The Warlock's Flame
[Many thanks to my first two faves of this story so here is your due reward ]
Chapter Two
The next day, the peaceful resonance of a sunny mourn are disturbed by yet another loud vocalization of the kingdom's beloved prince.
"MERLIN!"
the manservant was over three hours late and Arthur seemed to have forgotten all about his vow the previous night stormed through Gaius' door startling the elderly physician, nearly giving the poor man a heart attack.
Gaius turned to face his prince, Gaius was an elderly man that looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties.
He had semi-long gray hair with bushy eyebrows that could make him appear frightening when angered, he wore midnight blue robes, dark navy pants and tattered brown shoes.
Gaius was the Court Physician, his duty was to treat the sick and wounded.
At this moment he was looking upon his prince with barely contained fury burning behind his aged blue eyes.
"Arthur! How many times have I told you to knock before entering these chambers as my work tends to be naturally sensitive" the aged physician barked fiercely.
Arthur stepped back looking properly ashamed before he remembered why he was here
"I apologize Gaius, I am simply looking for my useless manservant...who I am dangerously close to having publicly flogged" Arthur stated the last part more to himself then to Gaius.
The elderly man's brow furrowed at the young prince's statement.
He had spent half the night trying to comfort the his loveable ward after Arthur's careless words.
"I honestly don't know what you were expecting my lord, after the verbal beating you gave him and horrible words you said to him"
Arthur sighed with a flustered breath
"Well you go up there and tell his laziness to be in my chambers by the time I get back for the court meeting or else he...WILL BE PUBLICLY FLOGGED AND THROWN IN THE DUNGEONS FOR A WEEK!
The prince shouted the last part making sure Merlin heard him regardless if he was asleep or not.
Gaius' expression turned from miffed to full on enraged, he gave his prince his most dangerous glare.
"Haven't you realized my lord that he isn't here?"
Arthur noticed Gaius's change in tone he knew if he didn't placate the man quickly the elderly physician would lecture him until dusk.
"Merlin told me everything you said to him Arthur, I spent most of the night trying to calm him down; so to give the poor boy a break I sent him out to pick some herbs from the greenhouses that I am running low on...as matter of fact he should be returning anytime now"
and as if on cue Merlin himself came through the door a basket full of plants in his hands
"Ah Merlin, I was wondering where you had gotten to" the physician said gently greeting his still emotionally fragile ward.
"Yes, sorry I took so long one of the gardeners moved the wolfs-bane and refuse to tell me they were out of Red Valerian" was the covert warlock's response, his voice hoarse and his eyes were rimmed with red from crying most of the night.
That's when the boy realized the prince's half glare.
"Oh sire, I'm sorry I didn't come wake you but Gaius was in dire need of these herbs as recent outbreak of pneumonia has begun spreading in the lower town" Merlin's voice was small and defeated.
"Yes for once you weren't being lazy" Arthur remarked but he didn't notice his manservant's shoulders droop a little.
Even though the prince was oblivious as usual Gaius saw it, with Merlin in such a vulnerable state one small mistake, one wrong word could create an emotional wound so vast that his poor ward would never recover, since when did destiny involve such pain and loss, despite Merlin's considerable power at the end of the day he was human and everyone has a breaking point and he feared the incorrigible manservant was dancing dangerously close to the edge; too close for the physician's liking.
Arthur was about to speak again when a guard came in and informed the prince that his father had canceled the meeting since he had heard a group of obvious magic users were sighted not far from Camelot's walls.
"Your father's orders are to find them and arrest them if they resist, kill them one-by-one until they do"
Arthur nodded his understanding
"Merlin go saddle-up our horses and don't think Gaius can save you from the rest of your duties, now go Merlin."
Merlin handed the basket to his mentor and whisked out the room.
The oblivious prince was about to follow but a hand on his wrist stopped him, he looked to see that it had been Gaius who stopped him.
"Sire...please I implore you...go easy on Merlin today I am afraid if he is subjected to the same treatment as last night...he may not recover this time around."
