Hidden Motives

A/N: Thanks to all of you who have read and/or reviewed. Here's chapter 4. I'm just writing the ending to chapter 7 at the moment and I can't wait for you lot to read it, but I'll be patient. Hope you enjoy this chapter and please review.

Chapter 4

He managed to stay awake for the rest of the night; a stubborn determination had seized him and he had forced his body to remain alert. Several times he had felt his eyelids begin to drop and so paced the cell until his blood flowed strongly once again. He knew it was stupid; he needed to get some sleep, especially if he wanted to break an enchantment, but the thought of going back to sleep and experiencing another nightmare where he watched Arthur die by his own hand was too frightening. Everything in the dream had seemed so real; the feel of the weapons, the smell of the armoury, every little detail that he saw around him. Even the sounds of servants around the room had been familiar. He had recognised specific voices, maids that he had talked to. Sarah, who was responsible for polishing the spare armour, had been laughing in the background. Theo, who, until recently, had looked after the armoury and training grounds, had been shouting orders to the other servants. Every sound had been perfectly clear. It had been more like a vision than a dream and that scared him.

He tried not to dwell on it, but the hours of being awake provided him with little else to do, but turn his attention to his thoughts and let them unfold. And so he had done it; he had considered the possibility that the dream was more sinister than that; that it was part of the enchantment that had been working through him. Was it meant to be an incentive for him; something rewriting his thoughts and emotions to fill him with the thirst for Arthur's blood? He didn't know. The emotions that he had sensed in himself in the dream didn't seem to have been transferred to his conscious mind. The very thought of hurting Arthur filled him with repulsion and self-loathing.

And so he was forced to ignore the dream for now, or else drive himself mad trying to figure out how it was affecting him. One thought did begin to grow in his mind, however, and that was the possibility that whoever had managed to control him for those few moments in Arthur's chamber, would try to do so again. And what would happen then? They must know that he had some measure of magic if he had opened the poisons' chest without the key, but even if they only thought he had a tiny amount, it could prove detrimental to Arthur. They could take control of him at any time and simply have him unlock his cell and find the Prince. Uther thought that he was keeping his son safe by locking Merlin away, but the truth was that there was nothing keeping him imprisoned except for his own choice to stay. But what would happen if his freedom to choose was hijacked once again?

The inevitable truth was quick in coming to Merlin. Right now, he was a danger to Arthur; the ultimate danger.

Voices in the distance drew his attention from the dark thoughts and he heard the gentle tones of Gaius and Lancelot. From what Merlin could gather from the muffled conversation, they were trying to get rid of the guard. It made his heart race in anticipation; had they found something? Did they need him to use magic? He had to wait an agonising few minutes before the guard seemed to relent and let them down.

'Merlin,' Gaius smiled as he came down the corridor carrying his medicine bag. 'How's your head?'

'What? Oh…' he shook his head; his injury was the least of his worries, '...it's fine. Do you have news?' But he could already tell from their smiling faces that the answer would be an affirmative.

'We may have found the spell,' Lancelot confirmed in a hushed voice. On his back he seemed to be carrying a huge sack of something. Had he not been so distracted by the knight's words, Merlin would have asked what it was.

'Then we can reverse the enchantment?' he asked instead, unable to contain his excitement at the thought.

'Hopefully,' Gaius nodded.

'We found something this morning,' Lancelot continued, somewhat breathlessly. 'Well it was Arthur actually; he found it.'

'What?'

'Out by the training grounds in the surrounding woodland, we found some leftovers from a…' he faltered and looked at Gaius.

'On the ground were burn patterns and marks consistent with a magical ritual.'

'A ritual for what?' Merlin asked hurriedly, trying to hide his frustration at their somewhat lengthy explanation.

'Well, we weren't sure, but the pattern helped to narrow down my research and I believe I've found the spell that was used on you,' he finished with a reserved smile. Merlin stared at him open mouthed.

'Gaius that's…that's perfect. Have you got the spell book?' he added in a whisper. Both men looked back up the corridor and Lancelot took up a position so that he could see down it and still carry on with the conversation. Gaius handed him a small and battered book that looked to be at least half a century old. Merlin read through it quickly. It was a complicated spell, there was no doubt about that - whoever had cast it was a powerful sorcerer - but Merlin was able to follow it through. It was a terrible spell really and a dangerous one as well. The premise was that you summoned spirits of the earth to provide you with energy to create visions that could be impressed on a person's mind. Merlin shuddered as he thought about his dream. It would also explain what he had said to Arthur in his chambers about the Pendragon family being unfit to rule; they had been visions he'd had, caused by the energies of these spirits. Once the spectres had been summoned, the necessary glyphs had to be carved into the earth and set alight to contain the energy that had been given, along with some part of the person that you wished to use the visions on. The spell book suggested hair. Merlin looked up from his reading.

'Where did you say you found it?'

