A few days passed after the death of Edwin before another threat to the royal family reared their heads.

I was walking down a hallway one fine sunny day, thinking about what Edwin had done before I had died, when I spotted Merlin handing one of Camelot's latest visitor's, Sophia Tir-Mor, a blanket. Sophia was an okay-looking woman with long brown hair in multiple braids and carried a staff with a blue crystal embedded in the tip.

"If you need anything," Merlin told her, "just let me know."

Sophia took the blanket from him. "Thank you," she told him, before turning away and entering her guest room. As she did so, Morgana, who was watching her and the two exchanged a look as she disappeared inside.

Morgana then anxiously approached Merlin. "Who is that?" she questioned.

"Er…Sophia Tir-Mor," the boy explained. "We rescued her in the woods. Well, Arthur did most of the rescuing."

"She can't stay here."

"The King said that she and her father are welcome in Camelot. Is everything okay?"

She didn't answer him at first. "Yes," she lied, putting on a smile. "Thank you."

Merlin watched her as she walked away before leaving in the other direction.

"Even a child would have known that you were lying."

She jumped when she saw me around the corner. "How long have you been there?" she asked.

I shrugged. "A bit," I paused. "Why are you afraid of Sophia being here?"

"I think that Arthur is in danger as long as Sophia is here," she confessed.

"And why do you say that?"

"I saw her in a dream," she told me. "Don't tell the king."

"I really don't like the king, so I don't have a reason to be a dibber-dobber."

"A what?"

"Don't worry about it," I said, waving my hand. "Are you going to see Gaius?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"I'll go with you," I told her and we started walking.

"You're Merlin's little brother, aren't you?" Morgana suddenly asked me.

I stopped for a split second. "What makes you think I'm his brother?" I asked.

"I just assumed you were," she explained.

I placed my hand on the top of my head. I had been doing that a lot. "Right," I said, giving up on that topic before it became awkward. "So, how long have you been having dreams like that for? I mean the ones where you see things in dreams before they happen."

"All my life. They weren't so bad when I was a child, but they're now getting worse."

I nodded. "I wish I knew how to help you," I stopped to catch my breath. My ankle was killing me.

"Are you okay?" she asked, stopping beside me.

"My ankle hasn't healed properly since I sprained it," I revealed, before we continued walking again. "It probably doesn't help with the shoes I wear."

"Have you spoken to Gaius?"

"I have, but my limp doesn't bother me very much."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. "There's worse things than a limp, like accidently touching…" my eyes widened when I realised what I was about to say and stopped. "Ah, look we're here."

In truth, we were only at the bottom of the stairs to the Gaius' chambers, but I didn't want to say anything else.

"Do you need some help getting up the stairs?" Morgana asked.

"No, but I'll be a while. You go ahead."

She nodded and ascended up the stairs.

Once I reached the top of the stairs, out of breathe and with a sore ankle, Gaius held onto a pair of tongs, dipping something into a bucket that Morgana was holding.

"You're always getting me into trouble," he scolded. "What brings you to this dark corner?"

"She said she had another dream," I said, making my way towards them. "Good morning, Gaius."

"Hello," he said before turning to Morgana. "What happened in the dream?"

"I saw Arthur lying under water, drowning," Morgana explained, "and there was a woman standing over him, watching him die. And she's here in Camelot," she added, trembling.

"The mind plays tricks. It borrows from everyday life and plays out its own fantasy."

"But I had this dream before she came to Camelot."

"You must be mistaken."

"No, I know what I saw," she insisted. "It was so real…so vivid. I saw him die, Gaius. She's going to kill him." As she spoke, she looked like she was going to cry.

Gaius held her arms to comfort her. "These are just dreams, Morgana, nothing more."

"But it looked so real," she turned to me. "You believe me, don't you?"

I didn't answer her and looked away. The term for a female dog started echoing through my head as I did this.

"Are you taking the sleeping draught I made up for you?" Gaius asked.