Arthur gazed at the aged physician
"Come on Gaius, Merlin is just being a girl like usual"
The old man snorted angrily
"It appears that you do not appreciate how hard Merlin works for you! You say he's lazy, when he has to be awake at ungodly hours of the night to finish the mountain of work you pile on him and when he finally does get to sleep he barely gets two hours if that before he has to wake you up just to do it all over again!" Gaius shouted trying to get through to the thick-headed prince.
Arthur sighed frustrated
"I'm sorry Gaius, I do not have time for this now, I must carry out my father's orders"
He turned to the door just as he stepped through Gaius made one last attempt
"If you make this situation worse, Do not come to me for help for I have WARNED you!"
Arthur made backward wave gesture in response.
It didn't take the prince long to reach the stables where he found his horse and his knights steeds, he glanced around and saw his servant leaned against the wooden wall of the stable, his head resting against it mouth open a small bit a soft snore escaping his throat peacefully.
Arthur wanted to yell and sheer frustration couldn't his servant complete the simplest of tasks but then he remembered what Gaius had said that Merlin hadn't gotten to sleep until the wee hours of the morning so he was running on fumes if that but they had a job to do whether the prince wanted to disturb the sleeping boy or not and a part of him was still angry at him for not waking him up so once again Arthur the prat Pendragon did something horrid.
He picked up full water bucket that the stable-hand had filled to water the horses and upturned it all over Merlin, soaking him to the bone instantly.
Merlin snapped awake sputtering and coughing from the sudden attack.
"Oh sorry, you looked a little thirsty so I brought some water but I lost my grip on it" sarcasm leaked from every syllable of Arthur's statement.
Unfortunately for him his knights had witnessed it.
"Arthur! What in the blazes did you do that for?" came the infuriated inquiry of Sir Lancelot.
The prince looked at his knight, Lancelot was about the same height as the prince had tan skin and thick, coarse shoulder length black hair.
He had peaceful brown eyes though at the moment they were filled with rage. He wore silvery plate armor and Camelot-red cloak.
"You couldn't have just shaken him awake you had to completely soak him?"
Arthur shook his head
"He's fine, right Merlin?"
The warlock still looked a bit disoriented but managed to reply his voice quiet, almost inaudible
"Yes sire" forced the prince and knight to lean in to hear him properly.
Sirs Gwaine and Percival arrive on the scene as well.
Gwaine was a tad shorter than most of the other knights, he had semi-long, shoulder length brown and equally brown eyes.
His face had light beard growing in while Percival was large, deep chested man, with short wispy brown hair and pleasant blue eyes that held quiet power in them they were both dressed in similar regalia to Leon, Arthur and Lancelot.
Both notice Merlin standing and realize he was completely soaked through, so much so that water was dripping off his nose and ears.
The prince called their attention before either could say anything.
"I'm fairly certain you all know my father's orders but I wish to amend them, if it is discovered that the magic users are druids we will simply ask them to leave the kingdom's lands, however they are not my father's orders stand" Arthur stated with a tone of absolute authority.
"Sir Leon has already gone on ahead to scout out the area and since this could take a few days Merlin will come with us to make camp set up easier"
the prince thought for a moment to figure out whether he had anything else to add but shook his head
"Let's mount up and head out...except for Merlin, you won't be mounting up; you're going to walk the distance consider it punishment for your incompetence for yesterday and this morning"
Arthur added with a devious smirk.
The manservant's eyes went wide and spoke very audibly for the first time since he left Gaius' chambers
"What? You expect me to walk the same distance that would take three days by horse but six days by foot?" Merlin asked a note of pleading in his voice as he didn't know if he could walk that far and he knew the area well enough to know where they were going had some treacherous areas to cover even for a steed and his pig-headed prince was going to force him to walk all that way.
"Arthur, that's too harsh he cannot be expected to move as fast as a horse; he would die of exhaustion and illness before we got there...especially as thoroughly soaked as he is" came Gwaine's angry response.
