Unmei no Henka

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Here's Chapter 1. And it up earlier than I thought it'd be ^-^! Enjoy!

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"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."- Harriet Tubman

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Chapter 1- A Warning

Arthur sighed as he remembered the events of 6 months ago. After Leon had burst into Gaius' chamber bringing news of the newly discovered sorcerers sudden disappearance the King, Queen, Knight and physician had only paused briefly before running from the room in a panicked hurry down to the empty dungeons. As Leon had said, the cell that once occupied Merlin was empty. The cell door was untouched; the lock not broken, the hinges not destroyed. There was no sign of a forced breakout. That could only have meant one thing.

'That idiot!' Arthur had snapped, reaching the obvious conclusion as to how Merlin had escaped 'Why did he do that!?'

'In all fairness Arthur' Gwaine countered 'He did think you were going to kill him. You seemed pretty mad when you last saw him.'

After that Arthur had immediately went riding out with Gwaine, Leon, Percival and Elyan to try and find the missing manservant. They had searched for days, weeks, months.

Merlin had not been found

Arthur refused to give up, even after 6 months had passed, neither had Gwen, Gaius or the knights. It had occurred to Arthur that Merlin didn't want to be found but he didn't care. He needed to find Merlin and apologise for acting so rashly when he had found out, for putting Merlin through something that he shouldn't have had to go through.

The sounds of the warning bells snapped him back to the present with a jolt. He looked around in a panic, remembering the last time those dreaded bells had tolled, half expecting a crazed sorcerer or assassin to burst into his chambers hell-bent of murdering him.

When his doors burst open this time, banging loudly against the stone wall, it was only a knight who came running in. 'Sire,' the knight bowed slightly 'The thief is running amuck in the lower towns again. We have been unable capture him.'

Arthur nodded, grabbed his sword and strode out of the room. He pushed all thoughts of his missing manservant from his mind, focusing only on the task at hand. The same thief had kept stealing from innocent people for the past few weeks. They knew nothing about him, where he came from, who he was or why he was doing it. All they knew was that he was impossible to capture.

It was raining heavily outside, the rain bouncing off the ground with loud thumps, making is hard to hear anything else. It was quite difficult to see as well with the rain coming down as fast and heavily as it was. Why the thief had chose today of all days to do some stealing, Arthur had no idea and was, to be quite honest, slightly annoyed that he had, he was soaked already, but none the less a thief was a thief and no matter what day it was, or how annoyed he was, had to be captured.
It was then that Arthur caught a glimpse of a midnight blue cloak disappear round a corner. Arthur followed without hesitation after the man who didn't seemed to be bothered at all by the heavy downpour.
'Halt!' Arthur called at the retreating figures back. The thief stopped and slowly turned to face him. 'Oh, looks like you finally caught me' the thief cried in fake concern 'whatever shall I do!?' Arthur growled in annoyance and raised is sword the thief's neck. 'Why are you doing this? What have the people of Camelot done to you?' he snarled. The thief raised both his hands in what looked like a gesture of peace. Arthur wished he could see the thief's face to see what he could be thinking but his it was shrouded in darkness from the hood that was pulled over his head.
'No need to get angry king Arthur.'
Arthur scowled and moved his sword closer to the neck. He faintly heard the thief mumble something but he couldn't make out what was being said, he chose to ignore it.
'I have every right to be angry! My citizens are scared, they fear leaving their homes, terrified of who will be one of the next victims. You don't exactly leave them unharmed.'
'I don't kill them.'
'That's not the point! Why are you doing this?'
The thief said nothing and Arthur feared he was about to make an escape attempt. He was proven wrong when the thief opened his mouth and spoke 'to send a warning.'
'a warning?'
'Or a bit of preparation, whichever you'd prefer to call it.' he crossed his arms and even though he couldn't see his face, Arthur knew the thief would be smirking.
'Soon, King Arthur Pendragon, you will be alone with no one to protect or help you. All those who see wrongly will be gone and Camelot will fall, with no one around to save it. I'm just giving you a taste of what's to come.'
'Sire! Arthur!'
The call from one of his knights distracted him. He turned and could just about make out the form of Percival running towards him through the rain. 'I have the thief!' he called back. If Percival had replied, Arthur didn't hear it as the thief had chosen that moment to start chuckling 'don't be so sure.' By the time Arthur had whipped his head round to face the thief, he was gone, disappearing into the cover of the heavy rain. Arthur cursed, he had been so close.

