The book?" Gaius said, momentarily puzzled, and then, "Oh yes! Morgana, the book, it's—yes—"
Morgana reached a hand into the saddle, slipping out a bound leather book, and passed it to Gaius. Gwen didn't fail to notice the mildly interested expression cross the ward's face as she saw the rune etched on the cover.
"Somewhere in there… towards the middle… yes, that's it!" Merlin said as Gaius flipped through the pages. The physician oriented the book towards his (former) apprentice, who's lips moved as he repeated a spell to himself a couple of times. After rehearsing a few more moments, Merlin's face disappeared from view, but his voice echoed out, "Alright, please step back everyone," and an incomprehensible string of words followed this warning. Gwen watched, half stupefied, half amazed, as the grate sparked, and then flew outwards from the tunnel.
Though Merlin had been in front to blow the grate, it was Arthur that stepped out of the tunnel first, his (former?) serving boy just behind him.
"Who would have thought it was so easy to break someone out of Camelot's dungeons?" Morgana asked to the air.
"It was only because I was leading the break out," Arthur said. "Not just anyone could outsmart the Knights."
"I'm not sure a smoke bomb is outsmarting," Merlin said. "More like suffocating—"
"Do you want to go back?" Arthur said. Merlin threw up his hands in surrender.
From within the castle walls, an alarm bell tolled.
"Alright, time to go," Arthur said. "The horse is for you, Merlin," he indicated.
Merlin looked confused. "It is?"
"Yes, Merlin. You're escaping, remember?"
"Actually escaping, though? As in, outside Camelot?"
"Yes, Merlin. Were you planning to just run around the castle your entire time as a fugitive?" Arthur asked. The expression on Merlin's face suggested that the boy hadn't thought he would be a fugitive long enough for his location to be an issue.
"Merlin," Morgana said, but Arthur cut her off.
"We're going to do everything we can," he said. "I want to—I'm going to—I need to—" Arthur was struggling for the right words, and he sighed before continuing, "Well, I just need time…to understand my father."
There was silence, and then Merlin asked, "Why?"
"Because, Merlin," Arthur explained, his gaze strong, "a Camelot that unfairly abandons even some of its people is not a Camelot I want to be prince of. Now get on the horse," and Merlin did so without another question.
In the fashion of an indefinite goodbye, each of them gave Merlin a smile and a word.
"I'll have your favorite meal waiting for you, Merlin, so come back when you can," Gaius said.
"Be safe, and don't you dare ruin that cloak," Morgana commanded.
"Don't worry," Gwen comforted. "Arthur will have this all straightened out."
And finally, testing the saddle strap one last time, Prince Arthur ordered, "Don't come back before I tell you to, alright?"
"But—" Merlin started.
"Just this once, Merlin," Arthur seemed to plead, "do what I say."
Merlin rode Camelot's horse hours after he lost sight of the city. He wasn't sure where to go or what to do. He had briefly considered going home, to Ealdor, but if Camelot's Knights searched and found him hiding there…
That alone was almost enough to keep him away; the other deciding factor being the look his mother would give him when she found out about his troubles. Not disappointment, or fear, or pity, but a look of unconditional love that Merlin had never felt worthy of, and he particularly didn't feel worthy of now.
No, he finally realized, he would have to go beyond Camelot's borders, at least for the time being.
As he reached the crest of a hill, seeing the sun above the horizon staining the sky orange and pink, he quietly hoped that "for the time being" wasn't too awfully long of a time.
I apologize for the shorter chapter. I wanted to get an update out, but I don't like what I originally wrote to go immediately after this.
Expect two updates this coming week, possibly one as early as this weekend.
As always, thank you so much for the feedback and reviews, and favorites and follows.
Have a great weekend, and I do hope all is well with each of you.