A/N:

Part 2 of 3: In which Gwen calls for reinforcements and follows a white rabbit.

(Side-note: I'm thrilled to report that the next chapter of The Prophecy is in final edits. Thank you for your collective patience!)

On with the fic!

Part Two: Follow The White Rabbit

"I cannot believe you didn't think to say something about that sooner," Gwen huffed, still pacing.

Elyan and Gwaine had the good grace—or sufficient self-preservation—to look appropriately abashed at their glaring oversight. Elyan cleared his throat cautiously.

"Um, on the bright side, at least we know which direction Merlin probably went?"

Gwen glared at him. "That would have been more useful, say, last night when we first talked, don't you think?"

"Um, probably, yes," he agreed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What I still don't understand," Gwaine said, "is why Gaius would lie about any of this?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Right, then," Gwen said decisively, looking from Elyan to Gwaine and back again, "we should go over what we know so far."

She looked down at the crisp, blank sheet of parchment on the table between them and wrote:

1. Merlin wouldn't want to kill Arthur

She hesitated, then added:

(unless the fomorroh is controlling him)

Then she quickly moved on.

2. Gaius would never betray Arthur

She resisted the urge to add a qualifying 'probably' to that sentence. Next, she wrote:

3. Arthur is probably in danger

She sighed and—with an ugly, twisting feeling in her stomach—crossed out the 'probably.'

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Gwen had called for reinforcements.

She stood a bit straighter in front of the forge and glanced around the workshop.

Gwaine was on self-proclaimed Arthur Watch, but the rest of the knights in Arthur's inner circle were there. Elyan sat on a bench to her left, fiddling with a hammer. Percival leaned against the bellows frame off to her right, waiting silently with earnest eyes. Leon sat in the middle, looking distinctly uncomfortable with the entire situation.

"What do you mean, 'Merlin might try to kill Arthur...again'?" he asked in growing horror.

Maybe I shouldn't have led with that…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Once Leon finally stopped berating himself over the crossbow incident, they started brainstorming.

"Maybe Dragoon's working with the bandits who ambushed you?" Elyan asked. "If so, that's escalation, since we'd believed he worked alone."

Percival hmm'd thoughtfully. "He might've had someone on the inside who knew our route."

"We already knew we had a traitor in our midst," Leon reminded them grimly.

"So who would've had the opportunity?"Gwen asked.

"The only others who knew our route," Leon said slowly, "were Arthur, Lord Agravaine, and…" He closed his eyes, breathing the words like a sigh. "...and Gaius."

Gwen's heart sank.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I hate to ask this," Elyan said slowly, "but can we be absolutely certain Dragoon's never worked with Merlin or Gaius before the fomorroh? Could they have helped plan the ambush?"

Percival shook his head. "Not Merlin. He was really surprised when he found out we were cutting through the Valley of the Fallen Kings."

"But he was the only one who was kidnapped rather than killed outright, and he returned much less injured than Arthur'd claimed," Elyan countered, playing devil's advocate like he had when he and Gwen argued growing up.

"Perhaps he did protest too much," Leon allowed.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Can we account for Gaius and Merlin every time Dragoon's shown up?" Elyan asked.

"Of course we can!" Gwen huffed.

"When was the first?" Percival asked. "Was it before I came to Camelot?"

"The first I remember," Elyan said, "was after Uther found out about Gwen and Arthur."

Eager to prove their worries baseless, Gwen picked up the tale with zeal.

"I was in the dungeons. Merlin came to see me, and—"

"—And then Merlin let Dragoon slip past him at the execution," Leon interjected. "Arthur blamed it on Merlin's hangover, but..."

But Merlin wasn't in the tavern, was he?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

By the time Percival replaced Gwaine on Arthur Watch, Gwen, Leon, and Elyan had gone through each Dragoon incident, pointing out the inexplicable irregularities. It had been disturbingly easy once they started looking for them.

