Chapter 17: Bird of Prey

Arthur Pendragon was startled out of his sleep by loud banging on the door.

"Your majesty! King Arthur! Open the door! Please!"

Morgana's pleading tone was enough to make him hurry. He had barely put a shirt on when the door swung opened. In the moonlight, Morgana's face looked paler than usual. And panicked.

"What is it?" Arthur asked nervously.

"It's Merlin. He's gone. Somebody took him."

Arthur wheeled around quickly to grab his sword, chainmail and coat. A few seconds later, they were climbing down the stairs of the shabby inn to join Gwaine and Galahad.

"What happened?" the king asked right away.

His gaze immediately fell on Galahad who had a bleeding gash on the side of his head.

"Sire, I was knocked out from behind. I never saw it coming."

Seeing how distraught he was, Arthur decided that it would be a bad idea to scold the knight who had been on watch. He turned to Gwaine instead.

"Morgana found Galahad alone. Then she came to wake me," said the knight.

Arthur's gaze sought his half-sister. He saw her standing by the opened door and peering through the darkness beyond.

"It's pitch black out there, my Lady," said Gwaine. "We don't know how many thugs there are. If we light up torches, we become targets."

"What else do you suggest," cried out Galahad, sounding outraged, "that we go back to sleep?"

"I have something better in mind, actually," Gwaine replied cunningly.

Arthur was more concerned by Morgana's silence. She looked almost in a trance. He took a few steps closer to her.

"He's not dead," he said in a low voice, trying to sound convinced.

She shook her long wavy hair. "I know. I can feel it."

Arthur felt his chest tighten. Merlin and Morgana. No. Absolutely not. It was ludicrous. How could it possibly have happened?

"Hmmm, right," he let out in a breath.

His mind felt numb. How was he supposed to react? Morgana had tried to kill him. She had tried to destroy everything that he loved. What if it was happening over again? Merlin's heart would be broken.

A triumphant cry from Gwaine brought him out of his reverie. "Aha! Here's the little bugger!"

With a large grin on his face, Gwaine was holding at the tip of his sword the orange bearded innkeeper. The fat man looked as though he was going to faint. Big beads of sweat were covering his entire face. Maybe his weak state had to do with the fact that he was alone and surrounded by two angry-looking knights and the King of Camelot.

"I didn't do anything, my Lords, I swear!" the innkeeper blurted out.

"But you know what happened to Merlin," said Gwaine slyly.

"Lord Merlin," Galahad corrected.

"I…"

Since the fat man didn't willing to speak, Arthur thought it would be a good idea to draw his sword as well.

"They paid me to put something in his drink," stuttered the innkeeper. "He took one sip and he was done for. Head fell on the table and he was snoring."

Gwaine and Arthur exchanged a nervous glance.

"Are you sure you heard him snoring?" asked the young king.

The fat man shook his orange beard feverishly, sending droplets of sweat all around him. "I sear it, Sire! Upon my life! Upon my wife's life! And my son's. And my mother's. And my cousin's."

As Galahad and Gwaine were coming closer, the large and imposing innkeeper seemed to shrink. He was shaking so violently that he fell on his backside with a splatter and a clang.

"Leave him," Arthur said absent-mindedly. "He's done for."

Gwaine immediately sheathed his sword, but Galahad grabbed a nearby jug and wacked the fat man on the head for good measure.

When he saw Arthur's raised eyebrows, he said crossly, "I'm a knight, but I'm not one of yours, Pendragon."

They were cut off when Morgana suddenly let out a small shriek. She was still standing by the door with her back to Arthur and the others. When Arthur wheeled her around, she was shaking all over.

"He's awake now. He's in pain. He's trying to escape. He's trying… some sort of magic."

That seemed to set Galahad on edge. "You can feel him because you have magic too. All magical creatures are connected. Listen to me." The knight from Aria's Cradle came closer to Morgana and the intensity of his stare made her take a step back. "You can save him. You must hang on to that connection. If you can do that, we'll find him."

Her eyes went from Galahad, to Gwaine and then to Arthur. Her face became resolute. Then she took out the dagger from her belt and declared, "Follow me."

She led them outside of the inn and then towards the western road. It was the middle of the night, but there was a pale moonlight and they could see without torches. Everything around them was an eerie shade of grey. They started their search slowly. Then Morgana's sense of Merlin's magic seemed to become sharper and she took off at a run. Unlike Arthur and the knights, she was not wearing any chainmail, so she was soon well ahead of them.

"She's in good shape, for a Lady," Galahad breathed out. "I can see why Merlin likes her."

Arthur almost stopped completely in shock. "That's rubbish," he cried out in spite of himself. "He doesn't like her. She's our enemy."

Galahad merely grinned. "Exactly my point. Opposites attract each other. They're like light and dark, all rolled up into one."

The idea had not yet begun to sink into Arthur's mind that he was startled by the sound of crashing swords.

Gwaine was the first to react. He yelled, "Morgana!" and started to run with his sword held high.

A few paces ahead, Arthur found a scene that struck him as vaguely familiar. Morgana was fighting fiercely a group of thugs. Her hair was flying around like a black storm. Gwaine was fighting as well and mostly keeping the attackers from striking Morgana from behind. Even with her memory gone, Morgana was fighting as though she had been trained for it. Her blade was swift and her blows were almost as powerful as any man's.

