If I ever again say that something won't be too bad before it actually starts, someone should slap me upside the head, I thought sourly as I shifted position yet again on the lumpy and hard cot. It had been a few good hours since me and Merlin had gone to bed, him laying on his own bed, sleeping peacefully, while I was stuck on the bed from hell in the corner of his room. I was still fully dressed, since all the clothing I owned was the ones on my back. You'd think that Borden would've come by now, but apparently he was waiting until it was really dark. As in, midnight dark.

Just as I was having this thought, Gaius' scratching of his quill on parchment stopped abruptly when someone knocked on the door. I heard Merlin jerk awake with a noisy inhale and I whispered, "Shh! Be quiet!"

He gave me a look and crept to the door to spy on whoever was visiting Gaius at this late hour. I gratefully hopped off my cot and crouched with him next to the door. Merlin glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, wondering what I was doing, but in the end he just shrugged and continued to watch the scene.

I pressed an ear to door and heard voices, one I distinguished to be Gaius' gravelly one, while the other was Borden's arrogant tone. "You have a nerve coming back here. You left me in a lot of trouble," Gaius admonished Borden.

Borden spoke next. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry about that." I fought back a snort. He wasn't sorry. "What can I say? Execution... didn't really appeal to me. Don't pretend you supported Uther."

I saw Merlin's eyes widening more and more as the conversation got more revealing. "Tell me why you are here," Gaius said firmly, clearly done with pleasantries.

I then frowned at Borden's following rude comment. "Save your eyesight, Gaius. It's the Triskelion of Ashkanar."

"You are sure?" Gaius asked doubtfully.

"I'm certain," Borden answered confidently.

"Let me see." I knew that now he was examining the Triskelion. "It's in a druid tongue. The bind runes are in threes. That's rare."

Borden said, "Oh, I can save you the trouble. They guide the bearer to the Tomb of Ashkanar. Yes, we both know the legend. We both know what he hid there."

Gaius sighed and replied, "A dragon's egg, and you have come to steal it."

Merlin gasped quietly, but I put a finger to my lips and kept trying to hear their conversation through the door, just like Merlin was trying to see what they were doing.

"I wouldn't say 'steal'," Borden said deviously, but me, Gaius and probably even Merlin knew that he meant to do exactly that.

"You're forgetting one thing, you're missing a part of the Triskelion."

"Oh, no. I know where that bit is," Borden declared in that cocky tone of his. I had never liked this guy when I had seen this episode.

"Where?" Gaius asked him.

"In the vaults... beneath your feet," Borden responded, and me and Merlin slowly looked down at our feet, to the floor where, God knows how many floors down, the final third of the Triskelion of Ashkanar lay.

"In Camelot?" Gaius once again asked, this time incredulously.

"Where it has lain safe and secure for the last four hundred years."

"And you want me to help you to get it." It wasn't a question.

"We could bring this noble creature back to life," Borden continued in a slightly quieter voice, obviously trying to recruit Gaius to his side.

There was a pause, then Gaius made his mind up. "I want no part of your plan."

Merlin's eyes widened next to me at hearing his mentor's vehement refusal to help hatch what could be Kilgharrah's saving grace. He looked at me indignantly but I just shushed him again and waved my arms placatingly.

"You don't want to release the last living dragon?" Borden asked, still trying to convince Gaius.

"The old ways should be left to die," Gaius confirmed firmly.

Borden exclaimed, "Well, that's not what you taught me!"

"It's what I feel now. I believe in the king that Arthur will become and the future he will build." Oh, Gaius... He was always so loyal.

"Think about it."

"I've given you my answer. Now I think you should leave Camelot. Sooner rather than later. Arthur may not be his father, but is no friend of the old ways."

I heard the door open and Borden's parting statement of, "You'll find me in the tavern in the lower town. Take your time. Gaius, I know I caused you trouble before, but I'm a changed man, believe me." Yeah right, I thought.

Borden finally left and Merlin creaked open his door to talk to Gaius; I immediately followed him. "Who was that?" he asked Gaius, coming down the stairs.

