Author's Note: Sorry for the late update! (lol it's been like a year) I'm back into the groove of things! Stick with me! Thank you and please enjoy!

Episode 4: The Mask of Chaos (Part Two)

Merlin had been noticing something with Arthur; the king's head bobbed weakly as his horse trotted along the forest pathway towards Gail. Gwaine's horse was walking next to Merlin's, behind Arthur's, and Percival was ordered to stay in Brighton to question those who were ill and healed by the sorceress. A good description of the woman and he would leave for Gail, as well.

"Merlin."

Merlin picked his head up once he heard his name whispered. Gwaine was leaning towards him with narrowed, dark brown eyes.

"Is it just me," he began in a quiet voice, "Or does Arthur seem… out of it?"

Merlin wasn't surprised Gwaine realized his friend had some ailment, after all, they both cared for him deeply and were always looking for an excuse to mother the king.

"I've noticed it, too." Merlin slipped his hand into the pouch that was tied to his horse's saddle and pulled out a blueberry with a mischievous grin. "Let's test it, shall we?"

With little effort, Merlin threw the berry at Arthur and it bounced right off the back of his head. Immediately, Arthur turned his back with a furious expression on his weary face.

"What the hell was that?!" he yelled angrily. Merlin and Gwaine nearly jumped right out of their saddles at the king's booming voice. "Did one of you morons throw something at me?"

Merlin's eyes widened in comic fear and Gwaine pointed directly at Merlin to blame.

"He did it. He planned everything! I tried to stop him," Gwaine defended himself and raised his hands for dramatic effect.

Arthur turned back around and growled, "I'm in no mood to put up with your idiotic antics, Merlin. I'm exhausted."

"Maybe we should rest, then," Merlin suggested, "It's another day until we reach Gail. There's just one more forest we need to make it through."

Arthur gripped his neck and massaged it, trying to relieve some obvious stress on his muscles. "Let's ride until the next forest and we'll set up camp there."

Nearly an hour later, the trio reached the Forest of Gail, which would lead them to the wintery city. The moon was just appearing above the horizon as they began to set up camp; which was really just a fire and some pieces of cloth for blankets. It was pitch dark when they had finished setting up the fire and camp.

"Arthur?" Gwaine called quietly over the crackling fire. The three men were lying down, preparing for sleep. However, no one answered immediately, so Gwaine tried again. "Arthur?"

"What?" the king replied in an irritated and muffled voice.

"Do you really plan on giving this sorceress a reward?"

There was a brief silence.

"Yes, why?"

"I was just thinking," Gwaine began as he stared at the starry night sky through the bare tree branches. "I've watched knights kill sorcerers at your command. What has changed since a year ago?"

Arthur opened his eyes, sighing, and turned to lay on his back, somewhat daunted by the question. He glanced Merlin's way, but his friend was facing away from him, so there was no way of telling if he was asleep. However, Arthur could see the steady rise and fall of Merlin's shoulder, indicating relaxation. He was most likely asleep.

"I've been an unfit ruler, Gwaine," Arthur said solemnly. "Sorcerers are human, though I've grown up thinking they were creatures of hate and war. Any human can hold a weapon and harm others. It is the choice to not to such a thing that I have disregarded as king. I'm at fault for the murder of hundreds of humans and I must make amends."

"How did you see this for yourself?" Gwaine asked.

Arthur had never been so persuaded to tell Merlin's secret, but fought against the urge. He had to come up with something.

"I met a sorcerer." Not exactly a lie. "And he was the kindest, most gentle person I had ever met. Of course, I didn't know he possessed magic at first. Nobody so caring could be evil. And I realized how wrong I've been."

"That's all it took?" Gwaine chuckled and flipped onto his stomach. "Maybe I should've set you up with my mate back in Hammerfell! A sorcerer, that one. Though I could defeat him with a sword. Not so strong."

