Author's Note: Hallo! Well, this is certainly an eventful chapter. Ish. We get a bit of this mysterious new girl's POV and a bit of much-needed Gwaine POV at the end too! Gawd, the amount of death threats I'm getting saying that if I dare kill Gwaine people are going to come to my house in the night and murder me! Please don't! I really wouldn't mind living! And anyway, I've got to live to see Series 5!

OK, so, hope you like and pleeaassseee review! Even if you do want to rant at me for trying to kill Gwaine, any reviews are good reviews to me! x

Ceira: Just thought I should add this in ;D The name Ceira means 'Little dark and mysterious one' and it is a version of my own name! Just thought you might like to know! I wasn't being vain or anything putting my own name in a story, I just thought that the whole meaning fitted the character perfectly! Sorry, bit of a random piece of info but there you go! ;D

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of the BBC's TV programme Merlin (wish I did!) but any added characters and plotlines were completely my genius! All mistakes are also my own.

Chapter Twenty Two

Touched

Ceira jumped the last couple of steps down to the dungeons. She waved the flaming torch in front of her and looked round. 'The things I do for you Emrys' she thought. The dungeons were even darker at night, even though they didn't have any windows to the outside. Suddenly a hand flew out from nowhere and grabbed her wrist. The guard lowered the torch so it illuminated her face.

"What's your business down here?" the guard asked in an aggressive manner.

"I-I…" Ceira stuttered. She hadn't planned on being stopped so soon.

"Who is it, Driden?" Another guard approached from a nearby passage. Ceira's hands started shaking. She swallowed and focused. She couldn't get this wrong. She opened her unrestrained hand out and took a steady breath.

"Nihtslæ ætslæpa," the spell slipped off her tongue as though it had been waiting there all night. She felt her eyes glint a golden colour in the darkness. The guards stared at her, their eyes puzzled and wary.

"What? What's wrong with your eyes?" one of the guards said, taking a step towards her. The spell hadn't worked. She pulled back, trying to escape the guards hold. He held even tighter, squeezing her thin wrist so there was no way she could escape. Suddenly, both of the guards took an unsteady step backwards. They swayed on the spot and their eyes went cloudy. They both looked at each other but before they could register their expressions of shock they had fallen to the ground and were breathing heavily. They were asleep.

After Ceira had done the same to all of the other guards, she made her way through the intricate passageways that snaked left and right. Finally, she approached the right cell. She waved the torch in front of her to make sure there were no guards lurking in the shadows. There weren't.

"Emrys?" She whispered into the darkness. Her voice sounded so loud in the silence. She would have clapped her hands to her mouth if her fingers weren't gripping the torch so tightly. "Emrys?" Ceira hissed into the cell. She stepped a little closer to take a look inside. There was no answer. She reached down to the tiny pocket in her dress and pulled out a small key that she had managed to borrow for the night. She pushed it into the locked and breathed a sigh of relief as it clicked comfortingly. She hesitantly pushed the door open and stepped inside, closing it quietly behind her. She gazed around the cell. She spotted Emrys in the corner with his knees tucked up and his arms wrapped round them.

"Emrys?" Ceira asked as she steadily approached him. Emrys looked up as soon as he heard her voice.

"Ceira? Is that you?" he asked, his eyes wary.

"Yes, it's me," she said, slotting the torch into a bracket mounted on the wall. Its flame illuminated Emrys perfectly. Well, Emrys' cloak and hood that is.

"How did you get in here?" Emrys asked as Ceira sat down next to him.

"I had to use my magic. I put a sleeping spell on them, it will only last for about an hour," she replied, gazing at him. Emrys nodded and looked down at his feet.

"Thank you," Emrys said quietly. At Ceira's confused expression Emrys continued. "For coming down here, you took a great risk coming to see me. Why did you come to see me anyway?" Emrys queried.

"I just wanted to see you again. I-I haven't been able to think about anything else." Ceira shut her mouth quickly and bit her tongue hard. She scolded herself inside for letting that last sentence out.

"Me too," Emrys admitted quietly. Ceira was quite taken aback at this. She hadn't expected him to be so…

"So what exactly do you do in the castle? Are you a kitchen maid or a cook's servant or…"

"I'm Prince Arthur's servant girl," Ceira said abruptly. Something flashed through Emrys' eyes. He seemed a little surprised but he didn't say anything. Instead he completely changed the subject.

"Where do you come from?" asked Emrys casually.

"Oh, nowhere really. Just somewhere in the hills with some trees and a lake. Lacedor it was called. It wasn't anywhere special." Ceira said, discarding her birthplace like it didn't matter.

"It sounds special. It sounds beautiful," Emrys uttered. Ceira was surprised at Emrys' comment. "So who did you live with?"

"Well, my mother died when I was only young and my father ran away when she did. So I was left by myself.""It must have been hard for you.""I managed, as long as I had food and a dry place to sleep, I survived. But then I decided that I couldn't just spend my life in that lonely house so I came to Camelot. I found a job as a kitchen maid and then became Arthur's servant girl when his previous one got killed by a sorcerer that was trying to get to Arthur. Two years I've been here. Honestly, here I am telling my life story and I haven't let you say a thing. What was your childhood like?" Ceira asked Emrys. He squirmed uncomfortably.

"Most of my childhood is a mystery, not worth saying," Emrys said dismissively. Ceira went to object, but closed her mouth deciding not to. She understood what situation he was in and didn't want to push him. "You'd better leave. The guards will be changing shifts soon," Emrys said abruptly. Ceira hesitated but then nodded and got up.

"I'll see you soon."

"No. You can't come and see me again. It's too dangerous," Emrys contradicted immediately.

"But I can't just leave you to languish here."

"Don't worry, I'll find a way out. Now go." Ceira was sure Emrys had winked under that hood. She gave a fleeting smile then left the cell, locking it behind her.

Gwaine was floating again. But there was no whiteness this time. There was only blackness, like he had been dropped into an inkwell. This didn't bother him too much but it still made him a little unnerved. Why was it black this time? It didn't feel any different to the last times. He couldn't distinguish it as a different place altogether as there wasn't much to distinguish. Just blackness. He had been coming to this place every time he went to sleep, which was often. But it had always been white. He would just float around, enjoy the tranquillity and wait for Gaius to wake him up for his daily check. Come to think of it, why wasn't he being woken up now? This was usually the time, Gwaine was sure. He closed his eyes and opened them again, trying to wrench himself out of this…limbo. No prevail.

Then pain shot through him. It burned through his veins and caused him to double over in agony. He screamed but the sound that came out of his mouth was tiny, like it was being heard from a far distance away. Then the pain stopped, like the fire had been put out with icy water. Gwaine straightened back up slowly, wary of another attack. None came. He exhaled thankfully. He certainly wouldn't be trying to wake up again. He didn't know if that was exactly what had triggered the attack but he didn't want to find out. Maybe this place was different. Would he ever wake up? Maybe he was… No. Surely, he couldn't be dead…could he?

Author's Note: Phwoah! That little blue button down there just doesn't stop looking beautiful does it? I hope everyone appreciates it and maybe even gives it a bit of a click ;D