Chapter Text
Arthur is beginning to get worried.
Merlin is late. After Arthur saw Merlin leave with Cenred, he ignored the sick feeling in his stomach and rushed to get his affairs in order. He sent a squire to tell the pilot to ready the plane, and went to their room and gathered all their things, and now he is here, in their rendezvous point, and Merlin is nowhere in sight.
Merlin was supposed to meet up half an hour ago. Once he had the data files, they suspected it would be a matter of time before the whole castle was alerted, so their plan was to escape before that happened- and while Cenred was still asleep.
They had decided Arthur would be patient and wait an hour before taking any drastic action. When he says they, he means mostly Merlin- “you don’t get to send me behind enemy lines and then ruin the plan by being a mom… just wait! And don’t be an idiot.”- but dammit. He is worried. Merlin is no field agent. He could easily have given up the game the moment they walked away from the dance floor, and could be captured and being tortured right now. A couple of hours can seem like years when chained to an interrogation chair. Arthur knows that from experience.
Or he could be in Cenred’s bed, willingly, but Arthur stops that thought before it can find hold.
No. Arthur is going to wait another half hour, and then go wreak havoc to find his fake-boyfriend. He only hopes he doesn’t have to resort to it. He paces the area, eyes on a lookout, and ears trained to hear any footsteps but nothing comes.
He lasts ten minutes, and then he is striding up the stairs, going blindly to where he thinks Cenred’s suite is. He stops in his tracks when he reaches it.
The door is wide open.
This does not look good.
Careful of any alarms, he steps inside. His eyes first land on the unconscious King of Esseter on his bed and feels relieved for a second- Cenred being asleep means Merlin got the plan to work. Then he notices the open and empty locker, and no Merlin in sight and dread settles in his belly.
He backtracks out of the room, on high alert now. If Merlin is caught, then the castle guards are probably looking for him. There’s only one safe way to confirm that. Cautiously, he sneaks towards his floor, and can already see it crawling with Cenred’s- but no, Cenred is unconscious right now, Morgause’s- men. Damn. Their secret is definitely out.
He counts his blessings for deciding on a rendezvous point and already being there before Merlin had idiotically gotten himself caught. Arthur tries really hard to be annoyed at Merlin, but all he can manage is being angry at himself. Merlin was not a field agent, and he had reminded him of that so many times. Arthur had been too cocky to listen. If something happened to Merlin, Arthur doesn’t know if Gaius will ever forgive him. Hell, he isn’t sure if Arthur will ever forgive himself.
He has to sneak out of the castle, sure that Merlin isn’t being held in here. There are too many guests, too many prying eyes. He considers mingling into the crowd and leaving through the main door but decides against it. Instead, he climbs out of a second floor window, after waiting for the patrol guard to move away from that area. Climbing down stealthily, he crosses the gardens and climbs the perimeter wall. He’s lucky that the old castle walls have too many footholds, and that Cenred does not keep dogs.
Arthur waits on top of the wall until the two patrol guards are right below him, before jumping down. He subdues them easily, taking them unawares and appropriates their weapons, holding a gun and tucking the other in his waistband. They also have knives, which Arthur strategically places in different pockets, knowing they would come in handy.
Then he takes off in a jog. He needs to find Merlin, with as much haste as possible. But he doesn’t even know where to start looking. Esseter is not a small kingdom and on top of that he is completely unfamiliar with it. Merlin could be anywhere. Gwen would probably know where to start, but he needs a way to contact her.
When he is safely away from the Castle, he spots a teenager walking, his eyes glued to the screen of his phone. He gets an idea. Hiding his weapons, he stops him, and asks him if he can borrow it.
“Where’s your own?” he asks, suspicious.
“Lost it.” Arthur tries a sheepish look.
“It will cost you.”
Shit. Arthur isn’t carrying any money on his person either.
“Would this watch do?” He takes his watch off, dangling it in front of the boy. Merlin would be angry at him losing yet another gadget, but he is trying to save his life here.
The teenager looks unsure for a second, and then he nods. Snatching the watch, he gives his phone to Arthur and starts walking fast, probably towards a pawn shop. Arthur winces. The shop would probably have no idea about the price of the thing.
He dials Gwen as soon as the kid is out of hearing range. Her personal phone, instead of the office. Because he doesn’t want this on record.
“Gwen here.”
“Guinevere, thank God. I need your help.”
“Arthur? How are you calling? Are you not in the Fyrein castle anymore? Is everything okay? Are you hurt? Is Merlin hurt?”
Arthur feels touched at her concern.
“Something happened. The plan is changed a bit. And I have lost Merlin…”
“Lost…” The voice on the other end goes shrill; disbelieving.
“Yes. I am afraid you heard right?”
“How do you lose a whole person?”
“Please Gwen. Can you help me? Do you have a tracker on him?”
“We usually do have trackers on our assets Arthur. But he specifically asked his to be removed before going on this mission. Too much risk of detection…”
“Damn it.”
“Although, he has been talking about some sort of smart blood, undetectable and shorter ranger… but I don’t know if it worked out.”
Oh.
Oh Shit.
He pulls the phone away from his ear, ignoring the rest of Gwen’s sentence and turns around. He can’t see the teenager whose phone he took anymore.
Shit.
He breaks into a run.
Now he remembers it. Merlin injecting the tracer into his vein and telling him about it. He had been so wrapped up in the feel of Merlin that the meaning behind the whole thing had totally escaped his mind. He has had way to find Merlin all along. The genius had to foresight to expect this.
There’s only one problem: the smart blood is coded to his watch!