Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

No young woman, no matter how great, can know her destiny. She cannot glimpse her part in the great story that is about to unfold. Like everyone, she must live and learn. And so it will be for the young warlock arriving at the gates of Camelot. A girl that will, in time, father the legend. Her name: Merlin

Merlin is a young woman from the village of Ealdor. She has brown hair and bright blue eyes. She is taller than most girls her age and thinner. She wore her normal outfit. A red shirt along with her blue neckerchief and black trousers. You know, traveling clothes. Her hair was long but usually kept under a hat to keep it out of her face. As she walked over the hill she could see the Castle. She smiled at the sight. It was gorgeous. The way the sun hit the roof, was phenomenal.

By the time she made it to the town, she was in awe. All the people and vendors and performers it was much different than the small town in which she came. She could see people gathering in the citadel square. When she reached the crowd she saw a man with a crown on top of his head and knights by his side: The King. Then she looked in front of her to see a man on his knees head on a chopping block, and an executor, waiting. The man Merlin deduced was the king cleared his throat and the people watched him with anticipation.

"Let this serve as a lesson to all. This man, Thomas James Collins, is adjudged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic. And, pursuant to the laws of Camelot, I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned on penalty of death. I pride myself as a fair and just king, but for the crime of sorcery, there is but one sentence I can pass."

He then raised his arm, then lowers it as a signal to the executioner. As Thomas Collins is beheaded, the people gasp and turn away. Merlin's eyes were glued to the spot in horror. The whispering and gasps stopped when Uther started to speak again.

"When I came to this land, this kingdom was mired in chaos, but with the people's help magic was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival to celebrate twenty years since the Great Dragon was captured and Camelot freed from the evil of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin." Merlin's face twisted in disgust as he and the people cheered. How could they celebrate killing hundreds of people, killing almost an entire race, and then capturing it and caging it?

Once the cheers died down all that could be heard was a woman's cries, Mary Collins the boy's mother. All heads turned to her as she stared dead at the king.

"There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic! It is you! With your hatred and your ignorance! You took my son! And I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son." Uther's face is red in anger.

"Seize her!" He shouts to the knights and guards. But she starts to chant a spell, once she is done she disappears in a whirlwind of smoke. People scurry away in fear.

She had to get away from all of this before she threw up. Merlin, still a little shaken by the beheading, walks up to a guard and smiles. "Where would I find Gaius, the-the court physician? "

She curses her stutter as the guard smiles and points to the stairwell behind him. Merlin says thanks and walks up steps and knocks on the open door to the physician's quarters and peeks inside.

"Hello?"

Hearing no response she wanders inside. Looking around she sees many things including a freaky bunny mask but she finally spots Gaius on a balcony looking at a bookshelf.

"Hello? Gaius?"

Gaius, startled, trips over backward from the bookshelf stairs, and the railing breaks. Merlin's eyes glow as she slows time. She looks around frantically to see a patient's cot. She quickly moves the cot under Gaius before he hits the floor.

Gaius stands up and stares shocked at the girl. "What did you just do?" Merlin, not knowing how to answer just stutters, which makes Gaius only push harder.

"Tell me!"

Merlin finally having found her voice stammers out, "I- I- I have no idea what happened."

Gaius continues to look at the girl and mumbles under his breath, " If anyone had seen that..."

Merlin's eyes widen as wide as dinner plates. "Err, no! That- that was, that was nothing to do with me. That- that was..."

"I know what it was! I just want to know where you learned how to do it!" Gaius demanded.

"Nowhere," Merlin told truthfully.

"So how is it you know magic?" Gaius says not believing the girl.

"I don't." She stated, once again honestly.

"Where did you study?... Answer me!" He yelled once he got no reply.

"I- I've never studied magic or, or been taught," Merlin said still scared.

"Are you lying to me, boy?" BOY?! Did she really look that much like a boy right now? She looked down at herself and saw that her figure was covered by baggy clothes. She was pulled out of her thoughts as Gaius cleared his throat.

"What do you want me to say?" She questioned.

"The truth!" He shouted.

"I was born like this!" She shouted back. He wanted to yell she could yell.

"That's impossible!" Gaius scoffed. Once he realized he had no idea who she was suddenly looked at her again. "Who are you?"

"Oh, erm..." Merlin pulls off her backpack. "I have this letter." Merlin gets a letter out of her bag and hands it to Gaius.

Gaius stares at the letter blankly then tells the girl. "I don't have my glasses."

"Oh... I'm Merlin." She said awkwardly.

Gaius' face lights up in recognition "Hunith's daughter?" Once he says the word daughter he looks her up and down and smiles sheepishly noticing his mistake. His smile grows as she nods.

"But you're not meant to be here till Wednesday!" He replies happily.

Merlin stared at him for a moment, confused. "Um... It is Wednesday."

Gaius stares at her for a moment the looking flustered points to a room behind him. "Ah, right then. You better put your bag in there."

She nods and starts to walk up to the room but stops and turns to him once more. "You- you won't say anything about, erm..." She pointed towards the cot and rubble from the balcony.

Gaius smiles sympathetically and shakes his head. "No. Although, Merlin, I should say thank you."

Merlin smiles and walks into the room. She puts her stuff down and starts to unpack her few belongings. She takes out her clothes and puts them into the closet, hanging her three shirts, her two trousers, and lastly her neckerchiefs. Once she's done she goes over to her window to see the entire town. She smiles and watches until the sunsets.

Gaius in the other room opens the letter and puts on his glasses.

My dear Gaius, I turn to you for I feel lost and alone and don't know who to trust. It is every mother's fate to think her child is special, and yet I would give my life that Merlin was not so. Ours is a small village and she is so clearly at odds with people here that, if she were to remain, I fear what would become of her. She needs a hand to hold, a voice to guide, someone that might help her find a purpose for her gifts. I beg you if you understand a mother's love for her daughter, keep her safe, and may God save you both.

From Hunith

'This girl is going to be trouble.' Gaius thought as he looked at the door to her room.

--------

In another part of the castle, a woman stood looking out over the town. She was taller than most women had black hair and gorgeous green eyes.

"Morgana," Uther called walking towards her. She turned and hummed.

"What is this? Why are you not joining us at the feast? " Uther asked once he reached her.

"I just don't think chopping someone's head off is cause for a celebration. That poor mother." Morgana sighed looking back out over the town.

Uther sneered in disgust and annoyance. "It was simple justice for what he'd done."

"To whom? He practiced some magic, he didn't hurt anyone." Morgana demanded.

Uther glared at the girl and strickly said, "You were not around twenty years ago, you have no idea what it was like."

"How long are you going to keep punishing people for what happened then?"

"Until they realize there is no room for magic in my kingdom! You will be with me when I greet Lady Helen." He said and started to walk off.

"I told you! I want no part in these celebrations!" He paused and turned to her.

"I'm your guardian! I expect you to do as I ask. If you show me no respect at least respect our finest singer." Then he started off again.

"You know, the more brutal you are, the more enemies you will create!" She called after him.

---------

Of in the forest in a clearing is a camp. Inside the main tent of the camp, there is Lady Helen. She is a beautiful woman with brown hair and brown eyes. She sits humming as she brushes her hair. She stops at a sound coming from outside of her tent.

"Hello? Gregory?" The lady calls.

Gregory, a Camelot knight appears and bows and looks at her gesturing her to continue.

"Is all well?" She asks worriedly.

Gregory smiles and nods his head. "Yes, ma'am. With luck, we should reach Camelot late tomorrow. "

She manages a smile and nods. "That's good."

Gregory, noticing her panic, places a hand on her arm. "I'll be outside if you need me." He says gently.

Gregory goes outside and notices something, he draws his sword. "Who's there? Who's there?"

Lady Helen inside the tent is about to go and see what is causing the trouble when Thomas Collins' mother blocks her way.

Just as the Lady is about to scream the witch starts to chant while stabbing a voodoo doll. "Akwele seo magdp. Akwele seo magdp. Akwele seo magdp."

With each stab, Helen feels in more pain and soon drops to the ground dead.

Mary Collins stands over and chants another spell. Turning her into the dead lady on the floor.

-------

Back in Gaius's chambers Merlin sleeps and dreams. But is woken up by an unfamiliar voice.

"Merlin...Merlin..."

Merlin wakes up in a start and gets out of bed and looks around to see the room empty. Merlin changed out of her nightgown and grabs her normal outfit once again.

"I got you water. You didn't wash last night." Gaius says once she enters the main room.

"Sorry," Merlins says because she's not used to washing every day.

"Help yourself to breakfast," Gaius says and gestures to a bowl of porridge on the table.

Merlin sits down to eat watery porridge. Gaius intentionally knocks a bucket of water off the table. Merlin stands up and stops it with magic. Gaius gasps and looks at her amazed. She looks at him then quickly lets it drop.

"How did you do that? Did you incant a spell in your mind?" He asks still amazed

"I don't know any spells." She says and looks down at the floor.

"So what did you do? There must be something." She sakes her head.

"It just happens." Merlin grabbed a mop to clean and get the attention off her.

"Well, we better keep you out of trouble. You can help me until I find some paid work for you. Here." He places a small sac and bottle into her hands and explains what to do with them.

"Hollyhock and Feverfew for Lady Percival, and this is for Sir Olwin. He's as blind as a weevil, so warn him not to take it all at once." Merlin nods and starts for the door.

Gaius stops her and hands him an apple. "And here." Merlin smiles and takes the apple.

"Off you go. And Merlin, I need hardly tell you that the practice of any form of enchantments will get you killed." Merlin smiles at him, grabs her hat, and walks out the door.

Merlin eats her apple as she walks down the Physician's Corridor and through the Square to deliver the medicine. After asking around and wandering for a while she finally found the house. She knocks on a door and squinting old man answers. She smiles and shows him the bottle.

"Erm, I brought you your medicine." Sir Olwin pops the cork and starts drinking it.

"Oh, and Gaius said don't drink it all at..." She tries to explain but stops as he finishes the remedy. "I'm sure it's fine."

After that, she decided to go for a walk and get a sense of the city. When Merlin crosses the drawbridge gate into the training grounds, she stops to see a man with blonde hair and other knights talking to a brown-haired servant.

"We can't have our target in the sun. Now can we?" The blonde says and fake pouts.

"But, it's not that bright." The servant says confused.

"A bit like you then, Morris?" The knight and his friends laugh. Merlin makes an angry face. These men were knights and that's how they treat their servants.

"I'll put the target on the other end, shall I, Sir?" Morris says slightly annoyed and begins carrying the target toward the wall.

"Teach him a lesson. Go on, boy." One of the older knights says. Merlin looks worriedly from the knights to the boy.

"This'll teach him." The blonde says and grabs daggers. As he starts to throw daggers Morris lets out a yelp.

"Maybe you shouldn-" One of the other knights says but is quickly cut off by the others laughing. He walks off over to the weapons wrack done with the younger knights.

"Hey! Hang on!" He yells trying to put the target down. But the blonde is persistent. He keeps throwing daggers and makes Morris keep running. With one last throw, Morris finally drops the target and it rolls to Merlin's feet. Merlin puts a foot on it so Morris can't pick it up.

"Hey, come on, that's enough." Merlin says to the blonde.

He stares at her shocked. "What?"

"You've had your fun, my friend." She smiles down at Morris and looks back at the knight.

He asks looking her up and down. "Do I know you?"

"Er, I'm Merlin." She held out her hand smiling, in an attempt to make new friends.

"So I don't know you." He says smug and she puts down her hand. She looks around to see a crowd as formed, all wearing the same shocked expression.

'So much for making a friend.' She thought as she shook her head with a soft. "No."

"Yet you called me 'friend.'" He says amused.

"That was my mistake." At his nod, she continues. "Yeah. I'd never have a friend who could be such an ass." As she starts to walk away she can hear his laugh.

"Or I one who could be so stupid." She stops walking and looks at him.

"Tell me, Merlin" He sarcastically says her name. "Do you know how to walk on your knees?" She shakes her head.

"Would you like me to teach you?" He says and smirks evilly.

"I wouldn't if I were you." The brunette says gaining confidence.

He laughs. "Why? What are you going to do to me?"

"You have no idea what I could do." She says and takes a step forward so there only an inch apart.

"Be my guest! Come on! Come on! Come oooooon." At first, she thinks of punching him but realizes that he would probably catch her fist. So she takes plan B.

She grabs his face and pecks him on the lips, once she pulls back she uses his shock to punch him in the face. She could hear the crowd let out a gasp.

"I'll have you thrown in jail for that." He says holding his chin.

"What, who do you think you are? The King?" She asks sarcastically.

"No. I'm his son, Arthur." She closes her eyes and puts her head down in defeat.

"Of course you are." She says as the guards take her away. The guards take her away and throw her into her cell. Leaving her to think of how stupid she is.

---------

That night, Mary Collins, disguised as Lady Helen, rides across the drawbridge and into the Square with her escort. Her reflection in a puddle reveals Mary in her true appearance. Mary (Lady Helen) enters the Throne Room to meet Uther and a few court members.

"Lady Helen. Thank you so much for coming to sing at our celebrations." Uther says standing.

"The pleasure's all mine." She replies and bows.

"How was your journey?" He asks walking towards her.

The witch in disguise sighed. "Oh, the time it took, Sire." She smiled as Uther kisses her hands.

"Well, it's always worth the wait." He says trying to reassure her.

"It will be." She smirks evilly.

-------------

The next morning as Merlin sits in her cell she hears the same voice from the night before.

"Merlin... Merlin..." Confused she gets up and backs away from where the voice is coming from.

"Merlin..."

Merlin moves towards the floor and inspects it. But is interrupted by Gaius walking towards her cell along with a guard.

"Merlin!" He says as the doors open. He steps in and hugs her.

"You never cease to amaze me! The one thing that someone like you should do is keep your head down, and what do you do? You behave like an idiot." He says into her hair.

"I'm sorry." She says breaking the hug and looking down to the floor.

"You're lucky. I managed to pull a few strings to get you released." Merlin looks back up and hugs him again.

"Thank you." She says quietly. "I won't forget this."

"Well, there is a small price to pay." He smiles as her head tilts in confusion.

Merlin ducks her head as people passing throw rotten fruits and vegetables at her. She glares at her guardian hearing him laugh as he walked away. As the children run off to get more ammo a woman, with darker skin, brown hair and eyes, walks up to the stocks.

"Hello I'm Guinevere, but most people call me Gwen. I'm the Lady Morgana's maid." She smiles and introduces herself back, though not really knowing who Morgana is.

"Right. I'm Merlin." Merlin reaches out to shake her visitor's hand. "Although, most people just call me Idiot."

"No, no, no. I saw what you did. It was so brave. And funny." They both chuckled but then Merlin shook her head.

"It was stupid."

"Well, I'm glad you let them take you away. You weren't going to beat him." Merlin laughed and smiled.

"Oh, I- I can beat him."

"You think? Because you don't look like one of these big, muscle-y kind of fellows." Gwen smiles doubting.

"Thanks." She says sarcastically.

Once Gwen realizes what she did she quickly went to fix it. "No! No, I'm sure you're stronger than you look. It's just, erm... Arthur's one of these real rough, tough, save the world kind of men, and... well..." She trails off.

"What?" Merlin asks causing her to continue.

"You don't look like that." Merlin chuckles.

"Of course I don't look like one of those rough, tough, save the world kind of guys. I am however a rough, tough, save the world kind of woman." Gwen's eyes widen as they look her up and down once again.

"So that's why you kissed him." Gwen laughs and Merlin's eyes widen in realization.

"That's why he was so shocked. He thought I was a guy!" She said laughing.

Once their laughs died Gwen smiled sweetly at her. "Well, it's great you stood up to him."

"You think so?" Because yes how amazing kissing and punching a prince is.

"Arthur's a bully, and everyone thought you were a real hero."

"Really?" Gwen nods as the children line up once again ready to fire.

"Oh, excuse me, Guinevere. My fans are waiting." She laughs and runs off in an attempt to avoid the flying food.

After a couple of hours, a guard comes and lets her go. She smiles in thanks and runs off to her chambers. Once she walks in she see Gaius cooking supper and water for a bath.

"Do you want some vegetables with that?" He asks dryly.

Merlin laughs but grows serious. "I know you're still angry with me."

"Your mother asked me to look after you." Gaius looks at her to see her head down in shame.

"What did your mother say to you about your gifts?" He says changing the subject.

"That I was special."

"You are special. The likes of which I have never seen before." She looks up confused.

"What do you mean?" She asks as she sits down across from him.

"Well, magic requires incantations, spells. It takes years to study. What I saw you do was... elemental, instinctive."

"Did you ever study magic?" Merlin asks wondering how he knew all of this.

"Uther banned all such work twenty years ago." He says not answering her question.

"Why?"

"People used magic for the wrong end at that time. It threw the natural order into chaos. Uther made it his mission to destroy everything from back then, even the dragons." Merlin's eyes widened.

"What? All of them?" Gaius shakes his head.

"There was one dragon he chose not to kill, kept it as an example. He imprisoned it in a cave deep beneath the castle where no one can free it. Now, eat up. When you've finished, I need you to take preparation to Lady Helen. She needs it for her voice." Merlin nods still in thought.

Merlin walks up Spiral Stairway across the Balcony Corridor and enters Lady Helen's guest chamber. She walks over to a table and puts the potion bottle down. Then she noticed a doll and a special book. Merlin freezes hearing footsteps coming and puts the book down, trying to cover up the evidence that she was snooping.

"What are you doing in here?" The imposter demanded.

"An... I- I was asked to deliver this." Merlin picks up the potion bottle from the table and hands her the bottle. Then Merlin runs like there is no tomorrow.

----------

The next morning Merlin walks across the Square and passes Arthur and his gang as he walks through the Lower Town. She tries to keep her head down so they don't notice her hopes are crushed as she hears Arthur call behind her.

"How's your knee-walking coming along?" But Merlin tries to keep walking, not wanting more trouble.

"Aw, don't run away!" Merlin stops and turns.

"From you?"

Arthur fake sighs in relief. "Thank God. I thought you were deaf as well as dumb."

