I Own Nothing of the Merlin TV Series or anything that has that copyright thing...But The Arthurian Legands belong to the world. Long Live The Once and Future King...ARTORAX!

Chapter Eight- By Foot, Wheel and Horse Shoe.

The white sails of the Ambrosius waved in the morning wind, waved them good-bye. Merlin in his white robes, protected by silver armoured pouldrons and his truested Eilazaid, led his Company away from the harbour of Gaule. They were to walk across the land and to Rome. HIs Company consisting of his family: Morgana his wife, their children Sarah and Angwyn. His friends Sir Gwaine, Bors Dagonet, Martius and Bartius, Captain Anna and Sinbad the Pirate. The rest had been assigned to take care of the ship.

"We are to journey across lands...strange lands with strange people that I know you have not seen before," Merlin said and looked to his children's amazed faces. "I cannot ask you, any of you to come with me and share this burden-"

"Merlin," Morgana stepped up to him, "You may not have known this, but I have been sharing your burdens ever since we fell in love." Then Morgana cupped his chin in her hands and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I will stand by your side, Merlin, untill death calls us towards him."

Merlin smiled and then crouched down to his children. "I know you will probably choose to join us, but I must take your safety into account. As your father it is my duty. I know I have not seen a lot of you two these past few years. I have missed the joy of seeing your birth Angwyn- but I cannot command nor ask you to accompany me." Merlin placed a hand on Sarah, "I love you two and I do wish to turn back time just to spend as much time with you as possible. I see you now and can see that you will have bright futures."

Sarah shook her head, "Father, I have always looked up to you, even when we knew so little. Me and Angwyn do not wish to go another day without learning from you, of you. We will follow your lead father. To the ends of the world as families do." She threw an arm around Angwyn's shoulder. Merlin almost cried then and there and moved in to hug them all.

At dawn they left, first they had their horses, not riding them for they were still in the city and it would not be very polite to ride one in such an enclosed space filled with citizens. One would not be able to control them enough not to clumsily bump into something.

After they were equiped with their needs they set out into the wide world. Merlin looked around to the middle of their company where his children walked, they looked very eager tp see the places his father had seen. Their faces showed a heavily contained excitment and this just made Merlin smile even more. Morgana walked over to the front and joined her husband. She took his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. They both heard Sarah and Angwyn making muffled laughs behind them.

They left Nantes harbour and headed south-east. On their first stop, they set up camp at Poitiers for oe night. A roarig fire was lit and a tent raised for the little ones. Morgana did ot have to cook becase it was fairly basic throw a piece of meat on a heated piece of rock and let it sizzle, this disappointed the sorceress quite a fair bit as she now felt rather useless.

"Worry not my darling," Merlin said, "you are neither useless nor disposable." Merlin hugged her and let her sit with their children as Bors filled them with first-hand account of the Nicaean Council. Anna was interfering and putting in her own comments and versions that both humiliated and made Bors grumble.

Merlin sat on his own stone with Dagonet and Sinbad, there was a map of the Roman Empire laid out and a light lit by Merlin's hand to show them. "We will need to travel south first to the bigger rivers," Sinbad said and pointed at closer to the bottom of the chart. Merlin nodded. "Then we will have to go from there to Arles before we could get to Nicaea. Where do we go from there?"

Merlin had to inspect the map some more before coming up with a plan. "We need the other keys from Strauss. We cannot go around to get to Roma, so at Nicaea we will get a ship and sail there."

"I know some people that can help us that reside in Nicaea." Said Sinbad.

Merlin bobbed his head in response again. "The way to Nicaea from Arles is perilous," Merlin added uncertainly. "The land is now plagued with may creatures. The wolves now inhabit the plains and these are not just small dogs too- but evil crreations of Hell hounds. Wolves big enough to ride on and strong enough to rip your lims to shreds in matters of seconds. Then there are the bandits and not to mention basilisks vermin that seem to be able to hide so perfectly despite their unique physique."

