As soon as Merlin awoke he knew something had changed. Some part of his existence had been altered, removed and departed, erased as if it had never been.
And as he rose from where he had been laying on the ground at the base of a tree, the other knights and Arthur still lying in various positions around the campfire, Merlin knew immediately what was absent. The usual pressure of the magic within his body on his veins, the hum of energy that existed in a realm outside of himself, it was gone. His magic was gone.
It was as if a limb had been severed, sliced away from him while he slept with no knowledge of it. It was gone; his magic was gone, taken from him. Merlin's stomach sank as he thought of the only person, or people, powerful enough to block his magic. The two boys, it had to be them. He could feel their magical imprint on his magic, forming strong barriers around his power. In his mind Merlin traced the imprint of the spell and found it was leading to a clearing south of their current location.
Merlin sat up from where he had been laying on the forest floor, shaking the damp leaves out of his hair and off his clothing. Merlin picked his way across the sleeping bodies of the knights over to where Arthur was sleeping. The two knights who had kept watch during the night watched Merlin with some interest as Merlin knelt beside Arthur and shook his shoulder, whispering urgently,
"Wake up Arthur." Arthur blearily opened his eyes and moaned before rolling up to the sitting position. He snapped,
"What do you want Merlin?" Merlin told him in a low, frantic voice,
"My magic, my magic is gone." Arthur blinked at him and tilted his head to the side, a confused look flitting across his face.
"What do you mean, gone? How could you have lost something like that?"
"The two boys, the ones who attacked us yesterday. They preformed a spell while I was spelling, blocking my power."
"Why would they want to do that? It's not like your powers are that useful anyways."
"If I don't have my powers, we can't track the Stag. If we can't track the Stag, we can't find the Stag." Realization slowly dawned on Arthur's face and he groaned, kneading his knuckles in his forehead. He muttered slowly, as if he was trying to keep his patience but failing,
"So those two boys blocked your power. And now there's no way to find the Stag. Any way to undo the spell?" Merlin considered this for a moment and then replied,
"No way that I can think of. They are the only ones who can undo the spell. However, I can tell you where the spell is originating from. You see, I can track the residue of magic between me and wherever the spell is coming from. I don't know if that's where the boys are, but the spell blocking my powers is coming from an area due south of where we are." Arthur nodded and stood, a look of determination hardening his face. Merlin scrambled to his feet as well. Arthur barked out a series of quick orders,
"You three," he pointed to the knights on duty, and the other knight that had been added to this mission but was not part of Arthur's specially trained group, "Go back to Camelot and tell my father that we are now tracking down a pair of sorcerers. We are going to capture them and they will lead us to the Stag. Tell him we need reinforcements and to send another brigade of troops as quickly as possible. Everyone else, wake up and get moving. We leave in 10 minutes." The three knights acknowledged the command and left immediately, heading off into the forest in the direction of Camelot. The rest of the knights rose slowly and began clearing up the camp. Merlin exclaimed incredulously,
"You aren't seriously thinking of going after them?" Arthur turned to Merlin and frowned at him, as if confused why Merlin was still standing there, bothering him. He replied,
"Of course I am. Those two brats knocked my entire brigade unconscious and they are directly blocking our ability to complete the mission. I am going to find them and make them lead us to the Stag, since they seem to know how to find it better then you do." Merlin cried out,
"What happened to not going after them?" Arthur shrugged,
"That was before they took away our ability to find the Stag. Plus, now we have a way to find them since you can track the spell. Ergo… of course I'm going after them!" Arthur turned away and began to strap on his armor that he had removed for the night. Merlin followed and asked, a note of disbelief still in his voice,
"And how to you propose to capture them? Do you not remember what happened last time we fought them?" Arthur's voice was confident and self-assured,
"We underestimated them last time, that won't happen again." He flashed a bright, recklessly excited smile at Merlin, "Don't worry Merlin, I've got a plan."