A Hidden Threat

Chapter 12

Right, so I know it's been forever and if you have seen my recent A/N you will realise that school is KILLING me! But you will be pleased to hear that I found a couple of hours today to write this. it's not going to be mind blowing but just bear with me and I guarantee I will have the next chapter up in the next couple of weeks! So make sure you review and, if you haven't already, check out my drabbles: Camelot Capers! So shameless plug out of the way, on with the story…

Carmen looked up, her gaze fixed upon her death, she felt her heart beat steady as she accepted the inevitable. She couldn't look at Gwaine, she knew that it would hurt too much, she also knew that he felt the same. She took a step towards The Brotherhood, Gwaine followed suit.

She wanted to turn round, she wanted to turn and run towards the door. She wanted to pound her fists on the wood, demanding to know why Merlin and Arthur hadn't got them out yet. She wanted to scream in fear.

But she didn't.

What would that do? How would that help? How would that defeat these monsters? It would have been exactly what Lucan wanted. He wanted to scare her, he wanted her terrified. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. So she took another step forward.

So did The Brotherhood.

…

"We have to get them out of there!" Arthur shouted. The sudden rush of adrenaline had made him almost completely forget about the previous attempt on his life.

They had been trying to penetrate the door for what felt like hours, it was all in vain. There was no way the doors were giving way. They all knew this but refused to give up.

"We've got to find another way in." Merlin said.

Arthur looked at him, he knew his servant was stating the obvious, but he also knew that there was only one other way into the hall.

"The other entrance." Arthur stated, he took in and then promptly ignored the looks of scepticism from his knights.

"Arthur we can't, we'd run straight into The Brotherhood, its suicide!" Elyan protested, Arthur rarely made mistakes but when he did he really got it wrong.

"We can't just leave them." Arthur threw back at him.

Elyan sank, he knew the prince was right. Gwaine was not just a fellow knight but also a friend, he meant a lot to them. Although he may have been drunk a lot of the time, he had always been loyal and always seemed to have the right words to make a situation better. And Carmen, in the few short hours that they had known her she had proven herself to be true hearted and brave. She had risked so much for the prince and Camelot and although they couldn't understand her motivation they certainly admired her courage. They had to help them, even if it meant putting themselves in the firing line.

Arthur could see they knew this. He drew himself up to his full height, picked up his sword and gave them the look. This look had inspired armies to follow him into battle, even when they knew that all the odds were stacked well against them. It had made great warriors fall to their knees in dread. He had defeated sorcerers and enchantresses with that look.

And he was going to do it again.

"Now, who's with me?" Arthur questioned.

…

He could feel the cold stone against his skin, his head throbbed as he opened his eyes, the light burning every sense suddenly everything became clear in an episode of painful realisation. The first thing he saw was her, his blood boiled as he looked upon her face, he remembered how she had knocked him out. It made him feel sick with rage. But then something struck him. She looked afraid, she was trying to conceal it but she had never been very good at lying. Her fear gave him the strength to rise to his feet, she would pay for what she'd done. As he stood up he took great delight in watching her face melt to an expression of uncontrollable terror. He lived off her fear. He always had.

…

Carmen felt sick with panic as she watched Lucan rise to his feet, she felt her sword drop to her side. At this point The Brotherhood was no threat, they could have ripped her to shreds that very moment and she probably would have thanked them, at least she wouldn't have to look upon that face. That smile, it was a smile that could drive anyone to madness.

Everyone in the room stopped moving as soon as Lucan made it to his feet, he registered the look of rage on Gwaine's face and then promptly ignored it. He strode towards Carmen, determined. He stopped inches from her face. He didn't say anything, he just watched as she raised her sword again. He didn't say anything as he drew his own. He only broke the silence when Gwaine took a step forward.

"Hold him." He threw over his shoulder, within a fraction of a second Gwaine found himself flanked by a member of the brotherhood. They snatched his sword out of his hand and threw it against the wall.

Carmen cast him a concerned look, a look that Lucan saw. He smiled, that had always been her weakness, she cared about people. It was a weakness that he could use to his advantage.

He raised his sword, throwing a blow he caught her off guard he forced her to take a step backwards. She returned the assault with a series of strikes, but he was too good, blocking every one. He offered another attack, the force of which sent her flying. She eventually regained her balance but for a second she was undefended, he took this chance and knocked her sword out of her hand. It went clattering across the stone floor. A moment of silence followed. She didn't care anymore, she didn't care what he did, she just wanted it over with. He stalked over to her, his face contorted with a demonic unnatural appearance. He heard Gwaine protest as he grabbed her by the throat and shoved her against the wall, he leant into her. She winced in pain. He leant further in and whispered in her ear, his voice a serpentine, toxic undertone.

"You are going to pay for what you did to me." He snarled.

Carmen couldn't breathe, she clawed at Lucan's hand but he just tightened his grip. She felt her head tighten, a black mist appeared around the periphery of her vision. She felt her body grow heavy as her hands dropped to her sides, her legs collapsed underneath her. She felt the last of her breath catch in her throat. She felt the pain as she hit the floor. She heard Arthur's voice, he was shouting something incredibly rude.

