Hello, here is a new fiction. I got bored again :S This will be longer than my last, maybe 10ish chapters. There will be some gore and violence, but a lot of comfort. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1

The young boy stumbled forward over a tree root and let out a small cry of agony, the movement had jolted the wounds on his chest and thigh and he barely managed to stay upright. Every inch of his body ached, every muscle was screaming at him to give in and to drop to the floor. But he couldn't. He was so close now, the entrance to Camelot was in sight, the entrance to a safe haven where everything would be ok and his troubles would be ok. They would be able to help him and his mum and they would be safe. The stone walls which were growing slowly closer would offer them both protection from the horrors of the outside world and Merlin knew that if he gave up and collapsed now he would never get up again. He took a few more laboured steps forward, whimpering in agony as he felt fresh blood trickling from his thigh; he must have reopened the cut, again. He tightened his grip around his mother's limp body in sheer determination, his arms were wrapped under his mothers and his hands clasped over her chest. He forced himself to drag her forward and bit down hard on his lip in concentration. Just a little bit further.

Merlin's injured leg gave way, sending him crashing to the floor with his mother on top of him, still unmoving. Merlin tried to move but his mother's weight was restricting his breathing and his head was beginning to spin more ferociously than before. "Mummy-Mummy-please? You - need - to – get - up. I – can't – breath. You – are – hurting – me!" Every word was punctuated with a hitching breath as Merlin began to plead with his mother. Why wouldn't she just wake up and get up? He struggled to move and eventually managed to roll her off, black spots appearing in front of him as his vision blurred. Merlin felt a wave of nausea rush over him and he began to gag and retch, although nothing but some bile and blood came up. Once again Merlin whimpered, tears streaming down his face as exhaustion crashed over him with renewed vigour. He knew that he had to get up and move but everything hurt so much. His chest was on fire and every breath rattled his entire frame. He was so tired and the ground was soft beneath him. 'No, I wont sleep. Just a bit further. Get up Merlin!' There was a frail voice in his head urging him to move, but the boy was so weak. Merlin hadn't eaten in four days, giving all the food to his mother and they hadn't past a source of water in at least 7 hours. His throat was burning and there was blood running down his cheek from a deep gash in his forehead. The boy was certain that the wound was infected, it felt hot and was throbbing relentlessly but he hadn't plucked up the courage to examine it after his first attempt.

Four days ago when the village had been attacked he had found a safe place to stop so that he could check on his mother's wound as well as his own. He had dealt with her first and then raised a tentative hand to his injured head to check how bad the damage was. The wound was very bad, Merlin nearly blacked out from the pain, toppling over in a heap and screaming in agony when he felt his finger enter the deep wound as he probed it. He had writhed on the ground with no one to comfort him, his mother had been unconscious and they were all alone in the woodland, the only survivors from Ealdor. He just wanted his mum to wake up and pull him into her chest. He wanted her to sing his favourite lullaby from when he was smaller and he wished above all else that she would tell him that everything was all right. But she didn't, she just lay there, still as a stone. Merlin eventually sat up, wrapped his neckerchief around his head in a feeble attempt to staunch the flow of blood. His head and vision were spinning as he crawled over to his mother's limp figure, burying his face in the crook of her neck and breathing in her scent, being careful not to knock her side.

Merlin had tried his best to look after his mother after she had been stabbed by one of the knights and he had made a bandage out of his spare pair of trousers but she had lost a lot of blood, as well as the battle for consciousness. That was the moment when Merlin had been closest to giving up, his hand was covered in blood from his head and his thigh hurt badly and numerous wounds in his chest had begun to ooze puss and blood again. But he had forced himself to move, just as he would now. He had bandaged up his leg with the last part of his trousers which he had ripped up for his mother. There was nothing to wrap around his chest so he simply had forced himself to move through the pain. After gathering his thoughts together Merlin leant against a nearby tree and pulled himself up, momentarily leaning against its trunk for support thinking about what had happened. He didn't really understand what had gone on back at Ealdor, there had been a lot of screaming, children crying and men yelling for the women to hide and take cover. Mother's had been rushing around trying to find their children and father's were kissing their family goodbye, certain that this would be the last time they would be together. And it was.

All of the families had been killed, one by one the men dropped, their makeshift weapons dropping to the ground along with their broken bodies. They had put up a good fight, but there were too many knights and they had not stood a chance, not really. The knights had begun to chase the women and children and Merlin was dragged away by his frantic mother. All he could really remember was flashes of green trees, black capes and red. Red blood, red eyes, red flames. Everything was noise and fear, crashing over him like a wave and scooping him up in a whirlpool of pain and frenzied thoughts. Merlin and his mother had carried on running when everything got ten times worse. His memory had gone fuzzy at this point, all he knew was that he had found himself on the ground with a deep wound in his head and he wasn't sure how it had got there. A man in chainmail and a black cape was standing over him with a sword and Merlin and screwed his eyes tightly shut in fear until he heard footsteps moving away from him.

One of the knights had clearly caught up and when Merlin opened his eyes again, blinking away the tears of pain he was met with a sight that would haunt him for years. The knight had moved over to his mother, who was desperately screaming something. Merlin couldn't be sure but he thought she was saying his name and something about running. But he couldn't run. He couldn't move. He was frozen and just watched in horror when he saw the knight raise his sword and plunge I into his mother's side. It seemed to happen in slow motion, his mother had crumpled to the ground with a shriek of pain and suddenly Merlin's senses awoke. He could smell blood and smoke and could taste something metallic in his blood. He couched and spat a red substance on the ground, not allowing himself to consider what it was. Next thing Merlin knew he was running towards the knight, plunging into him and kicking and screaming for all he was worth. Of course the knight was far more powerful than Merlin and simply lifted the boy up and pressed him against a tree, bringing down a dagger, delighting in the boy's screams and cries of agony as the blade ripped his chest and thigh apart. That was when the strangest thing happened, Merlin had felt a tingling sensation rise within his body and all of a sudden his eyes stung and the man wasn't hurting him anymore. The knight had been knocked back by some invisible force and Merlin didn't know what to do, so he had picked up his mother and half carried her deeper into the forest.

Merlin's mind snapped back to the present and with one last push of effort, which cost him the rest of his strength, he managed to pick up his mother again and drag her to the forest edge, through the gate and into the courtyard of Camelot's castle.

So that is it for today, I have written up to the 5th chapter so will post tomorrow (Thursday) then I am away for my Duke of Edinburgh award, but will post chapter 3 on Sunday and from then on I will try to upload every day. Please review/follow/favourite (preferably no flames.) This will motivate me and ensure that I continue (Yes, once again I am bribing) See you tomorrow and thanks for reading x