A/N: As you can probably tell, we're nearing the end of this story now. I figure that there will probably be one or two more chapters after this one, although I'm not particularly good at predicting the length of my writing. This is a relatively short chapter, but I thought it was a good point to end it on. Anyway, hopefully you enjoy this!
Disclaimer: I still don't own Merlin. –sighs-
Fred, Merlin thought again, more resolutely this time. But how could Fred have done this? He was so adorable. A bit like Dorian Gray, really, Merlin would have thought if he had ever even heard of Oscar Wilde. He had not, however, since Oscar Wilde came quite a bit after his time, so this reference escaped him. The point is that Fred was both adorable and completely innocent in appearance, but this did not stop him from being completely and astoundingly evil.
Of course, Merlin was not aware of just how evil Fred was. To his point of view, Fred was just being badly behaved. But what incentive could Fred have for completely demolishing Arthur's chambers?
Merlin thought. And thought. And thought. And thought. And thought some more.
He watched as a speck of dust floated through the air to land on the messy floor. Then he returned to thinking.
He saw a butterfly fly past the window. And then he returned to thinking.
A horse neighed in the street. And he returned to thinking.
"I've got it!" shouted Merlin, finally oblivious to the minor distractions that had interrupted his weak concentration. "Fred wanted me out of the way!" Because if he were stuck in Arthur's chambers, how could he stop Fred's evil plots? And as intelligent as Fred seemed to be, he must be aware of Merlin's destiny as well as his magic. Merlin had restored him to life, after all. Fred was a genius! He was obviously much more intelligent than Arthur, who still had not discovered Merlin's magic. Arthur had been outwitted by a puppy.
"I'll never let Arthur live that down," muttered Merlin. "Except… I can't. He can't know I have magic, so what is there for me to tease him about?" Merlin sighed. Oh, the weight of destiny and lies and deceit! Time makes liars of us all. Well corrected Merlin, it makes liars of those of us with something to hide. Like magic.
Wait a minute, thought Merlin, what am I doing sitting here when Fred could be putting his evil plans into action right at this moment? I need to get out of here and stop him! Although I don't know where he is. Oh well, I can solve that easily enough. I just have to look. With that, Merlin abandoned his angst and strode out of Arthur's chambers. Hopefully, Arthur would not be back to check on the state of his room because it was still a mess.
Walking down the hallway, Merlin considered his options. He was not sure where the best place would be to look for Fred. After all, there were so many places that Fred could be. Merlin decided that, for the time being, he would just wander around the castle aimlessly. If he did that, the chances were that he would come across Fred eventually. Well, really, the odds were against him, but Merlin did not consider that. No, he would be optimistic. After all, optimism is the key to success.
"Merlin!" called a voice from behind him, and Merlin pulled himself to a stop.
"Yes, Gaius?" said Merlin, turning around.
"I was hoping to come across you while I was on my rounds," said Gaius.
"I see," said Merlin, waiting patiently.
"Yes," said Gaius.
There was silence for a moment.
"Is there anything in particular that you want to tell me?" hinted Merlin.
"Oh yes, of course," said Gaius, "yes, I was just wondering if you had found Fred yet?"
Merlin sighed. "No, I haven't. I have no idea where he is. He did destroy Arthur's chambers, though," he added as an afterthought.
"What?" said Gaius. "No. This is bad. This is very bad." His voice trailed off.
"What's really bad?" said Merlin.
"I suspect," said Gaius, haltingly. "I suspect that Fred is not all that he seems."
"I have the same feeling," said Merlin. "I mean, why would he destroy Arthur's chambers in that way unless he had some sort of ulterior motive?"
"Yes, exactly," said Gaius. "In fact, I worry that his ulterior motive is something much less trivial than we could hope."
"Do you have any idea what it could be?" said Merlin.
"Well," started Gaius, "after he bit you, my suspicions first began to grow. At first, I did truly think that he was merely a frightened puppy. The circumstances that these events occurred, however, are somewhat suspicious. The more I thought about it, the more certain I became."
"Certain of what?" Merlin prompted.
"Certain that he was something more than just an innocent puppy."
"I believe you have already said that," said Merlin.
"Yes, I believe I have," said Gaius. He did have a problem with redundancy. "Well, I do not believe he is a simple puppy. I suspect that he may be some sort of spirit."
With this announcement, Merlin choked and then began coughing. Gaius pounded him heartily on the back.
"But how is that possible?" said Merlin. "How?"
"I'm not sure," said Gaius. "I believe that is for you to find out. You're the sorcerer after all."
"Gaius!" said Merlin loudly. "We're in the middle of a corridor in the castle. "You can't just announce that I'm a sorcerer! I'm the one who's supposed to blow my cover."
"Yes, I suppose you're right," said Gaius, completely disregarding that they had both just loudly announced that Merlin was a sorcerer. "Yes, we should probably be quieter about that, shouldn't we?"
"Yes, we should," said Merlin. No one had heard them, of course, because no one in Camelot had observation skills above that of a dead animal, but that was no reason to forgo caution. "Well, what do you think that I should do?" said Merlin.
"I think you should go find Fred," said Gaius. "Other than that, well," he lowered his voice slightly this time, "you're the sorcerer."
