 | | Episode 209: The Lady of the Lake Recap
by Merlins_Gal
Our story begins on a dark stormy night in Camelot, a horse and cart trundles down a dark road a cage loaded onto the back of the cart. The druid girl Freya is chained up as she sits trapped in the cage. Her captor Halig dismounts from his seat and walks around the cage checking all of the locks are secure, he then growls at her in an intimidating fashion in an attempt to frighten the young woman.
He then silently walks away and the scene ends with Freya sat shivering in the cage.
We see Gaius and Merlin attending to a patient in one of the townspeople’s homes. Gaius assures the patients relation "If he is not better in the morning let me know." and they nod in reply.
Gaius and Merlin pass by the caged girl on their way back to their chambers; the cart is parked by an Inn called the rising sun. As they pass the girl leans towards Merlin making him jump as he had not seen her there.
 Merlin calls to Gaius to catch his attention. "Gaius!" he calls.
Gaius turns to him and replies "She has fallen prey to a bounty hunter."
Merlin shocked and appalled by this replies "But she’s only a girl."
The old physician adds solemnly that "she will still fetch a good price though."
Merlin is shocked to learn that anyone would want to pay for this girl to which Gaius replies that
"Uther offers a handsome reward for anyone with magic".
Merlin now feels strongly that there must be something that they can do to help this poor girl, Gaius understands but he warns Merlin off by saying that "Bounty hunters are dangerous men and they are not to be meddled with, you of all people should understand that."
 Merlin takes a long look back at the girl Freya before following Gaius to their chambers.
We see Merlin creeping silently past a sleeping Gaius as he leaves the chambers, he then makes his way towards where the druid girl Freya was chained in the cage. Not seeing her captor by the cart Merlin checks in the inn The Rising Sun, he peers around the door and sees Halig her captor sitting at table eating and drinking. Knowing that the coast is clear he hurries back to the cart, assuring Freya not to worry and that he is not going to hurt her. He then uses magic to break the lock on her cage and climbs inside of it. She is a little frightened but allows him to use magic to free her from her shackles. Then taking her by the hand he leads her form the cage, managing just in time to conceal themselves as Halig leaves the Inn. Seeing that his captive has escaped he begins to look for her, Merlin uses his magic to snap the chains holding the sign for the Inn and it crashes down upon Halig's head. This knocks him to the ground dazing him so that they can escape.
They run hand in hand only narrowly avoiding the guards.
 Merlin lights a torch using magic and leads her down narrow dark passageways underneath the castle, upon finding a safe enough place and now sure that they were not followed they stop.
Merlin assures her that she won’t be found here.
Seeing she is cold he deftly removes his coat and goes to hand it to her. She panics a little as his approach; he apologises to her and says that he didn’t mean to frighten her.
"I just thought you might be cold" he says.
She looks at him shivering and asks "Why did you do that?"
Merlin asks what she is referring to. She replies "Help me?"
He looks at her a little unsure and replies, "Well I saw you... and, it could have been me...in that cage."
She seems to accept this and he says that she will be safe down there. He then promises that he will return to her in the morning with food and candles.
He introduces himself to her in a friendly fashion trying to make her more at ease.
"I’m Merlin, by the way."
"I’m Freya" she replies, Merlin then gingerly holds out his coat for her and she accepts it pulling it around her cold body.
"I will see you in the morning Freya" he says softly, he then goes to leave.
"Thank you" she replies. He smiles at her and leaves for the night.
The next morning we see Merlin leaving his room pulling on a fresh coat, smiling to himself he sets about searching the room for food. Finding only a small amount he decides to take a different course of action.
 Merlin enters Arthur’s room as the prince still sleeps and quietly and sneakily swaps the food that Arthur has laid out for his breakfast with the measly amount that Merlin had found in his own chambers. He gathers Arthur breakfast into a linen napkin and hides it under his coat and replaces it with the food he found in his own chambers.
"Breakfast!" Merlin calls opening Arthur’s curtains, the prince sits up sleepily and looks disgustedly at his so called breakfast.
"Oi!" he calls, forcing Merlin to not leave the room. "Where’s the meat, cheese?"
