A/N- Well I am finally feeling a bit better. Thanks for all the well wishes. Chapter nine is still being written. Having some trouble with the action scene. Don't worry it's coming - promise!

Sarah James, I wanted to answer your question but your review was unsigned so I'll do that here. You wrote: Great story, I'm really enjoying it, but why did Aenya's eyes flash gold when she did the spell? That's always been show to be unique to Merlin and why he's so special. I hope you post another chapter soon.

I don't know if you have seen season two yet, but actually Merlin isn't the only one who's eyes flash gold. Morgana's eyes do the same, as do Morgause. I did not see the gold in Nimueh's eyes or Mordrid's eyes, but because it is being shown in other magic users I have come to believe that the show uses that as a queue for magic being used, and that is is not unique to Merlin. Thanks for the review and I'm glad you are enjoying the story.

Thank you all for such lovely reviews! I was very concerned that the magic lesson in the last chapter would come off as ridiculous or trite or just not particularly believable. I fussed over that bit and my betas are probably sick to death of me saying - Did this work for you; Does it sound stupid; and Are you sure??!! I'm really glad it worked. Thanks again and please enjoy chapter eight.
Alice I

Chapter Eight

Arthur's gut tightened as he looked at the grave expression on Nelora's face. A face like that never had good news to share. "What is it? Is Merlin going to be all right? Were you able to counteract the poison?" His concern quickly became fear when she didn't answer immediately.

Aenya stood up and bowed to the Nelora before stepping inside of her tent to give them some privacy. Nelora moved over to Arthur and motioned for him to sit with her.

"I have treated the wound and given him an antidote to the poison, but he is not responding. Even if the poison were not Belladona, which I still believe it is given his symptoms, the antidote should have had more of an effect. His fever has come down somewhat, and his breathing is not as labored as when you first brought him to me, but that is the only real improvement that he has made. It is as though he has given up, and is welcoming death. I looked into his mind to try and find what could be causing this -"

Arthur stood up abruptly and interrupted the healer. "Wait! You can read his mind?"

Nelora sighed, realizing that she should have tried to find a simpler way to explain it to the young prince. She shook her head and motioned for Arthur to sit down again, which he did reluctantly. He didn't want this woman to read his mind.

"You misunderstand me; that is not what I do. I have never known any healer or seer who could pluck thoughts from someone else' mind. What I can do is see images and sense emotions, but only things that are close to the surface. I do not always understand what I am seeing or feeling though, especially in someone who is gravely ill as Emrys is."

Arthur was intrigued despite himself and asked, "So you can't read his thoughts?" The woman shook her head. "Alright, so what did you see when you looked in Merlin's mind?"

Nelora seemed hesitant to speak for a moment, and Arthur could tell that she was choosing her words carefully. "I saw many images of you and could feel the emotions associated with those images."

Arthur frowned not really sure he wanted to know, but asked her anyway. "Can you share those images and emotions with me? Are you allowed to?"

"The emotions in association with you are very strong. They are connected to each other; intertwined, if that makes more sense. I sensed deep loyalty, but there were also feelings of pride, friendship, kinship and a driven need to protect you."

Arthur took a few moments to digest what she had said. He knew that he and Merlin shared a friendship that neither of them could really publicly display, but he would not have suspected the kind of emotions that Nelora was describing.

"The emotions associated with you are not what I am concerned about. I also saw an image of a girl wearing a purple dress. She has long black hair and dark eyes. I also see images of a lake with mountains behind it. The emotions associated with these images were overwhelming; nearly unbearable pain, grief, and sorrow that ran so deep I had to break away from my contact with Emrys or be swallowed by his emotions. Who is this girl, and what happened to her?"

Arthur's face paled as he remembered the conversation he had with Merlin the previous morning. "Freya."

Nelora shook her head puzzled. "Freya?"

"She is a girl that Merlin fell in love with. When she died it broke his heart. Her death was very recent and he confided in me yesterday that he had considered following her in death so that he could be with her forever. He said that it was only a transitory feeling brought on by grief, but I know that he still grieves for her loss. I didn't realize that his pain ran that deep."

