Boy From The Woods

The Demonstration

"If we're going to get Merlin out it has to be during a time when he's not under Gailyn's enchantment. None of us have any idea how to lift it and carrying a limp body around will make it much harder to escape."

"I've occasionally been ordered to bring Merlin food. During that time Gailyn always lift the enchantment so he can eat."

Arthur paced thoughtfully. "Are there specific times you go down?"

Gwen shook her head. "It's very unpredictable. We would have to wait."

"Toby can't afford to wait," said Morgana. 

"Also," Gaius began. "The demonstration is going to take place within the hour. After this Cenred and his men will have no reason to stay. I'm afraid you have even less time then you think you do."

"The demonstration..." the prince thought aloud. "The enchantment will have to be lifted for Merlin to perform magic."

"True..." Gaius answered. "But you're forgetting this would best be done in secret. Not only do you need to have time to get out of the citadel, you need to have time to come here first. If you take Merlin from the middle of the demonstration you'll have the whole of Camelot pounding on my door."

"You're right, Gaius."

"But what other time is there?" Gwen asked, urgently. "If the demonstration begins within the hour and Merlin leaves right after, we don't have any other choice."

"Guinevere is also right. We must get him out now. Since bringing him here might give us no method of escape... maybe we shouldn't bring him here."

Morgana stood. "I'm not  aiding you in this mission if you don't intend to cure Toby!"

"Of course that's not what I'm suggesting! What if we move Toby somewhere that would make it easier for Merlin to heal him on the way out. Somewhere they wouldn't expect us to go."

"Yes!" Gwen said. "We could bring him to my house. That way Merlin could heal him on his way out of the city."

"Are you sure?" Arthur asked, hesitantly. "I don't want to put you in that kind of danger. If my father found out..."

"Well then he'd better not find out," she responded.

Arthur nodded in understanding. "We can prepare some previsions to store in your house."

"That's something I can take care of," Gwen added. 

"Good. If we manage to make it to your house undetected, Merlin can stay there for a while before it's safe to get him out."

"But how are we going to get him there in the first place? Aren't you forgetting this demonstration will be in front of the high court? Are you just going to snatch him from under Cenred's nose?" Arthur didn't have an immediate response to the old man's words. "Arthur, if there's one thing you shouldn't do, it's underestimate Gailyn. I thought I recognized his name, so I did some research. He's a known sorcerer, Arthur, famous for his spells of manipulating the human mind. I wouldn't like my odds if we were forced to fight."

Arthur bit his lip. "Well... then we'll need to be very discrete about this." As the words tumbled out of Arthur's mouth, he knew what he was proposing was impossible. There was no way to be discrete. When Merlin wasn't under the enchantment he was followed closely by Gailyn's watchful eye. Taking Merlin without him noticing would be impossible. "Maybe being discrete isn't the answer," Arthur proposed. "I don't think there's a way to make this completely clean which means what we need to do is make it as noticeable as possible."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked, curiously. 

"I mean, we need some sort of diversion. We only need everyone to be confused for a moment. In that moment we can make a break for it, get Merlin to your house before they begin a search."