Okay here is the first chapter of my new story which is continuing on from series 5, episode 10 as Merlin never found out what happened to Alator (although he probably guessed that he was dead,) so I wanted to write that. I hope you like it.
Merlin had followed Finna's signs as quickly as he could. Queen Mag had once told him about his minds eye and now Merlin was glad for it although he did need to put his trust in it a bit more than he did. It wasn't long until Merlin saw a small encampment and noticed the old woman carrying logs to the fire.
"Finna!"
"Master."
"Please don't..."
"I thought I had lost you."
"You doubted me?"
"Never." Merlin gave her a smile, but it was soon wiped from his face.
Suddenly soldiers burst out from around the trees. Merlin noticed them quickly and used his magic to throw both of them back. The third held a crossbow and arrived to quickly into Merlin's line of sight for the young Warlock to do anything about it before the arrow had hit him.
Turning suddenly, Finna used her magic to throw the man back as he drew his sword to rid them of the danger that remained before turning to merlin in panic, although she hid it very well.
Merlin looked down and saw the wooden arrow sticking out of his stomach. Only few seconds later he felt and found himself losing his balance. He place a hand on Finna's shoulder to try and keep on his feet and she placed a hand on his arm.
"Lie back," Finna told him as she carefully helped him to lay down on the ground, "They won't be alone." A moment later she pulled the arrow out of Merlin's stomach and chucked it onto the ground beside them.
"Morgana must not find you." She told him worriedly as she looked at the trees ahead of her.
Merlin drew his sword and carefully placed it in the ground beside them before using it to pull himself up onto his feet, so that they could try and get away before Morgana arrived with more soldiers.
"Where can we go?" He asked.
"There's an old watchtower on the other side of the valley," Finna replied, "Can you walk?"
"Yeah. I think so." Merlin answered before they started to walk off towards the watchtower.
"It's not far." Finna told him
Mordred had kept his word to Merlin and told the other Knights that he had escorted the servant back to the bridge, so that he would be there for Arthur in the morning. None of the Knights argued to this which Mordred was thankful for, even though he had planned a story in case they had asked further.
"We should keep moving," Percival called out from the front of the ride to the rest of the Knights, "The tracks keep going this way." The Knights did continue forward and Mordred knew that it was only a matter of time until they found the old woman again.
Gwaine had started talking again about them hurrying up and finding her, so that he could have his celebratory drink in the tavern before he started trying to convince Leon and Percival to join him.
Eventually the other two Knights would say yes and Gwaine would turn to Mordred and start trying to get him to come along as well.
Or though Mordred had sworn to serve Arthur, he did not think that capturing this women would give him any cause for celebration.
Merlin's back rested against the bark of the tree and the Warlock held his sword beside him, ready for when Finna returned, so that they could set off again.
Finna was very caring and was doing her best to get him to safety and keep him alive (something that Merlin knew from his experience with Arthur while being chased wasn't easy) and she was doing a good job of it.
The older woman returned a few moments later in haste and spoke to him quickly, "It's safe are you ready?"
Merlin used the sword and the tree to pull himself up onto his feet and Finna supported him once he had moved away from the tree and they set of for the watchtower that could be seen from the distance.
Morgana looked at the three dead men in slight annoyance. She didn't expect that Finna was young, but more of an older person like Alator, however she seemed to be doing a very good job of outwitting Beuron's soldiers.
"There are no wounds." Beuron commented a moment later as he bent down by one of his men.
"There wouldn't be." Morgana replied, venom seeping through her voice as she looked around the small abandoned camp. Suddenly she spotted something. Bending down, she removed her glove and ran a finger over it. She smiled at the red blood that coated her finger.
"She's been hit. Bring your men." She ordered Beuron as she pulled her glove back on and started to walk away from the camp. Finna seemed to be doing a very good job of outwitting her, but could she keep that up with an injury? Morgana thought not.
Merlin stumbled as he and Finna entered the watchtower, but Alator's faithful servant once again helped him and they turned the corner to start the treck up the numerous amount of stairs.
