A/N: I wasn't sure if I should finish this fic or not, or if I even could with all my schoolwork and whatnot, but you reviewers really brought me to my senses and inspired me to pick up the keyboard again, so thanks to those who pushed me, such as Jane Mays! This is an OPTIONAL continuation, the story is fine ended on part 3 and you can choose to follow through this part or not!
For those of you who are just joining us, I would suggest you read the previous chapters to this tale, as this chapter will make much more sense with them. No slash, unless you want there to be. Have fun reading!
A Complete Idiot's Guide to Being an Evil Sorcerer: Part 4
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The sun's rays washed over the clearing in the forest, growing dimmer as the day moved on toward the night, the birds in the forest quieting and the nocturnal preparing for the hunt. Arthur and his men sat silent in the clearing, each unsure of what to do next, the setting sun throwing a harsh red light over them. Only three were awake, the other three were unconscious, one of which who was responsible for the other two's insensibility.
Arthur stared at that one, thoughts racing through his mind as the wind ruffled the man's raven locks. Arthur gave a deep sigh as confused words chased his mind in circles, wishing he could just make sense of it all. The thoughts were all the same, over and over again, he didn't know what to feel- anger? Hatred? Sadness? Relief? None of these emotions made sense with what he was feeling, or perhaps they all did.
Merlin, his servant, a sorcerer. Merlin, the idiot, the clotpole, his enemy, his friend-
-Emrys.
The word came unbidden into Arthur's mind, though he wished it would just go away. It just didn't make sense with the constantly grinning, happy-go-lucky servant that rose in his mind every time he thought of Merlin, the defiant servant with a short tongue-
-Enshrouded by a magnificent cloud of fire, the flames leaping about his frame in the form of a dragon-
Arthur moaned angrily as he dropped his head once again in confusion and anger, his hands rigid as he fought to keep control of his emotions. Arthur had switched to his normal traveling clothes and armor instead of his robes, though the other knights had remained in their sorcerer attire, still unsure as to what to do next. Gwaine and Lancelot watched the prince's display in trepidation, remaining quiet so as to give the prince some time to think. Gwaine looked over at Lancelot, who was resting his chin on his hands, his brow furrowed in deep thought.
There were many questions Gwaine wanted to ask Lancelot, the very first being how he knew of Merlin's magic, however he did not want to interrupt the stark silence so soon. Gwaine had found the entire thing quite entertaining at first – the powerful display of Merlin's was quite a sight, even somewhat frightening – however now he wasn't so light-hearted. If Arthur couldn't accept Merlin's magic, then what would happen? Could the prince possibly turn the boy in to his father, to a fate of ravenous flames on the pyre? Or perhaps he would simply send Merlin away, banish him from Camelot never to return? Gwaine couldn't imagine a Camelot without that grinning, cheeky servant- certainly not a fun one.
Gwaine lifted his head slightly to glance over at his fellow knight, Lancelot still with his brow furrowed and his deep brown eyes focused at nothing. Gwaine was sure Lancelot had the same questions turning over in his mind, and could see a glint of determination showing on the knight's face.
Gwaine was sure that Lancelot would do anything to keep Merlin alive, even if it meant defying Arthur. Merlin's value as a friend to the knight was clear; Lancelot was true to Arthur more than any other knight of the Round Table, and yet was still willing to go so far to protect Merlin. As Gwaine watched Lancelot, the ruffian decided that he too would try to protect Merlin if possible. Because no matter what sort of magic Merlin had, he was still Merlin. Merlin was his friend.
And yet somewhere deep down, the terror that had risen from the sight of Merlin's spell was still there.
Gwaine hated it, hated to think that he could be afraid of his best friend, but unbidden thoughts rose in his mind like shadowy tendrils of smoke… Why hadn't Merlin told him of his magic? Surely he thought Gwaine could have understood? What if Merlin truly had fooled them all? Could he really be this Emrys, could he be evil? Gwaine tried to shake his thoughts of such ideas, but they clung on like a parasite, sucking the warmth from the night around him.
Gwaine was sure the same dark thoughts had been rushing through Arthur's head, probably even more magnified than his own deep fear. As Gwaine looked at the Prince's troubled face, the clear blue eyes that had frozen over in pain and anger, Gwaine wondered just how much Arthur believed in his father's decree that magic could only ever be evil.
