End of Days
Chapter 3
~Fran Gipani
Disclaimer- So I obviously don't own Merlin no matter how much I'd love to and neither no I earn any money from this. This is just for funsies :)
Note from the Author- This is an 'Alternate Ending' fic for the Merlin Series Finale and will probably be about 4 or 5 chapters long. Thank you to all my new followers :) also thank you so so much to readernurse, Laughy-Taffy the Grape, TwilightCharmedFaie, m3rwh0l0ck3d, MamzelleHermy and JelloGirl323 for the really sweet reviews; you are all so lovely :) :) Please try and leave a review they are really encouraging :)
~Fran xx
A voice then broke the silence, it was Arthur's, but it didn't sound right; more like a broken whisper than that of a confident king. "Hang on there Merlin. You're the closest thing I have to a brother and I couldn't bear to loose you."
~O~O~O~
Gaius bustled about, helping Gwen attend to the wounded and checking each persons face as they entered the tent looking for a sign of Arthur or Merlin. Neither of them had been seen since the battle and he was beginning to worry. Merlin and Arthur; two people he had grown to love as sons. So when Sir Leon entered the tent saying that those were the last men back, he stood and checked with Gwen that it was fine for him to leave before leaving the tent and taking a horse down the track towards the battlefield. A sea of strewn bodies, covering the road. The devastation and death the battle had brought was horrific.
The last Gaius had seen of Merlin was when his ward was disguised as Dragoon and defeating Morgana's men from the top of a cliff. He hated to think, that if Morgana had found Merlin, what she would have done...but he couldn't think like that. Gaius pulled the horse to a stop for a moment to look up to the cliffs where Merlin had stood, hoping that maybe he was there. Not seeing him he brought his eyes back to the road to see something that made his heart stop in his chest.
In the distance Gaius could see the silhouette of a strong looking man holding the body of a smaller one, they seemed to be walking away from him. He knew though, even without being able to see them properly, that it was Arthur and Merlin. Gaius clicked his heels and the chocolate brown horse sped up to a gallop. He had to catch them up, he needed to see what was wrong.
As he reached them he slowed the horse down to a trot and Arthur turned around in shock at the sound. This giving Gaius a perfect view of Merlin. The man was deathly pale, with his eyes half closed, and his head resting against Arthur's chest. There was what looked like a deep sword wound in Merlin's side, it was leaking blood and seemed to have swollen slightly. "Oh Merlin," Gaius let out a strangled whisper, "What have you done now you silly boy? What happened Arthur?"
~O~O~O~
As Arthur reached the forrest with Merlin's body still cradled in his arms he heard the sound of hooves behind him. He whipped around to see Gaius astride a chocolate brown horse, galloping up behind him. The look of shock and sorrow on Gaius's face was heart breaking. The old man saw Merlin as a son and to see someone that close to broken and dying was the worst feeling in the world.
"Oh Merlin, what have you done now you silly boy? What happened Arthur?" Gaius enquired.
Arthur still felt surprised to see the physician but answered anyway, "I will answer all of your questions Gaius, but only once we are in the safety and cover of the trees. I am sorry but I think Merlin needs as little movement as possible so to minimise the pain."
"You are right Arthur, that would be best but in the meantime...sit him up here with me, it will take the strain off your back." Gaius suggested, staring down at his king.
Arthur considered the suggestion for a moment before saying, "I am sorry Gaius but I would like to keep him down here with me. I will worry too much when I can't see him." Arthur waited for Gaius's nod in reply before he spoke again. "You lead the way Gaius, just follow the path until you get to a clearing where we could look after Merlin."
So the King of Camelot with his dying friend and the Court Physician traveled on into the night in silence. Each lost in his own thoughts and worrying about Merlin's fate.
