Defeating the Darkness (A Merlin Fanfiction)

Chapter 21

Merlin heard the door click as the knights slipped into the castle behind him. Trying to adjust to the darkness, he stood there for a few minutes blinking his eyes.
"It's really dark," whispered Gwaine.
"Yeah, no shit," Percival replied, and Merlin heard them shove each other into the cold stone walls behind him.
"Stop it, let's just go," Merlin said, moving along blindly through the passage.
The knights drew their swords and started moving, until Elyan loudly swore from somewhere in the darkness.
"Who just stabbed me?!"
"Sorry, I think that was me," Gwaine whispered.
"Be careful!"
"Sorry."
"Okay, maybe drawing your swords in the darkness isn't a good idea," Merlin suggested. There were murmurs of assent as the knights slid their weapons back into their sheaths.
"SHHHH!" Leon suddenly called from the back of the line.
Creeeeaaaaaaak.
"The door," Merlin breathed. "Somebody's getting in."
Leon started pushing the knights in front of him. "Go. GO!"
They all tore down the pitch dark hallway, hands skimming the walls to find their way, until Merlin, in front of everybody, smacked into a stone wall in front of him. He felt his way along the walls, trying to ignore the warm feeling of pain in his nose that had collided with the stone.
"Right turn!" Merlin directed the others through the hallway.
As they turned and ran, Merlin a little more cautiously this time so as not to further injure what he already suspected was a broken nose, the darkness finally seemed to lift a little. Far down the hallway began a chain or torches attached to the walls, and the group could finally move with a little more certainty, being able to see.
Merlin frantically swiped at his face, trying to wipe away the blood pouring unceasingly from his nose. He knew that he didn't have time to stop and use the techniques Gaius had taught him to stop the blood flow, so he muttered a basic healing incantation under his breath and covered it up with a cough.
Merlin tore through the passageway, still aware of the fact that someone had entered the castle and was probably chasing them from behind. He was moving so quickly and focused on the route ahead of him that he realized they had just passed a left turn, and he walked backwards.
Merlin looked into the break off passageway to see a group of four guards sitting at a table by torchlight, and he shoved the knights back behind the turn, heart beating out of his chest. However, he was pretty sure that the guards had already seen him, and those fears were confirmed as he heard several swords being unsheathed from around the corner. Gwaine lightly sighed behind Merlin. Merlin pulled out his dagger and, under his breath, counted to three.
He and the knights sprinted around the corner, swords at the ready, and battle ensued. As Merlin's dagger clashed with a guard's sword, he was surprised to fell strength in the blow; and after hearing grunts coming from Percival behind him, assumed that he was not the only one. These guards did not seem to have used the de industria petram, and Merlin cheated a little in blowing his opponent backwards into the wall.
Finally, the knights and Merlin were standing among a handful of unconscious guards and looking around warily for more to come streaming out.
"They," Gwaine said, breathing heavily, "did NOT use that rock."
"No," Merlin agreed. "We need to keep moving, there's still someone behind us--"
"Hey, look," Leon cut in. He walked toward the table that the guards had been sitting at; there was a large doorway, well concealed, behind it. The knights helped Leon move the table away. "Should we go in?" Merlin asked.
"I have a feeling Morgana's this way; why else would they station fully strong guards outside? They are protecting someone important behind there," Gwaine reasoned, and they wrenched open the doors.
Merlin slipped inside after the knights, and quietly pulled the opening shut behind him.
"Whoa," he heard Elyan say.
Merlin turned back around. They were in a vast cavern, and a few thousand yards in front of the group,chained to tightly he couldn't possibly move a muscle, was the great dragon Kilgharrah.
"Get back!" Leon warned, dragging the knights back towards Merlin and the doors.
"No, it's okay, he won't hurt us," Merlin said. Relief flooded through him as his worries of Kilgharrah's whereabouts disappeared, but he soon realized how scraped and bloody the dragon seemed and became concerned again.
"How do you know?" Leon questioned.
"I--" Merlin stuttered.
"Mer.....lin..."
Merlin looked up; Kilgharrah was stirring, his eyes slowly opening.
"Young warlock... I sensed you..."
Merlin's eyes widened. Kilgharrah needed to stop talking, he would expose Merlin's magic to everyone.
"Merlin?" Leon intervened. "We need to leave... Why did it sense you?"
Gwaine said, "And why did it call you a--"
The doors swung open, banging against the inside of the cavern as a tall figure stepped in.
Merlin turned around, drawing his dagger as the knights drew their swords, but soon dropped it. The weapon clambered to the ground as Merlin glimpsed the figure.
"...Arthur?"