Nelora was clearly not pleased to hear this news. "I must speak with Barach about this. If Emrys wishes to die, I do not believe there is anything I can do to stop it from happening. If he is unwilling to come back to this world, there is nothing more any of us can do."

Arthur most definitely didn't like the sound of that. "I cannot accept that. Merlin wants to live. Once he told me about Freya, he felt better; more at ease. I must speak to him. I can try to get him to wake up; to not give up. Please you must let me try."

Nelora nodded and stood up. "Emrys' bond with you is very strong. You may be able to reach him where I cannot. Come, follow me."

Nelora led Arthur back to her tent. When he entered he noticed that her other patient had been moved somewhere since he was no longer in the bed next to Merlin. Arthur's attention was drawn to the young man who lay unnaturally still and he knelt down next to the sleeping platform and took one of Merlin's hands in his own. Nelora was right, the fever had come down a bit, but he was still hotter than was normal. His face was deathly pale and his breathing, while no longer labored as it was earlier, was still shallow.

"I must go and speak with Barach. Talk to him, Arthur. Convince him that his work in this plane of existence is not yet finished."

Nelora stepped out of the tent and Arthur was left alone with Merlin. He looked at the young man lying on the bed and didn't know what he should do next. He only knew that if he didn't do something his friend was going to die. If not from the poison, he would die from the grief in his heart. Arthur wished he knew who Freya was. He could not recall ever seeing Merlin with this girl, but he must have.

As Arthur thought about it a strong feeling of guilt washed over him. He squeezed the hand he was holding tightly trying to let the young man know that he was there.

"I'm so sorry, Merlin. I have always been so wrapped up in my own life, my own problems, my own joys that I never took the time to notice what was happening in your life. You are a servant, that's true, but you aren't just any servant. You are my servant, and I should have paid more attention to you."

Arthur rocked back on his heels, letting go of Merlin's hand and watched as it limply dropped to the bed. "I spend every day with you; in all honesty I spend more time with you than I do with pretty much anyone else, and yet I never knew about Freya. I never knew...."

Arthur stopped for a moment as fear, anger, frustration and regret battled for dominance. "Nelora said that you were in so much pain it almost overwhelmed her. Why? Why didn't you talk to me? Why didn't you tell me what you were going through? Why won't you trust me, Merlin?"

Arthur's voice raised with each question until he was almost shouting. He stood up and walked away from the bed for a moment trying to get his own emotions under control. Arthur tried to recall everything that had happened over the last few weeks. He pondered once again when he had started to notice a change in Merlin's behavior. If he had fallen in love then there must have been a period of time that Merlin was happy, and that would have shown.

As Arthur paced he decided to take it a step at a time working his way backward. The deep sense of melancholy showed up barely a week ago, he was sure of it. He remembered finding Merlin sitting on the floor polishing his boots and he sat down and spoke to him about it. That was the first recollection Arthur could bring to mind where Merlin showed this deep sadness and that had been five days ago. Before that Merlin seemed fine, teasing him about being fat, which he was not. That was when Halig was in Camelot with the druid girl.

The bounty hunter had lost the druid girl and was searching for the accomplice who had set her free. Halig had tried to hurt Merlin when he found him acting suspiciously. It was ludicrous of course, but then again Merlin did have his sausages, and a drumstick. Arthur turned at looked at the young man lying on the bed and he could see how thin he was. Perhaps Merlin was simply hungry. Arthur shook his head, that couldn't be it. Merlin could always get food from the kitchens if he needed to. He didn't seem upset after Halig left. He even smiled and quipped that he was trying to keep Arthur from getting fat. Then there was the missing cheese and meat from the morning. Merlin must have taken that as well, but why?

An uncomfortable thought began to emerge in Arthur's mind and he pushed it away. Halig was wrong; Merlin would never harbor the druid girl, but he was in an awful hurry to leave that morning, and he was distracted as well. Arthur remembered the pain of scaling his foot in the boiling bath water. He also remembered throwing an entire pitcher of water over Merlin to wake him up.

