Disclaimers: All BBC's.

A/N: I am SO grateful for all your kind reviews! Honestly, I wouldn't know what to do without them. They help me continue the story and shape the plot. Lovely! THANK YOU!

Note on Gwaine behaving in the previous chapter: Well, I'm sure he'd have gone for it had it been anyone else but Merlin's supposedly 'traumatised' ward. ;)

CHAPTER 6

Fear

The sun shone red on the sky on the morning that King Arthur assembled his knights one last time, delegating assignments one last time and giving the necessary instructions one last time. Lazy sea gulls were seen as silhouettes against the orange sky as dawn shed its golden light on the land that surrounded the mighty castle of Camelot. The reports came in as the knights entered the great hall. Gwaine reported the second ditch completed, Percival confirmed that the wolves were feasting in their second camp and Leon had already seen how the booby traps had felled more than three hostile cohorts. Their King nodded, satisfied that his orders had been carried out. He looked at his men and concluded that they were, indeed, tired to the bone, despite their happy faces and stiff upper lips. Replacements would have to be sent out for the third round. The knights didn't agree with him.

"Sire," Elyan stressed, "we can do it all again. The apprehension will only fuel our tenacity."

Arthur smiled ruefully, "I have no doubt as to your stamina, Sir Elyan. However, I will need you with me to defend the last perimeter once the foe reach our inner city walls. I have already given the order to evacuate the people; they will be huddled in the cellar and will thus be the last to be found should the enemy succeed in seizing the castle."

"Camelot has never been taken by any enemy army, Your Highness," Leon stated, "and I do not see any reason why they should begin now."

"By any conventional hostile army," the King amended him gently, "but this is not a conventional army, as you well know, Sir Leon. This is Morgana's army and that means we are up against sorcery."

They all fell taciturn, some of them thinking what they dared not voice in front of the King, who had shown to be as vigilant as his father in term of sorcery: That the only thing that could save them now was … sorcery.

x

Unbeknownst of the danger approaching, Aithusa risen early and gone to Geoffrey's library. She had had very little sleep, still compliments to her angry musings about her and her mentor's hidden status as a magical beings and she was intent on finding some kind of solution in the ancient chronicles. History was important to Aithusa. Her own was defined by the dying embers of an almost extinct species and thus it felt the more important to her to cling to the old ways. Somewhere, in those old dusty books that she saw lined up on Geoffrey of Monmouth's endless and dusty shelves, she was sure she would find a way to convince King Arthur that he should trust in the power of magic. Having got to know humans, however, she knew it would also be important for her to understand his idiosyncrasy – Gwen and Merlin might help her with this.

But first: history!

While the young dragon had her head buried in one parchment after the other, Gaius and Merlin were called to the great hall where the King and the knights were still playing the most deadly version of chess known to Man: planning every counter attack and strategy they could muster. Yet every time someone had a good idea, it usually shipwrecked on the fact that their enemy had ... magic. Gaius easily understood the problem at hand and took it upon himself to voice what no one else dared.

"I sympathise, Sire," the old physician said, squinting at Merlin, "but the only way to really defeat magic is … as I am sure you have already perceived … magic."

Arthur beat a fist into the Round Table, making all the assembled swords dance on their blades.

"I do not accept that. I have fought magical beings before – and defeated them."

Gaius eyebrow shot up. "Indeed, Sire? Please remind me?"

"Well … the dragon, for one."

Gaius and Merlin exchanged glances, both knowing what really happened.

".. and Morgause's skeleton army that eventually collapsed in heaps of bones.."

Still, the two sorcerers kept their tongue.

"... and I got out of that cavern where Nimuë had intended for me to die..."

"I believe," Gaius said softly, "that a light was leading you out?"

"Well..."

"And that you yourself acknowledged that you could not have made it out without it?"

"Yeah … but I had no idea where that light came from!"

"I think, Sire, it is safe to say that someone helped you and that someone knew sorcery"

"What's your point?" Arthur growled, not happy that anyone spoke so freely of magic being the source of something good.

