Out of Time

xStarletx

A/N: Hey-o everyone (or anyone) who's left. I've got the next chapter here. I've noticed some renewed interest in this story and I'm going to be honest. I've actually written then next ten chapters I just haven't typed them yet. So if you guys are still interested in reading what happens next, tell me. When I get 10 Comments/Reviews I will put up the next chapter. Okay? And I know you guys are there. You keep liking/following this story after all. So come on guys. 10 reviews. We can do this!

Chapter 6: Out of Suspicion (currently unedited)

Arthur had called Merlin to service early the following morning. Merlin couldn't even get one day to sleep in, no his royal highness needed him by his side as the godforsaken crack of dawn. Merlin had over slept, as he had hoped he wouldn't and was rushing out the door, pausing only to pick up a loaf of bread to wolf down as he ran. Unfortunately all Gaius had out this early in the morning was a few hardened crusts of bread. Oh well, starving people didn't get to be picky.

He was almost to the door when he heard a sudden soft cry and he stopped in his tracks. He was already late, he couldn't afford to be anymore late, but he was definitely curious to see what was making that noise. He was surprised to see that Addison was out of her cell and instead in the cot reserved for ill people that Gaius needed to tend to. The blanket that she was kicking off and then pulling back to herself looked like it came straight from the royal linen closet. It was definitely not something Gaius usually gave his patients, even Merlin's new bed wasn't that lucky.

Addison was tossing and turning in her sleep, mumbling to herself about knights and round tables, something about nosy fairies and something that might have bit her. It was nothing but a load of nonsense, the dreams of a typical girl he supposed. But he couldn't help but wonder about her.

After last night it was evident to him that she had power, he wasn't sure what kind or if she was anything like him, but she could use magic. And that just added to the mystery of her. Firstly why was she still alive if she was like him? Did she hold something over Uther? Why was Arthur so taken with her? Was that a spell as well?

He highly doubted it. If anything Addison wasn't evil. She wasn't like that old hag who had tried to kill Arthur. No, Addison had tried to save... well she had... until she fell asleep of course. But why was she here? Uther was going to have her killed in the morning, that was this morning. All the servants had been up in arms about that, magic or not she had saved the royal's lives that should count for something. Magic itself was bad, but Addison was using it for good, things like that needed to be considered.

Then there was the dragon. It had said something about Addison being misplaced, a songbird out of time, what did that even mean? Of course Merlin knew she was lost, as she had told him she didn't know how to get home. Did the Dragon know where she came from then?

"Merlin..."

Her voice was soft and breathless. She was still asleep, and somewhere in that dream world she was dreaming of him.

"Don't let Merlin know..."

Now that was disconcerting.

Merlin knelt down beside her, wondering if he could just prod her to tell him what she was dreaming about.

"Don't let Merlin know what?" he whispered back. All Addison did was groan.

"Merlin!" Gaius snapped entering the room, apparently he had been out getting a meal from the kitchens. He noted that Gaius hadn't brought one for him, obviously he assumed he'd be out by now. "You're late to meet Arthur, you shouldn't keep him waiting!"

"But Addison... she was..."

"She's still sleeping, the effects of the spell she absorbed haven't worn off, but by the state of her blanket I'd say she's close to waking up now," he said hobbling over to Merlin. He pushed at the boy forcing him to get up and move to the door.

"But she was talking about me..."

"She talks in her sleep Merlin, it's completely normal," Gaius said still pushing him towards the door.

He got Merlin completely out into the hallway and was about to shut the door when Merlin shouted: "Wait!"

Gaius paused and stared at him, offering him the bowl of food he had brought in for himself but Merlin refused to accept it. Gaius needed it more than him anyway.

"Uther said he was going to kill her today!" Merlin reminded him and Gaius held up a hand to keep Merlin from finishing the rest of his complaint.

"He's recanted that decision. Once she's awake and I deem her healthy she'll go back to her cell," Gaius assured him.

