Warning: This chapter contains some romance, which I am dreadful at!

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Chapter 11 – Rescue

It was hard for Gwen to tell how much time passed while she was trapped, but she felt that it could only have been a few minutes before she heard the running footsteps of at least two people, coming to a halt just before her. She turned her head and saw two pairs of feet, one of them she had a feeling was the servant's again, the other stood just behind the servant, so she couldn't quite tell. But there was only one person she wanted to be with her.

"This is where I found her," spoke the voice of the servant, his voice full of worry and panic. He spoke as if he had expected Gwen to have somehow moved from the position he had last left her. Or maybe he thought that by now she was dead.

The figure behind the servant hesitated for a few moments, as if he was too afraid to get closer to the rubble, but eventually he did move, walking around the servant and coming closer to the rubble. He bent down to the only gap there was in Gwen's prison.

Gwen and Arthur's eyes met, and despite everything, Gwen smiled.

"Please tell me that is you Arthur," she said, hating the way her voice sounded horribly weak.

Arthur didn't reply at first, his face was completely blank, but his eyes showed a thousand different thoughts, ranging from panic to confusion to sorrow. Did he think he had already lost her? Then Arthur moved even closer, he went down on his knees and reached a tentative hand through the gap. Gwen could feel the warmth of his hand, but his fingers couldn't quite reach her, and she couldn't move a hand to reach his. All she could do was stare at it with her tear-stained face.

"Gwen?" Arthur's voice was barely louder than a whisper. It seemed he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. But he would never tell Gwen that actually he couldn't believe she was still alive.

His hand stretched out a little further, and he managed to stroke Gwen's face, he was relieved to feel that her cheek was still warm. Gwen smiled at the feel of his touch, and it rose hope in her heart, but the look in his eyes gave Gwen little hope at all.

"Please tell me you can get me out of here?" Gwen murmured, suddenly finding herself trying to hold back a sob. She had to focus all her attention on Arthur's touch, or else she would start focusing on the darkness closing in around her, and that would drive her mad.

The pause after Gwen spoke was enough to drive her mad as well.

"I'll do something," Arthur said, his voice a little louder this time but lacking the usual self-confidence he had. "I promise Gwen, I'll find a way to get you out of here!"

There was another pause, shorter this time, Arthur was probably thinking faster than he had ever thought before. "I'll get Merlin, Merlin will help!"

"Merlin?" Gwen couldn't help being confused, Merlin was not the strongest of men in Camelot, how could just two men help with such a situation?

"Trust me Gwen, I'll be back as soon as I can," Arthur assured her, he sounded a little more confident this time, but his tone was still desperate.

"Just be quick," Gwen found herself telling him in a whisper. She hadn't even admitted to herself that she was scared, but truth be told she had never felt more terrified, even though Arthur was there beside her. A tear trickled down her cheek before she could stop it, and it dripped onto Arthur's fingertips just as he was stroking her face for one last time, and drawing away.

"I promise, Gwen, you're going to be fine," Arthur told her as he withdrew his hands, rubbing the single tear between his fingertips. He could only just see Gwen through the darkness, it was more like a silhouette than anything, and yet he hated to leave her. Feeling her tear, made his heart break.

But every moment Gwen lay under there, her life might be dwindling away, he had to do something.

After what seemed like an age of just standing there, Arthur ran back down the corridor to the Great Hall.

XXX

Merlin had never seen this panicked side of Arthur, and he was partly glad of it, as it surely meant that nothing good would come out of it. He found himself almost being dragged down the corridor by Arthur, still pulling at his sleeve. Sir Leon looked just as surprised as he watched.

"Would you like me to come as well my Lord?" Sir Leon called after Arthur.

Arthur shook his head, "no it's fine, I just need Merlin!"

Despite the fact that Gwen was in trouble, Merlin tried to dig his heels into the ground to stop Arthur (which, on a stone floor, turned out to be impossible.) "This is about my powers isn't it Arthur," it wasn't a question.

"That might be a possibility," Arthur admitted, still trying to drag his manservant along, causing a few stares from passers by despite the situation they were in.

"So what are you going to do with me later then, after I've helped Gwen?" Merlin asked sternly.

Arthur shrugged, "I don't know, execute you or something." This probably wasn't true, Arthur wasn't thinking straight, he was too busy thinking about Gwen, there was no time for standing and talking, Gwen needed help.

But Merlin couldn't take the risk. As soon as he heard this, he stopped dead, and pulled himself out of Arthur's grip, a serious look on his face. "Sorry Arthur, if good deeds done by magic is going to lead to my death, then I might as well not even try." He folded his arms as if to prove his point.

Arthur looked furious at this; there was no time for standing around being stubborn! But he supposed Merlin had a good point, he couldn't just forgive and forget for the next few minutes and then go back to his views before, it wasn't right. Besides, was magic that bad after all? Especially if it could be used by someone like Merlin to save a life…

Arthur sighed, "all right, you are not in any danger if you use magic for good. If you show me magic can be used to save a life, I will never judge you harshly because of your powers."