"My point is, Your Majesty," Gaius ventured, "that if you have called me here, it is to have my opinion whether or not we stand a chance to counteract Morgana's magic without applying magic ourselves."

Arthur opened his mouth, whether it was to protest or to confirm, Gaius never gave him a chance to prove, but continued: "My answer is this, Sire: That in some cases one might defeat magic by some odd chances, but in the case of Morgana, who has become quite powerful, I would call such a project … impossible."

This was clearly not what Arthur had hoped to hear. His shoulders slumped and his head dropped to a level in which he appeared to find the table exceedingly fascinating.

"I see," he murmured in a defeatist tone of voice.

x

Three hours. Three hours of concentrated reading and still Aithusa was none the closer to a resolution. She had been reading of Jormungand, the great sea serpent, who came at odds with the Norse god, Thor and ended up being tied round the earth, she had read about Saint George and the Dragon, the latter of whom had been reduced to a meek dog on a leash (which made her eyes flash red with wrath), she had read about ancient times when dragon and dragonlords basically ruled the earth and she had read about Kraken who remained a scurge of the seven seas. Of more modern literature, she had read of Nimuë and her death (what was known of it), written by Geoffrey himself and Vølven, the Iceland prophetess, who was revered among her people. The latter was perhaps the only clue to a possible approach to the problem. If one was to offer true predictions, one might be more readily accepted?

She sighed. This might be, but the time perspectives were not encouraging.

On second thought – perhaps one should emigrate to Iceland where magical creatures appeared to be held in high esteem? Aithusa immediately discarded the idea; if Merlin, her dragonlord, could endure for the benefit of the future, then so could she.

x

"We must do something!"

Having returned to the Court Physician's chambers together with Gaius, Merlin was back to his action hungry self as he simply could not accept that Camelot was about to be taken over by hostile forces. And for once Gaius was in accord with his preference of method.

"What do you suggest?"

"Booby traps and ditches are all very well, but the kind of trap and slowdown I can generate would be far more efficient than those of the knights."

"It's a dangerous game," Gaius cautioned him.

"No more so than for the knights," Merlin argued, "mud slides can be seen as natural phenomena and broken catapults as sloppy engineering."

"I agree, but if you're caught, yourself and all of Camelot will be doomed."

"Then I can't be caught," Merlin stated, applying some of Aithusa's logic.

"I feel tempted to quote Lancelot," Gaius reminded him, referring to the night before they took back Camelot from Morgause and her immortal army, "you may have magic, but you are not immortal, Merlin."

The young warlock was already packing his old, faithful satchel, obviously having made up his mind, "it is no different than the other times I have been working covert – through the last five years."

The old man put his hand over Merlin's busy ones in an attempt to have his undivided attention.

"But it is different, Merlin. This time the entire upland is crawling with enemies – and you have no one to guard your back as neither the knights nor Arthur will let you join the field groups."

Merlin averted his eyes and fell taciturn. He knew that, of course. Usually, on these capers, he would follow in the wake of either the knights or Arthur or even all of them. The challenge then would be performing magic without them noticing, but at least he could count on them to have his back. Now the challenge would be to work alone – with no one to second him – and still the enemy could not know who or what he was. Merlin frowned; in some ways Aithusa was right – revealing his magic would, in some cases, certainly be the best solution.

Yet … as long as King Arthur was diligently down on magic and magical beings, he simply could not see any other way and thus he resolutely grabbed the satchel and headed for the door, turning only once to place a request:

"Will you do me a favour, Gaius?"

"Anything," said the old man softly.

"If I don't come back, tell Aithusa what I was doing – and make sure she gets out of Camelot before anyone discovers her true identity."

"You need not ask," Gaius assured him and added, "but it will not be necessary – you will come back. You must come back."

The thin young man smiled wistfully and finally went out the door, closing it gently behind him.

When Aithusa later came back from the library, Gaius told her that her dragonlord was out on an errand for the King, and she immediately projected a greeting for him through the bond and got the desired reassurance back. All was well and he would be back presently.

