Part 2- Here's Part 2!


When Arthur woke in the morning, he felt stiff and sore, but not cold. He tried to get up but the pain shot through his side again. "Ahhh!" he yelled.

His yell attracted the attention of Merlin and Gaius, who'd been sitting at the campfire, talking quietly. They both jumped up and came over to him. Merlin frowned at him. "I thought I told you not to move."

"No," Arthur gasped, "you didn't. But it hurts again."

"I could hear that," Merlin said.

Gaius knelt and lifted the blanket to check the wound. "Looks like it's stopped bleeding."

"That'll make traveling easier, if we can keep it that way," Merlin added.

"I'll clean this up and apply fresh herbs."

Arthur looked up at Merlin while Gaius worked. "Can you do that . . . thing again? For the pain?"

"The spell? Sure. But let me get this straight—you're asking me to use magic on you."

"You did yesterday." Arthur pouted.

"I did that of my own free will. There's no way you could have stopped me." He smirked.

"Ugh, don't smirk. It reminds me of Morgana . . . but yes, I'm asking you to use magic on me. Please."

"Did you hear that Gaius? He said 'please.'"

"Merlin, stop torturing the poor man and give him some relief," Gaius scolded.

"I was going to anyway," Merlin grumbled, but repeated the spell he'd used yesterday.

"Thank you. Is there any food around?" the King asked.

"Some dried meat and fruit. But can you feed yourself?" Merlin asked.

Arthur attempted to lift his right hand, but it didn't get far before it tugged uncomfortably on his injury. "I guess not. Would you mind? . ."

"Not at all." Merlin rummaged through the pack Gaius had brought and pulled out several bits of dried food. He walked back to Arthur, sat and started feeding the King. Gaius finished his work and sat back to watch.

Arthur ate in silence for a while, thinking. Merlin could go anywhere, do anything and even be anything. But why, really? "Why are you still behaving like a servant?"

Merlin rolled his eyes. "I already told you. It's my destiny. As it has been since the day we met."

"I tried to take your head off with a mace."

The warlock chuckled briefly. "And I stopped you, using magic."

"You cheated!" I knew there was something about him.

"You were going to kill me."

"I should've."

"I'm glad you didn't. I do this because of who you are." Arthur scrutinized his friend closely. "Without you, Camelot's nothing."

He really believes that? "There was a time when that was true. Not now. There are many who can fill the crown."

He sounds so depressed. "There will never be another like you, Arthur. Now, I also do this because you're my friend and I don't want to lose you." He stopped feeding the King for a moment. "I will see you healed. Nothing can stop me—most powerful sorcerer, remember?" He grinned.

"Warlock," Arthur corrected, and all three men laughed.

Merlin finished feeding Arthur, brushed off his hands and stood up. "Let's see about getting you to Avalon." He and Gaius packed up the bags and loaded up the horses. After he'd put the fire out magically, he went back to Arthur.

"Aren't you going to call the dragon?" Arthur asked as Merlin carefully pulled him to standing.

Merlin rolled his eyes again. "Of course. But I can't do it right here."

Arthur looked around, puzzled. "Why not?"

The warlock physically restrained himself from rolling his eyes again. "Because he needs a larger space to land. Don't you remember how big he is?"

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh. So we're going to walk until we find a clearing big enough for him. Then I'll call him."

"How?"

Merlin grinned. "You'll see." He and Gaius helped Arthur walk over to the horses. With a flash of golden eyes, he lifted the King into the saddle with minimal pain. "Hold on," he told Arthur, then said, "Áféh."

"What was that for?" Arthur asked.

"To keep you in place while I lead your horse."

"Oh." Arthur nodded. Merlin grasped the reins of his and Arthur's horses. Gaius took hold of his, and they were off. He felt no pain from the jostling of the horse and wondered if that was part of the spell too.

After a half hour or so of peaceful walking, they found a clearing that Merlin deemed large enough. He turned to the King and said, "Brace yourself."

"I thought I was . . ?"

"I meant mentally, dollophead. This is rather, um, intense." Arthur looked at him like he was mental, but nodded. Merlin took a deep breath, then roared, "O drakon! E male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!"

Arthur couldn't keep his mouth from falling open. Merlin sounded like a completely different person—a much stronger and powerful one. Which is what he really is, he reminded himself. It's one thing to think, oh yeah, my friend's a dragonlord. It's a completely different thing to see him roar like that with obvious power. He looked around for a minute, expecting the dragon to appear. "So, it doesn't just appear," he said with disappointment.

