Merlin's heart pounded rapidly and his frozen body became drenched in sweat. He trusted Gwaine but had become so used to concealing the truth he shuddered at the prospect of anyone finding out his secret. If even so much as a rumour of his magic spread around Camelot than Merlin knew that he would banished from Camelot for life at the very least.

"Merlin, I saw what happened with my own eyes," Gwaine announced in a calm voice. The knight knew too well what could be at stake if anyone else found out. This pained Gwaine more than he could say as he couldn't imagine life without Merlin. True, Gwaine would mock and tease Merlin more than anyone else, but knew that he just had a different way of displaying his affections. "I won't tell Arthur what happened but I need to know for sure so will confess that you have magic."

"I am a sorcerer," Merlin stated solemnly. He was conflicted between those four words being a pain to say or something that he would say with his utmost pride. "I am also the reason that Arthur never dies as I have saved his life more times than I care to remember. No one must know I have magic, especially Morgana."

"Well you are the best friend I have ever had and I would rather die than betray you." Because Merlin knew Gwaine well, he picked up the trace of coldness in his voice. He also noticed the lack of sarcasm and jokes from Gwaine and the agony in his eyes. To prevent his sinking feeling from making his entire mind worse than miserable, the warlock stared at the ground. "Does anyone else know?"

"Just Gaius. I would have told you but there was too much at stake and Gaius would have killed me."

"I know, I know," muttered Gwaine. A scattering of stones was just audible so Gwaine drew his sword out of his sheath. Unfortunately the same bandits they had been fighting before came running at them and threw a cloth with sleeping powder Gwaine and Merlin felt no more.

When the trio regained their conscience they found themselves trapped in a dingy, earthy room. It was even more cluttered than Gaius's chambers but half the size and a lot grubbier. Spider webs stretched from one side of the room to the other; dust drifted around making Merlin sneeze and none of the objects in the room seemed to be in anywhere near good condition. Since it was full of mining utensils and clothes, it didn't take Merlin, Arthur and Gwaine to realise that they were in some kind of underground storeroom.

"Where do you reckon we are," asked Gwaine. Merlin shrugged, but Arthur was too busy thinking to answer. The last thing he could recall was fighting the bandits in the forest but even that memory was vague. He could remember something about a giant slaughtering everything in its sight. Then his thoughts began to flood back to him although he could not conclude what had happened between the fight and waking up in this horrible room which had nothing pleasant about it.

Suddenly there was a rattling of keys and a grotesque figure entered. He was a beefy man about as tall as Percival but wider than he was tall. The man wore a massive fur overcoat made from the finest leather in the whole of Albion and fur of wolves. His ebony coloured boots were flimsy looking but as hardy as mountain sheep's hooves. Unlike the man who was covered in scars, his garments looked reasonably well cared for.

The man grunted, "Right you three I am your master and you must do as I say or else you will be torture or ki-"

"JE T'AIME!" yelled Merlin. The man looked at him bewildered and disgusted as he was not used to being yelled at. He wandered how a mere man who was to be a slave could talk to his superior master like that. The fact that it was incoherent nonsense made the whole situation, for Melin, a lot graver

The man started screaming, "HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LI-"

"Merlin." Arthur whispered in a voice which was only audible to Gwaine and Merlin above the man's voice. "That was only a joke and je t'aime means I love you." Merlin's face fell at hearing this. After all, the warlock had sent at least ten minutes with his face screwed up trying to memorise the phrase which would hopefully save his life.

"Well since we've started it, why don't we continue speaking French to that freak," Gwaine hissed, restraining a laugh.

When the man's screaming had ceased Arthur approached him and said, "Ce ne sont pas mes oignons."

"Vous êtes laid," stated Gwaine, holding his nose. Though it was a peculiar sight, Gwaine held restrain his laughs, or at least make them more muffled. He needed to act serious but he could barely conceal his true nature.

"WHAT?" raged the man his clutched fist trembling in fury.

"Il n'est pas difficile de savoir pourquoi les

femmes meurent à la vue de votre laideur," added Gwaine. On this note the horrified man stormed off slamming and padlocking the door.

"Well that was fun," laughed Gwaine. "Why did you say it wasn't his business Arthur?" Arthur made a

"At least I didn't call him ugly and say that women die at the sight of his ugliness," mocked Arthur.

"Well, it was too much of a temptation."

"Anyway, why the hell are we here? Why the hell do I feel light headed and dizzy?" interrogated a mortified Arthur.

"Well," Merlin began catching Gwaine's eye and motioning that he would tell the story. "When you were fighting the bandits, a bandit sneaked up behind you and hit you with his mace. Me and Gwaine lifted you away from the fight and ran for it. We don't know what happened to the rest of the knights but we left them fighting the bandits. We took shelter in a nearby cave, I healed you and the same bandits came and drugged us. Then we woke up here."

"Time to hatch a plan," Arthur said in deep thought. This was an extremely delicate situation in which danger lurked at every corner making Arthur's eyes twitch in anxiety.

"I don't think so," Merlin happily answered holding up a key. "I stole it off that ugly man." The actual truth was he had used his magic to make the key silently fall on to the floor and then glide towards him when the man was yelling.