The two other knights began to stir, interrupting the men's thoughts. Arthur looked over to his knights to make sure they weren't hurt (by Merlin? Arthur thought) too badly. As Sir Leon and Elyan sat up, groaning, the latter asked "Eghh.. What happened? We were chasing after Merlin and then-"
Lancelot opened his mouth to answer when the two knights suddenly remembered the events prior to them falling; Leon gasping and Elyan exclaiming "Merlin! He had magic!"
Arthur's face darkened as he turned away, dully noting that his knights bore very little injuries. Again his mind raced around frantically, if Merlin was evil, he wouldn't have been so kind to his enemies, but Merlin couldn't be evil, Arthur could still remember those sapphire blue eyes sparkling with happiness as his mouth widened into his normal toothy grin-
-the eyes filling with an unearthly gold, cold and unyielding-
Arthur again looked over at his manservant, once again wondering if the whole thing had been a dream, wishing he could just have his old friend back. It was certainly easy to imagine, looking at the innocent face of his manservant sleeping… Or of Emrys sleeping? He couldn't bear the thought of Merlin being a sorcerer, being evil, or lying to him, but he almost wanted to believe it just to be done with the confusion and pain. Then he would only have to deal with the anger, and that was much easier to feel than the more vile feelings writhing in his gut. But he couldn't even do that, because of those words spoken by Merlin; words from his memory that rang out more clearly than even the forest around him:
"It is my destiny to protect Prince Arthur so that he may become the greatest king Camelot has ever had, and I will not let you harm him or any of Camelot's innocents."
These words filled Arthur with a warmth he could almost feel, a light feeling in his heart he could only wish would drive away the dark, that light he had come to attribute to Merlin's happy grin. Could Merlin really have meant what he said? Arthur could almost feel bliss at these words were it not for the other sinister feelings crawling in his gut, spewing the words betrayal and evil and liar, as if the depraved worms craved to devour the only light he had left. Arthur barely registered the other knight's talk of the events that had transpired.
"Merlin… By Camelot, who'd have thought…" started Leon, rubbing his head as he became more aware of his surroundings.
" I just still can't believe it.. Could he possibly be evil? He even said he was Emrys," stated Elyan, his dark eyes locked in confusion.
"Could he be Emrys? I mean, it's certainly very possible with the amount of power he has shown," said Leon, "I mean, that fire spell was truly frightening." Leon looked down, his eyes clouded with an old sort of wariness. Percival stayed silent, looking over at the young servant with an unreadable expression on his face.
"It may have been, but it was Merlin we're talking about here mates, and I just can't imagine him being evil…" challenged Gwaine, throwing his hair back as he leaned forward to talk. Lancelot in the mean time had begun to silently set up camp, noticing the gathering twilight.
"We couldn't have imagined him to be a sorcerer either though, could we have?" argued Percival, still looking at Merlin.
"And you can't deny that spell wasn't fearsome, Gwaine… In all my life I have never seen a spell so powerful before," Leon spoke quietly, he too looking over at the peaceful face of the warlock in question. Merlin had grown on Leon, just like he had on all the other knights – it was almost impossible to think of him as a threat, and possibly even malevolent. Almost, if it hadn't been for those startling gold eyes…
Arthur looked over his knights in slight surprise at this, for though he was angry and hurt at Merlin's display of magic, he wasn't frightened by it. As he thought more on this, he wondered why that was – anyone would be afraid of Merlin's display of magic, it was a very powerful spell, just as Leon had said. He was sure the power of the flame dragon could be comparable to the real thing. And yet Arthur wasn't afraid when the dragon roared to life, when the wings of flame erupted into the sky and a terrible roar was let loose from the beast's maw – Arthur wasn't afraid. Why was that?
Perhaps Arthur had known deep down Merlin's magic wouldn't have hurt him?
As this idea dawned on Arthur, he looked over to Lancelot, the one knight who hadn't been surprised by Merlin's revelation. Interrupting his men's discussion, Arthur directed his next statement towards Lancelot, who had been setting up a fire for the knights and prince.
"You knew Merlin was a sorcerer."
