To know your place

It gets worse...

Merlin is... Forget it, you know what I'm going to say anyway.
Have fun reading this one.
Warning!! Abuse on the way! --> Don't like it, don't read it.
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Arthur and the knights would have been totally oblivious if they had missed the sudden change in their friend. They looked around to see what caused such a strong reaction and their eyes quickly found the group of new recruits, standing a bit further away from them. When the King turned his gaze back on his servant he could see how he had his head bowed obediently again which made him curse under his breath.
"Come on, let's go inside." he said while pulling on the young man's hand.
He made a motion towards his knights to follow him and they did without a second thought. None of them dared to speak until they arrived at Arthur's chambers. The royal swiftly closed his door and turned to face his friends.
"Alright, what's going on?" he asked immediately.
"Noth..."
"Don't say 'nothing', Merlin! We're not blind, you know."
"I'm just tired." the young warlock responded. He looked up at his friends so they wouldn't think he was lying. Sadly for him he was a terrible liar and they saw right through his lies.
"It has something to do with the new recruits, hasn't it?"
Merlin's eyes grew wider and he bit his lip. 'How did they know?'
"Merlin, the truth please."
The servant shook his head. "I can't... I can't tell you. I... please don't make me."
They could all see the fear in their friend's eyes. Whatever they did to him, for they were sure that that's what this was all about, it must have been terrible enough.
"Merlin," Lancelot tried, "if you don't tell us we can't help you."
"We're your friends. You can tell us."
The raven haired boy shook his head again. Tears were glistening in his eyes and were threatening to fall any second now.
"Did they hurt you? Because if they did...!" Gwaine growled.
The servant shook his head again.
"No, no! It's alright, I'm alright. It's nothing, really! I..." Merlin hated this part of himself. He was unable to hide his true feelings when he was with his friends. But he couldn't tell them. He was afraid what would happen if he did.
"I'm sorry." he whispered. A few tears trickled over his cheeks and he ran out of the room before anyone of them could say another word. If he had stayed he feared he might have told them everything. But he didn't want them to know. He ran straight to the physicians chambers, past a worried looking Gaius, up the stairs, to his bedroom. He let himself fall on his bed and started to cry his heart out. He knew that Arthur and the knights did see him as their friend but how could he tell them about the abuse? How could he ever tell them how he had believed those three culprits, that he ever doubted their friendship? Surely they would feel betrayed by it all, wouldn't they?
After a few minutes Gaius walked in to his room. He placed himself on his ward's bed, without saying a thing. His surrogate son suddenly embraced him and sobbed into his shoulder. The old physician softly stroked his back and let him cry. Minutes passed and when Merlin had finally calmed down the old man dared to speak.
"What's wrong, my boy?"
The raven haired man didn't respond and kept holding on to his mentor.
"Did something happen with Arthur?" the physician tried.
"No! No, of course not. Arthur's fine. The knights too. Nothing happened. I'm sorry, I guess I'm just tired." the warlock used his lies again.
"Come on Merlin. I know you better than that. Tell me."
The servant shook his head. "It's fine, Gaius. I only need some sleep."
Gaius sighed, padded Merlin's hand and stood up.
"Good night, my boy." he said softly.
"Good night, Gaius." the young man responded before he curled up under his blanket.
In another room of the castle, Arthur and his knights had been shocked to see how their friend had run out of the chamber. They had never seen him behave like that. Merlin was always smiling. Only Arthur had seen Merlin cry on a few occasions but those were rare sights indeed. To see him so upset was something they had never thought possible.
"I'm going to kill them!" Gwaine shouted as he headed for the door.
"Gwaine! Wait!" Leon called him back. "We don't know if they have anything to do with all this."
"No? It was pretty clear to me." the sturdy knight growled. "Or didn't you see how he reacted when he saw them."
"Leon is right, Gwaine. I do believe they are involved in this somehow but as long as Merlin doesn't tell us, we can't know for sure." Arthur said.
"Fine! I'll make him tell us!"
"Gwaine!" Lancelot shouted while he pulled the knight back into the room. "Let him sleep now. He was clearly exhausted. Better to ask him again in the morning."
The apple loving knight grunted and placed himself on a chair, arms crossed and face with a murderous look.
"We should keep an eye on them." Percival said quietly. The others nodded in agreement.
"Just to be sure." Arthur added.
"We'll start tomorrow. For now, let's all go to bed. I don't think we can do much this evening anyway."
The knights all bowed to their King and left to their own chambers. Gwaine hesitated a bit longer and turned around again when he came at the door.
"If they did hurt him, I will kill them!" he growled. Arthur nodded and the angry knight left the room, closing the door behind him with a loud 'bang!'
The King sighed and made himself ready for bed. 'If they did hurt Merlin, he would give Gwaine a hand. No one harmed his friend and got away with it.'
'"No! Please don't! I didn't tell them! Please! Leave me alone!" Merlin cried and pleaded but the three knights didn't listen to him. They kicked at him, punched him and pulled his hair. He tried to fight them off but he wasn't strong enough. Two strong hands found his neck. He couldn't breathe! He was suffocating! Every attempt to free himself failed and he could feel his life slipping out of him. Darkness was slowly taking a hold of his mind and he could feel his body go numb.'
Merlin woke up, gasping for air. He could feel fresh tears on his face and he was trembling uncontrollably. 'They tried to kill me.' he thought frightened. 'They will if you let this go on.' a voice that sounded much like Arthur's said. 'You have to tell them.' 'I can't tell them!' 'Than you'll die.'