The next two days after that were a blur, what with the attacks in the lower town as well as the missing druid. He tried to remember seeing Merlin over the days that he was tied up looking for the beast hunting in the lower town and suddenly another memory came to him. Merlin walking down the hallway holding a dress. He said it was for Gaius. This was such an obvious lie. In all of the years Arthur had known the court physician he had never seen him dress in... well a dress; robes on occasion, but they were of a scholarly sort. Arthur couldn't help taking the opportunity to tease Merlin telling him that what he did on his own time was his own business. Oh how the young man had objected. It was classic. He even told him how much the color suited him.

Arthur had been pacing as he thought but stopped dead as a revelation occurred to him. The dress was purple. Didn't Nelora say that she saw images of a woman in a purple dress? The dress Merlin was carrying through the castle wasn't for Gaius, it was for Freya. That was it, that explained why Merlin was so distracted, it explained why he was in such a hurry to finish up his chores and get away from Arthur, it....

Then another thought occurred to Arthur, this one very uncomfortable. Was Merlin stealing Arthur's food for Freya? Why would he need to do that? Unless...

Arthur began pacing again much faster. He couldn't believe this. Merlin harboring a fugitive; Merlin falling in love with a druid; Merlin breaking the laws of Camelot! This couldn't be right. There is no way Merlin would risk doing something like that. There must be some other explanation.

It was the very next night that the druid girl was cornered and she turned into that beast; a huge black cat with wings. He had fought this beast, he had wounded it, badly. They never saw the thing again once it took to the sky. Arthur and his men looked everywhere for the beast but couldn't find it. He had assumed that he had dealt it a mortal blow.

The next morning Merlin never showed up with his breakfast, but Arthur had passed it off, having to leave and search of the wounded beast. By the time he did find Merlin later in the day sitting on the floor polishing his boots he could see the sadness in his friend. Everything fell into place and Arthur turned once again and stared at Merlin's pale face.

"Freya was the druid girl." he said out loud. It sounded ridiculous even to his own ears, but at the same time he knew it was true. Arthur stepped over to Merlin and knelt down next to the bed. The boy's breathing was shallow and quick. His brow was still hot with fever even though his skin was pale and dry. Arthur reached out tentatively and grasped Merlin's limp hand.

"Freya was the druid girl that escaped from Halig. You helped her escape; you fell in love with her. Merlin, she could have killed you! You were going to run away with her? My God, Merlin what would you have done when she turned into that cat thing at the stroke of midnight? She would have torn you apart!"

The image of Merlin being ripped to shreds the way Halig had been made Arthur's stomach roil. He looked at Merlin and to his astonishment he saw a tear drop down the side of Merlin's face from beneath a closed lid.

"I killed her. You were in love with her and I killed her. It's no wonder you wouldn't tell me about this. I'm sorry, Merlin, truly I am. I had no choice. She was cursed, Gaius told me about it. He said that the curse condemned her to turn every night; that she couldn't help herself, but she still killed people. You can't follow her to the next world, Merlin. You must stay here, you must fight. Please, I know you can hear me. You belong here, you are needed here."

Arthur didn't know what should have happened, he only knew that he wanted to see some kind of response from Merlin; some way to know that he had reached him, but the young man just lay there; even his escaped tear had dried up. Frustration welled up inside the young prince and he reached over and grabbed Merlin by the shoulders and shook him; hard.

"Damn it, Merlin. It's time to stop this and wake up!"

Arthur let go of him very quickly horrified at what he had just done. He was meant to help Merlin wake up; to come back from the brink of death not push him over the edge.

"I'm sorry. Please, Merlin, I really am sorry that I... I'm sorry about Freya, but you need to come back. Gaius needs you, and Gwen." Arthur lowered his voice to a bare whisper, yet his words held powerful feelings. "Merlin, I need you."