"Oh, it doesn't help."

"Here," he turned to a table and picked out a bottle. "Try this. It will induce a deeper sleep," he handed Morgana a bottle. "You've got nothing to fear."

"Thank you, Gaius," she said, turning to leave.

"Morgana," he called and she stopped. "Don't bother Uther about this. No need to worry him."

"I won't," she promised before she left the room, closing it behind her.

I looked over at Gaius when I could no longer hear her footsteps growing fainter as she walked down the stairs.

"Your ankle hasn't healed yet," he pointed out.

I looked down at my foot. "It'll recover in its own time."

"Are you experiencing any pain?"

"It's nothing that bad."

"Would you like something to ease the pain?"

The thought of what medieval doctors considered as a painkiller crept into my head and I briskly shook my head.

Gaius was silent for a minute. "About Edwin…"

"What about him?" I asked, my hand touching the top of my head.

"Did you two know each other before he came to Camelot?"

I shook my head. "Then why did he save your life?" he asked.

I looked away for a moment. "I don't know," I told him.

"You were helping him to kill the king, weren't you?"

I didn't say anything. "Why did you do it?" he asked.

I remained silent. "You should know better than to help someone who was using magic for evil."

"I felt sorry for him!" I exclaimed, getting angry. "I couldn't help myself. I'm sure that you've done stuff that you're not proud of, so ease off of my back about what I did!"

"I will not. You put someone's life in danger on purpose. You cannot do something like that and expect to get away with it."

I felt tears fill my eyes and started to wipe them away. "I'm sorry that I did it. I didn't mean any harm on anybody besides the king. I only helped him because we agreed that if I did, he'd let Kilgharrah go. I didn't want him to hurt you or Merlin. I really didn't. And I really am sorry."

Gaius approached me and held my hand. "Now there's no need to get upset," he told me. "I'm not going to tell anyone else about this, especially the king."

"Thank you."

"However I'm not going to let you get away with what you did either. You need to do something to make up for what you're done."

"What do you want me to do?"

"See me tomorrow and I'll let you know. But," he voice became sterner, "if you do such a thing like this again, I will not be so easy on you."

I nodded. "I get it."

Tomorrow arrived and Gaius decided that I was to remove every single cobweb from the castle. He provided me with a broom to use and failed to say whether or not I had to get the ones from the high corners. I didn't point it out since I was being punished and therefore did not deserve to have it be any easier.

The only upside to it was that I could think about Edwin and figure out what he had done. I was finally developing an idea, but I was hoping that it wasn't that.

As I was getting rid of the cobwebs in Arthur's chambers, I stopped when I heard Arthur and Merlin come in. They approached the prince's unmade bed and Merlin started to remake it.

"I'm taking Sophia out for a ride today," Arthur revealed to his servant. "You know, show her around."

"Where do I come into this?" Merlin asked.

"Well, I'm supposed to be on patrol with the guard of my father this morning, so I need you to cover for me."

Merlin stopped his work when he heard that last bit. "What," he said, shocked, "and lie to the king? No. No way. No, he'll see right through me. He'll have me in the stocks quicker than you can say rotten tomatoes."

"Merlin," Arthur said, making the boy sigh. "I need you to do this for me."

"I am a terrible liar," Merlin confessed. "I start sweating, my…my vision blurs, my…my brain stops working."

"Well, no change there, then," the prince retorted, making me smirk. "Look, I promised Sophia I'd take her out and if I don't turn up it'll blow my chances."

"You like her, then?" he asked with a smile.

"Yeah," he agreed. "What's not to like? I want to spend some more time with her, but I need to get my father off my back. I can't order you to lie to the king, but…you'd be a friend for life if you did."

Merlin was silent for a moment. "Go on then," he said finally, "you don't want to keep her waiting."

"Thanks, Merlin. I won't forget it," he said, before he left the room.

