~<>~

They traveled the rest of the day and finally found a place to make camp. The other two men built a small fire a little ways away from The Mage.

She didn't blame them. Many were uncomfortable being around a Mage. The Born King, however chose to stay near her instead of with them. She wasn't sure if it was him deciding she appeared to be an easier target or if it was genuine curiosity. Nothing about the Born King appeared to be genuine, so she sat stiffly, waiting for him to attempt to overpower her and make his escape.

It confused The Mage when he didn't try to attack her. To the point that as she cooked them food, she purposefully left her dagger in easy reach to test him.

Arthur sat back and watched the woman move around her small fire. He found he rather liked to watch her. Though she was small and feminine looking she moved with a sense of purpose and power. It wasn't the kind of power he had encountered and cultivated on the street nor was it the type that was born in a castle. Her power was something much less civilized and much more at home in the wild. It was striking.

When the Born King didn't attempt to escape, she found she was almost disappointed. While it hinted at a more agreeable nature than he had shown them thus far, it wasn't promising for the depth of fortitude the fight ahead of them would require. She peaked out of the corner of her eye at him, but he was sitting against a rock looking for all intents and purposes as though they were having an afternoon picnic.

Deciding to try a different approach, she lifted her chin to the sky and connected briefly with her eagle, calling her to them. The great bird had a wingspan as wide as Arthur was tall. She fluttered her rich chocolate colored wings as she came in to perch on a rock just over her mistress's shoulder.

"Oh hello," was Arthur's only response as the eagle shook out it's feathers. The large bird kept its yellow eyes locked on the small woman crouched over the fire. "It's quite dangerous being one of your lot isn't it?" he asked, refusing to show how much the large bird unnerved him. He didn't like the look in its eyes. It was even more wild than it's mistress. And he had decided the bird was hers to command. Now that it was up close he recognized it as the creature who had delayed the executioner. It could be no happenstance. No doubt the bird was what she had been watching for while they made their escape. Which could only mean one thing..

The Born King hid behind his constant banter and quips. A full day with him and she was ready to tie his mouth shut. Why Merlin thought she would be a good match to be his guide she would never know. She didn't possess the patience for dealing with this man. Her temper was too short and she was quick to be annoyed with the mindless banter he seemed to feel the need to fill the air with. But she would not fail in her task. She was already so close. She had the King, the sword and the resistance fighters already. Giving them the push they needed shouldn't prove too difficult. Vortigern was a monster who needed to be stopped.

She took a piece of meat off her plate and held it out to the raptor. The great bird took it gratefully and nipped at her fingers, looking for more. She stroked a hand down the bird's neck, soothing her, and the eagle leaned into her touch. They had been together since the eagle was an abandoned hatchling almost a decade before. She had just been coming into her powers at the time and the bird was the first animal she had ever connected with. That and the frequency she used the connection made using her eagle's eyes as her own almost second nature.

"Good with animals aren't you?" Arthur continued as though they had been in the middle of a conversation instead of him mindlessly chattering at her. "They have a word for that, don't they?" Arthur pushed, trying to catch her attention. "Mage," he said it like it was a death sentence. And it was, in many parts of the country.

Arthur watched her curiously. He had never met an actual Mage before. He had heard a lot of rumors though, none of them nice and none of them that prepared him for the lovely young woman sitting in front of him. He didn't like feeling out of step and it made his tone harsher than he intended. "I thought your kind was outlawed, I've never met one of you in the flesh. I thought you'd be taller... and have a beard."

Unable to stand it, she shot to her feet and whirled on him. She had seen what lurked behind his eyes. It was annoying that he worked so hard to hide it behind the guise of the obnoxiously chatty con man. It ate at her temper until her anger snapped in her dark eyes.

When she stood and faced him she could see the gleam of satisfaction in the Born King's eyes. Hating that he had pushed her to a reaction she bent down and lifted a plate of food. She moved towards him and set it in his lap as though that had been her intention all along. She had to bite her lip to keep from letting his see how badly she wanted to dump the meal on his head.

The look in his eyes told her he didn't buy it for a second, but he nodded gratefully for the food all the same.

"Try to get some sleep," she advised him. "We will leave at first light."

"What? We ain't arriving tonight? We're sleeping out here?" Arthur asked, feigning outrage. If he was honest, his curiosity was peaked and there was too much heat for him to show his face in Londinium just yet. Besides, he rather enjoyed the red flush of anger that mottled The Mage's cheeks when he managed to make her lose her temper. Most women used rouge to fake such a glow. But he couldn't stay. The lads and the women from the Poppy would all be in danger by now. He couldn't leave them to suffer because of him.

"Why? Are you scared?" She challenged. She wrapped her cloak around herself, pulling up her hood and laid down near the fire.

"Scared?" He asked pulling back indignantly. "Hardly," his face transformed then into something very serious. "Look, I appreciate the rescue, and the meal, but I got friends, family, a life to get back to. People who depend on me."

She pushed herself up onto her hip and cocked her head to the side. She hadn't excepted the fierce protective look in his eyes as he spoke of those they had left behind. "If you are who they say you are, the only family you have left is Vortigern."

The Born King's eyes blazed with temper for a moment and once again she saw the glimmer of the king beneath the mask. She had to work hard to not pull back from the fierce look he shot her.

"Blood don't make family."

She nodded in agreement, still trying to work out this sudden sincerity in the man who had been so flippant all day.

"Look I went along with your little game here," he said, lifting his tied hands. "You can keep the sword, I don't care about that. But I got people who depend on me to get back to," he said and with a flip of his wrists he was free of the bindings.

She contained her surprise. She was good with knots, but the Born King was clearly a crafty one.