Arthur was about to leap into the fight as well when Galahad grabbed him by the arm. The knight was pointing at three silhouettes, concealed in the semi-darkness, which were walking, or crawling, away from the fight.

Bending low to avoid being seem, Arthur and Galahad took the direction of the three runaways. They went away from the road and deeper into the forest. Soon the sounds of the clashing swords began to die out to be replaced by the beating of wings and howling of nocturnal animals.

The thugs came to a stop near a clearing. The trees were more widely spread out, which one of the fellows seemed to be happy about. Suddenly, a cloud moved up above, releasing a beam of moonlight through the clearing, and Arthur saw that the tallest of the thugs was holding a crossbow aimed at the trees. But there was nothing out there other than the yellow eyes of many birds of prey.

"Come out, come out, little hawk," the thug was singing.

Suddenly, and without warning, Galahad burst forward. The others wheeled around in surprise. The first to feel Galahad's wrath was the man with the crossbow. Arthur sprang forward to meet the other attacker, but he was shocked to find a man much taller and broader than himself. The heavily built man, who smelled strongly of horse dung, threw himself upon Arthur in one giant leap. Arthur was immediately pinned down, sprawled helplessly under the man's body. Then, to his horror, the burly fellow put both his hands around the young king's neck. Right away, he couldn't breathe. His vision blurred. He was going to pass out, and fast.

"Oh I hope you're worth some gold too," snarled Arthur's attacker. "A king and a sorcererrrrrrrragh!"

A bird had suddenly decided to attack the thug, planting its talons deep into the large man's bald head. Beating wings and red gashes flashed in front of Arthur's eyes as both the bird and the thug rolled off. Now that he could breathe again, Arthur's hand reached out for his sword and with one swift strike to the thug's left leg he brought down the heavy man to his knees. As he gave the final blow, Arthur saw the bird – a small hawk – twist and turn in the air, flying uneasily towards Galahad. Though he had taken out the first two thugs, the knight was still fighting another attacker. The bird of prey plunged in head first, biting and clawing at Galahad's opponent. At some point, the thug grabbed a wing and tried to throw off the hawk. However, the bird merely spun around and came back for more. Arthur felt completely entranced by the scene. Was a hawk actually helping them? That sort of thing just wasn't possible.

Then, coming unexpectedly, an arrow whistled through the clearing and caught the hawk straight under a wing. Arthur watched as the bird tumbled helplessly to the ground. He sought Galahad's gaze and the knight looked even more horror-struck than he was.

The crossbow had been fired by a thug who had picked up the weapon from the ground. Arthur found him easily and knocked him out with a kick on the face. When that was done, he turned back to Galahad and started to run towards him. The knight was kneeling on the ground and looked positively shaken.

The shriek that followed could have been Arthur's, but it came from Morgana instead.

"Merlin! Noooo!"

The figure lying in front of Galahad was no longer a small hawk. It was a body that Arthur knew too well. The young king felt the color drain out of his face and his knees buckle. How could he have been so stupid? Of course it was Merlin. Merlin, the sorcerer who could change his appearance… But it was too late. His tunic was rapidly getting stained with red blood. The arrow had pierced his left side just below the shoulder. Galahad had pulled it out and he was trying to put pressure. But Arthur had seen many battles. That much blood was not a good sign.

The young king was almost knocked over when Morgana ran by him and threw herself on the ground besides Merlin.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" said Morgana, sobbing. "I wasn't quick enough."

Merlin's eyes were only half-opened. "You did know where to find me," he murmured. "That's magic, you know."

His eyes closed and he coughed. Arthur felt so numb by what was happening that he couldn't say anything. He could only stare.

Morgana was stroking Merlin's forehead. "Don't go. Please don't go," she was whispering pleadingly.

"Pfff. You don't know me," was the feeble reply, but anyone could tell that Merlin was rapidly fading.

"You can do it, my Lady." All eyes instantly turned towards Galahad, but the knight was only staring at Morgana. "You have magic. Healing magic. You can still save him."

Morgana's eyes became wide. "I don't remember how."

Galahad's tone was stern. "Then don't think. Just do it. Follow the same thread you've been following since we left the inn. That is your door. All you need to do is walk through it."

Arthur took a careful step forward. "Morgana, please," he said pleadingly.

Merlin's body gave a sudden shudder and he closed his eyes. Wasting no more time, Morgana placed both her hands on his wound. The blood instantly covered her long fingers but she did not seem to care. She wasn't even looking at her hands. Her eyes were now turned upwards. The tears were no longer running down her cheeks. A powerful wind swept around her, lifting her black hair off her shoulders. She murmured some words. It didn't work. She tried again, this time much louder. Suddenly, her eyes burned gold.

To Arthur, it was as though the world had stopped. The only thing moving to him was Morgana's cascading hair. Merlin's chest remained annoyingly motionless. He had never wanted so badly to hear that irritating, mindless prattle. Just a word. A breath. A hiccup. A snore. Anything.

Suddenly, there was one breath and then a word. It sounded like Arthur.

"Is he…?" the young began to say, but his voice broke off.

"He's alive," Galahad let out.

There was a general sigh of relief. Morgana's hair was no longer flowing. Her eyes were filled with tears again, but this time she was looking at her blood-stained hands. When she looked up, her glance met Arthur's and immediately he knew.

She remembers everything.

…

Word from the author:

OK that's it for the long chapter that was giving me a hard time to write. I'm hoping to get the next one done a little faster.

Thanks for the reviews.

HighEmpress