Sorry these updates are taking forever. Arthur's being difficult.
Warnings: This is slash, shounen-ai, whatever. Arthur/Merlin, Merlin/Arthur
Notes: (X) is pov change and or time jump

"Officially asking…?" Merlin frowned as he repeated the words inside his mind. Surely, he'd been mistaken. Arthur was responsible when it came to his princely duties, for the most part. Best to ask to make sure though, because Arthur seemed to have lost his mind since he'd left Camelot. And with everything Merlin had had to endure since they'd met, he might have to be the ruin of Camelot and say yes if Arthur was asking him what he thought he was asking him. "Are you asking to court me?" His cheeks felt warm as the words left his mouth, his heart beating faster, daring his tiny bit of hope to take root yet again.

Arthur nodded. "Yes."

Well, no one ever claimed Arthur was romantic or smart. He was too happy to care though. Arthur, the prat he'd been hoping to be with for years was asking him to start courting. Now Merlin just needed to figure out how to tell Arthur 'No way in hell' without the prince going into a psycho frenzy and burning Ealdor down around them in retaliation.

Not that he didn't want to say yes, he loved Arthur, but the number of problems that would occur if they started courting far outweighed any justification, he could think of to selfishly accept. Like Merlin's imprisonment for example. And then his death once Uther realized Arthur wouldn't break it off after he'd imprisoned Merlin. Oh yes, and the complete destruction of Camelot after Uther had him executed. The end of all magic. The unraveling of this supposed grand prophecy about Arthur being some great king.

Arthur looked so determined though and Merlin recognized the fear hidden behind that determination. If he didn't do this the right way, Arthur would hate him for the rest of his life, making protecting him that much harder. If he didn't imprison him on the spot until he said yes anyway or something equally crazy. He was Uther's son and sometimes it was hard to tell just how far Arthur would go sometimes.

"Why aren't you saying yes and hugging me already?" His voice was shaking, desperation tinting his words, despite the confidence his posture showed.

Well, someone is sure of himself. He was going to have to lead Arthur to the proper answer, gently. "Arthur… I don't think you quite understand what you're asking."

The prince scoffed. "Yes, I do. I have no interest in any of the girls my father has been parading around the castle. All I can think of is how annoying they are and how much time they take away from us being together."

Yep, hasn't thought this through at all. "Do you know why no one gives Uther any trouble for being with Gaius?"

"I didn't even know they were together." He sat down next to Merlin, the duck hissing at him in warning. "If you don't get that thing under control, I'm going to have it for dinner tonight."

"Arthur," Merlin sighed, moving the duck away from him. "No one questions Uther because he already has an heir and Gaius is not officially considered his lover. Gaius isn't entitled to anything. His position is and will remain the court physician. Even if your father passes away, Gaius gets nothing, not even a guarantee that he will remain court physician. It helps that he's a really good doctor too. No one can claim the only reason he has his current position is because he's sleeping with Uther."

"That's dumb, if my father really cared for Gaius, he'd make sure nothing ever happened to him, especially after he's gone."

"That's not how this works." And he knew because he'd questioned Gaius at length how his relationship with Uther was possible. Once he'd gotten all the details, trying to get Arthur's attention had seemed pointless again. It wasn't like he wanted the official title of 'Arthur's lover'. What he didn't want though was to share him and if he had to, why bother? As much as he cared for Arthur, loved him, he couldn't accept the idea of renting Arthur out to a princess so Camelot could obtain an heir.

Arthur grabbed his hand. "So, explain it to me."

Jeez. Wasn't this supposed to be Uther's job to explain to his son the birds and the bees and political expectations? Arthur had been nice enough to hold his hand though, so he might as well return the gesture and explain. "Fine. You're the Prince of Camelot."

"…Yes."

"And as the prince, you're expected to act in a certain way, perform certain princely duties."

"And I do," he said, flatly. "All the time. I listen to my father, I participate in duels, in the border patrols. I get dragged on quests and missions. I'm here right now to help you kill this vrykolakas, aren't I?"

Don't strangle him. "And we did not ask for your help," he said, forcing his voice not to rise. "But as the prince and eventual king, your duties go beyond what you listed."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Yes, be fair, protect the kingdom. Win all wars—"

"An heir Arthur," he screamed, the prince leaning back and staring at him wide eyed. "You have to have a son with some other royal to keep the Pendragon bloodline pure!" How did Uther forget to mention obtaining an heir 101?! He'd been shoving princess after princess through the castle, all of them of elite status, and all of them with land that Uther wanted to become part of Camelot for the last six months! Shouldn't Arthur know why?!

