Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin
He knew it was a dream right away. Maybe it was because he had accepted it, like Merlin said. But Arthur thought it had more to do with the fact that he was standing in about two feet of clean, white snow. He spun in a slow circle, observing the frost covered branches of the trees surrounding him. Eventually, his eyes landed on a familiar figure standing not five feet from him.
"Leon," he called. The knight turned quickly.
"Arthur," he replied, looking around in confusion and concern, "Is this…"
"A dream?" Arthur offered, "I'm afraid so."
"I see," Leon nodded, scanning the trees, "So, there's probably something out there waiting to kill me."
Arthur's stomach somersaulted.
"Yes," he choked out the word, "But maybe we can make it through. If we hold out until we can wake up, that might break the spell."
Leon nodded, looking resigned rather than reassured.
"I'm sorry, Leon," Arthur shook his head, "I tried to stay awake. I don't understand what happened. Hell, I don't understand anything that's happening—"
"Sire," Leon interrupted firmly, "I have pledged to stand with you and fight beside you. That hasn't changed. Waking or sleeping, I am a knight of Camelot. Till the end."
Arthur swallowed, lost for words. He simply looked at his first and most loyal knight for a long moment before nodding.
All at once, the long, bellowing cry of countless voices shattered the frozen silence. Figures burst through the trees on all sides. Arthur and Leon immediately drew their swords and turned, back to back.
The fighters weren't talented, but they were bloodthirsty, and they were many. Arthur half recognized them—they were a strange and terrible mix of the countless mercenaries, bandits, and foreign soldiers he had fought over the years. Maces flew, spears clashed, and swords flashed. The swarming horde attacked from every side, every angle.
Wake up! Arthur thought furiously, Just wake up!
But his panicked pleas had no result. He let them go and focused on his sword and shield, on keeping himself and his knight alive. There was no reality beyond striking, blocking, and dodging. He tried to lose himself in the fight and ignore his growing panic. But he was tiring already from the relentless onslaught, and he could feel Leon faltering behind him, and the enemy just kept coming, and there was no end in sight—
Then he heard it. The scraping of a sword against armor, the sickening sound of a blade piercing flesh and bone, the wet splash of blood.
The gasp of a dying friend.
Arthur turned and managed to catch Leon. As he looked into the knight's empty eyes and the horde of soldiers closed over them, Arthur despaired. It was impossible, unthinkable, but now, because of him…
Leon was dead.
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"Sire," someone was shaking his shoulder, "Sire, wake up."
Arthur sat up with a gasp. The first thing he noticed was the cold. He blinked in confusion at the guard before him, whose worried face was lit up by the newly dawning sun. No wonder he was so cold—he was out on one of the castle walls, sitting on a stone bench. Maybe the cold had something to do with the snow in his dream—
His dream.
Arthur took a steadying breath and put his head in his hands as the memory of his dream came rushing back to him.
"What happened?" he asked the guard.
"I don't know, Your Majesty," the man replied timidly, "I left you sitting there while I walked down the wall to check in at the next post. You told me not to let you sleep, so I woke you as soon as I got back. I wasn't gone five minutes, I swear."
Five minutes. It might as well have been five hours. The damage was done.
"Here it is," Gaius' voice was subdued, as he held out one of his old books for Arthur to take. The physician, Merlin, and the king and queen were once again gathered in Gaius' chambers, trying to ignore the four morbidly still figures lying nearby. Arthur looked at the symbol on the page before him. It was the image that had been stitched into his pillow.
"The Five Fold?" Arthur read, "What is that?"
"It's a symbol of the Old Religion," Gaius explained, "It's a sign of strength, protection, of life. You see these four circles?" The physician indicated the yellow, red, blue, and green circles, which interlocked, forming a diamond-like shape, "They represent the four elements—Air, Water, Fire, and Earth—and all of their associations. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter; the sword, the spear, the caldron, and the spear; Vitality, clarity, passion, and order; the list of related qualities is endless."
"What about that one?" Arthur asked, pointing to the circle in the middle, which seemed to have been stitched with fine silver wire.
"The center circle," Gaius nodded, "That represents another element, one of the Old Religion: Aether. It's a spiritual force symbolized by the cord. It binds and moves through all of the others, changing and being changed as it goes."
"What about the symbol drawn over it?" Merlin asked, "What does that mean?"
"Well, the Five Fold alone began the spell," Gaius explained, "For weeks, it absorbed Arthur's thoughts and feelings while he slept. Each ring became representative of someone in his life that he relies on, those that ride out with him every time he faces danger—the ones who've continually risked their lives for him."
