Bound

Chapter 6

The knights all drifted off into another awkward silence after Merlin had fallen asleep. Most of them were at the same time worried and relieved in regard to Merlin. However, many of them held it in the back of their minds that this man is a sorcerer. Some had even been taught their whole lives that all sorcery is evil. Does that make Merlin evil? Why did he come to Camelot in the first place? And there's again the fact that he lied to them for four years! He had betrayed all of their trust.

Arthur was deep in this line of thought when he started to think about all the knights reactions. Arthur was obviously mad, confused, and betrayed. Leon and Elyan were of course shocked. Percival seemed to take it quite well despite his clear confusion. Gwaine seemed to look betrayed, which makes sense seeing as Merlin is his best friend. And Lancelot... well Lancelot hardly reacted at all. In fact, he looked more worried about what everyone else would think. And the way he interacted with Merlin afterwards, it wasn't cold or guarded. Actually he was exactly the same as he had always been. Arthur's eyes widened with realization as he turned to face Lancelot.

"You knew!" He whispered.

Lancelot looked up, slightly shocked by the outburst. Then he gave a small nod, affirming what the prince had figured out.

"You knew of a sorcerer in Camelot and you didn't tell me. In most circumstances that would be treason."

"A sorcerer? Sire, this is Merlin you're talking about. He is not some nameless, faceless sorcerer wreaking havoc on the kingdom. He's your friend. He has been nothing but loyal to you."

"Is that so?" Arthur scoffed.

"Of course it is! You have no idea how much he has done for you."

"If he's my friend why didn't he tell me himself? He knew why we were captured; he had time to tell us! Rather he decided that he would try to keep it to his grave."

"Arthur, you're the prince of Camelot!"

"And yet he has spent years telling me that that didn't matter. Years gaining my trust, playing the role of a servant. How can I trust a man that has lied to me?"

"You trusted me," Lancelot countered.

Arthur had no answer for that one. That was different, but he knew Lancelot wouldn't see it that way.

"Get some rest. We never know what tomorrow will hold."

***

Merlin opened his eyes and blinked a few times, getting used to his surroundings. Still in a cell, great. The knights were all mostly asleep; all except Arthur, who seemed to be staring directly at Merlin. Normally Merlin would make a joke or try and get his attention, but now it just felt off. Merlin wondered if Arthur even noticed that Merlin was awake. Merlin shifted into a sitting position which broke Arthur from whatever stupor he was in. Then, to Merlin's complete surprise, Arthur broke the silence.

"How are you feeling?"

Cold. Mistrusting. But at least he was talking.

"Better. A lot better actually."

"Good. You had a few of the men worried."

"Were you worried?"

Arthur scoffed in response. Merlin could tell this was Arthur's attempt at a joke, but  it was still cold.

"What happened yesterday?" Arthur wondered.

"She wanted to test my, umm, abilities to see how far they would go," Merlin paused deciding whether or not he should go into detail. Arthur motioned him to keep going.
"Well she started with this plant. She told me to make it grow. I tried to resist at first, but one can only really do that for so long. Eventually she got it to be a tree."

"You mean you got it to be a tree?"

"No, she did. It was her spell, she just stole my magic."

"Fine. Then what?"

"Well... there was this boulder. She had me levitate it and move it around a bit. Then she turned it to rubble... and then back into a boulder, and then back into rubble. That took a good bit out of me. Then she decided to work with healing magic. Between wanting to fight against using the knife in the first place and not being great at healing, that was it for me."

"So what, you were just tired?"

"I mean, yeah! That and blood loss."

"How does that even work?"

"You mean, her controlling my magic?"
Arthur winced at the word, but nodded in confirmation.
"Well... I guess it's like-"

He didn't get to finish. At that moment the door to the dungeon opened. A few guards came in and threw some food in the knights cell. After that they started unlocking Merlin's cell. Merlin subconsciously cowered back into the corner.

"What? He doesn't get any food?" Arthur questioned the guards.

"That's not any of your concern."

"No, but it is yours. If he dies of starvation then he's of no use to you."

"Then he eats when he's done."

The guards finished unlocking Merlin's chains from the wall. At this point he knew the drill, so he didn't fight quite as much. However, he couldn't hide the terrified look in his eyes as the guards started to take him from the cell.

"Merlin!" Arthur called, gaining his servants attention.

Arthur gave Merlin a small nod, which Merlin returned. What if signified exactly, Arthur didn't even know. It could be an order to keep his head up or a promise that everything will be okay. Merlin took it as both.