A/N: Hello everyone. Here is the new chapter. Must say it was a rather difficult one to write and I had a lot of help from my beta reader, so a thank you for her. So I hope you like it and please tell me what you thought of it.
xxx
Merlin stared at the fallen leaves as he walked through the forest, autumn was starting early this year and it had already colored most of the trees. It wasn't the first time he walked through this forest at this time of year, he just loved the feeling. There was always a hint of magic spread through the forest, even when the magic was partly tainted with darkness.
Just as he walked to edge of the woods he noticed a little bird eating some breadcrumbs. He frowned, what were breadcrumbs doing this deep in the forest... no better question: What are breadcrumbs doing in a forest?
He glanced around seeing that this was the end of the trail, his eyes shifted slightly to a little house not far from him and he thought that he heard soft cries coming from inside the cottage.
A slight frown spread over his face as he turned his head back to the forest. There was some dark energy in the deeper part of the woods, something that caused shivers to spread through his whole body, but at the same time it drew him towards the darkness.
He made his way into the deepest part of the forest as he followed the magic, but as he came closer he finally realized what was hidden between the trees. Somewhere in this forest lived a witch.
It was two hours later that he found the source of the magic. A little house made of candy. He gaped at it, who in the world would make a house of sweets? He carefully brushed over the walls. But just as he did this he heard a loud yell from inside and he stumbled backwards.
But the yell wasn't because of him, so he shifted back to the wall slowly walked around the house, staring through the windows as he did. The rooms inside weren't much different from the outside, the house was filled with furniture made of candy.
He walked around the back, he had that gut feeling that this wasn't the best place to be. At the last window he could hear voices coming from inside.
'Please, don't hurt my brother!' It was a small voice filled with fear.
A loud laugh was the answer to that plea. 'Don't talk, just do exactly what I say and go get water.' It was clearly a woman that belonged to that voice. 'And you boy, go sit next to the cooking pot.'
Sobs started as he heard soft footfalls make their way to the door. A young girl walked outside, her eyes red from crying and a bucket in her hands as she made her way to the well.
Merlin narrowed his eyes, he had to save these two children. He ran after her, making sure that he wasn't noticed by the woman as he lay his hand on the little girl's shoulder. She let out a soft yell as she spun around, staring at him with big deer coloured eyes. 'W-who are you?'
He placed his finger over his lips as he tried to tell her to be quiet. 'I'm here to help you. Tell me, what's your name?'
The little brunette gave him a quick nod. 'Gretel.' She said as another sob left her lips. 'The witch is planning to eat me and my brother.' She whispered to him.
His eyes grew wide, who in their right mind would ever eat children? 'It's going to be okay, I won't let her hurt you... But I need your help, I need you to be brave for me. You have to distract her as I free your brother. Can you do that for me?'
She gave him another nod and they quickly made their way back to the cottage. Gretel was carrying the water bucket as she walked into the house, Merlin followed shortly after.
Merlin eyed the room, the witch did not even notice him as he sneaked towards the boy. The chubby boy was chained and small tears ran over his cheeks. The warlock placed his hand on the boy's mouth, preventing him from calling out. 'Shh... everything is fine, I'm here to help.' It took the boy a moment to recover from his fear before giving the warlock a soft nod. The raven let his hand reach for the chain, eyes glowing gold as he burned through the metal. He turned back to the little boy, staring deep into his brown eyes. 'Go outside and I will go and get your sister.' The boy didn't need to hear that another time and ran outside.
The warlock crept towards the witch and the sister. Gretel was nervously trying to distract the old woman. 'I don't understand what you want me to do?'
The witch's eye twitched as she snarled. 'Put the dough into the oven to bake bread!'
Gretel didn't look the witch in the eyes. 'Can you show me?'
The ugly witch let out another growl as she leaned down to place the dough in the oven. The girl turned to look at her savior and Merlin quickly came closer to her, but the witch was quicker and came out of the stove.
The girl reacted in instinct and pushed the witch back into the stove, holding her down as the witch started to scream. Merlin pulled the girl away, no child should have to do such a thing, and he pushed the ugly woman further into the stove and closed the door. He heard the woman scream and quickly placed his hands over Gretel's ears as he buried her head in his chest.
The witch kept screaming as the fire ate her flesh. One last growl before everything went silent.
He quickly turned Gretel away from the furnace and walked outside. Her brother ran towards them and embraced his sister.
An hour later the two children were fast asleep, tired from all the events that had happened. He stared at the both of them, a gentle smile spread over his face. They had been really, truly brave, especially the little girl, not that he knew her otherwise. The children were without a doubt Gwen and Elyan
The warlock smiled and stood up from the log he was sitting on, he felt that he needed to do something else for them. He sank to the ground not far from the children, speaking words of the old religion and small colored stones rose from the ground.
He watched them for the rest of the night, enchanting them to give the children happy dreams. It was the boy who first woke up, letting out a loud yawn before he remembered the events from last night. Big deer brown eyes shot around, his eyes coming to rest on the warlock as small tears dropped from the boy's eyes. 'W-who are you?'
Merlin gave him a gentle smile. 'My name is Merlin and you?'
'Hansel...' The boy glanced at his sister. 'You saved us?'
Merlin grinned. 'Partly, your sister was the one that pushed the witch into the stove.' Hansel shivered slightly. 'Why were the two of you with her?'
The boy's head dropped. 'Our father... our stepmother forced him to leave us in the woods, because we didn't have enough food at home... We wandered through the forest until we found the witch's house and she captured us.'
'I see.'
Gretel woke up soon after and they all ate some breakfast before making their way back to Hansel and Gretel's home. At first the two children didn't want Merlin to bring them home as they feared that their stepmother would send them away again, but after some reassuring words from the raven they started their journey home. Just as they reached their home he stopped the two children. 'Before you go I want to give you two something. 'He handed them the little bag of gems. 'Now go see your father.'
The two children thanked him before running off, hugging the man that walked outside when he heard the shouts of his children. The man's eyes lit up with joy and tears formed in the corners as he embraced his children.
Merlin gave them one last look, smiling at the happy family reunion, before walking back into the forest.
