A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys, be a little too hooked on my Doctor Who fics. But here is the next chapter.
"We shall not be gone too long, Isabella." Arthur told me as we waited outside in the courtyard for Merlin to arrive.
I simply smiled at him. "You go and enjoy yourself. I'm looking forward to spending the day with Morgana." I told him, patting the neck of the horse we were standing by.
He smiled back at me, before noticing Merlin running down the steps. "Hurry up, Merlin."
"Sorry." My warlock friend mumbled, putting the items he had been carrying down and getting down on his hands and knees.
I shook my head, Arthur was using Merlin once again as a step to get on his horse. One day, I would change that, stop him using Merlin in such a way and teach him how to mount a horse all by himself.
The moment Arthur got on the horse, and straight away the saddle swivelled and he feel straight back off it again. I watched as the horse ran off, while the prince shouted at Merlin. That was nothing new, but I was trying to stop myself from laughing.
Merlin seemed just as shocked as Arthur was. "I don't understand." He said, feeling completely confused.
"Well, there's a surprise." Arthur retorted, once again having a dig at Merlin.
"I did that girth up myself."
"Well, I think that might have been the problem." Arthur told him, clearly not happy with what had happened.
I let out a sigh. "Arthur, leave him alone."
But I was completely ignored. "It wasn't my fault."
That was when a man came charging over, bringing Arthur's horse with him. "Would you like me to fit the girth properly for you, sire?" The man asked.
The moment I saw him my eyes widened. He looked like the man I had seen in my dream, the strange one I had the previous night, where I woke up screaming Merlin's name. There was something about him that I didn't like, that I didn't trust, and my dream was making it even worse.
Arthur just smiled at the man. "Thank you."
"It's an honour to be of service to the Prince." He said. Now, I know when someone was kissing up, and that man was definitely trying to kiss up to Arthur.
Unfortunately, Arthur just couldn't see that. "An honour. Do you hear that, Merlin?" He whispered, while the man fixed the girth.
"Allow me the honour of brushing your clothes down." The creepy man said, not even waiting for an answer before working on Arthur's clothes.
"The honour." Arthur whispered once more, making me roll my eyes.
"Anything else I can do for you, sire?"
Arthur thought about it for a moment, before looking over at Merlin. "Well, you can give Merlin here a kick up the backside." He said. I was getting ready to kick Arthur up the backside with that comment.
I watched as the other man laughed. "I wouldn't wish to deprive you of the pleasure, sire."
That just seemed to amuse Arthur even more. "What's your name?" Arthur asked him, clearly impressed with the man.
"Cedric. I've come to Camelot in search of work." He told Arthur. For some reason, he had not even looked at me, it was as if I was completely invisible to the man.
"Merlin, I don't trust him." I whispered to him, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. "I can't tell you why, but I really, really don't like him."
He glanced over at me as well and our eyes met. "I don't trust him either. I know I done that up properly."
"Good." Arthur called, getting our attention once more. "You can be a beater on the hunt. We're short of a man or two."
There was a grin on Cedric's face, a grin that looked more like a smirk to me. "You're too kind, sire."
"Here. You'll need a beater." Merlin said, shoving the stick straight into the man's stomach. "Oh, sorry." I had to stifle a laugh, because I knew Merlin was definitely not sorry.
"Now, are you sure you're going to be okay here, Isabella?" Arthur asked me once more. He was so worried because he was leaving me in Camelot with nothing but the protection of some of his best knights.
"Arthur, I will be absolutely fine. I'm going to visit Morgana, I do not plan on leaving the castle at all." I didn't really like the worried look on his face, I could tell something was bothering him. "Is there something you're not telling me, Arthur?" I asked him, watching his reaction closely.
"Of course not. I shall see you when we return, Princess." Arthur said, reaching for my hand, taking it, and kissing the back of it. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks.
"Stay safe, Arthur." I told him, before turning away. "Look after him, Merlin." I called as I passed my warlock friend.
I made my way through the castle, lost in my own little world as I headed towards Lady Morgana's chamber. It wasn't until I bumped into Gwen that I looked up at where I was. "Isabella, is everything all right?" Gwen asked me, a worried look on her face.
"Uh, yes, yes of course. Sorry, Gwen, I was in my own little world just now." I told her, trying to shake off the bad feeling that I was getting. I couldn't stop it, I just felt like something terrible was going to happen, but I didn't know what.
"Are you sure?" Clearly Gwen was still worried.
