hullo look look a new chapter, oh how exciting, ok, maybee the excited part is just me then, but still i'm actually posting a chapter when i said i would o.O that doesnt happen often. anyway bit of a break from the front line to introduce a new OC, i like him i think i'll keep him, he may even become important, maybe maybee not, anyway yes hello i dont own merlin, i only mess about with him, i own my OC's though. enjoy :D

the seamstress prevails

Jane rounded a corner and saw two enemy soldiers standing there, they had obviously been bought in by a sorcerer, she tried to back away out of sight but one of them saw her and in a leering voice said "oh look Malcolm a nice young lady to, keep us company." She shuddered knowing it wasn't just company they were after. She started to shake on the spot, "please sirs back away, I am just a maid." She said in her most pathetic of tones. They moved closer sneering one of them held out his sword to her dress ready to cut at it, she backed towards the wall behind her and raised her hands behind her head. the two men laughed and moved closer still, their laughs faltered when her expression changed from one of fear to one of stony determination.

"that wasn't begging." She released her hands from behind her head throwing the two long dagger like needles that had been in her hair, each imbedded itself in one of the soldiers causing them to stumble backwards towards the open windows. "it was a warning!" she flicked the train of her dress out the fabric heavy enough to trip the men, her attackers fell backwards out the window. As that happened jane screamed for help. An older knight in his early thirties with greying hair rounded the corner and raced towards her side. "miss what is wrong, are you alright?" he asked in a quiet voice, she recognized him as the youngest of Uthurs peers, she glanced at his neck and noticed the long scar along it. "sir Malcolm how, fitting" he raised his eyebrow at her. "miss, Jane, I'm sorry you called for help why?" had she not been so on edge she would have registered that the knight had known her name. she took a deep breath and reached into the folds of her brown dress, removing two identical needles to the ones she had just thrown she turned to the knight beside her, "I called sir because an enemy soldier, called Malcolm, just tried to assault me. I called because the inner perimeter has been breached." Sir Malcolm stood up straighter looked at her and nodded. "come with me if you want to live" she tore her dress to make running easier and took the hand he offered her. Together the knight and maid ran towards the council chambers.

"sire word from the front is that odin and Elena have arrived but the sisters and Cenreds forces continue to fight hard." Uthur turned to look at merlin, wondering how he had gotten that information so quickly and before anyone else. "sire its best you don't ask that question" the warlock said having guessed Uthur's intentions. Uthur growled under his breath and turned to one of the gathered senior knights, a bald man with an eye patch across one eye and scars just above the other. "sir walter add the reinforcements to the tactical" his sentence was broken by merlin yelling out in pain his eyes glowing golden. The room fell silent, merlins eyes returned to blue "something is wrong sire" before Uthur could ask what the young man meant the doors to the council chamber flew open and Sir Malcolm walked in briskly, followed by jane. "milords, my king, I just aided this young lady in escaping an attack." his eyes darted acusingly at merlin, who just shrugged the mistrust off, ignoring the knight, he walked over and lead jane to a chair and sat her down. But not before he had turfed the old knight who had been seated on it off. "is it what I feared? Have they broken through my inner shielding?" she nodded.

Merlin knelt on the ground next to her. "listen to me, did they do anything to you?" she sat there shaking, and heard a couple of gasps. Merlin sat there looking at her with the caring eyes of a physician. He unclipped a vial from one of the rings on his tunic "here this will calm your nerves and give you energy, Gaius made it earlier. Take your time. We have time to waste," as he said this kilgarrah was heard swooping down and incinerating some of the enemy. She laughed quietly and took the tonic. The change was quick she sat up straighter and looked at merlin "they tried, they were talking about having some 'fun' with me, getting information out of me." She shuddered slightly merlin didn't fail to notice sir Malcolm place a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned her gaze to the king and looked him straight in the eyes. "Sire, no woman of Camelot will ever betray her king to the enemy, be she lady or lowly servant." Malcolm took over from her, "they didn't get the chance she stabbed them with sewing needles and tripped them out the window with the train of her skirt." He smiled down at her.

