The Angels In The Game (Merlin Fanfic)

Chapter 1

“Gwaine, did you say you’d been here before?“,Arthur asked. “Oh yes I had a great few days near here a few years ago”, Gwaine said.

“Does that mean you know somewhere we can stay for the night?”, Arthur asked.

“Yes I do”, Gwaine said.

“Is it a tavern?”, Merlin asked looking worried. Everyone began to turn a bit green as they remembered the last time Gwaine had taken them to a tavern and the results the morning after.

“It’s not a tavern”, Gwaine said and Merlin breathed a sigh of relief “It’s an Inn next to a tavern”, Gwaine said with a childish look on his face.

“Well I suppose it’ll have to do”, Arthur said looking up at the darkening sky.

He took a deep breath as if he was about to do something stupid and said “Lead the way Gwaine”.

　

Soon the group were standing outside a run down Inn. The walls were spotted with some strange stains that were probably best left unidentified, half the windows were boarded up with planks of wood and the lantern outside was broken.

“Are you sure that this place is safe Gwaine?”, Arthur asked. “Yeah, it’s fine”, Gwaine said, apparently unfazed by the exterior.

“This is a bad idea”, Merlin said.

“Maybe but its late and we have no where else”, Arthur said and headed towards the door of the Inn swiftly followed by Gwaine and then, slowly by the others.

The inside of the Inn was better than the outside. They were led to rooms some of which even had windows and once Arthur had made sure that Gwaine was securely locked in his room they drifted off to sleep one by one.

　

Merlin was the first to wake up. He took a moment before opening his eyes. He remembered being in an Inn but when he opened his eyes, he wasn’t in an Inn. He was in some sort of room with rugged stone walls and a tiny shaft of light coming from the roof.

“Arthur! Arthur!“, He yelled running over to Arthur’s sleeping body.

“Arthur, we’ve moved. We’re not in the Inn anymore”.

Arthur was suddenly fully awake and aware, as was everyone else.

“Gwaine, I thought you said that place was safe!”, He yelled

“It was”, Gwaine said.

“So why are we here?”.

“Because it isn’t safe anymore”, Gwaine said.

“I can see that!“, Arthur yelled.

At that moment a hatch in the roof opened and light streamed in. Several loaves of bread and a handful of apples fell in and hit the floor followed by a few water skins then the hatch closed and the room was darker again.

“Great!”, Gwaine yelled “I love apples!”.

Gwaine lunged for one of the shiny, red fruits and sunk his teeth into it making a loud crunching noise.

“Right, we need to work out what we know”, Arthur said, trying to take control of the situation.

“Well we’ve been kidnapped”, Merlin said

“And we’re in a large pit, cave thing”, Percival said

“And someone just gave us some food”, Gwaine said, still chomping appreciatively.

“And the walls are solid, no gaps, no doors, no holes, nothing. We are in a pit and the only way out is up”, Leon said’

“Well that all sound positive”, Arthur said sarcastically “Is there no way we could scale the walls?”,

“No”, Leon said “The walls are rugged for a while and we could probably make it half way up but then the walls are completely smooth. We’d never make it to the top”.

“Well it looks like we have no immediate course of action”, Arthur said “Might as well make ourselves at home”.

　

They all sat down and silence fell down on the pit. Minuets turned to hours and plenty of food dwindled to little food. Eventually they all fell asleep. When they woke in the morning there was another delivery of food. This time it was bread and carrots to Gwaine’s great dismay.

Gwaine was sitting with his back against the wall, gnawing a carrot. Merlin walked over to him and sat down.

“You know”, Gwaine said, staring thoughtfully at his carrot

“I think I could grow to like these”.

“What?”, Merlin asked, looking confused

“Carrots”, Gwaine said “They have a certain quality to them. I think it’s the crunch”.

“I hadn’t really thought about it”, Merlin said. He gazed up at the ceiling, staring longingly at the tiny patch of light visible “Gwaine?”, He said

“Mm”,Gwaine said

“Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?”, Merlin asked

“We’ve only been here less than 2 days, don’t you think it’s a little early to be asking questions like that?”,Gwaine said and then resumed his attack on the carrot.

“I suppose so, it’s just that this place is so confined. I have already spent too long staring at these walls”, Merlin said staring up at the ceiling “I’d give anything to see the sky again”.

“Careful what you say Merlin, that was only the first day, there may be a hundred more”, Gwaine said

“Well I intend to get out of here before then”, Merlin said.