Chapter 19

It was dark outside and most of Camelot was already asleep. Merlin was arriving a little late to the meeting, but he hoped Gwen didn't mind. He could already see her in the distance, standing in the battlements, waiting for him. He was still wondering why she had chosen that spot.

When Gwen heard him approaching she turned around and faced him.

"You are late, Merlin," she told him.

Even after all this time, it was still strange for Merlin to see Gwen in her queen outfit.

"Blame your husband," he replied. "He had me wash half his wardrobe."

"Are you telling me you didn't use magic for that?" Gwen asked, smirking slightly.

"Well..." said Merlin, looking away. "Fine. Maybe I got a little sidetracked, but I'm here now. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I just wanted to ask you for a favor."

"A magical favor?" asked Merlin, waving his arms around in what was supposed to be a mystical way.

"Actually, no. Just a regular favor."

"Ah," Merlin said, as he stopped his arms in midair. "Then why are we here at these hours?"

Gwen pointed out to the other side of the wall were the training grounds were.

Merlin had trouble seeing at first, but after a few seconds his eyes adjusted and he could see a figure hitting a training dummy with his sword. It was Gwaine.

"What is he doing?" Merlin asked

"The same thing he does every night," Gwen answered.

Merlin stood in silence looking at Gwaine. He wasn't training, he was just hitting a dummy again and again with all he had.

"Has he ever told you what happened to him when Morgana had him prisoner?" Gwen asked.

"I asked him once, but he didn't want to talk about it," Merlin answered, wondering where Gwen was going with this. "Gaius has told me a few things, though. He said that Morgana made Gwaine fight for food. He always came back to the cell all beaten up, but he won every time, and he gave most of this food to Gaius." He made a pause. "Gaius owes him his life."

"Elyan told me something similar," Gwen said, nodding. "After we took back Camelot I noticed Gwaine was different, but everyone was rattled by what had happened and I assumed time would help him go back to normal. However I'm afraid that he's not getting better. Every night he trains until he can no longer stand, and Elyan tells me that lately he's spending less and less time with the other knights, unless they are on a mission for Arthur. I'm worried about him."

"But, I've been talking to him lately and he seemed fine."

Gwen made a sympathetic smile. "He doesn't want to show it," she said. "Men always have problems accepting they need help."

"Are you sure about this, Gwen?" he asked after a small pause. "Maybe he just can't sleep."

"Merlin... I happen to know that he hadn't been with a girl since that day."

"WHAT!? How do you know that!?" Merlin asked, taken aback.

"Women talk," she simply answered.

"But... but he's Gwaine!"

"I know," Gwen replied.

Merlin look at Gwaine who was still hitting the dummy. "He needs help. What do you want me to do?"

"You are one of his oldest friends, just talk to him."

"I was expecting an actual plan, but that will do," Merlin said, giving her a smile. "You are a good queen, Gwen."

"I'm a great queen, Merlin" she replied, with a grin. "Now go, save the day one more time."

.

.

Merlin was almost next to Gwaine, but he still hadn't noticed him.

"What did that poor dummy did to you?" Merlin asked.

Gwaine took a step back, startled, and pointed his sword at Merlin. A second later he sighed and lowered the sword.

"You shouldn't sneak on people like that, Merlin," Gwaine said.

"I was making enough noise to wake up Arthur," Merlin replied. "You must had been very focused."

"Yeah, I was training a bit."

"I think you already won," Merlin said, pointing at what had once been a training dummy. "Don't you want to try your luck with someone who can actually fight back?" he asked, grabbing a practice sword.

"I don't know Merlin... I don't want to hurt you," Gwaine said.

"Are you telling me that the great Gwaine is afraid of simple manservant like myself?" Merlin asked, taunting him.

Gwaine let out a laugh. "Alright then, just don't say I didn't warn you."

The knight swapped his sword for a practice one and faced Merlin. When they were both in place, Merlin raised his sword and waited. Gwaine started the attack, slowly at first, but he turn faster and faster with every blow. Merlin blocked every hit until he saw an opening and lunged forward, making Gwaine back away.

