Defeating the Darkness (A Merlin Fanfiction)

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Only the plot belongs to me, credit to BBC 1

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Merlin's eyes darted through the darkness, trying to adjust. Rustles of leaves broke the silence of the night as the knights awoke. Arthur seemed to notice what was happening and tried to draw his sword, but before his hand could reach it, Merlin saw one of the cloaked figures step forward, his eyes lighting up bright orange. Arthur was knocked backward by some invisible force, and he grunted as the wind was knocked out of him.

Magic, Merlin thought. Various spell names crossed his mind as he tried to figure out what to do. Before he could act, however, another figure, tall and thin, stuck out a bony hand from underneath his dark robes and muttered an incantation. Thick tweed ropes had wrapped themselves tightly around Merlin's wrists and ankles, and he lost his balance and fell over sideways onto the ground. Judging from the thumps around him, the knights were tied up too.

"Who are you?" Merlin heard Arthur demand. "Release us at once! These are the Knights of Camelot!"

"Good," grunted an unknown, husky voice next to Merlin. "Then you'll be rich."

Merlin heard scattered chuckles from the bandits. He looked up and saw them leaving the fallen knights and hurrying over to the horses, probably to check for valuables. Merlin took the opportunity and freed himself with magic, burying his head into his collar as he spoke the incantation so Arthur, who was closest to him, wouldn't hear. He stood up and faced the bandits' backs, who were tearing through the packs tied to the horses. Merlin knew they wouldn't find anything; there was only food in there. He concentrated on channeling his energy, and-

"Wáce ierlic!"

The bandits rose into the air jerkily and flipped over. Merlin released his hold on the magic and most of the figures fell to the ground, unconscious heaps. Three of them, however, mustered up their energy and scrambled to their feet.

Ugh, Merlin thought. He knew he didn't have enough energy left to perform the spell again; he had just levitated 20 people, and that was draining. He stepped back and looked around frantically for a sword, but then heard scuffling of feet and looked up. The conscious bandits had turned and fled into the woods. Merlin sighed and pulled his dagger out of his belt, then returned to the clearing and sawed away at Arthur's restraints.

"You alright?" He asked.

Arthur nodded and scrambled to his feet as Merlin hacked off the last of the twine. "Merlin, how...? Did you just...?" He looked confusedly at the bandits in a lifeless heap near the horses, then back at Merlin.

Merlin shrugged and headed over to Gwaine. "I'm not entirely useless, you know."

Arthur walked around Merlin. "You don't even have a weapon." He used his own sword to quickly slice through the twine binding Percival's wrists.

"I have a dagger."

"You're telling me you used your dagger to do that?" Arthur motioned to the bandits.

Merlin looked up nervously. Arthur was right, it was hard to believe.

Percival hopped to his feet, shaking off twine. "I saw him, Arthur. Like a ninja. He just hacked through them."

Merlin looked gratefully at Percival. Arthur just raised his eyebrows, then shook his head. "Right..."

Once the knights had all been cut free, Merlin dropped to the ground, eager for a few hours more rest; it was still quite dark. Gwaine fell over next to him. "Ahh. I am ready for some well deserved sleep."

"You're not getting it," said Arthur.

"What?!" Gwaine groaned, sitting up.

Leon walked over. "Arthur's right; as much as we would all like to rest, we can't stay here. There are obviously bandits around, and ones with magic too. There are literally 15 men unconscious by the horses, we can't just sleep with them there."

"Oh, yeah, forgot about that." Gwaine groaned and hefted himself to his feet, followed by Merlin. They walked over to the horses. The ground was littered with food; three of the five packs of vegetables and biscuits had been torn open and were lying, shredded, on the ground. Gwaine picked up a carrot from the ground, brushed it off, and chomped down on it.

"That's nasty, Gwaine," Elyan said, scowling.

Gwaine shrugged. "I'm hungry." Merlin chuckled and attempted to salvage any food that hadn't been stepped on or wasn't dirty. After they had all managed to clean up the mess, Arthur hefted himself onto his horse and motioned for the others to do the same.

"Here we go again," Gwaine muttered. "Can't even get a couple decent hours of sleep whenever I'm with you lot..."

"Don't worry," said Arthur. "You'll get your beauty sleep soon."

Merlin laughed as Gwaine dramatically tossed his hair. They started trotting west, deeper into the trees, as thin streams of light darted through the grass from the rising sun behind them.

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