Lancelot looked up warily from his task, his eyes defiant though humble towards his prince.
"Aye, sire," he stated simply, the other knights stopping their exchange to listen.
"How did you find out?" Arthur asked quietly, completely focused on the dark-haired knight, trying to keep his voice as level as possible.
"The day we fought the Griffin sire, I wasn't the one to defeat it. It was Merlin who enchanted my spear to kill the beast," Lancelot said, his loyalty to both Merlin and Arthur clear in his tone, "to protect you, sire."
Again, Arthur's confusion took over. He wanted to ask Lancelot more questions, but he knew the only one who could truly calm his confusion was still out cold. The knights looked over at Lancelot, unsure whether they should continue the discussion or not. Arthur sighed and pinched the bridge of his noise, trying to settle his emotions in front of his men.
After some time, Arthur spoke to the knights:
"We need to set up camp. Sir Lancelot has already started the fire, Sir Leon and Sir Elyan, find us something to eat, and Sir Gwaine can gather more firewood." At this his knights nodded obediently and began their various assignments, each sparing a glance towards Merlin before heading off.
Arthur set about to help ready the cooking pot when he noticed Merlin stirring out of the corner of his eye. About time he thought, before remembering just how angry he was towards the boy, not to mention how many questions he had. Lancelot had noticed this, and decided to quietly attend to the fire as before, watching the prince nervously. If he had intended to kill Merlin, Lancelot thought, he would have already done so. Still, Lancelot readied himself for the worst.
As Merlin opened his eyes, he noticed that his head hurt quite a bit. He could see the fading sunset through the trees, the glow of the fire lighting up the space around what looked like a camp.
I must've done something clumsy again and knocked myself out, Prince Prat isn't going to be too pleased Merlin thought as he sat up on the forest floor, dusting some leaves out of his hair and off his shirt. Merlin was trying to remember exactly what had happened – he remembered riding through the forest but not with Arthur and his knights – when he noticed the Prince walking towards him, a very angry expression on his face.
Merlin began to smile as he thought of the insults the prince would throw his way about whatever clumsy thing he did to knock himself out, when he actually looked more clearly at the Prince's expression. Arthur was livid, his face twisted in dark anger and his eyes of the coldest blue. Merlin froze at the Prince's gaze, his heart hammering out of his chest as he slowly began to remember the events before.
He had used magic. And not just a simple levitating spell, or some basic healing magic; he had used a very powerful spell. A bloody flame dragon for crying out loud, he had summoned one of the most frightening spells in his repertoire all for the sake of scaring away false sorcerers – sorcerers who weren't even magic users, but Arthur and the knights themselves, trying to frighten him! And Merlin had blown his cover spectacularly in front of them all, and perhaps shown Arthur once and for all that magic was dangerous and not to be trusted!
Merlin would have hit himself had it not been for Arthur, who looked like he wanted to hit him even more so. Or, as Merlin dreaded to think, maybe even kill him. Merlin couldn't even move as Arthur glared at him, his mind's excuses tripping over one another and his mouth falling open in a comical O.
"So Emrys. It appears you have magic; that you are a sorcerer," Arthur stated, noticing how Merlin flinched at how harsh the words sounded despite how soft the Prince had said them. This made Arthur even angrier. How could Merlin pretend to be afraid of him now, when Arthur knows what Merlin is capable of? A strong sorcerer couldn't possibly be so afraid of an unarmed man!
"Please don't call me Emrys, my name's Merlin," he said without even thinking. Arthur's eyes showed a hint of confusion, however it disappeared quickly. Arthur spoke up, his voice slightly raised:
"And yet you said that you were Emrys."
Merlin sat up straighter, determined now to tell Arthur the truth, to make Arthur understand.
"The druids call me Emrys, but I have never used it as my name."
"So why have you come to Camelot? To kill the king? To kill me? To-" Arthur started, but Merlin interrupted him angrily:
"How could you believe I would do anything of the sort! Arthur, I only fight to protect you, I am your friend-"
"HOW CAN I BELIEVE YOU AFTER YOU HID SUCH A SECRET FROM ME!" Arthur bellowed, finally unable to contain the raw anger burning inside him. Merlin's face paled, his hands rigid as he stared into the empty chill of the Prince's eyes. Lancelot looked over, still weary to join in on the conversation.
