Merlin and Gwen both had dark circles under their eyes as they both walked up the steps towards the castle. They had been up all night after Gwen's nightmare because Gwen was too afraid to go back to sleep, and Merlin couldn't blame her. He had stayed up with her the rest of the night while she talked to him about the events that had taken place at the castle and then the details concerning the nightmare, including how she had seen the mark on the enchantress's wrist when she had pulled it away from her chest. Gwen had struggled at times as she recounted her tale, but Merlin was always there to comfort her whenever it appeared too difficult for her to continue.

He had tried to get Gwen to stay in for the day to recover from the previous night, telling her that he would tell Morgana that she was not feeling well, but Gwen refused. She had insisted that she would go in as usual, though she would have to wear her red dress considering her purple dress still had been ruined. Even though she was exhausted, she was still too afraid to go to sleep, and she thought that working would be the best way for her to be able to stay awake and occupy her mind with other things. Besides, every servant was needed because the Calan Gaeaf Feast that would be taking place that night, and there was no rest for the weary. She had tried to smile and tell Merlin that she would be all right, but he knew better. Even when faced with a threat, he knew that she just did not want to be a burden to anyone, not that he would ever consider her a burden.

He led her up the steps that she had run down the previous night. He could hear her breath become jagged behind him as they walked up, no doubt from the memory of how she had been chased the last time she had been there. When he reached the top of the steps, he paused, waiting for her to join him. It was as he was watching her approach that he noticed that her hand was covering the red fabric of her older dress that was concealing the enchantress's mark. She seemed to be groping it as though it was causing her pain.

“Is it hurting you?” he questioned as she stopped in front of him, knowing that she would know to what 'it' he was referring to.

Gwen looked up at him with confusion before she looked down and dropped her hand swiftly as if she had been unaware that she had been covering it all. “No,” she then answered quickly. “No, it's not hurting me.”

Resisting the urge to frown at her, Merlin nodded. “Right, well, if it does, be sure to find Gaius or me,” he stated. “Hopefully Gaius will be able to find out who the symbol belongs to so we can find out why this is happening to you. Until then, you should stick with Morgana at all times. You shouldn't be alone.”

Gwen gave him a sincere smile as she reached out and gently squeezed his hand in her own. “Thank you for being so concerned for me, Merlin, but I really will be fine,” she said softly as she looked up into his brown eyes. “With you and Gaius on my side, I know that everything will turn out okay.”

“Arthur's on your side, too, Gwen,” Merlin commented, watching her face closely for her reaction.

Gwen's face remained neutral as she stared back. “Arthur shouldn't have to worry about this. He has other things that he should concern himself with, not me,” she replied solemnly.

She managed to hide any and all emotion from her face, but even as she spoke those words, she suddenly felt a tingling in the mark at her breast. She almost reached up to it again, but she resisted the urge because she knew that if Merlin was watching her closely, he would most likely drag her back to Gaius's, even if she kicked and screamed.

“He cares for you, you know,” Merlin said quietly, his eyes suddenly averted to the ground. “Maybe the two of you should talk about...this...thing between the two of you.”

“There's nothing to talk about, Merlin,” Gwen snapped, her weariness making her generally fair temperance somewhat lessened. “He's the prince of Camelot, the future king while I'm just a servant. There's no point in talking because there's nothing that can ever come of this. He's even said so himself so what good would talking about it do but make it even more difficult than it already is to accept the inevitable.”

“Yeah, but if-”

“We should really be going,” Gwen cut in, evading his response as she turned her face to hide the blush that was rising to her cheeks. “Morgana should be waking up soon, and she'll need me to help her get ready for the morning.” She turned and headed for Morgana's door, Merlin following close behind.

She waited for him as she reached the door, an apologetic smile on her face as she looked up at him. She felt bad that she had been miffed with him when he had only tried to help. She hated that the recent events had made her so short-tempered and snappy with him when she would never have gotten so angry so fast with him before.

“I'm so sorry,” she said as he stood in front of her. “I know that you're just trying to help, Merlin, but I really just don't want to talk about...him,” she said, her heart already beating a little faster. “I already feel like I can see and hear him everywhere. I just don't...I don't want to talk about it.”