"Look, I've told you you're an ass. I just didn't realize you were a royal one." She says then looks at the knights behind the prince. "Oh, what are you going to do? Get your daddy's men to protect you?"

"I could take you apart with one blow." He laughs.

"I could take you apart with less than that." She takes a step towards him.

"Are you sure? I highly doubt a scrawny gay guy could." She got angry at that. Not at the fact that she was called a guy again. Oh no, it was the fact that he was offending gay people.

Merlin looks around to see another crowd has formed. She sighs and stands straight.

"Come on then." They all laugh. Once they all look away she magically enchants her hat so it stays on.

"Here you go." He says as one of his knights hands him a mace, which he tosses at Merlin. She picks it up and Arthur starts swinging his mace with ease.

"Come on, then. I warn you, I've been trained to kill since birth." He threatens.

"Wow, and how long have you been training to be a prat?" She pretends to be fake impressed.

Arthur snorts. "You can't address me like that."

"I'm sorry." Arthur smiles at his victory but that's quickly gone when Merlin continues. "How long have you been training to be a prat... My Lord?" Merlin gives a little bow. Arthur smiles a perturbed grin and starts swinging at Merlin.

"Come on then, Merlin! Come on!" He yells as he backs Merlin into the market stalls and the crowd continues to gather. Gaius hears the commotion and looks out the Physician's Chambers' window to see Merlin in trouble again.

"Haha. You're in trouble now."

'Oh no.' That is the only thought Merlin could come up with.

Merlin looks for something to help her. She sees a couple of large hooks and magically entangles them with Arthur's mace. Arthur looks up in confusion and takes a moment to untangle them. Merlin tries to get away but Arthur is faster. By the time Arthur untangles it he attacks again. Merlin moves a box and Arthur steps into it, banging his shin. Causing him to yelp in pain.

Arthur pursues her again, Merlin tightens a rope on the ground, tripping Arthur. Merlin picks up the mace and starts swinging it at Arthur. But misses because of her hat.

Arthur backs up, catching his foot in a bucket and falling over backward. Merlin, thrilled by his victory, spots Gaius in the crowd and pauses. Arthur attacks her from behind with a broom, knocking her to the ground. Guards begin picking Merlin up.

"Wait. Let him go. He may be an idiot, but he's a brave one. There's something about you, Merlin. I can't quite put my finger on it." With that Arthur walks off.

She walks back to Gaius's chambers in an ashamed silence. She knows what will happen the moment that door will close.

"How could you be so foolish?!" Gaius shouts as the door closes.

'Called it.' She thinks to herself.

"He needed to be taught a lesson." She tries to explain, but Gaius is having none of it.

"Magic must be studied, mastered, and used for good! Not for idiotic pranks!" He lectured.

"What do I study? I've been stuck like this since before I could talk!" She said back sharply.

"Then, by now, you should know how to control yourself!" He yelled.

"I don't want to! If I can't use magic, what have I got?! I'm just a nobody, and I always will be. If I can't use magic, I might as well die." She yelled back then storms off to her chambers.

As she sits there Gaius walks in with a medical basket and tells her to take off her shirt to help. She does to reveal her chest bindings along with a nasty bruise.

"I'm not a monster, am I?" She says out of nowhere startling Gaius. Once he's processed what he's heard he looks the girl in the eyes.

"Don't ever think that." He says then hugs the girl.

That night Merlin lays awake in her bed staring at the ceiling. When she heard the voice chanting her name again.

"Merlin... Merlin..."

Merlin gets out of bed and sees Gaius sleeping in his bed. She magically causes the blanket to raise on him and she leaves.

"Merlin... "

She descends the Wrought Iron Stairway to see a pair of guards. She distracts the guards by rolling their dice away from them. She grabs a torch, lights it, and heads down the Tunnel Stairway.

"Merlin... Merlin..."

She looks around in awe as she enters a cave under the Castle.

"Merlin." The voice says with a chuckle. Merlin looks around for the owner of the voice to find herself alone.

"Where are you?" She asks then suddenly a dragon, I repeat a BLOODY DRAGON lands in front of her.

"I'm here!" She yelps as the dragon looks her up and down. "My, How small you are for such a great destiny."

"You can talk?!" She asked shocked. The dragon smirks amused.

"Indeed I can." She nods.

"Alright. Talking dragon." She suddenly remember something the dragon said. "What do you mean? What destiny?"

"Your gift, Merlin, was given to you for a reason." The dragon says and her face lights up.

"So there is a reason." She says happily to herself.

"Arthur is the Once and Future King who will unite the land of Albion."

"Right." She says slowly.

"But he faces many threats from friend and foe alike."

"I don't see what this has to do with me." She said confused.

"Everything. Without you, Arthur will never succeed. Without you, there will be no Albion."

"No. No, you've got this wrong." She tried to deny it. There was no way that she could help unite all of Albion.

"There is no right or wrong, only what is and what isn't." What does that even mean?

"But I'm serious! If anyone wants to go and kill him, they can go ahead. In fact, I'll give them a hand." The dragon laughs.

"None of us can choose our destiny, Merlin, and none of us can escape it."

"No. No way. No. No. There must be another Arthur because this one's an idiot." Merlin tries to deny it.

"Perhaps it's your destiny to change that." She looks deep in thought then suddenly looks at the dragon.

"Do you have a name?"

The dragon smiles "Kilgharrah." He says then flies off.

-----------------------

The next morning Gaius enters Merlin's messy chamber and picks up her clothes.

"Oi!" He yells making Merlin wake up.

"Have you seen the state of this room?!"

"It just happens." She tried to explain.

"By magic?" He asks jokingly.

"Yes!" Gaius looks around taken back.

"Oh, I want you to get me some herbs: henbane, wormwood, and sorrel. And deliver this to Morgana. The poor girl's suffering from nightmares."

"Mmm, I know the feeling." She said to herself.

Merlin walks through the Griffin Landing and up some curved steps to Morgana's Chambers. Merlin enters the open door and stares at Morgana as she walks behind her changing screen.

"You know, I've been thinking about Arthur. I wouldn't touch him with a lance pole. Pass me that dress, will you Gwen?" Merlin looks around confused for Gwen but realizes that Morgana is talking to her. She picked up the dress and handed it to Morgana.

"I'm not Gwen, but here you go." Morgana walks out from behind the screen.

"Who are you?" She says confused.

"I'm Merlin. I'm here to give you your sleeping draught." She shows Morgana the bottle.

"You're the girl who challenged Arthur." At her nod, Morgana smiled. "Good Job. It is hard for Arthur to become embarrassed and trust me, when he came back yesterday he was basically yelling about how, and I quote, 'This annoying stupid gay guy could treat him like garbage'. I'm surprised he even let you go." Morgana smiled at Merlin's laugh.

"It was funny to see his face of shock after I kissed him. I didn't even realize that he probably thought I was a guy until Gwen talk to me about it."

"How come you look such like a boy?" She asked going back behind the screen.

"Well I put my hair under a hat and I bind my chest because it's hard to work with your hair and boobs flying everywhere." Morgana laughed.

"Touché"

"So why have you been thinking about Arthur?"

"The man's a total jouster. And just because I'm the King's ward, that doesn't mean I have to accompany him to the feast, does it."

"No."

"If he wants me to go, then he should invite me, and he hasn't." She states flatly.

"So do you know what that means?" She walks back out.

"No, I don't."

"Can you help me with these fastenings?" Merlin nodded and walked over to help. "It means I'm going by myself."

"Good for you," Merlin says as she's done helping Morgana. Just as they both walk out from behind the screen they see Gwen walk in.

"Gwen! Oh good, I can use your opinion too!" Morgana says then quickly goes back behind the screen.

"What are you doing here?" Gwen asks Merlin, obviously surprised she's here.

"I had to deliver Morgana her sleeping draught."

Gwen nods. Morgana then comes out holding two dresses. A red one and a green one.

"I need your opinions. So, it's whether I wear this little tease... or give them a night they'll really remember." Both of the peasants looked at the dresses.

"The red one." Both girls say at the same time.

"What will you be wearing Merlin?" Merlin looks at them shocked.

"I'm going?"

"Well, you are technically a ward of a member of the court. So they wouldn't stop you. But you wouldn't get to sit down or anything." Morgana explains.

"Oh. Well, I still probably won't go. I mean I don't even have anything nice enough to wear. I didn't bring any dresses with me other than my nightgown."

"Well we can fix that, can't we Gwen?" Morgana asked Gwen, who nodded eagerly.

"Definitely, My Lady." Merlin raised her eyebrows at the two.

"Take off your hat. I have to see what I'm working with." Merlin took off her hat slowly, still not understanding what's going on, allowing her long dark brown hair to fall.

"Your hair is so pretty! Why hid it?!" Gwen asks putting her hand in her hair.

"And so soft!" Merlin looks at Morgana who is currently looking at dresses.

"I think the green one. Right, Gwen."

"Oh, but the blue would make her eyes pop, My Lady."

"If it's her eyes were worried about how about the purple."

"The purple. BRILLIANT!"

"What's happening?" Merlin asked after a moment.

"Just come back here before the feast."

"Alright. I have to go get herbs for Gaius. I'll see you then." She said as she left. Once she was out the door she started walking towards the market. She put her hair back into her hat and walks off again.

-------------------

While walking she was walking she heard voices around the corner. It was a knight, the same knight that tried to stop Arthur from hurting Morris. The knight hadn't seen her and bumped into her causing her and her hat to fall onto the floor.

"I'm so sorry Mis - Merlin?" The knight asked shocked.

"Yes, yes I'm a girl, I know shocking. And It's alright I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going." She said looking up to meet the knight's eyes. He was quite attractive, he had strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes. His hair however looked stupid slicked back.

"No, I mean it's not shocki-" He stopped at her glare. "Alright, it is a little shocking. But you can't blame me."

"I don't. I bind my chest and hide my hair. So you know, I look kind of male." She smiled at him as she put her hair back up.

"Oh, well I'm Leon. Sir Leon." He held out his hand.

"Hello, Sir Leon. I am Merlin." She shook his hand and smiled.

"I wanted to say thank you. For what you did the other day. Standing up to Arthur. It deflated his ego and lord knows it's bigger than the entire kingdom." Leon said and Merlin giggled.

"But, honestly, on behalf of all of Camelot. Thank you. He is an arrogant man who needs someone to yell at him every once in a while other than his father." Leon smiled and Merlin smiled back.

"No problem Sir Leon."

"Will I be seeing you at the feast?" He asks suddenly.

"I'm not sure. The Lady Morgana and Gwen might change my plans of not going." She said.

"Well, I hope they can change your mind. Farwell Merlin." He said as he started walking away.

"Good day Sir Leon." She called back.

----------------------

By the time she had gathered all the herbs for Gaius and cleaned her room, it was almost time for the feast.

She scurried to Morgana's room and knocked. Gwen opened the door and her face instantly brightened.

"Come in!" She said excitedly. "Lady Morgana, Merlin is here." She pulled in Merlin and sat her down on a sofa. Morgana walked out from behind her screen in the dark red dress that Merlin and Gwen picked out. It was tight and it definitely showed off her form. Her hair was already up and all that was left was the makeup.

"Wow, Morgana you look amazing!" Morgana froze in her spot looked down at herself and looked back up and said thank you.

"What's happening?" Merlin asked slightly scared as Gwen took off her hat.

"We are going to get you ready for the feast," Gwen said grabbing a brush and began brushing.

"What? Why?" Merlin asked shocked.

"Because one: you are gorgeous and we want to show that off. Two: well, we want you to be part of our little group. It would be nice to have another girl to talk to. We decided the purple dress right Gwen?" At Gwen's nod, she ran behind the screen to her closet.

"But why me?" Merlin asked when Gwen finally stopped brushing her hair.

"Well, you treat me like a normal human being. I mean you haven't used my title once. Most people look at me like I'm going to have their heads chopped off. And I like that." Morgana said truthfully.

Merlin whispered an 'Oh' and let the two girls do whatever they wanted to do.

First was the hair. They wrapped a braid around her head making it look like a crown then they made the rest of it curly. Then was the dress. She tried to say no, that it was too much, that a peasant couldn't show up in something so beautiful. But her cries were ignored as they forced her to get undressed and take off her bindings, revealing her chest.

"That's just not fair!" Morgana said as she and Gwen stared at her boobs.

"Why hide that?" Gwen asked astonished.

"Well, I guess I'm just used to it. In Ealdor, I had to work every day and boobs just made it hard." The two girls nodded and then put her into the dress.

Now, this dress was gorgeous. It was the purple version of Morgana's dress. It held her figure and definitely showed her cleavage. She smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Now makeup. For all three of us." They then painted all of their lips dark red and gave each other a golden shimmer on their eyes.

"Thank you. I never knew I could look this amazing." She smiled at the two girls.

-------------------------

Merlin and Gwen walk in and hear Arthur retelling the story of how he 'won' their fight. When Morgana walks in all the knights stare causing Arthur to follow their gaze. Merlin saw his mouth from the word 'wow.' Arthur's gaze continues to go around the room but stops on Merlin, who is looking around the room in awe.

"God have mercy." Merlin hears Arthur say but figures he's still looking at Morgana. She continues to look around the room when she hears a person speak behind her.

"I'm glad that Gwen and Morgana convinced you to come." She jumps and turns around to see Leon.

"Leon! You startled me." She says laughing.

"I apologize." He smiles at her. "You look fantastic." He says looking her up and down. Causing her to blush at the compliment.

"Thank you. It's all thanks to Morgana and Gwen. They are magic workers." She says and Leon smiles even more. They stood there for a moment just staring at each other and smiling.

"I'm excited to hear Lady Helen. Apparently, she is the best singer in the entire kingdom." Leon said breaking the silence.

"You've never heard her before?"

"No. This is her first time on Camelot for around 15 years."

"Wow, You know she's kind of scary. I met her because I had to give her a thing for her throat. She was mean." She and Leon laughed.

"Enjoy your night Merlin. I'll see you later." He said as he started to walk off.

"Yeah, you too." She smiled at him as he left.

---------

"So Sir Leon?" Morgana asks as she and Gwen walk up to Merlin.

"What?" She asks but they realize what they mean. "Oh no. It isn't like that. At least I hope it's not because he seams nice and I don't really think of him like that at all." Both girls giggle at her flustered state.

"Do you know how much attention you're getting Merlin?" Gwen asks catching Merlin off guard.

"Attention?" She asks unsure.

"At least half of the knights are staring at you and even Arthur was staring at you for a while. Didn't you hear him say 'God have mercy.' He stared at you the whole time you were talking to Leon"

"I thought he said that about you?" She said looking at Morgana, who just shook her head.

"Oh my god! Arthurs coming over here. Now." Gwen said in an excited whisper. Morgana looked over Merlin's shoulder to see Arthur walking over to them.

"I think he's coming over to speak with you." She said in the same excited whisper as Gwen.

'Oh god no please don't come over. please don't come over.' She thought to herself and silently cheered as the people started making their way to their seats.

The room went silent as Uther started to speak. "We have enjoyed twenty years of peace and prosperity. It has brought the kingdom and myself many pleasures, but few can compare with the honor of introducing Lady Helen of Mora." The room breaks into applause as the music begins. Uther and the court take their seats and sit in anticipation. Lady Helen starts to sing words that aren't in English like Merlin would have thought. She notices the court members begin nodding off to sleep.

'It's a spell!' Merlin thinks and covers her ears so she doesn't fall asleep. Cobwebs begin forming over the enchanted sleepers, which in Merlin's mind is one: totally unnecessary and two: gross.

The witch stares at Arthur as she continues forward. Suddenly, she pulls a dagger from her sleeve and aims for Arthur. Merlin, in a panic, looked around and sees the chandelier and magically drops the chandelier on the imposter. As the court members wake and pull the cobwebs off, muttering, Merlin watches as the spell-changing witches' appearance slowly vanish.

Uther and Arthur stand up to see Mary Collins lying on the floor. Mary raises herself up enough to throw the dagger at Arthur, then dies, the chandelier's weight being too much for her body to handle. Merlin slows downtime to reach Arthur and pull him out of harm's way. The dagger slices into Arthur's chair as they fall to the floor. Uther stared at Merlin as Arthur helped her up.

"What is your name?" Uther asks still astonished.

"My name is Merlin." She responds nervously. Arthur's eyes widen as he looks her up and down gobsmacked.

"You saved my boy's life. A debt must be repaid." He says and she tries to deny his offer but is quickly shut up.

"Don't be so modest. You shall be rewarded." She tries again to tell him it was nothing but he is having none of it.

"You shall be rewarded a position in the royal household. You shall be Prince Arthur's maidservant." He says as the court cheers for her.

"Father!" Arthur says upset.

Merlin looks over Arthur to see Gwen and Morgana clapping with a pitying smile on their face.

'Great.' She thinks sarcastically to herself.

------------

After the feast, Merlin stayed in her room sitting thinking in her nightgown.

"Seems you're a hero," Gaius said smiling.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" She replied smiling. Gaius shook his head.

"No. I knew it from the moment I met you. When you saved my life, remember?" He pulled out a package wrapped in red cloth.

"But...that was magic." She stated confused.

"And now, it seems, we finally found a use for it." She looks up confused.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw how you saved Arthur's life.

"Oh, no." She said remembering the conversation she had with Kilgharrah.

"Perhaps that's its purpose."

"My destiny." She mumbles realizing that he was right.

"Indeed. This book was given to me when I was your age, but I have a feeling it will be of more use to you than it was to me. " Gaius hands Merlin the wrapped object in a cloth. Merlin unlatches it and looks inside.

"But this is a book of magic." She says in awe

"Which is why you must keep it hidden." He says with a pointed look.

"I will study every word." She says and hugs her mentor.

They pull apart when there was a knock on the door. A guard opens the door and says that Arthur needed her.

"Your destiny's calling. You'd better find out what he wants." He said and smiled at her as she walked off to find him.

Chapter Text

Merlin and Arthur were on the training field both in armor and both holding swords. 

"Ready?" Arthur said getting into a battle stance.

