Where there is love there is life.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Chapter 7: Kilgharrah is Sighted

The discovery of the footprint and the direction it was aimed for took them more into the wild part of the woods where Tate and his men found more prints. They had a new trail to go on and they focused on that. Tate brought the teams all together to follow along with them. Most of the men were sure that they would find and bring Balinor in for sure now until they came across the border of Camelot and Essetir.

"This is a problem," one of the knights announced as they all stared on ahead. The trail moved right into Essetir and there was no sign of the dragon or Balinor nearby.

Tate stopped and hopped off his horse as he looked onward. "Essetir, Cenred's domain. Cenred isn't any friend to Camelot at all. If we try to push in and are spotted by any of his patrols then this could spark war."

"So then what do we do then?" asked another frantically. "The king won't accept that as a reason to stop our pursuit."

"Settle down Peter." Tate knew that Sir Peter had a point. Uther would not accept these conditions as a good reason to halt the pursuit. "Balinor and his dragon may have crossed into another kingdom but they must still be lying low because no news has spread about a dragon attacking or being sighted." Tate took a moment to wonder about that. Magic was forbidden in Camelot but not in Essetir. Why would he still hide?

"I have a suggestion," said Sir Jarvis shaking him out of his thoughts.

"Is it a good one?" Tate asked.

"As good as any we've heard so far," he said. Tate gestured for him to say it. "We could send in a team in disguise to continue following the trail. No armor or colors. They could be taken as simple travelers." Everyone looked at him with wide eyes.

"Jarvis, that's not as simple as you make it sound. And on top of doing something like this without the King's approval first. If even a rumor starts to pass around…"

Jarvis cut Peter off. "It's risky and dangerous, yes, but it would be better than to just stand here staring out into the distance in vain."

"He has a point," said Sir Lehman. "Besides I don't have any better ideas myself and I doubt any of you do either."

Tate huffed from his nose. Lehman was right. This seemed to be all they could do. "Alright then. But it will have to be a small team to not arouse any suspicion if any patrols do see it. Maybe just around three men. That should be small enough to disregard. I say that it should include two soldiers and one of us."

"Any volunteers?" Lehman asked rhetorically.

"Uther left me in charge," said Tate. "I'll go."

Jarvis shook his head. "This was my idea. I should take responsibility for it whichever way it goes."

Tate stared at Jarvis to see he was standing his ground firmly on this and he nodded. "Very well. You'll take two men and keep following those dragon's prints. You'll have to travel on foot. These horses are of a royal stable and would easily give you all away. Try to avoid an unnecessary trouble."

"What sort of trouble is necessary exactly?" he asked wittingly.

"Funny," Lehman said flatly.

Tate spoke to keep them on track. "In the meantime, we'll stay in the area. If we don't hear from you in two weeks then we'll send in a second team." Jarvis nodded to show that he understood. "Peter, while we wait here you should head back to Camelot and give Uther a full update and report."

"Yes sir."

The discussion between Balinor and Hunith had an uncomfortable silence fall over the two of them. It seemed that he felt that Kilgharrah's power was nearly full again and he informed her that he had planned to move out when it had. It had hit both of them with the reality that their present situation was made to be only temporary. Balinor was reminded that he was only hiding out in this village for Kilgharrah's recovery and Hunith was reminded that Balinor's company would soon be gone and she would be alone again.

Balinor was sitting with Kilgharrah and he informed him that his magic and strength sapped by those chains would be back to full soon.

"I'm all but completely recovered now. Two or three more days and we could move on in full capacity." Balinor nodded but he still glared at the ground. "But something tells me that you are displeased about that."

"Don't start with me Kilgharrah."

Kilgharrah genuinely felt sorry for Balinor. He didn't like seeing him like this. "You know Balinor…just because we would be able to move doesn't mean that we have to immediately."

Balinor looked up at him in surprise. "Kilgharrah?"

"I've spent the last few weeks thinking about our current situation. With that I've seen no reason why we have to leave the area as soon as my full strength returns."

"But Uther is still after…" he started until Kilgharrah cut him off.

"Uther has no pull here. The most difficult part was both of us escaping his clutches which we did when we left the boundaries of Camelot."

Balinor gave his draconian friend a smile. "I know what you're trying to do for me Kilgharrah and I much as I would love to, I can't stay here. We still have a responsibility to show Uther that he can't get away with all of this. It's the reason why we took the fight to him in the first place. We can't do that here, we have to go somewhere free from interlopers and come up with a new strategy."

"And we still will Balinor. We can analyze what we are going to do from here as well as we could miles from any civilization. We are away from any of Uther's eyes and this place is also away from the eyes of its own king." He started to walk back to his cave. "Besides, you should also be looking into life beyond our fight with Uther. Don't let it consume and become you or you'll be just like Uther in his crusade against magic. He is so driven to destroy it that he probably hasn't spent one real day with what he had sacrificed his wife to get from it."

