A/N: Oh wow. I'm sorry for the long wait... (long for me) I was caught up with my Uncle's wedding which actually took me three days to recover from, plus I'm doing swing shifts, 6am-6pm at work. My feet actually still hurt from dancing at the wedding and I can't speak my voice is so hoarse and summer is not being nice to me. I'm actually lying in bed trying to sleep when I thought, I'm going to be working 12hr shifts tomorrow, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and won't be able to upload until Monday at the latest so, I had this chapter written but hadn't put the Old English in it or edited it so it's 1:30 in the morning and I'm doing it now. I would love to reply to all your reviews tonight but for the first time, I'm so sleepy I can't. Plus, I start work in five and a half hours... BUT, if I can lift my head during my lunch break, I'll reupload this chap with review replies and you guys can read them on Monday when I upload chap27... I will definitely reply.

A Curse Upon Your Motherland

Three nights earlier…

Nimueh was standing by her scrying bowl, underneath the Isle of the Blessed. The chambers in which she sat in were ones where men and women of the Old Religion had gathered for functions and banquets.

Many had forgotten that the Isle had been a refuge for all magic users, a home and their kingdom. Instead of King's, they had Priests and Priestesses, man and woman equal amongst them. Instead of servants to nobility, they had servants to the Gods. Rank existed but none were treated as lesser, one simply had to respect and follow the words of the Elders.

Magic was ageist and based on talent. Nimueh was highly regarded in her time, despite her youth but her power and magic came at a cost.

Nimueh had to give up on all thoughts of love and companionship and she had to give up her true love. Her Ector.

"Nimueh?" Morgause came out of her hiding spot amongst the shadows and glided over to her mentors side. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"There isn't anyone powerful enough to stop us… yet." she added absently, a small frown on her face as she thought of Emrys.

"Yet?"

"Do not worry. He his nothing but a child." A harsh cry made both the women turn and the small child, Morgause's son had fallen over.

"Take care of him." Nimueh said, turning back to her scrying bowl. Morgause nodded and turned to watch over her son. It took so long for Nimueh to gather everything she needed, but finally she had the last piece of the puzzle to make Uther suffer.

It was Sidhe staff, a magical object that increased powers exponentially. Nimueh waved it over the scrying bowl and pulled back to see her spell at work. The image in the bowl changed to the ground near the edge of Camelot's borders.

It was a large hill, or so it seemed, but straight down the middle was a sharp unnatural decline that looked as though the world had once been cracked open straight down the middle. Local's named the hill The Sleeping Crevice so long ago that no one knew why anymore. It had taken Nimueh sometime to find the hill and now that she had she had only needed the Sidhe magic to open the crack in the earth one more time.

She turned her head to Morgause. "I will return."

"But–"

"Stay here and keep hidden." Nimueh commanded Morgause over her shoulder, then, with a quick spell, found herself standing on top of the hill she had just been looking over.

She waved her the staff over the earth, just to make sure she was standing on the correct hallowed ground then started chanting. "Tobregdan slæpléas démones. Níedhæs áne mé and áræme fram þín carcernþéostru." The world below her fractured in the crevice, the earth splitting apart with a thundering crack that could be heard for miles. It woke the nearby village from their slumber and they all startled fearfully as a thin black smoke roiled out from below.

Nimueh watched as hands of only skin and bone curled over the dirt and started tearing at roots. She refused to bow to down assist, fearful of the power the ancient earth demon possessed, but not enough to summon it.

As the body ripped itself out of the ground, its gaunt face appeared somehow human, yet not quite so. It was riddled with age and time, but young. It's eyes were white blind but all seeing. It's body broad and powerful yet frail and meagre. The demon could not be cut down by the strongest of men but was staggered under the light winds.

Nimueh watched carefully as restlessness quivered around him, in the trees and even in the blades of grass around his feet. "You summoned me, Nimueh." he hissed and crackled, broken and rotted teeth showing as he twisted his head to a sharp angle. "What do you wish?"

"For you to give me the Breaker of Dreams." she said easily. "So I can have all of Camelot at my mercy."

He twisted his head to the side, staring blankly and intently miraculously at the same time. "To create such a powerful spell, you must bind it to a living host and all living hosts are mortal and can fall."

"Not the one I have in mind." Nimueh's lip twisted up into a grim smile. "I simply need the sigil, Morpheus. You are in my debt, remember this."

He nodded and held out his hand in front of him, digging his fingers into his own rigid palms. The air shivered and erupted in delight, expanding from underneath his fingernails and spreading out into dark shadows that whipped around and burnt a to an ink black scrawl mid air. "It will take three nights to spread over the entirety of Camelot. In a fortnight, it will encompass all of Albion. Only you can break the spell and control whom it effects. But beware. People shall be driven to madness and death."

Nimueh smirked and entrapped the sigil onto her palm, ready to summon the host for her plans and brand him with the curse. "That's kind of the point."

The demon rolled out his shoulders and stood up tall. "If we are done?" And without waiting for further instruction, he disappeared in a whirl of dust and dirt, sweeping off on the winds and into the distance.

She turned her head to the north and smirked. "Now to wake the sleeping giant."