Merlin was about to open his mouth to say something more when he suddenly paused at the sound of raised voices coming from the other side of Morgana's door. He could distinctly hear Morgana saying, 'What were you thinking?' followed closely by the all-too-familiar voice of his master, 'Well, what was I supposed to do? He has already tried to make me marry two women already, and they've both been failures. I wasn't just going to stand back and let him try and pair me up with another princess.'

Merlin looked down at Gwen with his eyebrows furrowed. “I don't think it's just you,” he whispered. “I swear that I hear Arthur's voice, too,” he then said, puzzled.

Gwen placed her finger to her lips to silence him as she continued to listen to the voices as they continued to speak.

'You're hiding something, Arthur Pendragon,' they heard Morgana suddenly say. 'Why would you object so strongly to even meeting the woman unless...' she suddenly paused before she continued with: 'there was someone else you have your eyes on!'

'Drop it, Morgana, I don't want to talk about this!” Arthur snapped.

'Then, there is someone!” Morgana cried out.

'Morgana...” Arthur said warningly.

'Who is she, Arthur?' Morgana continued to demand. 'Is she common? Is that why you are hiding her? Is she the same woman that the guards saw you carrying around the castle last night? Is this why your father wants to marry you off now?'

“Morgana! Enough!' Arthur yelled, causing both Merlin and Gwen to jump at the harshness in his voice. They could hear Morgana's gasp through the wood, which angered Gwen a little considering that she disliked her friend being talked to in such away.

They both heard Arthur sigh before they heard him speak again. 'Look, I'm sorry,' he said quietly. 'I don't mean to snap, but I don't want to talk about her-it...I mean it.'

'I knew it!' Morgana cried out triumphantly, but it was followed by silence, no doubt due to Arthur brooding about his secret being somewhat revealed.

'Arthur, you know that I'm here to listen to you if you need to talk,' Morgana then said slowly, her voice a little uncertain. 'But, maybe...if you won't speak to me...you should speak to her.”

'And how am I supposed to do that? I don't even know if she feels the same about me anymore. She deserves someone who can openly show her how much he cares, and I can't do that! Father would never allow me to be with her, and if I ever tried to, Father would most likely harm her in some way, and I could never live with that.'

Gwen closed her eyes as she once again placed her hand on the hidden mark that suddenly seemed to be now flaming on her chest. She could feel tears in her eyes, but she blinked them away as she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the door. She could feel Merlin's worried-filled eyes on her, but she didn't dare to look at him for fear that she wouldn't be able to control the tears that were already threatening to fall.

'You sound like you care about her a lot,' Morgana said solemnly. 'I don't think I've ever seen you like this with anyone...or anything before. She must be truly special.'

'Please...Please, do not push this any further, Morgana. I don't wish to discuss her anymore,' Arthur said sullenly.

'Fine, I'll stop asking you about her, but I do want to know what you plan on telling your father about Ophelia.'

There was a moment of silence where Gwen and Merlin were both holding their breaths, waiting for a response. Unfortunately when someone spoke again, it was Morgana, though she was slowly pushing for an answer from him.

'What are you going to do, Arthur?' the king's ward questioned the prince once again. 'He wants to announce your possible engagement at the feast. He nearly threw you in the dungeons this morning for your refusal. If you refuse him again, he might actually throw you in there or just force you into marrying her. What would you do then?'

'I don't know what to do! There's only one option that I can choose, but I still don't want to choose it even if it would make Father happy. Everything is just so...so confusing!' Arthur cried out in a tone filled with a mixture of sorrow and anger that struck Gwen in the core, knowing that he was feeling pain on her behalf. 'With everything that's happening...it makes me almost wish that I had never met her...'

Gwen couldn't bear to listen to another word, both mentally as well as physically as she suddenly felt like the mark was setting her entire body on fire. She knew that the 'her' he was speaking of was her, and before she could stop herself, she cried out in pain, hunching over as she pressed both of her hands to her heart that suddenly felt as though it were exploding in her chest. Backing away from the door, she pressed her back against the opposite wall of the corridor, hunching over herself with both of her hands still pressed to her breast. Merlin was immediately at her side as the door of the the room opened, revealing Morgana and Arthur in the doorway-both looking at the two servants with frowns and confused expressions.