A cold weight settled in Arthur's stomach. He looked at his still, lifeless knights, and then at the center, final circle—the one that bound all of the others together. It was all too obvious who it represented, who would next appear in the cursed forest with him.
"The second phase of the spell began when the blood was painted over the symbol" Gaius continued, "Spirals were very important in the Old Religion. Drawn one direction, they represented life, harmony, and the sun. Turning the opposite way, they symbolized manipulation of nature—unmaking and unwinding."
"I'm guessing that one's not a sunshine," Arthur said, pointing to the bloody smear on his pillow.
"I'm afraid not," Gaius replied with a wry smile, "The combination of the unraveling spiral with the Five Fold symbol produced a powerful spell. In essence, the sorceress is unwinding your defenses and attacking your sleeping mind. As each of your protectors falls, you lose control more control of your will. Once they all fall…"
"What?" Arthur pressed "I die? I become some sort of puppet?"
"I'm not quite sure," Gaius replied, "This spell is old; it's hard to find anything written about it. But I think we should avoid finding out."
"Agreed," Arthur replied, "So, what exactly is happening to them? The knights. Once they… die in my dreams, why don't they wake up?"
"Again, I wish I knew," the physician sighed, "My guess is that the essence of their beings—their minds, spirits, and energy—is being collected. It takes great power to overthow a mind. An ordinary sorcerer would likely need the energy of five souls to do it. So, as your hope is broken down by witnessing the loss of your protectors, the power of their spirits is being gathered to use to overpower your mind."
"That's cruel," said Gwen, anger flashing in her eyes, "And cowardly. It's twisted—"
"It's magic," said Arthur grimly, "How do we stop it?"
"I gave you a book, sire," Gaius replied, smile spreading across his face, "I suggest you start reading."
An hour later found Merlin and Arthur still pouring over books in the physician's chamber. Gaius had gone on his rounds. Gwen, having taken Edith's betrayal quite personally, was in the lower town leading the search for her wayward servant.
"How do you and Gaius do this?" Arthur said, rubbing his eyes, "The dust and these books—I mean, none of this has anything to do with curse on me. There's a line about spirals here, a mention of Five Folds there, but nothing helpful."
"Well, that's why we've got to keep at it," Merlin sighed, "Amongst all the useless drivel, there may be something worthwhile. Now stop complaining, and start reading."
Arthur stared at the book in front of him for a few more seconds before standing abruptly.
"I can't do this anymore," he said throwing his hands up in the air, "It's dangerously boring. I'm afraid you're on your own, Merlin. Anymore of this will put me to sleep, and we can't have that."
"Don't worry, sire," Merlin replied, smirking, "If you doze off, I'm sure I can come up with a creative way to wake you very quickly. Now stop making excuses; you're not the only one who's tired."
"What reason have you got to be tired?" Arthur said, sitting down and putting his feet up on the table.
Merlin flushed slightly, looked down, and muttered something into the pages of his book. Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry, but I didn't quite catch that," the king smirked, "Why don't you say it again, only this time try opening your mouth when you—"
"Gwenstolemybed."
"Gwen? She stole your—"
"Bed. Yes. Thanks to what you told her. She said she wanted to be closer to Elyan anyway, and since I had 'thrown a temper tantrum' and ruined her bed, it was only fair that she take mine," the servant made a face, stretching his back, "Gaius wouldn't let me use one of the sick-cots either. Seemed to think it was fitting for me to sleep on the floor."
"I thought you were used to that, from growing up."
"Well, mostly, but Gaius has been waking up to check on the knights. He kept stepping on me."
Arthur snorted as his servant sullenly flipped through yet another book, "Merlin, I think you—" He cut himself off short as Merlin sat bolt upright, staring intently at the words in front of him.
"What? What did you find?" Arthur said anxiously and moving to stand at his servant's shoulder, looking down at the page before him, "I don't see either of those symbols."
"No," agreed Merlin, "Nothing about them specifically, but about dream magic. It says here that if a dreamer is continually drawn back to the same location, then that place has played some part in the spell in the waking world."
"Meaning…?"
"It could be the source of the spell, or any number of things according to this. But there will be physical evidence of the curse—an enchanted object or a drawn symbol—and if we destroy that—"
"It'll break the spell," said Arthur, grinning, "I think we should go see what the forest looks like in the light of day."
( AN: The Five Fold symbol is real, and I hope its description makes sense to everyone. Also, it's rather hard to describe that a spiral is moving inward counterclockwise in a story set before clocks were invented, but I hope I got the point across. To learn more about either symbol, Google them—that's what I did. If you know a lot about old Celtic symbols and I got something wrong, I'm sorry—but I bet your used to mistakes from the actual show anyway ;) As always, I hope you're enjoying this, and there'll be another chapter up in the next few days.)