Rowan sat in Gaius's chambers, surrounded by Arthur, Uther, Merlin, two members of the Council Arthur couldn't quite remember the names of and Sir Walden, the strong and silent knight who had stood by Uther since before he was King.

Emmet, Rowan's younger brother, was laying asleep on one cot and the girl, Renata, was in Merlin's room. "It came from no where." Rowan said, staring stonily at the ground. "This… plague. It seeped into the earth. We could see it ripple through the grass and we thought it was strange but had no idea what to do. But then, the night came and not one of us could fall asleep."

Gaius leant forward, wrapping the bandage around Rowan's bleeding arm tighter. "The entire village was awake?"

Rowan nodded slowly. "I tried making potions to cause sleep, tried remedies but… nothing. Eventually it was dawn and everyone was tired but work had to be done.

"I tried all day to find a cure, but nothing. Emmet and I planned to ride out straight away but then…" He closed his eyes tight, pain evident on his features. "Mortgah came."

Everyone in the room flinched but Merlin and he shot Arthur a confused look but he was staring intently at Rowan. "We have no idea what we did. We've never given him any reason to detest us before but he came and he ransacked our village. Destroyed us. My father sent us to fetch help from the king and we found Renata bloody and beaten and couldn't just leave her. I'm the town physician. Emmet is my apprentice. The three of us rode through the night until we got to Camelot and along the way, we saw the ripple in the grass. As soon as we passed it, Renata fell asleep and only Emmet and I have managed to just keep awake."

The man did look exhausted, eyes bruised and face sunken. "I'm afraid no one in our village will be able to sleep still and with everyone so exhausted, Mortgah will slaughter them all."

Gaius bowed his head slightly as Uther gained a thoughtful face. "This… ripple. You believe it is coming towards Camelot?"

"Most definitely. Camelot is far north from my village. It started in the south and has been moving towards your city ever since."

Uther looked to Gaius. "What do you believe this is? And what does Mortgah have to do with this all?"

Walden stepped forward. "If I may, sire. Mortgah is supposed to live in the mountains towards the north. For him to specifically go after their village…"

"We have no history with the giant." Rowan snapped quickly and Merlin's ears pulled back. He tried to catch Arthur's eye after he heard the word, 'giant' but the prince was looking anywhere but him it seemed. "He came from nowhere to kill us for no reason, bearing a brand of some sort."

"A brand?" Gaius interrupted quickly, more than likely to distract Uther from Rowan's disrespect. "What sort of brand?"

"I could draw it, if you wish, Physician Gaius." he said more respectfully, and Uther's face pinched. That's why he doesn't like Rowan… he shows more respect to Gaius than Uther, Merlin thought.

"That would be most helpful, Rowan." Gaius smiled and looked to Merlin pointedly. He quickly got up and fetched a parchment and a stick of charcoal. Rowan looked appreciative as the new apprentice handed the equipment over to the old one and the two caught each other's eyes and smiled.

"In the meantime, Arthur, Walden, get together a small group of knights head to the south and investigate." Uther nodded to his son and the knight and the council members nodded in agreement. "You are to leave at dawn."

"Yes sire." both replied and everyone bowed except Rowan as the king left. The council members and Walden left soon after, leaving only Arthur.

He moved behind Merlin and briefly looked at what Rowan was drawing. "Merlin, have my horses ready and bag prepared by morning." Merlin nodded as he sat back beside Rowan, watching as he started to draw. Arthur sighed heavily, "Now Merlin."

He looked up then nodded. "Alright, alright. Not like I've got a bed to sleep in anyway." He added the last part glaring at Arthur to make him feel bad for not letting him sleep.

Arthur made a face then said, "You can attend to me after you've finished packing the bags." he growled and Merlin just rolled his eyes. It was the dead of the night and both were quite tired as it was and they both had a tendency to snap at each other when they lacked sleep.

Arthur left shortly after his commands and Merlin started packing for the trip, starting with the medical things, as they were the closest. Then he packed bedrolls and water skins and finally kept a spare bag for the food he'd collect in the morning from the kitchens. He'd have to wake up early for the horses, but as it was passed midnight, he knew he should go to Arthur first.

"I'll be back, Gaius." Merlin called out. The physician just waved him off, too busy watching what Rowan sketched.

He stared for a moment, then made his way across the dark castle to Arthur's chambers. When he opened the door, Arthur was already asleep on his chair, his head nodded off to one side and his mouth hanging open. Merlin frowned and sighed, walking over to Arthur and shaking him lightly. "Come on Arthur. You've got to get into bed before you sleep."

Arthur grumbled slightly then looked up at Merlin. "If you don't have anywhere to sleep, you can stay here." he mumbled as he stood.

Merlin realised exactly why Arthur had asked him to attend him and smiled. He hadn't slept there in months and Merlin had actually started to forget about the times he and Arthur had stayed up all night chatting away about nothing in the room. "Really?"

"Mmhmm." Arthur muttered before crashing face first into his pillows. Merlin snorted and rolled his eyes. He yanked Arthur's boots off then rolled him over until he was in bed properly. The prince had his eyes closed but wasn't completely asleep.

