Bleh!...I admit that I kinda hate this chapter. Probably because I suck at writing any form of action since I can never find right words to express myself so it feels like the chapter doesn't flow as well. Well, I hope you still like it more or less and since I haven't updated in few days this chapter is the longest chapter yet. Enjoy!~ And Happy 2013, everyone!

-Born to Die-

Four: The Task That Lies Ahead

[Merlin]

Dawn was breaking.

Merlin raised her head and looked to the slopes of snow around them, noting the shift in light through the blindingly white hills with a dull, weary gaze of chronic fatigue. She ran her hands over her face, cringing at the odd numbness of her skin.

Another nearly sleepless night.

She was used to having little to no sleep lately, her destiny resting so heavily upon her that she rarely ever got any rest anymore.

Wearily, she noticed that Mordred's cloak was still wrapped around her, banishing any thoughts about last being a dream straight from her head.

She cautiously unwrapped herself from the soft material, throwing it behind her so no one would notice that she wore it. It would certainly bring more bad than good if someone saw her wearing Mordred's cloak like it was her own.

Merlin shivered when cold air assaulted her, causing her to shudder while she watched everyone wake up and get ready for another day of travel. Arthur began stirring beside her and Merlin watched as he opened his eyes, blinking blearily. Once he realised where he was he immediately sat up, his posture defensive while he took in his surroundings.

"Morning," Merlin greeted quietly, keeping her eyes on Ragnor who was ordering his men around not far from them.

"I would say 'good morning' but it's not really a good morning, is it?" Arthur spoke before glancing at her, "You look terrible by the way."

Merlin rolled her eyes comically. "Thanks," she replied sarcastically.

"Ismere is less than a day away, we have to escape before we reach it," he stated, sounding serious, his eyes focused ahead of him.

Merlin pursed her lips together, eyes narrowing while she tried to think of a plan. For a moment she peeked at Mordred who was standing on the opposite side of the camp, getting ready to depart like everyone else. His eyes were guarded again, his perfectly composed mask back in place. Her eyes observed carefully as he attached his dagger to the belt wrapped around his waist. Her eyebrows drew together, and a small smirk appeared on her face before she turned her eyes to Ragnor again.

"I think I have a plan."

They travelled for another two hours before Merlin and Arthur began putting their escape plan into action.

They were tied to the wagon again, moving a little quicker than last night since Ragnor was clearly eager to reach Ismere as quickly as he could. Merlin kept her eyes straight ahead, mostly choosing to stare at Mordred's back who had casually picked up his cloak before they moved out and was wearing it again like nothing had happened.

Suddenly, Arthur stumbled before falling to his knees while the wagon dragged him along for few seconds.

"Stop!" she yelled. "He needs water."

She kneeled by Arthur's side, only looking up when Ragnor walked up to them. He walked past Mordred who was staring at them blankly, his expression veiled like before. However, his eyes sparked with something more intense when she looked up at him for a split second, their magic brushing against one another like usual.

Ragnor barely spared her a glance; instead focusing on Arthur who was still on the ground, "Get up!"

There was no answer, not even a twitch from the King, until Ragnor kicked Arthur painfully in the ribs. A groan of pain escaped his lips, and Merlin's fists clenched tightly, while she tried to remind herself that this was all a part of their plan and she could not interfere.

Ragnor, seemingly loosing his patience, roughly dragged Arthur back up onto his feet, grabbing the hold of his face tightly.

"Not so much of the great warrior now, are you?" he sneered, letting out a mocking snicker.

"Here. I'll help him," she cut in carefully, her expression composed as Ragnor pushed the King into her arms.

Ragnor sauntered off, jokingly punching few men on the way.

Merlin peered down at Arthur who looked up at her as well, giving her a short wink, his eyes moving down and Merlin spotted a knife he held in his hands, hidden from sight.

The wagon began moving again, forcing them to resume their walking, expect this time they walked with a chance of escape in their hands.

Merlin was tense even though she knew that Arthur was close to breaking free.

