Here's chapter 10 little late again, but I nearly finished in time...sadly I'm not sure if docx is working or not so after waiting for a few days I decided to post this unbeta'd...again..(so Dawn that Shines if you see this pleeasse let me know if you got anything or not...)

Anyway sorry for any mistakes and hope you enjoy the chapter + thank you for all the lovely reviews! =)

Disclaimer: Still don't...

Chapter 10

"Here, I found it!" exclaimed an excited Prince Arthur.

His two fellow researchers, Gaius and Sir Leon, only looked up warily and a slightly annoyed physician asked "Are you sure, Sire?"

Nodding enthusiastically Arthur replied "Yes, yes this is it!"

Not quite able to hide his annoyance like the physician Sir Leon said exasperatedly "Sure like the last three times or really really sure?"

Only glaring in response the prince once again proclaimed his success in finding the solution for their or rather Merlin's little problem. Interrupting the staring match and preventing the impending argument between the two knights Gaius interjected with asking "So what does it say, Sire?"

"Uhm…no idea…" which led to a complete silence and some frustrated looks "...but there's a picture of a guy, where this shiny aura is leaving his body and going into a jar or something."

That indeed got the physician's attention, who immediately grabbed the book and started to translate the old tongue, in which this entry was written. The prince only smiled smugly and leaned back in his chair looking very pleased with himself. Sir Leon also promptly dropped the book he had been studying and closed his eyes to relax; honestly he had no idea how Gaius was able to do this constant researching without going blind.

.

.

Several minutes later

Finally finished with reading the whole passage Gaius announced "Well, it seems as if we have indeed found a way to return the essence to Merlin's body." Seeing the delighted expression on the others faces Gaius hurriedly continued "However, it is not be an easy task and also require magic."

"Yeah, figures, that's alright…I guess, but you can do it, can't you?" spotting the physician's growing frown Arthur hastily carried on "Gaius, please tell me I didn't just spend endless hours researching for nothing!"

Signature eyebrow rising Gaius was tempted to point out that seemingly endless hours meant one and a half hour for the prince before answering the question. "According to the text we need a sidhe to perform this old spell, which you can see here in the picture with the tiny blue roughly human-shaped creature flying close to the man. Also, the vessel of the essence needs to be shattered, which in this case would apparently be you, Sire…" a considerable paler Arthur interjected here with a 'I'm going to kill him, that… that idiot, forget it, no one's going to shatter me' "…but I am sure with a human vessel this probably only means a minor cut in the skin."

"Oh…good."

Sir Leon, who had also been listening intently, returned the conversation to the more important part, namely this sidhe persona who would have to help. "What exactly is a sidhe?"

"The sidhe are an old race of magical creatures, fairies, who live in Avalon, a vicious people."

"They're not going to help us, are they?"

"No."

Arthur, who had long ago lost his patience threw his hands up in defeat and said "Great, just great. What are we doing now?"

"…"

At the same time outside Camelot a hooded figure approached a hill overlooking the castle. For a moment the man just stood there and enjoyed the view, picturing how this vile place would look like after he was done with it. Finally the time had come to revenge his brethren, who had been slaughtered in this very castle. Smirking in triumph the sorcerer revealed the necklace, which had been hidden under his cloak and held it into the blinding sunlight, reveling in the way the ruby glowed blood-red.

With one last glance at the citadel the sorcerer started to prepare the ritual for releasing the power within the ruby. By sunset Camelot would be no more.

Oblivious to the happenings outside the physician's chambers, but still somewhat impatient and nervous Arthur Pendragon was pacing, back and forth and back and forth…only momentarily stopping to regard the court physician expectantly and resuming again when silence was all that answered him. Sir Leon, who couldn't bear watching the pacing any longer, decided to at least make himself useful by disappearing into Merlin's room to remove the traces of the search.

Shaking his head in disbelief as he saw the chaos Leon only sighed and started by returning the fallen cupboard to its former place. After that he went to pick up the clothing that had fallen out and was strewn across the floor, when suddenly the floor gave way and he landed on his back with a loud thud. Praying that the other hadn't heard anything Leon stood up hastily and scowled at the floor or more accurately at a hidden compartment under the floorboard he had just stepped on and lifted with his weight on only one end.

Looking at it more closely Leon noticed two things in there, a book and a walking stick, which really confused him, why would Merlin hide a cane? The book was easily explainable as it was most likely about magic, but still…a walking stick?

While he knew that Gaius had other things to think about right now Leon decided to ask the physician about it. Therefore he picked it up and went back into the main chambers.

"Gaius? I just have a question, why does Merlin hide a walking stick?"

The head knight, who had expected an irritated answer and a dismissive glance, was quite surprised when the physician whirled around and stared at the thing like it was made of gold.

"Sir Leon, you just solved our problem. Oh and it's the staff of a sidhe, which is able channel a lot of power, enough to perform the spell, hopefully." Gaius stated, before rushing back to the book to memorize the spell. Arthur, who had stopped his frantic behavior the moment he had heard the physician's words, rushed over to Leon and examined the staff closely.

"How come Merlin has one of those?" the blonde asked and silently added 'and why didn't you think of that right away..?'

Gaius, who by now knew the spell by heart, stepped away from the table to get a knife before he walked over to where Merlin was sleeping and simultaneously answered the question by telling the prince about what had really happened with Sophia and her father.

"Ohh..." storing that information for later, Arthur again promised himself to make Merlin tell him everything that had happened. A little distracted by his thoughts Arthur took the staff from Leon and walked to Merlin's side. And after handing the cane to Gaius he held up his left arm without hesitation, watching as the physician proceeded to make a small cut with his knife and started to chant with the staff firmly in his hand.

"ágief hwa sgifon þæt géowine eorðfæt."

At first nothing happened and Arthur was about to complain, when the crystal at the top of the staff suddenly started to glow. Then Gaius repeated the spell and the shield, which was protecting Arthur, shimmered into life and was dragged away from him slowly.

And after another citing of the spell, small silver threads started to appear, which connected the essence to Arthur, and one by one they released their hold on the prince and attached themselves on the unconscious Merlin before disappearing inside his body. Whereupon the glowing stopped all together and all signs of the shield were gone.

Unable to stand a long silence again, Arthur said "It worked, right?" Gaius was about to answer as Merlin's eyelids fluttered open slowly, revealing a pair of golden eyes.

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