Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.

Chapter Two:

Merlin sat on his horse with a blanket pulled around his shoulders as he shivered slightly. He had a cross bow resting over his shoulder and he glanced round warily. The feeling of unease still hadn't left him and he'd been looking over his shoulder all morning and afternoon. The Knights had noticed and teased him about, not that Merlin payed them any mind, he was more concerned about finding the cause of it, even Mordred could feel it.

"I think it's been a good trip," Arthur announced, snapping Merlin from his musing.

"Yeah," Mordred agreed, proud of what he had caught. "We all caught something."

"Including Merlin," Gwaine laughed.

"What did he catch?" Arthur turned in his saddle to look back at Merlin.

"A cold," Tristan answered, while Merlin glared at Arthur.

"If you learnt to track," Leon said, from where he was riding slightly behind Merlin. "You'd enjoy it more."

"I'm the best tracker here," Merlin mumbled and he was, when he could use magic.

Percival suddenly held up a hand and everyone stopped. Merlin looked through the trees, but he was at the wrong angle to see what Percival had. Watching as Percival dismounted and pulled off his cloak, Merlin quickly knocked the blanket off his shoulders and jumped down from his horse silently. Arthur dismounted and removes his cloak, the other Knights quickly doing the same.

Arthur draws his sword and follows Percival through the trees, while Mordred quickly made his way to Merlin side as they moved through the trees. Elyan and Leon were at the rear of the group and Gwaine and Tristan were walking slightly ahead of Merlin and Mordred. Merlin drew level with Arthur as Percival bent down and pulled something from the Earth, a crossbow bolt.

"Arthur, what is it?" Merlin asked, as he readied the crossbow he was still carrying "A deer? A boar?"

"Arthur," Percival suddenly said, pointing ahead.

And through the trees were bodies, scattered around like discarded toys. The blood pooled on the dry earth, reflecting in the late afternoon light and Merlin shivered slightly. He shared a look with Mordred, who was looking just as startled as Merlin as Merlin felt. There was magic here. The same magic they had encountered when facing the unknown sorceress and the dead patrol when they'd crossed the border to save Alator.

"Saxons," Merlin heard Elyan say.

Staring down at the bodies, Merlin frowned slightly. Why would the sorceress attack the Saxons? She had clearly allied herself with Morgana… Only known of the Saxons had been killed with magic, Merlin suddenly realised… So who had the magic been used on? Merlin had a very good idea who, he was just hoping he was wrong. He gestured to Mordred and the two of them continued through the trees.

A couple of steps later they find themselves surrounded by dead Knights of Camelot. Many of them had been killed by magic, while the others had been taken out by the Saxons who'd attacked them. There were more dead Saxons, but none had fallen close to what the Knights had been guarding. The overturned carriage in the centre of the forest road, had been emptied and its doors had been forced open with magic, the scorch marks on the metal were proof of that.

"They were after the cargo," Arthur said as surveyed the scene before them. "Weapons bound for Camelot."

"Emrys," Mordred suddenly called out and Merlin looked round to see him kneeling beside a body.

Merlin quickly made his way over to Mordred and knelt beside him. The dead Saxon didn't appear any different to the others that had been killed, it was only when Mordred turned over their wrist, Merlin saw the druid tattoo. Reaching out and gently tracing the pattern, Merlin tried to remember where he'd seen the symbol before. Each camp had a different symbol and Merlin was sure he'd seen this one before.

"Alvarr," Merlin suddenly remembered. "He had this tattoo… He wasn't a druid, was he?"

Mordred shrugged one shoulder as he looked round, trying to avoid gaining the other Knights attention.

"I was first introduced to him at a druid camp," Mordred answered. "But he did not practice the ways of the druids."

"Morgana helped him escape," Merlin said, looking down at the tattoo again. "He would be more than willing to help her."

"This is the work of Morgana," Leon announced, from where he was studying the over turned carriage.

"This close to the city walls?" Gwaine asked.

"Check for survivors," Arthur ordered, ignoring Gwaine's question.

Merlin and Mordred shared another look, they both knew there'd be no survivors.

)o(

Gaius stood at one of the work benches on the Physician's chambers, grounding down a mixture of herbs, while Merlin searched through the large collection of bottles and vials which lined the walls next to the work bench, finally he picks one up and passes it to Gaius.

"I don't want that," Gaius shook his head. "I want lungwort!"

Merlin looked down at the bottle he'd just handed to Gaius. It clearly wasn't lungwort.

"Sorry," Merlin apologised and quickly returned the bottle, picked up the correct one and handed it to Gaius.

"What is it, Merlin?" Gaius asked, as Merlin worked on preparing the medicine bag. "What's the matter?"

"The sorceress," Merlin answered as he sat down on the bench.

"The sorceress?" Gaius repeated.

Merlin nodded.

"When we went to rescue Alator, we came across a patrol of King Lot's men," Merlin explained. "They were dead. They'd be killed with magic… When magic is used, it leaves a trace and every magic user has a unique trace. This trace, it felt familiar, even though I've never felt it before… When we rescued Alator, Mordred was attacked. I arrived before the sorceress could harm him and she attacked me. Her magic had the same trace. She was the one who killed the patrol… Today, before we returned to Camelot, we found the Camelot patrol who were transporting the new weapons. It was the sorceress who had killed them, not Morgana. And I have no idea who she is, Gaius!"

"Familiar?" Gaius questioned.

"Yeah," Merlin nodded. "There was something about it, which reminded me of something else… Someone else's magic."