I nodded at her. "Honestly, Gwen, I am absolutely fine. I've just had a little trouble sleeping since my brother left is all." I told her, hoping that she would accept that as a valid excuse.
A small smile crept across the woman's face. "Morgana is still having nightmares. She simply refuses to talk to me about them. Maybe you can get her to open up." Gwen suggested.
"I will try, Gwen. But I know what it is like to have nightmares, talking about them sometimes only makes the worry worse. But I will do my best." I said, before we said our goodbyes and I headed to Morgana's chamber.
I knocked on the door and waited for the woman to call for me to enter. Once she had, I opened the door and saw her standing over by the window. "Morgana, is everything okay?" I asked her, seeing the anxious look on her face.
"I… I don't know. I keep having these dreams." Morgana admitted. I already had a feeling that was what it was going to be about.
"Then you are not alone, Morgana." I told her, getting her to look at me with her face full of confusion. "Last night I had a nightmare. I saw so many different things, but it all led to people being hurt." I told her
She stepped away from the window and towards me. "Isabella, I'm scared. What if my dreams are going to come true? They came true before." She told me, a hint of panic in her voice.
"I know, Morgana. You told me all about it. We can only hope that they really are simply dreams." I told her, trying to assure her as much as I could. "I for one do not wish for any of my dreams to come true. So I will continue to ignore them. I suggest you do the same, Morgana."
She nodded at me, and we stayed there speaking for some time, just talking about anything that popped into out heads. We avoided talking anymore about our dreams, and everything seemed pleasant until I started to feel a little lightheaded. "Isabella, are you all right?" Morgana asked me, gently touching my arm.
"I fear I have a slight headache coming on." I told her, rubbing my head a little and trying to clear my vision. "I think I will go and have some rest. I doubt Arthur and the others will be back anytime soon." Even though I was begging for them to come back on the inside. I didn't know why, but something really felt wrong, and I just wanted them home safely.
"Do you wish for me to come with you?" Morgana asked, helping me to stand.
"No, there's no need to fuss over me. I'll be fine. And so will you, Morgana. You know where I am if you want to talk about anything." I told her, making her nod at me. "Good, then I shall see you later."
I stepped out of her chamber and started making my way back to my own, only for my stomach to start to churn as well. "Uh, maybe I should go an see Gaius." I mumbled to myself, taking a different turn and heading towards the physician's chamber instead of my own.
I knocked on the door, waiting for the elderly man to let me enter his room. I heard him call for me to enter, and so I lifted the latch and opened the door. "Ah, Princess Isabella, is anything the matter?" Gaius asked me, getting up from where he had been working with some books and coming over to me.
"At the moment, yes. My head keeps spinning and I am a little worried that I am going to be emptying my stomach soon." I told him, taking a deep breath and trying to pull myself together.
"Come, let me have a look at you." He said, hold out an arm, gesturing for me to sit down. I done as he told me and he started to check my eyes. "What did you have for breakfast this morning?" The old man asked me.
I bit my lip as I replied. "An apple."
He nodded at me. "And have you eaten anything else at all?" I just shook my head at him. I probably wouldn't bother to eat anything until dinner now, and even then I wasn't going to be eating much. "You need to start eating more, Isabella. The reason for the dizziness and sickness is lack of nourishment. You're all skin and bones." He told me.
"Gaius, it is really hard for me to eat. I'm so scared that I'm going to eat too much and just bring it all back up." I told him, being completely honest with him. "It's not like I get hungry or anything. I'm not used to having food available to me. I spent so long going without it, it's not easy for me to adjust."
The man got up from where he was sitting and headed over to one of his many cabinets. I watched as he checked through different vials, before returning with two different bottles. "Here, take some of this before eating and if you start to feel sick at any time, a drop of this." He said, handing me the two small bottles.
"Thank you, Gaius. And… can we please not tell Arthur about any of this? He worries about me enough as it is, I don't want him to worry even more." I asked him. If Arthur found out, he would be even more determined to make sure that I ate more, and he would keep a much closer eye on me as well. That was the last thing that I wanted.
"Of course. Is there anything else I can help you with?" Gaius asked me politely.
I wondered if I should tell him, about the dream that I had. "Gaius, last night I had a terrible dream. None of it made any sense, it was just flashes of things, some I recognised, some I had never seen before." I told him. I could see that he was listening, and that was what I needed, someone to listen. "Last night I saw a man, in my dreams. I think he was after something, some sort of blue stone. Today I saw that man in Camelot."
