Hey guys! Sorry about the lack of chapter last week but I hope this one makes up for it. Thanks so much to all of you who are taking the time to read this and extra special thanks to those of you who have reviewed, your comments really mean a lot. I'd love to hear from everyone. Enjoy. x

Leon ran his hands through his hair in despair. They had been looking for the prince and the Le Fay sisters for two days now and were still no closer to returning them to Camelot. The knight knew that he and his men could not return to Camelot empty handed so they had to continue. They had been tracking what they had thought were the prince and his companions' trail, but they had once again reached a dead end and Leon was almost at his wits end.

This wasn't the first time that Arthur had disappeared to do something stupid, or even the first time he had taken Morgana with him. However this was the first time Morgause had accompanied them and, whilst Morgana's magic wasn't strong enough to cover their tracks, Morgause's definitely was. Leon watched as the two men in front of him muttered spell after spell to pick up any trace of them. Their efforts however seemed to be wasted as something was blocking them.

By this point Leon had definitely decided that he hated magic, it would have been so much easier to find the prince if there had been a simple trail to track the prince. Unfortunately it appeared as if Morgause was using her magic to prevent that. Leon was nearly at his wits end, unsure where they should turn now.

"Leon I've got something!"

The shout came from the sorcerer in front of him. Leon's gaze instantly snapped towards the brunette sorcerer. The sorcerer was a recent addition to Leon's team. He was a few years younger than the prince and Leon had questioned the benefits of having one so young join them. That was until he saw what they boy could do.

"What have you found Gilli?" Leon asked urgently, moving towards him.

"I think I've found Morgause's signature." Gilli replied, his eyes still blazing gold.

"Her what?" Leon asked, he never understood when sorcerers started talking magic.

"Her signature." Gilli repeated, "Every sorcerer's magic is slightly different and these differences make the echo they leave behind when they cast a spell unique."

"Can we use this signature to track her?" Leon asked impatiently.

"I think so."

"Perfect."

Leon strode over to his horse and mounted it swiftly, indicating to his men to do the same. In no time they had set off and were following Gilli into the trees and hopefully towards the prince.

x-x-x

Nimueh heard the approaching knights before she saw them. Moving further into the trees she pulled up her hood just in case one of them did spot her. She knew that she was unwelcome so close to Camelot but that had never stopped her coming here before. She concealed herself behind a tree, waiting to see who the approaching group were.

Nervous energy flooded through her as she spotted the tell-tale red cloaks that informed her that they were knights of Camelot. Her apprehension deepened as they past her. She saw that they were all leaning low against their horses, urging them faster. Nimueh felt the familiar prickle of magic coming from the figure at the front and it didn't take her long to work out he was tracking someone.

Fortunately she knew that there was no way the group was tracking her. Her magic was much more powerful than any of the sorcerers in the group and she knew that none of them had the skill to be able to detect her magic; she was too well shielded for that.

Though that did beg the question, if they weren't tracking her who were they tracking? It was rare that Nimueh saw anyone in this part of the forest, let alone knights of Camelot. In fact she knew that this was one of the most secluded parts of the forest and, despite its proximity to Camelot, she had always felt safe here. Now however that safety seemed to be slowly disappearing.

It wasn't that she couldn't deal with a group of knights. In fact if they'd discovered her she'd have been able to take them out without even breaking a sweat. The issue would have arisen when the knights' bodies had been discovered. Nimueh wasn't an idiot, she knew that if she killed the whole group it would be noticed when they didn't return to Camelot. And then there would be patrols everywhere searing for the missing knights, which was something Nimueh really didn't want. More patrols meant more people in the forest who were more likely to eventually find their tower, and Merlin.

Merlin!

Ice cold fear flooded through Nimueh as she thought of the boy. He was in the tower all alone, what if he was the one they had been tracking? She knew that Merlin's vast power made his magical signature much more prominent. There were wards she'd set around the tower but Merlin's magic was much more powerful than hers and she knew that, if someone was using the right spells, they could sense him through her protections.

Nimueh forced herself to take a few calming breaths, panicking wouldn't do any good. She didn't know for a fact that they were tracking Merlin, there could be a fugitive sorcerer on the run they were following. However Nimueh didn't really believe that and she had already set off in the direction of the tower, knowing that she'd be able to get there first. Fear had settled in the pit of her stomach and she had a horrible feeling that she was about to lose the talented boy whose gifts were the only thing keeping her young and beautiful.

x-x-x

Morgause sat up sharply as she felt something tugging at her magic. Anger shot through her as she realised that someone was trying to track her. With a frustrated sigh she tried to knock them off her trail with a swift spell; however her tracker was more powerful than she'd expected and she realised it was going to take more than her simple spell to knock him off. She knew she could deal with him but it would take time, time she realised they didn't have as she felt the speed the knights were approaching.

Glancing down her gaze landed on Morgana who was lying on the forest floor, looking as if she was fast asleep. However Morgause knew that beneath Morgana's closed lids her eyes were blazing gold. She was trying to use her gift of the Sight to find Arthur and the crystal. Morgause knew what a delicate process it was and was loath to interrupt it, knowing that it could bring them closer to the prince. However she knew that they had to move before the knights got here and ruined any chance they had.

"Áwæcnan."

Morgana shot upright, her eyes snapping open. She inhaled a large gulp of air, the shock of Morgause's spell having taken the breath out of her. She panted, trying to calm her thumping heart, before turning to glare at Morgause.

"Sister why did you awaken me?"

"They're coming, we have to move." Morgause replied, already on her feet.

Morgana rose to stand next to her sister and cast around, looking for the source of Morgause's concern.

"Who's coming?" She asked confused.

"The knights that followed us from Camelot. They still think the prince is with us and want to take him home."