Nelora was very disturbed by what Arthur had told her. Love was a force more powerful than any magic, and the loss of it could be utterly devastating. She knew that the bond between the young prince and Emrys was very strong for she had felt it herself; she only hoped it was strong enough to bring Emrys back from the edge of the next plane. The healer made her way quickly through the heart of the settlement and found Barach just leaving the council of elders at the western edge of the settlement.

The only structure at ground level that was made entirely of wood and had a permanent feel, was the council chamber. It was ten feet high and square with an opening in the front that was half as wide as the entire width of the building. There was no door but the interior of the room was deep, and the structure was built at an angle against the side of a hill with a stand of birch trees twenty feet in front of it. The construction was very basic, but the angle and placement of the structure was ingenious. The natural landscape allowed for a open room that would have very little heavy wind blowing directly into it. There was a large fireplace against the left wall of the building with the only stone chimney in the entire settlement jutting out through the roof.

Nelora walked right up to Barach and continued past him as she spoke. "I must speak with you, Barach, and the council."

Barach turned and followed the healer as she stepped into the council chamber. The rest of the elders were preparing to leave for their own shelters when they saw her enter and stand before the assembled benches. The seriousness on her face caused the men and women of the council to go back to their seats to hear what Nelora had to say.

"Emrys is dying." she said, without preamble once everyone was settled again.

This announcement produced a stir amongst the elders and Barach stood up to speak. "Emrys must not die. You said that Belladonna was the poison used; surely you can cope with this."

"The problem is not the wound or the poison. The problem is with Emrys himself. He has given up. He may no longer wish to remain in this world."

Barach was shocked by this statement and he looked pointedly at Nelora. "Have you seen this?"

Nelora knew that Barach was asking if she had looked into Emrys' mind. "I have seen the woman Emrys loves. I felt the emotional repercussions her death caused him. What is more disturbing is that Emrys confided in Arthur that he had considered following her in death to be with her. I know that I do not need to tell you all how dangerous this situation has become. If Emrys no longer wishes to live in this plane of existence there is nothing more that I can do for him."

The implication in her voice was not lost on any of the elders or Barach who spoke first. "Obviously you feel there is still hope. If you can not help him than who can?"

Nelora took a moment to make eye contact with each of the elders before she spoke. "I believe that Emrys' only hope at this point lies with Arthur Pendragon. The bond between them is very strong. Emrys is aware of his destiny and its connection with Arthur, but their connection goes deeper than that."

Barach exchanged glances with several of the elders seated in the chamber before turning back to Nelora. "You speak of the bond between Emrys and the prince. What did you see?"

"Faith." The one word answer confused one of the elders sitting toward the back.

"Faith?" he queried, uncertainly.

Nelora nodded her head. "Yes, Araben, absolute faith. I have looked into Emrys' dreams; I have felt the emotions coursing through his heart; I have listened to his fevered murmuring; and I have come to understand that he truly believes in Arthur. He trusts the young prince with more than his own life, but the lives of all the people of Albion. He may not know the prophecy, but he believes in it with every fiber of his soul. Emrys would move mountains for Arthur or willingly die for him."

Nelora's words had a distinct impact on everyone gathered and the elders began murmuring amongst themselves. Barach stepped to the front of the chamber and stood beside Nelora waiting for the rest of the elders gathered to quiet down and give him their attention.

"Everyone here knows the importance of the prophecy, but if Emrys dies; the prophecy dies with him."

"What do you suggest, Barach?" Araben asked.

"I suggest we use the connection between Arthur Pendragon and Emrys. If what Nelora says is true, and I am sure it is, then Emrys would respond to a credible threat to the prince."

Nelora moved away from Barach with anger etched all over her face. "No, Barach! Arthur is with Emrys now, and I am hopeful that he can reach him."

"We cannot take the chance that Arthur's efforts will be unsuccessful. We must reach him through the depths of his grief and this is the only way to do that."

The elders began whispering to each other as Nelora and Barach faced each other; neither willing to back down. Finally Araben spoke up again. "What is it that you are proposing, Barach?"

Barach did not face Araben when he answered the old man's question. His eyes were locked on Nelora's when he said, "Arthur Pendragon must die."

TBC