Always Be With You - Merthur

Chapter 15

"Okay, if we hurry, we can reach the castle well before sundown." He said, supressing a smile. Merlin nodded, stepping over the border line without a hint of worry in his expression. Arthur followed and continued their banter on a low volume.

~o~

When they reached an open field, the sun had passed over their heads and was stationed to their right, casting large shadows from nearby trees and shrubs onto the space. They should be near enough to the castle to leave their horses in a bit so they wouldn't give away Arthur and Merlin's location to passing guards. It was very quiet.

Too quiet.

Merlin suddenly stopped his tracks. "Someone's nearby." He craned his neck in the hope to find something that confirmed his fears. Arthur mirrored him, but couldn't see anyone. 'Well, he's normally right. Let's trust his instincts for once.' Arthur thought while he got of his horse and squinted his eyes to find a possible enimy.

Next, there was a soft whizzing sound and a dull thud behind him, followed by a, "Really?" From Merlin. Arthur spun around and saw that an arrow was responsible for the noise. It was imbedded in the earth after nearly hitting Merlin, who jumped of his horse with an expression stuck between wariness and irritation. Arthur noticed he was gripping his upper arm tightly while scanning their surroundings, searching for the shooter. "Merlin, are you okay?"

"It's fine, it just grazed me, that's all."

He briely showed Arthur the cut and went back to looking around. Arthur was surprised when Merlin pulled a dagger from his bag on the horse. "What? I wasn't going to go to Cenred's kingdom without having something to defend myself with. I did that. Nearly died most of the time." Arthur couldn't argue with that. It would be handy if Merlin didn't have to hide somewhere every time.

They stood back to back. Then, without warning, bandits appeared from the shadows like they had been a part of it. There were a lot of them. And they charged. All at once. They jumped out of the bushed and came out from behind trees, yelling franticly. Arthur patted Merlin on his shoulder in a 'good luck' gesture before charging at the one nearest to him.

His attacker, a large man with a rusty sword and a lot of energy lashed out, but Arthur was faster and managed to duck away and drag his new blade over his knees, hearing a satisfying cry of pain while the man dropped to the ground and before he could do anything else, Arthur knocked him out with the hilt of his sword.

After killing the rest, it seemed like they had won and Arthur turned around to see how Merlin was holding up, but heard more footsteps. His head snapped back to the forest. Three more people came running out. This time, they looked like they actually knew their way around a sword, which worried Arthur a bit. Just a bit. Two women and one man. Two more suddenly sprinted towards him. Seriously? Where did these people come from?

He rached behind him to tap Merlin, who was also done, on his shoulder to get his attention. "Okay, we have five more people trying to kill us!" Merlin glanced over his shoulder and Arthur focused on defending himself, kicking the first person in her chest. "Actually," Merlin said, getting interrupted by swords clanging. "It's more like eight!" He dodged a blade that shot over his head, just missing him by an inch, before tackling his opponent to the ground and striking her in her chest with his blade. "Oh, I'm sorry I could't be MORE SPECIFIC, MERLIN!" Arthur shouted back, blocking one of the women's attack with his sword and killing her succesfully.

He miraculously defeated the remaining bandits, breathing heavily, his lungs, burning with effort. He turned to help Merlin, but saw that he was winning, so he took his time to catch his breath. Arthur watched as him skillfully disarming his attacker and pressing the blade against his throat. wow.