Morgana sighed and adjusted her dress before moving towards Morgause's horse. She mounted after her sister and wrapped her arms around the blonde's waist.

"I don't understand, how are they tracking us?" Morgana asked as Morgause spurred the horse into action.

"They must be following my magical signature, I can throw them off but it will take time. They would have reached us before I had succeeded."

Morgana fell silent, satisfied with her sister's explanation. She tightened her grip as Morgause urged the horse faster. Morgana could hear the thunder of hooves in the distance which was surely Leon and the knights.

"Did you find the prince?" Morgause asked suddenly.

"No. I can't see him anywhere. Not even in the future and I can normally see the future easily, it's the present I struggle with." Morgana sighed, "But he's blocked everywhere. It's as if something powerful is preventing me from seeing him."

Morgause frowned at this. She had been counting on Morgana to direct them to the prince's current location. Although this was a setback, Morgause still had a few more tricks up her sleeve to find the prince and retrieve the crystal. What puzzled her was the force blocking Morgana's sight.

"Could it be the crystal?" Morgana asked.

"It's a possibility." Morgause replied airily.

Morgana fell silent as she could practically feel the power pouring off her sister and knew that she was trying to counter the tracking spell. Morgana had total faith in her sister and knew that Morgause would never let anything happen to her. She closed her eyes as Morgause's power flooded through and around her. Suddenly she felt it pulling away from them. The magic flowed to Morgana's left as Morgause pulled the horse sharply to the right.

They slowed after a couple of minutes to listen to receding hoof beats. A smirk crossed Morgana's face as she realised that the knights had fallen for Morgause's trick and followed her spell rather than them. They came to a halt and Morgana felt herself relax.

"What now?" She asked.

"Now we find the prince and retrieve our crystal." Morgause replied simply.

"But how are we going to find him? I can't use my Sight."

Morgause turned to her with a smile.

"Don't worry sister dear, there is more than one way to trap a prince."

x-x-x

Merlin and Arthur walked in relative silence as the prince led the way through the trees. The silence was broken every now and again by Merlin's noises of delight as he found something else new. Arthur was currently watching in frustration as Merlin was naming numerous herbs that the blonde had never even heard of. Arthur leant against the tree behind him, knowing it was going to be a while before they set off again. This wasn't the first time they had had to stop because Merlin had spotted something that he wanted to touch or smell or even talk to in the case of the rabbit they had seen earlier.

If Arthur was honest with himself he had found Merlin's childlike innocence at everything endearing to start with, but now he was sick of watching the young warlock exclaiming about how amazing everything was. What he really wanted to do was get to Camelot as quickly as possible, make sure he wasn't spotted and return Merlin to his tower so he could get the crystal back and continue to look for Emrys.

There was only one problem with that plan, other than the fact that Merlin was making everything take ten times longer than it needed to, and that was that Arthur wasn't a hundred percent sure where they were. On the way to the tower, after he had crawled through the tunnel, Arthur had been focusing on reaching the tall building and had kept it in front of him as he had approached. The problem he'd had when they'd climbed down from the tower was that he wasn't totally sure which direction he had come from.

Fortunately Arthur wasn't an expect hunter for nothing. He had found what had appeared to be his tracks from the day before. However as they walked further into the forest Arthur was starting to doubt that they were going to right way. He had made sure to keep the tower that they could see through the trees at his back but something was telling him that he wasn't quite following the right route. Casting round Arthur searched for a familiar landmark, but it was useless, everything looked the same. And Arthur was fairly sure he hadn't even been in this part of the forest before anyway. However he knew the general direction of Camelot and presumed that the route he'd taken to the tower couldn't be the only one.

Bored of Merlin's delighted explorations Arthur marched over to him and grabbed his arm. Without a word he dragged the young warlock away from the plant he had been examining and towards Camelot, or what he thought was the direction of Camelot.

"Hey what are you doing?" Merlin protested, "I was looking at that."

"And now you're not looking at it." Arthur replied neutrally.

Merlin turned to glare at him, pulling his arm out of Arthur's grip. The blonde had been moody ever since they had left the tower and it was starting to get on Merlin's nerves.

"What is wrong with you?" Merlin asked frustrated.

"Look do you want to get to Camelot in time to see the lights or not." Arthur snapped.

He stopped and glared at Merlin. The warlock watched the prince for a moment before turning away from him and continuing in the direction they had been walking. Arthur shook his head in frustration and continued after him.

"There's no need to be such a prat about it." Merlin mumbled under his breath.

Arthur rolled his eyes at what seemed to have become Merlin's favourite insult.

"Well there's no need to be such a girl either."

Arthur smirked as he saw Merlin glaring at him out of the corner of his eye. He kept his gaze forward, ignoring the warlock, who huffed in response. They walked along in silence for a few moments until Merlin spoke.

"So do you live in Camelot?" He asked Arthur curiously.

"Yes." Arthur replied shortly, not really wanting to discuss his home.

"What do you do there?" Merlin queried.

Arthur's mind was whirring trying to come up with a suitable lie. However he was saved the trouble as the sound of voices in the distance distracted them both. They exchanged a look before continuing slowly towards the voices. Arthur was hoping that there was someone there who could direct them to Camelot, and hopefully not recognise him in the process.

They paused at the edge of the trees and peered towards the source of the noise. There was a small building in the middle of the clearing which the noise was coming from. Arthur spotted the sign hanging above the door that read The Rising Sun and knew that this was a tavern, a tavern that surprisingly he'd never been in.

Suddenly he found a plan forming in his head. A plan to scare Merlin off this whole trip and get him to return the crystal.

"Do you know what a long trip needs Merlin?" Arthur asked gleefully, "A nice tankard of mead."