Merlin one shots

keeping it in

It made no sense. The more Arthur looked at it, the more confused he became. Somebody had gotten him a complete layout of a castle they wished to invade, but it utterly confused him.

Most kingdoms had the guards stationed facing the outside. This one had more facing the inside. The whole set up was wrong. Everything was literally backwards, and it would be rather easy to invade.

In fact, his father had instructed him to do just that. So he'd be on his way tomorrow morning. Getting there would take about three days on horseback. Four to get all the knights there.

Morgana hadn't been happy of course. She had argued that they should attempt a treaty with them, but her effort was fruitless. Uther had been a pain as soon as the word 'magic' came up. There had been rumours of a magical weapon in the castle that could take out an army with a single use. Uther hadn't liked the sound of it and immediately sprung into action.

.......

The time passed by rather quickly and soon they were camping just out of the unordinary castle's sight. There weren't many people going in and out as would be suspected of a castle. Still confused, they had never figured out where the town's people stayed. It was almost as if it was just a backwards fortress. Was that part of their strategy? Perhaps they let the invaders in and trapped them there? That sounded only slightly reasonable, but it was more reasonable then anything else they had come up with so far.

Leon stood with him going over the plans again, trying to figure out what their strategy was. Even the experienced knight was confused. So far it looked like they would just have to follow through with their current plan and hope for the best

"Sire, perhaps you should get some rest before the attack tomorrow."

"You're right Leon. Please wake me before sunrise."

More recently George had become Arthur's newest servant. The annoying bootlicker did everything perfectly, and had horrid brass jokes. I mean who makes jokes... about brass? Until Arthur could find a decent reason as to why he should be fired, he'd have to deal with him.

Luckily Leon was there. Without him, Arthur would have gone insane years ago. He was respectful, yet honest. Even if it could get him in trouble. Arthur relished in the little time they had together. They were almost like brothers. Yet, if Arthur were to get too close to Leon, then Uther would no longer allow them to hang out together. Something about 'you can't get too attached to civilians, they are not worth your time'.

Another person who got him through his years in the castle was Morgana. A fresh view was simply enticing. Her views on magic were so different from Uther's. A lot of her views made more sense to Arthur than Uther's. Until he was old enough to take over, Arthur would have to survive underneath Uther's tutelage.

Like this mission. Arthur's main stuggles were simply a result of a man gone mad from grief. One day be would be king. One day Camelot would become a better place.

.......

The attack had gone smoothly. They'd knocked out all the guards they'd planned to, they'd disabled all the weaponry that could be used against them, and no emergency bell had been sounded yet. So far the mission was going well.

They were in the dungeons where the weapon was said to be. What the weapon was, they didn't know, but multiple people had confirmed it was there.

This place was grim, and bleak. Windows would have made the place feel a little less forbidding. There was a smell of moist dirt and fire. Most cells were empty. The ones that had objects in them usually had broken shackles, burnt holes in walls, bars broken, and in some it looked like the wall had been smashed down. What had done those things?