IDOM - because I forgot to mention that earlier and oh, yeah this is for all the people who kindly requested me for another chapter *thinks back to all the fangirls/boys screaming their heads off at me while typing their reviews* yup.. Kindly indeed :)
Oh so i made a mistake in the previous chapter, instead of typing saxon i kept typing mercenaries when it was supposed to be saxons.. So .. yeah…
Also, a shoutout to my brilliant beta as always - Thank you tons and tons Mari!
"Because I had to get my magic back."
Arthur stared.
"What are you talking about?" Arthur asked, his tone faintly disbelieving even as he knew as his stomach churned at the thought, as he slowly started to put all the pieces together.
"I defeated the saxons. The dragon. I even threw back Morgana from the cliffs using magic," his voice drifted off, and meanwhile Arthur felt himself growing pale.
"The person who defeated them was a sorcerer," Arthur said, but his voice was hollow.
"It was me," a tear fell from Merlin's eye as he whispered his silent confession, and for some reason Arthur felt himself getting suddenly angry.
"This is stupid!" Arthur exclaimed, his voice rising as he gestured vaguely to Merlin. "Why would you say that?" He didn't even bother to hide the pleading tone in his voice as he asked Merlin, silently begging the man to just stop, to leave it be so that they could walk on from here and pretend this never happened, that Merlin never tried to confess to something that no matter what, would never be erased from Arthur's mind now.
Merlin suddenly stood straighter though, and with dread pooling in Arthur's guts, he met Arthur's eyes with a steady gaze as he spoke.
"I'm a…" he paused, his eyes closing for a brief moment before opening them again and looking back at Arthur. "I'm a sorcerer. I have magic. And I use it for you, Arthur. Only for you," his voice, loud and steady at the beginning, fell back to a whisper by the end.
Arthur took a step back, feeling empty, as if he was about to fall over any moment now.
"You. Are not a sorcerer. I would know," he stated, his voice even. But they could both hear that even Arthur didn't believe what he was saying.
Merlin shook his head, finally breaking his eye contact with Arthur as he looked off to the side, and Arthur felt as if despite only the three feet distance between them, he felt miles away from the man in front of him now.
Merlin looked back at Arthur.
"Upastige… draca," a small fire had been alight near their feet, one of the many as an aftermath from the dragon's destruction. But with Merlin's words, a dragon formed from the flames' sparks, rearing it's head before flapping its wings heavily and, as if lifting itself from an unseen ground, flew up and started to fly away, but the moment the dragon was out of the reach of the flames tips from the fire, the dragon dissipated.
Arthur continued to stare silently at where the dragon had been, while Merlin stayed agonizingly silent.
It was Arthur who broke the silence first.
"Leave."
But then Merlin suddenly shouted.
"Arthur!"
The king looked up, ready to defend himself in necessary, from the sorcerer, and to say anything necessary though to ensure that Merlin never would be able to return to Camelot alongside Arthur, and maybe even impart a heavy death threat even if Arthur still couldn't find himself having Merlin killed - but only because the sorcerer had saved Arthur's life along with many others and for no other reason - but instead he looked up to see Merlin dashing to him, his eyes wide and and anxious, panicked and something else that veiled his face entirely that Arthur couldn't bring himself to name but struck fear within the king.
It was only then did he notice that Merlin wasn't looking at him, or even running to him -
He was pushed away from where he was standing just as the familiar sound of metal hitting flesh sounded, and lifting himself from the ground he looked up to see Morgana standing bent over, the familiar pose of one who just hurled an object… standing several feet away with a maniacal grin as she stared at…
Arthur turned his head to see what she was looking at - or rather who.
And there stood Merlin, his face deathly pale and crouched over into a bow, his hands clutching his torso from where a dagger's hilt stuck out, the blade embedded in Merlin's abdomen.
Morgana laughed. "Hello, Emrys," she hissed his name with scorn, before she scoffed. "Look at you, not so tall and mighty now," she smirked, and leaned back, taking a sauntering step closer to Merlin, completely ignoring at Arthur. "You may have won the battle, but you've lost the war," she grinned, but it was so completely deranged, and so unlike a Morgana that Arthur knew could ever come up with, and it was then he realized, that he truly had lost his sister.
The next few seconds passed in a blur, much like how it happened when Arthur killed Mordred, his movements fast yet calculated and everything happening so fast that it barely registered in his mind until he finally stood over Morgana's body, the life quickly leaving her as she slumped into Arthur's arms while he yanked his sword out from her body.
"I… am a high priestess," Morgana coughed weakly, the movement wracking her entire body as she widened her eyes in disbelief. "No mortal blade… can kill me," she inhaled deeply, her breath wheezing, and then she was no more, her body still in Arthur's arms.
Thunder roared above, as Arthur slowly lowered Morgana's body to the ground - similar to how Mordred died. Too painfully similar.
Arthur stood up straight, and aware of the blue eyes drilling a hole in his side, he turned to walk away, when he heard the thump of a body falling to the ground, just as he took a step.
He hesitated.
"My lady!" Leon burst into the tent and both Gaius and Gwen jumped up in surprise from where they had been both leaning over their own patients to tend to, the latter putting a hand over her heart so as if to calm down the rapidly beating organ.
"The battle is won. The saxons are in full retreat. They're making it for the hills. I've dispatched two hundred men to drive our advantage home."
Gwen walked over to the knight, nodding as he spoke and waiting for the knight to finish before voicing the one thought that lay heavily in her mind.