Balinor found himself at Hunith's front door which he knocked and it opened revealing her surprised face. "I hope you don't mind putting up with me for a great deal longer."

She broke into a small smile and rolled her eyes before she welcomed him back in to her home.

The next few days were like the ones before that drama had set in. Balinor and Hunith were back to smiling and poking fun at one another. At the end of the week, Balinor told Hunith that he had something that he wanted to show her. Hunith didn't know what to expect when Balinor asked if they could go for a private walk in the woods together. She tried not to have any expectations but if she had then all of them were sure to be trumped when she found herself staring into the golden eyes of a great golden dragon.

"Nice to finally meet the fair lady Hunith at long last," Kilgharrah said with a soft and gentle tone. He saw Hunith bow her head down.

Balinor saw it too. "It's okay, you don't have to be scared."

"I'm not scared," she said. She truly wasn't. "I've just never seen a dragon before. I mean, I knew that you had a dragon but it's still surprising to see it."

"Him," he said instantly. "Not it."

"Him," she corrected herself. "Sorry," she apologized to Kilgharrah.

The dragon just lightly laughed. "It's alright my lady."

"I'm not a lady," she said timidly but defiantly.

"Perhaps not now but in the eyes of magic you are well on your way to be. Dragonlords are lords not just by birth but by their noble character as are those that they become bonded to."

"Oh," Hunith put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. "And just why would that be?" She was looking at Balinor. "Bonded? Just what has this dragon been hearing exactly? What have you been saying about me?"

Balinor backed up slowly and put his hands up in defense. "It's not what you think. It's not," he insisted when she started baring down on him.

Kilgharrah couldn't resist laughing at his dragonlord's expense but he could see that he was still in danger of being brutalized by the woman. "Have no fear Hunith. Balinor has only spoken of you in complete admiration and respect."

"You heard the dragon Hunith."

Hunith settled down after that but she still looked at Balinor with narrowed eyes. She then looked Kilgharrah over. "You don't seem to be injured. I thought the point of coming here was to heal your strength."

"The damages to me were more internal than external my lady. But now I am healed of them and in top form again. However, Balinor and I have decided to stay here for an extended period of time."

"Really, why?"

"Oh," Balinor cut in before Kilgharrah could answer. "It's a bit complicated. We don't really need to get into any of it now. Right Kilgharrah?" he grunted out a little pointedly. The last thing he needed was to be teased mercilessly by Hunith when they got back to the hut.

"No, we don't," said Kilgharrah with amusement plain in his eyes at Balinor's discomfort. Kilgharrah suddenly had his expression go grave and alert. "Someone is out there."

Balinor stood up and put a hand at Hunith's shoulder to keep her between him and Kilgharrah for protection. "Who's out there? Show yourself!" He bent down to the bundle next to Kilgharrah and pulled out Excalibur. "There's no use in hiding!" he called out.

There was the sound of some rustling in the brush before someone stepped free from them and into view. Hunith stepped around Balinor to look at the man that had his arms up in surrender.

"Richard?"

Balinor lowered his sword as Richard was out in the open completely unarmed but alarmed at the sight of the great big dragon before him. "What are you doing out here?"

"I saw you and Hunith sneaking off and I thought it was to say goodbye and I wondered why you wouldn't say goodbye to me as well and went to try and catch you when I caught sight of that," he said pointing to Kilgharrah. "Then I hear you two talking with it."

"Him," both Balinor and Hunith corrected.

Richard finally stopped looking at Kilgharrah and looked to the two of them. "What the hell is going on?"

"What should we do?" Balinor whispered. "This could change everything now."

"Maybe not Balinor. I've known Richard for years. He's a good man and I don't think he possesses any misgivings towards things that are magic. I think you can trust him with everything," she whispered back.

Balinor looked over at Richard and though he did seem to still be quite on edge he was still keeping himself steady and still under Kilgharrah's unwavering gaze. Richard definitely had more guts about him than he originally thought as he'd seen harden knights tuck tail and run at the mere sight of Kilgharrah. He had come to think of Richard as a friend but pointless and harmless talks during fieldwork was one thing, this was something else entirely. Still…he had come after them because he feared that Balinor had been leaving without bidding him farewell. That shows that there was a feeling of loyalty. Could that mean that he can trust him?

"Richard, I think we should talk." What the hell.

Sir Jarvis and the two men with him had spent over a week within Essetir in disguise on the lookout for any signs that Balinor and his dragon had passed through. The trail they followed into Essetir had run cold going through rougher terrain until there was barely an indent left. Jarvis' group did come upon some of Essetir's men on a patrol but they were able to remain inconspicuous to them. With no trail to go with they had to rely on the local people for their investigation. They rode into the closest grand town in Essetir by the border and started their investigation. Jarvis and his men listened in on people talking and gossiping to one another and while they did talk about the dragon it was all about the appearance in Camelot during their escape as well as their previous attacks against them. There was nothing about any sightings or even a rumor about seeing the dragon anywhere else. With three days until their deadline, Jarvis decided that they should ride back to the others.