"Merlin!" suddenly called a voice down the hallway. Arthur's voice. He had been spotted.
"Well, I suppose that's destiny calling," said Gaius, "I should probably go. Good luck. And Merlin," he added for the second time that day, "be careful."
"I always am," said Merlin
"Merlin!" came the shout down the hallway again.
Merlin turned toward Arthur and began to walk toward him. "Yes, sire?" he said.
"What are you doing outside of my chambers?" Arthur asked. "I thought that I told you to clean them up!"
"You thought?" said Merlin. "You must be imagining things."
Arthur rolled his eyes. "I do think, Merlin, definitely much more than you do. And yes, I know that I told you to clean my chambers, so the question still stands, what are you doing out here?"
"I'm finished!" announced Merlin.
"That isn't possible," said Arthur, "especially not for you."
"Fine then, why don't you go check?" said Merlin, before realizing that probably was not the best suggestion. He had hardly even started cleaning the chambers, let alone finished.
"I'm not going to bother," said Arthur bluntly. "I need to go back to working with the knights. I was just coming inside for a moment to allow them to work a little without my supervision."
Merlin nodded. "Well, your room is clean, you know."
"I highly doubt that, but I'm not even going to bother arguing. It had better be clean by the time I finish practice, however."
"Don't worry, it will be," said Merlin, "especially since it's already done."
"Okay, Merlin," said Arthur disbelievingly, "you just keep telling yourself that."
"I will," said Merlin, "because it's true."
Arthur rolled his eyes again. "I'm going back to practice," he said, turning to leave.
"Alright, have fun!" Merlin called. "Bye Arthur!"
Merlin let out a sigh of relief when Arthur disappeared around the corner. That had been a close call. Arthur had arrived just after Gaius had called him a sorcerer. That could have been a problem if Arthur had overheard. Thankfully, Arthur obviously had not overheard because Arthur was just that oblivious. He wouldn't have noticed if Merlin had performed magic directly in front of him. Which was rather convenient, since Merlin had done just that on more than one occasion.
Now, Merlin returned to walking around the castle, pondering where Fred could be. If he were an evil puppy where would he go? Suddenly, the thought struck him an awful lot like a brick to the forehead. The stores! He would go to the stores in order to tamper with the supplies! Maybe Merlin did have the workings of a criminal mastermind since this was the first idea to come to his mind.
Merlin broke into a run, only slowing his steps when he noticed people in the distance in order to avoid looking suspicious. Eventually, he approached more populated corridors, and he was forced to slow his steps to a more common pace. Upon reaching the stairs, he began to walk downward, following the twisted stairways and complicated corridors that led to the stores.
There were guards, of course, but with a flash of his eyes Merlin was able to avoid them without trouble. Mainly this involved shifting a box slightly so that the first guard tripped over it, and then the second guard tripped over him. At another point, Merlin cast a slight blur over a guard's eyes, which had him rubbing at his eyes until the glaze disappeared. By then, of course, Merlin was already past him.
Camelot really needed to work on their security.
Using those techniques, Merlin reached the stores without trouble. What he saw, however, when he arrived was something that he had not been anticipating. He had been expecting to see Fred or maybe something a little troubling. A part of him was even expecting that he would see nothing different at all, having incorrectly guessed where Fred would go.
What he did not expect, however, was to see that the entire grain store was completely and totally empty. "How is this possible," mumbled Merlin, as he glanced over the empty room. There was absolutely no grain on the floor. All that he could see was the cold stone floor, clear except for the empty bags scattered across it. He did not even see Fred.
"This cannot be good," Merlin said, prone to stating the obvious. He glanced around the room. "Fred?" he called softly. He knew it was hopeless. Even if Fred were there, he would not answer. "Fred?" he called again. There was no reply.
Despite Merlin's tendency toward obliviousness, he realized that this would not be a good place to be found. It would look suspicious if he were to be found in the empty grain stores, and suspicion was a thing that he preferred to avoid if at all possible. With a final glance around the room, Merlin left, using the same techniques as before to avoid being seen by the guards.
Merlin now knew more than ever the importance of finding Fred. The problem, however, was that he still did not know where to look. The grain stores had proved to be a good guess, but it had not helped him at all except to prove that Fred really was out to make trouble. What exactly Fred's goal was, Merlin still could not say, but it was not looking good. Not good at all.
Merlin wandered the hallways a little longer before realizing that it was hopeless. He was not just going to stumble across Fred this way. No, he needed to research. He needed to figure out what Fred's goal was in order to find him. For that matter, if Fred was more than a puppy, he needed to figure out what exactly he was. There was only one thing for him to do at this point. He needed to return to Gaius's chambers and resort to books.
Despite being a peasant, Merlin could read quite well. It was rather convenient. It was definitely helpful in situations like these. Hopefully, Gaius would be able to help him find out information on Fred as well. Merlin could only hope that he wouldn't be too late. With that, he redirected his footsteps. It was vital that he find out what was going on as quickly as possible. The future of Camelot could depend on it.
A/N: And so another chapter ends. Review maybe? Reviews make me ridiculously happy =]. I would really love to know what you think of this so far!