AN: This chapter is short, but I'm going to make it up to you with a super long chapter next time. :)

As far as I know, the site issues are fixed now. I hope. We'll see if it lasts. I apologize for all of the problems.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

Chapter Thirty Four

"Absolutely not."

"I don't know, Merlin. I think Arthur has a point," Gwaine said with a wide grin.

Merlin looked around the table and groaned. Every single one of them looked thrilled with the idea. Lancelot was trying to look sympathetic, but short laughs kept breaking through despite his best efforts.

Arthur looked about as delighted as Merlin had ever seen him, the pompous clotpole.

"They can't know you're Emrys," Leon reasoned. "This whole plan hinges on Arthur appearing unprotected and vulnerable out there. And it would be a practical disguise that would allow you to remain right in the middle of the group where you can best protect Arthur if they catch us off guard."

"I can disguise myself using magic," Merlin argued. "An aging spell or something!"

Arthur shook his head. "You told me aging spells require a lot of energy to maintain, and I want you at full strength if you're going into a fight against thirty-plus sorcerers. A non-magical disguise makes the most sense. Besides, I already promised Gwen she could pick out a dress for you."

"You told Gwen?"

If possible, Arthur's grin grew. "Yes, I did. Once she was able to speak again, she said she had just the thing in mind. Although to be honest, I'm not sure you'll quite fill out the top."

"Do you have any idea how many different things I could turn you into, Arthur? Animals? Furniture? An actual girl?"

"Threatening the king with magic, Merlin?" Arthur shook his head in mock disapproval. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Then you're a stupid ass in addition to a royal one," Merlin grumbled. But he knew the fight was lost.

Arthur secretly hated the plan.

They'd go out for a 'hunt,' Merlin accompanying them disguised as a lady of the court. It wasn't common for ladies to accompany the men on a hunt, but it wasn't unheard of either, so hopefully Maelor wouldn't find it too suspicious. Then they would pretend to get lost, which Arthur thought was the least realistic part of the ploy, given how well he knew those woods, and they would get separated. Arthur would "accidentally" end up in a dead end in a gorge. The hope was that the Deilen were watching closely enough to spot the opportunity and would recognize a prime opening to get him alone and trapped.

And then Merlin would do his thing, and hopefully they'd all be home before dinner.

It wasn't a bad plan, if he did say so himself. It's just that it required him to voluntarily get trapped, penned in by people who wanted to kill him, and whom he was completely unable to fight.

But Merlin could. And he trusted Merlin. He just had to keep reminding himself of that. About once every five or six seconds.

They left shortly after dawn, armed with all the normal gear for a hunt. Normally, using the king for bait would create a heavy and sober atmosphere, but it was important they act normally. They were banking on the Deilen watching them, and they couldn't give away the game.

Fortunately, jokes and laughter came pretty easily despite the circumstances, because it was almost impossible to look at Merlin fuming in his pretty green dress and not see the humor in it.

"You look just lovely this morning, my lady," Gwaine said very seriously as they rode into the woods. They knew they couldn't say anything to acknowledge Merlin's disguise, just in case they were overheard, but there were plenty of other ways to antagonize him. "Here. I picked this for you earlier." Gwaine reached over to hand Merlin a sprig of purple flowers.

Merlin took the flowers with murder in his eyes.

"How does anybody ride in these things?" He muttered, trying to adjust his skirts for the hundredth time and flicking the hair from his wig out of his face.

"Stop it, Merlin," Arthur rebuked him quietly. "You can't give any sign that you don't wear skirts every day."

Arthur was grateful for the levity. He was going to see his first ever sorcerer-versus-sorcerer battle today, and he found quite a bit not to like about that. People trying to kill him, for one. An abundance of violent magic, for another. And Merlin risking his neck with some very uneven numbers, for a third. Gaius promised Merlin wasn't overstating his abilities, but it was still hard to believe his skinny little servant could take on dozens of sorcerers alone.

A couple of hours in, they neared the gorge, and in a stroke of luck, spotted a stag nearby.

"They're here," Merlin murmured. "I can feel them."

Arthur shared a brief look with his knights. He gave them a single nod, and they all took off in pursuit of the animal. It was easy for them to separate from each other in the chase, and simple for Arthur to pretend to lose the trail and wander into the gorge.

In the planning, he hadn't considered the fact he would have a crossbow in his hands. It only made sense since they were hunting, but it meant he wasn't holding his sword.

Just when he thought it wasn't possible to hate this plan any more.

He slowed to a walk, looking around the gorge as though it were unfamiliar and he didn't know it ended. When the end came into sight, he feigned surprise, then wondered what to do next.

Maybe they had misjudged the Deilen. Maybe this opportunity wasn't tempting enough for them. Maybe—

Arthur's musings were abruptly interrupted as he felt his horse drop away from beneath him. For a moment, he felt himself flying through the air, then he landed with a thud, flat on his back with the blue sky above him.