—Chp 5—-

Despite the pressing need to make good time, they traveled more slowly than usual as Merlin was hardly at his best. When it came time to divert from the main path, Merlin, eyes often closed, trusted his mount to find its way through the underbrush and around the trees as he struggled to remember the particulars of the way, not just the general direction. It had seemed like a dream and his memory was more than a little fuzzy but his magic led him aright as he sensed the wards Morgana had put in place to keep herself hidden from all but those who had been allowed there by her own choice. Hers was a sour sort of magic, a trickling malice. He could sense that her magic felt at home in the thick, damp woods where, clearly, dark and dangerous deeds of sorcery had been worked many times before. His magic remembered what his mind could only dimly perceive. Yes. He'd been here before and it felt like he was retreating into a familiar nightmare.

"We're close. We should leave the horses here and walk," he told Arthur.

"You're sure? It seems strange that she would stay so close to Camelot. Surely our patrols would've spotted her."

"She has to stay close to keep steady contact with her spy. Her wards keep the patrols from getting too close."

"I don't know mate, this doesn't feel like the right place to me. Something tells me we should go a different direction," said Gwaine, brows knit. The others nodded.

"Yes, and the something saying that is Morgana's spell. I remember. Her hut is just through here and then down a bit so we'd best stop talking."

He dismounted and made to secure his mare's reins around a sapling. The others hesitantly followed suit.

He wobbled and Arthur's hand steadied him.

"Are you sure?" The king asked.

"Do you trust me?"

Arthur searched his face, drawn by pain and exhaustion but etched with determination.

"Yes."

"Then here, take my hand and link your other with Percival. Here Gwaine," he held out his other, "Give Elyan your other hand. You're going to need to just follow me and ignore any thoughts or feelings steering you away. Don't focus on finding Morgana, just concentrate on following me."

Continuing on in such a fashion was awkward and made stealth difficult but it was only perhaps a quarter league more before they looked down into a ravine and saw a hovel, cold, shabby and overgrown with moss and vines. The feelings of wrongness that had grown steadily in intensity finally eased and dissipated. They had arrived.

A thin column of smoke trailed lazily from the sunken hovel's chimney. The watchful party settled in behind the trees and mossy boulders on the ledge above, eyeing the door. Merlin felt cradled by the magic of the place, even tainted as it was by Morgana's darkness. Yes, this was indeed a place that had known magic for centuries. And not all of it wielded by humans. There was a wildness that invited his curiosity. In his weakened state it was nearly overwhelming. He struggled to remain coherent.

"She'll be keeping the fomorroh in a container," Merlin murmured. "It's body is..um.. a little more than my hand span in length. It's got to be..in.." he broke off with a grunt of pain, unable to stifle it as he shifted.

Arthur reached for his shoulder and felt the rising heat of his skin through the thin tunic.

"Quiet now. Just try to rest. You led us here, you've done your part. We know what to look for."

They silently shifted, each trying to find a comfortable position. The waiting was going to be difficult. Who knew how long it would be before Morgana would leave for any reason? Merlin had been able to lead them there but his condition was deteriorating and no amount of whispered jokes meant to reassure his friends could dispel their tense awareness that his precious time was slipping away. Gwaine daubed the remainder of the sedative over the horrid lump at the back of Merlin's neck.

"That's the last of it. It should give us a couple more hours. Plenty of time, eh?"

Merlin made no comment, which in itself was very telling. The fever, pain and stress were relentlessly taking their toll. Gwaine dug into his pack once more and retrieved another one of Gaius' vials and forced it on him. He grimaced and tossed the contents to the back of his throat, obviously trying to miss as much of the taste as possible.

"This is the weak spot in the plan," Percival muttered after a few minutes, his eyes on the door.

Arthur nodded grimly and glanced back at Merlin who sighed and dropped his head, eyes closed. Staying together seemed the best idea but if they couldn't find a way to lure Morgana away soon and the fohmorroh awakened, Merlin could make staying hidden extremely challenging. At least the possibility remained that they could now return another day without him to try again, if need be.

"I could create a diversion," Percival suggested.

"It may come to that but there m-"

They all gasped as hundreds of small balls of bluish light began winking into existence in the undergrowth like tiny burgeoning stars, and rose, floating up from the greenery and began bobbing along to stream around and past Morgana's hut. Otherworldly chimes sounded, tinkling randomly here and there.

"What's going on?" hissed Gwaine. "What's she doing?"

Percival shrugged in reply and looked to Arthur who frowned, eyes trained on the mysterious lights.

Gwaine glanced away from the spectacle and down at his charge. Merlin's eyes remained closed, head hanging, his chin on his chest, still and listening or perhaps merely asleep.

The creak of old wood on decrepit hinges alerted them to the sight of Morgana cautiously opening the door and warily watching the lights. She studied them and reached to touch one that bobbed playfully away from her fingers. She looked around suspiciously then appeared to make a decision and exited her hovel.

