Merlin stood alone in the fight against Morgana. Gaius was dead. He was the only other person who knew about Morgana's determnation to have Uther killed and camelot fall. Arthur was no where to be found. He hadn't returned from his hunting trip three days past. Concern grew amongst the people of camelot as they believed word had spread to Odin's land that uther had lost his mind. Now all it would take for Camelot's downfall was the death of Arthur..And camelot already had a traitor...

All merlin could feel was lost and alone. He had no one to turn to, no one at all. His world was falling apart, nothing mattered, nothing. Arthur was gone. Merlin couldn't think of any other explanation, he thought Arthur was dead. Merlin felt so useless, sitting on his bed, crying. Every time he walked into gauis' chambers,it would remind him of the wise old physician who had taken him into his care.

I'm going to stay with my mother for a while, merlin decided. As he was packing, he noticed something lying under his bed. Merlin reached under and pulled out a glass jar, filled with a minty green liquid. It was water from the lake of avalon. Merlin had been given this posession when he met the Fisherking had told Merlin that in Camelot's hour of need, it would show him the way. Without a second thought, merlin stuffed it into his rucksack and journeyed to Ealdor, the village where he'd grown up.

He arrived there late afternoon, having walked for several hours.

"Mother!" he ran over to greet her.

"Merlin! I've missed you."

"And i you."

"What are you doing here, is everythibg okay?" Hunuth asked anxiously.

"Not exactly. Morgana's enchanted the king, it's driven him mad. And that's not all, it's Arthur."

"what's happened?"

"He's gone missing. It's been three days, there's been no word from him,"

"Merlin, don't worry"

"-He's gone! He's dead!" Merlin creid.

"He can't be, it was your destiny to protect him."

"Mother, you don't understand. He's dead, i know it. My world's falling apart. I've already lost gaius, and now Arthur...I don't understand. It's too hard to believe, but it's true," he sobbed.

"It's all right Merlin. Arthur may be dead but you don't know for sure. Don't let him down are my son, I have so much faith in you, so much faith in your powers. Go and find him, bring him back. If you believe he's still out there, then he is, follow your heart merlin."

He had a long hard think about what to do. Arthur had never let him down. He was always there for him. Always there to protect him, like merlin was there to protect Athur. He decided to go and search for the arrogant prince. Althought, his arrogance didn't really bother merlin any more. I guess he just got used to it in the end, besides, what could he do about it? Through time, they both became very close. Closer than you'd expect, but it was kept a secret for a long while.

Merlin set out for Haldor, hoping his old friend Lancelot would still be there. He thought an extra pair of hands would help, having taken into account that he was useless at anything to do with a sword and armour. He drew the map which his mother had givem him from the inside pocket of the faded blue shirt he wore. Merlin stared at it for a few minutes, trying to work out the route which he should take. Merlin decided to cut through odin's Kingdom, as it appeared to be quicker. He was foolish. Odin was violent. He would have merlin killed if he were to find out why he was there, which meant Merlin had to be extra careful. He was walking through the forest of Asceteir when he heard a strange noise. At first he thought it was an animal, a noise which could only be made by a wild creature. But then, as it drew closer, he realised it was the sound of a human, someone in pain. "Arthur!" Merlin called,"Arthur!" The groan got louder and started to sound like someone mumbling. "mer..lin? hrm, mer," he began to run further into the darkness of the woods, further and further into danger, closer and closer to the terror which lay ahead!

"Arthur!" merlin called again. As he walked on, he could see the dark figure of someone lying in the ferns which covered the path and surrounded the trees. Quickly, he ran towards the figure, hoping, just hoping it was Arthur. And it was! "Arthur!" He hurried over to the prince. "Arthur," Merlin mumbled. Merlin wad depresed to see that Arthur was injured. An arrow pierced his leg and it looked as if it had caused an infection. Merlin thought about returning to camelot, but Halodor seemed nearer and easier to get to, besides, Camelot no longer had a courtphysician, and Arthur needed treatment.

A few hours later they arrived in Haldor. Lancelot wasn't in his house so Merlin ventured to the fighting ground where he assumed he would be. He saw two men dressed in chain mail and armour fighting viciously. He knew it was Lancelot. He could tell by the skill the knight fought smaller of the two knights looked up, took off his helmet and walked over towards merlin. "Lancelot!" Merlin exclaimed. "How are you?" he asked.

"Not so bad, yurself?" Lancelot answered.

"I'm okay, i guess. It's arthur."

Lancelot looked over towards the injured prince. "What's happeded to him?"

" His leg has been pierced with an arrow, it's caused an infection," Merlin replied.

"So what are you doing here?" Asked lancelot, not quite understanding what was going on.

"He needs treatment, but camelot no longer has a physician..."