Arthur had fallen asleep, happy that at least some of the manor was looking better than it had in a while, when he heard a noise. He sprung up out of his bed, his eyes wide and searching the moonlit room when they happened to land on the witch.

"You remember that treat I told you about?" she asked him, a bored tone in her voice. She was investigating her finger nails as if she had nothing better to do than sneak into Arthur's chambers at night.

"What of it?" Arthur asked. "Besides, I don't think I want a treat from someone like you," he said, although he relaxed slightly when it seemed the witch wasn't there to hurt him. Ha, that was what his life was now, relaxing around witches instead of killing them. Next thing you know, he'd been in love with them.

"Oh, I think you'll want this one," the witch said, clearly implying something. Then her pretty eyes clouded over in confusion. "Do you no longer view the world through the first gift I gave you?"

Arthur rolled his eyes at her. "I will not be dragged into your insane mirror, nor do I want your 'gifts'. Now leave me," he said sternly.

The witch pursed her lips before a smile came to her face. "Very well then. I guess I'll take care of the servant," she said, taking two steps towards the door.

Without knowing why, Arthur's heart picked up and his feet followed the witch towards the door. "What servant? What are you talking about?" Arthur asked, moving forward to grip the witch.

Morgause easily stepped away from Arthur, still nonchalantly inspecting her nails. "You know? The serving boy who lives in Camelot. Oh, what was his name? Hawk, Raven…?"

"Merlin?!" Arthur nearly shouted, unashamed of how desperate his voice had sounded.

The blonde witch snapped her fingers together and pointed at Arthur. "That's his name. I knew he was a weird bird," she said, her witchty tone almost implying something. Her face suddenly took on a serious look and she stepped up to Arthur, no longer the tricky witch and instead a beautiful and powerful solider. The change was so sudden that it almost caused Arthur's head to spin.

"You should have kept viewing to your heart's desires, Arthur. There are many secrets between you two after all, what's one more?" Her face became even grimmer and her eyes flashed gold. "Your little serving boy seems to be even more curious than either one of us could have ever guessed. Well, that and trouble prone."

"What are you talking about, witch," Arthur growled, his red eyes flaring just as bright as Morgause's gold ones.

"It would appear that your little bird has managed to have another run in with a couple of sorcerers….. Again. A couple of sorcerers who are planning something you should be aware of by the way.

"Anyways, let's just say that they attacked your little bird and now he's managed to escape. He's making his way here right now as we speak," Morgause finished, looking quite smug with herself.

Arthur's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. "Here? Right now!? When did he leave?" Arthur shouted, pushing past Morgause and out into the hallway. Merlin was injured and could be here any minute and yet Morgause was wasting his time by talking around in circles.

"There's no need for you to rush, he won't be here for hours," Morgause reassured.

To Arthur it was anything but reassuring. Why would it take Merlin so long to get there? Was he so injured that it would take him that much longer to ride there? "What, why?" Arthur asked.

"He's on foot."

Arthur felt his anger surge again. Why could this witch just never speak plainly and let Arthur know what was going on straight away. What would happen if Merlin was injured too badly? It was a long walk to the manor, one that Arthur himself wouldn't want to walk, but especially not while he was injured.

Arthur sprinted down the stairs and out of the manor towards the stables, determined to get to Merlin before anything else could happen.

Morgause watched him from the upstairs window, her red lips twitching upward in a smirk. Her glinting eyes roamed over to the side table next to the bed, quickly and easily spotting the helmet that the prince had been using to conceal himself from Merlin with.

"Now, we're getting to the real you, Arthur Pendragon."

XXX

Arthur's horse was rather annoyed at being woken up in the middle of the night for a run, and it let everything in the area know it by rearing its head and stomping its feet. Arthur could have got to Merlin much faster if he had run, but he had to get Merlin back to the manor somehow, and carrying him wasn't an option.

"You stupid horse, come on!" Arthur said, swinging and tugging the reins to get it moving in the right direction again. The horse shook its head before finally giving in and racing off down the trail that let to Camelot.

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled, hoping that the boy had stayed on the path. If he hadn't and had roamed into the forest it would make this whole thing so much harder.

No answer came, although Arthur hadn't really expected it to. He was still much too close to the manor for Merlin to be around.

Trees whipped by and his horse ran panting as Arthur demanded it get to Merlin as soon as possible. A protective instinct that Arthur didn't even know existed had roared to life inside him and was demanding his attention and all concerning the hapless little servant.

No matter what the protective instinct was coming from (feelings, concern, care) Arthur would ignore it for the moment. There would be plenty of time to ruminate on it once Merlin was safe and back at the manor.

XXX

'Officially hate the dark and tree roots,' Merlin thought as he stumbled yet again face first into the ground. The path he was walking on was filled with hidden tree roots that constantly grabbed at Merlin's boots and threatened to tip his already battered body into the ditch. It was a miracle he'd gotten this far without killing himself.

He figured he was a safe enough distance away from Camelot now; the sprinting he had done earlier at the slightest hint of a noise had helped a lot with that that he might be able to rest.

With one hand he untangled his feet, while with the other he scooted backward, having dropped the ball of light and extinguished it in the fall. Not that it had helped much in the end; he still ended up sprawled on his stomach.

Sighing in frustration, he gave up the attempt to untangle himself and lay back on the road. He knew it wouldn't be too long before he'd have to go, for soon the sun would be shining and traders would be coming down the road. The last thing Merlin wanted to do was survive a kidnapping then get trampled to death by a horse.