Looks like she's going to follow. This is it.

They watched with bated breath until her figure could no longer be seen through the trees.

"Elyan, keep watch. If she returns, give us some warning. I'd much rather face her outside than in there." Elyan nodded and quietly shifted his position. Arthur flicked a hand signal at Percival and they stealthily headed out.

"Remember, in and out! Don't get sidetracked!" Gwaine hissed after them.

"Get him back to the horses!" Arthur hissed in reply.

They approached the overgrown hovel with the utmost care. She hadn't secured the door. That meant hurry.

Both men hastily poked at bundles and baskets trying very hard to leave everything exactly as they'd found it so as not to leave any hint of their intrusion. They had their swords for defense but that was nothing to her magic and they'd rather not have to deal with her at all. Speed and care were of the essence. Arthur approached her table and in the dim light spotted something vaguely familiar. He lifted it for closer examination. It was a pair of fine black leather gloves meant for a man's large hands, obviously not belonging to Morgana herself and yet too fine for a mercenary.

Who've you been entertaining, Morgana?

"Found it!" hissed Percival from behind a cluttered shelf at the back and held up a covered jar, displaying the loathsome body of the many-headed snake, recognizable from the drawing in Gaius' book.

Arthur carefully replaced the gloves and they fled as quickly and quietly as possible.

—-

Percival, Elyan and the king almost beat Gwaine and Merlin back to the waiting horses. Without further ado they mounted and rode as quickly and as far as they could until Gwaine signaled the need to stop. Merlin's wounds were obviously paining him terribly. He was quiet, head bobbing low, body bent almost to the horse's neck, one hand pressing against his wounded chest and the other loosely tangled in his horse's mane. He didn't protest at all when Percival caught and steadied him as he slid from the saddle. The big man gently pulled Merlin's hand away from his tunic and checked the bandaging for fresh blood.

"Bring him here," called Arthur.

They settled him, trying to make him as comfortable as possible.

"I think we're far enough away that it's safe to get a fire going. Make it big enough to kill the fomorroh, I'm guessing it won't stay dormant much longer."

Percival gathered suitable wood from the deadfall nearby while Elyan built the fire and Gwaine retrieved the saddlebags containing food, medicine and the grisly object of their quest. He handed a few linen bandages to Elyan for tinder to coax the flames to catch on the damp kindling.

Arthur covered Merlin with a thin blanket then sat back and began cutting an apple to share out.

"What do you think that was, those lights?" asked Gwaine.

"Something magical," put forth Percival.

"Yes, but I won't complain. The timing couldn't have been better," said Arthur.

"There's all sorts of stories about mystical happenings in this valley. Everyone knows that," said Elyan.

"Must be some truth to them," replied Gwaine.

They continued to converse in low tones, Percival stoking the fire to ever greater strength. Merlin's eyes were glassy and only half open but his lips quirked sometimes at comments so they knew he was following along even though he seemed half asleep.

"Is there anymore bread-" Arthur began but was interrupted.

"No. No, no, no.." Merlin moaned and tried to raise a hand to his neck.

"Time's up," said Percival.

Arthur snatched the container from Gwaine who'd been staring, morbidly fascinated, at the evil contents and ripped off the covering before tossing them directly into the flames. Merlin gasped as though he'd just run a league.

"Alright there, mate?" asked Gwaine.

Arthur pushed back Merlin's dark fringe and laid his hand on his forehead checking the fever's progression.

"Sorry, I just..yeah. I could feel myself slipping, you know?"

Arthur let his hand drop to Merlin's shoulder.

"Completely understandable. Get some rest. We'll get you home to Gaius as quickly as we can."

Merlin glanced from the hand on his shoulder into the eyes of his king with a muted twinkle in his eye.

" 'Didn't know you cared," he mumbled.

It was meant as a jest but fell flat when Arthur looked pained, backed away and left to check his horse, apparently not in the mood for banter. Gwaine shook his head.

"You didn't see him when Agravaine brought him a bloody scrap of your jacket. I wasn't there either, but Leon told me. He said it was like time itself stopped." It was easy to picture; Merlin had seen Arthur stunned by loss before. "And after everyone else had given up, he left to go find you himself. He cares."

Merlin's eyes welled with guilty tears. And now memories of being carried through the trees after the ambush and Arthur's scream as they were separated by the rockfall brought a fresh wave of pain.

I know.

There was no knock, only the sound of voices and shuffling boots to alert Gaius before his door opened to admit the king and Gwaine who were supporting-

"Merlin!"

He embraced his feverish boy who trembled in his arms while his dark head came down to rest on his shoulder.

"Gaius," he sighed, sounding so relieved. He made no attempt to free himself, only lingered in the old man's embrace as though that were all the healing he could ever want.

"Welcome home." Gaius gave him one more gentle squeeze. "Here, my boy, let's get you taken care of."