A/N: Well, it's late and I'm tired, plus I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. I really need to get to bed.

But yay! Another week, another chapter, and one in which I reveal more of the plot...without actually revealing much at all, really :)

Title: Beyond the Vale
Author: BeyondTheStorm
Rating: T for violence and some bloodshed and maybe some language. Better safe than sorry, ne?
Characters/pairings: Only friendship here, though you can read it however you want :) Lots of Merlin and Arthur as well as Gwaine, Lancelot, and Elyan.
Spoilers: Season 3, including the finale. This is a post S3 fic.
Warnings: Nothing, as far as I know.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin

Only got to read through this once, so there may be some errors. Please point them out if you see any.

CHAPTER 10

For what felt like ages, not a one of them moved. All of their eyes were fixed on the woman before them as her own stared straight back. Amongst the dreary, gray-washed backdrop, she was like a point of light, the only living thing in a world that felt still and dead. She was young—younger than any of them, but there was an air of grace about her as well as something else that he couldn't quite name. "Power" wasn't the right word, but it was something that made him wary nonetheless, a feeling that warred with the woman's frail and delicate appearance.

She had all the beauty and elegance of a work of fine art, with hair so long and fine that it hung straight down her back and pooled around her shoulders, gleaming even in the dim light of the vale. It was the color of ash at its lightest, somewhere between blond and gray, standing out against her pale skin, all robed in white.

This was the type of woman that poetry was written about and that the bards would sing of, and Merlin would have believed that she really was as delicate and innocent as she appeared, but that gaze…

There was something very empty about it—piercing, but in a very different way. Those eyes were faded and hollow, and even though he knew she could see them, they appeared sightless. It felt like she was looking right through them, as if they weren't even there at all.

It was unsettling.

There was something very, very wrong here.

The reverie they had all fallen into broke when the girl finally looked away, the expression on her face devoid of anything he could read although he sensed nothing hostile about her. In one graceful move, she slid from the stones she had been perched upon and landed without a sound. There was no rustling of the grass or swish of her robes as they settled around her, and even when she took a few steps forward, her footfalls made no sound even amidst the near deafening silence.

She regarded them all with only the barest hint of curiosity, though it seemed to get lost in the sheer depth of her gaze. He found he couldn't meet it for too long. It felt like he might fall in if he did.

It became rather clear after a while that if anything was to progress, one of them would have to take the next step forward, because after coming to a stop just a few yards away, the girl seemed perfectly content to just observe them. She stood completely still her eyes unblinking, and Merlin knew without a shadow of a doubt that he certainly wasn't going to be the one to draw that haunting stare. Someone else could have a go at it. He hadn't wanted to come here in the first place.

He figured that he shouldn't have been surprised when it was Gwaine who made the next move, recovering faster than the rest of them. This was Gwaine, after all, and despite the girl's ethereal presence, she was a beautiful woman. Everyone had their weaknesses.

"Hello there," the knight greeted with a smile, breaking the silence at last. Her eyes flickered towards him, but her expression didn't change. The movement was sudden enough though that it gave the impression of being startled, and that was exactly how Gwaine seemed to take it. "It's alright. I assure you, we don't mean any harm."

He raised his hands in a placating gesture, offering a smile, but still there was no reaction. She just kept watching them, and Merlin was becoming more unnerved with each passing moment. He could still feel the magic all around them, filling the air and the ground—nothing was untouched by it. There was just so much that he couldn't even begin to figure out what spell had been used or where it was all coming from. It felt like it was everywhere, and that wasn't all he could feel.

That presence at the back of his mind was still there, but it was different than before. It almost felt like something was trying to claw its way into his head, pushing and prodding, begging for attention that he couldn't give because no matter how desperate they were, he couldn't reach them. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to, because he got the feeling something terrible might happen if he did. He had never felt such a desire to simply run and never look back before, but everything around him made him want to turn away, to leave.

Just what was this place?

His attention was immediately drawn back to what was going on when the sound of collapsing stone echoed in the courtyard. All of them immediately looked towards it, the source being a small pillar that had toppled over, no longer able to sustain itself in the desolate surroundings. They all breathed a sigh of relief that it hadn't been anything dangerous before turning back to the girl…only to find that she was gone.