Merlin frowned to him. "But why? How about she stay here? I'll give up my room and everything!" he offered.

Gaius shook his head. "You are late Merlin!" he cried.

Merlin winced alright, so he was late, like really late. He'd just ask Gaius about it later, or maybe he'd ask Arthur himself.

It had taken Merlin forever to get the training armour on and he looked ridiculous in it. With his battered shield that was almost the size of him and the flimsy way he was holding his sword. Arthur was doing everything in his power not to laugh at him. He was definitely unimpressed and still slightly ticked off that Merlin had been almost a whole half hour late to meet him. That was a whole half hour of training wasted because Arthur hadn't had a partner to spar with.

The only reason Merlin wasn't getting a hiding was because he had said that he had been late because of Addison. Some unexpected problem with her that Gaius had needed his help with. He hadn't really gone into detail, saying that he was already late and rushing to get into the armour so Arthur could begin his practice. The problem was Arthur wanted to know what had happened to Addison, and if she was alright. He just didn't want Merlin thinking that there was something going on between he and Addison, the whole kingdom already thought that and if his new servant came up with the same conclusion and told his Father, well then Addison was done for.

Needless to say he didn't think Merlin would be truthful with him about Addison if Arthur started laughing at him. Even if the boy did look ridiculous.

Merlin still hadn't got his helmet on and Arthur was getting antsy. "Ready?" he asked.

"Would it make any difference if I said 'no'?" Merlin shot back and Arthur tried not to growl at him.

He turned away from Merlin, turning the word over in his hand twice, mostly this maneuver was to warm up his arm muscles, they had cooled off waiting for Merlin. But he also wanted to show off a bit, and nothing looked cooler than the sword dancing over his hand.

"Not really," Arthur said casually. He turned, sword raised, ready to go, Merlin had his helmet on. Arthur rushed him.

"Body" clang "Shield" clang "Body" clang "Shield" clang.

Merlin was stumbling back, his feet uncoordinated, his moves sluggish and unsteady, but he had blocked each blow Arthur had called out. Arthur couldn't help but be impressed.

"Shield" clang "Head!"

"Head?" Merlin echoed. Clang. "OW!"

Merlin put a hand to his head as the ringing vibrated through his skull. Merlin walked around Arthur and Arthur allowed it. "Come on, Merlin, you're not even trying!"

"I am too!" Merlin argued. They traded places, the idea was to go back the way they came. Arthur was probably going to spend the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon pushing Merlin from one end of the field to the other and then back and again.

"So... uh... about Addison..." Merlin started.

Arthur found himself on tippy-toe, he said to warm up his calves which were sufficiently warmed up now, but he knew it was because he was going to find out what happened to her that morning that made Merlin so late.

"What about her?" Arthur found himself snapping when Merlin wouldn't just hurry up and tell him what he wanted to know.

"What exactly is she?" he asked instead.

Arthur's face fell into a dark glare. That was not what he wanted to hear at all. First because Addison wasn't a 'what', she was a 'she'. Secondly because that meant he was still curious. He wanted to know why Addison was an exception to the rules, and, most likely, after what happen last night he wanted to know if she was actually a witch or not.

Well Gaius had informed Arthur last night when he dropped her off at the infirmary that Addison was most certainly (hopefully) not a witch. Instead she was cursed to absorb magic and every now and then she'd have to expel it which explained the levitating objects, the ability to just spark a flame out of nowhere and the ability to vanish on whim. So long as he kept her out of range of anything magical Addison would be safe, that should be easy enough, of course, she was in Camelot after all, the heart of the "No Magic" rule.

"She's a female you dolt!" Arthur snapped, turning the sword over more elaborately, making sure it crossed his body several times hopping it made him look more impressively aggressive. "Tell me you've seen one before?"

"To the left," clang "Right" clang "and left" clang.

Merlin had gotten a bit better at this, but not by much.

"Head" clang.