Merlin almost wanted to look away from the Prince's wrath then, but he found it in himself to keep looking Arthur square in the eyes.
"Because I am your friend, no matter what secrets I had to keep from you. Arthur… I am not evil," Merlin spoke, his voice almost as soft as the rustling of the leaves.
"But why Merlin, how can I trust that what you say is true, that even with magic you are not as cruel as every other magic-user out there! Every magician I have come across has tried to kill me, and you have kept it hidden away from me, and it's powerful magic too!" As Arthur ranted, he began to pace angrily back and forth, never taking his eyes off his servant's determined ones. He almost wished he could however, because he kept imagining those clear blue eyes turning to gold.
"Arthur I would have told you but you know I had no choice to hide my magic with the laws of Camelot!" Merlin exclaimed, his heart pounding as he watched the prince shake his head.
"Then why even come! Why come to Camelot, where your kind is executed, why would you even learn magic-" Arthur managed to choke out, too angry to continue with the rest of his outburst. He wanted to hit Merlin, to tie him up and leave him in the woods, but something was stopping him. Perhaps it was the memory of that cheeky grin. Merlin watched as Arthur fumed, ruffling his hands through his blond hair, his eyes full of the same confusion. When Arthur managed to settle down somewhat, Merlin finally said with his voice wavering slightly:
"I never learned magic, Arthur, I was born with it."
Arthur stopped moving completely and looked again at the defiant raven-haired boy, his breathing slowing as his voice was nowhere to be found. Merlin watched tiredly as the Prince sat down on the bare earth next to him.
"How is that even possible?" Uttered Arthur slowly, his eyes still weary. His mind was racing in circles, the dark infestation in his gut quieting. Merlin took a slow breath before continuing.
"I'm not sure, it's pretty rare but it can happen. Arthur I promise you, I never chose to study magic. I was born with it, just like you were born to rule over Camelot one day," Merlin said quietly, almost smiling but not quite.
Arthur just sat quietly, trying to digest what he had been told. Merlin took it as a good sign that his expression had softened considerably.
"Magic is not evil, Arthur, and I know you had been brought up to believe that, but it is a natural part of this world. Life depends on it. How magic is used is dependent on who uses it, be they good or evil," Merlin said, his voice earnest and pleading. Arthur noticed the ring of honesty in his voice, and his heart told him that what Merlin said was true. Arthur could not find a trace of evil in those clear blue eyes.
In fact, Arthur had known it all along, that whatever else Merlin had been called, whatever strange and powerful magic he had used, Merlin was still that same old stupid, brash, and clumsy friend of his. He knew it from the moment the idiot had proclaimed that he needed to protect Arthur and Camelot, he just couldn't see it through the hurt and anger. And though Arthur still wanted to remain mad at the servant, he just couldn't bring himself to let go of the feeling of warm relief brought upon by Merlin's honest words. He still had many more questions, however.
Merlin noticed the prince visibly relax, a light returning to his eyes as he looked at Merlin, his face still confused. Now Merlin couldn't help but smile slightly, the corners of his mouth lifting to a slight grin. Arthur was truly a great man, and a great friend.
"Now hold on there, I still have many more questions for you," Arthur stated in more of his usual way, a bit more demanding yet a friendly tone nonetheless. A smile threatened to break out on his face, but Arthur held back. First I must get some answers. Merlin sighed, but in a much less serious tone.
"Why do you think you need to protect me so much? Why did you come to Camelot, one of the most dangerous places for your kind? What sort of magic have you done behind my back?" Arthur asked in one quick rush, his eagerness for Merlin's answers poorly hidden. Lancelot, noticing the turn of direction in the conversation and visibly relaxing, smiled as he too would like to know the answers to those questions.
Apparently so did the other knights, as Lancelot noticed that they had just come back from their respective jobs and were now eavesdropping, clearly unwilling to interrupt the scene but still curious as to Merlin's response. They were quite obvious as the knights were still wearing their bright wizard robes, however Arthur and Merlin were so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn't noticed the others hanging around. Gwaine looked over at Lancelot with a wink and a look that said, if Princess can trust him, so can I. Lancelot nodded back.
Merlin thought a bit before giving Arthur his answer, his brows furrowed but his eyes still light.
"Well as for the first two, I guess I can answer with destiny," Merlin stated simply.
"Destiny," Arthur said, slightly exasperated, "that's a bit cheesy, don't you think?"
Merlin rolled his eyes at the blonde. Gwaine and Elyan almost laughed at the sheer Merlin-ness of the movement, but Lancelot stopped them with his hand up just in time.
"Of course it would seem cheesy to your tiny brain," Arthur stopped his protest to hear Merlin's explanation, "but to me it had been determined from the time I was born. I only just found out about it when I arrived at Camelot. I had been told that it was my destiny to protect you as you created one of the greatest Kingdoms ever known, with an era for peace for even those with magic." Arthur looked up in shock at Merlin. He had never known of such a thing.
"Well no wonder you had such ridiculous faith in me, but how could you be saddled with such an enormous responsibility? I had no idea…" Arthur began to say, quite at a loss for words.
"Well at first I didn't believe it at all," Merlin said with a slight smirk, then continued, "but then over time I saw just how good of a person you are. And how good of a King you will be. And I knew that not because of the prophecy, or what people said about you, but by what I saw as your servant, as your friend."
Arthur was so emboldened by Merlin's words that he felt his heart lift at how much faith the sorcerer had in him. He knew just how loyal a friend Merlin was to him, but he had no idea the depth of the faith. How could he have ever thought him evil?
"And as far as the whole 'responsibility' thing, I did say I was born with it. I was born with quite a bit of magic as you have undoubtedly noticed, and though I may have resented it before, I am glad to have it to protect you and the people of Camelot."
"Well that doesn't mean you have to take it on all by yourself, and quite frankly I'm surprised you ever thought you had to," Arthur said, still surprised that Merlin had so much responsibility resting on his shoulders. Merlin just rolled his eyes at the Prince. He is certainly anything but a useless servant, Arthur thought, as he remembered how often he had described Merlin like that. By the Gods how stupid he had been to not notice Merlin's strength.
"Princess is right, you don't need to take on the responsibility by yourself, Merlin," Gwaine said loudly from his hiding spot. Arthur and Merlin's heads shot up as they noticed the poorly hidden audience, Gwaine's black eye makeup still somewhat visible on his face.
"And I suppose you louts listened to the entire conversation?" Arthur said, directing his friendly insult mostly towards Gwaine.
Merlin looked somewhat apprehensive as the other knights stepped out into the camping area; however he calmed down once he noticed that they all were regarding him warmly. The knights trusted Arthur, and since Arthur trusted Merlin the knights trusted him as well. Gwaine trod over and gave Merlin a strong pat on the back, as the servant grinned back up at him.
"So I'm guessing all those times you fled to the back of a fight, you were really using magic to take down the baddies?" Gwaine said mischievously while Merlin smirked slightly. Something clicked in Arthur's mind at Gwaine's words.
"Hey wait a second, that's right! You mean to say that all those times you flee like a coward you're really fighting?" Arthur blurted out, his mind running through various memories of bandit attacks, all of which had very lucky instances of tree branches falling or enemies slipping on the ground-
Merlin's grin became wider as Arthur put two and two together and laughed when Arthur turned to him with a ridiculous look of realization, his face not unlike a stunned deer. Leon, Percival and Elyan looked equally abashed, as they hadn't noticed the obvious use of magic either.
"How many other times had you used magic! The griffin, the bandit fights-" Arthur started to say.
"Ohhh the questing beast! And he must've been the one to divulge Sir Valiant's treacherous shield!" Leon stated suddenly, the memory coming back to him in a flash. Merlin just looked at him with that same grin on his face.
"All those times Morgana and Morgause had attacked with magic, and somehow it had been stopped! The immortal army!" Elyan exclaimed, as all the other knights also remembered times when Merlin had rescued them and Arthur.
Arthur just blinked as he realized just how many times Merlin had saved his life. And the lives of everyone in Camelot. He was probably the main reason the castle was still standing! It was astounding, how many inexplicable events started to make sense… And after many of those events he had still treated Merlin as a useless servant!
Arthur turned to Merlin, the smile still wide on the warlock's face.
