A/N: Apologies for the delay! The first week back at work was a doozy. Hopefully things will ease off a little and I'll be able to update more regularly again. They don't belong to me, etc etc - you know the drill.

Proposition – Merlin

Arthur found a nearby stone and sank down onto it. "Okay, Merlin," he said. "I've decided this is just a stupid dream, and I'm just going to go along with it until I wake up."

I suppressed a smile, and turned to Freya again. "It's good to see you," I said, embracing her, "but we are here on an urgent matter."

"I know. The Sidhe are waiting to talk to you."

She turned and led us through the remnants of stone walls to an area that must once have been a garden. Arthur moved slowly and reluctantly, as though afraid of what he might find, and I took his arm to help him.

In the garden blue balls of light were flying round us like butterflies and Arthur moved his hand as though to swat them, but I caught it and held it still. "Those are the Sidhe," I informed him gently.

"Oh."

One of the blue lights coalesced into what looked like a tiny blue person with wings. Freya bowed to him. "Merlin, this is the Sidhe elder," she explained.

"You murdered our kind," the sidhe elder said, pointing at me and glaring.

"Uhoh, that's a good start," Arthur muttered under his breath.

I nudged him. "Arthur – I suggest you leave the talking to me."

To my surprise, he made no protest, merely again found somewhere to sit and then appeared to be content to watch proceedings.

"Sire, it is true that I have killed some members of your race, but they were trying to harm us at the time," I pointed out. "Sophia and Aulfric tried to murder Arthur, while Grunhilde and her Sidhe friend were trying to marry Arthur off to a Sidhe so she could be queen."

"They did what?" Arthur jumped up, then pressed a hand to his side and sank down again with a slight groan.

I glanced across at him. "It's alright, Arthur, I've got this covered."

The Sidhe did not seem very impressed with us, but I persevered. "We need your help. Arthur has not yet fulfilled his destiny. It is not yet time for him to die."

"By what right do you claim this?"

"The prophecy said that Arthur would bring peace to Albion, and a return of magic to the kingdom. Peace is not yet certain, and magic has not yet found its place. Albion still has need of its king."

The Sidhe seemed to ponder on this for a while, and my hopes rose. Then he looked straight at Arthur. "We will heal him – if he promises to make a Sidhe his heir."

I held my breath at their audacity, knowing what response they would get. I knew that they had sought to control the throne earlier, by way of marrying Arthur to a changeling, but had not anticipated that they would make access to that sort of power a condition of healing Arthur. That was my shortcoming; I had forgotten just how arrogant those of the older races could be, resenting those who were not of their kind.

Arthur was already shaking his head. "I value the people of my kingdom, and could not leave them in the power of one who I did not know and trust, in order to save my own life."

"Then we will not help you." The Sidhe faded into a blue sphere and flew up high.

"Wait!" I tried desperately to find the words to persuade him. "Is there anyone else who could help us?"

The Sidhe danced around Arthur's head, then back in front of me, and reappeared properly again. "You could ask the Desir."

The Desir were the human representation of the triple headed goddess. We had met them a few months earlier when they had passed judgement on Arthur. Arthur had refused to agree to the return of the old religion, and in return instead of ensuring Mordred's death as I had hoped they had healed him so that he would live to become Arthur's bane and strike the killing blow on him. I had denied magic in front of Arthur that time, passed up on an opportunity to encourage him towards accepting magic within the kingdom, and all for nothing.

"Why would the Desir want to help?"

"I did not say they would want to help. It is possible that they could help, but whether they will or not I cannot say." He looked annoyingly smug.

"But..." I looked to where Arthur had sunk down onto a piece of fallen masonry, and was sitting with a hand pressed to his side as though in pain. "Arthur grows weaker. He will not survive the journey to Brinefed." The holy shrine was a day's hard ride away at least, and we had lost the horses when Morgana had attacked us.

The Sidhe flew around Arthur, circling him in a spiral from head to toe, as though assessing him. "He will survive long enough to meet the Desir again," he predicted solemnly, then laughed at something I could not see and flew up again. He faded into nothing, and we were left alone.

Waiting – Jonek

Jonek and his men had been following the trail all day, and had hoped to catch up with the men they had been following, when they had seen a dragon lift off from the land, carrying two men to the isle. Unable to find a boat, they settled down on the shore, prepared to wait. There appeared to be nowhere else along the water's edge where a boat might land, and Jonek could be patient when needed.