Arthur seemed to consider this. "... So, I just have to get married and have a child before you'll agree to be with me?"

Merlin stared at him, his energy draining out of him. Why was Arthur so stupid sometimes? "Sure. I mean, yes. Go get married, make sure you have a male heir, and we'll talk about this again in about twenty years." He should have managed to fulfil the prophecy by then, right? After he saved Arthur for the last time, he could run off and disappear into the night, never to be heard from again, as far as Arthur was concerned anyway. Or I could use that spell and run away tonight. He'd just have to plan out a proper timeline, so he didn't collapse in the middle of the forest. Have to kill the vrykolakas first.

"Twenty years? I'm not—Merlin! You're asking me to enter into a loveless marriage all for the sake of producing an heir!"

"It's called a political marriage my lord. Strike a deal with a princess." He climbed to his feet, pulling his hand away from Arthur, and set down the duck. Why was Arthur so surprised about all of this? Didn't all royalty know about this? It seemed Uther hadn't just failed as a king; he'd flat out failed as a father. The idiot could have at least hired a tutor to explain all of this to Arthur. Seeing the confused look on Arthur's face, it probably would be safe have just had Gaius and Gregory explain the whole thing. Surely a court doctor and the castle librarian in charge of the kingdom's pedigrees would suffice in explaining this matter to Arthur.

Arthur stood up, narrowing his eyes. "If I wanted a political marriage, I'd still be in Camelot with Wilona!"

"Yeah, Uther's going to skin you for ruining that one. Her father has the most land." And there were rumors some of the villages were harboring sorcerers, but Wilona's father refused to give Uther friendly entrance unless Arthur and Wilona got married.

"I left Camelot without telling anyone where I was going. My father is going to have me thrown in the dungeons for my behavior." He grabbed both of Merlin's hands. "I knew my father would retaliate against me, but I went after you anyway, scared that I'd never see you again if I didn't and that feeling was right and so is this one!"

"I'm not saying it's wrong." He sat down on top of the fence, raising an eyebrow when Arthur didn't release his hands. "It's just not—"

Arthur leaned forward, dropping his hands onto Merlin's hips, and kissed him.

He's not listening at all. Oh well. If Arthur wanted to kiss him out in the middle of nowhere, who was he to protest? Maybe if he gave in now, Arthur would come to his senses when they made it back to Camelot. For now, they could be together in secret. He wrapped his arms around Arthur's neck, deepening the kiss.

"Really you two?"

They broke apart fast, Merlin looking down at his feet, face red and grinning. He was going to miss kissing Arthur when they went back.

"Gaius! I um…" Arthur didn't seem to have a proper answer. He kept looking back and forth between Merlin and the physician. Merlin remained silent. He'd given him enough answers for the moment.

Gaius raised an eyebrow. "Kissed my nephew?"

Merlin looked up, laughing. "Masterfully seduced is more like it."

Arthur stared at him, mouth slightly open, left eye twitching. Merlin couldn't recall ever seeing this particular look on the prince, but utterly horrified seemed like the right name for it. Funny. Arthur had just finished going on about defying Uther without any fear, yet here he was, pale and shaking at being caught by Gaius. What had his uncle done to Arthur to instill such fear and how could he do it? Protecting him would be a great deal easier if he listened to Merlin the first time instead of them going through the drama of Arthur suddenly not trusting him until hell was already throwing rocks at them.

"I… I want to court Merlin," Arthur finally blurted out, standing in front of Merlin as if shielding him.

I'm not the one who needs protecting right now, he thought, looking around. Some of the villagers had started to approach them, no doubt curious as to why the Prince of Camelot was professing his feelings to his servant in a duck pen, in Ealdor no less.

Gaius looked amused. "No kidding."

"I… I'm allowed! I'm the prince, that gives me the right to everything in my kingdom!"

"We're not in your kingdom right now," Merlin reminded him, Arthur shooting a glare at him. Merlin smiled back. And technically Merlin wasn't a part of his kingdom. He was just some poor kid who'd gotten tangled up in a prophecy and had had no choice, but to become the bodyguard of the idiot standing in front of him. I suppose his kissing skills make up for his lack of brains.

Gaius sighed, shaking his head slowly. "Your method of reasoning is so close to your father's on this matter, it's scary." He didn't look happy about that either. "Get into Hunith's home, now!" He pointed at the house.

