Magic Revealed

Poison

It took two weeks. Two weeks for them to slip up. Luckily it was not completely obvious and they had some time to prepare before having to run.

Merlin had been sitting in his tent with Mordred and Percival after dinner reading his book and jotting down notes in the margins.

One of the magicians who had been paired with Mordred, Ed, came in to talk to him and saw Merlin sitting on his bed roll with the book a did a double take. "Have I meet you before?"

"Maybe?" Merlin said, glancing up, "Ive been here two weeks so you may have seen me around. And I used to travel a lot." In the back of his mind he was trying to remember where exactly he'd seen this man before.

"I see." Ed said, "Well I just wanted to talk to Mordred about the spell we were being taught earlier. He seemed to have a better grasp on it then I did. I couldn't get it to work."

Mordred shrugged, "You may need to focus on something specific. If you're trying to get one thing to turn into another you need to envision the transition."

Ed considered this looking around at all of them. He seemed to be bothered by Merlin's presence but remained quiet about it. "I see. So picture it changing as I recited the spell?"

Merlin glanced up, "And ensure you're pronouncing it right. If you pronounce it wrong it will either go very badly or just not work and wait power."

Ed blinked at Merlin before nodding, "You're that magician that Heldin's been talking with a lot recently right?"

Merlin nodded, "Yes." He didn't even look up at his book that time just kept scribbling on the page.

"Huh." Ed's eyes narrowed at he looked at Merlin and then at Percival but didn't say anything else just said goodbye to Mordred and thanked him for his help.

When they were sure he was out of earshot both Merlin and Percival got to their feet. Mordred looked between them, "What's wrong?"

"I recognized him. He's been to Camelot before. It was before you got there but if he recognized me..." Percival trailed off.

"We're dead." Merlin concluded. "So it looks like our little inflitration is coming to an end."

Mordred scowled at him, "Keep your voice down."

"Mordred do you honestly think I would leave this tent open to prying ears?" Merlin scowled, "no one can hear conversations in this tent from outside."

"Oh." Mordred looked surprised, "That's useful."

Percival started organizing the few things he had. "We should leave tonight after everyone is asleep. Leave the tent so no one suspects until later."

Merlin scowled, "Arthur's going to kill me but that is a good idea."

Mordred and Percival both snorted and Merlin frowned, "What?"

"Nothing." Both said quickly.

Merlin looked confused but shook his head in a dismissive fashion. Percival looked around the tent as the others began to pack their things. "We'll need to put a lot of distance between the camp and us." He said. "How are we going to do that without the horses?"

Mordred glanced to Merlin, "Can you do some sort of silent spell?"

Merlin frowned and closed his eyes, thinking. He'd been trying to rely less on his books instead become fluent enough in the magic language to make his own spells. He looked up at Percival, "Stay still."

"I'm not a horse Merlin." Percival grumbled but did as he was told. Merlin stared muttering something to himself and his eyes glowed gold.

"Now stomp your feet." He told Percy. The knight did but no sound was made. He tried saying something but no sound could be heard.