~O~O~O~
"So, Arthur," Gaius asked shortly after they had set up a camp of sorts. Merlin was lying against a large log near the fire, he was unconscious but that was because of the sleeping herbs Gaius had given him. Gaius had now removed Merlins robe (the one he wore as Dragoon), then also his normal blue shirt and red neck-chief (which Arthur had folded neatly into his pocket for when Merlin would need it back when he was well enough to wear it) and wrapped the wound with some cloth he'd had in his medical bag. With his shirt back on Merlin was slowly warming back up but he was still cold. Even with the extra blankets. They would wake him shortly but first Gaius needed some questions answered. First on the list, "What happened to Merlin?"
"Mordred." Arthur replied simply, his voice laced with hate and malice. "He tried to kill me with his sword, but the sorcerer who won the battle for us shoved me out of the way. He got pierced with the sword instead of me. You can imagine my shock when the disguise faded and the Sorcerer turned out to be Merlin? I am sorry Gaius, there was nothing I could do!"
"You know!?" Gaius replied in shock, "...and you've accepted him?"
"How could I not? He is my friend, my brother." Arthur replied solemnly, gazing back to his sleeping friend.
"I am glad that you have, Merlin had waited so long for this moment. You said it was Mordred who stabbed him?" Arthur nodded in reply before Gaius spoke again, "That's not good, not good at all."
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked in a panicked voice.
"Arthur I need you to understand, Mordred was a Druid who was in league with Morgana. Morgana befriended the white dragon, meaning that she probably would have forged Mordred's sword in the dragons breath. Just like Excalibur - a sword also forged in the dragons breath - it would submit any person injured with it to a slow and painful death if not killed instantly. If I am right then you are lucky Merlin took the blow for you but it does mean that he has a close and inevitable death."
"You could be wrong Gaius," please make him be wrong, is there any way you can check?" Arthur asked, doing his best to contain the panic and grief that was rising in his chest.
"There is sire," Gaius replied hesitantly, "but I have to use Magic, a spell that will detect any traces of dark or twisted Magic within him." He held his breath, not knowing how Arthur would react.
Arthur didn't even hesitate before replying, "Of course! We need to know Gaius!"
"Thank you sire." Gaius replied before beginning to work the spell, he drew from what little Magic he had and reached out to Merlin. He could feel something there, a mix of Magic, he'd had little knowledge before of the complexity of Merlin's power but now he could feel it all at his fingertips. Suddenly Gaius felt a stabbing pain in his head and he drew himself away.
Arthur noticed something was up with Gaius and put a hand on his arm, for a second he felt the stab of pain that Gaius had just felt before the Physician pulled away from Merlin completely, "What was that Gaius? That stab of pain, would that be how Merlin is feeling? Is he going to be alright?" Came Arthur's steady flow of questions.
Gaius took in a deep breath, "In answer to your first question, I think that pain is what Merlin felt at the time of contact with the sword. The pain for him would be more dull now, but still there." Gaius looked over to Merlin for a moment before turing back to Arthur and answering the second, "I could feel that a piece of Mordred's enchanted sword has snapped of into Merlin's side. It is slowly traveling up towards his heart, leaving a trail of dark Magic in its wake." He stared at Arthur with a sad expression on his face, "I don't think that any amount of Magic would be able to draw it out. As far as I know there is nothing we can do to save him."
It was just as Gaius started his last sentence that Merlin woke up and let out something between a quiet but strangled cough and a groan but was too dazed and in pain to hear what Gaius had said properly. He looked at Gaius who had a concerned look on his face and seemed to be in conversation with Arthur. When Merlin finally moved his gaze to his friend, Arthur looked like he was on the verge of tears, the man looked worried sick. The sleeping draught were still slightly effective so Merlin had no idea what was going. "What did I miss?" He asked probably a little too brightly, trying to ignore the pain in his side. The looks on their faces told him he had said the wrong thing, what the hell did Gaius say to make Arthur so worked up?
Note from the Author- Thank you all so much for your continued support, you guys are awesome! I found it quite hard to write this chapter so I hope they were both in character. If you have any thoughts let me know. The next chapter should be up soon! :)
~Fran
