Previously: Arthur sighed, "Honestly Merlin, can't you get anything right?" It was going to be a long journey to Enged.

Oblivious

Chapter 2: Getting Answers

The one good thing about travelling with Merlin, Arthur surmised, was that there was a constant supply of entertainment. They had just about reached Enged and so far Merlin had fallen off his horse three times, been hit in the face by a low hanging branch (his fault really, he shouldn't have been mocking the prince instead of paying attention to where he was going) and had pestered Arthur to the point of seriously considering putting him in the stocks… but then he remembered that the stocks had been destroyed during the dragon's first attack so that short-lived fantasy was ruthlessly put down.

For the entire journey, all Merlin had wanted to talk about was the dragonlord: "Arthur, what do you think the dragonlord's like?", "Arthur, do you think the dragonlord will help Camelot?", "Arthur, what will your father do to the dragonlord if he helps us?" It had reached the point where Arthur had eventually snapped and told Merlin to shut up about the bloody dragonlord. Sheepishly his servant had lowered his head and muttered something about it being nice to talk to a magical person not trying to kill them.

"How do you know he won't try to kill us?" Arthur had demanded, Merlin shrugged in response.

"Whenever these people try to kill you or the King they usually come down to Camelot to gloat and reveal their evil plan." Arthur knew that Merlin had a point, but being a prince he was never going to admit that in front of Merlin (especially seen as he would never live it down) so he made a non-committal sound and turned the attention back to one of Merlin's recent failures.

Although for the most part the trip had been fairly light-hearted, Merlin couldn't help but be worried about Arthur's wound, he'd seen the prince wince at times when the horses had ridden over a particularly rough piece of land and suspected that it needed redressing, but they could not do that until they stopped somewhere to rest for the night.

Night had fallen by the time the two rode into Enged, but luckily one of the first buildings they noticed was an inn. At a nearby stable they paid a few coins to leave their horses for the night. So far no one had recognised Arthur as the prince of Camelot which was crucial as Cenred could send men to kill him if he knew of his presence in his lands. But they had only encountered a few people so far, the inn on the other hand was very busy and there was a chance someone there had visited Camelot in the past and might have seen Arthur. However, despite the risk, they needed to stay somewhere this night, it was pouring it down and this was the only inn in the town.

Arthur and Merlin looked at each other to reassure themselves that the other was just as anxious as themselves. They took a deep breath and opened the door.

The loud and busy inn suddenly went eerily quiet as everyone turned to look at the drenched newcomers. They stared. Merlin and Arthur stared back. It was awkward to say the least, but a least no one had jumped up and screamed "It's Prince Arthur! GET HIM!". However as comforting as this thought was, Arthur decided to elevate the atmosphere by saying something suitably sophisticated and suave.

"Greeting!" If the situation and repercussions hadn't been so serious, Merlin would have laughed at the uncharacteristic goofiness of Arthur's tone. But the large group of big and scary men quickly quelled down any possible amusement. No doubt Arthur would later claim that he was trying to fool the people by pretending to be as stupid as Merlin; however Merlin could still see that he was rubbing off on the prince.

Thankfully, normal activity soon resumed at the inn but there was still a sense of uneasiness in the air. Merlin suspected that it was because in a town this small everyone knew each other; visitors were a rare and unwelcome occurrence. Especially visitors such as Arthur and Merlin who both seemed untouched by the harshness of life. Both young, without disfiguring scars or eyes prematurely aged by suffering. The people at the inn had lived much less comfortably; they starved in the winter and dropped like flies in the summer. Merlin had known a similar way of life in Ealdor. What his mother earned doing odd jobs was not always enough to support the both of them and keep them fed, it was the reason why Merlin was so thin and the reason why he had left for Camelot the day he turned seventeen.

Things were different in Camelot, jobs were in abundance, food was cheap and the pay was riches compared to what Hunith had made from much harder work than what Merlin did. He sent as much of his money to his mother as he could afford, it was the least she deserved. She could have married anyone, become anything but she had become pregnant with Merlin and everything had changed. No man would marry a ruined woman with another man's son, and one woman could not take care of two people.

Merlin had often wondered how life would have been different if his father had stayed and married his mother. Would he still have been kept awake late at night by gnawing hunger pains or would he have slept soundly? Either way there was no point giving much thought to the matter, the past was the past and for all Merlin knew his father could be dead or married with other children. Perhaps not knowing was better than the truth. Perhaps it was better to be oblivious.

SLAM! Merlin's musings were interrupted by the sound of two pints of mead being slammed down with greater for than was strictly necessary on the table, the contents sloshing out. Arthur tried not to let the disgust show on his face. "We're looking for a man named Balinor." Arthur said bluntly to the innkeeper who had just served them, and with the same amount of force as the other man had used he dropped a small bag of gold on the table letting the ringing sound of the coins hitting against each other permeate through the air of the inn. "We're willing to pay… handsomely." The sound level in the inn had dropped again as soon as the name Balinor had been uttered. Arthur hadn't noticed but Merlin had, it meant that the people here knew who they were searching for, but whether they would give him up was an entirely different matter.

