Here it is, the actual first chapter. Sorry if this took a little long.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, only my many OCs and this storyline.

Hope you enjoy.

Entering the Belly of the Beast

It was supposed to be a normal hunting trip, but when is it ever that easy for the prince of Camelot, especially since a certain young warlock became his servant. Of course to Arthur, Merlin is simply clumsy and terrible at his job. No magic there. Though Arthur can't bring himself to fire him. Wonder why.

The usual route that they took for their hunting wasn't very usual today. Where there should have been a fork in the road there was instead only one path. They didn't think anything of it and followed the singular path. It didn't take them where they expected to go as they made their way deeper and deeper into the woods.

"Are we lost?" Merlin asked on his horse that trotted just behind Arthur's.

"Of course not." Of course they were, but Arthur would never admit that to his servant. "We're going exactly the way we're supposed to be." And they were, exactly where she wanted them to go.

"What's that?" Merlin pulled his horse to a stop. Arthur stopped too and looked the way that Merlin was pointing. Just beyond the normal trees they saw everyday there were more trees except there was something off about these ones.

"I don't know, lets find out." Arthur pulled his horse in the direction of the strange trees. Merlin followed after, wary.

As they moved further and further the trees around them began to change. Slowly they became hunched over and their bark darkened until they were as black as charcoal. There were no leafs growing on their drooping branches. Their trunks were thin and twisted, and bent in strange directions. The branches looked like claws reaching out towards them. They were all but dead and yet somehow they were still standing.

Suddenly their horses whinnied and stopped. Their hooves pawed at the ground and they refused to go any closer no matter how much Arthur and Merlin tried.

"Something has spooked them." Merlin concluded. "I don't think we should go any further."

"Don't be such a girl's petticoat." Arthur mocked. "They're just dead trees."

"Lots and lots of dead trees all in one place. There's something else though." Merlin could sense it. "This place is old, very old."

"The whole forest is old." Arthur pointed out. "It is odd. I'll admit that. We need to get back anyway." He turned his horse around and was about to gallop away from the demented trees when suddenly Merlin gasped and clutched at the sides of his head.

"Did you hear that?" Merlin cringed.

"Hear what?" Arthur asked, turning towards his servant. "What is it?"

"Someone was shouting." Merlin lowered his hands and looked around for whatever or whoever had been shouting.

"What did they sound like?" Arthur didn't like the look on Merlin's face.

"I couldn't make out what they were saying, but it sounded like a girl. She sounded distressed." Merlin listened but didn't hear anymore shouting.

"You're just hearing things. It's probably the wind." Arthur turned to leave again but his horse reared and threw him.

"Arthur!" Merlin called but then his horse did the same and he soon found himself making a very hard connection with the ground.

"Come back!" Arthur shouted as the horses bolted into the trees without them. "That can't be good. First you're hearing voices and now this." He turned back to the warped trees. "Maybe there is something here."

"Whatever it is it can't be friendly." Merlin backed away, not wanting to go any closer. He could feel hatred coming from that place, hatred and pain. It was dark and held many tragic memories. "We could always walk back to Camelot."

"That would take days." The prince stated.

"Then what do you suggest." Merlin just wanted to get as far away from this place as they could. A shiver ran up his spine as a gust of wind ran through the charcoaled trees towards them.

"There's something here. We should find out what it is." Arthur sounded confident but his hand was on the hilt of his sword that hung at his side.

"I wouldn't risk it, just the two of us. Get some of the knights then maybe." Merlin tried to persuade the prince, but he had a feeling he was going to loose this fight.

"Maybe." For a moment it seemed like Arthur was going to turn back and actually listen to Merlin this time, but she couldn't let that happen. Ancient forces reached out as far as they could outside her territory. They were standing right at the border. One more step was all she needed. This was the tricky part.

"Owen!" A girl screamed. Merlin and Arthur turned in the direction the voice had come, but there was no one there.

"Don't touch him!" They heard her voice again and it now seemed to be coming from the dark trees before them. "Leave him alone!"

"She sounds like she's in trouble." Arthur could never resist helping someone in need, one of the reasons why he would one day become a great king, but today that's what she was counting on. Just take one more step.

"I don't see her." Merlin peered through the trees for the girl.

"Owen!" The girl called again. There was so much fear in her voice and it angered Arthur. He drew his sword and took that one last step. Merlin followed him and as soon as he stepped over the line into her territory he felt the change in the atmosphere. Everything seemed to get colder and darker. Arthur didn't seem to notice as his eyes searched again for the girl.

"Do you see her?" Arthur kept searching.

"There." Merlin pointed into the trees where a large figure was speeding away with a smaller figure following close behind. Merlin and Arthur quickly sped off in their direction. It wasn't long before they caught up. The situation became clearer and they drew nearer.

The Owen the girl had called out for was a small boy being carried under the arm of a tall hooded man with an ax strapped to his back. The boy was unconscious and swayed back and forth under the man's arm. He was very young and had a head of very messy light brown hair.

Coming close behind them weaved a girl through the trees. She bared some resemblance to the boy though her hair was longer and darker but just as messy and it whipped around wildly behind her as she pursued the man who had taken her brother. Arthur could not make out her face as she moved too quickly, her bare feet hitting the ground hard as she neared the man.

