A/N: Thank you GuestM Live, PadrePedro, and A Guest for reviewing!
Chapter 4
Merlin stumbled as he and his friends were roughly dragged up to the top of the gulch where a cart hitched to two gaunt mules was waiting. There was a cage in the back, and a girl wearing an iron collar inside. She kept her gaze averted from them all.
The door was opened and Merlin was pushed in first. Another man on the side reached in to grab his sleeve and yank him over to the edge of the cage, then forced his already bound hands through the bars and fastened them to the iron rod from the outside. Gwen was shoved in next, followed by Elyan, Percival, and Lancelot. They were all tied to the cage bars the same way, no doubt so they'd be able to spin light if they came under attack from Wraiths. Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon were kept outside. Merlin had the fleeting thought of pulling that blinding light trick on the Roamers, but that wouldn't get them free, nor would it incapacitate their captors for long and would just make the Roamers angry.
The cart lurched as they got moving. Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon were forced to walk alongside it. They traveled a short distance to the ruins of a village before making camp. There, the leader of the group stalked around the cage, inspecting his prizes.
"You're all far older than our usual catch," he commented. "You must be some of the very first. Like Freya here. We got her young, so she knows her place. You all might feel entitled to certain things, but that ends now. Any disobedience will be harshly punished, mark my words."
Merlin glowered at him.
"Freya?" Lancelot gasped from the back end of the cart.
Merlin craned his head over his shoulder to see his friend twisting as he tried to lean back and look toward the front where the girl sat next to Merlin.
"Freya?" he called tremulously again.
The girl finally looked up, expression pinched in confusion. The rest of them shared confused looks as well.
Lancelot's voice cracked as he said, "It's me, Lancelot."
Her brows knitted together. "Lancelot?" she breathed in question.
"I thought you were dead," he choked. He then turned and raged against the cage at the men outside. "You're the ones who murdered my parents!"
The leader came closer, canting his head in consideration. Then he laughed. "I remember the little welp. Didn't know you'd survived. That was an oversight, though it looks like it worked out for me in the end. Here you are with your own light seed." He smirked and cast a glance at Freya. "What a nice little family reunion."
Lancelot continued to fight against his bonds, which only served to dig the coarse rope into his skin.
"Lancelot," Percival murmured, which made him settle down before he hurt himself.
The Roamers turned away from their captives and began to make camp. Lancelot tore his gaze away and back to his long lost sister.
"Freya."
She slowly crawled across the cage, not bound to the bars like the rest of them. When she reached Lancelot, she tentatively lifted a hand to touch his face. He couldn't move his own hands to touch her in return, and the look in his eyes was devastation. Freya pressed her forehead to his.
"I thought you were dead," she whispered.
Merlin couldn't imagine what they were feeling. Lancelot had spent all these years believing his baby sister had died in the slaughter of his family, and Freya had spent all this time enslaved to the brutal men who had murdered her parents.
The leader passed by the cart and banged on the cage. "Get back to your spot," he barked, and Freya scurried back to the front of the cart like a frightened animal.
"Hi," Merlin said gently. "I'm Merlin."
She didn't acknowledge him.
"We're going to get out of this," he vowed. "All of us."
She peeked up at him through lank strands of hair but still didn't say anything.
When the Roamers had prepared supper, Freya was given a small dish to eat, but none of the rest of them were. Darkness had fallen, usually a time for silence, but the leader stood up and asked loudly,
"Who's ready for a little entertainment?"
A round of raucous agreement went up, and two men marched over to the three non Lightspinner prisoners and grabbed Gwaine, hauling him to his feet and over to a wide patch of grass. His bonds were untied, and the men formed a circle around him. He narrowed his eyes, subtly shifting into a defensive stance. One of the Roamers stepped forward, a yellow, gap-toothed grin on his face. Then he threw a punch. Gwaine smacked it away, which triggered a round of snickers from the audience. The Roamer glowered and attacked again, this time throwing a weak left that Gwaine again deflected, and following through with a sucker punch from the right. Gwaine grunted as it landed in the soft flesh of his stomach. He threw himself into the fight now, both of them exchanging blows as the rest of the men whooped and jeered.
Merlin twisted and craned his neck, trying to see over the tightly packed circle. He knew based on the tone of the cheers whether Gwaine was doing well or had taken a hit.
"What are they doing?" Gwen hissed in terror.
They were making a lot of noise, that was for sure.
Gwaine finally knocked down his opponent, who stayed groaning on the ground. The leader of the Roamers grinned in glee and waved for Gwaine to be tied up again. Leon was brought over next and pitted against another man. The fight proceeded just as the first but went on a little longer before Leon was caught in a headlock and couldn't break free.
