AN: Merlin is not mine. If it were, certain things would be very different.

This chapter is for mellarkfan121, who suggested this.

Wow! SO many chapters to write. If you suggested an episode, thanks a bunch! I will get around to doing everyone's idea.

Chapter 11: 4x06, A Servant of Two Masters. Set when Merlin is trapped in Morgana's hut, but Arthur and Gwaine set out to find him sooner.

All day.

All day Arthur and Gwaine had been searching for Merlin. All day they'd gotten their hopes up only to have them dashed. All day, they'd struggled with the possibility that Merlin might, after all, not be coming back.

They came close many times to giving up. But then Gwaine would remember his friend's cheerful smile, or Arthur would imagine waking up to George everyday, and they'd pressed on, determined to find Merlin.

And, though none of them said it, determined to find the body if necessary. That thought was to horrible to say out loud.

"All these things Merlin does, just for the good of doing them," Gwaine rambled as they rode through the forest. "Never expects any praise-"

Arthur suddenly waved at him to be quiet. "Shh. What's that up there?"

They slid off their horses and crept forward. Arthur pointed ahead.

It appeared to be a small hut. It looked dark inside, and there were no signs of anyone around except for a faint trail of smoke coming from the short chimney.

Gwaine's eyes lit up with cautious hope. "Do you think some one found him and tried to treat his wounds?"

Arthur was silent. He hoped that to be the case. The alternative was that the mercenaries had finished off Merlin as soon as the servant and the king had been separated by the rockfall.

"Let's go see," the king whispered back. They began walking down towards the little hovel, being silent in case whoever was inside was hostile. The place just gave off a feeling of foreboding.

Arthur peeked in through a small window and withdrew immediately, heart pounding.

"What is it?" Gwaine hissed impatiently.

"Morgana," Arthur murmured. "And she's got Merlin."

Gwaine paled. "Are you sure?"

Arthur nodded. There was no mistaking what he'd seen. He thought the sight of Merlin strung up from Morgana's ceiling would be added to the many that haunted his nightmares.

"We have to get in there," the drunk said urgently. He made to move for the door, but the king held him back.

"Wait! You can't just go barging in there. We're no use to Merlin if we get caught too."

Reluctantly, Gwaine retreated to their hiding spot. "Alright. What's the plan?"

After circling the hut, they found a small entrance at the back. As silently as they could, they slipped through it. They were blocked by several shelves of strange, probably magical objects that made Arthur's skin crawl just looking at them. He was grateful for the cover, however, because it allowed him and Gwaine to observe the scene before them.

Morgana was wringing a towel over a small basin. A few feet a way was Merlin, suspended by his wrists. He was not moving.

Arthur's breath caught, and he heard Gwaine's do the same. If Merlin was dead, immediate death would not be good enough a punishment for Morgana.

Come on Merlin, you idiot, wake up, the king thought, as though by thinking it he could make it so. But Merlin just hung there, silent and unmoving, every second staying still adding to the knights' slowly growing panic.

Then Morgana walked over to her prisoner. They stiffened, watching closely. If she hurt Merlin...

But instead, she pulled the shirt aside over where his wound was and began cleaning it.

Arthur was confused, and saw that emotion mirrored on Gwaine's face. But a moment later, all of it left and was replaced with blissful relief.

Because Merlin had finally woken up.

He looked stiff, uncomfortable, and was probably in pain. But he was awake.

Morgana spoke as she washed his injury, not looking at him.

"I believe I asked you a question before you fell asleep on me."

"What are you doing?"

The hidden knights winced internally. Merlin's voice was rough and tight with pain, but it was also without a tremble of fear.

"Haven't you ever seen Gaius clean a wound before?"

"No, I know what you're doing, what I don't know is why."

Arthur couldn't help be a little impressed by his servant's bravery, but it quickly turned to worry as Morgana grabbed his face, clearly angered.

"I believe I asked you a question first." She stared him in the face. "Why are you so loyal to Arthur? Many times over you have nearly died for him."

From behind the shelves, Arthur's eyes widened. Unable to help himself, he leaned forward, hoping to hear Merlin's answer.

The servant jerked his face away from her. "I would not expect you to understand, Morgana. You have no sense of duty, no sense of loyalty."

Arthur smiled slightly. If anyone knew anything about loyalty, it was Merlin.

"You're wrong," Morgana murmured. "Don't think I'm not loyal just because I have no one left to be loyal to."

She then placed her hand over Merlin's bloodied skin and began to recite a spell.

"No!"

Gwaine charged out from his hiding place, unaware all Morgana intended to do was heal Merlin. Arthur followed quickly, drawing his sword, watching shock flit across the features of both Merlin and Morgana.

Gwaine was feet from Morgana when her eyes glowed molten gold. The knight was thrown back, his weapon flying from his hand. Another flare of Morgana's irises, and the king was forced down on his knees, paralyzed.

"Well well...look at this, Merlin, the king and his drunk pet want to play hero by rescuing you," the witch said, sneering down at her attackers. "Oh, this makes everything so much easier."