Merlin replies telling him that "That’s the new breakfast menu."
Arthur looks sour as he picks up an apple which is going soft.
"This isn’t enough!” Arthur rants.
Merlin smiles and says "We have got to keep you in shape."
"I’m fighting fit!" Arthur replies, obviously not amused in the slightest.
When Merlin tells him that they have to keep him that way Arthur picks up an apple and throws it at Merlin.
Disgruntled Arthur informs Merlin that he has some chores for him to do.
 Next we see Merlin with his sleeves rolled up filling a tub for Arthur’s bath.
Arthur while undressing behind a screen informs Merlin to make sure it’s nice and warm.
While Arthur can’t see Merlin uses magic to heat the water, Arthur comes out wrapped in a towel and places one foot in the bath and yells loudly exclaiming that the water wasn’t just hot but that it was positively boiling!
"You are half asleep today! Arthur yells at him. Merlin apologises and says that he will get some cold water.
To which Arthur replies, "No I’ll get you some!" he picks up a pitcher of water and dowses Merlin with it. "Has that woken you up?" Arthur snaps, Merlin replies smiling to control his temper. "Raring to go Sire."
Next we open on Uther and Gaius sitting together in the court room, Halig walks in and bows to Uther. "You come bearing gifts?" Uther says.
 "Yes sire." Halig replies. "A druid girl." Uther looks up his attention now taken. "But she escaped" Halig adds. Uther says that it isn’t a problem and that he can have some guards help with the search for her. But Halig interrupts saying that the guards will have to be warned as the girl is cursed. That even the druids rejected her, even though it as against their ways to turn away somebody in need. Uther says that sentries will be posted on all the gates. It is then decided that the lower town be searched as Halig said that "He saw two figures running away" and he believed she had help to escape.
Uther agrees to give Halig all the help he needs, "I want this girl and her accomplice found!"
Guards are set up to look at and search anybody in the lower town, as Halig walks threateningly up and down the line of people. Miraculously he lets Merlin pass through unharmed, the young wizard then rushes off towards the dungeons to see Freya.
He finds her fast asleep under his coat. He finds himself looking at her fondly and is slightly reluctant to wake her. He gently calls her name and touches her shoulder. She panics as she wakes taking a few moments to realise who it was who woke her. He lays out the food on the napkin in front of her; she then begins to wolf it down as she is starved. As she eats Merlin sets out the candles that he brought with him and lights them using magic. He inquires about the tattoo on her arm as he is curious; she is a little taken aback by all his questions and he apologises for seeming nosey.
Merlin says to her, "I understand."
To which she replies sadly, "You could never understand."
"I know what its like to keep secrets"
"Does anyone know you have magic?" she asks.
"Only you" he replies honestly, "and one other person."
 Seeing she is down he decides to cheer her up with a trick, he turns to the three lit candles and using magic he severs the flame from the candle. She stares at them in awe and remarks that they are "Beautiful." They hold each others gaze and smile slightly at each other before Merlin announces that he has to go but will be back soon.
As soon as Merlin arrives back at the physician’s quarters he is accosted by Gaius questioning him about the disappearance of the druid girl. Merlin manages to keep a straight face as he lies to Gaius assuring the physician that had nothing to do with her disappearance. Reluctantly Gaius seems to accept Merlin's explanation.
Noticing the large amount of food on Arthur’s dinner plate, Merlin cunningly empties the rests of the water from the pitcher into Arthur’s goblet. Then using magic he knocks Arthur’s knife off the table distracting him so that her can again use magic to steal the food from Arthur’s plate. Making it fly towards him so he could catch it in the now empty pitcher. Arthur notices something is amiss as he comments, "I had two drumsticks." Merlin replies quickly to this saying that he didn’t have two of them. Arthur quite sure of himself assures Merlin that he did. Merlin shrugs and suggests that maybe it fell on the floor. Knowing full well that the drumstick lay in the empty water pitcher cradled in his arms. While Arthur is searching for his lost drumstick the remaining three sausages on Arthur’s plate "disappear". Looking confused Arthur turns to Merlin stating, "I had sausages!"