"Let him up!" Elyan yelled but was ignored.
Leon's face was turning puce as his air was cut off.
"That's enough," the leader finally declared, and Leon was dropped like a sack of rocks.
The men dragged him back and tied him up, then released Arthur for his bout. Merlin and the rest of them in the cage were practically vibrating with fury as Arthur fought against a man a foot taller than him. The young king got a few good hits in before he was body slammed and thrown to the ground.
"Don't get up," Merlin quietly begged.
Arthur didn't, though whether because he was making a wise choice or because he was badly hurt, Merlin couldn't tell.
As he was being hauled back to Leon and Gwaine, a chill began to spread through the air. Merlin stiffened and whipped his gaze around. A Wraith came gliding forward into the light of the campfire, the void of its amorphous face turning to and fro in search of prey. Freya immediately rocked onto her knees and began to spin light in her palms, which she shot toward the Wraith. It hissed and reeled back, but three more came into view.
The leader of the Roamers threw a stick at the cage. "Get working!" he snapped.
They all hesitated. Any other time, they would have been jumping into action, but to protect the people who'd captured them?
Freya shot another beam of light at a Wraith, but it only veered away and came back around, undaunted.
Snarling in fury, the leader ran toward the other prisoners and grabbed Leon by the back of his coat, then tossed him out toward the Wraiths.
"No!" Arthur yelled.
That got Merlin and the others spinning light against the Wraiths, who eventually left the area. The leader of the Roamers smirked as he went to grab Leon and dragged him back to Arthur and Gwaine.
"Don't be slow to act next time," he warned the Lightspinners. "Or your friends will be thrown to the Wraiths as a distraction."
Merlin's jaw tightened with helpless fury.
Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine were brought over to the cart and secured to the wheels. Then the rest of the camp retired for the night. Merlin couldn't believe how easily they slept out in the open. But they were obviously hardened enough.
None of the rest of them could get comfortable, bound as they were sitting up. Freya slunk back over to Lancelot.
"Don't anger Cenred," she whispered.
"Is that the leader?" he asked, keeping his voice equally muted.
She nodded and kept flitting a nervous gaze around at the pitch darkness outside their camp.
"They expect you to keep watch all night?" Lancelot guessed.
Freya nodded again.
"You can sleep," he said. "We'll watch."
She bit her lower lip in hesitation.
"Sleep," Percival encouraged.
Freya shifted in discomfort but eventually snuggled in against her brother and fell asleep. She probably didn't get much rest at all normally.
The rest of them exchanged grim looks.
"Any ideas?" Merlin whispered.
"I can't get these knots loose," Percival replied.
"Anyone got a hidden knife they missed?" Elyan asked next.
No one answered in the affirmative.
"If they make us fight again," Gwaine spoke up, "maybe we can manage to get our hands on something."
It was the only plan they had, weak as it was, so they stopped talking and instead focused on taking turns on watch and catching snatches of rest.
When morning dawned with its pale gray hue, Freya skittered back to her end of the cage before the men woke. The Roamers rose and packed up camp, then got moving again. Merlin's stomach rumbled with hunger. They only traveled for an hour before stopping at a stream, and Freya was given a water skin with instructions to give each of the Lightspinners in the cage a drink. She did, timidly moving from each of them and holding the skin to their lips to sip. Afterward, Cenred had the cage door opened and Lancelot untied from the bars. Merlin stiffened when only he was taken out and pushed to his knees before Cenred.
The leader of the Roamers leered down at him. "Spin me some light," he commanded.
Lancelot hesitated, and Cenred backhanded him so hard he fell onto his side.
Merlin twitched with anger; next to him, Freya hid her face and whimpered.
Lancelot pushed himself upright, his hands still bound in front of him.
"Do it," Arthur said in a low voice but loud enough to be heard.
Lancelot's expression was tight but he spun some light into his bound hands, forming a ball.
Cenred smiled. "Good. Now, spin me a frog."
Lancelot faltered again at the request and Cenred struck him a second time. Eyes blazing with defiance, Lancelot nevertheless spun the light frog.
Apparently satisfied, Cenred waved for his men to take Lancelot back to the cage. One by one, he had each of his new captives brought before him to show off their abilities by spinning whatever random shape he demanded. And they grudgingly did so, even though Merlin knew it burned each of them to submit. They were in no position not to, however.
After the little show, Cenred brought a plate of food over to the cage and passed it through the bars to Freya. "Feed them," he instructed.
