Meanwhile, Arthur, Gwen, Gwaine, Elyan, Percival and Leon had made their way back into the palace by the help of Arthur's knowledge of its hidden aisles and secret passages; it had not been easy to get inside unseen, but the hardest part was not yet over; it was only about to begin.
"How do we find Merlin without getting seen?" Elyan asked. "There is at least twenty guards in there!" He pointed at the well-guarded door the hall.
Gwaine smiled. "Afraid, are we?" He gave Elyan a little push and received a rebuking look from Arthur.
"Let's just get to work, shall we?" Arthur said, his eyes landing on Gwen, who replied with a determined nod. Together, they took up the fight against the guards with a fire burning inside them; Merlin was here somewhere, no doubt. They simply had to save him.
"I could use some help!" Elyan shouted in the middle of it all, as five guards surrounded him with snarling sounds. It was as if five snakes made ready to attack the little mouse, placed in the middle of the circle of feast.
"Coming!" Percival shouted. He pushed and fought his way through to Elyan, like a dragon tearing through a city. Together, the two of them brought down three of the snarling snakes, but not entirely without injuries; the brave Gwaine came to their aid, but overestimated his chances. The result was a severe wound on his right arm. The blood was streaming out, but the fight kept on going, until all of the snarling guards were brought down. Out of breath, they all felt a quick wave of relief. But it didn't last long; a horrible scream of terror made them all shrink.
"Merlin," Arthur said and located the sound to come from within the hall. He almost stormed into the room, but some arms grabbed him. "What are you doing?!" he whispered, looking up at Percival and Elyan who had each grabbed onto him.
"We must be cautious, Sire," Leon said. "They do have magic."
Arthur nodded. That, he had forgotten. All he had thought about was saving Merlin. The knights were completely right; swords could win a war of combat, but not of magic.
"What are our options?" Gwaine asked and tried to stop his bleeding. Leon and Gwen came to help and tied and piece of fabric tightly around Gwaine's arm, now covered in blood. The blood was coloring the fabric red in a matter of seconds. Gwaine knew he didn't have much time before something had to be done about it; but right now he had a friend to save. "Just find out quick, would ya? I'm not sure I can take much more of that screaming..." He shook his head towards the hall from where they'd heard the screams.
Elyan smiled. "What's wrong, Gwaine? Getting scared?"
"Shhh!" Arthur breathed with a finger against his lips. He was gazing through the keyhole to the hall. The sight within it was anything but pleasant.
"What do you see, Sire?" Leon's voice was faint, unsure of which he really wanted an answer or not.
"Merlin's in there. They're torturing him with some kind of magic plant." Arthur's voice was strangely distant. Several of the knights wanted to see for themselves and for each face Gwen saw turn gloomy, it made her go more and more desperate to do something about it. She just didn't know what.
"We have to do something!" she exclaimed. "We can't let them do this to him!"
"I know," Arthur said. "And I have an idea; hide yourselves and leave the guards for Morgana and her friend to see. I will need one of you to scream - we have to get their attention somehow. And then, when they come out, you sneak in to free Merlin. Meanwhile, I will distract them."
"No!" said Gwen. "We're here to free Merlin, not to give them another prisoner!" She looked Arthur in the eyes. "I will not lose you!"
He took her hand. "Don't worry about me, worry about Merlin. We have to get him out – now, before it's too late! Besides, Percival and Leon will come back to assist me."
The two mentioned knights nodded to help reassure Gwen. A tear crossed her cheek. "Don't let them take you, Arthur," she said, but didn't get to see his answer, because Elyan and Gwaine grabbed her and lead her into their hiding place behind some huge curtains. Arthur ran the opposite way and pulled his sword forth. He took a deep breath, thinking of one thing only; I am doing this for Merlin, for Camelot.
Then another scream cut through the silence like a deadly poison.
"What was that?" Caelan's hand was still raised. In it, she held the Mortis plant. Merlin lay before her feet, trembling weakly. He fought to stay awake.
"I do not know," Morgana replied and walked towards the door with Caelan right behind her. They opened it and saw their guards lay dead on the floor. The look on their faces revealed no feelings whatsoever.
"It seems we've got visitors," Caelan concluded. She kneeled to take a closer look on the wounds of one of the dead guards. "Swords. Of very good quality, even. The wounds are deep."
Morgana smiled with lighting eyes. Only a few meters away, someone quite familiar stood with a sword before him, waiting for the two women to discover him. He too showed no feelings, only pure determination.
"Arthur. How sweet of you to pay us a visit, dear brother." Morgana put her hands together, looking very happy indeed.
But the king knew very well what an actress the witch was. "You know why I'm here," he said. "Release Merlin and I shall take his place gladly."
"What makes you think we'll accept such an offer?" Morgana challenged, giving Caelan time to slip the Mortis plant into her dress pocket.
"Because you were torturing Merlin to get him to reveal my position. But that is no longer necessary; you can release him now."
Morgana and Caelan looked at each other. Caelan stepped forth, raising her hand. Arthur could not understand the words she spoke, but they forced him into the hall, even though he tried his best to resist. Not more than a few seconds later, Gwen and the knights followed, under the same kind of pressure.
"We will give you a moment to say your goodbyes. Don't waste your time." Morgana smiled and turned to leave. The doors slammed hard behind her and Caelan. They left the hall completely quiet.
