The Hunt

Author's note

It's taken a long time to get around to starting the process of turning this existing script into prose. It does mean that the story in its entirety is already written. However, it may take a while to complete, as I'm in the process of writing a book! Also, for those who have read my other stories, I will warn you of something that I only realised at the end of writing the script: there ARE some plot similarities between this and one or two other stories I've written and posted on the site. But I guess that is partly because the BBC series never had what I considered to be an obvious plot-line in the whole of the five series….. (so I've used it in a couple of different ways!) Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1

The sharp snap of the twig breaking sounded unnaturally loud in the silence of the woods. The king stopped in his tracks and turned to face his servant, a look of utter exasperation on his face as he hissed, "Could you be any more noisy?"

Merlin, with a brace of dead rabbits slung across his shoulder, decided on the spot that it would be futile even to attempt to point out to Arthur that he could hardly be blamed for stepping on a twig, given the number of trees that were surrounding them. So instead, with a certain amount of belligerence in his voice, he whispered back, "I could stop breathing if that would help?"

Arthur turned his face to the front again, and continued creeping stealthily through the undergrowth, his crossbow at the ready: "At least it would put an end to your constant stream of inane comments," and without waiting for a response, he went on, "I honestly don't know why I keep bringing you along when I'm hunting…"

Merlin jerked his shoulder to free his jacket from the thorns on which it had just become snagged: "To carry your dead animals?"

"Well, yes, but apart from that…" Arthur paused, still crouched down, to look around as they emerged from between two bushes, and without looking at Merlin he continued: "You spend all your time tutting and sighing."

Merlin scanned the brambles on the other side of what was a small clearing, and whispered "It's just that I don't see why you have to go around shooting poor defenceless little creatures."

Arthur moved his crossbow around as he searched for any signs of life: "Because they taste rather good….. and because it's fun."

"Not if you're the poor defenceless little creature. I mean, imagine how you would feel if you were a rabbit and some mean, heavily armed-"

"Merlin!" interrupted Arthur, with exasperation in his whisper, "it may have escaped your notice but I'm not a rabbit!"

The two men both raised themselves from their crouched positions, but still moved forward as stealthily and as quietly as they could.

"It just doesn't seem a terribly 'noble' thing to be doing," whispered Merlin back.

"Well, you'd better get it into that thick little skull of yours that I'm not about to give up hunting just because you have a stupid and misplaced sentimentality about rabbits!"

"It's not just rabbits, it's-"

"Merlin! If you don't stop prattling on, you're going to find yourself as my next target! You're just time-wasting and trying to postpone the inevitable….."

Arthur suddenly fell silent and completely still, and raised the crossbow so that its sights were level with his eyes. Across the clearing they had both spotted a rabbit, which had emerged from the undergrowth and had starting nibbling a small patch of grass by the edge of the brambles, blissfully ignorant of the men who were standing several yards away.

As Arthur stopped by a bush and took aim, Merlin leant in towards the king and whispered in his ear in a barely audible voice: "Guinevere…."

In an equally quiet voice, Arthur whispered back, "Shut up Merlin, I know what you're trying to do. But if you think you're going to distract this hunter from his kill then you're sadly mistaken, because this particular rabbit has my name on it…"

Merlin rolled his eyes: "Arthur the Rabbit."

Just as Arthur was beginning to squeeze the trigger on the crossbow, the rabbit suddenly bolted into the undergrowth. Arthur lowered the weapon, and the two men straightened up and looked in the direction in which it had disappeared.

"Something must have frightened it…."

"What, something other than your crossbow pointing straight at it?" replied Merlin.

They both scanned the woods around them, Arthur looking to the right and Merlin to the left

"Maybe a fox…"

The words were barely out of Arthur's mouth, when the air was filled almost simultaneously with three sounds: the zing of an arrow, the dull thud of it finding its target and a sudden pain-filled groan from Arthur.

Merlin spun round just in time to see Arthur falling to the ground. Magic suddenly coursed through him, slowing time and the two crossbow bolts that were heading directly towards his chest, enabling him to move his body out of their path, and he heard the sound of them both slamming into nearby trees.

Merlin suddenly felt the edge of his jacket being tugged, "Get down!" Arthur was breathing heavily, and the two words were groaned rather than spoken. A quick glance was enough for Merlin to see the crossbow bolt embedded in Arthur's right shoulder. His attention, however, immediately snapped back to the clearing, into which a group of men were emerging – from different directions – with swords and crossbows.

A tall, surly man shouted out, "Kill the servant. I want the king alive!"

Before Merlin could realise what was happening, Arthur was rising unsteadily to his feet, his crossbow pointing directly at the man who had spoken and who was clearly the leader of the group. "Wait!" The group, seeing Arthur's crossbow, immediately stopped dead in their tracks. Merlin, whose hand was already poised, ready to repel the men with magic, also froze and turned his head towards Arthur. He could see what he hoped the others couldn't – that Arthur with trembling with the effort of raising his right hand to the crossbow trigger and there was already a sheen of sweat on his forehead. Arthur glanced around the men who were facing them. "I can still bring one or more of you down – which one of you wants to die? Let my servant go, and I give you my word I'll come quietly."

"Arthur – NO!" But Merlin's words were in vain.

The leader nodded, and in the split-second after he had made the decision to use magic to defend them both, Merlin was struck from behind and fell unconscious to the ground. So he didn't see Arthur letting the crossbow slip out of his hands, or him collapsing onto his knees as he waited for the inevitable. Another nod from the leader summoned two men, one of whom unceremoniously and without pity yanked the bolt from Arthur's shoulder, whilst the other silenced his cries of agony with a cloth across his nose and mouth which almost immediately resulted in the king slumping to the ground. The leader called across to the second man, "Do the same to the servant – we don't want him coming around too soon." And as Arthur's hands and feet were bound, he added, "Let's get going. We've got a long way to go."

Author's note

So, that's the first chapter. Don't know when I'll post next, but I'll get there eventually!