A/N: Hey! Thanks guys for all the amazing reviews you've been giving! They're awesome! So I've decided to reward you and also apologise for my sporadic updates: I've got three chapters written and I'll be uploading them ALL today, hence, I didn't get a minutes sleep last night, partly coz my wee sister had a birthday sleepover and teenage girls are LOUD! So, enjoy! :D
Chapter 11- Interrogation
Arthur ran his hand tiredly over his face. Just when he'd been anticipating a good night's rest something else had to come up. He'd barely sat down in his chambers when a servant had come rushing in, probably the only servant besides Merlin who'd ever dared enter the Prince's chambers without knocking, and started ranting about how one of the scouting parties had picked up one of the Wandrian.
It must have been a pretty foolish one to have been caught so easily even with magic on his side, but Arthur didn't hesitate. He'd immediately leapt up, pushing away his fatigue, sent the servant to round up his Knights and headed off for the Throne Room.
He was standing there now in the empty stone room, alone save for a single guard, waiting, his body pulsing with anticipation. Finally, something had gone right.
He jumped as the massive doors opened, but it was only Gwaine and Lancelot entering, discussing something intently. However as soon as they saw him in the room they broke off abruptly. Arthur frowned slightly; he hadn't gotten the impression they'd particularly hit it off straight away, why would they be talking about something so secretly?
He shook it off however.
They both frowned as they approached, looking around.
"He isn't here yet," Arthur spoke, answering their unasked question. "I wanted to wait until everyone was here before I had him brought in."
They both nodded, and they waited in silence. Arthur had to resist the urge to start pacing up and down.
Finally, the great doors opened once again and Elyan, Percival and Leon entered. He signalled for them to close the doors and draw closer, which they did.
Leon looked around in confusion.
"It's just us? I thought the King and the Royal Court would be interested in this."
Arthur nodded grimly.
"That's exactly what I thought too. But I think, that until we figure out where the leak is, we'd best leave the Royal Court out of it. If anyone asks, this man is just an ordinary run-of-the-mill thief. We can't let anyone know who he really is."
His Knights nodded in agreement.
"Old Uther's not going to be best pleased is he when he finds out is he?" said Gwaine, sounding mildly amused.
"He scarcely notices anything at present," frowned Arthur, feeling a small twinge of pain. "And mind how you talk about him. He's the King, not 'Old Uther'.
Gwaine fell silent, but he still had a playful look on his face. Arthur couldn't help but be annoyed. Couldn't he take anything seriously?
"Right," he said. "The prisoner isn't going to be too pleased when we bring him out so I suggest-"
"Wait," interrupted Lancelot, looking around. "Where's Merlin?"
Gwaine gave a short laugh.
"Arthur threatened to turn him into a floor covering if he didn't get some sleep. You know Lancelot, he was awfully busy last night."
Arthur's curiosity rose.
"What was he doing last night?"
Lancelot and Gwaine both said at once: "Running an errand for Gaius."
Arthur didn't believe them for a second. They were obviously covering up for him somehow. Still, he supposed it didn't matter. Whatever Merlin did in his spare time was his own concern.
"It's probably best he isn't here. Gaius says Dark Magic is harmful to the body; I don't want him getting ill again. I couldn't put up with that bloody boot-licker of a servant I had last time he was ill again."
"What if the Dark Magic harms us?" Percival asked.
"That's what I was getting to." Arthur started again impatiently. "Apparently, so the guard tells me, on the outposts they have a potion of sorts that they believe neutralises a man's magic temporarily. I'm doubtful of its authenticity, but it seems to be working, the man's made no move to escape, regardless of how unpleasant he is. I'm not sure how long it's supposed to work for, so we'd better be quick about questioning him, so we can put him in a cell before it wears off and have him guarded."
Gwaine snorted.
"Do you think a simple stone cell is going to hold a sorcerer?"
"It's always worked in the past!" Arthur retorted in annoyance.
"So you've never had an escape then?"
Arthur faltered for a moment. Maybe he was right.
"We'll double the guard then, and talk to Gaius, see if he can't make the effects of that potion permanent. Right, we're wasting time, we'd better get this over with. Prepare yourselves."
Arthur signalled to the guard in the room, who entered a smaller antechamber, emerging with two more guards and a man being dragged between them, his face covered by a hood. The stench reached them all long before the man did. Arthur fought the urge to vomit.
The guards threw him down ungraciously in front of Arthur and the Knights before retreating hurriedly to as far away as they could while still being in range of the prisoner.
Arthur felt the now all-too-familiar effect of the Dark Magic now beginning to take hold. It hung over him like a dark shadow, making him feel weaker, unsteady on his feet, but he was determined to keep his mind clear.
