Merlin Oneshots

4. All fun and games until someone gets kidnapped.

Arthur's POV:

Merlin, the knights of the round table and I had decided to go on a hunting trip to escape the stress of running a Kingdom. We were going to head north through the Darkling woods in hopes of catching something aquatic in the Lake of Avalon as well. Merlin, however, had begged us to go elsewhere, claiming that there were better fish in the pool of Nemhain. It was odd of him to say, considering he hated hunting. He was a wimp if you asked me but I couldn't help but wonder why he'd want a longer trip if he hated it so much.

"Merlin, Nemhain is a five day trek, Avalon is only a days ride. Don't be an idiot." I had argued, What an idiot.

We headed for Avalon at first light, We were around three quarters of the way there when I realised that Merlin still hadn't spoken a single word since we left. That was odd in itself because Merlin never seemed to have a brain to mouth filter and just spewed idiotic remarks all day long. Something was wrong.

"Merlin? Are you alright? You haven't said a single word since we left." I glanced at my servant for a moment, he hadn't responded. He was still staring into space, a distant look in his eye. I motioned for the knights to stop, "Merlin!" I shouted.

"Huh? What?" He snapped out of his dreamland.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, slightly concerned.

"Oh... it's nothing. Just... thinking." He muttered.

"Don't think too hard, we wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." I smirked, using one of his old remarks but he didn't respond. Not even a snarky eye roll. It was as if he hadn't heard me. Something wasn't right here, I cast a confused glance over to the other knights and they shrugged, equally as confused.

"Maybe we should take a break." Gwaine announced, giving me a look that said 'I'll talk to him.' I nodded and dismounted my horse.
I hope Merlin's alright.

Merlin's POV:

We were heading for the Lake of Avalon. Arthur was planning on catching fish as well as animals on this hunting trip but I couldn't eat fish from that lake. Not when I knew of those who were buried in those waters.
It wasn't so much the gore that put me off, it was more out of respecting those it held.
The others didn't know of the people who I'd taken here for their burials. Alone. Or that I came here so often to mourn them that I knew every inch of the place.
It didn't feel right to go there without intent to mourn, especially if it were for a 'fun' hunting trip. It was outrageous to me.

These thoughts were battling in my mind as we made our way there, I attempted to mourn their losses on the way so I wasn't as distracted once we were at Avalon. Freya, Father and Lancelot didn't deserve to be disrespected. In life and in death. Avalon was such a beautiful place, it had mountains, fields, wild flowers and a lake. Just as Freya had wanted.

Freya was the woman I loved, she was taken from me by Arthur himself. It wasn't his fault though, she was cursed to become a Bastet. A creature of the night. Arthur had done what he believed was best for Camelot at the time, he couldn't have known. I brought her to Avalon before she bled out completely, she'd told me that I'd saved her already as I'd made her feel loved.

Lancelot was a dear friend, one of the few people who knew of my magic. He'd been raised from the dead as a pawn in Morgana's evil plan. I'd found a way to release his curse but it was too late, Lancelot was forced to kill himself. I managed to release the curse before I buried him, he awoke for a few moments and said thank you before taking his last breath.