Bors straightened up when he heard what Merlin said about these basilisk creatures. "Never in my life have I seen such creatures. What are they?"

Sinbad answered the question, "A basilisk is a creature crossed between a snake and a rooster, with fangs as big as bastard-swords and eyes a devilishly yellow texture. These monsters are cursed with their ability to kill any living thing with only a glance. This monster is almost impossible to engage in, let alone kill. One must avois such a creature as much as possible." There was a shrivle of fear that stuck to Sinbad's voice and a look to Merlin confirmed the stories. "It is a dark creature that all other beasts fear above all others."

"Alas you have said that this creature is almost impossible to kill," exclaime Dagonet. "This is clear idication that you know how to dispatch such a beast?"

Sinbad gave an unsure glance at Merlin who then said, "Yes we do. It is quite obvious. It is the basilisk's eyes that are cursed. One must assume that they are the target. Blind the beast perminantly and the curse of the basilisk is lifted. Blind the beast and it can no longer kill with a glance."

"This souds easier said than done, Merlin." said Dogonet.

"Oh, it is."

Sinbad then said, "We have indeed tried to before, when a basilisk colony entered Nicaea during processions and me and Merlin were sent to guard the bishops of the many Christian sects from their glance. We were blindfolded and had to fight using instincts."

"Souds dangerous."

"When is it ever not?"

Dagonet sighed and the three got up from their counil. "We will stay here oly the night and leave the first thing tomorrow moring. We must travel as soo as sun rises for these are still rather quiet territories but I want to move on as quickly as possible." said Merlin.

-==M==-

They all slept peacefully that night and woke up with a start the next morning. Morgana had fashioned some eggs and had everyone packed up and ready to go right after breakfast. She seemed like she was purposely trying to burden herself more and sensing this, her husband smiled and pecked her on the cheek, whispering somethin in her ear that made her face blush.

"Okay, everyone get ready. We leave right now." This time they all mounted their horses. Sarah and Angwyn had to share a mount and stay in the middle of the Company.

This time it was Sinbad's turn to lead and Merlin rode beside Morgana.

"What do you think we'll see?" Asked Angwyn.

"Strange worlds, Ang. Worlds we never thought existed. All of these realms have a story behind it and an adventure ahead," his sister sighed into the distance of thought.

"Hope we see everything though."

"Me too...then again, I hope we don't."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

They quickened their pace as they realised they were falling behind. "I mean that the world is also full of death and I do not wish to meat the same fate."

"Everyone of us meats the same fate one way or another."

"But I do not wish to meat it so early on in my life."

Angwyn nodded.

The trip was uneventful, much to Angwyn's disappointment. soon they got to a mountain side where they pulled over again, to rest at the foot. That night they stayed there, again the night was filled with singing by Dagonet:

Home is behind, the world ahead,

And there are many paths to tread

Through shadows to the edge of night,

Until the stars are all alight.

Then world is behind and home ahead,

We'll wander back to home and bed.

Mist and shadows...clous and shade,

All shall fade... all shall fade.

Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,

and then to bed... and then to bed...

The montain stood there above them like a shield, guarding them from the harsh light of heaven. The scene was rather peaceful and Morgana thanked God for that. The fire that night was rather lively, dancing in the silent cold.

After tucking her son and daughter in their tent, Morgana walked over to the horses. Her silver stalion stood in silence neighing as she stroked her white locks. She caught sight of her husband, sitting on a log in front of the fire, armsfolded, left hand clutching his chin and staring blankly at the dancing flames. Merlin had deffinately changed since their chance meeting all those years ago. His thin an lanky physique was now replaced with a more musculine man, though Merlin's cheekbones where still the same, sharp and all. More noticable were his ears- too big for his own good. Still, these were the features that drew her attentions first. These features made him different- that and his magic. She continued to stand there by her horse and stare in admiration at her beloved husband.

