Chapter 10

WRITTEN BY - Maltese-Sapphire

CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY - Maltesegirl50

Thank you so so so so so so so much to everyone who answered out call for help!

You've all been amazing, giving us so much help. And thanks for your support aswell, it means a lot to us both =P

I'm sorry for not much development in this chapter, but I wanted to give you something whilst we work our asses off on the plot. You deserve it =P

To everyone who submitted a story idea:

Stella, George2Bob1, Keyrani, snake and crane, BlueDragon123, .zip, Aidria, Legolas Thranduilion, Larkaidikalikani, narnia365, Bridget Friste and lupelovell345

Grazzi ħafna!

(That's "thank you very much" in Maltese =P)

Merlin was exhausted. He must have spent over an hour trying every possible spell Gaius found in the magic book, none of which worked. It might have been because he could only bark the spells, the spells weren't the right ones, or his magic just wasn't strong enough whilst he was like this. He assumed it was the last one, because he found he could do simple spells if he concentrated hard. But what was the point in those? Being able to light a candle wasn't going to make him human again.

Gaius was quickly losing hope of finding a spell in the book that would be uselful. He had lost count of how many spells they had tried and failed. He had even tried making a couple of potions that might work (none did, of course). He flipped through the worn pages of the thick book, scanning the words for anything relivent. He paused every so often to read a passage, then carry on searching when the spell proved useless.

"I'm sorry, Merlin, it doesn't look like we're going to find anything in here" he said sadly.

Merlin whined miserabley.

Gaius was about to close the book when something caught his eye. After reading the description, he decided it was worth a try. It wasn't a spell to change Merlin back, but it was one that might prove useful. If performed right, it should allow Gaius to understand what Merlin was saying.

It was worth a try.

"Merlin, try and cast this spell" Gaius said, showing the page to the puppy sitting on the table. Merlin read the spell, and barked it out loud, trying to summon all the magic he could.

It didn't work.

"Try again" Gaius urged.

Merlin took a deep breath and barked the spell again. He felt a slight tingle, but nothing else.

He shook his head, telling Gaius he couldn't do it again.

"Just once more, Merlin, please"

After pausing for a moment, Merlin attempted the spell again. He tried so hard he felt dizzy. But still nothing seemed to happen.

But Gaius was determined to try and get the spell to work.

"Maybe just once-"

For God's sake, Gaius, I can't do it, okay?" Merlin snapped angrily.

To Gaius's amazement, he could understand the puppy's barks perfectly.

"It's worked!" he said happily.

Merlin cocked his head to one side, puzzled.

"But I'm still barking" he said.

"Well I can understand you perfectly"

It was strange really. Gaius could still hear barking, but somehow he just knew what they meant. He didn't really care how it worked, but it had.

"OK, now I can understand you, tell me what happened"

For the next few minutes, Merlin talked non-stop about the events of the last few days; he started from when Nimueh had changed him, finishing at the point when Gaius had found him in the forest.

When he was done, Gaius was both stunned and amazed. Something like this could only happen to Merlin.

"And Nimueh said this was the only way to break the spell?" he asked.

"Yes" Merlin replied. "The only way to break the spell is for Arthur to truly miss me"

Gaius was suprised and confused. This wasn't something he would expect from Nimueh.

"This is strange" he said. "It's not like Nimueh to play around like this"

"Well, I don't care why she did this, all I want is to turn back"

"And Arthur?"

Merlin sighed.

"I've been trying to make him miss me, but it's not working. Everytime I try, it either doesn't work or go wrong"

Gaius considered the events of the tournament.

"Merlin... Arthur's horse getting spooked and throwing him off; that didn't have anything to do with you did it?"

"Uh..." Merlin began uncomfortably. "Well... maybe?"

Gaius knew he shoudn't laugh, but it was so hard not to.

"So what do I do now?" Merlin asked. "Arthur's mad at me, and I still have no idea how to make him break the spell"

Gaius thought carefully. He wasn't too sure himself.

"Well, the best thing you can do right now is go and find Arthur and make him forgive you. We're not going to get anywhere if he decides he doesn't want you anymore"

"It wouldn't suprise me" Merlin replied. "He's the kind of person who'd probably just get rid of their pets when they get bored"

"Yes, well, you'd better make sure that doesn't happen. Until we figure out how to make you human again, the best thing we can do is keep Arthur on our side"

Yes, it's not very long, but it's all I can conjour up right now. We're working hard on the plot, trying to work out the rest of the story for you. Rest assured, Merlin fans, we will not give up! I swear on my Merlin boxset!