Chapter Ten

Hello!

Thanks for all the lovely reviews! They made my otherwise terrible day a lot better!

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

"How's Gwaine? I haven't seen him recently." Gaius said to Merlin over breakfast.

Merlin considered that question. Four days after Gwaine's apology to Arthur, the knight's mood had…shifted. Somewhat. In some ways. Merlin didn't know quite what to make of it. "Well, he's…better. Sort of. He's going to training and performing his duties admirably…and if you haven't seen him I assume that he's stopped getting sleeping draughts. But he's definitely avoiding me. And he still isn't laughing as much." Merlin swallowed another spoonful of porridge. "Oh, and he's still not going to the tavern."

Gaius frowned. "You're going to have to talk to him sometime, Merlin. I would very much like to know exactly how Gwaine and the twins fit into the royal family tree of Bernicia."

Merlin sighed. "Gaius, we're not even sure if they are royalty…Even if they are, it's not like they're going to admit it…Everard has been deliberately avoiding questions about his family while Gwaine's been lying about it for years…And every time someone gets close to the subject with Elwin his brother materializes and all but clamps his mouth shut…honestly, even Arthur's beginning to wonder, for all he's such a clotpole…"

"Merlin." Gaius shook his head slightly. "Perhaps you should try questioning the boys first. Maybe you'll have more luck."

"With Elwin, maybe. If I can just get rid of his brother for a few hours…" Merlin grumbled.

"Well, if you do decide to ask any of them, you'd better do it soon. Everard and Elwin won't be staying here forever and if Gwaine is truly related to them, who knows what he'll do if he helps escort them home."

As a matter of fact, the issue of when Everard and Elwin were going home came up that very afternoon. Whilst most of the knights and Elwin were down at the training field, Everard asked for a audience with the king and queen, which was granted. The first thing he said after formally greeting their majesties was, "My brother and I want to go home."

This was rather abrupt, but not altogether unexpected. The twins had been in Camelot for a few weeks now; naturally they wanted to go home. Arthur looked startled, but replied calmly, "Of course. I'll organize an escort and we'll be off within the next couple of days, if you'd like. The good weather should hold and I'm not expecting any important court matters to come up."

By the exasperated look on Everard's face, Merlin recognized that he had given up telling the king that his royal presence in the escort wasn't needed. Instead, Everard said, "It shouldn't be a large group by any means. Bernicia isn't…is not on very good terms with Rheged lately and from what I've heard, the ruler of Northumbria isn't very keen on having knights from Camelot riding through his lands, either." This was completely true; the new Lord of Northumbria didn't like Arthur very well.

"Certainly. I'll bring only a few trusted knights." Arthur looked around at the few council members that still remained in the council chamber. "If there's no more urgent business to attend to today, gentlemen, I will go and join my knights in training. Everard, would you care to accompany me?"

Even Arthur looked impressed and applauded when Elwin threw six knives, one after the other, into the bull's-eye of the target. The knights cheered as well, even though they'd apparently seen this display before. Merlin watched in amusement as Percival clapped Elwin on the shoulder so hard that the unsuspecting boy tripped and nearly fell into a knife rack. In the laughter that followed, however, Merlin realized that someone was absent. "Where did Everard go?"

The knights immediately looked around, and Leon said a moment later, "Gwaine was here a bit ago; where'd he slip off to?"

A couple minutes later, they found the two missing persons.

They were locked in fierce combat in the middle of the sword-fighting area.

Merlin and his friends joined the circle of junior knights and squires who were already watching the fight. It was certainly something to see.

Merlin had always taken note of Gwaine's unique fighting style. Many of the moves he regularly used had been unfamiliar to the knights of Camelot before he had joined their ranks.

But from what Merlin could tell, Everard fought rather like Gwaine did. Merlin hadn't really noticed it when he's seen Everard spar with the other knights, but it clearly showed when the boy battled Gwaine.

The others looked on as the two jabbed and parried and sidestepped without a pause. Neither showed any sign of flagging for quite some time. Finally, Gwaine stepped back for a moment, only to lunge forward an instant later and perform his typical disarming maneuver.

Everard blocked it.

Merlin had never actually seen someone successfully block that maneuver. He didn't think any of the knights had, either. And Everard did it like it was nothing.

Like he practiced it.

More than that, he took advantage of Gwaine's obvious surprise. With a few swift slashes, Everard knocked the blade out of the knight's hands and sent the older man tripping backwards to land on his back. Everard followed up by stepping over Gwaine and pointing the blade at his chest.