Merlin spotted Morgana staring at him and couldn't help the smirk creaping up on him. There was that familiar longing in her eyes, he had seen it before, he knew that look all too well and was even more sorry that he could not go up to her and satisfy that longing need at the moment. There was too little privacy where they were and too much to think about. Perhaps once they got to Rome they could finally elope, even if just for a day or so.

Merlin got up and headed to her. Morgana saw the smile on his face and chuckled. He then took her in his arms and gave her a long and passionate kiss, swaying her around. "Can we just-"

Merlin shook his head, "Not here my love."

Morgana sighed heavily into his warm chest, not knowing the burden she placed on him when he felt her over perky breasts pressing against his robes. "Where then? When?"

Merlin exhaled as well. The couple stayed glued together for much of the night before retiring to their own spots which was actually with each other by the tent their children slept in.

-==M==-

The next morning greeted them pretty much the same as the night before and they soon left the mountain roots in favour to open fields and a Roman road.

Again the road was empty and quiet. Angwyn had began to get rather bored and had to rely on his book to satisfy his craving for adventure. Sarah was pretty much the same. Angwyn though- by that time of day he would have already been outside with Roger Thatcher and Prince Bryan Pendragon- playing tower defence or Siege of the Bakery. Instead they were now surrounded by silence too annoying to shake off. They both hated riding all day long on horse back and where too tired to walk. A predicament they got themselves in.

By noon they got to an intersection of two diverging paths. Sinbad and Merlin were able to conclude in continueing straight, stating that was the way they crossed before to get to Nicaea. soon though they approached a rather depressing sight of a run down old village to their left slightly hiding in the trees- a group of four houses and a granery at the back.

"Looks like a bandit raid." Stated Sinbad when they all got to the ruined village. Smoke still escaped bits of debris and carnage left behind. Dead corpses lay motionless as always, on the ground or in houses.

Merlin, Sinbad and Morgana looked around in the homes while Bors, Bartius and Angwyn looked through the hey stacks in hopse of finding a survivor hiding in the straws. Martius, Dagonet and Sarah were left to check the fields where they found by the road just ahead from where they had tied their horses, a caravan trailer. "It seems in good condition," Bartius commented. Sarah agreed and moved in to check on the contents.

Merlin moved through the remnants of a cozy hutt owned probably by a farmer's family. The furniture was destroyed, plates tinted, knife blades now house the wall followed by blood. The warlock deducted it was a case of self-defence- but it was strange. The blood did not look like human blood and more animal, furthermore, the victims seemed to be unscratched. There was no sign of a physical attack on their bodies. A man, a woman and three children of about the same age and all of them seemed to have died in one piece. "It is like they died of fright," Morgana murmered to her husband in bafflement.

"There isn't a scratch on their bodies." Sinbad added.

"Could this have been done by magic?"

Merlin shook his head and approached the door to inspect the bodies outside only to find the same analysis to the family indoors and yet still no answers. Then Merlin spotted something in the dirt...footprints- but they were not of man...in facts they did not seem like footprints at all, they were just lines in the dirt leading to the forest. That was when Merlin figured it out. He took a closer look at the tracks- long tracks and there seemed like a dozen of them. Morgana saw the panic expressind on his face and asked him what was wrong.

"We need to get out of here and fast." Merlin walked over to Sinbad, "We must leave now!" As soon as he said this and pointed to the tracks, Sinbad was punched in the face with the realisation.

"Basilisks."

They ran to the others, soon the company met up with Sarah, Dagonet, Martius, Bartius, Bors and Anna and Gwaine who were still at the horses had to run to them at the trailer, bringing the horses behind them. Merlin and Morgana did not deem it honorable to leave them so they then searched the village for more bodies and had them burried in the fields with grave stones blank of names but descriptions of their features and the position of their homes in case someone had come and could give them their names back.

Dagonet tied up two of their horses, Martius' and Sarah's, to the wooden post of the trailer and had them tow the wooden portable home. Sarah and Angwyn were to ride in them with and Anna, and the rest on their own horses again. The wheels were still intact and with some quick modifications from Merlin was able to make the ride more comfortable. Then they sat off in haste to Arles.