Merlin crept through the kitchens, relieved when none of the cooks or servants reacted to his appearance, rather with hushed words and whispers they hastily moved out of his way. The serving staff in the castle had the ability to be unnerved by nothing, which was one of the reasons that he had decided to come this way, as well as the fact that it had a direct route up to the hall.
He traveled up through the corridor that led to the hall, and peered out from around the door-frame. He found himself overlooking the hall from behind the dais where Morgana was sat.
He felt a surge of anger at the sound of her voice.

"Im running out of patience Gwaine..." she said softly, a dangerous tone in her voice,
"If you wont tell me where to find Merlin of your own accord... I may have to try something a little more... my style... Last warning."
Merlin saw Gwaine glare up at her, and bit back a curse, quite literally.
His face and hair were matted with blood, and the bite marks from the Demon were looking rougher than before. He fought the urge to fire a spell at the guard who was keeping him pinned to the floor.
He couldn't announce he was there until Arthur gave him the signal...
It didnt mean he had to like it. He gritted his teeth and tried to catch Gwaine's attention, a fairly difficult thing to do as he was busy glaring at Morgana. He got his chance as she shot a spell at Gwaine, causing him to crumble in pain, catching Merlins eyes as he did so. To his enormous credit, he did not so much as widen his eyes, as wink at him. Merlin could only admire his strength and defiance...
Gwaine turned to him again, and Merlin took the opportunity to hold up his index finger, letting Gwaine know with the simple gesture that there was a plan and to hold on. Gwaine blinked in acknowledgement and rolled to his knees as the pain ceased.

Morgana spoke up again.
"Gwaine... I am still waiting..."
Gwaine simply smiled pleasantly,
"Sorry for the wait m'lady... I hope it doesn't interrupt your terribly busy schedule... The life of a usurper must be so difficult..."
It was impossible to not notice the biting sarcasm that laced his voice, and sure enough Morgana seemed to visibly snap, and all pretence of nicety vanished as her smile was replaced with an evil, predatory grin. Her voice changed to a quiet, dangerous whisper, which Merlin had to strain to hear.
"Very well then Gwaine, lets try things a little differently..."
She drew a black stone from the folds of her dress and got to her feet, vanishing and reappearing inches from Gwaines face. Yet again, Merlin had to admire his nerve, as he barely flinched at her appearance.
At the sight of the Truth Stone, Merlins heart froze... if Morgana got Gwaine to tell her where he was... He stared up at the ceiling, wishing he could see through the walls and floors of the castle, if only to see how Arthur was doing with his side of the plan...

Arthur looked around at the guards at his feet, all of them in varying stages of pain, and stepped over the prone form of their captain. He pushed open the doors and was met with a poker being swung at his face. He ducked, rolled and leapt smoothly to his feet, bracing himself for whoever had attacked him, but finding he didnt mind as his attacker jumped into his arms, nearly squeezing the life out of him. Gwen stepped back just long enough to say,
"Arthur! Morgana told me you were dead... And that Merlin had been captured... I was so worried..." she buried her face into his shoulder as sobs racked her body, Arthur stroking her back and whispering hushed assurances to soothe her. After a few moments, he pulled her loose and looked into her eyes.
"We need to get out of here. Merlin is waiting for me to get you out of here before he rescues Gwaine..." Gwen interrupted,
"Gwaine? Why? What..." Arthur shushed her,
"No time. I'll explain it all later. We need to go..." he shook her gently as she froze, "Gwen?"
Gwen seemed to shake herself.
"I'm fine. What are we waiting for?" Arthur gave her a bemused look as she ran to the door, she still surprised him. He ran after her, and they made their way, silently, through the corridors. Arthur tugged Gwen's arm as they passed a small doorway, motioning her inside, before following her and pulling open the trapdoor, giving Gwen hurried instructions on how to get to Gaius. He forestalled all of her complaints at being left behind, telling her that he would be following her shortly, and left the room again, making his way back to the balcony.
He ended up in another tussle with a group of guards, but was able to take them all down within moments, before starting to run. He had no intentions of fighting again with any men that might have heard the commotion. Fortunately, he made it to his destination without further incident.
Creeping forward, he grabbed two feathers from the hats and inched towards the edge of the balcony, scanning the hall for Merlin. Finding him, he prepared to drop the feathers, but had no need to. As soon as Merlin saw him, he jumped up and ran forward, blasting Morgana and the three guards with her aside and running over to Gwaine. Arthur saw no more as he immediately ran down the stairs, heading for the hall. So far, it was all going according to plan... well, ish.