"Would it make any difference if I said no?" Arthur chuckles and shakes his head.

"Not really." He says and attacks Merlin. With each hit, he announced what he would hit. And each time Merlin would absent-mindedly say it back. Like a parrot.

"Head." He said after a couple of hits.

"Wait Head?" Arthur hit her helmet, causing it to ring. 'So that's what head means.'

"Come on, Merlin. You're not even trying." Arthur said as he tagged Merlin in the back.

"Ow! I am."

"Once more." He said ignoring her comment.

'Oh, no.' She thought. As Arthur once again started to attack.

"Ow!" She said as the sword hit her side.

"Come on, Merlin! I've got a tournament to win." Hit. Hit. Hit.

"Can we stop now, please?" Hit. Hit. Head. "Ow!" She said as Arthur hit her head causing her and her helmet to fall.

"You're braver than you look. Most servants collapse after the first blow." Arthur says standing above her.

"Is it over?" She asked hopefully causing Arthur to laugh.

"That was just the warm-up." He says chuckling at her groan. "How's your mace work coming along?" Arthur asks swinging a mace over his head. Merlin groaned and fell back in dismay.

------------

After three more hours of 'training', she finally was able to go back to her chambers. Training, more like Arthur hitting Merlin while she attempts to, and fails, to protect herself.

"So, how was your first day as Arthur's servant?" Gaius asked as she stumbled into their chambers. Merlin, not hearing the question, tapped her head and shook it, as if getting water out.

"Do you hear clanging?" She asked suddenly. Gaius laughs and repeats his question.

"It was horrible and I've still got to learn all about tournament etiquette by the morning. I save a life and become a servant. How is that a reward?" She asks as she sits down at the table and starts to read on tournament stuff.

"Oh, you never know Merlin. You might have some fun with this job." Gaius suggested causing Merlin to laugh.

"You think mucking out Arthur's horses is going to be fun? You should hear my list of duties." Honestly, if it were all written down it would be as long as her body.

"We all have our duties. Even Arthur."

"Ah, yes. It must be so tough for him with all the girls and the glory." She says sarcastically.

"He is a future king. People expect so much of him. He's under a lot of pressure." Merlin only rolled her eyes.

'Sure, pressure.'

------

The next morning Merlin walked through the busy town to Gwen's house. Gwen was teaching her about armor and swords and all that stuff.

"So, you've got voiders on the arms." She said pointing to the metal on her arms, Merlin nodded.

"The hauberk goes over your chest." Gwen then pointed to her chest.

"The chest. The arms. The chest." Merlin mumbled to herself.

"I guess you know what to do with the helmet." Gwen teased handing her the helmet.

"Erm, yeah. Yeah, that was the only bit I'd figured out." Merlin laughed.

"How come you're so much better at this than me?" Merlin asked putting on the helmet, which was way too big.

"I'm the blacksmith's daughter. I know pretty much everything there is to know about armor, which is actually kind of sad." She said sadly.

"No, it's brilliant!" Merlin said and hugged the girl. The two girls went over the armor again then got sidetracked talking about how attractive the knights were.

---------

Tournament day! The entirety of Camelot was buzzing with excitement. Everyone enjoyed tournaments. It was the townspeople's favorite pass time. They were free and went on for days. On the training field, you would find Merlin, in her normal outfit. Just now she didn't wear her hair under a hat and didn't bind her chest, so you know she actually looks like a girl.

Arthur sighed and shook his head "You do know the tournament starts today?" He said when she struggled with one of the latched. Merlin only responded with a laugh.

"You nervous?" She asked after another moment of silence.

"I don't get nervous," Arthur said strongly causing Merlin to raise her eyebrows.

"Really? I thought everyone got nervous." She sarcastically quipped.

"Will you shut up!" He sternly said. Merlin grabbed his cape and tied it. Stood back grabbed his helmet, handed it to him, and smiled.

"Great, yeah. I think I did it." Merlin said excitedly to herself.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Arthur practically growled. When Merlin shook her head he did growl. "My sword." He said through gritted teeth.

Merlin looked down in embarrassment. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, sorry. Guess, uh, you'll be needing that." She said holding up the sword. Arthur grabbed the sword and marched off, grumbling about idiotic servants.

Merlin turned around. "That went well." She mumbled and turned around to catch up with Arthur.

---------

From the opposite side of the stands, she saw Guinevere and Morgana sit excitedly as the competitors enter the arena. Her two friends saw her and waved. Merlin smiled and waved back just as Uther struts past the front line of knights.

"Knights of the realm, it's a great honor to welcome you to a tournament at Camelot. Over the next three days, you will come to put your bravery to the test, your skills as warriors, and of course, to challenge the reigning champion, my son, Prince Arthur. Only one can have the honor of being crowned champion, and he will receive a prize of 1,000 gold pieces." He said gesturing for the servant to open the box of gold.

"It is in combat that we learn a knight's true nature, whether he is indeed a warrior or a coward. The tournament begins!" The crowd erupted into cheers as the knights exited the arena. Uther on his way out stopped in front of Arthur.

"I trust you will make me proud." He says in a hushed low voice. The Uther slaps his back walking off. The guards take Arthur and the other knight's capes, and they put on helmets.

The two knights fought for around two minutes. Both pushed to their limits until Arthur knocked his opponent onto the floor and held the sword at his neck. Causing Merlin and the rest of the crowd to cheer.

"Valiant looks pretty handy with a sword." She said to Arthur while readjusting his armor. Once Valiant wins he walks back over to his squire and hands him his helmet.

"I offer my congratulations on your victories today." He said nodding to the prince.

"Likewise," Arthur said shortly obviously not caring about what he said.

"I hope to see you at the reception this evening." When Arthur nods in agreement he walks off speaking to his servant.

"Creep." Mutters continue messing with the armor. When she hears Arthur snort she realized she said that out loud.

They look at each other and Merlin smiles sweetly. Arthur's mouth starts to smile back but as if he's remembered something it's gone in an instant.

"Uh, for tomorrow you need to repair my shield, wash my tunic, clean my boots, sharpen my sword, and polish my chainmail." He says walking off.
--------

After the tournament, Merlin sat in her room on her bed reading her magic book. As she read she could hear the sound of the armor being polished and the sword being sharpened. She looked up and smiled as the tasks did themselves.

She let the items fall as her guardian walked into her room and stared at the items on the floor. "Are you using magic again?" She shook her head.

"What's all this, then?" Gaius asked and Merlin only responded with a shrug.

"I just came to tell you that supper's ready." He said then left. The moment the door closed merlin started to giggle.

-------------

Around the same time in the throne room, the tournament knights queued up to meet Uther and Lady Morgana.

When Valiant walked up to meet the king he bowed. "Knight Valiant of the Western Isles, My Lord."

"I saw you fighting today. You have a very aggressive style." Uther commented nicely.

"Well, as My Lord said, 'To lose is to be disgraced.'" He said with a smile.

Uther smiled and shook the man's hand. "I couldn't agree more. Knight Valiant, may I present the Lady Morgana, my ward."
Uther said as Morgana smiled. Valiant bowed to kiss Morgana's hand.

"My Lady." He says sweetly causing Arthur, who is watching the entire exchange, to look at his father with a disgusted face, causing his father to smile.

"I saw you competing today." She said flirtatiously.

"I saw you watching. I understand the tournament champion has the honor of escorting My Lady to the feast." Valiant says.

"That's correct." This time Uther looks at Arthur with a less disgusted face, but still disgusted, making Arthur chuckle.

"Then I will give everything to win the tournament." At this Valiant leaves, and Arthur looks at Uther and fake gags making Uther full-on chuckle.

Morgana and Guinevere watch him walk away talking. Arthur bows to his father.

"Arthur." He says still smiling from amusement.

"Father," Arthur says happily. He and his father don't have many moments of them joking around so it was small moments like this that made him happy.

When he walked over to Morgana she was still looking at Valiant. "They all seem rather impressed by Knight Valiant."

"They're not the only ones." He accuses.

"You're not jealous, are you?" She teases knowing that he's not, for there are more siblings than 'lovers'.

"I don't see there's anything to be jealous of." He says back, winks, and continues down the line. Morgana's smile fades.

"Could Arthur be any more annoying? I so hope Knight Valiant wins the tournament." She says to Gwen behind her.

"You don't really mean that." She said, already knowing her response.

"Yes, I do." Morgana hissed and Gwen mentally thought: 'Called it!'

----------

The second day of the tournament. People were still as excited as ever. Merlin was in the armory collecting Arthur's armor when she heard a hissing sound.

"Hello? Is there someone there?" She said and looked for the noise and locks her eyes on Valiant's shield.

'No. It couldn't have been that could it?' Merlin asked herself as she crouched down to look at the shield. While inspecting she sees one of the snakes blink. She reaches out to touch it but stopped when a sword was pressed against her chest.

"Can I help you with something, Miss?" He asked threateningly.

"Nope. I'm good. I, I was just... I was, erm, gathering my master's armor." She squeaked out.

"Does this look like your master's armor?" He pointed to the shield. Merlin shook her head too scared to form words.

"You know, where I come from, if a knight ever finds a reason to, said knight can punish a servant without consequence as long as the servant lives." He said and started to pull at her shirt. "I'm sure they'd understand." Merlin's eyes widened. She tried to wiggle out of his grip but it just got tighter. After struggling for a couple of minutes he finally got her shirt off. She tried to call out but her mouth was covered by his hand. She was about to use her magic when she heard a voice.

"What's going on here?"

-------

Arthur paced his chambers waiting. Surely it couldn't take this long to go down to the armory and walk back. He waited another moment then angrily stormed towards the armory.

He could hear things being moved about from down the hall.

What on earth is going on in there? Arthur asked himself. He walked in and at first didn't see anything. But then he looked around the corner to see Valiant holding a shirtless, frightened, bruised, struggling Merlin to the wall.

"What's going on here?" Arthur asked loudly gaining both of their attention. Merlin looked relieved while Valiant just smiled. Arthur could feel his fist tighten as he stared at the smile.

"Well, your highness I caught this one messing with my shield. So deciding not to bother you with this troublesome servant I figured I would punish her myself." At the word punish he pulled her closer and Merlin closer her eyes as she tried to struggle away.

"Sir Valiant. Please unhand my maidservant." Arthur said with authority in his voice. Valiants eyes widened and he let her go. Merlin quickly put on her shirt and ran behind Arthur.
Once she was behind Arthur, he grabbed her hand, to reassure her.

"Now Valiant, Merlin is my maid, and if she is to cause any more trouble you are to come to me. Along with any other servant in this castle, who causes trouble. I do not know how they do it where you are from, but here servants are respected here. Now get going." He said and Valiant grabbed his shield and walked out glaring at Merlin and their conjoined hands.

Once he left Merlin felt a tear fall out of her eye. Arthur looked at her with worry.

"Merlin? Are you hurt?" He asked still holding her hand.

"More mentally than physically but I'm fine." She said and looked at the ground.

"Maybe I should take you to Gaius." He said and started to lead her out. But stopped confused when she stopped him, still holding on to his hand.

"No, you need to get ready for the tournament, you're already late." She said and looked down at their hands. She slowly let go and walked off to grab his arm. To say Arthur was confused was an understatement. Why was Merlin, a girl who was almost just raped, care more about his tournament than her own well-being?

"Some of the stuff is already in your chambers." She said holding his armor and started to walk out. Arthur stared after her for a moment.

Then suddenly he snapped out of his thoughts and followed. Apparently, Merlin is an incredibly fast walker because by the time she got their all of his stuff is laid out on the table.

"You did all this on your own?" He asked as he looked at the sparkling armor, the almost new-looking cape, and the perfectly sharpened sword.

"Yes, Sire." She said shortly.

"Now let's see if you can get me into it without forgetting anything." He joked quietly hoping to make her smile, or at least soften her face.

Merlin put on Arthur's hauberk and surcoat, followed by the gorget, vambraces, pauldron, and counter. Next, his mail coif, belt, sword belt, dagger, and sword. Finally, Merlin handed Arthur his helmet.

"That was much better. Not that it could have got any worse." He jokes again and this time she gives a small smirk.

"I'm a fast learner." She says back.

"I hope, for your sake, that's true." He says and starts to walk off.

"Arthur?" He turns and starts to tell her about his title when she interrupts him.

"Thank you." She says and hugs him. "And good luck." When she lets go she walks out of the room leaving a shocked Arthur to stand there.

---------

As Arthur marches into the arena he acknowledges the crowd. Causing them to cheer. Merlin watches from the entrance and smiles a small smile.

"Is it my imagination, or are you beginning to enjoy yourself?" Gaius teases walking up to her.

"He's not awful." She said her smile growing, though not reaching her eyes, and looks back out onto the arena. After a long and hard fight Arthur wins, shocker.

Arthur walks back over to the two and looks at Merlin. "Are you alright or do you want to go and rest?" Gaius looks at Merlin eyebrows raised.

"I fell earlier and hit my head. It didn't really hurt then and doesn't now. I'm fine." She looked at Arthur sharply for a second and then looked at the competitors on the field. Valiant and Sir Ewan.

Sir Ewan, a kind knight of Camelot, who Merlin has become friendly with, was a good man who definitely deserved to be a knight. They had met when she went to the armory for the first time, he had helped her to find Arthur's sword and armor.

It looked like Ewan had the upper hand until Valiant knocked him to the ground and pushed his shield into Ewan's face. Suddenly Ewan stopped went limp as Valiant moved back.

"Ewan isn't moving." She said as Gaius ran out onto the field.
Arthur and Merlin looked at each other worried.

------------
After she finished with Arthur she rushed off to her chambers.

"How is he?" She asked standing next to her mentor.

"It's most odd. Look at this. See these two small wounds. Looks like a snake bite." Gaius said showing two parallel swollen dots on his neck.

"How could he've been bitten by a snake? He was injured in the sword fight." She said more to herself than to Gaius.

"But the symptoms are consistent with poisoning: slow pulse, fever, paralysis," Gaius said grabbing water and a cloth to bring down his temperature.

"Can you heal him?" She asked nervously.

"Well, if it is a snake bite, I'll have to extract venom from the snake that bit him to make an antidote." He said sadly.

"He was fighting Valiant," Merlin mumbled to herself

"What?" Gaius asked as Merlin started to run off.

"Nothing!" Then she was gone.

--------------------------

Merlin was running to Valiant chambers when she bumped into someone.

"Merlin?" Someone asked. Merlin looked up to see that she had bumped into Morgana with Gwen right behind her.

"Hello. I'm kind of in a hurry right now but I promise later I'll find you and explain. I'll see you later!" She called over her shoulder and continued quickly.

Once she made it to the creeps chambers she creaked open the door. She sees Valiant walk through the room and holds up a mouse.

"Dinner time. Come on." She heard Valiant say.

"Merlin?!" She turned to see Morgana and Gwen both wearing worried faces. She quickly shushed them and told them to look.

Once they looked back they saw the snakes in Valiant's shield come to life and fight for the mouse. All three ladies gasped causing Valiant to look their way. He notices that the door is open and walks over. He opens the door to see Morgana, Merlin, and Gwen walking by in conversation.

"Sir Valiant," Morgana said sweetly, even though it hurt her stomach.

"I'm sorry if we were loud, we were just wandering the halls and ended up here." Both maids looked at each other impressed with how good of an actress Morgana was.

"It's fine my lady. I shall see you tomorrow." He said with a bow. He looked at Merlin and smiled.

"And I shall see you later." He winked and closed the door and the two girls ran.

----------

The three ladies ran into Merlin and Gaius's chambers and closed the door, causing the physician to jump.

"What the hell was that?" Morgana asked Merlin.

"I promise I will explain but first I have to talk to Gaius. Go wait in my room." Her two friends nodded and walked up the stairs.

"I've just seen one of the snakes in Valiant's shield come alive. He's using magic." She said looking at Gaius.

"Are you sure?" He asked looking worried.

"The snake ate a mouse - one swallow, straight down. Sir Ewan was fighting Valiant when he collapsed. It must've been one of the snakes from the shield. I have to tell Arthur." She stated.

"I agree, but have you any proof?"

"Don't you believe me?" She asked hurt.

"I fear you'll land yourself in trouble. How will you explain why you were in Valiant's chambers?" He asked calmly only to be yelled at.

"What does that matter? He's using magic to cheat in the tournament!"

"But you can't go accusing a knight of using magic without proof. The King would never accept the word of a servant over the word of a knight."

"I have Morgana. She saw it too. And I bet if I get one of those snakeheads I'll have Ewan too." She said walking up to her room.

-------
"Merlin. Your back. Now I'll ask again... WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Morgana yelled causing the servants to jump.

"It was magic Morgana. Valiant is using a magic shield to defeat the knights." She said calmly.

"Magic? We have to tell Uther. Valiant could kill someone. Hell, he already has." Morgana rambled, Merlin started to panic, suddenly deciding that this was a bad idea.

"Morgana," Gwen said noticing Merlin's panic. Morgana stopped and looked at Merlin.

"Okay. Tell us everything." She said calmly

"Alright. So it started when I was in the armory this morning, I was grabbing Arthur's armor when I heard a hissing noise. That's when I knew something was wrong, I walked around for a while and found his shield. When I looked at it I saw one of the snakes blink. I was about to touch it when-" Merlin stopped.

"Merlin? What happened?" Gwen asked grabbing onto Merlin's hand.

"When he caught me. He had a sword to my chest and asked what I was doing. I told him I was looking for Arthur's armor and then he told me that for messing with his things he would have to punish me. He-" Her voice cracked.

"Merlin?" Gwen asked quietly, knowing where this was going.

"He tried to rape me." She said as a tear ran down her face. Both girls hugged her for a moment. When Merlin pulled away her face was stone cold.

"But Arthur saved me. Then after Ewan clasped Gaius showed me the bite marks on his neck. Then I ran out to find Valiant and then I found you, and here we are." Merlin finished and the two listeners are silent for a moment.

"So now what?" Morgana asked.

"First, we have to get one of those snakeheads. And I'm gonna need your help. Will you?" Both girls look at each other and nodded.

