Chapter Two
Hi, everyone!
It took me a couple days to write this, but I think it was worth it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.
Enjoy!
"I don't care how busy Arthur's been keeping you, Merlin, you need to clean your room. Now!" With unusual vigor for his age, Gaius hurled a couple of Merlin's shirts and a few books on top of the young warlock, who was cowering in his bed. "And hurry up or you'll have no breakfast!" Gaius stumped out, grumbling to himself as the "idiot boy" he was riled with crawled out from under the covers, groaning. He really shouldn't have spilled that cough potion all over Gaius' bed sheets the night before. Even though he had been able to clean it up magically, it still left the old physician in a foul mood.
Him and everyone else, Merlin thought to himself as he began to get dressed and tidied his room at bit. While he did this automatically, his thoughts wandered.
Two weeks had passed since his rather unsuccessful conversation with Gwaine. Since then, the knight's behavior had improved to at least a semblance of its usual joviality, though he remained somewhat cool in his manner towards Merlin. He'd been going to the tavern again, but his actions there were far from normal. The previous night, Merlin had been dragged down to the tavern on the insistence of the knights. He'd avoided the ale, but he'd watched Gwaine.
Usually, Gwaine was the life of the party down at the tavern; drinking, gambling, joking, and flirting. That night, he'd spent most of the time alone at a corner table, drinking excessively, but with little pretense of gratification. According to Elyan, that was what he'd been doing for over a week; drinking until he could barely stand but with no sign of actually enjoying any of it. During the day, he joked constantly, but rarely laughed. And when he did, his laughter was still strained. At least he'd gotten his fighting skills back to normal.
But Gwaine's improved behavior merely increased Merlin's desire to get to the bottom of the matter.
Because to Merlin, the improvements seemed suspiciously like an act.
"Sire, there's been rumors of a small band of slave traders only a day's ride or so from Camelot." Sir Leon said. "I suggest that we investigate."
Arthur nodded and looked around at the assembled knights and members of the court. "I agree. Slave traders are not to be tolerated in our kingdom." He paused, considering. "I'll lead a patrol; Leon, prepare the knights. Council dismissed." As the courtiers all bowed and left, Arthur turned to Queen Guinevere, "We'll only be gone a few days at most, so you don't need to get that look on your face, Gwen."
This made his wife smile a little. "I know, Arthur, you're constantly running off to the far reaches of the kingdom and you always come back, usually several days late and looking sheepish." Arthur laughed.
Merlin and Gauis, standing in their usual corner, exchanged glances. "Slave traders." Merlin muttered. "They should know better than to travel this close to Camelot. And they usually turn out to be more than we bargained for."
"Doesn't that happen with everything?" Gauis asked wryly.
He had a point.
At first, the journey was rather pleasant; at least in Merlin's opinion. The weather had cleared up nicely, the air was a nice temperature and smelled agreeably of trees and flowers. Of course, jolting up and down in the saddle all day wasn't the nicest sensation, but at least the conversation rarely slacked. After being rather cooped up in Camelot for days, the knights were clearly pleased to be out in the woods again.
"Honestly, though, Lady Anna is far better looking than Lady Irene!" Elyan exclaimed in protest to something Percival had just said.
"I think that Percival likes Irene better because she's taller." Leon snickered. "At least he doesn't have to bend double to kiss her!"
Percival shouted, "Hey!" in objection as the other knights laughed, Arthur included. Merlin grinned cheerfully. If only things were always this easy…
But they weren't; a fact that became terribly apparent a few minutes later when Arthur suddenly reined in his horse and put one hand in the air, effectively signaling the knights to stop. "Shh. Up ahead." he whispered.
The knights quickly dismounted and drew their weapons. Leaving their well-trained horses on the path, they began to creep quietly through the trees to the left.
They could all hear now the sounds of a camp nearby. Merlin frowned as he closely followed the knights; they slave traders, if this was them, were closer to Camelot than the knights had expected.
