Author's Note:
This may be a little OOC for one certain character, but you'll get the general gist of the thing. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the tv show 'Merlin'. However I do own the idea for this storyline - so I'm surprised my imagaination is good enough to let me continue a story for this long (usually I've given up by now, I think the reviews are egging me on to continue) :D
Comments:
Emachinescat - Thanks! No more waiting for this chapter :D
Naisa - Thank you! Same here, I'm looking forward to bringing Merlin back to Camelot
Darkenwood - I agree that Uther was a little OOC, I didn't really know how to make it seem believable, but I'm glad you liked it! Here's your relief :D
bookaddict27 - I never trust Uther, even when he's sincere, lol :D i totally forgot that id made this a tragedy - not sure if where i have this story going is somewhat fitting anymore. You never know though - mwah ha ha! lol :D
Rylie - Thanks! Well here's the next chapter :)
Chapter 7
Merlin hated the curse. The stupid curse that was ruining his magic. He had tried using a few spells, just some spells from the book that Gaius had given him, but it always went crazy. He had just tied using a spell to move water from one bucket to another, and people on the other side of the camp were still drying their hair and having to go get changed. The water had soaked nearly the entire camp. Granted pretty much everyone was laughing because of it, but they knew that it was a big problem for Merlin - the one person who had not laughed, despite the fact that if it were any other situation he would still be in an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
He sat a little way from the centre of the camp, trying to disappear into the background, his elbows on his knees and his head hidden in his hands. He tried not to think about what had happened back in Camelot. He kept remembering the look on Arthur's face. Merlin hated that moment, the hate in Arthur's eyes. In that one moment he saw exactly how Arthur felt. He saw the betrayal, the anger, the hate. In that one look, Merlin knew that Arthur would never forgive him for having magic, or for hiding it from him for so long.
Then all he saw was the shock. Arthur was probably shocked at how humiliating the situation had been. His very own manservant - a warlock! Another thing that Arthur would hate him for. He had made Arthur look like a fool in front of members of the court, as well as the King himself. Arthur's reaction would have been like the time that he had trusted him in the matter involving knight Valient, but ten times worse considering magic was involved.
"You humiliated me!"
He could hear him shouting the words. Except he had not been able to see his reaction this time, he had vanished too quickly. Even though nothing had yet been said, the thought of what was waiting for him in Camelot cut was cut deep into his mind.
He scrunched his eyes together, trying to block the memory out. He heard something smash and looked up. There were plates piled up next to the fire, but now they were flying through the air, one by one. They smashed against trees, fell to the floor, narrowly missing people's heads. He immediately focused his mind on calming down his magic. The remaining plates returned to the pile they had been arranged in, and Merlin looked around camp with apologetic eyes.
"Sorry…Sorry" he began.
"Merlin, there is no need to apologize. It is not your fault, young warlock" the dragon interrupted.
Merlin shook his head. 'This is ridiculous' Merlin thought.
Orders were being carried out all over the place. The armies were being prepared. Weaponry was being sharpened. Armour was being dressed on every knight in Camelot. Cenred's men were getting closer, every village in between them and Camelot being searched for resources that they could use, and the villagers were still flocking into the gates of the great city. There was not enough room for them all in the lower towns, but that hardly mattered - everyone was being moved into the deeper walls of the castle, further away from the oncoming war.
Arthur stood alone on the terrace, looking over the great city. It seemed that it was only the other day that Camelot was just in a war. The magically created skeleton army had nearly been the end of Camelot. If it were not for Morgana destroying the source of the magic, it may have been the end. This time it was another army, that was as close to immortal as they were possibly going to get - with magic protecting them.
He didn't know how this was going to turn out. He started wishing Merlin was there. For a complete idiot, Merlin did have a habit of saying the right thing when he needed to hear it. He missed his incessant chatter about things that didn't in the slightest bit matter, or half the time even make sense.
'Merlin, you better be alive, or I swear I'll find a way to bring you back just to kill you myself' Arthur thought.
"Arthur?" came a soft voice from behind him.
Turning, he saw Gwen walking towards him. He managed to give her a smile as she stopped in front of him, looking him over.
"You okay? You seem a bit…distracted" Gwen asked.
