Yey finally finished this chapter... !

The small group were still gathered in the dining room of the hospital. It didn't make the most ideal of incident rooms, but Uther didn't want to waste time getting back to the station, when they could start from here. Especially since the investigation seemed to have narrowed down to Merlin, and Arthur. They had set up several tables with the information they had. Merlin's pictures and the notes Arthur had made were spread out on one table, the crime reports on another. Now they just needed to put it all together.

"Thank you," Uther said idly to Vivian as she handed him a coffee. The pale, thin girl moved around the room, handing out drinks. She couldn't make herself that useful, but giving out coffee and biscuits made some kind of contribution. She had helped look after Merlin, giving herself a purpose rather than just drifting through the days, as she had done since she had been at the hospital.

"All we need to do now," Morgana said, starting to run though what they knew. "Is link together everything we know, and what Merlin has been trying to tell us, and how directly it links to Arthur."

"Cenred said Merlin was the favourite," Gwaine said, not looking up from the transcript he was reading. "He didn't say Merlin was his favourite, but seemed to be what he was implying, pass me that highlighter will you, darling."

Vivian blinked, but did exactly as she was told before going out to get more drinks.

"Thanks," said Gwaine.

"Maybe I should bring the kettle here," Vivian mused.

"There's that big urn thing in the kitchen somewhere," Lancelot added. "That will probably be better, let's go and look."

"What are you getting at?" Uther asked Gwaine, taking a sip of his coffee.

Gwaine rubbed his eyes and went back to marking things with a highlighter.

"This interview needs to be looked at differently. It's not what he says we need to analyse, it's in the way he says it. I remember doing this one, the first one we did, when it all seemed so wrapped up. He said Merlin was the favourite, we took that to presume Merlin was his favourite, and why he didn't end up dead. Now we know for a fact someone else is involved. What if it means he wasn't just Cenred's favourite, for all we know Cenred might not have liked him at all."

"But he regularly raped him," Uther said.

"Which often has very little to do with the sex, or any particular like of the victim," Nimueh said. She crossed the room and leant over Gwaine, looking at what he was reading. "It has more to do with power, control. Cenred had complete control over those boys, they were helpless against him. Merlin fought back the only way he could, Cenred couldn't control Merlin's mind. He took that completely away from the situation. Gwaine could be very right, we need to look beyond what Cenred actually says to what he may mean, which is not an easy thing to do."

"You're the psychiatrist," Gwaine said, holding up the document.

"Pass that to Gaius, I'm quite interested in the pathology reports and the other victims."

"Do you think you can find anything?" Uther asked.

Nimueh looked up at him. "I don't know, but it has become quite clear that there is more to this case than meets the eye. I know enough about the forensic pathology part of it. It was my mother's area of work, I spent a lot of time in morgues and watching autopsies."

"What a very odd pastime for a child," Gwaine said.

"She hoped that it would become my career, it nearly was. Let me look, I'm a new pair of eyes if nothing else, we need to try and find something that hasn't been noticed before."

"Is this a case of we all shuffle our work around and see what we all come up with?" Gwaine asked.

"It can't hurt," Morgana said. "We need to find a pattern, in what Merlin was trying to say and in what has happened."

"We sent Merlin for a brain scan earlier this week, Arthur went with him. The results should be due, they may help," Gaius said.

"I can go and get them," Lancelot said.

"Gwaine go with him, make sure they know it's important. We don't want to be wasting time on this," Morgana said.

Both Lancelot and Gwaine headed to the door.

"Don't let them hang about, we need the information now," Uther said.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

All Arthur could feel was the throbbing pain in his head. He took slow, deep breaths while his senses told him that something was wrong. Something he should know about. He opened his eyes, and he forced himself to do it. It was like his lids had been stuck together. When he got as far as looking up he stared at a rather uninspiring ceiling. It was a dull grey, the light overhead thick with grime. The bulb glowed as best as it could through the dirt, but Arthur got the feeling he lay somewhere that didn't really get cared for.

He reached up to rub his face and then reality alerted him.

"Christ, Merlin!" Arthur rolled over and groaned. His limbs gave out and he lay on the cold floor for a moment before raising his head, blinking to clear his vision.

"Merlin?" Arthur said.

Merlin hadn't moved. He sat in the same position as when Arthur had passed out. Arthur reached out, only to be brought up short by the handcuffs.

