The Angels In The Game (Merlin Fanfic)

Chapter 11

Merlin was sitting in his cell fuming at Gwaine for running off like that. Arthur had fallen into a feverish sleep and Leon and Percival had eventually drifted off. Suddenly Merlin had a vision of Gwaine being caught by Morgana. He couldn’t let that happen. He looked to his sleeping companions and stood up. His chest cried out in pain and he swayed, clutching the bars for support. He gritted his teeth and then made his way to the door. He stood back from the lock and stuck out his hand. He muttered the spell and the door swung open. He gave a modest shrug but who it was aimed at he didn’t know and then he stepped out of his cell.

　

　

Gwaine was lying in a heap on the floor. Morgana strolled casually around his limp body, stroking her whip as if it were an animal. Gwaine looked up at her and gave a slight smile as if to say “Is that it?”. Morgana seemed slightly annoyed at his response but then she spotted the dagger lying on the floor where Gwaine had dropped it and she picked it up. “You may be smiling now sir knight”, she said “ But you won’t be when I’m finished. It’s amazing just how sharp a knife can get. This one is so sharp that you won’t even feel it slicing through you flesh until long after I cut you”. She bent down and stroked his face and then her fingers wandered to his hair “But then again”, she said “Perhapse it would hurt you more if I cut something you can’t feel”, and with this she closed her fingers around a lock of his long hair and brought the knife close to his face to examine. Gwaine felt fear clutch his heart as her hand tensed on his hair and she raised the knife. Gwaine closed his eyes, readying himself for the first cut. There was a whooshing sound as something sliced through the air.

　

Merlin climbed the stairs, walking away from his friends. He entered a corridor which was horribly quiet. “Morgana must be getting careless”, he muttered as he set off down the corridor.

As he approached a door which was slightly ajar he heard Morgana’s voice drifting towards him and she seemed to be talking to someone. He peered in and saw Morgana bending over Gwaine who was sprawled on the floor. She was holding an extremely sharp looking dagger and gripping a large handful of his hair. She seemed to be about to cut Gwaine’s hair and Gwaine’s eyes were screwed shut as he readied himself for the unthinkable. Merlin kew he had to act, and quickly. He looked around and he was in luck. Right next to the door was a large candle holder. He reached out and grabbed it and then rushed into the room towards Morgana just as she lifted the knife, ready to slice through Gwaine’s hair. Merlin swung the candle stick right at morgana’s head and sent her sprawling in a heap on the floor.

　

Gwaine dared to open his eyes and looked up to see Merlin holding a larg candle stick and Morgana in a heap. His hand went straight to his hair but he was relieved to find that none of it was missing. “That was far too close for comfort”, he muttered as he rubbed his head “Thanks for that”.

“Any time” Merlin said.

Suddenly there was movement behind him and he span to see Morgana had got to her feet and was now weilding a scarily large sword. Gwaine ducked out of instinct, just as Merlin blocked a blow from Morgana with his candle stick. Gwaine looked around for another weapon but could only find another candle stick however this one had a lit candle inside. A gleam of an idea was forming in his mind but he didn’t have time to think it through as Merlin blocked yet another blow, the sword getting scarily close to his face. Gwaine grabbed the candle stick and thrust the candle end at Morgana. The flame hesitated for a moment but no longer and then Morgana’s dress caught alight. The flame began to spread and she stumbled backwards, into a curtain which then caught fire too. She grabbed a jug of water and threw it over herself as she muttered a spell. The water formed into the shape of a dragon which flew aroung her, spraying her with water and dousing the flames which threatened to engulf her. The curtain however was now fully on fire and the flames had leapt to the large rope which would open and close them. The fire was travelling down the rope and to the bed which was immediately burning. Morgana continued to mutter the spell as she stumbled towards another door on the other side of the room. Suddenly the water dragon exploded into many water dragons and the fires were doused. The room filled with steam and smoke and when the air cleared Morgana was completely gone.

Gwaine was suddenly seized by uncontrolable coughing. When his lungs were finally functioning again he stumbled towards the door Morgana had left from. Merlin was standing by it, staring through. Gwaine came up beside him and followed his gaze. The door lead to a small balcony and from there they could see a forest travelling for miles. “I don’t suppose you know the way out of here”, Gwaine asked Merlin. “No I don’t suppose you do”, Merlin said. “Nope”, Gwaine replied “But I suppose we should find some keys to get the others out”.

“What about the guards?” Merlin asked “Don’t you think they’ll try to stop us?”

“Morgana’s gone, I doubt they’ll still be here”, Gwaine said whilst searching through some draws.

A short search revealed a large bundle of keys hanging on a hook by the now ruined bed. They also found a map showing exactly where they were.

　

They hurried towards the cells, desperate to get out of there as quickly as possible. They reached the cells and stormed in, jangling the keys loudly. “Where the Hell did you get those!!!” Arthur yelled but he regretted it as pain exploded in his head and he groaned loudly, clutching his head. “What happened to you?”, Percival asked as he saw the whip marks all over Gwaine’s body.

“It’s a long story”, Gwaine said, trying the keys in the lock. It took a while but eventually Gwaine found the right key and released everyone. Percival seemed alright considering what he’d been through and Leon was a bit unsteady on his feet but all things considered not too bad. Arthur, however, was in a very bad state. He claimed he was fine but when he tried to take one step on his own his legs gave way and Gwaine had to catch him.

The group made their way from the cells, Gwaine and Percival holding Arthur up and Merlin leading the way out. When Leon asked him how he knew the way he said he could sense a breeze coming from outside. Leon gave him a wary look but let him get away with it.

Merlin lead them all the way to the stables where they took four horses and some supplies and headed out, grateful to be leaving the place they had called Hell for far too long.

As it turned out, Morgana’s castle was really quite close to Camelot and it only took them about a day to get back home where they were met with far too many questions and worried friends than any of them could deal with.

　

　

One month later the friends were all in the tavern, it was Arthur’s first visit to a tavern since they got back and it had been a battle of will’s between him and Gaius to let him go. Eventually Arthur had pulled rank and simply said he was going and that was that.

A bar maid brought over a round of drinks and Arthur took a huge gulp although Gwaine was still drinking long after the others had put their tankards down.

“This is actually quite nice”. Arthur said, eyeing his drink.

“Be careful or you’ll end up like Gwaine”, Merlin warned and just as he said that they heard a woman laughing Gwaine’s name and turned to see the bar maid in Gwaine’s arms as he kissed her hard on the mouth. Everyone laughed accept Arthur who was too busy drinking from his tankard.

“Another round for me and my friends!!!”, he yelled and Gwaine nodded enthusiastically.