How To Train Your Dragonlord

The Journey Back

Merlin spent the rest of the day telling Will about the Witch Hunter, and telling Will about the friends he made in Camelot.
Will seemed to become more accepting of Merlin's new life in Camelot the more he heard about Merlin's friends. Will decided that he liked Gwen as she had become as much as he had grown to like Gwen before.
Will also started to accept how well Arthur and Merlin worked together, when he heard about the poisoned chalice, which had occurred only a short while after Merlin had started to work in the castle. As he had previously promised in order to hear about the Witch Hunter, Will swore to Merlin that he wouldn't tell Hunith a word of what Merlin had told him.
Hearing that story from Merlin meant that Will knew about who had cast the ball of light, as well as the double-betrayal of Nimueh. Telling Will about the ball of light reminded Merlin that he and Arthur still needed to talk about exactly how many times Merlin had saved Arthur's royal butt.
Eventually, after talking and laughing and catching up, Merlin and Will returned to Hunith's home. She had made a small and simple dinner for the three of them. Merlin thought it delicious despite the lesser amount of ingredients that Hunith had to work with, than she would've had access to in Camelot. Merlin insisted on helping his mother clean the dishes and tidy them away after dinner, as there was little else for him to do.
Will returned to his own home to prepare for the night. Merlin insisted on his mother having the bed, as he always had, and prepared to sleep on the floor. The night was a quiet and uneventful one - much the same as the day had been. Neither Merlin nor his mother spoke before they went to bed, as Merlin would be starting to return to Camelot the next day.

The Next Day
Merlin P.O.V:
I set off for Camelot at first light the next day, after my mother had fed me breakfast, and given me enough food to last on for the next two days. I felt just as distressed leaving my mother as I had leaving Arthur, but I was comforted by the knowledge that Will had been helping her on a daily basis since I had last left Ealdor.
It was a very warm, very bright day when I first set off, and I ended up stopping by a stream, to refill my water-skin. They came from nowhere, and I didn't have a sword - even if I did, I would have been unable to use it properly - to defend myself with. I was still yet to reach the borders of Camelot's territory, so I was unable to use my magic to defend myself.
I held them off for a while, launching well-planned and well-timed punches and kicks at my attackers. I soon recognised them as a group of bandits. This was worrying, as they had already allowed my horse to bolt in the direction of Camelot. They must have been paid to take me - and possibly sell me - and had somehow secured information about my route.
As I fought off one of the bandits, I backed myself up against what I had initially thought was a tree. It turned out that I'd backed up into the arms of another bandit, who was ready and waiting to grab me. The bandit took a firm hold of me, but I continued to try to kick and punch my other assailants, while attempting to wriggle free of his grasp. I continued to out up as strong a fight as I could, though it soon became clear to me that I couldn't win. The bandit holding me tightened his grasp enough to surprise me, and suddenly enough to momentarily draw my attention away from the other bandits. In that time, I was hit over the head with something hard and heavy. It seemed to be enough to knock me out, but not before I had struggled to continue fighting as I was lifted over one shoulder of the bandit holding me. I continued to flail, though my movements quickly became sluggish, and I soon lost consciousness.

Merlin's horse had been rather badly scared by the bandits and the suddenness of their attack. This fright had compelled the horse to gallop at its maximum speed, all the way back to Camelot. Such was the speed of the horse, that it arrived at Camelot's gates a couple of hours after dawn on what would have been Merlin's second day of travel, immediately alerting the guards, then the stable boy, then the King that something had gone awry during Merlin's return journey. The horse continued to shy away from human contact for the following three hours, indicating to Arthur that a human-related problem had occurred.
Arthur, worried for his heir, sent a message to Camelot Knights across Camelot's border with their neighbouring kingdom, asking for news on the heir's whereabouts. The reply Arthur had from each and every Knight was that they had not seen Prince Merlin, and would watch for him, and listen for any news.
This told Arthur nothing about Merlin's whereabouts, or what had happened, but it did tell him that he hadn't returned to Camelot territory, meaning that he would have been unable to use his magic to defend himself.
Arthur postponed one Council Meeting by an hour, and changed what he would discuss during this meeting, then remained in his Chambers for the duration of the hour, enraged that he had allowed Merlin to go alone, and worried that he may never see the witty, clumsy young Warlock that he had made the heir of Camelot.
Sir Leon, who had known the King since he was quite young, stationed himself silently outside of Arthur's Chambers. He heard as Arthur violently rearranged his furniture and cursed himself for allowing this to happen. After an hour, Sir Leon heard the King compose himself and watched his King exit his Chambers. The two men silently acknowledged each other, wordlessly agreeing never to mention what had just occurred. Sir Leon then mutely escorted the King to the Council Meeting.
The only topic discussed during the meeting was how to rescue the Crown Prince of Camelot without starting a war. There were many ideas on how to do this but, as the meeting progressed throughout the rest of the day, Arthur started to work out who may have been behind the disappearance of the Crown Prince.