"Merlin?" he repeated the call.

Arthur took a slow deep breath, lifting himself up, wincing as he felt the chill from a breeze sneaking into the room. He glanced up at the window, with it's broken glass. That was the most obvious culprit but Arthur could also feel cold air from underneath. The floorboards were not entirely well placed, there were some gaps and rotted boards. Arthur tried to peer through a gap, but he couldn't see anything clearly, but he decided that he could assume he was on a first floor at the very least. At a rough guess, he decided that the window would not make for a good escape route. Not with Merlin in tow, and Arthur wasn't going to leave him.

"First things first," Arthur muttered to himself, to make himself concentrate. Painstakingly he ran his hand over the chain that secured him to the pipe. It wasn't particularly thick, but he presumed it was enough to hold him, unless he found a weakness. Fumbling along it took him two attempts, searching along the coil to find one link that felt a little different. He pushed his fingers around it, it didn't seem as strong as the others. Wrapping up the chain he made sure he didn't lose where it was, and sitting back, he looked around.

He still felt horribly groggy, and the woman, Morgause, had warned him that moving too much would increase the effects. Arthur made the effort to move slowly, taking his time. It didn't feel like it was a commodity he had in abundance. People were bound to know they were missing, Merlin most especially. His father would be searching for them. The question ran through Arthur's head, would they be found? And he pushed it out the moment it appeared. He couldn't afford to think like that. Not for himself, and not for Merlin. Arthur didn't want to contemplate what this might be doing to Merlin.

"I need to break this damn chain, I need something for leverage."

He glanced up at the window, rolling and kneeling up. The glass was no good, and feeling along the frame he decided any slivers he could pull clear would be too weak. He jumped as there were scrabbling sounds close to him, and in the far corner, their came a squeak.

"Rodents are so not my favourite thing," Arthur said. "What do you think Merlin? Although rabbits are rodents, aren't they, I think. Animal biology was never my strong point."

Arthur knew he was babbling, but he wanted to reassure Merlin, and maybe even himself. Shuffling back he peered down under the radiator, trying to spot any signs of activity. He couldn't see anything, but something did catch his eye. Risking it, imagining rats jumping at his face as he did so, he lowered himself down, and shuffled along, staring into the darkness. He couldn't quite see, but emboldened by his suspicion, he carefully pulled the chain along the pipe, refusing to lose his grip on the weak link he shifted and stretched out a hand, pushing into the shadows, stretching to brush against the object, coaxing it towards him, until his hand wrapped around metal. As he gripped harder, he suspected it was rusty, but it felt strong. He tugged, his heart jumped as there was, for a moment, no give. Adding a little more pressure he tried again, there was a screeching scrap and it freed. Arthur sat back, took a breath and stared.

On reflection, it couldn't be considered that inspiring. But it felt heavy in his hand, strong, with a slight point at the end.

"Is it a tent peg or something?" Arthur asked, then he glanced at Merlin. "Or who cares. This should work."

He fumbled about, shifting again to give himself access to as much of the chain as he could, easing himself back into position as close to Merlin as possible. Something of an adrenaline rush ran through Arthur, and he swayed, but the drugs affect didn't seem as strong. Getting the chain on the floor Arthur pressed the metal to the link. It took him a while to co-ordinate. He really needed someone to add traction to the chain, but in the end he managed to get part of it wrapped loosely around the end of his boot and he stretched out his leg.

On one hefty push the chain slipped from his foot. His shoulder dropped hard against the floor as he lost his balance and his leg scraped against the rough wood floorboards, the material of his chinos rode up his leg and his skin scraped against the floor. Arthur hissed as he felt the grazing, but the pain helped. He sat back and looked around, the link remained pinned under the metal, and on inspection looked to have stretched a little. He needed more power on it.

He moved lower onto his side, bringing his leg up as high as he could, pressing his knee against his chest to catch the chain around his foot. Arthur huffed as his muscles stretched.

"I should have taken mum up on those yoga lessons," he said.

In the end he still managed it, winding a small amount of the chain around his foot and applying as much pressure as he could. He held it, not wanting to release the pressure, when he was determined to believe he had got so far. Black spots started to dance in front of his eyes as he struggled, but he felt it go, and a moment later there was a crash as his foot hit the radiator, accompanied by a light tinkling as the chain broke and the remains of the shattered links scattered. Arthur flopped onto the floor and lay still, panting for breath and desperately trying to control his body. Over the heaving breaths he took he tried to listen for other sounds, mainly, the sound of someone stirring in the house. Since he hadn't exactly been quiet in his efforts one of them could decide to investigate the noise.