"Who?" Gaius asked, as he added a drop of purple coloured liquid to the herbs he was mixing.

"I can't say for certain, its been a long time since I've encountered their magic… I could just be imagining it," Merlin began, hesitating. "But her magic… It reminded me of… Morgause."

Gaius paused what he was doing for a moment and stared at Merlin.

"There was a rumour, during the Great Purge," Gaius said. "That Lady Vivienne possessed magic. She fled the night it began, leaving behind her daughter, Morgause. Morgana had been in the care of maids at the time, at their family estate, but Lady Vivienne never returned, leaving Gorlois to raise Morgana alone."

Merlin frowned at Gaius, "The sorceress was too young to be Lady Vivienne, Gaius."

"When Lady Vivienne fled Camelot, she was with child," Gaius continued. "A seer at the court had claimed the unborn child would grow to be a great sorceress, a High Priestesses and Enchantress… Lady Vivienne was never found, Merlin."

"You think this sorceress could be Morgana's half-sister?" Merlin asked.

"There are better people to ask than me, my boy," Gaius said.

"Then who would know?" Merlin questioned.

"I do believe Geoffrey of Monmouth still has the le Fay family records from before the Great Purge," Gaius answered. "Now, we have patients waiting."

Merlin quickly got to his feet and headed towards the door, only to pause as Gaius cleared his throat.

"Have you got everything?" Gaius asked.

"Yes," Merlin nodded.

"Merlin?" Gaius looked towards the table where Merlin's medicine bag lay waiting.

Merlin grinned sheepishly and hurried across the room and picked it up. He pulled the strap over his shoulder as he made his way back across the room and pulled the door open. Gaius shook his head fondly and stepped out the door, Merlin quickly following and shutting the door behind them.

)o(

"Mordred?" Merlin's voice echoed through Mordred's head, as he left the armoury.

"Yes, Emrys?" Mordred answered.

"Are you busy?" Merlin asked.

"No," Mordred replied, shaking his head only to stop when he realised Merlin wouldn't be able to see the action.

"Great," Merlin said. "I'll meet you at the library in five minutes."

And with that, Mordred felt Merlin's presence leave his mind. Walking down the hallway, Mordred began to make his way towards the library. In all his time as a Knight of Camelot, he had never once stepped foot in the library. Geoffrey of Monmouth was a wise man and saw far more than most people did and that didn't frighten Mordred, but it definitely made him wary of straying too close. In the times while Uther lived, and before Arthur had made peace with the druids, Mordred kept his distance from those who observed the world the way Geoffrey does.

Upon turning down the corridor home to the entrance to the castles library, Mordred found Merlin waiting for him. Merlin looked up and caught sight of him and he smiled. Mordred couldn't help but smile back as he hurried towards where Merlin was waiting. Merlin pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and turned to face Mordred.

"Be careful," Merlin warned him. "Geoffrey of Monmouth is very protective of his books. He's also good at sneaking around, he's almost like a ghost, you won't know he's standing behind you until he clears his throat. The amount of times I've almost been caught…"

Mordred just nodded and Merlin grinned at him, before turning and pulling open the doors to the library. It took Mordred's eyes a moment to adjust to the low light of the library as he and Merlin entered and the doors swung shut behind them.

As always Geoffrey of Monmouth was sat at his desk and was watching the two of them like a hawk, even though they had yet to move from in front of door. Merlin smiled at Geoffrey and grabbed hold of Mordred by the arm and dragged Mordred past the desk and deeper into the library. They walked through the labyrinth of bookshelves and Mordred looked round in amazement.

Finally Merlin stopped walking and Mordred almost bumped into him as he was too busy looking round. They had come to a stop in a part of the library which was mostly made up by scrolls and parchment. Merlin began walking round searching through the scrolls and frowning. Mordred followed after him, picking up loose pieces of parchment.

"Family records?" Mordred muttered. "What are we looking for, Emrys?"

"The le Fay family records," Merlin answered, his voice little more than a whispered as he continued to search through scrolls and parchment. "Gaius believes it possible the sorceress we encountered is Morgana's half-sister. Lady Vivienne fled Camelot before she gave birth, but her pregnancy would have been recorded."

Mordred just nodded and the two of them continued to search. Suddenly Merlin grinned and turned to Mordred holding up a scroll. Moving over to a nearby table, Merlin unrolled the scroll and studied it. He traced a finger over Lady Vivienne's name and below her was listed two children and the conformation of a pregnancy, dated a few weeks before the Great Purge began. Merlin glanced at Mordred who was staring at the scroll with a strange look on his face.

"Mordred?" Merlin asked.

Mordred pointed to the top of the page, where the family crests were drawn… At the centre of Lady Vivienne's family crest was a symbol, incredibly similar to the tattoo that Alvarr and the dead body in the forest had shared. Merlin quickly returned the scroll and the two of them left the library, nodding to Geoffrey as they passed. They walked through the castle until they reached the stairs leading to the Physicians chambers and Merlin turned to Mordred.

"Promise me you won't go back there," Merlin said, knowing that Mordred most likely wanted to go back out into the forest and take a second look at the tattoo. "It's dangerous at night, even for those with our gifts."

Mordred just nodded and Merlin smiled slightly and gripped Mordred's arm.

"Good night, Mordred," Merlin smiled slightly.

"Emrys," Mordred answered, bowing his head slightly.

Mordred watched as Merlin disappeared up the stairs before he continued down the hallway, but he didn't head towards his quarters, but towards the secret passage which led out onto the forest.

)o(

Hey! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time,

Blessed be,

TreeOfLife1997.