By the time Leon reached the courtyard in the morning, Mithian was already mounted up, entirely at home on her horse. Gaius had been right; she looked perfectly well for the journey. Hilda, on the other hand, needed help getting onto her own horse, and he and Gwaine stepped over to give her a hand.

As they rode toward Nemeth, Leon was amazed all over again at the ride Mithian and Hilda had made, across all this land alone, part of the ride in the pitch dark. But he remembered, with a smile, the prowess the Princess had displayed on the hunting field, both on horseback and with a crossbow. She was possessed, not only of a delicate beauty, but of strength and fire. It was sad she was so quiet, so constrained, just now. But he hoped that with her father safe, she would regain her customary cheer.

The day's ride was uneventful, and at nightfall they camped in some ruins, hanging up their cloaks to separate off a well protected area for the ladies. There was a slight stir during supper when Hilda had a sudden attack of pain, but Gaius examined her and proclaimed her fit to journey on in the morning. Gwaine caught Merlin's sleeve as he passed.

"You look concerned," he said in an undertone.

"Something's not right with Mithian and Hilda," Merlin answered. "Some about them just doesn't add up. Mithian has a burn she didn't tell anyone about, Hilda's obviously in pain but has no discernible health problems and the heart of someone decades younger, and the two of them just seem… constrained when they're together. Gaius keeps coming up with possible reasons for everything but…" He shook his head. "I don't know. I just think something's wrong."

Gwaine looked over at where Hilda and Mithian were sitting side-by-side in silence. "I guess we'd better keep our eyes out, hm?"

"Let's turn in for the night," Arthur announced. "Gwaine, you take first watch."

000

"Merlin! MERLIN! Drat him, where did he go?" Arthur fumed. It was morning, and everyone was ready to go—everyone, that is, except Merlin.

"I thought I saw him head down toward the stream," Gwaine said: "I'll get him."

As he neared the stream he thought he could here a raised voice. "Down here!" Gwaine jogged down to the bank to find Merlin lying prone beneath a tree, with Hilda standing over him.

"Merlin!"

"He must have slipped on the rocks," she said as Gwaine ran forward to check for a pulse. To his relief, he found one.

"Percival!" he shouted, and in a minute, Percy came running down to the bank. "Let's get him up to Gaius."

Back at the campsite, Gwaine helped Percival to deposit Merlin safely on a piece of fallen building, cradling Merlin's head in his lap as Gaius fetched some blankets to pillow him.

"What happened?" Arthur was a picture of concern.

"He must have fallen. He's taken a heavy blow to the head," Gaius answered, checking him over.

"But he'll be alright?"

"Yes. But there's no telling when he'll regain consciousness."

Arthur stood thinking for a moment. "We can't wait for him. Gwaine, you stay here with Gaius and Merlin. The rest of us will make for Nemeth." With a number of backward glances at Merlin, they left the camp on foot, leaving their horses tethered by the ruins.

As soon as they were all out of earshot, Gwaine asked Gaius, "Do you think Hilda had anything to do with this?"

"I don't know. I hope not. We'll have to wait until he wakes up."

But almost an hour passed, and Merlin didn't so much as stir. "He should have come to by now," Gwaine said worriedly.

Gaius nodded. "It's unusual. I think you may be right: Hilda may have had something to do with his condition." He dug into his bag. "I need to use more drastic measures to bring him around."

"Smelling salts?" Gwaine asked, thinking of Anna.

"A little more potent than that." Gaius pulled out a small bundle of dried herbs and held them over Merlin. He said something in a language Gwaine didn't understand, his eyes flashed gold, and the herbs began to smoke.

"Does everybody in Camelot secretly have magic?" Gwaine exclaimed under his breath, not wanting to break Gaius's concentration.

Gaius continued to repeat the line, waving the smoking herbs slowly over Merlin. He did it several times, but there was no change. "Come on, Merlin," he muttered, and tried it again. Gwaine held his breath. "Please, Merlin," he whispered desperately. "That's all I have. Let it be enough." Merlin didn't move, and Gaius's head dropped in defeat.

"Look!" Gwaine said as Merlin's eyes slowly fluttered open and focused on Gaius's face.

"Merlin!"

Merlin smiled. "Gaius." He tried to sit up, but fell back again and clutched his throat.

"Easy!" Gwaine said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Hilda," Merlin gasped out, "is Morgana."

"Morgana?" Gwaine repeated.

"She's using some kind of aging spell."

"Explains why she's always so tired."

"Mithian tried to warn me," Merlin said desperately, tears in his eyes, "but I couldn't warn Arthur. Morgana got to me first."

"She nearly killed you, Merlin!"

"Yes. Well," he smiled, "she didn't count on a sorcerer of your power, now did she?"

"She's not the only one," Gwaine muttered with a smile.

"Indeed." Gaius helped Merlin to sit up. "But Merlin—don't make me do that again. I'm not sure my heart can take it."

"We need to get to Arthur," Merlin said as Gwaine pulled him to his feet and steadied him. "He's walking straight into a trap!" He snatched up a sword and was striding away before Gwaine could even remonstrate. He glanced back at Gaius questioningly.

"He'll be fine," Gaius said, waving him on. "Go save Arthur!"

TBC


AN: Yeah, lots of recap of the actual ep. But I had fun making little changes. :)

Please review!