"Sir," one of the soldiers said as he looked at their map. "I think if we can get back faster if we take the east road. The terrain is more level and would be easier to pass on through."

"Let me see," he said before the man gave him the map and pointed. "Yes…I think you might be right. If we take that way it seems that we will hit a village before we get to the border called…Ealdor. From there it seems like it'll be a half day's journey before we reach the borders near where we'll rejoin the others. We should hit it just before dark at this rate."

"Should we stop there to rest before we push on for the border sir?" asked the other.

"No, we'll camp in the area nearby. According to this map, there are some high cliffsides holding caves. We can camp in that area away from prying eyes. We want to avoid unnecessary crowds and I don't want talks of strange men by the borders to be reaching back to Cenred. He might make a connection that takes it back to Uther and that could cause unnecessary trouble." He rolled up the map and handed it back. "We'll have enough hardship reporting that we've failed to find any trace of Balinor or the dragon."

"Yes sir," they both said.

They reached the high cliffs that they saw on the map and made good time as well since the sun just started to begin its descent. Through the trees they could make out the smoke rising from fires within the village and headed deeper into cover.

"Those caves are somewhere around here. Let's find one and make camp for the night."

"Sir," one of the men said stopping. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what soldier?" he asked stopping and looking about.

"Voices. A few of them, listen."

The other soldier stopped moving and the three of them listened into the wind to try and focus their hearing. Jarvis was soon making out distant chatter. "You're right."

"It could just be some of the village children playing nearby before they have to head home," said the other man.

"Maybe…but I want to make sure. As I said, I don't want unexpected chatter to form with us so close to the border."

Jarvis told the two to wait there for him while he scoped on ahead. He didn't draw his sword in case is was children and the chatter did seem excited and frenzied much like children were. Though as he got closer he saw that the voices were too deep and mature to belong to small children. He stayed under the cover of brush but skillfully avoided to not snap so much as a minuscule twig that would alert his presence to whoever was close by. Jarvis peered through some more brush and he nearly cried at the sight. There before him in a clearing in front of a cave were the Great Dragon and his dragonlord Balinor. They weren't alone either. There was a young woman and a young man there as well and from their dress he gathered they were villagers. The four of them were actually in some kind of group discussion but Jarvis couldn't stay to learn what it was. He quietly made it back to his men and told them that they had to go around the area and push on for the border at once. They had found them and they get back to the others immediately and notify Uther back in Camelot.

Balinor and Hunith bid Richard goodnight as they reached her house. Richard had listened to their story and to Balinor and Hunith's relief he took it all quite well. It turns out that he was no stranger to people with magic. He had met a man in Cenred's army that was a hedge wizard with very small knowledge of magic before they had been drafted to fight for him a few years ago. He had thought the man a little humor impaired but not a bad person. He explained that he knew Balinor was a good man and if he and his dragon were simply looking for a safe place to live then they were no different from anyone in their village that wanted the same even if one of them was bigger than a house. Kilgharrah had laughed at that one and said that he could understand why Balinor had befriended him. Before Balinor could ask him Richard had reassured him that their secret was safe with him as he knew that the village might decide to banish Balinor if they thought he posed too much trouble. He was also happy to hear that Balinor decided to stay around a bit more.

"Well, that was an interesting evening," Hunith said as she started a fire in the hut.

"Yes," Balinor lightly laughed. "I admit that when I took you to the caves today I didn't plan for all of this."

"Did it go as you hoped it would at least?"

Balinor went up to Hunith and gave her a light hug followed by a soft kiss that stretched a bit. When they separated they both broke into wide and stupid grins. "I think it went better. Before I came to Ealdor, I didn't think I could put faith in people as I did before. The last time I did, Kilgharrah ended up in chains and I was slapped in iron to be prepared for execution. Yet now…now it seems that I just had faith in the wrong people. People who treasure simple things like love and friendship rather than people who simply love and are friends to gain treasure. I think today was a sign of the things to come. It seems that Kilgharrah and I have more than we thought we had here."

"No offense to Kilgharrah but I think that has more to do with you than him. He has Richard and I only because you do."

Balinor burst out laughing. "Don't let him hear you say that."

End of Chapter 7

A/N: Hunith, Richard and now the knights have seen Kilgharrah. Seeing as how its one thing to go in hiding yourself but to go in hiding with a gargantuan lizard about four stories tall you are bound to be seen eventually. I realize that Balinor and Kilgharrah don't have that lone and crabby sides that they've shown to Merlin here but remember they are still together and didn't spend twenty years separated and in chains and solitude here. I want them to still have an innocence that hasn't been drained from them yet. The next chapter will include a certain king's reaction to this news as well as a certain physician we know so well.