Uthur walked towards her and merlin. "this is what my daughter never understood, what our enemy will never understand. The people of Camelot are strong, they are loyal, and they are resourceful. We are lucky to have servants and maids and seamstresses like you miss." Jane blushed a little and thanked him quietly. "sire, I wish to go and repair the defenses, I shall escort Jane here to safety." Sir Malcolm added "I shall come with you, there may be more of the enemy out there." He bowed to the king, then followed jane and merlin out of the room.

"sir Malcolm seams to have taken an interest in you safety" merlin whispered to the young seamstress walking next to him. "hush now sir, I'm not sure I like what your implying" Jane said, with a slight smile on her face, "while sir Malcolm may be one of the more handsome of the senior knights he also served with uthur, which makes him a lot older than me, he's probably old enough to be my father."

"is he?" merlin asked "is he what" "is he your father?" merlin said. Jane rolled her eyes at him "no he isn't why?" "his age being equitable with that of your father is irrelevant if he is handsome enough and not related to you, besides he looks to be one of the youngest knights of Uthurs, he can't be much older than 30, if her were any younger I dare say he would fall under Arthur's command" merlin explained. He saw jane glaring at him. "you are forgetting that I know how to defeat you" she threatened in a voice that held no heat. "oh god no, please not the yarn of doom" was Merlin's reply which had her laughing.

Sir Malcolm was walking behind his two younger companions, keeping an eye out for danger. They intrigued him, he had heard from his cousin sir leon what kind of man this merlin was, but up until today, he had never witnessed him in action first hand. His complete disregard for etiquette would have most people thrown in the stocks, but with merlin it was done with such clarity of purpose, throwing an old knight out of a chair, so a female could sit and catch her breath, telling a prince he was being a prat, when he was being to headstrong, telling knights what to do, when it was not his place, because he knew what needed to be done. Jane, she was different, he had known a knight years ago, sir james, he was a gentle man out of war but fierce in it, he once had relations with a scullery maid called Fiona, she got pregnant and sir James' parents forced the young knight to walk away.

Only sir Malcolm and a select few knew differently, a small percentage of the knights wages had always gone to that maid, so that she could keep their child safe and healthy. Of corse no one, save James himself, knew who that maid had been until the day he died, the day Malcolm almost lost his head. the day he got the scar across his neck the injury to his throat that meant he would never have a full voice again. The day sir james threw Malcolm away from the end a sword and impaled himself on it instead, his dieing words were for the knights present to ensure that his daughter jane was safe. A task the youngest among then, Malcolm, found very easy given the girls relative closeness in age to himself, now however, she was a beautiful young woman of 20 and she had all of the kindness of her mother but all of the fierce intelligence and loyalty of her father, now he found protecting her didn't feel like it was enough.

Merlin paused briefly. "I am about to perform magic. I understand if you both wish to turn away. "jane stared at him. "actually, I'm curious to see what magic looks like when it isn't trying to destroy." Sir Malcolm came to stand by her side. "and I am sworn to protect this young lady, so if she stays I stay." He tilted his head and smiled slightly, merlin was surprised he hadn't noticed the familial resemblance between Malcolm and leon before. Yes Malcolm had darker hair that was starting to turn grey and was a little shorter than leon but his eyes his smile his way of standing was identical to his cousins.

Merlin looked at both of them and then placed his hand on the wall and started chanting, "wall of stone be strong as iron, be a shield we can rely on" he repeated the spell a few times before stepping back he turned to see jane smiling and Malcolm staring. "it's a spell to strengthen the walls and imbue them with a repelling shield that will stop any other enemies getting in, I," merlin broke off as he looked out the window. He hoped he hadn't seen what he thought he had, but sure enough there was his mother walking across the court yard. "sir Malcolm I need you to escort jane to Gaius' chambers he will tell you where to go from there. He has several secure sites hidden around the castle, I have to go see someone" without any warning he placed his hand on the wall and disappeared, he was gone so quickly he didn't hear Jane's yelp of surprise or see Malcolm wrap her up in his arms protectively.

oh hunith what nuggety bit of truth bomb are you going to drop on merlin now! what do you all think of malcolm ? and yey jane is totally kickass,

in other exciting news, my dad found a power lead that works for my computer at his work, so i now have a working computer which means i can write more of this story and even hopefully start updating it more regularly.

next chapter up next week hopefully, peace out y'all.