Whatever calm that had descended upon them lifted in an instant, all of the knights suddenly on high alert as they scanned the area, but she was nowhere in sight. The tree cover just beyond the crumbling walls would have been too far away for her to reach in such a short time, and there was nowhere to hide amidst the grass and stone of the courtyard. They hadn't even heard her flee; she had simply vanished.

"Where is she?" asked Elyan.

"She couldn't have gone far," said Gwaine.

"She couldn't have gone anywhere," corrected Lancelot. "We only looked away for a moment. She wouldn't have had time to run."

"Surely you're not suggesting she just disappeared," said Arthur, frowning at the knight. "A person can't suddenly vanish into thin air."

The prince had a point. Not even a sorcerer could just disappear like that without even a sound, like they had never even been there to begin…with…

Oh.

He swallowed rather harshly, suddenly feeling even more ill than before, because that…that certainly was a possibility.

"…Unless she wasn't a person," he said quietly, drawing their attention.

"…Just what are you suggesting?" Arthur asked, but Merlin got the feeling he already knew the answer to his question.

"Maybe…that maybe she was never really there to begin with."

"You mean," began Elyan, his voice and manner suddenly growing cautious, "like a ghost?"

"A ghost," said Arthur, the incredulity ringing clear in his voice. It really wasn't at all surprising. He hadn't actually expected Arthur to believe him with something like this. Whereas he was certain that the prince did believe in such things (after everything they had been through, he'd be a fool not to), it was still rather farfetched. After all, they had all seen her, and although she hadn't spoken, she had been very much aware of all of them (she had also been able to sit on the fallen stones, implying she had some sort of physical body, unless that had been an illusion as well).

"I don't know," he admitted, because there were flaws in his logic, but at the same time he couldn't think of anything else to explain how she had simply disappeared.

"It's a possibility, you know," said Gwaine. "Given the stories about this place and all the people who've gone missing here, I wouldn't be surprised if we ran into a lost soul or two."

Lost? No, that wasn't it. She had been a lot of things, but not once had he ever gotten the impression that she was lost.

"…Come on," Arthur said, putting an end to the conversation as he turned towards the castle. "Let's see if we can find anything."

Once again the five of them were moving, walking across the courtyard that was nothing more than broken stone and grass, the cobbles long since destroyed by the passage of time. It made him wonder just how old the castle before them was, because he imagined it was quite a sight back when it was full of life and cared for. Now it was falling apart, with fallen pillars and cracked statues, holes in just about every wall. There was nothing covering any of it, the ceilings all having collapsed, their remains scattered into dust. The two towers that still stood were the only places that remained intact, still protected from the elements.

What could have happened to turn such a mighty fortress into nothing more than ruins?

With Arthur leading them, they made their way into the castle, walking down the open corridors and looking for any sign that someone had been there recently. All they found though were more ruined areas, rooms that were buried in rubble, places where the collapsed walls and ceiling had made it inaccessible. They had found a staircase that led down to what had probably once been the dungeons, but like a lot of other places, it was blocked by debris. There just weren't a lot of places that they could go, and no matter how hard they looked, they couldn't find anything at all that hinted at someone having been there.

There were no signs of life at all.

However, there was one place that drew their attention. In the inner chambers, towards the center of the castle, there was a huge pair of wooden doors. Normally that wouldn't have been intriguing. Given the structure of the castle, it most likely led to a small inner courtyard or a garden area, but it was of interest because of one simple observation.

In a castle where everything was weathered, even the very floor upon which they stood, those doors were untouched. There wasn't a scratch on them—whole and flawless as the day they were built.

It was Lancelot who walked up to them, running his hand against the dark wood and the metal that lined it, the handles and lock untarnished and gleaming.

"How…?" he began to ask but simply let the word hang on its own. The question didn't need to be asked. They all knew what it was.

"Everything else in this castle was destroyed," Arthur mused as he ran his hand over one of the handles. "Yet this door doesn't seem to have aged at all."

"This place is getting stranger every moment," said Gwaine.

"What do you think is inside?" asked Elyan. "It's the only place that isn't in ruins. There might be something important in there."

"Then let's find out," and with that said, Arthur grabbed both of the handles and pulled. Nothing happened, so he tried to push them instead, but the doors wouldn't budge. All the while Merlin fought the urge to roll his eyes, because obviously it wouldn't be that easy. There was magic involved—he could feel it, and whatever it was, it was powerful. There was a strong enchantment on that lock, a spell so great and so desperate that he wasn't even sure if his magic would be enough to break it.

