A/N: Hi everyone! So I finally have another chapter written for this story! And it only took...yeah, way too long. Sorry about that. But this past month has been very...busy...to say the least. School has been demanding nearly all of my time, and finding a few moments to write has proven to be more difficult than I had anticipated, what with so many tests to study for and chemistry lab reports to write.

I've actually been working on this chapter for days, scribbling frantically in my notebook when I had a few minutes in between classes. Or during my two-hour break when I could no longer stand to look at my anatomy notes. And I finally, finally managed to finish it up tonight. I really wish it could have been longer, but at this point? I'm just glad I'm getting something out. Enjoy!

Merlin considered it to be something of a small miracle that he, Anna, and Nicholas managed to reach the physician's chambers without running into anyone. Because no doubt there would have been questions asked as to why there was a young girl and boy covered in blood. Not to mention the inquiries as to what Merlin was doing with them. And, depending on who was asking the questions, what he was doing in Camelot in the first place. The whole thing could have resulted in one huge mess.

Of course, when Merlin then went to actually open the door to the physician's chambers, only to discover that Gaius really was out on his rounds, he was unable to help the sense of wariness that immediately washed over him. Things had gone far too smoothly up until this point. Something was just bound to go wrong.

But he couldn't think about that now. Ushering Anna and Nicholas into the room, Merlin quickly shifted into "physician mode", as Gaius so often did, and led Anna over to the table, where the young girl sat down on the bench without a word and stared determinedly at the ground.

Merlin took less than a minute to gather the supplies that he needed to treat Anna's wounds. He dumped the armful of salves and bandages he was carrying on the table and then grabbed a bucket of water and some cloths so that he could begin to wipe away the blood.

Nicholas hovered awkwardly in the background, twisting his bloodied hands together nervously as he watched Merlin work. His eyes darted around the room, looking for a way to help. He hated feeling useless.

"Nicholas?" Merlin said finally, after several long moments had passed.

Nicholas' eyes immediately snapped up to meet Merlin's.

"You should wash yourself up," Merlin stated, nodding towards the boy's hands.

Nicholas' gaze dropped to his red palms and he nodded. "Right."

"There's soap and some more water over in the corner there," Merlin continued, pointing in the general direction of where the supplies could be found.

Nicholas, grateful to have something to do, nodded and walked over to the corner that Merlin had indicated, and proceeded to wash his hands with the soap and water that he found there.

Meanwhile, as the redness on Anna's arms was gradually washed away, Merlin was finally able to get a better look at the girl's wounds. There were several long cuts littered across both of Anna's arms, and Merlin found that he couldn't help but to stare down at them for a few seconds, as his mind worked furiously.

Finally, he looked up to try and meet the girl's eyes. But Anna was still refusing to look anywhere but at the floor. Suppressing a small sigh, Merlin went to work, examining the cuts and then rubbing some of Gaius' salve into each of them. Merlin knew that it must sting terribly. But Anna didn't even flinch as Merlin administered the treatment.

Fortunately, Merlin soon realized, none of the cuts were very deep, and a wave of relief washed over him at this small bit of good news.

But then the feeling disappeared almost as soon as it had come to be replaced with that overwhelming sense of danger that had been plaguing Merlin's mind for days now. It served as a reminder that although Anna was okay this time, she was by no means safe.

"None of us are," Merlin thought to himself.

"Will she be okay?" Nicholas' voice cut through the silence at last. He had finished washing his hands and was now making his way back across the room to stand beside Anna.

"Yes," Merlin replied, reaching for the bandages. "She was very lucky. The damage isn't nearly as bad as it could have been."

"Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be," he amended his statement silently to himself.

"Oh good," Nicholas breathed out, the relief clear in his voice.

Merlin looked back to Anna then, who had still not uttered a single word since Merlin had discovered her and Nicholas in that storage room. He finally allowed a small sigh to escape him as he leaned back to get a better look at the young girl before him.

"Anna?" he asked gently.

Anna still did not look up. But she did manage to turn her head slightly in Merlin's direction, a movement which Merlin considered to be a small victory.