The knights moved swiftly over a small hill. From the top, they could look down through the trees into the camp.
Around ten or eleven men were in the clearing below. A couple were occupied with the campfire, one was apparently keeping watch nearby, while the rest were talking in low voices a few yards from the fire. Their horses were tethered to one side, and near them…
Merlin felt a surge of fury. Next to the horses were two young boys, not much older than thirteen. They were both bound at the wrists and feet as well as tied together to a tree for good measure. Even from a distance, Merlin could see that they were remarkably similar in appearance. Brothers, definitely, possibly twins? One was watching his captors with wide eyes, the other was slumped in his bonds. Merlin could just make out a crude, bloodstained bandage around one of that boy's right arm.
"The beasts." hissed Percival softly. Merlin wholeheartedly agreed.
With a series of swift hand gestures, Arthur directed the knights to spread out and partially surround the clearing; Percival and Leon went to the left, Elyan and Gwaine went to the right. Merlin got a sinking feeling as he positioned himself closer to Arthur. We should have brought more knights…
Hopefully the element of surprise would be enough. And who knew? Maybe these slave traders would surrender without a fight. Not all of them actually fought for and captured their slaves, right?
No such luck. The moment Arthur strode into the clearing and demanded that the rogues declare themselves and their business, they went for their weapons.
Then all hell broke loose, as usual.
The Knights of the Round Table came charging into the clearing, yelling at the top of their lungs. Almost instantly the clearing became a chaos of clashing blades and shouting warriors.
Seeing that Arthur appeared to be handling the situation, Merlin dashed across the clearing toward the captives. On the way, he used magic to trip one of the slave traders who came at him with a mace.
Merlin turned from the groaning bandit to find one of the conscious boy's brown eyes fixed on him, a mixture of confusion and amazement. Merlin felt a sudden lurch in his stomach.
The boy had seen that.
There was no time to worry about that right now, however. Snatching a dagger from a nearby pack, Merlin hastened to cut the two boys loose.
While the unconscious one simply slumped onto the ground, the other shoved Merlin out of his way and stood up, shaking the ropes from his arms and legs. Grabbing the blade from Merlin, he charged at the slave trader Merlin had tripped, who had managed to push himself to his feet again. The boy slammed into him, knocking him flat with a couple well-aimed punches and kicks. Merlin watched, frozen, as the teenager unhesitatingly stabbed the man in the heart. Without wasting any time over it, he jumped back up, clearly ready for another confrontation.
The knights had already dispatched the other slave traders, but the boy did not relax or lower the bloodstained knife as they cautiously approached him. "Who are you?" he snarled menacingly.
Arthur sheathed his sword and held out his hands in a reassuring gesture. "We mean you no harm. We are Knights of Camelot; we only want to help you." When the boy still looked suspicious, Arthur motioned for the other knights to lower their weapons. "What's your name?" the king asked gently.
The boy glanced nervously around the semicircle of knights, then briefly back over his shoulder towards Merlin. "Everard." he finally said. "And I don't need help. My brother does." he lowered the dagger and gestured toward the other boy.
"Nice to meet you, Everard. I'm Arthur Pendragon." The boy started visibly in (recognition of the king's name, Merlin guessed), but said nothing. Arthur continued, "Merlin is the assistant to the court physician, he can help your brother, right, Merlin?" Merlin nodded, making sure that Everard noticed the gesture, before he turned to inspect the other boy.
Arthur sent the other knights to scout the area, checking for any other foes, before he joined Merlin and Everard by the injured boy's side. "What's his name?" Arthur asked the plainly worried brother.
"His name is Elwin." Everard reached out to gently touch his brother's shoulder. "He's my twin."
"I figured that was the case. You look so much alike."
Merlin, meanwhile, unwrapped the filthy bandage on Elwin's arm and examined the wound, which had clearly been made by a sharp blade. It wasn't terribly deep, but it was infected. As he felt Elwin's forehead, Merlin looked up at Arthur and Everard. "He's got a mild fever." he explained. "The injury is infected, but I've got some herbs in my saddlebag that should be enough to stop it from getting worse, at least until he can get him to Gaius."
