Crossfire

"We Are To Embark To Ealdor"

Arthur

I watched from afar. Merlin was seen wiping a drenched hand over his face. My eyes traveled, seeing how tense his posture was, his face pale when the moonlight illuminated his face. I smiled, admiring the scene that was taking place.
No. I quickly looked down, covering my smile with a frown, scolding myself.
Stop blushing! I demanded in my head.
What were these feelings!? I quickly looked back up, just to freeze in my stance when I found Merlin lying on the ground. He was smiling—a grin I had never seen before. It was genuine—carefree. I felt jealousy crawl up my spine. I wanted to make Merlin smile like that.
I took a supposed silent step forward, accidentally snapping a couple twigs underneath my feet, leaves crunching along with them. My head quickly swiped up, now seeing that Merlin was already on his feet, his posture tense, ready to attack.
"Who's there?" he regally demanded. My eyes went wide upon his tone. Even I couldn't bring up that much demandement when angry or frustrated. My posture fell stiff, soon coming out of my hiding place, gazing at the man in front of me.
As Merlin saw my appearance, his grip of caution fell, his eyes growing wide from realization. "Arthur?"
I inwardly sighed. Awkwardly scratching my neck, I mumbled a hello in reply.
"What are you doing?" Merlin questioned. His head spun a full 360 to make sure nothing else was hiding in the forest.
"What are you doing out here?" I countered.
He huffed out a breath. "You can't answer a question with a question!"
"I don't know, can I?" I smirked.
Merlin rolled his eyes in reply, moving back to the small stream, sitting down onto the soft grass beneath him once again. Upon noticing my frown towards him, he gave a small smile, waving me over. "Join me."
My cheeks flushed when taking his invitation. I briskly walked over to join him, taking my spot next to him. Merlin exhaled a breath beside me, leaning forward, taking off his worn shoes.
I sternly looked at him. "What are you doing?"
"Being free." With a grunt he released his other shoe off his body. Merlin then dipped the tips of his feet into the small waterbed. He breathed a smile. "Try it." He motioned to his feet.
Reluctantly, I soon pulled off my shoes, pushing my feet into the water below me. The liquid felt cold to the touch. I flinched at the sudden feeling, quickly taking my limbs out of the water, seeing Merlin chuckle beside me.
"C'mon, you prat!" he giggled. He pushed down on my legs, forcing my feet back into the freezing water, once again in contact with the liquid. I breathed, trying to relax to the water, Merlin continuing to laugh beside me. I eventually joined in with him, loving the sounds that were currently being made.
This moment felt precious to me. I haven't felt so at peace since my innocence as a child before faced with harsh reality. With Merlin I felt free and happy. My mind was wishing this moment would last forever.
Looking over to the boy, I took note of him now laying down, his head directed to the sky. Although the moon was currently shielded by clouds, the stars shined bright, reflecting off of Merlin's eyes. His eyes were like a mirror of the sky. And when a smile stretched onto his face when seeing my reaction, his eyes grew even brighter.
A breathy smile etched onto my face. This was the utopia I dreamed of.
Just then, a moment of realization hit both my heart and brain. Merlin was beautiful. His skin radiated from the stars, the complexion of his skin a pale with a soft glow, his ruffled hair from the gentle breeze; and his eyes. Oh gods, his eyes. They were the best thing about him. They were oceans colliding—a sea raging on when in frustration, and when calm, the colors would mix together to create a beautiful, enaffable color.
I realized I loved him.
"We should head back," Merlin suddenly mumbled out, breaking me from my train of thought.
No, a few more minutes at least, I thought.
"Alright," my reply came.