"What do you need us to do?" They asked together and Merlin smiled.

--------------

The next day Arthur seemed to have forgotten about the entire indecent the day before. Because everything was back to normal. Not even a 'are you alright?'. But Merlin was thankful she didn't want to think about it, what so ever.

Merlin and Arthur watch as a serving boy uses a step ladder to put on the helm of Arthur's next opponent

"You're telling me you've got to fight that?" Merlin asked staring at the giant.

"Yes, and he's strong as a bear. But he's slow." Arthur said and smirked at the girl.

"Ah, and you're fast." She replied smiling back.

"Exactly." He said pointing his finger at her. As Arthur walked onto the field Merlin walked over to stand with Gwen and Morgana.

"You're not worried, are you?" Gwen asked.

"No." Morgana lies, quite badly if I do say so myself.

After Arthur's fight with the 'bear', which he won, it was Valiants turn. Once Valiant won she would invite him for a walk in the woods. Giving me and Gwen time to get the shield.

"Merlin?" Arthur asked suddenly as she was readjusting his cloak. She hummed to show she was listening.

"What are you planing?" Merlin looked up confused.

"I'm planning on going to clean your chambers once this was done." As if it were obvious.

"No, I mean with Morgana and Gwen. You three keep talking all secretly." He said looking at the two ladies in question.

"Nothing important. Especially to a man." She said after a moment. Arthur nodded and went back to watching Valiant fight.

------------

It was currently during the feast for the knight, which Morgana would take Valiant for a walk after when Merlin and Gwen walked into his guest chambers.

They searched the room silently and saw many items. Armor, some swords, a couple of books, and finally his shield.

Both ladies walked up to is and as they approached the snakes came to life. Merlin, in a panic, grabbed his swords and chopped one of the snake's heads off.

The other two quickly went back into the shield, scared. When the two girls were about to run they looked back to see that only two snakes were left on his shield.

They smirked and booked it.

--------------
Once Gaius somehow caused the snake's venom to squirt into a jar he started to work on an antidote. While waiting for Morgana, Merlin and Gwen talk about anything to distract themselves. They were both worried about Morgana and Arthur.

When Morgana returned she smiled as Gaius was giving Ewan the cure.

"I suppose you got the head then?" She asked happily. At their nod, her smile got bigger.

"Well good because that was the most gut-reaching walk I have ever been on." She joked causing even Gaius, who had been half listening, to laugh.

"We are going to tell Arthur," Merlin said to Gaius as she started to walk out.

"You'll need that," Gaius said pointing to the snakehead. Gwen grabbed it and followed Morgana and Merlin.

When the three dark hair women walked into Arthur's chambers without knocking he jumped.

"Really? Don't you three know about knocking. I mean I'm used to it from Merlin and Morgana but really Gwen I was expecting better from you." He jokingly scolded as he ate.

"Arthur," Morgana said sharply, to show she wasn't here to play.

"Valiant is using Magic," Gwen said from behind Morgana.

"And how would you three know?" Arthur asked standing up.

"Well, for starters we all saw it while walking past his chambers. Second, Merlin and Gwen saw it again when they went in to get a snakehead for Ewan."

"So that's what you were planing. What were you thinking!? After what he did to you I would have much rather as you stayed away from him as if he were the plague." He said angry but seemed to realize something.

"What do you mean a snakehead for Ewan?"

"Well, Valiant is using Magic to make the snakes on his shield come to life.  He made his snakes poison Ewan. Gaius needed the venom of the snake to create an antidote." Merlin explained.

"And how exactly did you get ahead?"

"Well, Merlin cut its head off sire," Gwen said looking at Merlin.

"You? You chopped its head off?" Arthur asked disbelievingly.

Merlin trying her best to not be offended just nodded.

"You all swear to me that this is true. That your not just making up because of what he did to you?" Arthur asked in a low voice to Merlin, as if talking to a child.

"I swear. On my life." She said as if she lived by the words.

"Then let's go tell my father."

---------------

As the guards were taking Valiant to the throne room the women, Arthur, and Gaius's watched as Ewan woke up.

"Welcome back," Merlin said sweetly.

"Merlin?" He asked confused, suddenly he sat up. "There was a snake on his shield. It came alive."

"You're weak. The snake's venom is still in your system." Gaius said pushing him back down.

"I must warn Arthur." He said trying to get up but this time Arthur stopped him.

"I already know. I have requested an audience with the King. Now, they'll want to talk to you. Rest. You'll need your strength." With that, Ewan fell back asleep already looking better.

As Gaius left to get more herbs the four young adults talked about the tournament.

"I feel that Ewan had a good chance. I mean he's-" Merlin froze mid-sentence when she heard the hiss. The other stared at her confused as to why she stopped. But all stood up when they heard the next hiss.

The looked over to Ewans sleeping form to see him being attacked by a snake. Merlin and Arthur were the first to react. Merlin quickly picked up the animal while Arthur grabbed his sword.

"Don't." She stopped Arthur from killing it. "I want to try something during the audience." She said smirking.

-----------------

"Why have you summoned the court?" Uther asked Arthur bored wanting to watch the tournament, which was currently on hold because of Arthur.

"I believe Knight Valiant is using a magic shield to cheat in the tournament," Arthur said his voice bold and firm.

"Valiant, what do you have to say to this?" Uther asked suddenly interested.

"My Lord, this is ridiculous. I've never used magic. Does your son have any evidence to support this outrageous accusation?" Valiant asked as if the idea were insane.

"Do you have evidence?"

"I do." Arthur motions for Merlin to come forward. Merlin hands Uther the snakehead just as Gaius and Ewan walk in.

"Please get him a chair. He is still weak." Arthur said to a guard.

"These snakes do not live in Camelot," Uther said aloud to himself.

"But, this is hardly evidence," Uther said looking at his some for more.

"Well, I also have the shield. Now father I asked, how many snakes were on the shield before?" Arthur asks and Valiant goes pale.

"Three." Uther says plainly.

Arthur shows Uther the shield with only one snake.

"Where is the third snake?" Uther asked worriedly.

"I have it sire." Merlin said and showed him the very live snake. Her hand over its mouth.

"I also would like to show a demonstration. Could the people make a pathway from here to Ewan." The people did as Arthur asked.

"Merlin stand in its way." She stood in the middle of the pathway.

"Now watch this." Arthur put the snake down at one end of the part of people. The people watched as the snake slithered down the path stopping when it got to Merlin. It looked up at her and went around her and tried to attack Ewan.

"The snake is after Ewan." Arthur clarified for the people who didn't understand. The people stared at the snake in fear when Merlin picked it back up.

"Are you not scared?" Uther asked the serving girl.

"Well, as you can see sire, the snake will not harm me, only Ewan. I also hold its head closed so it can't hurt me if it even wanted to." Uther nodded.

"I also have four witnesses. If you need further proof. My maid Merlin, Sir Ewan, Lady Morgana, and her maid Guinevere."

"Why were you three near his shield?" Uther asked his ward.

"Well, we were wandering the castle and just ended up in that hallway. Well liked next to us to see Valiant feeding his snakes a mouse." She finished disgusted.

Uther nodded, somehow accepting that answer, but looked at Valiant.

"As king of Camelot. I, Uther Pendragon, sentence you to death."  Before he even finished the guards were taking him away.

"Merlin." Arthur said as everyone left the council room.

"Yes, sire?" She asked knowing that that officials were in the room. But, not knowing that the king had stayed behind to watch.

"It never even accrued to me that the other day you were only saying you were fine because you could have been in shock. And I didn't ask yesterday, which was wrong of me. But are you alright?" Arthur asked putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine. Better actually, especially now that he was caught for something. Although I'm not a big fan of execution." She said and her face scrunched up in disgust.

"What did he do?" Uther asked causing both to jump.

"Well, father the other day I found Valiant trying to rape Merlin in the armory." Uther's hard expression softened.

"Oh, I see. Know that tomorrow he will pay for all of his crimes." He said nodding to her and walking off.

"Was that supposed to be comforting?" Merlin asked Arthur in a hushed whisper from behind him.

"I believe so." He replied looking at her over his shoulder. They made eye contact for a moment and started to giggle, or in Arthur's case he 'quietly laughed' for men did not giggle.

"Be honored. That's probably the closest thing to comforting you will ever get." He said making her laugh.

He smile and they both left to go get ready for the tournament tomorrow. For Arthur was now to fight, whoever Valiant last beat, whatever his name was.

---------

By the time that Merlin made it back to her own chambers she was smiling, probably the biggest smile she had ever smiled. That was until the warning bells rang.

"What's going on?" Gaius asked her but she only shrugged.

She ran back to Arthur's chambers to see him in his armor and holding his sword.

"What's happened?" Merlin asked as he started to march out of his room.

"Stop!" She ordered him, and to her and his surprise he did. He turned towards her.

"Your gonna get yourself killed if you run out there like that." She said pulling him over to the table and redoing most of his armor.

"Valiant has escaped."

"Well, we have his shield. I mean he may be good but you are better, so we have nothing to really worry about." She said pulling the last latch tight.

"We believe that he used sorcery to get out and somehow stole the shield." He said grabbing his sword and marching out the door.

"How did he do that?" She asked trying to keep his pace.

"The guards of the vaults are currently in the same state Ewan was in." Oh.

"How are you going to fight him. I mean he is using sorcery and has two evil snakes on his side."

"That Merlin, I am not so sure on." He said and ran outside to meet the other knights.

"Good luck." She said to no one in particular watching Arthur and the knights leave.

--------

"There has to be something I could do!" Merlin yelled as she searched her book.

"Merlin, why don't you just let the knigh-" Gaius went quiet at Merlin's glare. She sighed and stood up to look out the window.

From her window, she could see the knights riding out of view. Her eyes continue down to land on a statue of a dog, when she gets an idea.

To stop a man with a magic shield, you stop the shield.

"I have an idea!" She told Gaius and ran out of the room. She could hear Gaius call her name but this was more important. Once she made it to the dog she tried to move it but wasn't strong enough.

"Merlin?" She heard softly behind her. She turned to see Gwen looking at her strangely and Morgana walking their way with a frown.

"What are you doing?" Morgana asked her looking at the dog.

"Well.... do either of you happen to have a wheelbarrow?" She asked innocently causing the two watchers to raise their eyebrows.

"Just. Please. Trust me." The girls look at each other and back at Merlin. With their nod, Gwen runs off to her house while Morgana helps Merlin try to move the dog. When Gwen gets back the three move it into the wheelbarrow and Merlin is off.

"Thank you!" She calls over her shoulder.

She wheels the dog all the way up to her chambers and closes the door. She opens her book and stares at the charm.

"Bebay odothay arisan quickum." She says and nothing happens.

"Alright, try two. Bebay odothay arisan quickum." Again nothing.

"I don't have time for this! Bebay odothay arisan quickum" She says powerfully and feels her magic work. She laughs when she hears a park.

"I'm off to help Arthur, whatever you do, don't go into my room. Well, put it back when I'm done!" She says running out the door. She didn't even notice that Morgana was already in the room.

Both she and Gaius looked at the door puzzled until they heard a bark. Morgana's eyes widen and her mouth dropped.

Merlin grabbed a horse and tried her best to keep up. She finally caught up to them when they caught Valiant. Now at the moment most of the knights were knocked out on the floor other than Arthur, who was fighting Valiant.

"Bebay odothay arisan quickum" She could feel her magic as the snakes awakened.

"What are you doing?! I didn't summon you?" Valiant says to his shield as Arthur stops momentarily to look at the snakes.

Arthur smirks. "What? Your little pets not listening to you?" He says smugly.

"Kill him," Valiant says and the snakes comply. Arthur's smirk drops as he goes back and forth from fighting the snakes and from fighting Valiant.

While fighting Valiant Merlin watched as one of the snakes got ready to bite the back of Arthur's leg.

She grabbed a sleepings knight's sword and charges for the snake.

"Arthur!" She shouts so he knows she's there and not to hurt her at the moment.

He turns towards her confusion on his face but it quickly turns to fear when he sees the snake that's about to bite him.

Just before the snake strikes, Merlin cuts its head off.

Arthur stared at Merlin for a moment amazed and dumbfounded. Using the prince's distraction Valiant held up his sword ready to strike but Merlin pushed him out of the way and blocked it herself.

"Arthur!" She called knowing she couldn't hold her own against him, a trained knight.

Arthur quickly got up and tried to run to her but was stopped by the other snake. Arthur looked back up to see Valiant knock her swords out of her hand and pull her close.

"I think you should come with me." He said breathlessly, tired from fighting.

"Merlin struggled against his grip which was getting tighter.

"Ow stop it. You're hurting me!" She screamed at him as she started to kick and thrash about.

At those words, Arthur was pulled out of his trance and charged Valiant.

He stabbed Valiant in the back the pain causing him to drop Merlin to the ground.

Arthur walked up to her to see that she wasn't really hurt other than a bruised wrist and a little mentally scarred. But other than that in completely good health.

She did look tired. At that moment she fell asleep. Quickly he picked her up and started for Camelot, leaving the rest of the knights to fend for themselves.

When he got to the gate he grabbed a guard. "I got separated from the others, they're still somewhere in the forest. I need you to go and get them." He said and walked off, still carrying Merlin, to Gaius.

Once he entered the chambers of the girl Gaius walked out from the back room.

"I assume that you did it?" He said but once he looked at Arthur, carrying his ward he panicked.

"Put her here." He's said pointing to the table.

"These no need Gaius. She just had an emotionally stressful night. Her room is back there?" He asked nodding to the room at the top of the stairs.

At Gaius's nod, he walked up and pushed open the door to see it in good condition. Not dirty but definitely not clean.

He took off her jacket and shoes and placed her on the bed. He started to walk off when Merlin grabbed his hand.

"Merlin?" He whispered not sure whether or not she was awake.

When he got no response he took off her hand and walked towards the door. When he got there he turned to his sleeping savior.

"Good night Merlin." He said even though she couldn't hear him.

-----------

After a couple of days Ewan, who by default was now up for the final with Arthur, had now fully healed and was ready to fight. Arthur was sitting restlessly in his chambers. As were the people.

The tournament was back on.

It was really an amazing fight. They fought for at least a good ten minutes. They were both around equal in speed and both equal in reflexes, but Arthur was just a little stronger.

Once he, finally, knocked Ewan's sword out of his hand and caused Ewan to fall down, the crowd was practically screaming with excitement.

Arthur helped Ewan up and shook his hand. Once Ewan started to walk out of the arena Arthur looked at his father. Who nodded and smiled while clapping. Then his eyes turned towards the entrance to where he knew Merlin stood. When he saw her clapping and cheering just as loud, if not louder, than the rest of the crowd his smile grew.

--------

After the tournament, all the servants were running around crazy for the feast. Merlin had barely any time to sit down, with her having to do Arthur's laundry, get him his dinner, help in the kitchen, polish his crown. She was exhausted. When she finally was finished with all her time she went to Morgana.

When Morgana opened the door she was looking as gorgeous as ever. But when she saw Merlin her eyes became almost panicked.

"Merlin!" She said faking a surprised tone.

"Hello, Morgana. I just finished my chores and wanted to see you. It's been a while since you and I really talked." With that Morgana let her in, worry still on her face.

'Wonder what's with her?' Merlin thought to herself.

"So what are you wearing tonight?" Morgana asked filling the silence. Merlin looked up to Morgana.

"I don't know. I was planning on wearing the dress that Gwen lent me the other day for it." She said, wondering why there was such an awkward air around them.

"Well, that won't do." She said smiling her mischievous smirk she always does. When Merlin laughed all the awkwardness flew out of the room.

"Really? Why is that?" She giggled.

"We can't have you looking poor in front of Arthur." Morgana walked over to her cupboard of clothes.

"What!?" Merlin practically shouted.

"I've seen the looks you give each other. You two definitely fancy each other." Morgana said pulling out a gorgeous blue dress that showed her shoulders.

"That's outrageous!" Merlin said laughing.

"This is one of my favorites," Morgana said pouting.

"I meant me and Arthur, the dress is astonishing." She said looking at the dress

"Is this what you will be wearing?" Merlin asked touching the fabric to see if it was as soft as it looked.

"No. This is what you'll be wearing." Merlin's haw dropped.

"I can't wear this!" Merlin said, actually shouting this time.

"Can't wear what?" Both ladies turned to Gwen who had just walked into the room.

"Well, I want Merlin to wear this to impress Arthur," Morgana said putting the dress down and walking back over to the closet.

"And for you Gwen. I want you to wear this. For any of the men in there, you want to impress." She said pulling out a yellow dress with white and golden trim and belt.

"I do not want to impress Arthur!" Merlin said annoyed then looked at Gwen's dress. "Oh, that so goes with your complexion." She said absentmindedly.

"I don't know Morgana. I just finished this new dress and I wanted to wear it." She trailed off.

"Gwen you have to! It would look amazing on you." Merlin begged Gwen.

"Well, if I wear mine then so does Merlin. I don't want to attract attention to just myself." Gwen said looking at Merlin with a smirk.

"Fine," Merlin said knowing she had lost.

"Yes!" The other two girls said giving each other a high five.

---------

The three ladies walked in together but quickly separated. Morgana walked off to where Arthur was to meet her, Gwen off to the side with the other servants, and Merlin next to Gaius.

The entire room became quiet as Uther walked into the room with a smile of pride on his face.

"My honorable guests, I give you Prince Arthur, your champion." He said his smile growing bigger.

"My Lady," Arthur says bowing and extending his arm.

"My champion." She said back smiling as she took his arm.

"See, I told you he gets all the girls and the glory." She whispered to Gaius while the two walked by.

"And he owes it all to you." He said smiling at his ward.

"I must say, Morgana, Both Merlin and Gwen look wonderful. Some of your best work." Arthur said to her quietly.

"Yes, Merlin is a very beautiful woman. She just needs some help to let her embrace it." She smiled when he hummed in agreement.

"You know, Merlin told me what actually happened."

"When?" He asked.

"When you went off to fight Valiant."

"Ah yes. That was some fight."

"It's not every day a girl gets to save her prince," Morgana said smiling but Arthur's face only showed a fake confusion.

