A/N: For Rosesumner and scientia-potentia-est, who got the gears moving for this one. Hope you like this one too, guys =). (Apologies for another crappy title. Naming things are not my specialty.)

An Unlikely Traitor

I was on my third tankard of mead, when I heard a familiar voice shout my name. "Gwaine!"

I stared into the amber liquid in the bottom of my cup suspiciously. I couldn't be that drunk yet, could I?

"Gwaine!" There it was again, closer this time. I looked up, half turning round…to be suddenly engulfed by dark blue fabric.

Taking it by the shoulders, I managed to peel it away far enough to get a look at a face. "Oh. Helloo Merlin. Long time no see."

The boy froze, staring at me. "Gwaine, what is that?"

"You like it?" I stroked my seven month old beard fondly.

"It looks like a bedraggled rat." I glanced up to see Arthur take the chair next to mine, a smirk gracing his royal mug.

I wagged a finger at him. "Jealousy…is an ugly emotion, young Pendragon." I slurred wisely, suppressing a hiccup.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Right. Whatever you say, oh wise one." He slipped an arm casually around Merlin's waist, pulling the boy so he was half sitting, half leaning next to him.

I wrinkled my nose, taking another swig. "Your sister would like it." I grumbled.

Merlin and Arthur shared a knowing look. "Why don't you ask her?"

I nearly choked. "Morgana's here?"

"Of course." I whipped around to see the dark haired lady herself, smiling.

"Hello Morgana." I said stupidly. "Didn't see you there."

She stepped forward, giving me a big hug. "Hello yourself."

As I hugged her back, I briefly entertained the thought of pulling her into my lap, as Arthur had with Merlin, but I quickly decided that I was not even close to being drunk enough to face the wrath of Morgana. Arthur I could handle, but Morgana? Nooo.

I let her go, and she took the seat on my other side. I looked at all three of them, my heart truly warm for the first time in ages-or perhaps that was just the mead. Whatever its cause, it was sadly squashed as something remarkably intelligent (given my current state) crossed my mind.

"Now I know you all didn't come all this way just to say hello." I had quickly found that outside Pendragon lands, taverns were few and far in between, meaning that my wanderings over the past seven months took me much farther than I had intended…

Merlin grinned, but his heart wasn't in it. "Maybe we're here to tell you that you can come home now?"

I shook my head. "Nope." Not even Arthur and Morgana's efforts combined could make Uther change a sentence this quick. My friends had gotten themselves in trouble-again.

Arthur shifted slightly so he could look at me around his boy's ridiculously large ears. I raised my eyebrow, continuing. "…You got yourselves in trouble, again. How the hell did you survive before I came to Camelot?"

"You're both right, Gwaine."

I cocked my head. "Oh really?"

"Yes. Camelot is in trouble, but Morgana and I managed to convince my father that if you help us save the kingdom again, he'll revoke his sentence, maybe even restore your knighthood."

My mouth quirked. "Right." I'll believe that one when Cenred and Uther become besties. "Ignoring the fact that your father is a renown hypocrite…What am I needed for this time?"

"We need you to help us retrieve an Old Religion artifact from a cave." Morgana answered me reluctantly, and when I looked at her, she avoided my gaze.

"Well that doesn't sound so bad…" I flinched, knowing, with those words said, more bad news was coming.

"It wouldn't be, except the cave is in the heart of bandit country, in Cenred's kingdom…and the fact that its possibly guarded by a very powerful Priestess of the Old Religion…" Merlin added, biting his lip.

I stood up. "Well come on, the-whoa." I swayed, catching myself on the table. Must be drunker than I thought…

"Not tonight." Arthur said firmly as Morgana stood up, putting steadying hands on my shoulders. "We rest tonight, and set off in the morning."

With Merlin's help, I followed the two royals upstairs. The royals naturally had their own rooms, while I bunked in my room with Merlin. I let the boy have the bed-mostly because I kind of collapsed near it and couldn't be bothered to get up again.

With my nose pressed slightly against the wooden floor, I heard Merlin climb into the tiny bed. He paused. "Are you sure you're all right like that…?"

"Yep." I said, vaguely waving my hand. "Go to sleep, Merlin. Bandit country and all that tomorrow."

"Right." I had just started to doze when he spoke again. "Its good to see you again, Gwaine. I've missed you. We all have."

I smiled. "Missed you too. All of you, stupid royals included."

I heard the young warlock laugh softly. "Good night, Gwaine."

"'Night, Merlin."

I woke up to a blistering headache, my body aching from its odd position on the floor…all usual. What was unusual was the fact that when I opened my eyes, I was assaulted by bright sunlight. Ow.

I got up slowly, blinking, attempting and failing to shield my eyes from the offending rays. Through my blurry eyes, I saw a certain someone with a scarlet neckerchief and a dark blue shirt standing at my window. "Merlin. Oh good. I didn't dream the whole thing…"

He glanced at me, face crinkled slightly in confusion. "You dream about your friends showing up to drag you off on a quest?"

I shrugged. "I've dreamed weirder things, believe me."

He turned fully to me, interested now. "Like what?"

I laughed, clapping him on the shoulder. "I'll tell you when you're older. Now where are the lovely royals?"

Merlin gestured behind him. "In the courtyard."

"Right. Come on, then."

In the lonely tavern's little 'courtyard', I got another surprise.

"Gwen!" I shouted, not caring one whit that I was making my headache worse.