Merlin stomped his foot. "No, he doesn't just appear. He has to fly from wherever he is. I basically just asked him to come talk to me and he has to obey me. It takes him a few minutes, depending on how far away he is. And he isn't as young as he used to be." The warlock frowned.

The King glanced over at Gaius. He looked more than a little startled himself. "You've never seen him do that?" he asked the physician.

"Nooo. I knew about the dragon; I've spoken to him. And I knew about Merlin's dragonlord powers but hadn't seen them in action."

They felt silent while they waited. After a few minutes, they heard a curious thumping sound and listened as it got louder and louder. Merlin smiled as a dark shape appeared in the sky and gradually grew larger. Then the dragon was there; he hovered for a moment before landing heavily in the clearing.

"Kilgharrah, thank you for coming. I would not have summoned you, if there was any other choice," Merlin said as he walked over to the dragon and put his arms around the dragon's lowered head.

When Merlin let go, Kilgharrah looked around the clearing with interest. Upon spotting Arthur, he nodded at the King. To Merlin he said, "I still have some time. I see your secret is no longer secret from your King." Arthur's mouth fell open again; the dragon could talk!

"Oh. No," Merlin stuttered. "Kilgharrah, Arthur Pendragon, Once and Future King. Arthur, this is Kilgharrah, better known as the Great Dragon."

The dragon inclined his head. "Young Pendragon, this is an honor." He turned back to Merlin. "But I sense all is not right here."

"No Kilgharrah. The battle for Camelot is over. We've driven the Saxons away and Mordred is dead. But Arthur was gravely wounded by him. Mordred's sword was burnished by Aithusa and a piece has broken off inside Arthur. I am not powerful enough to pull it out and heal him."

"What do you want me to do? I cannot heal the work of another dragon."

Merlin grimaced. "No, I wanted to ask you something else." He thought how to best phrase his request. "Would you take us to the isle at the center of the Lake of Avalon? I'm told the Sidhe there have enough magic to completely heal Arthur."

Kilgharrah looked slightly affronted at this, but grudgingly admitted, "The Sidhe there have sufficient magic to heal him, yes. But you'll have to persuade them. They've no love for mortals, you especially."

"I know. But I'm not exactly mortal, am I? I'm sure I can manage to persuade them. And if they irritate you, you can just roast them." He and Kilgharrah chuckled.

Arthur exchanged a look with Gaius. Merlin's "not exactly mortal?" What the hell does that mean? He saw that this was news to Gaius as well, judging from his shocked look. And what was a shee? They turned their attention back to the two magical beings.

"Merlin, as you know, I'm not a horse. But I see that time is of the essence. Bring the King over and secure him to my back."

The warlock ran back to where Gaius and Arthur sat staring. He giggled gleefully a bit before taking up the reins of Arthur's horse and leading it over to the dragon. Gaius followed. Merlin looked up at Arthur and said, "You're going to love this! Riding on a dragon is the best!"

Arthur looked back at Gaius. The physician shrugged and kept walking. "Uh, if you say so Merlin," the King replied.

As they got closer to the dragon, the horse started to buck and whinny. Merlin stopped, petted the horse's nose and whispered something close to its ear. The horse stilled and began walking again when the warlock pulled gently on the reins. He'll never stop surprising me, Arthur concluded.

When the horse was close enough, Merlin handed the reins to Gaius. With another flash of his eyes, he lifted Arthur from the horse and settled him on Kilgharrah's back. He used the same word as before to hold the King in place. Arthur remembered something just then, and pulled the chain off from around his neck. "Gaius," he said, and tossed the necklace downward. Surprisingly, Merlin managed to catch it.

Merlin took a look at it. "Oh no, Arthur . . ." But he handed it to the physician.

The King ignored him and spoke to Gaius. "Give this to Guinevere."

"It's the Royal Seal, sire," Gaius said with surprise.

"If I am to die, I can think of no one who I would rather succeed me." Gaius nodded.

"One thing Gaius—you know I was betrayed. The girl, Eira cannot be trusted," Merlin said.

"I know," was the reply. Merlin looked at him quizzically, but let that pass. He turned away climb up the dragon, but Gaius called him back. "Merlin." He held out his arms to embrace his ward, then pushed him back a bit. "Now go. Look after him. Go."

Merlin nodded at him, then climbed carefully up Kilgharrah's back to sit behind Arthur. "See you later!" he called.

Gaius backed up as Kilgharrah made to stand. The dragon flexed his wings and with a mighty down stroke, lifted them into the sky. The physician shielded his eyes from the sun and watched the three of them gradually fade into the distance. The hopes and prayers of many went with them.

Arthur was sure he'd left his stomach back on the ground with Gaius. He didn't say anything for a few minutes; he was too overwhelmed by the sensations. And Merlin's whooping. He wondered how the dragon blocked it out so he could focus on flying.

