Love, Faith and Family

Chapter 61

(A/N: An extra chapter as requested. Hope you enjoy. XxD)

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After Miriam's breakdown, it was revealed that a Camelot patrol that entered Cenred's land was slaughtered, every last man. Even Sir Leon.

At least until he turned up at the palace gates, alive and unscathed, telling tales of how the Druids let him drink from a cup and he felt the life return to him.

Uther had then ordered Arthur to embark on a quest by himself into Cenred's land to retrieve the cup. Naturally, that meant Arthur brought Merlin along with him. And both of them had wanted to leave as soon as possible to avoid Miriam finding out because then she'd definitely want to come with them.

But with their luck, the minute they entered Cenred's half of the forest of Ascetir they were hit in the neck with a blow dart, effectively knocking them out.

"What was that about me being a pessimist?" Merlin asked Arthur as he came to, the prince and a rather large group of men standing over him.

"Must've slipped my mind," Arthur said as he helped Merlin up.

"Let go of me, you bastards!" shouted a woman's voice from the depths of the tunnel above the circular hole they were stuck in and both Merlin and Arthur furrowed their brows.

"Was that-"

"It can't be," Merlin interrupted.

"I will kill you all!" screamed the voice again, only it was closer this time and some of the men were standing on their toes as they tried to see what was happening, catching a glimpse of bouncing raven hair as Miriam struggled against the grip of her three captors.

She thrust her head back into the nose of the man directly behind her as she neared the edge of the hole, making it gush blood as he let go of her but before she could twist herself out of their grip, the remaining two men pushed her over the edge.

She didn't even have time to scream as she fell, only to have a pair of rather large arms catch her.

With the adrenaline coursing through her veins, her first instinct was to grab their face and crash her forehead into their nose.

She placed her hands on her saviour's cheeks only for her to freeze as she finally looked at their face and her expression softened as she instead wrapped her arms around their neck.

"Gwaine!" she exclaimed happily as he chuckled before hugging her back.

"Of all the places to see you again Mira," he chuckled as he set her down and Merlin and Arthur approached them.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Arthur asked the both of them.

"No manners, you royals. Merlin, old friend, you look terrible," Gwaine greeted as he hugged Merlin.

"Likewise," Merlin laughed.

"But seriously, what are you doing here?" Miriam asked and he only shrugged.

"You know, wrong place, wrong time, wrong drink."

"Nothing's changed there then," Arthur replied with a smirk as Gwaine tapped the prince's chest with the back of his hand.

"That's just unfair," Gwaine smirked before their gazes fell on Miriam.

"And what are you doing here?" Arthur asked with a raised brow and Miriam only crossed her arms over her chest.

"Did you really think you could hide this little quest from me? I'm the one who treated Sir Leon and he told me everything, so I followed you. I'll admit, my rescue plan had some flaws, but I killed about 8 of Jarl's men before they overpowered me and threw me in here."

"That explains the blood," Merlin remarked as he gestured to the stains on her shirt, and his sister only shrugged.

"Who is this Jarl? I've never heard of him," Arthur asked.

"Lovely fella. He owns the bowels of this castle we're in. Slave trader," Gwaine answered.

"We're being sold as slaves?" Merlin asked in horror.

"Right, you filthy vermin!" snarled a voice from above them as a man wrapped in furs with yellowed teeth appeared above them at the lip of the cell they were in. "Which one of you is ready to face my champion in the arena?"

No one spoke up.

"No volunteers? Well, I shall have to choose one of you toerags myself then. Let me see. How about you?" he said as he pointed at Merlin and now it was Miriam's eyes that widened in horror, Gwaine's hand on her wrist in warning.

"Me?" Merlin asked.

"Death or glory, boy? You should be honoured," Jarl replied.

"Who is this so-called champion? Can he crush nothing but weaklings like this?" Arthur piped up and Miriam was about to lose her mind.

"You think you could offer a better contest?"

"Arthur, no," Gwaine said, still holding onto Miriam.

"I guarantee it," Arthur promised.

"Very well, but if you lose, I will feed your little friend to the crows, piece by stinking piece. And the lady can become my new toy," Jarl promised, and Merlin looked nervous, Miriam looking murderous. "Are you ready, my champion?"

"I am," came a voice from beside and they all looked at Gwaine in disbelief.

Oh, they were so screwed.

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Miriam and Merlin were both held tight by two of Jarl's men as he explained the rules and then Arthur and Gwaine began to fight.

Both of them seemed to be ridiculously competitive as they fought before they abandoned their swords and ended up tussling on the ground, the prince on top of Gwaine.

"Oh, for goodness sake! Merlin, do something before those idiots actually kill each other!" Miriam yelled at her brother who chanted something as his eyes glowed and fire burst up from the torches, igniting ropes that ran across the ceiling and bathing the room in heat and fire.

As Jarl's man began to panic, now worried for their lives rather than the fight, Miriam threw her head backwards, breaking the nose of the man who held her before she whipped out her knives from her boots, slashing one across the throat of the man whose nose was gushing blood.

But before she could turn on Merlin's captor, he'd already fled. And Merlin grabbed his sister's wrist as they made a run for it, following Arthur and Gwaine out of the castle and deep into the woods, all of them panting heavily.

"Well, that's somewhere I'll not be in a hurry to see again," Gwaine panted as they all stopped to catch their breath.

"Best stay out of trouble then," Arthur advised.

"I could say the same to you."

"You could, but I wouldn't have any idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, come on," Gwaine breathed, trying to get Arthur to open up. "You must have done something to end up in a hole like that."

"Actually, we're on a quest," Arthur admitted.

"We're looking for the Cup of Life," Merlin explained before Arthur smacked his head.

"Ow!" Arthur exclaimed as Miriam almost instantly reached out to slap his head.

"You know the rule about being nice to my brother," she scolded as Gwaine chuckled.

"What part of the word 'secret' did you not understand?!" Arthur said to Merlin, ignoring Miriam.

"It's Gwaine," Merlin reasoned, which actually was a fair reason.

"Gentlemen. Gentlemen. It seems that whatever it is that you're after, you could use a little help," Gwaine interjected as Miriam cleared her throat. "And my favourite lady," he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she couldn't help but smile as she pushed him away.

And though Arthur was still slightly jealous of the two, he knew he needed the help, so he nodded and through the woods they trekked.