"Gwaine!" The slight handmaiden threw her arms around my neck, nearly choking me. When we broke apart, she gave me a strange look.

"You smell like a brewery, and what is that?"

"it's a beard." I automatically started stroking the offending patch of hair defensively.

"I think it suits him." Morgana said sweetly behind us.

"Ha! I told you your sister would like it." I crowed at Arthur as he mounted up.

"Yes, and she also has a fondness for small hairy creatures that live in the ground. Much like yourself, Gwaine." The Prince retorted, not missing a beat.

I blinked at him in surprise, opening my mouth to snipe back, when I noticed an unfamiliar face behind Gwen.

"Helloo. Who's this?"

Gwen glanced back with a smile. "She's our guide, Gwaine."

Said girl-a pretty little thing with bright blonde hair and steady dark eyes-stepped around Gwen, offering her hand. "My name is Anna."

"A pleasure." I kissed her hand. She just looked at me, taking her hand back without comment. Undisturbed-I had warmed up colder lasses than this in my brief span as a knight-I hopped into the saddle of the great black beast Camelot's dear Prince and company had provided me.

Anna and Gwen mounted up-Anna on a solid white mare, Gwen on a caramel-colored gelding. Anna immediately took the lead, leading the way out of the tiny courtyard without another word, the rest of us following.

After one false start (I forgot my sword and pack back in my room at the tavern) we were well on our way.

"So how long?" I asked idly after a blessedly quiet hour.

"The main route takes several days, but given the urgency of your quest, a shortcut would be more prudent, I think." Anna replied evenly.

A shortcut? Something else occurred to me too-something I forgot to ask last night. "Speaking of urgency, what exactly ails Camelot?"

The question wiped the smiles from my friends' faces. "A powerful curse. It blighted the crops, causing them to rot overnight. Wildlife became scarce soon after. The wells were even starting to run low when we left." Arthur said quietly.

"And this artifact…?"

"Should-will be able to purify the land." Merlin put in. I glanced at him, but he was looking off to the side, avoiding not my eye but Arthur's. Merlin doesn't believe this will work. Why did that give me the feeling that we were chasing down a desperate fairytale? Oh right, because that's what we do.

It was very close to nightfall by the time Arthur called a halt. It was obvious that it was killing him to do it-and for once, I agreed with him-but even with a witch and a warlock with us, it was not a good idea to travel in bandit country at night.

The same awkward, tense silence that had plagued the daylight ride continued in the camp. Even the ever cheerful Gwen's face held no smile.

I had just finished unsaddling my horse when I heard Arthur say, "Merlin, where are you going?"

"Firewood." The young warlock tossed vaguely over his shoulder, not looking back.

"I'll come with you." I said quickly. Even the creepy silence of hostile woods was better than this.

Merlin didn't seem to hear me, so I tagged along after, following the sound of his clumsy feet as well as my eyes in the quickly darkening forest.

Almost as an afterthought, the young sorcerer summoned a fist sized globe of pale blue light. Good way to draw attention to ourselves, that. But then again, so was staggering about in the dark.

"Merlin." I said quietly, several minutes into our silent walk.

"Yes?"

"Why do you not think this will work?"

"Because…" He froze so suddenly I nearly ran into him.

"Oi, Merlin…!"

"Shut up." He hissed back. Then: "Do you hear that?"

I did. It sounded like…rustling.

Merlin lifted his hand, whispering a quick string of words. The globe of light in his hand started to glow brighter, revealing…

My eyes widened. "What the hell is that?"

A creature with the head of a snake and the body of a leopard lay crouched in front of us. The rustling sound was its breath as it slept.

"Questing Beast." Merlin breathed, horrified.

I raised an eyebrow. "So this is a Questing Beast?" It was ugly, to be sure, but it didn't look so tough. But then it woke up.

"Run!" Merlin shouted, grabbing my wrist and taking off as it reared up with an deafening roar.

"So this is a Questing Beast!" I cackled as we ran, the thing crashing along right behind. "Brilliant!"

"One bite will kill, Gwaine!" Merlin shouted back. I shut my mouth and sped up, quickly overtaking the boy and dragging him with me. Maybe not so brilliant, then.

I skirted the camp-the last thing we needed was to bring the thing crashing through our camp. Instead, I aimed for a tangled thicket I had seen earlier, with a fallen tree in the center.

When we reached it, I dived behind the tree and crouched there, as low as I could, gripping Merlin's wrist and yanking him down with me. The boy had doused his light when we started running; I could see nothing in the dense thicket, not even Merlin, who was mere inches from me. All I could hear was his breathing, quick and panicky. I squeezed his wrist.

We held our breath, waiting. The brambles, the strong berry smell, and the giant log would hide us. Hopefully.

The rustling came heart-stoppingly close to the other side of the log, almost close enough to touch. But then it suddenly turned away, leaving as quickly as it had come. I waited several tense heartbeats before I poked my head up over the log. Weak moonlight had appeared, filtering down from the trees outside the thicket. The Questing Beast was gone.

I let out my breath in a soft gust. "It's gone, Merlin." I looked over at the young warlock as the pale blue light flared again. "Close, that one." I laughed shakily.

"Yeah." He was shaking a bit as I helped him up. He looked up at me, and his already white face went even whiter. "Gwaine-"

I felt something cold and sharp touch my neck. "Yes, very close."

Oh shit.

A/N: I know its really mean to leave it there. Please don't hate me too much =(. I promise the next chapter will be up before you know it! So, like it, hate it so far? Reviews are love =).