Freya demurely ducked her head and turned to Merlin first, picking up a piece of meat and holding it to his mouth. Merlin wondered if this was part of the submission lesson, because it sure was degrading to be fed like an animal. But all their hands were tied to the bars again, and it was either consent to being fed or go hungry. So Merlin accepted the food. It was only mildly better that it was Freya doing it. Had Cenred taken it upon himself, someone would have no doubt spat the food back in his face. Outside, Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine weren't given anything to eat.
They moved on from the stream. Freya drifted off to sleep on and off in the cart, often jolting awake and looking around in fright. When the faint light of day began to diminish, they stopped to make camp for the night. Once again, Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon were forced to fight for sport. They were given water as a reward, but still no food.
No Wraiths came to attack them.
The three knights were tied to the wagon wheel again as the men lay down for the night.
"Anything?" Elyan asked anxiously.
"No," Gwaine answered bitterly.
"No," Leon echoed despondently.
"I didn't get anything," Arthur whispered. "But this wheel spoke looks a bit jagged. Maybe I could cut through the ropes…"
It was too dark to see what he was doing, but Merlin could hear the scritching of rope fibers being sawed against something. They all waited in tense silence for several minutes, but Arthur wasn't making any progress.
"It was a nice thought," Gwaine sighed.
"I'm not giving up," Arthur rejoined staunchly.
The rhythmic sawing kept up as the night waxed on. Merlin struggled to stay awake, his chin repeatedly dipping low as he almost nodded off a few times. Then came an excited hiss,
"I got it!"
Merlin straightened, as did the rest of them. Arthur freed Leon and Gwaine first, who then stood up and started untying the Lightspinners' hands from the bars as Arthur went around and opened the cage door.
"Cenred!" a voice yelled suddenly. "The prisoners are escaping!"
"Arthur!" Gwen shouted as a Roamer came charging at the king from behind with an ax.
Arthur spun and ducked before the blade could take his head off. It clanged against the iron bars. Arthur scrambled away as the man swung again. The rest of the camp had woken and were charging in to stop them, and Gwaine and Leon were forced to abandon the cart and fight. The Lightspinners were still tied up and couldn't help. If the Roamers liked a good fight, though, they were getting one. Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine were making use of whatever they could get their hands on to bludgeon their opponents.
Freya suddenly let out a terrified cry and dropped face down to the cage floor. Merlin twisted around as Cenred strode toward them with a blazing torch.
"Stop!" he bellowed. "Or I set your friends on fire!"
Merlin's heart sank as Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon froze on the spot. Cenred was holding the torch next to Gwen, who couldn't escape its blistering heat. Arthur's nostrils flared with fury but he put his hands up and was seized. So were Leon and Gwaine. Cenred lowered the torch.
"You three are more trouble than you're worth. Good thing it's almost time for the market."
Merlin furrowed his brow in confusion. Market? There were no permanent settlements above ground. No one would dare.
Arthur glowered at Cenred defiantly. His shirt had been ripped, and the firelight glinted off the chain around his neck that was now exposed. Cenred canted a curious look at it, then came over and pulled it out to examine. On the chain was Arthur's father's ring.
"I recognize this," Cenred scowled. "This is the Pendragon signet." He shot a baleful glare at Arthur. "Where did you get this?" he demanded.
Arthur didn't respond.
Cenred reached out to grab a fistful of Arthur's hair, wrenching his head down and to the side painfully. "You're Uther Pendragon's son, aren't you? Yes, I can see it now."
The other Roamers shared looks and murmurs at that. Merlin and his friends looked fearful. Anyone who knew of Uther Pendragon knew what he'd done.
Cenred roughly released Arthur's hair. "That cur destroyed the world."
"Arthur didn't have anything to do with it!" Leon exclaimed.
Cenred sneered. "No, but he will pay for it nonetheless."
The men restraining Arthur pushed him to the ground. He caught himself on his hands and knees, but then the men converged on him, delivering a relentless barrage of punches and kicks. Merlin yelled and railed against the cage, as did the others. But they couldn't stop the brutal beating. When the Roamers had had enough and stepped back, Merlin's breath caught in his throat. Arthur was lying on the ground, moaning softly.
"You deserve to die at the hand of the creatures your father unleashed upon us," Cenred said.
With a nod to his men, they grabbed Arthur and rolled him onto his back, then pulled his arms and legs out in a spreadeagled position. Ropes were wound around his wrists and ankles and then staked into the ground. The rest of them were straining and shouting.
"No!" Gwen screamed.
"I'll kill you!" Gwaine snarled.
"Shut up!" Cenred barked. "You don't need tongues to spin light."
That made them all falter, though Gwen was openly crying as the Roamers packed up and moved on. And Merlin could only strain and watch in horror as they left Arthur helpless and stranded in the middle of the wilderness as an offering to Wraiths.