A hidden threat

Chapter 6

Two weeks late! I am so sorry! I will understand if none of you read this anymore, but I have been ill in hospital (although this is no excuse, they do have Wi-Fi in hospitals these days!). On that note I would just like to say that everyone in St. Thomas hospital is a GENUINE LEGEND! Honestly I don't know what people mean when they say the NHS is bad. If you, or someone you know, work for the NHS this chapter is dedicated to you! Thank you to all of you! And also thank you if you are still reading this. I love you all! Please review if you like this!

Merlin felt the dark magic bore into his head as the sorcerer tortured the prince. It was unbearable, he clawed at his head, pulling his hair in a vain attempt to distract himself, it didn't work. He tried to disguise the fact that he was in pain but there was no need. Everyone was so preoccupied with Arthur that Merlin could have grown a tail and they probably wouldn't have noticed. And with good reason, Arthur was clearly in hell compared to Merlin, he had woken up for a second or two but then he had given up again, losing consciousness. The knights panicked, although they managed to hold it together on the surface Merlin knew that underneath it all they were begging for the return of normality. Gwaine had advanced on the sorcerer, bringing his sword to the stranger's throat while Sir Leon followed suit. Although this act of bravery seemed to lack any real meaning. There was very little that the knights could actually do what could a sword do compared to thousands of years of pure power? A demonic smile played across the sorcerer's lips, his beautiful eyes malignant and cruel. A look that screamed "I know something you don't!"

Merlin and Carmen were still at Arthur's side, trying to wake him up. Suddenly Carmen felt her heartbeat sky rocket as she and Merlin noticed a horrifying detail. Merlin watched as his friend lay on the cold stone floor, unmoving. A lump grew in his throat.

"Arthur?" Merlin almost shouted at the unconscious prince, "Sire come on, you have to wake up!" he was now panicked, the crack in his voice revealing itself. Without taking his eyes off the sorcerer Gwaine shouted back, "Merlin, what's going on?"

"It's Arthur," the servant replied, his breath shattering his voice "He's stopped breathing."

With these words Gwaine tensed, his hand clenching his sword so tight that it hurt, digging the steel into the sorcerer's throat. The rest of the knights were suitably dumbstruck, unable to contemplate an appropriate reaction. The sorcerer on the other hand reacted quite unsuitably. Being surrounded by half a dozen of Camelot's elite, all revelling in the idea of your death would drive most right minded people to the brink of sanity. But the sorcerer clearly wasn't in his right mind because instead of breaking down in tears or begging for mercy, he laughed. A blood curdling cackle, a sound that could only be likened to fingernails on a blackboard. For a second Gwaine flinched, he could deal with murderers, evil enchanters hell bent on destroying Camelot, abominations summoned from the depths of hell. He could cope with any manner of magical threats, what he could not deal with was that sound. That laughter could have brought grown men to tears, it took all his reserve not to fall to his knees in fear. Luckily he did not have to listen to the cacophony for long. After a few seconds the sorcerer stopped laughing and stared over Gwaine's shoulder, for a second he thought he registered something he had not yet seen on the man's face. Was it fear? Yes, it was! He was scared, of what Gwaine didn't know, but whatever it was was right behind him.

"Let him go." This wasn't a request. "Or I will kill you." Her voice a low growl, she didn't need to shout, her eyes were screaming.
There was a second of unearthly silence as the sorcerer weighed up his options. He didn't have any. Carmen stepped between Gwaine and the sorcerer, forcing the knight to lower his sword. She stared into the strangers eyes, it hurt, hundreds of years of power and majesty flooding her mind, but she wouldn't look away, she refused.

He flinched.

That was it. That was all she needed, one second of weakness, she'd won. And he knew it. He looked away, and with that Arthur regained consciousness.

Merlin wasn't quite sure what had happened, Carmen hadn't said anything, she didn't need to. There was a moment or two when Merlin was convinced that Arthur was doomed. No one, not even someone in his physical condition, could survive such punishment. A split second after this thought had entered Merlin's head, it was quickly dispelled. Arthur's body suddenly jack knifed and arched, he drew in great gulps of air and then fell back to the floor, exhausted but alive and conscious.