"Uh, I wouldn't say I needed exactly saving. I'm sure I would've thought of something." Arthur said and Morgana scoffed.

"So you're too proud to admit you were saved by a girl." She accused.

"Because I wasn't." He stated matter of the fact.

"You know what? I wish Valiant was escorting me. Instead of you."

"Me too. Then I wouldn't have to listen to you." Arthur said and gave an annoyed growl.

"Fine!" She said and turned to storm off.

"Fine," Arthur said and walked over to Merlin.

Merlin saw Morgana walk over to Gwen angry and went to go see if she was alright but Arthur blocked her way.

"Can you believe Morgana? She thinks I'm too proud. Like I needed any help." Arthur grumbled. But Merlin only smiled, she knew that Arthur would never admit to what happened in the forest.

"How dare she?!" Merlin asked in a sarcastic shock. Laughing once Arthur glared at her.

"Look. I wanted to say, Thank you. For helping me with Valiant. Although it was dangerous and incredibly stupid to go out there and fight him. It was also incredibly brave and you did save me." Arthur said looking at the floor the entire time.

"Your welcome. Sir Champion." She teased. He looked up and chuckled.

"I'm proud of you, you trained really hard for it. You deserve it." She said fondly. The two of them stared at each other for a moment smiling when suddenly Leon and Ewan showed up.

"Merlin! Sire." Leon said and bowed to the prince.

"We were wondering if we could steal Merlin from you," Ewan said already pulling Merlin away.

"Goodbye Arthur." She called over her shoulder and let herself be pulled by Ewan. When they made it to Gwen and Morgana the party really started.

They joked, laughed, and eat until it was time for them to go to bed.

"Oh, Merlin! Wait up!" She turned to see Ewan.

"I wanted to thank you, Merlin, it was you who got the snakehead for Gaius so he could create an antidote. If it weren't for you I would be dead. So thank you."

"You welcome Ewan. I'll see you later." She said and continued to her and Gaius's chambers.

"You certainly have made an interesting group of friends." He said once she entered.

"It seems I have." She to herself. Unknowing that far away someone was watching her through the water, planing on how to see how big of a problem this girl would be.

Chapter Text

It's been around a week since the tournament. Since then it has been the same routine.

Do stuff for Arthur. Do stuff for Gaius. Do more for Arthur. Then speak to either Gwen, Morgana, Leon, or Ewan. Sometimes two of them at once but she usually found one of them. Put Arthur in his nightclothes, take his dinner tray and then go to bed.

She noticed that Morgana, right after the tournament was nervous around her still. Giving her worried glances and watching her more intensely. But soon it went away and she became the loving Morgana she had met when she first came to Camelot.

She could feel that the people liked her. Which was odd, since the people I'm Ealdor had hated her. Hell, even Uther had laughed at something she had said once. (A story for another day.)

When Gaius got the call that a man had clasped in the lower town he and Merlin went down there as fast as they could.

"Aren't you scared?" Merlin asked nervously. As Gaius crouched down next to the man on the floor.

"Of what?" He asked looking at her for a moment.

"That you might catch whatever it is." She stated as if it were obvious.

"I'm the court physician, Merlin. This is part of my job. Most of the time there's nothing really to be scared of." He said and turned the corpse over. They both jumped at the sight. The man's veins were turned a light blue and their eyes white.

"You were saying?" She asked half sarcastically and half scared.

"People mustn't see this. They'll panic." Merlin nodded and grabbed a random person's blanket on a drying rope. When the woman came out to yell at the girl Merlin handed the woman three gold coins.

"Sorry." The lady looked from the cloth to the coins. Nodded and went back inside. (Sorry I know that it wasn't needed, it was just odd that they just took someone's cloth.)

Once they got the man on the cart and covered they started pushing him to the castle.

-----------

At the blacksmith's house, Gwen would be seen walking around getting ready for the day.

"Dad, here's your sandwich." She said and handed the sandwich to her dad, the blacksmith Tom.

"Ooh. Mmm, what's in it?" He said smelling it and smiling.

"It's smoked pigeon. But I'd say there's more smoke than pigeon." She said blushing as her father laughed.

"You're such a good girl to me." He said and side hugged her.

"And I've done you some watercress soup tonight." She said pulling out of his grasp and walking towards the door.

"Don't tell me, with more water in it than cress?" He called after her.

"Hey!" She called turning around.

"I'll see you later. Love you." She said and walked out to hear a small and sweet response.

"K. Love you too."

Once Gwen was outside she went over to the forest and picked flowers. After that, she went and grabbed some cloth to tie them. Once the flowers were ready she started to walk over to give them to Morgana. Once she got to the square entrance she saw Merlin and Gaius.

"What are you doing?" She asked kindly.

Merlin turned around and saw Gwen and smiled. "Er...just moving something."

"Looks heavy." Gwen said looking at the cart but Merlin readjusted the cloth so she couldn't see.

"Er, it's nothing really." She said and trailed off and saw the flowers. "Er...someone got you flowers?" She asked happily.

"Oh! No." She said quickly and giggled."Would you like one? A purple one. Purple suits you. Not that I'm saying red doesn't suit you." She said handing Merlin a purple flower which she puts behind her ear.

"Thanks. I'll see you around. Maybe later at Morgana's." she said as Gaius started to move the body once more.

"Yeah definitely!" Gwen called at the retreating forms of the physician and his ward.

--------------------------------

Morgana was usually awake by the time that Gwen showed up. Sometimes she'd be dressed sometimes not, but she was awake at least.

When Gwen walked in she had a big smile on her face.

"Good morgning Morgana." She said practically bouncing.

"Good morning." She said skeptically and continued to watch the serving girl. "You look happy."

"I picked these for you," Gwen said and handed her the flowers.

"Oh, that's so sweet." She said and looked at the flowers. Purples and blues. Her favorite.

"Something to cheer you up. I know you're not sleeping well." Gwen said sympathetically

"You cheer me up." She said as she turned to find a vase.

"Would you like me to get water for you?" She left at Morgana's nod. It took her till Gwen got back but she found a vase.

------------------

"I've never seen anything like this before," Gaius said looking at the man.

"Do you think it could be some kind of plague?" She asked still wary to be so near it.

"No. I fear that something like this could never come from nature. But who has this kind of power?" Gaius said. Merlin knew what that meant.

"You think it's caused by magic?" She asked but stopped at a shout.

"Merlin!" She could hear the anger in Arthur's voice. She slowly walked towards the door and looked back at Gaius for help. He just shrugged and went back to work. She opened the door to see Arthur standing there with his arms crossed.

"Erm...I'm on my way. Sorry, I'm late." She said and pointed towards the body. "I was a little busy."

"Don't worry. I'm getting used to it." He says dryly. She watches as he looks her up and down and watches as his eyebrow furrow at her hair.

"Someone got you flowers?" He asked half annoyed and half plainly.

Merlin confused touches her hair and feels the flower Gwen gave her. "Oh, no. Gwen, she gave it to me." She said and smiled.

"Tell Gaius my father wants to see him now." He said and left. She nodded and closed the door turning to Gaius.

"Gaius-" she started but was cut off.

"I heard." He interrupted.

"Wait, why couldn't he just tell you himself?" She said walking back down to her mentor.

"Cause that's the way it is. You're a servant."

"Wha...if he knew who I was, what I've done..." She trailed off.

"You'd be a dead servant. Right, get this covered up." Gaius ordered.

"Hey, I'm not your servant." She said laughing.

"No, you're my dogsbody. Come on, hurry up." He said teasing her back.

-------------

When he and Merlin arrived they could see that a serving boy, Roger, if Merlin remembered correctly, on the floor dead. With blue veins and white eyes.

"What's happened to him?" Uther to Gaius.

"I don't know, Sire. It's the second case I've seen today." He said still investigating the man.

"Why didn't you report it to me?" He said angrily.

"I was attempting to find the cause," Gaius explained and Uther nodded.

"What did you conclude?"

"I don't think it's time to hurry to conclusions. A scientific process is a long one." Gaius said pulling his I'm hiding something from your face.

"What are you concealing from me?" Uther said knowing the look on his friend's face.

"Sire, I have seen nothing like it. The victims are dying in 24 hours, and it's spreading fast." Gaius said avoiding the question.

"What is the cause?" He asked more sternly.

"I think you should say that the cause, the most likely cause, is sorcery," Gaius said hanging his head.

"We must find who did this." He said to Arthur who nodded.

"Conduct door-to-door searches. Increase your presence in the town. Double the guards on all the gates. And lend the physician Merlin." Uther said looking at the girl.

"Merlin? But..." Arthur said looking confused.

"I'm going to need Gaius to find a cure. He needs all the help we can give him. If Gaius is right, believe me, this city will be wiped out. This is the kind of magic that undermines our authority, challenges all we've done. If we cannot control this plague, people will turn to magic for a cure. We have to find this sorcerer, and quickly." He told Arthur as he started to walk away.

"Yes, father." Merlin could see a torn face on Uther.

"And Arthur." Arthur turned around. "Be careful," Uther said, his voice thick of emotion. Merlin smiled fondly at the moment as Arthur's smile grew. Arthur nodded and left.

-------------

Merlin and Gaius were walking through the town and watched Arthur and his party as they went door to door search.

"Who's to say that it was even someone in Camelot who did this?" Merlin asked Gaius, who merely shrugged.

"Uther is a paranoid man," Gaius said sadly. Merlin nodded in agreement and saw a man with the sickness.

"Gaius? Gaius. He's still alive." She said crouching down next to the sick man. He reached for her hand, which she quickly grasped back.

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for him," Gaius said trying to pull her away.

"Hello. I've got you." She said quietly to him and put a hand on his cheek.

"Thank you. I didn't want to die alone." He croaked out. She smiled sadly at him.

"What is your name?" She said distracting him from the pain.

"Brolin. Yours?" He said his eyes dropping.

"My name is Merlin." She said her eyes tearing up.

"Merlin. Beautiful." He said she let out a wet chuckle.

"Goodnight Brolin." She said as his eyes closed. After a moment his chest stopped moving. Merlin let a tear roll down her face and quickly composed herself.

She stood up to see a small crowd had formed smiling sadly at her. She smiled back, tears still rolling down her face.

"That was incredibly kind of you Merlin." Merlin jumped and turned to see Arthur.

"It was the least I could do since we don't have a cure yet." Arthur nodded. He walked up to her and put a hand on her arm.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes. Well, as fine as anyone could be." She let go of a shaky breath and smiled.

"I should go. We need to find a cure." She said walking after Gaius.

----------------------

"What are you doing?" She asked as Gaius held a vial over a flame from her seat.

"I'm examining the contents of that man's stomach." He said in a monotone voice.

"Will that tell you who did it?" She said her nose scrunching up in disgust.

"No, but it might tell us how it's spread. One thing I do know, this is magic of the darkest kind." He said still distracted by the vial.

"Why would someone use magic like that?" She said standing next to him.

"Magic corrupts. People use it for their own ends." Gaius said not realizing how he said what he meant.

"But not all magic is bad. I know it isn't." She said slightly offended.

"It's neither good nor bad. It's how you use it. Like any other weapon." He finishes with the vial.

Just then the Arthur and many other guards storm into their chambers.

"Over there," Arthur said pointing to the area around the corner. "Sorry Gaius, we're searching every room in town." He said looking at Gaius and Merlin.

"What for?" Gaius asks annoyed.

"A sorcerer." Arthur turns to look at the table full of notes.

"But why would they be here?" Merlin asks also very annoyed. They did not have time for this.

"I'm just doing my job." He said and shrugged sympathetically.

"We've nothing to hide. Go on, then. Search." He said and sat down, knowing that it would take some time.

"All these books and papers?" Arthur said pointing to Gaius's work.

"My life's work, dedicated to the understanding of science. You are quite welcome to read through them if you wish." Arthur pulled a face. He turned around to see a door.

"That's your room, isn't it Merlin," Arthur said pointing to the door and looking at her.

"Yes, Sire," Merlin said confused. How the hell did he know?

"And what do you expect to find in there?" Gaius asked in a voice that was almost angry.

"I'm looking for material or evidence suggesting the use of enchantments." He said and walked into the room.

"What've you done with the magic book I gave you?" Gaius whispered. Merlin's eyes widened as she looked at the door.

"Merlin, come here. Look what I found." She hears Arthur call. She looks at Gaius who just looks back at her. She slowly walks into her room to see Arthur standing in front of her desk.

"A diary? Really Merlin. I knew you were a girl but that's even girly for you." He says and picks up her book.

"Ha ha ha. Very funny." She said angrily. Her eyes searched the room when she spotted her book on the floor. She magically made the cover fall off of her bed over the book.

Arthur looks around but doesn't see the book. He nods to Merlin and walks back over to Gaius.

"How long do you think it may be before you find a cure?" He said looking at the vial of stomach slime and making a face of disgust.

"It depends on how many interruptions we get," Gaius said standing.

"Of course, I'm sorry." He said and told his guards to leave. On his way out he turned to Merlin, nodded with a small smile, and left.

"We have to hide that book," Gaius said going off to get something off a shelf.

"No. We must use it." She said emphasizing the word 'use'.

"Don't be stupid." He warned her.

"If I have this legacy then what is it for? You keep telling me it's not for playing tricks." She exclaimed.

"Oh and use magic while the entirety of Camelot is on high alert. It would be suicide." He snapped at her.

"I could have cured Brolin." She said and looked down.

"I know it's tempting to use the way you find easiest, But Merlin-"

"It is when it would save a life!" She said loudly.

"It's no good just saving one person. We have to discover how this illness is spreading."

"So How can we do that?" She asked defeated.

"Hope that science can find the answer before it kills us all." He said and started to look through books.

------------

Later that day Arthur stood in front of his father.

"We searched everywhere, the entire city," Arthur told his father.

"Nothing?" He asked disbelievingly.

"I don't know where else to look," Arthur admitted defeat.

"I want you to impose a curfew. No one is to be allowed onto the streets after the great bell."

"Father?" Arthur asked worried knowing where this was going.

"And cordon off the lower town."

"What about the people who live there?" Arthur asked panicked.

"Don't you think I haven't considered it? What else can I do? I have to protect the rest of the city." He said defeated.

Arthur bows and exits without a word.

--------------------

"What's different about this victim?" Gaius asked Merlin as they both stare at Lady Pryborne.

"Er...she's a woman."

"Sometimes I do wonder whether you're magical talent were given to the right person. Anything else?"

"Erm...she's a courtier." She said as Gaius smiled.

"She hasn't spoken to any townspeople. So it's not spread by contact. They probably ate different foods. I doubt they breathed the same air." She said to herself then smiled up at Gaius.

"Water. Water? You think the disease is spread through water?" She said proud of herself and Gaius smiled.

"Merlin, you're a prodigy," Gaius said proudly handing Merlin a bucket. Merlin takes the bucket and runs out of the room

--------------------

"It's time to get up, Dad. Dad?" When her only response was a moan Gwen frowned. She walked over to her father. When he turned she yelped.

"Gwen." His veins were turning blue and his skin was much paler than usual. In a panic, she ran as fast as she could to Gaius. On her way, she ran past the well that Merlin was collecting water from.

"Gwen?" She called the running girl but when she got no response she panicked. "Gwen!" She said grabbing her bucket, now filled with water and ran after her friend.

"Gwen!" Gaius said in shock as she burst through the doors.

"Gaius." She said and ran to the man.

"You have the sickness?" Gaius asked but Gwen shook her head.

"My father! Please, Gaius, he's all I have." She practically begged the man.

"Gwen, I have no cure." Was all the man could manage.

"I am begging you!"

"What's wrong?" Merlin asks as she enters the room.

"My father. Sick" Was all she could manage between sobs.

"Oh, Gwen." She said and pulled her friend into a hug. Once her sobs had quieted Merlin pulled back to look her in the eyes.

"Guinevere. I promise you I will do everything I can to help your father. But right now your father needs you. He needs you to be the strong woman I know you are. Go to him." Gwen nodded while recomposing herself. She smiled a small smile and went back to her father, strong.

"There must be something we can do." She turned to the man once Gwen was out of earshot.

"My best. Let's hope that this can provide some answers." E said putting water in a jar.

"But that'll be too late for Gwen's father." She cried. How could he be so calm?

"I fear you may be right." He said placing a flower in the jar while Merlin stormed off into her room.

------------------

That night Merlin peaked into the main room to see Gaius asleep. She smiled and ran out of her room as quietly as she could.

She could hear the guards speaking from her spot.

"What about over...in there?" She heard a guard say.

"Certainly, sir." Guard A poke spears into haystacks. While Guard B approaches Merlin's hiding spot.

"Onstyrian, onbregdan." She whispers and a random door across the street creaks open. Both guards walk over to the door letting Merlin make her escape and continue on her way.

A moment later she arrives at the blacksmith's. She walks in to see Gwen sleeping next to her father. Merlin puts a poultice under his pillow and runs out.

"þu fornimst adl fram guman." She watches as the poultice glows. Once the glowing stops, Tom sits up.

"Father?" She asked shocked.

"Gwen." He said and hugged his daughter.

"What's happened? I can't believe it!" She says her eyes tearing up.

"Me neither my dove. Me neither." He said into her hair.

-------------------

The next morning Gaius called for Uther and Arthur.

Arthur reaches for the glass vial with the tainted water and flower in it, but Gaius slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch it. I had this in the water for no more than a few hours." Gaius said putting the vial on the table.

"Where's the water from?" Uther asked.

"The pump from where the people take their daily supply."

"We have to stop the people from using it." Arthur proclaimed.

"The city cannot survive without water," Gaius said sadly.

"We have to find this sorcerer!" Uther yelled and slammed his hand against the table. Almost knocking down the vial but luckily Arthur caught it.

"I don't believe that they're inside Camelot," Gaius said taking the vial and putting it on a shelf away from them all.

"Then extend the search to the villages!" Uther told Arthur.

"We've started, but I can't search the entire kingdom."

"And I can't stand by and watch our people dying," Uther said and marched out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Arthur stayed silent for a moment then looked around the room.

