Secrets of the past - Prince Merlin fanfic

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Merlin!" Arthur said anxiously. He ran to Merlin's side but didn't know what to do. His friend looked beyond hurt. The bruises on his face from previous torture, the way he clenched his teeth to not to cry in pain and the eyes shut tight in a silent prayer. Arthur wanted to take all of it away. He wanted to erase the pain and the struggles from these past days. But he couldn't.

Abruptly, Merlin pushed past the pain with gritted teeth and sat up. His eyes, now glimmering in gold, were focused on Morgana and in a second the witch was also flying backward.

Arthur realised Merlin had taken the opportunity to attack them when it wasn't expected. Just like Morgana had done.

After helping Merlin to stand, Arthur took a step towards Keane. Both of them had a sword in hand but Keane didn't look too comfortable with it. His grip was loose and hesitant unlike Arthur's.

But the king of Camelot didn't have any sympathy for Keane because of his actions. He had overwhelmed Airasan and caused misery to its citizens and atop of it all, he had tortured Merlin. And that was unforgivable.

While advancing towards Keane he saw how Merlin started his fight with Morgana. The witch needed to use all her power to stop Merlin's attacks and she was clearly struggling.

Merlin raised his hands and said something Arthur couldn't understand but he saw the magic. A massive rock rose to the air. Merlin's hands pointed towards Morgana and the rock stormed at her. It seemed effortless to the black-haired warlock.

With strained eyes, the witch stopped the rock from crushing her. Now her glare had turned into a worried look.

Arthur shifted his focus on his battle. He ran towards Keane and swung a sword at his head. Before it made contact, Keane dodged it by pending down. In the same motion, Keane thrust his own sword but Arthur easily blocked it.

The clanging of swords filled the air when they began their battle. The other would swing the sword and the other would block it. Although, they didn't need to fight long before it was clear that the king of Camelot was going to win. He, unlike Keane, used his sword with a trained and confident matter. He had been practicing his whole life and he'd d been in battles before. The experience had shaped his skills to be near perfection.

Keane on the other hand showed more hesitant and poor skills in the fight. His life wasn't filled with practice or combat. Instead, he had spent his time drinking in bars and if it had never come to the point of the battle, he had ordered his men to fight for him. Standing on the sidelines, only giving commands. This was the moment when he would realise his own mistake. If only he had dared to train and hone his skills, he would have had a chance in this fight.

Keane focused his attention briefly on Morgana, hoping for rescue from her. Like in every battle, he expected others to fight instead of him.

But the second when Keane had glanced at Morgana, Arthur had taken advantage of it. He thrust his sword and slashed at Keane's side.

An ear-piercing scream filled the air when Keane sank to his knees. His clothes began to color in dark red even though Keane held his hands at his side, trying to prevent the blood flow. But the cut was too deep.

Merlin and Morgana had turned their heads to see what was happening. Merlin looked at them with terror before he realised that it had been Keane who had screamed and not Arthur.

Although, Arthur doubted that Keane and Morgana had formed any real connection, now Morgana seemed to be even angrier. The witch switched her attention on Arthur, muttered some strange language with flashing eyes. The next thing Arthur was aware, was that he was flying backward. He landed on his back and hit his head painfully on the ground.

Dark spots started to creep around his vision. He heard Merlin shouting but the voice sounded muffled and distant.

The last thing he noted was the cold ground under him before everything went black.