Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.
Chapter fifty-two: What are friends for? Part two.
Bercilak walked at the head of the group, closely followed by Gilli and Eira, who walked almost next to him on either side and carefully looking for tracks. Behind them walked Sefa, Tyr and Daegal, all watching the trees, as if expecting to be ambushed any moment and all jumping at the smallest noise. Kara who walked a couple of steps behind them, rolled her eyes, but even she couldn't help but feel a little on edge. Only a couple of steps behind Kara, Merlin and Freya walked, hand in hand and both watching the trees and glancing over their shoulder ever minute or so.
"It's too quiet." Freya mutters, gripping Merlin's hand.
Merlin nodes. "As far as I can tell we're the only living beings in this part of the wood... Something must have happened to scare of all the animals like this."
"But what would scare them off?" Kara asks, from in front of them. "If a groups of Orcs, were to pass through, the animals would return as soon as they had passed."
Merlin and Freya both glanced round again. They had all left there horses at the village they had passed a couple of miles back. They wanted the element of surprise on whoever was attacking the out lying villages and horses were far to easy to hear coming and to track.
"Look," Freya suddenly points to the undergrowth, where a small piece of fur could just be seen. "What is that?"
Kara quickly walked over to where Freya had pointed, she was closest to it.
"It's a dead fox." She answers after pushing back the leaves.
"A dead fox?" Freya asks. "Wouldn't wolves have got to it by now?"
Merlin suddenly pulls his scarf up to cover his mouth and nose. "Cover your mouths and noses!"
Bercilak turns and looks back, as Freya and Kara both cover their mouths with their cloaks. "What did you say?"
"COVER YOUR MOUTH AND NOSE." Merlin yells.
Everyone ahead of them does. Only a couple of seconds later a pale mist moves through the trees.
"It's only mist." Gilli mutters, his voice slightly muffled, as he speaks through the material of his cloak.
"No it isn't," Merlin answers. "It's a gas and it's more than capable of killing you, if you breathe too much of it in."
"How do you know?" Gilli replies.
Merlin sighs slightly. "Before I hatched Aithusa, I had to retrieve his egg from a tomb. When the tomb door was opened, it triggered a trap, which sprayed a gas. The gas, knocked the person in front of me out and I removed the gas before he breathed in enough to kill him... It has little to no smell, but it discolours most thing. The leaves on the trees around us are dull and all the animals in the area are dead."
The gas was all around them now, but Merlin had, with a flash lf his eyes, kept it away from them. But it was still to risky to uncover their mouths and noses.
"Where did they get the gas from?" Sefa asks. "And how did they get so much?"
"Magic can create many things, even gases such as this." Freya answers.
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With their mouths and noses still covered, Merlin, Freya, Sefa, Kara, Eira, Daegal, Tyr, Gilli and Bercilak make their way through the trees. The gas hung in the air around them and swirled in the slight wind.
"How much magic do you think it would have taken to create this much gas?" Sefa asks.
Bercilak shrugs. "It demands on which spell they use... Some spells will use more magic than others."
"They may not have even used magic," Daegal points out. "They may be burning a compound which is creating the gas."
"No, they've used magic." Kara disagrees.
Gilli thinks for a second. "There is only one person I know who is capable of using magic like this... Jared."
"But why?" Eira asks. "I mean no one lives in these woods, the closest village is four miles away!"
"Protection." Merlin answers.
"Protection?" Tyr asks.
Merlin nodes. "I think, if it is Jared, he's using this gas to protect his camp."
"Anyone who walks into it thinking it's just mist or fog, will pass out and/or die if they breath too much in," Freya agrees. "If Jared camp is surrounded by this gas, no one will make it anywhere near his camp."
"I think you're right... Look at this, Orc tracks and they're leading deeper into the woods." Bercilak speaks up, pointing out the tracks.
Gilli grins. "Looks like we're found whose responsible for the attacks on the villages."
"But we can't just follow the tracks," Eira points out. "If the Orcs created this gas to hide their hide out, there could be hundreds of them."
"The scouts would have noticed hundreds of Orcs passing through the area." Kara points out.
"They may not have passed through," Merlin speaks up. "Jared is more than capable of creating Orcs with magic... He may not be the only one working for Mordred within our kingdom. Eira's right, there could be hundreds of them."
Bercilak nodes. "It would be a good plan, think about it. Once we go to battle this side of the kingdom is going to have little to no protection, a group of a fifty or more Orcs, would do a lot of damage."
"So what should we do?" Daegal asks.
"I think," Freya speaks up. "I may have a plan that might just work."
Merlin smiles. "Well then, my lady, let's get to work."
