The Whole Truth
"I still can't believe how much you rely on that girl."
Merlin had been working with Harry all afternoon, doing chores for Gaius. Arthur was doing some bidding for his father in the lower town and he hadn't bothered to summon Merlin. Normally he would have found it odd and gone to find him, but today, he really didn't bother about Arthur. Not that he was turning his back to his destiny, of course, because he had come to like Arthur and everything, but it wasn't the same thing as hanging out with someone of his kind... someone who had magic.
"Why is it so surprising to admit Hermione's cleverer than me or Ron? I mean, it's more useful to be aware of our strengths and weaknesses than take the lead on the one fact that Ron and I are males and she's a woman."
"Well, if you hadn't come up with that half-baked manservant thing, Uther would certainly have punished the girl for speaking up before a men."
"This is so stupid. I can't believe this tradition stayed in men's mind for so long."
Merlin's interest in the trio's friendship and behaviour was unbelievable. He wanted to know as much things as possible while he could. They had been talking like this for hours.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, even in our... time (he had muttered that word) the equality between men and women is still something people are getting used to, and believe me, this is quite counter-productive."
"Would you mind explain further?" Merlin said, his lips all pressed together as he was getting on washing one of Gaius's robes.
"Well, imagine you are a mature man with an average intelligence. You work with a younger but very clever woman who has a lot of ambition and wants to get the job done in the right way. Now, based on the facts that you are older and male, you are, by default, considered as the woman's superior. Some of the men take advantage of this 'default' superiority to take the other down and make themselves look all powerful even if the woman would definitely be a better leader. This is counter-productive, because the woman's intelligence could lead to simpler and better solutions of problems, but she can't express it because she's not considered superior enough to do so. It's the same thing among men here. I mean, how many times have you warned Arthur about stuff he didn't care to listen just because he was superior to you? And how many time did you end up being right? Above all, how many times did you have to get Arthur out of trouble because he didn't listen to you in the first place?"
"I've lost count!" Merlin exclaimed. He was half laughing, half troubled. Harry was right and yet, there was nothing he could do about it.
"Your girl friend is clever, but yet you still seem to be the leader of the group to me. How is that?"
"It's complicated. Again, I should probably wait until this afternoon."
"... Okay, then."
Merlin escaped Arthur's sight - not that it was difficult - in the afternoon. He was set to meet Harry along with Ron and Hermione just outside the castle. He told Gaius he was off Arthur's service for the afternoon and he would go gather some herbs. Along his little escape path from Arthur's sight; however, his eyes noticed a strange pattern in the castle's life, everybody seemed unnaturally cold. Cold from each other, cold hands - everybody was trying to heat their hands with their breath - and cold, sad eyes.
Of course they were sad. They had all lost something in the last days attack.
But Merlin sensed something.
As if he was looking at a tapestry and there was a big hole in the middle of it. A big hole full of ice cubes.
He took off, conscious that every second until now counted; after all, Arthur was oblivious, but as soon as he would notice Merlin's disappearance, he would start to search for him, whatever reason it was for. Merlin took the path to the lower town, where he saw the tree figures he was searching for. Ron looked like hell (he was the most wounded of them after all) and Harry and Hermione both had a sumptuous smile on their face.
An afternoon with fellow sorcerers. This was definitely going to be the best afternoon of his life.
After a great start, the afternoon became more and more troubling. They were now walking in on a clearing. The wind blew in Hermione's puffy hair as she talked about the history of their world and their role in it. Apparently, destiny wasn't mentioned as often as it was at this time in Camelot, but Harry had heard enough of this for a lifetime.
"...So Harry, Ron and I took off at the end of August to hunt the Horcruxes. It's the only way to destroy Voldemort."
"That Horcrux thing reminds me of a sorcerer who came back earlier this year" Merlin said." His name was Cornelius Sigan. He put his soul into a heart-shaped diamond which glows blue. I managed to get the soul back in the diamond when it was released by a very ambitious but idiot thief. Gaius specifically said it was impossible to kill the soul, or to kill Sigan."
"Cornelius Sigan is the first known wizard to ever produce a Horcrux. It took several centuries apparently to find a way to kill the soul."
Hermione spoke to him in a very intellectual manner that would be very fit for a noblewoman. No wonder the guys were so keen to let her do the talking.
As much as Merlin liked the magical company, the feeling of not having to hide himself, all the talking of the last few hours made him feel uncomfortable. Why were these people so keen to open their hearts and souls to him?
"Why are you telling me all this?"
"It's... complicated."
They stopped by a little stream to fill their water bottle. Hermione helped Ron to sit down. Everything seemed painful. Now that he had heard their story, moreover Harry's story, he started to think maybe sorcerers were doomed to struggle though complicated destinies for the rest of eternity. But then again, he had only met a bunch of his kinds and these tree youngsters weren't even from his time.
"Besides..." He hesitated for a moment, troubled. "Besides all the war and the things going on in your country, is... is magic seen as a good gift? For a human, I mean."
