Another Merlin fic. I don't own it, BBC does though. This came to me after much reading of Merlin fanfiction. (I've become obsessed with Merlin fanfiction.) It will be slightly dark, not sure how dark, but there will be some violence and of course lots of smut, though that's later in the story. [sigh] I just love this pairing. Again I don't own these Merlin characters and be warned that this is a YAOI story, so don't read if you don't like that style.

Until Next Time

~Reiya

Chapter 1.

He placed a hand on the side of his mounts neck, trying to calm the fidgeting creature. He didn't know what exactly was making his horse uneasy, but it wasn't the only thing that knew. The forest all around him was quiet. The silence was deafening, as if all the living things in the forest were holding their breath as they waited for something unforeseen and inevitable to happen.

This deathly silence scared him more than he wanted to admit. It made him feel as if some great change was about to take place in his life and the lives of those around him. And although he knew change was good, he wanted to be the one who initiated it. Not some uncontrolled force that took no sides and was unfeeling to any it hurt or rewarded.

He was about to signal for his men to move forward when the silence was at last shattered. It was as if one moment there was no such thing as sound and the next, a plug had been pulled out of his ears.

The sound was even worse than the silence. It was the death scream of some large creature. It went on and on and as he listened it seemed to take on a humanistic quality as if it was now a man screaming instead of the beast. He shivered as the sound waves washed over him, bathing him in the agony of the creature.

Finally after what had seemed to be hours, though it was surely only a few minutes, it ceased. As if the scream was suddenly cut off by some great force. And although it had seemed unnatural, the forest seemed unconcerned by it as the creatures seemed to wake from their waiting sleep.

Shaking himself, he signaled for them to continue forward. They had been out here for a reason, and they might as well finish it.

His fingers cramped as they tore into the loose, damp soil and wet decaying leaves that covered the forest floor. But he refused to unclench his jaw for the scream that clawed at his throat. It wouldn't help anyways.

Instead, he focused, or tried to anyways, on getting his erratic breathing under control as he fought off waves of pain. He needed to move. The scent of blood was now in the air and although the rain that was now pouring down on him would dampen the smell, it would not help his condition.

Looking through blurred and pain hazed eyes, he saw that he had fallen next to a tree. Bracing himself for the surge of pain he knew was coming, he pushed himself up off the ground until he was on his hands and knees.

He could just reach one of the low lying branches of the tree and with much effort and growls at the pain the seared along his already raw nerves, he finally pulled himself into a standing position as he kept all weight off of his now useless leg.

His vision swam for a moment and he had to take deep breaths before he could finally get the spinning to stop. That wasn't good. He'd lost too much blood already and if the bleeding didn't stop he'd be dead shortly.

Ignoring that last thought, he looked around for a way to get out of the rain. He was soaked, shivering as the rain stole much needed body warmth in its path down his pale body. His shredded trousers felt heavy in their waterlogged state and would have fallen if not for the thin piece of rope tied tightly around the cloth and his thin waist.

He thought he spied something a short distance away. It looked like a hollow at the base of a tree, or per say underneath it. A sudden gust of cold wind on his shivering frame made his decision in an instant. Gritting hit teeth, he took a small hope and nearly fell over as the jarring jump caused his leg to move.

Keeping his jaw locked, he continued on, stopping every few paces to catch his breath. He had to catch himself on the tree with the hollow when his foot landed on an exposed root that nearly sent him falling face first onto the ground. His head ached by now from the constant pain.

Deciding it was now or never, he let himself fall, controlling how he landed by holding onto the tree. Even with preparation, his leg still screamed in agony as it was jarred again in greater force. He nearly passed out, his vision going red around the edges, but he hung on stubbornly, biting his lower lip until it bled.

As it finally passed, he scooted for the hollow and examined it. Although it was deep, it didn't go very far back. It would barely cover his thin frame, but all that he cared about was getting under some shelter.

Twisting around until his right leg, the bad one was facing away from the tree, he lowered himself into the hole. Sliding until his back met solid dirt. Keeping his injured leg on top of his good leg for support, he pulled his legs inside until only the very his tips of his toes were left exposed to the rain.

He shivered and although he knew he should see to his leg right away, it was too much work of his aching and battered body to handle at the moment. It would have to wait until morning. Curling in on himself even more, letting an exhausted sleep steal over him, leaving him dreamless and unmoving.

He knew the moment he woke up, that something was wrong. Listening, he knew the rain had stopped and that he should get out to move further away from the thing that had injured him, but when he tried to move, his body refused.

The most movement he could get was a slight finger twitch. He realized that he had stopped shivering, even though he knew he was still cold, though his leg felt like it was on fire. He couldn't feel any pain, but the heat it was giving off seemed to make him even more worried. It was like his body was one big contradiction: cold yet hot, stiff, but relaxed.

His head felt like it was incased in cotton and it felt like it was floating a few inches off the ground even though he could feel the grainy texture of the soil pressing into his cheek. He knew what was wrong. Knew the moment he had awoken. His leg was not the only problem now. Now he had to deal with sickness that had gotten to him because of the cold. He could hear the way his lungs seemed to rattle ever so slightly with each gasping breath. And with the infection he knew had started in his leg, he knew it was too much for his body to handle.

He was going to die. From one of them for sure, or an animal sniffing out the blood that still caked his leg and foot. And as he let the thought drift through his mind, he seemed to relax. He knew it was bound to happen and nothing he tried would stop it. It was just easier to accept it. Now the only thing left was when and it was the wait that would surely kill him. First though, he had to get his groggy mind to figure out what that drumming sound was.

They neared the trap they had placed a few days ago. Even with the soaking rain earlier, they had made good time and it was only about half way between noon and dusk. They would check it, if it had caught anything, skin it and be back in the castle before night had fallen. A good plan if he did say so himself.

He froze, pulling his horse up as he saw the now sprung trap lying in the middle of the trail. Looking closely, they could see blood coating the teeth of the metal jaws. It had caught something, but why was it empty?

"M'Lord?" One of the knights behind him asked. They wanted to know what he planned to do. He wasn't sure. They'd placed it on an animal track that he knew was frequented by both predators and prey, so he was sure they had caught something, but the trap was empty.

Getting down off of his horse, he walked forward and stared down at the metal contraption. There weren't any tracks thanks to the rain, but a closer look revealed a small trail of blood that had not been washed away. Looking back he motioned for them to dismount and follow, leading the horses.

What ever had been in the trap couldn't have gotten far, but he was still weary of other things that might have been attracted by the smell of blood he was sure still lingered. He let his eyes follow the trail further ahead and saw where it led. The base of the tree up ahead had been hollowed out, by the elements and other creatures.

He stopped them about ten yards away, but continued on as he drew his sword. No need to be unprepared. A creature in pain could be unpredictable at it's best.

His steps were near silent as he approached closer, and he could hear the slight breathing of what ever it was in the hollow. It's breathing was shallow, and wet sounding. Stepping forward, he angled his sword to face the hollow, tip facing the dim hole.

Waiting a fraction of a second, he listened than took the final step forward, bring the sword up and down in a killing blow, but froze his arm, locking it as he saw what really lay in the hole. His fingers went numb and he felt the sword drop from his fingers. He'd nearly been about to kill a defenseless human in cold blood.

He heard the knights behind him, coming closer, and his mind quickly took action. He spun around and faced them. "Leon." He called out.

"Yes, M'Lord?" The knight in question stepped forward, his eyes flicking to the hollow. He knew what he was wondering.

"Take one of the fresher mounts and ride as fast as you can back to Camelot. Bring me back Gaius, my physician." He commanded.

"Of course M'Lord, but why?" He asked hesitantly, unsure how he would react.

"Because Leon, it appears we did not catch a forest creature. We caught a human." He said the last part softly. That had the knights moving. Leon nodded and headed off to get one of the fresher spare mounts.

"M'Lord, what are we to do until he brings the physician?" One of the younger knights asked.