As his breathing levelled out, he realised he could hear nothing. Perhaps they were now not even in the house. Arthur had no idea of what Merlin's time had been like. Cenred could have left the boys for hours on end, to a point, that Merlin, when he was alone chained to a corpse, could have been desperate for company, even if it was someone he feared, someone who would hurt him. Arthur blinked, sitting up, a sense of urgency stirring in him. He didn't have time to be sitting here. The sounds he had made had not been responded to, he had to keep moving. He pulled himself clear of the radiator and knelt up, assessing how he actually felt.

It felt something a little beyond tipsy, but not quite to full blown drunk. Arthur wasn't much of a drinker, he failed to see the point of getting drunk. Arthur guessed that might have something to do with the fact he only ever drank alcohol with his parents. Either wine with his mother, or a beer with his father.

"My social life is astounding," Arthur announced. "No wonder my mother is worried. Right, Merlin, we need to get you free now."

Looking round Arthur picked up the lump of metal and crawled to Merlin, reaching out he took his arm, feeling a sense of relief as he connected with Merlin. That was probably part of the torture, chained just that fraction of a distance away from poor Merlin. Merlin's eyes were concentrated on the middle distance, as they always were, but Arthur knew, Merlin's attention was on him.

"We need to find a weak link in the chain, I think this thing is the end of a crowbar, which is good…"

Arthur stopped talking, he had lifted the chain and blinked in surprise. He had caused Merlin's arm to move, and the cuff flicked away from his wrist. Arthur fumbled with it pulling it clear and he reached to Merlin's other arm and as he lifted the cuff seemed to fall away, although Arthur could have swore it had been locked. He had been entirely familiar with handcuffs, since he was nine and managed to lock himself into a pair of his fathers and then couldn't get out, and had been left to sit on the floor of his bedroom until his mother got home. It had been awful, more because he hadn't been able to control his bladder. The humiliation of the memory stung a little, but he'd only been nine, and an idiot. Now he was neither, and he was certain the locks had been secure.

"Never mind, we need to go," Arthur told Merlin. Tentatively Arthur got to his feet, wobbling a little. Standing up was something he hadn't tried yet. Again he got the drunk feeling, surely he could manage that, but he couldn't over exert himself, the drug would attack again. Reaching down for Merlin, gripping him gently, and moving his legs so they were drawn up so Merlin's feet would be under him as he pulled him up, Arthur paused. A drug that was designed to react when you struggled, Arthur said to himself. Merlin had not moved for months, at least not on his own.

He stared at Merlin, who hadn't moved voluntarily, but he responded when someone guided him. Arthur made sure Merlin's legs were secure, drawn up to his chest, and Arthur had taken hold of his arms. Merlin's head hadn't turned.

"You were overdosed, you had withdrawal. How can it still be happening?" Arthur asked, and then he pulled, getting Merlin up onto his feet. Merlin responded to the pull with surprising ease, sending Arthur toppling onto the floor, although Arthur didn't lose his grip, a ripple of tension ran down Merlin's arms and Merlin's hands latched onto Arthur, holding him in return.

"Hang on," Arthur said, slowly freeing him from the grip. "Where's that metal… you're bound to be useful," Arthur informed it tucking it into his belt, easing it through a loop to keep it on him. He swayed again and leant into Merlin. Merlin didn't give under the pressure, he stayed standing and immobile. Arthur got to his feet and looked around.

"And that's good," he added. He was talking an awful lot but he couldn't help it. It was his habit around Merlin and he wanted to keep his focus. He picked up the lump of wood, it was two foot long and fit comfortably in his hand, reaching up he tested the strength, and realised, there was building materials close by.

"The house, it's being renovated."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"We have the scan, not what we know what we are looking at," Gwaine announced running in.

"Well give it here for God's sake boy!" Gaius yelled at him. Gwaine ran to him and gave it. Gaius put it with the others and Nimueh moved to also examine it.

"That part of the brain, the activity seems to have spread to it."

"Yes," Gaius agreed with her. "Did you say one of the other boys had been through a scan?"