Morgana, upon seeing Gwen in pain, quickly ran to her friend's side, her pale face filled with worry. “Gwen? Gwen! What's the matter? What happened? Are you hurt?”

“It's the m-” Merlin began but was immediately cut off.

“It's nothing!” Gwen suddenly cried out. She shot him a pleading look, silently begging him not to tell them the truth of her condition before she looked up into her mistress's face. “I mean...I just wasn't feeling well, and Merlin tried to tell me that I should stay home, but I thought that you would need me for the preparations for tonight, so I came anyway, and I-”

Morgana reached up and cupped Gwen's flaming cheek with her hand, ending the handmaiden's babbling. The worry, however, was still evident in her pale eyes. “Gwen, you're burning up!” she exclaimed as she nearly pulled her hand away at the heat that she felt against her palm from her handmaiden's cheek. “Merlin was right. You should have stayed home, but now, I want you to go see Gaius, right now. I fear that you may need more than rest. You will go to him, won't you?”

“Yes, my lady,” Gwen said quietly, averting her eyes to the ground to avoid the eyes of the one who still stood in the doorway. “I'm sorry about all of this-”

“Gwen, this was completely out of your hands. You can't help that you feel unwell,” Morgana said softly as she continued to gaze down into Gwen's face with her hand still pressed to her dusky cheek. “You look tired. Promise me that you'll rest.”

Nodding her head, a ghost of a smile touched Gwen's lips. “Thank you, my lady. I will.”

Turning around quickly, Gwen curtseyed curtly to both Morgana and Arthur before heading towards the stairs, her hand still pressed to her chest the entire time. She ran down the stairs almost as quickly as she had the previous night, despite the tenderness of her ankle. She nearly stumbled at the bottom again, but she stayed on her feet this time, though she had to pause to catch her breath as she leaned against the wall.

The mark was no longer unbearable, the pain slowly ebbing away as she caught her breath. It seemed that the more space she placed between Arthur and herself, the more the pain from the mark lessened. She didn't know what to make of that.

As she continued to regain her breath, she suddenly felt a gentle hand on her arm that nearly made her cry out, but looking up, she was relieved to see that it was just Merlin looking upon her with concern.

“Arthur said that it was all right for me to take you back to Gaius's,” he said quietly. “He wants to make sure that you make it there, all right. We both don't want you to be alone.”

Smiling up at him, Gwen slowly shook her head. “I'll be fine, Merlin, it was just a little tingle,” she lied as she continued to place her hand over the cloth of her dress that covered the mark. She averted her eyes. “I'll be all right, I swear. There's plenty of people and daylight around, so I don't think that she'll come for me now. You don't have to hold my hand...Not that you would hold my hand...I mean, you don't need to hold it...I mean-”

“I know what you mean, Gwen,” Merlin said gently as he grinned down at her flushed face. He then grew serious once again. “Are you sure that you'll be fine going by yourself? I wouldn't mind taking you; in fact, I wouldn't mind getting away from Arthur for a while.”

“As much as I would be happy to help you, Merlin, I really will be fine, and I think the walk alone will help me clear my head,” she answered gently. She paused as she heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and she knew that it would be Arthur. “Please, don't tell him about what happened last night,” she then pleaded quickly to Merlin as she looked up into the direction of the stairwell. “I don't want him to worry about this when he already has so much to think about. I'd rather we just keep it between Gaius, you and me.”

Merlin frowned. “But he would want to know, Gwen. He was really concerned for you last night after he brought you-”

“Please, Merlin, I'm begging you as your friend, not to tell him. I really don't want him to worry anymore about me. He doesn't need this, right now,” Gwen pleaded again. She looked up as the steps grew louder. “I have to go, but please, Merlin...” she trailed off as her eyes spoke the rest, don't get him involved.

She turned and started off. Merlin watched, silently, as Gwen practically ran down the corridor, disappearing around the corner just as Arthur exited the stairway, looking at him with confusion.