The knights began to clap and cheer, but Merlin was to preoccupied watching Gwaine and Everard remain in their current positions as they exchanged a few words, their expressions serious. Then Everard tossed his weapon aside and held out a hand to help Gwaine to his feet. Both of them grinned fleetingly as they walked over to accept the attention from their audience.

"Well done, Everard!" Leon said, clapping the boy on the shoulder. "Not used to being beaten, are you, Gwaine?"

Gwaine grinned a little sheepishly and said, "He tricked me."

"By basically beating you with your own move?" Elyan chuckled. "Quite a stroke of luck, blocking it…but very good follow-up, Everard! I've certainly never managed to defeat Gwaine, except maybe when he's drunk!"

"I think they're both very good swordfighters." Elwin broke in cheerfully, draping and arm around his brother's shoulders. "I do keep asking Everard to teach me…"

"And I've been trying, but you prefer knives anyway!" Everard laughed.

Merlin grinned to himself; he had to admit, it was nice seeing the usually uptight Everard relax a bit more than usual. But then, didn't Elwin have that effect on almost everyone?

"That was incredible, Everard!" Arthur said "Keep this up and I'll have to make you a knight!"

While the knights of Camelot all chucked appreciatively, Merlin saw Everard tense and his eyes flash in anger. Elwin eyed him nervously, and Gwaine stopped freeing clumps of grass from his sword to sent a worried glance Everard's way.

A few minutes later, in the armory, Elyan brought up the subject of Everard and Elwin's journey home, which had been mention by Arthur earlier. "Sire, which of us are going along with you when you take the twins home?"

Merlin, who was helping Arthur remove his armor, paused momentarily as Arthur said, "Only a few; which of you would like to come?" He hardly needs to ask, Merlin thought with a grin as he resumed his work.

"I'm coming!" Elyan said immediately.

"I will gladly join the escort." Leon offered.

Percival murmured his assent.

Then Elwin piped up, "Gwaine? Are you coming, too?"

To most of the men in the room, it was a harmless query. To Merlin, it was a loaded question. He, like both of the twins already were, watched Gwaine's face for his reaction.

Unfortunately, the dark-haired knight was undoing his armor in a shadowed corner of the room. But his voice was calm when he replied, "If you'd like me to come, I will."

From across the armory, Merlin saw Everard smile.

Gwaine brushed his horse rather violently, working off his excess emotions. He couldn't think straight. His mind kept replaying the conversation earlier, on the training field when Everard had beaten him.

"The Pendragon is planning to take me and Elwin home."

"So I heard."

"Are you coming?"

"Possibly."

"What will you do if that happens?"

"I'll figure it out."

And know he definitely was going.

What am I going to do if…when I get home?

He didn't have the faintest idea.

Arthur was in the mood to have a romantic dinner with Guinevere that night, so after he'd finished setting out the food for their majesties, Merlin wandered down into the Lower Town. Evening was falling, and the first stars were coming out. Merlin smiled slightly to himself, humming an almost inaudible tune as he wandered down the mostly silent streets.

Then he felt it. The presence of magic.

Looking around, Merlin saw a deserted warehouse nearby. The magic is emanating from there. As quietly as he could, he sneaked toward the building.

A few minutes later, he managed to slip inside a door that had been left ajar. Creeping through aisles of broken, dusty furniture and battered armor. Now he could just make out murmured words, just ahead.

Moving forward and peering out from behind a stack of crumbling crates, Merlin saw a circular area that had been cleared of dust and objects. In the center knelt a young woman, holding a long dagger upright in her hands.

She was speaking so quietly that Merlin couldn't understand most of the words, but he recognized enough to realize that it was a powerful enchantment. Not a good one.

And he heard the words Arthur Pendragon several times.

Merlin suddenly felt furious. This sorceress was enchanting the blade to kill Arthur. He was certain of it.

Just then, the woman's eyes flashed gold and she stood up. Then Merlin recognized her.

The new kitchen maid. Helen, right? Or something like that. Wasn't she hired a couple days ago?

At the moment, it didn't really matter.

Merlin lunged out from behind the crates and yelled, "What do you think you're doing?"

She promptly dropped the dagger and shouted, "Ástríce!"

"Scildan!" Merlin bellowed, raising a shield to block her spell.

Then they just stared at each other for a full five seconds.

"You have magic!" they both yelled at the same time.

As the woman (Elen, that was her name!) prepared to cast another enchantment, Merlin moved to counter it; whilst thinking rather wryly to himself, Well, this should get interesting.

I'm too tired to say anymore. The next chapter ought to be more interesting.