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By the time Arthur had returned to his chambers he was completely soaked and thoroughly annoyed. After he had stupidly allowed the thief to escape, he and the knights had spent another half an hour trying to track him down. Their efforts were wasted when they managed to find no trace of the thief.

'You didn't catch him then.'

The statement had come from Gwen who had been waiting for him in their chambers, obviously trying to hide her laughter over his appearance. 'No.' was Arthur's simple reply. Gwen giggled at him and walked over to him 'Come on,' she said 'let's get you out of those wet cloths.' Arthur nodded and allowed Gwen to undress him.

Once they were done Arthur sat down at the table with Gwen. 'Something's worrying you Arthur.' Gwen said, her voice full of concern 'it's nothing' Arthur said not wanting her to worry but flinched slightly when he saw the look Gwen was giving him. 'It's something the thief said to me.'

'What did he say?'

And so Arthur found himself telling Gwen exactly what had happened with the thief. When he was finished Gwen sat still for a moment, taking in what her husband had just told her. 'And the way he escaped,' Arthur added 'it must have been magic. There's no other way he could have escaped so quickly. I only looked away for a second.'

'That would explain how he's managed to evade you and the knight's for so long…' she paused 'what are you going to do?'

Arthur didn't know. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Whenever they faced something to do with magic it would always Merlin who had the answer. 'I don't know' he sighed in defeat 'If only Merlin was here.'

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2 Months Later…

'This is getting annoying now.'

'And it wasn't the first few times he managed to escape us?'

Arthur glared at Gwaine who was stood next to him as they walked the streets trying to find the thief who had escaped them once again. 'It's strange though. He didn't steal anything this time.' Elyan voiced. It was true, the thief, whose name they still did not know, had appeared in front of them and then disappeared just as quick. Since then the knights had been trying to track down the illusive thief.

'Sire!'

Arthur turned round quickly to see another one of his knights running around the corner 'the thief!' he cried. 'What is it? Have you captured him?' The knight shook his head 'no sire. He's- he's,' Arthur was growing annoyed 'What has he done!' He yelled. The knight flinched 'He's murdered Lord Richard.'

What?

'He's what!? Are you sure?'

'Yes, sire. We heard a scream coming from his chambers, when we got there the thief was standing over his dead body. He escaped before we could arrest him.'

Arthur glanced at Gwaine and Elyan; they too had looks of shock on their faces. Why would the thief do something like this? Lord Richard was loyal to Camelot, yes, but had done nothing that could warrant his murder. Then he remembered said thief's words.

'Soon, King Arthur Pendragon, you will be alone with no one to protect or help you. All those who see wrongly will be gone and Camelot will fall'

Was that what he had meant? Gwaine looked over at him and Arthur knew he was thinking the same. He had told Gwaine, Elyan, Leon and Percival what had happened with the thief after Gwen had gave him one of her stern looks again.

'Take me to his body.'

The knight nodded and bowed, then turned around and led them into the castle up the stone steps. When he arrived in Lord Richards chambers, Gaius was already there examining the dead lords body. Gaius stood up and turned to face him. 'How did he die?' Arthur asked seriously, his gaze flicking over to the bloodied body on the floor. 'It seemed he was stabbed multiple times.' Gaius replied with a somber tone. Arthur nodded and tore his gaze away from the dead Lord back to Gaius 'is there any sign that magic was used?'

'Magic, sire?'

'The thief is a sorcerer. Did he use magic?'

Gaius' eyebrow rose 'no sire, he did not.'

'Why would he not use it?'

'Just because someone has magic doesn't mean he has to use it with everything.' Arthur gasped at the familiar voice and spun around to face the figure in front of an open window casually leaning against the stone wall. He vaguely heard Gwaine, Elyan and the knight that had come with them draw their swords but his eyes were locked onto the cloaked figure in front of him. His eyes narrowed in hatred 'So it was you.' The thief said nothing. Arthur unsheathed his own sword 'why did you do this?' The thief smirked from beneath his hood and spoke one word that sounded so full of hatred that it sent chills down Arthur's spine,

'Revenge.'

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What to do think?

So, Arthur and the thief have met and now the first noble has been murdered. Who is the thief and why does he want revenge? The next chapter will hopefully be up by the end of the week. See you then.

Revieww!