"Who are you?" he asked the man coldly. The man still lay there on the ground unmoving.
He lay there for several moments, still not moving. The atmosphere was tense and Arthur felt his temper start to wear thin, his nerves being closer to the surface than they normally were.
"I asked you a question!" he shouted. "I, Prince Arthur of Camelot command you to answer! Who are you?"
A horrible sound came from the spot where the man lay, a choking, guttural noise that sent shivers up Arthur's spine. With horror, he realised it was laughter.
The man finally raised his head and looked directly at them, and his hood fell back. Arthur almost felt his heart stop in shock. He noticed out the corner of his eye, Percival had taken a step back and drawn his sword with a curse.
The man's face, if it could be called that, was nothing more than a few ragged pieces of black flesh clinging to bone around the eyes which were black as coal. His skull was clearly visible, the whiteness of it leapt out at them like a ghost, like a mask. The rest of the man's body was not visible except where his robe had slipped a little down his skinny frame. Both his collar bones were visible, and here, even the bone looked rotten. And still, the man continued to laugh, his mouth, no, his jawbone, open exposing a rotten mass which must have once been a tongue.
"Who am I?" He choked out with difficulty, black congealed blood coming from somewhere in his throat, still laughing. "Your worst nightmare!"
And he fell back into a fit of hysterical laughter, even more of the black liquid spilling from his throat and lying there in lumps on the stone floor.
One of the guards took this opportunity and ran from the hall looking rather green and holding his hands up to his mouth. Arthur heard him retching violently outside the doors. Arthur didn't try and call him back, he felt like doing the same thing himself.
The man, or what was left of him, continued to lie on the floor writing around cackling to himself as more black liquid was purged from him. How is he still alive in such a state as this? Arthur found himself wondering with disgust.
He turned to his Knights, and saw similar looks on their own faces.
He turned back.
"Unless you want to die a long and slow painful death I suggest you cease that infernal racket immediately. If you'd prefer the less painful option then you'd better start talking. What can you tell us about Emrys?"
The man stopped immediately, rather to Arthur's surprise. He pulled himself up slightly with what Arthur saw as being almost skeletal hands. He looked into Arthur's own eyes soberly, and it was all Arthur could do not to pull his away.
"You think this isn't slow and painful already? Can you honestly look at me and not see that?"
Arthur, sniffed, then immediately wished he hadn't. "It isn't any business nor concern of mine over what you decided to inflict upon your own body."
The man continued to stare at him unnervingly.
"You think this is optional? You think this is what I began studying magic all those years ago for? All it took was one little experiment with a different sort of magic and that was it. No going back. It grips you like a plague. It never lets go. Until death do us part."
He began cackling again, his eyes dancing with madness. Arthur sighed inwardly, they were getting nowhere.
"Tell me what you know of Emrys, and I will insure your death is a quick and painless one."
The man took on a look of temporary sanity again.
"I've never met him. But from what I've heard, he's nothing more than an upstart boy who knows as little about Dark Magic as you do."
Arthur felt Lancelot draw closer when he heard this.
"He doesn't use Dark Magic?" Arthur breathed; he'd hardly dared believe the rumours before now.
The man sniggered.
"Not a drop of it. Wouldn't know how I guess. He doesn't want to pollute his own perfect body. But he's powerful all right, Dark Magic or no."
"Then what does he want?" Gwaine asked.
The man sniggered again.
"How should I know? He's always cooped up with Hafela discussing hell knows what."
"Who is Hafela?" Arthur asked, suspicion growing.
The man grinned grotesquely.
"Pack leader ain't he?"
Arthur blinked. He remembered what the supply wagon guard had said; he hadn't thought Emrys was the leader.
"Then who is Emrys? If he's not the leader?"
The man cackled.
"How should I know? Emrys couldn't be leader if he tried. He's powerful enough sure, probably the most powerful of the lot of us. But he ain't one of us. He doesn't have the Eyes yet."
"The Eyes?"
"First sign someone's been tampering with the Dark Art," the man seemed overjoyed at this. "From what I hear, you'd best be keeping an eye on the members of your Court for that."
As much as he wanted to run the other way, Arthur reached forward and seized the man's robes.
"Who is the traitor?"
The man just laughed again.
"Innit obvious? Emrys himself."
Arthur felt a cold shudder run through his entire body. One of the Court was Emrys, one of them was a powerful sorcerer. They were in even more danger than he thought.
Lancelot closed his eyes and breathed out.
Fear for Merlin rose within him. Things were getting too close for comfort now.
He hoped to any god that was out there Merlin managed to stay concealed.
Gwaine stood staring for a long moment.
One of the Court was Emrys.
That means Merlin knew exactly who he was. They stood together in the same room everyday.