"OW!" Merlin cried again.

"Shield" clang "Body" clang "Shield" clang "Shield." Clang. Clang. Cl-cl-cl-clang!

Arthur finished with one very strong blow to the head that echoed so loudly even he heard it. Merlin looked on the verge of collapsed and Arthur just stood back and waited for him to fall over.

"Arthur!"

Arthur knew that voice the second it was in the air. She didn't even have to finish his name for him to know. Arthur turned to see Addison making her way slowly down the embankment to join them on the field. It was a slow skipping like hop, the skirt of her dress in her hands, her eyes on the ground but he could see her smile, and her ankles as she made her way to him. She was in the same sky blue dress as before, the one she had gone missing and reappeared in. He didn't want to chance changing her and having Gaius wonder why.

Now it seemed that she didn't want to chance changing if that meant she couldn't see him first. How kind of her to think to put his worried mind at ease before she return to her cell, or was she here to see her new friend Merlin, or was she just avoiding going back to her cell altogether? Arthur was inclined to believe that it was the first option.

He took half a step towards her, his mind fully on taking Addison up in his arms and holding her to his chest for an inappropriate length and time. He was completely unaware that Merlin hadn't collapsed as he had expected and was moving until the strength of Merlin's blow knocked him over.

This time when Addison called his name it was in a shrill scream of terror.

Uther had rushed down to the infirmary the second he got new that Addison had woken up. He had planned out a long speech about the good and evils of magic, and how there were very few good things about magic except that it had given her the ability to save him. He was going to have Gaius explain what she was and then he was going to explain that he didn't want her using any magic. If she had to absorb magic to save him or his son, fine, but she wasn't going to expel it, she was going to sit there and deal with the after affects.

The problem was, when he got there, Addison was no longer there.

Now Uther was sitting in the infirmary watching as his men organized Gaius' odd packages. He hadn't question his Court Physician when he had asked for a delivery of poisonous snakes. Uther had just assumed it was for good reason. He was unaware why they needed t be live snakes, or why Gaius needed them in their own separate glass boxes.

The men were carefully dropping the snakes into their new homes, as both Uther and Gaius looked over their work. Gaius was fiddling with potions and herbs over at his work table while Uther was sitting on the cot.

"How is it possible that she managed to escape you? Were you even watching her?" Uther asked in a low tone.

Gaius frown at him over his rim of his tonic bottle. "She probably walked out the door," he said. Uther huffed and Gaius put down the bottle and huffed right back. "If your dungeons can't keep her still why assume that I could?"

Uther didn't want to admit it but it was true. Nothing short of the stocks could keep her contained, and even then she had escaped them twice. Uther strongly suspected that his knights were soft to Addison and would do as she bid if she blinked her big blue eyes at them or cried even a little.

Gaius came to stand across from Uther, he clasped his hands in front of him and stared down at Uther with a knowing stare that irked him. "Besides, she's only been gone a few minutes, how much trouble could she get into?"

It was meant to ease Uther's worries, for really, if she had only been gone for a short amount of time there wasn't much damage she could do. Obviously she could cause some, the girl was rather chaotic, but it wouldn't be too big.

At that moment the door banged open and a loud argument could be heard heading towards them. Of course at the head of it all was Addison.

"I still can't beleive you hit him!" she cried as she held the door open. "What were you thinking?"

Arthur came in second, he was half in his training armour but he had taken the top half off, he was in nothing but his tunic and the heavy breeches and thick gloves. He was leaking blood from collar, partly from his neck but mostly from his shoulder, darkening the red of his tunic.

"Honestly Addison, you're acting as if I'm mortally wounded. It's nothing but a scratch I'm fine!" he said but Addison clearly ignored him. Her attention seemed to be on Arthur's new manservant who all but shoved Arthur through the door.

"Don't shove me!" Arthur growled, but Merlin was ignoring him as well. He got into Addison's face and scowled down at her, but she wasn't intimidated at all. Uther knew that she could best the lanky boy in a fight, everyone in the room knew she could best this boy in a fight, everyone except him of course.