Merlin

When morning came, the sun was rising into the sky, its fingertips the hues of multiple golds and reds beaming across the sky. Slowly, each knight from both kingdom woke up. I was already up, hastily grabbing out multiple loaves of bread, ripping them up equally for the others.
"Merlin, what'd we got for breakfast today?" Gwaine asked with a yawn.
"Bread," I replied with a smirk.
"And...?"
"And water." I turned to face him, ripping off the last piece of bread. "That's it."
As he gave a grumble of hunger, I chuckled at his antics, shaking my head. Pulling myself up, I then sat myself on a log, messing myself with a twig. I poked the object against the ground, steaks of dust and dirt conjoining and seperating upon every turn I made. My thoughts traveled to what had happened last night with Arthur. He looked so happy—carefree. I smiled at the thought of seeing Arthur's happy face.
"What're ya blushing at, Merlin?" Elyan teased along with Gwaine, soon joining me to eat their breakfast.
I hadn't felt the heat on my cheeks until this moment. I quickly hid my face, ducking down to face the ground, hearing the two laugh beside me. "Nothing," I mumbled.
"Oh c'mon, Merlin. Is it a girl?" Gwaine pushed.
I didn't reply. My thoughts were trained to the stick I currently weld, pushing and straining it to come in contact with the ground.
"Ah!" Elyan laughed. "What's her name?"
"What are we talking about, now?" Killian questioned with a smile. He and his knights were now awake, along with the rest of Camelot's knights, who were lured in with the one-sided conversation Gwaine, Elyan, and I were sharing.
"Oh, nothing much," Gwaine teased. "Merlin's just thinking about a special someone."
"And who might that be?" Kylan asked.
Elyan smirked. "We're not sure yet."
I rolled my eyes, planting them to the ground, feeling Arthur's pupils trained on me.
"Anyway," Percival said in a change of topic. "Where are we planning to head first to search for Balinor?"
"We were thinking Ealdor," Joseph answered. "It's one of the nearest villages from here, and it's one of the rumored villages the King had traveled to."
My face fell pale, the feeling in my chest swelling, constricting my throat. Upon getting a couple stares from others, I quickly wiped my face, pretending to have coughed.
"And you're taking your bets on rumored information?" Arthur came in, crossing his arms, questioning the knights.
Killian shrugged. "What other choice do we have?"
Arthur pondered, soon agreeing to the knight's reply. "We are to embark to Ealdor!" he ordered.
After breakfast, we all got onto our horses, then venturing to the village.
Once we arrived at our destination, we all jumped off our horses, myself stumbling quite a bit from the action.
"You're so clumsy, Merlin!" Arthur bantered. A soft wack came off the upside of my head, as I gave him a playful nudge, glaring with a smile.
After the knights laughed at our interactions, they quickly got back to questioning.
"Where are we to head to first?" Kylan asked everyone.
"I say the tavern!" Gwaine proposed.
"Maybe not so early in the morning," Leon replied. "Any other suggestions?"
"My mother's house?" I suddenly answered aloud after a short moment of silence. "She's lived here her whole life. Maybe she knows about King Balinor's whereabouts." My voice stumbled across Balinor's name, the tone of my words weary.
"Alright," Killian said. "Sounds like a plan. Merlin, you and another person can go to your mother's house, as the rest of us will split up and scavenge the rest of the village."
"I'll go with Merlin," Arthur intervened before anyone else could answer.
"Of course, princess," Gwaine replied sarcastically, chuckling at his friend's behavior.
With a roll of the eyes, Arthur quickly pulled my hand, dragging me to my mother's house.
Once Arthur and I arrived, my body quickly moved in front of Arthur's, giving a confident knock to the door. After a few moments, the door slowly opened to reveal my mother.
"Mother," I greeted with a wide grin.
"Merlin!" She replied, pulling me in for a tight hug. When she departed, she moved over to Arthur, then too embracing him. "It's nice to see you boys again." She smiled, pulling away from Arthur. "What are you two doing here?"
"Hunith? Who's at the door?" a foreign voice suddenly called out from inside the building.
Before I could say anything, a figure then appeared out from behind Hunith. My breath became caught in my throat, as my eyes grew wide, my posture now stiff.
"Balinor?" I croaked.

A/N: And there y'all go! An epic cliffhanger! Hope y'all have been enjoying this book so far! If you have, please drop a vote or comment! It would help out a lot! See y'all! Bye!