Arthur was falling into a deep, dark hole, of which he could not climb out. Not metaphorically Arthur had literally just fell in a hole. He had landed on his back. It was painful.

"Sire! Are you alright?" Sir Leon asked.

Arthur grimaced and bit back a comment that would result in his abandonment. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Don't worry," Gwaine smiled, "Princess is tougher than he looks, and he has a lot of experience with falling for things." The knight winked. He had been much more cheerful since they had left to find Merlin.

Arthur's face reddened. "Come on, you idiot, help me up," he said, changing the subject.

"Well of course, Sire," said Gwaine, mockingly. "We wouldn't want someone else to find Merlin, first!"

The king sighed in annoyance. This was going to be a long trip.

The knights and king of the round table were on an expedition, looking for Merlin.

They were still only on the second day of their trip, and had not seen any sign of humanity. It was reaching nightfall, and the knights had decided to stop and set up camp.

Arthur barely heard the  knights' conversation. He was lost in his own thoughts.

Just before dark, the king went to get some more water with Gwaine and Leon. That was when it happened; he fell in that damned hole. It had been covered in leaves and branches, and was probably an animal den of some sort.

"Now, will you help me out of this blasted pit?"

Leon lowered down a rope, and Arthur started climbing it.

It was difficult with Arthur's heavy and stiff armor, but he was a grown-ass man, and a trained-ass knight, so he could climb a stupid-ass rope.

An hour later, they were sitting by the fire, eating stew. Of course, it wasn't as good as Merlin's stew, but it would have to make due. Besides, Gwaine had eaten all of the apples.

The men soon went to sleep. All but Arthur, that is. Arthur could not sleep. He was too worried. And much too confused. His thoughts swirled around in his head.

Who was Emrys? Why had Arthur never heard of him? Why didn't Merlin tell Arthur about him? Was Merlin's kidnapping not Arthur's fault, after all?

That thought made Arthur feel guiltily relieved. But it didn't matter why Morgana had taken him. As long as Merlin's life was in danger, it was Arthur's duty to rescue him.

Arthur needed Merlin, it was like he was incomplete without the boy. Arthur couldn't quite explain it, but he didn't need to. Besides, Gwaine would make fun of him for saying things as soppy as that. Arthur could practically hear his voice. Finally, the princess acts his part! Arthur almost laughed out loud.

All night Arthur's mind spun, thinking of Merlin: his dark hair, fun-loving demeanor, his expression when he thought no one was looking. Would the king ever see that expression again?

The King thought about how much he missed Merlin. It was sad, really, how much he depended on the idiot.

For hours, Arthur was awake, until exhaustion finally overtook him.

When Arthur woke up, tired and bleary, he almost called out for Merlin. But he didn't, luckily. Instead, he carefully scanned his surroundings.

The forest was peaceful, but there was something different, something off about the place. Where are the animals? That was strange. There were no living creatures, not a single breeze, and the only movement was from Arthur.

He looked around at the knights. All of the knights were sleeping soundly, except Gwaine. Looking at the empty space that a snoring Gwaine usually took up, Arthur panicked. Gwaine never woke up this early, for, the sun had just starting rising.

Arthur thought of waking the other knights to tell them about Gwaine's dissappearance, but something stopped him from doing it. Arthur didn't know what, and he didn't want to know.

He had to leave, now; he had to find Gwaine.

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POTATTOPOTATOPOTATOPOTATO

Back in her chambers, Morgana was smiling.

Getting Arthur to leave the campsite was almost too easy. All she had to do was cast a spell on him, and he was hers. Hallucinations were very useful. Morgana couldn't wait for her plan to unfold.

She would trap him in her dungeons, for maybe a week or more, and then she would kill Merlin, painfully, right in front of the simpleminded king. Finally, she would let Arthur go, and with a broken king, Camelot would be ripe for the picking.