Merlin: Dawn of the Dragonlord

Chapter 6: In the Dark

Author’s note:

Gwaine, Ellyan, Percival, Lancelot, Gaius, Arthur and Merlin have fallen into a dark hole.

This is the chapter you’ve been waiting for; trust me ;-)

Chapter 6: In the dark

The first thing that hit him was water and cold.

“Wet!” he cried out, gasping for air and trying to grab anything that he could touch.

It was dark; darker than the forest in the dead of the night.  He could literally not see any further than his hands.

“Merlin!  Don’t struggle!  I’ve got you!”

Groping in the dark, his hand found a strong shoulder wearing a chain mail.  With his other hand, he tried to find the wall but he was slipping on the muddy and slimy surface.

“Try to find a root,” said Lancelot.  “Here!  Take this!”

Lancelot guided his hand and there was indeed a short root hanging from the muddy wall.  Merlin grabbed on to it, but he was still submerged in water up to his shoulders and it was freezing.  He was also painfully aware of the deep gash on his left upper arm.

“Merlin!” cried out Gaius’s panicked voice.

“I’ve got him, Gaius,” said Lancelot.  “He was just stunned.”

“Is everyone accounted for?” asked Merlin while trying to maintain his hold on the feeble root.

“Yes, we’re all here,” said Arthur, but Merlin could not see him.

It was a bit strange, talking to people, knowing that they were present, but not seeing them.  Of course, he had spoken to a dragon, and heard voices in his mind, but this was somehow weirder.

“What is this: an underground stream or a well?  She’s thrown us down a well!” cried out Ellyan shakily.

“Yes, and she’s put a cover on it too,” said Arthur.

Merlin glanced up, but there was no sign of an opening above their heads.  

“Well, we know it’s not a stream: the water is very still,” said Gwaine.  

From the spluttering sound that he was making, Merlin guessed that he had just gone under water to asses their predicament.

“Did you find the bottom?” asked Lancelot.

“No, pitch black and very deep too.  You wouldn’t know up from down.”

Lancelot let out a long sign of discouragement and Merlin could almost feel his breathe on his shoulder.  Lancelot’s protectiveness over him was not decreasing.

“It is really some kind of well, then,” he said.   

“It used to be a punishment for sorcerers and traitors, you know,” Gwaine added after a short pause.  “It’s kind of ironic.”

“What do you mean?” said Ellyan.

“Don’t you think that here and now may not be the appropriate time for such a conversation?” said Lancelot irritably.

Gwaine snorted loudly.  “It’s just, you know, the irony.”

“Try to grab hold of some roots and see if they go any higher,” cut in Arthur in his most commanding tone.