The mighty king of Camelot

Merlin awoke in such bright sunlight that it made him wish that he hadn't opened his eyes at first, his head was throbbing with pain and his left leg still had a crossbow bolt piercing it - which was understandably very painful and none too comfortable, it felt like the area was on fire. He could no longer feel his broken ankle, although Merlin knew that was probably a bad thing, he was grateful for small mercies - the numbness was better than the alternative blazing agony that he had come to expect with broken bones. The boy slowly cracked open his eyes again and let out a groan of annoyance and pain - he was in a small circular cell. The source of the blinding sunlight was a small grill set into the ceiling, high above him and other than a reinforced wooden door, there were no other ways out.

Merlin was lent against the cold stone wall, opposite the barred cell door, when he tried to push himself to his feet however, he discovered that his hands were tied behind his back with thick rope. The boy let himself stiffly back down into a sitting position and sat facing the door, as he heard footsteps echoing down the corridor outside. Then he heard a voice come into earshot. "You shall be greatly rewarded for your services, Imund." The voice sounded vaguely familiar to Merlin, but the voice that answered was not.

"Thank you sire - I'm sure you'll be very pleased."

The footsteps halted just outside of Merlin's cell and after the scraping of several bolts, the door swung open and King Cenred strode in, dressed in full black leathers, with his two curved swords at his back and with a smug grin on his face. The grin however, vanished when he saw Merlin and turned to one of suppressed anger, he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Imund, what is this?" he asked through clenched teeth. A smaller man joined Cenred at the doorway with a small and rather proud smile on his face.

"This is King Arthur of Camelot, as you ordered sire!" declared Imund grandly.

"I asked you to bring me Arthur Pendragon." said Cenred slowly. "And you bring me an injured serving boy." The smile vanished from Imund`s face, replaced by a look of pure panic.

"No sire! Look at his clothes! He was with the knights! This is the king of Camelot!" Cenred opened his eyes and glared down at the blustering man, in a flash of steel he was lying dead on the cell floor, with one of Cenred`s blades sticking out of his chest.

"Idiots!" Yelled Cenred, kicking out at the body of the unfortunate lackey, he glared over at Merlin who was looking slightly worried at the king's temper.

Cenred strode over to Merlin and picked him up by his blue neckerchief, the boy's legs dangled just above the ground. "Bad day?" asked Merlin with an impish grin. Cenred slugged him hard across the jaw, he grunted in pain as he felt his lip split, blood trickled down his chin.

"What's your name boy?" growled Cenred. Merlin spat blood into the king's face. The next blow sent Merlin crashing into the wall in a painful heap.

"Merlin." he coughed, eyes watering with pain.

"Merlin." he rolled the name around his mouth, apparently thinking. "You're Pendragon's servant aren't you?"

"Not that its any of your business." said Merlin, shooting a glare at the preoccupied king.

"You're very insolent for a servant working for the royal family." commented Cenred with a sneer.

"Where do you think I learned it? You have to be with them." muttered the boy, wishing that he could wipe the blood off his face, the taste of it was all coppery and the smell was making him feel dizzy. Cenred laughed at this.

"So impudent! Yet so loyal, I've seen and heard what you're willing to do for the Pendragon's."

"I understand loyalty, unlike some." Merlin's comment seemingly went unnoticed as the leather clad king continued.

"I wonder if your king would be just as loyal to you? Hmm? What do you think he'll do when he learns of your capture?" Merlin blanched - he knew that Arthur would probably arrive in a blaze of prattish glory to "save the day" and that he would probably walk straight into a trap by doing so. Merlin knew that he had to convince Cenred that he meant nothing to him - which was only a bit far off the truth, mused Merlin. He had to keep Arthur safe above all else... even if it meant his own death.

"Arthur couldn't care less about me - if you think that he'll come after me, you're stupider than you look, which I imagine would be quite difficult."

The next blow that hit Merlin, knocked him out of the world of the conscious and into an aching blackness.