Arthur had never felt so glad to be alive, he could feel the air filling his lungs again and it felt amazing. He could have got drunk on it. For a short second it felt like he was going to die. He would never tell anyone but he had been terrified.

Carmen stood in front of the sorcerer, neither of them saying a word. If he hadn't of been threatening the lives of everyone in the room Carmen may have commented on how attractive he was. Because he was. His dark tousled hair framed a chiselled and perfectly formed, tanned face. He was ridiculously tall, even towering over some of the knights, the floor length cape added to the impression, his tight shirt and breeches showing off his toned body. He oozed danger and his eyes, you could get lost in them. Under different circumstances Carmen may have been impressed.

She kept being drawn back to those eyes, those piercing green eyes. There was something about them, like she recognised them. They were brilliant, how could she forget eyes like that? But then she realised this was what he wanted, to distract her. She pulled herself back to reality. It hurt but she managed it, she felt a hand on her arm and heard Gwaine's voice. He was calling her, she wanted to answer but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the sorcerer. She felt the hot sting of tears run down her cheek.

"Carmen!" Gwaine almost shouted, but this time she did respond. Pulling her gaze from the stranger, exercising considerable effort. She staggered backwards a step or two, she finally looked at Gwaine showing him her fear for a half of a second before she regained her composure.

A moment of uncertainty followed.

It was broken by Leon.
"Merlin, get Arthur up to Gaius, Elyan help him. You," this part was addressed at Carmen, "with me. The rest of you, go and find the patrol, make sure there are no more soldiers in the castle." Glad of the structure, everyone followed their given orders. Leon turned to go, when…

"And what about me?" the sorcerer questioned, mockingly.

Sir Leon replied over his shoulder without hesitation, not even giving the sorcerer the privilege of his eye contact he was strong and assertive. "Consider yourself a prisoner of Camelot."

…

Merlin took one arm, Elyan the other. They tried to support Arthur and help him to walk but he simply shook them off.

"I am perfectly capable of walking by myself." The prince stated, trying and failing to hide the slur in his voice.

Elyan tried to protest but Merlin cut him off

"Just leave it." He said, exasperated.

Arthur by this time had started to wander off down the corridor, the wrong corridor. Merlin called after him but it was no use. Clearly the sorcerer's attack had affected Arthur more than he was letting on. This was confirmed when a loud crash rounded the corner. Merlin couldn't see Arthur but hazarding a guess he presumed he'd either fallen over or been met by a herd of stampeding elephants.

"Well," Merlin began, "At least now he won't complain."

…

"But you must know something?" Sir Leon was becoming agitated.

"If I did I would tell you, I promise." Carmen replied trying to get it into the knight's head that she was just as ignorant to the situation as he was.

Leon ran his hand through his hair, he was not used to being helpless, but this was definitely a situation where he was completely out of control. For a knight of Camelot this was a very daunting prospect. He had been questioning her knowledge of the sorcerer since the rest of the knights had left.

"But he listened to you! There must be something!" Leon demanded franticly.

"There isn't, I don't know him! I never have!" She replied just as frantic.

"She really doesn't know." The sorcerer's cool and controlled voice cut in. the pair threw a look at him that made it obvious that his input was an unwelcome presence.
"Do you Carmen?" with this Carmen's pulse increased, not for the first time that night. "Well at least not at the moment."

"How do you know my name?" She demanded her voice thick with rage. The sorcerer didn't reply.
"How? How do you know my name?" by this time she was screaming, the walls threatening to tumble as the echo of her voice screeched through the hall.

The sorcerer simply smiled a cruel sadistic smile, an expression that could have turned armies.

…

The door to Gaius's chambers flew open and three men staggered in, one of them unconscious. What with Elyan being considerably smaller than the prince and Merlin not as strong, they were both out of breath and on the verge of collapse themselves. Gaius dropped what he was doing and rushed over to the unconscious Arthur, now lying on of the benches.

"What happened?" Gaius enquired, already getting to work on the prince.

"There's a sorcerer, in the castle." Merlin replied exhausted, "something to do with Arthur." At this point he was doubled over trying to get his breath back, he wasn't up for a conversation. "God, Arthur could do with losing some weight!"