"You know I never thought I'd see the day when a grown man making an offer to another grown man that sounds like something a teenage girl would their say to their friend to cover for her when she's sneaking out to meet with their boyfriend who's five years older."

Merlin flinched so hard I thought he'd almost fall out of his skin. He collected himself and started looking around the room.

"Where are you?"

"Look up."

He looked up to see me sitting on a support beam in the rafters. I gave a small wave to him.

"How did you get up there?"

"There really are perks to living inside a cave. One being a pretty good climber."

"What are you doing up here?"

"I like coming in here once a week to see what Arthur does in his spare time," I gave a small chuckle. "Best times of the week."

"Really?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I'm being punished by having to get rid of all of the cobwebs in this castle. This truly is an evil punishment, but it's better than having to clean the leaves from the castle's gutters…provided that they had some."

"What did you do?"

"That's top secret between Gaius and myself," I sighed. "You want to bet something?"

"What do you want to bet?"

"I get all of your scarves for one week if you get put in the stocks."

"I'm not going with that bet. We both know that I'll be put in the stocks."

"Then come up with a descent lie," I continued with my work. "I think the next room I'll do will be in the council chamber. Let me know when you're done and we can go there together."

"You can help me then?" he said, hopefully.

"Sorry Merlin, I wasn't offered to be a royal's friend for life. Just keep in mind that that offer might not account for anything. I've had my fair share of those types of offers," I sighed and shook my head. "What a crappy life to live. But, there's no time to reminisce on that since neither of us know how to play violins."

Merlin frowned. He had a confused look on his face as he tried to process what I had just said.

"Okay."

Later, the two us of found ourselves in the council chamber after we were finished in Arthur's room. He was standing on ground with me providing the non-existent support from above, since I was in the rafters again.

Uther came out into the middle of the room, tying his cloak up properly. He stopped when all he saw was Merlin standing there with his arms behind his back, no doubt thinking of an ingenious plan – oh who was I kidding? We all know what the end result was going to be.

"Where's my son?" Uther demanded.

"I'm not sure where he is. I…erm…I think there's been a mistake. But it's not his fault. Arthur's, I mean."

I started massaging my forehead out of embarrassment.

"Stop gibbering and tell me where he is," he said, coming towards him while adjusting his belt.

Like a frightened bunny, he started to pull back. "It's probably…no, it's definitely my fault."

"Where is Arthur?!" the king's voice rose as he hounded on the poor rabbit.

"He's not here."

"I can see that."

"Arthur wasn't sure of his orders, so he asked me to check with the guards to see if he was riding out this morning and…well…I may have forgotten," he explained, pulling back even further when the king drew much closer.

I face palmed.

"You forgot?" Uther repeated.

"I'm sorry, my lord. I am sure he would have been here had I told him."

The king glared at him. "If this was a time of war, I would have you flogged."

"And since it's not, we'll let it go just this once?" Merlin asked, a hopeful smile spreading across his face.

"Rotten tomatoes," I murmured.

Merlin was in the stocks as peasants pelted him with rotten tomatoes. I was busy constantly filling up a bucket of water and returning when nothing was being thrown at him.

"I forgot how much fun this was," he told me.

"That's the spirit," I said, pouring the water over him and picking out the seeds from his hair. "Look at the glass half full and view your time in the stocks as being served second breakfast."

That afternoon, Merlin was let out of the stocks covered rotten tomatoes. I would have thrown a final bucket of water on him in his last round, except I had a horrible thought that he would stay in the stocks longer if he didn't have a little bit of vegetable on him.

"Have you been playing with your food again?" he teased the boy as he came in.

"The king put him in the stocks," I explained.

"You're supposed to be getting rid of cobwebs," he told me.

"I'm doing my job," I started sweeping the roof and corners of the room.

He turned to Merlin. "What'd you do this time?"

"Nothing," the warlock replied, walking towards a basin. He looked back at Gaius who was giving him that look he gave when it was obvious that he was being lied to.