"Yes, here," Leon said, sifting through material on another table, and he fetched it over.

"It's not so obvious, but…" Nimueh put them together and then looked up. "Do you have the pathology reports on the bodies, all of them?"

"I think so," Leon said.

"I want to see them, particularly any reference to the skulls."

Leon ran to obey.

"Do you think that's relevant?" Uther asked. The underlying subtone of the question clearly doubted her motives.

"I'm a bit of a black sheep in my family. Like I said, my mother, her grandfather and not me, are forensic pathologists. I know enough, and I can ring mum if I need extra help, but I did train. Now we can't find any other reference to the other boy's brains, except by what their skulls will tell us, and the boy with Merlin…"

"Toby," Uther clarified.

"Yes, Toby, him especially. Do you have the notes on his post-mortem?"

"Yes," Leon said, sifting though the piles of paperwork, finding what was needed with great efficiency. He extracted the relevant beige file and brought it over to Nimueh, who opened it, flicked through and then laid the sheets out on the table. Papers were now spread everywhere, but all were clustered and organised.

"Right, we have what we need, now all we need to do his put the information together," Morgana said. Nimueh pointed.

"Merlin was, quite possibly, trying to tell Arthur something. So we need to try and find a pattern in that; now the information on the bodies that were found, we need to look at in a completely different light, baring in mind some of what Merlin has told us."

"You mean the murder he witnessed?" Gaius asked. Nimueh nodded.

"The one that he couldn't possibly have witnessed, unless you are willing to believe in psychic powers."

"I think, all things considered, we have to believe in those things," Uther said.

"So, we need to look at what we have, regarding these boy's brains, with that in mind."

"Do you have any idea what you might be looking for?" Uther demanded.

"None whatsoever," Nimueh said. "Which means, the moment I find it, I'll know it."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Arthur slowly marshalled his thoughts. Houses were being redeveloped all over the place, he couldn't start trying to think about where he was, until he found his way outside and work from there. Before that, they had to get out. He had to get Merlin out. Arthur hefted the wood in his hand and then paused, tottering on unsteady feet and he put his hand against the wall. He looked at Merlin, and frowned, looking around.

He had to manage his weapon, stay steady and lead Merlin along all at the same time. Arthur decided he could hold the wood, and take Merlin's hand, but if he lost his balance, then Merlin might come down with him, and he'd have to get Merlin back up again. That could waste so many precious seconds, and also make noise. He could leave the wood, he still had the sturdy piece of metal tucked away in his belt. There didn't seem a way to manage it, and he huffed again in irritation as the trails of chain crashed against his legs, he needed rid of them, he didn't want to be falling over them. Putting the wood down for a moment he wrapped the chain around his left arm, securing it, tucking the end in to one of the wraps to prevent it from unfastening. It took him a while, the procedure delicate against his clumsy fingers. He was doing the same to his right arm when he paused, staring dumbly at what he was doing. Arthur blinked and paused, unwinding and then winding back up again, before looking at Merlin.

Merlin was standing next to him, unmoving and yielding. His eyes stared off blankly but were fixed in the direction of the door. Arthur had to get him through it, that was all that mattered. He suddenly unwound the length of chain on his wrist and then moved closer to Merlin. Then he snorted and wrapped up his right arm, even clumsier than before and undid the careful securing on his left wrist. He needed his right hand. Reaching out he took Merlin's right arm and lifted it, slowly he started to wrap the length of excess chain that hung from his left wrist around Merlin's forearm. He secured it about halfway up, not wanting to let the chain bite into Merlin's fragile looking wrist. But this time he didn't tuck it in. He wrapped it round three times and then left it dangling. It was unlikely to unravel, but he might need to free himself from Merlin, if he had to defend him, and defend himself.

"I need you to come with me now, okay Merlin, just follow me, we'll get out of here, I promise."

Merlin blinked and Arthur found his weapon again, holding the length of wood in his hand, gripping it tightly, then he stepped forward. It wasn't so hard to walk, his vision had started to seem steadier, just on occasion it felt as if one eye was working independently as the angle of his view seemed to change and then snap back into normal proportions. Arthur didn't worry about it, he didn't want to contemplate the affects of the drug, he wanted to save Merlin.

"Come on Merlin, I just need you to walk with me now."

