Big thanks to everyone who answered my Freylin question :) I have taken your views into account and decided to put it in the story but not have it take up a big chunk of the fic, if that makes sense.

And going a little off topic but to any Doctor Who fans out there what did you think of Capaldi's first appearance? I think he did a really good performance and am looking forward to seeing more of him :)

Anyway, back to the Merlin world and this chapter, I hope you enjoy it :)

Chapter Nine

Gathering Clouds

The next couple of days seemed to pass like a dream to Merlin, fragments of a life he would imagine and long for in his darkest hours but never thought he could achieve. He walked hand in hand with Freya, talking about everything and nothing. He could forget his worries and found himself laughing and joking with Freya who would smile at the sound of his laughter. She wanted to know everything about his life, talk about the things they never had the chance to because their encounter before was so short. Merlin told her all about his childhood antics in his home village, his caring but often worrying mother, and, with a pang of sadness and pain, his best friend Will who fought like a soldier and died as a hero. In return he tried to ask Freya about her past, but she was still reluctant to talk about it.

"My life does not hold as many stories as yours Merlin, and the stories that I do have often end with tears." She said at one point, though she did occasionally talk about her childhood, waking up in the spring with the mountains piercing the pale blue sky and her feet surrounded by beautiful wild flowers. She would gather water by the lake with her mother in the morning, and she still remembered her mother's gentle voice and the feeling of the biting cold water touching her fingers as she dipped her wooden bucket into the water.

"That sounds beautiful," Merlin said to her.

Freya gave a small, sad smile. "It was, I wish it could have lasted just a little longer," and after that she would say no more. Even though she seemed a lot happier and freer than when they had first met, there were still moments when she became filled with a bitter sadness that she would speak of, but Merlin could see it in her eyes. He just hoped that one day she would find the strength to tell him what was giving her such sorrow.

Merlin and Freya would often walk trailing behind the others or up ahead, their heads inclined towards each other as they talked quietly. Freya said no more about Morgana but the King's ward certainly seemed unhappy about something, her arms tightly folded across her chest as she stomped through the forest. Arthur and Gwen would often walk together too, though they were silent. Arthur seemed to have renewed hope of a cure at the finding of Freya, but his face was still grim with worry and distress. He held onto Gwen's hand as if he was clinging onto support, she never let go.

The first night after Merlin had discovered Freya they set up another camp amongst the trees and lit a fire. Arthur went hunting and brought back a couple of squirrels. For Merlin having Freya back and eating something other than stale rations was a feast.

"I'm afraid we only brought enough blankets for the four of us," Gwen said as they finished their meal, sitting around a happily crackling fire. "We have a spare but it's only thin and these nights are cold."

"That's all right," said Freya, she was sitting next to Merlin with her knees drawn up to her face and her arms wrapped loosely around them. "I'll be fine."

"Don't be ridiculous, you'll freeze!" Said Merlin, "have my blankets, the fire will keep me warm."

"I'm not taking your blankets Merlin," said Freya, kindly but firmly.

"But you're getting cold already!" Merlin pointed out, noticing the way Freya sat and feeling her chill when he put a hand on her arm.

"I am perfectly fine, Merlin. There are worse things out in the world than a thin blanket on a cold night," Freya tried to assure Merlin, but he looked far from convinced.

"Take mine," said Arthur suddenly, he was sitting opposite Freya on the other side of the fire. "I'm warm enough at night without it. I'll take the spare blanket."

"I cannot take something from a Prince-" Freya began.

"I insist." Arthur said firmly, picking up his blanket and passing it round the circle to Freya. "To be honest I've hardly been using it these last few nights, I've been too warm, even just this fire is making me hot."

"It's true," Gwen admitted, who was sitting between Merlin and Arthur, "his skin feels like a fire without the help of any blankets."

Merlin was slightly concerned by this, he hoped that on top of everything Arthur also didn't have a fever. They didn't think to take any medicines with them on this journey, only a few bandages in case someone was injured. He hoped it would pass.

That night the five companions stayed awake talking to Freya and trying to learn more about the mysterious Druid girl, but she told them little, just that she had grown up in a place far from here with her family and when they were killed she lived with a group of Druids, however after an unfortunate incident she had been given a curse that drove her away from the Druids. She then found herself in Camelot where she met Merlin although soon had to leave for some undisclosed reason, but now she had returned curse-free to help Merlin after he had helped her. Morgana listened very closely to this story but said nothing.

When everyone grew tired of asking questions Gwen, Arthur and Morgana fell asleep, but Merlin and Freya stayed sitting up and talking about the things that had been happening since her departure. There was a moment of silence where Freya gazed into the fire.

"What are you thinking about?" Merlin asked.

"The time you made the flames from candles float in the air," Freya said quietly, a small smile on her face.