He scratched at the rope with the knife he stole, slowing wearing it down while they walked. Her body hurt, legs aching from having almost no rest last night as well as restless travel. Ragnor was relentless when it came to rest, and had ordered his men to beat anyone who tried to slow down the phase. Merlin sneered at the men that walked around them, controlling her anger so she wouldn't draw any attention to herself or Arthur. They would be free soon anyway.

A few minutes later, Arthur glanced up at her and gave her a curl nod letting her know that he was ready.

Merlin immediately prepared herself for her part. Ragnor had tied her to the main threshold of the wagon where the gates were. That meant that with one good pull it would completely collapse and give them a distraction big enough to escape.

She took a deep breath, and leaning forward allowed her rope to loosen a little before with a vicious jerk, she sent the gate crashing to the ground. The supplies inside the wagon fell with it, smashing and crumbling from the force of the fall.

Merlin had to control a victorious smirk that threatened to spread across her face, instead jumping to stand beside Arthur in a way that would allow her to cut the ropes that bounded her hands.

They stood back like everyone else, watching carefully as Ragnor lead his horse to see what caused the noise as well as the damage it had done.

"Who did this?" he snarled. "Who?"

Arthur motioned to her as she spoke up, "We need to rest."

Ragnor jeered at her, jaw clenched as he got off the horse and approached them, taking his sword from the sheath. "Right, you can rest forever!"

He swung, but Arthur was quicker, throwing a powerful punch to his face.

Merlin twisted around and eyes flashing amber, she send a horse galloping away from the battle, while Arthur tossed his knife at one of the guards with deadly accuracy. Merlin hurriedly snatched a battle-axe, and Arthur who was right behind her grabbed Excalibur and a crossbow before they took off without another word. A part of her felt horrible for leaving the rest of the innocent prisoners to face Ragnor's wrath, but she knew that there was nothing she could have done for them, even she couldn't save everyone.

It was a lesson she had learned a long time ago.

She and Arthur dashed through different hills and valleys for a few minutes before they reached a mighty canyon in the snow. It stretched deep into the earth, creating an endless, pitch-black abyss that appeared to be bottomless. She knew that if they fell in it, there would be no telling what was on the bottom or if they would reach it all before they were met with a certain death.

Arthur was silent for a second, and tossing his weapons over to the other side, gave her a look.

Merlin gulped silently, "You're joking," she breathed.

"Do you have a better solution?" he retorted almost teasingly. He ran back and jumped, skidding across the snow and turning to face her, gesturing for her to do the same.

"Come on, Merlin, we don't have all day. You'll be fine, just jump."

She looked back and saw slave drivers closing in on her. If she hesitated any longer they were bound to catch her. Sucking in a deep breath for confidence, she took few hesitant steps back before pushing all thoughts from her head and jumping across the massive gap in the earth.

Air rushed around her for few brief moments before she landed on her feet, hard, the ice cracking dangerously beneath her weight. Arthur was suddenly there, and grasping tightly onto her hand he hauled her up to safety. Quickly letting go of her, he pulled out a crossbow and started shooting the slaver drivers' dead so they won't cross over to their side.

Merlin tightened the hold on the battle-axe in her hands and moved ahead. "I'll make sure they can't get across," she explained briefly before she rushed towards the icy platform ahead.

She glided down the small hill and began hacking into the ice with her battle-axe. And then she felt him before she saw him. Mordred. The Druid boy, the one she was supposed to hate, yet didn't.

The boy who showed her kindness.

Her magic called out to his, and his welcomed hers, merging and weaving together pleasantly. Warm and soothing. She grimaced almost painfully, and with last push of strength, her eyes flashed before the ice began cracking and falling into black abyss below.

Merlin scooted back to Arthur, observing Mordred who stood on the other side of the gap.

He did nothing but stare back at them with an odd sort of look on his face; it wasn't frustration, or anger, or even revenge, but acceptance. And perhaps…dare she say it, satisfaction? She knew that what he did, chasing them, was purely a procedure, his expression told her. She briefly peered at Arthur who hesitated on pulling the trigger before finally lowering the crossbow to his side.

