Thank you: TeganL74, lozzabluebell, Boxerbee, Revenge of the Red Pen, and TheReinbachDragonlord for reviewing last chapter. It means so much to see your support.

Okay, so this chapter is mainly focused on the knights because we haven't seen them in a while. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

Chapter 14 - A Knight's Loyalty

"No...Merlin!" Arthur groaned sluggishly. Still stuck on the ground, the prince could only stare at Merlin's limp body (still bound) and hope that he would wake up. It was only when the sorceress approached him that he focused his attention away from his friend.

When Anatol reached him, she bent down so she was face to face with the prince. "How are you doing down here?" she asked. Arthur didn't respond to the taunting question, instead opting to glare at her. "Do you need help getting up? Or maybe I should help your friend over there, I don't think he'll mind."

"If you touch him..."

"Ah, the prince speaks. Tell me, what would you do? I'm just dying to know." The sorceress waited for an answer but Arthur didn't utter a word. "I figured as much. Oh well. As much as I would love to just sit here and chat, I have to collect my belongings and deliver them to Lady Morgana."

"No! You stay away from him!...Merlin...!"

"Don't bother, he can't hear you. The transformation has sapped him of all his energy. He'll be out of it for a couple hours at least. Anyway, it's not him you should be worrying about at the moment". Anatol threatened. Before Arthur could ask her what she meant, her eyes flashed gold and the same roots that trapped Merlin shot out from the earth and bound him.

"What are you doing?" Arthur yelled struggling to move. Well, that's a stupid question, he thought.

"Oh this - like I've said before, I'm just gathering my belongings. Originally, I came here to collect Merlin but you'll make a nice bonus for Morgana and Morgause. Besides, you were the original target, so you had this coming."

The prince stopped when he realized what she had said. "What?"

"I didn't tell you...silly me. Morgana and Morgause asked me to place the curse on you, not your manservant. For some reason though, the previous were-wyvern went after him instead. That still baffles me a bit, but I guess I'll figure it out later when we get to the castle". Raising her hand to Arthur, she said, "Mamera". Instantly, he began feeling the effects of the spell and desperately tried to stay awake. In a matter of minutes, he stopped trying. He vaguely heard someone shout his name but it wasn't important.

He welcomed the blissful sleep with open arms.

Lancelot rode in the direction the dragon came from. It sounded easy at first - heck, it sounded like a good idea to him - but like the saying goes, 'easier said than done'. The knight didn't know the area too well, so throughout the night he rode into quite a few 'dead ends', most of which consisted of the sides of a cliff (whose drop meant instant death) or the foot of a very tall mountain (something he was certain wasn't there before).

"I was better off retracing my steps", he complained to himself.

It wasn't until he heard a blood-curdling roar that the knight stopped. It sounded like Merlin but it didn't at the same time. Knowing something was definitely wrong, Lancelot moved his horses in the direction the sound came from. When he was close enough, he tied the horses and continued on foot (he didn't fancy finding them again).

Eventually the roar died out which didn't comfort the knight at all. When he finally ran into the field, he found Merlin slumped on the ground, tangled in what looked like vines, and the figure of a woman standing over an unconscious Arthur (also bound in a similar manner).

"Arthur!" Lancelot yelled. The only response he got was from the woman, who turned her head to look at him and smiled. The smile sent chills down the knight's back especially with her eyes still tinted gold. With no time to think, he drew his sword and ran at the woman who he correctly assumed to be an evil sorceress.

"ástyntan" she called out and immediately Lancelot couldn't move. Not paying any heed to him now, Anatol magically dragged the slumbering prince to the unconscious warlock. With a few words and a flash of gold, she and the two men were engulfed in a whirlwind and disappeared.

At that moment, Lancelot was released and was able to move. It didn't matter to him though - Arthur and Merlin had been captured.

It was a new morning now that the sun had risen but there was still no sign of Prince Arthur. Everyone in Camelot was getting anxious at the missing prince. Uther was going crazy (more so than normal) and had every knight, guard, and servant searching for him.

When Lancelot rode into the white city, he noticed everyone scrambling around. His presence would have gone unnoticed had it not been for Elyan and Percival.

"Lancelot, where have you been?" Elyan asked.

Lancelot ignored the knight's question, "What the hell's going on?"

"Well if you were here, you would have known that Arthur is missing" Elyan replied, annoyed that his previous question was ignored.

"Yeah, Uther has everyone searching high and low for him. The stable master said that he left yesterday on his own, but no-one has seen him since." Percival explained.

Lancelot shook his head as he refocused on what he had to do. "Sorry guys, I'll explain the details later. Right now, I must speak with the King".

"WHAT!"

Everyone, especially Lancelot, winced at the king's boisterous tone. The news the knight had given him was not good in every sense of the word. The only bright side was that they could stop looking for the prince in the castle. Lancelot didn't of course voice these thoughts to the king - for some reason, he figured such optimism wasn't what he wanted to hear at the moment.

