He goes back to the dungeons around midday on the excuse that someone was bound to find him missing. Gwen just nods, she's been quiet since she'd admitted her belief that Arthur wouldn't have given up on them, and Merlin couldn't stand the silence any longer.

He's so confused.

He slips into his cell with the key and slides down to the floor in the darkest corner.

"Why would anyone – "

He doesn't understand it, the magic wasn't what he thought he would find, he had thought – well never mind what he had thought because it was irrelevant. He was used to magic being used for evil against Arthur.

He was used to that sick twisted dark magic, that when he felt it made him feel sick – nauseous in the worst way. Not something like this, never anything like this, he'd met so few sorcerers and sorceresses that were like him in their beliefs that violence would solve nothing that he'd almost forgot how –

Well, how good the kind of magic that was placed on Arthur felt. It was clean and innocent and Merlin couldn't help but wonder what kind of anti-villainous sorcerer (sorcerers?) cast the spell on the king.

He sighed his head falling to rest on his chest.

He had no answer, and until he did he couldn't return to Gwen.


Merlin thinks that perhaps Arthur was right, he was an idiot. An idiot because it hadn't occurred to him in the first place, really it was far too simple.

He stood pulling the key from where he had hidden it so that if he was taken from the cell, that there was no hint that Gwen had even been here. He was sweeping through the metal doorway before he even thought about it.

Which he supposed was why he almost bumped into Gwaine.

"Merlin!"

Merlin shook his head and Gwaine was quiet then and for one terrible second Merlin feared that Gwaine too hated him and was going to turn him into the guards, but then Gwaine smiled wearily and Merlin knew that even if things had changed Gwaine would never turn him in.

"Should I even ask?"

Merlin shook his head.

"Very well, I was on my way to see you actually. But – perhaps we should go."

Merlin finally seemed to realize what he hadn't in the mad dash to get back to Gwen and Arthur and subsequent meeting with Gwaine – they were standing in the middle of a torch lit hallway. Merlin for the second time in less than an hour felt like a complete imbecile.

Merlin nodded and then was slipping back into the shadows Gwaine behind him. They moved quickly through the hallways and up the stairs, stopping outside the door – where there were thankfully no guards – to Arthur and Gwen's chambers were Merlin glanced back at a nervous looking Gwaine.

"Merlin – what are you – "

"Helping."

"You didn't do this?"

Merlin isn't mad or hurt at the accusation, he finds that surprising, he merely shakes his head.

"No."

Gwaine looked down then and nodded, Merlin could see him itching to ask – something, but Merlin didn't have the time right now, he had to talk to Gwen, more importantly he had to get her permission to leave.

He opened the door and Gwaine followed him in.

Gwen was much as he left her earlier, sitting next to Arthur his hand in hers. She was whispering in his ear again and Merlin cleared his throat. She looked up then and rushed across the room at him pushing him down into a chair.

"Merlin, you look like death himself, honestly I think you look worse than some of the – "

"It does not matter, Gwen I need – "

"Of course it matters! You avoided telling me what exactly they did to you earlier, Merlin, but now – "

Gwen was trying to pull his shirt over his head and Merlin glared at a half concerned half amused looking Gwaine who was leaning against the door, the man clearly wasn't going to help.

"Gwen! Gwen, stop!"

Gwen glared at him but none the less stopped and stood in front of him with a look that Merlin remembered his mother wearing when he was younger and she knew he was trying to avoid doing chores.

"I will stop, only if you tell me if you are hurt."

"I'm fine Gwen, really."

"Please, Merlin, I don't want to worry about you too."

Something about that statement made him sigh and nod before speaking softly. still - he couldn't tell her about everything either.

"Gwen, its okay, they knocked me around a bit but it's nothing serious, really. It's okay, I promise, now about Arthur, Gwen I think – I need to leave."

"What?"

"WHAT!"

Merlin sighed and swept his eyes from Gwen to Gwaine before standing and beginning to pace from one side of the room to the other.

"I think I can follow the aura of the sorcerer that cast this spell, but I have to leave to do so. I'm requesting you permission M'lady to leave Camelot to search for the person who cast this spell and to bring them back to end it."

Gwen stared at him and Gwaine pushed himself off of the door.

"You said aura explain."

Merlin didn't stop pacing.

"Every living thing has an aura. A signature. It's the outside manifestation of a person's soul, but when a person has magic, well the aura is a bit different. On a normal person the aura does nothing, it's there, but it doesn't actually do anything."

Merlin ran his hands through his hair.

"This part is a bit hard for me to explain because I never had to actually learn it. But when a person starts to learn magic – one of the first things they learn is how to manipulate their aura, you see everyone has the potential to be able to do magic to a varying degree, although not everyone should. They have the potential because they have an aura; an aura is in a sense magical."

Merlin turned towards them then to gage their reactions, Gwen looked the least shocked of the two and Merlin found that strange but didn't pursue it and instead resumed his pacing.

"You haven't explained how you could trace it."

"When someone casts a spell, it's in essence their aura actually doing the work, but because the old religion is about balance – well, you leave part of your aura behind with the magic, which is why after casting a spell that is too powerful a sorcerer will be exhausted because their aura is in shambles and has to repair itself."

"..So your, plan is to follow the little bit right back to the sorcerer."

"'s a good plan."

"It's a terrible plan! If the sorcerer is hostile, you'll be walking right in like – some kind of – "

"That is why he won't be going alone."

Merlin spun around a tentative smile on his lips.

"You'll go with him?"

Gwaine nodded.

"Very well, what will we tell everyone else; Merlin's absence will be noticed."

"Say you're taking me to Lot, it's not terribly farfetched, I'm not from Camelot after all, I didn't grow up here, and I certainly wasn't born here."

Gwen nodded.

"Very well."

Gwaine strode forward then and clapped him on the back, grinning and laughing.

"Let's do this Merlin; it'll be like old times. A Knightly quest!"

And despite himself – rather it be the absurdity of the statement because the times weren't old, they were barely a few weeks old. Or the fact that Gwaine didn't hate him, was still his friend – Merlin finds himself grinning and laughing for the first time since this all began.


A/N: I know you were all hoping for 'the mark of Nimueh' this week but i have family that lives in NYC and New Jersey that after super storm Sandy we didn't hear from them until Thursday (they're okay, thank god) and i honestly didn't think about this story until Friday night. Also Merlinschannel on youtube closed their account and while merlinschanel is putting the episodes back up they're going slow. So i was wondering were you all watch Merlin.

Also this is my first time writing Gwaine, so i hope i did okay. I'm too tired to go and do review responses right now so i'll double up in the next chapter ok?

Also did you see this weeks episode? If Merlin ever does reveal his magic he's going to look like a hypocrite.