Part Two
"I've got to head back. Arthur's going to be done training the knights soon and he'll notice I'm gone. I don't want to use tavern excuse again," Merlin said, a little while afterward when Gaius and the Doctor had reappeared. The second statement seemed directed at the physician in particular. "I can see if he knows anything about where the TARDIS is."
"While you're gone we'll try to figure out a plan. It won't be easy sneaking about the castle with my ankle like this." Ian said
"Well if all else fails someone can carry you," Merlin said, only half joking.
"It isn't the worst of plans, Chesterton," The Doctor replied.
Merlin smirked and headed out the door, off to attend to Arthur.
Now I just have to hope Uther isn't withholding where it is from Arthur...
He was already decent way down the corridor when he heard footsteps behind him. He twisted around and saw Susan coming after him, practically running to catch up with him. Merlin stopped to let her, but she realized it too late. She tried to slow down but ended up tripping over the bottom of the dress.
Thankfully Merlin was close enough to catch her. Susan looked up, blushing profusely.
"Gotcha," he said smiling. He steadied her. "Not used to running around in dresses like that are you?"
"No," she admitted, pink still tinting her cheeks."Thank you for catching me," she added.
"You're welcome, don't need two of you with sprained ankles do we?" he asked. She smiled and shook her head.
"...You're probably wondering why I followed you out here." Susan said, as if this had occurred to her just this second. Though to be fair, it had just to occurred to him as well.
"Yes, actually." he answered.
"You see...something peculiar happened earlier. At first I didn't think too much about it but..."
"Go on..." he urged.
"Well you replied to something...something I'm quite sure I didn't say out loud." said Susan.
That explained the weird look she gave him earlier...
"And just a moment ago, I heard you say something but your mouth wasn't moving. This is going to sound ridiculous...Merlin, I think we've been hearing each other's thoughts."
"That's not ridiculous Susan. This sort of thing has happened to me before, people communicating with their minds. I thought it was just something druids did but I've never known it to happen without someone trying." Merlin replied. "That's new."
"Well this has happened to me before too." she admitted. "There were these beings, called the Sensorites and I could communicate with them too. Grandfather said it was because I had a natural gift for telepathy. But I haven't been able to do it again since then."
"Do you want to try? To see if it's more than us just accidentally overhearing things?" Merlin asked.
"Yes!" she said, very eager to try out her gift again.
Merlin focused his mind and tried reaching out to Susan's. He closed his eyes and...
"Susan?"
There was a moment's pause.
"...Merlin?" A voice in his head answered.
The two looked at each other and both lit up into huge grins.
"This is wonderful!" Susan exclaimed.
"Absolutely." he agreed.
"Merlin!" bellowed a voice down the hall. Merlin turned to see a familiar armor-clad prince heading this way. Arthur had in fact noticed he was gone,
"That's Arthur, I'd head back if I were you."
Susan nodded and quickly turned around, going back the way she'd come.
"We should probably talk more about this thing, later." he added, telepathically.
"Merlin, there you are," Arthur said.
"Here I am," Merlin replied, trying not to ignore that Arthur's eyes weren't directly looking at him, rather they were looking behind him in the direction Susan had gone in.
"Well, it seems you're not completely hopeless after all Merlin. What's her name?"
"What." Merlin said.
"Your friend." Arthur said, a smirk curving onto his face. Merlin didn't need some sort of telepathic bond with the prince to know what he was thinking and implying.
"No, no it's not like that!" Merlin insisted. He could feel his face heating up.
"Sure it isn't. So what is your completely platonic friend's name?" Arthur asked.
"Very mature."
"I'm not the one blushing like a child with a crush."
"What did you come get me for anyway?" Merlin asked, really wanting to change the subject.
Arthur, thankfully relented. "Father's got me guarding that box for the next few hours. You will be joining me."
This was perfect. He'd be able to find out where Uther was finding the TARDIS without looking suspicious. From there he could figure out the best route.
He'd done it.
Now all Merlin had to do was put up with Arthur teasing him about Susan for several hours. He wasn't particularly happy about that.
-DW/M-
Everyone was in high spirits when Merlin told them that he'd found the TARDIS. Now, it was nightfall and they were going to put their plan into action. And as it turns out, Ian and Barbara had actually practiced walking with her assisting Ian, and they'd managed to work out how to move at least somewhat stealthily and at a moderately fast pace.
"But what do we do about the guards?" asked Barbara. "You said it yourself the king has the room with the TARDIS under heavy surveillance."
