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Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin
Chapter 17 - No Break Whatsoever
The warning bells pierced the silence of the quiet night sky, its vibrant ringing echoing through the halls of the castle. At the sound, Morgause, Morgana and Anatol looked at each other in confusion until one of their soldiers ran into the room.
"What is going on?" Morgause demanded.
"My Ladies, Arthur Pendragon and the boy have escaped. The door to the cell was smashed to bits by what seemed to be a set of claws. When we looked inside, both prisoners were gone"
Realizing what must have happened, Morgana glared at Anatol. "What happened?! I thought you said he wouldn't be in control."
"He shouldn't be in control. I didn't think..."
"That's right, you didn't!" the sorceress yelled, cutting off the red-haired witch.
Sensing the tension building, Morgause interjected. "I don't care how it happened, but I want them found now! Do not let them escape."
"Yes my Lady" the man bowed and made his way to leave.
"Wait" the blond sorceress commanded while holding up her hand. "Have the other sorcerers summon the Dægar. If you are to capture the beast as well as the prince, then you'll need their added strength and speed."
"Yes my Lady, it will be done" he said before taking off.
Silence crept back into the room, only the warning bell and the frantic sound of scuffling feet could be heard. Morgana shot daggers at the other sorceress, daring her to met her piercing gaze.
"Anatol, what happened?" Morgause asked, her tone less laced in anger than her sister. "Didn't you reinforce the curse with one of the spells?"
"Forgive me. I didn't think it was necessary. The curse was suppose to take care of that by itself."
"Then I suggest you reinforce it when we catch them. Go Anatol and prepare the spell."
"Of course" she responded and left the room, still refusing to make eye contact with Morgana. The door shut, leaving the two sisters finally alone.
"Morgana, something is troubling you"
"It's nothing sister"
"Come now, I know you better than that. You can tell me"
The sorceress sighed. "I am...concerned about Anatol. What if she fails again?"
"She will not. I've told you before sister that she is the most skilled sorceress I know when it comes to curses. Fret not. Once we have recaptured our prisoners, the were-wyvern will be under our control. With its power combined with our army, no-one in the five kingdoms will stand a chance of defeating us."
Morgana smiled sweetly. "Okay. I'm probably just a bit anxious". Morgause nodded her head and both sorceresses moved to the door.
"Good", the blond witch began, "now, I think we have a couple of guests we need to find".
The scene would've been funny if the situation was different. Here he was, the Prince of Camelot, sneaking around the castle followed by his best friend... who happened to be a cursed wyvern the size of a stallion. The prince was surprised that no-one had seen them yet. I mean, how hard is it to spot a wyvern?! Yes he was pitch black but still, Arthur figured something so big would be easily discovered. Well, I should be thankful for their ignorance. Apparently the guards here were just as thick as the guards in Camelot. Speaking of which, I really need to do something about our security when we get home.
Nonetheless, everything was fine until the warning bells went off. Arthur mentally kicked himself for not concealing their escape a tad bit better (how was he suppose to know that a shattered prison door might give the enemy reason to believe that they had escaped?)
"Merlin, we need to hurry up" the prince hissed to his friend.
"Don't you think I know that you prat?", Merlin's annoyed voice reverberated in his head.
"Then hurry up!"
"You try sneaking around as the size of a horse with a tail and a set of wings and see if you can maneuver the halls undetected."
"Always with the excuses Merlin." Arthur said as they reached another corner. Now more than ever, they had to be careful. Everyone, soldier and sorcerer alike, was looking for them. Peeking around the edge, three men were walking down the hall away from them. Seeing his chance, the prince signaled to Merlin and they both crossed.
Unfortunately for him, Merlin's clumsiness seemed to carry over even in his wyvern form. A slight misstep and the were-wyvern came tumbling down in the middle of the hall. Merlin quickly looked at the retreating forms of the three men, begging whatever cruel deity he was sure was enjoying this not to be seen. To his surprise, none of them took notice of his noisy faux pas. The wyvern let out a sigh of relief. That was close, he thought to himself. If I don't make any noise then...
"You idiot, get up!" Arthur hissed, loud enough to catch the attention of the three men.
"There they are!"
"They're over here!"
"Quick, get them!"
The were-wyvern took a moment to indignantly glare at the prince who sheepishly shrugged his shoulders. "So much for staying quiet. Who's the idiot now?"
"Shut up Merlin!" Arthur said right before a fire ball was thrown his way. The group, which was luckily composed of only one sorcerer and two regular soldiers, charged at the were-wyvern and the prince. Merlin quickly dispatched of the sorcerer while Arthur took care of the others.
"They're down here!"
"Summon the Dægar!"
"Quickly, we can't let them escape!"
"I think we should go now" Merlin suggested, not caring what a 'Dægar' was. After grabbing one of the dead man's swords, both Arthur and Merlin took off down the corridor. It was a couple of minutes before they were sure they had lost their pursuers.
The area of the castle they were now in was particularly dark, so much so that Arthur could barely make out his own hands. Strangely enough, Merlin found that he could actually see despite the strange darkness that evening brought. Holding on to the wyvern by the wing (after a heated dispute reminding the prat that he wasn't a horse), the Merlin led the way through the castle with Arthur walking beside him.