"It really isn't all that far Sir Gwaine" Arthur replied with a tone that said I-am-the-prince-I-can-do-what-I-please.
Lancelot raised objection next
"Sire, it'll take a day and a half to reach the river"
the kindhearted knight was interrupted by Merlin
"It's okay Lancelot, I appreciate your help but you know when the prat makes up his mind he won't change it, though I would ask that you don't expect me to keep up with horses...I'll do my best sire but it is quite a trek all by itself"
Merlin ringed out his wet sleeve and took his satchel off of his mare and slung it on his back.
"Let's go" Arthur commanded with a satisfied smirk that Merlin actually did what he was told.
"Alright but if you get tired or your feet start hurting to badly don't hesitate for a second to ask us for help Merlin, you're only human as much as our prince seems to think otherwise"
to all of their surprise it was Percival who said that as he rarely spoke more than a few words.
The normally bubbly manservant nodded quietly which struck the knights as odd, they knew something bad had happened if normally cheeky Merlin was doing this with such weak opposition.
They began their journey Merlin doing pretty well keeping up with the horses but he knew time was of the essence so Arthur and the knights were moving faster than normal.
Merlin's heart had recovered somewhat as they walked but he knew it wouldn't take much put him in such a weak state again so he tried to think joyful thoughts.
When they reached the river it was already midday when they got there they found Sir Leon waiting for them.
"Sir Leon what have you discovered?" the prince asked urgently.
"Well sire, the group are definitely not druids...one they are women, two they were using magic the moment I found them to set up their tents and three they weren't wearing the traditional druidic cloak"
Arthur sighed he'd have to go through with the king's orders then.
"Where are they now Leon?" was the prince's next question as Merlin caught up panting heavily as Arthur and his knights had managed to give him the slip for a few moments.
"Oh Merlin what took you so long, stopped to pick flowers did you?"
that earned him several glares from his knights and one from Merlin himself
"I told you...(huff-huff)...I am not...(huff-slight choke)...as fast as a horse"
the young warlock's knees gave out from the exertion.
Lancelot was by his friend's side in a flash, unscrewed the cap of his water skin and helped Merlin drink.
"Thank you...Lance..."
Merlin fell back on his rear and leaned back for a moment with a hand on his chest to let his heart-rate come back down.
The gentle knight patted Merlin's shoulder and left him to rest in peace for a few minutes.
Leon the pulled Arthur aside
"My lord...did you apologize to Merlin for a few certain statements you made last night?" the senior knight's gaze told him he better not lie.
"N-no not yet, I was angry he was three hours late for waking me up" the prince replied sheepishly "So as punishment I ordered him to walk all...the...way...t-there"
Leon froze when he heard that
"No wonder he was so out of breath, so much so he was nearly choking from the difficulty"
Leon had to stalk away momentarily to gather up his thoughts and cool off before he punched his prince square in the jaw.
"That's so far out of line my lord, he can't be expected to compete with creatures that are bred for speed and travel."
Leon and Arthur glance over at Merlin sitting down on the ground he seemed to have moved further into the shade so the sun wasn't directly on him.
They saw Sir Lancelot walk over and sit down next to the exhausted servant and start talking to him.
"So Merlin? Why so quiet today, because I have never seen you take one of Arthur's unreasonable commands with such a weak objection."
Merlin's eyes clouded with hurt and pain as his drooped a bit at his friends statement
"Yeah...weak, incompetent Merlin...that's me"
Lancelot stared for a minute
"Merls" the mild knight began using the nickname Gwaine came up with for his friend.
"You know you can tell me anything and I won't think any less of you...right?"
They saw Merlin incline his head.
On the other side Merlin was so tired of hiding he figured he could tell Lancelot the truth and wouldn't oust his life-threatening secret.
The young warlock sighed sadly
"Two weeks ago...today exactly...a group brigands attacked my home village of Ealdor in Cenred's kingdom...my mother came to King Uther to plead for help but he denied her aid since it was Cenred's affair not his."