"I should have said this a while ago, Merlin. You have done much more than I could have ever expected from you to help Camelot, to help my friends, and to help me," Arthur said, watching as Merlin blinked embarrassedly.
"Ah Arthur it's ok, I really don't need –"
"Thank you."
And as Arthur stated that, he bowed his head towards the warlock, his friend, the other knights following suit. Merlin stood in shock for a moment, too gratified to say anything and his face red, then ruffled his hair embarrassedly and mumbled something along the lines of "it was nothing," his grin threatening to break his face.
A wave of exhaustion hit Arthur then, he had gone from angry to thankful in such a short time that his mind was utterly spent. He was sure there were even more secrets Merlin was keeping, but for now he just wanted to get ready for the night. He and Merlin got up and joined the other knights at the fire, Elyan preparing the soup as Gwaine poked the crackling fire. Percival looked over at the two returning friends, and smiled. Though he didn't say much, he was quite glad Arthur had accepted Merlin back as Merlin was one of the kinder people he had known.
Elyan too shared Percival's sentiments, as he remembered how a mysterious sorcerer had once tried to save his father's life, but to no avail. He would have to talk to Merlin later about it. Leon also was glad to have Merlin back, even if he was a sorcerer – though Leon had been the most loyal to the King out of any of them, he had one of the best senses of character and never sensed an evil bone in Merlin's body. He was also glad of his Prince's newfound peace, and was sure that whatever Arthur decided on he could follow indefinitely. Besides, he rather enjoyed listening to the two's pratter during trips. He smiled at Merlin, who smiled warmly back at him, clearly glad that one of the King's most loyal followers had accepted him so easily.
Gwaine was thinking along similar lines of the other knights, but with much more devious plans at hand.
"So Merlin, how much trouble have you caused people with your magic?" Gwaine said impishly.
"Well I've caused Morgana quite a bit-" Merlin started, but Gwaine interjected.
"No no no, I mean fun trouble, like pranks..." Merlin showed surprise when he realized what Gwaine had said, then attempted and failed to look innocent.
"You don't mean you actually have played pranks on us?" Arthur said suddenly, knowing full well that he would be a prime target.
"No, I mean.. Only a couple and not on purpose.. The first day I met you Arthur, when you tripped a lot as you tried to fight me, and I suppose I could have removed your donkey ears a bit sooner than I did..." Merlin said airily, trying to ignore Arthur as his face reddened with indignation.
"Are you saying that you were the reason I tripped over all those pails and things? And those donkey ears were horrendous, I should throw you in the stocks for-" Arthur started, but all the knights let out a loud bout of laughter as Arthur realized that he had just revealed a very embarrassing memory. Gwaine in particular had found this particular revelation quite hysterical, as he was laughing so hard he was pounding his fists on the forest floor.
"The Crown Prince Arthur.. With donkey ears! I suppose he brayed as well!" Gwaine said, chortling heartily. Merlin just laughed at the memory, and the other knights continued with their laughter at Arthur's expense, the Prince's threat of the stocks forgotten.
"That's about as much as I had done anything of the sort, sorry to disappoint Gwaine," Merlin said, the laughter dying down with a hearty chuckle now and then.
"Well we clearly need to fix that, don't we! I mean, strongest sorcerer and all, we should be able to get quite a few tricks out of you," Gwaine said, Merlin weary of the rogue's mischievous thoughts. The warlock knew just how creative Gwaine could be when he it came to practical jokes.
"Now Gwaine, magic isn't a toy-" Lancelot started, but was interrupted as his fellow knight pulled him into a rough one-armed hug.
"Oh c'mon mum, Magic can be anything it wants to be! That's why it's magic!" Gwaine said happily, Arthur groaning at the devilish grin covering the man's face. He was sure that whatever ideas Gwaine had, they were bad news. He made a mental note to keep an eye on Gwaine.
"Oh and that's another thing, I'm a warlock, not a sorcerer. There's a difference in that sorcerers learn magic, and warlocks just naturally gain magic at a certain age, in my case it was when I was born," Merlin said, as the other knights besides Arthur and Lancelot realized what he had just said. Merlin looked over embarrassedly at them all; he really couldn't take many more looks of shock in one day.
