A/N: Thank you GuestM, PadrePedro, Buckhunter, SnidgetHex, and Guest for reviewing!


Chapter 4

Merlin went back to the books and spent the next few hours searching for a spell that would let him track the mara, since trying to lure it out hadn't worked and he didn't want to risk someone by letting the creature get close enough to start feeding. He finally found one, though when he cast it, nothing immediately happened. Of course, the creature hadn't been down in Gaius's chambers for a few nights, so Merlin headed back up to Gwaine's room. There was a faint, glittering green residue around the bed, so at least he knew the tracking spell worked. Now they just needed to find the thing.

Merlin met up with Arthur and the knights to start the hunt. Unfortunately, the mara had escaped out Gwaine's window, so they couldn't exactly follow the trail out that way. They'd have to search through the castle and try to pick it up again. No doubt the beast was on the prowl anyway.

After a short while, Merlin finally came across a trail. It was a bit old, but it was a place to start.

"Are you sure about this?" Gwaine asked dubiously.

"Yes, I can see the spell working."

"Would help if we all could."

"Well, after we kill it, I could look for a spell for that," Merlin said dryly.

"Focus," Arthur interrupted.

They fell silent as Merlin continued to follow the faint trail, but then the glittering residue started to get brighter—more recent. He picked up the pace, eager to catch up to it before it found some hapless victim who'd failed to stay awake any longer. He spotted a squat shape slinking around the corner up ahead and broke into a jog. The others followed.

Merlin rounded the corner and pulled up short. There it was. "Fan out," he instructed.

The knights spread out along the sides, their gazes sweeping wildly back and forth since they couldn't see the creature. But Merlin could see it, backing up into an alcove. They had it cornered. It snapped its eyes to Merlin and spat viciously. Merlin leaped forward with Excalibur to stab it. It tried to dart away, and so the blade only skimmed the back of its flank, but the sword did manage to cut it.

The mara screeched in shock and rage and skittered around. It probably didn't know the knights couldn't see it. Merlin circled around to come at it again.

The creature whipped its head back and forth, but it had nowhere to go. Until it turned and leaped straight at Lancelot. But it didn't crash against him; it went into him and vanished. Lancelot jerked and his eyes immediately rolled back as he collapsed to the floor.

"Lancelot!" Leon exclaimed, lunging for him. "What happened?"

"Where is it?" Elyan yelled, twisting back and forth with his sword.

Merlin dropped Excalibur and rushed to Lancelot's side, gripping his shoulder and shaking him. "It jumped into Lancelot!"

"What do you mean it jumped into him?" Arthur said.

Merlin shook his head, at a loss. He shook his friend again, but he couldn't get him to wake. This was bad, very bad.

"Let's get him to Gaius," he said.

"Merlin, what's happening?" Arthur asked firmly.

"I don't know. The creature's inside him… I underestimated its capabilities. It wasn't fully corporeal to begin with, I just thought it still had a fixed form…" Merlin watched frantically as Percival lifted Lancelot into his arms. "I should have done more research. Or maybe I missed something…"

"Merlin," Gwaine interrupted. "We were all reaching our breaking points. It's not your fault."

"It's my responsibility," he argued.

"And you did the best you could," Arthur reiterated. "Now let's figure out how to fix this."

Merlin nodded, and they all hurried to Gaius's chambers. By the time they arrived, Lancelot was starting to twitch and whimper as though having a nightmare. Which meant the creature was somehow feeding. But this time it was from the inside, and so Merlin couldn't scare it off with magic or Excalibur. No, he had to find a way to meet it on its own turf.

He scrambled over to his magic books still laid out on the table and began flipping through them while Gaius waved smelling salts under Lancelot's nose. Unlike with Elyan, it didn't wake him.

"What do we do?" Arthur asked.

Gaius shook his head grimly. "I don't know…"

"I go into Lancelot's dream and confront the mara there," Merlin said, having found a spell that would work.

"And then what?" Percival asked in concern.

Merlin didn't really have that part figured out. "I don't know, I'll try to expel the creature."

"But if we can't see it, how will we be able to kill it when it comes out?" Gwaine asked.

Merlin shrugged; he didn't know that either. "I don't have a choice; it'll suck the life out of Lancelot if I don't do something." He carried the book over to the cot and sat on the floor. "You all should keep clear, though, so it doesn't just leap into one of you instead."

"We're not leaving," Arthur said resolutely. "And Merlin? Be careful."

Merlin shared a sober look with him and then took a deep breath before casting the spell. He was hit with a wave of fatigue so strong his eyes instantly closed and he felt his body topple sideways for a split second before he found himself standing in the midst of a vast, black landscape. It was frigid, and he could hear blood-curdling screams somewhere that sent shivers up his spine. They sounded frighteningly familiar.

"Lancelot?" he called, turning in a circle. There was nothing, just an abyss. But it wasn't empty, he could feel it wasn't empty.

