I am so sorry for the delay, I could explain about how secondary school has got in the way, and how I am in my final year, but that really isn't any excuse. So please, please forgive me, and I hope you enjoy this chapter to make up for the wait.
Enjoy
Chapter 8
"Yes, I did. I will not excuse what I did. I had no choice, it was either refuse to swear, and leave Camelot and everyone in it to be killed, or promise, deal with Sigan and then deal with the promise at a later date. I told you several times. I did whatever was necessary to protect you and Camelot." Merlin explained.
Arthur shut his eyes, and visibly calmed himself down.
"How about you continue with your memories?" Leon asked, trying to diffuse the situation.
"I went outside only to find a creature about to kill Arthur." Merlin explained, as the scene appeared.
"Astrice!" The creature exploded, leaving Arthur unconscious but alive.
"Who would've believed it? You, a sorcerer, and a powerful one." Sigan in Cedric's body sneered at Merlin who stood his ground.
"I won't let you hurt him" Merlin defended his Prince.
"And you're going to stop me?"
"I'll stop you."
"He does not deserve your loyalty. He treats you like a slave."
"That's not true." Merlin shook his head.
"He cast you aside without a moment's thought."
"That doesn't matter." Merlin denied it once more, but his tone lacked conviction.
"But it must hurt so much to be so put upon, so overlooked, when all the while you have such power."
"That's the way it has to be." His tone was now more wistful then defiant.
"Does it? You're young, Merlin. Look inside yourself. You have yet to discover your true power. I can help you. Think, Merlin. To have the world appreciate your greatness. To have Arthur know you for what you are."
"That can never be." The longing in his voice was louder than his words.
"It can, if you join me. Together we can rule over this land. Arthur will tremble at your voice, he will kneel at your feet."
"I don't want that." The wistfulness had left his voice, and only strength and power was left in Merlin's voice.
"You'd rather be a servant?"
"Better to serve a good man that to rule with an evil one."
"So be it. If you will not join me, I will become you and your power will be harnessed to my will." A blue mist left Cedric through his eyes and mouth and swirled its way towards Merlin.
"Ic þín sáwol hér beléac," Merlin chanted, the mist surrounding him and trying to enter his mouth. He forced out the final words, "abide þæt ic þé álíese!" his eyes flashed gold, then black.
"Wait! He possessed you?" Gwaine asked, staring at the frozen, black-eyes servant.
"Tried to. It didn't work, the spell was too powerful." Merlin shrugged.
"You mean you were too powerful." Leon corrected.
"I was lucky, and the dragon had helped me." Merlin responded. "Besides, cleaning Gaius' leech tank was worse."
"When have I made you clean my tank? I've asked, but you never do it." Gaius complained.
"I did that time when Arthur entered a tournament under a false identity." Merlin argued.
"The time you collapsed afterwards and was unconscious for 14 hours?" Gaius asked.
Merlin winced, as Arthur stared in concern at the man, and Gwen gasped. "Why did you collapse?"
"You had to mention that, didn't you Gaius?" Merlin glared at his mentor for a moment before sighing. "Arthur decided to compete in a tournament as someone else, so no one would let him win, and he would see if he was truly the best or not, so he let everyone believe he left on a hunting party for some beast. I stayed behind, and of course, Gaius gave me chores to do, thinking I had plenty of free time." Merlin explained. "Arthur stayed with Gwen, and had me doing all his chores still, so the horses, the armour, the weapons, all that, while Gaius had me doing the scrubbing and laundry and washing and everything, and on top of that, there was an assassin trying to kill Arthur. I exhausted myself, and, ah, slept for 14 hours straight."
"He fainted, and remained unconscious for 14 hours." Gaius corrected, "because the stupid boy forgot to eat."
"I skipped a couple of meals. I remembered to eat, I just didn't have time." Merlin defended himself.
"Having two meals in a week is not skipping only a couple of meals, Merlin." Gaius lectured.
"No wonder you're so skinny." Gwaine commented, joking around while staring at the warlock is concern and surprise.
"I don't eat as much as everyone else." Merlin shrugged. "I don't get time, and I don't get hungry. I never have."
"You were always hungry as a child, Hunith wrote to me several times asking for money to be able to buy enough food to satisfy you." Gaius pointed out.
"When I was too young to understand." Merlin rolled his eyes, "I cut back on what I ate when I realised we couldn't afford it, and I got used to be hungry, and now, I just don't get hungry."
Arthur stood up, opened the door and spoke to a guard outside. He came back and sat down. "It's lunchtime anyway, so I asked for some food to be brought up." He explained.
Merlin sighed, "You're all going to try and fatten me up now, aren't you?"
"Yep." all the knights spoke as one.
"Great." Merlin muttered.
"How about you tell us what happened next?" Gwen asked, wanting to hear more.
Merlin's shoulders slumped slightly, and he nodded to himself, "Next major thing that happened was Morgana. The lightning striking the window, and the curtains catching on fire, they were both her. She couldn't control the magic yet, it was just appearing and she was terrified. Her dreams were bad as it was, but then she had to cope with the sudden appearance of her magic, and the confliction and fear she felt. If there's one thing I regret the most, that is not talking to her, and telling her about myself. I considered it, but both Gaius and Kilgharrah said not to trust her, and I listened to them, for once."
"And it turned out for the best. Imagine if Morgana had known about your magic while pretending to be good. She would've used that against you." Gaius spoke.