"Can you stop that?" he yelled back to his friend.

"What?" Merlin yelled back.

"Can you . . . Oh bother." He turned his head as far as he could and yelled, "Do you know a better way to communicate?"

"How about this?" Arthur heard in his head. He was so shocked he jumped, but luckily the spell kept him in place.

"How did you do that?"

"It's something I can do. You probably can't though, so you'll have to yell. I'll focus my senses better so I can hear you."

"At least you stopped whooping."

"I can't help it. Flying is such a thrill."

"Maybe for you."

"Pshh. So what did you want to talk about? I imagine you have a lot of questions."

"You could say that." He thought through the mental list of questions he'd made. "What's a 'she'? Some new title for Morgana?"

"No, the s-i-d-h-e are fairies. Nasty little blue things. Of course they don't like me either. I've killed a few. You've actually met a few without knowing."

"I think I'd remember meeting little blue fairies."

"They didn't look like that at the time. Do you remember Sofia and her father? They were outcast Sidhe in human form. And Elena had one inside her until Gaius and I chased it out."

Arthur's mouth fell open, but he didn't say anything.

"You'll want to close that—bugs are more wont to fly in at this height."

The King closed his mouth until he thought of another question. "Will it hurt?"

"What? Getting the bit of sword out and healing you? I've no idea."

"Great. Thanks for that." He was silent for a few minutes.

"Surely you haven't run out of questions yet."

"Not on your life. I'm thinking."

"Don't strain yourself."

"Ha ha. Okay, how about this? The first time you saved my life, when Father made you my manservant—did you use magic?"

"Yes. I used it to drop the chandelier on the witch and to slow down time so I could pull you out of the way of the dagger."

"You slowed time?"

"Yeah. I suppose I could do more with time, but I haven't had a lot of time to experiment with that."

"Experiment . . . with time?"

"Sure, why not?"

"O-kay. That's kind of scary, you know that?"

"No. I've been able to do that for a while. It's instinctive."

"Oh, great." He thought for a moment. "So, Mordred. Did you know he was going to betray us? Is that why you didn't like him?"

"I liked him well enough. I didn't trust him. And yes, I knew he could betray us. I've known about that possibility since we met him. Kilgharrah told me."

"That long ago? Does that mean Kilgharrah knew about Morgana too?"

Arthur heard a sigh in his head. "Yes, unfortunately. But I fought him on that. I insisted she had a good heart and wouldn't betray us. Turns out he was right after all."

"If you knew about them for this long, why didn't you tell me before, when we could have stopped them?"

"You wouldn't have believed me then. For Morgana, your father's influence on you was too strong. And you were too determined to trust Mordred. Instead of helping him, I just alienated him."

"You blame yourself for their betrayals." It wasn't a question; he could just tell.

"Yes. I should have helped Morgana feel secure in her magic by sharing my secret, but I didn't. And then I had to . . . never mind. I'll tell you that later. And maybe befriending Mordred would have helped him. I truly believe he had nothing against you until you executed Kara."

"One of my biggest regrets. Surely there had to have been another way . . ."

"Don't do that to yourself. You can 'what if' until the cows come home but it won't change anything. Believe me, I know."

"All right, what did you mean when you said you're 'not exactly mortal'?"

"You heard that, did you? I was hoping you hadn't."

"We all did. Now explain. I'm sure Kilgharrah wants to know too."

"Yes, thank you young King. I did," Kilgharrah said in both of their heads.

"Fine. Okay. So before Morgana started the war, she sent a creature that drained my magic completely. I couldn't go to Camlann with you because I had no power. I went to the birthplace of magic, to see if I could somehow get it back. Morgana trapped me there. After a while, my father came and talked to me. Long story short, he motivated me to not give up. I got my magic back, and in the process, he told me I was immortal."

Neither Arthur nor Kilgharrah said anything for a minute. The King thought Kilgharrah must know something about how all this was possible. He hoped he would understand too, in time. But for now, all he could say was, "I'm so sorry I called you a coward."

"I know you didn't mean it. You were hurt that I wasn't going to be with you after being there for you every other time. So you lashed out."

"That doesn't mean it was okay, because it wasn't." He thought for a moment. "Wait, did you say you saw your father? Isn't he . . ."

"Dead? Yeah, technically. But also, no, not really. It's hard to explain. I'll have to think about it."

"That's what you meant when you said 'I saw him yesterday.'"

"Oh yeah. I did say that."

"I hate to interrupt, but we're over the lake now," Kilgharrah rumbled.


Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion!