People! Hello!

Normal stuff- SORRY for the lateness of this chapter. Without the full story, times have been bad. BUT, as always, you gorgeous readers need some sustenance. :)

As aaaaalways, thanks to my main man, the one and only Merthur Dreamer. Check his stuff out. You can thank me later :P

Enjoy!

CHAPTER THREE

Morgause cursed as her feet hit the forest floor. Her hasty transportation spell had taken her to a small clearing about a mile west of the Prince. Earlier, she had set up protection wards to avoid being detected. Of course she wasn't expecting any problems.

With this in mind, she turned towards Kay, who was sitting dizzily on the floor. She reached her arm out and struck him across the face. The oaf hissed in pain.

"You blundering FOOL!" Morgause screamed, her temper flaring. She stormed away from him, wringing her hands.

Kay rubbed his cheek, and huffed loudly. "S'not my fault. I didn't know the damn Prince had a magic servant did I?" He sulked. Morgause dismissed him with an irritated grunt, and the Knight crawled away.

New plans already started formulating in the Sorceress' head. She now had to take into account that the Sorcerer guarding the Prince new of her presence and her intentions. It was unlikely that they could simply walk through the forest and attack the Prince. Kay collapsed on the ground, and minutes later soft snoring resounded through the clearing. Morgause crouched down and froze whilst her mind skimmed through her options. She stayed in the same position for over two hours before a satisfied smirk lit up her face.

A swift kick awoke her companion and Morgause grinned down at him.

"It's time to get my revenge."

Arthur stretched languidly in his bed, a yawn rolling out of his lips. He sat up on his cover and in the haze of just waking up- wondered why he was in a tent, and not his bed. It took his brain a few moments for the prior day's events to return to him.

Heaving himself up, the Prince rolled his shoulders back, resulting in a very unhealthy sounding click from his bones. Arthur grimaced, before stepping outside to be met with the sight of-

Merlin. Right outside the front of his tent. The boy was lying on the hard ground with nothing, but he seemed to be dozing happily. A smile tipped at Arthur's lips, and he wondered why his friend was outside his tent. He had originally planned to ask Merlin to start making him some food, but it would be sinful to interrupt him whilst he was looking so angelically peaceful. With a resigned sigh, Arthur retreated into the confines of his tent, to reappear with his Camelot emblazed cover, and draped it over the shoulders of his manservant. Merlin reacted by sighing with a content smile, and snuggling into it in his sleep. Arthur grinned and then, for the first time in his life, he went to work collecting firewood.

Merlin awoke with a start. The first thing he noticed was that he was very comfortable. His groggy brain took a few moments to realise that he had a blanket covering him. He inhaled deeply, noting that it smelt like Arthur…

His eyes shot back open (he hadn't even realised they'd closed again) and he examined the Camelot adorned fabric. He recognised it immediately as Arthurs and a smile grew across his face.

He gave me his cover?

Merlin laughed quietly to himself, warmth spreading through his chest at the kind gesture. He stretched as he sat up, allowing the cover to fall off his shoulders and onto his lap. He glanced around, and with a sickening jolt he realised that Arthur was nowhere to be seen. Merlin cursed himself for being so slow. He leapt to his feet and glanced around. How did he not notice the clearing was empty!

He held his breath, hoping to hear any signs of his prince. Silence.

Merlin ran into Arthur's tent, and his stomach dropped. It was completely empty.

He ripped his way into Sir Kays tent as well. Empty. He pelted back outside.

"ARTHUR!" Merlin roared, realising he was too late. Morgause had taken him. Merlin fell to his knees. His magic hadn't been enough. Somehow Morgause had taken his only reason for existence. Tears began to creep out of his eyes. A sob wracked at his chest as he looked down at the ground, his hands hopelessly pounding at the dusty ground.

"Arthur…" He whispered, the tears completely obscuring his vision. How Morgause would pay for takin-

"Yes?"

Merlin flew to his feet again and whipped round to see Arthur standing before him, lumps of firewood in his arms, looking confused at first, then alarmed (and was that slightly concerned?) as he saw the tear stained cheeks of his friend.

"Merli-?" Arthur didn't have a chance to finish before a small body had barrelled into him. He dropped the firewood and stumbled back. His arms automatically wound their way around his manservant, who was clutching onto his shirt. Arthur rubbed Merlin's back soothingly.

"I thought something had happened to you." Merlin admitted quietly.

"So that's what this is about. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just left. What's wrong?" Arthur frowned, still hugging Merlin to his chest.

Merlin cursed at Arthur's abilities to read him like a book.

"How did you know?" He asked. Arthur laughed slightly, then slowly disentangled himself from his manservant. "I left for twenty minutes to get some wood and you had a panic attack." Merlin blushed, and then sighed.