"Well jeez mate I can only imagine the horrors you have inflicted on your mother, imagine, taking care of a toddler with magic as a single mom? It's a surprise you haven't driven her mad!" Gwaine said.
"Well there was this one time I somehow turned all my mother's sewing tools into frogs- she didn't like that one too much," Merlin said, smiling embarrassedly at the memory.
"And I thought you were a load of trouble for us! I can't imagine your mother. Frogs I tell you.." Elyan stated saying, as Merlin started to look around his surroundings once more.
"And by the way, who in the hell instructed you all on how to act like sorcerers?" Merlin asked, taking note once more of the ridiculous scribbles on the trees and of the knights' ridiculous armaments, not to mention Gwaine's black eye makeup. He wondered how he even managed to forget about the Prince's ridiculous plan, whatever it had been.
"Well we all thought of it together, with most of it pitched in from Arthur and Gwaine, and we made the robes ourselves. The point was to scare you," Leon answered stoically. Lancelot snorted at the look of exasperation on Merlin's face. If only Merlin had any idea just how ridiculous all of their planning was.
"You did this.. together. This was your idea of how to act like sorcerers… In order to… frighten me," Merlin was struck dumb by the stupidity of the entire thing. He couldn't even speak as he remembered the ridiculous threat letter, the hissing noises that they made when they tried to incant a "spell" along with the absurd arm movements that came along with them –
"You guys know that sorcerers don't as a whole have some sort of mental deficiency, right? I mean, that had to have been one of the most ridiculous displays of fake magic I've ever seen," Merlin stated exasperatedly, Arthur and the knights looking at him in surprise, except for Lancelot, who had trouble holding down his laughter and was now sniggering loudly.
"Well of course it wouldn't have scared you, being Sir all-powerful-woobaloo or whatever," Arthur snapped back, clearly confused at Merlin's reaction.
"Powerful what? Is that another one of your completely inane sorcerer words? Nobody could possibly be afraid of such a display, you guys looked like complete and utter fools out there, prancing around in bright colored dresses and waving your arms around like you were impersonating drunken chickens that only had one foot! And the hissing screeches, what the hell was up with that? I thought my ears were going to explode," Merlin said loudly, still incredulous at memory of the knights prancing about. Lancelot was laughing even harder now, remembering the knights practicing. The knights just stared at him dumbfouned, Arthur even more so.
"I mean, that's what the sorcerers we saw do, we were just imitating what we saw," Gwaine spoke up, clearly offended that his graceful hand motions did not display sorcery-ness as he thought they had.
"Who in the hell would do anything like that, it's completely impractical to wear bright clothing when you need to hide in a forest!" Merlin said, beginning to laugh.
"Ah see, I told Princess we need to change the color of our bright red capes – " Gwaine began, but was interrupted by Arthur.
"Well you're the one who instructed us on the incantations and hand movements, clearly which were nowhere close to what we were supposed to have done!" Arthur said angrily, but still finding the whole situation funny.
"Haha… Oh that would make sense, that Gwaine.. hehe.. was the one who taught you those things!" Merlin said in-between laughter, "and I suppose he drew the runes on the trees as well! Or whatever those scribbles are, I think one is close to the Druidic mark for squirrel…" Merlin returned to laughing as the knights looked at each other in embarrassment.
Gwaine, though clearly abashed, began laughing along with Merlin, who was soon joined by Arthur and the rest of the knights. The group of friends kept laughing for a while, the warm fire sparking and crackling in the middle of the camp.
"Well I suppose I did have the most to do with it, but nobody else had any clue so I just thought I'd step in with some ideas," Gwaine said, still chuckling.
"Yes and Gwaine had heard the name 'Emreesh' from the local bar, so we suppose the guy must've slurred his words in a drunken stupor. So maybe if we hadn't had Gwaine, we would've been more successful," Arthur said trying to save some face, but Merlin shook his head and laughed.
"Gwaine? If any of you had even half a brain you would have never listened to Gwaine on how to act like an evil sorcerer, and don't even get me started on your virgi – " Merlin stopped, his eyes wide, suddenly looking frightened and wary as glanced around surrounding forest. Arthur noticing this sudden stillness motioned for the others to remain silent. The knights followed his lead as their stealth training kicked in, some trying to put out the fire while Arthur instinctively crept to his sword, his eyes aware. He knew Merlin could somehow sense danger before, and only now did he realize that it was Merlin's magic that made him so aware.