Arthur moved, stepping forward, heading towards the door, his arm trailed back for a moment before he drew it forward. Merlin's arm lifted, stretching out until the tension of the chain took, and Arthur gave a gentle tug. Merlin took a step, then another, and as Arthur went towards the door Merlin shuffled along behind, using the gait that Arthur was entirely familiar with. Everyone in the hospital knew it, they all knew Merlin's patterns. After a few steps, Merlin just carried on moving, knowing that Arthur would keep going. He'd walk now as long as Arthur did, as he did at the hospital, until he reached his destination.

This time Arthur didn't know where that was, but he had to go out into the unknown, and face Cenred, and the blonde woman, Morgause. Whatever she wanted from Merlin, she had to go through him. Arthur, as he reached the doorway and stared down into the bare, forlorn looking corridor, didn't feel like much of a threat. He felt like he was only staying upright by sheer will, and he didn't know how well he could fight the way he was.

As Arthur paused Merlin almost walked into him. He stayed close to Arthur's back, waiting patiently.

"I'm going to get you out of here, you'll be safe Merlin, I promise," Arthur said.

Since his voice was slurring he couldn't be entirely sure that he was convincing. Merlin, however, seemed happy enough, as he shuffled along after Arthur, following the tug of the lead. Once he had Merlin moving Arthur was reluctant to stop, but he paused at doorways, finding the lights and looking into the rooms. He took them into one room, a sad looking iron bedstead lay against the far wall. There was no mattress, no sign that anyone paid any attention to the house. The window's frames had been changed. Plastic now surrounded them, but there was no glass, just a cover of tarpaulin that appeared to be secured from the outside.

Arthur headed across to the window, Merlin shuffling along behind him. He carefully propped the lump of wood against the wall and reaching out pushed on the blue material. It gave a little and he tried to look out, but all he could see was darkness. His hand slipped against the smooth, shiny tarpaulin as he pressed harder. But it did no good, there was no way of seeing clearly. The only illumination was from the dull bulb overhead.

"That's no good, maybe another window will be more helpful," but again even as Arthur considered that his mind went back to the practicality of getting Merlin's to climb through a window. Arthur couldn't guide him.

"We could try and find a fire door or something," he mused. Merlin gave no response as they made their way to the door. Just as he was about to pull them out into the corridor Arthur's arm was drawn back. He paused and turned. Merlin had stopped walking. Arthur blinked, tugging gently, Merlin's arm moved with the pull but he didn't step forward.

"Merlin?" Arthur asked, swaying as he stood there, looking at Merlin. He almost repeated Merlin's name but he paused as he heard the sound of wood creaking. Arthur turned his head and listened. A slow steady tread made their way towards them. It was getting louder with each step. Arthur tensed, stepping sideways in the room and flicking off the room light. Merlin moved as Arthur tugged again, shuffling closer to him as Arthur huddled against the wall, hiding in the shadows. He cursed under his breath, not remembering if he had turned all the lights off in the rooms he had looked into.

He pressed Merlin against the wall and continued to listen as the tread came closer. Arthur pressed his lips together, his breathing sounding horribly loud as he timed it to the sounds of the footsteps. There was only one pair, heavy seeming. Arthur pushed himself back against the wall, peering through the doorway. Slowly he unwound the chain from Merlin's arm, he might need to be free to deal with this. He gripped Merlin's wrist as he waited, listening as the steps came closer. Considering the weight of the tread Arthur guessed it was Cenred, alone, probably coming to amuse himself with Merlin. Rage surged through Arthur, like a painful heat in his chest. He couldn't let this man get near Merlin. His vision swam again at the sudden surge of adrenaline. Arthur took a deep breath, which he held for a few seconds.

During that pause, Cenred strolled past. Arthur clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on the wood, exhaling slowly. It was now or never. Taking his chance Arthur stepped out, swinging the wood as hard as he could.

By some instinct Cenred seemed to sense him, spinning round and raising his arm to deflect the wood. Arthur still heard a very satisfying crack as his weapon connected with Cenred's arm. Cenred hissed with pain, but reacted swiftly as Arthur attempted another blow. He caught hold of the wood, yanking it from Arthur's grip, the force of that off balanced Arthur as he fell, pitching into the wall, winding himself. He hit the floor, struggling to rise again as his vision blurred. Cenred loomed over him, Arthur tried kicking out, but missed and light exploded behind Arthur's eyes as he received a blow to the head. Arthur flew sideways sprawling face down on the floor. He gasped, shaking his head and blinking to try and recover himself. Behind him he heard Cenred laugh.

