Sorry for the long wait! Lot's of fun things happening in life: including a new job where I am working with 3 Hard-of-Hearing kids, and moving and getting settled. Thanks for your patience! Enjoy this next chapter!
Gwen and Morgana entered Gaius chambers to see the old man working on a potion.
"Gaius!" Morgana called out, smiling at the man.
"My Lady." Gaius turned. "Are you going to ask where Merlin is?" Morgana nodded.
"He did not show for our lessons, and Arthur was acting strange only a few minutes ago. Did something happen?"
Gaius sighed and rubbed his face lightly.
"The prince is going to talk to Merlin. There is no need for you two to be worried."
Gwen sighed and nodded. Morgana seemed confused.
"Of course we are worried about him! Come Gwen, we will find him at once!" Morgana walked out of the chambers. Gaius shared a worried look with Gwen and beckoned her toward him.
"She does not know of Merlin's magic, and we must keep it that way. Distract her." Gaius whispered to Gwen and she nodded in understanding and she walked quickly to catch up to Morgana.
"He will be fine, remember he ran off a few months ago? He returned unharmed." Gwen told her friend quietly.
"That is true, but Merlin is hiding something, why else would he have missed our session?" Morgana pouted.
"He probably forgot, he is a man, they tend to forget about things." Morgana laughed at the statement.
"Yes, he is a man. But he never forgets when we have lessons." Morgana arrived at her chambers and opened the door. She sat at her vanity table and started to play with her hair.
"Arthur will find him, I would not worry about it. Now, what do you want to wear for tonight's feast?" Gwen walked toward Morgana's large closet.
"You know I hate it when Uther celebrates the Great Purge." Morgana stood angrily and walked toward the window. She saw a small stage being built by Camelot's guards and she clenched her fists. Meanwhile, Gwen had pulled out a red gown and a blue gown. She turned toward her lady and frowned when she noticed Morgana looking out the window.
"Yes, we all hate celebrating the Great Purge. But, the law says that magic is illegal and we must listen to the king." Gwen recited as she walked over toward the window, her frown deepened when she noticed the small stage.
"Have you heard if Uther caught another poor magic user?" Morgana asked Gwen after a few uncomfortable moments. Gwen shook her head and walked back to the gowns on the bed.
"No, but I have not yet talked to the kitchen staff. They know all the gossip in the citadel." Gwen carefully smoothed out the wrinkles in the gowns and smiled at Morgana.
"Even if you hate the reason for the feast, you can still give them a night they will remember." Morgana laughed and picked up the red gown with a smirk.
"I think this one is perfect for that." She winked at her friend.
Meanwhile; out in the forest, Arthur was getting frustrated at his lack of progress.
"It's like he does not want to be found." He gritted his teeth and kept heading east.
"MERLIN!" Arthur called out loudly, and then slapped himself on the forehead. "Idiot. He' s deaf, why am I calling his name like he will answer?" Arthur thought to himself. He sighed and kept walking.
After a half hour, Arthur threw himself on a nearby log, clearly frustrated. He took a drink out of his waterskin and sighed. He then noticed that the woods were too quiet. The birds had stopped singing altogether. Arthur slowly unsheathed his sword and stood, but there was no attack. Not wanting to chance a possible ambush, the prince started to head east, his eyes constantly watching the forest around him.
After a few minutes, he saw a shimmer in the forest, he approached carefully, and then saw another shimmer a few meters down. He looked at the forest and noticed that it had a slight golden color ahead. He reached his hand out and tried to pass through the golden area but was stopped like a shield. Arthur grinned. He had found Merlin. Arthur looked around but saw no lanky black haired deaf man. So he sat and started to throw sticks and small stones at the golden shield.
After an hour the golden shield dimmed and Arthur heard the birds once again singing in the trees. He stood and walked into the now normal forest. He reached a clearing and his jaw dropped.
The trees to the right were destroyed, completely shattered. The trunks were spewn around the field and the woods beyond. How had Arthur not heard that destruction?
He continued to glance around and saw the clearing had a burn spot in the middle, the grass was blackened in a perfect circle. But the rest of the field was full of beautiful wild flowers. The prince heard movement to the left of him and he saw Merlin looking at some shattered boulders. Arthur started to approach but his jaw dropped when he saw the boulders fused back together looking perfectly normal.
Merlin had not noticed the prince yet, he had turned to the burn spot in the middle of the field. His eyes glowed gold and grass and flowers grew back and covered the circle perfectly. Merlin then turned to the trees, he raised his hands and the trees knitted themselves back together in seconds.
Satisfied with his work, Merlin turned. He saw Arthur and frowned. The prince walked toward the black haired man with awe in his eyes.
"That was amazing!" Arthur said and gestured around. Merlin shrugged.
"I was just practicing." Merlin walked past the prince back toward Camelot. Arthur glaced around the forest once again before following after the deaf man.
Arthur caught up to him and tapped his shoulder. Merlin glanced over, his expression clearly asking, "What?"
"Last time I will ask, are you ok? You were angry earlier." Merlin sighed and nodded.
"Yes, I took my frustration out on the local forest. I'm fine." Arthur smiled and lightly punched the young man's arm. Merlin glared at him, not amused.
"What? That's how the knights show support." Arthur defended himself.
"By hitting each other?" Merlin raised his eyebrow, much like his mentor. Arthur shrugged but raised his arms in defeat. They reached a ridge where they could see Camelot clearly, the sight giving comfort to the prince. Arthur continued on the path toward the gates, when he noticed Merlin was no longer with him. Arthur frowned and looked around, only glimpsing the brown jacket quickly disappearing behind some trees.
Arthur ran to catch up, only to see Merlin slow and duck behind a tree. Arthur took the deaf man's advice and hid behind another tree. Arthur listened carefully, and finally heard leaves crunching under someones boot. Arthur looked and saw a man leisurely walking and whistiling. Arthur looked toward Merlin and saw that he was no longer there. Arthur quickly looked around and saw the man approaching the other.
Arthur watched with curiosity as Merlin approached he man with a big smile. The other man stopped.
"Hello there!" The man called out, Arthur saw that Merlin stopped as well. Merlin took out parchment and started to write on it to give to the man. Arthur simply watched as the man grew impatient.
"Who are you?" Merlin gave the parchment to the man who grew silent as he read what the man wrote.
"How did you know!" The man yelled, and Arthur, concerned for his friend, moved closer to the two men. Merlin took back the parchment from the man and Arthur heard him sigh.
"You will tell me how you know!" Merlin simply ignored the man who was becoming redder and continued to write on the parchment. The man grew impatient and pulled Merlin toward him by his neckerchief. Arthur began to stand and defend his friend, but Merlin's glowing golden eyes stopped him dead in his tracks.
The man who grabbed Merlin dropped him immedietly and stepped back.
"Who are you?" The man asked, Arthur rolled his eyes. You would think he would figure out that the young man couldn't hear him. Merlin finished writting and gave the impatient man the parchment.
Arthur watched with baited breath and sighed with relief when the man simply nodded, gave Merlin back the parchment, and turned to leave. Merlin smiled and waved at the man, only for his face to grow pale. Merlin yelled out to the man, waving his arms and Arthur finally saw what made Merlin so scared. A squadron of Camelot's finest knights.