"You let my son get captured by a sorceress! Incompetence! What were you doing all this time?" Lancelot knew better than to answer the question. When it came down to Uther's temper, the knight knew that trying to defend himself would only be digging himself a deeper whole. So Lancelot just bowed his head and took his verbal punishment, hoping that a physical one would not follow.

The king half glared-half squinted at the knight and said, "A knight of Camelot would die before allowing his future king to be kidnapped. One wonders as to why you alone escaped." Uther paused dramatically. "Maybe you were working with..."

Lancelot panicked. Oh crap, he can't be serious! There's no way he's accusing me of siding with the enemy. I would never help an evil sorcerer, even if I was brought back from the dead!* He hoped that Uther wouldn't ask him how he ended up with Arthur alone in the first place. That would be hard to explain and would make him more suspicious. From the corner of his eye, he could see some of the other Knights of the Round Table (mainly Gwaine) getting antsy. If Uther continued, the situation would get worse.

"Sire, clearly the sorceress wanted a survivor to send a message. Lancelot was the obvious choice." Gaius said. This seemed to calm the king who turned his back to the knight to gather his thoughts. Lancelot visibly let go of the breath he was holding and gave the court physician a thankful nod before Uther turned around.

"Very well, but we must act quickly. Leon!"

"Yes Sire" the knight replied stepping out of the crowd.

"I want every knight looking for Prince Arthur."

"But Sire, surely not everyone. What if Camelot's attacked and..."

"You dare challenge my authority?!"

"No Sire, I meant no disrespect"

"Then do as I command. Assemble all the knights - you leave at midday."

"Yes my lord" Leon said with a bow and the whole congregation filtered out of the throne room, leaving the king alone with his dark thoughts.

Leon, second in command to Arthur, quickly took charge of the knights. He knew it would be a good idea to leave a couple of them in the city so he divided the knights into search parties and stationed some of them near Camelot to 'check' the area close by. It technically wasn't disobeying orders, it was more of 'interpreting' the king's command in a different way.

The rest of the groups were sent off in different directions. Together with Gwaine, Percival, Lancelot, and Elyan, they rode to the field the prince was taken to see if they could pick up a trail.

The entire ride was dead silent - everyone in the group was contemplating the sudden turn of events. Even Gwaine was silent, which would've been a nice contrast to his annoyingly, joke-ish self had it not been for the situation.

Lancelot hadn't told anyone, except for Gaius, what happened to Merlin. It would've worried them even more seeing as they all saw the young man as their little brother. The knight promised Gaius that he would find his foster son and Lancelot had every intention of keeping it.

Leon had watched Arthur grow, not just as a prince, but as a man. Ever since Merlin came, he saw how the once stubborn, prideful boy had matured into the honest, true-hearted man - the prince he was made to be and Leon was proud to say that he was a Knight of Camelot for this fact alone. The knight would gladly die a thousand times and a thousand times over fighting by Arthur's side. He was loved by all in the kingdom, not because he was a prince, but because he was their prince - a prince they could rely on for protection. A prince who was fair in all his decisions. A king who would give his life for every one of them - and it was for this reason that Leon would make sure they would find him.

Percival, though he was the outsider, liked Arthur a lot. From the first moment he met him, the strong man could see that the prince really cared for his people. Growing up as the eldest son, he was always put in charge of his younger siblings and the other children who were left in his care. Caring for others was a trait instilled into him since he was a child and the knight appreciated Arthur for his ability to do so for his people's well being and not for any prideful ambition. For this reason, Percival knew that he would give his all for the future king - nothing would or could stand in his way to find his friend.

Elyan was focused on finding Arthur. Not just because he was the prince or for the promise he made to his sister, but for all that he had done. This was the prince who risked his life to rescue him from Cendred and Morgause when they captured him. This was the prince who went against the code and knighted commoners. This was the man who didn't care about status but about what truly made a man - nobility of heart. Elyan would protect his king with his life, no matter what.

Gwaine surprisingly was not thinking about Arthur. The tavern-loving knight, for all his teasing, knew that the prince could hold his own even in the hands of a deadly sorcerer (or 'ess' in this case). No, Gwaine's concern was for Merlin. He would not deny that his friend could take care of himself pretty well (for someone so bad with a sword) - it was the fact that he was missing that worried him and it made it worse that no-one seemed to care. The young man had become his first true friend and after all of this 'save-the-princess-from-the-evil-sorceress' thing was over, Gwaine was going to find Merlin and drag him to the tavern, whether he liked it or not.

After all, what were friends for.

Spell translation:

Mamera - Sleep

ástyntan - Stop

I hope you liked the knight's thoughts of the situation. Like always, drop a review. I promise Arthur and Merlin will return next chapter. See you Friday.

*Sorry, I couldn't resist the season 4 reference to Lancelot's betrayal in the series (poor Lancelot!).

Until later,

-STL13