The innkeeper looked intently at the gold, and then at Arthur, a surge of hope flooded Merlin. Perhaps greed could help them rather than hinder them for once. The innkeeper leaned in as if to whisper something conspiratorially to Arthur, everything else was deadly quiet. Then, the innkeeper spoke.

"I've never heard the name." It was a barefaced lie, anyone could see it. He took what was owed to him for the drinks and walked off. Merlin could feel fifty pairs of eyes drilling him in the back.

Finding Balinor, it seemed, was going to be much more difficult than they had originally planned.

Even though they'd somehow managed to alienate everyone in the inn, Arthur and Merlin decided (Arthur decided, Merlin had no choice) that a warm bed was better than nothing, especially considering the dreadful weather.

Once the surly innkeeper had led them to their room (a thoroughly miserable looking place, Arthur had thought to himself and he almost shuddered to think what kind of bugs were in the bed) they settled down for the night.

"Do you want me to change your bandages?" Merlin offered when he saw that the bandages were soaked in blood.

"No. It's only a scratch." The prince stubbornly declined. Merlin doubted it, no 'scratch' could produce that amount of blood, but he knew better than to try to insist. He only hoped that they could find Balinor and get back to Camelot before it got infected.

Arthur gingerly approached his bed as if he expected it to get up and crawl away. Merlin, without any hesitation, jumped on his own and laid back to sleep. He opened an eye to watch Arthur stare at his bed in disgust and snorted loudly. "Don't be such a princess! A few bugs never hurt anyone." He quickly wracked his brain for any evil plot that had involved bugs, abruptly remembered one and muttered "Never mind." However thinking of evil plots to take over Camelot reminded Merlin of the dire situation back home and he abruptly sobered up.

"How do you think everyone's doing in Camelot?" He asked Arthur, who had by this point climbed into the dreaded bed.

"No idea, let's just try to hope for the best and find this dragonlord." They couldn't give up hope yet, especially not Merlin who was usually the optimistic one. "Try to get some sleep, first thing tomorrow we will double our efforts." Merlin nodded in agreement and waited for sleep to come.

Merlin was the first to drop off whereas a few feet away Arthur lay awake looking at the ceiling. He listened to the slow rhythmic sound of Merlin's breathing and hoped for sleep to take him as well. The wound in his shoulder was giving him more trouble that he had let on and although he wanted to take up Merlin's offer of redressing it, he was too worried to see the extent of the damage.

He wondered how Gwen was doing back in Camelot, he had tried to order her to leave with some of the other women but she had refused, insisting that Gaius need her help with the wounded. It was something both Arthur and Gwen had in common: the stubbornness of a mule.

Arthur's affectionate thoughts of Gwen were interrupted by the soft creaking sound of the door handle being pushed down. Reflexes kicking in, Arthur grabbed his sword from the side of the bed and having hidden it under the sheets, he feigned sleep. He wanted to see the mysterious intruder's intentions and find out if he was friend or foe.

Hearing the door swing open, Arthur tightened his grip on his sword. Footsteps crept towards him almost soundlessly and he was glad that it was towards him and not Merlin. It would be easier to surprise the intruder this way. When the man/woman sounded close enough, Arthur opened his eyes and lunged.

It was just a thief, Arthur noted with some relief, not an assassin sent by Cenred. But either way this was a chance to get the information they needed. The result of shoving the would-be thief against Merlin's bed had woken up the poor servant.

"What's going on?" was the startled and almost incoherent response; Arthur ignored him as he focussed on keeping his sword against the man's chest.

"Do you know what the punishment is for theft?" The thief nodded stiffly keeping his eyes on the weapon uncomfortably close to his heart. "Tell me where to find Balinor." The man's eyes almost bugged out of his head in shock, clearly that hadn't been what he was expecting, he hadn't witnessed the scene that took place earlier on.

"I-I uh… I don't know!" The thief stuttered out. Arthur pressed the sword in cutting the thief's skin but not dangerously so.

"Do you value your life?" Sensing he was close to losing his very valued life, the man immediately started giving them directions, meanwhile Merlin got out of his bed and took the map to check the route the man gave them.

"And that's where you'll find the cave where Balinor dwells."

Satisfied with the information, Arthur released the man and stepped back, feeling quite smug that he had managed to intimidate the man into giving them what they needed.

"He will not welcome you!" The thief spoke spitefully suddenly surprising Merlin and Arthur, "Balinor hates everyone and everything. The cave's the best place for him!" And with that he fled the room leaving behind the stunned duo.

AN: Response to the first chapter was amazing guys, thank you so much! Wasn't expecting it at all. A little general information: updates will be twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There are a total of 13 chapters and an epilogue with the possibility of a bonus content chapter after the epilogue.

Thanks to reviewers: That-is-illogical, Rotashark, Guest, OhHowDelightfullyDreadful, lilyflower1345, Ana, Mediatrix, MamzelleHermy, Laughy-Taffy the Grape, Valkyriexx.