"Arthur told me you were getting better with the sword, but I thought he was lying," Gwaine said, catching his breath.

"So, do you give up?" asked Merlin.

"However," Gwaine added, grinning, "you still have lots to learn."

Having said that, Gwaine moved towards Merlin and unleashed a flurry of attacks so fast that Merlin was on the ground in less than three seconds.

"Alright, I'm impressed," said Merlin, grabbing his arm where Gwaine had hit him.

Gwaine smiled and helped Merlin stood up.

"You know Merlin, I've never understood why Arthur didn't make you a knight," he said. "You are the one who has been with him the longest, and you can probably beat many of the actual knights. Not the good ones, of course, but still..."

"He probably doesn't want to lose me as his manservant; I'm very good, you know?" Merlin asked, smiling.

"I'm sure that's it," said Gwaine, returning his smile.

Merlin put the training sword away and turned towards Gwaine.

"So, do you want to get that drink I owe you?" Merlin asked him.

.

.

"It's been a long time since the last time we did this," said Gwaine, raising his beer.

"Too long," replied Merlin, toasting with him.

They both took a big drink and slammed their beers on the bar.

"What happened with that druid girl?" Gwaine asked. "What was her name?... Violet? No... Green, that's it! What happened to her?"

"I guess you could say we have grown apart," Merlin said, remembering how they seemed to write to each other less and less lately, and when they did write, no one knew what to say. What he once had with Green was now gone.

"What did you do, Merlin?" asked Gwaine, in a accusing tone.

"It wasn't me! Well... not directly at least. She doesn't like the fact that I work for Arthur."

"What has that to do with anything? He has made peace with them."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean they haven't forget all that has happened. Besides, magic is still banned," Merlin explained.

"Magic is dangerous," Gwaine said, sharply.

"Also is sword fighting, especially if you are the one holding the sword," Merlin said, rubbing his own arm. "Imagine if suddenly it was declared illegal and everyone who practiced it were killed, even if they had never use it for something bad."

Gwaine made a pause before speaking again. "Will the hate ever end, Merlin?" he asked.

"It will."

"You seem so sure!"

"It has to..."

There was a brief silence that they both used to take another drink.

"You know what?" Gwaine finally said, "don't suffer because of her, I know many other girls that would like you. You are a good catch Merlin... you can cook, clean, wash clothes; what girl wouldn't want that?"

Merlin laughed. "And what about you? Are you seeing anyone right now?" he asked back.

"No, not right now."

"Does it have something to do with you being caught by Morgana?" asked Merlin, in a very unsubtle way.

"What!? No! Why would you ask me that?" Gwaine asked, confused.

"No... no reason. It's just that someone told me that—"

"It was Gwen, right?" Gwaine asked, and took Merlin's silence as a yes. "That would explain her recent behavior. These past few days she has asked me if I was alright so many times that I was beginning to worry she knew something I didn't." He smiled and patted Merlin on the back. "I'm fine, mate, I promise."

"But what about you spending less time the knights?" Merlin continued asking.

"Merlin, when was the last time you spend time with them?"

"Actually, I don't spend that much time with them."

"Exactly. If you did you wouldn't have to ask me that. Look, they are my friends and I trust them with my life. That being said... most of them they are dull."

"Dull!?"

Gwaine gestured for Merlin to lower his voice. "Keep it down, I don't want them to know I've said that... but yes, they are dull. I swear, if it wasn't for Percival I might actually die from boredom around here."

"That doesn't explain why you spend your nights hitting dummy."

"What's this, an interrogatory?" Gwaine asked, in an amused tone. "It helps me relieve my stress."

"You? Stressed?" asked Merlin, incredulously.

"What Merlin, don't you ever change? Are you the same boy that you were when I met you?" Gwaine asked. He took a drink and continued talking. "The thing is Merlin, I... I want more. Do you remember Arthur and Gwen's wedding? Did you see how they looked at each other?" he asked, with a smile on his face. "All I could think standing there was 'I want that'." He made a pause before adding, "not literally that, of course, but something like that."

