Merlin bounded along the corridor with all the excitement of a five year old with a new toy. He had been working on perfecting a spell for months now and he thought had found the perfect vehicle to test it. He toed open the heavy wooden door, only to find Gaius' owlish, startled gaze upon him.

"Sorry!" He smiled as he barreled through, dropping a parchment from the odd assortment in his arms and started to deposit them on the nearest empty space.

"Have you been tormenting Geoffrey, again Merlin?" The old man looked at his ward acidly, but he was easily disarmed by the young man's smile.

"I found these in the market Gaius! Look! I believe these sheets are from Egypt and they contain spells of some kind!" He shuffled through the sheaves of parchment he had just put down and held one up for inspection. The writing was strange and angular, like pictures.

"Ah, yes", noted Gaius with interest. "They are completely incomprehensible, Merlin. I have seen such writing before. Scholars have been trying to understand them for years." The old man fingered the sheet of ancient writing, respect in his careful, gnarled fingers. He produced his magnifying glass to peer carefully at the drawing and the writing that surrounded it. They were undoubtedly very, very old, fragile and powdery with age. He covered his fingertips with a handkerchief before he picked up the sheaf of paper and motioned for his ward to do the same.

But Merlin was not there to pay attention. He was rummaging enthusiastically in his room. He returned to stand next to Gaius, joining him in his careful inspection of the document. He held out a translucent black stone. It was a piece of smoky quartz, polished smooth, it's natural form erased into a perfect oval of translucent darkness. Merlin muttered a word beneath his breath and a silvery light surrounded it.

"Merlin", began Gaius in a warning tone.

The warlock answered with an apologetic grin, that did nothing to hide his delight. "I've been working on this for a long while, Gaius. It's a translation stone. Most magical texts tend to be written by people who have magic. Most of them have mind speech and if they do, this stone allows me to channel their understanding of the text into words I can understand. You can't imagine how long it took me to work out the kinks. But it couldn't be worse than trying to memorize those Latin declensions..." He stopped himself. Gaius had raised his eye brow threateningly, and Merlin did his best to look meek.

The old physician, for his part, was doing his best to hide the amazement he felt thinking of the novel spell Merlin had concocted simply to avoid his Latin lessons. He had wondered at Merlin's sudden progress in the subject. His annoyance faded as his curiosity began to get the better of him as he looked at the writing.

"It works wonderfully on Greek and Latin, Gaius. These are pages from a text known as the Egyptian Book of the Dead."

"A dark area, Merlin."

"Perhaps. Here, feel them for yourself," he said as he handed another page to Gaius.

"I don't 'feel' them at all," said the old man grumpily as he looked closely at the writing once more. The picture showed a hawk-headed figure of a man with the sun behind his head. It's unwinking gaze from the parchment suddenly sent a shiver down his back as he looked across at his ward. For some reason, he thought of the Runemark, but he put it from his mind. No connection existed between the mysterious incident of a month ago, and the strange writing in front of him. There was no sense of evil, but danger was real. And yet...

"Wait, Merlin!"

His words came too late. The young warlock was sliding the stone along the columns of writing, his eyes half-shut listening with his interior speech to the translation stone. He appeared to be repeating some sort of prayer, not exactly an incantation

Gaius leaned close to hear Merlin's words as he sank deeper into the power of his translation spell, his voice quiet and precise as he formed his words.

"Let our chant fill the void. So that those who dwell in the house of night, will know the chariot of the sun is drawn by the grateful dead". The glow from the stone faded as the pair, young warlock and old physician, looked at each other.

"What can that mean?" Merlin spoke first.

"I have absolutely no idea." The old man peered again at the parchment. "Where did you get these Merlin?"

"From the frankincense trader, who is set up at the east gate this market, " said Merlin promptly. "We've bought herbs from him before and sometimes, he has other things... you know..."

"Things that are so bloody dangerous, you would have to be crazy to touch them," said the old man bristling in a sudden burst of caution. Perhaps these could be traced back to Merlin. The paranoia that kept him safe during the Purge seeped into his old heart like a wave from the past. The fear must have shown in his eyes.

Merlin's gaze was immediately apologetic.

"They just look like worthless old drawings, Gaius. No one wants them or can understand them anyway! You said it yourself!"

The old man nodded silently, somewhat nonplussed to have his words come back to him.

"Things are a little better since Uther died," began Merlin cautiously. "No one asks as many questions. You know the trader, Yousef. He has never been anything but fair and reliable."

"It is still forbidden Merlin. Arthur is not his father, but the ban remains in place. Never forget you are in special peril..."

Merlin held his hand up in a unintentional imitation of Arthur, asking his mentors silence as he interrupted.

"This is an old argument, Gaius."

"This is an unfamiliar magic to me, Merlin, and very ancient. You are never cautious enough!" But Merlin only pocketed the stone with a jaunty grin and picked up the messy stack of sheets and made room for their meal on the table.

They sat down to eat, both of them still discussing the ancient texts in hushed tones, Gaius was just as excited as Merlin. They debated long into the night. In Merlin's small room they spread out the texts and Merlin used the stone. Gaius mastered it as well, but could not sustain reading as long as his ward, but he smiled deeply as he slid the stone along. His eyes were sharp as they finally packed away the Egyptian writings and the various groups of ancient texts Gaius had brought down from his library walls, into Merlin's well used hidey hole. Gaius felt an unease attack him even in the midst of the thrill of discovery that had caught him into a breathless inspection of the complicated texts. He looked up at Merlin once again, as they parted for the night, each to his bed.

"Be careful Merlin." The young warlock paused, his own magic senses stirring as he heard Gaius' simple words. He felt an almost precognitive shiver of dread race through him, but he smiled instead. He lay a comforting hand on the shoulder of his mentor.

But it was hard to sleep that night and for some strange reason the Runemark rose in his thoughts and refused to slip into the background. Even in his dreams.