Despite the fact that his mind knew this, his body didn't. He could feel his eyes drifting shut, sleep and exhaustion coaxing him into a tired sleep. He tried to keep them open, but they felt like they were glued shut.

That was until he heard the pounding of horse's hooves.

His eyes sprang open and he rolled over onto his side, using his useless arms to push himself into a sitting position, and then to his feet. Exhaustion clung to his heavy limbs and caused him to fall back to the ground.

He needed to get away from the path, where he would be spotted easily, but to do that he would have to make it over the ditch, and he knew that his body was not up for that.

Instead of trying to stand again, he scooted. The ground was rocky and hard and very unforgiving on his sore body, but he kept going until he reached the edge of the road. There he forced his feet over into the ditch and slid down into it.

The ditch wasn't very deep, only about half as tall as Merlin, just being enough for him to crouch down in and hide with the lip of the ditch just right above his head. Branches that had fallen from trees along with all their leaves littered the bottom of the ditch where Merlin was crouching, helping to hide him in the dim light.

The horse's hooves stamped right above him, causing his heart to speed up. He was too tired to call on his magic, just praying to whoever would listen that the rider would go on and leave Merlin alone. His blue eyes slid closed, lassitude filling every part of him. Maybe he could rest down in the ditch and sleep and the finish his journey later.

"Merlin!" a voice called from above. Merlin knew that voice. That was the voice that he had been running to; even if he wasn't sure he could stay once he got there.

The horse stopped somewhere above him, as if the rider was waiting for a response.

'Oh, right,' Merlin thought. Slowly, he shifted himself until he could look up at the tree tops and dark navy blue sky. Licking his lips he prepared to call out.

Before he could he heard the rider hop back on the horse, preparing to leave. Merlin panicked internally, his heart beating even faster. Edward was looking for him, he was the one he had been running to and he was so close yet now he was going miss him simply because he couldn't call out loud enough to be heard before he left.

Merlin tried to call out, but his voice refused to work, barely squeaking out Edward's name, not nearly loud enough to be heard over the rustling of trees and the horse's hooves.

Slowly a trickle of magic filled Merlin at the thought of missing Edward and never making it to the manor. He let his eyes slide closed as he focused on Edward, the person who had not only saved him once, but would hopefully safe him again.

"Merlin?" the lord called, slightly lower than he had before. Merlin could hear him dismount the horse again and walk near the edge of the ditch, sending a few pebbles down on top of Merlin.

"Edward?" he finally asked, craning his neck even further to actually look at the man above him. Before he could even spot him, Edward was down in the ditch with him, his hands assessing every inch of him, concern showing in his red eyes.

Wait….red eyes?

Merlin stared at the man in front of him, the man who had finally taken off his armor. His eyes were red, seeming almost like rubies in the darkness, and half of his face was shinny and scarred as if flames had scorched his face. The hands that were currently running down Merlin's arms in a sort of comforting manner were clawed, a set of claws resembling bears coming out of his fingers. Black, purple, and silver vein looking scars ran over every visible part of his body, causing him to look almost…magical in the moonlight.

Merlin knew his face must have held shock and confusion because when Edward's eyes met his he froze, freezing his hands above Merlin's arms. Edward slowly pulled his hands away from Merlin in a way as if he was showing he meant Merlin no harm.

Merlin already knew that though. He knew for a fact that there was no way Edward would ever do anything to hurt him, although he didn't know exactly how he knew that.

"It's okay Merlin. It's just me, Ar-er-Edward," Edward said, still keeping his hands raised and in sight.

Merlin supposed that Edward was expecting him to run or scream or do anything really, but he was just too tired to and he knew there was nothing to fear from Edward. So even if his face was shocking, he'd remain calm and finally let someone else do everything for him for a moment.

"I know that, you great giant clotpole," Merlin said sleepily. He felt his eyes drift shut and his head tilt back. One of Edward's hands came to rest at the nape of his neck, keeping his head from falling all the way back.

Edward's free hand flitted over his body again, as if he was checking for any lasting damage. Merlin could feel Edward's breath as he leaned in and scrutinized the bloody head would he had sustained from falling down the stairs. Merlin leaned forward toward the warmth, confused as to when the temperature had dropped even lower than before and where all his heat had gone.

Edward backed up a bit, pulling his head away as fast as he could, the reaction leaving Merlin feeling cold and alone. Merlin pried his eyes open, staring into Edward's wide, glowing red eyes.

"What happened to you?" Edward asked. Merlin scrunched his eyes at the lord's voice, still leaning forward to get warm against Edward. The older of the two shifted again, pulling away from Merlin and earning a groan from the exhausted and in pain servant.

"Fell down some stairs," Merlin said, and then laughed as if that was some great inside joke. "Or, I had some help falling down them." Again, another laugh escaped his lips, sending a worried shiver up the lord's spine.

"By who?" Edward asked, placing his hand on Merlin's shoulder to steady him. Edward shook the boy, drawing him back out of his hazy dreamland and demanding an answer.

Merlin shook his head and waved his hands. "Those bandits. Although I guess they weren't really bandits but knights… who had magic," Merlin said, his voice not quite there. It seemed as if his mind was wandering, although where it was trying to wander to he had no clue.

His body suddenly went numb and limp, his shivers even coming to an end as his eyes fell closed one last time and he finally fell into the darkness.

XXX

Sorry it's been taking me so long to update… Like seriously, this is unacceptable.

Although I have been a bit busy getting ready to go to college, such as touring campus and applying and trying to get an incompetent councilor to send my transcript. At this rate I'm never going to get into college!

Sorry for talking about all this and I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, despite the long wait!

Til' Later!