Arthur didn't say anything, but Morgana had a wicked gleam in her eye that scared him. He looked over at Gwaine, who was stirring feebly. Before he could do anything other than sit up, however, Morgana caused a rope to slither over and bind Gwaine in its tendrils.

Merlin stared at the scene, wide-eyed. Up until now, he'd considered using his magic to escape. Maybe when Morgana wasn't looking, loosen the chains or cause something to fall on her. But now Arthur was here, staring at him(probably trying to figure out how to rescue him), and the warlock knew there was probably no way he could use magic without some one seeing.

He was distracted as Morgana pulled out a small, round, silver disk with an engraving on it. It made him tense up, he could feel, even from here, that it contained dark magic.

He wasn't quite sure what happened. All he knew was that he blinked, and there was a creature composed of snakes, hissing at him, and Morgana was speaking to it.

"I have summoned you for a very good reason, my friend," she murmured. She glanced at her prisoner, and the snakes did as well, hissing viciously at the servant.

Morgana took out a knife. Merlin flinched slightly as she used it to slice off one of the snake heads, which was quickly replaced by another.

"This is a fomorroh, Merlin," Morgana said conversationally. "In the days of the Old Religion, it was used by high priestesses to control the minds of their enemies."

Merlin tried to keep the disgust off his face, even though every part of him was urging him to stay away from the creature.

Slowly, Morgana approached him with the spitting head. He refused to flinch away, even though it repulsed him.

"Once it has taken hold on your mind, everything that makes you Merlin will be gone. You will be left with one goal, and you will not be able to rest until you have fulfilled it." Her cruel smile grew. "That goal is simple: kill Arthur Pendragon."

0o0

Arthur listened to his half-sister's speech with growing revulsion. How had Morgana turned into this? The old Morgana would never have done this to them. But Arthur could tell that Morgana was now actually looking forward to this in her own twisted way, to watch Merlin be forced to kill his king, which Arthur knew would destroy Merlin when his mind was returned to its normal state. She was doing this simply to be more cruel.

He struggled, and sensed Gwaine do the same behind him, as Morgana came nearer to Merlin.

"That goal is simple: kill Arthur Pendragon," she said, her eyes shining with excitement.

And then, before anyone could react further, she reached up and held the snake to Merlin's neck.

Instantly, Merlin's face scrunched up with pain, and his limbs shuddered as the thing forced its way into his neck. Arthur could only watch in horror, his state of helplessness stopping him from launching himself at the witch.

And then, Merlin was still. He turned to look at Arthur as Morgana freed him, but his eyes were different. They had a darkly eager gleam to them, and the fear left him.

"Do you have a knife?" he asked Morgana in a voice that lacked its usual warmth and good humor. She handed him the weapon, clearly relishing what was about to happen. The king struggled harder as his own servant advanced on him with the blade.

Suddenly, they were all distracted as Gwaine gave a shout. He'd managed to reach the dagger in his boot and cut himself free. Snatching up his sword, which was still lying where it had fallen minutes before, he ran at Morgana once again.

She flicked her eyes at the last moment, and the knight stumbled backward. What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion.

Gwaine teetered on his heel a moment before Morgana's defense and gravity took hold and he fell backwards. As he did, one of his hands flew out instinctively. It knocked against the table holding the fomorroh. The small table wobbled, and the creature, hissing wildly, tumbled off and into the hearth, where it's dying hisses mingled with Morgana's scream of rage.

Merlin, who had been inches from stabbing his friend, blinked, confusedly. Then, as he took in his surroundings and deduced what had happened, he dropped the knife as though it were a snake about to bite him and stepped backwards, looking horrified at how close he'd come to killing his friend.

Morgana's expression was one of rage, she looked between all of them as though unsure who to punish first. Merlin looked around wildly for something to do. As soon as Morgana turned her head to glare at Gwaine, he glanced up at the ceiling and, using the silent magic he had come accustomed to, sent the roof caving in on the witch.

She shrieked with annoyance, batting away the falling components of the roof, as none of them were really that heavy or damaging. However, it was enough for Arthur to reach out and drag Gwaine to his feet, grab hold of Merlin's arm, and drag them all back towards the exit he and Gwaine had used to get in.

They had just scrambled up the hill that partially hid the hovel before a scream of fury told them Morgana's temporary distraction was over.

"RUN!" bellowed Gwaine. Arthur agreed wholeheartedly and began to sprint, but stopped and looked back when he realized it was only him and the other knight.

Merlin was stumbling weakly as quickly as he could towards them, and Arthur felt a spike of guilt and worry. They had forgotten that Merlin was still injured.

He raced back and pulled Merlin over his shoulders the way he had while they had ran from the mercenaries, ignoring the servant's protests of "just leave me!" and ran as fast as he could.
Arthur wasn't sure how long they ran before they stopped to rest. Looking around and seeing no sign of their pursuer, he slid Merlin off his back gently onto the ground.

Gwaine sent the servant a worried look. "I think we lost her," he said, scanning the trees.

Arthur nodded. "But we can't stay here long or she'll find us. Merlin, can you travel?"

Merlin winced but nodded.

"Good." He heaved the servant back up, slinging an arm around his shoulders.

"We'd better get going, then."