Chapter 12: Goodbye to Hen Ogledd

Morgana felt as cold as ice.

When she awoke, she was shivering on the floor. She was quite shocked to see that the warm fire that she had fallen asleep in front of had turned to pure, hard ice. What had once been flexible, wispy flames that reached upward were now sharp, jagged icicles, frozen in time.

Well, she thought dryly. At least there were no more terrible dreams.

Oh, the bright side of life.

But there was a bright side to life and his name was Ywaine. Soft light was streaming through the window panes and Morgana brightened as she thought about him. She got to her feet quickly and made her way to the crib, expecting to find her son sleeping peacefully.

But when Morgana looked over the edge, she saw that Ywaine was gone.

/

Merlin's hands were so tight on the reins that his knuckles had turned white. Not that he noticed because he had more difficult matters on his mind, like the fact that most of the people he held dear were in the castle of that arrogant clotpole, Urien. And now Merlin knew that he was a dangerous clotpole, as well.

For not the first time in the last few days, Merlin silently wished that he was more skilled with a horse. He wanted to get to Hen Ogledd as soon as possible. At the moment, he was having a hard enough time just staying on the chestnut horse he was riding.

But miraculously, he arrived just at dawn, with scratches covering his face from intruding branches but still with a determined spirit. As he left his horse in the safety of the forest and carefully snuck to the edge of the clearing, he hoped he wasn't too late.

/

Arthur was very refreshed. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept so well, considering the circumstances. He strode out of his room, resisting the urge to hum a tune because then he would just look ridiculous, kind of like Merlin and…where was Merlin lately?

Upon looking into Merlin's room, he saw that the bed had never been slept in. Rolling his eyes, Arthur closed the door, wondering if Merlin had found a nearby tavern or was just doing something else unusual.

As Arthur continued his journey down the hall, Morgana burst out of her room and after looking around the corridor wildly, she spotted him and ran to him as if her very life depended on the speed of the situation.

"Morgana," Arthur said carefully as she threw herself towards him and gripped his arms tightly. "Morgana, what happened?"

"He's gone," Morgana whispered fearfully and the wild look in her eyes almost frightened him.

Arthur frowned. "Merlin? I know that, I've been looking for the useless…"

"No, not Merlin!" Morgana said impatiently, whacking him in the shoulder. "My baby is gone!" Tears filled her eyes as she began to pace around the corridor.

For once, Arthur didn't know what to say so he did what he knew how to do. Going into full knight mode, he gently led Morgana back to her room.

"We need to leave shortly," Arthur told her calmly. "You just get ready and don't worry about a thing. I will go talk to Urien and the king and we will sort this out."

Morgana looked alarmed at the mention of Urien, but Arthur attributed it to concern for her child. He was more than ever determined to find Ywaine now and to see the empty, lost expression in Morgana's eyes go away for good.

/

After tripping and falling in the field and stepping over a witless, sleeping guard, Merlin finally made it inside the castle. Everything was quiet and he took that to be a good sign, at the moment.

Finding his way into the castle proved to be easier than finding his way out, and Merlin soon became unnerved at how easy a time he was having. The only sound was his footsteps as they echoed throughout corridor after corridor.

It was early in the morning, but Merlin still couldn't help but wonder…where was everyone?

Just as Merlin was climbing a set of stairs and getting to what he thought was the floor that held their guest rooms, a set of wooden double doors burst open and hit the walls with a large, resounding bang. Arthur, looking quite ferocious, strode through them, and stopped immediately when he saw Merlin.

"Where have you been?" Arthur exclaimed, half exasperated and half annoyed. "My father is on his deathbed and you're out gallivanting on the town…"

"Your father is healed," Merlin interrupted calmly.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I rode to Camelot last night," Merlin replied simply. "And he's doing fine. We don't have to go back to Camelot yet."

"You're right," Arthur said bitterly. "We won't be going anywhere because Morgana's baby is missing."

Merlin felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. "What?"

"Her baby is gone!" Arthur said loudly, but Merlin didn't wait around to hear what else he had to say on the matter. He spun on his heel and took off running down the stone stairs, in what he hoped was the direction of the throne room.

Merlin found the ornate doors almost effortlessly and he flung them open, not even bothering to think how ridiculous he would look if the king was in there and all was well. But the only soul in the room was a lone servant woman, who was on her knees scrubbing the floor.

Arthur came thundering into the room next, almost barreling into Merlin. He looked around the almost empty room, before turning to the servant.

"The king and his son," Arthur said to her. "Where are they?"

The woman looked up politely at them. "They left early this morning, I'm afraid. Urgent and unavoidable business, you see."

Arthur and Merlin glanced at each other, before they both turned and ran out the door, leaving the unconcerned servant to return to her scrubbing.

"I knew it!" Merlin said angrily as they raced back through the endless corridors. "I knew they couldn't be trusted!"

"We don't know for certain it was them, Merlin," Arthur said shortly.

"A bit odd, don't you think?" Merlin bit back sarcastically. "Morgana's baby is gone and so are they?"

Arthur stopped very suddenly. "I'm going to get our horses…or any horses, rather. You go get Morgana and Guinevere."

