So this is the first chapter of my sequel to Chance. I haven't finished writing this story but I got this done and I felt like I just had to post it and see what people thought. I don't know when the next update will be, I'll not to keep anyone waiting but I am a bit of a procastinator and I'll be starting 6th form next week so I'm going to be very busy.
It's called freedom because it's mostly Balinor and Merlin going back to Camelot and releasing Kilgarrrah but also father and son have a discussion about what it is to be free. Sounds a bit sappy I know but there is a point to it. The story is set in Series 2, between episodes 3 and 4.
In this story they will also meet Arthur, Gaius and Morgana. Morgana is going to fairly large issue in this fic, and if you want, it could lead to some Mergana, let me know what you think.
Two hooded figures astride black and chestnut horses cantered towards a large white city, which glowed in the orange light from the rising sun. Coming to a halt, the smaller figure on the black horse let out a contended sigh at the sight of his home. The other's shoulders tightened, haunted by the sight of the castle that plagued his nightmares.
Merlin could sense Balinor's discomfort and reached out to his father, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Father and son met each others eyes, Balinor allowing a small smile to grow on his face as he felt his belly flip itself once again; He still felt the same surge of overwhelming joy pool inside him whenever he thought of his son.
"Do you want to go over the plan one more time?" Merlin asked. Balinor nodded, even though they had been over it so many times it was imprinted on his brain he was glad of the distraction.
"I'll put an enchantment on you; it's fairly simple, but effective. As long as I top it up twice a day it'll hold. You'll be disguised as my sick friend who I've brought from Ealdor to Gaius. The disease is not contagious but if I can't get you to the physician you'll die within a week. That should get us, I know the guards, and they trust me. And even if they don't let us in they're so bad at their jobs we can easily sneak past them come nightfall. Once we're inside the citadel, we head straight for Gaius, if we run into anyone, let me do the talking. We have to avoid Uther and Arthur the best we can if we want this to work. Now, remember what you promised Father, don't do anything… rash. You can hide in my room during the day. I'll try and stay with you but the prat will probably have a list of jobs as long as Kilgarrah's tail and socks smellier than Old Man Simmon's muck heap so I can't make any promises. If Gaius goes out, stay in the room. If someone comes in, stay in the room. Do not go walkabout.
Tonight, I'll take you down to see Kilgarrah, we can all have a chat, convince him not to attack Camelot, seek revenge etc, break his chains, you two agree a place to meet in three days time, he flies off, you stick around for a few days while your 'cured' by our humble physician, I beg Arthur a few more days leave off Arthur. Then we go and meet Kilgarrah, you and him fly off and find some caves near Ealdor, get him settled in and then return home, whilst I head back to Camelot, fulfil my destiny and visit you and Mother as often as I can." Merlin took a deep breath, having recounted their well thought out plan rather quickly.
Balinor smiled again, both at his son nearly hyperventilating in an attempt to get his breath back after babbling at what seemed like breakneck speed and at the thought of seeing Kilgarrah again. He wondered if the Dragon had known that he was Merlin's father. That dammed dragon had probably known all along and not said anything. Typical. Anyway, he thought, it's all out now.
By this point Merlin had his breathing under control and was looking intently at the Dragonlord, one eyebrow raised in a perfect imitation of Gaius. "So? Shall I do the enchantment or are we just going to sit here all day?" He spoke slightly impatiently, but there was an undertone of affection, for Camelot and his father.
"Yes yes yes, go on, do your thing." Balinor hurriedly replied.
Merlin took a quick breath before chanting "Cuddio fy nhad, yn newid ei wyneb i mans marw" Balinor watched is son's eyes burn liquid gold as the life of the world flooded his body. He had only seen Merlin do magic a handful of times and he still felt the thrill of seeing his son, Emrys, be truly himself and let down his barriers. He felt the magic descend upon him, smothering him, although not in an unpleasant way. It made him think of sleeping in front of Hunith's fire in those first few weeks. When she thought he was asleep, she would creep out of bed and give him an extra blanket, wrapping around his body, tucking it under him and smoothing out the creases. She'd stop for a second to look upon him 'sleeping'. And seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours as she began to sit with him in a chair by the hearth, watching over him like a guardian angel. Yes, it felt a bit like that.
Balinor was pulled from his revere by his thrusting a small mirror into his hands and grinning excitedly. The older man peered into the glass, only to find the reflection of a much younger man. His hair was shorter and the colour of damp hay. His now hazel eyes were further apart and he had a smaller nose. His face was rounder but not fat with a few light freckled dotted around his cheeks. An entirely normal face, a face one would be hard pressed to remember. The most notable quality was the sallow colour of his skin and a few small beads of sweat on his forehead showing he was ill. "Perfect" Balinor muttered, looking back at his son, he now looked older than himself!
