Could've had this posted days ago but I wanted to get ahead on the later chapters. I have two other chapters after this ready to post and there's also two half written chapters after that. So I estimate 4 more chapters before this story is done. I'm proud of myself for writing six chapters in under a month. All thanks to two boring subway rides that got my creative juices flowing.

Mostly I just have to work on two fight scenes and then I'm done. I just realized that I've never written an actual sword fight. Over the past week I've been collecting words to describe the right moment. It goes something like; slash, dodge, block... and so on. It's actually a really long list that I won't bore you with.

I actually have a new idea for a Merlin story. It's kind of bursting to get out right now but I'm forcing myself to finish this story first. It's actually a Merlin slave fanfic. I've read a few of those and they are always so mean to Merlin and dark. Mines more likely going to end up having funny moments and no torture. It will be a reveal fic too.

Deviner Captive

Prince

...

They could clearly see the tracks left by the hundreds of men who had traveled the path. It was child's play to track the Dyfred army. They hid in the clouds once the Magonsaete castle came into view. From the back of the dragon they could clearly see the war camp that Dyfred had set up.

'Merlin was down there somewhere.' Arthur thought to himself. "We should land." He suggested outloud so his companions could hear. The two knights felt their stomachs turn as they started to descend at an alarming rate in his books. When they climbed down his legs felt like jelly. Arthur wasn't used to traveling by dragon quite yet.

"What's the plan then if we aren't just going to swoop in on a dragon?" Gwaine asked curiously.

"Since we don't know where Merlin is we can't risk injuring him. We'll have to find the camp by foot and scout it out." Arthur exclaimed as he readjusted his weapons. "When it becomes dark we'll make our move." The sun already hung low in the sky. It shouldn't be too long until he saw Merlin again if everything went smoothly.

When they walked forward they could hear loud stomping following behind them. "What are you doing?" Arthur whipped his head around and asked.

"I want to come with you." Kilgharrah answered like it made complete sense.

"You have to stay here. You're too big to come with us." Arthur responded in exasperation. It would be impossible to sneak around with a dragon following them.

"I assure you that you are going to need my help." Kilgharrah answered with an eyebrow raised.

"How are we supposed to hide a dragon?" Gwaine complained with frustrated hand movements.

"You'll find a way." Kilgharrah answered like he foretold it was done.

"Wait here for now." Arthur said as they went to scout. The two knights didn't think it was possible to hide something so large. When they snuck close enough they peeked into the camp. They watched as the Dyfred soldiers settled down for the night. It looked like it was dinner time now so it was too early to make their move. They decided to examine the perimeter more.

...

They came back once the sun had set. When they knew that most of the soldiers would be heading off to bed. There were still some late stragglers and the night guards were patrolling. It wasn't as quite as they were hoping but it would have to do.

"How are we supposed to get in and find Merlin without being noticed?" Arthur asked himself. He was still wearing his red cloak so he'd stick out like a sore thumb.

Two guards who were monitoring the edge of the camp wondered close by which gave the common knight an idea."How about we just steal ourselves some disguises." Gwaine suggested.

"That'll work." Arthur nodded and they both stood and pulled out there swords. Before the guards could make too much noise they both hit one over the head, dragging the heavy bodies into the trees.

Arthur hid his cloak and armor in the hollow of a tree so it wouldn't be found. He emerged into the open to wait for the other knight. Standing like a guard he nodding to some passing soldiers who nodded back not noticing anything amiss. So far so good.

"I think the guy I stole this from needs to lose some weight." Gwaine complained as he emerged from the trees behind him.

When Arthur turned to see what he meant he knew that the disguise wasn't going to work on the more slender knight. The armor didn't fit him at all and it just left him looking out of place. "I think it's best if I just go by myself and you stay here as back up."

"I'll just knock another guard out." Gwaine suggested.

"We don't have time for that. I don't want to risk still being around when the two guards we already knocked out to wake up." Arthur argued his point.

"Fine." Gwaine huffed and crossed his arms.

.

Arthur slunk through the tents and eased dropped on conversations as he passed. All the tents kind of looked the same so he wasn't sure where to go. Until he overheard a conversation about an unimaginable feat that was performed by the new court sorcerer. Trying to be inconspicuous he moved closer.

"He's in there then." One asked the soldiers asked the other. They both turned to look in a direction.

A large blue tent with moons and stars stitched all over it stuck out to was kind of obvious that was where they were keeping Merlin. When with no trouble he ended up at the tents rear he realized there wasn't very much security. Pressing his ear to the canvas of the tent he was able to hear voices. Gwrthfyr's muffled voice stood out first but it was when he heard Merlin's reply then he perked up.

It had been weeks since he'd heard that voice.