Merlin nodded and ran up the stairs, breathing heavily and trying to ignore the painful ache in his side. But as he was halfway up the staircase, he bumped into an extremely anxious Gwen.

"Merlin! Merlin, I can't find Morgana, she's nowhere to be found…"

Merlin put a hand on her arm. "Gwen, it's all right…"

"One moment she was there," Gwen continued fretfully, "and then the next moment she wasn't…"

"Gwen, I will find her. If you go down to Arthur, I will find her."

Gwen eyed him suspiciously, as if wondering how Merlin could do the deed when she couldn't.

"It will be fine," Merlin insisted with a half smile. "I promise."

Gwen finally nodded and disappeared down the stairwell.

Merlin once again began his ascent to their guest wing. It was only when he reached the double doors of their floor once again that he heard the shouts of guards and the thumping of heavy footsteps charging up the stairs from a floor or two below.

Alarmed, Merlin hoped desperately that Gwen had evaded them and made it outside to Arthur safely.

/

Deep down, Morgana knew searching everywhere wouldn't help her find her baby. But she couldn't sit around and do nothing. And so she had urgently run around their floor, through the corridors and the rooms, looking under beds and into wardrobes and behind mirrors. Practically ready to tear her hair out, she looked again and again, refusing to dissolve into her salty tears just yet. She had even ventured into other parts of the castle, until she realized that she needed to go back to the beginning and find some kind of lost logic or plan.

She was back in her own room when Merlin found her.

"Merlin!" Morgana exclaimed in a terrified voice, ready to plunge into an explanation of what had happened, but she found she couldn't force the words out.

"I know," Merlin said to her, making sure his voice was soft and understanding, so that she wouldn't relieve her pain by telling him what he already knew.

Looking very lost, Morgana's eyes searched the room once more. Merlin gently pushed her towards the window, which was already open. With a pang of sadness, Merlin guessed that Morgana had looked for her baby there, as well.

"We don't have much time," Merlin said quickly as he took long strides back to the door so he could shut it and bolt it. "The guards are coming right now to prevent us from leaving."

"So how do we get out then?" Morgana asked, her wet, blood-shot eyes wide with disbelief.

Merlin walked back to her, a long length of rope in his hand, and looked out of the window.

"Are you insane, Merlin!" Morgana hissed as she looked at the alarming drop.

"Probably," Merlin admitted as tied the rope around a solid, nearby column and slung one long leg over the ledge. He looked back at her. "But do you trust me?" He held out his hand.

Morgana stared at it. Without a drop of hesitation, she knew that she did. He had delivered her baby and he was her friend and her confidant. And so, slinging a leg over the ledge as well, she took his hand, right as a loud thump shook the door.

/

"Merlin!" Arthur screamed. "What in the bloody hell are you doing?"

He stood beneath Merlin and Morgana, who were so many feet up in the air, dangling by a rope out of the window. He held out his arms and shouted. "Morgana, let go! Jump!"

"I'm fine, Arthur!" Morgana called down to him.

"That idiot is going to get you killed! You just jump down and I will catch you!"

Morgana turned to Merlin, smirked, and winked. "But Arthur," she called dramatically. "I quite like it up here."

Merlin laughed quietly before yelling down, "Why don't you climb up and join us?"

"That is not funny!" Arthur was red in the face. "Don't you both realize the seriousness of this situation or do you want to be caught and stabbed with a spear?"

Merlin's smile disappeared as he looked back at Morgana. "We better go down before he bursts a vein."

Morgana's smile faded as well. What had just happened? For a few moments, she had felt calm, normal, and free of worry. Guilt overwhelmed her. Her baby was missing and she was joking around with Merlin and teasing Arthur?

She realized that Merlin had that affect on her. He could make her forget her worries. He could bring her smile out and distract her. But she couldn't let him do that. She had to keep her mind on Ywaine. And so after Merlin had helped her down the castle wall and her feet had touched the ground, she walked quickly away from him.

Arthur had managed to get three horses, including one that had been wandering in the woods. Not wanting to ride with Merlin, Morgana hurried over to Sir Leon and his horse. "You don't mind, do you?" she asked Sir Leon, knowing perfectly well that he wouldn't mind at all. And she was right. He helped her onto the horse behind him and that was that.

And so, they rode away from the condemned castle where they had been unknowingly prisoners. They rode hard and fast, further from Camelot. They didn't quite know which direction they should be heading in, only that any place was better than where they had been.

The only problem now was that they had no idea where to begin looking for Ywaine. And Morgana felt almost crooked and un-proportional, feeling like she had to avoid one of her good friends – Merlin – to accomplish the task of finding her son.

A/N: I am so sorry it has taken me SO long to update. I went through some writer's block, on top of a bit of laziness and a lot of absolute excitement over the last Harry Potter movie and an amazing vacation to my favorite place ever, Disney World. But I will try not to let too much time pass between updates again, even though school starts in less than a week. So, I hope this chapter makes sense. At first, I didn't like the idea of Morgana joking with Merlin while escaping the castle, especially with her baby missing. But I felt it was necessary, because that way, she would realize that Merlin has a powerful effect on her AND that she has to stay away from him (which we don't want :) ).