"Honestly, it wasn't my fault," he poured water into a basin. "Arthur wanted to get out of going on patrol with Uther and the guard, so I covered for him and took the blame."

"And Arthur was prepared to let you do this?"

"It was his idea," he replied before washing his face.

"He was even bribed with friendship," I added. "Imagine that."

"And what made him neglect his duties? It must've been something terrible important."

The boy as if it were a good thing. "Sophia," he said.

"Most people call it rebellious lust," I pointed out.

A concerned look appeared on Gaius' face. "The girl from the forest?"

"He wanted to take her out for the day," he started picking food out of his hair. "He is besotted."

"But they've only just met."

"I know. It must have been love at first sight."

"Yes," he agreed, before staring into the distance. "I suppose it must be."

I soon realised that Gaius had turned to me and I stopped what I was doing. "Yes?" I said, a little too harshly than I anticipated.

"You can stop what you're doing today," he told me, "and come with me. I need you to do something for me."

"This is twice you've had me show you where someone is," I told Gaius as we made our way towards the chambers that belonged to Aulfric, the father of Sophia. "Maybe I should charging people mock turtles every time they ask me to this."

"What would you want with those?" he asked me.

"I'd like to see one. And if they can't provide me with that, then they can give me pepper breathe mints."

I stopped when we reached room Aulfric's chambers. Gaius continued to walk for a brief moment. I peered into the room to make sure no one was around before the two of us entered.

The room was dark to the point the sun's rays made it look misty. I had this horrible feeling of dread, realising the high chance of being caught by the chamber's owner. I followed Gaius, staying close like a small child, as he wandered around the room. He then spotted Aulfric's staff propped up against the wall and made his way towards it. He picked up the staff and started to inspect it, starting with the blue stone and making his way down. He started to turn the staff around, studying the writings carved along the edge.

"Can I help you?"

Aulfric's voice made both of us jump. Gaius put the staff back.

"Forgive us," he said, startled. "The door was open. I thought someone may have broken in."

"Looks like they have!" Aulfric said angrily.

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as his eyes flashed red.

"We're sorry for imposing on you," I said briskly. "It won't happen again."

I took Gaius's arm and led him out of the room. The old man stared suspiciously at Aulfric as he passed.

"Make sure it doesn't," he told us in a threatening voice.

Once we were out and walking down the corridor, I let go of Gaius and started giggling.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

I ran my fingers through my hair and stopped at the top of my head. "You saw his eyes turn red, didn't you?"

"I did, yes."

"That means that there's another threat, isn't there?"

"Indeed. I need you to ask the Great Dragon what we're dealing with. I'm going to translate those runes inscribed on Aulfric's staff."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" I demanded. "I don't have much to work with, you know." That was the truth, I didn't remember what those people were so I only knew what their goals were and what they did.

"You'll need to do your best. Once I find out what those words mean, we'll know what's going on."

I sighed. "This will be pointless. But I never really have anything better to do so I might as well just do it. God, I need to get an actual profession."

"You have one," he pointed out, "it's getting rid of cobwebs."

I ran my fingers through my hair again. "Alright, alright. I'll go ask Kilgharrah and see if I can get anything."

"Are you sure you'll be alright? Seeing his eyes glow red seemed to frighten you."

I took several deep breathes before I nodded. "I'll be fine."

"Red eyes, carry staffs with blue stones in the top and runes carved along the sides, communicate with glowing blue pixies and want to go back to this place that they call Avalon. What are they?!"

I shouted out that statement as I limped down to the bottom of the cave and lay on my back. I waited patiently for Kilgharrah to fly down.

"What are you blathering about?" he asked, descending down to where I was.

"I'd like to play a game," I told him. "It's called the Guess-Who-These-People-Are-Who-Want-To-Kill-Arthur-With-Drowning-And-Use-His-Soul-To-Go-Back-To-Avalon Game. It's less complicated than chess and not to be confused for the Who-Will-Be-Successful-In-Killing-Uther Game or the Who-Will-Be-The-One-To-Bring-Camelot-Crumbling Game."