.

"I want to know what's going on. I know I'm just a pawn but..." Merlin demanded with his arms crossed standing in the middle of the tent. The day's events had confused him. What was the point?

"I've already told you my plan. Attacking one of Uther's allies will force him to break the peace treaty with my kingdom and give no fault to me." Gwrthfyr replied with confidence strumming through his voice like he didn't think anything could go wrong.

"So you plan to have me take out the whole army by my self?" Merlin asked aghast. Having his powers used against his will against his friends was his worst night mare.

"Not exactly, I've managed to collect some more sorcerers since I required you." Gwrthfyr shrugged. "We expect Camelot within a couple days." Altoris nodded along to his master in agreement.

"What makes you so certain Camelot will immediately jump to the aid of its allies? It could be weeks before they decide to make a move." Merlin asked trying to hide the fact that he hoped that was what they would do. Maybe by then he would manage to escape.

"Because of you." Gwrthfyr replied with glee. "After showing your great power today, King Sweyn will write to Uther of it, and he won't be able to let it slide that he'd had a sorcerer working under his nose for years let alone a powerful one. It'll hurt his pride too much."

"Uther will just send a dozen Knights to appease the peace treaty most likely." Merlin tried to shrug off and down play the seriousness of the situation.

"No, I think Uther will march out himself. And your Prince Arthur..." Gwrthfyr practically spat the name. "I'm sure by now his anger has dulled to coals and the longing for your company has begun. He will come running to your aid at the first chance." Gwrthfyr revealed his suspicions.

Merlin hoped that was how Arthur felt about him. Deep down he worried that his lies had hurt his masters feelings too much and he'd never be forgiven. It was his worst fear.

"Tomorrow you will rest, the day after your power will be put to the true test." Gwrthfyr exclaimed before he left. Merlin wondered what was going to happen two days from now. He was left alone in his lavish tent. No finery could make him think of it as less than a prison. The goose down pillows and feather bed roll mocked him.

He'd take his caught in Camelot to this any day, even if it did feel like he was sleeping on a plank of wood.

.

Arthur had to hold a snort in when he was mentioned. 'I'm a lot closer to Merlin's rescue than you think.' He'd only been able to catch a few words of the conversation. The beginning of the conversation was like gibberish because the king was moving around too much.

He heard the king leave and listened for any other noise. It appeared that Merlin had finally been left alone. Looking both ways to make sure no one was watching, he lent down and lifted the edge of the tent up and slipped into the interior. He rolled in and up to his feet to stand in the middle of the tent facing the warlocks back.

When Merlin turned around at the noise and saw the guard he was going to yelp in surprise but a leather gloved hand slapped to cover his mouth. He struggled for a bit not knowing what the guard could want. "Be quite you idiot. It's me." Arthur said but when Merlin didn't calm down he ripped off the helmet to show him his identity. When his manservant went limp in his hold he let him go and removed his hand.

"Arthur?" Merlin said in a tone as if he was asking if he was seeing things. He reached out and touched the prince's jaw and felt the light stubble. His emotions started to get the best of him.

"Are you crying?" Arthur asked surprised at the boys reaction at the sight of him. He knew he'd be happy but to break down in tears.

"No." Merlin said as he wiped the tears from his eyes on his sleeve. He couldn't hold back his happiness so he threw his arms around his prince. He knew the prince usually didn't condone hugging but this was a special situation.

Arthur froze before hugging him back. He was surprised at how good Merlin looked after being in captivity for so long. He expected to see some signs of mistreatment but other than some marks from shackle marks on his wrist he looked fine. Sliding his hands around his slime waist. He swore that the boy had actually gained weight since the last time he saw him.

They stood like that for a while just happy to be together again. Arthur and Merlin, master and servant, prince and his warlock he guessed.

Pulling back he took the sight of his Merlin in after being denied it for so long. "What are you wearing?" Arthur asked as he just noticed the fancy robes. He was so used to seeing his manservant in his shabby blue shirt, brown jacket, and red neckerchief; seeing him in such finery was disconcerting.

"Oh yeah." Merlin said as he looked down at himself and rubbed the back of his neck. "Since I'm supposed to be the court sorcerer, Gwrthfyr wanted me to look the part. Couldn't be seen in rages now could I." He played nervously with the ornate sleeves as the prince checked him out. "Arthur about me not telling you about my magic..." Merlin looked uncertain. They never had a chance to talk about it before he was spirited away so he didn't know where the prince stood on the matter.

"We'll have a long talk about that later." Arthur dodged the conversation not ready for that yet. "You still don't have any control of your magic." Arthur exclaimed as he ran a hand over the collar. They still stood close together, almost chest to chest. It would have been too easy to escape with the help of his powers.

