She hears the call almost as if it is mere meters from her. She raises her head from the paper, her quill hovering above it as she tries to listen better.

She hears nothing. She had probably imagined his voice. She hasn't seen him for over a year now. The only time she came visit, she was told he had left the village. His mother refused to say where he went to.

Her hand starts moving again, pouring her knowledge onto the dull page. She doesn't write much before she hears his voice again, and this time she is sure she doesn't imagine. It's like a faint whispering, making the inside of her ear itching.

She gets up and walks outside the cabin. The water in the stone bowl is already spinning inside it. When she takes her place beside It, everything stops moving, creating a straight surface

A scene reveals itself to her eyes - a young man wearing armor. He is blonde, and for a short moment she can see his eyes; blue and clear like the sky in a summer day.

The picture fades away, leaving her with the image of the blonde. He was hurt, she knew. He was bleeding.

She turns around and goes back into the cabin she has been using in the last few days. A sigh escapes her lips as she takes her place again and continues writing. She knows thinking about what she had seen isn't a good idea. The man will show up or he won't show up. If he does then she will do what she finds right. No need to wonder about it.

When she decides to stop for the day she stands up and stares at the small mirror on the wall. She hardly recognizes herself. It takes her a long moment to realize that the only thing that has changed about her is her eyes. "Merlin," she whispers. She misses him a lot.

~8~

The last thing Arthur Pendragon sees before passing out is his manservant, Merlin, undressing him as quick as possible and wearing his clothes. He wants to say something, because it isn't right, but then he loses consciousness.

When he wakes up he finds himself lying under a tree's trunk. There is a noise next to his head and he turns it to see what its source is. A squirrel runs away from there and makes its way up another tree.

He sits up and his back immediately feels like it's about to rip in two. Flashbacks of what happened before he blacked out come back to him. They were attacked on their way back to Camelot after a three-days hunting trip. He was doing well until something hit his back. From what Merlin said he figured it was a sword, and that explained the awful pain he felt now and the smell of blood.

Merlin grabbed him, he remembered, and took his clothes from him. Arthur looks down at himself. He is wearing Merlin clothes, and he can't not to laugh seeing how much they don't fit him.

Then he stops and thinks about his situation. Merlin obviously disguised him as a regular person, and Arthur thinks his servant might wore his clothes and pretended to be him. He needs to see if Merlin's alive and if he is he must rescue him. But when he stands up he realizes he can't do it - if his back isn't treated soon he will die, and he doesn't even have his sword.

He doesn't even know where he is, but he can't wait there for his death, so he just decides to go the easiest path. His back hurts with every movement and he doesn't even know where he is headed to, but he doesn't stop. He won't die like a weak guy waiting for death to take him as he lies down and cries.

He doesn't know how long he is walking, but after what seems like forever he sees a cabin. The grass around it is high, telling him no one has been taking care of the place recently and there isn't smoke coming out the chimney, but he couldn't go on even if he tried.

Finding last energy to speak, he calls "hello" as loud as he can, and then he falls down to the ground. The door of the cabin opens but he can't see the person coming out of it. He feels gentle hands on his shoulders and then on his wounded back. And then he isn't there anymore; he is deep in the darkness.

~8~

He keeps waking up and drifting back to sleep. When he is awake he can't really see anything or move at all, but he feels the pain so he knows he is awake. Most of the time he appreciates the pain because it makes him sure he is still alive, but sometimes when he wakes from the painless sleep and feel his back burning he wishes he die.

His dreams are good. He is the crown hall in the castle, but his father is much younger and Morgana is a mere child. He knows he is a child too. A woman sits next to his father as Arthur the kid plays with Morgana, running around the room and the chairs and laughing. When he falls the woman laughs and gets up from her seat to pick him up. "Arthur," she says, "you need to be more careful. One day you'll be a king."

He reaches out to touch her long, curly hair, and pulls it. The woman laughs as she frees her hair from his hold. His father says from his place, "Arthur, don't hurt your mother."

His mother. Ygraine.

He wakes up again. He is in pain.

In the next dream he is with his mother, alone. He is not a child anymore, but he cries. He has never cried before. His mother hugs him and hums quietly. Her hand runs through his hair again and again and again. He relaxes in the end. He doesn't know what has made him cry, but it's gone. Everything is alright because his mother is there with him, watching over him.

~8~

"So, you're finally awake?"

When he opens his eyes he doesn't close them back. He blinks, getting used to the light. He wonders how the woman who sat at the table in the small room knew he was really awake this time, but then he guessed she might have asked that every time he woke up.

He tries to sit up and groans at the pain. The woman emerges from her chair and lays her hands on him, bringing him back to lie down. "You're severely wounded, you should not get up."

"Where am I?" he asks. He voice is hoarse from not being used.

"We are in the Forest of Escetir, two days ride from Camelot." And then, before he has a chance to ask more, she adds, "You were sleeping - and waking up occasionally - for eight days. Your back had been cut with a sword from your left shoulder blade to a place around the middle of it."

"You treated me?"

She nods. "It is a miracle you're still alive. I don't know where you got the strength to keep walking from, but everyone else would have probably died."

She takes back her sit, and now that she is standing not too close and he isn't trying to get up, he has the chance to examine her with his eyes.

Her hair is dark brown, and it frames her rounded face and going down her neck and shoulders and then ends on her shoulder blades. Freckles cover her face, sticking out on the pale skin, her lips are stretched in a small smile, and she is wearing a simple brown tunic which looks suitable for a life in a forest, but, he notices with surprise, reveals her arms completely.

Their eyes meet and Arthur can't stop himself from flinching a little. Her smile doesn't reach her honey colored eyes, which look sad and… lonely, as much as it may sound weird. She looks as if she has seen so many horrors and so much evil in her life.