 Merlin brushes this off coolly asking him was he sure about that. Arthur doesn’t believe him and accuses Merlin of stealing them, Merlin replies by saying that Arthur could search him and that he didn’t have them on him and that perhaps Arthur had already eaten them. To which Arthur replies heatedly "I haven’t had the chance!"
While carrying the food laden pitcher on his way to see Freya, Merlin runs straight into Halig who has him accosted by guards and taken in for questioning. The guards hold him tight as Halig relieves him of the pitcher and empties it the contents falling onto the floor.
"Where were you taking it?" Halig growls at him.
"Home for my dinner." Merlin replies innocently.
Halig obviously doesn’t believe him as he questions him about the missing druid girl. He assures Merlin that the money he would receive for her is worth more than Merlin’s life in a bid to threaten him. When Merlin denies knowing anything about the girl, Halig has him restrained and is about to beat him when Arthur walks by and notices what is happening. He stops Halig just in time.
Arthur tells Halig to "Leave him alone" and that Merlin couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the druid girl. He tells Halig that, "Merlin is my servant and he has my absolute trust. If you have a problem with him you must come to me do you understand?"
Halig nods in acceptance and leaves.
When Merlin thanks Arthur, the prince notices his sausages lying on the floor.
"Are those my sausages?"
Merlin nods.
"You took them?" Arthur asks.
"Yeh to keep you in shape." Merlin replies picking up the food off the floor.
Arthur gives him a look. "Are you saying I'm fat?"
Merlin shakes his head vigorously "No! Well not yet."
"I am not fat!" Arthur shouts.
Merlin merely grins at him and says "you see its working!" and with that he leaves, leaving Arthur nonplussed.
 Merlin arrives back to see Freya and immediately apologises to her for taking so long.
He hands her the food and notices she looks upset.
"Did you think I wasn’t coming?" he asks "I promised you I would."
She smiles at him and says. "I scare most people away."
"I’m not most people" he replies grinning.
They talk briefly, Freya explains about how long she had been captured and that you can’t always trust people. Merlin understands this. He tells her that’s why he left home, she asks about his home and he tells her about his small village of Ealdor.
"My home is next to a lake" she says smiling "surrounded by the tallest mountains. In the winter the storms whipped at the water into waves and you thought they were going to crash down and take away all the houses."
Merlin smiles as he listens to her talking fondly of her home.
"But in the summer" she begins, "Wild flowers and light. It was like heaven."
 "Sounds perfect" Merlin remarked smiling gently.
"It was." she said.
She then goes on to explain that her family died and Merlin learns that she has been on her own ever since.
"Well you're not on your own anymore. I’m going to look after you I promise."
She looks sad and says "You can’t look after me, no one can."
Merlin takes her hands in his and replies. "I don’t think you understand. I’ve never known anyone like you."
She grips his hands tightly as he says he has to go and that they must be careful. But that he will be back to see her in the morning. As he goes to leave she turns to him and says.
"Merlin, I've never known anyone like you either."
 That night when the clock began to chime the hour of midnight, we see a couple walking hand in hand through the streets of Camelot. Unbeknownst to them they were being followed. The unknown beast growls menacingly to itself as it stalks them through the city streets. The pair scream as it leaps out at them and attacks viciously.
The next morning warning bells ring throughout Camelot as people gather at the scene of the murder. Guards cordon off the area while King Uther, Prince Arthur and Gaius inspect the victims.
Gaius believed that "I believe that they have been killed by some sort of wild animal."
Uther asks Arthur, "Have your men been able to track the creature?"
Arthur replies in the negative saying that no animal prints have been found. It is then the trio spot the human footprints leading away from the scene, they believe that perhaps there was someone which witnessed the attack and escaped. Or that the person them self had been responsible. Gaius assures the king that only a powerful beast could have inflicted wounds like this. It is then that Uther concludes that the only other explanation is that it "Must be the work of a magical creature."
We see Gaius looking intently through one of his books on magical beasts pausing on a particular page and contemplating before the scene fades to Freya sitting huddled in the dungeons.
Merlin arrives and apologises for being late once more, but assures her that the bread he has brought for her to eat, "this is going to be the best bread you have ever tasted."