The dragon let out a long sigh which sounded like he was growling. "Jack, I am in no mood for your childish games," he informed me. "Tell me what has happened."

I explained to him everything that I knew about those people, combining what I remembered from the show and what I just witnessed.

"From what you have told me, the ones who call themselves Sophia and Aulfric are Sidhes trapped in mortal form."

"What are Sidhes?"

"You would know them as the Fae."

"Right. So, what sort of weaknesses do they have aside from being mortal?"

"Iron is poisonous to a Sidhe and can enter their system by the slightest touch. But that particular weakness would not work in your favour if they are carrying their staffs."

"Is there anything else then?"

"Like all Fae, Sidhes are susceptible to shiny objects such as jewels. It will not kill them, but it is useful in distracting them."

I clapped my hands together. 'If that's the case," I stood up, "then I'm off to buy some fish and salt!"

"What are you going to do with those items?"

"I'm going to tap into my childhood," I turned to leave.

"Jack," Kilgharrah called making me stop. "How do you know about their plans?"

"I just know."

"Jack…" he warned.

"Fine!" I exclaimed. "How about this – if you tell me what you think Edwin did to me, then I'll tell you how I know what their plans are."

Kilgharrah chuckled. "I will not provide you with that information," he told me. "You are going to have to figure that out for yourself."

I let out a small shriek and stomped off as easily as someone with a limp could do.

My next day was spent cleaning out the rooms with cobwebs and helping Gaius figure out what those carvings meant. I was in a bad mood as I struggled to get my own answers. I was too embarrassed to directly ask Gaius or Merlin even though they were there and probably knew what had happened.

"You've had your hand on top of your head for a long time," Gaius told me.

"Huh? Oh," I lowered my hand and balled it into a fist.

"Is something on your mind?"

"I was just thinking about Edwin and why he didn't let me die. It's been bothering me. A lot more at the moment."

"I was surprised when you told me that you two didn't know each other before he came, especially when he…"

He stopped as Merlin came in covered in rotten food. I had to fight the urge to slam my head against the desk. I had the feeling that I was so close to getting my answer. So damn, bloody close!

"Not again Merlin," Gaius said, shocked at the sight of him, "surely?"

"You would think that the appeal of pelting the same person with fruit would wear off after a while, but, oh, no!"

"I heard that Arthur wasn't at the knighting ceremony."

"Yeah," he poured what in the basin. "He wanted to make the most of his time left with Sophia."

"So you helped him?"

He started to wash his face. "I'm his servant, I had to," he said.

"Were you promised another friendship is magic bribe?" I grumbled.

"You shouldn't have done that, Merlin," Gaius scolded. The boy stopped and looked up at him. "I fear that Sophia may not be all that she seems."

"Why?"

The old man stood up. "What do you know about seers?"

"Not much," he replied. "They're," he paused as he tried to remember, "supposed to be able to see the future, like prophets?"

"It's said to be an innate ability. Those who have it are born that way. Some aren't even aware that what they see is the future. It comes to them in their dreams," he sat on a bench on the other side of his desk.

"What's this got to do with Sophia?"

"Morgana had a dream the night before she and Aulfric came to Camelot," I explained. "Sophia was in the dream."

A surprised look appeared on the warlock's face. "Before she arrived in Camelot?"

Gaius nodded. "I've been watching Morgana since she was very young," he explained. "And though I tried to persuade myself otherwise, I realised that some of the things she said she'd dreamt came to pass. I kept it secret from Uther, of course. The gift of prophecy is too close to the work of magic."

As he spoke, Merlin drew closer and san on the bench near his friend. "You think Morgana is a seer?"

"I don't think it. I fear it. Morgana said she dreamt that Sophia killed Arthur."