"Maybe she wouldn't have turned evil, if I had shown her that magic could be good, before Morgause showed her that magic had to be used to destroy the Pendragon line." Merlin shrugged.
"What's done is done." Gwen spoke firmly. "Maybe things would've been better, maybe they would've been worse. What ifs are as good as a candle in a river."
Merlin smiled fondly at the Queen, who smiled back, and he continued with his story. "I helped her find the druids. I thought that they could help her control her powers, and teach her the good side to magic. And maybe they would've, but then Uther sent soldiers after her, and attacked the camp, which I should've thought through and seen happening. That was the only time I've used magic against you Arthur, and your knights. I tried to slow you down to let as many of the druids to escape as possible, with Morgana. It didn't work, Morgana collapsed from her injury and was brought back to Camelot. She was still good though, she had hoped that one day people would see magic as a force of good, and that she was thankful for me helping her." Merlin explained. "And I believed that Morgana was good for a while after that. Gwen was kidnapped, and we went after her. I didn't do much to help rescue her, just I slowed some of the enemies down, knocked a few out, shut the gate behind us, little things like that." Merlin shrugged.
A servant brought a platter of food in, and placed it in the middle of the table. Another servant placed plates in front of everyone, and cutlery then a third began pouring cups of water for everyone. All members were silent as this happened, Merlin too busy piling up the food on his plate and eating to talk, the others were processing all Merlin had told them.
When the servants left, Arthur was the first to break that silence, asking, "Did your magic tell you about Lady Catrina being a troll?"
"No, although, maybe subconsciously, but I ignored it. Gaius was suspicious to begin with. Lady Catrina had a illness that was incurable. She suffered pain from her joints, especially after walking a long way. Uther dismissed it, but Gaius was still worried, so I went into her rooms to look around. While I was there, her servant turned up, and I managed to convince him I was changing the sheets. As I was leaving, I saw the man had a tail."
Merlin gestured to the fog, as it cleared to reveal Gaius' rooms.
"What did you find?" Gaius asked as Merlin entered the room.
"Something wasn't right in there. There was this strange smell, and I could've sworn the Lady Catrina's bed hadn't been slept in. And there was something else." Merlin explained, pausing as if doubting himself.
"Oh?"
"Jonas. As I was leaving, I thought I saw something...this is gonna sound mad, but it looked like Jonas had a tail."
"A tail? You sure?" Gaius asked, frowning.
"Well, I mean, I only glimpsed it for a moment. I-I mean, I could be wrong..." Merlin trailed off.
"No, no, I believe you. Merlin, we must keep an eye on her. A very close eye."
"Gaius tried to warn Uther to be wary of Catrina, but he didn't believe him. I tried to spy on Catrina, but, well, it didn't go too well." Merlin explained as the fog shimmered and then changed into Arthur's room.
Merlin crept across the room as Arthur slept in his bed. Merlin held a mirror out of the open mirror and whispered, "Scéawere, folge min bebod." The mirror lowered itself and Merlin leaned out to watch it. The reflection of a troll appeared in the glass, just as Merlin blinked, surprised.
"Merlin.'
Merlin spun to stare at Arthur as the mirror crashed to the ground.
"I have no doubt, Merlin, that you have prepared a very good explanation for this." Arthur crossed his arms and glared at his manservant.
"Yes. No. Er..." Merlin stuttered.
"Apparently I'm wrong." Arthur sighed, shoving Merlin away to glance down the window.
He saw the mirror and pulled back to stare at the manservant, "Please tell me you weren't spying on Lady Catrina."
"It's not what it seems." Merlin insisted.
"Yes, Merlin. It's exactly what it seems. You have led a sheltered life, you have no social skills whatsoever, and Catrina is, I admit, an attractive woman. I understand completely. And if I ever find you doing it again, I'll feed you to the dogs. Do I make myself clear?"
Arthur pushed Merlin to the door.
"Yes, absolutely, Sire." Merlin nodded, before sprinting away.
"You were spying on her!" Arthur pointed out, as everyone turned to glare at him for treating Merlin rudely.
"I know, Arthur, it's fine." Merlin grinned. "Keep watching."
Merlin followed the troll from Catrina's room to the tunnels under the castle. He sprinted back to Gaius' room to tell the man.
"What you saw is seldom seen, Merlin. Trolls despise all other living things, especially humans. They prefer to lurk in the darkness of their nests, feasting on rotten filth." Gaius was explaining.
"And Jonas? Is he a troll too?" Merlin asked, sitting on the bench as Gaius shuffled about the room, cleaning up and talking as he worked.
"Who can tell what manner of creature he is." Gaius shrugged.
"It makes no sense. If trolls like to lurk in their caves so much , what's this one doing in Camelot?"
"Trolls are greedy. Lady Catrina's like the rest of her kind; she lusts after wealth and power."
"Uther's wealth and power."
Gaius sighed and reluctantly decided, "We've reached the point of no return. Uther has to be told."
"You're going to tell Uther that his lady friend's a troll?"
"That's exactly what I'm going to do."
"Good luck." Merlin shuddered at the idea.
"Thank you, Merlin."
"Obviously, Uther didn't believe me." Gaius said.
"And then Catrina enchanted him to be in love with her, not that we knew that yet." Merlin continued.
"So then what? You miraculously saved the day?" Gwaine asked.
"Not yet, and Arthur did a lot of the work this time." Merlin shrugged.
"Seriously? The princess actually did something for once?" Gwaine gasped in mock-surprise.
Arthur glared at him as he laughed and laughed.
TBC