Merlin then collapsed on the floor, it was not just from the effort of having to drag Arthur up four flights of stairs. The sorcerer had exhausted the young man, it took all his strength just to stay awake. So Gaius turned to Elyan.

"The sorcerer, what was his name?" he asked.

"He didn't say." Elyan replied, irritated that he could do nothing to help.

"Well, what does he want?" Gaius tried.

"Oh the usual," this time it was Merlin who spoke up, "To kill Arthur, take over Camelot and generally be evil. Why do they always choose the most inconvenient times? Tomorrow's my day off, first one I've had in ages." Merlin rubbed his head in pain, even moaning took up valuable energy.

Gaius turned back to Arthur, he knew from past experience that Merlin was never in the best of moods when he was in pain. And no matter how much he tried to conceal it Gaius could tell that Merlin was in pain. The prince bore no indication of an attack, no cuts or bruises.

"What exactly happened?" Gaius asked Elyan.

"I don't know," Elyan replied, "It was like the sorcerer was inside his head."

"I know how that feels." Merlin muttered, pulling his jacket around him he was freezing. He could feel his magic burning under his skin, he knew what the sorcerer was doing. He must have worked out that he had magic, now he was stirring it up in order to cause him as much pain as possible so that he couldn't help Arthur. Merlin knew that he should have been trying to fight him off but he just didn't have the strength. It felt like the sorcerer had his hand round his throat, his head was killing him. It was like no pain he had ever felt. He resisted the urge to scream every profanity he knew at the top of his voice. Instead he gritted his teeth and focused on staying conscious. Gaius crossed the room to a large book shelf filled with potions and concoctions. He paused for a second and pulled out a particularly nasty looking liquid in a small glass vial. He then paced back to Arthur.

"Brace yourself, this won't taste nice." The physician told the unconscious prince.

Gaius then opened Arthur's mouth and poured the liquid down his throat. Within seconds the prince began to react. His eyes moving under his eye lids. After a few minutes he had come round he was groggy and irritated but alive. Before long he was sitting up and listening intently as Elyan recounted the story of the attack. Convinced that the prince was out of danger Gaius now turned his attention to Merlin.

"Merlin could you help me with this." He indicated to a draught that he was making up. He took in his discontented look and ignored it.

Merlin slowly rose to his feet, shaking slightly as his head spun. He didn't even hear Arthur's quip about him acting like a girl, it was drowned out by the pounding in his head. He staggered over to Gaius.

Elyan and Arthur were both worried, Merlin was pale, well he always was but unusually so at this point. He didn't even reply to Arthur's insult which in itself was strange.

Merlin made it over to where Gaius was standing and after the physician had made sure that they were out of ear shot Gaius asked:
"What happened, you look like death?"

"Believe me, I feel like it. I'm not too sure it's like the sorcerer's gotten into my head, I think he's in control of my magic." Only after saying it out loud did Merlin realise what he was saying, he was not in control of his own magic! He suddenly felt his heart beat go up as he began to panic.

Gaius clearly felt the same way as his face betrayed his deep worry.

"Can't you fight him off?" Gaius enquired, hoping that the answer might relieve his worrying.

"Don't you think I've tried?" Merlin snapped he instantly felt terrible when he saw the physician's hurt expression. "I'm sorry, I just hate being out of control like this."

Gaius understood it couldn't have been easy for him, knowing that someone was manipulating him and his magic. He carried on, he could see Merlin was tired and in pain but he would be a lot safer if they knew what they were fighting.

"Did you recognise him? The sorcerer?" Gaius enquired.

"No." Merlin replied, infuriated that he was so useless.

Gaius was feeling increasingly helpless just as Merlin was a feeling they did not revel in.

"Did he have any obvious weaknesses?" Gaius asked hoping against hope that he would get a different answer this time.

"No, not that I could see. He's mad, insane, but completely invulnerable." Suddenly the realisation of a memory dawned on Merlin, "Hold on no. Carmen, another servant, she was the only one that could stop him, the only one he'd listen to. She seemed to scare him. I don't know what it is but she's got something to do with this."

End?