It wasn't until supper time that she noticed that he hadn't returned yet and in a concerned voice, she asked Gaius: "Where could he have gone to? Surely a mere errand does not require so much time?"

Gaius did his best to smile disarmingly, suggesting that Arthur may have found another errand for his manservant, but this time the information was not enough for her. Sensing that something was wrong, she went to his room and contacted him again through the bond and this time she got … horror!

Aithusa opened her eyes with a gasp, intense fear rippling through her lithe long-limbed body. Her mentor was in grave danger; she did not know the details, but the impression she got through the bond was unequivocal. Merlin was in trouble!

Never wavering a second, she quickly grabbed a cape, left Merlin's room and sneaked out the front door when she saw Gaius turning his back to it. Closing the heavy oak silently behind her, she never wasted any time, but scooted down the hallway as quickly as her long legs would carry her. When she reached the end of the hallway, she felt momentarily disorientated, but soon found the door she was looking for and burst through it. Within minutes she had reached the roof through the east tower, climbing through the small arrow hatch, and making sure that no one was present or looking in her direction, she clamped her eyes shut, concentrated for a second, and when she opened them again, they had changed from human orbs to small, sharp eagle's eyes. She leaned out over the balustrade of the roof and efficiently scoured the surrounding buildings and landscape, her immensely sharp bird-of-prey eyes catching the slightest movement and details. Proficiently, she discarded one figure after the other until she had to conclude that Merlin already was out of her range of eagle vision. Decisively, she then mounted the balustrade, spread her arms/wings and fluently morphed into the rest of the eagle and took off at the same time. Wobbly at first, she felt how the air blew through her long wing and tail feathers until she figured out how to manipulate the wind instead of it manipulating her. Then she tilted her body and concentrated on looking down. It might take her some attempts, but she would find the direction in which Merlin had gone and then she would find him. Hopefully in time.

x

"MERLIN!"

The door trembled as the King tore it open when he made his dramatic entrance at the Court Physician's chambers; Gaius winced. He had often thought that it was a miracle that this old front door hadn't come off its hinges already, taken Merlin's particular work conditions into consideration.

Arthur, having no such considerations, put his hands on his hips.

"So where is he, the sorry excuse for a servant? I haven't seen him since the meeting in the great hall – and don't tell me that he's teaching Aithusa for I happen to know that she speaks absolutely excellently now."

Gaius looked at the King with both his eyebrows cocked, secretly glad that the dragongirl didn't see his expression or it would most certainly send her back into a fit of hysterical laughter. "I believe he felt that he was superfluous while you were in chambers, Sire."

"Is that so," Arthur cried, looking less than appeased, "well, he needs to come now – we could sorely use some food and drink for our field agents and that is his job. Where is he?".

"Eeerrrm," Gaius murmured, and then said viciously, "at the tavern, I believe, Sire."

His face redder than ever, Arthur turned on his heel, heading for the door, "is that right – when he comes back, tell him to impale himself on a spear and we'll roast him over slow fire."

Gaius winced again as the door was shut with a magnificent bang which made the entire room tremble and the sound reverberate. He almost wished Aithusa was there to tell Arthur how to behave. Having absolutely no respect for the King, she wouldn't think twice about putting him into his place. And that's when Gaius noticed … he hadn't seen Aithusa come out of Merlin's room for a while and she hadn't reacted to Arthur's less than silent visit. What was she doing? The old physician hobbled over the three steps that led to the room.

x

The trees, woods and scrubs quickly passed by underneath her fast eagle flight; the air pushed up her wings and she balanced her body in accordance with the currents and temperature of the air and thus catapulted her feathery form forward in an amazing speed. She hadn't practised the eagle shape that much before, but found it easier as her flight progressed. Transforming into another species was easy. Working the body was hard. The concentration it took to adapt to another form was her emergency raft in handling the undiluted fear that still dominated her mind. The fear that Merlin was hurt. The fear that she might lose him. The mere thought took her breath away in a manner that she had not thought possible. How did humans managed these overwhelming emotions? She would have to ask him. When she found him.

