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Part three
They agreed to meet the next day at Gaius's home, mainly because it had everything they needed to train with and because Gaius had a place that had a large basement that could accommodate them and where no one could spy on what they were doing.
Arthur, Morgana, Uther and Ygraine were the first to arrive and Gaius ushered them in. Five minuets later Gwen and Lance arrived, arm in arm.
Gwen went and chatted with Morgana, both of them excited and eager to learn from the great Merlin himself. Half an hour later Gwaine and Freya arrived and joined them in Gaius's living room. Nimueh was already there, having stayed the night with Gaius.
"Where's Merlin?" Gaius asked Gwaine. He shrugged.
"No idea, ran out the door this morning without a word."
"That boy spends more time with his head in the clouds than he does here in the world," Gaius muttered.
"More like his head in the past," Freya muttered, taking a seat.
They waited and an hour later Merlin rocked up, panting.
"I know, I know, I'm late," Merlin muttered, walking in. "Forgot to hand in my assignment."
Arthur found it odd that a powerful wizard was talking about handing in an assignment late. It seemed odd and out of place to him.
"Of course. You could never be on time," Gaius mused.
"I was on time plenty of times," Merlin cried.
"You were late to Uther's wedding," Gaius said.
"That's because a troll had trapped me under the castle!" Merlin cried. "That was hardly my fault!"
Arthur stared.
"A troll?" Lancelot said, mouth hanging open.
"Yeah. At least she wasn't my step mother for a while," Merlin grinned, sending a smug look to Arthur. Now Arthur's mouth fell open and Merlin grinned cheerfully.
"Shall we move onto training?" Nimueh asked.
"Yes, follow me," Gaius said and he lead them down to the basement. The basement it's self was huge. It was lined with book shelves, every shelf full of books that looked old. There was benches full of potion bottles, instruments that burned things, held things in place, and more books. On one bench there were swords, chain mail and armour. They walked into the middle of the room and stood around awkwardly. Off to another side was some couches and a small coffee table. Freya made beeline for them and sat down. Gwaine grinned.
"A sword! Man I've missed it," Gwaine said and hurried to the table and grabbed a sword. He also grabbed some chain mail and pulled it on.
Nimueh and Merlin made their way over to the work benches and immediately began searching for ingredients.
"Have a seat," Gaius said, gesturing to them and they made their way to the couches. Freya was looking through an old book.
"Who wants to go first?" Gwaine asked, holding up a another sword.
"First in what?" Morgana asked.
"A sword fight."
"We are meant to be training, not fooling around," Lance said. "If this threat is real than we need to be prepared."
"All the more reason for the sword fight," Gwaine said. "I'll bet your a bit rusty."
Lance looked confused.
"Your training is with a sword. Magic is as old as time and who ever is creating those deaths may raise an army, an old army meaning you will need to fight with a sword," Gaius said, handing Lancelot some armour. "You can go first."
Lance looked at it. Gwen stood and helped him into the chain mail. She gave him a quick kiss of encouragement and pushed him towards Gwaine. He grinned and handed Lance the sword.
Lance took it and swung it experimentally.
"Ready?" Gwaine asked.
"I suppose," Lance said slowly and Gwaine struck. Lance brought his sword up in time and it clanged loudly, echoing around the room.
The women jumped at the noise and Arthur looked tense. Gwaine had a look of concentration on his face but joy was dancing in his eyes. Lance was clumsy at first but soon found his feet and was fighting back, attacking, not just blocking. Arthur watched their every move. It seemed familiar, almost comforting. Like a dream he once had but couldn't quite remember. He looked up to see Merlin grinning at him, something dancing in his eyes, an emotion that he couldn't place.
There was a loud bang and Lance's sword fell to the ground and Gwaine had his sword pointed at Lance's heart.
"Not bad," Gwaine grinned, lowering his sword. "You got back into quick enough. A few more and you should get your rhythm back." and he slapped him on the back.