'The training grounds,' Lancelot repeated. 'Some way out. It was about half a mile into the woodland and in the valley of two hills. I'm telling you Merlin, it was sheer luck that we found it. Arthur said he wanted to completely search any areas you'd even been near to. It was so well hidden; if he hadn't insisted on turning over every stone, I doubt we'd have found it.' Merlin felt a shiver of warmth fill him at Arthur's evident desperation to help him.

'But even if it was well hidden,' Merlin continued, 'this spell would have taken a long time. Why risk being so close to Camelot?'

'Read the rest of the spell,' Gaius prompted. 'It says that proximity to the target is necessary for the spirits to be able to recognise and latch their energy on to him or her for the sorcerer to manipulate. They search out the person as soon as the hair sample has been added to the enchantment.' Merlin read on and found the section that Gaius was referring to.

'So this spirit energy is latched onto me now?' Merlin asked, a dark creeping feeling settling on his skin, making it tingle.

'Yes, I believe so,' Gaius nodded gravely.

'I can't sense anything.'

'You wouldn't. They're part of the earth itself; we've all been around them for our entire lives. Nobody notices them.'

'But they could take over again at any time?' Merlin asked. He scoured the spell trying to find the answer, but Gaius answered for him.

'Not take over; they can't control your body. But the visions they create are flawless. They can convince you of a reality that is not your own. Your mind then responds to it accordingly. 'We must break the enchantment quickly,' he prompted, before Merlin could get too caught up in the fact that his thoughts could cease to be his own at any given moment. Merlin nodded, and stood up a little straighter. This would all be over in a few minutes and then they could tell Arthur…

'Wait,' Merlin whispered. 'What are you going to say to Arthur about managing to break the enchantment? He'll know we used magic.'

'No he won't,' Lancelot assured him.

'But…' Merlin said, shaking the book at them. 'It's all here.'

'Arthur doesn't know that Gaius has found the spell.'

'And he can't find out,' Merlin added, 'he'll want to see the book. And if he doesn't see it, there's no way to prove to him that the spell's been broken.'

'Merlin, calm down,' Gaius told him in such a matter-of-fact voice that Merlin felt very much like a child being told off for being overly dramatic. 'We have a plan,' he said in the same tone.

'Which is?' Merlin ventured.

'It's simple,' Lancelot smiled at him. 'You break the enchantment right now; then, you can use your magic to temporarily rewrite this spell so that the cure is none magical.' He nodded confidently at Merlin.

'And then we show Arthur the forged spell?' Merlin finished for him, following the thoughts of his two friends.

'Precisely,' Gaius answered. 'Simple.'

'We don't have a good track record with simple you know, Gauis,' Merlin pointed out, but there was a teasing in his tone and he began to smile. That would work. Arthur wouldn't question them any further.

'We must hurry,' Lancelot prompted. 'The guard will not stay away for much longer.'

Merlin nodded and knelt down on the floor to study the book more closely. It seemed within his abilities to perform the counter-curse, but he realised in dismay that he would need more than just his magic.

'I can't do this now, I need…' but he tailed off as he looked up and saw Gaius and Lancelot smiling knowingly at him and holding out the items on the list. '…soil from where the spell was cast,' he began as Lancelot heaved the sack up and waited by the door. Merlin quickly unlocked it and allowed the knight to cover the floor of his cell in a thin layer of the soil. 'Some oil to burn new glyphs,' he continued, looking expectantly at Gaius. The physician rooted through his medicine bag and then retrieved a small jar which he held out to Merlin. He took it quickly and then locked the door of his cell again as Lancelot left. 'And then some of the victims blood, mine I guess.' Lancelot handed him the small knife that he kept on his belt.

Merlin looked at the smuggled items and then at the smugglers themselves. 'Thank you,' he nodded to them.

'We wanted to make it as easy as possible,' Lancelot explained. 'Over to you.' Merlin nodded and refocused his mind on the task at hand. He quickly copied the glyph patterns from the books onto the soil using the contents of the jar. The oil left dark lines on the dirt that eventually created a circle of glyphs. Between each glyph, Merlin then placed a line of oil to fill in the gaps.

The circle complete, he set to dripping a few drops of his blood in the centre of it. It took a matter of minutes, but soon Merlin stood up beside his handiwork ready to perform the spell. The basic idea of this ritual was to summon the spirits back to the earth. Once Merlin started the spell and the magic called to them, they would use the blood in the middle as a means of guiding themselves back into the soil. Merlin wasn't sure what they'd make of the tiny amount of soil in which they would have to dwell, but he figured that Gaius and Lancelot could return it back to the woodland within the next few hours.

'I'm ready,' Merlin nodded at his two friends who were watching closely.

'How will we know it works?' Lancelot asked. Merlin looked hopefully over at Gaius and the old man took his hint. He explained the consequences to Lancelot.

'When Merlin utters the spell,' he began, 'we should see his body shaking as the spirits leave. It will be obvious that something is happening and we will be able to see the spirits for a matter of seconds as they cross the barrier between our realm and their realm in the earth.'