As she soon discarded one direction and then chose another, she got a very precise image of what was happening below her. Cohorts of soldiers and groups of warriors were closing in on Camelot gradually, moving their camp one step at a time. Between steps, Aithusa noticed that the warriors in question looked oddly inactive and their eyes blank like they were clueless. And that's when she realised: they were under a spell. Obviously, it was not Merlin's spell, or she would have recognised his signature instantly. Instead, this particular sorcery reeked of a witch that Aithusa had not encountered before. Suffice it to say, she sensed, this was not a good witch. She would have to be careful, or this sorceress might possibly sense her presence.

It took her merely one more change of direction to identify Merlin's chosen route. As relief rushed through her, she dived sharply to hover right above the trees which gave her an ideal point of overview, feeling how close she was.

PAIN!

SHARP PAIN!

With a frightened squeak of a wounded animal, she suddenly tumbled through the air, out of control. Something had pierced her wing and thus abruptly halted her flight. On her way down through the leaves of the tree crowns, her feathers were ripped bloody and her chest almost impaled on the sharp twigs that stuck out from the outstretched branches.

The landing took her breath away – literally. The last branch broke the fall, but she was ricocheted towards a tree trunk which she hit with a dull thud that knocked her out cold. Rolling round was the last movement she made before her form became still. Dead still.

She was here! Merlin felt her ever so keenly. Here in the forest, very close to him and she was in need. The big, stinking and belligerent brute in front of him had risen again, armour clanging and legs far apart as he prepared himself to ram into his much smaller and frailer prey. The sorcerer sighed. He had already thumped this one several times in many several ways, but this guy just-wouldn't-stay-down. Now, however, Merlin was in a hurry and safety be damned. Aithusa was in trouble! Closing his eyes to prevent the ruffian to see the golden glint in his eyes, he inwardly performed a spell that took out the nearest tree by its roots and dropped it unceremoniously on top of the brute's thick skull. That did it. His assailant went down rather spectacularly, his limbs flailing pitifully. Wasting no more time on the now felled giant, Merlin sought the feeling he had had minutes earlier. The feeling of an airborne Aithusa in need.

It didn't take long for him to locate her. She lay, quite nearby, by the root of a beautiful old oak tree in the shape of an … eagle? Was this really her? Her beautiful eagle's feather all bloody and tousled, Merlin noticed something long and dark sticking out of her wing where it was attached to her body. An arrow! The lanky warlock stooped by her fallen form and gently pressed two finger to her neck right beneath the head. There appeared to be no life. With a quick jerk, he removed the fatal arrow from her wing, blood instantly trickling out of the wound at a faster rate than before. Then he put his warm hand on her chest bone and softly murmured an incantation. The formerly lifeless an shut eyes fluttered and Merlin felt the big bird's tiny heart beat, slowly at first and then faster. With a finger firmly pressed into her wound, he murmured a healing spell which allowed the wound to close and the veins to seal up. He exhaled, his blue eyes mellowing and colour returning to his face. That was a close one.

When he thought she was stabilising, he murmured "ágénbewende andwlitan déofle" and soon her human form began to shimmer into existence. Merlin nodded satisfied. As a human, she would stand a bigger chance of recovering faster.

Looking round him to ensure that no one was seeing him, Merlin bent down and took the young girl in his arms. She was absolutely naked, not having been able to bring clothes in her eagle form and he felt her shiver with cold already. When he reached the rather squashed ruffian, he ripped the body for usable clothes and wrapped his precious burden in whatever garments that were not too bloody. Then he lifted her up again and went in the direction of the fir wood where hiding would be easier than among the tall, thin beeches that had space to spare.

What is she doing here?

x

"Merlin is going to kill me slowly while he takes pleasure in my screams," the old physician mumbled, frustrated as he gazed into the empty room where Aithusa was supposed to have been. He shook his white head. In a short span of time he had managed to lose two persons who were as close to being his relatives as they come. Now, no one is allowed to be as sloppy as that, he decided. Gaius sighed loudly and grabbed his medkit bag. He was bound for his rounds anyway, so combining it with a search for the young dragon would probably be the wisest course of action he could do at the moment. And then hope that Merlin came home in time to sort it out if he was unsuccessful in determining her whereabouts.