"Couldn't that have just been a dream? Maybe the-the woman Morgana saw just looked like Sophia."

"That's what I hoped. But Aulfric caught Jackie and myself in Sophia's room and, in a flash of anger, his eyes changed colour."

Fear appeared on the boy's face. "Who are they?"

"It's not who they are that worried me," Gaius replied. "It's what they want with Arthur."

I opened my mouth to explain who they were. I didn't care if it was too soon. They needed to know so I was going to tell them. Maybe after that I could finally pluck up the courage to get some of my own answers.

"Merlin," I said.

"Yeah?" he said, turning to me.

"Okay," I thought, getting myself emotionally pumped and ready. "I can do this. He's my friend. I should be able to trust him. I can tell him. I can tell him."

"Yes, but you don't know what will happen if he finds out too early," said the voice in my head. 'What do you suppose the consequences will be if you

"I think maybe one of us should keep an eye on the Tir-Mor people, just in case they do something to prove that they're evil."

"That's not a bad idea," Gaius agreed. "That way we'll know for certain what they are doing."

"God damn it!" I screamed so loudly inside my head I was almost surprised that my eardrums didn't burst.

"Well there is no point in taking chances, is there?" the voice sneered.

"I wish you had a neck so I could throttle it!"

That night, Merlin and I spent hours watching the Arthur's door. After we watched Sophia and Arthur go inside together, it was only a matter of time before Aulfric appeared and for his daughter to leave.

"He's ready," she told him. "Tomorrow he'll do what we need him to."

"Good," her father said, "you have done well. I must go to the elders."

He turned the corner to Arthur's chambers and the two of us followed him.

Our walk led us out of Camelot and into the woods. We kept a great distance away from him, which was surprisingly easier since Aulfric was fast for an old man. We were guided by the moonlight, hiding in the bushes and behind trees so he wouldn't see us. It was cold that night, and the wind grew stronger the further away we were from Camelot.

Finally, Aulfric stopped at the edge of a lake. Merlin and I hid behind a tree. We had a clear view of everything that was about to happen as we waited to see what he would do.

"I seek an audience with the Sidhe elders!" he announced, addressing the lake. "Do:tiag-sa ar idbairt do denam!"

A blue haze rolled over the lake. Sidhes appeared as glowing dots flying around the water. It was like watching shooting stars trying to act as headless chickens. Merlin's hand suddenly covered my eyes and I felt the magic entering my eyes. The sensation felt like I had rubbed something over them and could feel it being absorbed into me.

When his hand came down, everything looked like looked slow but was sounded normal. The Sidhes looked like your traditional fairies with wings and being tiny. Their skin was a glowing crystal blue while their clothes and hats shimmered in the night. Many of them were fixated on their own reflections, proving that they couldn't resist shiny things, including their reflections. Merlin smiled at the sight of them, no doubt amazed to see them. I myself was developing a migraine.

"I come before you to plead for the chance to win passage back to Avalon and a life of immortality!" he declared.

One of the fairies, who was dressed in red and was the Sidhe elder, flew closer to the old man. "Your punishment for killing another Sidhe is a mortal body and a mortal life," it leered. "You will never be able to return to Avalon."

"The crime was mine, not my daughter's."

"The gates of Avalon remain closed to your daughter," the elder revealed. "Unless the soul of a prince be offered up to them."

"Thank you. An immortal life for my daughter is all that I desire, so I promise you the soul of the greatest prince of all. Arthur Pendragon!"

The elder let out a hiss. The fairies then disappeared into the lake, taking the blue haze with them. The wind started blowing faster as Aulfric started laughing, cackling like an evil villain.

Without warning, he stopped and looked back. Merlin covered my mouth with one hand and wrapped his other arm across my lower chest. I went bright red as he held me close and spun us around to hide behind the tree. The sound of the old man's shoes crunching against the leaf litter made the boy bring ourselves to our knees in order to hide in the shadows until the noise faded into the forest's depths.

