I am actually quite glad to how you are all reacting to this. Thank you for all the reviews.
Reply to Addison review. To be honest when I saw your review and it said about the big rant about characters, I panicked and thought that it would be bad. I am glad that it wasn't and I do agree with you on some points, you even got me thinking about Uther and Nimueh. I think that Uther's original hatred for Nimueh came out of grief but in the end, he could see that she did give him what he asked for. I could just imagine Ygriane watching Vivienne during her pregnancy and a young Uther wanting do to anything to be able to give her a child of her own. Whether Merlin goes back to Camelot and Arthur is for me to know and for you to find out ;).
Take Me To Church
My lover's the sunlight
To keep the Goddess on my side
She demands a sacrifice
Take Me To Church by Hozier
The Sarrum clapped his hands together before rubbing them. Merlin didn't like the look in his eyes. He knew something bad was going to happen.
He still had no idea how long he had been in his grasp but every time he came topside, he was sure that he was getting to know the Sarrum a little better. At the moment he was bored. With a Warlord like him, boredom could only lead to death, more than likely their deaths.
He looked up at the darkening sky.
"Isn't it the time of year for a sacrifice? I am sure that the crops must go in soon. We want a good harvest this year, don't we?"
Everyone cheered loudly.
So it was decided, there was going to be a human sacrifice and the people more likely to be sacrificed were made to build the pyre that was going to kill them. Merlin could have called it irony but it wasn't. This was murder at its finest, hidden under another agenda.
There was a painful wait between finishing building the pyre and the 'sacrifice' being chosen. Merlin was shocked to see children among the adults and felt extremely sorry for the little girl that had fallen asleep on his shoulder. She was more than likely going to die before she had even started to live. It saddened him greatly.
The first 'sacrifice' happened to be a small boy. Merlin watched as the boy, no older than six, was pulled towards it. He knew that he was going to wake the girl but he had to do something. He jumped up and sprinted as fast as he could, being grateful for the fact that they weren't all chained together. He used all his body weight to pull the guard over.
Now, Merlin had gained some muscle over the years of being Arthur's manservant. He was no longer the gangly boy that left Ealdor. But he didn't have the same strength that a knight or a guard might have. The guard easily rolled them over and started to repeatedly punch Merlin in the face. By the time the guard had been dragged off him on the Sarrum's command, blood was pouring out of his nose and one of his eyes was swelling up.
"Look at you. Look what bravery does to you." He heard the Sarrum shout.
Merlin remained lying on the floor. His body was screaming at him for his attempt to save the child. He didn't know what he was going to do to stop them. He was picked up off the floor and dragged to the Sarrum.
"Do you have an objection to what your goddess says that you should do?"
He spat before he spoke. His mouth had filled with blood. "This isn't a sacrifice. This is murder."
The Sarrum stared at before leaning back in his chair. "Maybe you should see this. It is a great show. You should have one of the best seats in the house."
The guard pulled him roughly and placed him on his knees next to the Sarrum. They pulled the boy back up again. Merlin could hear his parents screaming for him and him screaming for them. He bent forward to try anything to block out them and the pain.
His head was lifted back up by the guard grabbing his hair. He whimpered at the pain. It was even worse to see the boy and a few others die. They were all druids. They were all his people. They were the people that saw him as their saviour. He couldn't save them. He couldn't save himself. He couldn't do anything.
The gagged as the smell of burning flesh hit him. It took him everything not to throw up. Not that he knew what he was going to throw up. He couldn't remember the last time he ate something.
The Sarrum laughed next to him. "What do you think? Hey? Do you think your goddess would be satisfied?"
Merlin just gagged as he was hit with the smell again.
He was chained to one of the posts in the tent. It was one of the Sarrum's commanders and it was his job to be his servant and attend to his every need. After what the Sarrum had done earlier, Merlin tried his hardest to be the worst servant possible. It caused him a lot of pain but he felt like it needed to be done.
The thing was, the smell had got everywhere. It had sunk into his clothes. It had wafted around the camp and into the tents.
He wanted to take his clothes off and burn them. He wanted to jump into a river and scrub his skin till it was red raw. He wanted the smell to go away. It just showed him how much he had failed.
They had put their faith in him and he couldn't do it. He couldn't keep them safe. He couldn't give them what they wanted and deserved. Arthur may have made them free but they were only free in Camelot. No one else had followed him.
He tried not to cry but it couldn't be helped. He felt like a failure. He had tried to believe in his destiny still but the longer he remained with the Sarrum, the less likely that it was going to happen. Magic was never going to made legal under Arthur. Even if his magic wasn't found out like it was, would he have had to convince Arthur somehow that magic was good?
Merlin started to doubt himself and anyone who had told him about his destiny. It was better off if he didn't know. It was better off if he just did it without the pressure of knowing that he had to do it. He had tried too hard and it was never going to happen now.
He had wondered how everyone was in Camelot but he immediately stopped that train of thought. It would hurt too much to think about what they could be doing, what had happened since he had been away. His plan had always been to return to Camelot but he doubt that he would ever want to see those walls again.