He tried to procrastinate, by starting up the fire. He didn't want to tell Arthur about Sir Kay. He was terrified Arthur wasn't going to believe him. After that incident with Valiant and the snakes, Merlin had been petrified of going to Arthur, in the case of no evidence.

It took half an hour of Merlin messing around for Arthur to lose his patience. Arthur had started pacing around when Merlin began the fire. He huffed impatiently when Merlin started to poke the fire with a stick, and lost it when Merlin started to prepare food.

"Merlin." A warning growl.

Merlin glanced up at him, guilt flashing across his features. A resigned sigh passed his servants lips, and he walked to the fire, sitting himself in front of it. A second passed, then Merlin gestured for Arthur to sit.

Arthur appeared to drape himself among the rocks. An eye roll from Merlin. Only Arthur could look regal in the middle of a forest. Arthur looked at him expectantly.

"What happened?" Arthur asked.

Merlin rubbed his face, then made eye contact with the Prince. "Kay tried to kill you last night." Merlin left out the involvement of Morgause. He wouldn't be able to explain to Arthur how he had fought off a sorceress. "I caught him and he spooked and ran off."

Arthur looked down at the ground, his heart racing. Kay had tried to kill him? Without a word, he walked over to the knights tent, and was unsurprised to find it empty.

Arthur briefly noted that he hadn't even considered that Merlin had been lying. A frown appeared on his face. Since when did he trust Merlin so completely?

"Arthur, I'm sorry. I should have woken you, but I had it sorted. I was keeping watch." Merlin sort of gestured to where he had been sleeping.

Arthur scoffed. "You were asleep." He reminded him, but there was a fondness in the Prince's eyes. Merlin blushed.

"I had it under control." He insisted, pouting when Arthur chuckled. Arthur let his laughter die down.

"So my father was fooled. He won't be pleased. Alright then Merlin. Lucky you, no hunting. We shall eat, you shall take down the tents, and then we'll ride back to Camelot to inform my father of this." Arthur decided. Merlin nodded, a grimace on his face. 'We shall eat' constituted Merlin having to cook, 'You shall take down the tents' was obvious- of course Arthur wouldn't help with that, and 'ride back to Camelot' meant another awful horse ride, and Merlin honestly hated riding. He could barely walk himself, how was he meant to control an entire beast?

Merlin sighed, and noticed that Arthur had reinstated himself in front of the fire. Arthur's eyes closed, as he enjoyed the heat from the fire. Merlin ventured to the forest, to find some food.

Half an hour passed, and Merlin returned triumphantly with a basket full of food. The forests had been kind, and the food was plentiful and luscious. Even Arthur looked surprised at the large quantities of fruit and berries.

"Where did you find all of this?" Arthur found it impossible to supress the admiration in his voice. Merlin grinned, and didn't answer. He plopped himself down next to Arthur, and the Prince and the manservant dug in to a healthy meal.

Above them, disguised in the shrubbery up a hill, Kay and Morgause watched. Kay looked traditionally confused.

"So…your plan was to grow them lots of fruit so they can have a nice meal? " Kay blinked, trying to think. Morgause shot him a withering look. Kay got defensive. "No, there isn't a problem. It's very nice of you. But I thought you wanted to kill them?" Kay rubbed his head. "I'm pretty sure you wanted to kill them actually."

Morgause shook her head, amazed that the thick headed man in front of her managed to pt his own clothes on. He only got through the Camelot ranks with her magic aiding him. Camelot was weak not to spot someone so stupid.

"Whilst it is true that I did grow the food around them for them to eat, I have no intention of letting them go." She explained slowly. "The food was intended to poison them, but I rather changed my mind. The Prince does not know that his precious manservant is a Warlock." Morgause grinned wickedly.

Earlier in the night, Morgause had cast an enchantment around the area the boys had camped. The enchantment caused a bounty of food to grow from every tree within a mile radius. The food, however, was also enchanted to poison. When Morgause learnt that the sorcerer had kept his magic a secret from his precious Prince, she couldn't help but play a little game. So she altered her enchantment, her poisoned fruit not poisoned to kill.

"Pssst! Morgause! Look! They fell asleep! How silly of them." Kay whispered and Morgause nearly thumped him. She glanced down and realised that the Prince had fallen to the side, and the manservant had followed suit. The two lay by the fire, food in hand, breathing. Just.

"Yes you fool! They're sedated. Now go and be useful you waste of space, and bring them back to our cave." Morgause snapped, ignoring the hurt look In Kay's eyes. The oaf trundled down and easily picked Merlin and Arthur up, swinging the two men over his shoulders. Morgause's magic had enhanced his strength, so he found it no trouble.

Morgause smiled. Her plan was going to work very nicely indeed.

Thank you for reading lovelies. Next chapter should be up soon :) Please leave a review. They're like my drugs ^_^ xx