A/N: Another chapter without much dialogue but with a lot of looking, staring, and wondering! Yay!
I do hope you enjoy it anyway – I can promise some real action for the next chapter, though, so bear with me!
(Can you even imagine how much I'm looking forward to the next one? ^^)
Chapter 17 – Straight into a trap
Wondering if I was supposed to stay or run, I stared at the warlock. Another minute passed. Then he made a movement like he wanted to cross the stream, but was stopped by someone calling his name. I knew the voice, it was Gaius', and he sounded impatient.
The gangly young man seemed to remember what he had come to the stream for, knelt down and filled an empty skin of water without taking his eyes off of me, but neither of us seemed to know what to say. Or do.
When Gaius called again, Merlin slowly turned and walked away without looking back. It was obvious he was giving me a choice either to go or to follow him. How much had Gaius told him? Or Gwaine? They were close, but had the knight told anyone what he had done for me that night? He must believe me to have left this world, so what would be the harm in telling Merlin? But somehow I doubted Gwaine had spoken to anyone about that.
My heart was beating faster with every moment. A battle was raging inside me – they were so close. I should go to them. I wanted to go to them. But I couldn't. Or could I? Should I?
In the end, the longing got the better of me. I could surely risk a quick glance without being spotted, to make sure they were okay. I wondered what they were doing in Nemeth and why they were dragging Gaius along: The old man left the castle so rarely since Merlin had come to Camelot it must have been something special to have him here, in enemy country. And they way he had sounded, something had definitely gone wrong.
I thought I knew what was going on when I saw the ruins, but on a second, closer look, I was at a loss. Merlin was all right, walking around, fetching things for Gaius. I caught him looking around every few minutes, trying not to appear suspicious, but, as we all well know, that's not one of Merlin's strengths. Luckily no one was paying him much attention.
Gaius was working on someone lying on the ground, hidden behind one of the crumbled walls from my sight. Apart from Merlin and Gaius, the place was empty but for Leon, who was shifting his weight from one foot to the other, looking alarmed. My heart clenched at the thought who might be the patient, so I decided to move around the ruin carefully to get a better look. I moved slowly, deliberately, so as not to snap a single twig on the earth or brush against any bush and create a sound which might give away my position.
"Leon", I heard Gaius say in his calm, commanding physician-voice, "we need some more firewood, please."
Leon, appearing to be happy to be of use, left the ring of crumbled walls and walked over to the wood to gather sticks. Naturally, he was coming directly at me.
I tried to move back as quickly and quietly as possible, but as I was trying to look behind me at the same time as keeping an eye on the knight, I tripped over a tree root and fell, creating more noise than necessary to alarm Leon.
If we had been on Camelot's soil, he would've called out something like: 'Who goes there? Reveal yourself!', as I had heard him do on more than a few occasions, but we were in Nemeth and, if I was piecing the story together correctly, on the way to rescue King Rodor. Or something like that, at least, so he drew his sword very slowly instead, looking around anxiously and then starting to move forward, one step at a time.
It wasn't so much a decision I made but a hunch I was following: I stood up again, wincing slightly since I had hurt myself in falling, and simply said: "Leon."
The knight started at his name, hurrying over to where I stood, his sword raised, ready to fight. I still think it was impressive how his grip on the sword never wavered once he saw me, even though his eyes showed how surprised he was.
"I'm here to help", I continued, raising my hands to signal surrender.
The knight stared at me without lowering his sword and I vaguely wondered if that would keep happening whenever I met any of my former friends: Staring without saying anything.
But maybe this was how I would've reacted, too, if it had been the other way round?
"The Queen gave order to kill you on sight", he finally managed, his weapon still hovering between us, by now closer to my chest than I would have liked.
I nodded and waited for him to decide on what to do – it was too late to run, and I had suspected Gwen to say something like this, being under Morgana's spell and everything.
"Leon! What's taking you so long?" Merlin was making his way through the wood, coming ever closer to us. The moment he reached us, Leon lowered the sword. He was looking tired, like he had fought a difficult battle and wasn't happy with the outcome.
The warlock didn't so much as acknowledge my presence, but gestured back to the ruins: "Gaius really needs more wood."
Leon nodded, gave me a wary look, and then resumed the task of gathering firewood.
Meanwhile, Merlin gave me one of his smiles (until then I hadn't known how much I'd missed them).
"You should come back with me."
Gaius only raised an eyebrow when he saw Merlin returning with me, but didn't say anything about my sudden appearance, and he wasn't staring either. Instead, he gestured to the man lying in the corner: "Do you have an idea what is happening?"
My eyes darted over to Merlin: "Gaius has told me about who you are."
I couldn't suppress a sigh, not sure if it was one out of relief or disappointment, and knelt down beside Elyan, who was lying motionless, seemingly unconscious. The knight was breathing shallow and uneven and his face was ashen.
"I think I do know", I answered Gaius, and then explained, in low tones and as short as I could about Mithian, the fake 'Hilda' and the trap waiting for Arthur. I also added my guess how Mithian had tried to warn the King through Elyan, who had been bewitched by Morgana. I also described what Gaius had done to heal Merlin in the original story-line.
The warlock, who was listening with rapt attention, thought intently for a few minutes after I had finished before he knelt down beside me and whispered something with a solemn face.
I had never before looked at him directly when he performed a spell, and realised with a shudder how different he looked when he was doing magic. Almost like he was two different persons, I mused, and then, when Elyan made a low groan, I shook the thought and tore my gaze away from Merlin.
Gwen's brother blinked against the light, confused, and then his gaze steadied itself on Merlin's face: "We need to get to Arthur. He's walking straight into a trap!"
Another A/N: Also, thanks to AndreKl, whose latest fanfiction definitely inspired the sentence about Merlin appearing like two persons (Merlin & Emrys, if you haven't guessed it already). It's not my idea; and I never saw it that way before reading your fanfic; but now it's got stuck in my head. But it is not my idea, so I felt the need to tell you guys.
So do check out Merlin - a memorable quotes review if your interested (it's really good!)