Still laughing, Merlin slid off the fence, pulling Arthur with him. It was nice to have Gaius yelling at someone besides him for once.

"How do you find this funny?!"

Don't pout! One of his biggest weaknesses was Arthur's pout. "The Prince of Camelot just asked his servant, the same servant you told yesterday you didn't want to see anymore, to court him. What about this isn't funny?"

"Maybe you turning me down and crushing my feelings!?"

Merlin pulled Arthur towards his house and then into it, Gaius, Morgana, and Hunith not far behind. "I'm not turning you down."

Arthur stopped just inside the doorway. "You're not?"

"No. But I want you to really think this through. I've had feelings for you for years. I never thought you'd… so I am happy, very happy, but…" he closed his mouth when Gaius stepped into the house.

"I don't want to live a lie and I will not give you up!"

"Prince Arthur, calm down," Gaius snapped. "No one is asking you to give up Merlin. Even if your father replaced him as your servant, he'll still be in Camelot, in the castle no less, as my apprentice."

"R, right…" His body relaxed at that, and he moved to the kitchen table and sat down. "Merlin's not going anywhere," he mumbled.

"No, he's not," Gaius said, his voice gentle. "Now where did all of this suddenly come from?" Arthur looked over to Morgana weakly. She flashed him a smile and Gaius brought a hand up to cover his eyes. "You just had to say something, didn't you Morgana?"

"Arthur was going to go mad if I didn't do something. Besides, if I didn't tell him Merlin was an option and Uther managed to get him to marry someone before he figured that out on his own; he'd have sunk into a state of depression that no one would be able to get him out of."

"I would not," Arthur protested.

Merlin studied Arthur, guilt beginning to take hold. He was having the time of his life right now winning Arthur's affection and getting kissed, quite a lot recently, while poor Arthur was losing grasp of his reality. I suppose as the one in charge of keeping him safe, that means keeping him sane too. He sat down next to Arthur, grasping his hand once again. "We can worry about political marriages and heirs later. Right now, we need a plan on locating the vrykolakas." Arthur needed a distraction, and his village did need saving.

"You're right. We didn't come out here for a visit," Gaius said. "Hunith, can you take us to where Carter was found?"

"Yes."

"We'll start there and search the area, together starting from that spot." He looked back at Arthur. "And Prince Arthur?"

Arthur looked up from his feet. "Yeah?"

"I understand you care for Merlin, but right now, discretion is your best option."

"You'll help us, right?"

Gaius stared at the prince before letting out a long breath. "I will."

"Thank you." His grasp on Merlin's hand tightened.

"Don't thank me yet," Gaius muttered. "Wait until we've managed to convince King Uther first."

Is this really happening? Were Arthur and Gaius actually going to try and convince Uther to let them be together? With the two of them working together, their relationship might stand a chance. On the other hand, that still wouldn't save the Pendragon bloodline from ending if he couldn't get Arthur to find a princess and sleep with her.

Arthur squeezed Merlin's hand, the warlock looking at him. "Let's go save your village."

"Okay."

(X)

"You'd think this thing would be easy to find. I mean it can't be too bright, it's already been killed twice," Arthur said.

Merlin rolled his eyes. If only it was that easy. Now that they'd left the safety of the village and were hunting a dangerous magical creature, Arthur had returned to his arrogant, 'I've got this because I'm so great and utterly invincible' self. Which meant Merlin was ready to find the nearest rock and knock him out with it. It wasn't treason if you hurt the prince to keep him safe, right? Surely Uther would be lenient when he found out Merlin had struck his only son in order to keep him away from a magical creature. "You know what a Vrykolakas is, right?" Maybe if he got Arthur to understand exactly what they were dealing with, the idiot prince wouldn't be so willing to charge into danger and Merlin wouldn't have to go after him screaming. Ugh. I wish he'd gone home when I told him to. Even if that meant Arthur never revealing his feelings for Merlin, at least he'd be safe. Instead, he had the one heir for Camelot's throne walking towards a dangerous undead creature. If their relationship didn't end the Pendragon bloodline, the vrykolakas very well might. I've doomed Camelot.

"Hey." Arthur hit his arm, the warlock coming back to reality. "I can't afford for you to daze out on me," he scolded him.

I'm the one who has to guard you! "I just don't think you understand the situation you're in." Which meant twice the amount of danger that Merlin was in since he would have to focus on protecting himself and Arthur. …And his mother and Morgana, possibly Gaius. I'm going to die.