"It seems familiar," Lance said.
"Your trying to remember. It will all come back to you soon enough. It always does eventually," Gaius said. "It will be the same for everyone."
They nodded, almost looking relieved.
"Your up next, Arthur," Gaius said, handing him the chain mail. He slipped it on with some help from Morgana and took the sword. It felt good in his hand.
"It's no Excalibur," Arthur joked.
"No, I've got that hidden. I can give it to you later," Merlin grinned.
"It exists?" Gwen gasped.
"Of course," Merlin said, eyes wide and a straight face. "I had it made for you."
Arthur shifted under his gaze.
"Thank you," Arthur said gruffly. Merlin beamed.
"I got Arthur Pendragon to say thank you. Now that should be in the history books" Merlin teased. Arthur scowled.
"I take it back," Arthur said.
"O no, you can't take it back now," Merlin grinned.
"I can do what I want," Arthur said. "I was a prince."
"You still are," Nimueh said.
Well if that didn't put an end to any banter, nothing would.
Arthur coughed and headed to Gwaine. He raised his sword and positioned himself. Gwaine lunged and the dance begun. Arthur was surprised how fast he got into the rhythm. He was matching Gwaine and was attacking. The fought for what seemed ages and Gwaine only just won, having disarmed Arthur.
Both were panting and had a sheen of sweat on them.
"Ha, figures you'd be good after years of no practice," Gwaine laughed, slapping him on the back. Arthur looked up to see Merlin proud grin. This made Arthur feel good and he found him self smiling back.
Gwen was next, much to Lance's anxiousness. She was good, but Gwaine was much better and beat her easily but he commented on her foot work and her stances, showing her the correct way to go about it and she did far more better when the went again.
They finished and Gwaine swept his hair out of his face.
"I need a break," he groaned and slumped on the couch next to Freya. She scrunched her nose and handed him a towel.
"We'll go next," Nimueh said and walked into the middle of the room. Everyone sat up straighter and leaned forward, eager to see how Merlin and Nimueh were going to fight. Merlin stepped into the middle too. They stood quite a pace from each other and just stared. Nimueh wiggled her finger and sparks crackled from them. Merlin copied her movement and sparks crackled from his fingers.
At the same time they raised their hands together and a shot of coloured lightning struck from the hands and collided in the middle with a bang.
Everyone jumped and it faded into nothing. Nimueh struck again but Merlin was ready. He used both hands and to bolts of lightning struck out. Nimueh quickly managed to counter the attack.
Foreign words spilled through her lips and suddenly a sword from the table levitated up and charged toward Arthur. Before Arthur had time to react Merlin eyes had flashed gold and the sword seemed to hit an invisible barrier and clanged to the ground.
Nimueh stood her arm extended, palm facing Merlin and made a clockwise circle. A fireball appeared in her palm. She smirked and flung it at Merlin. It hit him in the chest and he fell backwards to the ground.
Arthur gasped and stood. Morgana and Gwen, gasping, stood too. Ygraine covered her mouth in shock.
But suddenly the book case behind Nimueh started to fall. Nimueh jumped out of the way and it cluttered to the ground.
Merlin was up, eye glowing gold and a wind began to stir. It whipped quickly and everyone shielded their eyes. Nimueh shot another fire ball but the wind made it go wide. She levitated to the sword and Merlin levitated another and the swords clanged in mid air, Merlin sent his own fire bolt towards Nimueh. It hit her in the shoulder and she went flying back. Then time seemed to freeze. Merlin's sword defeated Nimueh's and it clanged to the ground. Merlin eye's were burning gold. Nimueh turned slowly in the air, close to the book case and then slowly to the ground.
Nimueh was placed gently on the ground. Merlin levitated the swords back to the table and went to Nimueh. He helped her up. Nimueh was panting, her chest heaving with each breath. Merlin looked ruffled and flushed but Nimueh was in much worse condition.