Whatever was behind that door, someone had gone through a lot of trouble to protect it.

Clearly frustrated, Arthur tried once more to open the doors, pushing against them since pulling hadn't worked at all, and even though they creaked under the strain, they remained unmoving. Even when Elyan and Lancelot pitched in, their strength still wasn't enough.

"It's no use," said Lancelot. "They aren't going to budge."

"Well, if they won't open, you could always try knocking them down," Gwaine suggested. "Maybe we could find something to use as a battering ram."

"…That won't work…"

All of them froze at those words before immediately whipping around, searching for the source of the voice. It had been soft but clear, light and surreal, but more importantly it had belonged to a woman, and sure enough when they turned to find the speaker, they found the same girl they had seen earlier. She was standing across the vast corridor between two of the only pillars that hadn't collapsed, her expression unchanged from the last time they had seen her.

"What…?" began Arthur, only to be cut off by that same crystal clear voice.

"You will not enter that room," she said, and those words would have been a demand if not for the tone of her voice. She spoke as if she were merely stating a fact, as if she didn't care whether they tried to force their way in or not…and yet there was something else there, a kind of authority that had nothing to do with either her voice or her words. There was just something…strange…about her presence.

He was pretty sure she wasn't actually a ghost, but he didn't really think she was entirely human either.

"No amount of force will make those doors open," she continued. "You don't possess the means to enter."

"What do you mean? Just who are you anyway?"

Silence was the prince's only answer. Quickly becoming irritated with the situation, he changed his question.

"Alright then, how do we open them?"

"It's simple. You don't. There is nothing in there that would be of any use to you."

And with that said, she turned her back to them and walked off.

"Wait!"

Arthur immediately went charging off after her, and naturally the rest of them followed. Strangely enough, the girl hadn't disappeared like before, or at least not entirely. Every corner they turned, she would be going around the next one. They followed her, and although it probably wasn't the wisest or most well thought out decision, she was their only way of getting answers. There was no one else, alive or dead, that they had come across, no clues to follow. She was all they had.

It seemed after about the tenth corner that she was simply leading them in circles, but they continued to follow her anyway, and even when they slowed their pace, she was always still the same distance ahead of them. Merlin wasn't entirely keen on the decision to keep following her, but at the same time he couldn't overlook the simple fact that if she was actually running from them then she would have just vanished like before. Instead she always made sure they saw her before disappearing around the corner. She was leading them somewhere, and even though he wasn't about to trust her, he still didn't sense anything malicious about her.

It was just a feeling, like the kind he got whenever he sensed something magical, but he felt no ill intent.

Of course, that didn't mean he was going to drop his guard. He still didn't feel well, and that was reason enough to be wary.

They turned down one last corner and suddenly found themselves outside. They all came to a stop just at the edge of the short corridor where a door had probably once stood long ago. Before them was a small inner courtyard that looked a lot like the rest of the place did. Thick, unkempt grass covered the ground, littered with stones and fallen pillars.

Everything was lying in ruins…with one exception. Their eyes were immediately drawn to the center of the tiny courtyard where four pillars stood tall and proud, completely untouched. They were positioned at the four corners of some kind of stone platform, but it was hard to see much of anything else from where they were standing.

Very cautiously, the five of them moved out into the open air, slowly approaching the strange monument before them. They found that the four pillars each had a chain attached, pulled taught and tight towards the center of the stone platform. There, suspended above the ground by all four chains, was a large wooden staff. Its top was covered in crystals, each and every one perfect and unblemished, and its body had lines and symbols carved into it, all the way down to its tip.

On the stone platform, right under where the staff hung, was a symbol drawn in a dark substance that appeared black in the dimly lit surroundings. It was intricate and complicated, hundreds of different circles all overlapping into a pattern that would have taken someone days to create. It was beautiful, but at the same time it had an almost eerie feel to it. There was magic at work here, but what kind of magic was anyone's guess. Even after all the books he had looked through and all the different things he had encountered, Merlin had never once come across anything quite like this.

Situated just a few feet in front of the monument was a column of stone three feet tall. The top of it had been polished until it gleamed, and upon it were carvings that looked like words. That was where the five of them found themselves standing, all staring down at it and trying to read what was written.

