A/N

I'm so sorry for not updating in ten month. My only excuse is that I've been so busy. First with my new job over the summer, and then I went directly from that one to school so my days have been busy non-stop since June last year. During this time I have decided to focus my limited time to write on my Doctor Who story but I don't want this one to go to waste so I'm gonna try and update more often, or at least once every month at least, but still no promises. I have acquired a tablet thought and ads soon as I get my keyboard I will start writing on that one instead during me free periods in school etc. So hopefully I will be able to keep up with one update per month.

Again, I'm so sorry for the long wait, especially since this chapter is so short, but I just wanted it out there.

I think I've answered all review on PMs instead, but if I have missed one, please let me know.

No Beta

A Ghost in the Battle

"He popped up from nowhere." The hardened soldier told him.

"Yes," Another soldier nodded along, this was a bit taller and more willowy than the other who was sturdier, but just as hardened. "It was like a whirlwind. One moment nothing, and the next the wind picked up and when it settled again, there he was."

"Like a ghost." A third soldier chimed in, this one younger than his friends, and a bit more innocent looking, but it hadn't been his first battle. "He was dressed in red."

"The hood obscured his face." The first soldier added, his beard bobbing along with his head.

"Then how do you know it was a man?" Merlin asked in crooked French as he treated the wounds of the injured Normans. He hadn't spoken French in several hundred years, and the language had evolved since then, but he knew enough to be understood and he quickly picked up the changes.

"Because of his voice." The second soldier answered, the other two nodding along.

"His voice?" Merlin frowned.

"It was deep." Soldier number three said. "Too deep to be a woman."

"He said something in words I couldn't make out." The first soldier continued. "The next thing I knew he threw his hands out and I was knocked out."

"The same thing happened to me." The third soldier cut in.

"And me." The second soldier said.

"He must have been fast then, to be able to knock all three of you out like that." Merlin said as he tied the bandage around the third soldier's head.

"It wasn't just us though," The first soldier looked around them to make sure no one was eavesdropping in the makeshift nursery tent. "I've heard rumours and muttering around the camp."

"Me too," Soldier number two added. "Same thing has happened to others..." He leaned forward a bit. "On both sides."

"Really?" Merlin raised his eyebrows in surprise. "So this cloaked man, he was fighting against both sides?"

"Yes." All three said in a chorus.

"But he didn't actually kill anyone." Soldier number three said. "He just knocked them out."

"He was using magic." A fourth soldier said, making the other three jump as they hadn't heard him coming up to them, but they quickly composed themselves. He was younger than all three of them, no more than seventeen, Merlin guessed. He still had the innocence of a child on his face but, Merlin noticed with sadness, it wouldn't be there for much longer because his left arm was tightly bound by the elbow, dried blood evident on the white bandage where the arm had been cut clean with a sword.

"Magic?" The first soldier burst out in a husky laugh. "You're always making up stories, Bertran."

"It's true, Asce." He came around to stand in front of them; all three stopped laughing when they noticed his arm. "I was already down when I saw him arrive. He never touched anyone, just stretched out his hands and a wind knocked you down. But that's not all," He swallowed once. "His eyes were glowing when he did it."

"Excuse me," Merlin stood up. "I need to attend to other patients." He smiled and left the four of them behind without waiting for a response. He didn't want Bertran to recognise him.

The battle had been a long one, and Merlin had done his best to make the casualties as few as possible. He didn't care who was fighting for whom, he just needed it to stop.

A few weeks after the battle, Merlin decided to travel. Albion was too much in disarray for his liking at the moment, and he felt the need to broaden his skills and knowledge.

So he travelled East to learn medicine from the tribes.

A/N

Again, sorry for the shortness of the chapter but I hope it will satisfy you somewhat until I can write the next one which will future a few paragraph of Merlin when he is in Africa and then Asia, and then the rest will be of his encounter with the crusades.

Have a great week everyone =)