THEY were caught.
Elspeth sat outside the little boys cell, as she had for the last two hours under surveillance, humming as she made straw dolls.
There wasn't much she could do. The guards were watching, and Elspeth was pretty sure they felt bad for the boy too, and that's why they didn't just send her away.
He drifted off a while ago, but she kept making the dolls so he would have something to occupy his mind with when he woke.
"Dismissed."
Elspeth looked up from the bars, she thought for a split moment that Arthur was referring to her, but then she saw the guards march off.
"Morgana wasn't lying then," He began, crouching down beside her. "You really have been down here all night."
"He was injured and frightend." Elspeth said softly. "I couldn't leave a child alone like that."
"You're a confusing one, I'll give you that." He stated. "So tell me, did you whack me over the head?"
"I'm... sorry?"
"I was talking to you, you started singing, and then... black." Arthur said, shrugging. "The next thing I know I'm waking up with my head in my soup."
"I didn't hit you." She replied, pushing another straw doll through the bars. "I could never hurt anybody, especially you. It was the lullabye."
"What lullabye?"
"My... father, used to sing it to me," She admitted, pushing her cream coloured hair from her eyes. "It stopped the nightmares. I don't know how, but it always sends the person you're singing about to sleep. I can't explain it."
"It's not magic, is it?" Arthur asked sceptically.
"Of course not." Elspeth said, "I don't know the first thing about that. Besides, it's not a spell it's a lullabye."
"Try it on him." Arthur said, nodding to the guard down the hall.
"What's his name?"
"Leon."
"Leon was a little boy
Afraid of the big, wide world
He grew up within his castle walls
Now and then he tried to run
And then on the night with the setting sun
He went in the woods away
So afraid, all-"
With a 'thud', Leon dropped to the ground. Moments later a light snore came from his mouth.
"Handy." Arthur muttered, looking impressed. "Listen, we have a plan. We're gonna get him out of here."
"Did it work?"
Almost three hours later, Arthurs set down his pouch and looked at the three eagerly awaiting figures.
"He's safe."
Elspeth breathed out a sigh of relief, her eyes drooped but she daren't sleep.
"Thank you Arthur." She heard Morgana say before leaving. The prince nodded back at her.
"Elspeth?"
She smiled faintly, "I'm fine. I should get home, make sure my mother's alright. Oh, and thank you, Arthur. I know you risked your neck."
He smiled. "Don't worry about me. Here, Mordred gave me this to give to you."
"Mordred?"
"The little boy."
He handed her a scrap piece of cloth. On it was sewn the druid symbol, with a large bird. What kind she couldn't tell. And a single word.
"Alkonest."
***
"She knows. I swear Gaius, she knows. She's been dreaming about-"
"Your eyes." Gaius finished, "I know Merlin. She's had these dreams ever since she was a child."
"So is she like Morgana then?" He asked. "A seer thingy?"
"Some times I question how many brain cells of yours are actual working. I wouldn't neccsarily say she's a seer, but I would say she has magic." The physician said.
"Why?"
"Because, every magical creature known to man knows of your coming. Perhaps this is just one of the ways they find out."
"Okay, sure," Merlin said, "But what is she? She doesn't practice magic, she's not a seer. And I'm pretty sure we'd of noticed if she was a... she."
"I don't know," The physician said, sighing. "But I think it may have something to do with her father."
"Her father? She hates him." Merlin said instantly. "Thinks he's the scum of the earth, along with the rest of male kind. What's he got to do with it?"
Gaius leaned over the table, "She may not carry his name anymore but there will never be any denying who's child she is. Before the great purge he was a knight, never seen without that hat of his. Once even... I'd of considered him family."
"Who?"
"His name was... Godric."
***
A/N
*cue merlin theme song*