Mordred gave them one last look, his eyes warming slightly when they rested on her before he turned around and walked away without a backwards glance.

"Why spare his life?" she protested in frustration.

Arthur shot her a look. "He couldn't come after us," he defended.

Merlin sent him a glare. "He was leading us to our deaths," she argued fiercely.

"He showed us kindness," he countered, shutting her up like a slap across the face.

Merlin gaped soundlessly for a moment before shutting her mouth, letting it rest in a tight line. Arthur had no idea just how much kindness Mordred had really showed them, especially her.

"You should've killed him," she finally spoke, her voice now lacking the vicious vigour it held before.

"What is wrong with you?" Arthur asked in disbelief, clearly surprised by her bloodlust.

She huffed softly, turning away from Arthur but he grabbed her arm pulling her up with him. "Come on. We need to keep moving."

The fortress truly was terrifying. The tall, dark towers loomed ahead, a striking contrast to the fluffy white snow that surrounded it. Its daunting size and shadows made Merlin shiver, and for once it wasn't because of the cold. Morgana had no doubt picked out a perfect prison for her slaves and her Saxon army that were no doubt stationed beneath the looming fortress.

It was staring to get dark by the time they reached Ismere, and the falling snow was making the visibility worse, but it was still easy to see the tower in all of its sinister glory.

"You know what they say, Merlin – appearances can be deceiving," Arthur spoke while he walked ahead as if trying to reassure her, even though they both knew that was hopeless.

"Not in this case," she answered flatly, craning her neck to see the whole tower.

She didn't even have time to react when Arthur suddenly grabbed her and dragged her down, making her let out a startled gasp as he pulled her closer towards him. He immediately placed his hand on her mouth, and gestured with his head to look over the small rock that hid them.

She peered over the edge, immediately going rigid when she spotted Ragnor and his men moving up ahead. Mordred was with them and from the way his body was ever so slightly angled in her direction, she knew that he was aware of her presence.

"We'll never make it in there," she muttered with a sigh when Ragnor finally disappeared from their vision, and Arthur released her.

"There's always a way, Merlin," he replied with a slight smirk on his face.

They found themselves in a garbage shaft only minutes later. Merlin almost gagged at the smell as she crawled through the rotten gunk and leftover food, wishing she could have just waited outside and let Arthur go in himself. Arthur was behind her, snickering quietly to himself every time she made a wheezing or coughing sound. Luckily, because of the freezing temperature of Ismere, there were no flies to buzz around their faces and irritate her further.

"How did you talk me into this?" she growled under her breath, crawling up a few inches more.

"It's genius, Merlin," he assured her.

Then, there was a churning sound above her head from the gap in the shaft and a mound of food came plummeting down in front of her, splattering across her face and hair, leaving her breathless and disgusted.

"Genius," she hissed angrily, and grabbing some of the rotten vegetables threw it back at the smug King behind her. "I despise you! I sincerely hope you know that."

"You've got a bit of, um... carrot in your hair," he whispered simply, an amused grin on his face, motioning to a spot near her temple. "At least, I hope it's carrot," he added just to tease her more.

She grumbled irritably under her breath, making the king chuckle from behind her as they continued crawling up the shaft.

They finally made it above, both of them panting in relief as fresh air filled their lungs. Arthur recovered first moving silently to the 'window', which was basically just a square cut out of the castle wall. Below them was the courtyard where Saxons moved around, guarding the workers who were carrying different stones from a wagon that was connected to a track.

"Ready?" Arthur murmured.

She blinked in confusion. "For what?"

He grabbed their weapons and tugged her after him. "Our carriage awaits."

They managed to reach the wagon without much problem, quickly jumping in and covering themselves with a blanket before Saxons managed to spot them.

Merlin held her breath when she felt wagon begin moving down into the cave, the sound of iron hitting stone and the grunts of slaves reaching their ears.

The workers came to a stop before moving away from the wagon, giving Arthur and Merlin a perfect chance to escape as they both quickly jumped out of the wagon. They moved swiftly through different tunnels, trying to blend in the shadows and go unseen by the guards.