Gaius glanced at us, one eyebrow still raised, and replied, "Oh, doesn't matter."

"Gaius." Clearly, Gaius wasn't successfully waving Merlin off. I glanced between Merlin's determined expression and Gaius' resigned one.

The old man sighed and admitted, "He was a pupil. His name is Julius Borden."

"Why won't you help him?" Merlin asked as soon as he was finished. There was a pause, and when Gaius did nothing but look at Merlin exasperatedly, Merlin continued, "This is our one chance of saving the dragons, of helping Kilgharrah preserve his kind."

The earnest look of Merlin's was not working on Gaius, however. "Borden is not a man to be trusted."

"You don't think the Triskelion is real?" Merlin asked, confused. And he had the right to be. Gaius had just seen two thirds of the Triskelion with his own eyes.

"That I have no doubt," Gaius confessed quietly.

"Then what?" Merlin demanded angrily. I could feel his frustration building up, making the air in the dusty room thicker and thicker.

Gaius looked up at Merlin and me (who had remained silent during the conversation) from his fiddling with a jar on one of the tables. "His motives, Merlin. Even as a young man he was prone to dishonesty. Who knows what path he is on now."

Merlin's eyes were beginning to get wet. "You want the egg to remain lost forever," he accused fiercely.

"I don't want it to get into Borden's hands!" Gaius yelled. Then he glanced at me, who's face, I'm sure, showed unease from the conflict, and remarked in a quieter voice, " The Tomb of Ashkenar has lain untouched for more than four hundred years. It is my belief it should remain that way Now let's get some sleep." Here, he walked away from us, back turned. "We've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow."

I turned to Merlin, brows raised, and observed his betrayed and teary expression. He watched Gaius like he'd just kicked his puppy. Gaius, seeming to sense this, turned and raised one of his coarse white eyebrows in his signature look. We conceded and headed back to Merlin's - or should I say, our - room. Merlin fell onto his bed while I sat on my cot, still watching him.

Merlin stayed in the same position (lying flat on his back) for a minute, before he sat up and straightened his posture. He was going to do something, probably something rash, knowing him. I sighed and asked, "What are you going to do?"

He looked over his shoulder at me, considerate-like, then answered, "I'm going out," before getting up and searching for something in a small pile of clothes.

"No, you're sneaking out to see Kilgharrah." It was a statement, not a question.

Merlin stopped his quest for a reasonably clean shirt and stared at me, astonished. "How did you know that?"

"Future, remember?" I shot back.

Merlin stood to his full height and regarded me curiously. "Yeah, but you said that there are only legends of me and Arthur in the future. Do legends detail every moment of my every day?"

Damn him and his logic. "It doesn't matter. What matters, is that you're going anyway, aren't you?"

"Yes, but you can't come." Yes! Successful subject change! But at the same time, I was disappointed.

"Aw! But why?" I asked, pouting like a little kid.

"Aneeka, it's the middle of the night; I don't know how dangerous the land is at night in the future, but here who knows what could be out and about." I scoffed. He didn't even know the half of it yet - wait until Arthur died and Merlin became a mailman in the 21st century. "Plus, you should get some rest. You're still ill," he added.

I sighed, but got an evil idea. "Alright," I conceded in a sing-song tone. "But if you go without me, I'll wake up Gaius and tell him where you're going."

Merlin's eyes nearly popped out at that. "Aneeka!" he admonished in a harsh whisper. "That's not fair!"

"Too bad for you then! I guess you'll have to take me with you," I retorted in a sly tone.

Merlin huffed, then yielded, "Fine. But just this one time!"

I grinned and turned my back so he could change. When he announced quietly that he was ready, I turned back and followed him out the door. We stealthily crept across the room, stealing cautious glances at Gaius' sleeping form all the while. When we got to the door, Merlin grabbed his coat and sent a final peek at his mentor before leaving the room. I followed quickly without a backward glance.

