Author's Note: Just noticed I didn't put any paragraph dividers in the last chapter… Ah well! You seemed to cope!

So, even more action in this chapter and we have some Arthur/Emrys confrontation which a lot of you have been asking for! I won't give too much of an explanation as I think the best thing for me to do is to just shut up and let you read! So enjoy and review? x

Disclaimer: I still do not own any characters of the BBC's TV programme Merlin (wish I did!) but any added characters and plotlines were completely my genius! All mistakes and splelnig errrors are also my own, which are not so genius…

Chapter Thirty Four

Heart-Broken

He was crouching on a branch of a nearby tree. His hood was up, his cloak draped over his shoulders and the black chain still coiled around his wrist. There were raw, red scar marks from where the chain had cut into the skin. Arthur had gone silent. Ceira looked down at him. His eyes were also fixed on Emrys. She looked back round, realising what Emrys had seen. Emrys straightened up on the branch and leapt down as silently as a cat, not taking his eyes off the pair of them as he did.

"Emrys…I can explain. I didn't mean…" Ceira stammered, desperation strangling her words. Emrys held up his hand to signal for Ceira to stop talking. Ceira obeyed abruptly.

"I saw it all. I know it wasn't you Ceira. It was him." His last word was bitter and hateful. He spat it like it scraped over his tongue unpleasantly. "He made you. You tried to resist him but he forced you." He slowly approached Arthur who was still lying helplessly on the ground. "You came a little further than you meant on your little morning run didn't you?" Emrys' voice was low and sinister as he addressed Arthur. "You didn't mean to come as far as the Darkling Woods did you?" Emrys reached Arthur and looked down at him despicably.

"These…these are the Darkling Woods?" Arthur stuttered, terrified. Emrys suddenly reached down and grasped the front of Arthur's shirt. He dragged him up and off his feet with surprising force.

"Yes, they are. And as you should know, this is my territory so what are you doing going round forcing Ceira to kiss something as wicked and repulsive as you? How dare you even lay a finger on her?" Emrys threw Arthur down to the ground. Arthur skidded across the forest floor and scrambled up. He dashed over to Ceira and wrapped his arms protectively around her.

"She deserves more than you!" he yelled. He snatched Ceira away from Emrys and tried to tug her through the trees in retreat. Ceira was forced to run with him within his grasp. Ceira heard Emrys dart up behind them. Arthur had actually got quite far away from Emrys, but that wouldn't help. Emrys would always catch up with him.

Then he was there, right in front of them. Arthur stopped instantly in his tracks and held Ceira close into him. Emrys glared at him. He just glowered for a moment to let the hate sink in. Then he exploded.

He tore Arthur away from Ceira and sent him tumbling to the ground. There was a slight dip in the ground behind him which sent him spinning down the hill and collided with a tree at the bottom. Emrys pounced down after him and looked down at his disbelieving face.

"If I didn't have this wrapped round my wrist," he held up the black chain twisted round his arm, "you would be dead right now." He said this in a low voice so it was only just audible. The danger and malice in those words dug deep enough into him that they would be engraved into him. Emrys stared for one last second then spun round and swooped back to where Ceira stood shaking, freezing tears pouring down her face. "I'm so sorry. I will come back for you, but now is not the time. I promise Ceira, I will come and rescue you... I love you." He kissed her head softly then disappeared into the trees. Ceira watched him vanish then crouched down to the ground and cried.

xxx

Emrys broke into a run once he had left the clearing, trying to let the wind that was rushing past him blow the tears away. It wasn't working. They still came. He wanted to turn round, go and pick Ceira up and carry her off into the forest with him so they could escape. But of course he couldn't. It wasn't the right time. He couldn't just whisk her away while everyone in Camelot was on high alert. Although the temptation was agonizing. It would be so easy. But Arthur would just go and run back to the castle and call all the Knights together to chase after the pair.

He didn't dare look back. He wouldn't be able to bare Ceira's betrayed face. But he would come back for her soon. Very soon. He would make it all alright again. Ceira may be hurt but it would all be worth it when they ran away together. That was if Ceira wanted to run away with him. Here he was thinking that she was just the same as him, wanting to get away from Camelot and start again, have a new life somewhere else. But she might want to stay in Camelot. She may not want to spend the rest of her life with him. Why would she anyway? She was the future King's servant girl and he was at the top of Camelot's most wanted list. A thief. The Thief. Why would anyone want to waste their lives with him? Emrys felt ashamed to even have brought Ceira into all this. It was his fault she was being locked up. It was his fault her fate was in the hands of Uther and Arthur. It was his fault she wasn't safe. If he hadn't got involved, Ceira would still just be Arthur's servant girl. She would still have a normal life. She would still have her freedom.

xxx

Arthur hadn't said a word to Ceira on the way back to the castle. He couldn't even say sorry. She had collapsed inside herself. Her feelings were breaking her up. She had stopped sobbing but tears still trickled silently from her eyes. Arthur had just led the way back along the wall wordlessly. His injuries from Emrys' furious outburst were throbbing hurtfully. He was bruised all over from his painful descent into the tree. He was sure that the injuries were pretty severe. He had scratches all down his arms from the twigs and jagged stones on the ground scraping across his skin as he fell.

Ceira was scarred in a completely different way. She followed behind him like a wounded dog, not even attempting to flee. They finally reached the main gate. There was no way they were going to get past the guards without questions being asked and Ceira being discovered. Arthur suddenly remembered the old watercourse down in the Camelot cellars which led out past the Camelot walls and into the outskirts of the forest that he had used only a few times before. Now was the time to use it again.

xxx

Author's Note:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

Wonder if you liked this chap,

Reviews are pretty cool!

LBB (Little Blue Button) Feature: Woo, Bluey's getting pretty popular!

"There you are, on the left. Just let Gaius know who you are," the guard nodded and gave a friendly smile before heading off back down the stairs. Bluey watched him go bewilderedly but snapped his gaze back round as he remembered why he had been sent up here. Bluey reluctantly continued up the stairs and turned to the left where a wooden door stood. Half of him wanted to turn back round and march straight back out of those main gates but the other half knew he had no where better to go so he would have to start somewhere. He unwillingly raised his gloved hand and knocked.

"Come in," came an elderly man's voice.

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