Merlin grinned and slowly raised his hand. In a voice barely above a whisper he said, "Dawns tan," and suddenly the flames from the fire leapt silently up into the air, dancing and twirling above them and lighting up their faces in an orange glow. Freya gazed up at them with wonder and laughed with delight. Arthur was awoken by her voice and looked round. He just about saw the dancing flames in the air before they died down and Merlin looking a little sheepish. With Freya by his side he had forgotten the look on Arthur's face when he had revealed his magic. But this time the Prince said nothing, he just turned over and went back to sleep again.

The next morning they continued to walk and talk through the forest, but everyone noticed that something was changing around them. The trees were not so clustered together, more light was reaching the floor. They were reaching the end of the forest. As Freya had predicted there was no sign of any Druids in the forest and Arthur looked relieved to be leaving. They had their final camp in the forest right on the edge and the next morning strolled onto rolling fields in the bright morning sunlight. The air somehow smelt fresher and everyone was relieved to be standing in open space once more.

"Where now?" Gwen asked.

Arthur shrugged, "We keep going." He said, "there must be some Druids somewhere nearby who can help." Suddenly he screwed up his eyes and pressed the palms of his hands against his forehead.

"What's the matter?" Merlin asked quickly.

"Nothing...just a headache." Arthur muttered, "It's just...it feels like my head is burning." He muttered, which certainly didn't sound like nothing to Merlin.

"Perhaps you should sit down," Gwen suggested. "We've had a long journey, maybe you just need to rest a little."

But Arthur shook his head, lowering his hands although his eyes remained shut. "No, we need to keep going, I'll be fine." He put his hand against a tree as if to steady himself. The others waited anxiously for the Prince to recover. But Gwen was standing closest to him and soon saw that something was very wrong.

"Arthur, your hand!" She suddenly cried out, her eyes, gazing at the tree he was leaning against, wide with horror.

Arthur quickly pulled his hand away and everyone saw what had frightened Gwen. On the bark of the tree Arthur was leaning against there was now a blackened hand-shaped burn, still slightly smoking around the edges. Everyone stared at it, Merlin felt particularly disturbed by it. Despite his knowledge and experience of magic he had never seen anything like it before. Arthur's skin was so hot he had left a burn mark and could have set fire to the whole tree, but how? Was this something to do with the magic Arthur now had? It was possible, but there was something about that mark that was a lot more terrifying than some accidental magic.

There was a long silence. No one could think of anything to say, but Merlin knew the sooner he found Arthur some help, the better.

Little did he know that the trouble was only just beginning.

Morgana was grateful that there were no more rustling leaves beneath her feet as she crept away from her companions, although she still had to be careful. If one of them woke up and found her sneaking away, or realised she had disappeared, it would make things more difficult for her. Already she had lost the trust of Merlin and his new friend would only take his side. She didn't need to give Arthur and Gwen a reason to turn against her too.

She was heading back in the direction of the forest. They had not travelled far since leaving those trees, as Arthur's burning hand had caused much panic and distress among them, though Arthur was determined to keep going. In the end he agreed to spend the day resting and the four of them did what they could to help him. They found a river not far from the forest and were all able to have a refreshing wash, but when Arthur did so steam rose from him as if he was a fire being quenched by water. Everyone saw it but none were brave enough to talk about it.

Morgana didn't have to walk far before she saw a shape in the distance. At first she felt afraid that perhaps it was not her sister, but some new enemy and she was about to walk right into its trap, however as she got closer she somehow felt sure that it was Morgause, despite her only source of light being the stars and the moon, which were occasionally shielded by clouds. She quickened her pace as she got closer to her sister, grinning as if they had not seen each other in months, and they hugged tightly when Morgana reached her.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting long," Morgana said, "Merlin took a long time to go to sleep."

"Don't worry sister, I have not been waiting long," Morgause replied, smiling. There was no sign of a horse or any other mode of transport, as she had used magic to bring herself to the other side of the forest, where she guessed Morgana would be. "What has been happening while I have been away?" She asked.

Morgana looked disgruntled, after all the work she and her sister had put into this, she did not want to bring Morgause bad news, but she had no choice. "We have a new companion."

Morgause's eyes widened with horror, "What?" She hissed.

"A girl called Freya, she had been following us, we all thought we were under attack, but when Merlin saw who it was he was thrilled to see his friend, completely forgetting that she was following us, that she is a stranger to us and has no right to be here!" Morgana snapped, her voice rising with anger.

"Calm yourself sister," said Morgause in her gentle, soothing voice. "Tell me more about this girl."

Morgana shrugged, "There is not much else to say. I know very little about her and neither she or Merlin are willing to tell us who she is. All they do is talk in hushed voices as we walk, refusing to share anything with us. She is certainly not to be trusted. I didn't like the way she looked at me, as if I was the stranger. She has a Druid mark but claims she has not been one of them for a long time. Merlin says he met her in Camelot some time ago, but then she suddenly left for no reason, and has now returned promising to help a group of strangers she was following for who knows how long!"