"Well, what's it say?" asked Gwaine, unable to read it from where he was. Out of all of them, Lancelot had the best view point, having moved right up in front of the column, and with no further prompting, he began to read.

"…The staff of Rhoshad. Whosoever holds this staff will be granted the power to lift the curse."

"What curse?" Gwaine asked, earning him a few disbelieving looks.

"I would think that'd be obvious," said Elyan. "There's clearly something wrong with this place. The 'curse' must be referring to the mist."

"So then all we have to do is grab the staff?"

Even while asking his question, Gwaine was already making his way towards the pillars and the platform beyond them.

"Wait," Lancelot called, halting the man in his tracks. "There's more… Be warned. Anyone who seeks to lift the curse must pay a heavy price. Only those with an open heart can remove the staff. All who approach without understanding will…" The knight swallowed rather hard, his face paling as he read the last of the inscription. "Will burn to ash and be returned to the earth."

Needless to say Gwaine quickly made his way back to the column, watching the suspended staff with a wary expression. Merlin was bordering more on exasperation.

Of course there would have to be a catch. There was always a catch, because nothing could ever be that easy. After all, if removing the staff was all it took to end whatever spell had been placed over the vale, then someone would have done it by now. Clearly all who had tried so far had failed…assuming any of them had gotten this far to begin with.

"What do you suppose it means by 'an open heart?'" asked Elyan.

"I don't know," said Lancelot as he silently reread the inscription. "It could mean any number of things."

"Pure would be my guess," said Gwaine. "That's usually how these things go, isn't it?"

For some reason, Merlin was pretty sure it was more complicated than that. At the same time he couldn't help but wonder what "things" Gwaine was referring to. It's true that there were quite a few superstitions and legends and even curses that had something to do with a pure heart, but he didn't know too many of them. He had thought that Gaius was the only person he knew who was familiar with those kinds of things, but apparently he had been wrong. Appearances really were deceiving, even with someone like Gwaine. He clearly knew a great deal more than his personality led people to believe.

Still though…he couldn't help but feel that there was more to it this time. Open wasn't exactly the same as pure.

"Well…if that's the case," said Arthur as he began to slowly walk forward towards the pillars, stopping only when Elyan grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Arthur, what are you doing?" he asked, clearly concerned. Merlin certainly couldn't blame him. He'd been about to try and stop the prince himself, already knowing what Arthur planned to do.

It had been years ago now. There were times when it felt longer and others where it felt like no time had passed at all, but he could still remember every detail—a unicorn, a curse, the crashing of waves against the shore, and two goblets set between them. It was something he would never forget, the feeling of grief and desperation when he watched his friend fall, accepting death just so that he wouldn't have to. In that moment, Arthur had proven that his heart truly was pure.

But "open" and "pure" were two very different things.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" the prince asked, trying to shrug the hand off, but Elyan only held on tighter.

"Sire, it's too dangerous."

Arthur heaved a sigh, his expression settling into an exasperated scowl.

"Look, I've been through this whole 'pure heart' thing before, and—"

"Now that's a story I'd like to hear…"

"Shut up, Gwaine. As I was saying, I've been through this before. Granted it was a long time ago, but I don't think that really matters."

"What are you talking about?" Elyan asked, obviously confused, and Merlin couldn't blame him. After all, none of them knew that story, not even Lancelot.

"Look, it's a long story. Just trust me on this."

"Arthur," Merlin called, knowing that the prince was about ready to pull away from Elyan and just go for it. He needed to stop him before he did something foolish. "Elyan's right. It's too dangerous. The warning might not be referring to the same thing, and that's not a risk we can take."

Arthur looked about ready to start arguing with him (nothing new there, really) when a rather haunting but familiar voice cut him off.

"You're right to be wary. It would do you well to listen to your friends, Prince Arthur."

They all turned to face the monument, and sure enough, leaning against one of the pillars was the same girl from before…and Merlin was entirely certain that she hadn't been there earlier. It was as if she had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Whatever she was—human, spirit, magical creature—she obviously wasn't normal.

"Just who are you?" Arthur asked, finally becoming fed up with the woman. "And how do you know who I am?"

"I've been listening."

She pushed away from the pillar and took a few steps towards them, stopping only a few feet away and seeming perfectly content to quietly observe them once more.

