Chapter 14–Saving Merlin

Hey guys, I have skipped the escape from Camelot part of this episode mostly because I don't see the point in dealing with it for the moment. Anyway there is loads of Arthur and Elizabeth in this one so I hope that keeps you guys happy . There is a new poll for you to take part in. I don't own Merlin, but Elizabeth is mine. Read, enjoy, review.

We rode in complete silence for about half a day before Arthur seemed like he was going to explode with boredom, "What is your home like?"

I stared at him wondering where this line of questioning had come from, "Are you asking me because you actually care or just want to fill in the awkward silence we have perfected?"

"I'm honestly interested," Arthur promised.

He looked like he was being truthful to me so I decided to tell him, "It's beautiful," I began to explain, "A lot smaller than Camelot, then again you can see that from a map! I live in the pure white castle in the centre of the town. We have farmland surrounding us…" I continued to describe my home in great detail for about five minutes getting lost in the memories of the places I used to play in as a child.

"You must miss it greatly," Arthur observed as I trailed of my speak, unable to talk about it anymore.

"Some time I suppose, but I always felt like it was too small for me, and I knew that I couldn't spend the whole of my life there," I said quietly, trying to find a way to explain my feelings about my home town, "I think Laudine misses it a lot more than me."

"How long has Laudine worked for you?" Arthur questioned, seeming actually interested in my life.

"She's been my friend all my life. Her mother was my nurse maid when I was younger. Her father died when we were six and her mother a few years ago. After that I took her on as my hand maid. She keeps me from doing stupid thing, plus I have never met anyone with such medical skills," I laughed as I thought back to all the times she looked after me when I had managed to get myself into scraps.

"I didn't realise servants could treat us the way Laudine treats you," Arthur stated.

I smiled at him, "She is my conscience. I don't know what I would do without her, but then again I could say the same about you and Merlin. I'm pretty sure he is one of a kind as a man servant."

"That's one way of describing him!" Arthur laughed, I joined in after a moment, "How did you meet Sir Kay then?"

"Sir Kay grew up with my brother's, he is one of the nobles of our court. His father served the King. I didn't get along very well with him when we were younger, him and my brother used to play tricks on me. When I turned fifteen a sorceress tried to kill me. Kay saved my life, we grew closer after that and he became the only person my brothers and father would trust as my personal guard," I said skipping out the part where magic was involved on Kay's and mine part.

"Oh yes, you have two brothers don't you?" Arthur nodded as if remembering the information he had been told about me.

"Yes, they're twins. Too much like my father in my opinion, but they cannot help that. You have Morgana, how long has she been with you?" I asked wanting to changing the subject away from me.

"She came to us when her father died when she was ten. She didn't want to be there one bit, not that I could understand why at the time. We didn't really get along," Arthur said.

"Sometimes I can see you still don't, you treat her like your sister," I stated from my observations.

"How about your mother and father?" Arthur asked hesitantly than before.

I paused for a moment as we travelled along, trying to come up with the words to describe my parents, "My father…he is a brave man, loyal to his people and fair, but he has a temper on him, something my brothers inherited. He hurts as well, the way I see your father does at time. He loved my mother greatly, she brought out his humanity to those where he felt none. He used to tell me once she died that I began his needle of truth, always leading him to the right path," I stopped speaking again knowing I wanted to get the words perfect when trying to describe my mother, "And my mother, she was the most honest person you would ever meet, not always in a good way. She loved us greatly through and spent her time looking after us more than most royal families do. I was lucky to have them both."

"How did she died?" Arthur asked eventually after a few minutes of silence in which I got lost in my thoughts.

"I was fifteen, it was the time Kay saved me. She got in the way of the attack and the sorceress killed her without a second thought. It changed everything, not a day goes by when I don't think about her," I said quietly, not really sure how to talk about it.

"I know how you feel, my mother died when I was born. I wish I had a chance to know her everyday," Arthur responded looking away from me as he spoke.

"I'm sure she would be very proud of the man you're becoming Arthur. You have a good heart," I said quietly.

