His Majesty and His Knights

10 Years Ago

 "Merin! Wake up!"

"C'mon mate, we gotta go!"

Seven year old Prince Merlin Ambrosius woke up to his two thirteen year old friends, Squire Lancelot du Lac and Squire Gwaine Gualguanus, standing above him. "What's going on?" He asked as Gwaine pulled him out of bed and Lancelot ran to get his cloak and boots.

"The castle's being invaded!" Gwaine said.

"Then I should go help!" Merlin exclaimed, moving towards his dagger.

"No!" Lancelot intervened, throwing the cloak over Merlin's shoulders and handing him the boots. "Put these on." Merlin did so. "We are under direct orders from the king to get you out of here."

"Where are we going?" Merlin asked.

"Ealdor, where your aunt is."

"Who else is coming?"

"Just us, mate," Gwaine said. "They need all the knights to fight and as the only squires, Lance and I are to protect you. They'll come for us when it's safe."

"But what about Mother!" Merlin said. 

"We don't know, Merlin. Our focus is you."

Merlin nodded and the trio snuck out of the castle and ran off into the forest, not knowing that they wouldn't return for a long time.

-

It took a couple of weeks, but eventually they Merlin's Aunt Hunith. She promised that she would look after her nephew and offered for the two squires to stay with them. They politely declined, saying that they needed to get back to their kingdom and help with the fight, but they would come back soon to retrieve Merlin. Hunith insisted that they at least stay one night and eat a full meal. They left at dawn the next day.

Merlin didn't see them for many years after that.

-

Lancelot and Gwaine were halfway home when bandits attacked. The squires held their own for a while, but were soon outnumbered. Lance was badly injured and unconscious. The bandits believed he would soon die. Gwaine, however, was kidnapped, believing his friend to be dead.

Lancelot was found by a group of druids in the area and taken to be healed. They nursed him to health. As he was healing, they got word that their kingdom had been taken over. He was devastated. As soon as he was able, Lancelot left the druids and spent the next few years looking for Gwaine and training, trusting that Merlin was safe under his aunt's care.

On the other hand, Gwaine spent the next couple years in captivity. He spent the days doing the bidding of the bandits, being bait or doing chores, and the nights training with his sword that he stole back and kept hidden. He escaped when he was sixteen.

Somehow, over the next  years, Lancelot and Gwaine managed to miss each other everywhere they went. After questioning some random people,Gwaine learned of the fall of his kingdom.

Now, Gwaine spent his days training and his nights drunk. He traveled from tavern to tavern feeling miserable. First he lost his best friend, and then his whole kingdom. This lasted for six years.

Little did both squires know that the people of their kingdom were still alive, as were the knights that they trained under and the past king. They would be reunited soon.