I Don't Belong Here

A Soul-Surfing Sorcerer

"Merlin!" I can hear Arthur calling. There's another loud boom from the mines below the castle. couldn't those guys work at any other time of day? "Merlin!"

The boy sleeping next to me doesn't even budge. I roll my eyes and get up, going to answer the prince's call instead.

"Yes, sire?" I ask as I walk through the door. Arthur is standing beside his bed in only a pair of pants. Damn, he looks pretty good shirtless. Wait, no, stop. Bad Y/n!

"You're not Merlin," he says, puffing his chest out a bit. The fuck is he doing?

"Well spotted," I roll my eyes. "What do you need?"

"I need you and Merlin to go down there and tell them to stop," he tells me.

"You know they're working under the king's orders, right?" I raise a brow.

"Yes," he says flopping back into his bed. "And you're working under mine."

I only shake my head. This bitch... "Yes, your highness," I say before walking out to wake Merlin.

When I get to him I use my foot to push him over. On impact, he jolts up. "What? What's happening?"

"Wake up, bro," I smile. I'm still not over him calling me his sister when I was dying. "Arthur needs us to tell the miners to shut up."

"But they're not under Arthur's orders," Merlin says as he stands, stretching out his arms.

"Yeah, I know. But Princey is demanding, so let's go."

Merlin only groans as he follows me down to the mines. For some reason, the king is digging there thinking there's treasure under the castle. I have no idea what gave him the idea that there was, but it's ruining my already fucked up sleep schedule.

When we get down to the tunnels there's a bunch of screaming. Merlin and I share a look and move forward to see what's wrong. When we walk into the hub area of the mines, a large group of miners sprint out of one tunnel and back up to the surface.

What the fuck is happening?

We go down the tunnel they ran out of to see a hole in the wall. The hole leads to what appears to be a tomb. Merlin goes in first with the torch, the light bouncing off all the gold and jewels that line the walls. In the middle, there's a sarcophagus with a large, blue, heart-shaped jewel set in the chest of the statue.

There's a sort of whispering coming from the jewel. Curious, I move closer, staring intently at the gem. I only take about three steps before my foot hits something. Merlin and I both look at what I kicked and it turns out to be a person. It's one of the miners; he's kneeling on both knees, facing the sarcophagus like he's worshipping it.

"Hello?" Merlin asks. The man doesn't respond. "Hello?" He tries again, reaching out to touch his shoulder. When Merlin lightly pulls on the man's shoulder, he falls over onto his back.

Merlin and I jump back, holding onto each other seeking protection as the man before us is dead. His face looks like it's been drained of all blood, expression frozen mid-scream.

Well, that's terrifying.

"Get Gaius, I'll investigate," I tell Merlin.

"I'm not leaving you," he protests.

I smile. "That's sweet, but I'll be fine. I won't touch anything, I promise."

"Okay," he says a little unsure before running off to get the physician.

I stare at the corpse. His face is blue, dark blue veins webbing under his skin. I crouch down, trying to see if there's any indicator of the cause of death. As I run my gaze down his body I realize that there is a sizable hole through his side. I check for an exit wound and there is none.