“I thought that you were going to be taking Guinevere back to Gaius's,” Arthur, said as he looked around as if expecting Gwen to suddenly appear out of a nook or crack. “Why are you here but she isn't?”

“She wanted to go alone, and considering that there is a lot of daylight and there are a lot of people around, I thought that she would be fine,” Merlin said solemnly, turning his back towards the prince. He found himself somewhat disappointed in Arthur for saying what he did about wishing that he had never met Gwen. He knew that, more than anything, was the reason why Gwen wanted to be alone.

Arthur, no doubt sensing the coldness from Merlin, looked at his manservant solemnly. “How much did the two of you hear back there?” he asked quietly.

Merlin huffed. “She heard enough to know that you wish that you hadn't ever met her,” he stated, looking at Arthur over his shoulder.

Arthur ran his hand over his nose and mouth, down to his chin- frustration evident in his eyes. He began to pace back and forth across the width of the corridor, his hand still on his chin as though he were deep in thought. After a moment, however, he stopped and faced Merlin.

“How can she be upset at me for saying that when she was the one who was making eyes at Lancelot after we rescued them?” Arthur cried out, the irritation of the situation laced in his tone.

“Well, I'm sure Lancelot would never say something that would make him look like such an ass,” Merlin said lowly, his arms folded as he turned his body to face Arthur's. He was getting angry, and it was because Arthur was being a prat again, while one of his closest friends was suffering. “As far as I can tell, you are only man here making her life more difficult when she already had problems of her own. Yet, she still cares enough for you not to want to burden you with her problems even though her problems include the inability to sleep because evil enchantresses will most likely attack her in her dreams!”

Arthur's brows furrowed, as confusion took the place of irritation. “What are you talking about Merlin? What evil enchantress?” he questioned. He then grew more concerned. “What happened last night?”

Merlin really wanted to bite his tongue at his mad rant, considering that he had done the one thing that Gwen had begged him not to, which was tell Arthur about her predicament. Grinding his teeth, he closed his eyes, silently rebuking himself for failing her even though he had thought her request somewhat absurd considering that there was no point hiding anything from Arthur because he could just order it out of him, anyway. Opening, his eyes, he found Arthur right in front of him, looking at him impatiently as he expected an answer.

“Gwen told me that she didn't want you involved with what's happening to her,” Merlin said, defeated, knowing what was going to come next.

“Merlin, if you don't tell me what happened last night to Guinevere after I left her in your care, I'm going to send you to the stocks for a week!” Arthur barked. “Out with it. Now!”

Even though he would have willingly gone to the stocks for Gwen on a number of occasions, Merlin could see by the anxiety in his royal friend's face that this was not going to be one of those times. Sighing heavily, he recounted the events that had occurred the previous nights such as: hearing Gwen screaming and not being able to wake her up, shaking her awake and having her tell Gaius and him about the nightmare, and Gaius finding the mark on her chest and telling him what it was, which he ended up revealing to Gwen. He almost stopped when he was describing the way Gwen had been afraid to fall asleep even with the droughts Gaius offered because of how he noticed how Arthur's hands had suddenly clenched into fists, but Arthur remained silent as Merlin finished with how she had refused to stay with Gaius that morning. The next thing Merlin knew, however, he was suddenly chasing after Arthur who was walking rather quickly in the same direction in which Gwen had disappeared moments before.

“Sire? Where exactly are we going?” Merlin questioned as he found himself struggling to keep up.

“We're going to see Gaius to inquire on whether or not he has found out who the symbol belongs to, and if he has, then we're going to find them so that I may run my sword through them,” Arthur called back over his shoulder, nonchalantly, though Merlin could sense the fury that was the underlying tone.

Though he was having difficulties catching him, Merlin managed to gather up enough energy to make a dash forward so that he could cut off the young prince at the top of the stairs that led down to the courtyard.

“No, no, that's not a good idea,” he said objectionably through his heavy breaths. “First of all, Gwen doesn't want you to be concerned, and if she finds out that I concerned you with her, she will be very upset with me. Second of all, Gaius said that the enchantresses were very powerful magic-wielders, more powerful than the sorcerers we-you've dealt with before. Ramming a sword through the enchantress's chest is not going to be so simple. And finally, you really do have to figure out what to tell your father tonight about Ophelia.”

