Irony of Secrets

Galaya

Previous chapter: Preparations and Warnings

HI again. Here's the seventh chapter. I don't think I need to say this again, but it's BBC's Merlin, not mine. Thank you, Shadows Curse, for your excellent (and very amusing) review!

Chapter 7: Tracking

Loud crashing rom the direction of Merlin's room woke Gaius. Wondering what trouble the clumsy young warlock had gotten into this time and worrying that he may have further injured himself, the physician got up and entered his ward's room.

He was met by a disaster.

Merlin, despite his injury, was tearing apart the room in search of something. When he looked up, he tripped over a heap of sheets. Lying on the floor, the young warlock raised his head.

"Gaius,'…" he rushed through his words.

"Slow down! I can't understand you! And, what are you doing out of bed?" Gaius demanded.

Merlin took a breath, stood up, and restarted his question, "Do you know where I can find an object, easy to conceal and carry, that I can enchant to temporarily heal my side? Ow! I didn't even notice the pain until now!"

"I'm sure we can find something, but what I want to know is why?"

"Umm…" he looked sheepishly at his mentor. "I had another dream. This time more informative…"

Merlin launched into a description of his dream. By the time Merlin stopped, he was out of breath.

"This Keiyva sounds very interesting. What does she want?" Gaius asked.

"I have no idea. She didn't seem to want Arthur dead, or Camelot destroyed."

"But what did she want with you, Merlin?"

"She just wanted me to know that Arthur was in danger. I don't think it was anything besides that."

"But who is she? She said her name was Keiyva, but that's just a name, not who she is."

Gaius shook his head in confusion. Merlin just stared out his window into the black night.

"I need to go after Arthur and make sure he's safe. But I need a way to cover up that I'm injured or else I'll be discovered," the warlock sighed.

"I may have an object you can charm. Come, I'll let you decide."

Once in the main room of the physician's chambers, Gaius rooted around and found a small, plain silver amulet.

Handing it to Merlin, he said, "This amulet was just a trinket I bought many years ago. I don't even remember what it was for."

"It's perfect. Easy to carry and conceal. Oh, what was that healing spell? Oh, right," Merlin responded and then chanted, "Dros dro gwella fy clwyf."

The amulet shimmered for a couple seconds then faded back to normal.

"Well, best check that it worked," Gaius commented.

Merlin slipped the amulet over his head and around his neck. Instantly, the pain in his side went away. Taking it off, it came back.

Grinning, Merlin noted, "It will work perfectly. Can you tell everyone that my side got infected and I need peace and quiet to heal so no one finds out I'm gone?"

"Yes. Just Merlin, be careful."

"When aren't I careful?"

"If you were truly careful, you wouldn't have gotten injured in the first place!"

"That was different! We were in the middle of a battle. As soon as Arthur is safe I'll return," Merlin promised. As an afterthought, he added, "I'm going to need a cloak."

(Five hours later)

Merlin had been walking for hours and his feet were getting sore. He knew he was going to have to camp soon, but he wanted to get as close to Arthur as he could get before then.

Both the amulet and the old, grey cloak had done their jobs well. He could very easily forget he was injured. In fact, while wearing the enchanted amulet, he was not injured.

No one had recognized him yet because of the cloak, but he still knew he was going to need to be cautious and stay on his guard.

It hadn't been very hard to track Arthur and his companions; they had not made any attempts to cover their trail, and Merlin had the aid of magic, anyway. They were well ahead of him, but Merlin could easily catch up with them using magic. He had seen a teleportation spell in his magic book, but never used it. It looked quite painful. The warlock did not want to use it unless it was necessary.

Merlin, in his haste, had forgotten to bring enough provisions, so he knew he would have to buy or gather some more soon. His magic was really handy for that; he could kill, gather, prepare, and cook food with it. That reason made him not worry too much about that problem.

Just being on his own like this was rather comforting. Without having to constantly worry about hiding was a relief beyond relief. It was also quite peaceful. Merlin had rarely experienced peace due to all the stress ad fear in his life.

There was joyous birdsong from the trees' branches. At that moment, the sun was also just rising above the treetops, adding to the sense of peace and happiness.

Turning around a bend, the warlock got a glimpse of his charges' camp being disassembled.

Wow! 831 words! Longest chapter! Please, please review! Please? I need to go to sleep now; it's almost 12:30 am.

Next chapter: Surprises can be Surprising