"I'm fine, Gwen. Just wondering how long it will be before Cenred's men get here. You should be in the Medical ward, Gwen. It's safer there" he replied.
"We have several hours before they come into view, Arthur. No one has even the slightest injury yet. It's kind of pointless being where you're not needed" she explained, a small smile on her face. "You're worried about Merlin too, aren't you?" she added, when Arthur didn't reply.
"I know Merlin, he's probably annoying somebody else, in stead of me, right now" he replied, smiling slightly, turning to face the other direction.
"There's no shame in admitting it Arthur. You're worried about him, we all are. I still can't believe none of us realized that he was a sorcerer".
"I know, Merlin, of all people. Magic and Merlin are two things I would never have put together" Arthur replied. "I can't believe he was able to hide something like this. Did you know that I once said to him that he couldn't hide anything from me? He was laughing on the inside. I know I would have been" he scowled.
Gwen gave a concerned look that Arthur was unable to see. Arthur looked back over Camelot and towards the forest that marked the edge of Camelot's borders, where Cenred's kingdom began. It would still be several hours before he saw them coming over the hills, but he couldn't stop looking in their direction, thinking that they were going to come over the hill, into view within the next few minutes.
"When I found out I wanted to hit him" Arthur said absentmindedly.
"What?" Gwen asked, shocked.
"I was so angry at him. When I realized he had magic…I hated him. I never thought that was possible, but I actually hated him. I was thinking so many things: he didn't trust me; he betrayed me; betrayed Camelot…I believed him to be my enemy. I've had it drilled into me that all those who practise magic are evil, and I thought that that made Merlin evil…I actually hated him, Gwen - I hated Merlin" Arthur admitted, only just coming to grips with the confession himself.
"What about now? You don't still feel that way?" Gwen asked.
"No, of course not, I know that Merlin and evil do not go together, never will. If there is one thing that I am completely sure of, it's that Merlin cannot be that sort of person" he answered without hesitation, but then he looked bothered by his quick reply.
"That's good, isn't it? ".
"Yes, but he still hid it from me all this time. I can't believe that he hid it all from me, he could have told me-".
"He was scared, Arthur. You're Uther's son, why wouldn't he be?".
"…I know. I just wish he had told me sooner" he replied. "I still can't believe I managed to convince father that Merlin is not our enemy. Of all the things I believed impossible... He said that the reason he believed me is because he trusts how much faith and trust I have in Merlin".
"I heard you told him that you would bet your life that Merlin wasn't against Camelot. That was brave of you Arthur, you didn't know how he would react, he could have revoked your right to the throne for that".
"How did you know I said that? It was only father and I in the hall".
"Morgana. She stayed near the side entrance and listened in on your conversation" Gwen smiled.
Arthur couldn't help but chuckle.
"That's definitely something Morgana would do" he continued, smiling.
Morgana sat on the bed in her chambers, staring at nothing in particular. 'Merlin had magic' she thought. 'That explains so much'. Like Arthur, she couldn't believe that he hadn't told her. If he had told her before, he could have helped her. She could have made sense of her dreams, with his help they could have changed Uther's mind about magic.
She had watched her sister attack Arthur, and Merlin's reaction was amazing. His magic was powerful, powerful enough to withstand Morgause. Morgause had used an extremely powerful spell, but she noticed that Merlin didn't even have to use words. Their magic was so great, but Merlin had beaten her. Merlin was better than her. She couldn't believe it. All this time, Merlin was hiding a secret, and she sympathised with him - she knew what that was like. However, she also knew that it must have been harder for him than it was for her. She was the King's ward. If her magic was discovered, the King's feelings for her may have granted her some sort of clemency, or forgiveness, but Merlin was a servant. Uther would not care about who he was, who he was friends with, who's servant he was. He would have executed the moment his magic was discovered, no trial, no questions.
She almost couldn't blame him for not telling her. She was so terrified of her own magic, knowing Merlin's secret may have been too much for her to handle.
She thought of all the situations that he got out of, when it seemed the most impossible, and now everything made sense. She realized that Merlin had already revealed his magic to the entire royal court. Back when Gwen was falsely imprisoned for using magic, and poisoning Camelot's water supply, Merlin had burst into the hall and announced that he was the sorcerer. He had revealed his secret in order to protect Gwen. He was lucky when Arthur started making fun of him then. If it were not for Arthur, he would already be dead. Part of her wished that Arthur had let Merlin die then, it would have made things so much simpler. Merlin would have died, and she and Morgause would have already taken Camelot. She would never have been poisoned by Merlin during the time that the Knights of Medhir came to Camelot - something she wanted to punish Merlin for.