Arthur's stomach clenched at Gwaine's immediate confession. It would take some time to get used to sorcery being around, but as long as Merlin was around, Arthur knew he would be able to do it.

"You met a sorcerer, did you?"

Arthur froze still for a moment and then rolled his eyes at the sarcastic tone. He was angry at himself for not making sure Merlin was asleep.

"Yes, Merlin. I did," Arthur answered angrily, knowing what his manservant was trying to do.

Merlin snickered and rolled on his side to face Arthur, "And he was the kindest person you've ever met?"

"Yes, Merlin." Arthur stressed the first syllable of his name, obviously becoming more irritated.

"And he was so magnificently caring?"

Gwaine interrupted before Arthur could strangle Merlin with his words. "You've got some nice words for him. Pray tell I meet him someday. Would he care to have a pint with me?"

Arthur replied very tensely, "Yes, he loves to take breaks and go to taverns. All the time. You two would get along."

Although he was angry at Merlin's snarky, smart-arse comments, a hint of a smile played on his lips in the darkness when he heard Merlin laughing to himself.

"Which one is the sorcerer?"

Arthur's breath hitched and his body stilled. Normally, as one of the knights of Camelot, he would immediately retrieve his weapon, as would Gwaine. However, something about the voice froze his limbs. The voice was low, both in pitch and in volume. It sounded as if the source had whispered it directly into his head. He looked towards Merlin and Gwaine, but they seemed unaffected by it. Even stranger, they were talking as if they hadn't heard it at all.

The voice whispered in his head again, "Who is the one I seek, Arthur Pendragon?"

His thoughts immediately went to Merlin.

"Ah… so it is him."

Although Arthur was so shocked that he could hardly move, his mind registered that whoever was talking to him read his thoughts. His head began to pound painfully, but it was a dull roar. He felt strange. Horribly strange. The need to throw up was creeping through his stomach like a snake getting ready to strike. Colors and sounds mixed together and he wasn't sure if he was hearing colors or seeing sounds. This is sorcery. He had heard about it, seen it, but never experienced it first-hand. It was a disgusting feeling.

Time began to move incredibly slowly and Arthur blinked. It seemed to take an eternity to open his eyes again, but when he did, a yellow mask was mere centimeters from his face, smiling hollowly at him. Fear climbed up his body and began to strangle his throat, attempting to kill him. Agony overwhelmed the king and he yelled with his hands scratching at his neck, trying to rid of whatever creature had him within its grasp. He could not see this creature. He could not feel it. No matter how hard he scratched at his skin, the strangling sensation remained. He was going to die.

"Arthur!"

The pain and numbness disappeared instantly. He could hear again. He could see again. He opened his eyes with a burst of energy to see Merlin hovering over his face with wide eyes, inspecting him closely. Arthur would've pushed him away, but his hands were pinned above his head to the ground by Gwaine, who looked equally concerned.

His neck was stinging venomously and he was heaving to catch his breath.

"What the hell happened to you?" Gwaine asked, letting the king's hands go when his body relaxed.

Arthur touched his throat gingerly, attempting to release some endorphins to soothe the searing pain, but felt something sticky. He lifted his fingers to see that blood was smeared on them.

"What happened?" He asked to no one in particular in between breaths.

Merlin answered in a low tone of voice, but sounded extremely concerned. "You just started to scream! You nearly tore out your throat, clawing at your neck like that! Gwaine had to hold you down to stop."

Arthur took in a plentiful amount of oxygen. "Some… Something was strangling me. I swear it…"

Gwaine frowned and looked battle ready. "Must be sorcery. No other alternative."

Arthur watched Merlin swallow deeply and the manservant replied quickly, "Are you sure? We shouldn't just jump to conclusions."

Arthur raised his hand to gesture disregarding Merlin's statement. "No, Merlin. I think he's right."

Gwaine ran to his side of the camp to retrieve his sword. "Could it be that Piper sorceress?"

