Chapter Two

Morthwyl stood alone in the middle of the forest glade. The heavy hooded cape that covered his entire form concealing the druid from view had no effect on him even with the heat of summer casting a humid pall over the lush greenery of the forest surrounding him. Any who might chance upon him would not even see the druid standing there still and silent; mistaking him for a dead stump of a tree or an leafless bush. Such was the magic that shrouded his countenance, that even the creatures of the forest paid him no heed as they wondered through their home oblivious to his presence.

There was one could see him clearly as she approached, however. Striding directly up to the motionless figure to within an arms reach she stopped and smiled evilly, her cold blue eyes radiating with triumph.

"You have succeeded, Nimueh." the dark figure spoke.

"All went according to plan, Morthwyl." she replied smugly.

The druid's hands came up and pulled the hood back revealing a wizened yet scarred and weather beaten face. His almost black eyes raked over the sorceress with a piercing stare that had the effect he was after. "This plan is a fool's errand, Nimueh. You will not sway Emrys to your will."

Nimueh had met few that were her match in power or self-possession, but Morthwyl made her feel young and inept causing her tone to become defensive. "It won't take long for Merlin to willingly come to me. I will be his savior, his benefactor, his most trusted confidant. Together we will take back Camelot from Uther Pendragon, and the tyrannical scourge of the kingdom will beg for mercy before he dies."

Morthwyl stared hard at the sorceress. He had no love of Uther Pendragon having seen so great a number of his own people slaughtered at the hands of the despot who continued to single-handedly annihilate all magic from the land. "I know your anger, I share your pain. We have lost as much as you to the Pendragon, but I maintain that your plan is folly. Emrys is not one to be manipulated even with the old magic. He is unlike any other."

Nimueh was not dissuaded by the druid's argument. "You need not worry about me, Morthwyl. Merlin is a boy and not even fully aware of his own capabilities. That is why he will need me."

Morthwyl raised his hood shrouding his face once again in darkness. His voice resonated from within the depths of his magical cloak. "Iam the one who revealed the ancient ritual to you, Nimueh. I am the one who provided you the means to carry out this foolhardy plan. It is not you that I fear for."

Within a blink of her eyes the druid was gone from the forest glade, and Nimueh stood alone. She turned to leave, but not before a shiver crawled up her spine despite the heat of the day.


It took Merlin longer than usual to clean Arthur's chambers for he seemed to have no energy and had to sit and rest frequently. By the time he'd finished and made his way down to the armory he felt as though he had run a marathon.

Moving all of Arthur's armor out to the training field plus the heavy targets seemed an insurmountable task, so the young man tried to view it in smaller increments. It may have required more frequent trips, but he set his shoulders and picked up one piece of armor at a time to carry it to the near end of the field. The targets would need to go to the far end, but once he had them down from their wall mounts he could simply roll them; which shouldn't be too terribly difficult.

The early morning sun was warming things up quickly, making Merlin break out in a clammy sweat and feel lightheaded. A thin bead of cold sweat trickled down the side of his face as he lugged the chain mail out to the training ground. Allowing the chain mail to fall he stopped for a moment and raised his face to the sky as he leaned heavily against the sword stand. He still had to contend with the large heavy wooden targets, dreading the task of getting them down off their wall mounts. After a few minutes he pushed himself up off of the sword stand and walked almost drunkenly back to the armory on unsteady legs.

Merlin kept telling himself that the targets would roll easily enough once he got them down to the ground, hopefully without breaking either them or himself. He took hold of the edge of the first target and pulled at it to find that it hardly moved at all. He stood back for a moment confused. He had moved them before and while they were very heavy and cumbersome he had been able to do so without straining too much. Wiping sweat from his brow he tried again pulling at the edges of the target with all of his strength. It did come away from the wall mount, but he was unable to sustain his balance as the thing toppled forward landing right on top of him.

As the target fell on him, Merlin instinctively summoned magic to prevent it from crushing him to the ground, but nothing happened. Before he even realized what was happening he lay flat on his back with the heavy target pinning him from his shoulders to his knees firmly to the ground. Once again Merlin summoned magic to lift the target off of himself, but to no avail. The target didn't budge. Cold terror filled Merlin's entire being as he pushed at the target trying in vain to get out from under it.