"I'll use a sleeping spell," he answered. "It'll knock them out for at least half an hour, that's plenty of time for you four to take off and for me to get out of there."
There was an unmistakeable scoff from the Doctor. Merlin admitted the man's skepticism was starting to grate on his nerves and he was just about ready to do magic right there and then to prove to him wrong.
"Just wait until you have to use the spell later. Then he'll have no time to argue with you."
Merlin sent a smile Susan's way. They'd elected to not tell anyone about the telepathy. There was really no need to anyway. If they did, they might just start an needless argument.
"No time like the present." he said, getting up. "You all ready?"
There were determine assurances all around. Clearly all of them were ready to get back to the TARDIS and on there way as soon as possible. He couldn't blame them. A life like that, exploring all of time and space, seeing other planets and history in the making, who'd want to be stuck somewhere?
"It's a pity we didn't have more time, to explore the city without worrying about being captured." Barbara said, as Merlin sealed the door behind them.
"Well you could always come back later. I doubt Arthur will pursue you, he thinks his father's beliefs about your ship are all complete rubbish."
"That old ship can't get us back to our own time." Ian whispered, likely making sure the Doctor was out of earshot."We'd probably end up landing here a thousand years later if we tried."
Merlin chuckled and lead them down the hall, keeping a watchful eye for any spare guards. They were dead quiet after Ian's comment. Ian and Barbara needed to be focused to navigate, and any noise could attract unwanted attention.
"Did you see that?" Barbara whispered suddenly, looking off to the side.
"No, what?" Merlin whispered back.
"I thought I saw...oh never mind, I think it was just the candles casting shadows."
They were nearly there when the warning bell sounded. And all hell broke loose. They could see guards coming already and had no choice but to go back. Merlin was surprised at how fast the Doctor managed to run, despite his age. Ian and Barbara were a little slower than the rest of them, but managed to keep up a pretty fast pace, though he imagined it didn't feel too great on Ian's ankle.
"Halt!" a guard shouted after them.
They ran faster. A few corridors later and it seemed they'd lost the guards.
Then there was a scream. Merlin stopped in his tracks and saw two guards had been able to find them. They'd managed to subdue Ian and Barbara.
Merlin raised his hand and sent the guards flying backwards, and unfortunately Ian(who'd let out a loud groan, he'd probably just managed to break the poor man further) and Barbara too. One guard managed to get up and grabbed Ian. Barbara scrambled to her feet to help him.
"Go!" Ian shouted.
"But-" she started.
"What use is it if we all end up captured?" he asked, as more guards found them.
Reluctantly, and looking back several times, Barbara ran ahead along with Merlin, Susan and the Doctor.
They ran until they knew they'd lost them for sure.
The managed their way back to Gaius's chambers, out of breath, panting and with a new problem on their plate.
-DW/M-
Ian sat in his cell in the dungeon quietly. He really should have seen something like this coming. Really, what else was there to expect? That they would just get back to the TARDIS in one piece for once? Ian sighed and started looking around the cell. There must be a way out of here somehow. He thought.
He lost track of time, trying to figure out an escape route from the seemingly impenetrable cell that didn't require having to find a way to knock out the men watching him. At some point he fell asleep, and he awoke, startled by the sound of the door being wrenched open. A few guards grabbed him and-much to his indignation- dragged him unceremoniously out of the cell.
The dragging eventually lead him to an astonishing throne room. It was beautiful, elaborately decorated with tapestries and banners, most red and bearing a dragon emblem on them. Ian was thrown down roughly,-which did absolutely nothing but bad for his ankle-at the feet of the throne that held a severe looking man that had to be the king.
He saw an elegantly dressed woman, accompanied by a servant standing off to one side of the throne. Merlin, standing with whom Ian assumed was Prince Arthur, on the other. Merlin caught his eye, and gave him an apologetic look as the king spoke, Ian only half paying attention.
The king cleared his throat and repeated himself.
"Declare yourself."
"Ian Chesterton."
"Are you aware of why you have been arrested and brought before me this morning?" he asked.
"Sneaking about the castle I expect." Ian replied.
"And what were you doing in the castle?" Uther demanded
Ian didn't speak.
"Do you know, that a suspicious box that is likely linked to some form of sorcery was brought to my awareness?"
"Well, I'm certainly no sorcerer," Ian said "So if you're looking for the one who conjured this box you've got the wrong man."