She was almost upon him when suddenly the hooded man stopped and swung out his free arm at her. It connected hard with her stomach, sending her flying only to be stopped as her back cracked against one of the dark trees. The hooded man did not stay to see her collide with the tree but ran on, carrying her brother further and further away from his sister.

The collision with the tree only slowed the girl for a moment. In seconds she was back on her feet, she didn't even look hurt. She would not be taken down so easily. Arthur and Merlin watched this with wide eyes in awe. They ran faster to try and help the girl.

The hooded man seemed to be running towards something at the center of these dead looking trees. As they approached it the form became clearer and they could soon make out the tilted shape of the abandoned looking house. What windows it had were shattered and the door looked so fragile that it could be knocked off its hinges by a simple gust of wind. The roof seemed to be caved in and everything inside was dark. But the hooded man ran towards it. The girl tried to quicken her pace to reach him before he made it to the haunted looking house. Arthur and Merlin did the same.

Arthur drew his sword but saw that they would not be able to reach the man in time. The girl cried out as the hooded man wrenched open the decaying door and disappeared inside. She came to a stop a few feet away and fell to her knees in defeat.

"No!" She cried, crystal like tears poured from her violet eyes. Merlin got to her first and knelt down beside her. He reached out to her but she pulled away. Her large eyes met his.

"We're not going to hurt you." He spoke soothingly. "There's no need to be afraid."

"Come on, we cannot delay." Arthur came up next to them, sword still in hand. "We can still catch him. He is trapped in that house."

"Are you mad?" The girl got to her feet and stepped away from them. "There is no catching him now."

"He cannot stay in that little house forever." Arthur tried to reassure her. "We can get your brother back." He took a step towards her and she took another step away.

"Are you so incompetent that you don't know where you are?" There was anger in her eyes. "So unobservant that you don't understand that there is nothing that can be done now?"

"What is it about this place that scares you?" Merlin asked.

"You don't know?" Her look of anger turned to confusion. "Have you not heard the stories?"

"What stories?" Arthur asked, sheathing his sword.

"You really don't know." She realized. "I thought everyone knew. I thought that as soon as you passed beyond the veil you would be warned of this place."

"Passed beyond the veil?" Arthur was confused.

"You haven't passed." She looked at them closer, her eyes widening. "Who are you?"

"I am Prince Arthur of Camelot." He introduced himself. "And this is my servant Merlin."

"You are flesh and bone." She seemed so surprised. "There is blood running through your veins. Why are you here?"

"We heard you calling for your brother and we came to see if we could help." Arthur explained.

"You heard me?" She took another step back, away from them. "I don't understand. That isn't possible."

"What is this place and why are you so afraid of it?" Merlin asked the important question.

"We are all warned of this place and told never to go near for she sleeps here." Her voice quaked as she told them. "We came too close. I thought she was still asleep but she isn't anymore."

"Who is she?" Arthur asked.

"The Old Mother." The temperature lowered as her name was spoken aloud and the trees around them seemed to darken and grow more crooked and bent. "A creature so evil that they sent her into a deep sleep, but it isn't holding. She's waking up."

"Why is she so evil?" Merlin wondered.

"They say that if she eats your soul you will be erased from this world as if you never existed at all." The girl began to cry once more. "Now she has Owen."

"But we're going to get him back." Arthur reached for the door.

"No, don't go any closer." She yelled, stopping Arthur inches from the door. "If you go inside you'll be lost too."

"You would leave your brother to her?" Arthur couldn't accept that there was no way to say the boy.

"Do not think me so weak and afraid." Her eyes hardened. "I would never leave him. It's my fault he was taken. I was supposed to protect him. It is my job to get him back, but you cannot come with me."

"We cannot let you go alone." Arthur insisted.

"You can and you will." She stood tall. "I am going alone."

"If she is as evil as you say you cannot take her alone." Merlin pointed out.

"I know."

"You will still go even though you may never come out again?" Arthur was surprised.

"He is my brother." She turned towards them. "If he falls I will fall with him."

"You are a courageous young one. What is your name?"

"Jay." She told him. "Jay Ardent."

"Well Jay Ardent." Arthur nodded. "I admire your courage but as there is nothing to stop you going in there is also nothing to stop us from coming with you. You cannot do this alone."

"But you may never come out." She warned them. "Once beyond that door there is no turning back."

"Then there is no turning back." Arthur turned the handle of the door and suddenly all three of them were inside, without remembering walking through the door at all.

"We're in the belly of the beast." And it was true, for inside bared no resemblance to the house's outer appearance. They stood in a long, thin hallway with a high ceiling and there were doors lining both walls. The hall stretched out before them and from where they stood they could not see the end.

"They're locked." Arthur said as he tried the handles on a few of the doors.

"Owen!" Jay tried calling out for her lost brother as if he might reply but they were surrounded by silence.

An old creature laughed in her obsidian room. It had been almost too easy. She was going to enjoy this. Oh, yes this would be so much fun.

Thanks for reading and please if you be ever so kind to REVIEW!

The reviews I have read so far have been amazing. For those who suggested it I am in fact rewriting I Will Never Forget so that all the characters are original and not connected to Merlin. Who knows maybe I will be able to publish it.

Hope you keep following because she has a few tricks up her sleeve and it will be anything but easy for our heroes.

See you next time.