He started running through the blackness, yelling for his friend. The high-pitched shrieking grew louder, and though Merlin's instincts were telling him to run the opposite direction, he knew he had to press on. A figure appeared up ahead—Lancelot. He was on his knees, doubled over as screeching phantoms swooped down and through him. The Dorocha.

"Lancelot!" Merlin slid to his knees in front of him and grasped his shoulders. He was freezing, almost white. "Lancelot!"

Lancelot sluggishly looked up, pupils dilated. They then widened in horror. "Merlin. No. You can't be here. I closed the Veil so you wouldn't have to."

"Listen to me," Merlin said urgently, giving him a sharp shake. "They're not real. It's just a nightmare. You did close the Veil, and then you were brought back, remember? This is the mara feeding off your nightmare. You have to fight it!"

Lancelot's expression pinched as he seemed to be trying to parse his way through the haze of terror. "The mara…where is it?"

"Um." Merlin twisted to look around, but there was nothing else in this blackness except for the circling Dorocha. "Not sure how to explain it, but maybe if you realize this is just a nightmare and it can't hurt you, the mara won't be able to feed."

Lancelot shuddered as another scream pierced the air. "Merlin…"

"I know," he said, squeezing his friend's shoulders. "I remember. But this is not the Veil. You are not dying here today. No one is."

Lancelot drew in a shaky breath and tried to straighten. A Dorocha came careening down on them with a gaping scream, and Merlin held tight as it punched through Lancelot's body.

"Look at me," he urged. "They're not real."

Lancelot struggled to hold Merlin's gaze as the spirits of the dead continued to assault them. But gradually they stopped having an effect as Lancelot found his ground. The knight gave Merlin a staunch nod; he had nothing to fear from the phantoms of old ghosts.

Merlin was just trying to figure out the next step when black cords came shooting up out of the ground and lashed around Lancelot, yanking him back and up and snapping his limbs taut. He cried out as tendrils swarmed over him, trapping him in their tangled mesh of web.

Merlin leaped to his feet in shock, and then a chuffing sound had him whirling around. There was the mara, staring down Merlin like a furious boar. He flung his hand up and cast a spell to slam into it…but nothing happened. He tried again, only for his magic to fail. He gaped at his hand in horror as he realized his magic didn't work in Lancelot's mind.

The beast threw its head back with a roar and then charged. Merlin dove out of the way, but the thing quickly turned around on the marble ground to come at him again. There was nowhere to go. Merlin didn't even know how to wake up, not that he'd ever leave Lancelot behind like this.

The cords constraining the knight suddenly constricted, and Lancelot screamed. It distracted Merlin long enough for the creature to come barreling at him. Merlin instinctively threw a hand up to use his magic, but of course it still didn't work. He cried out as the beast slammed its head into him and sent him flying. He hit the ground and rolled, straight off a ledge he couldn't even see and down into a gaping chasm. A ledge in the darkness broke his fall.

Merlin lay there dazed for several moments, his entire body singing with pain. In the back of his mind he wondered why it should feel that way when he wasn't even in his body. He pushed himself up with a grunt, his palm catching the edge of the scarp and almost slipping off. He scrambled back against the smooth wall, heart racing. It was pitch black and he couldn't see a thing. But he knew he had to get back up there, had to help Lancelot.

Feeling his way up the wall, he tried to find any crevices or notches he could get a hand or foot hold in. There were none. It was like the side of the cliff was made of obsidian glass.

He yelled, letting out a raging bellow of frustration. But if he'd hoped to garner the mara's attention, it didn't work. It had tossed him into the void and left him there. Despair began to creep in, and hot tears pricked at Merlin's eyes as he banged his fists against the cliff face. He'd failed. He'd failed Lancelot, and Camelot, and Arthur.

Merlin slid to the ground and buried his face in his knees.


It was a very tense atmosphere in Gaius's chambers as they all waited to see whether Merlin's plan worked. The frustrating part was there was no way for them to know what was happening. They wouldn't even be able to see if the mara jumped out of Lancelot unless Merlin woke up fast enough to spot it.

Arthur stood with arms crossed, one hand tucked against his chin. Gwen had arrived not long after Merlin had gone into Lancelot's nightmare and was standing next to him, also watching anxiously as Lancelot tossed and turned in his sleep. Given how awful Elyan's and Gaius's nightmares had been, they all hated to think what Lancelot might be dreaming about.

Gaius kept splitting his attention between checking on Lancelot and Merlin, and he was back to Lancelot, but this time he lingered a few moments longer as he held the knight's wrist to measure his pulse. Brow furrowing, Gaius then leaned over to set an ear against his chest.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked.

"His pulse is getting weaker, and his breathing is shallow," Gaius replied. He went to a cupboard and got out an extra blanket, which he draped over Lancelot.

"And Merlin?" Arthur asked.

Gaius went to check him again and sighed. "His breathing and heart rate are stable, but he's developing a chill now too."

"Does that mean he's in trouble?" Gwaine asked.

"I have no idea. But if Merlin doesn't succeed soon, we're going to lose Lancelot."

They all exchanged helpless looks at that. Two of their friends were dying right in front of them, and they were powerless to stop it.