OMG. Follows and favorites? Thanks so much! I'm so glad you guys like it enough to follow and favorite it! I was really nervous this being my first story and all. Without further ado, chapter 2!
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When Merlin arrived into the prince's chambers he was more than surprised to find that Arthur had already fallen asleep. He emptied the bathing basin and cleaned up everything he could without waking the prince up. He sat in the arm chair by the fireplace to scrub the newly mended and fixed boots.
Even though he tried not to, the warmth and comfort overtook him and he fell asleep.
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Arthur sat straight up in bed and ran a hand through his hair before rubbing his wrists. They were sore, but the iron cuffs were gone. "They aren't there anymore," he muttered to himself. He heard someone shift in the chair by the fireplace. Probably Merlin with a great excuse as to being there. He laid back onto his side and tried to fall back asleep, but his mind was racing and refused to think of anything other than the last few months.
He cringed out loud at one moment that kept replaying. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and covered his face with his hands. His hands used to be smooth and clean all of the time, but now his hands were covered in thick calluses and healing scrapes. They felt almost foreign, like the hands of a slave, even the outdoor slaves and servants here in Camelot had less worked hands then his.
He fell onto his back and winced at the bruises and cuts that landed on the overly stuffed mattress. He heard Merlin wake up and watched as he clumsily got up and rubbing his eyes as he headed for the door. He glanced at Arthur and noticed he was up. He walked over.
"What are you doing up? It's extremely early for you and your pratty self to be awake," Merlin smiled at him and Arthur resisted the urge to playfully punch him in the shoulder.
He dug one of his palms into his eye, "Couldn't sleep."
"So, what happened while you were…" he trailed off looking for the right word.
Arthur decided telling him some of it might help him to get it out of his head. "The barbarians delivered me to some smugglers who were heading to some kingdom out of ours. They were auctioning us off to the highest bidder, there were some knights and members of royal courts that belonged to our allies. Most of them were sold in black markets in old caves. But they said that it wasn't safe to auction a prince in his own lands. They dragged me around with them, but one night they made a mistake and I escaped."
"Why didn't you escape earlier?" Merlin asked.
"They had chained my wrists to one cart and my ankles to another. I tried to break the shackles one time…" he looked down and tried to forget about it.
Merlin's forehead creased. "What?"
Arthur shook his head and some of his blond hair hang in front of his eyes. "Nothing."
"Arthur…" He stood up and tried to place a hand on his arm.
Arthur rolled his shoulder and walked toward the bed. He couldn't let Merlin see the tear roll down his cheek. He dug both of his palms into his eye sockets and caught his breath. He couldn't cry right now, he couldn't.
Merlin began to step toward him and he said in as steady of a voice as he could muster, "I'm going to bed."
He crawled under the covers and clutching his wrists, silently sobbed.
Merlin watched and made himself a promise.
He was going to help Arthur.
No matter what it took.
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FangirlingFanatic