She doesn’t reply curled sadly into herself.
"What do you want with it?" he asks in an attempt to make her smile. "You can have anything! Ham? Cheese?"
She looks up at him and asks quietly "Strawberries?"
He smiles at her and nods. "Strawberries it is!"
He holds his hands in front of him and mutters a spell. Opening his hands to reveal a single red rose.
She laughs softly "That’s not a strawberry."
"But it’s the right colour." he replies. He then blushes profusely holding the rose out for her to take.
She takes it from him while he grins.
"Why are you so good to me?" she asks.
"Because, I can’t help it. I dunno." he shrugs "I like you" he manages finally.
She tries to tell him that she is not like him but before he can reply they hear a noise, they jump as he realises that Halig must have followed him down there.
Halig enters the dungeons torch in hand with several guards and commences his search for the druid girl, luckily Merlin and Freya manage to hide from him and they breathe a sigh of relief as they see him leave.
Terrified and shaking Merlin tries to sooth her. “I promised id look after you, and I will." he says "No matter what."
 He looks at her fondly and says “you really don’t know how special you are do you?"
She looks up at the young wizard with tears in her eyes, "You’re not scared of me?" she asks tearily.
"Being different is nothing to be scared of." he replies.
They lock eyes and merely watch each other silently for a moment before gently and tenderly Merlin leans in and kisses her.
In the next scene we see Gaius sitting at the table working, while Merlin is restlessly walking around the room and humming happily to himself. Gaius gives him a queer look and remarks,
"Will you stop that?" in relation to Merlin’s humming.
He then proceeds to tell Merlin to sit and eat his soup. The young wizard sits at an opposite table and continues his humming joyfully.
Gaius is obviously a little irritated by Merlin’s strange behaviour and asks him is he alright. Merlin replies that he feels great. Upon hearing this Gaius remarks that Merlin may as well do some chores.
Merlin dodges this by saying that he is going out but wont mention why, he says he will be back late and disappears out of the door.
Merlin appears in the dungeon where Freya tells him to be careful when coming to see her.
Merlin simply replies smiling, "I’m fed up with being careful."
He turns to her and tells of her of his plan to get her out of Camelot by disguising her in new clothes. She looks downcast and Merlin asks why she looks so sad.
"It’s just... I’m going to miss you."
Merlin turns to her and replies smiling, "No you won’t."
She looks confused.
"Because I am going to come with you."
She protests at this but Merlin assures her, "I told you I am going to look after you."
Freya then tries to convince him not to go with her, she tells him not to waste the life that he has here, and that life with her would not be good. That she is always looking over her shoulder and can’t be free.
He replies even more determined and tells her that they will go somewhere that no one knows them, somewhere far away. Freya smiles in spite of herself.
"You haven’t given me your answer?" he smiles.
"I want that more than anything."
Joy is clearly evident on Merlin’s face as he smiles broadly at her reaction.
"Where will we go?" she asks beaming at him.
"Some where with mountains" he says
"And a few fields." she adds.
"Wildflowers and a couple of cows and a lake."
We see Merlin knocking on the lady Morgana's door and calling her name to see if she is there.
When he gets no reply he guesses the coast is clear and enters. Knowing his purpose in there exactly, he heads straight for her wardrobe of clothes. He opens its doors and picks out a dress, holding it against himself to judge the length. Deciding against that dress he shakes his head and replaces it and withdraws another. He continues rummaging unaware that he is being watched by a rather curious Gwen. Picking another dress he holds it against himself again to judge the length when Gwen calls his name. He spins around, dress still held in place.
 "I’m sure there is an obvious explanation" she offers looking embarrassed.
"There is" he replies calmly "Moths."
"Moths?" she repeats looking him up and down.
He nods at this and continues to rummage through the wardrobe, all the while telling her that the moths are infesting the castle. Pulling out the dress he wants he remarks convincingly.
"This ones infested it will have to be burnt."
Gwen doesn’t look impressed by this and stars to argue but Merlin cuts her off, by saying that if they don’t stop the moths now, they will all be running around naked.
