Betrayed and Broken

Taken

LLLLLL

Lancelot trekked through the woods tied to the others. He was firmly convinced that Gwaine was purposefully tripping so they would all fall, but so far he couldn't prove it. Gwen and Gaius were tied to horses instead of in a line like the others. They were less than a mile from the castle and Merlin had made the executive call to be tied up when they saw the first patrol. Speaking of Merlin...

The noble knight looked back at the warlock, still shocked by what he saw. It was like he was an entirely different person. Lance knew that all of them had been confused when Gaius had casually asked if Merlin wanted to use the aging potion again, but Merlin had said something about Morgana recognizing that disguise. Instead, Merlin put to use some of the tricks he had learned in other countries.

He had smeared some sort of berry juice across all of his exposed skin, causing it to look tanned, like the skin of a hardworking farmer. He had pulled out a rather large bottle of some gel-like chemical from his pouch which was not nearly large enough to have something of that size in it. Oddly enough, no one commented on that. Merlin brushed the chemical through his hair, making it slicked back and flat, something that his hair would not be capable of on its own. He found some eggs and broke them open, taking a thin piece of membranous material. They had all been horrified when he cut them to a particular size and poked a hole in them, placing them over his eyes. The warlock claimed he could still see, but he looked completely blind. He grabbed from his saddle bag some ragtag clothing that had seen many better days and reeked of beer. Then, Merlin wrapped a neckerchief over his head, effectually covering his admittedly recognizable ears. Finally, Merlin took a different berry and spread the juice out in specific spots on his face, seeming to change the very shape of his face. The effect was amazing. Without a lick of magic, the raven-haired wonder looked like an entirely different person.

Dependable Leon had asked Merlin why he didn't just use magic and Merlin had gone into a ten minute lecture on the subtleties of magic and how other users could sense and identify a person by their magical 'scent' and how Morgana knew Emrys' and that it really would not do to be recognized that quickly. Lancelot had laughed at the glazed look in everyone's eyes at the end of the speech.

Lancelot was distracted from that line of thought when the whole group went down again, pulled by Gwaine's 'accidental fall'. Arthur called out angrily from two people behind Gwaine, "Mordred! Untie Gwaine and retie him at the back of the group so if he falls he'll just be dragged along behind us!"

Gwaine failed at repressing his chuckle and everyone glared at Mordred diligently moved him to his new position in the line.

Ten minutes of awkward silence later, Elyan finally asked, "How about we have someone sing or something so this isn't so boring?"

Merlin snorted from behind Lancelot, "We've only been like this for about an hour. Try doing this for four days with your hands and feet tied to each other. Makes this seem like a ton of fun."

Percival gave the youngest 'prisoner' a strange look and Merlin just shrugged nonchalantly as if being part of a chain gang was an everyday occurrence for the formerly secret sorcerer. Eventually Percival shrugged as well and turned his attention back to walking.

After another forty minutes or so, Mordred told the group, "We're almost to the castle gates. You should all be prepared for the worst. I don't know what kind of reception I'll get after I ran out of the castle with you."

Merlin reassured him in a soft voice, "Morgana doesn't know for certain that you ran out with them. Coming back with all of us tied up and at your mercy should be enough to convince her that you didn't. It'll be fine, Mordred. We'll just go along with the sort of plan and we'll be fine." He added a smile at the end to convince the young druid of his idea.