Bound

Chapter 5

Alright... so figured I'd rather be safe than sorry with warnings. She does control his magic in this chapter and in most chapters following. Reference to torture. Nothing extreme, just trying to stay careful!

The guards practically dragged a struggling Merlin through multiple hallways until they reached what looked like a large throne room. In the middle of the room sat a large stone throne with Edith sitting on it. The guards threw Merlin roughly to the ground in front of her. Merlin barely caught himself before hitting his head on the ground. He winced in pain.

"Good morning!" Edith smiled.

Merlin continued to sit slumped on the ground, refusing to look her in the eyes.

"Well that's not the way to sit before a throne."

Two of the guards grabbed both of Merlin's arms and yanked him into a kneeling position. He still refused to look up.

"That's better. So Merlin," she rose from her chair crouching in front him to try and force him to meet her eyes, "do you have any idea why you're here?"

No answer. That didn't sway her though, she continued.

"No? Okay well I'll give you a hint. I served under my mistress for fifteen years; I found her soon after the Great Purge. Uther cast her out and killed her kind because she gave him what he asked for. Years later, you come along. A mighty sorcerer, man of legends even, and you choose to protect Arthur. You left your people in the dust. You had the option to rule the world, even with your beloved prince. But no, you decided to kill the high priestess and take matters into your own hands, ignoring the cries of your people."

"You are wrong-"

"You are not worthy to decide that! You are not worthy of the name you were given. The great and powerful Emrys," she sneered, "look at you now."

She leaned in close to his ear to whisper,
"I swear I will make your life so miserable that you'll wish you had never been born."

Merlin flinched away from her as she smirked. She stood to recompose herself, then she sat back in her throne.

"Well now that we've gotten that out of the way, she continued cheerfully, "I assume you know what the cuffs do. Just as a hint for the future, it would be favorable of you to answer when I ask you a question."

"They allow you to use my magic," Merlin sighed.

"Very good. As you may have noticed yesterday, with magic as powerful as yours a spell doesn't even have to be spoken. Sadly though, the cuffs are not perfect. One can resist their power,"
Merlin perked up with interest,
"But, it is immensely painful. So I guess it's up to you how difficult this is going to be. Over time everyone eventually looses the will to fight. That's when the person with the key has total control. But anyways, I was hoping to start today with seeing how far your magic can go."

A group of guards walked in at that moment holding various objects. One had a pot with some dirt in it, four of them were carrying a good sized boulder, and one had a knife. Merlin eyed in knife in particular warily. These were all set on the ground next to Edith.

"Let's get started. Merlin, make that plant grow."

***

Hours later, Merlin was completely exhausted. He was slouched over barely able to stay even relatively upright. In front of him stood a pot which now held a small tree and a pile of rumble which used to be a boulder. He also had a number of scars made from knife cuts that he had to heal. He had never strained his magic that much in his life. Normally, being Emrys, he could replenish his magic using nature around him. He was connected to the magic of the earth itself. The cuffs essentially cut him off from nature, making things about twice as hard. The added of strain of fighting the spells at the beginning was also not helping him one bit.

Edith clapped her hands slowly seeing that he was done for today.

"Very good. No one can perform magic that strenuous for that long. Your healing magic could use a little work, but we'll have plenty of time for that," she smirked.
"Get some rest. You'll need your strength tomorrow."

With that the guards grabbed him and dragged him back towards the cells. This time Merlin had no energy to fight, so he just let them take him.

The knights had been in the cell together all day with little discussion. Gwaine and Lancelot has discussed a little bit about Merlin, but beyond that no one else brought it up. Arthur spent the majority of the day lost in thought, speaking to no one. One thing they could all somewhat agree upon is that they were all at least slightly nervous about what condition Merlin would be in when he came back, whether they would admit it or not.

The door screeched open, breaking all the knights from their stupors. One guard led with the key while two other guards were behind him dragging Merlin in between them.

"Merlin!" Lancelot rushes over to the bars trying to get a better look at him. He could see that Merlin was breathing alright, but he also had dried blood on him.

"What did you do to him?" Gwaine shouted.

"He'll be fine," the leader gruffly replied, as the other two busied themselves chaining Merlin to the wall.
"For now."

"For now? What in the living heck does that mean?"

The men didn't answer. The had left the dungeon before any of them had time to say anything more. Lancelot quickly forgot about the guards to try and see if Merlin was okay.

"Merlin? Merlin can you hear me!"

Merlin groaned faintly from the other side of the room. The knights all gave a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay?"

"Alive."

"If he's okay enough to be sarcastic then he's okay."
Arthur tried to sound annoyed, but his closest friends could hear the edge of relief in his voice.

"Hey mate, would you mind turning over so we could see you a bit better."

Merlin sighed, then proceed to roll so he was facing them. His coat was removed and his sleeves rolled up, so they could see the dried blood and faint scars on his arms. Many let out a small gasp.

"Merlin," Elyan started cautiously, "is that blood?"

Merlin gave a small nod. His eyes were closed and he was awfully close to drifting off.

"What happened?" Gwaine asked, his anger rising.

"Cut my arms... then made me heal them."

"What?!" Arthur was appalled.

"Testing me... my strength."

"Dang it Merlin she tested you beyond your strength!" Lancelot was growing more frustrated by the minute.

"No choice..."

"Yeah, I know," Lancelot sighed.
"Look, just hang in there. We'll get you out of here; or someone will find us. You'll be okay."

Merlin hummed in response. Then he fell asleep.