Merlin makes his way back through the corridors holding the dress trying to look normal and not as if he has something to hide. He passes Arthur in the corridor, the prince pausing for a moment and eyeing the dress in Merlin’s hands and the guilty expression on his servants face. Then he simply walks on.
Curiosity finally getting the better of him, Arthur asks, "What are you doing?"
Merlin tries to look innocent as he replies "Just running an errand for Gaius"
Arthur looks at him skeptically "For Gaius?"
Merlin finally puts two and two together, "I don’t think it’s for him."
Arthur raises his eyebrows and replies "As long as you do a decent days work Merlin that’s all I care about."
Realising Arthur's misguided train of thought he adds urgently "No it’s not for me."
"What a man does in his own spare time is completely up to him" Arthur says walking away down the corridor.
"No you’re wrong!" Merlin calls after him as Arthur turns the corner; all he hears is Arthurs reply.
"The colour suits you Merlin."
The clock begins to chime the midnight hour.
Two guards are making their rounds on the streets of Camelot, but they are not alone. The mysterious beast is watching them, waiting from above. It follows them, watching as they warm their hands by a fire. Suddenly it pounces and all we hear is a scream.
 The next morning the warning bells in Camelot chime again. Uther arrives at the latest murder scene, where Gaius is just covering the two bodies with a cloth as they lay on a cart.
Arthur arrives and begins to speak,
"The men who saw it spoke of a hug black cat with wings."
"This is not the work of a natural creature." Uther says as he begins to walk away.
Arthur says that only human footprints were found and Uther turns towards them and hassles Gaius for information, claiming that he must know something. Gaius tells the king plainly that he will report back to him before the day is out.
Merlin arrives back at the dungeons to see Freya dress in hand.
"Believe me, it was not easy getting this." he says jokingly unfolding Morgana’s dress and holding it up for her to see.
 "It’s beautiful" Freya says in awe of the dress. She takes it from him and holds it up against herself.
"You look like a princess" Merlin smiles.
Her expression turns dark as she mutters, "I’m not."
She holds the dress out to him, and says that she cannot accept it.
Sensing something is wrong Merlin tries to ask but she merely tells him that she doesn’t understand why he is being so good to her and that she doesn’t deserve it.
"Here please" he says holding the dress out for her to take, "You will look wonderful in it."
Reluctantly she takes the dress from him, He then tells her to cheer her up that they can leave that night as soon as it gets dark. Then they can be together. She is cheered a little by this and remarks.
"We'll need supplies, food water."
They smile at each other, "I'll try to get horses, and we'll need blankets. But, that’s all we'll need."
Blushing she tells him he had better go and he promises that he won’t be too long. He kisses her briefly and hurries off.
Freya looks sad as a single tear slides down her cheek as she whispers. "Goodbye Merlin."
 Gaius arrives home to find Merlin there, he tells Merlin to sit down and that he needs to talk to him. Gaius proceeds to tell him that the beast struck again last night and that only human footprints have been found. Merlin remarks how strange that is and that it doesn’t seem to add up. Then Gaius breaks the true purpose of this conversation.
"Then I remember what Halig said about the druid girl." he said soberly.
Merlin looked at him disbelieving.
"She’s cursed" Gaius adds.
Merlin merely looks at him and answers very slowly "Whets that got to do with the monster?"
"The ancient chronicles speak of a heinous curse; it dooms its victim to turn at the stroke of Midnight. Into a vicious bloodthirsty beast. The writers of old called this creature a Bastet, a monster of nightmare that inhabits the twilight world between the living and the dead."
Merlin’s face falls as he turns to look at the floor to process what he had just been told.
"Merlin" Gaius began "I need the truth now, did you release the druid girl?"
With tears almost glimmering behind his eyes Merlin replies, "No of course not."
 Gaius' expression turns grave. "There was a time when you would think twice about lying to me."
Merlin replies and says that he had to do what felt right, Gaius then tries to tell him that the creature and the girl are one and the same. But Merlin shakes his head obstinately.
Gaius urges Merlin to think carefully about what is being said to him, Gaius tells Merlin that she has killed before and she will kill again and she must be stopped there is no other way. As Merlin begs Gaius to let him get the girl out of the city, Gaius turns to him sadly and says he must tell Uther and says he’s sorry.