They set of again, this time at a trot, Balinor trailing behind, trying to look as exhausted and useless as possible. By the time he caught Merlin up, the warlock had finished speaking to the guards, who were just opening the gates for them to enter. "Come along Ben, we've got to get you to Gaius now!" Merlin called. Balinor, or rather 'Ben' just grunted in reply.
They dismounted and quickly weaved their way through the busy town. Every so often, a passing servant or merchant would call out to Merlin, asking after his mother, reminding him of things he had to collect or just welcoming him back to Camelot. Everyone else just smiled warmly and nodded at the boy, simple gestures that he would return. It warmed Balinor's heart to see how many friends his son had here, especially after he had witnessed the cool disdain most of the villagers in Ealdor treated him with. When Merlin had given their horses to the palace stable boys, father and son went to enter the castle through the main doors.
"MERLIN!"
Both their heads spun to an open window in the castle, a window which the Crown Prince of Camelot was hanging out of. Arthur glaring daggers, as well as bellowing at Merlin, whose eyes widened comically.
"Oh dear." Merlin whispered croakily.
In a worried tone Balinor asked "What, what is it?"
"I was meant to be back two days ago. Which means that Arthur has had to endure two more days of… George."
"Is that bad?"
Seeing Arthur disappear from his window, probably running down to the courtyard to drag Merlin by his eye to the stocks the warlock quickly replied "Yes, it is. Very bad. In fact, it's so bad, I think we should start running now!" The lanky man set off at a sprint up the steps and through the doors.
It took Balinor a second to realise what was going on before bolting after his son through the castle. Interestingly no one really seemed surprise to see the Prince's manservant dashing around the halls, weaving servants and nobles, skidding into walls when he rounded a corner.
After running around every corridor and even up a tower and down to the dungeons easily within half an hour Merlin ducked into an alcove pulling Balinor in after him when the Dragonlord almost ran straight past. Chests heaving they caught their breath and hid as a group of shouting knights ran past. On seeing this Merlin groaned quietly. "This just got serious. Arthur's gone for back up."
Balinor raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"That group of Knights that went past, they're looking for me." Merlin elaborated "Whenever Arthur is tired or struggling to find me, he ropes in a couple of Knights to help him look. Leon, Owen, Bedivere, Kay, it's usually them. They know it's all good fun though; Bedivere and Kay usually let me go unless Arthur is in a really bad mood. Kay's even given me some tips on hiding places in the past." Looking back at his disguised father he saw Balinor's broad grin as he asked, slightly incredulously "And how often does this happen?"
"Er, at least once a week." Answered Merlin, peering into the seemingly empty corridor. He met Balinor's eyes and both of them burst into a fit of giggles at the ridiculousness. "Seriously though" Merlin said, calming down "This does make it harder, we now have two groups to avoid. We're not far from Gaius' chambers so if were quick and very very lucky we can get there unseen and come up with a good excuse for later. Ready?" Balinor nodded and they set off again.
Merlin's face lit up as he rounded the final corner to the physician's quarters, thinking he was home free when he ran into something very solid, very angry and very princey. Taking a step back servant peered up at irate master nervously. Quickly Merlin sent a message to Balinor mentally 'Do not come around this corner, I've ran into Arthur. Wait there for me to call you.' As asked Balinor ground to a halt and hid against the corner of the wall, listening intently to the conversation.
"Well Merlin, fancy seeing you here? I mean it's not like you've been all over the bloody castle is it?" Arthur's voice was dripping with sarcasm, as was the smile plastered on the Prince's face. Merlin opened his mouth to reply but Arthur cut him off in a low and dangerous voice "Now Merlin, think carefully about what your going to say now. Bear in mind that you are already on your way to the stocks, but I still haven't decided for how long." Merlin gulped, his mind racing. 'Think, think think Merlin…got it!'
"Well, the reason I am two days late is because there was an illness is the village. It's not contagious so you don't need to worry about me spreading it. It's not deadly most of the time but it's coming up to Harvest time and they couldn't afford to be ill, so I had to go and find them some herbs in the forest and then I had to make the medicine and stay with them till they all got better. I did think about sending a letter but by the time it got here I wouldn't be far behind so it seemed a bit pointless." Merlin had kept his expression fairly meek and apologetic while spinning his tale unable to tell if Arthur was buying it as the Prince remained frozen.