"Maybe it's just coincidence? Just one big, embarrassing misunderstanding?" Gwaine suggested as they sat around Gwen's table.

Elyan shrugged. "That's a lot of coincidences, though."

"Well, correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation," Leon said.

"He's right," Gwen agreed. "We need to consider other times Merlin was supposedly at the tavern."

Gwaine dropped his head on the table with a thunk. "...That'll take a while," he muttered.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Everyone was on their third cup of tea by the time they finished revisiting all the 'tavern' disappearances they could remember.

"Gwaine, are you sure you don't know where Merlin is?" Gwen implored him. "Whatever he's keeping private can't be worse than conspiring with a sorcerer!"

"If I knew, I'd have told you already. Wouldn't let him be accused of treason if I could prove otherwise."

"I'm not accusing him of treason," Gwen snapped, instantly regretting her tone. "I'm sorry; it's just that there has to be another explanation."

She dropped down onto a bench. Leon patted her shoulder consolingly.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The silence stretched out.

"There simply must be some other explanation," Gwen said at last. "I just...I just can't figure out what it could possibly be."

After another minute, Elyan broke the heavy silence again.

"Is it time to tell Arthur?"

Gwaine's jaw twitched. "No, not until we know more."

Leon's eyes widened. "But if Arthur's in—"

"No!" Gwaine interrupted. "We can't. Merlin's his best friend."

"If—when—we tell him, it will break his heart," Gwen agreed softly. "We have to be absolutely sure."

"What else can we do?" Leon asked.

All three knights looked to Gwen expectantly.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I think," Gwen said, "that we need to find Merlin—or Dragoon—or both."

They quickly agreed that Percival and Leon would continue to take Arthur Watch shifts that afternoon while Elyan and Gwaine rode back out to where they'd encountered Dragoon the day before.

"I'm coming with you," Gwen announced suddenly.

"What? No, you can't!" Elyan said, but Gwen was already on her feet and gathering up her riding trousers, boots, and cloak.

"I'm coming with you," she repeated firmly. "I have things to say to Merlin when we find him."

Elyan knew better than to argue with her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

As fate would have it, they stumbled upon the eccentric old sorcerer in exactly the same place as before. Elyan and Gwaine unsheathed their swords and crept forward while Gwen stood back, holding the horses' reins.

Dragoon was struggling to pull something down from his saddlebags when he stiffened.

"Really? Again? Don't you have some other forest to patrol?"

Both knights went skidding across the clearing, swords landing out of reach. Dragoon turned, holding the item he'd yanked free.

It was one of Merlin's neckerchiefs.

Without thinking, Gwen stepped into the clearing and demanded, "What have you done with Merlin!?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Dragoon spun, arm outstretched, then froze.

"Gwen?" he gasped, but he didn't blast her away.

Gwen glanced at the cloth still clutched in his hand: proof that Dragoon had enchanted, possibly kidnapped, and maybe even murdered Merlin. She wasn't foolhardy, but she wouldn't—couldn't—let him get away with that. She looked up at him and took a slow, deliberate step forward, never breaking eye contact. His eyes were familiar, somehow.

"What did you do to him?" she repeated, taking another step forward.

Dragoon took a step back, even as Gwen's boot bumped into the cross-guard of Elyan's fallen blade.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Gwen hadn't tried the trick in ages—not since Elyan had first returned to Camelot and she'd shown him, laughing, that she still remembered how. It wasn't a good idea, but it was the only idea she had. Still not breaking eye contact with Dragoon, she carefully wedged her toe under the blade. Crossing her fingers and thinking 'For Merlin' like a mantra, she kicked the sword up and caught it.

Dragoon took another step back, familiar blue eyes widening.

"Please, Gwen, don't—"

"Tell me where Merlin is!" she said, voice breaking, and pointed the sword at the sorcerer's chest.

A/N:

An alternate chapter summary: In which Gwen puts two and two together, but doesn't quite get four. ;)