"Where's Merlin?" He asked Gaius.

"She is still asleep. Though she is usually up by now." Gaius said confused and walked up to Merlin's door.

"Merlin?" He knocked on her door.

"Merlin my girl wake up!" He said and still got no response. Finally, he opened the door to see Merlin sleeping, her back to the door.

Arthur walked past Gaius and shook her.

"Merlin wake up." He said turning her, freezing at the sight.

Her veins. They've started to turn blue.

She opened her eyes and looked confused.

"Arthur? I thought I was off until we found a cure." She said sitting up. Gaius and Arthur just continued to stare at her. Once she sat up she shook her head.

"My head hurts. Can I have something for it, Gaius? It's nothing serious, at least I don't think." She said standing.

They both just continued to stare at her in horror. Much to Merlin's dismay.

"Look. I know my hair looks crazy but that doesn't mean you both get the right to just stare at me like I have grown a second head." She said and pushed them out.

"Leave I have to get dressed." With that, she closed the door.

Both men just stared at the door for a moment longer.

"How can she be walking around like that? I mean most people are weak once they get the blue veins." Arthur asked Gaius amazed if her strength and scarred for her the girl.

"I have no idea sire." He said just as dumbfounded.

"Do you think she knows?" Just at that moment, they both heard a yelp.

"She does now," Gaius said as she walked out.

"You see it too right? Like I'm not crazy." She asked, surprisingly calm.

When both boys nodded she let out a shaking breath. And just walked into her room once more.

The boys looked at each other once again and back at the door. Moments later she walked back out looking fine.

"How did you do that?" Arthur asked.

"Makeup. Now Gaius what do we do to cure this?" She asked incredibly relaxed.

They looked at each other once more and ack at the girl.

"I am not in shock. In fact, I feel awful. So I'll ask again. What do we do to cure this?" She said sternly.

"Right. Well. I- um... I'm going to bed more water." Gaius stuttered out. Merlin nodded and walked out to get more water.

-----------------

While walking back with the bucket she saw Gwen, who was practically skipping.

"How's your father? Is he feeling better?" She asked Gwen once she caught up to her.

"Yeah, it's incredible. It's a miracle." She said smiling.

"His skin's clear, back to normal?"

"Yes." She said as she grabbed Morgana's lunch.

"That's wonderful!" She said and hugged Gwen.

"Thank you." She said pulling back.

"What for?" Merlin asked slightly worried. She couldn't have found out! Could she?

"For what you said before. About me being strong."

"I didn't like to see you upset. I have to...get on."
She wave and went back to Gaius.

--------------------

Arthur and his guards were on another patrol when they saw Tom working. Arthur walked up and Tom smiled at the man.

"Good morning Sire. What can I do for you?"

"Good morning. Just answer a few questions, if you could." When Tom gestured for him to continue he did. "The story is you were sick."

"Not anymore." He said happily and smiled.

"Perhaps you were suffering from some other ailment?" Arthur suggested.

"Well, my daughter tells me that I looked just like the others. You know, blue veins and white eyes. I suppose it could have been different but I highly doubt it."

"Then...what happened?" Arthur asked confused.

"Oh, I don't know. Suddenly it was gone. I'm fitter than I was before." He said and picked up his hammer and went back to work.

"That's remarkable. Was anybody with you when all this happened?" Arthur asked calmly to not draw suspicion.

"Just my daughter, Gwen." He said not realizing what he had said.

Once Arthur left, he and the guards searched Tom and Gwen's house. After a moment of searching, they found a poultice under Tom's pillow.

-------------------------

Gwen was taking out the flowers she got yesterday when they came. Arthur and his guards stormed in and grabbed her.

"Guinevere, I'm arresting you for crimes and contraventions of the laws of Camelot, that you did practice enchantments." Once Arthur finished they started to drag her off.

"Gwen?" Morgana asked as they dragged her off.

"But what have I done? I haven't done anything! Help me, please!" She pleaded.

"What are you doing?" Morgana asked Arthur.

"I found a magic poultice in her house." He stated sadly.

"Oh, that's ridiculous." She said scoffing. The thought of Gwen as a sorceress? Unimaginable, not only is she the pure meaning of good. She'd be to scared to even study in Camelot.

"Then how else do you explain her father's recovery?" When Morgana didn't have an answer he left.

---------------

Gaius and Merlin were walking to get more herbs when they heard yelling from the council room.

They both ran to see what it was. Once they got there they saw Gwen on the floor mumbling to herself about how she didn't do it. Whatever it was.

"Why will no one believe me?! He got better, he just recovered. I didn't do anything!" She shouted and Merlin paled.

"I believe you. Perhaps this is a disease that is not always fatal. Have you thought of that? Perhaps he recovered naturally." Morgana said running to stand next to her maid.

"And what of this poultice that was found?" Uther asked, Gwen only looked more confused.

"What poultice? I don't know anything about a poultice!"

"It was found in your house. Undo this enchantment. Put an end to this contagion." Uther said standing from his throne.

"I can't!" She said tears running down her face.

"I will show you no mercy." He said and Merlin almost fell she was so upset.

"I am not a witch. I don't know how to stop the illness!" She tried to explain but Uther only heard rambling.

"If you will not undo your sorcery, you force my hand and I must find you guilty..." he started but was cut off.

"But I told you, I...". She tried but the guards pushed her for speaking.

"It is, therefore, my duty to pronounce judgment. And under the circumstance, I have no choice but to sentence you to death." Gwen could only shake her head. As she was pulled away she could only cry.

It was then that Merlin and Gaius were forced out, along with the other courtiers.

"I know Gwen, she's my maidservant, not an enchantress," Morgana said angrily.

"Have you ever seen an enchantress? Believe me, they bear no sign, no mark. There is no sense of evil in the eye."

"I've seen the way the girl works. Her fingers are worn, her nails are broken. If she was a sorceress, why would she do this? Why would she kneel on a cold stone floor morning after morning when she could make these things happen with a snap of her fingers? Like an idle king!" She yelled at him.

"You have no right!" She yelled back.

"You have a right to cast a judgment on that girl!" She yelled louder.

"She's right, Father. You hear the word magic, you no longer listen." He said trying to stop their yelling.

"You saw it for yourself. She used enchantments."

"Yes, maybe. But to save her dying father, that doesn't make her guilty of creating a plague. Why would she even allow her father to become sick in the first place? Wouldn't she have just told him to not get water from there? Or make the water safe to drink instead. Father, it just doesn't make sense." Arthur tried to explain.

"I have witnessed what witchcraft can do. I have suffered at its hand. I cannot take that chance. If there is the slightest doubt about this girl, she must die or the whole kingdom may perish." Uther said calming down a little.

"I understand that," Arthur said sadly.

"One day you may become King. Then you will understand. Such decisions must be made. There are dark forces that threaten this kingdom."

"I know. Witchcraft is an evil, father. So is injustice. Yes, I am yet to be King, and I don't know what kind of king I will be, but I do have a sense of the kind of Camelot I would wish to live in. It would be where the punishment fits the crime." He hated saying that. Sorcery is evil, it really wasn't. If it could heal how could it be bad?

"I fear you're right. She's played with fire, and sadly she must die by fire."

---------------------------

Merlin hurried down the stairs to the dungeon to pass Morgana. Morgana had tears on her face and just continued walking.

"Gwen." She said when she saw the girl. Gwen looked up her eyes red. She wanted to walk up to the bars but her chains stopped her.

"Thank you," Gwen said tears still running down her face.

"What for?" She asked confused. It was her fault she was here. Not that Gwen knew.

"For coming to see me." She said and smiled a small smile.

"I'm sorry," Merlin said crying.

"It's not your fault." If only she knew.

"It's alright. Don't worry about me. There's no point crying about it. I mean...I mean, I'm not saying that you were going to cry about me. Obviously, I don't think that." She said quickly. And Merlin had to smile. Still awkward and flustered.

"Oh, Gwen. I can't have this happen."

"Please, one thing. You, you don't have to, but..." She trailed off suddenly unsure of herself.

"What?" Merlin asked.

"Remember me." Merlin nodded and ran off.

'I can't let this happen.' She thought to herself.

-----------------

Merlin ran to the council room. She stood and wiped the tears off her face, wiping the makeup off as she did.

"It was me! It was me who used magic to cure Gwen's father!" Merlin said running into the room. The entire court stared at her.

"Gwen is not the sorcerer. I am!" Once she said this Gaius stood and walked up to the girl.

"Merlin! Are you mad?"

"I cannot let her die for me." She whispered to Gaius then turned to Uther. "I place myself at your mercy."

"She doesn't know what she's talking about." Gaius's tried to explain.

"I do," Merlin said strongly.

"Then arrest him," Uther said as the guards walked over.

"Father, please! I can't allow this! This is madness! There's no way Merlin is a sorceress!" Arthur said standing as well.

"Did you not hear her," Uther asked dryly.

"Yes, but she saved my life, remember." He said almost desperately.

"Why should he fabricate such a story."

"Well look," Arthur said walking up to the girl and rubbing her face.

"Ow stop." She said trying to push him off. But failed. After a moment her sins were visible.

"Father. She is sick. And Gaius told me that aside affect can be hallucinations and crazed thoughts." Arthur said looking at Gaius.

"Really?" Uther looked at Gaius.

"Well, some have been known to act crazy moments before death."

"Moments before death?" Uther asked looking at the girl worriedly.

"Normally, from what we have seen. But Merlin is a strong young woman and has been on her feet all day. I do not believe that she is close to death." Gaius said walking over to her.

"I am not crazed! It was me." She said but they all only stared at her sadly.

"Merlin," Uther said and she turned to him, shocked he spoke so kindly. "I believe you. But you at the moment are not in the condition for a trial. If you go and rest, we will have a trail when you are well enough. I will not punish the maid until then. Do you understand?" Uther said slowly, earning shocked looks from many in the room.

Merlin wanted to respond but she finally felt the sick. Her headache had comeback but worse and she suddenly felt dizzy. She couldn't think straight.

She nodded weakly and clasped. Arthur, who was still next to her caught her last moment before she fell.

"Arthur, get her back to her chambers," Uther said waving him off. Arthur nodded and picked her up.

"Did you mean what you said? About waiting to kill Guinevere?" Arthur asked.

"I do not know. I do not know if the plague will end if she dies. I must make her stop it." Arthur nodded to his father and left.

"Gaius, go she needs you." Gaius nodded and ran after Arthur.

-------------------

When Merlin awoke it was almost night. Gaius was out but had left Merlin out some foods and some medicines.

She stood and put the makeup back on and left for Morgana.

When she arrived she didn't even knock.

"I know how to prove Gwen's innocence." When Morgana heard Merlin she jumped.

"How?"

"I need to know that you'll agree no matter what?" At Morgana's nod she continued. "To save Gwen we need to find what's wrong with the water."

--------------------

Merlin and Morgana made it to the water around an hour later.

"Search for something out of the ordinary," Merlin said to Morgana. They continued around for a while but couldn't find anything.

"I can't find anything Merlin! Nothing seems unusual." Morgana said giving up.

"Well, let's are some of the water from here to Gaius. The plague might be stronger here." Merlin said handing the ward a bottle. They both put their bottles in the water and waited.

Once they were full both ladies went to pick it up but a screech was heard as a monster, looking like clay, ran by.

"What the hell was that?" Morgana asked as Merlin pulled her out.
-----------

Once they made it back to Merlin's chambers they started looking at books. It took a couple of hours but eventually, they found it.

"Here. It was an Afanc." Morgana said pointing to her book.

"An...a what?"

"A beast born of clay, and conjured up only by the most powerful sorcerer." Morgana read.

"Now we have to find a way to defeat it. But where?" Merlin said looking at the shelf but stopped herself. "That could take days. Gwen'll be dead by then."

"Well, what do you suggest?" Morgana asked.

"Just stay here. And if you have to drink water, drink the boiled water. It's the safest we've got." Merlin said before running out.

Merlin walked into the cave entrance and stood for a moment.

"Hello?" She called. She waits a moment for Kilaharrah to land. When he did he frowned.

"You have the plague." He said staring at her. Merlin nodded.

"I need to know how to defeat an Afanc." She said getting to the point.

"Trust the elements that are at your command. Merlin, you must be careful. You are weak, I can sense it."

"Elements? But what is it I have to do?"

"You cannot do this alone. You are but one side of a coin. Arthur is the other."

"So I need Arthur's help?" At the dragon's nod, she smiled.

"Thank you. Though what do you mean by the elements?" He only shook his head and flew off.

--------------

When Merlin stormed back into her and Gaius's chambers she saw that the latter had still yet to return.

"Where do you think Gaius is?" Morgana asked once she heard Merlin.

"Probably helping people with the sickness. What are Afnacs made off?" Merlin asked and Morgana went back over to the book.

"I believe it said that they were made of earth and water. Why?"

"Earth and Water, two main elements. Do you think that fire and air could destroy it?" She said realizing.

"Well, it would probably be weak to them." Both women were lost in thought.

"We need Arthur's help," Merlin said suddenly.

"Leave that to me," Morgana said and stormed out.

--

Morgana stormed into Arthur's chambers, without knocking, making him jump.

"Ever heard of knocking?" He asked sarcastically.

"We can prove Gwen is innocent." She said.

"We?" Arthur asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Me and Merlin. We went to the water source and saw an Afnac. A creature of clay that is created by powerful sorcerers. If we destroy the beast then the Magic of the curse will be lifted."

And how to you suggest we kill it?" Arthur asked standing.

"Easy. A monster made of clay. We need fire." She said.

"Alright. I'm in." He smiled at her.

-------------------

Arthur, Merlin, and Morgana were walking down a tunnel, all holding torches.

"You shouldn't be here Merlin," Arthur said looking at her.

"And why not?" Morgana asked ready to go all feminist on his ass.

"She's sick." He stated as if it were obvious. But when Morgana gasped he realized she did know. Morgana turned to Merlin and stopped her.

"What the hell are you doing here? Go home and rest!" Morgana demanded shocking Arthur with her profanity.

"There is no way your gonna keep me from helping her," Merlin growled and Arthur nodded.

"How are we going to find it?" Morgana asked after a moment of silence.

"I just hope we do before it finds us," Merlin said as they continued. They heard another screech and both Arthur and Merlin stood ready to fight while Morgana looked more frightened.

They look around but see nothing. Suddenly there's a flash in front of all their faces and Arthur's knocked down to the floor. Both ladies run over to him.

"What is it? Are you alright?" Morgana asked helping him up. At Arthur nod, they continue to look around.

"Where did it go?" Merlin asked just then it jumped in front of her.

Arthur then jumped in between them and started to wave the torch in its face making it back up.

'Lyfte ic þe in balwen ac forhienan.' Merlin changed quietly as a wind came in from nowhere and caused the fore to grow and kill the Afnac.

-------------------------------

Far off in another cave, a woman with brown hair and blue eyes in a red dress yelped in anger as she watched Merlin destroy her monster in the cauldron.

"Merlin!" She screamed as she splashed the water, causing the image to disappear.

----------------------

"Good news, Sire. There are no new deaths, and those that are sick are recovering." Gaius said walking towards the king.

"Good. I assume that Merlin is better?" The king asked.

"Yes, she made a very fast recovery and is already back on her feet." Gaius smiled as did the king.

"I'm glad. Strange, I've never heard of an Afanc before."

"It's conjured from clay by powerful magic. The type that can only be invoked by an ancient sorcerer. One that has the power to mirror the spirit of life. I found this at the water source." Gaius said showing him a large fracked egg.

"It bears the mark of Nimueh. We must be vigilant, Sire." Gaius said sadly.

"Will I never be rid of her?" He asked Gaius sadly.

"Leave me!" He suddenly shouts causing all the others to leave.

---------------------

As the guards let Gwen out her father ran to her.

"Dad!" She said and hugged her father.

"Oh, my little dove." He said into her hair. A tear fell down his face.

"Thank you!" She said grasping both Merlin and Morgana's hands.

"Don't thank me. It was more Merlin." Morgana said stepping aside. At those words, Gwen looked at Merlin with wide eyes.

"Really?" Before Merlin could respond Morgana cut in.

"She's the real hero here. She did it all while sick." Merlin glared at Morgana but smiled at Gwen.

"Are you feeling alright?" Gwen says her eyes tearing up.

"I feel fine." She smiles at Gwen even more and nods.

"I'm-- I'm grateful to you all. Come on, Gwen." He said looking at them both and pulling Gwen away with her.

Merlin and Morgana watched as they left with smiles on their face. When they made eye contact Morgana looked like she had an inner battle with herself. Finally, she shook her head and gained this smirk.

"Merlin. I wanted you to know, your secret's safe with me." She said and Merlin's eyes widened.

"My secret?" She squeaked out.

"Merlin, don't pretend. I know what you did."

"You do?" Merlin was practically shaking with fear.

"I saw it with my own eyes, and I understand why you don't anyone to know," Morgana said.

Merlin giggled nervously. "Well, obviously."

"But I won't tell anyone. You don't mind me talking to you about it?" She asked nervously.

"Er...no. I- I, it's, er...you have no idea how hard it is to keep this hidden." Merlin said happily that Morgana accepted her.

"Yeah, I mean today only really proved my theory. I had suspected when Valiant attacked Arthur and you used the dog statue. And when I went to your rooms later, instead of a statue dog, it was an alive dog." She said and laughed.

"Well, I suppose that is hard to miss." Merlin laughed as well.

"But you really don't mind if I talk to you about it?" Morgana asked suddenly nervous again.

"No. In fact, I encourage it. I mean no one has ever been you know accepting of it. They usually just hate me so it would be nice to have someone on my side." She smiled.

"Well, I have to go. Dinner with Uther. Goodnight Merlin." Morgana said and left.

---------------

Merlin walked into her chambers slowly to see Gaius standing there.

"I know that face. What did you do?" Gaius asked and crossed his arms.

"Well, Morgana might have found out about my magic." She said sheepishly.

"What!" Gaius yelled.

"But it's okay because she said she'll keep it a secret and yeah. Plus it will be nice having someone to keep me out of trouble." Merlin quickly said to try and calm him down.