But then, he frowned, it made no sense. If Emrys was already fixed within the Court, why did he need Merlin to be a spy?
Unless...
No, that was ridiculous. It must be because Merlin had close access to Arthur, which no one else in the Royal Court had.
That must be it.
Gwaine didn't even want to consider the other possibility.
"Innit obvious? Emrys himself."
Damn. Merlin cursed silently to himself. That idiot was going to blow his cover.
He was standing outside the doors to the Throne Room, his ear pressed to the wood listening intently. He'd went back to Gaius' for all of about thirty seconds, grabbed a draught or two to keep himself awake and alert, and raced back to the hall. There was no way he was going to try and get some sleep when this was going on.
He'd feared for one awful moment the sorcerer they had captured was Gehola, who seemed to be the only decent member of the Wandrian, the only one at least who didn't use Dark Magic and was also sane. It had seemed to Merlin he'd have been the easiest one to capture, unwilling to kill to defend himself.
But Merlin had soon realised this was not the case. He hadn't recognised the voice, partly because the man's mouth must have been completely mutilated to sound as awful as that one. But he could tell this was not one of the good ones.
Not that there were many.
Still, the ones who were as mad as this one weren't usually the dangerous ones. The effect of using Dark Magic over so many years had ruined their bodies so much using magic was pretty much impossible, so they were left only with corrupted minds and bodies for whatever time they had left. By this point most of them had given up.
Merlin shuddered as he realised how much he already knew about the Wandrian after such a short time. He was spending far too much time with them.
There was complete silence in the hall, save for the sorcerer's laboured breathing and malicious cackles. Merlin's own breathing quickened as he still heard nothing.
What were they thinking? They couldn't possibly figure it out could they? Not now, not after Arthur had been so conveniently dense for so long...
No, there was nothing to suggest it was him, save the fact that the man had said Emrys was young. Merlin huffed, he wasn't a boy. But it didn't matter much, there were many members of the Court who were young.
But wait...Gwaine? Might he suspect? After all, he knew Merlin was the spy, and he also knew now Emrys was doing the spying himself...
He'd have to come up with some convincing excuse with Lancelot.
He tried not to panic.
Suddenly voices began again in the hall.
"Guards, take him down to the dungeons. Have him guarded night and day. Don't take your eyes off of him, even for a second."
A round of "Yes Sire" came and the two guards emerged from the hall dragging the man with him.
Merlin jumped back just in time and muttered quickly under his breath:"Lēoht."
He felt a cold ripple pass over his body, and suddenly he could no longer see his own hands. For all intents and purposes, he was invisible, just as he had been when that guard had rushed out of the hall to be sick. Handy trick that one.
The guards passed by without seeing him, though Merlin got a nasty feeling one of them might have seen him a fraction of a second before he vanished. But the man shook his head muttering to himself, obviously thinking it'd been a trick of the light.
Merlin sighed inwardly with relief, and took this opportunity to have a look at the sorcerer. He recoiled involuntarily. Though the man's stench was nothing compared to Hafela's, the decay was worse, far worse than anything Merlin had yet seen. Merlin took a long hard look, memorising. If for some reason he ever lost the tooth, he had to remind himself, if he ever allowed himself to succumb to the Darkness, this was what he would look like. It was a clear deterrent.
Soon they were gone, and Merlin took this chance to slip inside the hall before the doors swung shut.
Still invisible, he crept up to Arthur and the Knights who were deep in discussion.
"What are we to do Arthur?" asked Elyan, his voice urgent. "Emrys is in the walls of this castle at this very moment!"
"I know, I know." Arthur held up his hand to silence him, thinking deeply. Merlin could tell from his expression he was completely clueless.
"We must conduct a search." said Leon at once. "We must root him out."
"That will do no good." Arthur admitted. "We have no idea what to look for, and someone as powerful as he is will know to cover his steps."
Grim acknowledgement was passed around the group.
"How was it that supply guard described Emrys again?" Gwaine asked.
Arthur thought.
"Tall, lean, and young. That's basically it. Not much to go on."
Gwaine smirked. "At least we can rule out Lord Folc. He's not exactly lean, he never stops eating."
Arthur sighed irritatedly.
"Why did the description just have to sound just like every young man in Court? Why couldn't Emrys have been a dumpy little old crow of a woman with a bad limp?"
"Come now Arthur, you shouldn't put Gwen down like that!"
"Don't start Gwaine! I'm not in the mood for jokes!"
Gwaine was laughing it off, but Merlin knew him well enough to know that Gwaine always made jokes when there was something troubling him. He's already made the connection.
Arthur paced up and down in a state of great agitation, thinking furiously.
Eventually he stopped and turned to face them all.