Once the coast was clear, the boy removed his hand from my mouth and placed it over my eyes. I could feel the magic leaving my eyes while something started climbing up my throat. The second he removed his hand, I rushed towards the bushes and started retching and gagging.

"Are you okay?"

"You gave me motion sickness," I accused in an annoyed voice.

"I'm sorry," he said. He then looked over at the lake. "Now we know what they want with Arthur, what do you think we're dealing with?"

I wanted to tell him, I really did, but I was too unwell to go into any proper details so I didn't answer.

If anyone was concerned, I was feeling better the next morning and came in at the right moment of Gaius explaining what Merlin and I had seen the night before.

"What did it look like?" Gaius asked, curiously as I came in.

"Does it matter?" Merlin demanded.

"It's nothing special," I explained, making my presence known. "Perfect, yet mediocre. Like pencils."

The boy nodded, despite a confused look. "And they're going to sacrifice Arthur and we don't even know who "they" are yet," he continued.

"We do know," Gaius sat by his desk as the two of us followed. There were several books on the table which the old man and I had looked through the other day. "Jackie and I found writing like this on Aulfric's staff. It's Ogham, an ancient scriot. Abas ocus bithe. Duthectad bithlane, "To hold life and death in your hands." From the writing on the staff and what you both saw at the lake, I'm afraid I'm now certain. We're dealing with the Sidhe."

"That does not sound like a good thing," Merlin said.

"They're masters of enchantment."

"Also known as fairies," I thought.

"You think Arthur's been enchanted?" Merlin questioned.

Gaius nodded. "Almost certainly," he replied. "I'm afraid Morgana's dream is coming true."

Without warning, an old memory formed in my head. A story I heard about a boy working on a ship who finds a seashell that gives him the ability to see the future. One of which involved him being thrown overboard to drown by the ship's owners. The story's resolution, as well as this episode's, gave me an idea.

"We can make this work in our favour," I declared.

The two men stared at me, shocked. "What do you mean?" Gaius asked.

"Well," I said, "we could make it partially come true, we could make Morgana's dream come true, but make it come true in our own way. She didn't see him die, she only saw him underwater."

They glanced at one another. "You may be right," said Merlin. "But how do we make that happen?"

"We get there in the nick of time, of course," I said, before realising that I was more than likely just stating the obvious and reminding myself of how pointless I truly was in the grand scheme of things.

"Right," said the boy. "I'm going to keep an eye on Arthur, see if I can get some sense into him." He turned to me, "what will you do?"

"I have some supplies to collect," I answered.

Merlin and I met up outside Arthur's chamber. I had my supplies inside my pocket which I intended to use when the time was right. The boy explained to me that Arthur had informed Uther of his intent to marry Sophia and the cold turndown the king made to the announcement. When he finished, I gave him a small bag.

"This stuff will distract the Sidhes," I explained. "If you want to make a getaway, open the bag and spill it over the floor."

"What is it?" he asked, trying to open the bag.

"Be careful with it," I said. "It's not easy to remove."

He placed it back into his pocket and we entered the room.

Arthur was already in the room, dressed in his chainmails, and sorting out clothing on his bed to place into a bag. He took one look at us standing in the doorway before ordering us to leave.

"I thought the king was a bit harsh," said Merlin.

"I don't need sympathy, Merlin," he stated, "especially not from you and your sister,"

I tried my best to keep a straight face as we moved closer to him. This again!

"But I did think he had a point."

This angered him enough to make him stop. "I ordered you to get out," he said in a low, dangerous voice. "Now leave me!"

"I know what you think you're doing," he continued, "and I know you think you're in love with Sophia…"

"Who are you to tell me what I'm thinking?" he demanded.

"I'm your friend."

"No, Merlin, you're my servant," he moved towards a table to place something into a bag.

"You don't know what you're doing," he insisted, following his servant with me staying close. "She's cast a spell on you. You're enchanted."