The young man bit his lip and tried to ignore the voices in his head. He made himself comfortable again and closed his eyes. Sleep took over within a minute, making the dreams coming back.
'"Why didn't you tell us? We're your friends. Don't you trust us? You should have told us, Merlin. We could have protected you. Now you're dead. It's really your own fault." Arthur and his knights were standing at a pyre. The King was holding a torch. After a few moments of silence he threw the torch at the pyre. It immediately started to burn. "Good bye, old friend." he could hear his master say. "It's alright, Arthur. I'm still here." the young warlock said, trying to attract his attention. But the royal didn't seem to hear him. He turned around and went inside the castle. He locked himself in his room and refused to see anyone.'
Merlin woke up when the light from outside seeped through his window. Birds were already chirping happily but it didn't warm his soul like it usually did. The nightmares that had been plaguing him that night made him think. Maybe it would be better if he told Arthur about the three knights. Arthur would defend him, wouldn't he? And if he didn't, Gwaine surely would. He had already told him that he would kill those men if he found out they had hurt him. He still had the bruises on his neck as proof. He slowly got out of bed and dressed himself. He tied his neckerchief securely around his neck and walked into Gaius' room. The old physician was already awake and had started to make some porridge for breakfast.
"Good morning, Gaius." the young warlock said while placing himself at the table.
"Good morning, Merlin. How do you feel?" the old man asked.
"I'm feeling a bit better." he replied. He didn't want to worry his mentor. He would tell him all about it when this was all over. They ate in silence and after they were done, Merlin left to pick up Arthur's food.
When he was walking through the hallways he could swear that someone was watching him. He looked around but only found an empty hallway. 'Must be the ghosts of my nightmare.' he thought. A shiver ran down his back and he quickened his pace. As he arrived at the kitchens he let out a relieved sigh and took the plate that was already waiting for him. He quickly took a pitcher, filled with water, in his other hand and made his way to the royal chambers. The feeling that he was being watched suddenly returned, stronger than before. Almost like a warning. When he again turned to see no one was around he started to walk faster. All of a sudden he felt some strong hands grabbing him. The plate and pitcher fell out of his hands and clattered to the ground. He tried to shout but someone covered his mouth. He got pulled into an empty room and pushed to the ground. Someone was tying his hands on his back while someone else gagged him. He couldn't see his attackers but he was pretty sure who they were. He kicked around and tried to turn himself on his back but before he could do that, he got pulled onto his feet. When he saw sirs Ulrick, Ethan and Thomas standing in front of him, he wanted to glare at them, to show them he wasn't scared. But the fear that quickly took a hold of his heart made this impossible. He backed away until his hands felt a wall behind him.
"We warned you!" sir Ethan said.
"Yet you went and disobeyed our orders anyway." sir Ulrick followed.
Merlin shook his head but he knew it was no use. Nothing he could say or do would get him out of this situation.
"We saw you at the courtyard last evening! We saw how you behaved." sir Thomas sneered.
"You've had your last chance, boy! Now you'll pay!"
The young warlock shook his head again. Tears were already forming in his eyes. Sir Ethan quickly came closer to him and gave him the first hit. The impact of it made his head slam against the stone wall. He became dizzy and darkness already threatened to take over. He breathed heavily to clear his vision but the second hit, (from sir Thomas? He wasn't sure.), made his head slam to the wall again and he crumpled to the floor. Tears were now streaming freely down his face and everything around him was a blur. He wanted to use his magic but he couldn't focus. There was no way he would be able to take his aggressors out now. One of them kicked him in his stomach which made him gasp for air. The pain was almost unbearable and just when he thought it couldn't get much worse, he got kicked again. He could hear and feel his ribs crack. The black haired boy cried out against his gag and he squeezed his eyes shut.
"Open your eyes!" sir Ethan shouted with another kick at the young boy on the floor. When Merlin refused to do as he was told, one of the men brought his foot down on the boy's leg. A loud 'crack' echoed in the room and Merlin cried out again.
He was going to pass out, he knew it. He had to do something, and quickly but his dazed head didn't let him focus enough. Suddenly an idea popped into his mind. He let his magic flow through his arms in order to get rid of the bondages that were keeping his arms behind his back. Just when he could feel the rope slide from his wrists, he received another kick against his shoulder. In an attempt to defend himself he pulled his arms from under his body and held them protectively in front of his face. He managed to pull the gag away, which he now noticed was his own neckerchief, and started to shout for his dear life.
"Help! Please! Some...!" he cried.
His cries for help were abruptly stopped by two large hands that grabbed his throat. Merlin tried to gasp for air. He kicked around and pulled on the hands to get them away. Nothing was working. His body was shutting down and his movements lessened until they completely stopped. Sweet darkness covered his mind and his hands fell lifelessly to the ground. He didn't try to fight it anymore and welcomed unconsciousness like an old friend.

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Eeeep!!! Poor Merlin! Where are his idiotic friends when he needs them?!
I know, the chapter is a bit shorter than my previous one but hey, it's late!
Anyway, one chapter left guys. It's been fun and I'm really touched by all your reviews. I won't forget this.