'Will it hurt you?' Lancelot asked him, a frown of concern on his face.

'We'll see,' Merlin replied lightly; the truth was he didn't know. The spirits had obviously entered into his body without him noticing; he hoped that meant that the next few minutes would be pain free. 'Here I go.'

Lancelot and Gaius took a few steps back, which was understandable, but unnecessary. Merlin took a deep breath, looked over the words of the spell once more and then lifted his hand. He reached for the magic deep inside him, felt it answering his call instantly and then slowly and clearly spoke the words of the spell.

He felt the magic leave him, sensed the way it hummed through the air momentarily and watched as the glyphs burst into flames all around the circle. They twisted before him in a spectral dance, as if the spirits themselves were controlling them, but he felt no change in himself. He waited for the sensation that he had been expecting; the feel of energy being pulled out of his body, wrenching his soul in different directions before finally breaking free and leaving him to his own thoughts and his own decisions.

But nothing happened. The heat in the cell became unbearable for several seconds, before finally beginning to abate as the oil ran out. He looked down in alarm as the burning glyphs become nothing more than black patterns of charred soil on the cell floor.

'But…' he began desperately. He looked down at the spell book again, checking that he hadn't missed anything. He tried the spell again, just in case he had been supposed to wait until the glyphs had burned out. His magic flowed through him as he uttered the words more loudly and more powerfully, but the result was the same. Nothing.

'No,' he hissed in an angry whisper. He didn't want to look at Gaius and Lancelot, didn't want to see their faces because he knew that once he did he would have to accept the same conclusion that they had no doubt come to. He studied the book again, compared his glyphs with the ones shown in the book, re-read the entire page twice, three times. He had done everything right; he had done all the book asked. And it wasn't enough.

'It didn't work,' he said quietly, slowly. Defeat crept through his voice and down through the rest of his body. As he looked at the other two men, his shoulders slumped, his lips curved downwards and he backed up to the wall, leaning heavily against it.

'Merlin,' Gaius tried.

'It didn't work.

'Perhaps if we try again,' Lancelot pressed, but his voice betrayed his doubts. Merlin shook his head. 'Well, maybe you have to be in the actual place where the first spell was performed.'

'That's not what the book said,' Merlin replied numbly.

'Then-' the knight tried again, casting around for answers, but Merlin cut him off.

'It didn't work.' His tone was firmer this time. Neither Gaius nor Lancelot argued further. 'I think the sorcerer who cast it has to do it,' he continued after a few moments. It was his or her magic that the spirits responded to the first time; I think it has to be the same magic to call them out.'

'Then we'll find the sorcerer,' Lancelot told him determinedly.

'You won't.'

'Arthur already has patrols out looking. It was the first thing he did when he found the ritual remains. He's trying everything he can, Merlin. He's even managed to keep Uther in the dark for now. If anyone can find the sorcerer, it's Arthur.'

Merlin shook his head and then slid down the wall.

'Merlin,' Lancelot tried again.

'He won't find anything, Lancelot,' Merlin told him, looking at him. 'This sorcerer is powerful and clever. If he wants to stay hidden then he will do.'

'Then we just keep you locked up until we do find him.'

'That won't work,' Merlin argued. 'You know as well as I do that I could walk out of this cell whenever I wanted. To prove the point he unlocked and locked the cell door several times, before finally closing it again. There was silence for several moments and Merlin's eyes found their way to the dirt that covered the floor, the dark glyphs still staring at him. He turned away from them and summoned the sack that Lancelot had carried in. Holding it open with magic, Merlin sent a steady stream of the soil into the sack until every last speck was bundle in the bag.

No-one said anything for several minutes, but Merlin's mind raced over the possibilities. He had thought the spell would free him, but it hadn't; he was just as much a slave as he had been before. He glanced out of the window. The sun was passed midday. How many hours were left until his execution? He sat there for a long time, no-one trying to break the silence. As he thought and reflected, he found his thoughts carving a pathway into the future for him. He wrestled with it, tried to find a way around it, realised the necessity of it and then accepted it.

His decision made, he looked hesitantly and sadly up at the two men who were watching him closely. Lancelot looked on with a sad frustration, his strategic mind evidently going over ways that they could catch the sorcerer, working out the best possibility for luring him or her into a trap, going over possible places for hideouts in his mind. Gaius on the other hand, was watching him with a deep sadness and understanding. He had known Merlin for too long not to be aware of where his thoughts had taken him; he had watched him struggle through moral issues; he had watched him fight for and despair of his destiny. He had seen how Merlin had protected Arthur in every situation no matter what the cost.

'Merlin,' he said sadly, his voice quiet, but full of terrible insight.

'I can't risk it,' Merlin told them, turning his face towards the floor. 'I can't risk loosing my mind and killing Arthur.'

'Merlin?' Lancelot asked; wariness and suspicion in his voice. Merlin looked at them again and then took a breath.

'I'm going to let them execute me tomorrow.'

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