Arthur opened his mouth to shout at Merlin to remove himself from his path, when he suddenly saw Gaius ascending the stone steps rather quickly for a man his age, coming right towards them. The old physician's face looked wary as he reached the two men, his breaths heavier than Merlin's had been only moments before which indicated that he had run the entire way from his chambers. Arthur and Merlin waited patiently, as they watched the older man regain his composure, though in the back of their minds both men were thinking: If Gaius is here, then where is Gwen/Guinevere?

“I've found something concerning the symbol that Gwen saw in her dreams,” Gaius finally spoke after the moment's recuperation he had taken. “I'm afraid that what we're dealing with is far worse than a mere angry enchantress.”

Arthur frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I found out from a certain source-” he cut Merlin a serious look that told the young man that he was referring to the Dragon- “that this mark belonged to a certain group of enchantresses that were determined to rule all of Albion, and very nearly succeeded. Their plans were thwarted only when one of their own, an enchantress known as Norena, betrayed her sisters.”

Noticing that they were being watched by a number of the guards-no doubt some of the same ones who had betrayed him to his father about carrying Guinevere-Arthur cleared his throat and started walking down the steps, looking to Gaius and Merlin to follow.

As they began to walk towards the physician's quarters, Arthur spoke in a more quiet tone.

“So is it this Norena that we have to worry about since she had the others destroyed?” he asked Gaius. “Shouldn't that be a good thing that we know who we're now dealing with so we can find her and destroy her for good?”

“That's not entirely accurate, my lord,” Gaius said slowly, as if hesitant to continue. “Norena was burned at the stake not long after her sisters.”

“Then who was it that attacked Gwen, then?” Merlin asked the obvious question.

“The source still indicates that it may be Norena, but it could be that she's attacking Gwen from beyond the grave,” Gaius answered solemnly. “That makes her an even more dangerous adversary considering that normal mortal means wouldn't be able to destroy her. It also said that tonight happens to be a night when the veil between the mortal life and after life is thinnest, so if she does attack, it will most likely occur tonight.”

“I don't understand. How are we supposed to protect Guinevere if we don't even know how to kill the one who's threatening her?” Arthur demanded just as they reached the doors to Gaius's chambers. “Is it even possible to kill a being that's already dead?”

“I think that what we should consider first is why this enchantress is targeting Gwen in the first place. If we can find that out, we may be able to find a way to stop her, and then we can even find a way to destroy her,” Gaius said quietly.

“Then, we should talk to Gwen,” Merlin suggested as they all walked in. “Maybe she can tell us about the dream again and we can look for more clues that way.”

Arthur grew thoughtful for a moment as he looked around . “Yes...we can discuss this more with her. She must be here already since she left a little while ago to come see you, Gaius,” he said as he looked around the room eagerly, his cool demeanor suddenly changing at the prospect of seeing her, but when she did not come forward, he frowned. “Where is she?”

Merlin and Gaius were on the verge of asking the very same question as they too found the room to be completely empty. Seeing the puzzled look on their faces only made Arthur feel as though his heart had dropped in his stomach. He had assumed that she had come here even after Gaius had come up to them because she had said that she was going to see Gaius. He knew that she wouldn't lie. So where was she?

“Maybe she stopped by her house first, my lord? Or maybe she went to pick some flowers to clear her head?” Gaius said calmly as he watched Arthur walking around the room, searching, as if Gwen would suddenly appear to him. “I'm sure she's fine.”

“Yes. It's still daylight, and there are-” Merlin started but was silenced by the hard look that Arthur shot him.

“Lots of people...I know,” Arthur finished for him.

The words were meant to be reassuring, but Arthur found no comfort in them. They were just words, conjectures, guesses. They weren't certainties, which meant that there was a possibility that they were wrong and Gwen was really in danger. They didn't know for sure if she was safe or even where she was. They only knew one thing, and that on thing was: She Wasn't There.