"Who did this to you?" he asked at last.

Not surprisingly, there was no response.

"Anna," Merlin tried again. "I want to help you. But I'm going to need you to tell me what happened."

There was a brief pause before Anna finally shook her head.

Frustrated, Merlin turned to Nicholas. "Do you know what happened?" he asked hopefully.

But Nicholas just shook his head. "No. I was just walking down the corridor when she came out from another passageway, already covered in blood. I tried to get her to go to the physician's chambers right away, but she refused. Then when we heard footsteps coming down the corridor, she panicked and so we hid in the storage room. We were only there for a minute or so before you found us."

Merlin nodded before turning back to the young girl once more. "No one is going to hurt you, Anna. I'll make sure of that. But I need to know who did this."

Anna began to wring her hands together nervously in her lap. "I can't," she whispered.

"Why not?" Merlin asked, his voice gentle and soothing. "Were you threatened?"

Anna closed her eyes as she absently began clenching and unclenching the fingers of her right hand into a fist.

"I should go," she said, once again speaking in a whisper.

Merlin opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Anna, who suddenly sounded nervous.

"Somebody's coming," she said quietly, immediately jumping to her feet.

Merlin strained his ears to listen and sure enough, there was the unmistakable sound of footsteps on the stairs outside the room.

Nicholas frowned. "Who is it? I don't hear anything."

"Nobody can know about this," Anna said, her voice taking on a somewhat determined quality.

"It's probably just Gaius," Merlin said, standing up and moving quickly across the chamber towards his bedroom, motioning for Anna and Nicholas to follow him. "If it is, I should be able to get rid of him easily enough. We'll stay in my room until we know for sure."

With that, Anna and Nicholas hurried after Merlin, and no sooner had the three of them piled through the door to Merlin's room and closed it behind them with a snap, than the door to the chambers burst open, and someone entered.

Merlin put an eye to one of the cracks in the door to see who had entered the chambers. To his surprise, it wasn't Gaius.

It was Gwaine.

"Gaius?" Gwaine called out to the room, even though he could plainly see that it was empty. The knight glanced around the room for a few seconds before cursing under his breath and turning to leave.

But not before noticing the bloody rags still sitting on the bench at the table. Merlin silently cursed himself for not even thinking to get rid of them.

Gwaine frowned. "What-?"

But he didn't get to finish his sentence, for there were more footsteps and then Percival hurried into the room.

"He's not here?" Percival asked, slightly out of breath.

"No," Gwaine answered. "He's probably down in the lower town. We need to find him quickly."

Percival nodded. "When I left, it didn't look good. There's little chance of him making it."

"And Arthur?"

Merlin's stomach dropped at those words, his heart beginning to pound faster in his chest.

"He insists that he's fine, although I noticed that he winces anytime he moves his arm too much," Percival answered.

Gwaine nodded as they headed for the door. "Let's just work on finding Gaius, shall we?"

Merlin saw Percival nodding his head in agreement, and then they were gone, not even bothering to close the door behind them as they hurried away.

Merlin felt sick. Now what had happened? Someone was hurt. Badly hurt. And Arthur had somehow been involved. Without thinking, he wrenched the door to his room open and rushed down the short flight of steps into the main chamber.

Merlin was halfway across the room before he suddenly stopped and turned back around. Anna and Nicholas were standing in the doorway of his bedroom, staring at him nervously.

"I have to go," he told them hurriedly. "Just...stay here. Both of you. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Nicholas nodded at Merlin's instructions, but Anna remained completely still.

Merlin sighed and turned away again. And then he was running out of the room.

It was only when Merlin reached the bottom of the first staircase that he realized that he had no idea where he was supposed to go.

"Alright, Prat," he mumbled under his breath, trying to ease some of the fear that had settled in his chest. "What have you gotten yourself into this time?"

A/N: So what did you guys think? Your comments and reviews are always appreciated. I love reading them so much! Unfortunately, I really can't make any promises as to when the next chapter will be out, but as always, I will update as soon as I am able. Until next time! :)