Merlin was just about to jump out, no matter that it was not the plan... he couldn't risk Gwane being subject to the stones power... When he noticed a flicker of movement above him. Looking up, he sighed with relief. Arthur had done it. He jumped up without a moments hesitation, blasting Morgana and he guards and running over to Gwaine.
"Gwaine? Are you okay..." he re-thought his question, "Okay, stupid thing to ask... can you walk?"
He hauled Gwaine to his feet and have aided, half carried him towards the doors of the haul, healing the demon wound as he went. He glanced back as they reached the doors, panicking slightly as he saw Morgana start to stir. He go out into the chamber outside and felt Gwaines weight lessen. Turning, he was relieved to see that Arthur had grabbed his other shoulder, lessening the strain on his side. Together, they made it to the courtyard, where the other knights were waiting for them. They all took over helping Gwaine, leaving Merlin and Arthur to turn back to the castle. Arthur turned to Merlin,
"So. What do you think?" he asked him, "Can we do this?" Merlin considered the question before replying.
"We have already destroyed the Devils Dusk, the Discord of the Demons, the Animatique Obsidian and the Shadow Saphire... We only have the Mayhem Emerald and the Echo of Morganite left... and the Truth Stone..." Merlin pursed his lips. "If she uses the Echo to create copies of herself and calls the demons, I honestly have no idea if we can beat her..."
As Arthur considered his words, Merlin remembered what Kilgharrah had said, about Morgana not truly understanding the stone, and so making thm only as powerful as she herself was... He spoke up again.
"Arthur... Those stones can only be used within the limits of her power... and she is less powerful than I am... If I can get hold of the stones, I could not only get rid of the Demons, but create copies of everyone here..." He paused at the incredulous expression on Arthurs face, "Its just an idea..." he started, but was unable to finish as he was blasted backwards into the air, flying into the wall on the other side of the courtyard, but protectd from serious injury by the pile of grain bags that boke his fall.
Winded, it took him several moments to be able to get to his feet, and immediately ran forwards, eyes blazing gold as he shot a stream of magic at Morgana, who was trying to hit Arthur with a spell, only to be thwarted over and over as he ran, dodged and finally jumped behind a pile of fallen stones. Merlin smiled to himself as Morgana was flung back again because of his spell, before calling over,
"You really don't know when to quit, do you?"
Arthur ran over to him, beckoning to the rest of his men, instructing them to retreat to the lower town. He grabbed Merlin's arm,
"Merlin, your wound..." Merlin followed his gaze and saw that it was bleeding again, and realized that he wouldn't be able to continue fighting Morgana in his state. Following Arthur, he ran out of the courtyard, to the lower town.

Arthur gave a relieved sigh as Morgana flew backwards, and started to run over to Merlin. Calling to his men to retreat to the lower town, he reached Merlin and was horrified to see blood gushing from the wound a his side. He grabbed his arm, turning him to face him.
"Merlin, your wound..." he began, and watched as Merlin glanced down. He saw the resigned expression that crossed his face and tugged at him, pulling him towards the archway out of the courtyard. Merlin followed and they both ran towards the lower town. Arthur glanced back only one, and vowed that he wouldn't let Morgana get away with this. They would regroup. They would make a plan. They would win... he glanced towards Merlin. Yes, they would win... no matter what it took.