Gaius wanted to get more out of Merlin, but the boy did not seem ready to talk about what had happened to him. The poor boy was shaky and pale. Whatever Nimueh had done was still affecting him. Gaius checked Merlin over once again and made sure he was okay, before giving him a sleeping drought and letting him rest. He had promised Arthur he would alert him when Merlin was awake, but the man knew that he would want answers. Merlin needed time to think of a story that had nothing to do with his magic before confronting Arthur, and he would need to tell Gaius what exactly had occurred first.

Gaius had fallen asleep again, but this time on purpose. In the morning he got his supplies ready for the day and after a few hours Merlin awoke. He was still exhausted, but he was getting antsy lying in bed.

"Gaius I just want to get out of this bed." The more he sat around the more he had to remember what happened to him in the woods.

Gaius gently helped Merlin set up. "Merlin you are in no shape to be walking about, now you can sit up, but that is it, do you understand me?"

Merlin nodded, too tired to protest.

"Good, not drink this and try to eat some bread." He gave Merlin some water and handed him a piece of bread.

Merlin was starving and began to gobble down the bread.

"Not too fast or you will make yourself sick."

Merlin slowed down a bit, but the bread still disappeared rather quick. Gaius sat down next to the bed waited for Merlin to finish. Merlin knew from the man's eyes that he wanted to know what had happened to his ward during the past few days. The event that occurred was still fresh in his mind, not to mention the pain he still felt. His shoulder and side felt like they were on fire, but they did not hurt near as much as when he received the wounds. Gaius sat in silence, waiting for the boy to talk. Merlin knew he only wanted to help, so he closed his eyes and decided to get the story over with.

"We didn't even know Nimueh had anything to do with it. I thought she was dead Gaius, on the Island of the Blessed, I thought I killed her, but I felt magic in the woods, and then something started attacking us. I saw a figure, so I followed it and then I saw her. She was smiling like the whole thing was meant to get me on my own. And then…we fought."

Merlin's eyes were unfocused and looking off at nothing.

"I thought this time I would beat her for sure, I would not let her win. But then she caught me off guard." Merlin stopped as he remembered his battle with Nimueh. "Vines began to wrap around me, I tried using magic to cut them, but more came. The next thing I know, I am being drug across the snow, and into the roots of a large tree."

Gaius' eyes went wide. "She trapped you in a tree?"

Merlin's silence was enough to give Gaius the answer. He wanted to press on, but did not want to traumatize the poor boy.

"That must have been what made the marks on you." Gaius looked down at the bandage poking out from under Merlin's sleeve. He strange, almost burn like marks all over him and now Gaius knew it was because of the vines pulling him into a tree.

Merlin was done talking about what happened for the time being, but that did not stop the memories from flooding his mind. It had all started when Camelot had been attacked in the middle of the night by a sorcerer. Whoever it was, they killed two knights and fled the Citadel, but left a few parting gifts. Nasty creatures that Gaius said could only be destroyed if the source of the creatures were destroyed. Uther had decided to send Arthur and a group of knights to destroy a stone that was keeping these creatures alive. Merlin of course was to go with them, because he would always be there to protect Arthur.

Gaius told them that the stone would be close because the magic would weaken the further away from the creatures it was. They set out the following morning to find the stone and destroy it. While they rode out of Camelot, Merlin wished that other people with magic would see that using it to try and hurt Camelot and the king just hurt their cause further. As long as sorcerers used their magic for evil, it would be treated as evil and those without magic would be blinded by their actions. Merlin pulled his cloak tighter as his horse galloped in the snow.

In the forest Arthur and the Knights found some tracks and got off their horses to follow them. It was not long before they were getting attacked by an invisible force. The knights stayed alert trying to find the source of the attack, but then fireballs began to come through the trees. Merlin had sensed the magic before the attack started and when he saw the fireballs it brought back bad memories of a few months before. Merlin was frantically looking around trying to pinpoint where the fire bursts were coming from, but then he saw a figure. He looked back at Arthur and the others, but they were all spread out in the forest and did not see the person.

Merlin followed the figure into a secluded part of the forest. He lost them for a moment, but then the cloaked figure was standing in front of him. Merlin held out his hand ready to attack when the cloaked figure put down their hood. Merlin's eyes widened as Nimueh stood in front of him smiling. She looked just as she did the last time he saw her.

"How? I killed you!" Merlin could not wrap his head around the priestess that was in front of him.

Nimueh laughed. "You thought you killed me, I thought you did to, but I found my way back to the living, and now it's time to take back what's mine."

"I won't let you do that, I failed once, but I won't again." Merlin blasted the woman into a tree, but her eyes turned gold as soon as she hit the ground and she spoke a few ancient words.

At first Merlin did not think anything happened, but then he felt something grab his ankle. He looked down and saw a tree vine snake its way up his leg. Merlin was able to use magic to cut it away, but more came. As the vines wrapped around him, Merlin continued cutting them away, but he could not keep up with the rapid pace they were coming at. Before Merlin knew it he was being slammed to the ground and dragged through the snow. He clawed at the cold ground, but the vines around his wrists pulled him harder. Merlin looked up at Nimueh who was off of the ground.

"With you out of the way, Camelot will be mine." She laughed and watched as Merlin was dragged towards the trunk of a fallen tree.

Merlin was in a panic, he could not do anything to stop the vines from coming. Nimueh would kill Arthur and Uther, then take Camelot for herself. As the vines dragged him, Merlin felt himself fall into branches, he was falling into the tree. He felt the branches tear into his skin as the vines pulled him further and further down, until Merlin was sure he was deep below the earth. He tried gripping anything as the vines pulled him, but he could not keep a grip on the icy tree. There was a little light in the depth of the tree, but not much. Merlin was completely tangled up in vines and branches and could barely move.

On the surface Nimueh smiled at the silence. She knew she would not have to worry about Merlin any longer. She also knew that Arthur and the others would come looking for him soon. She looked around at the state of the ground and knew they would be able to tell there was a struggle of some sort, but what sweetened it all for the priestess was the torn red scarf that had gotten caught on the tree during Merlin's decent to the center of it. She knew the knights would not be able to piece together the truth, but conclude their poor servant had perished.

Nimueh set off towards Camelot to make sure Arthur and the others got a surprise when they returned. She knew they had found the stone that was powering her creatures, but she had wanted them to. It was all a ploy to get Merlin out of the way, and into Camelot. Without Merlin around Camelot would be hers.

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AN: Thanks for reading!