"This is certainly not good news," Morgause admitted, her brow furrowed. "Whoever she is, she is allied with Merlin and not with us, and will certainly make things harder for us."

"She says she has a knowledge of curses," Morgana added. "And..." she hesitated, not sure whether to share what was bothering her with her sister.

"What is it?" Morgause asked.

"It is a trivial thing, but...she's wearing my dress."

"What?"

"A while ago one of my dresses went missing, a dark purple one. It didn't mean anything at the time, I assumed it had been damaged and had gone to be repaired, but it never returned to me. I forgot about it soon after, there were more important things going on than looking for missing dresses. But almost a year later I find that this stranger has appeared, wearing the exact same dress that had disappeared. I am sure of it!"

"And what can we learn from this piece of information?" Said Morgause. She agreed that this certainly was a trivial thing, but if it was enough to have her sister irritated, than she too should be concerned.

For a moment a large cloud covered the moon and in the darkness it was hard to tell what was Morgana's expression, but someone might have guessed it was jealousy. "That this girl certainly was in Camelot, but she had very little of her own, so Merlin was willing to break into my chambers and steal one of my dresses for her to wear, and she still is wearing it after all this time."

"He must care for the girl very much then," Morgause said.

"Yes, it seems so." At first Morgana was not only angry about the fact that a stranger was joining them, but she was also jealous that now Arthur and Merlin had someone to walk beside them and hold their hand and share their secrets with. She walked on alone with her thoughts and without a loved one by her side. However now Morgause was with her, Morgana no longer felt bitter. How could she feel alone when her sister is right beside her? And even when they cannot be in the same place at the same time they are still together and thinking of each other. Suddenly another thought came into her mind. "You don't think...that this is something to do with Nimeuh? She could have lead this girl to us, believing that she would be useful in whatever she was planning."

Morgause thought about this for a moment. "It is possible. But Nimeuh would have passed again into the next world several days ago and I do not know how she would have found this girl or how she would be helpful to Arthur. You must keep an eye on her though sister, as she may cause problems for us. If you get rid of her Merlin's trust for you will completely fail, but keep her at a distance and reveal nothing to her. Let Merlin be happy that he has the company of an old companion and let it be nothing more than that. Is there anything else that's happened?"

"Yes," said Morgana, "Arthur's curse is progressing."

By the light of the stars Morgana could see her sister smiling. "That is much better news. What has been happening?"

"He has been complaining of feeling hot and having headaches, then earlier today he leaned his hand against a tree and burnt the bark, he could have set fire to it."

Despite this being the news Morgause was hoping for, she lost her smile. "The spell is progressing much slower than I had hoped. It appears that the son of Uther Pendragon is a lot stronger than we thought. However now the curse is taking a stronger effect things will only get worse for the Prince. Dark clouds have been gathering within him and soon the storm will break."

Morgana nodded, hope rising inside her, this is what she had been hoping to hear. Soon this journey would be over. "And what about things in Camelot? Is everything ready?"

Morgause smiled once more, "Everything is prepared and Cenred is ready. Tomorrow all shall work as we planned. The King is in a very bad way and his physician can do little for him, the Kingdom is beginning to panic that they are losing both their Prince and their King. Soon they will be certain of it."

"Then I must not keep you away from Camelot, there must be many things that need completing and supervising," said Morgana, for neither of them trusted Cenred to be left in charge of anything.

But Morgause shook her head, "No, it was important that we see each other Morgana, and I can reach Camelot again quickly. I had to make sure that everything was going well for my sister."

Morgana smiled, for the first time she felt that there was someone out there who truly cared for her, for she had pushed to the back of her mind all the times anyone else had shown her any help or kindness, particularly Uther and Merlin. To her they were now nothing but heartless traitors who would soon pay for the error of their ways.

"The Druid girl still concerns me however, as well as Arthur's resistance to the curse," Morgause continued. "I think that we must soon implement the part of our plan we were hoping to avoid, but it will stop Arthur receiving any help from this girl or the Druids and will break his spirit if nothing else."

Morgana was concerned by this words. "Are you sure?"

Morgause sighed, "No," she admitted. "We shall see how things go and discuss this further once I return from Camelot once more. Keep an eye out for my signal sister, we shall see each other soon, I am sure."

Morgana smiled, but was sad to see her sister leave. "I look forward to seeing you again sister, and telling me all about the events in Camelot. I hope all goes well for you."

"And I you," Morgause said, hugging her sister goodbye.

The two sisters then turned away and started walking in the opposite direction, Morgana back to the camp, Morgause back to the forest. After walking silently through the darkness Morgana thought she heard a noise and turned round, but Morgause was nowhere in sight. She turned back and continued her short journey back to her companions alone.