"Go through the packs, get out any thing that can be used as a blanket. We need to keep him warm until Gaius arrives." The knight nodded and walked off with a few others to gather what would be needed.

Nodding to himself, he started to strip of his weapons and chain mail. When all he was left in were his clothes, he squatted down in front of the hollow. Looking in, he studied the pale form in front of him. The male had pitch black hair, wild looking with pieces of leaves and twigs stuck in it. His skin was pale white, partly from blood lose, but it appeared to be his own natural skin color. All he had on, clothing wise, was a pair of shredded trousers held on to his thin frame by a tightly knotted rope.

He examined his leg, and winced at the damage that had been done to it. It looked extremely painful. He turned to look behind him. "Lance, I'm going to need your help with this." The night nodded, and stripping himself of his armor, walked over to where he squatted next to the tree.

"It's going to take some maneuvering to get him out with out doing any more damage to that leg. Do you think you can do it?" Lancelot asked Arthur. The blond just nodded. "Than you better go in first get a hold of his shoulders. Try and turn him so that he's facing towards you." Lancelot instructed.

Arthur lowered himself down until he was kneeling on the earthen floor. Even with his armor off, it was going to be a tight fit. Bending down, he reached towards the man and was met with a glazed and unfocused stare from bright blue eyes. As he watched, they seemed to focus on his face than all hell broke loose.

He freaked, pushing himself further into the hole, even though there was no room left to move in. Arthur raised his hands up. "Shh." He said softly. "I'm not here to hurt you." He kept his voice calm, as he would with any wild creature. The male continued to stare back at him, a wild fright visible in his eyes as he tried to process what had been said.

And as he watched the fear slowly left, his eyes glazed over once more before he slumped to the ground, fully unconscious. Sighing, Arthur grabbed him underneath the arms and pulled him as slowly as he could until he was nestled in his arms. Once there, he started to back up until his head cleared the hole and Lance went forward to grab his legs, careful of his injury.

They carried him like that over to the blankets that had been found, and wrapped him up as best they could. "Did you see that! He's like some wild animal."

"Well just look at him. Nothing but skin and bones. Poor kids probably been living out here for awhile now if his looks are anything to go by."

"Looks like Arthur can tame anything, be it a wild animal or a wild human." That got a small laugh out of them, though they kept their ears sharp for the sound of hoof beats.

It was another twenty minutes before they heard them coming. Two sets of hoof beats instead of one and as they turned to look, the two men arrived in the clearing. One was Leon, the other an older man with gray hair and a bag around his waist. "So where is he? Show me what you've found." Gaius, the royal physician, could be very commanding when he needed to be.

"Over this way." Lancelot stood and showed him to the blanket wrapped figure. They peeled back the blankets, revealing the male to him and his injury.

Gaius just stared in shock at the male before him. "It can't be?" Gaius continued to just stare.

"Gaius, do you know this boy?" Leon asked him as he came up behind him.

"Yes I do, but he can't be here. He's supposed to be dead."

"Gaius, who is he?" Arthur finally asked.

"An old friend of mine, Hunith, whom lives in the next kingdom over was killed some years ago. Her son was said to have died with her, in the fire that had started when their village was attacked. His name was Merlin. Merlin Emrys. But how is he still alive?"

xXx

And a cliff hanger. I just love and yet hate cliff hangers. So here we go. Merlin's is supposed to be dead and is found by Arthur and his knights when they go hunting. (If you hadn't figured it out, Merlin had gotten caught in the trap they had laid. Although they didn't exist at the time, I'm still going to use them. They're those large metal ones that are like jaws and when you step on them, they clamp down on what ever is in there. Can't remember what they are called though. Please say if you do know.) Gaius recognizes him, but what happened for him to still be alive, well you're just going to have to wait and see the next chapter to find out. It's will be a few more chapters until I actually explain how Merlin was caught.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please Review if you like. That always make me happy and makes me smile, when people leave reviews (that aren't mean or just plain rude of course.)

Until Next Time

~Reiya