"And Arthur?"
Leon paused, his eyes growing more weary and anxious as well. "We'll keep looking."
"Thank you," Gwen said quietly after a moment, leaning against the table. Leon looked at her helplessly, as if wanting to comfort his in some way but not knowing what to say, but Gwen quickly reined herself again.
"Oh, I'll need some fresh water!" she said, standing straight again. A knight standing close by nodded and left to get the water, and Leon, sensing a dismissal from his queen, turned to leave as well when a man carrying someone in his arms came in first.
Gwen almost yelled in relief.
"Arthur!"
And then her eyes fell to the wheezing man in Arthur's arms, and this time she actually did shout while her relief turned to concern.
"Merlin!"
"Is there anything you need Gaius? Any herbs or-" Gaius cut off Gwen's anxious ramblings.
"Why don't you go tend to the other knights," he said, not unkindly as he paused in his movements of hastily cutting open Merlin's tunic so as to be able to clean the wound better before he did anything else - such as pulling out the dagger sticking out from his ward's abdomen.
"We need to leave soon… We may have the basics but… I fear this dagger has struck Merlin's lung, in which case the amount and variety of herbs I actually need would be back in my chambers in Camelot," Gaius quietly confided in Gwen while pulling away the now tattered tunic from Merlin's torso. The queen gasped, her hands to her mouth as her eyes shined with unshed tears at hearing her friend's plight.
"For now I can only hold this wound together and hope to staunch the bleeding," Gaius said as he finally got the last droplets of blood cleared up, and braced himself to pull out the dagger.
"Actually, my lady…" he hesitated, unable to look up and meet Gwen's gaze.
"Yes Gaius?" Gwen pressed, looking pale but her voice was steady, and that finally enabled the physician to look up.
"I'm going to need you to hold him down while I take out the dagger," he said shortly. Gwen paled, but she nodded and readied herself, pressing a kind hand against Merlin's forehead before pressing one of her hand against his chest, well above the dagger, and the other against his legs.
Swallowing thickly, Gaius pulled out the dagger, and gasped as Merlin screamed and started to thrash, still unconscious. Gwen started to struggle. Leon, who had been standing well away and beside the quiet king who still didn't look up despite all the noise, his gaze fixed resolutely on the ground, started forward to help Gwen hold Merlin steady.
"It's poisoned," Gaius stated, his voice cracking. Gwen's head shot up, but Gaius was already putting away the dagger carefully by wrapping it up and placing it in his medicine satchel to make sure he didn't lose it.
"What?" Gwen asked, aghast as she stared at Gaius even as she continued to hold down Merlin, the unconscious man's movements now becoming more and more sluggish, before he stopped all movements and was lying still on the cot, the only movements being his unsteady and wheezing, each breath sounding thick with blood.
Gaius hastily got back to work again, working fast to staunch the blood and steadfastly ignoring the black poison oozing from the wound in Merlin's abdomen and working itself into the warlock's veins.
"We need to get back to Camelot sooner than I expected."
"He's a sorcerer."
Gaius, who had been checking his medicine satchel a few feet behind his horse to make sure the dagger was still in his bag, paused. Leon, several feet away and thankfully out of earshot continued to rapidly order a few other knights to proceed readying their horses. For now, including the King and Queen, only a small group of knights were to make their way back to Camelot, to also ensure the protection of the royals while other knights who needed to be immediately looked after were also being brought in wagons, along with Merlin. Leon was to stay back, however, to look after all the other knights and anyone else who would be returning to Camelot at a slower pace.
"You knew," Arthur said when Gaius resumed to stay silent and didn't look up. He took a step back, feeling betrayed.
Gaius finally looked up to look at Arthur. "Arthur, he is your friend."
Arthur looked away, his nostrils flaring.
"If his life weren't in danger…" his voice lowered, and he gritted his teeth before continuing. "I want him gone. After he's well."
"Arthur," Gaius looked at him disbelievingly. "There is no need to fear him!"
Arthur let out a dry, humourless laugh. "He has magic!" he retorted.
Gaius suddenly straightened his features, his demeanor cold.
"Well then you should be satisfied, my lord. I fear that even his magic would not be able to save him in time. Seems fitting, that with his duty fulfilled in keeping you alive, he can die now in return. And yet, he gets nothing in return for his friendship, not a kind word, not even a glance," Gaius focused his piercing gaze on Arthur, his look so cold.
"So much for being the greatest sorcerer to walk the earth."
Arthur looked back at Gaius, his throat feeling very dry as he asked incredulously.
"Merlin?" he asked. But Gaius had already turned to walk away and mounted his horse, his back stiff and unwelcoming any further conversation.
By the time they had reached Camelot, Gaius too conscious of each step they took, aware of each second ticking by and wondering if they'd even be able to make it back to Camelot in time…
But no, for Merlin, he would have hope. Hope in the inevitable. Because with the amount of harm that one dagger inflicted, only magic would be able to save Merlin now.
Only magic of the strong kind. The kind that could only be wielded by not even Gaius himself, but Merlin. Merlin, who was currently unconscious, and not even the torturous pain of having the poisoned dagger been wrenched out of him could awaken him, even if only for a few brief seconds.
In the distance, the turrets of Camelot's castle came into view.
So yeah, I decided to write another chapter, and i thought I could finish this off in a two shot but it's taking a bit longer than I expected and I wanted you guys to rest assured that I am working on another chapter and trying to get it out… So till then.. enjoy!
