He knew Freya didn't want him to do it, but it was what he wanted and she was too weak to say anything against him. The corridors were empty, Arthur and all of the knights and most guards were out looking for the beast, Freya, so he didn't have to hide away to avoid uncomfortable encounters as he ran down it towards Gaius' chambers. Fortunately, Gaius was in when Merlin stumbled through the door, panting.

"What on earth is going on boy?" Gaius raised his eyebrows.

"You got to help… Freya… Arthur wounded her…"

"Merlin…"

"Gaius, please! I'll take her out from Camelot, if you please help!" Merlin pleaded.

The old physician sighed. "Where is she?" He packed down some ointments and bandages in a bag. He hesitated, and then packed down a book.

"Thank you Gaius,"

"Now show me the way boy,"

The way back didn't go as quickly as Merlin had wanted it to, but Gaius was old and couldn't run as fast as the young boy. "Gaius, hurry up!" Merlin said impatiently, afraid that in this pace they would be too late. It felt like forever until he got back to her. The druid girl hadn't moved from where he had left her and she lay very still on the dirty floor and Merlin feared the worst, but then she made a slight movement from the sound of their steps. She seemed a bit scared to hear not only one but two people. Maybe she thought it was the knights that had found her.

"It's me," he said comfortingly and kneeled beside her. She smiled faintly up to him. "Merlin…"

"Gaius is here too, he's a physician. We're going to help you."

"Merlin… it's too…" late she whispered.

"No it's not, he said determined. "Gaius is going to look at your wound, okay? Don't be scared. I'm here right beside you." he took her hand into his as Gaius carefully opened up her dress to see to the wound, "It's very deep," the physician said.

Merlin didn't like the tone on his voice, "But you can save her, can't you?"

"I don't know," the physician said quietly and Merlin felt his heart sinking in his chest.

"But you can," Gaius said.

Merlin frowned, "How?"

"With your magic, that's why I brought the book. Hopefully we'll find a healing spell in it that will work."

Merlin nodded. Gaius packed up the book and paged through it, "Ah, here. I think this one will do." He gave the book to Merlin and pointed on the spell.

The spell wasn't very long and as he spoke the words out he felt the warm tingle from the magic in his hand and fingers. Nothing happened and Merlin sunk down, both at the seemingly failure and the exhaustion from the use of magic, he wasn't accustomed with using his magic to heal serious wounds.

"It doesn't work," he said.

"Try again. Harder this time," Gaius pushed him.

He concentrated and said the words again. And then, finally the wound started to slowly close down until a tiny scar, that and the blood on her skin and dress was the only evidence that there had been a wound there at all. He felt a little dizzy from the exhaustion and his eyes got teary of relief. Gaius patted him on the shoulder.

"How do you feel?" he asked Freya uncertainly.

"It tickled and itched at first, but it feels really good now I think…" her fingers traced over the scar. "It's completely gone," she said surprised. She looked up at him again, "Thank you Merlin," She got, with Merlin's help, into a sitting position. Shyly she looked at Gaius, "and I guess I have to thank you too,"

"No need for that child," Gaius answered. "You two need to get out of here. I'll go get you horses and food. Meet me outside the castle in 30 minutes," They agreed on a more specific place to meet and Gaius left them alone.

"Are you strong enough to go by yourself?" Merlin asked Freya.

"I don't know…" she looked down.

"Here I help you up," she flinched a little when he touched her arm. "It's okay," he comforted. She relaxed. It turned out Freya was only able to take a few steps and Merlin had to carry her in his arms the rest of the way. She snuggled up tighter to his chest and rested her head on his shoulder, her fingers playing with the edges on his neckerchief.

Gaius showed up at the appointed place in time. "I could only get one horse," he explained. Merlin nodded that it was okay, beside the old physician walked a brown mare. She was packed with saddle bags and blankets. Merlin helped Freya up in the saddle and wrapped one of the blankets around her. She was already wearing his jacket but he wanted to make sure she was warm enough in the chilly night air.

"Will you be okay?" Gaius asked with concern.

"Yes of course," Merlin tried to smile, but failed.

"You're not coming back are you?"

"Probably not, I'm sorry Gaius, I…" he cast a quick glance over his shoulder on Freya, who braided the mare's mane.

"No… I understand, come here!" Gaius took the boy in his arm and hugged him long and tight. "I'm going to miss you. You filled my life with colour again."