Young people, the old man grumbled and slammed the door that still, miraculously, remained on its hinges.

Deep into the fir wood next to the steep, sheltering slope that constituted the bank of a brook, he put down his dragon girl and rested her towards his thigh. She still hadn't regained consciousness, but the slight flutter of her eyelids indicated that she was close. The warlock leaned towards the brook, cupped his hand and dipped it into the clear water. Then he let it dribble down her smooth brow and face, dabbing it gently on her lips and very soon she opened her eyes and looked at him, blinking in slight confusion. Then her eyes widened in happy recognition.

Merlin, she projected, her relief almost tangible, you are safe.

Of course, he projected back, why wouldn't I be? But it's more than can be said for you.

She opened her mouth and croaked, and he helped her to some water again. Her throat mellowed by the fresh water and she managed to utter spoken words, at last.

"I felt your distress. You were in danger."

He shook his head with a sad smile. "Oh, I am so sorry that I gave you that impression. I should have managed to control my emotions and projections better. I may have been distressed. Like I always am when I have to somehow use my powers covertly, but there was no danger to speak off. In fact, my assailant lies dead close to where you fell."

"What happened?"

"You were hit by an arrow. I have removed it and healed your injury."

She furrowed her forehead. "Why? I do not understand. Why would anyone shoot at an eagle?"

"Who knows? Humans do strange things and very rarely out of rational reasons. Maybe they were target practising, or maybe they thought you were ominous to the forthcoming battle."

She shivered, finally realising that she could not be secure in any form.

"I wanted to keep you safe ..."

Merlin stroked her glistening brow lovingly, "that is not your responsibility. It is mine, however, to keep you safe."

Then the warlock leaned forward and kissed her aquiline nose, tracing the ridge with his finger.

"I will take you home. If you have the strength, you should turn yourself into something small – a mouse, perhaps, and I will carry you in my pocket."

"What were you doing out here?" she asked weakly.

"Slowing down our enemies. I was on my way back, when the big brute jumped me."

Aithusa nodded, closed her eyes and concentrated hard for a while. With a sigh, her form dissolved itself into something considerably smaller that Merlin immediately scooped up and put in his pocket.

Merlin reached home safely, yet little did he know that his life was actually more in danger within the walls of Camelot than beyond. A fuming Arthur encountered him in the hallway. And the manservant was not allowed to go anywhere as the King hotly demanded to know where his serving boy had been.

Merlin looked askance, thinking, but came up with nil, except the usual: "In … the tavern."

"WHAT?" Arthur spat, "you have been in the tavern the entire day? During a time like this? Merlin – this has got to stop!"

The raucous woke up Aithusa, who had been fast asleep in Merlin's pocket, his motions rocking, and opted her to peek out, curious. Arthur opened his mouth, about to let Merlin have it when he saw the rodent.

"Merlin," he deadpanned, "there's a mouse sticking out of your pocket."

"Oh," Merlin exclaimed, swearing under his breath that they had woken up his dragon girl, "that is … my pet."

The King looked at him with dull eyes that understood absolutely nothing. "Sometimes, Merlin, " he murmured, his tone of voice genuinely concerned for once, "I worry about you."

"It is quite tame," Merlin said lamely, simply because he couldn't think of anything else to say. Arthur cocked both eyebrows and reached out a finger to stroke the mini beastie … who bit him emphatically and made the King retract his hand, waving it with a pitiful yelp.

"I want you in the great hall NOW – and leave your monster-"pet" outside!"

Merlin raced down the corridor to park Aithusa in his room, mumbling "that wasn't very nice."

He wasn't very nice either, came the miffed reply through the bond.

"He was entitled," her mentor opinioned, "after all, to his limited knowledge, I have been in the tavern all day."

