Gruffy chuckled. "Tha' wasn't very smart."

Suddenly there came a sound from behind Arthur and Merlin, like a loud whistling sound. The noise did not register with them until it was too late. Merlin felt pain pierce his leg and he gave a cry as he fell to the forest floor on his knee. Coming out of his other leg was a arrow. it h ad come through the back of his calf and straight out the front and stook out now in the most painful way imaginable.

"Merlin!" Arthur exlaimed, eyes going wide with worry.

"I'm fine." Merlin caught his breath to say, though it was obvious he was in pain.

It seared through him like a wild fire and he held onto his leg tightly, trying to stop what bleeding there was.

Arthur glared back at Gruffy and made a step forward, but there came another whistling sound and this one landed just near Merlin's other leg.

Arthur froze.

"Fight and we'll kill your friend 'ere." Gruffy replied. "We don't really need him. So, it'd be in your best interest to put the sword down and come with us."

"Arthur, don't." Merlin said shakily.

"Quiet you!" Raspy shouted at him.

Merlin clenched his teeth and looked up at Arthur and shook his head.

"Enough waiting. Kill the small one!" Gruffy snapped.

Merlin suddenly felt someone grab him by his hair and yank his head back. The cold steel of a blade touched his throat and slid across slightly. Merlin couldn't think. Couldn't breath. All he could feel was the pain that was starting to inch across his neck.

Then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped, as a voice ripped through everything.

"STOP! Alright! Here!" Arthur tossed his sword to the ground and held up his hands. "Don't harm him!"

Gruffy smirked and waved his hand. Merlin was roughly pushed aside and he quickly brought a hand to his neck. There was a cut there, but it wasn't deep. He would live. Thankfully.

His heart hammered against his chest as he looked over at Arthur who seemed to have gone three shades of pale.

"You alright?" Arthur asked.

Merlin gave a nod.

"On your feet." A man to Merlin's side ordered.

"He's wounded." Arthur snapped.

"If he's goin' to slow us down, we might as well jus' go ahead an' kill him." Raspy said, not really caring one way or the other. He gave a shrug and the man beside Merlin went to get out a knife to finish him off, but, quickly, Merlin forced himself onto his feet.

"I'm fine." Merlin said. Why did he feel like he was saying that too much today?

"Yeahhhhh, but I've been rethinkin' things. They's only want the King. So, why take someone who's gonna just slow us down? Kill him." Raspy ordered.

The man beside Merlin grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him against a tree that he was by. Merlin winced as the bark of the tree dug into his back and as the arrow in his leg slammed against the tree and pushed through his leg some more. His vision began blotchy somewhat and it began hard to breath. In the background he could hear Arthur shouting, telling for them to stop. Telling them to let him go. Raspy was laughing off to the side somewhere, not really caring. Blinking rapidly, Merlin's eyes sight began to clear and he saw his attack bringing a knife down towards his gut.

Merlin's magic went to react. He felt it build up and push out towards the man, but before it could come forward and unleash it's fury on him and the other bandits around, a arrow suddenly came racing through the air and planted itself into the side of his attacker's skull.

Merlin stared, speechless, as the man went limp and fell to the ground.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, shocked, but it didn't take long for three more arrows to find targets. Three more of the bandits fell to the ground, two of them being bandits that had been holding onto Arthur. Now that he was free Arthur rushed to his sword that still laid on the ground and grabbed it up, not wasting any time at all at striking towards Gruffy and Raspy who had their swords out, ready to fight.

"Merlin, run!" Arthur shouted.

Merlin scoffed. "Right, I'll just yank this arrow out of my leg and be on my way then." Merlin replied with a roll of his eyes as he winced and watched Arthur strike blows with the bandits. He was such a better fighter than the bandits, though Merlin noticed how Arthur atcually struck them several times and when his sword should have sliced through them, it did them no harm.

'They're protected.' Merlin's heart slammed against his chest' 'They're protected with magic...'

Arthur seemed to notice as a blow to Raspy's head did nothing whatsoever to the man. He stepped back.

Raspy smirked. "We's protected." He said. "There's nothing you can do to us."

"Protected by whom?" Arthur growled.

Before Raspy could brag anymore, two more arrows came whizzing out of the forest and right into his and Gruffy's skulls. Both men stood there, not really comprehending what was going on, then, slowly, their bodies crumpled to the ground as the arrows in their head crackled and sparked, a red light glowing from them before they disappeared entirly.

Arthur blinked.

Merlin gave a sigh of relief. Slowly he allowed himself to settle on the ground, his hands went back to clutching his leg, though the pain wasn't anything he couldn't handle right now. He was just grateful to be alive. Also, he knew he should be wondering where those arrows came from and who had welded them, but right now, he just didn't care about that.

Looking over at Arthur, his eyes studied him closely. "Arthur, are you alright?" He asked.

His voice pulled Arthur from his shock and he turned to him. "Merlin?...Yes. I'm fine." He cleared his throat and hurried over to him, kneeling down and taking a look at his leg and neck. "You're the one who has seen better days." His hands gently inspected Merlin's wounds. "The good news is, the arrow did not seem to puncture anything vital and your neck is fine. The bad news is...we need to get that arrow out before your leg gets infected."

