"Battle Stations" (Rose)

Arthur hauls me back to the wall where the ladders now hold firm. He stays near to my side as a protective leader and we fight together. One by one, the enemies fall to their deaths if they don't die first by the sword. I have lost all concept of time. I am hardened to many things. My senses are in sync, all bending on slashing, plunging, swinging. I didn't have any idea that I had any sort of battle mode within me.

As time drones on, a fellow soldier is run through at the ladder next to us. Arthur takes over his position and I am left to cover our ladder by myself. Once he conquers a few more men, he gets someone to take his place, and carts off the injured man to safety. Fear is pushing against the doors of my emotion, longing to flood my heart, but I keep on fighting. I have no choice.

Blow after blow, my arms begin to tire, causing the speed of my movements to decrease. As if he sensed this, the knight behind me steps in front of me, giving me clearance to step away. When I do, something makes me stumble. A flood of power shoots through me, but not one I welcome. A feeling of dread swells inside of me. Perhaps, I should use this to break to rest; but instead, I bring myself to sprint to the courtyard where I have the strong suspicion Arthur is.

With my sword still in hand, I pick up the pace when I hear the sounds metal clashing against metal, and against stone. My curiosity peaks as I round the corner through the arch. It soon plummets into a feeling of doom when I come to see Arthur fighting off the undead and Merlin sprawled out on the ground nearby.

"Disarray" (Merlin)

I charge all the way to Morgana's chambers and slide through the door to a halt. She's not here, so I must keep searching. Her disappearance can obviously mean no good, and I greatly fear the repercussions. As I continue my venture, a surge of some kind of magical power jolts through and over me. The breathe feels nearly knocked out of me. Knowing that Rose would not use such strong magic in a setting where she could be found out, I conclude that this is Morgana's handiwork.

I make my way outside to see Arthur handing over another wounded to one who could take him to those at the ready to assist. I do a quick scan for a shorter soldier nearby, and I want to explode when I don't find one. Arthur shouts my name and angrily questions my previous whereabouts, to which I answer, "No where!"

"You're starting to make a habit of this," he rebukes. "What's your excuse this time?"

I open my mouth to reply, but I am immediately taken aback by what I see over Arthur's shoulder.

"Come on, Merlin. You can do better than that."

I answer by slowly bringing up my hand to point to what's behind him. He stares at my finger like it's the stupidest thing in the world, and then turns to see what the fuss is about. Three skeletons stalk towards us armed with swords, ready to make us as lifeless as they are, or rather should be.

Arthur steps cautiously toward one, and it engages him in a duel by making the first swing. I watch as he fends off the oncoming blows and sticks his blade into its ribcage. It merely trails its gaze up from the blade up to Arthur and whacks at his swords again.

One of its undead friends decides to have a go at me. I take a few steps backward until I find a sword amongst the rubble, propped up against a barrel. I pull it from its sheath and begin to defend myself. Shockingly enough, I am able to block just fine, and I slash off its arm. Much to the further disarray of this entire situation, it does little to nothing to deter it. It knocks me to the ground and raises its sword to cut me to ribbons, but is stopped short by a Camelot soldier who sticks it in the side ... or what would be its side.

I lay there for a second to process everything when the arm begins to creep toward me using its fingers like awkward spider legs. I swat at it with my blade, feeling utterly disturbed. As Arthur continues to fight them to no avail, a small soldier's foot stomps onto the ground next to me, pinning the skeleton's loose limb down. With the arm firmly underfoot, I grab hold of Rose's extended hand. She pulls me up. "Thanks," I sputter.

She squeezes my arm, before turning and cutting into the skeletons, Arthur had been contending with until now. "Go!" she yells, her voice sounding hoarse, but definitely not deep enough for a man. I yank Arthur toward the castle before he can take any notice of this.

About halfway up the staircase inside Arthur stops behind me. I look back at him. "You need to warn Gaius. Tell him to seal off the hospital," he orders. I whip my head in the direction he wants me to go, but back again, when I hear the footsteps of an undead warrior coming towards us. "Merlin, do as I say!" Arthur shouts, shaking me from my rooted position.

Leaving him behind isn't easy for me to do, and I feel totally irresponsible in abandoning both him and Rose in the span of a few minutes. I reach the hospital to find Gaius conversing with Uther. When I see they are no longer speaking, I call to him. "Gaius," I wait to continue until he reaches me, "You need to seal off the hospital. The castle is under attack from within."

"What are you talking about?" he asks in a bewildered voice.

"She summoned an army of the dead. They're everywhere." I walk away from him at a brisk pace.

"Where are you going?" he calls after me.

I stop and face him. "To try to stop her!" And, with that, I disappear through the door on my own.