OK... It's a bit later than I anticipated... And I have no good excuse, except I spent four days attempting to sleep off a very nasty bug that is going round. So, yeah...

Anyway, this chapter actually has a dedication. To a very good friend of mine who has been reminding me all day to get this chapter written and posted.

Note my very calm mood, despite the epically awesome return of Merlin last week. Might have something to do with that sedative...

In this chapter, we lay out the rest of the plotline that will continue for the rest of the story.

Enjoy!

XxX

United

Nobody else came forward as they made their way forward and crouched by the tray.

'How many slaves are there?' Merlin whispered.

Iyla shrugged. 'I'm not sure,' she replied. 'There may be people in here that I have never seen before.'

The idea made Merlin shudder, but he nodded his head. 'Ok. We'll wait for the rest of them to come out.'

She frowned. 'Why?'

To make sure that everyone gets their fare share.' She stared at him blankly. 'You don't make sure everyone gets fed?'

'I just assumed they did.'

Merlin turned his head to stare at her. 'You don't check?'

Iyla shook her head and Merlin turned back to the shadows.

'There's food for everyone!' he called into the gloom.

A movement caught his eyes and he turned to the approaching figure. Iyla gasped.

It was a little girl, no older than twelve. She had dark, frizzy hair that stood out against her pale skin, and dark, brown eyes that were full of pure innocence. Merlin held out her hand.

'It's OK,' he smiled. 'Are you hungry?'

She nodded and crept forward to take hold of his hand. He gripped it tightly, leading her forward where he broke off some of the bread and handed it to her.

'What's your name?' Iyla had crouched down next to her too. The girl glanced between the two of them warily.

'Hayley.'

Iyla smiled. 'That's a beautiful name, Hayley. Where are you from?'

'Eresford,' she began to eat, her attention solely on the bread now.

'That's in Merica,' Iyla whispered. 'We passed through there not long before they grabbed you.'

He nodded his understanding. 'Since you were put in here, have you eaten?'

Hayley shook her head. 'They brought us food in the cages on the way here, but no. Not since I was put in this cell.'

Iyla gasped as Merlin looked into the shadows once again. 'No-one offered you any food?'

'Merlin...'

Merlin held up his hand to silence her. 'I know, Iyla. "Everyman for himself." But, in places like this, that doesn't work. More people will die if we don't help each other; I'm already an example of that. You hear me?' He raised his voice for the last part, and something shifted in the shadows.

Somebody else moved into a view; a man about ten years older than Merlin with a dirty face. And then another man, this time elderly. One by one, they came forward until Merlin was surrounded by ten people, Iyla and Hayley included. He nodded and began to divide up the food into equal shares while Iyla passed them around. The man scowled slightly at the meagre portion he received, but chose to eat it quietly. Merlin picked up his ration, savouring the feel of the slightly stale bread in his aching stomach.

'Thank you.' Merlin glanced at the elderly man and smiled.

'Are there other slaves?'

'In other cells around the dungeons. They separate us because they don't want us conspiring against them.'

Merlin chuckled darkly. 'Smarter than they look.'

'They have a leader.' All heads turned towards Hayley. 'I heard them talking about him. He's a sorcerer and the others are terrified of him.'

'Malum.' She nodded her head, and he sighed. 'Yeah, I've met him. Seems like the kind of person who would think of everything.'

'What does he want with you?' The middle-aged man snapped. Merlin responded by holding up his wrist. The man glared at him. 'Oh yeah; you're one of them.'

'You've got a problem with my kind?'

He sneered. 'Your kind? I'll tell you what my problem with your kind is, buddy. You murder our families. You take our homes and you think it's all a game!'

The others gasped, but Merlin simply raised an eyebrow at him. 'Is that so? And tell me... what was your name again?'

'Jerestin.'

'Well, Jerestin,' Merlin smiled. 'Besides myself and Malum, have you met any other magic users?'

'What do you mean?'

'How many other sorcerers have you met?'

Jerestin continued to frown and Merlin nodded. 'That's what I thought.' He looked around the small crowd, taking in their faces. 'I know that many of you will have been taught to... hate those who practise magic. Believe me; I've encountered many people who think the same way. But you've never heard our side of the story.'

'You're all liars...'

'Is that what Uther told you?' Merlin snapped. Jerestin flinched back at the harsh tone in his voice. 'Well, let me tell you something about your King! My father was one of Uther's most trusted advisors; he trusted the King, even after he began the persecution of magic users. He trusted him when he said that Uther wanted to make peace. And Uther betrayed him.'

'Merlin...'

But the Warlock just shook his head, fixing Jerestin with a glare. 'My father fled; he gave up using magic so he could stay with my mother, and live his life. They weren't even within Camelot's boundaries, but still Uther chased him. He drove him from his home, and forced him to live in a cave for over twenty years; I grew up without a father and he never knew he had son until the day before he died. So, you tell me, Jerestin, who's more evil?'

Silence fell.

Jerestin looked away from Merlin, his eyes fixed on the food in his hands that had previously lay forgotten. The red flush creeping around his ears caught the Warlock's attention, and he felt his breath catch as the adrenalin that had previously pumped through his system fade.

Why had he told them about Balinor?

He hadn't even realised how much pent up anger he'd been holding onto.

But now, as Iyla stared at him with worry in her eyes, he just felt ashamed.

That rant was something he'd been saving for Arthur when – no, if, he reminded himself bitterly – he saw the King again. For two days he'd been attacked; his belief system torn apart. In the space of a week he'd lost everything he ever loved and cared about.