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Merlin and Freya walked between a group of five Orcs, hoods pulled low over their faces and scarfs pulled up over their mouths and noses. They were lead a long a narrow path, which weaved between the trees and through the tree line ahead of them, Merlin could make out a small village. Around them hidden in the shadows, the others followed them. If this plan failed, Merlin and Freya were going to be in trouble, there was no doubt of that fact.
Merlin had volunteered to be the one that got, but Freya refused to let him go alone, so they had agreed to go together. Also they were the only two with strong magic, well magic strong enough to battle their way out of an enemy camp with out help. An Orc to Merlin's right shoved him forward, as he stopped for a second upon seeing the village. Bodies of those who had been killed were piled around the village, almost like a wall.
Beside him, Freya let out a slight gagging noise and for a second Merlin believed she was going to be sick. And he couldn't blame her, the sight was gruesome. As they entered the village, Orcs watched them pass, weapons ready to strike, the moment the order was given. Ahead of them, were a pile of bodies dressed in purple cloaks and armour, Merlin knew to be from Amata forges.
"My, my, my, what do we have here?" Jared mocks as he appears from one of the abandoned houses
"Two druids, my lord." One of the Orcs answers, thinking Jared was being serious. "We found them in the woods, less than a mile from here."
Jared glares at the Orc for a moment. "I can see that they are druids!... Less than a mile from here you say? Interesting."
"When can we kill them, my lord?" A second Orc questions.
"Soon," Jared answers. "But first I have some questions I want answering... And these two are going to give me the answers, or their suffering will be prolonged."
"What makes you think we'll answer anything?" Freya suddenly speaks up.
Jared grins. "Lets just say if you don't... The consequences won't be pleasant."
"That's your idea of a threat?" Merlin snorts.
"I know that voice," Jared growls, he waves his hand at the Orc closest to Merlin and they pull Merlin's hood and scarf down. "You!"
Merlin smiles slightly. "Hello, Jared."
"I should have known it was you, druid boy!" Jared glares at Merlin.
"If you ask kindly," Merlin grins. "I might answer you questions."
"What I want to know, druid boy, is where Merlin Emrys wedding is being held tomorrow!" Jared snaps.
Freya glances at Merlin, by the shake of her shoulders, Merlin knew she was trying to suppress a laugh.
"Why do you want to know?" Freya finally asks.
"Because-" Jared begins. "Why am I even telling you this? Now tell me. Where. Is. The. Wedding. Being. Held."
"Never." Both Merlin and Freya answer.
"KILL THEM!" Jared yells, losing his patience.
Before the Orc closest to Merlin can even move, they fall to the ground with an arrow in their back, before they vanish into a pile of earth and insects. Jared glances round, before quickly running for cover. The four other Orcs around Merlin and Freya all fall to the ground, as the abandoned village around explodes to life. Orcs stream out of the buildings around them, as Gilli, Bercilak, Daegal, Kara, Sefa and Eira appear on the roofs of the buildings.
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Daegal slices the enchanted ropes that bound Merlin's and Freya's wrists behind their backs.
"Thanks." Merlin grins, as he pulls Freya to her feet.
Daegal grins. "No problem."
"Well it seems everyone else were more than content with letting us sit here tied up." Merlin mutters.
"Why couldn't you free yourselves with magic?" Daegal asks, as Freya uses magic to throw a small group of Orcs backwards through the air.
"They were enchanted," Freya explains. "Neither me or Merlin could guess the correct spell."
Merlin's eyes flashed gold and six Orcs are thrown into the wall of one of the abandoned houses.
"Merlin!" Bercilak yells.
Merlin turns, just in time to catch a sword. "Thanks."
"Anytime." Bercilak yells back, before killing three Orcs, with one swing of his blade.
Daegal turns and throws a knife at an approaching Orc. "Where did Jared go?"
"He run towards one of the houses," Freya answers. "He won't be hard to track."
"Transportation spells." Merlin points out.
Daegal nodes. "He could be miles away by now."
"Eira!" Merlin yells, as she was knocked to the ground by a Orc and disarmed.
Running Merlin drove the his sword through the Orcs back and Merlin watched as the Orc disintegrated, holding out his hand, he pulled Eira to her feet.
"Thanks for that, Merlin." Eira mutters trying to catch her breath.
"What are friends for?" Merlin grins.
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Hey, hope you liked that chapter. I would just like to thank Quill for pointing out my spelling mistake with 'Heloise' and 'Helios' (I feel like such an idiot). I would also like to answer a guest question. The points of view in the story are the characters, not mine. I personally believe Uthur and Arthur prosecution of those with magic was wrong, but I also feel it wasn't Arthur fault to believe magic was evil. All his life Arthur had been told magic was evil, by his father and all those who attacked him were trying to kill him or harm the kingdom. As for Morgana she had the right intentions, but went about achieving them in the wrong way.
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.