"There's nothing we can do here till we have more information. I want you all doubly on your guard. Ask around, see if anyone's noticed strange behaviour, it won't be hard to get them to talk, nobles love nothing more than a good gossip. But don't be obvious about it, we don't want Emrys to know what we're up to."
"What about the sorcerer? Is he to be executed?"
"Of course, he's a danger isn't he?"
"But if we drag him out in front of the whole of Camelot and have him killed, won't that alert Emrys to the fact we're onto him?" Leon argued.
Arthur stared at him for a moment, then sighed resignedly.
"You're right. It'd draw too much attention. Still, it'd help to boost morale for the people if they knew we'd managed to capture one of the sorcerers." He paused for a moment. "Keep him locked up, away from the other prisoners. And only have our very best and most trusted guards. If Emrys finds out we're holding one of his own, he may very well try and break him out."
"If you ask me, I don't think Emrys'll miss him much." Gwaine says, in disgust.
"Be that as it may, he mustn't know."
Merlin smiled at the irony.
Arthur drew in a breath.
"Very well, you may all leave. Remember, not a word to anyone outside these walls."
They all turned to leave but-
"Arthur, what about Merlin?"
Arthur turned to look at Gwaine, who had spoken.
"What about him?"
"Should he be told?"
Merlin leaned in closer. Did Gwaine suspect him? Was he about to reveal him to Arthur?
Arthur frowned.
"No, there seems to be enough troubling him at the moment. Besides, if we tell him he'll just get overly paranoid about people and let something slip."
Gwaine nodded, looking thoughtful.
"All right."
Arthur nodded and turned his face away as the Knights left. All except Percival.
Merlin watched him carefully, he looked troubled.
"Sire?"
Arthur turned.
"What is it?"
Percival hesitated looking uncomfortable.
"Well...it's about Merlin."
Oh crap. Percival of all people didn't suspect him did he?
Arthur stepped closer.
"Well, out with it!"
Percival glanced around before speaking.
"You've noticed how he's been lately haven't you? The illnesses, the recovery, the illnesses again...how he's always distracted and well, not himself."
Arthur didn't say anything, but he seemed to see the truth in what he was saying.
"Well, Sire, I'd been wondering if all of that didn't have anything to do with what was happening here?"
"It probably has. Gaius says the Dark Magic affects people. So what?"
"He's been acting strangely Sire. I've seen him when I'm patrolling, wandering around the castle."
"He's a palace servant. He's every right to be wandering around the castle."
"At night, Sire?"
Arthur's eyes narrowed. "What point are you trying to make?"
Percival took a deep breath, it was obvious he hated bringing this up.
"I think Merlin's involved in what's happening. I think he may be helping Emrys."
Merlin froze. Oh no, oh no...
He'd always known Percival as the brawny muscular type, he'd never actually credited him with having a brain.
"Impossible," Arthur says at once. "Merlin would never do anything like that. He's always been loyal. A bit of an idiot maybe, but he's never betrayed me."
This calmed Merlin down a bit, at least Arthur wasn't considering it, but why wasn't he laughing it off as ridiculous? Did he have some sneaking suspicion? Merlin felt a wave of guilt crash down over him; here was Arthur defending him unhesitatingly, when Percival was actually right.
Percival looked as though he'd been afraid of this reaction.
"I'm not saying there's any sort of malicious intent in it. I don't know him well enough, but I do know he's pretty much harmless. But think about it Sire. He's not a Knight, he'd be more vulnerable to...persuasion. He has family doesn't he? I'm sure he mentioned a mother from one of the Outer Villages. Don't you think it's possible they may have gotten to him somehow? That Emrys may be forcing him into it? Isn't Merlin the sort of person that would anything to protect someone if he thought they were in danger? And he's in such a prime position too...the prince's personal manservant..."
Arthur looks properly stunned as he considers this.
Merlin held his breath. Don't think about it Arthur. Gods know, this isn't the time to start questioning things. You were better off without a brain.
Arthur shook his head, but Merlin was alarmed to see doubt on his face.
"How would you know anything of this? You said yourself, you barely even know Merlin!"
"Exactly," said Percival, looking sombre. "I'm the only objective one."
Arthur blinks a few times then looks at a blank space in the wall aimlessly.
"Sire?" Percival stepped forward hesitantly.
"You can go. I'll give thought to what you have said."
Percival nodded, gave a quick bow, and departed rather rapidly, leaving Arthur and Merlin alone.
Merlin took a step towards Arthur. Surely he wasn't considering-
"Merlin," Arthur sighed, still staring at the wall. "When are you ever not going to cause me trouble?"
A/N: Thanks for having the patience to put up with my rubbish updating record! Love if you review! And kudos if you spotted the Disney's Mulan quote! Watched that film a million times yesterday :)