"This place is crawling with Saxons," she groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose in agitation.

Arthur nodded his head while he peered at the tunnel ahead, "Then we'd better make sure we blend in better," he suggested calmly before he jumped to his feet and rushed off before another word could be said.

The first knight they found was Percival much to Merlin's relief. She always had a soft spot for Percival who was always incredibly kind to her and never failed to make her smile when she was upset. She considered him to be one of her dearest friends and was unable to hide her relief in seeing him relatively unharmed.

For a moment Percival looked shocked to see them there, before he grinned happily, and patted Arthur on the shoulder giving Merlin a strong hug afterwards.

"Didn't think we'd leave you here, did you?" Arthur asked with a wide grin. "Where are the others?"

"They're... scattered around," he answered with a grimace.

"Gwaine?" she questioned hopefully, thinking back on the witty knight.

Percival shrugged, face dropping when he looked at her expectant face. "Saw him a couple of days ago, but..."

"See if you can use it to find some more," Arthur ordered, handing him his broadsword with a stiff, quick smile.

"Arthur," her hands tugged on the bottom of his tunic as she noticed a few Saxons in the distance heading their way, whipping and spitting orders at the slaves. He nodded, and squeezed Percival's shoulders.

"Do what you can to free the others," he announced abruptly, "We'll find Gwaine."

Percival gave them a hurried nod and they both ran off without another word.

Merlin never expected to see Aithusa again. Not like this at least.

After finally finding Gwaine deep within the caves, guarded by strange creature that practically reeked of power and wisdom, they moved out to find Percival and the rest of the knights. It was then when they heard a roar of a dragon as it proceeded to chase them down and attack them.

She knew that Arthur was not pleased with her running off again, but the odd feeling of familiarity made Merlin go after the dragon after they managed to evade it.

It did not take long to find it, and the realisation who the dragon was came shortly after.

Aithusa was once beautiful and healthy with strong muscle and strong limbs, but now there was nothing but a shadow left. The once stunning creature was now horribly deformed, mutilated by something, whether it was loss of food or perhaps torture.

Merlin felt like her heart was about to crawl up her throat as tears stung her vision. Aithusa had always been hers. But what was she doing with Morgana of all people, and more importantly what had she done to her beloved dragon?

"Aithusa," she croaked, her voice slightly hoarse.

The dragon bowed her head low, her damaged and ragged claws digging into the earth when with a snarl she breathed fire at Merlin who deflected it easily.

"Nun de ge dei s'eikein kai emois epe'essin hepesthai!

Aithusa instantly backed away, whimpering softly at its true master's order. To a dragon, Dragontamer's command was law, and the dragon backed away submissively, accepting defeat. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

Aithusa raised her head before a series of grumbles seem to fill the air, it was almost as she was trying to reply but couldn't do it. Kilgharrah spoke perfect English, his words smooth and clear, but Aithusa's words were jumbled and incoherent.

"What does that mean?" she whispered, moving slightly in front as if to touch the dragon, but Aithusa shook her head edging backwards. "You can't speak," she muttered in realisation.

"Merlin!"

Merlin jerked her head to the right, hearing Arthur's shout in the distance. She quickly glanced back at Aithusa who was looking in the same direction then back at her.

"Go!" she ordered hurriedly. She didn't want to leave her dragon, but there was nothing she could do right now. Aithusa made a sound again, shaking her head in refusal. She was clearly trying to tell her something, but she didn't have enough time to hear the dragon out. "Ithi!"

Aithusa ran away, leaving a shaken Merlin behind. The idea of someone torturing such a majestic creature made Merlin feel sick. Was it Morgana's fault, she wondered. Had she tortured Aithusa into submission?

Finally composing herself, Merlin jumped to her feet realising that there was no way to know for sure just yet. Instead she hurried to find Arthur.

He clearly didn't listen to her like always, choosing to ignore her orders and do whatever he saw fit.