Until Arthur discovered his young servant. "Merlin!" Arthur shook his friend by the shoulders, but received no answer. "Merlin!"
"What's wrong with him?" Gwen was utterly shocked by the distant look in Merlin's eyes. "He hasn't gone mad, has he?" They all examined their skinny friend to the bone. They tried everything, but Merlin's eyes kept staring at something none of them could see. He seemed to be smiling by the sound of their voices, but there was nothing further to detect...
"Where's Gauis when we need him?" said Gwaine and helped Merlin to uphold a sitting position, while Gwen tried to get him to answer her calls. Leon, Elyan and Percival were trying to find a way to escape whilst Arthur simply sat himself down in the corner, gazing at Merlin. He felt guilty for seeing his friend like this.
"Merlin?" Gwen kept calling. "Merlin, can you hear me? Merlin?" She shook him carefully. "Merlin, please..." The only response she got was another smile. Merlin's face showed some strange kind of happiness, even though he seemed to have been through a lot of pain – his shirt was full of blood.
"No," Arthur said and got to his feet. "I can't take this anymore! Let me try." He took over Gwen's job and the difference was already visible; the king shook Merlin harder and didn't pronounce his name as if he was talking to a toddler.
"Merlin!" Arthur almost shouted. "If you don't answer me now, you'll get to polish all the amour of the Knights of Camelot, understand? And then, when you're done with that, you can take my never-used white shirt and wash it until all the wine you split on it has gone!" Everyone in the room waited to see Merlin's reaction, which was suddenly an insulted expression.
"Well, that was something other than a smile..." Gwaine said, shrugging as he realized it didn't really matter; Merlin was still very far away. Arthur ignored him and pulled Merlin to his feet. He tried to look his servant in the eyes, but it was like an invisible wall blocked the way. The king saw only one way to break it. He slapped Merlin's face hard... but not too hard. He didn't want to hurt him – not too much, anyway. All he wanted was a proper answer. He would do anything to make it stop; he would not be responsible for causing his best friend to go insane. Not ever and certainly not like this. The others were stunned. They couldn't believe it; had Arthur just slapped Merlin? But they were even more stunned to see the result;
"Ouuch!" Merlin moaned, rubbing his cheek. "What was that for?!"
He was met by smiles and a very stunned king.
"Merlin! What happened to you?!" Elyan said, his smile growing bigger and bigger.
Merlin smiled back, but it fainted quickly. "Wait," he said, looking utterly confused. "What did happen?"
Suddenly, no one was smiling anymore.
"You were tortured, Merlin," Gwen told him. "By Morgana and Caelan, remember?"
Merlin frowned, trying to remember. All he saw was... nothing. "I... can't remember. When was this?"
"A few moments ago," Leon said. "You were halfway gone when we found you."
"Until Arthur slapped you," Gwaine added, smiling his usual teasing smile.
"Merlin, you've got some scary marks on your neck. Like you've been burned by something," Gwen said with a worried look. "It doesn't look too good. Doesn't it hurt?"
Merlin put a hand on his neck. As soon as his finger touched the wound, a horrible pain cut through Merlin's whole body and he screamed. "Aaaaargh!" He fell to his knees, almost shaking. "What was that?!" He tried to catch his breath again. They others rushed to help him, just as Merlin remembered everything; how the Mortis plant had tortured him, the horrible pain that followed and the distant sound of friendly voices...
Merlin jumped to his feet, surprising everyone, even himself. "Wait. What are you doing here?!" He looked at Arthur.
"We're saving you, dollop head," the king answered, frowning. "What else?"
"You should at least have thought of a plan first!" Merlin was almost panicking, but pulled himself together, when he saw the insulted look at Arthur's face.
"Oh, we already have one," he said. "But obviously it didn't work out quite as planned."
Merlin raised an eyebrow by that comment. "You're saying it failed?"
"No!" Arthur exclaimed loudly. "Of course not! Merlin, have some faith in me – please!" He had to turn his back on Merlin for a moment to calm himself down.
"I'm, sorry, Sire," Merlin said and quickly changed the subject. "So; what should we do now, then?"
"Escape," Gwaine said. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to be tortured. It doesn't look like that much fun to me."
"Trust me it isn't - but how do we escape?" Merlin said, wanting to hear Arthur's brilliant plan.
The king sat down, leaning against one of the huge pillars. "I know blades cannot fight magic..." He took a deep breath. "The only solution is to let them taste their own medicine."
Everybody stared at him with disbelief. Including Merlin; never had he expected to hear those words from Arthur's mouth. Had he been enchanted? No. That was a silly idea Merlin quickly decided. He too knew this was the only solution; but also that it didn't necessarily meant the king had changed his mind about banning sorcery.
"It sounds like a good plan, but there is one tiny problem; we don't have any sorcerers..." Elyan pointed out.
The king nodded. "I am aware of that, Elyan," he answered. "But we have made it this far. I find it hard to believe that this is the end. There's always a solution, even in the darkest hour. If we can somehow use their own weapons against them we can gain the upper hand."
"How long do reckon you we have before they return?" Leon asked.
That question needed no oral answer; that very same moment the two witches burst into the room with the Mortis plant ready for another round.