"Feisty aren't you?"

Arthur snarled, struggling up onto his hands and knees, one hard kick from Cenred sent him sprawling back onto the floor again. For a moment the world spun, and then when Arthur blinked, he looked at Merlin's trainers. He had moved and now stood in the doorway.

"Trying to get our little Merlin safely away," Cenred drawled. Arthur snarled, he had no idea where the wood had gone but he still had the metal. Fumbling for it, he struggled to get it out of his belt, without Cenred seeing what he was doing. For the moment, Cenred didn't pay him any attention. Instead, his attention was focused on Merlin. Cenred had taken a step towards him.

Pulling himself together Arthur got up on all fours and lashed out with his fish, punching Cenred on the back of his leg. Cenred staggered, but it turned his attention back to Arthur, as he tried to get up. Cenred retaliated by grabbing the length of wood and smacking it into Arthur's knee. He yelped and crashed down to the floor again, and he floundered for a few seconds, trying to catch his breath, and prevent himself from passing out. The pain helped with that, as his leg rippled with shockwaves, a blossoming of white hot pain spreading from his kneecap.

Then it got even worse as he felt Cenred's hands on him. One grabbed at his backside before sliding between his legs, the other snaked into his hair before moving down his neck, clamping hard on his scruff. Arthur gasped as Cenred explored him.

"You're a little older than I go for, but needs must I suppose. You do seem almost as innocent as my little Merlin."

Arthur gave a whimper of panic as Cenred's twisted his grip so he could reach the zip of Arthur's trousers, yanking it down, his hand sliding in to fondle Arthur's groin.

"Or maybe I should let you watch, while I fuck my little Merlin. Did you ever wonder what it was like? What it would be like to have him?"

Arthur's emotions shot from horrified to furious. He twisted, ignoring the probing hand, and his fingers took a firmer grip of the metal, dragging it from his belt, ripping the belt loop in the process. But he didn't care, he turned, looking up at a smirking Cenred, and pulling back his arm Arthur thrust out as hard as he could.

He met resistance, so he presumed he hit Cenred somewhere. It was confirmed as Cenred's eyes widened in shock. He pulled away from Arthur, struggling to get his hand out of Arthur's trousers. Arthur just carried on pushing, his arm gaining a sudden impetus. It felt like something knocked against his elbow, pushing his arm harder, but Arthur guessed he must have hit the wall or something. Cenred fell back, Arthur dragged along with him. There was a sickening ripping sound and Arthur tensed as Cenred's hands grabbed for him. Arthur tried to push him away, wanting to get away from him.

The whole thing seemed to happen so strangely, Arthur's actions felt disjointed from what he thought was happening. He recoiled from Cenred, pushing him away, and somehow sending him against the wall, although Arthur hadn't really though he had any strength with which to do so.

All he could do was sit back, blinking to clear his vision again. He almost brought his hand up to wipe his face, and then paused, eyes widening in shock as he looked at the deep red marring his palm. It was literally dripping from his hand, and he hadn't even noticed it was wet. Blinking again Arthur looked up. The metal was embedded in Cenred's stomach and the fall had ripped open his navel. Blood was pouring from the wound, spreading out onto the floor. Arthur shuffled back although the pool of blood was unlikely to reach him. Cenred stared at him with wide eyes, hands over the wound, but they did nothing to stem the flow of blood.

Arthur crawled to the far wall, fumbling for the doorframe and using that to lever himself upright. Merlin still stood patiently in the doorway. Arthur assessed his position, he had moved from where Arthur had left him, hidden safely in the shadows.

"Merlin?" Arthur slurred the word, reaching out for him, taking his arm again, staggering sideways he struggled to get hold of the chain to put around Merlin's wrist again. Very slowly he secured it as Cenred gave a weak gasp of shock. Arthur turned to look at him, assessing the man on the floor, part of his mind informing him that he had done that. There wasn't any emotion attached to the thought. It was just there, to be seen. Arthur took two careful steps and Merlin shuffled along with him. Arthur had lost both of his weapons, one lay by Cenred's head, the other in his body, but he had to carry on.

He took two more steps and then turned to look at Cenred, who stared at him weakly, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"I did warn you," Arthur said.