Merlin: The Secret

An Army of Slaves

The sun was rising over Camelot in the early hours of the morning. Most citizens of the mighty kingdom were still fast asleep as Merlin, Arthur, and the knights set out on their quest; to discover the truth behind these odd disappearances. Their departure was hushed down for the sake of Arthur's protection. It also enabled the king to leave the citadel and hopefully return before anyone could take advantage of his absence. This was important. As was the path they followed. It lead them from the gates of Camelot and through to the Forest of Ascetir. Covered by trees, leaves, and bushes, they travelled to the outline villages. It was here the reports of the missing men came from. Few words were exchanged during the journey itself. Arthur himself did not say much as he was lost in thought, his hand constantly resting at the grip of his sword. Merlin felt it too, thinking about what they could expect to find at the first village they were to inspect. Merlin knew he was being watched - not by Arthur, not by an enemy, but by Gwaine. There were moments where Merlin felt tempted to say something, although that would only arouse further suspicion. Merlin did not do this, but he felt as if though he was balancing on thin ice, which was melting away underneath him little by little. No one else could learn his secret, friend, foe, or otherwise. This was imperative.

These things were on Merlin's mind as they arrived at the first village at midday. Only a few villagers were there to greet them. Most of them looked tired and scared. It was a much changed place since the last time that Arthur and his knights had passed through. Even with the sun shining upon them, daytime did not seem able to take away the melancholy of this place. The stories of the old men, the women and the children there brought strange tales of sounds and hooded figures in the night that had taken away their loved ones. A father, who had lost three sons, told Arthur that he had seen only the shadow of a strange man. His sons had gone to scare the stranger away, but the sons never returned. Neither did the five other men accompanying them. These tales were hard to believe because doing so would demand one to look fear in the eyes. Arthur felt quite shaken. He hardly said anything, but issued a few orders for his knights and asked a few questions of the villagers. One scared little boy looked up at Arthur with a tear in his eye and Arthur kneeled in front of him, promising that he would find out what had happened to his father. The boy thanked the king for his kindness.

Merlin could hardly remember the last time he had seen Arthur so concerned. It was clear to Merlin that Arthur felt a certain responsibility. That he felt very guilty he could not do more to comfort these poor villagers As a small consolation, Arthur gave them food and means to grow crops. Merlin disliked to see Arthur in such a dark mood and as the king went to speak to the villagers of the next village, Merlin began an investigation of his own. A pattern quickly seemed to emerge; they met families who had lost sons, fathers, brothers. It was mainly young men who went missing. One of the knights had drawn up a list of names on the missing men and it was longer than anyone could have feared. In the midst of it all, Arthur and the knights took notice only of these young men and whether there might be a reason for them to disappear. As they returned to Camelot, it became clear that men had even gone missing from the city itself. It was this news that left Arthur most shaken. He wondered who could have done this and the conclusion he came to was the same every time. How Morgana could ever have been like a sister to him, he could no longer remember. Quite as he did not see that Merlin conducted his own search for information.

Merlin took the time to talk to even the youngest of the people, hoping one of them might know something. A child told him that a single woman had actually gone missing during this chaos. It was perhaps the strangest disappearance of all. She was an elderly, grey creature and very much the opposite of the missing young men. Merlin asked the child for directions to her house and was pointed to the lower part of the city, to an old looking house. It appeared rather to be a cave of some sort than a house. It made Merlin frown although he thanked the child for her honesty. To knock on the worn down door was not at all appealing to Merlin, but he was as eager as anyone to solve this mystery.

A subtle cough came from behind him. As it turned out, it belonged to the knight Gwaine, who had his arms crossed. "Mind if I join you?" he said with a smile on his face.

Merlin frowned. "Do you really want to?" he asked.

Gwaine looked at the house in front of them and wrinkled his nose. "What is life without a little adventure?" he suggested jokingly, but with his eyes fixed on Merlin.

Merlin rolled his eyes and knocked on the door for good measure. No reply came from within. He reached for the door, but was stopped by Gwaine who felt it was better if he went first. The knight pulled out his sword and and entered into a thin fog that had a most foul smell. Merlin held up his scarf because of it as he looked around the house with Gwaine. They did not find much other than a single large kettle and a worn out fireplace. It was not difficult to image that this woman might have had a career as a cook, but had gone loony these last couple of years.

"Are you going to tell me why you followed a child to this place?" Gwaine asked as he poked at the fireplace with the tip of his sword.

Merlin tried his best to think of a good excuse. "Well, I thought this might be connected to the other disappearances. Maybe I was wrong," he explained and looked the house over again.

"Right," Gwaine said. "Then I believe we should return before Arthur starts yelling again."

Merlin chuckled and the two of them left again to join the other knights.

Arthur was quick to comment.

"Merlin, Gwaine, there you are," Arthur said, swinging himself up on his horse again. "We ride for another village now." The knights kept close to their king, swords at the ready should someone want to attack. Nothing could happen to any people of this kingdom, especially not the king himself. "Merlin!!"

Merlin was torn from his thoughts. "Coming!" he shouted back and began running back to his horse to keep up with the party. Arthur upped the pace, clearly wanting to reach the next village fast. It was not hard to guess what was on his mind as the next village welcomed them with a sight similar to the rest. It brought on despair and the feeling of helplessness. The knights were very worried. Arthur's mood got worse; his guilt was turning to anger. Merlin simply accepted it, doing what he was told to without complaints as shouting back might make things worse than they already were. As they settled down for the night, there were still a few villages to inspect. Arthur decided that would be for the next morning and gave Merlin and Gwaine the job of collecting firewood. They took off to find suitable sticks and branches.

"I could think of ten other duties I'd rather perform," Gwaine mumbled. "This is simply depressing..."

"Why?" Merlin said. "You're not scared, are you Sir Gwaine?"

Said knight scoffed loudly. "Really, Merlin. How knightly is it to die collecting firewood?"

"Oh, don't worry I wouldn't tell," Merlin promised, making them both laugh. "I am good at keeping secrets, you know."

Gwaine looked at his friend for a moment. "Somehow I don't find that hard to believe, even if Arthur may."

Merlin shrugged, trying to uphold an innocent smile. "I am neither a knight or a nobleman," he replied calmly. "I am just a servant, but I want to look out for Arthur as best as I can. I feel as if that is my job. To keep him safe. There are times where I wish he would appreciate that more."

Gwaine raised an eyebrow. "You mean when Arthur stops being himself? Well, I could be wrong, but I think you may have to wait very long for that to happen, my friend."

Merlin chuckled. "I know."

Both of them brought a good bundle of sticks and branches and so they decided to head back for the camp. The others were awfully quiet when they returned. It quickly became clear that something was not right. The knights and Arthur had their swords pulled out.

"We are being watched," Arthur told Merlin and Gwaine. But he didn't have to say;  they could hear the sounds if footsteps approaching from every corner...

"We will split up," Arthur told his friends. "Two and two together. We meet back in Camelot."

The knights all nodded, preparing themselves...

Then, with a roar, they all ran into different directions, two and two, Merlin following Arthur.