A/N

Good Lord…okay so apparently I didn't post this one…I'd posted this one…LAST Monday! So there I am, finally able to check my email which had been acting stupid and I'm like WHAT! NO reviews for this chapter! That's INSANE! And so I go to read it and I find out…BOTH the drabbles I'd posted hadn't even shown up on fanfiction. I'm so sorry guys! So I'm posting both of my drabbles TODAY! (the next one will be up later today.)

MY BAD!

Okay but I hope you enjoy this WAY TOO LONG awaited ending part to the last one!

ENJOY!

Abstruse – Difficult to comprehend

When Arthur had finally arrived at the camp, the sun was almost completely set, and Arthur felt that he was about ready to chew off his gloves he was in such a state of panic.

He didn't have to guess to know that Lancelot and Gwaine were feeling the same way. Gwaine had nearly jumped off his horse which was running full speed when they reached the camp site.

If site was what you even wanted to call it.

Everything was in ruins. The ground was littered with remains of shredded tents and weapons, the place had clouds of smoke drifting throughout the site with the scattered with burning woods. One could only assume it had been a fireplace at one point.

That wasn't all that was lying on the ground. Several badly injured bodies were sprawled out unceremoniously among the campsite, all either knocked out, or in so much pain that the only thing that they could do was groan. All of them, he could tell had been either burnt, or cut up by a sword or any other sharp weapon.

The prince and the two knights approach the campsite, swords drawn, and walked so quietly throughout the grounds that the quietest noise could be heard from any direction. Arthur's heart beat so fast and hard however, he was afraid that was going to alert any unwelcome stranger to his presence.

It was odd…none of them seemed to be dead and the weapons that were used to defeat them were scattered on the ground next to them.

The three walked through the grounds cautiously at first, but as time vanished, so did the sun and their only light.

Deeming the hideout safe to enter without too much worry of being attacked, Arthur decided to break the eerie silence.

"We need to search every inch of the camp before we lose our light, FIND him." The prince whispered knowing that if he spoke too loud it would not only startle the knights but it would probably startle him.

The knights nodded and sheathed their swords. All three split up and began a thorough search for their missing friend.

"Arthur," The young prince turned around at the sound of a voice that came from behind him. He let down the pack that belonged to one of the bandits and squinted in the darkness to see if he could make out the figure approaching him. It had only been about a half an hour and it was already dark. Lancelot's torch lit up his face as he came nearer and his expression was somewhat defeated.

"Sire, we've searched everywhere…Merlin isn't here." He said solemnly.

Hearing those words made Arthur's heart sink along with his hope.

The prince stood up and looked around one last time before nodding. The hideout had been large, but they had had more than enough time to search everywhere, partly because there was hardly anything left of it.

"I think that-"

"-Arthur! Lancelot!" A voice suddenly shouted from a not too far distance away.

Both knights' ears perked up immediately, they gave each other one quick passing glance before running in the direction where Gwaine's voice came from.

The two trotted up to their fellow knight, weary of anything they could stumble on. Lancelot's light led the way and soon Gwaine's face was visible by the light of his own torch.

The knight was far out from the campsite boundaries which Arthur found rather odd, and he was leaning down and inspecting something that wasn't quite visible to the prince yet.

"Gwaine?" Arthur said leaning down next to him.

Gwaine turned to look at them both and he held up what he had been viewing.

Lancelot sucked in a sharp breath and Arthur snatched up the cloth dangling from Gwaine's hand.

"It's Merlin's…Sire; I don't think that he's in the campsite anymore." The knight said solemnly and gestured straight ahead to where only darkness obscured the surrounding forest.

Arthur's eyes narrowed and he walked a few steps ahead of the knights and squatted down to the ground.

Sure enough. Footprints in the damp mud trailed on a bit confusing into the dark forest.

"This way." The prince called and hurriedly began to follow the trail.

The footsteps seemed to go everywhere and nowhere, there were a few times when Arthur could tell that this person had fallen, and what scared him more than anything was the dry blood that was left on the ground in the position where the person had fallen.

It seemed like an eternity as the knights and prince followed the confusing trail but on they pushed until they spotted something that made their blood run ice cold.

"MERLIN!" Arthur shouted being the first one who spotted the dark figure sprawled out on the cold forest ground.