"I Obviously do know. I just told you that it was dead twice over, didn't I?" He rolled his eyes. "It's a creature that used to be a werewolf or a vampire that's been killed by another Vrykolakas."

He looked rather proud of himself, and Merlin smiled. "Someone's been studying." He was impressed. Especially since this kind of knowledge was practically illegal in Camelot. He also wanted to know why Arthur was convinced he of all people were capable of taking down one of these things knowing what he'd have to do to get rid of it. You couldn't just charge the thing with sword raised high and expect to kill it. Granted, Arthur seemed to think he was great enough to take on anything without worry to his own personal being as long as he was capable of swinging his sword at it. Except Gaius, he thought snickering. The scary part was, sometimes Arthur did have the ability to harm or kill things he shouldn't be able to with just a sword.

Arthur snorted. "Like I've had a choice? Do you realize how many magical creatures have crashed through Camelot's borders since you've come to the city? It's like they're following you."

"They are not," he huffed. "The creatures are after you!" Merlin had arrived just in time for all the magical creatures and sorcerers of the world to line up at Camelot's gates and target him.

"Funny, I didn't have that problem before you showed up."

"Will you two stop it," Gaius shouted at them, both jumping. "People's lives are at stake!"

"Sorry," they murmured together.

Morgana and Hunith laughed from their position a few feet to their right. Scowling, Arthur turned away, his face red.

Merlin loved it. Seeing Arthur like this, with most of his shields down and being himself was rare and made Merlin want to be with him even more. Something he hadn't thought possible. He brushed his hand over Arthur's, the prince smiling. Merlin's heart began to speed up yet again. "I do," he whispered to Arthur when the other three had shifted their attention back to searching.

"You do what?"

Merlin dropped his gaze, too embarrassed to look Arthur in the eyes. "Love you."

Arthur stopped and looked like he might collapse and somehow didn't. "G, good. I, I mean, of course you do! This is me we're talking about. Who wouldn't?"

"Arrogant arse," Merlin said, before he started to laugh. There were plenty of reasons as to why someone wouldn't love Arthur, though Merlin was pretty much willing to overlook all of them. And not because Arthur was the prince. He was too much of a git for that.

"I've every right to be."

"I hope the two of you are looking for a grave," Gaius shouted. "At the very least some disturbed dirt beneath your feet!"

"We are," they both called out in union before they started laughing together.

Gaius let out a long sigh. "I should have left you both back in Camelot".

"Send them back to Ealdor. Hunith and I are more than enough help," Morgana said cheerfully.

"Don't start Morgana," Gaius said.

Merlin felt a tad guilty that Gaius was basically stuck babysitting three children as he searched for a vrykolakas grave. He was positive he'd be able to help destroy the creature once they found it though. Of course, while he juggled keeping Arthur alive since he'd already warned Merlin, he was going to charge first and worry about the consequences later. Not exactly the best choice when dealing with a Vrykolakas. If it's claws or teeth reached Arthur first, his boyfriend was going to be missing a liver. And while he was the most awesome and best warlock of all time and Gaius was a genius doctor, he doubted they could fix something like that. At least he didn't think so. Maybe that weird spell book had a spell to regrow organs before the wounded person died. But it wouldn't do him much good right now. He'd left the book back in Camelot.

"I found blood," Hunith called out.

"Fresh," Gaius asked, moving towards the two women. They were at the bottom of a dried-out stream. The terrain sloped upwards from there to a makeshift road that went through the forest if Merlin remembered correctly.

"Fresh enough," Hunith said.

Merlin and Arthur joined them. There wasn't a lot of blood, just a small puddle about the size of Merlin's hand, smeared across some dirt and grass going up the slope.

Gaius looked at the trail.

Arthur moved closer to get a better look. "Looks like it's been here a few hours at most."

"It found something to snack on this morning," Gaius agreed.

Merlin felt his insides twist. "Was anyone else missing from the village?" He looked at his mother.

Hunith shook her head. "No, everyone is accounted for."

Arthur started up the small slope. "That doesn't look good," he muttered. He straightened up and started walking ahead. "There are people missing," Arthur said loudly, drawing Merlin's attention away from the blood.

"What did you find Prince Arthur," Gaius asked.

"A wagon." He motioned to a spot Merlin couldn't see and started towards it. "Or what's left of it."

