Secrets of the past - Prince Merlin fanfic

Chapter Thirteen

"Merlin!" Said a servant with enthusiasm in his voice, after he had stopped in front of the bars. His familiar long brown hair was on a bun. And he looked, even more, skinnier in his shabby clothes than before, like he hadn't gotten any food for months.

"Milo?" Merlin asked in disbelief while staring in his manservant's eyes. He was certain it was him because he was the only person Merlin knew with different colored eyes. The left one was brown and the other one green. In any other kingdom, he would have been killed for being a sorcerer because of his eyes but fortunately magic was legal in Airasan.

But why was he in Airasan? The warlock hadn't seen him in the hideout but he still didn't expect him to be in his brother's overwhelmed kingdom. "What are you doing here?"

A wide grin spread on Milo's face. "Rescuing you, of course, my lord."

Merlin winced for the title. He still wasn't familiar with titles after not hearing them for years. "You still don't need to use that." Everyone knew he didn't like to be called sire or anything. Still, they continued to do it.

Milo kept smiling knowingly while beginning to open the cell door with keys clearly stolen. Merlin's manservant also had a little bit of magic that he had learned from Merlin. So now it must have been easy for him to distract the guards.

The raven-haired prince glanced at Tom and the women in the other cell. They had seemingly been listening to every word spoken because after Merlin looked at them, they bowed deeply on the ground.

"It's an honor to meet you, my lord," Tom said with awe, still not rising from his position.

"It's all good, you can rise," the prince assured. At the same time, his manservant managed to unlock the cell door which gave Milo the opportunity to take Merlin into a big hug. "So good to see you," he breathed.

After Milo let go, Merlin turned to the other cell. "You'll be set free when I rule this kingdom," the prince said looking at Tom and the two women. Wide smiles spread on their faces and hope filled their eyes. Their expressions made Merlin smile too. Almost immediately after he finished his statement, the warning bells rang.

Milo's eyes widened and he grabbed Merlin's arm, trying to pull him to move. "Merlin, we need to get you out of here," said panicky Milo.

There were no guards yet in the aisle so they started running. Merlin's hands were still attached together which made running a more little difficult.

The corridor forked and they heard clear yelling from the left path. Someone was shouting instructions for the guards. Unfortunately, it was the direction from where Merlin and Andrew had come earlier so that exit was not a potential getaway now. "This way," Milo leads them in the opposite direction.

"Can you hide us with magic," Merlin asked while breathing heavily. Apparently, Milo hadn't noticed his special shackles because he looked at him baffled. "These are blocking my magic," he explained showing his chained hands.

"I don't know how," Milo admitted now little worried in his tone. Hopefully, he hadn't put much trust in Merlin's magic in this escape plan because he was useless right now. Without magic or sword or free hands, he couldn't do anything. Milo's magic wasn't so powerful that he could take down more than two men at the same time. So if they were going to be surrounded by a lot of guards, they could just surrender right away.

They ran past more similar cells, filled with people, even children. But they didn't have time to help them. The best way would be through overwhelming the kingdom so everyone could have a fair trial. Most of them would arguably have the right to get out because knowing Merlin's brother, some of these people hadn't done anything wrong.

Milo stopped out of the blue. They had come to the end of the aisle where stairs started to upwards. Merlin knew these stairs would lead to a door next to the servants' area where they washed their masters' clothes. But surely there would be a guard on this door.

"I go first and let's hope there's only one guard so I can take him down," Milo said slowly moving up the stairs. Merlin didn't even want to think about what would happen if there weren't just one guard.

"I'm also coming," he said more to himself. Surely, he could at least distract them to help.

When they stepped the last step and turned around the corner, they saw two guards that were already prepared for a fight. They had swords and they were clearly instructed to be alert because the moment they saw Merlin and Milo, they pointed swords towards them. "Don't move!" The other one yelled.

Milo didn't waste time before using magic. His eyes flashed with gold and the one who yelled flew backward and hit the wall. The other guard looked at him with fear in his eyes before also flying like his companion.

Milo led them through the door to the other aisle. On their left was the door to the servants' area and at the same time they heard people running in the distance and someone yelling orders, Milo quickly pulled Merlin with him through the door. When they stepped into the room, they came face to face with dozen of servants, who were staring at them.