"What is it?" Arthur hissed, in a whisper towards his servant, the other knights readying for battle as well, albeit in brightly colored wizard robes. Arthur sincerely hoped the darkness was enough to cover up the vivid hues of the clothing.
"Morgause," spoke Merlin simply. Arthur and his knights visibly tensed as they listened for the witch through the darkness of the forest.
"Is she alone?" Arthur asked quietly, hoping that Merlin had sensed her from quite a distance away. He had no idea how these wizardy-sense-things worked, but he rather hoped that Morgause wouldn't be able to spring a trap on them.
"No, she's with a couple other magic users I think… And maybe a couple of hired mercenaries," Merlin replied, his eyes screwed up in concentration, "she's a bit off to the east… It seems she's here to set up a trap involving Camelot."
Of course it was a trap, that blasted woman loves her indirect attacks. Arthur thought, as he tried to think of what their next plan should be.
"Do you have any idea what the trap could be, Merlin?" Leon asked, wary.
"Not particularily, though I think it has something to do with gender-swapping… Her plot seems almost as clever as your plan to scare me… We could go around her without her noticing I think, and then just try to come up with a way to stop her at Camelot," Merlin said thoughtfully, Elyan nodding at his words.
"Does she know about your magic?" Lancelot asked, looking at Merlin.
"No I don't believe so, and I'd like to keep it that way.. It would be quite easy for her to use it against us. And Arthur, I don't see any way we can ambush her, it seems one of the sorcerers she has with her is particularily skilled at wards…" Merlin said, reading the look on the Prince's face.
Arthur was frustrated, why did Morgause choose now to attack? At least they had a head start this time, but he wished he could somehow stop her right then and now without having to wait for it at Camelot.. He had faith in his knights and Merlin, but what if they couldn't stop her plan in time? He kept running through plans of ambushes for the witch and her cronies, but none of them seemed like they would be very successful…
"If only there was a way to drive her away, without having to just return to Camelot for reinforcements…" Arthur said slowly, his mind working furiously to come up a decent plan. The knights too furrowed their brows in concentration as they tried to think of a solution to their problem.
"Wait, there may be a way…" Gwaine said, his eyes widening as a plan grew in his mind. Everyone looked over to Gwaine, who began to smile in that impish way only he knew how to. Gwaine looked around at all the supplies, to the rune marks on the trees, to his fellow knights in brightly colored robes, and finally to Arthur and Merlin. Lancelot was starting to get a very bad feeling from the rogue's devilish expression, the moonlight glinting off his wide grin.
"I've got a plan…"
~~ooOOOoo~~
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So here it is, the continuation of the previous parts to this story, a bit more serious than the rest so I hope that didn't scare you comedy fans off! I can't really bring myself to do a reveal without at least some part of it serious, and this part was pretty hard to write. I was hesitant writing it because these sorts of reconciliations have been done before, albeit not with my fic. I hope it wasn't boring, I really wanted to give you guys something with a lot of thought put into it. I still hoped to bring something new in, but I struggled to think of what until I realized that I wasn't quite done embarrassing Arthur and his knights yet, and that helped fit a missing piece into the puzzle. If even one person wants me to continue, I will! And it won't take 3 months, of course! Unless more of you are just happy where it's at.. Doesn't matter to me :D
I just really want to write Gwaine's mischief, though I'm giving no hints away as to what he's planning. Let's just say Morgause is one of my favorite villains to torture (no it's not whump sorry.) Plus I wanted another chance for Merlin to use his magic. The next chapter will hopefully be more humorous. Come with me and you will see...
So thank you all once again, because if it weren't for your support I wouldn't have gotten off Skyri- I mean, taken a break from my schoolwork- to write this chapter. And I am very much enjoying the current season of Merlin! Our protagonist seems to be getting his act together a bit more, though perhaps a bit less cheerily than we're used to. And as always, I try to reply to every review, and I jump out of my seat in joy every time I get the email for one, so please review, even if it's to tell me of how horrific my spellign erors in tihs chaptre are!
FUS ROH DUH
