The Tournament of Gladiators

Eleven~Death Cat

     Merlin groaned as he was thrown onto the floor in front of Thane, his injured shoulder reminding him just how human he was. Thane paced angrily, his expression dark with rage.

      "You seem tense." Merlin said, almost managing a smirk. Almost. Thane let out a roar of anger, and suddenly Merlin felt an ice cold blade on his neck. A scythe had appeared out of nowhere, and was pressed against Merlin's skin, its cold edge biting into his neck. The warlock bit his lip as the blade cut into him, drawing blood, which trickled down into his dirty, tattered neckerchief.

      "How?" Thane spat, his question causing Merlin to raise an eyebrow. "How are you so powerful? When sorcery is used in my arena, I'm able to draw it from its user, able to take it for myself."

     Merlin's eyes widened. "The dome." He breathed.

      "Yes. It is the same magic that the eye of a Phoenix has. But instead of draining life force, it drains magic." Thane let out a growl, putting more pressure onto the scythe. Merlin choked as the blade pressed deeper. "The same idea should apply for the power of a Dragonlord, yet you still remain with your power." His voices changed again, into the deep, scraping sound that could barely qualify as a voice. "So I'll ask you again: How?" Merlin gulped, one fairly obvious answer becoming clear in his mind.

     Emrys. Being Emrys probably allowed him to retain his power.

But there was no way he was telling Thane his suspicions. "I- I don't know." Merlin said, putting every ounce of effort left in him to make his statement believable. Thane hissed, staring at Merlin, searching for any sense of a lie.

"Very well." Thane said, pulling back on the scythe. Merlin practically shook with relief, the pain in his neck dulling quickly. "Perhaps..." Merlin snapped his head up, staring at Thane. "Perhaps if you use your power more. If you use actual sorcery." The malicious grin on Thane's face made Merlin's gut churn. "So that is what you will do." The black eyed man began to exit the room, motioning for the guards to take his captive back out to the arena.

"I don't think so." Merlin said with a snarl, but cried out when a guard grabbed his injured arm. Thane stopped, turning his head back towards the stubborn prisoner.

"If you don't... well, you and your friends will die."

➿➿➿➿➿

The crowd cheered as Thane settled back down on his throne, all signs of his previous outburst completely gone.

"I apologize for our previous interruptions. The Dragonlord has been contained, and will not cause any more problems for us. He will fight against the Death Cat, and, even with his magic, he will not prevail!" The spectators went wild as Thane's little speech ended.

The knights' minds were still reeling from all that had happened.

"Merlin is a Dragonlord." That was the main thought circling through the majority of their heads. Lancelot had been expecting magic, but not Dragonlord magic.

Gwaine had been suspecting something was off about Merlin for a long time, but he hadn't quite imagined something on this scale. Perhaps a few simple spells, maybe even a complicated one or two. But not a Dragonlord.

Percival, Leon, and Elyan were completely shocked. They hadn't expected anything like this. But, if they were being honest with themselves, it made sense. Merlin always seemed to survive against the odds.

And Arthur?

He was furious. And worried. But mostly furious. Worry was from the fight that was about to take place. Being a Dragonlord would not help Merlin against this "Death Cat" that had nearly killed Elyan in a previous fight. But the anger soon outweighed the worry, and all Arthur could think was how Merlin had betrayed him. In order to use his powers, Merlin would be using sorcery. Especially in the King's eyes. Worry sprang back through Arthur.

What would his father do? Right now, Arthur was angry, sure, but he didn't want Merlin dead. Yet.

Arthur's thought process was interrupted by Merlin entering the arena once more, clutching his left shoulder.

"Can't you give him a break?" Gwaine shouted at Thane, followed by the other knights. Thane ignored them, waving his hand. That signaled for the gate to open, the gate that lead to this "champion", this "Death Cat".

The crowd's roars increased to a deafening volume, chanting the name of their favorite champion.

"Death Cat! Death Cat! Death Cat!" The cheers suddenly fell silent, leaving an eerie feeling. Even the slightest whisper could be heard in the deathly quiet arena. Merlin's breathing seemed to echo in his ears as a loud growl sounded from the now completely open cage. The beast burst forward with a roar, causing the cheers to rise up again, even louder than before.

Gwaine stared at the beast, its fur black as night. Its large feline body was bigger than any man, even Thane. It spread its wings with another roar, the wing span even longer than the body. The crowd fell silent as they watched the creature begin to pace, examining Merlin curiously.

Thane had been expecting many things to happen when the beast had left the cage. He had expected the young Dragonlord to run, either away from the beast in hopes of survival, or perhaps towards it in a mad attempt of killing it. He'd expected the beast to leap forward and attack, to kill its prey in on swift blow. He'd expected, that perhaps, the Death Cat would play with the boy, prolonging his death. Even the knights had been expecting one of these reactions.

What no one had been expecting was for the Death Cat to cock its head curiously, regarding Merlin with interest. Almost as if it recognized him.

What no one had been expecting was for Merlin to utter a single word, filled with so much pain, longing, and... hope.

"Freya?"

Hahahahahaha cliffhanger!
Guys I'm like crying as this fic gets crappier and crappier as I go along. Ugh...
Sorry for the shorter chapter, I promise to get back into my habit of the chapters reaching about 2000 words. But this chapter, and the next chapter, will be slightly shorter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
-InkFanatic