Title: Dark Magic

Authors: Cassy27
Words: 924
Characters: Merlin, Arthur, Gaius, Gwen, Morgana, oc
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Merlin, sadly enough!
Spoilers: No spoilers in this chapter

This story takes place somewhere in season 1

AN: First of all, sorry for the late update! I promise that chapter 10 will be posted sooner as I have already written more than half. This chapter is a short one, for that I apologize as well and I hope you don't mind. I just felt like this was were the chapter should end as the next part of the story needed a new chapter.

Chapter 9

"What happened to you?" Arthur asked, looking at his hands which were burned and bruised.

Gaius sighed deeply and watched his own fingers as he moved them.

"Merlin." was all he said.

"Magic?" Arthur couldn't help but ask. He wondered if hurting Gaius had been Merlin's first act of using magic, but when he looked at the physician, there was no blame in his eyes and so Arthur decided not to blame Merlin for this either.

"It happened right after you left our chambers," Gaius sighed, remembering the event, "but don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Arthur didn't answer him. He knew Gaius was a strong man, but those wounds seemed like they really hurt. He noticed how Gaius was staring at his hands as well and how sadness filled his eyes. He knew Merlin wasn't to blame, but it was still hard to forget. If anyone was to blame, Arthur thought, it was him. He hadn't been focused enough when they were being followed in the first place. If he had stayed alert, he would have heard that sorcerer and he would have been able to stop him.

A sigh escaped his lips, but Gaius was smart enough to ignore it.

"There are fresh footprints here," he simply said, pointing towards the ground. They were already in the forest now and the people of Camelot knew better than to come here.

Arthur stepped forward and kneeled down beside a footprint, examining it carefully.

"They can't be much older than an hour, it rained before that so otherwise, it would have been washed away," Arthur said, standing up again, "if we hurry, we can catch up to him."

When Merlin opened his eyes, he knew he was heaving a dream again. The environment was different however as he stood between trees, a dark sky above him, indicating that it was about to rain again. Merlin slowly gazed between the trees as he knew he wasn't alone. Only a short moment later, the sorcerer stepped in plain sight, a smile covering his face as he was pleased to see Merlin.

"Welcome again," he said.

"Why are you hiding?" Merlin asked. He didn't understand why he would come here if he wanted Arthur dead so badly.

"I am not hiding," the sorcerer still smiled, "I am waiting."

"For who?"

"For you," the sorcerer explained, "when you wake up, you must come here and quickly because you are not the only one I am awaiting."

"Arthur is coming," Merlin stated. He was starting to understand the plan the sorcerer had laid out.

"Yes," the sorcerer grinned, "but I can't kill him as I am too weak now. Controlling you, your thoughts, it requires much energy."

Merlin didn't seem to be able to grasp the words the man had just told him, he just didn't seem to comprehend them.

"Arthur and someone who is accompanying him are taking a detour which I laid out for them, but they will be here soon. You must take a short cut."

Merlin nodded and the next thing he knew, he was staring up a ceiling. His head hurt, but he could easily ignore the pain. Standing up on his feet, Merlin noticed he was locked inside Arthur's chambers. He tried to remember what happened because it didn't make sense. One moment he had Arthur in front of him, disarmed and ready to die while the next, he fell into darkness having been knocked unconscious. Merlin closed his eyes and now he could feel it. Magic had been used against him, powerful magic.

But he didn't have time to think about who might have done this. He had work to do as his master was waiting on him in the forest and he certainly didn't want to disappoint him.

Getting the locked doors open was easy and so Merlin set out to the forest, knowing what would happen there, knowing that Arthur would find his end.

"Gwen," Morgana called out, "come quickly." She stood at the window when she watched him cross the square, determined and furious. Even from this distance, she could see that in him.

Gwen ran towards her and too watched out of the window. There was Merlin.

"First Arthur and Gaius go that way and now Merlin?" Morgana looked at Gwen, "Something is about to happen, I can feel it."

"I'm sure Arthur can handle it," Gwen said as she watched Merlin disappear into the crowd in the streets of the city.

"Merlin has magic now, evil magic and he wants Arthur dead," Morgana seemed to tart panicking, "something bad is going to happen and we can't just sit here and do nothing." She walked towards the door of her room. "Come on, Gwen."

"What are you doing?" Gwen had an idea of what was going on inside Morgana's head, but she still needed to hear her say it out loud as it was ridiculous that Morgana would even consider doing that.

"We are going to follow Merlin so we need to hurry if we don't want to lose him," Morgana simply said.

Gwen had assumed right but no matter how stupid this was, she couldn't say no. These were her friends after all and she couldn't let them down. Taking in a deep breath, she followed Morgana who had already left the room.

AN: Well, like I said, it was short, but I hope that doesn't mean it wasn't good... Let me know what you think about it, what you think will happen next or what you hope will happen...

Chapter 10 will follow soon...