Chapter six

To Arthur there was nothing like the freedom of travelling on horseback. The few times when he sat in the car and watched Merlin steer their way across the countryside along the roads it felt unsatisfying to him. The world passed by the windows too fast for Arthur to take in his new surroundings. He needed to feel the elements around him, like the sun on his face or the wind blowing into his hair as it did today. Here in the wide open air it smelled like humid soil, grass and flowers. That was far better to him then the confined feel and the awful smell of the car. Not to mention that he still did not trust the machine. It had the power to kill as far as he was concerned, and it put the fear in him. For some reason he could not get passed the image of how close he came losing Gwaine to one…

Arthur steered his horse through known territory as fast as he dared. The thrilling gallop made him feel alive again. In the last few hours he had felt more like his old self than ever since he came to this century. This century… it still stunned him that so much time had passed in a matter of what felt like days to him. The way Camelot got snapped away from him in a blip of time made him feel as if part of his heart was ripped out. For his entire life he had known nothing else than it. He fought for his people and protected it with every fibre of his being. To be left without such a cause and without the love of his people, including his friends, was just too much to bear at times.

Thankfully even now in this time and age Merlin was the one who grounded him and stopped him from losing himself to his grief. While there was a new confidence to his old friend and a change somewhere deep within, Arthur could still count on him to be honest. It was even better between them now that there were no secrets left and that they were equals. Losing his royal status was strange at first, but lately Arthur began to realise that it gave him a freedom he never had before. No one looked up to him to make the tough decisions, no one needed him to lead the way and no one asked him to sit in boring council meetings.

The true surprise in it all had been Gwaine. From the moment Arthur opened his eyes to a new time Gwaine was there. Silent and strong; relentless even in their shared need to find Merlin and make sure he was alright too. Even while Gwaine was torn apart inside he put Arthur together. No one in life could push him as hard as the former knight did. It was only because of him that they made it to Glastonbury Tor and they weren't still lost in the fields of southern England somewhere.

In his first day here and now he began to see that beyond the live for the moment attitude Gwaine was afraid to be left alone and to let others down. The brave front hid a far more intelligent man than he had given his friend credit for. Arthur felt lucky when he realised that behind all the words and the pretend insults between them was a deep friendship, which grew even deeper as the days passed. Equality it seemed did a lot of good for all three of them.

Sure Arthur would never forget his past, but with their help he was starting to heal. He could already think in fondness of Guinevere without bursting into tears or feel his heart break all over again. He still missed her more than anyone, but the pain of losing her and knowing that she had to move on with another man by her side did not tear into him like it did when Merlin first told him. In fact he felt like he could learn to live with it, in fact part of him already began to do so.

It made Arthur proud now when he thought of his widowed wife, and of the senior knight he left behind. Gwen and Leon had always been close after all. If he trusted any man to watch out for her… aside from Merlin, of course… then it was Leon. The more he thought about it the less it hurt to think of her finding happiness after his death. She had been too good a person to be forever clad in black and to live on alone.

One time Gwaine even managed to make him laugh when he found the courage to tell Arthur how she'd rejected him all those years ago because even then she only had eyes for Arthur. The truth behind the joke had touched him though. Gwen has always been loyal, and she had loved him as deep as he did her. He had not been aware he had shed a tear in memory until Gwaine hugged him and he stopped teasing. It had been a rare moment of understanding between them, and for once they had not squashed their emotions off to the side in favour of pretending to be strong. No, it had shown them both that friendship sometimes meant not to hide.

So why was he out here alone? Freedom was one thing and space to think too, but out here on his own he missed his friends' endless chattering and the banter between all three of them. His thoughts had gone far too sombre for his liking without them there to interrupt him from mulling of the past. In all honesty Arthur had to admit, even if only to himself, that quests were no fun alone. Adventures were there to be shared with friends who had your back. Without a second thought Arthur tugged on the reins to steer his horse around. With a sharp kick of his heels he spurred it on to take the path back home at a fierce pace.

Deep down he knew that he was still the same man. Royal status or not he was a leader and a fighter amongst men. So why let Merlin do all the hard work? Arthur decided he had to take the weight off his friend's shoulders. It no longer felt right to surrender control like this. Not that he didn't trust Merlin, no it was quite the opposite in fact, but he needed to take charge of his life again and feel like he was going somewhere.

By the time Arthur returned home the sun was lowering in the sky. Merlin and Gwaine were covered in dirt and soil by then, but they cared nothing about the way they looked. They felt quite satisfied about their hard work. The small patch of ground around the cottage had become a garden again, its plants risen from beyond the weeds which had gone altogether. Looking at the time on his watch Merlin was quite pleased when he realised Arthur that had come home early too, just like Gwaine. Maybe his friends were every bit as reluctant as he was to spend the day alone after all.

The instant Merlin spotted Arthur he saw there was a change to him. Later he would realise it was in that moment the King came back, but in the moment itself he just smiled when Arthur walked into the garden. "Wow, am I even at the right place? Tell me who you are and what you have done to that lazy servant of mine over the last dozen of centuries or so."

