The Green Knight's Wife

The Madness of Merlin

You didn't get as much sleep as you would've liked before you woke up to hear Merlin and Arthur talking in the living room. You sleepily walked into the room. "What's going on?" You asked, despite already having an idea as to what was happening.

"Merlin wants to go to the castle." Arthur sighed.

"I need to get some cleaning done." Merlin insisted. He turned to you as if asking you to tell Arthur to stop being unreasonable.

"He always does this." You shrugged and headed back to your room.

"Where are you going?" Arthur questioned.

"To get ready to go to the castle." You heard Arthur groan as you shut your door behind you.

The three of you piled into a cab to be taken to the castle. Merlin seemed more anxious than usual. He was anxiously looking out the window and fidgeting more than normal. "Are you okay?" You asked him.

"Hm? Oh, yes. I'm fine." He replied, not turning away from the window.

"How much sleep did you get last night?" Merlin didn't reply. You sighed a bit, you couldn't fault him for not wanting to sleep due to his magic and nightmares but still. You just told yourself that you'd keep a closer eye on him today and make sure he got more rest tonight.

When you reached the main square of the remains of Camelot, you saw that the police cars and the men from earlier were still there. You felt a sense of dread at seeing them still laying there. Something was wrong. "They still haven't moved? Honestly. My spell wasn't even that powerful." Merlin frowned. You stepped closer to investigate the men and froze when you noticed that most of them had been shot.

"Merlin...they're dead."

"What?"

"They've been shot."

"Shot?" Arthur looked confused. You gestured to a gun in one of the officer's hands.

"That caused the wounds. It's a modern weapon called a gun. Someone planted it to avoid getting caught." Merlin explained and reached for the gun to show Arthur but you promptly smacked his hand away.

"You'll leave fingerprints." You scolded him.

"I doubt they'd be able to do anything to me even if they find my fingerprints." Merlin replied dryly as he rubbed where you smacked him.

"This one bears no wounds." Arthur informed the two of you from one of the bodies. You walked over to check it over; Merlin followed you.

"He was killed by magic." You realized.

"How can you tell? There's no signs of-" Arthur began to ask before Merlin cut him off.

"We can sense it. Powerful, dark magic took place here only a few hours ago." He explained before starting to look stressed. "Someone knows you've returned. They came here to look for you. They want you dead."

"You don't know that. Let's summon the authorities-"

"What? No. They'll flag it as a crime scene, force us to leave, get trash everywhere, and then not let me clean it up!" Merlin huffed. Arthur turned to you, clearly stunned by Merlin's response. You had to admit, you were surprised by it as well.

"Merlin, people are dead." You reminded him. He looked like he was about to argue with you more when a voice could be heard over one of the police radios.

"Officer Beckham?" The voice asked. Merlin grabbed the radio and spoke into it.

"Two security guards and six officers have been murdered at Darlene Plunkett's old castle — the one beyond the hill. You might want to investigate it."