Merlin used both his sword and the centre column of the stairwell to help himself get up them as quickly as possible. Finna remained behind him to insure that he didn't fall back for that - with him in his injured state - would most likely kill him almost instantly especially if his neck broke in the fall.
The servant couldn't make it up all of the stairs and collapsed eventually. Finna stopped and watched over him carefully.
"How did you know of this tower?" Merlin asked her curiously for he nor Arthur even had see this tower before.
"When you have spent a life time running you know all the places to hide." Well that explained why Arthur didn't know about it then didn't it.
"Running from... Arthur?" Merlin found himself taking in deep breaths to allow him to speak out loud now and he struggled for a moment to even speak the Kings name.
"And from his Father before him." Finna replied.
"It won't always be like this. Things will be better." Merlin told her.
"That is why I was sent... to help you make it so."
Merlin was going to say something else, ask about Alator, but then He heard distant shouting and barking. Morgana had found them. And here they were trapped. Finna helped him up and they continued up the stairs into a room. Merlin collapsed onto the floor and lent against a column and looked at Finna carefully as she turned her back to him as she grabbed a hold of the door.
"Why are you doing this for me?" Merlin asked while Finna closed the door.
"Without you, Emrys, Arthur cannot build the new world we all long for."
"For years the Catha have guarded their ancient knowledge, but now the time has come to pass it on to you. Only you can carry their hopes into battle."
"How can I do that?" Merlin asked.
"Here. Guard it carefully." Finna brought out a little box with engravings on either side and placed it in Merlin's hand, "It will help you in the dark days to come."
"Thank you."
Morgana marched into the watchtower before turning to face Beuron's army when she reached bottom of the stairs.
"I want her taken alive, do you understand? Alive!" She ordered as the soldiers ran up the stairs in front of her to find Finna with herself and Beuron following behind them all.
"There is something else. Something Alator himself wanted me to tell you. Do not make the same mistake as Arthur…" Dread edged into Merlin's feelings as he pre-empted what she was going to tell him, "Do not trust the Druid boy."
Merlin said nothing as he flittered out of consciousness. A sudden loud bang jolted him back to his senses and Finna rose from her position in front of him, looking over her shoulder at the wooden door as she helped the young servant up. The sounds of barking getting closer with every passing second.
Finna helped Merlin up the next set of stairs and though the door. The moment she let go of him, he fell forward: the sword scrapping along the ground.
"You must go on." Finna told him while leaning against the door.
"There's nowhere to…" Merlin replied, although being as out of breath as he was
"There's a roof, you will be safe there."
"How?" Merlin asked.
"They think I am alone," Finna replied, "Once they have me, they will go."
"I won't leave you, Finna. We fight them, together." Merlin told her while using the sword to get back onto his unsteady feet.
"No. If Morgana sees us together she will know who you are. That must never happen." Finna told him as she walked over to stand by his side.
"Finna please…" Merlin pleaded.
"It is my destiny, Emrys, to serve you until the end. I could wish for nothing more." Silence fell between the pair and the constant barking of Morgana's dogs and the heavy footsteps of the soldiers was the only noise to filter through to their ears. Merlin was the first to break the silence.
"Answer me one last thing." Merlin said simply while looking at his friend.
"Anything." Finna answered.
"Where's Alator?" Merlin questioned.
"Morgana is keeping him locked up in order to find out who Emrys is. She knows that Alator can tell her such a thing."
"Then we have to free him." Merlin replied before heading towards the door, but Finna lightly grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him back.
"If you try to free him, then Morgana will find you, she'll realise that you are Emrys."
"And she won't find me or realise that if we stay here?" Merlin asked as the sounds of once distant shouting and barking became closer and louder. It would only be a matter of time before Morgana found them both here.
Finna looked over her shoulder before looking back at Merlin, "You must go now."
"I can't just leave you, Finna."
"We've been through this," Finna stopped speaking and looked Merlin in the eye. The Warlock could already see so much in her eyes. Eventually Finna picked up her sentence once again, "I'll be alright."
"You might be, but I don't think I can make it to Alator on my own." The young servant told her (already knowing what her response would be to that,) in one last desperate attempt to convince her not to stay here on her own.