"Do you know where we're going?"
"Not really. I was hoping you knew which direction to go more or less"
"How can I know when I can barely see a bloody thing in front of me?"
"I thought you said that princes were born with an innate sense of direction?"
"We are, but it's hindered when in the presence of idiots like yourself" Arthur joked around. It was only when Merlin didn't respond that the prince realized that both of them had stopped moving and his friend was looking behind him.
"Why are we stopping?" No answer so he tried again. "Merlin, why are we stopping?"
"Be quiet. I thought I heard something"
"Merlin, no-one followed us and besides..."
"Seriously Arthur, shut up!" At this, the prince finally listened to his friend. A couple seconds of complete silence and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Without saying a word, the cursed warlock turned around and continued walking.
Something wasn't right. Merlin didn't know what, but for the past couple of minutes, it had felt as if someone - or something - was watching them. More than just watching them, but stalking them, waiting for the right moment to strike. Merlin didn't know if it was just his magic reacting to the dark magic coursing through his body, but the presence he felt was nothing short of pure evil. As they continued on their way, all of the warlock's senses were on high alert.
Arthur didn't know what to think. He was feeling uneasy but the prince figured it was just his reaction to not being able to see fully that was putting him on edge. He'd never been put in a situation like this before and the last thing he wanted to do was panic in the darkness.
After trudging around for some time, they entered a hallway which gave them renewed hope of escaping the castle. The corridor was about 30 yards long and began slanting upwards halfway like a flat stair case. The moon's rays brightly shown from the entrance so much so that the whole corridor was lit by its radiant light.
"That's our way out Merlin, I'm sure of it!" the prince shouted in glee. But Merlin barely registered that Arthur was speaking to him. Once again, he was staring at the darkness behind him, searching for something he could only sense, not see.
"Merlin, what's the matter now?" Arthur asked indignantly when he noticed his friend looking back. "Merlin, like I said before, there's nothing there"
"...Sorry...Must've been my-"
But the warlock was cut off when something heavy slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. When Merlin tried to get up, the unknown creature jumped on his back, causing him to thrash around to try to get it off. When the creature saw that clawing the wyvern's scaled body was proving futile, it bit down hard on his hind leg. The were-wyvern roared in pain before using its tail to swipe the beast off of him. Coming back for seconds, the creature charged at Merlin but shrieked in pain when a sword flew out of no-where and embedded itself in its chest, thus stopping it dead in its track.
Arthur ran over to his friend. "Merlin, are you okay?"
"Yeah...I think so", he said while lifting his bleeding leg from the ground. Hissing in pain, he slowly made his way to take a look at the dying beast.
The dog-like creature before them was pure black with two sets of red eyes, one on top of the other. Its rock-like scales stuck out from its prickly fur, covering its spine like armor from the top of its head to the tips of both tails. To make matters worse, it had an extra pair of disfigured arms that hung loosely from its torso. Even at death's door, the creature attempted to get up and strike, only being stopped by its loss of strength and the sword pinning it to the ground. The dying beast, with its last breath, gave a chilling roar before succumbing to its destined fate.
"What was that?!" Arthur asked while reclaiming his sword.
"I don't kn..."
But before he could finish, a burst of howls filled the empty hallway.
"Quick, it's somewhere this way. After them! Don't let them escape!"
Both prince and wyvern panicked. This 'Dægar' was just a scout and now their location was given away. To make matters worse, the search party sounded like they were close by. All in all, they had to get out of there and fast. "ARHTUR RUN!"
Not needed to be told twice, the prince began running to the exit. After a several steps, he stopped when he noticed someone was missing. Behind him, Merlin was struggling to keep up.
"Merlin we've got to get out of here" Arthur said while backtracking to his friend.
"Then you go on without me"
"Don't be an idiot Merlin, I'm not leaving you behind" he said, trying to stay calm even while the corridor was growing louder with the sound of unnatural howling. The prince tried to help Merlin stand up but in doing so he added pressure to his wounded leg. Roaring in pain, the wyvern lost his footing and fell down.
"Ah, my leg!"
"Come on Merlin, you've got to get up" Arthur persisted, not caring about the indignant look his friend was giving him.
A sudden shiver ran down his spine and the prince's eyes shot to the darkness behind them. Many sets of red eyes filled the black void and, what started as a low growl, crescendoed until it rang through the whole hall. The Dægar had found them.
Unsheathing his sword, the prince stood by his friend who by now took notice of the awaiting danger. They prepared themselves for the upcoming onslaught. Arthur looked at Merlin and Merlin looked at Arthur, both thinking the same thing:
Was it really too much to ask for a break?!
***************Break***************
I struggled with this chapter a bit so please let me know if it was well worth it.
Okay, I have exciting news for those of you who: a) own a Nintendo DS, b) love Merlin, and/or c) are total nerds/geeks. A Merlin game is coming out for the DS based on episode six of season 4, 'A Servant of Two Masters'. It seems like it's more like a puzzle type game but when it comes out in the States, I'm going to buy it just for the sake of having a Merlin game.
I know, I'm pathetic (puts head down in shame), but that's just who I am. XD
Until later,
-STL13