As soon as Gaius leaves the room Merlin frantically rushes around packing provisions as quickly as he can. He then races down to the dungeons to find Freya. Upon reaching the place where she stayed she is nowhere to be found. All that remains is the dress that Merlin brought her surrounded by some candles. He calls her name but she is nowhere to be found.
Merlin lies sadly on his bed, suddenly his door opens and Gaius comes in. He apologises for telling Uther about the druid girl, Merlin replies by telling him that she’s gone. Gaius can see how distressed Merlin is at this and sits by him on the bed.
"I do understand how you must feel Merlin." he says softly
Merlin shakes his head "You can never understand" he replies his voice cracking a little.
The warning bells begin to chime and Merlin leaps off the bed and runs out the door to see what has happened.
 We see Freya, trying to make her way through Camelot hiding to try and avoid the guards as she does so. She is spotted by a guard and she runs, with the castle guard in pursuit.
Merlin runs through the streets he knows that they are looking for her and hopes that he can find her in time.
Freya runs into a courtyard and is trapped by Arthur and his men; she begs them to let her go.
Halig pushes pass the guards and smiles at her smugly, her shackles ready on his shoulder. He begins to approach her as the clock begins to strike the hour.
Freya screams in pain and falls to her knees. Her screams increase to an animal cry as her limbs begin to shake uncontrollably. She crouches on all fours her screams now a beastly roar as she begins to change. Fur sprouts from her arms and her hands transform into clawed paws. Arthur and his knights look on warily. The fur spreads to cover her entire body, her eyes now glinting a malevolent yellow as vicious fangs sprout from her mouth. Halig drops his shackles and backs off as her clothes tear and she begins to grow. The beast now fully transformed rears its vicious head and growls at Arthur and his men as they draw their swords.
(To us the monster resembles an enormous black panther with leathery black wings.)
The beast charges at Halig attacking and killing him before setting its sights on Arthur. It charges at him but he is ready and strikes wounding it badly. Distressed the creature runs past him into the adjacent courtyard. Arthur and his men follow it and back it into a corner as it moans in pain.
Merlin arrives and sees that Arthur and his men have the creature trapped and have their swords drawn ready to attack, He can see that Arthur is about to attack. He knows what he must do. Using magic, Merlin knocks the head off one of the stone gargoyles adorning the top of the castle. It comes crashing down dispersing Arthur and his men. The creature seems to look at him for a moment before flying away, Merlin in pursuit.
Merlin races down to the dungeons to find the creature. He finds the creature and it growls at him at first. Merlin braces himself and approaches the beast slowly; He reaches out one hand to touch it all the while speaking to it gently, reassuringly.
 "You're alright." he says reaching forward with his hand to touch the creature. "You're safe now."
The creature seemed to recognise him and it calmed, closing its eyes as it let Merlin touch the fur on its head, stroking it soothingly.
Suddenly it rose up and shook its head, retreating further down into the dungeons, limping as it was wounded badly.
Merlin follows the creature’s agonised cries further and further down, until they are no longer a monstrous roar, but a sobbing familiar cry. Freya. He found her; he could see her bare legs from around the corner as she lay next to the dress she had discarded earlier that evening.
He removed his coat as she sobbed where she lay, he then leaned down wrapping her cold naked body in his coat tenderly, and she looked up at him surprised. Her face stained with tears.
"You must hate me" she sobbed as Merlin brushed her hair out of her eyes.
He shook his head fervently at this, "no"
"I'm a monster...” she cried turning to him "I tried to tell you"
"Sssh you shouldn’t try to talk."
"I wasn’t always like this. There was a man he attacked me. I didn’t mean to hurt him but I thought he was going to kill me."
"It was an accident" he replied.
"His mother was a sorceress, and when she found out that id killed her son. She cursed me to kill forever more."
She groans in pain, as he reassures her "I’m going to make you better Freya."
"No Merlin," she gasped, looking at him through teary eyes, "The wounds too deep."
He shook his head at this, when she tried to tell him to leave. "No!" he said adamantly, “I’m not going to leave you here!"