Uh oh. Arthur's tone had shifted from its usual arrogant teasing one to his serious princely one, which wasn't good. He'd hoped they'd gotten to Ealdor fast enough that no one else would get attacked, but it looked like they were too late. Would they have made it if Arthur and Morgana hadn't gone after them? Probably not. They'd stayed pretty close to schedule and still hadn't arrived until late in the afternoon. The Vrykolakas would have been hunting while Merlin had been busy wrestling with his emotions over whether Arthur actually cared for him or had decided he was a pet the night before.

They moved up the slope. The road, more of a path really, was indeed still there, and a few feet away off to the side of it was an overturned wagon. As they got closer, Merlin noted a makeshift campfire close to the wagon. The owner had probably pulled off the road and stopped there for the night.

"Maybe the women—" Arthur stopped when Hunith and Morgana gave him looks, just daring the prince to finish that sentence. Coughing, he turned back to the wagon. "Gaius, this creature is dangerous."

Merlin knew he needed to brace himself before looking. Vrykolakas weren't exactly known for their cleanliness. Granted, what undead creature was?

"Well, I didn't leave Camelot to defend my home from a peaceful undead creature," Gaius said, rolling his eyes.

Arthur looked to Merlin, who just shrugged. Sometimes Gaius got that way. He wasn't about to tell his uncle to play nice when his relationship with Arthur would probably come down to him convincing Uther. Plus, he had to live with him and Gaius could easily ruin his life in plenty of other ways if he annoyed him.

Merlin took a breath and joined Arthur at the front of the wagon while the other three looked in the back and inside. The front cover and bench were splattered with blood. "How many people do you think were attacked?"

"At least three," Gaius said, coming around and joining them. "I see three traveling packs." He motioned to the items scattered across the ground. Torn clothes and blankets laid in the dirt, drops of blood on them, but otherwise fine.

"There's provisions inside," Arthur said. "I'd say enough to get at least four to Camelot. Six if any of them were children."

"Ugh." Merlin hoped not. It was bad enough that people were dead. It would be fifty times worse if one or more of them turned out to be a child.

"We can follow the trail to its grave," Arthur said. His sentence seemed to end in a question mark as he looked at Gaius.

"Yes. We definitely want to find it before dark," Gaius agreed.

"Well… there's no way we can miss that." Merlin nodded to the trail of blood that led into the grass. It looked like the Vrykolakas was dragging its victim or victims with it. With any luck the trail would lead them directly to the Vrykolakas. Unless the bodies run out of blood first. He shuddered at the thought. It was good they had Arthur with them so he could continue tracking the thing, blood trail or no.

"I don't see any signs of a struggle," Arthur said. "I don't think anyone survived."

Merlin winced at that. "Probably not." He didn't know if this thing had much of a consciousness yet, but if it did, it wouldn't risk leaving any witnesses behind. Especially after his mother had escaped. "The travelers that helped you, do you think this was them?"

Hunith shook her head. "No. I stayed with them until we arrived at Camelot. They said they were staying the night there before heading to Solrarea."

Merlin stuck his tongue out at that. If there was a city, he could never step foot in again, he would choose Solrarea hands down.

"Ealdor is close, and we still have about seven hours of daylight," Gaius said as he looked up at the sky. "We should be able to take care of this today."

"No more deaths," Arthur agreed.

"Then let's get this over with," Gaius said. He readjusted the strap of the bag he had with him that contained all the items they'd need to take on a Vrykolakas.

Arthur nodded and started following the blood trail, the others trailing behind him.

Gaius slowed his pace, grabbing Merlin by the wrist, and raised a finger to his mouth.

Merlin raised an eyebrow.

When the others were out of hearing range, Gaius released him. "I'm not sure this is a Vrykolakas."

Merlin blinked at that. "What?"

"Vrykolakas don't attack like this. They eat livers. It makes no sense for it to drag the bodies anywhere."

Merlin thought back to all the stories he'd read about Vrykolakas. There weren't many, but the few he did remember, the creatures were capable of thought and even went out of their way to be vicious to others. They were also crueler to the people they'd known in life than to strangers. "What if it knew the people it was attacking?"

"No one has died...oh." He frowned. "It might have been following the wagon."

"Maybe, but how is that possible if it has to always return to its grave every night? There aren't any nearby villages." Ealdor was on the border of Essetir and Camelot with no neighboring villages or cities. Camelot was a good day and a half walk, shorter if you had a horse, but he doubted the vrykolakas had one. If it did and was capable of riding one, they had bigger issues than they'd thought. Iprocen was two days further into Essetir and hardly a village. It was so small, with only six buildings and a handful of horses. It made Ealdor look like a city. After that, good luck. The next human settlement in Essetir was the city of Mesnar and that was another day or two of walking from Iprocen.