"Merlin!" Arthur bellowed as he walked quickly into the armory. "What in the hell are you trying to do?" Arthur caught sight of the stark terror on his servant's face, and rushed to his side, easily lifting the target off of the boy. "What happened?"

Merlin scrambled out from underneath as Arthur lifted it looking for all the world as though he were afraid of the man standing over him. Arthur leaned the heavy wooden disk against the wall and said, "How did you manage to get under that target?"

Merlin answered in an unsteady voice. "It wasn't on purpose! It fell on me when I tried to get it down from its mounting." He climbed to his feet, looking almost grey rather than the white that Gaius had noted that morning.

"Merlin you look dreadful, were you hurt? ...I said are you alright? ...Merlin? ...Merlin!"

The fact that his magic wouldn't work was all that Merlin could think about. He wasn't aware of the buzzing he heard in his ears, or the fact that his vision seemed to be narrowing on the edges. Arthur's voice seemed very far away and he paid little attention to it. There was something wrong but Merlin couldn't figure it out. The world had somehow turned upside down and the next thing he realized, he was staring up at the ceiling of the armory with Gaius leaning over him, a concerned looking Arthur standing just behind him. There were several knights and guards standing around in the background. Merlin tried to ask Gaius what he was doing there, but his mouth was so dry the only sound that came out was a strangled sort of squeak.

Annoyed, Merlin tried again. This time, he was relieved to hear his own voice, if a bit feeble. "What happened? What are you doing here, Gaius?" Merlin finally managed as he attempted to sit up.

Gaius placed a hand on Merlin's shoulder helping him to right himself. "You fainted, Merlin. Did you eat your breakfast this morning like I told you to?"

Merlin felt foolish having Gaius speak to him as though he were a child in front of Arthur and the knights. "I finished the broth!" he said a bit petulantly aware that his tone was not helping matters.

Gaius was not dissuaded by Merlin's unspoken objection. "And the bread?"

"Honestly, I wasn't feeling up to bread this morning, Gaius, but I brought it with me for later."

Suddenly Merlin remembered what had happened when the target fell on him and the terror he had felt came rushing back draining any color he had left from his face. This was not lost on either Gaius or Arthur.

"What is it, Merlin?" Gaius wanted to know.

Merlin shot a quick glance up at Arthur and at the people standing around then back at Gaius trying to convey that they needed to speak privately and that it was urgent. "I... I really don't feel well at all."

Gaius seemed to understand what his young ward was trying to tell him and looked up at Arthur. "I think it would be best if he returned to my chambers."

"Of course, I was just coming to tell Merlin that practice will be canceled today seeing as though I now have other matters to attend to."

Arthur reached down to help Merlin to his feet and taking a hold of his hand he exclaimed, "Your hands are as cold as ice!"

As soon as he said that, Arthur remembered what Gaius had said about the individual they were searching for. Taking another look at his servant Arthur noted how pale he was and realized that to have the target fall on him and not be able to move it himself he must be feeling very weak. As Gaius turned to guide Merlin out of the armory Arthur called out. "Stop!" He approached Merlin looking suspiciously at the young man. "Lift up your shirt."

The shock that registered on Merlin's face would have been comical if Arthur hadn't been so serious. "What?"

Arthur looked from Gaius to Merlin and back. "You said it yourself, Gaius. We are looking for someone pale, weak and cold to the touch. Merlin can barely stand, his hands are like ice and he looks grey enough to be a corpse. Now lift up your shirt so that I can see you."

Two of the guards stepped forward to force the issue if Merlin didn't comply, but the young man had no idea what Arthur was talking about and pulled his shirt up to his chin revealing his chest and back - both of which were unmarked in any way.

Gaius and Merlin were allowed to leave the armory and head back to the castle. Once in Gaius' chambers and seated on the bed Merlin dropped his face into his hands.

"Something's wrong, Gaius, terribly, terribly wrong." Gaius sat down next to his young ward, his concern growing as he heard the unabashed fear in the young man's voice. "It's gone, Gaius!"

"What is?" Asked the physician, feeling his concern grow as his nephew became more and more agitated.

Merlin looked up at Gaius, his eyes filled with fear and uncertainty. "My magic. It's gone."

TBC

A/N: I know that this chapter was kind of short, but trust me it is the only short chapter in the story. Most of them are easily twice as long.
I appreciate the reviews - thank you very much. I am glad that you are enjoying the story so far.