Merlin had just time to hear a muffled 'humpfr' from his "pet" before he dumped her in his bed. Then, before he rushed out to join the King and his knights in the conference hall, he took time to say: "Now, you rest here – and I mean 'rest', before you change back into a human – and then you remain here. Is that understood?"

A sulking squeak came from his bed which he very much took as confirmation.

When Merlin finally made it to the great hall, Arthur and the knights were already planning the next counter strike and somebody shoved a bowl into his arms.

"Needs a refill," was the curt order.

For a second there, the young warlock felt the same intense surge of anger as his protégée had. He had powers they wouldn't believe, and they had him fetching pears? That was a serious miscalculation of his competences. He immediately simmered down; it had been like this for the past five years, and there was no reason why it should change now. The enemies were at the gates (though he had succeeded in delaying them somewhat), and King Arthur still perceived magic to be the great foe.

So Merlin, though with embers of a growing rebellion in his heart, went to get fruit for the starving knights and their king.

x

Coming home from his rounds, Gaius sighed deeply and tired, dumped his bag on the floor, disturbing several cockroaches and dust bunnies in the process. He had not been able to locate Merlin's ward on the way and he dreaded what might have happened to her. As one last possibility, he went to Merlin's chambers in the hope that she might have returned while he had been gone.

But the room was depressingly empty and Gaius let out a slightly whining sigh as he sat down on the cot that almost whined more loudly than he.

That is …

If it was the cot whining.

Actually … it had sounded more like a squeal.

The physician shifted his position and was rewarded by another squeal, followed by an incensed qut awf me!

Since when did cots speak or attempt speaking? Gaius jumped to his feet with unexpected speed.

"Aithusa," he called out, "is that you?"

Had Gaius been anyone else, except perhaps Merlin, he would have dropped dead from extreme agitation as he saw the blanket on Merlin's cot starting to float and the air underneath it grow. As it was, the ex-sorcerer was quite capable of guessing what caused this phenomenon to happen. He was thus not surprised when a young girl's head popped out from beneath the blanket and looked at him with blinking water-like eyes that shot angry flashes at him. Back to human, Aithusa found it easy to say:

"Placing that huge bottom of yours on people is not decorum!"

Gaius was not impressed with her emotional outlet. Instead, his eyebrow was activated and his arms crossed, as he said:

"Want to tell me where you have been?"

"Come on – I can be put to better use than this," Merlin said, surprising himself, but found that he just couldn't keep it in any longer. King Arthur and the knights stopped looking at the maps and turned to look at the manservant, eyes open wide and mouths half open. Then Arthur narrowed his eyes angrily.

"Merlin, if you ever go through a day without going to the tavern, I'll consider letting you polish my armour again, but until then ..."

"That's not fair ..." the warlock cried, about to divulge Gwaine's frequent visits at the same place when it occurred to him that Arthur might not know all the meady details about said knight. So instead he admitted:

"Okay, so I didn't go to the tavern."

"Riiight," Arthur smirked, "of course you didn't. Now, if you will just shut up and letthe knights and myself continue with this ..."

"It's true, though – I went to … spy on the enemy armies," Merlin spat.

"Naturally," Arthur nodded, his sarcastic grin well in place.

"Listen to me," Merlin urged, taking another step forward and plunging into a detailed description of their foe. Leon moved, with a surprised expression in his face.

"He's right, Sire … I recognise his descriptions. That is what it looks like out there."

They all, including the King, turned to look at the thin serving boy, now taciturn and with a bewildered expression in their eyes.

"If that is true," Arthur pointed out, "why didn't you tell me in the first place?"

Merlin shrugged, "I thought you might get angry – after all, I was ignoring your orders."

Arthur stroked his chin, thoughtfully, "that's right – you were." A shiver went through the young sorcerer – one could tell that several means of punishment already were flashing through the King's mind; one, Merlin felt sure, was no doubt the stocks. Gwaine broke the silence and asked the relevant question:

"So what else did you see out there?"

xxx

TBC