"Pick up the pace, Merlin!" Arthur says turning to his manservant. "Father expects us to be back in Camelot before dusk. And I do not want to miss the knighting ceremony."
Arthur's father, Uther, had sent him on a mission to bring back a precious gem. The Diamond of Holding. If someone touched it, they would be transported inside of the diamond and be held there until someone set their spirit free. It was a powerful jewel that held many people inside, both good and bad. The diamond was a prison used during the time of the Old Religion.
Merlin exhales, "You're not the one carrying box."
Gaius had told them the only way to carry the diamond without worry of accidentally touching it would be to put in a wooden box. Arthur gave the responsibility of carrying the box to Merlin, naturally. The box was indeed very heavy, but Merlin shouldn't be struggling as much as he is. Or at least, that's what Arthur thinks.
"Oh, do you want to defend us then?" Arthur asks taking out his sword and offering the handle to Merlin.
Merlin rolls his eyes and proceeds walking. Arthur hears a mutter come from his friend's mouth, "Not like I haven't been keeping you alive this whole time."
"What was that?" Arthur asks him.
"Nothing, sire." Merlin says coldly.
Arthur jokingly, at Merlin's tone of voice, says, "Alright, I won't ask again."
They are inside of a narrow cave that looks ready to collapse at any moment. The two walk in silence until they come to a large chasm, the Diamond of Holding in their sight on a pedestal on the other side of the chasm.
"Well now what?" Arthur says angrily.
"Maybe we should come back with supplies to build a bridge." Merlin suggests.
"No, that's a stupid idea, and we need to get the diamond to my father by dusk." Arthur tells him.
"How else are we going to get it?" Merlin asks.
"Oh, I don't know." Arthur says, then turns to his friend. "You could use your magic."
Merlin gulped when he heard the words come out of Arthur's mouth. He stutters, "Y- you kn- knew?"
"Of course I did. You really should learn to hide it better." Arthur tells Merlin. "Gwen, Morgana, Gwaine, Percival, Elyan, Lancelot, and Leon even figured it out. No need to worry, either, we haven't told anyone yet and we don't plan to anytime soon."
Merlin looks as if he doesn't know whether to run or smile. Suddenly a wave of bravery courses through his body, and he walks to the edge overlooking the chasm, pushing the box into Arthur's arms. Merlin puts his hands out, palms facing the darkness of the chasm. Arthur hears Merlin whisper indecisive words that sound like gibberish. A wooden pathway appears, bridging the gap between their side of the chasm and the diamond's side.
"Go!" Merlin shouts to Arthur. "I can only hold it from here, and I can feel it losing strength already. Hurry!"
Arthur didn't argue and ran as fast as he can over the bridge. As he approached the diamond, a man appeared in front of him. The man was wearing a green cloak, obviously a druid. He was a rather old man with a white beard and white curly hair. The man's deep blue eyes stared into Arthur's.
"You have entered a sacred cave in hopes of taking a power that you could not hope to understand. Why?" The old man asks. His voice makes it sound as if he already knew what Arthur was going to say.
Arthur unsheathes his sword, moving the wooden box to his left arm, and points it at the druid man. Arthur says, "I am here on a mission from the King of Camelot. Move out of my way or arm yourself. I will be leaving here with the Diamond of Holding."
"Arthur!" Merlin shouted. Arthur didn't look at Merlin, he already knew that he just see Merlin struggling to keep the bridge. Arthur had to hurry or he would be stuck here until Merlin regained his strength.
The druid man stepped out of Arthur's path, letting him get the diamond. Arthur walked towards the diamond, still making sure that the druid doesn't do anything to stop him. The druid man sensed this and simply said, "Go on Arthur Pendragon, I will not stop you. I will let you see the consequences of your actions for yourself."
"What does that mean?" Arthur asked. The druid didn't say anything, he only looked at Arthur.
Arthur sighed and turned completely away from the druid and looked at the ancient gem. It was glowing blue and was shaped like a prism. Arthur set the box on the ground and made sure that he still had his gloves on before reaching for the diamond. Arthur cautiously picked it up and waited for something bad to happen. When nothing did, Arthur rolled his eyes that he would let a druid's legend go to his head. Putting the diamond into the box, Arthur took a quick peek at Merlin and saw his friend's face had turned red with his struggle to keep the bridge up.
Arthur knew he didn't have much time left and picked the box up carefully and ran over to bridge, making sure not to cause the diamond harm. The druid had disappeared when Arthur picked up the diamond, but Arthur didn't notice. Suddenly, Arthur and the diamond were falling to the wooden surface when the bridge started to crumble beneath him.
"Arthur!" He heard Merlin shout again, but out of concern instead of a struggle.
Arthur got to his knees and checked the diamond to make sure it wasn't damaged. He got to his feet when he knew that it wasn't, but was surprised when he felt hands push him to the solid cave floor. Arthur turned to see that Merlin was the one that had saved his life. Merlin was running to join him, but the bridge completely disappeared under Merlin's feet and he was falling. Arthur didn't know he could move as fast as he did, because the next thing he knew Arthur was holding Merlin by his neckerchief to keep him from falling.
"Arthur," Merlin struggled to say with the neckerchief pressing against neck. "Don't… let go."
"I wasn't planning to do so." Arthur said. "Give me your hand."
Just as Merlin started to reach his hand out, the knot of the neckerchief came undone and Arthur watched in horror as Merlin fell into the dark chasm. Arthur backed away from the edge, the red neckerchief of his friend still in his hand. Arthur could not believe that after all of their years of adventures, Merlin was dead.
