*Is so ashamed of herself right now* Serieusly, I'm so sorry for not updating! Life has been so hectic, I moved (still don't have a proper bed) and started another study and to be fair Merlin was one of my lower priorities... How could I?

So a MAJOR shout out for everyone who stuck by me, reviewed, followed, favorited or showed me support in any other way! I do love you and I love when I get a message to say I got a new follower or especially a new review!

To make amends I hereby solomnly swear to put up another chapter in the upcoming days.

Enjoy the second half of this story for now, I tried to make it a bit longer since I finally felt inspired:

-Rosie-

Gwaine screamed, or rather roared. Merlin had fell unconscious again and it was obvious his leg was badly broken. And if that wasn't enough they sat in an abyss, how were they supposed to get Merlin out of here without hurting him more. It was impossible, his leg was completely broken and if they startled it more it would not end well. Than his mind wandered to what Merlin had said. Bandits. They did this. If Gwaine found them, they were going to regret throwing Merlin down.

'Elyan, I need you to ride back to Camelot and get Gaius, we can't carry Merlin back with us.' Leon spoke up. 'Lancelot and Percival can stay here, but the rest of us has to find the bandits and Arthur.'

'I'm staying here.' Gwaine responded, he was not about to leave his friend. As a knight he was loyal to Arthur, but if it hadn't been for Merlin, he wouldn't have been a knight at all. Leon was about to react, when Lancelot stepped forward.

'Gwaine, try an calm down, pacing through this abyss isn't going to help anyone.' Lancelot tried to reason.

'How can you be so calm?! Our friend was just thrown down an abyss!' Gwaine responded.

'Gwaine! Calm. Down. You're right, and all we can do for him now is send for Gaius. However, in the meanwhile you can try and help a friend who will actually benefit from your presence. Merlin told us to go and save Arthur and you know that if he would be conscious right now, he would go after Arthur immediately. He needs you to do that for him now. We can't do anything for Merlin now, but we can help our king.' Lancelot said while standing in front of Gwaine, looking him directly in the eyes. Gwaine suddenly saw the perks of going after Arthur: when he would see the bastards of bandits that had put them in this situation… He looked back at Lancelot and gave a nod. He would make sure they could hurt no one ever again.

Elyan already was climbing back to the horses and Leon and Gwaine followed him. Not much later Lancelot and Percival were alone with an unconscious Merlin.

'We need to collect wood. It will be dark before Elyan can return with Gaius and we'll need a fire.' Lancelot stated. Percival nodded and climbed back up to the woods to collect the wood and get their other supplies.

When Arthur finally awoke his head hurt like hell. When trying to move he found out he was tight very tightly to a tree. It was evident his bonds wouldn't bulge. Not that that stopped him from trying.

'You do realize you will never get out of that bonds do you not?' He suddenly heard a voice say. The bandit leader stepped in his view and grinned. 'Although I would have to admit, I would be disappointed if you didn't try.'

'When my knights find us, you will regret your actions. What do you even want with me?' Arthur stopped struggling and figured he could at least figure out why these bandits had attacked them. Thinking back to the attack Arthur felt his anger rise again. God he hoped the knights had found Merlin. Alive. But he didn't dare think Merlin wouldn't be alright. He just focused his thoughts to something else.

'Well, Arthur, there is a rumor I heard a few weeks back that sparked my interest in you. You see, we're not actually after you, you're just the mean to our goal.'

'Stop talking in riddles! Either tell me or don't, but don't give me this.' Arthur was seething. He wasn't their goal? What was this guy trying to say?

'Let me spell it out for you. We're not actually after you, Arthur Pendragon. You're the bait. There is a rumor going round about a magical protector of some sorts and some way or the other he protects you, the very man who prosecutes his own kind. I want this protector. I want his power for myself and the best way to catch him is to catch the man he is protecting. I just hope for your sake, the rumor is true, otherwise you'll have to do as our prize.'

Arthur couldn't believe it. These bandits actually thought he, Arthur Pendragon, had a magical fairy godmother of some kind? They must have fallen on their heads or something. When the knights would come after them, they would surely take care of them. Just sit tight and don't worry too much. Waiting wasn't Arthurs forte though.

'You can't seriously believe a sorcerer is protecting me, have you lost your mind? Arthur breathed out.

'Not a sorcerer, a warlock, and a very powerful one at that. I couldn't believe it at first too, but there are so many separate reports of this, there must be some merit to it. Believe what you want, you're here and you're not going anywhere. We'll see soon enough if the rumor is true. Try and get some sleep while you can Arthur. If your protector doesn't hurry, we might think he needs some persuasion.' With that the bandit leader turned around and walked away. Leaving Arthur with one bandit guard and his own thoughts.