A light shower of rain, splashed down onto the still mirror like surface of the water, causing it to ripple and swirl in endless circles. Merlin is walking along to the shore of the lake, trudging heavily on the soggy mud. Freya cradled carefully in his arms dressed in Morgana’s beautiful violet gown.
Upon reaching the edge of the lake, he falls to his knees and lays her gently down.
Holding her he looks at her pale face, her eyes closed as slowly they open to face him. She then turns her head to look in awe at the beautiful scene before her.
"You remembered" she smiled weakly at him, her voice little more than a whisper now.
"Of course." he said his tears mixing now with the steady gentle rain that covered them both.
"I am so sorry for what that sorcerer did to you."
"Merlin" she said weakly "You have nothing to be sorry for."
"There must be something I can do, someway to save you." Merlin said almost hopefully as he looked down at her.
 She opens her eyes once more and speaks her voice frail but beautiful to him, "You've already saved me... you made me feel loved."
Merlin's face screws up as he tries hard not to cry as he can see that she is dying as he holds her. Desperately he cries. "I don’t want you to go."
She gathers her strength and opens her eyes one last time and speaks gently to him.
"One day Merlin, I will repay you.... I promise" she breathes weakly as her eyes close for the final time and she dies right there in his arms.
Realising she is gone, Merlin breaks and holds her close to him rocking her gently as they sit by the edge of the lake she so desperately desired.
Merlin stands at the edge of the lake as he watches the beautiful Freya, laid out in a boat upon a bed of ferns. As he uses magic to float the boat out to the centre of the lake. He wades into the shallows after the boat, just enough to catch one final glimpse of her.
Knowing what he must do he gathers himself and uses a spell to set the boat alight, therefore laying her to rest in the one place she loved. He watches sadly for a moment, before finally turning and heading back to Camelot.
Gaius returns to their quarters to find Merlin sitting silent by the window gazing out. He calls his name in surprise and relief.
"Merlin!"
Merlin turns to face him, the pain evident on his face.
"I was so worried." Gaius said walking over to him.
"I’m sorry Gaius." Merlin apologized.
"Where's the girl?" Gaius asks gently standing by him.
Merlin pauses painfully for a moment before speaking, "She’s gone...she’s dead."
"I’m sorry Merlin" Gaius said as he embraced Merlin in a loving fatherly way. "Truly I am."
 We see Merlin sat on the floor, scrubbing one of Arthur's leather boots; he pauses and looks at the amount he still has yet to do. There are still five more pairs of boots to scrub and polish. He then returns to his work. He hears the door click and looks up to see Arthur come in the door.
"Merlin." he says upon finding him. "I’ve been looking for you."
"Right," he begins sadly "you're gonna ask me to polish your amour, and to wash your clothes. And er...clean your room."
Arthur walked over and sat by him watching him closely. Merlin continued to scrub.
"Something’s been upsetting you, hasn’t it?" Arthur said, it wasn’t a question but a statement.
Merlin replied "Maybe." as he continued his work not looking at Arthur.
Arthur looks awkward for a second before speaking, "Was it when I threw water over you?"
Merlin looks up at him and smiles in spite of his sadness. "Wasnt very nice." Merlin remarked.
"Was a bit unfair." Arthur admitted. "Like when you called me Fat." he added.
Merlin looked up at this. "Why was that unfair?"
"Cos I am not!" Arthur retorted. Merlin smiled at him weakly.
Suddenly Arthur grabs hold of Merlin and gets him in a tight hold under his arm. And rubs the top of Merlin’s head furiously with his knuckles, ignoring Merlin’s protests.
"Still think I need to get in shape?" Arthur asks applying his torture.
"No! No no no no!" Merlin cried as he attempts to pull himself free. Luckily Arthur released him.
 Arthur beams at the now smiling Merlin, and remarks "That’s better."
"Thanks"
Arthur pulled a face that signified he meant. "No problem"
"You alright though?" Arthur asked.
Merlin nodded.
Arthur smiled at him, "You need to polish my armour, wash my clothes and clean my room."
And with that he left Merlin there, smiling incredulously.
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