As fast as his legs could carry him, the prince sprinted up to the fallen figure and crashed to his knees beside him.

Both knights behind him were equally as fast they followed his prince's example and soon all three were kneeling next to their lost friend.

Very attentively, like he was afraid even the slightest touch would harm him, the prince turned over his friend and saw only what he feared the most.

His servants face was bruised and bloodied. His left eye was swollen and black and the right side of his lip seemed to have been cut open and was bleeding. Dried blood from his nose ran down the side of his face that had been turned down, and the other side of his face was forming dark colored bruises from his forehead to his mouth.

Trying to squash the nausea that had been stirring inside of him the minute he saw the broken figure, the prince dared not think what other injuries adorned themselves on his servants body.

"Merlin?" Arthur said and much to his embarrassment his voice cracked. Ignoring it, the prince gently put a hand to his friends shoulder and winced when his unconscious friend's face screwed into a mask of agony.

Arthur quickly pulled his hand away and inspected what the moist feeling had been.

Blood.

Such intense anger rose up within the prince that he nearly screamed. But before he could focus all his intention on the rage he felt, he saw his servant's right eye crack open.

"Ar-Arthur?" The injured man said too weakly for the prince's liking, but the sound of his voice nearly made him mad with hope.

"Yes! – Merlin? Merlin stay with me." The prince said as he watched his friend's eyes begin to close again.

Surprisingly, the servant managed to listen to him and kept his eye open as best he could.

Arthur's head quickly snapped up and stared intently at the other two knights.

"Lancelot, go get the horses as fast as you can."

The bold knight gave a quick nod then disappeared into the dark forest night.

"Merlin, my friend…I must say that I've seen you looking better before." Gwaine said much too relieved to find his friend alive to think of anything else to say.

A slight smile came to the warlock's lips when he realized it wasn't just Arthur with him.

"Likewise…" The young warlock said faintly and tried to shift his position but winced when he felt an intense amount of pain shoot through him.

Gwaine's smile immediately diminished and he placed a comforting hand on his friend's healthy shoulder.

"You'll be alright…we're getting you back to Camelot, Lancelot's getting the horses."

Merlin groaned and feebly reached up to grasp his side.

Arthur and Gwaine exchanged glances and Arthur took the torch that Lancelot had left with them and brought it close enough to view a wound that could only be deemed knife inflicted.

Arthur swore under his breath the same time Gwaine did.

"What did they do to you…?" Arthur breathed and tore of part of his undershirt and pressed it against the bleeding wound.

To his complete surprise, Merlin let out a small chuckle.

Arthur stared at his servant for a moment. And in spite of himself, let a small smile creep up his face, mostly due to the fact that his servant was smiling.

"What on EARTH could be funny at this moment MERLIN?" The prince asked and shook his head.

"-N'thing…just th't…I think…they gottit 'lot worse th'n me…" The servant said clearly too tired to talk.

Arthur and Gwaine exchanged confused glances.

"Merlin," The prince said and focused all his attention on his servant. "What happened? What happened to you, and what happened to the hideout?"

The warlock simply smiled.

"They wn't bother you 'r Cam'lot ag'n Arth'r…" And just as the last words left his lips, the injured servant fell into a much more peaceful sleep then he had previously.

Leaving Arthur and Gwaine to ponder what their friend had said.

Eventually Lancelot did return with the horses, and the prince and his knights did get the warlock back to Camelot safely where he was taken into Gaius's care immediately. The warlock eventually regained his strength and was back to serving the royal clot-poll like he always had.

Still…there were MANY unanswered questions…and one of them the prince vowed he never really wanted to know.

The prince never really would let himself think that the warlock had anything to do with the bandit's destruction-it was much too foreign a thought, and to this day he would never bring up the subject. However…after that day, whatever thoughts he had about his servant being too weak and clumsy to take care of himself – seemed to just…vanish.

He couldn't explain it, but he always had the feeling that he owed his servant a thank you for what he'd done.

But…what exactly had Merlin done?

He, himself, Arthur, saved Camelot…probably driven off the bandits too…

Hadn't he?

So what did you think? Sorry guys, there's not gonna be another part to this one cuz I have something BETTER for this next drabble! YAY! Okay well yeah…I hope you enjoyed!

Please Review! :D

Next Up: Analogous - Corresponding in some particular manner

DragonGem777