I saw a flicker of something in the old man's eyes. He knew something, I just knew he did. "This stone, can you describe it to me?" He asked, acting very calm.
"It was rather big, blue, and shaped like a heart. It was in the chest of some man's tomb, I remember that much." There was definitely recognition in the man's eyes, he knew what it was, he knew exactly what I was talking about. "You know something, Gaius. What's going on? I know something has happened, I heard Arthur talking."
The old man let out a sigh. "Last night, a tomb was uncovered. An ancestor to the King. And there, in the tomb, is a blue stone, exactly like the one you have described to me." He said.
"And do you know whose tomb it is?" I asked, knowing that there was much more to the story than I was being told. Everyone was trying to protect me from every little thing, but I was not a child and refused to be treated like one.
"That is what I am trying to uncover. I have an idea, but I do not wish to be right." There was a grim look on his face, and I knew it was serious. "Now, you should return to your chamber, Isabella, go and get some rest."
He was trying to get rid of me, but I was not going to go so easily. "Gaius, what about the man that I saw? I saw him today, he went off on the hunt with Arthur. I don't trust him, I know he is after something here in Camelot. Merlin doesn't trust him either."
That grabbed the man's attention. "Merlin doesn't trust him? What reason has he got for that?"
"I told him that I didn't trust him. And it was the way the man was this morning, he was trying to impress Arthur, trying to make Merlin look bad." I told him. That was something that I was still annoyed about, the way Arthur had treated Merlin.
"Well then, we must make sure Merlin keeps an eye on this man. Now go, it will be getting dark soon and the hunting party will be returning." Gaius told me, still trying to get rid of me.
I nodded at him and headed for the door, but before I had a chance to open it, Merlin came in with a rather dejected look on his face.
"What's wrong?" Gaius asked him, having gone back over to where he was working.
Merlin let out a sigh. "I saved Arthur's life, someone else got the credit. Just the usual. What are you doing?" He asked, not noticing that I was standing in the room yet.
"I was just speaking with Princess Isabella about a dream she had last night." Gaius told him, causing Merlin to look over at me sharply.
"I take it that creep was the one who took the credit for saving Arthur?" I asked, walking straight back over to where I had been and sitting down. I could tell they were hiding something, and I was not leaving until I knew what it was.
"Yeah, Cedric." It was clear Merlin was far from happy. "And now he has a job in the castle. Great." He mumbled.
"You need to keep a close eye on him, Merlin. He's up to something, I know he is." I told him, studying him as he looked from me to Gaius.
"You should be getting back, Arthur will be looking for you." Merlin told me, trying to get rid of me just like Gaius had.
That was it. I wasn't going to stand for it anymore. "No, I am not going anywhere until the pair of you tell me what is going on. I know it has something to do with my dreams, and something that happened last night. And so until you tell me, I shall be going nowhere." I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest, making my point clear that I was staying until they came clean about everything. Yes, I was going to be a stubborn little brat until I got what I wanted, it was the only way I was going to find out what was really going on.
I saw both the men look at each other, as if trying to decide whether they should include me or not. Gaius just let out a sigh a picked up some of the papers he had been looking at. "I found this inscription on the sceptre." Merlin and I quickly walked over to have a look at the writing.
"What language is that?" Merlin asked, just as I was thinking it.
Gaius simply shook his head. "I don't know. Sigan would have known many languages."
"Sigan?" Merlin questioned. Neither of us had any idea who that was, and I had a feeling we didn't really want to know either.
"It's his tomb."
"But who was he, Gaius?" I asked, still completely lost over it all.
He looked up at myself and Merlin, a grim expression set on his face. "He was the most powerful sorcerer to have lived."
I let out a groan. "Oh lovely, just what we need. Another threat to Camelot."
"For those of us that grew up in Camelot, Cornelius Sigan was a figure of nightmare." Gaius told us, making Merlin ask why. "Sigan's powers. He could change day into night, turn the tides, and legend has it, his spells helped build Camelot itself."
"And what happened to him?" I asked, certainly feeling very nervous. Something about all of this seemed familiar to me, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. It was like it was there, at the back of my mind, but it was hiding, trying so hard not to be found.
"In the end he grew too powerful and the King at that time ordered his execution." Gaius told us.
The worry on his face told me there was more to the story, and it wasn't as clear-cut as a powerful sorcerer loosing his head and that being the end of it. "You think there is something more going on, don't you, Gaius?" I asked him, taking Merlin by surprise a little but receiving a nod from the old man.
"Sigan couldn't bear the thought that his wealth and power would die with him, so he became obsessed with finding a way to defeat death itself." Gaius told us.
