Willow battlegale: Thanks.. we'll see what happens with Merlin and Gawaine. As for Morgause, in my series, Morgause never got hurt the way they showed in S3. She is not with Morgana because Morgana felt betrayed by Morgause. Morgause (in my series) held off on telling Morgana about being her sister, so Morgana was upset. There are other reasons too, but you'd have to read about it in 'Purge Continues'. You can read a summary in my fanfic called 'Quick summaries of my Merlin fanfic series'. In anycase, watch out for Morgause in this series. She'll be making a visit in the near future.

"That was a close one…" huffed Gawaine as he bent over to catch his breath in the middle of the cool and shaded forest. A bird flew across as a few frogs skipped along their path.

"What exactly happened in there?" Merlin said gasping for breath, referring to the angry men chasing Gawaine down with red faces and toothless grins frowning intensly and swinging their maces. Merlin luckily noticed quick enough to catch up with Gawaine all the way to the middle of the forest.

"Err, I forgot to switch the dice and lost the last bet. I owed them 40 golden coins and well, heh, didn't have it..."

"Oh...sorry about that." Merlin replied awkwardly. He felt partly at fault since he distracted Gawaine in the middle of his game, which may have diffused Gawaines concentration.

"All is well Merlin!"Gawaine beamed, clapping Merlin's shoulders and seeking the horizons above framed with tree brances. "Now let's go after Morgana's fancy staff. I've been craving a bit of adventure and hero-like status."

Merlin smiled nervously.

"Right...let's go…" Merlin said walking in the direction of Morgana's cave.

Arthur walked in his room and tossed his gloves on the floor, pulled his sword out and placed it on the side and started removing his belt when he smelled something peculiar.

He began sniffing the air critically, and noticed his clean room.

"Hello there Prince Arthur, I see you've noticed the improvements I've made!"greeted Luned, Arthur's new servant, as she walked in with a stack of cleaned linens. "If you're wondering what that wonderful smell is, it's a mixture of lavender, vanilla and rose oils that I soaked your sheets in. Those sheets smelled dreadful! Who cleans it anyway? The royal donkeys? UGH!"

"What is this?" asked Arthur shocked, pointing a lace doily on top of his dresser, where his dagger, gloves, brush, comb were all repositioned.

"It's called organizing with style! Don't you like it?" beamed Luned as she picked up the glove Arthur threw on the floor.

"What…. What happened to my tunics!" Arthur asked aghast as he pulled a tunic from his drawer."It's all… all… droopy!"

"Droopy?"Protested Luned. "How so?"

"Loook at it… it's… lost its.. It's structure, it's toughness, it's..."

"Well, I thought it was too stiff. How could you wear something so uncomfortable! So i softened it with some chamomile. Now you'll feel more relaxed when you go into war!"

Arthur turned to Luned in shock but decided against saying anything.

"I'm going to sleep.." Arthur announced frustrated.

"Oh are you?" Luned replied with a sly smile as she approached Arthur slowly. "Want me to tuck you in?" She asked playing with her collar.

"I-I… uh… uhmm… no…" stammered Arthur, gulping hard and with an inablity to speak coherently as he stared at Luned. He then took a step back and composed himself. "No.. uh… you can go now."

"Suit yourself Prince Arthur.." Luned said blowing as kiss as she walked out and closed the door. "I'll miss you!"

Arthur watched her leave and shook his head. As he sat on his bed and stretched out, he noticed a small doll laying next to him and closed his eyes in misery. He then grabbed it and chucked it to the side as he pulled his blankets over him.

"This is quiet a maze, Merlin. Can't believe you figured out where Morgana's haven is considering how complicated it is to get there." Gawaine said as he finished hiking up a narrow path up a cliff. He squatted to rest and wiped his brow.

Merlin was quiet and looked down at the grass. "Right.."

"You're awfully quiet.." Gawaine commented as he got up to follow Merlin.

"Sorry, I'm just… I don't know." Merlin said frustrated with himself.

"You afraid..?" asked Gawaine almost knowingly. "Afraid of what might happen today with Morgana?"

Merlin nodded. "Something like that."

"I understand. It's hard sometimes. I suppose it's harder for you since she was once your friend and you may feel like you are betraying her."

Merlin took in a deep breath.

"But, you know Merlin, you got to do what you got to do. She's no longer a good friend of yours."

"Right.." Merlin said nodding as he spotted his destination. Lifting a tree branch, Merlin could see the cave in the middle of a land with a few tents perched. Gawaine came next to Merlin and lifted a branch himself to get a clearer view.

"Is that it Merlin?" Gawaine asked in awe, scanning the cozy piece of land. "Can't believe this is it... this is enemies land."

Merlin got up and nodded. "Come on.."

"Wait Merlin, what are we doing exactly? What's the plan?" Gawaine said pulling Merlin down.

"Well, uh, let's go to the cave..."

"Right… but Merlin, we can't just… go in there. We've got to make sure it's safe."

"Oh yea..How about you go in there, since Morgana doesn't know you, and if she catches you, just act like a druid."

"A druid? What's that exactly.."

"Druids are magical and peace loving people."

"But I have no magic, what if she asks me to demonstrate something. Can you teach me something real quick?"

"Well, no.." Merlin said. "You can tell her that you are fasting from using magic today. Some druids do that for purification purposes."

"So what's my excuse for being in the cave?"

"You're looking for Morgana?"

"But why?"

"Because…. you want to help her in her efforts.."

"But I thought you said Druids are peace loving? Why would they want to help her?"

"Well.. you are a different kind of druid…"

Gawaine dropped his head and and seemed irritated.

"Merlin, I'm not trying to be unsupportive, but.. I don't think we have a proper plan set up. I say we go back and come up with something more convincing and fail proof. The last thing that I want happening is an unnecessary death sentence."

Merlin closed his eyes in sorrow.

"I'm sorry Gawaine, but I don't have the time. Slaeppan." Merlin replied sadly, blasting a sleeping spell on Gawaine.