Merlin was waking again and Lancelot was determined to keep him calm this time. 'Merlin, I know it probably hurts to move right now, so the best thing you can do is to try and lie still.' Slowly Merlin's eyes opened and he gasped when he still tried to move.

'I told you to lie still. Can you speak?' Lancelot inquired.

'Yeah.' Merlin spoke. 'What has happened? Where are the others? Did you find Arthur yet?'

'Merlin, breathe. Elyan is getting Gaius, because we can't move you without damaging your leg further. Percival is collecting wood, and Leon and Gwaine are tracing the bandits. They will find him. Gwaine was furious at them, so he will do everything it takes to make them pay. In the meanwhile you just have to hang in there.' Merlin nodded and let his head fall back to the ground. His whole body hurt like hell, but especially his leg. He knew he had to be careful with his magic, but he couldn't let himself fall into oblivion again. Only Lancelot was nearby, so he quickly muttered a spell to try and heal himself as far as was possible.

'Merlin! What did you do?' Lancelot watched with open mouth when Merlin tried to sit himself upright. Coming out of his stupor he quickly aided Merlin. 'I can't just leave Arthur with these bandits, he needs all of us. You haven't seen them. They're with too many just for Leon and Gwaine to take care of.'

'Merlin, you just fell down 15 meters. How are you going to explain you came out of it unscathed. The knights all saw you.'

'The knights are not the problem right now! Arthur is alone with these bandits and we need to help him.' Merlin tried to stand up, but couldn't quite manage that yet. Lancelot helped him up, but noticed that Merlin still had to rely on him holding him up. 'You're in no state to go and search for him.' Lancelot stated.

'You know I'm going to try anyway Lancelot. It would mean a lot if you helped.' Lancelot sighed. 'And you know I will never let you go on your own… fine, let's try and find Percival and get to the horses, on the back of a horse you can at least move around faster.'

The night was falling and Arthur was still tight to the tree. The bandits had began to grow restless and soon enough the bandit leader approached him again.

'It seems this protector doesn't seem the need to come to your aid yet. I think he needs some persuasion.' He stated.

Arthur sighed inwardly and seethed on the outside. 'Or maybe this rumor is just a rumor and there is no magical fairy protecting me at all!'

The grin returned to the bandits face. 'Well, I'm not going to take that risk, and even so, than we at least will have had our fun with you.' He turned around and signaled something to his men. Two of them came forward and started to free Arthur from the tree. His hands however remained bonded together. When they got the rope of, they yanked him to his feet and threw him towards the bandit leader, who was now holding a dagger in his right hand.

'Let's see if this will do the trick.' He said smugly, but before he could strike down an arrow caught his arm. The yell that followed seemed to be more of surprise than of pain. Arthur followed the arrows path and saw Leon and Gwaine approaching. Where were his other knights? Had they found Merlin? He was returned to the present by the roaring of the bandits, ready to attack. His battle skills flared up and he put himself out of the danger zone, taking the fallen dagger with him. With them he began to cut the rope securing his wrists. The sooner he got free, the sooner he would be able to help his friends to take out these bandits.

Merlin's headache was growing more painful by the minute, but he didn't even think of giving up on Arthur. He could feel they were close by.

'Merlin, are you holding up?' He heard Lancelot ask behind him on the saddle. Without noticing he had slumped back against the knight.

'I'm fine.'

'Merlin.'

'Fine, I'm not fine, but I'm not too bad either, so please just continue.' He admitted. Lancelot opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a scream. Merlin sat up immediately.

'The bandits.' Percival stated and they hurried their horses towards the sounds of battle. When they arrived at the scene it was clear Leon, Gwaine and Arthur were barely holding up. All three of them had to take on several bandits to beat the odds. Percival was of his horse in seconds and ran to aid. Lancelot helped Merlin down before running into the fight himself, but not without a warning. 'Stay out of it Merlin, stay here. You can barely stand. We can take care of these bandits.' He didn't even wait for Merlin to answer before he ran away.

Merlin held himself up by leaning against a tree. He could help them and stay out of it at the same time. However, the truth was his leg had begun to throb harder and harder in the last hour. His magic had helped to keep him up, but it couldn't heal a broken leg completely. Looking at the battle he tried to help by letting branches fall and bandits trip, but every now and then a shot of pain traveled up his leg leaving him panting. He slumped down to the ground. The knights had the upper hand, so his help wasn't needed that bad anymore.