"Arthur…" Merlin hesitated then went on. "Arthur is Mortgah really a… a giant?"

After a moment, Arthur opened his eyes and stared at him. "Don't worry. You're not coming tomorrow."

Merlin looked surprised. "What?"

Arthur let out a long breath then sat up on his elbows. "Giants are dangerous. More dangerous than you could imagine. They eat humans and their skins are impervious to most weapons. I can't risk having you there. You'd get yourself eaten and then I'd have to explain to Gaius why I brought you home in a bread roll."

Merlin shivered at the thought of being eaten and then shook his head. "But, I can help."

"Since when have you helped in battle?"

"I'm a physicians apprentice. If someone gets hurt, I can help heal them."

The prince's face changed and Merlin knew he was considering it. Then after a moment, he shook his head. "It's too dangerous."

"Arthur…"

"Go to sleep, Merlin." Arthur commanded, dragging the covers over him. "Or I'll make you muck out my stables, now, in the dead of the night."

"You're not that cruel." Merlin argued.

"They're particularly dirty." Arthur lied, opening his eyes again. Now he looked serious and his eyes held a deep fear behind them. "Too many people would kill me if you got hurt. I can't have that guillotine hanging over my head. It's too much of a distraction, having to worry about how Gaius will poison me should anything befall you or how Gwen would probably guilt me by walking around looking like she got kicked. Worse still is that I can hardly imagine the punishment Morgana would concoct. Much to worrisome to even think of it."

Deciding to drop the argument for now, Merlin kicked off his own shoes and fell onto the other side of the bed. "Fine. I need sleep for now, anyway." Merlin muttered, curling up on the bed and wrapping his arms under the pillow.

Arthur watched him for a moment then yawned and turned over, closing his eyes and falling into the land of dreams seconds later.

Gaius watched as Rowan sketched and the longer the younger man's thin hands moved across the page, the more dread Gaius felt. Once he was finished, the old man paled and stared at the symbol, not quite believing. "What is it?" Rowan asked, a small frown on his face.

"You've had a long night." Gaius patted his back. "You should sleep, my boy."

Rowan smiled at the familiar gesture. "I've missed you Gaius. I've missed all of Camelot."

Gaius sighed, "Camelot has missed you too."

"Uther hasn't."

"You haven't missed Uther." he countered.

Rowan chuckled. "That is true." The laughter died on his lips after a moment then he tapped the drawing. "This is bad, isn't it?"

The sigil that Rowan had drawn was far too familiar for Gaius's liking. He had seen versions of it before in old books, though he wasn't certain. He fingered the sigil and sighed. "I'm not sure. Is this exactly what you saw?"

Rowan nodded. "You know me, Gaius. I have a perfect memory."

Gaius couldn't disagree. Rowan was able to read a book and recite it word for word years later, seeing the pages clearly in his head. "Come." Gaius beckoned him and the two went over to the books on the walls. Rowan watched as Gaius pointed to a few and Rowan climbed up a few stools to retrieve them, handing them down to Gaius. He pointed at the X with bulbs on the end in Rowan's image. "That is the symbol of the sleep goddess, Ibormeith." he compared the two and then showed the next symbol within Rowan's drawings. It was a circle that encompassed have the cross and had its own line through it. "This is the symbol that bars magic. The last mark is this one." He showed the final design, a thunderbolt looking design with two bulbs on either end of it. "That is the design of the demon Morpheus, the enemy of Ibormeith. It makes the spell cast more powerful.

"He is the only one able to stop dreams, or so the legend goes."

"So these symbols combined are the reason why we couldn't sleep." Rowan established. "They're a curse bound to the Giant."

"Yes." Gaius said, his expression clearly worried. "To remove the curse…"

"We'd have to kill the giant." Rowan muttered and looked back down at the design.

Gaius tapped the page nervously then looked up at Rowan with a smile. "You need rest. I will check on your brother."

Rowan nodded and went over to where he knew the bedrolls were and set himself out by the fire, falling asleep far too quickly for Gaius's liking, though he was grateful of it all the same.

Because it was only two hours later, whilst Gaius was searching and praying that the mark belonged to someone else, that he felt a disturbance in the ground beneath him. As he did, all three of his patients woke up and Rowan flung his covers from his body and crossed to the window. "There!" he pointed accusingly and when Gaius reached him he saw the thin black ripple that he had spoken about, ripple straight to the North. "By dawn, it will have the rest of Camelot under its spell." Rowan whispered and as the darkness passed beneath them, the citadel woke up.

A/N: Short, I know... but just, trust me :)

Translation:

Wake Sleepless demon. Obey only me and rise from your prison.

I love Merlin. I've been obsessed by Arthurian legends since I was a kid and my dad used to read them to me as bedtime stories... I'm just upset about the whole thing... And now it's 2am... I fell asleep twice in the last 30 mins trying to go over this, so excuse the mistakes. I'm literally writing in my sleep.

Good night everyone. And happy thanksgiving to my American reviewers for last week! And let me wake up to some reviews please and thanks (positive or negative, I swing either way)? Secretly in love with you all,

ithoughtslashmeanthorror