As soon as we were outside, Merlin handed to coat to me, which I was too surprised to refuse. It was slightly big on me, but warm enough to block the nightly chill of the air. Merlin led me into shadows, out of sight of any guards, and we headed out of Camelot and into the forest. On the way towards a big clearing, Merlin asked me, "Hey, do you remember when I was introducing you to Gaius and you spoke in my mind?" I nodded. "How did you do that? Do you have magic too?"

I frowned. I had assumed that if I thought a thought in my head strongly enough, Merlin would hear it because he was the most powerful warlock to ever exist. Was there another reason for my apparent telepathy? I shrugged at Merlin, who's brows furrowed in reflection, but he said no more.

The moon shone down as we arrived in the clearing and Merlin called out for Kilgharrah in Dragon tongue. Only a minute passed before the Great Dragon landed with a lot of wind pushing my hair back and rustling the leaves from the flapping of his powerful wings

When he had landed, Merlin stepped up to him and announced, "Kilgharrah, I have great news. I know where to find a lost dragon egg!" The dragon cocked his head and Merlin explained what we head heard from Gaius' and Borden's conversation.

"I never dared dream of such a moment, Merlin," Kilgharrah declared when Merlin had finally finished his tale. "But who's your friend?" He gestured with his head to me, standing behind Merlin. You know, he really was huge! Taller than a two-story house, actually.

Merlin finally remembered me in his excitement and said, "Oh! I forgot! This is a girl I met today in Camelot. Her name is Aneeka. She saw me use magic, but she didn't expose me. She's staying with me and Gaius so she can become his apprentice. Aneeka says that she's from the future."

Kilgharrah looked at me as if in contemplation, then asked, "Is that so? How old is she?"

"She's only fifteen," Merlin replied, eyeing me too. I raised a brow, uncomfortable with all the staring, and Merlin stopped and looked away. But the Great Dragon continued, gazing at me as if seeing into my soul.

Did you tell him that you're from a different universe? he asked me in my head.

I mentally scoffed and answered, I'm not that stupid.

It is not necessary to take that tone with me, young one. It is imperative that you do not tell Merlin of your origins.

Fine, I won't. I promise. Then I had an idea. Kilgharrah, how are we having this conversation?

The dragon chuckled in my mind. When you arrived in this world, I gave you the gift of telepathy to ease your destiny. That is how we had our earlier conversation when you first arrived.

I scowled, disliking the fact that he had somehow messed with my head. But does that mean that I can read other people's thoughts? And who can I communicate with? Only other people who have the gift, or only people with magic, or everybody else?

One question at a time, Aneeka. You can't read others' thoughts, but you can communicate telepathically with people who have magic. You, however, do not have magic.

O-Okay, then. Thanks, I guess. I was kind of shell-shocked at this new knowledge. I'm a telepath? This was news to me.

I then caught sight of Merlin, who had been watching the two of us staring deeply at each other uncertainly. Seeing my attention on him, he stated, "You two are being quite silent. Is there something I should know?"

I looked to Kilgharrah, who said mentally, Tell him when you get back.

I nodded and looked back to Merlin, who was watching the exchange with interest. But he was distracted by Kilgharrah's next words. "Back to other matters. Until now, I believed the egg would never be found, that I would be the last of my kind."

"So the legend is true," Merlin deduced, nodding and smiling joyfully.

"This is a chance in a thousand, Merlin. You must retrieve the egg."

Merlin looked sheepish all of a sudden. "I know," he admitted.

"Then what is the matter?" the Great Dragon asked, brows furrowing.

"Gaius has forbidden it," I piped up. Merlin twisted around and glared at me.

"Merlin! You are a dragon lord!" Kilgharrah insisted, stomping one of his immense clawed feet a little. "It is a gift passed down from your father," he said in a quieter voice. "He gave up everything in his life to save me. What do you think he would say? The egg harbours the last of my kind. I beg you, Merlin. In your father's name, promise me that you will do everything in your power to rescue it."

Merlin straightened his shoulders and replied solemnly, "You have my promise."

And so it begins, I thought, a feeling of foreboding invading the atmosphere.