"Well I managed to destroy some of the ruins at one point but Gwrthfyr had them fixed." Merlin explained in disappointment. It made Arthur think about his room cleaning itself.

They both froze when they heard movement outside but it passed their location by.

"Enough talking, we have time to catch up later. We need to get out of here before someone comes back. The security around here is abysmal. Why haven't you tried to leave yet?" Arthur asked curiously. From what he observed there was only one guard at the entrance. Even Merlin could easily slip out the back without anyone being the wiser.

"It's not that easy as it would appear." Lifting up the bottom of his robe Merlin revealed the ball and chain attached to his left ankle. The chain was too short for him to carry the ball without being hunched over. "I would have to try and limp away. I'm not that steady on my feet in the first place so adding this to the equation is just asking for trouble."

Arthur could imagine his manservant making it only a few steps before falling over and being dragged back by some guards. He understood now why there were hardly any security around Merlin's tent. They didn't think he could escape anyway. At the speed he would be able to leave someone for sure would spot him.

Putting his helmet back on to hide his identity once more. "I'll just have to carry you then." Arthur said as he grabbed the boys waist and slung him over his shoulder. Merlin hardly weighed a thing but he had to be careful to hold him firm so that the weight of the metal ball didn't drag him off his shoulder.

"What are you doing? Put me down." Merlin said indignantly under his breath so that the guards outside wouldn't hear.

"Be quite." Arthur shushed him as he peeked through a slit in the canvas to see if anyone was watching. There were no tents behind them since Merlin's tent had been segregated from the rest of the soldiers. He untied some of the fastenings so that they could easily slip out.

Arthur speed walked as fast as he could away from the camp. Merlin slowed him down enough that he couldn't go at a full run. He was sure if anyone looked at him his cover would be blown. A guard carrying the prisoner over his shoulder back towards camp would be received as stopping the escape, now carrying a prisoner away from camp just didn't make sense. He tried to stick to the shadows.

"I think you've gained some weight." Arthur joked referring to the ball and chain.

"Oh you're one to talk." Merlin snapped from his position over his broad shoulders. Arthur wanted to argue that he wasn't fat but he knew that now wasn't the time.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" An on duty guard had spotted their retreat. Arthur started to run full speed. Chanting to himself that it wasn't too much further.

Merlin lifted his head and noticed the guard was catching up to them. It worried him until another guard dashed over and knock him out. He wondered why they'd do that until the guard lifted his helmet to show Gwaine's smirking face as he dashed after them.

More soldiers and guards were alerted to the breakout because of the racket they caused. Soldiers piled out of tents, grabbing weapons as they went. Soon they had practically the whole army after them.

"How are we going to lose them?" Merlin asked. They couldn't out run them forever. The situation was looking hopeless from his point of view.

"We just need to make it to the other side of that hill." Arthur answered as he ascended the slope.

"What?" Merlin said in confusion until he saw what was on the other side. The large form of the dragon was silhouetted by the moon light.

Arthur used the slope of the hill to get enough momentum to dash to the dragons feet. When they were scouting earlier he noticed the incline that was just the right height to hide a dragon. He thought it would be much harder to accomplish. The prince was catching his breath now that he knew they were safe.

Kilgharrah roared when the Dyfred men reached the top of the incline. Just the sight of the beast was enough to stop them in their tracks but when he roared it made them run screaming in the other direction. "Young prince, I told you would be needing me."

"Shut up." Arthur said as he gasped for breath.

"Princess, you found your prince." Gwaine greeted them as he reached their location. He'd fallen behind because he had to knock out more soldiers.

"How come he gets to be 'prince' while you keep calling me princess?" Arthur asked disgruntled.

"Because every princess needs a prince. After how many times Merlin has apparently saved your life, you are definitely the damsel in distress in this relationship." Gwaine replied back sarcastically.

"I just saved him." Arthur snapped as he gripped the boys legs tighter in aggravation.

"That's like 1 to his 50th. Doesn't even out." Gwaine shrugged off the argument.

Merlin couldn't believe they were bickering at a time like this. "Put me down. This is undignified." He demanded as he thumped the prince on his back. Arthur almost forgot he was carrying his manservant. He carefully placed him back on his feet.

After he regained his footing Merlin hugged the dragons large clawed foot. "Kilgharrah, I've never been so glad to see you."

"I am glad to see you too young warlock." The dragon replied affectionately.

"Come on. We should leave before they come back with reinforcements." Arthur reminded them the situation they were in.

"Give me a boost." Merlin asked not being able to make it himself with the extra weight. With the prince's help he was able to make it onto the back. Once they were all in place the dragon took off into the night sky.

...TBC