"Look! This is not my fault! He totally would have blocked it if it weren't for you distracting him!" he argued.

Addison growled in rage. "Distracting him is my thing!" she cried. "Your thing is to not try and kill him!"

"Listen here you arrogant little –," Merlin started, he had jabbed Addison's shoulder, his tone had got dangerous and Arthur was intervening. Uther watched captivated by the way Arthur had placidly stood back and watched his ward with a look of admiration on his face and how quickly it had changed into a mask of pure anger when Merlin dared to touch her in such an aggressive manner.

He used one arm–his good arm—to grab Merlin and force him to turn around. "Do not ever speak to her, or touch her in that way again!" he warned before shoving Merlin out of the way so he could face Addison himself.

She enclosed the distance herself, not surprising Uther at all as she had always been brazen with her speech and movement. She reached a hand up to Arthur's shoulder tracing the edges of his wound, her fingers now stained red with his blood. She was frowning at him.

"I know you say it not much but I'd feel better if you get it check," she said, her big blue eyes watering with the threat of a tide of tears and blinking. There it was the look she used to soften his knights and obviously his son.

Arthur slowly put his fingers to Addison's shoulders, but he didn't dare pull her closer, Uther was inclined to believe that the two hadn't noticed he was there. Merlin had of course and was trying to signal this to Arthur but luckily Addison had all of Arthur's attention at this time.

"My arm doesn't matter, all that matters is that you're finally awake," he said to her. "My father stayed your execution by the way, you're safe for now."

"Gaius told me. I'm a magic sponge. Did you know that?" she shot back. Arthur's hand had travelled to Addison's loose hair, his fingers playing with the locks. Addison usually wore her hair down, even if it meant she was a loose woman, she kept saying it was just a normal way to wear hair where she came from.

"There isn't any magic here for you to absorb. You'll be safe, I promise," Arthur said.

"What an interesting promise, do you care to promise anything else? An undying love perhaps?" Uther asked.

In his panic Arthur fairly shoved Addison away from him as he turned to face his father. A flush of red was on his cheeks, he was embarrassed to be caught, this was good, and there was fear in his eyes. Of course because Addison was a light as a feather and as uncoordinated as a blind horse she went flying into the table with the newly houses snakes, crashing over it and taking one glass habitat with her.

Neither noticed this of course, except Merlin who was wildly gesturing and was being widely ignored.

"Would you care to explain what happened?" Uther asked.

Arthur kept his eyes stubbornly on his father as his jaw twitched. Uther mimicked Addison's previous motions, his fingers traced the cut on his son's shoulder and found it to be light but decidedly bloody. It would heal quickly and leave no scar if Arthur was lucky.

When Arthur failed to give him an explanation Uther filled in the gaps. "She distracted you and you received a blow I take it," he asked. "Is your manservant more skilled than your knights? He must be if he could do what they could not."

Still Arthur was silent and through that silence they finally heard the whimpering. Arthur took his eyes off of his father and turned to the sound.

"Addison?" he asked softly moving towards the table.

"A snake got loose when she fell over," Merlin said.

Uther followed his son, noting that already his muscles were tight. Together they peered over the table and found that Addison had in fact let loose a snake. She was surrounded by glass shards and the now freed snake was completely agitated. It was face to face with Addison, standing up in striking pose, hissing and spitting.

Arthur had already climbed onto the tabletop, he sword was unsheathed, as he inched towards her.

"Stay still Addison," he whispered.

Addison was starting to shake, sheet white a clearly terrified. She whimpered again and a single tear fell from her cheek, she said absolutely nothing to him. The snake seemed to sense the impending danger but didn't note it coming from the side. It lunged for her and she screamed throwing herself back just as Arthur's sword descended just in time to decapitate it mid strike. Still the severed head flew through the air and landed in Addison's lap.

