YOU CAN'T ESCAPE DESTINY | Arthur Pendragon [2]

Kidnapped

*Annabelle's P.O.V.*

"I didn't ask you to take this to Morgana last night," were the first words out of Gaius's lips, directed at Merlin, after he got back from his meeting with the King as he held up the bottle of the sleeping draught Merlin used as an excuse to speak to Morgana last night.
"I used some initiative, I thought you'd be pleased," Merlin lied swiftly as he tried to turn back around, but Gaius put a hand on his shoulder to turn him around to face him as I watched from where I was sitting on the bench beside my brother, trying to listen to their conversation instead of the sound of the warning bells.
"Those warning bells are ringing because Uther thinks that Morgana's been kidnapped," Gaius said, and Merlin and I both glanced down, not knowing what to say. "And neither of you seem overly concerned,"
"She can look after herself," I finally said quietly, and Gaius's gaze drifted over to me as I kept my gaze down.
"Annabelle, what have you two done?" I heard after a moment of silence.
"What you refused to," I finally looked up, my tone harder than before. "We helped her,"
"This ends now," Gaius said after a moment of silence, his tone now hard as well as he slammed the bottle down on the table, "People's lives are at risk. Morgana's included. Where is she?!" he snapped, and held my gaze as Merlin and I stared at him, both of us feeling conflicted on whether to tell him or not. There was listening to him and his words of wisdom, and there was also helping Morgana above all else. But... we couldn't endanger others on her behalf.
"She's gone to the Forest of Essetir to find the Druids," I finally said, and Gaius's eyes widened.
"I told you not to get involved," he said slowly, his voice now low and filled with disappointment, but fear above all else.
"We had to because you wouldn't even acknowledge the fact that she has magic!" I snapped.
"For good reason!"
"No, you don't understand," I shook my head, my tone lowering as I looked down again, and felt Merlin sit down beside me, "You don't understand what it's like," I looked up, and I'm sure that Gaius could see the tears slowly but surely forming in my eyes. "The years before we came here were the loneliest of our lives. Yes, we had each other. Yes, we had Mother. But that was it!"
"Morgana is the King's ward, her situation is completely different to yours," Gaius tried to explain as Merlin grabbed my hand.
"Yes, I know! We have you, and she doesn't!"
"I've always taken good care of Morgana," Gaius said, his voice no softer as he reeled back a bit at my outburst.
"No, it's not the same, Gaius," I shook my head, my voice now also softer as tears came to my eyes again, "Everything that's good and right about magic, we've learned from you," I said, before looking him in the eye as Merlin also looked up at him, probably already knowing what I was going to say. "We'd be lost without you, Gaius... Like she is now,"
"Do you understand why we did it?" Merlin asked quietly after a moment of silence, his eyes also filled with tears, and Gaius's eyes softened.
"Yes. I do," he finally said. "But that doesn't mean I don't fear the consequences,"

*1 Hour Later*

"Have all the suspects been arrested?" Uther asked his son as they, few members of the council, and Merlin and I all stood in the Throne Room.
"Nearly. A few have gone to ground," Arthur answered.
"Issue a proclamation," Uther suddenly ordered, looking at the Prince firmly. "All the prisoners will be executed unless the Lady Morgana is returned to Camelot," he said, and I nearly staggered back in shock as my eyes widened in a horrifying realization. Gaius was right.
"I'll see to it, Sire," Arthur nodded after a second of hesitation, and Uther waved his hand to dismiss us all from the Throne Room.
"Oh, my God," I whispered almost inaudibly, but Merlin heard me and we shared a terrified look. However, it was then that we also knew what we had to do.

