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Being locked away by an evil spirit wasn't even that original exploit.
Merlin made sure to make this known with his constant sneers and snorts, rolling his eyes in an unmistakable manner as he tried to figure out the best way to free himself and his friends, the fantastic Knights of Camelot (please, note the sarcasm), from the mess that the royal ass had gotten them into.
He snorted. It had been a semi-decent day, forced as he was to follow the group of idiots while they hunted and killed the animals for fun.
It was coming too close to his past. It knocked too close to memories that Merlin had tried to bury deep, in a buried, remote and forgotten drawer of his mind, never to go and reopen it.
It was too much. Too much for the child, too much for the teenager who had arrived in Camelot the first time and it was still too much for the young man he was starting to become.
“Do you know why I trapped you here?” The spirit spoke, making the knights wave their swords, as if metal would work against a ghost .
“Is it because you want to kill us?” Merlin proposed, drawing incredulous looks from his friends. He didn’t understand the reason. Almost everyone they met wanted to kill them.
"No." The voice became amused. "You know who I am?"
“ Please don't monologue ." Merlin snorted. “I've already heard plenty about Arthur being pure evil and that he should die.”
“I have no desire to kill Arthur Pendragon.” The voice sounded shocked and offended.
"Oh." Merlin felt surprised. “This is new. Do you want to conquer Camelot?”
“Why would I want to conquer that place ?”
“I always wonder this when someone comes to do the same thing, honestly.” Merlin blinked. “Wow, this is… almost refreshing.”
“Obviously, I want something from you.” The voice said, after respectfully giving Merlin a moment to let the feeling of not having to fight to defend Arthur's life sink in against yet another threat.
Merlin was really starting to appreciate this kidnapping. It was placed in the top five of his favorites.
"Obviously." Merlin nodded. “Because it would be beyond absurd if you didn't want something after locking us in here.”
“ Mer lin, shut up.” Arthur hissed, narrowing his eyes and holding his sword, ready to fight.
“Your sword may well have been forged from dragon breath, Arthur Pendragon.” The voice came. “But it will never hurt a god.”
" What ?" It was the general exclamation coming from the knights, which made Merlin sigh.
This was why he didn't take them with him when he went to solve a magical problem.
Not because they would see his magic (Merlin at this point was having a bet with himself to see when any of them would notice Merlin's golden eyes every time he cast a spell before their eyes. They hadn't seen anything yet, day forty), but because they would have wasted time in threats and chatter, making everything take longer than it already was.
The voice, which would soon be named by Merlin and who would not like the name the servant would give it, just had to want something harmless after all, and then everyone could continue on their way. And yet, things didn't go that way. (Things never went as planned when knights were involved.)
“What I want from you is very simple.” The voice said. “A secret, something that weighs on your heart, and then you will be free to move on. Each of you must confess something.”
Merlin paled. His magic. This was the only thing that really weighed on his heart. Hiding who he was from his closest friends.
But he had a very good reason for hiding who he was. He'd seen what happened when he didn't.
“Cenred killed my parents and my betrothed.” Percival said. “It was at that moment that I met Lancelot. He saved my life.”
“Lancelot already knew this secret.” The voice protested.
“You didn't say it shouldn't be known. Just something that was weighing on us.” Percival replied calmly. “And Lancelot knows everything about me. I don't have anything to confess that he doesn't already know."
Lancelot smiled, saying. “I was forced to perform for slavers in exchange for food and shelter. I'm not proud of it, but I had no choice but to do that."
Elyan bit his lower lip. “I ran away from Camelot because I couldn't bear to be in a kingdom that had my mother killed for nothing more than a whisper . They said her weaving skills were almost magical, because her clothes never broke.”
“And my father had her killed.” Arthur murmured, feeling a weight on his heart.
Merlin felt his breath catch in his throat. Did Gwen’s and Elyan's mother have magic? Or, in any case, had they lost both parents due to Uther's paranoia towards magic? And almost lost Gwen?
“I killed for the first time when I was ten years old, by order of the king.” Leon murmured. “I can't forget their terrified faces.”
Druid camp, a voice in Merlin's mind suggested. He killed sorcerers like Merlin .
"I am a noble by birth." Gwaine snorted. "My father was a knight under Carleon."
Arthur's eyes widened. “If I had said this when you first arrived here, my father would have listened to you!”
“I don't want to be heard for my blood!” Gwaine screamed. “And I don't want to think about my family!”
I don't want to think about my family. The sentence rang in Merlin's ears. There was another secret Merlin could confess. And it was about his family.
“I… I think my father was wrong.” Arthur murmured. “About magic. I'm thinking of lifting the ban.”
Merlin wanted to confess that he had magic, but suddenly changed his mind.
“Merlin?” Lancelot, the noble Lancelot, was looking at him with a sweet look. “You can tell us everything, you know.”
“None of us will judge you.” Leon nodded.
“You are safe with us.” Gwaine nodded.
Merlin took a deep breath. “I hate hunting because it reminds me of my childhood. Of an episode from my childhood.”
The knights looked at him confused, curious, and Merlin continued speaking.
“When I was younger, they were looking for men to send to war. To train them, they watched how well they ran away from trained knights.” Merlin shifted nervously. “No parent wanted to offer their children to Cenred for this . And he couldn't just take them, because it would have led to a rebellion in the villages, especially those close to the borders.” Merlin glanced at Arthur, who looked ready to get sick. He continued talking. “But he accepted slaves. And slavers had less trouble taking children from their families.”
"What have they done to you?" Percival whispered, his eyes shining.
“Some children were sold to slavers who then sold them already trained to Cenred.” Merlin looked down. “My brother sold me to become a noble.”
"What?" Arthur asked, blinking.
“My brother sold me to slavers when I was six years old. And I spent two years running away from them in the woods, like..."
“Like an animal during the hunt.” Gwaine murmured, looking at Merlin with wide eyes.
“How did you escape?” Leon asked.
“I… they underestimated me. My friend and I... they gave us little food to prevent us from having enough strength. My friend and I… shared our supplies, so she could have enough strength to lift the cage. I had learned the route out of the fortress, with all the times we had been taken out for our… training .” Merlin swallowed. “We escaped.”
"I am sorry." Arthur stepped forward, pulling Merlin into a tight hug. “I'm sorry you had to go through this.”
"It is in the past." Merlin murmured. “He can't hurt me anymore, that's the important thing.”
"Who was?" Leon asked. “The slaver. Do you remember his name?”
Merlin glanced at Arthur, before saying. “Helig.”
“The man who…” Arthur's eyes widened. “It was really you who helped Freya escape from the cage, wasn't it?”
“I looked at her and I saw me .” Merlin whispered. “And you have no idea what I would have given to have someone free me when I was in that cage.”
“I can understand that.” Lancelot whispered.
Merlin glanced at his friend. Even though they had different experiences, they had both been victims of a slaver.
“I will kill your brother.” Gwaine promised. “Damn it, Merlin!”
The knight very delicately tore him from Arthur's arms before enveloping him in a hug.
In turn, all the knights hugged him.
"Thank you." Merlin smiled.
Talking about his brother had always been difficult, a boulder between him and his mother that neither of them had ever wanted to face.
But surrounded by his new family, Merlin felt safer.
They would never leave him behind, or abandon him.
And, for Merlin, that was enough.