Truth under spell (Merthur)

Chapter 12: Day 3: The Long Ride Home

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In the morning Arthur actually woke up first. He didn't know why he was up so early but here he was. He opened his eyes to the sight of Merlin's sleeping face. He smiled and reached over to touch. He gently cupping his cheek with his palm, and his thumb ran across the smooth, white skin. The servants face scrunched up at the touch, being woken up by it. He slowly opened his eyes and he looked at Arthur. At first Arthur saw him look at him in confusion but then his eyes moved behind him and they widened. 

Merlin got up quickly and thrusted out a hand. "Astirce!" he yelled and then Arthur heard a thump. The prince looked over and saw a man all dressed in black had been thrown out of the tent. Ripping a hole into the side of it. They now had a clear view of outside. Bandits had entered their camp while they slept. The knights quickly waking when the man that had been about to kill Arthur screamed as he was pushed away. 

Arthur shoved his feet into some shoes and gabbed his sword. He didn't have time to grab anything else before another man was heading his way with a mace. With a yell of, "death to the pendragons!" he brought the mace down. Arthur easily blocked the hit and managed to take the man down. He looked around and saw the rest of the knights were up and holding their own, but he didn't see a familiar mop of brown hair. "Merlin!"

He didn't have much more time to look for the servant as more bandits came at him with swords. Within minutes he was covered in sweat and spots of blood. Arthur panted and looked around frankly. "Merlin!" he called out again. Some of his knights already laid motionless on the ground and he needed to find his servant. He needed to find his Merlin. "MERLIN!" 

"Forbearnan!" Merlin called out and a man standing behind the prince caught fire. He screamed and patted at himself, trying to put the fire out. Merlin grabbed Arthur's arm. "Watch out for yourself before you get your head cut off!"

Arthur sighed in relief as he finally saw Merlin safe and untouched. For just a moment he forgot that he had magic. Forgot that Merlin could fight for himself. 

"We are outnumbered, we have to go Arthur." Merlin said. 

Arthur looked around and more and more of his knights were cut down. He hated to admit it, but they were losing. He called out to all of them, "retreat!" With the order from their prince the remaining knights all started to back up. The ones that could, all ran in random directions into the forest. The rest fought their way through and ran themselves. 

As prince and servant ran away from the clearing using the trees as cover, they heard one of the bandits call out. "Forget the knights! It's the prince we want!" then the sound of many feet running could be heard behind them. 

The sound of the bandits didn't dissipate. Arthur was worried when they couldn't lose them, even more so when the trees lessened, and they both came out into a field. A wide-open space with nowhere to hide. On the other side of the field Leon came running out. When he saw the prince and merlin, he turned and ran towards them. 

Merlin looked when he saw Leon and noticed there was bandits behind him as well. The situation wasn't looking good at all. Enemies on every side, nowhere to go. By the time they got to the center of the field they would be surrounded. He didn't know if he could trust the knight with his magic secret, but he did know they weren't getting out of this alive without some help. He breathed deeply and in a deep voice recited the dragons call, "O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!" 

He was right, as soon as he said the spell they made it to the center and was forced to stop. Men with maces, swords, spears, and other such weapons had blocked their path. Arthur pushed Merlin behind him and held up his sword. Leons back facing Arthurs with the servant in the middle. "Merls whatever you were trying to do didn't work."