Captured Heart

She's Furious

MMMMMM

Merlin muttered under her breath, "Of course they have to come today. Of all days they had to come today."

Loren heard her and smiled encouragingly before frowning and asking, "How did they know where we are? We didn't send out a new location for them to find us. I know they weren't watching us and following us. We covered our tracks. I had people make sure that the knights and their king didn't leave a trail. There is no way they could have found us!" He made sure to keep his voice quiet because, really, there was only one way they could have found the bandit encampment.

Merlin snarled quietly to him, "There's a traitor!" The bandit queen closed her eyes briefly and breathed in. She called out to the others, "Let the feasting begin! Eat well and eat a lot! Keep a close eye on the prisoners, though." She and Loren walked lightly out of the camp, heading towards where they had heard the voice.

They came up behind the small group, observing them for a moment before they moved in. There was a young woman with darker skin and chocolate brown eyes and slightly frizzy brown hair. She was not very tall, but she stood with a confidence around her that was rare in most women. Next was an older man with shoulder length whitish-gray hair and serious eyes. One eyebrow was set perpetually higher than the other. Finally, there was a slightly overweight man with bushy eyebrows and a white beard and mustache. He had a large bald spot on his forehead.

After looking to Loren for confirmation, the head and second in command of the bandit clan stepped out of the bushes, seeming to materialize out of thin air in front of the group. The woman gasped and fell back slightly, but was steadied by the one with long white hair. Merlin really needed to learn their names. She was getting all confused about them in her head. For a moment there was silence, until the one with bushy eyebrows spoke up, "I am Geoffrey, the bookkeeper at Camelot. With me are Gaius the Court Physician and Lady Gweneviere, sister of one of your captives, Sir Elyan."

Merlin adopted a slightly bored expression and raised a single eyebrow at the group. Gweneviere was not at all cowed. She stood even straighter and said, "We brought money and you said that if we brought money, you would let our knights and our King go."

"You said that you brought money. Did you bring all of the money, or just money? I require my entire ransom demand to be paid before releasing my captives." Merlin said icily.

Gaius coughed to get her attention and said, "We weren't able to get all of the money yet because we need access to the treasure vault to get it. Only King Arthur has that key. We are working on creating a new one, but we need time."

The bandit queen shrugged and said, "You have a little over a week and a half before we kill your king and his knights. Bring all of the money by then and we'll set them free. Until then, well, let's just say our business is done here."

She was turning away when Gweneviere called out, "Wait, please! Can we see them? Just to make sure that they are alive and being treated well. We came in a small group like you asked and we can give you the money that we already have as a gesture of faith. Just... please."

Merlin shared a look with Loren and, without them even needing to communicate telepathically; he walked away, knowing exactly what she wanted. Merlin smiled to herself and said, "The money if you please?" Gweneviere looked as if she was going to give it to her, but Geoffrey grabbed her wrist and shook his head, indicating that they should wait. The chocolate haired noble hesitated for a moment before putting her hand down.

Not long after, Loren came back with Arthur and the others tied together at the ankles with enough slack on the rope to let them interact with the group. Merlin smiled as all of them bowed/curtsied quickly to their king before Gweneviere launched herself at Elyan. Mordred engulfed Gaius in a hug while the older man ruffled his hair. Gwaine stood to the side and started up a conversation with Geoffrey who looked like he would rather do anything but that. Over Elyan's shoulder, Gweneviere said hello to Arthur, Leon, and Percival. Then her gaze caught Lance's and she immediately let go of Elyan, flying towards Lance and wrapping her arms around his neck. She buried her nose into his shoulder and said softly, "I was so scared when you didn't come back." Elyan stood to the side, looking slightly bemused.

Lancelot whispered back, "I know, Gwen. Thank you for coming and for getting them to let us see you." She hummed back happily and there was a pause for a moment before Lance pulled back slightly and stared into Gwen's eyes. She looked at him confused before he smiled and kissed her on the lips. Merlin and Elyan's eyebrows went way up and Elyan even had his jaw hanging open.

Merlin hid a smile and called out, "Um, Lance? Is there something you wanted to tell me about?"

Gaius, Gwen, and Geoffrey looked at the two, startled, but Lancelot just smiled and said, "Well, there wasn't anything really to tell you. I've loved her for a while, but never had the courage to tell her. This was me telling her." He smiled at her again and she smiled back.

The warlock turned to the blonde king next to her and ignored the way the sunlight hitting his golden locks made her stomach twist up inside, "Arthur, how long has Lance liked her and why was I not told of this? I could have made so many more jokes!"

Arthur ducked his head to hide a smile and, seeing all of the love (familial or romantic) all around her coupled with his gorgeous face and special personality, Merlin realized with a start that she was falling for Arthur and falling hard. She had never really liked someone before and never like this. Her heart skipped a beat and her breath caught and it was like she could finally see him. Everything was suddenly crystal clear. Loren broke the moment by saying, with a hint of laughter in his voice, "We would appreciate the money now."

Gwen nodded hastily and held Merlin's brother's hand with one of her own and grabbed a large bag off of one of the horses grazing idly behind her. Leaving Loren to deal with the money, Merlin gestured to Gaius that they should separate from the group a little bit. The old physician frowned at her in confusion, but followed her anyway. When they came to a halt, Merlin said bluntly, "We know that there is a traitor in our midst and we will know if you tell him any of this. If you do tell him, all of the captives smiling and laughing over there will die. So, I recommend that you don't tell the traitor anything about this conversation and that you give me his name."

Gaius took a deep breath and said, "We do not know who it is. Someone simply continues to give us anonymous and accurate tips and we follow then."

Merlin frowned and thought for a second before saying, "What method is used to deliver this traitorous information?"

The old man immediately answered, "It comes by raven."

Merlin nodded and turned quickly, heading back towards the group. As she passed Loren, she telepathically said, Watch them. I've narrowed the suspect pool down a bit and am going to narrow it further while they are busy. If you want to, I can send others to switch places with you. I imagine they could go all night catching up.

He responded quickly, Be careful, and yes, that would be great if you could send someone else up. I'll make a list for people to switch out over the course of the night and I'll set up supplies for a fire and blankets as well as making sure they are fed. Tell me if you find the traitor. She nodded stiffly back to him, ignoring the odd looks she got from the knights and Arthur.

When she got down to the camp, she immediately sent Joshua out to the forest, ignoring his protesting. She gathered Edwin Muirden, Agravaine de Bois, and Cedric Crook with her and brought them to the far edge of the camp. She smiled sardonically at them and said, "I'm planning on implementing a message system run by ravens. Since you are some of my best messengers, I figured that you ought to be the ones to know. Do any of you know how to train ravens already?" She knew that they would admit to knowing how to do it because all three of them tended to enjoy attention and would do anything to get into the good favor of their queen.

It came as no surprise as, a few seconds later, Agravaine gave her an oily smile and said, "I know how to train ravens, my lady and I have sent messages by them before. I'm sure I could teach the others how to train them."

Merlin had known there was going to be a traitor in the Clan. She had known that it had to be one of the messengers because they were the only ones that could come and go freely from the camp with no one noticing. There was a constant stream of messages from the other clans that needed to be dealt with. She had known that it was one of those three messengers because they had all stared at Morgana with an unhealthy-awe when she had infiltrated the camp. She had know it was one of those three because they were all missing for a longer-than-usual amount of time shortly after Morgana visited.

Somehow, it still hurt to know that she had been betrayed by one of her own, but at least, she had found the traitor. Agravaine de Bois, outlawed brother to Queen Ygraine of Camelot. Arthur Pendragon's uncle.