'Well, well, who do we have here?' Suddenly a voice startled him. Merlin tried to get up again but a sword was pointing at his chest, keeping him in the position he had been in. 'The servant about who the almighty king cares. How did you survive that fall in the first place boy? Did the knights find you and bring you here? They should've known better. It's a good thing for me though, you are exactly the leverage I need to get out of here alive.'

This man had pushed Arthur, sending Merlin over the edge. Merlin was ready to take him out. He reached to his magic and… a shot of pain flared up again and he gasped. Before he knew what was happening the bandit had hauled him up, which made his leg even hurt more. The bandit clamped his arm around Merlin's chest, pulling his back against the bandit's chest. He pulled out a dagger put it near his neck. 'Now walk, let's see if your king indeed does care about you.'

When they approached the scene Merlin was panting and gasping more and more. Because the bandit pushed him forward he had no other choice to walk, but his leg made it nearly impossible to keep up right. If it hadn't been for the bandit's arm around his chest he would already have fallen down. The bandit came to a halt and Merlin's knees almost buckled. The bandit however drew him closer to his chest and pressed the dagger harder to his neck. Due to the pain and blurring vision Merlin couldn't even find it in himself to reach towards his magic and he never had felt so vulnerable.

'King Arthur! Stop this fight this instant or your servant here will pay the price.' Arthur suddenly heard. At the mention of Merlin he tried to figure out where the voice had come from and the sight that met his eyes stopped him dead in his tracks. A very pale Merlin who seemed to be on the brink of consciousness was being held by the bandit leader, who grinned smugly at Arthur. He had him and he knew it.

'Throw down you sword and let you knights do the same and no harm will come to this boy. Or no more harm I should say.' Arthur seethed but threw down his sword anyway. The other knights had heard the commotion and angrily threw down their swords too. The bandits didn't lose a second and grabbed the swords from the forest grounds.

'I guess you were right after all, Arthur, there is no magical fairy looking over your shoulder. I want to make a deal. You and your knights let us tie you to one of the trees, so we can leave in peace, in return I will leave your servant boy with you, no further harm done.' The bandit said, knowing he couldn't win the fight fairly.

Arthur clenched his fists and next to him he saw Gwaine do the same. 'How will we know, you won't just kill us when we're tight up.' He asked.

You think we're ordinary bandits, but let me tell you, we're not. We're outcasts, we were once druids, but our magic got stolen from us. Only the warlock Emrys can return us our powers. We know for a fact he won't do that if we have killed innocent people. We thought Emrys would protect you, hence the plan to kidnap you, but it was never our attempt to kill any of you.'

'Why would I believe your story. You tried to kill Merlin when you threw him down that abyss!' Arthur was seething, did that bastard really think he would believe him after what he had done to Merlin.

'It wasn't my intention to throw him down that abyss. I wanted to take you both! Use him to let you comply and call out your protector.' Arthur didn't know what to say. He wanted to comply, to save Merlin, but he couldn't put his knights in such danger. Merlin looked paler by the second and was leaning heavily to the leader.

'We will do as you ask.' Suddenly he heard Lancelot say. He caught Lancelot's stare and when he met the faces of his other knights he saw they were all willing to take the risk. Arthur then nodded and immediately the bandits surrounding him led him and the other knights to some trees. The five of them were tight around different tree and when the last knot was tight, the leader laid Merlin on the ground where he was standing.

'My sincere apologies King Arthur. I don't expect you to forgive us, but we are truly sorry how this turned out.' The leader bowed towards the knights and after that he and his bandits were out of sights in mere minutes.

'Can you believe this guy! He kidnaps you, throws Merlin down an abyss, attacks us, threatens Merlin and all of us and then he… apologizes!'

'Gwaine, please try to remain calm and help us find a way to get out of this ropes.' Leon answered him, rather focusing on the problem at hand. Lancelot and Arthur both were focused on the figure laying down mere meters from them. When they saw his chest rising, they allowed themselves to breathe out a sigh of relief. Percival was already flexing his muscles. If he could get loose, he could untie the others. He could feel how it worked, how the rope grew weaker and with a roar it snapped. In mere minutes everyone was untied and they all ran towards Merlin. Not wasting a second Arthur carried Merlin towards the horses and sat him in the saddle, taking place behind his friend. Merlin was going back to Camelot and Gaius could help him, all would be good again.

And in the deepest of his mind, Emrys forgave the once druids for their desperate moves, for he could sense their remorse, especially when they saw his state of being. And when the leader Jargian awoke the next morning, he was stunned to find his powers had returned. A message flashed in his mind. 'You've all been forgiven.'

-Rosie-

Please let me know what you thought! New prompts are always welcome and expect a new chapter very very soon!

Rosie out ;)