Merlin took a few deep breaths to compose himself and Lancelot waited patiently and was glad Merlin was trusting him to listen, he knew that was all the boy wanted.
"I slipped out of the castle fully intending to go save my home...Arthur discovered me and went with me...covertly...long story short Arthur trained some of the villagers including my best friend William the only person aside from my mom who was nice to me in the whole village. When the bandits attacked again the villagers managed to defend themselves it wasn't enough they had magic on their side so I had to use my powers to save the village and Arthur knew someone used magic...I was about to confess when Will took the blame...and a...s-sword for the prince...William died in my arms...saying he always saw me as the little brother he never had"
Merlin voice cracked with sadness and grief
"If that wasn't bad enough...o-only a week later...my apparent ineptitude had pushed Arthur too far...he...he (sobs) said that no man is worth your t-tears especially a-a-a filthy sorcerer"
Merlin then broke down completely.
Lancelot pulled the grieving warlock into embrace and let him cry himself out since he knew this was grief pouring out of his friend and if he didn't let it out it would destroy him from the inside out.
In addition the knight was furious with Arthur how could his prince be so cruel and insensitive.
Little did they know Arthur and Leon had heard everything Arthur charged over to his manservant gripped him by his collar
"So it was YOU who used the magic and what did you do enchant your so called friend to cover for you!" Arthur screamed betrayal in his eyes.
If Arthur expected Merlin to cower he was living in a fantasy for Merlin's eyes turned hard and body language shifted from grief-stricken to furious.
Next thing the prince knew he was soaring through the air and landed hard on the ground ten feet away.
When he looked up he saw Merlin's expression he knew that he had crossed a line, sure he had made Merlin mad before but not legitimately angry and it was truly frightening
"How dare you Arthur Pendragon...how dare you accuse me of enchanting a man I sa BROTHER in every way except blood!
How dare you try to belittle his sacrifice!
If you knew the number of times that I have saved your arrogant arse and Camelot!"
Merlin's cobalt eyes held so much pain and grief but none of that meant anything to him now Merlin had lied to him, he had betrayed Camelot and he had betrayed Arthur.
The prince stood and walked up to Merlin sword drawn prepared to kill the traitor right then and there but the moment he stepped with in arms reach a female voice full of authority sounded
"If you so much as step a millimeter further I shall have you killed where you stand!"
The knights and Merlin peer around and notice that the group is surrounded by about fifteen or sixteen girls of varying ages, some looked about nine or ten others were teenagers one thing the did share was their clothing they were dressed in Greek hunting garb, their tunics were silver and they each had a silver bow and quiver, the bows were currently trained on all but Merlin who recognized them but he wasn't a hundred percent sure.
"Who are you...show yourself!" Sir Leon shouted drawing his sword.
Near the back of the girls approached one that was obviously the leader and if Merlin wasn't sure before he was now for this little girl had such powerful magic even beyond his own level of power.
"You must be the leader of this band of magic users" Arthur stated threateningly
"Be Silent Camelotian PIG!" the new arrival barked ferociously.
"We don't take orders from a magic condoning wench!" the other girls gasped as if no one spoke to their leader that way.
"Who are you anyway!"
To everyone's surprise it was Merlin who answers
"Shut up for once Arthur!" he snarled "unless you want her to kill you"
Arthur glared at his manservant
"You have lost your right to speak traitor!" he accentuated his point by thrusting his sword forward into Merlin stomach.
The warlock was stunned for a moment as he registered the sword in his gut.
His gaze came back up to meet the prince's and what Arthur saw froze his heart.
In Merlin's eyes was disbelief and even more profound betrayal.
"If you had just listened I would have explained...she...is Ar-te-misss..."
the warlock's eyes rollback has he collapsed blood leaking from the wound.
The name was rang through the forest Sir Lancelot was the first to put it together
"You mean...they are...the Hunters of Artemis?!"
[Oh Arthur you just made enemies with the wrong woman lol] [read and review plz]