"Yeah, I get it," Merlin said, nodding. "Wait, then, when you ask me to introduce you to Green..."

Gwaine interrupted him with a laughter. "That was just to mess with you; it was obvious that you liked her."

"I don't!" exclaimed Merlin, turning red.

"If you say so..." Gwaine said, unconvinced.

"So... do you have someone in mind?" Merlin asked, changing the subject.

Gwaine's eyes went towards the waitress and back at Merlin. "Maybe," he said.

Merlin followed Gwaine's eyes and looked at the waitress. She was a beautiful young woman around their age, with blonde hair that reached her shoulders.

"I was wondering why you brought me to this place instead of the tavern," Merlin said, grinning. "Have you talked to her?" he asked.

Gwaine shook his head. "What if I do something wrong, Merlin? What if she turns out not to like me?"

"You'll never know unless you try. Besides, worst case scenario, she dumps you and you go back to where you are today. I think you would already know this by now."

"Well..." Gwaine said, as if there was something wrong with what Merlin just said.

"You have been dumped before, haven't you?" Merlin asked.

"Well..."

"I can't believe it!" Merlin exclaimed.

"I've never really get to the point when someone could get dumped," Gwaine explained.

Merlin laughed and shook his head. "Alright then, you need to fix that. Go talk to her!"

"No, not today. Tomorrow, maybe..."

Merlin couldn't believe Gwaine was acting like that. He was tempted to keep annoying him until he talked to her, but he knew that he had no right to give relationship advice to other people. Then again, he didn't have to...

He gave a look around. The place was almost empty, except for a few people. His eyes stopped on a group of four man who, judging by their looks, were mercenaries. It didn't take a mind reader to see that all of them were very drunk. They would do.

Merlin waited for the exact moment when the waitress passed besides them, carrying a few drinks, and his eyes glowed gold. An instant later. the waitress tripped inexplicably, spilling beer all over the four men.

"What do you think you are doing!?" one of them exclaimed as he stood up with haste, trying to avoid the rest of the beer that was spilling from the table.

"I'm sorry," she said, restoring balance. "I don't know what happened." She started to mop the table and looked at the rest of the men. One of them was dead serious and had two long mustaches that were now dripping beer. She looked away as quickly as she could, but even then she couldn't help to giggle, which she tried to cover with a fake cough. When she was done she took a step away from the table and look at the one who was standing up.

"Alright, I'm done. Again sorry about that," she said, pointing at the man's wet clothes. "How about I invite you all another round of beer?"

She turned around to fetch the drinks, but a large hand grabbed her by the wrist.

"Do you think that you could get away from this with just an apology and some beer?" the mercenary asked.

"Let go of me, please," she said. There was no begging in her tone.

"You are going to pay for this, slut!" the man yelled.

"Let me go before I break your hand," she said, in a calm but threatening voice.

The man was surprised by the lack of fear in this wrench's eyes. He had to taught her how she was supposed to behave with a man like him. He raised his hand to slap her and he could swear he saw a smile in the woman's face. He wasn't sure what happened after that, but the next thing he remembered was him laying on the ground with his face pressed against the floor by the woman's knee, who was twisting his arm behind his back.

The other three mercenaries stood up and drew their swords.

"Not that I don't believe that the lady can take care of herself," said a voice coming from behind the three men, "but just so you know, if you mess with her you mess with us, right Merlin?"

"Right," answered Merlin, standing to the right of the mercenary group, "and believe me, you don't want to mess with us."

"You really, really don't," Gwaine added, pointing his sword at the back of one of the men. "So, what do you say, are you going to leave peacefully?" he asked.

.

.

A small bar fight later, the four men were all resting face down on the street.

"I did give them a choice," Gwaine said.

"You did," Merlin replied, nodding.

"When will they learn?" Gwaine asked, joking.

"Excuse me..." a voice behind them said.