Arthur did not know what to do, so he picked up the box holding the diamond and left. He barely managed to get back to Camelot with both horses and the diamond. If Merlin were with him this would have been much easier. If Merlin were here he would being trying to make Arthur laugh or he would be angry with Arthur for not hurrying. That was all Arthur could think, if Merlin were here. However, Arthur did not allow himself to cry for the loss of his friend.
Arthur dismounted his horses and made sure they were tied up properly before walking with the box in his arms to the citadel. Arthur walked through the castle and opened approached his father's throne room. The guards opened the doors and Arthur walked inside with the box still in his arms.
Arthur must have been earlier than he though because he saw his father just finishing the knighting ceremony. Everyone turned when they heard the noise of the door opening. Uther smiled when he saw Arthur and the box.
"And today has become even greater." Uther said as Arthur approached his father, the box suddenly becoming heavier in his arms. Uther looked inside the box and looked at his to make sure he had his black gloves on before he picked up the prism shaped diamond to show everyone. "The Diamond of Holding. Now that it is in our possession we can assure that no harm comes to Camelot."
Uther put the diamond back in the box and motioned for a guard to take it out of Arthur's arms and into the vaults. Uther put his hands on his son's shoulders, as if to say good job. Arthur nodded his head and Uther took his hands away from Arthur and motioned for the new knights to stand up.
As the knights stood, Uther turned to his people, "We have prevailed greatly today my loyal people. The feast will start soon. Thank you all for coming."
Arthur didn't listen to his father, he was too busy looking at Morgana. She held a smile on her face, but her eyes were worried. Arthur knew that Morgana was trying her best not to scream at him, Where's Merlin! Arthur saddened even deeper at this. He did not even think about how his friends would react.
Just as Uther turned away to start walking towards thrown, Arthur spoke up, "Father."
Arthur's voice came out like a whisper and sounded hoarse. He cleared his throat and said, "Father, obtaining the diamond came with a price."
"What price?" Uther asked confused.
"It pains me to say, but…" Arthur had been thinking it for the past few hours, but he hadn't said it yet. Arthur took a deep breath and tried again. "It pains me to say, but my manservant, Merlin, has died."
Arthur hears a few gasps and a cry that Arthur knows belongs to Gwen. Uther approaches Arthur, "How did this happen?"
Arthur explains, leaving out the part of Merlin's magic being involved, "To get the diamond we had to cross an old and worn wood bridge that was the only way over a chasm. We decided that only one of should go because we weren't sure if it could hand two people going over it twice, so I went. On the trip back, the bridge started to fall and I tripped. I would've died if Merlin had not come to pick me up and push me to the other side. He almost made it to the other side, but the bridge broke. I had caught him, but he slipped and fell into the chasm."
Uther sighed, "He died a hero, and he will be honored tonight at the feast. You may all leave now. I will see you all at the feast."
The room was cleared, leaving only eight people in the room with Arthur. Gwen, Morgana, Gaius, Leon, Lancelot, Gwaine, Percival, and Elyan. The eight looked at their friend and prince, waiting for him to say something. Gwen approached him, her eyes red from crying, "Is it true?"
"Yes." Arthur said. He took out Merlin's red neckerchief. "This is what I grabbed him by when he fell. If only I grabbed his shirt, he would still be here."
"Arthur, it's not your fault." Morgana said, grabbing his arm.
"Yes it is! The wooden bridge was created by Merlin with his magic, it wasn't already there. I saw that he was barely able to keep up the bridge, but I still took more time than needed to get the diamond."
"Arthur," Gaius said. "You are thinking of the bad, when you must realize the good. Merlin died knowing that his friends accepted he was a warlock. That's all he ever wanted, trust me."
The nine friends were silent, apart from some crying and others on the verge of crying. Arthur saw his other friends cry, but he still did not allow himself of the same luxury. Arthur merely hugged Morgana and Gwen to his chest as they cry.
Two hours later, when Arthur has bathed and changed into the clothes he preserves for parties and feasts. Arthur refused the servants that tried to help him like Merlin did. Arthur entered the throne room, which now had many tables inside and food and people. The noise surprised Arthur as he was in silence for a long time.
Arthur took his place next to his father on the table that was in front of the rest. The food he was to eat was placed in front of him. Arthur didn't eat as much as he usually did, in fact he was only picking at it and occasionally eating a bite. This is how the rest of the feast went on, until the end and Arthur decided to say something.
Arthur stood and waited for everyone to be quiet to listen to him. Ignoring his father's look of confusion, Arthur started speaking, "My people, my knights, my friends, this feast is not like any other. It is to celebrate our new knights, to celebrate Camelot obtaining the Diamond of Holding, but most of all we are to celebrate the life of me manservant and friend, Merlin. He died saving my life which is something that I can never forgive. Not that I wanted to forget Merlin in the first place. Even though Merlin was just a manservant, he was one of the bravest people that I have ever known."
The people looked at Arthur with smiles and his father looked proud. Arthur raised his cup, "To Merlin!"
"To Merlin!" Everyone, including Uther, changed until it was the only thing that could be heard in the room.
After the feast had ended, Arthur went straight to his chambers. He undressed until he was only in his trousers and went lie down on his bed. Arthur's head hit the pillow and for the first time since he saw Merlin die, Arthur cried.