"Just help me get back to Camelot. Gauis can do it." Merlin said. He could do it himself and heal his leg himself if Arthur wasn't around, but, unfortunately, that wasn't the situation he was in.

"Camelot is a good distance away."

Arthur quickly held out his sword protectivly as he peered at the hooded figure that had suddenly made it's appearance near the tree.

"There's no need for that." The person swung their bow onto their shoulder.

Merlin reached out and placed a hand on Arthur's arm. "Look at the bow." he said quietly.

Arthur's eyes drifted to it, then it dawned on him. "You're the one who helped us just now?"

The person nodded.

"How did you do that? I have seen some of the finest archers in the realm and none of them had such perfect markmanship as you, nor did they manage to fire their arrows so quickly." Arthur replied. "Who are you?"

"A friend, for now." The person said, taking a step towards them.

Arthur still held up his sword.

The person brought their hands up to their hood and slowly let it fall to show their face. Merlin and Arthur were both a bit stunned to see that their savior had been a woman. Her red hair was pulled back in a braid, ringlets of hair hung about her face. She had emerald eyes that were sharp and alert. They had this look to them that made Merlin feel like she had seen many things in her life time - not all of them pleasant.

"I mean you no harm, King Arthur." The young woman replied.

"How do I know that?"

"If I wanted you dead, I would have shot you down with the rest of the men." She replied bluntly. It was apparent that she was not scared to speak her mind.

Merlin already found himself liking her a bit, though, he was wary of her.

"Please, let me help your friend." She said after a moment or two of silence. "I swear to you, he will come of no harm, neither will you."

Arthur looked like he didn't want to believe her, but, she was right. Camelot was a good distance off and Merlin needed that arrow out of his leg so he could make the journey. With a nod of his head, Arthur stood and moved away, keeping his eyes on their surroundings just in case.

The young woman knelt down beside Merlin and smiled faintly at him.

"Does it hurt?" She asked.

Merlin nodded. "Some."

"Anything and everything hurts him. He's such a girl." Arthur said.

"Prat."

"Idiot."

"Clotpole."

"Oaf."

"Boys!" The woman looked between them both. "As amusing as your light hearted banter is, please, shut up."

Arthur raised his brow.

Merlin tried to hide back the smirk that was trying to spread over his lips. This woman had just told Arthur - the King - to shut up. Not only that, but she had called him a boy as well! Arthur looked like he wasn't quite sure what to say or do about her, so, in the end, he just turned away and walked off a few steps to give her room to work.

With silence now filling the forest, the young woman began to work on Merlin's neck first. Out of a pouch she had on her waist she pulled out some herbs and placed them in her mouth, chewing on them for a moment or two before taking them out and gently rubbing the muck over the cut on Merlin's neck. Merlin normally would have been disgusted, but he noted that her way of healing and doctoring was not like Gaius', but rather more like the Druids. He said nothing though, continuing to watch her work as she moved on to his leg. He cringed a bit when she touched it. She gave a 'tsk' then pulled some sort of power from another pouch and sprinkled it around his wound. After a minute or two, the wound and the area around it went numb.

"What did you do?" Merlin asked, brow creasing.

"I made it to where your leg would not hurt as I pull the arrow out." The woman replied as she then broke off the front of the arrow, then grasped the back and began pulling it out.

Merlin thought there would be pain, but there was none.

He just sat there and watched as it came out of his leg and she laid it onto the ground. No pain. No nothing. Though, there was blood now seeping from the wound, beginning to rush out rather quickly. He looked away, closing his eyes some.

"Not afraid of a little blood, are you?" The woman teased.

Merlin chuckled lightly. "Just my blood." He answered.

She smiled and continued to work on his leg. After what felt like forever, the wound was patched up the best that it could be, though, Merlin didn't know how good that was considering he couldn't feel the area where the arrow had been.

"There. All better now."

"Good, can he walk?" Arthur asked, finally coming back over to them.

The woman nodded. "Yes." She said, then made her way over to the area where Merlin had dropped Arthur's weapons earlier.

"What are you doing?" Arthur marched over to her, grabbing her arm.

She looked back at him. "He can walk. What he CAN'T do is carrying all of these weapons. So, I am going to do it for him." She yanked her arm away.

"Why would you do that?"

The young woman kinked a brow. "You are full of questions, aren't you?" His look told her not to play with him though, so, she answered. "I was on my way to Camelot. If I am going there, I might as well help."

"Why are you going to Camelot?" Merlin asked as he got up and limped over to them.

"I am going there to see someone." She answered, hoisting the weapons onto her back. "That is all you really need to know." She shrugged, then started walking off. "Best come along - there might be more bandits nearby. We should hurry to Camelot."

Arthur watched her go, sheathing his sword.

"Having a bad feeling?" Merlin asked.

Arthur shook his head. "No...but something doesn't feel right..." He said no more about it. Instead he started following the woman. Merlin didn't know what to make of this either, but, nothing about the young woman screamed 'DANGER!' to him. For now, he felt like they could trust her, but he knew that sometimes those feelings were wrong.
He just prayed now wasn't one of those times.