Merlin just looked horrified, and to be honest, I didn't like where it was heading either. "You think he might have succeeded?" Merlin asked. You could hear the worry in his voice.
"Let's hope not, for all our sakes." Gaius said. I was definitely more than just a little freaked out now, after everything that had been going on with my uncle, I wasn't exactly pleased that there could be yet another threat looming over us. "Now, Merlin, I think you should escort Isabella to he chamber now. And not a word of this to anyone, either of you."
I just nodded at him. Who was I going to tell anyway? The only person I could talk to about it was Merlin, and he already knew.
"What brought you to visit Gaius today?" Merlin asked me as we walked towards my chamber.
"Oh, uh, the nightmares." I told him, fiddling with the bottles in my hand. "After last night I decided I needed to see Gaius about them. He has given me something to help me sleep." I wanted to pat myself on the back for coming up with such a brilliant excuse.
"Isabella, there you are!" Arthur shouted, jogging down the corridor and towards us. "I went to your chamber but you were not there. So I went to Morgana and she told me you left hours ago to get some rest. Where have you been?" He asked, looking a little relieved to see her.
"Sorry, Arthur. I was with Gaius, he has given me something to help me sleep." I said, spinning him the same lie that I had given to Merlin.
Arthur just frowned at me. "Since when did you have much trouble sleeping?" Okay, he wasn't buying it.
"Arthur, there is a reason I hate getting up in the mornings. It's usually because I have hardly slept during the night." I told him, hoping he would take it and leave it.
"Morgana said you weren't feeling too well." He said, taking a step towards me. Oh dear, he was not going to drop the subject so easily, was he?
I let out a sigh. "Because I am tired, Arthur. That is all it is, I'm just tired, okay? Lack of sleep generally does make one more tired than normal."
I could tell from the look on his face that he still didn't completely believe me, but something told me that he was going to drop it and move on to something else. "Have you eaten much today?" He asked me, his eyes just fixed on me. I should have seen that one coming as well. He really was starting to keep tabs on me, he was thinking of everything.
I shook my head at him, I really didn't want to lie to him anymore than I already had. "No, not since this morning." I told him.
"Come, you shall dine with me now." He said, holding out his hand for me to take.
"Let me return to my chamber first, Arthur. Then I will come and join you for something to eat. Okay?" I was giving him my best, puppy dog eyes, hoping that he would let me. I needed to take some of that draught that Gaius had given me if I was going to try to eat more than what I was used to.
"Of course, but do not be too long, Isabella." He said, still taking a hold of my hand and walking me towards my chamber. "Merlin, off you go. You have work to do." Arthur called to him, making him let out a groan of annoyance.
"Stop being so mean and bossy to Merlin." I hissed at Arthur as we made it closer to my room. I was really getting fed up with the way that he was treating him, and this morning was even worse.
"Isabella, he is a servant, it is his duty to do what I tell him." Arthur told me, acting all high and mighty.
"He may be a servant, but he still has feelings. Merlin is still a person who deserves to be treated with respect. I am pretty sure I told you before, treat others how you would want to be treated." I told him, really confident that I had said something like that to him the day I first met him.
"You are impossible, Isabella." Arthur told me, just as we reached my door.
I turned and smile at him. "I know, and aren't you glad that I am."
He laughed a little. "Yes, and I wouldn't want you to be any other way." He said, glancing both ways down the corridor before leaning down and pressing his lips against mine, taking me completely by surprise.
"Right, well…" I said, trying to compose myself after the Prince distracted me with a rather passionate kiss. "I shall see you in your chamber shortly, oh great prince of arrogance."
Arthur just smiled at me. "Until then, my strange princess." He said, giving me a peck on the lips before wandering down to his own chamber. I shook my head, dispersing several inappropriate thoughts.
I was just digging myself a deeper hole. The more time I spent with Arthur, the more I really did start to like him. He really wasn't all that bad, everyone had bad points, but his good points always outweighed the bad. The problem was, I was getting myself too involved, I was starting to care too much. This wasn't my life, this was a fantasy whether I liked it or not. And sooner or later, it was all going to come crashing down on me, taking me back to the life I had before.
A/N: Don't worry, there will be a lot more Merlin in the next chapter, I promise. I just want to say a big think you to everyone who has favourited/followed. And those who have reviewed, you guys are totally amazing.
So, you keep I keep writing, you keep reading, you keep reviewing. I think that's a good plan.
Until next time!
Pippa.