Chapter 7 – As the Dawn Breaks
Guinevere woke to find the Dalek ship dark and cold. A faint light was coming from the centre and as she sat up she saw Merlin, warming his hands by a fire. Out of the circle of light she could see the dark, broken shells of the Daleks.
"Are they … dead?" she croaked.
Merlin looked up as she spoke and then hurried to her side.
"Yes," he muttered and then helped Gwen to her feet.
Gwen shivered for a moment, looking around at the dismal scene. The she righted herself, remembering that she was a queen.
"Are you alright?" she asked Merlin.
Merlin nodded silently and a moment of awkward silence came between them. Eventually, Gwen summoned up the courage to speak.
"Merlin, you know, we don't blame you for his death, I don't blame you."
Merlin nodded once and roughly cleared his throat. He turned and walked to the fire and sat down next to it.
"I know you don't," he said quietly, "but the problem is I blame myself."
Gwen came and sat down next to him, timidly putting a hand on her shoulder.
Merlin felt ashamed, Gwen shouldn't have to be like this around him, treating him like some sort of feral beast that might lash out at any moment.
He relaxed into her gentle, caring touch and then a thought occurred to him.
"Before they were going to take my power, the Daleks, I can't really remember it properly but you said something about me being one of your people."
Gwen's face creased in a small frown, "of course you are Merlin. You are a citizen of Camelot."
"Even, even with all the magic and stuff," Merlin said, grinning in spite of himself.
"It doesn't change a thing," Gwen replied quietly.
Merlin took her hand and squeezed it gently, holding back tears.
"Thank you," he replied, his voice quavering.
Gwen squeezed his hand in return.
"Thank you."
A strange silence had come over the camp that morning as the people Camelot rose from the dark huddled places they had occupied in the night. No birds sang, no children cried, there was just silence.
Leon stood next to Percival and joined in the silence. He wondered what was happening with Guinevere, the Doctor and Merlin and wondered if the people of Camelot would pull through this attack. Even with Guinevere's strong leadership the kingdom was still weak after Camlan.
"We should send a patrol back to Camelot," he said softly, not wanting to break the silence, "see if people can return to their homes."
Percival nodded but did not speak.
The silence continued in the cold dawn.
The Doctor and River woke almost at the same time and there was a lot of explaining to do. The Doctor kicked away a shard of Dalek metal in disgust but he was quiet and didn't speak to Merlin much.
As they were leaving Merlin caught his arm and asked him about it.
"You have killed hundreds of beings," the Doctor said quietly, "doesn't that bother you?"
"From what I have heard of you Doctor," Merlin replied tersely, "you would do the same for your friends."
"I did once," the Doctor admitted, "well, a different version of me who was also part human but …" he hesitated, "it's never a good thing."
"You think I don't know?" Merlin replied coldly.
Guinever and River had gone on ahead to find the T.A.R.D.I.S. and the Doctor and Merlin were alone. Suddenly however, the room was filled with a blinding light and Daleks surrounded them.
"What has happened?" one demanded in its rough mechanical growl.
The Doctor spun in a circle, gauging the situation.
"Hello again!" he beamed, "sorry about the mess."
The Daleks seemed to take in the sight of the room.
"You underestimated my friend here," the Doctor said, his voice growing darker, "you tried to take his magic from him and harm his friends and that is something he would never allow. And neither will I."
One of the Daleks began to advance but it exploded. The Doctor glanced at Merlin – he hadn't even moved.
"I suggest you stay away, no second chances," he finished in a growl.
"We have located the female companions," a Dalek spoke, "if you do not give yourself up, we will exterminate them."
Distantly, the Doctor and Merlin heard Gwen scream.
As the Doctor turned to look at Merlin, he saw his eyes glow with the fire of magic and every single Dalek exploded.
River pulled Gwen back out of the way to shield her as the Daleks who had trapped them exploded. They weren't hurt but Gwen was shaken and as they stood by the T.A.R.D.I.S, catching their breath, they saw Merlin and the Doctor limping into view round the corner.
Merlin was silent and dark and the Doctor seemed withdrawn.
The Doctor thrust his hand into his pocket and pulled out the key to the T.A.R.D.I.S. Inside was dark and cold. The Doctor dived underneath the console, looking for some way to bring life back into his ship.
Merlin touched the console gently and felt the distant hum of life inside.
"What happened?" Gwen asked softly as the Doctor threw things around under their feet.
"I killed them. Killed them all. Again," Merlin replied, his voice broken. "They were threatening to kill you."
"Thank you," Gwen replied softly, "remember, they wouldn't have shown you any mercy, they killed so many people in Camelot, you saved us today."
Merlin nodded his silent thanks.
The Doctor scrambled out from underneath the console with a frustrated sigh. River was flicking buttons and levers on the console but seemed as worried and confused as the Doctor.
"We need energy," the Doctor muttered exasperatedly.
Unexpectedly, golden light spilled out and around the console, spiralling up to the roof of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and filling the room.
The Doctor looked around in surprise until his gaze settled on Merlin. His hand rested on the console and the golden light streamed out from him and around him.
"Merlin! Merlin stop!" the Doctor cried, leaping to his side. "You can't use your magic for this," he said desperately.
"There's no other way," Merlin said through gritted teeth.
The Doctor made a move to take Merlin away from the console by he was blasted backwards by a flash of Merlin's magic. He lay crumpled against the door, a look of shock on his face.
"Merlin you can't do this!" he shouted but Merlin didn't listen. The light had completely filled the T.A.R.D.I.S. now and River and Gwen looked around in awe. It was beautiful.
The usually humming, whirring noise of the T.A.R.D.I.S. broke out as the blue box was flung into the time vortex.
"Merlin," River said urgently, "you can stop now."
Merlin shook his head briefly, tears running down his cheeks.
"I can't," he said, his voice cracked.
"This is why I said no!" The Doctor said, leaping to his feet, "why does nobody very listen?"
"Merlin you have to stop!" Gwen cried.
"You'll kill yourself!" the Doctor said.
Merlin turned to him, his face tear-stained and broken.
"But I can't die," he replied softly. Then his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell to the floor. The golden cloud of magic vanished as he fell and the T.A.R.D.I.S. was left dark and cold.
Note: This ended up being very long! I was going to upload it sooner by then realised it was really short so added to it and brought it to here :) Thanks for staying with me and I hope you enjoyed the chapter, only 1 more chapter to go now and I know what's going to happen so it shouldn't be long! Hopefully... :) Thank you as always for reading and favouriting! Look out for a new WhoMerLock Fanfic coming soon … :)
