Teach Me

Chapter 6

Merlin leaned over to catch his breath, placing his hands on his knees. Morgana and the boy soon did the same, both exhausted from running.

They had been running from Camelot all night and had only just stopped to take a break. Morgana looked at the boy and set her hand on his shoulder, "are you doing alright? How's your wound?" she asked him, worriedly.

The boy gave her a slight smile and nodded. She smiled back and then walked over to Merlin, "he still hasn't said a word."

Merlin sat down on a log and motioned for her to join him, "I know, maybe he just doesn't like speaking." He wanted to tell her that the boy had spoken to him in his mind, but he was pretty sure that the boy could only communicate with him through magic.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Morgana with his secret, of course he trusted her, he just didn't want her to slip up at some point and say the wrong thing. One wrong word and he could be executed.

"How much farther are we going tonight?" she inquired.

"I think we're far enough away now that we can rest without having to worry about being caught. I could try and find us some shelter if you'd like, my lady."

She smiled and waved her hand, "please, just Morgana is fine. And yes, shelter would be lovely. Would you like me to help you look?"

He shook his head, "no it quite alright, I'll build you two a fire and you both can stay here. If I don't find anything within the hour then we'll just sleep under the stars on the blankets I packed for us."

She nodded and smiled, "thank you, Merlin."

He stood up from the log and walked away towards a spot where he could light a fire and not have Morgana see him use magic. He grabbed a pile of sticks and arranged them in a tee-pee like shape. He raised his hand a few inches above the wood and whispered, "Urulóki valdra." His eyes flashed gold and the wood instantly burst into flame. He smiled and walked back to where Morgana and the boy were sitting, "I built you a fire and I laid out a few blankets while you wait for me."

Morgana stood up and thanked him, taking the boy's hand and escorting him to the fire.

Merlin looked straight ahead for any signs of a good shelter. He decided to just start walking and once he felt like he had been gone for a long while, he would return back to camp, even if he was empty-handed.

He searched for about half-an-hour before returning back and walking another half-an-hour back to their small camp. When he returned, he was met with the sight of the Morgana fast asleep with her arms around the boy, who was also sleeping peacefully against her. He smiled at them and brought one of his blankets over to them and laid it over them.

Morgana slowly opened her eyes, "did you find anything?"

Merlin slightly jumped, not expecting her to be awake, "sorry to disappoint m'la- Morgana. I'm afraid there was nothing."

"Well that's alright, I'm sure we'll manage," she said sleepily and ended with a yawn.

Merlin nodded, "sleep well."

* * *

Morgana woke up to the sound of a crackling fire. She slowly opened one eye and watched as the flames and sparks seemed to dance up into the sky. She sat up and took in the smell of food.

"Smells delicious," she remarked.

Merlin looked up at her, "did you sleep well?"

She smiled excitedly, "for once, no nightmares!"

"That's very good. I made breakfast," he said, "I'm afraid it's not much. I caught a rabbit earlier and cooked it, so we have that, and I took some bread and fruit with me when we left Camelot."

She shook her head, "nonsense, it smells delicious, I'm sure it will taste just as good."

He shrugged his shoulders, "well here's to hoping."

He handed her a third of what he had cooked and she ate it quickly. He gave another third of the food to the boy, who was just starting to wake up. He kept the last of it for himself, surprised that it actually didn't taste terrible.

"Thank you," the little boy said quietly.

Merlin and Morgana turned to him. "So you can speak," Morgana teased lightly. The little boy nodded. "Do you have a name? We can't just keep calling you, 'the boy.'"

"Mordred," he said in a whisper.

"Well it's very lovely to meet you, Mordred," Merlin said with a smile, "you live with the Druids, correct?" Mordred nodded. "We're just a few hours from your home, then. We'll be there by the end of the day."

Mordred smiled up at him, "thank you."

Merlin nodded and splashed some water on the fire, putting it out. "I think it's about time we started to walk again if we want to get there by the end of the day."

Morgana took Mordred's hand and helped him up and the three set off into the woods.