"All right Merlin, I believe you," The younger man let out a sigh of relief. "But that still doesn't explain why I've been chasing you around the castle for half an hour? What are you trying to hide from me?" Arthur folded his arms and raised his eyebrows, looking somewhat pleased with himself.
"Hi-hide?" Merlin stammered, wracking his brains for a clever answer. "I wasn't hiding, I was…looking! I was looking for my friend Ben, who was hiding!"
Arthur's eyebrows climbed higher up his forehead as he asked sceptically "Oh yes? And why was Ben hiding?"
"Well you scared him when you shouted at me in the courtyard." Leaning forward Merlin dropped his voice to a whisper, but it was still loud enough for Balinor to hear "He's a simpleton you see, got kicked in the head by a horse as a child. Loud noises scare him." Seeing Arthur was looking more trusting of Merlin's story, the warlock returned his voice to normal and continued "He's very sick you see, sicker than all the others. I've had to bring him here so Gaius can treat him, I didn't have everything that was needed in Ealdor. And I had to bring him because if left untreated it'll kill him and Ben, he's like my little brother, we grew up together, I couldn't very leave him could I?" He watched very carefully as Arthur's face softened throughout his little speech. 'Ah, the guilt trip.' Merlin thought 'It never ceases to work wonders.' Maybe it was a little cruel to manipulate Arthur like that but desperate times called for desperate lies.
Arthur's voice had softened noticeably when he next spoke. "Well, where is he now? You haven't lost him again have you, you idiot?"
Merlin shot him a mock glare and a cheeky grin at the use of his favourite insult "Don't be a prat, of course I haven't. He's waiting around the corner for me to finish explaining all this to you. I knew you'd be all… you about me being late and I didn't want to aggravate him so I told him to wait until I called him. In fact- Ben? Ben, you can come here now. It's all okay, I've spoken to the Prince and he'd like to meet you very much."
Balinor, who had been enjoying hearing his son's quick wit and easy banter with the Prince, took this as his cue to shuffle nervously around the corner, head bowed, playing the part of scared dim witted peasant perfectly. He went and stood partly behind Merlin, taking care to shoot small glances at Arthur's feet. Merlin was slightly shocked, as well as pleased at his father's acting abilities and said "It's okay Ben. Arthur's not going to shout at you. Go on, use your manners."
With a gentle shove 'Ben' was pushed towards Arthur, who was wearing a kind expression. Feeling bold, 'Ben' stuck his hand out and said in a deep voice 'Hello. My name is Ben.' Arthur didn't even bat an eye at the lack of protocol Balinor was glad to note. Grasping Balinor's outstretched hand with both of his own he shook them firmly but warmly. "Hello Ben, I'm Prince Arthur Pendragon, but I'd like it if you called me Arthur." A small but genuine smile lit up the Prince's face. "I'm sorry I scared you earlier, I didn't mean to."
A wicked thought popped into Balinor's head and he put on an earnest expression as he thought to himself that it was time for him to have some fun with the Prince. "It's okay Arthur but you shouldn't shout. My mother always says that shouting bad and you should never do it, no matter how angry you are. Promise me you won't shout at Merlin again Arthur, promise me."
To Arthur's credit, he remained fairly composed throughout 'Bens' request and it was only because Merlin had told him so much about Arthur and how to tell what he's actually thinking that Balinor could see Arthur's inner turmoil. Merlin, however, was to busy trying to repress hysterical laughter at his father's demand that he missed this. After a short pause Arthur replied in a somewhat strained voice "I-Okay Ben, I promise I'll do my best not to shout at Merlin again. Now, shall we get you to Gaius?"
Arthur quickly led Ben by the arm to the door and knocked once before entering. "Gaius, Merlin's back and he's brought a friend with him." He called. Gaius looked up from his desk, relief etched on his face.
The Prince turned to Ben and said "Well Ben, I've got to leave you know, I my duties to attend to. It was nice to meet you; maybe when your better I could show you around Camelot. Merlin, come and find me later, we need to have a chat." And with that the Prince left, shutting the door behind him.
As soon as Arthur had left Gaius went into a full blown lecture about responsibility and how it couldn't have hurt for Merlin to send a letter as soon as he got to Ealdor when he was cut off by raucous laughter from the two young men standing near the door. Apparently they found something so hilarious that the stranger was bent over double giggling like a madman whilst Merlin was using his back as a sort of table which he was sprawled on to keep himself from rolling on the floor.
Gaius just stood there, open mouthed and confused.
So there you go, please review and let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions about what you would like to happen I would love to here them!