Her shoulder was bleeding. Merlin placed his hand over it. His eyes flashed gold and then he moved his hand away. It was healed.
Arthur felt relieved that Merlin was OK which he found frightening. Yes, he had girlfriends before and he cared a lot about Morgana, but he had never had such intense feeling about a person before, especially after just meeting them.
Merlin had walked over and slumped on the couch next to Arthur. He felt a tingle when there knees touched.
"That was..." Arthur said, trying and failing to find appropriate words.
"Intense, frightening?" Merlin asked, looking weary.
"Fascinating, intense, amazing," Arthur said and Merlin grinned.
"Your taking this remarkably well this time," Merlin grinned.
"What did I do last time?" Arthur asked. "God, that sounds odd."
Merlin laughed and patted his thigh.
"Last time you thought I was a drunk and a crazy and punched me when I followed you down the street."
"Well," Arthur said, blushing slightly. "What was I meant to do? You were following me."
Merlin laughed.
"It's OK," Merlin laughed. "It's a fond memory."
Arthur snorted with amusement.
"Alright Arthur, let's go again," Gwaine said. Arthur stood up and the went again.
They trained for most of the day. Gaius was mixing herbs and making potions. Merlin and Nimueh had joined him. Yagrine had wandered over and was watching. Gwen, Arthur and Lance stood with Gwaine, going over sword techniques along with Uther. Freya was in the corner, trying to transform into a beast. She managed, effectively scaring Gwen and jumping into Lances arms.
Morgana had fallen asleep and was gently tossing and turning.
She woke with a start and screamed loudly. Everyone turned. Arthur and Gwen raced over and tried to comfort her. Ygraine took Arthur's spot and hugged her tightly, soothing her hair. Uther and Arthur hovered protectively.
"What did you see?" Gaius asked.
"That can wait," Uther snapped.
"It is important," Nimueh said. "It could be helpful into finding who is killing these people."
"A raven. I dreamt of a raven," Morgana said quietly.
Merlin, Gaius and Nimueh looked at each other sharply.
"What?" Arthur asked, looking between them all.
"The raven, is a sign of the sorcerer Cornelius Sigan," Gaius said quietly.
"Who is Sigan?" Morgana asked. "I don't remember."
"He was a powerful sorcerer. But he feared death and so tried to make him self immortal," Gaius explained.
"Did he succeed?" Arthur asked, horrified by the thought of an immortal running around.
"In a way. He sealed his...essence in a crystal," Gaius said.
"Where is the crystal now?" Uther demanded.
"Hidden," Merlin said. "I hid it away many life times ago."
Arthur was surprised. It was still a lot for his mind to get around it.
"This Sigan," Ygraine said. "Is he the one behind it?"
"He could be, but he may not be," Nimueh said. "But you can guarantee that he will be involved some how."
"Sigan was the greatest sorcerer Camelot had known but was executed but he swore revenge on Camelot," Gaius explained.
"Cedric," Merlin growled.
"Who?" Gwen asked.
"In Camelot, Sigan had stolen Cedric's body and well, he nearly killed Arthur," Merlin said bitterly.
Arthur was stunned. Everyone knew the legend, but to hear stories from that time, that were true, it was mind blowing.
"We need to find more information," Nimueh said.
"We should go now," Merlin said. Nimueh nodded.
"Where are you going?" Morgana asked.
"To see if we can find any information," Merlin said. He turned to Arthur. "Please, please be careful."
"Me?" Arthur said.
"Yes. I know you. You have this tendency to prove your self and protect everyone," Merlin said. "But please, look out for you."
Arthur stared and nodded once. Merlin grinned relieved and then Nimueh and Merlin were sweeping out of the room.
Arthur stared after him and then turned back to Morgana when he left. He felt this weird tugging at his heart and in his stomach. He quickly pushed it away and focused on Morgana.
Morgana breathing had returned to normal but she was still pale. She wasn't looking at any of them, but Arthur thought she was seeing something that they could not.
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