Harry closed his bottle and stretched his legs.
"Humans who don't have magic don't know magic still exists in our world, Merlin. For people like the ones in Camelot, (he made a slight pause) ... like Prince Arthur or his father, magic only exists in child stories."
"What?" Merlin exclaimed, horrified. Would this mean he wasn't meant to succeed to bring magic back to Albion after all?
"In 1476, the International Wizarding Federation signed a very important Law treaty stating that magic was to be hidden from muggles - sorry, normal people - to prevent any more purges of mages. I do know magic returned to Camelot, at least, according to most legend books -"
"Most?"
"As we told you, Merlin, Camelot and Albion consist of a bunch of blurry and incoherent stories about a great sorcerer - you - and a king who worked together toward peace. But we don't want to spoil you anything so I won't talk about your destiny, surely you understand that." Hermione concluded, looking straight ahead.
"Yeah."
"Good."
Ron moaned in pain and Hermione turned her back on Merlin and Harry. Harry was standing beside a tree and looking at his two friends with a sad look. There was something like despair in his eyes.
"C'mon, Merlin, we'll walk a bit. Ron can't walk any longer anyway."
"Go on, then." said Hermione. As Merlin and Harry walked away, they saw Hermione and Ron walk back to the castle.
They walked in silence for a moment. Merlin still had loads of questions, but he was beginning to feel like an unwanted intruder in their lives. Harry was more open than the others to talk to Merlin, and he liked it. After hearing their stories and what Harry was meant to do something that helped Merlin create a mental bond to the boy. The two of them had a very similar destiny after all.
However young they were, they carried the burden of duty to the word, and to the future. Harry had to save his world, and Merlin had to create his own after the tyrannical destruction Uther had caused upon the lands all those years ago in his desire to clean the land from all form of magic. That was already a gigantic task for people as young as them.
"I need to tell you something, Merlin." Harry spoke softly, "but I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anything to Ron and Hermione."
Merlin looked at him in surprise.
"What could you possibly want to tell me but not your two best friends?"
"It's a delicate matter."
"I'm listening."
They continued to walk in silence for a moment. They found a fallen log and sat on it. Harry took a twig on the forest floor and played mindlessly with it - like a child who's bored. Then, after a moment, he spoke, as if his words were worth a thousand pounds each.
"I am not supposed to get out of this quest alive, Merlin."
A pause.
"How do you know that?"
"It's just a guess, but I'm nearly sure it's a good one, for a change."
"Go on, explain. You'll feel better after that."
Harry proceeded. He told a slightly different story from the one Merlin had heard earlier, because it was from his point of view. Harry explained how he could make the difference between Voldemort's Horcruxes and the normal objects, how he could speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes, without knowing why, and how the prophecy that was made about him and the Dark Wizard they were hunting was full of if and maybe's.
"... My professor, Dumbledore, he taught me some useful things to help me on this quest. The more I think about what he taught me, the more I believe he taught me these things and got Ron and Hermione to follow me because they're the one who are supposed to finish the job. So... - he was struggling to speak now - that's it. I hope I haven't put another weight on your shoulder by telling you that. That wasn't my intention. I just needed to tell it to someone."
Merlin thought about his words carefully before speaking. He feared not to make it out of his own great destiny alive, too, but his wasn't as clear as Harry's, with prophecies and all.
"Maybe there is a way for you to get out of this. Maybe someone has an information you don't have and will hand it to you at the right moment."
"I hope so."
Birds were singing playfully around them. Apparently animals were drawn to magical people because most of them had a pure aura. Anyway, that's what Hermione had said earlier.
"You need to get us out of this time and space, Merlin."Harry declared..
"I know. I got that it was the purpose of all this afternoon's conversation. Explaining things to me so I could help you." Merlin said. Of course it was. But they had had the sanity to be polite and gentle and friendly with him. He was thankful for that.
"We know you're not the powerful sorcerer you're meant to be, but if there is someone in this world that is powerful enough to send us back from where we came, it's you."
"Mhmm. If there is something I can do, I'll need to do some research."
"Sure."
Merlin knew Harry wasn't over. The young boy had something else on his mind.
"What is it?" Merlin asked, poking Harry with a stick in an attempt to cheer him up.
"I believe that if you're going to help us, we need to help you first." Harry declared.
"What kind of help would I need?"
"With the sorcerer trying to destroy Camelot with his giant pet...a salamander."
"Salamander? Sorcerer? You're not serious!"
"Yeah, and if Hermione can recall these old history books Ron and I never bothered to read, we're going to get through this very easily."
Sorry for the long wait for update! Oh god. I had a lot of problems getting through this chapter. I really had to think about what the treat to Camelot was. I knew it was a sorcerer from the beginning but I did not know the rest. Now the great battle fun can begin! I really look forward writing the battle even if I find my writing a bit dull (my lack of vocabulary is the cause...) But I'll get through this! I really want to write good fics so maybe my next ones won't be updated so regularly.
