Chapter Fourteen

"I'm glad they have locks on both sides of the door in this one," Merlin commented to Xyla as he slowly inserted the key into the door. "They didn't in the last one."

"Last one? You've been here before?"

"Once. Arthur and I – well, and Gwen and Morgana – came here to save Gwen's brother once, back when Cenred still ran this castle. Arthur and I had a smaller cell that time, though. And there was no lock on the inside of that cell." The key didn't turn that way. He tried to force it the other way.

"But you escaped anyway?"

"A lot faster than we did this time, actually." He paused for a second, his hand stilling. "Really dumb plan, too. I still can't believe that worked…" He shook his head. "But Arthur wouldn't be able to climb to the ceiling in this one. It's too big. Shh!"

The door was unlocked. The click of the lock seemed deafening to Merlin, who feared any guards on the other side might have heard it.

He and Xyla shared a nervous glance before he began to slowly open the door, thanking the gods that it didn't creak. Unconsciously, he held out a hand to keep her standing behind him. Leaning forward and peering past the stone, he looked out in the hall and saw… nothing.

"There aren't any guards."

"That you can see," Xyla commented in a whisper, because speaking any louder seemed wrong. That, and because she didn't want to alert any guards nearby that they were escaping.

"Maybe they went with Arthur."

"Seems careless."

Merlin shrugged, and after a second more of looking, he opened the door all the way and stepped outside. He didn't even have the chance to look around before the guard he hadn't been able to spot from his angle simply stepped forward and latched onto Merlin's still-chained wrist.

Panicking, Merlin tried to spin around and push the unseen opponent away, but the man snarled and grabbed his other arm, keeping him from wriggling free. Merlin struggled anyway.

Xyla, who had jumped about three feet in the air when the guard appeared, saw Merlin being manhandled. She knew she had to help. She felt deep in her bones that she had to defend him, and herself, and that this guard was in the way.

To be honest, she rather forgot herself right there. She wasn't sure what else would make her jump forward, rip the helmet from the surprised guard, put both hands around his neck… and then let herself fall backwards, still attached to the attacker.

Something jerked the head from her hands as her behind connected with the stone floor, and for a moment she was too jarred to move or think.

Merlin toppled to the floor when the guard released him, but looked up in time to see Xyla pulling the man backwards—leading his bare head right into the corner of the doorway. He gave a yelp as his head connected to stone, and slid to the floor. Xyla gave a cry as she hit the floor and fell over backward.

Getting to his feet, Merlin looked around and had to admit he was impressed. "You knocked him out," he said, stretching out a hand to help Xyla to her feet. If I was left in charge of the situation, he'd probably be dead, Merlin found himself thinking, surprisingly a bit guilty.

Xyla looked down at the man. "It was just instinct," she told Merlin, gripping onto his arm tightly to keep from… what? Fainting? Hardly. She'd never fainted in her life. (Passed out, yes, maybe. Fainted, never.)

I don't like fighting, she thought.

There was blood on the man's head. He was breathing, but he didn't move. Her stomach twisted.

That kind of thing reminded her too forcefully of her family, of Uther, of Kushi.

Glaring at nothing in particular, she remembered that she had learned healing magic and stopped trying to kill people for this reason.

She shook her head, took a deep breath, and then told herself to move on.

"We need to find Arthur," Merlin said.

Xyla felt herself smile a bit. "Or we could just, you know, leave."

Merlin stared at her for a second, looking hurt, and then he said quietly, "You can go if you want; I have to find Arthur."

"I was kidding. Really." Mostly. She tried to smile brightly.

Merlin tried too.

Eventually they both just gave up. Merlin grabbed Xyla's arm and pointed in the right direction, and they went off after a blond prat who, in her opinion, should really be the one in charge of the saving department. Wasn't that what princes were supposed to do anyway? But no, just her luck—she got stuck helping her... her... whatever Merlin was to save a useless prince while probably getting them all nearly killed by Morgause and Morgana.

Actually, the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of leaving Arthur there. So she stopped thinking about it.

A/N: Really short, but I wanted to publish something this weekend, and I didn't have time for more. Anyway, thanks to reviewers! And what did you think? I didn't like it...