Arthur rose to his feet. The other men jumped up drawing their swords, ready to fight. Arthur settled into a crouch. He had seen the two men fight, and he was fairly certain he could easily overpower them without hurting them too badly. Just a few bumps and bruises as payback for the kidnapping. The Mage however was an unknown entity. It was unnerving that she hadn't moved yet, and it drew his attention even more than the soldiers advancing on him.

The fire blazed higher than his head and he saw The Mage's eyes change. The beautiful dark brown color changed into an eerie light amber. A chorus of wolf howls sounded all around them, but he could see the wolf within her.

"You will not get far," she promised him. Her tone was calm and powerful, her accent thicker than before as she concentrated on her hold of the she-wolf's mind.

Indecision flickered in Arthur's eyes as she drew the pack in closer. Their movements were visible just beyond the line of the firelight, nothing but a flash of movement in the dark. The other men looked even more nervous than Arthur.

When he still looked like he was considering a possible escape she pulled the wolves in closer. The she-wolf snapped just behind his heels. He flinched forward, but instead of looking at the wolf he stared at her as though he knew the difference and could see it, where the others could not.

Arthur held the eerie amber gaze of the mage and settled back down holding his hands up. "All right," he said in surrender.

The tension suddenly dropped. The fire settled and the pack backed away. One of the other men sheathed his sword and went back to tie Arthur back up, but Arthur still watched The Mage. There was something regal about The Mage as she held the mind of a she-wolf. Arthur caught himself watching her. Her movements were controlled, but there was power about her that hadn't been there before.

Arthur held himself still as the young fighter tied him up, far too loose to actually restrain him. Once he was secure the Mage blinked, letting go of the wolves. Her shoulder sagged for a moment and she sucked in a breath as though she were winded.

When she looked back up at him The Born King was still watching her, assessing her. His calculating look made her think she had misjudged him. Perhaps as he had misjudged her.

She rose to her feet and went to inspect the knots. She knelt before him, studying his hands closely. These knots would be slipped even easier than the ones she had used previously. She took out a second length of rope and made sure he would not be able to escape a second time. When she looked up she was almost startled to find him so near.

Arthur was still watching her as her nimble fingers worked the knots into something that would take a knife to get him free of. He could feel her heat, and the brush of her cloak as she worked. The other fighters were all but forgotten, he had already catalogued them as insignificant. The Mage turned back to them and jerked her chin dismissively sending them back to their fire. They sheathed their swords and obeyed without a second thought. This too Arthur noticed. He had suspected it, but this proved she was the boss. They were almost as wary of her as he had been of the circling wolves.

Tying off the last knot she looked up at him and spoke in a low tone that the other men wouldn't hear. "If that is what you worry about, your friends escaped," she promised him. "The Blacklegs were too concerned with following us to bother with them."

Arthur frowned at her, his thoughts churning. "That's what you were watching," he finally decided. "With your Eagle."

She nodded once briskly, her mouth mashed up in a harsh line, and stood, moving back to her side of the fire. Before she could step away, Arthur's bound hands came up and touched her forearm, stopping her. She stiffened beneath his hand and he released her immediately, not one to impose himself when she practically flinched under his touch. Arthur made a mental note to never touch her again.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

She dipped her chin uncomfortably. She hadn't expected him to be appreciative. Arthur was shaping up to be more than she expected. She moved to her pack and pulled out a blanket from her bedroll. Knowing she had just trussed him up so he wouldn't be able to move all night, she laid the blanket across his broad shoulders so he wouldn't be cold when her small fire burned low.

Arthur nodded a thank you as he accepted the peace offering.

~<>~

They set off before dawn the next day. Percival insisted on covering the Born King's head with a sack the next day when they drew close to their hideout. She wasn't sure why they bothered if he was to be their ally. Besides, he was from the city, and it was clear by his behavior he wasn't comfortable navigating in the wilderness. After what Vortigern had done to his friends and his home, not to mention trying to murder him, it was unlikely the Born King would betray the rebels location to the Blacklegs. But she supposed he hadn't necessarily proven himself to being a willing ally by trying to escape the night before. Keeping him from being able to escape before reaching Bedivere would probably help. If he didn't know where he was, he was significantly less likely to set off into the wilderness alone should he get free.

"You do know I can see through this right?" Arthur called through the light linen bag. He tilted his head from side to side, peering through the thin woven fibers. "Trees everywhere."

Much to her relief, after the men had put the sack on his head, he seemed to take it upon himself to try to get a rise out of Percival and Rubio. He turned his significant energy into them and ran his mouth all day. Impressively, he had managed to get Rubio to almost hit him within the first hour. Percival still hadn't broken.

She hung back as usual, taking the time to observe their interactions. She needed to know them better if she was going to help them defeat Vortigern. Both Rubio and Percival were good men, loyal to Bedivere to the marrow of their bones. They had also conducted themselves as respectfully as possible towards the Born King considering they had kidnapped him. They truly believed in putting him on the throne. And while they would do what was necessary to get him to Bedivere, they had done nothing that he couldn't forgive. It would be an easy line to cross, but they navigated it flawlessly. Bedivere had chosen his men for this mission wisely.

She felt badly about the men who didn't make it. Normally, it was just her and Merlin taking risks, and she had always been the Junior of the two of them. If anyone was going to get into trouble it was going to be her. There was a lot more responsibility bringing people less experienced than herself into a task such as this. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. She had always been rather solitary. Both out of necessity and because after the loss of her family she didn't feel any inclination to expose herself to the potential for that kind of loss again. Merlin had always seemed safe, he was as close to being immortal as a being on this earth could be.

"Would you just shut-" Rubio finally snapped.

"Rubio!" Percival corrected severely.

Behind them Arthur started cackling. He glanced over his shoulder to look at her, proving he could easily see through the linen bag, and laughed again. At least one of them was having a good time.

~<>~