She searched seemingly endlessly for him, not finding a single trance of his whereabouts. Just when worry began flooding her system, she heard voices ahead. "What happened to you, Morgana? As a child, you were so kind, so compassionate..."

"I grew up."

A small gasp escaped Merlin's lips as she dashed forward, following the sound of voices.

"You are right to cower before my hand," she heard Morgana say smugly, "I am more powerful than you can imagine."

"And yet with all that, you choose to do nothing but hate!"

"Uther taught me well," Morgana's voice flowed like poisoned nectar, soft yet deadly. "Goodbye, Arthur Pendragon."

Merlin gasped for air, her lungs burning as she screamed, "Arthur!"

She could feel Morgana's dark and twisted magic ahead – and much to her surprise, Mordred's warm and welcoming magic as well – as it filled her lungs with each breath she took. She hoped that her scream would distract Morgana long enough for her to get there.

Merlin flew into the chamber they all stood, but before she could do anything, she was thrown back by an invisible force, causing her to sail through the air and crash painfully against the stone wall.

She slumped against the rock, her vision blurring and ears buzzing as she tried to regain her senses.

Then, she felt something. There was a burst of emotion that suddenly assaulted her senses, making her let out a low whine as she clenched her teeth together.

It was so strong; different emotions wrapping around her like second skin, momentarily choking her. They were so vigorous, so blinding, Merlin collapsed back onto the rock, clutching at her chest.

She could only pick out two emotions from the mix, two that were the strongest:

Anger and Hate.

"Morgana…Please…"

"Don't speak, dear brother," she mocked. "It's too late. Hine–" she suddenly stopped mid-word, letting out a pained cry.

The overwhelming feeling of emotions was suddenly gone, allowing Merlin to take a much-needed breath of air and see what was happing in front of her.

Mordred stood behind Morgana, a solemn kind of determination on his face, the same dagger she saw him putting on his belt this morning now stuck in Morgan's back as she turned to look into his blazing eyes. "Mordred?"

Mordred pulled the dagger out and left Morgana to collapse on the ground, defenceless.

He didn't look at her, only wrapped Arthur's arm around his shoulder and helped him out of the cave, even though Merlin could feel his magic soothing her long after he was gone. She groaned and weakly tried to call out to him, but not a sound left her parched mouth. Admitting defeat to herself, she returned to the rock and rest against it, her breathing going back to normal. Morgana was but a few feet away, though she did not move once.

After a while, Merlin took a gasping breath, and tried to push herself up with her hands, but found her strength diminished by the blow she gained from smashing her head against the cold stone.

With that, she closed her eyes, and with a weak whimper, allowed darkness to take over completely.

AN: Yeah... that wasn't very good, was it? My apologies. I admit that I wrote this one go, simply because I'm going to be so busy the next few days, so I won't be able to update. The next chapter is going to be the final part of Arthur's Bane Part II, before we move onto third episode that's going to be just a bit different! ;)

Also as per usual, thank you very much for the lovely feedback, everyone! I love hearing from you guys, it warms my heart each time I see a new review. ^^

A special shout out to:

Osireia: My dear, you are SO perspective! You manage to spot ALL the little hints I drop whether they're intentional or not. It also makes me feel like you read the entire "chapter" as in all of my ANs as well, which is important because while I like to babble, I also often leave hints about the future and plans for this story, so thank you very much for spotting them!

Lady Slytherin of Camelot: Thank you very much for the lovely reviews you always leave me! And I'm sure "Merlin" and I can have a talk and arrange something about letting you have Mordred/Alexander for few days! ^^ Also, please, don't be disheartened when I said I won't rush romance. Since, while that may be true, that doesn't mean you won't get plenty of *ehem* compromising scenes as well as some sexual tension between those two. In fact, it's my personal goal to make you all squirm with tension each time they have a scene together. xD

Next Chapter: We Lie Best When We Lie to Ourselves - Mordred's POV (yay!), journey back to Camelot, Mordred's knighting ceremony, as well as a super, duper, magically-special, amazing and-every-other-positive-and-exciting-adjective-in-the-dictionary Merlin/Mordred scene.

Regards.

A.