Gwaine turned around to see the waitress looking back at him.

"My lady," he said, "are you alright?"

"Yes, of course."

"If may I say it, you have some really good moves. I still can't believe what you did with that spoon!"

"You are not bad yourself, maybe we should compare notes someday."

"We definitely should," answered Gwaine, grinning. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduce myself, I'm Gwaine."

"What, no 'Sir'? No 'Knight of Camelot'?" she asked.

"You know who I am?" Gwaine asked back, surprised.

"Every woman in this city knows who you are," she said, raising her eyebrows.

"I don't know if that's good or not."

"We'll see... I'm Ariel," she said, extending her hand for a handshake.

Gwaine was a bit confused for a second, but then he grabbed her hand. "Nice to meet you, Ariel," he said, smiling.

She give him one last smile and looked at his side. "So, you are Merlin, right?"

At some point in their talk, Merlin had stopped paying attention. Gwaine had to hit him to make him realize that she was talking to him.

"Oh, yes, hi, nice to meet you," he said, and then looked at his friend. "Hey Gwaine, I just remembered I have to go do something very important and so I have to go. You should stay, help her clean up a bit, we made this mess after all." He started walking backwards towards the door. "It was nice meeting you," he said, pointing at Ariel, "and you should know that despite everything you've heard he is a very good man." He almost tripped on a step, but he managed to regain his balance. "Woah, that was close... Bye!" he yelled as he was going out.

"He is kind of strange, isn't he?" Ariel asked.

Gwaine smiled. "He's just being a good friend."

.

.

.

"Morgana, Morgana, wake up, please," a man said, shaking her by the shoulder.

She opened her eyes and quickly grabbed the dagger that she kept under her pillow. She let out a sigh when she saw who was the one who had woke her up.

"Mordred, what are you doing here?" Morgana asked, still drowsy.

"Have you seen Kara?" he asked, in an alarmed tone.

"Kara? Why?"

"Have you!?"

"No, no, I haven't," Morgana answered. "Is everything alright?"

"I think she's going to try to kill Arthur."

Those words snapped her fully awake. "Well, she'll be doing all of us a favor."

"A favor!?" Mordred asked, angryly. "Are you really that blind Morgana!? Arthur is a good man, a good king. He is my friend. We have to stop Kara before it's too late, for anyone of them."

Morgana raised her hand and Mordred was pushed back until he hit the wall of the cave. "Watch it, Mordred! I consider you my friend, but that doesn't mean you can talk to me like that," Morgana said, still holding him in place. "Now, are you actually asking me to help Arthur?" she asked, with both amusement and disbelief.

"No, I'm asking you to help me. If something happens to her... Help me Morgana, please."

Morgana looked at him. She knew that the girl had no chance, not with Emrys still alive. She would only get caught, or worse. Morgana didn't knew the girl that much, but she had seen the way Mordred looked at her. Losing Kara would drive him mad. For a second, she thought that she could use that to bring Mordred to her side, but she couldn't do that to the druid boy she had once rescued. She looked at Mordred and nodded, releasing the hold she had on him.

"Thank you," said Mordred, giving her a brief smile. "We have to get to Camelot and tell Merlin, he'll help us find her."

Morgana glared at the book that was resting next to her. "I may have a way," she said.

###

A/N: I hope you liked it!

Kind of a setup chapter with a cliffhanger xD. Originally this chapter and the next were only one, but it turned out to be really long so I cut it here so I could submit this part today :p.

Once more time, Merlin uses the "magic is like a sword" comparison, but is a good comparison, so I'm going to let him do that.

Apparently Gwaine is way deeper of what we used to give him credit for. Also, Gwen isn't very good reading situtations, but she meant well...

I promise that the next chapter has more actual plot xD.

SO YOU KNOW = As this is going, the story will probably finish before the Chapter 30, so less than 10 to go! (I'm not exactly sure of how many, though)

Thanks Patiku, CHARLES CHUKU, mersan123, Lady Flurryous, Guest^2 nad Meri Ley for the reviews =D