I've been thinking of starting a new story for Merlin - a drabble collection looking at the point of view of each character looking back on events and the choices in their lives during the show now it has sadly come to an end. I wondered if that would be something any of you would be interested in reading? Please let me know :)

Anyway, on with the chapter! Hope you like it, please review :)

Chapter 26

The Desire for Revenge

A few days after Arthur had stormed out of the Great Hall, and escaped into the night with the rain, Merlin dived down behind a bank of grass just on the edge of the wood, fear and panic rising in his chest.

A blinding flash as sunlight reflected off metal, the clinking of armour, the sound of strange voices.

Their hideaway had been found. Merlin was sure these men were Camelot soldiers. Uther had refused to give up the search for Morgana (and no wonder, if truly she was his daughter) and had sent soldiers to the Druid camp again. They should never have stayed. How were they going to get out of this one?

Merlin kept vey still and silent, he wasn't sure how many men were out there, but he could hear two soldiers talking nearby, and listened carefully for their conversation, so fearful he could barely breath.

"This is pointless," one of the soldiers groaned. "This place is deserted, I've gone all around the forest. I haven't even seen a squirrel."

"We chased all life there was out of here the first time we came to this place," said the other soldier, slight bitterness in his voice, "who would want to come back here?"

These soldiers obviously hadn't checked very carefully for any people living in the wood, but for that Merlin was grateful. It seemed both these soldiers were no longer interested in what they had to search for, they had given up the chase long ago.

"Who are we meant to be searching for anyway?" The first one said.

There was a slight clinking of armour, Merlin could picture the second soldier shrugging. "A mysterious young woman, that's all I know. No one seems to know."

"Well, that narrows it down, he could be searching for my sister for all I know," the first one replied sarcastically.

"It's a strange way to look for another wife," added the second soldier, and both of them chuckled.

But their amusement was interrupted by the approach of another soldier. Merlin heard his footsteps and immediately ducked down even lower, but he could hardly see the soldiers through the undergrowth in the first place, he doubted they would be able to spot him. "We have a description of the woman too," said the gruff voice of the third soldier. His stern tone gave Merlin the impression this one was older than the other two, he had more experience at being a soldier and was taking the job seriously. Perhaps we was a Knight. "Slim, pale, green eyes and long dark hair. And I think any woman hiding in the woods is mysterious enough, don't you think?"

"Yes Sir," the two soldiers muttered, their jokes forgotten, although Merlin could imagine the two giving each other doubtful glances. The rough description would not help them motivate finding this woman. But the stern words of the third soldier worried Merlin, clearly not all of Uther's men were prepared to give up the fight.

"I have also spotted footprints," added the third soldier. "What does that tell you?"

"Someone's been here recently, the footsteps could have been made when it rained a few days ago," the first soldier suggested, he sounded slightly annoyed at the fact that their work here clearly wasn't done yet, and they couldn't go home, but at the same time he wanted to impress this superior soldier.

"But they could be ours," added the second one quickly. "We haven't seen anything else that suggests there are people here, or who the footprints could belong too. There's been a lot of rain recently, the earth is still damp, it's easy to create footprints."

The third soldier paused, thinking over these words. He knew both the soldiers had a point, he made his decision. "Look for footprints again, if you find them and they do not belong to a soldier, we investigate the wood further. If not, we must move on."

Merlin had not run so fast in a very long time. Dodging through the trees, sliding across the still damp earth, leaping over roots, the world around him passing in a blur of green and browns as he rushed to find and erase any footprints on the edge of the woods. If the soldiers decide to investigate further, what were the chances of them escaping another brutal killing in these woods?

But Merlin had magic and love for Morgana on his side, while the soldiers had tired feet and heavy armour. A quick spell erased all footprints Merlin found on the edge of the woods and kept his running footsteps silent. He cursed himself for wandering so far away from the camp in the centre of the woods, if he had stayed close there probably wouldn't be any footprints on the edge for the soldiers to find. He could just about hear their voices behind him, murmuring confusion that they were sure they had spotted footprints there, but now they had disappeared. Merlin smiled to himself, his plan was working.

"Well, if we can't find anything, there's no point searching here," said the first soldier matter-of-factly after about half an hour of them looking for the footprints, a hint of hope in his voice that perhaps they could not go back to Camelot. Merlin leaned against a tree trunk, panting heavily from so much running, hoping too they would leave now.

The second soldier agreed with his friend quickly, "I think we'll just be wasting our time if we stay here."

The third soldier paused, thinking over these words. It was true, he hadn't seen any footprints either, and he was getting tired of searching too. "Hmm...well, I suppose we should return to the King, tell him the woman's not here. See what he plans to do next. I don't want to waste any more of my time, and it's getting dark." He replied, he sounded frustrated now, he didn't like wandering around a forest staring at the ground when he should be fighting the enemy on the battle field, and he knew as little about the missing girl as the other soldiers did.

Merlin sighed with relief as he heard the footsteps and the voices of the soldiers fading away as they left the edges of the wood.

Within minutes they had disappeared out of ear and eye shot, and joy leaped in Merlin's heart. Surely Uther wouldn't send soldiers here a third time, if there was no sign of Morgana? At last, perhaps they could escape from the hunt!

Almost laughing with joy and relief, Merlin hurried back to the tent to tell everyone the good news.

But little did he know he was being watched, that he wasn't the only one spying on the soldiers.

"See, I told you she would be here! Uther's men are blind to the obvious, just the same as their King, this is our chance." Creulon said, the bandit whose hand Morgana's hands of fire had burnt. He rubbed them together now with pleasure, ignoring the still niggling pain that came from his injured palm. His eyes glittered with malicious thoughts.

Ymladd, the second bandit who had found himself being dragged across Kingdoms to find this strange girl, sighed with annoyance. "Is it really necessary to put ourselves into so much danger? We've faced enough trouble trying to follow the soldiers and not be caught. These people have magic Creulon, what do we have?"

"The desire for revenge," Creulon growled. It was true, the need to pay the woman and the young man back for what they did that day; killing his fellows, humiliating and injuring him, had taken over every thought in his head. He even dreamed of how he was going to kill them. "We have come so far Ymladd, and you really want to give up? No, there is no giving up now, we have come so close. I will not turn back. We have seen the boy, and where he is, so must be the girl. He thinks he's safe now, but he doesn't know of what other dangers lurk in these trees. They may have magic, but we have determination, anger, and the element of surprise. This is our time to strike."

Ymladd sighed, he wasn't very interested in killing these people, but at the same time he too wanted revenge for what had happened that day, and perhaps once Creulon had had is revenge things could go back to how they were.

"Fine," he muttered.

Creulon missed the bitterness in his voice, as he chuckled. "Good man. At last, vengeance will be mine."

And he slipped into the trees like a snake, followed by Ymladd.