"Who's Gaius?" demanded Everard, gripping the dagger he still held with renewed force.
"The court physician." Arthur explained. As the knights began to return to the clearing, the king called out, "It's too late to return to Camelot tonight. We'll dispose of the bodies and make camp here tonight. We head for the city at first light." Arthur turned back to the still-tense boy beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright." he said gently. "You and Elwin are safe now."
It was dark out. The only light from was the slender moon and silvery stars above, on the ground the glowing red campfire. Percival, Leon, Elyan, and Arthur were fast asleep, while Merlin was nodding off next to where the injured boy lay, still unconscious.
Gwaine had volunteered to take first watch mainly because he couldn't sleep. He would have done that anyway; out in the woods without sufficient ale to knock himself out, he had no desire to try sleeping only to wake every hour or so plagued by nightmares. He'd considered getting a sleeping draught from Gaius, but he'd tried those before and they gave him worse hangovers than alcohol. Besides, if it knocked him out too thoroughly, it could be dangerous; especially out of the city walls. He wouldn't be able to react as fast when woken, and that could mean severe injury or death more often than not.
But nightmares weren't his principal concern tonight.
For at least the hundredth time, his gaze drifted from the silent forest to where Everard lay next to his brother. It had taken an hour to convince the boy to put the dagger down, and even then he refused relax or to eat or drink much of what they offered him, so great was his concern over his twin.
Gwaine couldn't stop staring at him...at them. He'd suspected from the first moment he saw them; his gut had all but screamed recognition at him. When he'd heard their names, he'd been certain.
Everard. Elwin.
Gwaine groaned softly. They were how old now? Thirteen…no, fourteen. He was almost certain of it.
Such a drunkard now that you can't count the years?
Oh, he could count the years all right. All ten of them.
Too damn many.
They hadn't really bothered with any more introductions; Everard was too distracted. Something Gwaine was thankful for.
It's too much to hope that they've never heard my name before, even if they don't remember me themselves.
And how in the world did they get to Camelot with slave traders in the first place?
Hell, Bernicia is four or five kingdoms away!
That raised another disturbing question: If, say, they'd been traveling with someone else when they were captured by the slave traders, who had they been with? Who did the traders kill in order to get their hands on the twins?
Was it someone I know?
With all his being he hoped not.
Eventually, after a couple more hours of restless thoughts, Gwaine was relieved from his watch by Percival. As he laid down on his bedroll, Gwaine struggled to keep himself from slipping into slumber. He really didn't want any bad dreams tonight, of all nights. But he was weary; it soon became a battle to keep his eyes open.
He eventually lost that battle.
"Please, Gwaine, one more piggyback ride! Please!" The little boy widened his big brown eyes pleadingly.
"Everard, you said one more three rides ago!"
"But you said you promise to play with us all day!"
"It's almost nightfall, you silly kid! And anyway…Ouch! Elwin, stop pulling my hair! Aldwyn, help me!"
An older boy, who was seated on a nearby bench, simply roared with laughter. "Oh, dear, it looks like the great warrior Gwaine has been defeated by two toddlers!"
"Adwyn, you stupid prat! They're your brothers; get them off of me!"
"Aw, come on, Gwaine, you don't want to disappoint your youngest, most adorable cousins, do you?"
"Yes, I do; if they're ripping out my hair! Arg!"
But he couldn't help but laugh at the same time.
The present day Gwaine awoke to find his face wet with tears.
Okay, just a couple author's notes:
One, sorry Gaius was in a bad mood during his appearance. Sometimes he just has a bad day. He'll be better during his next appearance.
Two, let me know your thoughts! I can't very well improve my writing if I never find out what people think of it! So feel free to leave a review! (But please, no flaming)
I hope you all have a nice day! (or night, depending on when you read this) :D