Merlin helped Arthur stand to his feet and the king sighed heavily, "Could be. She was heading this way. After seeing our Camelot garments, she could be frightened." He had forgotten what he had dreamed about. However, when he looked at Merlin, a transparent yellow mask hovered inches from his face.

In a bout of fury and protectiveness, Arthur unsheathed his sword, yelled his servant's name, and swung vertically downwards, attempting to slice the mask in two. When the tip of his sword got caught on the ground, he stood still, panting at the sudden surprise. Merlin, however, looked thrice surprised and perhaps even a little frightened, which was understandable, considering Arthur had swung his weapon mere inches from his face.

"I… I saw something!" the king stuttered, looking around frantically with wide eyes. He watched in agony as Gwaine and Merlin exchanged concerned expressions. "I'm telling the truth! A mask! Split up and find it!"

For a second, he considered not splitting up. The mask was after Merlin. But if they didn't cover as much ground as possible, the mask would not be found and he'd be labelled as a lunatic. Arthur darted off into the darkness, leaving the crackling fire behind him without hesitation. It wouldn't take long. It was just a mask. A floating mask. Was this Piper taunting them? Was she picking a fight with the king? Anger was boiling up in Arthur as he ran further into the black night.

Suddenly, his boot caught something on the ground and his body tumbled forward, landing not-so-graciously onto the grass and eating a pile of dirt. There was a moment of silence and embarrassment as Arthur simply lay there in the darkness. The king coughed quietly and slowly pulled himself up from the ground, sputtering out the dirt from his mouth. Out of sheer confusion, he looked back at what he tripped over.

There was a black figure on the ground, cloaked in a dark green. Arthur instantly got battle ready and hopped to his feet, holding out his sword. He took a silent step toward the figure and, with his sword, flicked the dark green cloth out of the way.

Arthur's heart nearly jumped to his throat at the horrible sight that was before him. It was a woman; so pale that her skin glowed in the darkness. Her blonde, curly hair was stained red with blood. However, the part of her that frightened the hardened king the most were her eyes; opened wide with fear, her eyes were coated black. Certainly not a normal death.

The King of Camelot had a sudden realization. The woman that had been slain before him was Piper. She harbored magic. That yellow mask asked about the sorcerer in the group.

Merlin.

A yell ripped through the darkness and Arthur looked up with frantic eyes.

"Merlin!" he screamed before taking off back towards the fire.

It was the mask. Or, whoever was behind the mask. It's been going after sorcerers. Arthur ran as fast as he could, darting around trees and hopping over roots or bushes. Merlin was in danger. The king pictured Merlin with eyes as black as night itself, lying dead on the ground. He wasn't going to let it happen. The fire was within eyesight and Arthur picked up his speed, his armor clanging together rapidly as he bounded through the forest.

"Merlin!" he yelled again, entering their camp. No one was there. "Merlin! Gwaine!"

There was a small rustle behind him and out of fear, Arthur yelled a battle cry, spun around, and delivered a sharp swing of his sword. Immediately, another sword parried the attack and left Arthur panting for breath. Gwaine was grinning as he came through the bush.

"A bit scared, are we?" he teased. "What's gotten you so riled up? The mask, I presume?"

"Gwaine! Did you not hear that scream?" Arthur spun around on his heel, looking for his servant. "Where's Merlin?"

"Merlin? He ran after you!" Gwaine was beginning to become concerned, as well. His eyes glowed ferociously in the darkness and he ran his gloved hand through his long brown hair. "He might've gotten lost. Arthur? Why are you so worried?"

Arthur could hear his heart ramming against his ribcage. Worry for his servant was one thing, but the king felt much more than that. He felt fear. However, he never felt fear. Never. So, why now? Of course, he was concerned for his servant, as he always was, but why did he feel so horribly frightened?

Arthur froze; both his body and his breathing as he came to the sudden realization.

"I've been enchanted," he muttered quietly.