As they waited, he passed the time imagining the rewards that would come to him when he presented the king and his sorcerer to his master, Young Sarrum. He, too, had a hatred of sorcery, and was unable to decide whether he would rather return the sorcerer alive or whether it would be better to kill him and return the body; the reward might be less but it was likely to be safer.

Shore – Arthur

"Well that was a waste of time," Merlin scowled as the blue pixie thing disappeared. I sympathised with him. The Sidhe did not seem particularly amenable as a race, and certainly did not seem to appreciate our presence.

Freya laid a soothing hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Merlin," she said. "I know that's not the answer you hoped."

Thinking of the Sidhe's parting words, I stood and stretched a little, tentatively feeling how my injury reacted. A small twinge, but definitely easing off. I wondered at the simple pleasure of being able to move more easily; the sort of good health that until recently I had taken for granted, but which over the past couple of days had seemed impossible.

Merlin seemed furious on my behalf. Freya held him and talked to him quietly, and I kept back to give them some privacy. I had learnt a lot about my servant in the past few days, but one of the biggest surprises had to be that he seemed to be on such good terms with such a holy woman.

The morning had passed unnoticed during our discussion with the Sidhe, and now the sun stood high in the sky. Freya took us to another part of the grounds, where a small meal stood ready for us, and we sat and ate together. I found my appetite was starting to return, and I ate willingly enough, noticing as I did so that Merlin only nibbled at a hunk of bread.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Nothing to worry about. Magic can drain the strength, that's all, and I think it's all beginning to catch up with me."

"Can we rest here until tomorrow?" I thought longingly of Camelot, and of my wife, fully intending to travel to Brinefed via my home, but knew that with no horses the journey ahead would be a hard one.

Freya stood up. "I am sorry, Arthur, but it is forbidden for mortals to remain on the isle after dark. You need to start your return journey now."

I indicated my empty sword belt helplessly. "We don't even have weapons."

"We appreciated you leaving them behind," Freya nodded. "Weapons are also forbidden on the holy isle. And Arthur – your sword will be returned to you when you are ready to wield it again. Merlin was wise not to leave it behind where it could fall into the hands of those who would use it ill."

I thought mournfully of the beautiful sword that Merlin had thrown into the lake. I felt naked without it, and if Merlin was not at full strength who would protect us both?

Reluctantly, we walked down to the water's edge with Freya, and climbed carefully into an old boat that lay next to the pier. No dragon flight back then. I looked for oars, but Freya noticed and smiled at me.

"Merlin will return you to shore," she assured me, and Merlin nodded to her, kissed her hand mournfully and then chanted a spell. The boat began to move slowly through the water, as though led by an invisible hand, while Merlin laid back in the bow of the boat with his eyes closed and I sat upright and still so as not to aggravate my wound, which had set up a dull ache.

The lake had seemed vast, but before very long we were drifting into shore in the direction we had come from. Merlin opened his eyes as he felt us bump gently against the pier he stepped carefully out of the boat and held it still for me to do the same. Merlin looked around us for a moment as though to catch his bearings, and then pointed up the hill towards a large oak tree on the edge of the forest.

"That way."

As we started up the hill, picking our way carefully amongst the gorse bushes, he stumbled and I put my hand out to support him, and then stumbled in my turn. I expected Merlin to laugh, but as I caught a better look at his face I saw blood on it, and as I turned behind to see what had happened four men rose out of a nearby bush, swords held at the ready.

They seemed determined to capture us, rather than kill us, and with no weapons and being at less than full strength we had little choice, and so before long we were lying on the ground, hands bound, listening to the men debating how they were going to return us to their master. I heard the words king and sorcerer; they seemed fairly confident they had one, but thankfully they did not appear to associate the young servant they had captured with the powerful sorcerer they seemed to seek. Merlin was lying with his eyes closed, but as far as I could see he was still breathing. My one hope was that when he woke he would be able to aid us.

One of the men shouted something I did not hear properly and ran off. I gathered from further shouts that their horses had become loose and one had wandered off. He ran after it, but we lost sight of him as he disappeared into the trees, and he did not return.

After a few moments a second man swore loudly and walked off after him, and he also failed to return.

Just as I was beginning to feel more than curious as to their whereabouts, a bush near the treeline seemed to explode into a figure clad in chainmail, and before I could even see what was happening the remaining two men lay dead on the ground.

The newcomer turned and bowed to us, and then bent and used his sword to release the ropes around our arms. "My Lord. Need any help?"

"Percival!" Never had I been quite so pleased to see Camelot's gentle giant.

Reviews/comments etc always welcome - thanks to those who have commented so far, some of whom have influenced the story a little. Any ideas as to what should/shouldn't happen in future chapters?