Yet, looking back, she knew that Merlin had every right to do what he did. If it were not for the spell that Morgause had placed on her, the sleeping curse would never have fallen on Camelot. She had never really thought about what had happened that day, she had always just accepted that it was all Merlin's fault.
Had it though? Was it really all Merlin's fault? Morgause was the one that placed her under a spell. Morgause was the one that marched on a defenceless Camelot with the immortal Knights of Medhir. Morgause was the reason the Merlin had to do what he did, otherwise Arthur would have been killed. She wouldn't have cared if it were only Uther's life that were under threat, but the Knights would have killed Arthur too had they gotten the chance. That was something she never wanted to happen. Even before she had found out that Uther was her father, she loved Arthur like a brother. Finding out that he actually was did not change those feelings.
No, she didn't blame Merlin any more. Not now that she thought about it, not now that she realized who was really responsible for what happened. She hadn't even agreed to what Morgause had done. She had told her that she was willing to help get rid of Uther, but she had not agreed to having the spell placed on her. She couldn't believe that her sister had done that without her permission, without even telling her afterwards. She had only been able to work it out for herself during the next day, during the time that everyone was falling asleep under the curse. Sure Morgause had cured her of the poison that Merlin had used, but who's fault was it that she had to be poisoned in the first place? Not Merlin's, it was Morgause.
She still couldn't believe what Morgause had done. She was so shocked that she had turned up, she promised to tell her before doing anything like that. She had done the one thing that she had always warned Morgana not to do - let her emotions get the better of her. She was such a hypocrite.
Thinking about Merlin, she hoped that he was okay, alive and safe. She hoped that he would return…if there was a Camelot to return to. She walked over to the window and looked towards the borders. Within hours, there would be thousands of men coming over that hill. 'What is Morgause thinking?' she thought. 'She doesn't know what she's doing'.
This time, she didn't know if she could side with her sister. She didn't agree with what she was doing. It was unplanned, risky, and completely stupid. By attacking Camelot, the only thing she was going to achieve was a destroyed city. Could she really go along with Morgause's plan this time? It would be a massacre, something she didn't want to happen in the first place. The only thing she truly desired was to see Uther off the throne. She had heard that he had stopped the search for Morgause and Merlin, but she knew that he would continue it the moment that the oncoming battle was over. She knew Uther well, and his mind would never accept magic as something that could be used for good. As soon as the battle was over, he would return to the search for Merlin - as no doubt Morgause would be involved in the battle - and he would see him burn for using magic. She knew that there was no way Uther would accept magic - if there were she would have revealed her powers a long time ago.
So as she sat in the dark, she sighed, thinking about the bloodshed that was now becoming inevitable.
Merlin looked at the plate that sat ten feet in front of him. He stared at it continuously, focusing all of his magic on that one plate. He willed it to move, fly into the air…something. Nothing happened, his instinctual magic wasn't even functioning properly. He stretched out his hand in irritation, focusing harder on moving the plate, not only wanting the plate to move, but needing it to. He needed to know that his magic was still inside him, that he hadn't lost it.
He could feel the magic inside him, building up, being pushed in the direction of the plate. He was alone in a clearing several feet away from the camp, giving his privacy to practise his magic.
'Move. Move.' he thought.
The plate began to wobble slightly, it was only a small movement, but it gave him hope. He tried again. His magic moved through his arm, to his outstretched hand, and towards the plate. It began to move again, a little more than it had before. Again, it slowed, before coming to a complete stop.
"MOVE!" he shouted, his anger getting the better of him.
The plate lifted into the air suddenly, but shattered into a thousand pieces before he could realize what he had done. Seeing the pieces of clay all around him, he sighed.
'I really hope this isn't permanent' his mind wondered.
So maybe OOC for Morgana but I couldn't have her as evil, because I miss the nicer version of her. Plus having so many enemies at once seems a little like overkill - unless you guys want me to make her evil "Mwah ha ha!" :D
Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! :D
