More Than A Servant

Chapter 6

Arthur sits in the council room, attempting to focus on reading various reports from patrols. It seems that he couldn't focus on anything since he got he got back to Camelot yesterday. He still cannot believe that Merlin's gone- not gone, lost. He's lost in the woods somewhere, but he's not gone.

"Sire," Leon barges in, breaking Arthur from his thoughts.

"Yes Leon? Did you find anything?"

"I'm sorry sire, but we did not find Merlin."

Arthur bows his head defeatedly.

"But, we may have found a clue as to who the bandits were."

Arthur looks up in interest.
"Well?"

"Many of the men had strange markings on them. I couldn't recognize the language but I tried to sketch out the symbols the best I could. This could possibly lead us to the bandits, and Merlin."

"Get those markings to Gaius and Geoffrey straight away. I want these bandits found."

"Yes, sire."

"In the meantime send out another search party. Scour the entire forest."

Yes, sire." Leon turns and leaves the room.

As the door closes, Arthur sighs putting his head in his hands. Arthur has to find him. Merlin is out there somewhere. Arthur is just praying that wherever Merlin is he's okay.

***

"How did you get that burn?" Morgana asks, for like the tenth time.

Once again, Merlin does nothing but stare at her. He is completely exhausted. With the still fresh wound in his shoulder, even standing there listening to Morgana felt like torture.

"Alrighty then, how did you escape the serkets?"

"What are you talking about?"

Morgana circles him,
"You know, the serkets. They basically look like giant scorpions. If I remember correctly Morgouse had you chained in a forest infested with them. Their sting causes a slow and painful death. Most people are eaten by them before they actually die."

"I guess someone rescued me before I had the pleasure of meeting them," Merlin replies snarkily.

In response, Morgana presses into the center of the sting wound, hard. Merlin yelps slightly as he feels pain spread throughout his back. Morgana comes back around to face him.

"Wanna try that again?" She smirks.

"Not really."

"So here's the thing. One cannot survive the sting of a serket without being healed by magic. In a central area, like your back, survival would be nearly impossible. In fact, there's only one person I can think of that could heal a wound like that."

"And who would that be, Morgana?" he asks tiredly.

"Emrys. Ever heard of him?"

Once again Merlin does nothing but stare at the ground, his face expressionless. So that's what she's getting at. He starts to worry that Morgana suspects that it's him. She can't know. She has never even suspected him of his magic.

"Merlin..." Morgana breaks him from his thoughts, "I believe I asked you a question. Care you to explain how you're still alive?"

Merlin stays silent. Morgana gets fed up with his lack of response. She yanks his head up by his and hair, and forces him to face her. Merlin winces in pain, but doesn't make a sound. Exhaustion coupled with the pain in his chest was starting to overtake him.

"Who healed you?"

"I have no idea."

Morgana roughly releases Merlin. He knows something, she knows he does. Somehow she will manage to get it out of him. As she looks back at him, she realizes how close he is to passing out. Any information from him will not be coming tonight.

"Fine," she sighs, "enjoy your rest. We'll continue in the morning."

A/N

Thank you so much for reading this far! Please vote or comment if you are enjoying the story. Hope that you all have a wonderful day!