"Can I ask you something?" Lancelot began, moving away from the stone column and towards the rest of the knights, a pair of golden eyes tracking his every movement. When she said nothing in response, he took that as permission to continue. "What exactly is this place?"

Merlin wasn't entirely sure if he was just seeing things or not, but for a moment he thought he saw just the barest hint of a grin.

"The people on the outside call it 'The Vale,' but it was once a great kingdom…though I fear it's nothing more than an abandoned castle now, a victim to the passage of time."

She began walking again, each step silent even as her robe brushed through the grass. She moved around their small group, her eyes focused and her expression still the same as it had been—unreadable except for the barest hint of curiosity.

"Who exactly are you?" Elyan asked, the words coming out rather cautiously but with a great deal more patience than Arthur's had. It was the question on all their minds, one she had failed to answer more than once already, although Merlin couldn't blame her for not answering Arthur. The prince wasn't very good at asking nicely.

"…You may call me Eiwyn."

She didn't offer them anything else, only kept watching with that same haunting look. It was unnerving. It felt as if she were seeing not through but into them, as if everything were being laid bare. He could still feel it, that strange presence at the back of his mind that kept trying to force its way in. He wondered if it had anything to do with her. He couldn't feel any magic coming from her, but then again he couldn't feel anything from the staff either, and that was clearly magical.

Of course, it could always be that the magic he could feel all around them was interfering with being able to tell if Eiwyn had any sort of powerful magic. He was pretty sure she did though. After all, how else had she managed to survive here when everyone else had perished?

And if she wasn't human but wasn't a spirit…then what was she?

He kept watching her as she stood before them, her eyes shifting over each one of them in turn until they finally settled on him. Merlin had been trying to stay unnoticed, mainly because he didn't want to have to answer any questions about why he looked like he was about to be sick. That really wasn't a conversation he wanted to have. He knew that the knights would probably take him seriously, but he didn't want to deal with Arthur and his incredulity. He wasn't in the mood for it, not when he was already feeling miserable.

When that gaze met his and those faded eyes bore into him, the presence he could feel got stronger, and when he looked—really looked—at the girl before them, everything suddenly fell into place.

Eyes of faded gold and filled with so much sorrow that a person could drown in it. He hadn't noticed before, hadn't looked properly, but hidden behind that blank gaze was pure and unabashed grief, too deep to comprehend.

The air suddenly seemed a hundreds times thicker than before, and although he wasn't struggling to breathe like he had been in his nightmare, he could feel the weight of it all around him, pressing down on his shoulders and pushing against his chest, his heart.

It hurt.

There was something else in the air though, something other than the weight and the magic. He had known all along that the mist surrounding them wasn't normal, that magic had to be the cause, but it was something more than that, something he was close to understanding if he just tried a little harder, listened a little closer.

For the first time since it had appeared there, he stopped fighting against the presence at the back of his mind and allowed it to push a little further.

He would come to regret that decision.

It started as a whisper, just a mere voice which soon began to grow. There were no words being spoken, no tones or any real sounds at all, but he could hear it. One quickly became two and two into many, and more were soon added until there were too many to count…and they were all screaming.

The realization dawned before he could even really grasp what he was hearing, and he suddenly felt ill for an entirely different reason. Those voices…

The mist wasn't just made up of magic. It was made up of souls, and there were thousands of them.

Thousands upon thousands of voices, crying out in despair and retribution—the sound of innocent lives cut tragically short and denied their right to pass on.

He had been right before.

They never should have come here.

A/N: Thank you to all who are reading this fic and to everyone who has reviewed. I wasn't expecting so many last week especially since I didn't think the chapter was that good, but I guess I was wrong :)

Review Replies

Reshma: Thanks for the review, and also thank you for the advice :) I think I'd rather do the supplements. I'll keep it in mind especially if I end up getting sick again. Twice was enough for me.
Oh, I definitely agree about Arthur. He really does need to listen more :) He's really good at ignoring other people's opinions especially when he shouldn't (and his do tend to land them into trouble more often than not). Fear not, for he has not been forgiven even if their anger with him is being let go for now due to the weird situation they're in. I have lots in store for that bit of the plot as well, and Merlin will indeed find out eventually. I haven't decided how yet, but he will definitely be finding out :)

Thanks everyone for reading! Until next week!