The Once and Future King Arthur Pendragon shall bring peace and prosperity to the land of Albion with the help of the greatest sorcerer of all time, Emrys. Yet a birth lost in time could form the bridge between their promise, giving hope to their destiny.
Post Merlin Season 4, Episode 6. I do not own any of the characters except one. I merely enjoy the show and the destiny, and want to give a twist…instead of a coin, there will be a trinity.
ChapterOneTheMarch
"Merlin!" Prince Arthur's shout could be heard through the corridors as his manservant—a sleepless night from studying his spellbook—dropped the sword yet again.
"Sorry, Sire."
"You are supposed to be sharpening it, not fumbling it. Since your idiocy is at its peak today, go muck out the stables while I finish these reports." Now King, the paperwork littering the man's desk increased tenfold, scattered in disorganized mayhem to his stressed eyes. Merlin hid exhaustion deep in his blue eyes, as his years in Camelot made him adept with hardly a blink when he responded to his master.
"Mucking out the stables seems better than those dull reports. Any you wish to share with me?" The blonde shook his head with a somewhat relaxed gaze at his desk.
"It is my responsibility as King to see to the needs of my people. I just did not understand how many there were. Some of the outlying villages…I have always thought Camelot to be a safe and just kingdom, yet some of the people are too poor to survive." Merlin grinned.
"Well, perhaps you can change that."
"I am a warrior, and I wish to protect and give peace to my people. I do not know how to begin to spread our shortening resources; every day our crops wither even though the sun is bright and the water is plenty…"
Three knocks at the door. Sir Leon strode in with purpose when Arthur called for him to come. "Sire, a band of Morgana's forces is marching through Camelot headed toward a small village to the east called Valei. A small farming village, the only village still growing edible crops…" Arthur stood at the information.
"I thought all the crops had withered?" Leon shook his head and Merlin clung to every word from Leon's tongue. Gauis told him only magic could protect the crops, and to counter the spell Morgana cast it required formidable magic.
"We had thought, but a traveler passing through before coming here confirmed only yesterday they had a small harvest." Arthur frowned with a confused brow.
"Do farmers usually have harvests in spring?" Merlin rolled his eyes at the King's lack of knowledge of details and quipped.
"No, it's usually when it's planted. You would know that if you didn't act like a prat." True Arthur travelled almost all of Camelot, but many of the trips involved his being a warrior not a tourist. Still, Merlin couldn't ignore the chance to call him on it.
Sir Leon interrupted before the bantering interfered with his report. "Her forces will reach the village of Valei by nightfall. If we were to ride within the hour, we should reach there before then." Arthur looked out the window behind his desk at the noonday sun.
Then Merlin realized his mistake. "Prepare the knights. If this village is harvesting in spring and immune to Morgana's curse, then it must be using magic." Arthur's eyes grew hard, and the warlock gulped at the memory of the dying Uther…another of the witch's schemes he failed to stop. How many more would defeat him? Would he eventually fail to save Arthur too? Only months ago Morgana enchanted him to kill Arthur and only the actions of Gwen and Gauis could stop him and afford him the time he needed to kill the mother beast.
Then Leon gave Merlin hope. "Yet it is being used to preserve food and life, my Lord. Even our enemy rides to vanquish this from our lands. We should be riding to stop the dark creatures, and deal with the magic after." Arthur stared at his second-in-command and then nodded at the gravity of the situation.
"Then go and thank you, Leon. I should not have allowed the magic to blind me to our current enemy. She has done enough damage to Camelot." Merlin frowned. Morgana's forces—ugly creatures of darkness she summoned after successfully wounding Arthur in battle in order to sample his blood—existed solely for Camelot's downfall. Even after three weeks of fighting, neither Merlin nor Arthur in their own ways could thwart the dark entities.
The servant began to equip Arthur with his armor, both of them in silence. But Merlin just did not understand. Morgana normally took straightforward and direct routes of attack unlike Morgeuse's subtle plots. How had she quelled her hatred enough to think of harming Camelot's economy and strike at the farther vulnerable areas? The effect would attack Arthur's kind heart and his love for his people, but why? He did not even think she possessed the power to call such formidable darkness on her own which he'd told Gauis.
The cautious old physician did not want to admit Morgana may have gained a new powerful ally yet Merlin could do nothing but blame himself. Appearing to Morgana as Emrys provoked her with even more fear and hatred. How could he stop her without revealing himself to Arthur? Every night he scoured through his spellbook, lore in Gauis' books, and even late at night with a wary spell or two in the very depths of the library.
Uther Pendragon destroyed many books on magic during the Purge and Merlin became frustrated in the library. They warned and told him of spells and enchantments, but none contained enough information for him to learn let alone practice. Lately, the warlock even used magic to hide the dark circles under his eyes. He needed to grow stronger, and his magical capacity to expand.
Then close the book, give the prince his breakfast, clean his room, polish his armor, lay out his clothes, wash his dishes, sharpen his sword, muck out his stables, serve him lunch, and so on. If and when he got an afternoon off, he helped Gauis with his rounds and errands. Sometimes he went into the forest to pick herbs. To sum it up, he was a frazzling warlock with energies scattered barely within his control. The few hours of sleep he sometimes passed into resulted in Gauis shaking him awake to stop some form of errant magic in the chambers. The one night all the books started flapping around like a flock of birds.
He chanced a night visiting with Kilgarrah with the small Aithusa snuggling the large dragon's neck. She had already grown twice the size, and her bony wings had a hint of blue membranes growing. Thus far she could only chirp small bits of the old language, but Merlin cherished her nonetheless.
Now as he gazed down at the half-sharpened sword, a golden glint of his eyes perfected the chore. Then he smiled as he handed the weapon to Arthur, who did not say anything about the fumbling earlier. His conflicted mind only thought of the village of Valei, its healthy crops, and the dark forces marching to destroy it.
He now marched to protect it, but could he then accuse his citizens of magic? The citizens he swore to protect. The citizens who only protected their crops from the curse and had never caused problems in the past. He remembered them as a charitable village trading with the lower town. Blue eyes glanced at his old friend who packed a small bag with supplies, remembering how he agreed to do everything even magic to save Arthur's father.
How would Merlin feel if he investigated the village? But he had to be sure. Sure the magic in this village did not mean harm to Camelot. He did not believe such a thing was possible, but he learned from Queen Annis not to kill without very good reason. He did not want to incur the wrath of more magic like Morgana.
He looked at his servant, preparing to travel with him to battle with no skills whatsoever still with the bravery of a fool. Arthur realized the value of Merlin when he went missing in the forests after the bandit attack…the bandit attack. Could Gauis have truly given away his route? He instilled guidance in Merlin and the man had been steadfastly loyal to his father, but he was not his father. He realized this now too.
Clearing his mind of the matter, Arthur glanced at Merlin as he shouldered the pack and nodded. Merlin grinned with a nonchalant shrug. Arthur said, "Ready?"
"Ready." They grabbed forearms, as they did before many battles now. Morgana's forces…could easily lead to their deaths. The woman proved her hatred and desire to see her day on the throne.
Well, magic or not. Arthur could not allow his "sister" to wreak any more havoc on his people. The witch would rue the day she betrayed them.
And chapter one finished. Hope to see some reviews. I have a few more chapters written and will post with a few days between. I finished writing my first book and am waiting on the publishing company to finish edits by December 7th. Then design will take another month or two and in the meantime I figure I could play with these characters and create a little twist in the destiny. "Destinies are troublesome things…"