*Night*

I peeked out from our room, only to see Gaius's chambers completely dark and him asleep. I then quietly made my way further as Merlin followed me, exiting our room quietly. However, as I walked, it was too dark for me to see anything, and my leg hit the broom that I left by the table earlier today.
"Gestillan," I hissed a spell, just in time to stop the broom from hitting the floor. However, as Merlin turned around when he saw the broom almost fall, the knapsack on his back hit one of the bowl on the table,, throwing it off.
"Gestillan," he hissed, also just in time before the bowl hit the floor. However, as he turned around to catch the bowl, his arm hit a wooden pitcher, which was also on the table, and my eyes widened.
"Gestillan," I hissed again, and the pitcher stopped to flow in the air, making me release the breath I didn't even know I was holding as I shared a relieved look with my brother. We glanced at Gaius, making sure that he was still fast asleep, before we shared a nod and simultaneously levitated the objects back to where they were. Merlin and I shared a look, before proceeding to leave the chambers. However, we didn't even make it to the door before we heard something hit the floor. We whipped around, only to see that the broom has fallen to the floor with a loud clank, and our eyes immediately shifted to Gaius as he mumbled something and turned to his side, but, thankfully, remained asleep.
I turned my head to look at Merlin, and we both sighed in relief, before making our way out of the chambers. We made our way quietly down the hallways, before we reached the tunnels that were our destination. However, as we rounded the corner, we quickly hid back behind the wall as we saw two guards, once again, playing a game and keeping watch.
"Forbearnan firgenholt," I heard Merlin whisper, and immediately saw the fire of the torch on the wall beside the guards rise up in flames, making the guards stagger back with exclamations of fear and surprise before running away. Merlin then quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me down the tunnel, seeing me hesitate at first.
"Are you sure that was a good idea?" I asked him as we jogged down the tunnels, and he glanced at me.
"Did you have any better ones?" he asked.
"No," I admitted reluctantly. "But I don't exactly want these guards to go running through the tunnels, screaming, 'magic', you know,"
"We'll be fine," Merlin assured, just as we reached the grate that we once used to get Mordred out of the castle.
"Tospringe," I chanted this time, and moved my hand as the grate was blown out of its hinges.
"I'm sure no one will go running through the castle, screaming, 'magic', once they see that," Merlin said sarcastically, looking at the grate on the ground a few feet in front of us, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
"Shut up,"

*Third Person's P.O.V., Morning,"

"Come on, Merlin!" Gaius called as he picked up the broom he saw lying on the floor, "Out of your bed! You'll be late for work," he said as he proceeded to walk up the stairs to his wards' room, "Annabelle, I think it's time for you to wake up as well. Just because you don't have work today doesn't mean that you can sleep all day," he spoke as he opened the door, only to freeze as he saw both of the beds empty.

*Annabelle's P.O.V., 3 Hours Later*

"Forbearnan ​​," Merlin's eyes flashed gold as he used his magic to light a small fire, while I slumped down onto the log he was already sitting on with a small groan, my legs aching from all the walking, sometimes even running, we did in the past couple of hours.
"Do you think we'll make it in time?" I asked him quietly, my voice small as my brain showed me the most horrific images in my mind. Merlin opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, we suddenly heard some kind of indistinctive words, quite loud, from a voice we couldn't make out. We jumped up to our feet, looking around cautiously. Merlin picked up one of the burning sticks from the fire, while I positioned myself ready in case we had to fight, knowing that our magic would be more effective than the stick.
"Hello?" Merlin called out nervously, before we heard another voice saying something. A voice I immediately recognized as Morgana's, "Is there anybody there?" Merlin called out again as he looked around, but I quickly shushed him as I strained my hearing, trying to catch more of, what I think is, the conversation.
Suddenly, Merlin and I both heard many different voices at the same time, and looked around for the source, but didn't see anything or anyone. I closed my eyes to try and concentrate, and perhaps make out one single voice out of the multiple ones I was currently hearing, and my eyes snapped open when I, once again, heard Morgana's voice, though I still couldn't make out any of the words. I shared a look with Merlin, before we both strained our hearing to try and catch something distinctive, fighting through the multiple voices in, I suppose, our minds. After a moment of struggle, I finally managed to hear a deep, male voice.
What would you like to know?

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