When It Rains

When It Rains «1:12»

Morgause said,
"I'll ask you again, Arthur. Where is the key to the vaults under Camelot hidden?"
She was stood in front of Merlin.

Arthur bit his tongue but shook his head.
Morgause smiled and grabbed Merlin by the hair, yanking his head backwards, exposing his pale neck. She placed the knife's blade onto it and pressed, drawing beads of blood. Merlin gasped.

"Stop!" Arthur shouted. "Stop, please!"
"Where is the key?" Morgause yelled back. Arthur just shook his head, tears brimming in his clear blue eyes.
After a moment Morgause took the knife away and wiped the blood from it. Merlin's blood.

The boy sagged as she let go of him, then looked up at Arthur and whispered;
"Don't tell her anything, okay?"

Arthur pressed his lips together and nodded, hating himself.

Suddenly, at Morgause's command, one of the guards drew back his huge fist and sank it into Merlin's stomach. He keeled over, wheezing. Arthur yelled in shock, and Morgause breathed in his ear-
"Where is it?"
The guard kicked Merlin onto his side so that he was lying, curled up, on the floor. Then the two of them, upon Arthur's silence, began kicking and punching every inch of the boy they could reach until he was a bloody shivering mess.

Morgause stepped over to him. She hauled him up so he was kneeling and Arthur saw that he was barely conscious.

Merlin sported two rather magnificent black eyes, his nose was busted and his face covered in blood, the rest of his body looking no better.

His torso looked the worst. Arthur could instantly see that at least two of Merlin's ribs were broken because a tiny bit of white bone broke his pale, bruised skin and stuck out. Arthur wretched.

Merlin hung from Morgause's grip, dripping scarlet blood onto the floor and just managing to draw ragged breaths through his shattered lungs.

This is my fault, Arthur thought.

He knew it was. He knew it just as he knew the rain outside was like a drug. It was constant and it dug into him, like Merlin's pain did.