my first fanfic, so reviews would be really great, so let me know how i'm doing!

Many many thanks to MagicbyMerlin for all of thier amazing help and advice in this. And for the amazing dream sequence. THANK YOU!!!!

Merlin's eyes fluttered and eventually opened, slowly becoming accustomed to the gloomy murk of the cave. As his vision cleared he discovered he was lying flat on his back and looking up at the roof of a cave, stalactites hanging down and bathed in an eerie pale blue glow that seemed to emanate from the damp rock itself.

He sat up hesitantly.

It was almost too cold to bear inside the tunnel as he looked down each passageway, his breath coming out in vivid white clouds, and he had to pull his thin jacket closer around his shoulders to savour what little warmth he had left. His ears began to go red and his lips blue with the piercing cold and he knew he had better start moving or he would freeze to death.

He climbed slowly to his feet, finding his legs to be stiff. He wondered just how long he had been lying there. The passageway to the left looked dark, as did the one to the right but the former defiantly looked less shadowy so cautiously he began to stumble down the shaft way, rubbing his arms to try and circulate his limbs and melt the blood that was almost freezing solid in his veins.

After a few minutes of drunkenly blundering along the almost pitch black tunnel he stopped dead, hearing a small languid whine echoing like a ghostly whisper around the caves. It chilled him to the bone and made a prickling shudder sweep up his spine but somehow the voice that caused it was strangely familiar.

He heard it again, a soft, torpid moan of pain. Then there was a small laugh that increased in pitch every second it rebounded off the sides of the tunnel.

"Merlin…" A voice whispered.

Suddenly the murky gloom was gone and in seconds was re-placed by an almost blinding light. It disappeared almost as soon as it had come to reveal a small cavern with two figures in the centre. Merlin blanched as he recognized one of them as Claton. Fear enveloped him at the sight of the dreaded sorcerer but his terror was severely overwhelmed by shock as he saw whom the other shadowy figure belonged to.

There was no mistaking the blonde hair and broad shoulders to belong to anyone but Arthur.

On the hard ground the prince was, lying in a pool of his own blood, a sword embedded in his heart. It looked so wrong to see such a large object protruding from the human body. The sight made Merlin almost throw up.

Arthur was whining softly to himself – the source of the groans, but as he shifted painfully on the cold floor he caught sight of Merlin and subsided into a choking splutter as he tried to call for help. The pitiful noise tugged at Merlin's heart and he thought he was about to pass out from sheer horror.

Claton spun round on his heels and his eyes burned into Merlin's own. The sorcerer began to snigger; a horrible menacing noise, and slowly he began to fade, gradually disappearing and his mirthless laughter whispering away into the gloom of the cave.

Arthur tried to pull himself over to Merlin who was standing stock still, unable to move, paralysed with the shock and fear of seeing his friend in such a way.

"Merlin…" Arthur croaked again with a broken voice, his azure coloured eyes dull with pain and rolling in their sockets, glazed over with a film of pain.

Before he realized he was doing so, Merlin stumbled over to the prince, falling over as a series of torturing thoughts thrummed inside his head, causing him to crash to the ground next to the prince, shaking with not only cold but terror, terror at the concept of his friend dying. Merlin knew he was going to die. How could anyone survive such an attack as a sword driven into his heart?

He managed to drag himself to a sitting position and knelt by Arthur's side, gripping his hand as the prince coughed with a spasm that wracked his form.

"Merlin…" Arthur whispered with difficulty, his nails digging hard into Merlin's hand.

"I'm here." Merlin replied as tears welled up in his eyes and tumbled down his pale cheeks.

"Mer…" The prince croaked but his voice disappeared as his eyes rolled over again and he ceased breathing with a small whimper.