"Well," Gwaine called gesturing to the clothes. "We look conspicuous in these clothes, we need to change." The trio swiftly changed into sooty and torn Saxon clothing with intricate designing. Obviously, these garments had first belonged to a prosperous noble but had been ruined and then got demoted to mine workers

"Take these," Arthur quietly said passing pick axes to Merlin and Gwaine. Merlin unlocked the door which they headed out of into a cramped corridor and they began to run for the exit. As they fled they passed slaves which had been worked to the bone. None of them were in a healthy state and their bones were clearly visible against the skin. Merlin halted staring at the pitiful sight of them but Gwaine pulled him on, reminding the warlock that many others would surely perish if they didn't make it out of here alive. Finally, the trio climbed up some rocky stairs and found themselves nearing the exit until the porky, grotesque man who had visited them in the locked room earlier blocked their path. He was defiantly the slave master who was torturing numerous slaves.

"Pourquoi êtes-vous si stupide?" asked Gwaine.

"He is stupid because it is in his genes," said Arthur answering Gwaine's question while taunting the slave master. Arthur swung the pick axe round in his hand while the slave master unleashed his sword. The two weapons clashed and clanged. Arthur ducked and just managed dodged the slave master's lethal sword. Both men were aiming for the kill. Gwaine glanced at Merlin whose eyes had flickered gold to make the slave master drop his sword. Arthur hastily retrieved it and showing no mercy pierced the slave master's heart hoping that the slaves would escape.

Outside of the caves the picturesque landscape was covered in snow. The trio's new clothing was thicker than their old but they were still frozen and barely protected from the vile cold. They had also lost all their provisions, were famished and dehydrated. Dragging their feet along they hoped to find a village to get shelter, rest and food. Fortunately they were not disappointed as when night had truly fallen the trio began to approach a village in rack and ruin with luckily a few small dwellings which were still standing strong.

"Look." Gwaine pointed out a small dwelling which had smoke surging out the chimney. The prospect of warmth, food and water almost made the trio burst through the door but they stopped themselves and cautiously entered. Inside was a small but homely looking room with a welcoming wafting smell of a cooking rabbit. A girl with curly, ginger hair was nursing a small child.

"Who are you and can I help you?" the girl coldly asked. Merlin could understand why she was angry. She had reason to be as they had just intruded her home

"I, Gwaine and Merlin," Arthur gestured to Gwaine and Merlin as he mentioned their names. "Have come to slay the giant."

"That's impossible," she laughed.

"Nothing is impossible," Arthur said with great thought. After all, Arthur had a sister who he would relinquish his entitlement to the throne to save her life who wanted him dead; an insane uncle who also sought him dead and had faced a numerous amount of magical creatures who he had somehow been able to destroy. These were but a few examples.

"Whatever you say. You can stay here for the night if you want. My name is Sunnivia and this," she prompted to the tiny baby, "is Dawn." They spent that night eating rabbit stew and learning more about the giant from an almost sobbing Sunivia. They learnt that the village they were in was called Miadora and that Lenivia (the village that Irwyn, the man who had come to Camelot for help, was from) bared north. The four wished each other goodnight and settled down to sleep.

Percival, Elyan and Sir Leon had luckily escaped the bandits with only a few cuts and bruises and were now heading for Lenivia where they hoped they would rejoin Arthur, Merlin and Gwaine. The knights were galloping along hard because they didn't want to travel during the day as they thought the Saxons might get suspicious. They didn't notice a woman on her snow white horse trotting along the edge of the path and collided with the horse knocking her head first off the horse. The woman screamed and the knights quickly dismounted to her aid. As the knights approached her she did not stir because she was unconscious. It was quite a shock for the knights to see that they had maimed the witch- The Lady Morgana.

It was pitch black when Merlin woke so he stoked the flickering embers to generate more heat for the room. Merlin couldn't ignore the nervous churning of his stomach so he decided to visit an old friend to share his problems with. The warlock silently crept out the hovel with a fur pelt coat on. His feet crunched through the snow as he distanced himself away from the village.

"O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!" Merlin shouted.

Suddenly six wolves pounced out of the nearby trees howling and cautiously approached Merlin before lying down. Finally the Great Dragon, Kilgharrah, glided down and landed smoothly next to Merlin.

"Ah... I see we have company young warlock," the dragon said intrigued.

"What?" questioned Merlin.

"The wolves are creatures of the Old Religion and hold supreme powers. They are telling me that they heard you summon me and came to request help. A terrifying giant is dictating the land and its end needs to be nigh. Open your mind Merlin and you shall hear the wolves' telepathic speech."

Merlin opened his mind and emptied his brain from all emotions. The warlock wasn't too sure if he would manage to clear his mind from misery, anxiety and all the pessimistic emotions that clouded his mind.

"Emrys, the giant is destroying our home and slaying our kin. Please help us destroy this beast."

"Arthur intends to destroy this beast by piercing the giant's heart," Merlin replied.

"Yes but you will need help," the dragon stated. "From all of us. I shall fly round the giant's head to make it dizzy and it shall hopefully fall over so Arthur can stab it. If that does not work we can just try attacking the giant."

"Can you risk exposing yourself like that," Merlin queried. "I told Arthur that he had given you a mortal blow so he expects you to be dead."

"If Arthur thinks I'm helping you slay the beast he might begin to realise that all magic isn't evil. If not I am perfectly capable of fending for and protecting myself young warlock," the dragon answered.

"I must get back to Arthur," Merlin muttered.

"One last thing, warlock. Make sure you summon me as soon as the giant comes into view," Kilgharrah ordered. Merlin nodded and began to head off until-

"Thank you Emrys we appreciate your help and shall repay your favour someday." As Merlin headed back to Arthur and Gwaine his head was clouded and buzzing with thoughts. Well he thought, we will just see what tomorrow brings - success or failure.

The next morning Merlin was woken by thunder but from the terrified look on Sunnivia's face he thought it might not be all that it seemed.