Gaius was about to continue but was cut off by a knock at the door.

Merlin walked up and slowly opened the door. Leon and Ewan stood there both with flowers in their hands.

"Leon! Ewan!" She said happily and noticed the flowers. "Who are the lucky ladies?" She asked and guests red them to come in.

"Well. Actually there for you." Leon said once they walked in.

"Me?" She said confused.

"We heard you had gotten the sickness and we figured you would be lonely recovering, so we came to keep you company for a while. But it's obvious that you are already recovered." Ewan said and looked at the ground sheepishly.

"Awwww you two are so sweet. Thank you for thinking about me. I would still however like the company. I haven't seen either of you in days!"

"We've been busy looking for the sorcerer who contaminated the water," Leon explained as the three of them sat down, Gaius walking off into his room.

"Have you heard who's coming next week?" Ewan asked.

"No who?" Merlin asked looking at Leon.

"King Bayard to sign a treaty," Leon said rolling his eyes.

"He'll cause trouble." Ewan joked causing the other two to laugh. The three continued to talk for almost another hour when Ewan stood.

"Well, we have a busy day tomorrow. And you need rest. Come on Leon." He said walking towards the door. Leon nodded and turned back to Merlin.

"I'm happy your better Merlin. I hope you like the flowers, we didn't know what kinds of colors you liked." Leon said scratching the back of his neck.

"I love them. Thank you, Leon. It has been a stressful week and I needed just something to make me smile." She said affectionately.

"They made you smile?" Leon asked hopefully.

"You made me smile Leon." She poked his chest. Leon blushed and looked to the ground.

"Well good night Merlin. See you tomorrow." Leon said leaving.

-----------------------

When the door closed Ewan started laughing. Causing Leon to look at him confused.

"You have it bad," Ewan said between laughs. Leon waited for his laughs to quiet as they stopped in the middle of the square.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Leon tried to deny it but was shut down by Ewan's questioning glance.

"I mean she is kind, and funny, and selfless, incredibly smart, and beautiful," Leon said looking at her window.

"I don't think she really sees you like that," Ewan said making his infatuated smile deflate a little.

"I know. But still. Could it kill me to try?" Leon said and Ewan laughed again clapping his arm around Leon's shoulder and walking off.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Far off back in her cave, Nimueh smiled. Merlin would pay for what she had done.

Merlin was in for a surprise.

Chapter Text

Merlin. Merlin that sweet little girl from the sweet little village was becoming a much bigger problem than Nimueh anticipated. Merlin had learned the spell too easily for destroying Valiants shield. That spell should have taken weeks to learn. Not moments. She also stopped her Afnac much too quickly, and while sick. All it took was a little fire spell. And poof. Gone.

It seemed that she would need to get rid of Merlin herself.

--

Today was the day Bayard was coming. Lord Bayard of Mercia was coming to sign treaties. For the last couple of days, she'd had been lonely for Ewan and Leon were out on a mission or something like that. Morgana has been busy, arranging something for the orphanage, and Gwen was helping Morgana.

So who she really had was Gaius. And Arthur.

Speaking of Arthur, Merlin was helping Arthur with his clothes when she noticed he was nervous.

"Alright, Sire. Now is the time when I ask you what's wrong and you respond with nothing, even though I know something is. So then I have to pester you all day about it. So just to save time, why not tell me now." Merlin said as she buttoned his jacket.

"Noth-" he went to say but was stopped by her finger on his lips.

"What did I just say?" She asked sarcastically. Arthur sighed and walked over to the window.

"Lord Bayard is coming today, as I'm sure you know. And well, if the treaty isn't signed it will turn into something awful. A war."

"War?" She asked standing next to him watching the people.

"Well, half of the kingdoms will fight with Bayard and the other half with us. It will tear the kingdoms even more apart." He said turning to her.

"And it's just I don- I'm sorry, this is probably stuff you don't want to hear. I mean it's also more than you understand when it comes to politics." He said and started to walk out.

"No, I get it. And it's just that don't want to be the one to clean up your father's mess. Instead of fixing his mistakes, you want to stop them from happening." She said causing Arthur to freeze and turn to her.

"You never cease to amaze me." He said and smiled.

"And what does mean?" She asked ready for their banter.

"How one moment you can be this beautiful, intelligent, wise woman. And the next your a clumsy, idiotic, wise-ass." He said seriously.

"Me a wise-ass? At least I'm not a fat prat." She smirked.

"I am not fat!" He defended himself.

"You know a couple of weeks ago that belt only had four holes." She said and turned to grab his breakfast trays. She knew that he checked the wholes.

"Your joking." He stated unsure looking at the fifth hole.

"If you say so, Mi'lord." She said and left the room smirking.

-----------------

The next time she saw Arthur was just before Bayard's arrival. She could see Arthur nervously staring at one of the bottoms on his coat. She stared at him for a while deciding. Finally after a moment she left her spot with the other servants and quietly walked behind him.

"Don't worry Arthur. Everything will be fine." She whispered and chuckled as he jumped. He glanced over his shoulder and gave her a small smile.

"And I lied about earlier. Your belt didn't have four holes last week. It had three." She said and walked away. Smiling as she heard Arthur lose it behind her. Many of the knights were looking at her confused, she just smiled more at them.

"And what has your servant said that was so funny," Uther asked making Arthur stop laughing.

"She knew I was worried about today, so she came over to reassure me."

"And that made you laugh?" Uther asked confused.

"No, it's just this morning I told her that amazes me how she can be wise one moment and a clumsy idiot the next. Then she jokingly fought back with at least I'm not a fat prat." Arthur looked at his father's face who had his eyebrows raised.

"You let your servant talk to you like that?"

"Usually not. But this morning I need a laugh. Anyway, I then told her I wasn't anything close to fat. She then told me that last week my belt had only four holes. It now has five." Arthur glared at his father when he snorted quietly.

"What she just told me that made me laugh was that it didn't have four holes last week. It had three." Now Uther laughed out loud.

"I'm sorry Arthur, but that's quite funny." He said as he composed himself.

"You know you were supposed to be on my side," Arthur grumbled. Just as the sound of footsteps from the hall could be heard. At that moment both men stood straighter and looked emotionless.

Once Bayard and his men were in the room both groups walked up to meet each other in the middle.

"Camelot welcomes you, Lord Bayard of Mercia. The treaty we sign today marks an end to war and a beginning to a new friendship between our people." Uther said has he Bayard grasp arms. Both parties started to applaud. Arthur looked at. Merlin, who smiled. No one even noticed that Nimueh, disguised as a maid from Mercia glaring at Merlin.

-----------

Merlin was carrying a heavy bag down the Upper hall when she saw Gaius.

"Why do I always get landed with the donkey work?" She asked sarcastically.

"You're a servant, Merlin. It's what you do." Gaius answers sympathetically.

"My arms will be afoot longer by the time I get this lot inside." She joked.

"It's character building. As the old proverb says, hard work breeds... a harder soul." Gaius made up.

"There is no way that's a proverb. You just made that up." She accused knowingly.

"No. I didn't." He said fake offended.

Just as he did Nimueh fake fell in front of the two. "Sorry." She said under her breath as she tried to pick up many items she dropped.

"It's alright. Let me give you a hand with that." Merlin said putting down the bag she was carrying and starting to pick up stuff.

"Hi. I'm Merlin." She says and holds out her free hand.

"Cara." Nimueh lied and shook Merlin's hand. "You're Arthur's servant. That must be such an honour." She said looking amazed.

"Oh, yeah. It is. Well, you know, someone's got to keep the place running." She joked.

"Thank you, Merlin." She said as Merlin handed her the pillow she picked.

"It was nice meeting you." She said and started to walk away.

Merlin watched her leave for a moment then turned to Gaius, a knowing smile on her face.

"So tell me Gaius, who told you that proverb?" She asked picking back up her bag as Gaius laughed.

------------------------

"When was the last time these were cleaned!?" She asked as she and Arthur looked at the disgusting clothes.

"Last year some time. Before the Feast of Beltane." He said as he looked at the clothes.

"Did it end in a food fight?" She jokingly asked.

"Don't all feasts?" He responded.

"I wouldn't know. The airs and graces of the court are a mystery to me."

"Not after tonight, they won't be."

"Should I be scared?" She asked both sarcastically and seriously.

"Not quite." He said looking at the clothes. "You'll be there to make sure my cup doesn't run dry. If I have to sit through Bayard's boring speeches, I don't see why you should get out of it." He said and smiled at her. "Be sure to polish the buttons." He handed her a jacket.

"Do you want to see what you'll be wearing tonight?"

"Won't this do?" She asked looking at her normal outfit.

"No. Tonight you'll be wearing the official ceremonial robes of the servants of Camelot." Merlin perked up. Until Arthur held up the clothes.

"You can't be serious." She said looking at the feathered hat.

"No. I just wanted to see your face. What you'll be wearing is this." He said then pulled out a pretty red dress, much like one of Gwen's.

--------------------

Once Uther finishes signing the treaty he grasps arms with Bayard.

"People of Camelot, for a great many years we have been mortal enemies, and the blood of our men stains the ground from the walls of Camelot to the gates of Mercia. And though we remember those who have died, we must not allow any more to join them." Bayard says happily as a servant walked over with two cups on a platter.

"As a symbol of our goodwill, and of our newfound friendship, I present these ceremonial goblets to you, Uther, and to your son, Arthur, in the hope that our friendship may last." Merlin smiled at the gesture as 'Cara' approached her.

"Merlin, I need to speak to you." She said with fake anxiety in her voice.

"What is it?" She asked worriedly.

"Not here, please. I don't know who else to tell." She pulls Merlin out of the room.

As Merlin leaves she catches Arthur's eye. He gives her a questioning look. Merlin only shrugged and nodded towards Nimueh.

------------

"It wasn't until I saw him give the goblet to Arthur that I realized..." She started panicked.

"Whoa, slow down. Start from the beginning." Merlin said.

"Two days ago, I was bringing Bayard his evening meal. We're supposed to knock. He didn't expect me to walk in..."

"Cara...Tell me. What has Bayard done with the goblet?" Merlin said understanding where this was going.

"He believes that if he kills Arthur, Uther's spirit will be broken and Camelot will fall." She said not answering Merlin's question.

"What has he done with the goblet?" She asked again more sternly.

"He's poisoned it." She said quietly but smirked once Merlin ran into the hall.

-----------------

"And may the differences from our past remain there. To your health, Uther, to the beautiful children up there with you, and The people of Camelot." He said and raised his glass.

Arthur raised his glass as his father said. "And to fallen warriors on both sides."

Arthur was about to drink when he heard a familiar voice. "Stop!"

"It's poisoned! Don't drink it!" Arthur turns to see Merlin running at him and take his goblet.

"What?" Uther asked and looked at the girl.

"Merlin, what are you doing?" He said thinking of their conversation this morning.

"Bayard laced Arthur's goblet with poison."

"This is an outrage!" He screamed as he and his men drew their swords. Once they did the knights of Camelot did.

"Order your men to put down their swords. You are outnumbered." Uther said calmly.

"I will not allow this insult to go unchallenged!"

"On what grounds do you base this accusation?" Uther said looking at Arthur again.

"I'll handle this," Arthur said before Merlin could answer.

"Merlin, you idiot. Have we been at the slow gin again?" He said taking the goblet.

"Unless you want to be strung up, you will tell me why you think why you think it's poisoned now," Uther demanded.

"He was seen lacing it." She explained,

"By whom?" Her eyes flickered to 'Cara'.

"For their own safety, I can't say." She looked Uther in the eye. Arthur looked at the girl he saw drag Merlin out, when she noticed Arthur looking at her she shook her head.

"I won't listen to this anymore," Bayard said angrily.

"Pass me the goblet." Arthur handed it to him.

"If you're telling the truth... then you have nothing to fear, do you?" He said and started to hand Bayard the goblet, who was willing to drink it.

"No. If this does prove to be poisoned, I want the pleasure of killing you myself." He said and turned to Merlin.

"Merlin will drink it." He said handing it to her.

"But if it is poisoned, she'll die!" Arthur said panicked.

"Then we'll know she was telling the truth." He said dryly.

"And what if she lives?" Bayard asked.

"Then you have my apologies, and you can do with her as you will."

"Merlin, apologize. This is a mistake. I'll drink it." Arthur said trying to take it from her hand.

"No, no, no, no, no. It's, it's alright." She looked at Gaius, Gwen, and Morgana, and smiled at them. She drank the wine and waited for a moment.

The entire room watched in anticipation.

"It's fine." She said confused and Arthur sighed in relief and turned to Morgana who also looked relieved.

"She's all yours," Uther said and Bayard's knights started to walk over.

But everyone froze when Merlin reached for Arthur. Arthur turned to her in horror as she started to choke on nothing. Then she clasped. Arthur luckily caught her just before he hit the floor and picked her up bridal style.

"It's poisoned. Guards seize him!" Uther yelled.

"Merlin. Merlin wake up." Arthur said and shakes her lightly. Suddenly Gwen, Morgana, and Gaius were standing next to him looking at Merlin in his arms.

"Merlin. Can you hear me? We have to get her back to my chambers. Bring the goblet. I need to identify the poison." Gains said as Gwen picked up the goblet.

---------------------------

"Lay her on the bed quickly; she's struggling to breathe. Gwen, fetch me some water and a towel." Gaius said as the four of them burst through the door.

"Is she going to be alright?" Arthur asked worriedly. Gaius put a hand on her head.

"She's burning up." He said as Gwen burst back into the room, a bucket of water in her hands.

"You can cure her, can't you Gaius?" She said handing the physician the bucket.

"I won't know until I can identify the poison. Pass me the goblet." He said to Gwen. She quickly handed him the cup.

"Ah. There's something stuck on the inside." He said pulling out a clear flower petal.

"What is it?" Morgana asked looking at it confused.

"It looks like a flower petal of some kind."

"Her brow's on fire." Both men turned to Gwen whose face was full of worry. That's when Arthur got a good look at her face. It was incredibly pale, much paler than her own, and covered in sweat. Her eyes were already sunken in with dark shadows underneath. She already looked half dead.

"Keep her cool; it'll help control her fever." He said while pulling out a book. After a moment he spoke up again.

"Ah. The petal comes from the Mortaeus flower. It says here that someone poisoned by the Mortaeus can only be saved by a potion made from the leaf of the very same flower. It can only be found in the caves deep beneath the Forest of Balor. The flower grows on the roots of the Mortaeus tree." He read and showed the group the pictures.

"That's not particularly friendly," Morgana said pointing to the creature drawn on the page.

"A Cockatrice. It guards the forest. Its venom is potent. A single drop would mean certain death. Few who have crossed the Mountains of Isgaard in search of the Mortaeus flower have made it back alive." He said and looked deep in thought.

"Sounds like fun," Arthur said after a moment and started for the door.

"Arthur, it's too dangerous," Gaius called after him.

"If I don't get the antidote, what happens to Merlin?" He asked, knowing he had won already.

"The Mortaeus induces a slow and painful death. She may hold out for four, maybe five days, but not for much longer. Eventually, she will die." Gaius said sadly.

"Arthur, tell your father you're going hunting. I don't think he'll allow you to go." Morgana called after him, he put his hand universe his head to show he heard.

-----------------------

"Father, I wish to go hunting. I cannot stand to stay and watch her die for me." Arthur said as he walked up to his father.

Uther looked up shocked. "There is no antidote?"

"No, well there is but there is an ingredient, the Mortaeus flowers leaves, that is dangerous to get," Arthur said sadly looking out the window.

"How dangerous?" Uther asked standing next to him.

"They are guarded by venomous creatures. Gaius said that one drop could be fatal." He said fake sadly.

"Are you really going hunting?" Uther asked looking at his son's face.

"That father. Depends on you." Arthur said.

"Go. Save her. But please do not die for this girl." He said knowing he would not win.

"Thank you, father." Arthur said happily and ran off.

"Good luck my son," Uther said as his only son ran off.

-------------------

"She's getting hotter," Morgana said feeling her forehead.

"Him. Liffrea, wuldres wealdend, woroldare forgeaf." Merlin said and both Morgana and Gaius looked at each other worried.

"What language is that?" Gwen asked confused.

"None. The fever's taken hold. None of those words are her own." Gaius said quickly and felt her pulse. "Her pulse is weaker."

Morgana pulled up her sleeve to show a large circular rash.

"What is it?" Gwen asked worriedly.

"That can't be right. The rash is not supposed to appear until the final stage."

"What does that mean?" Gwen asked.

"It says here that once a rash appears, death will follow within two days." Gaius read and froze.

"You told Arthur he had four days." Gaius went over to Merlin to look at her.

"Something's increased the flower's potency. It warns that the effect of the Mortaeus will be more rapid if an enchantment is used during the flower's preparation." Morgana read from the book and looked up. "An enchantment? But Bayard's no sorcerer."

"No he isn't," Gaius said walking back over to the book.

"Then who did this?" Gwen asked, after that, it was silent for a while. All lost in thought.

"It can't have been. She wouldn't dare come here. Unless..." Gaius said thinking out loud.

"Unless what?" Morgana asked.

"What happened to that girl?" Gaius asked suddenly.

"The pretty one that pulled Merlin out of the room?" Gwen remembered.

"Find her." Gwen nodded and ran out the door.

-----------------

Morgana was in her chambers getting ready to sleep, much to her protest, when Uther knocked on her door.

"It is open." She called and started to brush her hair.

"How is.... Merlin?" Uther asked after searching for her name.

"Not well, Gaius says that the poison was enchanted to become more fatal," Morgana said quietly.

"Enchanted?" Uther said confused. "Bayard would not use magic?"

"Gaius believes it was the woman who told Merlin of the poison." She said putting her brush down.

"I found it odd now willingly Bayard agreed to drink the poison," Uther admitted.

"I am going to sleep now. I shall see you tomorrow." Morgana said as she gave him a hug.

----------------

The next morning Gwen and Morgana both walked into Gaius's chambers looking more rested than the night before. But equally, of not more, worried.