Uther didn't seem to like that answer, if the hardening of his expression was anything to go by.
-DW/M-
"Where do you come from?"
"I don't expect you'll have heard of it." Ian said. Merlin had to give his respect to the man, he did well under the pressure of Uther's interrogation. He actually seemed to be starting to get to the king.
"Humor me." he said, definitely starting to get impatient with Ian's answers.
"London."
"How did you arrive here?"
"Horseback of course," the man lied. "It's quite a distance away, you don't think I walked here do you?" he asked incredulously. It appeared Uther was not at all liking the ever so slightly disrespectful way Ian was speaking to him.
"Regardless of your claims, I have a witness who says otherwise." he gestured to the man coming through the doors, the very man who'd brought the box to the king's attention in the first place.
"Now that I recall..isn't that man well known for his drinking habits?" Arthur whispered. His skepticism of the serious nature of this whole situation was persisting. He wasn't wrong though, the man was renowned for the amount of time he spent in the tavern. This had just so happened to be one of the times he was actually sober.
"Is this the man you saw the other night?"
"Yessir." the man said. "It was dark but I don't forget faces. He did have others with him, sire."
"Yes, unfortunately the others got away. Nonetheless, I'm sure we'll have them in custody soon. They cannot stay hidden forever."
If Merlin had any say in the matter, they would.
"Bring the prisoner back to the dungeons. He is to be questioned about the whereabouts of his accomplices first, and then executed at sundown."
-DW/M-
"I won't let them kill Ian, I swear." Merlin reassured, after telling them the news. "I've broken enough people out of the dungeons." he added a smile, a halfhearted attempt to lighten the mood.
It didn't work. Barbara, especially, had a face strained with worry.
"I am confident in Merlin's abilities Barbara." The Doctor spoke. Merlin was surprised. He'd gotten the impression the Doctor was wary and suspicious of him. He supposed that maybe his magic stunt last night had convinced the man otherwise. "As of now, perhaps Gaius has something for you, for nerves?" he suggested. The physician produced a tonic for her to take, out of his stores, and she drank it without argument nor hesitation, not even pulling a face at the awful taste that Merlin distinctly remembered it had.
"But how do we break someone out of the dungeons in broad daylight?" Barbara inquired after she finished downing the tonic.
"Oh! Do you know a spell to make someone invisible?" Susan asked. "That might work.
"That didn't end well last time." Merlin said almost immediately, cringing at the memory. "I'm not anxious to try it again either."
"What happened?"
"Um. The spell wore off on me, but..." he paused, as if the next part was almost too embarrassing to tell "...not my clothes." Merlin looked down, his ears turning a bright pink at the mention of the story. Susan giggled, Barbara looked somewhat amused and Gaius just shook his head at the boy.
"So invisibility's ruled out then," Barbara said.
"I suppose we could get someone to distract the guards, while another one of us gets Ian out of the cell." Merlin sighed. "But that might be too risky."
"I'll do it." Susan volunteered.
"You will do no such thing!" The Doctor said."What if you get caught, hm?"
"I can outrun them grandfather, I'm sure of it."
"Nonsense. I'll not have you doing something so reckless."
"Grandfather," she said, bordering on petulant.
"Susan he has a point," Merlin spoke up, attempting to defuse the argument between relatives, while Barbara and Gaius stood as quiet observers. "If I distract the guards and they end up finding me it won't matter. I can say I'm late at doing something for Arthur. If you get caught they'll toss you in the dungeons and likely execute you along with Ian."
That seemed to quiet her protests, and the Doctor acknowledged him with approval, though it did left something to be said that she was more willing to listen to Merlin than him. But then again, the possibility of an execution was something that could change one's mind.
"I hate being treated like such a child." Susan's voice echoed in his head, as Barbara and the Doctor starting discussing who would be the one to let Ian out.
"He means well. He just wants to keep you safe." he replied,. "That's what loved ones are for isn't it? Protecting you to the brink of insanity?"
She almost laughed, then stopped, not wanting to alert the others in the room to the duo's silent communication. They'd "talked" like this a lot in the short time since finding out they could, and enjoyed being able to have completely private conversations.
"...open the cell." The two looked up at the same time, it seemed they'd missed out on something Barbara was trying to tell them.
"Sorry?" he asked.
"While you distract the guards we can have Susan and the Doctor keep watch, and I'll open the cell." she repeated.
"That sounds good," he said."The guards usually leave the keys to the locks hanging up, so we won't have to pick it or anything."