Despite everything, Merlin smiled. This was what he wanted to hear, and even if it meant Arthur still didn't feel completely comfortable with magic, it was still a start.

"All right then," Merlin said, strangely casually. "Where is she?"

At these words, Arthur grabbed Merlin by the sleeve again, despite the fact that Merlin didn't need dragging any more, and ran to where Gwen was trapped. Merlin found himself running as well just to keep up with the Prince.

On the way there Merlin was beginning to feel a little worried. He didn't know how bad Gwen's situation was, what if his magic wasn't powerful enough to save her? He might lose her forever, and then Arthur would never forgive him. He tried his best not to think about this.

They finally reached Gwen's prison at the end of a long corridor, and Merlin couldn't help but gasp.

Boulders were piled up to the ceiling; in fact it looked like the entire floor above them had collapsed. Fortunately there had not been anyone on the floor above it, or else there would be another casualty. There was a spiral staircase on the other side of the pile of rocks, but it would have been impossible to tell, as the rubble blocked all view of the other side. All around the walls, ceiling and floor were cracked and broken by the force of the earthquake and when the boulders fell to the floor. How could anyone survive that?

But it was possible, the bottom of the huge pile was not completely filled with rubble, there were huge pieces of timber that had blocked off many of the rocks from collapsing on each other, and there was one small gap within the ruins. It could be possible for someone to survive if they hadn't been crushed…possible.

As Merlin stood and stared, Arthur ran towards the wreckage and bent down so he was able to peer inside the gap.

"Gwen?" Arthur's voice suddenly became small and gentle, as if he wasn't panicking at all. Merlin knew he was doing that for Gwen, she wouldn't want to hear him panicking. He watched as Arthur reached a hand through the small gap to reach for Gwen.

There was a pause, and then, "Arthur? You're back?" The weak voice of Gwen replied, she sounded fearful, but grateful that help had arrived.

"Yes, and Merlin's here too."

Merlin stepped forward when Arthur said his name, and knelt beside Arthur so he could try and see within the pile of the rubble. He thought he could just make out Gwen's shape.

"Hello Merlin," Gwen tried to make it seem like it was any other day when she passed Merlin and gave him a greeting. She did sound happier to know that more friends were there, but her voice trembled a little, she was still afraid.

"We've come to get you out of here," Arthur called clearly to Gwen.

Gwen didn't reply, but Arthur saw her nod bravely. He turned to Merlin.

"Well? Is there anything you can do?" He asked.

Merlin paused, thinking. He was afraid of using magic just in case the boulders crushed Gwen, but there had to be a way. Maybe if he used a similar trick to how he got Arthur out the Great Hall. Merlin looked up to see that Arthur was still waiting for a response, staring at him with bright blue eyes filled with worry, he nodded.

"If I'm able to remove most of the boulder on top," Merlin spoke quietly so as not to alarm Gwen. "We should then be able to get rid of the rest of the rubble by hand, and get Gwen out."

"Do you think that will work?" Arthur asked.

Merlin shrugged, he wished he could feel more sure. "We're just going to have to see," he admitted.

Arthur nodded, though he too didn't look very confident.

Merlin stood up again, "there might be a loud bang Gwen," he told her, "but it's going to be all right, just don't move."

"Why?" Gwen sounded worried, and it wasn't surprising, she could see nothing but darkness. "What are you going to do?"

Merlin didn't reply, he decided there was no time to explain, and it wouldn't help the situation if Gwen was told that Merlin had magical powers, he wasn't completely sure of what she thought about the subject.

Merlin steadied himself, concentrating on the boulders above him; he didn't even notice how silent the corridor had become, with Gwen waiting, and Arthur watching. He placed his hand carefully on the rocks; he could almost feel the strength holding all the rocks in place, fragile but at the same time strong. He had been practising magic for years, he just hoped he knew what he was doing. He took a deep breath.

"Dimittite casurus*!" Merlin yelled at the top of his voice. His eyes flashed bright gold as he felt power pulse through his hands.

There was a nasty sounding crack, so loud it echoed in Merlin and Arthur's ears. At first it looked like nothing had happened, but within the wreckage all the rocks, stones and boulders were cracking, breaking away into tiny little pieces. Merlin watched as the boulder he was staring at grew a huge crack and then simply started to crumble. He felt the immense strength within his hands, and with the combination of the weakened rocks, the wreckage could be simply pushed away.

All the rubble that had been piled on top of Gwen began rolling away, and within a few moments it was tumbling down the spiral staircase that sat just on the other side. There was a horrible crashing sound that made Merlin wince as the rubble reached the bottom, but the rocks were cleared, and when he looked down only a few rocks and pieces of timber were lying there.

"Gwen! Are you all right?" Arthur cried out; quickly bending down and frantically pulling away the last pieces of rubble that was trapping Gwen. Merlin bent down and started helping too. Each piece of rubble that was moved away, they could see Gwen more clearly.

Within less than a minute, the last pieces of wreckage had been cleared, and Gwen was free.

*Meaning break away, fall apart.