"Let me guess, she wasn't there," Gaius said knowingly.

"No one has seen her since the banquet," Gwen explained

"Who is she?" Morgana asked.

"Not who she claims to be," Gaius said bitterly then turned to Gwen. "Could you get me more water please?" With a nod, she was off.

"So who is she really?" Morgana asked.

"A powerful sorceress." He stated.

"Have you met her before?" Morgana asked sitting down next to Merlin and started to pat her head with the damp cloth.

"I have many years ago bef-" He froze as if he realized something. "Oh No."

"What?"

"She knows the only place an antidote can be found is the Forest of Balor. Arthur could be walking into a trap." Both Morgana and Gaius turned to Merlin who was mumbling in her half-consciousness.

--------------------

Arthur had been riding for hours now and had yet to stop. He was tired, hungry, and went for it had drizzled earlier. It was now he questioned why he didn't bring anyone with him. He shook his head and continued on. He froze when he heard a cry. He grabbed his sword and hopped off his horse. He walked for a moment when he found a girl. Who looked around the age of maybe Mid-Twenties with dark brown hair, which was almost black, and bright blue eyes. She had bruises all over her body and her dress was tattered.

She reminded Arthur a little of Merlin. He grimaced at the thought of Merlin covered looking like this.

"Hello? Are you alright?" Once he said that the girl jumped and turned to him. Just as she opened her mouth her eyes widened at something behind him.

He quickly tuner ed around to see one of the Cockatrice roaring behind him.

"Stay back." He called to her. She smiled as the beast crawled closer to Arthur. The Cockatrice lunges for Arthur, but he rolled under it as it jumped, then he tossed his sword, killing it. She frowned, and as he turned around to look at her again she put on a face of fake fear.

"It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you." He said to her quietly which seemed to have calmed her. He looked at her bruises and frowned. "Who did that to you?"

"My master." She lied. "I ran away from him, but then I got lost. Please don't leave me." She practically begged.

"I won't. I'm not going to." He reassured her as he put a hand on an unbruised part of her arm.

"You can take me away from here?" She asked 'hopefully'.

"Not yet. There's something I have to do first. I'm looking for something. It can only be found here." He explained.

"What is it? I know this place; I could help you." She asked gesturing to the cave entrance.

"It's a type of flower that only grows inside the cave. It's very rare." He told her, his mind more focused on the cave.

"The Mortaeus flower? I know where they are. I'll show you." She said happily and pulled him into the caves.

---------------------------------------

"Arthur, it...it's a trap. It's a trap." All three heads turned to Merlin as she mumbled.

"The fever's getting worse, isn't it?" Gwen asked sadly.

"The poison's setting in," Gaius explained with just as much sadness in his voice.

"eft gewunigen wilgesiþas, þonne wig cume." Merlin started to chant causing Morgana and Gaius to panic.

"Could you fetch me some more Wolfbane?" Gaius asked needing to get rid of Gwen,

"Yes, of course," Gwen said and ran.

"Merlin, you must fight. I believe in you." Morgana said as she held her hand.

--------------------------

"There they are," Nimueh said pointing towards three yellow flowers. And of course, they were on a small ledge of the wall with a very long drop.

"Keep back from the edge. Don't worry. We'll be out of here soon." He said just before he jumped but stopped when he heard mumbling from behind him. After a moment the cave started to shake. Magic.

"What are you doing?!" He screamed at her.

Arthur dropped his torch as the rock falls out beneath him. He jumped for the opposite ledge and catches it with his hand and looks back at her.

"I expected so much more." She said disappointed.

"Who are you?!" Arthur demanded trying to climb the wall.

"The last face you'll ever see." She replied cheekily. Just ask she said that a giant spider started to walk towards him.

"It seems we have a visitor." Arthur backed away from the spider as much as he could but couldn't get far. After a moment he grabbed his sword and stabbed the spider.

"Very good. But he won't be the last. I'll let his friends finish you off, Arthur Pendragon. It's not your destiny to die at my hand." She said and walked off with the torch. Leaving Arthur dangling from the ledge in the dark.

---------------

Back in Gaius's chambers Morgana and Gaius heard Merlin chanting. They both walked over to see a light under her blanket.

"Stop... trap. Too dark." She continued to mumble again.

"Do you think she can see Arthur?" Morgana asked gesturing to the orb in her hand. "Do you think she's helping him?"

"I'm not sure," Gaius said completely confused.

------------------

Arthur tried to get up the walls of the cave but couldn't see. After trying for a couple of minutes a glow from below starts to appear.

Confused he looked down to see the magic orb. The same orb that Merlin had in her hand.

Thinking the orb was Nimueh he screamed at it."Come on then. Finish me off!"

The light floats above Arthur and he pulls himself onto the ledge. The light moves higher, but Arthur spots the Mortaeus flower on the wall.

"Leave them, Arthur." He swore he heard a woman's voice. Not Nimueh, but another.

"Go. Save yourself. Follow the light." The voice said again. It sounded familiar to Arthur but he could not understand.

He ignored the voice, even though it was probably right, he thought to himself. But he shook the thought away. Merlin. Merlin would die without that flower.

So he claimed over, ignoring the dozens of spiders that tried to attack him.

"Faster. Go faster. Follow the light! Move. Climb." The voice screamed again. And this time he listened. Flower in mouth, he claimed to the top. Somehow making it unharmed. Once he did the orb disappeared. Just as the one in Merlin's hand did.

"Do you think she was talking to Arthur?" Morgana asked.

"Maybe," Gaius said not believing what he saw.

--

Uther was standing, watching out to the kingdom when he saw a rider. Once the rider came closer he realized it was Arthur!

The draw bridge was immediately lifted and Uther waited towards the entrance.

"Arthur you're alright!" Uther said as his son walked toward him.

"I am a perfectly fine father, maybe my hands are a little scraped but fine but I need to get this to Gaius," Arthur said showing his father the flowers.

"Of course," Uther said and watched Arthur as he ran to Gaius.

-------------------------

"Arthur do you have the flower?" Gaius asked as soon as he walked through the door.

"Here." He said handing it to Gaius.

"Her breathing's much worse. We have to hurry." Gaius said and started to crunch the leaf. After a moment he stops.

"Why have you stopped?" Morgana asked.

"The poison was created using magic. We may need magic to make an antidote." He said looking at Arthur.

"But we can't. It's forbidden. Even if we could." Gwen said rushed looking at Gaius with wide eyes gestures to Arthur.

"If it is the only thing that can save magic then do it, Gaius," Morgana said then gave a pointed look at Arthur.

"I agree. As long as it never happens again." Arthur warned.

"Absolutely," Gaius reassured him.

"Sythan arrest wearth feasceaft funden. Denum æfter dome. Dreamleas gebad he gewinnes longsum." He chants and the potion sizzles and foams for a moment.

Gaius pours the potion into a small cup and goes to Merlin

"Hold her nose." He said to no one impartial.

Arthur, who was the closest, did so as Gaius poured the liquid down her throat.

"Swallow, Merlin. Swallow it." Gaius quietly encouraged. After a moment Arthur could feel her breathing stop

"She's stopped breathing. What's happening?" Arthur panicked as Gaius put his finger under her chin somewhere and froze they all got worried. "Gaius?" Gwen asked.

The door opened but no one seemed to notice as Uther walked in.

"Her heart has stopped," Gaius said in disbelief.

"She's dead?" Morgana asked with tears in her eyes.

"She can't be. She can't be." Gwen said and almost clasped.

"It's my fault. If I'd have got here sooner. If I'd have been quicker." Arthur said to himself and stood up, his eyes glistening daring to let tears drop.

Gwen turned to Morgana and hugged her as they both cried. Arthur just continued to stare at her in disbelief while Gaius covered her with a blanket.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped. He turned to see his father there with a comforting smile.

"I am sorry." He said and patted Arthur's shoulder.

"Come on Arthur. Morgana. I think maybe you should go to bed." Both nobles looked at each other and back at Merlin.

"I think we'd like to stay here for a little while longer, please. Plus I have a scratch on my hand that needs to be looked at." Arthur said still in a daze and looked back at her lifeless body.

"Of course," Uther said and started to leave, but stopped at the door. He turned around to see either no one noticed his presence still in the room or they simply didn't care.

"I can't believe it. She's gone." Gwen said as they all say at Gaius's table.

"She was one of the most strange and brave women, no person, I've ever met."

"Are you lot talking about me with me?" They all heard and slowly turned to Merlin.

"And why the hell is there a blanket over me?!" She asked and they all laughed.

"Merlin. You're alive." Gaius said happily.

"No. I'm the ghost come back to haunt you." She said sarcastically.

"Now get me out of this blanket!" She said struggling.

Arthur was the first to get up. He rushed over to her and helped her. Once he saw her face he hugged her.

Merlin shocked tensed for a moment but soon lazily hugged back, for she didn't have much energy.

Suddenly he pulled back. "Sorry. That was inappropriate. It's just you were..... dead." He said. Once he finished both Morgana and Gwen were hugging her as well.

Once they pulled back Morgana playfully hit her. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" She said and they all laughed.

"What happened? The last thing I remember was talking to Cara about Arthur's drink." She said and looked around.

"I happened," Uther said causing them all to jump and Arthur to flush with embarrassment.

"I, angry that one: you interrupted the dinner and two: that Bayard poisoned the drink, that I made you drink the poison. Knowing full well that it could have killed you. And for that I am sorry, I didn't stop to think that you would die."

"It's alright, Sire. I made the claim, I should have been ready to prove it." She said kindly and smiled at him.

"Alright. Now that everyone's seen her alive I need everyone out!" Gains said and tried to usher everyone out much to the young adult's dismay, Uther was already gone.

"She needs her rest." Gains explained and they all left with sour faces.
--
"Sire, forgive the interruption, but may I speak with you?"

"Word of Bayard's arrest has got back to Mercia. We're about to be attacked." Uther told Gaius.

"I feel that what I have to tell you may have some bearing on your plans. Please, it will only take a moment."

"I know who tried to poison Arthur."

"So do I. He's locked in my dungeons." Uther said as of Gaius had grown another head.

"It wasn't Bayard. The poison was magical. And I'd recognize the hand that made it anywhere: Nimueh."

"You must be mistaken."

"Based on both Arthur and Merlins descriptions. I know that it I am not. I wish I was." Gaius said.

"It can't have been. We'd know her. That witch's face is not easily forgotten." Uther said closing his eyes.

"She's a powerful sorceress. I saw her face, and did not recognize her, for she has not aged a day." Uther looked up shocked.

"How is that possible?"

"Magic." Was Gaius's only answer.

"And this is what she's wanted all along. A war to bring strife and misery to Camelot." Uther said in realization. "How long before Bayard's armies reach our walls?" He said turning to a Knight.

"A day. Maybe less. We should send cavalry out to meet them."

"Instruct your men not to leave Camelot until I give the word."

"Sire." The knight bowed and ran off.

"I should go as well, for Merlin might need me," Gaius said and walked out the door with a bow. After a moment Uther was next to him again.

"How is the girl?" Uther asked surprising Gaius. His apology surprised him enough. First apologizing and now this, checking up on the girl.

"She is doing remarkably well. But that was to be expected she is a strong girl." Gaius said fondly and proud.

"You see her as a daughter of some sort? Do you not?" Uther asked seeing the smile.

"What do you mean?" Gaius asked.

"Oh, old friend I know that smile. I smile that smile whenever I see Morgana stand up for herself, or when Arthur does something noble, like getting the flower." Uther teased.

"I suppose I do. I haven't known her long. But I know that she has already made me a better person. And Arthur it would seem."

"Arthur?" Uther asked confused.

"Sorry if I speak out of term, but Arthur was very rude and arrogant before he met her. Now, I have seen him become much more kind and gentle towards all his people." Gaius said.

"I suppose your righ-" Both men froze when they saw the knights outside Gaius's door.

"What are you doing here?" Uther asked thinking that they were on duty.

"Oh, we heard what happened to Merlin and wanted to check on her." One knight said, Leon. Uther believed his name was.

"Do not worry, these are friends of Merlins. She has seen to have impacted everyone she has met so far." Gains said and went to let in the knights. Uther walking back to do kingly things.

---------------

Merlin awoke to voices outside her door.

"She seems to have impacted everyone she has met so far." She heard Gaius say and smiled. She stood and walked out into the main room to see Leon and Ewan.

"Hello boys," Merlin said happily. Both me. Turned to her with a frown on their faces. She tilts her head.

"How is it that whenever we're gone you get hurt?" Ewan asked.

"I'm sorry?" Merlin said confused.

"You know what we're talking about. Last week you got sick with the plague while we were looking for the sorcerer. And now we go off to check in one of the outer villages and come back to head you've been poisoned!" Leon said angrily and Merlin started to smile.

"And you know what we're talking about because your smiling. This isn't funny Merlin!" Ewan said sternly and Merlin's smile went away.

"We care about you Merlin. I care about you a lot. I just moved here to Camelot. I've only been a knight for a couple of weeks. And I can't stand to see you hurt. So please when we are not here to help you, please be careful." Leon pleaded.

"I promise. Guys I care about you too." She said and hugged them.

"I'm so lucky to have you two as friends." She said in their ears.

Once she pulled back she saw Leon give Ewan a sad look. But thought nothing of it.

"Stop looking at each other like that. I promise you guys. Next time you're not here I will be extra careful." She promised.

"Good. We should leave you to your rest. Come on Ewan. Good night Merlin. Feel better." Leon said and the two left.

Once out of the room Ewan looked at Leon sadly. "I think you should just move on. I mean I don't think that it's going to go anywhere."

"I think you're right." He said knowing that his feelings would never lead to anything.

--------------——–------------------

Uther, Arthur, and Morgana all stood their wand watched as Bayard's armies walked away.

"Okay. Let the bragging begin. How'd you manage it?" Morgana asked.

"I'm not sure. All I do know is I had help. Someone knew I was in trouble and sent a light to guide the way."

Morgana's eyes widened and Uther turned around.

"Who?" He asked.

"I don't know. But whoever it was, I'm only here because of them." Arthur said truthfully.

"I'm glad you're back." She said and rushed off to Gaius.

"Arthur? The woman you met in the forest, what did she tell you?" Uther asked.

"Not much. She was too busy trying to get me killed. It was strange, though." He said and looked out over the city again.

"In what way?"

"I was at her mercy. She could have finished me off, but she chose not to. She said it wasn't my destiny to die at her hand." Arthur said confused. Why did she spare me?

"You must've been scared," Uther said.

"Had its moments." Arthur smiled at his father and he smiled back. Arthur was about to leave when Uther called to him.

"What you did, was incredibly noble of you Arthur. I have seen few men who would risk their lives for just one life but you did. And I'm proud of you, Arthur. Never forget that." Uther said patting his son's arm and walking off leaving a smiling Arthur.

-----------------

That night Arthur walked into Gaius's chambers to see Merlin sitting at his table with a blanket around her arms. "Still alive, then?"

Merlin jumped and turned around to see Arthur. She smiled sweetly. "Oh. Yeah, just about. I understand I have you to thank for that."

"Yeah, well, it was nothing. A half-decent servant is hard to come by. I was only dropping by to make sure you're alright. I expect you to be back to work tomorrow." He teased only to find Merlin took it seriously.

"Oh yeah, yeah of course, er, bright and early." She said and smiled.

"Only if you think you can, if you still feel weak please stay and rest more. I'd rather have a day without you than an extra day with you clasping every five minutes." Arthur said joking. She laughed and nodded at him. Once Arthur turned to leave he heard her voice.

"Arthur." She used the voice. Now most men knew it as the 'I know I'm gorgeous and I want something' voice that women that look like Merlin use. But Arthur knew this to be Merlin's 'trying to sound really great full' voice. So he turned to her.

"Thank you." She said in the voice once more and smiled.

"You too. Get some rest." He said smiling at her and left.

"Arthur may give you a hard time, but at heart, he's a man of honour. There aren't many who'd have risk what he did for a servant." Gaius's said handing her a bowl of soup.

"It all would've been for nothing if you didn't know how to make the antidote." She said kindly to him.

"Eat your dinner."

"I still don't understand why she went to all the trouble of framing Bayard. She could've just kept quiet and killed Arthur." Merlin said after thinking for a moment.

"But destroying Arthur and Camelot wasn't all she was after. She knew you would be forced to drink that wine. It was you she wanted to kill. Seems someone else knows you're destined for great things, Merlin." Gaius said and began to eat as well.

----------------------

As Arthur left Gaius's chambers he found himself smiling. It was a smile that even he didn't know.

Once he turned the corner and bumped into Sir Gregory, an old friend.

"Oh no my lord who were you just with?" Gregory asked in an obviously fake worry.

Arthur confused tilted his head and put his hands on his hips. "I went to speak to my maid, Merlin."

"The beautiful woman that drank the poison?" He asked smiling a wicked smile walking next to his prince.

"Yes." Arthur nodded.

"So, you think she's pretty?" Gregory asked.

"No," Arthur said and Gregory frowned.

"Pretty is trying to look nice, with the nice dresses and the makeup and all of that. No, she's naturally beautiful. Hell, she wears trousers every day and half the knights stare at her. Especially Leon." Once Arthur said Leon's name he felt a wave of anger in his stomach. Which soon turned to confusion, Why was he angry at Leon?

"And she is the one who gave you that smile?" He asked jokingly, though Arthur didn't know why.

"I guess, I mean I don't understand why that mat-" Arthur started but was stopped by his friend.

"Any woman who can make a man, especially you, must be a very lucky woman." He said and laughed. Arthur still not understanding only stared at his friend.

"What? I don't get the joke." He asked and his friend stopped laughing.

"You, my friend, are walking around looking like a love-sick puppy," Gregory said and started laughing once Arthur made an appalled face.

"That is outrageous. Me? Besotted over Merlin? Please." He scoffed and started to walk off.

Me and Merlin... that ridiculous.... outrageous..... insane! He told himself but a voice in the back of his head, sounding much like Morgana for some reason, whispered to him. Is it?

Thus, causing Arthur to lay wake in his bed that night looking at the ceiling wondering.

Is it?!