"Well there's no time like the present," Barbara declared.
-DW/M-
Ian wasn't happy to be back inside the dungeon, but he was satisfied that his interrogator hadn't managed to get any useful information out of him. What he didn't like was that he had no means of being able to tell what time of day it was. The questioning had felt like it had gone on for hours, but he had no way of knowing if that was true. He could have several hours before his sundown execution, or less than one.
Ian had faith though. They'd gotten out of worse situations before. He smiled. What was a medieval prison to the Daleks, after all?
In an indiscernible amount of time that had felt much quicker than it had to have been, Ian could hear commotion outside. His heart pounded and picked up pace. Was it sundown already? Had his faith not paid off? Part of him didn't want to look...
"It's all clear!"
Susan!
As he turned around to look he heard the jangling of keys. Ian was greeted by a familiar and very welcomed sight.
"Barbara!" he exclaimed as she tried a key in the lock."Thank goodness, but what about the guards?"
"Merlin's causing a diversion." Barbara answered, then scowled. The key she tried hadn't worked. "Do you know what key the guards used to lock this?"
"Haven't the faintest." he replied. She looked through a ring with at least eleven she had to try every one of them, it might take a while. She used another, and again it didn't work. She let out an exasperated sigh.
After another two tries, and Barbara getting more frustrated, they heard the sounds of people entering the room. Barbara held her breath,thinking it might be someone coming in with a captured Doctor, and Susan.
Thankfully, it wasn't one of the guards along with the pair, but Merlin.
"I've got them locked in a different room. Patrol doesn't come out until night time so we should be safe." he said. He looked at Barbara, fiddling with the keys.
Merlin went up to the lock and held his hand over it. "Aliese" he said. Ian saw the man's blue eyes flash gold, and heard the lock click.
"That's handy," he said, Barbara helping him up after opening the door.. Merlin grinned, and did the same spell on the chains Ian was in.
"You have no idea."
As the chains came off, Susan greeted Ian with a hug.
"All ready to get out of here?" Merlin asked.
"Absolutely. I'll be thankful if I never have to see a dungeon again." Ian said."But with our track record, we'll probably see another one next week."
"Come now Chatterton, we're not quite that bad." The Doctor said
"It's not too much of an exaggeration Doctor." Ian said with a wry grin.
-DW/M-
They could see the room holding the TARDIS in plain view now. There were two knights, some of Uther's best men guarding it, Sir Gareth and Sir Kay. Merlin gestured for everyone to stay out of view.
"Swefe nu." he said. The group observed the two men close their eyes and start to slip down. Within a minute, two of Camelot's finest knights were fast asleep. Merlin felt a little bad, the two knights weren't bad men, and would likely be punished severely when Uther discovered the TARDIS was missing.
The five of them walked forwards and Merlin used the same spell as earlier to unlock the door. He pushed it open to reveal a small room, in a somewhat battered blue box. The TARDIS.
"So, the four of you travel throughout time and space in that?" he asked.
"The best ship in the universe." Susan said cheerfully.
"Yes, it may not be the most reliable but it gets us here and there." The Doctor said fondly.
Susan took off they key around her neck and used it to open up the door. The door was pushed open and Merlin couldn't resist a look inside.
He wasn't expecting what he saw. Instead what going by the box would be a small cupboard...
"There's...a whole, huge room in there!" he said in shock."And you didn't believe in magic before you met me?" he accused the Doctor.
"Science, my dear boy, not magic." he said. He shook Merlin's hand. "Anyway we must be going, don't want to straggle and have those knights catch you here hm? Good to meet you, young man." he released his grip, and entered the ship.
"The same goes for all of you," Merlin said. He shook Ian's hand too, and Barbara gave him a quick hug. Soon, him and Susan were the last ones outside.
"I'm going to miss you," she said, hugging him.
"I'll miss you too." Merlin smiled "Maybe we'll get lucky, you'll end up here some other time."
"I do hope so." she said.
"Susan, one more thing."
Merlin wrapped her in another hug, and this time tenderly pressed his lips to hers.
"Goodbye." he said, letting go. She nodded, blushing furiously.
"Susan!" called the Doctor
"I-I have to," she said, face still red.
"Go on," Merlin said, smiling.
She turned around and headed back into the ship. The door closed behind her.
Merlin watched in amazement as the ship whirred and started fading. Over the loud noise of it, he heard one more thing, in his head.
"Goodbye Merlin."
Fin