Addison shrieked once more and bolted to her feet, scrambling back and making a million high pitched noises of disgust. She ran until she found Merlin, practically clamouring onto him in her fright. She had her face buried in his dirty tunic. Arthur stood, took in the sight and was no grinding his teeth.

Merlin had his arms wrapped around Addison and was soothing her by stroking her hair. "It's alright Addison," he was saying "It didn't get you, you're safe now."

Addison merely blubbered loudly, her words garbled, her voice thick with tears. She kept her head against Merlin's chest. Arthur calmly walked around the table, stopping only to scoop up the head.

"It was a diamond back tree snake," he said. He put the severed head up into Addison's face. "Look how ferocious!"

Uther wasn't certain if this was a bout of cruelty came from a desire to prove to his father he wasn't doting on Addison or to punish her for finding solace in the arms of another but if it put distance between this time hopping interloper Uther was going to allow it. Addison peaked out at him, clapped eyes with the head of the snake, now inches from her nose, and immediately went limp in Merlin's arms.

Merlin proved to be less than formidable when he couldn't handle Addison's dead weight and crumpled to the floor with the girl in his arms. Uther scowled and rolled his eyes, Addison was the lightest woman in the city. Arthur was groaning in frustration.

"And this is the man that bested you?" Uther asked.

"He did not best me!" Arthur snapped. "I would have recovered from the hit, Merlin had me wide open and barely grazed me, I could have dealt with him without problem. Except Addison decided I was dealt a death blow and threw herself on top of me sobbing hysterically like I was about to die in her arms! I'm barely bleeding father, you've seen that for yourself!"

Gaius came between them and snatched the snake head out of Arthur's hand. "I wasn't going to start extraction until later but thanks to you I'll have to start now. Go sit on the bench, I'll deal with your shoulder once I'm finished. Merlin, put Addison back on the cot."

Merlin seemed to be struggling to get Addison off of him and before anyone could say anything Arthur hauled Addison up and threw her unceremoniously onto the bed. She landed like a sack of potatoes startling a groan out of her but other than that she didn't wake up.

Before Arthur could get any farther Uther pulled him aside. "If this is an example of how you will be performing in the upcoming tournament I will be ashamed," he growled into his ear.

Arthur could only glare at him as he said: "It is not,"

"I should forbid her from attending," Uther added.

Arthur shrugged. "You know the crowd likes it when she performs, and that the returning knights will all wish to have some of her luck," he hissed.

Uther conceded that this was true, but didn't say it to his son. He had forbidden Addison from appearing at a joust once and the venders had been upset by the lack of money produced. It was always triple when Addison performed. He also found that the knights would visit her in her cell for good luck, and then questions were asked about why she was there and what she could have done to deserve such odd treatment. Too many questions were a hazard considering what she was, so he knew at once that he wouldn't be able to keep her from attending.

So he left, leaving Arthur in Gaius' capable hands, hoping that Addison would be back in her cell by nightfall.

Knight Valiant pulled his hose to a stop right outside of Camelot's gates. No one stopped him or took notice in his horses skittish strides. It had been acting up since Valiant had gotten the new shield but that was to be expected. Luckily he wouldn't have to use his horse for the tournament.

He found the registry stall and nervously put a hand to his shield before approaching. He felt the steady thrum of the magic buried in it and that calmed him enough to smile. He knew he was the only one who could feel it, the tavern wenches hadn't felt a thing when they played with it the night before.

"I am Knight Valiant from the Western Isles," he said throwing down his invite.

The man at the stall smiled up at him, and handed him the notice of joining and seal he'd need to compete. "Welcome to Camelot," he said in a gracious tone, but Valiant knew the man was tired and couldn't care less for the knights coming from all over to compete.

Valiant nodded to him and moved further into the city. He was just planning on winning this tournament, he planned on winning so much more than that, and he was going to cheat if he had to. He'd do anything to get what he wanted.