"I'm going to miss you too,"

Distant barks brought them back to realization and Merlin hurriedly mounted up on the horse behind Freya.

"Take care of yourselves, both of you. I'll take care of Arthur," the old man said. He and Merlin charred a last look at each other before Merlin kicked the horse in the sides and sent her of into a gallop.

"Gaius!" The prince's voice echoed between the stone walls. Slowly the old physician turned around to see a slightly angry Arthur stride towards him. "Have you seen my useless slop of a servant?"

"I thought he was with you, my lord?" Gaius said with an innocent voice.

"No, if he was I wouldn't ask you where he was,"

"Then maybe he's up in his room? Have you checked there?"

"No, and you shouldn't be out here at this time of night. There's a beast… Merlin is with the druid girl isn't he?" Arthur's voice was filled with betrayal.

Gaius hesitated, but then nodded reluctantly. How could Arthur have come to that conclusion so quickly?

"Where are they?" Gaius didn't answer Arthur stepped close and grabbed the collar of the old man's shirt. "Tell me where they are or you'll be a head shorter."

"I will not tell you because I don't know. Merlin wouldn't tell and they were gone before I could find and stop them." The old man said. For several seconds Arthur glared down at him and then let go, pushing him away. He turned around and started shouting for his men.

"Merlin is with that druid girl. We need to find them as soon as possible. She's very dangerous and could harm him. And there are wolves out there and Merlin can't even walk through the castle at daytime without stumbling into trouble."

"But my lord," Sir Leon said. "Merlin's just a mere servant. Is it really necessary to bother about them? They probably aim for the boarders and once they're over they're not Camelot's problem anymore."

"My father wants that druid at all costs which you are very well aware of Sir Leon," Arthur said coldly, "And Merlin is my servant!" he then hissed, Leon flinched, surprised by the sudden outburst, "And I want him here in Camelot, do you understand? I'll deal with the treason he committed myself," Arthur was well aware that the punishment for anyone helping someone of magic was death, and if someone was going to punish Merlin, he wanted to be the one doing it. Merlin was his servant and it was no one else's job but his to do so. But a part of him wanted to have Merlin by his side, here safe and sound in Camelot, just the thought that the younger boy was out there alone with the druid girl made him feel cold inside. What if he hadn't followed with the girl by own choice? She was a druid and certainly knows magic; she could have forced him, taking over his own will and everything. Merlin may be just his servant, and a lousy one too, but Merlin was also his friend, his best friend. And Merlin had never really looked up at him for being a prince but had insulted him from the very beginning and Arthur actually admired that, Merlin had treated him like no one have done before. God, Arthur really wanted to have that bloke at his side right now. Leon was regarding him with raised eyebrows, but he knew better than say against his prince. "Well then, let's go."

They hurried out to the courtyard where the horses waited and set off. "Release the dogs," Arthur commanded and the dog's men did as he told. By the way they were running it looked like they picked something up and Arthur hoped it was Merlin and the druid and not just some wild animal. They could barely see anything in the dark, but Arthur forced his men to continue the search. He overheard some of them calling this madness but he tried to ignore it. He knew the men were tired and probably hungry, it was way past midnight now and it was impossible to see much at all, but stubbornly as he was he urged the men on. After what felt like hours they reached a stream and the dogs spun round on their places, whining. They had dropped the scents.

"We stop here for the night and we will continue the search by first light."

"But my lord-," Sir Leon began.

"I am your prince and you will do as I say. If I say we stop here for the night, we stop here for the night."

"But we have no food."

"Then fix food. I'm sure there some fish in the water."

But it turned out food wasn't a big issue because most of the men went to sleep right away.

"I'll take the first watch," Arthur said and made himself comfortable sitting with his back against a tree, his mind was too full of thoughts to be able to sleep anyway. Watching his men going to sleep, he thought about Merlin with mixed feelings. He felt anger and betrayal because Merlin could have left with that druid by own choice, and he felt worry because the druid could have used magic on Merlin that made him take her away. He pondered over what to do if it was the first option that was the true one until Sir Leon woke up to release him from the watch and it was those thoughts that followed him into sleep.

A/N: This fic is already finished, and was from the beginning without chapters, but both my beta and I thought it would be best with multichapters, so this is going to be 4 chapters long and I will probably publish 1 chapter a day.

And of course a huge thanks to WistfulGallifreyan for beta:ing this!