Merlin grinned at the mirth in Arthur's eyes and the way he hinted at passed times with a mock arrogant smile of superiority. For a second he could just hear the annoying shout of his name, echoing in an empty castle hallway. The memory faded as fast as it came to him though. He smiled too when Arthur could not quite hold onto his stern attitude.

"I put him out of his misery with magic. All it took was one spell. Don't tell the King though." Merlin said in his mock serious voice. He laughed when he saw that Arthur wanted to say something, but didn't really know how to and just grinned instead.

"Mate, you should have used your magic on the garden and be done with it." Gwaine joked with an understanding wink.

Merlin just shrugged to him with a wry smile. What was the point of explaining that he still preferred to take his time with chores? In all truth part of him had enjoyed being Arthur's servant in the past and that side of him was still alive. Another part of him just needed to keep busy when he worried or found his memories straying back to the many troubled experiences he lived through over the centuries. Where could he even begin to explain what it meant to live forever? Instead of finding the words for his feelings he swallowed them back.

"Come on, we are done for the day." Ignoring the scrutiny of his two friends Merlin walked off into the house with the excuse that it was time to help Gwaine make dinner. In the corner of his eyes he saw Arthur and Gwaine share a look, but he pretended that he didn't. It was easier for now if he kept quiet…

According to her watch four hours had passed when Gwen pulled off the motorway to take the A-road which would lead them to Keswick. They had needed so stop along the way for petrol and a few basic human needs, but luckily there were no traffic delays on their route. Gwen felt quite pleased with herself when she realised that she'd taken a good chunk of the estimated time of the route planner.

The first few hours of the way she had told Rhys everything that had happened. From the cube to the weird scan and then Ianto falling ill. On a whim Gwen then decided she needed to be honest with her husband. She had told him all about the mysterious three men in Glastonbury, about everything Ianto had shared with her about the legends of King Arthur and his belief that Merlin had magic.

"Magic?" Rhys looked at her with a mixture of disbelief and his usual sense of humour, "Are you kidding? That is why we drove for five hours?"

Gwen smiled wryly before she told Rhys all about the old photograph and Ianto's search. "This morning the computers came up with clear results. It found two birth certificates which were recently added even though they claimed to be there for years. Then there were two passport applications, one for an Arthur and one for, wait for it, Gwaine. How many men named Gwaine are there in the world do you think? Even better was that a person named Michael Emrys Cane filed these. Did you know Emrys means immortal in Welsh? It also is another name by which Merlin is known in the legends. His postal code lead me to Keswick and just outside of this town lays a stone circle. These are more than mere coincidences, Rhys."

"Gee, remind me not to hide from Torchwood. It just isn't worth the bloody effort", Rhys remarked in a dry tone of voice. They both grinned at the truth of his reaction. Right then Gwen knew that he would stand by her, taking the strangeness in his stride if that was what she needed him to do.

When she pulled the jeep over to the side of the street in front of a pale white cottage with brown window sills she looked at Rhys for support. "Here goes nothing. I better go in alone, so they won't be too overwhelmed. Wish me luck." Gwen rudely pushed down her nerves and last minute doubts. Then she stepped out of the jeep with determination. It was time to face the man of legends.

With the door to the garden open and the afternoon sunlight shining inside through the windows the kitchen was the best place of the house to be. While it was Gwaine's turn to cook Merlin instead persuaded him to upload his photographs onto the laptop. Arthur had joined Gwaine at the table while Merlin chopped the vegetables at the kitchen dresser. He had his back turned to them and so he didn't see at first that Arthur had brought the to-do-list with him.

"This list of yours is way too long for one man. Starting today you will let me help you with it."

The out of the blue announcement made Merlin turn around. "But you don't know how this world of bureaucracy works."

"Then you will have to teach me." Arthur rose onto his feet. Merlin saw him nod to Gwaine before he continued, "Teach us, Merlin. You have carried the burden for this household for long enough. Let us try and help you where we can. It is about time we took our lives back into our hands. I for one am ready for it."

Merlin saw Gwaine rise onto his feet. "As am I." His friend had barely spoken when the laptop gave a small sound. On its screen the uploaded photographs showed up in the windows explorer folder Gwaine had created. "See, even the laptop agrees." He joked with a smile of pride.

In answer to his reaction Merlin raised his hands in a gesture of defeat. "Alright, I give in. You two can help me, but…"

The doorbell ended Merlin's train of thought on his objections. He almost never heard it ring and so today the sound made him jump. Who would it be? His neighbours knew to leave them be. Was this a stranger? Before he got the chance to react he saw Gwaine walk over to the door. His friend opened it to reveal the dark haired woman they all thought was left behind in Glastonbury. "Gwen?"

"I am sorry to disturb you all, but…" Gwen pushed passed Gwaine to get inside of the house. Merlin saw her falter for a second before she regained her confidence and looked him in the eye with determination. "Merlin, I have a favour to ask of you. Maybe I have no right to do so, but we are at our wits end. Ianto has fallen seriously ill and we don't know what it is we are dealing with. I can't lose another friend. If it is true that you have magic can you please come to Cardiff to try and save him?"