We moved in silence for a little while longer getting into the forest of Balor. I kept moving forward, on higher alert now than I was before. Just then I heard a crash from behind me. I swung myself around to see nothing. Arthur seemed to pause as well. There was another noise echoing through the forest it sounded like crying. We approached the sound, sitting on a fallen log with a beautiful woman who was covered in bruises.

"Hello? Are you alright?" Arthur called out to her. There was a large roar behind us, I turned in time to see what I took be a Cockatrice standing up behind us, "Stay back," Arthur ordered. The cockatrice lunged towards us and I jumped out of the way. Arthur rolled under it as it leaped. I drew my sword and threw it at the creature. It landed exactly where I had aimed it, into the cockatrice heart. It collapsed down onto the ground. I walked over to it and pulled out the sword before turning to the woman who was sitting on the log. She shrunk away from us in fear.

"It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. Who did that to you?" Arthur said softly to her, bending down to look into her eyes, before pointing to the bruises covering her body.

She hesitated for a moment before speaking, "My master. I ran away from him, but then I got lost. Please don't leave me."

I came over to join Arthur, "We won't."

"You can take me away from here?" The woman asked hopefully.

Arthur looked at me as if waiting for me to speak, "Not yet. There's something I have to do first," Arthur looked towards the cave mouth.

The woman followed his gaze, "Why have you come to the caves?"

"I'm looking for something. It can only be found here," Arthur said cryptically.

"What is it? I know this place; I could help you," The woman suddenly looked more enthusiastic.

I decided it was worth telling her some information and seeing what she knew, "It's a type of flower that only grows inside the cave. It's very rare."

"The Mortaeus flower? I know where they are. I'll show you," The woman smiled brightly at me.

I took Arthur's hand and pulled him away, "Can we trust her?"

"I don't think we have a lot of choice," Arthur muttered back and looked over his shoulder at her.

I turned back to the woman, "Okay then let's go," we walked towards the cave.

"Are you two together then?" The woman asked looking down at our hands, it was only then I realised I had yet to let go of Arthur.

I jumped backwards taking my hand out of Arthur's before grabbing one of the torches from the entrance of the cave and turning away from the others, "Leohtbora," I muttered under my breath watching as the torch lit up, "Ready?" I said deciding not to respond to the previous question.

We walked through the cave in silence, until we reached a ledge over a large pit, "There they are," The woman said pointing to the flowers that were the opposite side of the gap with a small ledge below them and a very long drop below that. Arthur looked down while I walked close behind him.

"Keep back from the edge," Arthur told us before turning to be, "Don't worry, we can save Merlin soon."

Just then the girl behind me begun muttering words that I knew very well, "Eorthe, lyft, fyr, waeter, hiersumie me," The cave begun to shake slightly, I took a step closer to Arthur as he moved closer to the edge, "Eorthe ac stanas hiersumie me. Ic can stanas tobrytan..."

"Arthur no," I yelled finally realising what she was doing.

"...hiersumie me," The woman finished as I dropped the torch into the darkness below us. Arthur jumped onto the opposite ledge as the rocks gave out. I however didn't have enough time to react falling down. Arthur managed somehow to grab hold of my hand sending me flying into the cave wall. I could feel the bruises forming on my side as I looked back up to see the woman standing on the ledge above us.

"I expected so much more," she said her voice losing that lost quality we had trusted so much.

"Who are you?!" Arthur yelled back angry.

It was then I saw the way the light was shining on her face and it came back to me, I knew this woman. I had flashes of my fifteen year old self screaming for help as a woman who looked almost identical to this one came at me, "Nimueh?" I questioned in disbelief.

"It seems we have a visitor," Nimueh stated looking down. I turned my head to see a giant spider coming up quickly towards us.

"You will pay for this!" I screamed at her. Arthur edged away from the spider as much as he could while holding me. I drew my sword with my free hand and pushed myself up a bit using the wall before stabbing upwards, managing to chop off one of the spiders legs, making it back away again.

"Very good. But he won't be the last. I'll let his friends finish you off, Arthur Pendragon. It's not your destiny to die at my hand," Nimueh laughed before taking off back the way she came with the torch plunging us into darkness.

Cliff hanger I know but it's a good one . I will publish again soon. I think I'm on a roll at the moment. Please review and let me know what you think.

Until next time

Artistic-Blue-Eyes

Xxx