"No, you mustn't go to him! You must return to Camelot!" Finna insisted.
"Finna if I go back to Camelot now, I will never forgive myself if Morgana captures you. Arthur has six men out searching for you as well. If we find Alator he can help us and he can carry the Capha's hopes into battle like he's meant to." Merlin pleaded once again and this time something in Finna's facial features shifted.
The shouts and barking were a lot closer now and Merlin began to think that he could hear footsteps coming up the final set of stairs. Finna seemed locked in thought for a moment before she turned to him.
"There's only the roof left and Morgana will keep heading up until she finds us. Even if we wanted to go to Alator we couldn't. We have no way out now." Merlin had forgotten about the roof while he had been trying to convince Finna to leave with him. Now that she had reminded him The Warlock gave a smile and Finna wondered what he had planned from the look on his face.
Morgana stormed through the doorway into the empty room and growled under her breath. She was still being outwitted. Her shoes clicked against the floor as she walked across the stone tiles to the wooden door. She smiled wickedly as she turned around to face Beuron.
"Up here. It leads to a roof. She'll have no escape this time. Order your men to keep as quiet as possible and shut the door behind them."
Morgana made her way as quietly as she could up the stairs and was followed by Beuron and the few men who had come further up the watchtower with them.
One thing that Morgana didn't know was that she was smiling for no reason.
Merlin and Finna stood still and silently while Morgana talked to the men following her before they headed up the stairs and to the roof like Finna had thought she would.
Carefully the pair came out from their hiding place and made their way out of the room. Once they were out Finna carefully shut the door and as a little extra obstacle used her magic to lock it behind them.
Down the stairs stood two more soldiers, who spotted them almost instantly. Finna made her way down in front of Merlin, using her magic to throw the men against the wall and protect Emrys to the best of her ability just like she had promised Alator that she would.
Three more soldiers stood at the entrance to the watchtower with a few dogs. Finna used her magic to throw back two of them, but she couldn't get the third as well, so Merlin took care of him to which the older lady was grateful.
"We must hurry Master." She told him.
"Please don't call me that." Merlin added in between although he didn't think it would make that much difference to what Finna called him.
"Morgana was holding Alator over this way." Merlin allowed the sorceress to lead him in the right direction as he stumbled and used the sword and whatever else he could grip a hold of to help him stay up and get to Alator.
Mordred had of course been right and once Leon and Percival had agreed to go to the tavern if they succeeded, the Knight had turned on Mordred who - for the simplicity of it - had said yes straight away.
By now it was getting too dark to see, so the six Knights decided to stop and set up camp. Mordred volunteered to take the longest shift of watch possible and no one argued to that point either.
The young Druid rested his back against a tree watching over the sleeping Knights and flickering fire in front of him. He was beginning to wonder if he should have let Merlin go alone or let him go even. Merlin was Emrys and he knew that. Mordred also knew that he had promised Merin that his secret was safe with him.
But this was one of those - very few - times in his life where the young Knight sat and thought. What, where or even who was Merlin in such a rush to get to?
Mordred didn't have a clue, but some strange nagging sensation at the back of his head told him that following Merlin would have lead them to the answer of this mission.
The morning was approaching fast, but Merlin and Finna had still yet to stop moving. For they knew it would not take Morgana long to unlock the door and pick up their trail again and nor would the Knights hesitate to pursue them either.
Finna was keeping a close eye on Merlin as they made their way across the grass covered plains. The young Warlock was tripping over his own feet and had become more pale than he was when she had first met him. He looked to be shivering and the blood from the wound hadn't stopped, but had only been stemmed slightly by the pressure that Merlin's hand was applying, however Finna knew in his current state that he wouldn't be able to keep any of this up for much longer.
And all of this journey could all be for a dead cause. Which was – of course – exactly what the pair didn't know. Another thing that neither of them knew: they were being hunted in all directions.
Okay well that is the first chapter. I hope to upload the second chapter tomorrow or Sunday, but more likely tomorrow since I've almost finished it. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favourited and alerted my other story 'Stacks of Guilt'. I hope to keep writing more stories as I said I would. Please vote on my poll, please favourite, alert and review and thanks for reading.