"I told you people would try to keep us apart."

All three of us turned towards the door to see Sophia and Aulfric enter, carrying their staffs. I silently reached for Merlin's sleeve, gripping the leather tightly, before I stepped back to hide slightly behind him. The boy placed one hand over mine, making me relax my hand. With my other hand, I pulled out a small bag.

"I know," Arthur agreed. "I won't let that happen."

"Look, don't listen to her," Merlin insisted, "she's controlling you."

"We can elope together," Sophia offered, stepping closer to us. "Get away from this place, these people."

"We saw you," I said. "We-we-we followed him," I gestured to Aulfric.

"They're planning to sacrifice you," Merlin finished.

"You let your servants talk to your guests this way?" Aulfric asked Arthur.

"We know what you're going to do," I said, "We-we followed you to the…the lake. That's why…you have to believe us."

Arthur started shaking his head, looking lost, and not knowing who to believe.

"Don't listen to him, Arthur," Sophia said. "Let's go. Let's leave tonight."

"She's going to kill you," Merlin insisted. "Sophia plans to sacrifice you to buy a life of immortality. If you go with her, you'll die."

"It…it doesn't make sense," Arthur stuttered. "We're…we're in love."

"They're magical beings!" the warlock exclaimed. "Look at the writing on the staff."

He lunged forward to grab Aulfric's staff. He pulled away, eyes flashing red.

"Look at his eyes," he told Arthur. "Look at him. Do you believe me?" he raised his voice when he got no response. "Arthur, do you see?"

Arthur turned to us, his eyes glowing red. "I see everything," he said.

Seeing those eyes made me realise that I had just made a mistake. A very, very bad mistake. It occurred to me in that moment that Merlin that was going to be knocked out with magic and the only reason he wasn't going to die was from his own magic.

"Oh my stars," I thought. "Oh my stars. Oh my stars! What's going to happen to me? Oh, why didn't I think this through? Why did I follow Merlin?"

Merlin lunged towards Aulfric once again, who pointed his staff at the boy and cast a spell. A bolt of electricity shot out of the blue stone in the tip of the stick, striking the boy in the chest. It lifted him up into the air, slamming him against the wall. He slid down the wall and to the ground, unconscious and presumed dead.

The two Sidhe turned to me.

I gritted my teeth and began to tremble. My heart was pounding to the point thought if I looked down, I would see it beating against my ribcage. Beads of sweat ran down my forehead. I clenched the bag in my hand so tightly that I would explode. I flinched and stepped back when Aulfric pointed his staff at me.

"Na mben…!"

In that instant, I fumbled to tear open the bag. Its contents split out of my fingers and onto my front. With all my might, I hurled it across the room.

Salt glitter and fish scales showered across the floor of Arthur's room. It glinted in the sunlight that poured into the room through the windows.

Much to my amazement, Aulfric stopped midway through the spell and turned to look at the glitter. Sophia too, looked over to admire what was on the floor. Mesmerised by the sight.

Taking my chances, I limped towards the door, climbing over the bed as quietly as I could.

Once I had cleared the bed, I felt large fingers tighten around my neck. I let out a small shriek. I clawed at the fingers, trying to pry them away, but it was as if they had become welded to me. I could feel my heart racing faster and faster in my chest.

My head started to feel light and fuzzy. My body started to feel numb and lost the strength to move. I couldn't tell if I was standing up, on my knees, or in the air. Red dots started appearing in my cloud of vision until all I could see was red that grew darker to the point it was black. I didn't know if my eyes were open.

I felt like time had stopped around me. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I couldn't see. I couldn't think. All I knew was that I was falling. Falling towards an unknown destination.

"Don't let me die," I begged. "Don't let me die, please!"

I'm sooooooooooooooooo sorry for the long wait. I've had work and exams to do.

But now with more free time, I'm trying to make sure that I post more chapters more frequently.