…

Arthur led the men round through the kitchens to the other side of the hall, well Merlin did as he was the only one who knew his way round the kitchens, it had certainly taken longer than they had anticipated. By the time they got to the hall they were clearly too late. The door had been ripped off its hinges and a deathly silence emanated from the room.

Arthur made a series of hand gestures that left Merlin nonplussed but clearly made sense to the other men. They entered the room silently, creeping round behind the brotherhood. The idea was to attack while they had the element of surprise and before the opposition could arm themselves. This didn't go exactly to plan. Merlin was at the back of the group, he was concentrating so much on the enemy and not getting run through by one of them that he didn't notice the discarded crockery littering the floor. It was only inevitable that he kicked one of the jugs on the ground, sending it spinning across the stone. Very noisily.

Arthur turned round, he had just enough time to shoot Merlin a look that screamed, "In my mind I've killed you! Repeatedly!" Before The Brotherhood spun round, swords brandished. Arthur found another couple of seconds to shout a profanity in Merlin's direction before The Brotherhood advanced.

The fight erupted in a dissonance of steel and battle cries. The knights were outnumbered, and outflanked but there were very few that could even begin to rival the knights of Camelot. They may not have managed to kill them – it is extremely difficult to kill a powerful sorcerer, as any self-respecting warlock will tell you – but they managed to knock them all unconscious within half a minute, it helped that The Brotherhood were not the most intelligent of villains. The knights were joined by Gwaine after he too had knocked out the member of the brotherhood, holding him and retrieved his sword.

There was one person that no one had accounted for during the fight. Lucan, the sorcerer. No one had seen him, apart from Gwaine, he had witnessed the whole scene play. He raised his sword in realisation and sprinted towards the opposite door, followed by the rest of the knights just as Lucan disappeared through it. Gwaine threw the door open in an attempt to follow him and was met with… an empty corridor. He cursed himself for letting the sorcerer get away.

…

Carmen pulled herself to her feet, she felt like her head had been in a vice, the motion of standing up made her want to vomit. After a few seconds of trying to clear the mist in front of her eyes the room focused and she could see Arthur and the knights standing round looking very confused.

…

"Well how could he just disappear?" Arthur demanded angrily.

"He's a sorcerer, I don't think the normal rules apply!" Gwaine replied.

"Instead of focusing on how he did it, maybe we should be trying to work out where he's gone." Merlin interjected, this comment earned a look of extreme indignation from Arthur.

"You mean you let him get away?" Came the extremely annoyed female voice from over Arthur's shoulder.

Arthur's face dropped, he took a second to collect his thoughts before turning round. He knew this was going to be at tough one.

"Carmen," he began, "Are you alright?"

Carmen shot him a look that said "did you actually just ask that?" Elyan could tell that Arthur would be lucky to get out of this without a black eye, so decided to intervene.

"Merlin's right, we should be looking for him. We shouldn't be wasting time." Elyan pointed out.

This seemed to be the wakeup call that the men had needed. They snapped into action setting off to look for the sorcerer. The knights fell into rank and headed towards the door. Merlin walked over to Carmen. Her head was spinning, she hoped it wasn't obvious how much pain she was in.

"Are you alright?" Merlin asked concerned.

"I'm fine." She lied, "We should go and help them."

They both headed towards the door.

…

They had been traipsing the corridors in silence for the last hour, jumping at every shadow and the tiniest noise. They didn't know what time it was, time meant nothing at that point. That night seemed to go on forever.

"How did you know?" Merlin asked.

Carmen was surprised by this sudden question. He hadn't said a thing since they had left the council chambers.

"Know about what?" she knew what he meant, but she thought she should ask anyway.

"About me." He replied simply, "You said it was obvious."

"Well, I guess I just knew what I was looking for." She stated.

He stopped and stared at her, she hadn't ceased to surprise him that night.

"You have magic?" he asked.

"Keep it to yourself!" she quietened him, checking manically that no one had heard him.

He smiled.

"I admire you." She admitted.

"Me?" Merlin replied, shocked.

"Yeah," her tone was sincere and honest, "It takes a lot of courage to risk execution every day of your life." Her eyes betrayed a warmth and sincerity that Merlin had not yet seen in her.

"You don't know the half of it." He pointed out, he didn't mean it cruelly but he was right, very few people actually understood how it felt to know that any day could be the day that you're friends hand you over to be burned at the stake.

"Why do you do it?" Carmen asked genuinely intrigued. "I mean why do you stay? If they find out they'll kill you."

Merlin stopped a minute, he had never really thought about it before, not properly, because no one had ever asked him. He stayed because it was his destiny. Destiny. Over the years that word had lost all its meaning. And then he thought to himself, was he staying out of friendship or duty? Was it wanting to protect Arthur, or a moral obligation? Then he shook himself. Why was he even thinking this? Arthur was his friend, and Merlin would do anything he could to protect him.

"because one day Arthur will be the greatest King this land has ever known, but he needs my help to get there." Merlin stated nobly. He saw the admiration in Carmen's eyes and knew that was the answer she was hoping for. They revelled in the short seconds of calm that passed very quickly before they were pulled out of their musings. A shout for help resounded down the corridor, it sounded frantic and panicked. It sounded like Arthur. Merlin and Carmen took off down the corridor towards the source of the noise.