Gaius sighed. "Alright. If it is a vrykolakas, it's probably not very old or it would have attacked Ealdor a long time ago."

"You think maybe it was one of these merchants?" There was a lot of stuff inside that wagon. More scattered on the outside of the wagon now that he saw the other side of it. There were five boxes tipped over and in varying degrees of disarray. A quick look inside the wagon revealed more boxes and a lot of packs.

"It wouldn't surprise me."

"How long does it take for someone who's been attacked to become a vrykolakas? …and would merchants really bring the body with them instead of burying it?" He couldn't imagine anyone, especially merchants with a wagon full of goods, deciding to bring a dead body along for the ride in the back of the wagon putting all their merchandise at risk of being ruined. There was an easy way to find out though. Sighing he shoved his head into the wagon and sniffed. "They didn't have a body with them." Given how warm it was, the wagon would have smelled of death and rot if they had.

"It depends on the person. Some people change after a single night, others can take weeks."

Merlin frowned, walking back over to Gaius. "Doesn't that mean there's two of them? This one that's stalking Ealdor and the one that turned this one?"

Gaius nodded. "That's what I'm afraid of."

"The only other nearby village is Iprocen."

"I'm aware Merlin."

"And it still doesn't explain the timing. How can these things keep reaching their graves in time and continue to find livers to eat?"

"I don't know. Just keep your eyes open for any more blood or anything that looks recently damaged."

"Can vrykolakas move faster than a horse?" They were really screwed if that was the case.

"No, of course not." He hesitated a moment. "But…"

"But," Merlin pressed.

"There are more ways than one to become a vrykolakas…" Something seemed to occur to him, because he gave Merlin a hard look, his eyes widening.

Merlin hated that look. "What are you thinking?"

"This might be a vrykolakas that was originally a werewolf and if the one that turned it was originally a werewolf…."

Merlin wasn't quite sure how this was a problem. "Okay…. What do we do if that's the case?"

"Pray we have what we need to kill it."

He just loved it when Gaius was optimistic. But this wasn't a good situation for anyone to be in, let alone a warlock, a doctor, his mother, and the only two heirs to the kingdom of Camelot. "We packed a lot of stuff. Some of it has to work against this kind of vrykolakas."

"Yes… if it's undead."

Merlin's mouth dropped. "You think this thing is alive?" There was no way. It wasn't possible for a vrykolakas to be alive, was it? By definition a vrykolakas was an undead creature.

"I don't know what to think. What I do know is, regardless of what kind of vrykolakas it is, we need to find it before it starts spreading disease."

Merlin made a face. He'd forgotten about that particular skill set. Why did undead creatures have to cause so much damage? It wasn't bad enough that they jumped people and ate them, nope. They had to get everyone around them sick. Well it is a dead body crawling around everywhere. Not that surprising, it's leaving diseases behind in its wake. Unless Gaius' horrible hunch proved true, and the thing was somehow alive. Either way, Ealdor couldn't afford it.

Sighing they started after the other three. What were the chances everything would be exactly what they thought it was and killing it would take ten minutes tops? Arthur wouldn't be in trouble at any given point, and they could be on their way back to Camelot before the sun was up the next day.

Or rather, everyone else could be on their way. Merlin dropped his head, shoulder's slumping. There was no way he could head back to Camelot or even Ealdor knowing there was a second vrykolakas running around. He moved directly next to Gaius, dropping his voice. "What are we going to do about the second one?"

"I can't travel across the country chasing down these things."

Merlin sighed. "I know you can't, but something has to be done. If we don't kill both of them it's not going to fix anything." It might stop the attacks for a while, but eventually the other vrykolakas would turn more people or beings into vrykolakas and they'd be right back where they started. Possibly worse off if it managed to turn a few at the same time and sent more than one to attack Ealdor. "I'm going to need a way to ditch Sir Tracks A Lot."

"Sir…?" Gaius shook his head. "The insults you come up with."

"Any ideas?"

"If I did, we wouldn't have those two with us to begin with," he snapped.

"Maybe there's a different way." Gaius wouldn't admit it, but he had plenty of spells memorized that Merlin didn't even know existed. If Gaius and him put their knowledge of different spells together, Merlin might just find a way to stop Arthur from being able to follow him.

"Right now, we need to focus on this vrykolakas. Once we've managed to defeat this one, we'll worry about the other one."

"Fine." Gaius was right. They needed to focus on defeating one creature, undead or not, at a time.

(TBC)