It was amazing that he hadn't snapped earlier.

XxX

They finished their meagre meal in silence. Merlin stared at the floor most of the time, trying to ignore the pulling of his muscles as he raised the food to his mouth.

Beside him, Hayley was pressed close to his side, with Iyla on her other side.

Despite what Merlin had said, they had both remained by his side, even as the others shuffled away in fear of the Warlock that sat among them.

'Can you show us?'

He turned his head, slightly, surprised at the small voice beside him. 'Sorry?'

Hayley watched him, her large eyes unblinking. 'Can you show us? Some of your magic?'

He shook his head sadly. 'No, Hayley. I'm sorry. Malum had his lackies block my magic as soon as they caught me. Until I figure out how to get these off, I won't be performing any magic. And I won't be escaping, either.'

Hayley lent forward to look at the cuffs on his hand, tracing the groove with her fingers.

Merlin couldn't help but feel amazed at how quickly both Iyla and Hayley had come to trust him. But, from what he'd learnt so far, he knew that neither of them had had someone to rely on for a very long time.

'How many other slaves are there?'

The old man glanced at him. 'There are about three other cells, I think; so, maybe, forty slaves overall. It's hard to tell, they come and go as Malum sells them off and brings more in. But there are no other sorcerers; Malum only has one sorcerer at a time.'

'That could be good,' Merlin nodded. 'If all of Malum's attention is on me, he'll have less time to vent his anger on you. We can use that to our advantage.'

'Who put you in charge?'

Merlin rolled his eyes, as he turned to face Jerestin. 'Got your voice back, have you?' Jerestin narrowed his eyes at him, but shut his mouth. Merlin nodded. 'I was a servant for eight years. There's more to serving than just completing the tasks set by your master. I'm certain that there is a way for us to manipulate their system and make our lives easier whilst we're here, until we can find a way to leave.'

'How come you're not a servant anymore?'

The Warlock bit the side of his mouth, and rolled his eyes up to ceiling. 'I'm a sorcerer. What do you think happened?'

'So they threw you out because you had magic?'

'It was Camelot. I'm lucky I wasn't executed.' Jerestin's eyes widened slightly, as Merlin continued to glare at him. 'Can I continue now?' The man nodded. 'Good.' Merlin turned himself away from the man, deliberately shifting so that he wasn't in his line of sight.

'For eight years, I've done every job imaginable, and there are methods servants use to make their lives easier. If we can get the message to the other slaves, over time we can organise them. But first, I need to know if anyone here is assigned a specific job.'

Three people raised their hands, including Hayley. Merlin nodded to the girl before turning to a middle-aged woman, who was sat behind the rest of the group.

'What do you do?'

'I'm Felicia. I do the laundry with Hayley.'

'Are there any other slaves assigned to help you?'

She shook her head. 'No. Nobody specific helps us, and hardly any slaves come and help us. It's just us two.'

'And that's the problem,' Merlin glanced around the group. 'If you don't get assigned specific jobs every day, then you should be splitting the work between you. Even the most difficult jobs.'

Iyla nodded her head. 'If we split the work between us, making sure everyone has an equal share, the slavers will have less to punish us for. The understaffed jobs will be more efficient, and the overstaffed jobs will have less people getting in their way! Either way, we all have less work to do, and we're less likely to be hurt.'

Merlin smiled. 'It works in Camelot, it can work here too. I'm sure of it.'

Everyone looked between one another, seemingly contemplating their words. 'What does this mean? In the long term?'

'It means,' Iyla laughed. 'That we're going to get stronger. We may not be healthy, but we're not going to be hurting like we were before.'

Felicia let out a sigh of relief. 'It means we're going to be alright. It means we're going to get home someday.'

Everyone gasped and started chattering, planning how they were going to share their workload.

Merlin watched them sadly. 'Iyla...' She turned to him. 'The chances of getting out of here are still slim-to-none, even with everyone becoming stronger.'

'I know,' she sighed. 'But hope is a strong force, Merlin. It will keep them going.'

'A false hope will destroy them, Iyla.'

She leaned towards him, as the others began to settle down to sleep. 'Then we'd better make sure it's not a false hope, then, mustn't we?'

XxX

'You must tell no-one about this, Gwaine. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, especially Gwen and Gaius'.'

'Of course,' the Knight nodded. 'What do you need?'

'I need you to go look for Merlin.'

Gwaine started, staring at him. 'Sorry?'

'It's a gut feeling I have.' Arthur whispered, glancing behind him to check no-one was approaching. 'He's in trouble, Gwaine. Please, just find him.'

Gwaine hesitated a moment, searching his King's face. 'What happened to the whole "Merlin is a traitor"?'

Arthur sighed. 'I made a mistake, Gwaine. Just... please?'

'What made you think I would say no?' Gwaine grinned. Arthur let out a sigh of relief.

'Thank you.' He turned and began to walk away.

'Arthur!' He looked back. 'What do you want me to do when I find him?'

Arthur smiled. 'Isn't that obvious, Gwaine?'

'I want to hear you say it.'

'OK,' he turned back, looking the Knight straight in the eye. 'I want you to make sure he's alright, Gwaine. And then I want you to bring him home.'

XxX

And it's done!

Merlin tomorrow night! Yay! And, hopefully, the next chapter of Against All Odds straight after!

Until then...

TTFN
Valkyriexx