I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I.

Chapter Ten

There was no noise no indicate someone else had entered the room, just a shift in the feel or the air, a tickle against Gwaine's awareness that let him know he wasn't alone. He groaned and pulled himself up so that he was propped up against the pillows behind him, facing the woman dressed in green and grey fabric who stood by the kitchen table.

"So she couldn't be bothered to see if I was alive for herself," he chuckled, grimacing as the stitches in his stomach pulled painfully. "Well I suppose I should have seen that one coming.

Tilting her head the woman stared at him, dark eyes narrowing as the yellowed skin of her forehead folded and creased.

"You are not what I was expecting," she said. "I thought you'd be-"

"You thought I'd be what?" Gwaine snapped. "I don't think there is a dam person alive or dead who could tell you what to expect from one of Catherine's decisions."

The woman blinked.

"She said you might be testy."

"Did she now?" Gwaine scowled. "It's funny how that can creep in when the woman you love, the mother of your children, suddenly takes off in the middle of the night! How is it having Catherine back, or should I call her the Huntress now she's ordered the army of cold-blooded murderers to do her bidding once more."

"I believe she misses you," said the woman. "She has been different since her return. I do not think that it is just time to have changed her so."

Gripping the edge of his bed Gwaine began to pull himself towards the room, planting his feet on the cold, dirt earth.

"So why did she send you?" he asked, arms shaking as he forced them to take the brunt of his weight. "Did she think I would believe that she actually loved me if one of her lackies broke into my home and told me that the great and terrible Huntress seemed different?"

The woman's mouth curled into a smile.

"Home would perhaps be an overstatement for this place. Hovel would be more appropriate. As for her love, I know not, I know only that she sent me here to make myself available if my skills were required. Healing your wounds will be a start."

"Well you can walk on out again," Gwaine spat, drawing himself to his feet finally but finding that the wall was needed to keep him in such a position. "I already told Morgan and Merlin, I don't want any hocus, pocus for this. It's good to have something physical to focus on for once."

"You do not understand," said the woman. She stepped forward, crossing the space between them quickly and slamming her palm into Gwaine's stomach. The cry caught in his throat and his vision turned white. There was only pain and the high pitched whine that rang in his ears. The woman stood in front of him, one hand against the wound and the other wrapped around his bicep to keep him from falling.

"What are you-" The rest of the sentence dissolved into a choked groan as the woman's fingers tore past Guias' careful stitching.

"This will hurt," she warned.

Hurt did not cover it. Gwaine had suffered through cauterised wounds before, very few soldiers had been lucky enough to avoid having to cauterise some cut of scrape during their lives, but the fire pouring into his guts was something fiercer altogether. There was no sense of time and suddenly her hands were gone leaving Gwaine to collapse into a sodden puddle next to his bed, shivering as he tried to work out if he was covered in sweat of something worse.

"I'm impressed," said the woman. "You're still conscious and you've not thrown up. Perhaps you were not such a surprising choice for the Catherine after all."

"Huntress," Gwaine rasped, raking his hand through the matted wads of hair sticking to his scalp as he fought down the bile rising in his throat. "You call her Huntress. Catherine is the name for the mother of my children and I never want to hear it pass your lips again."

If Gwaine had not been focused on finding a point on the floor that was not spinning her would have seen the woman smile.

"You're brave for a man on his knees."

"There are worse places to be then your knees," he told her. "Something some of your lot could do with learning."

"Perhaps," she said. "But I have done what I needed to do. Sleep, regain your strength and in the morning read this." She tossed the sealed scroll onto the ground next to him and turned her back. "For a common knight the Huntress affords you a significant amount of respect and faith."

Gwaine didn't reply. He looked at the scroll and swallowed, wondering if he was about to lose the argument between himself and the content of his guts intent on escape.

"She asked me to tell you that it wasn't her who ordered the attempt on your life."

"Oh really?" Gwaine chuckled. "You don't think I'd worked that one out by myself?"

"You had?" smirked the woman.

Gwaine lifted his head to look at her.

"If Catherine wanted me dead I would be dead. The attack was someone else's warning and it wasn't for Camelot, it was for her. I'm going to guess that she's pissed about that slur of disrespect and you're here to make ensure that whoever it was who stabbed me doesn't get the dignity of managing to kill their target."

"Something like that," she replied. "I'm also meant to tell you that she worries for Eveline. Something is brewing and she fears for what it may hold in store for her daughter."

"You mean the daughter she abandoned?" corrected Gwaine.

"Semantics," shrugged the woman. "Abandoned, protected, they are but words. The child is still young and the Huntress still strong. Much can change in the coming months and years. Perhaps they will be reunited."

She turned back to the door, ready to leave the pathetic little dwelling of the Huntress' lover.

"Give her a message from me." Gwaine said, picking the scroll up from the floor and wrapping his hands around it. "Tell her I'm waiting for her to explain what the hell went wrong in her brain when she thought running away would solve anything. Tell her I would have stood by her. That was my job and it still it so if she wants to come back then that door is wide open, she just needs to make sure she's got answers for everyone else when they start asking."

The woman stared at him for a moment.

"I will inform her of your offer. Now if you are done I will be leaving. You must sleep. The Huntress is not the only one riding towards war in these Kingdoms." With that she left, leaving the door to fall shut beside her.

With a shudder Gwaine picked himself up, peeling his clothes from his body as he did so, his sights set on the bucket of water sat on the table. Next to it lay the scroll the woman had brought with her. Swearing under his breath Gwaine picked it up and ripped open the seal, yanking the page flat and squinting at the hastily scrawled words in the bad light.

I don't expect you to forgive me, she wrote but I need you to understand that I never intended to be this person. I never intended to be anyone really and in that uncertainty I became something that I never realised I was capable of. I'm not proud of the blood I've spilled, but I did it to protect those I loved.

At first I wanted power so that I could keep Merlin safe. I was scared that someone would find out about his magic and I would be helpless in watching him burn or be used as a weapon by people who wouldn't see him as a person.

I came to Camelot to check on him and once again life took an unexpected turn. I swore I would never turn back to the Huntress, that I would remain Catherine but some things can't be let go of so easily. My past was creeping closer to Camelot and leaving was the only way I could keep you and Eveline and George safe.

It seems that in this I also failed.

I am sorry my love.