Chapter 9
The bonfire burned brightly into the night, lighting up a lonely druid sitting next to it. He was holding his hands towards the fire, but he wasn't looking at it; instead, he was looking up at the sky, thousands of stars looking back at him. He still remembered all the nights Aglain told him stories about them; those had been good times.
His thoughts were interrupted when the sound of footsteps. He looked to his right, across the darkness, where a familiar face was walking towards him.
"Emrys, can't sleep?" the druid asked.
"You know, Mordred, you really shouldn't call me that when Arthur is near," Merlin said.
"Sorry, it just sounds better than Merlin."
"Hey! I like that name."
Mordred just grinned in response and signaled him to sit next to him.
Merlin sat and stretched his hands towards the fire.
"Did you know that you were the first person to ever call me Emrys?" he asked.
"I kind of guessed it from your face, and you actually asking me why I called you that," Mordred answered with amusement in his voice.
Merlin's mind went back to those days, when he was just starting to learn how to use magic properly and Mordred was just a young druid in the worst possible place.
"So, you've never answered me, how did you know who I was?" he asked.
"Are you sure we should be talking about this? What if Arthur wakes up?" Mordred asked back in a lower voice.
Merlin chuckled before answering. "Don't worry, I was just messing with you before. We could have a magic duel right here right now and he wouldn't even flinch."
Mordred made a little smile while secretly wondering what it would be like to have a magic duel with Emrys.
"Well," he said, "you already know that we were in Camelot buying some supplies, but what you don't know is that I had another reason to go there. I wanted to meet you."
"Wait, you knew about me even before going into Camelot?" Merlin asked, confused.
"Yes, there was talk among the camp about powerful magic happening there and I know it had to be Emrys." Mordred looked at the fire and then back at Merlin. "Don't laugh," he said, smiling himself, "but at the time I was kind of obsessed with the story of Emrys and the Once and Future King. I mean, how could I not? The powerful sorcerer and the great king who will bring an era where magic is allowed and everyone lives in peace; it was the perfect story for a boy who was raised in a time of war."
Merlin was surprised that his so-called destiny was so well known.
"So, does every druid know about me?" he asked.
"They know about Emrys, but they don't know you are him. In my case, I kind of guessed it; in fact Camelot was the third place where I thought you were. As for the rest of the druids, it takes a lot of practice to be able to sense magic in others, and even more to realize exactly the extent of that magic, so most druids don't even bother learning that. However, the elders have to learn to sense magic as part of their training, so most of them should be able to tell who you are just by looking at you. Don't worry, though; it's very unlikely they say anything unless you want them to."
"And what about you?"
"What about me?" Mordred asked, confused.
"Have you told anyone?" Merlin clarified.
"I've only told Iseldir and Kara. Oh, and I talked about it with Lochru, but he already knew."
"How did he find out?" Merlin asked.
"Lochru is the druid's equivalent of a seer," Mordred answered. "When we first met, he told me that he had been following my life for some time and that me reaching his camp had been foretold a long time ago. A bit stalkerish if you ask me, but he meant well."
Merlin nodded in agreement, but suddenly stopped when he realized something.
"You didn't tell Alvarr?" he asked.
Mordred shook his head.
"Why?" Merlin asked.
"Well, after seeing what the knights did to Aglain and the others I understood exactly how much you risked by staying in Camelot; it wasn't just the king who hated us, everyone did."
Merlin could feel the spite in Mordred's voice.
"They thought you had kidnapped Morgana," he explained.
"I know that, but still… it was a slaughter." Mordred closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to block the memories of that day. "When you helped me escape from the camp, I promise myself to never reveal who you truly were. Kara was the only exception; I just can't lie to her."
The blush in Mordred's face made Merlin realize how little he actually knew about him. He decided to stop guessing.
"Mordred, not that I'm complaining, but after everything that Uther, Arthur and me had put you through, why aren't you against us? What about all the druids that died at Camelot's hand? What about the 'I shall never forgive and I shall never forget'?" Merlin asked.
"I was wondering when you would bring that up," Mordred said with a sad smile. "It's true that I hated Uther, and if he was still the king I would have fought against him until my last breath, but he's dead now and Arthur rules in his place. That makes all the difference Merlin. Arthur is a good man, I can see that, and he has the potential to be the best king Camelot ever had. As for you…," Mordred started and looked at Merlin, "I consider you my friend." The shock in Merlin's face was obvious. "I know, I know, it's pathetic for me to think that when you obviously hate me, but I do it nonetheless," Mordred said, looking away.
"I don't hate you," Merlin said back, surprised by Mordred's words.
"Come on Emrys, I'm not blind; I can see the way you sometimes look at me, like if I'm going to stab you or Arthur in the back the second you turn around."
Merlin went silent for a moment.
"You want the truth?" he asked.
"Please..."
"Alright then; do you know about the Great Dragon?"
Mordred wondered what could that possibly have to do with him, but he answered anyway.
"He is well known within my people as a guardian of the Old Religion. We thought that he had died over twenty years ago, but recently there have been many sightings of a dragon that looks exactly like him, which led us to believe that he isn't dead. What no one really knows is where he had been all this years; some say that he was hiding, others that he was regaining his strengths… some even say that he was being held captive in Camelot."
"And they are right; he was taken prisoner after the purge, bound with chains not even his magic could break, and locked away where no one would hear him scream. Well, no one without magic," he added.
"You've met him?" Mordred asked in awe.
"I have, but… he isn't always helpful. In a way he reminds me of what you said about Alvarr; always playing with the rest of us like we were his puppets, only caring about achieving his own goal. Don't get me wrong, his goal was a good one; he wanted to return magic to the kingdom, and I obviously wanted that too, but I didn't share his methods."
"Like what?"
"Well, the first time you came to Camelot he called me." Merlin made a pause and looked directly at Mordred. "He told me that you were destined to kill Arthur and that I wouldn't be able to fulfill my destiny as long you were alive."
Mordred was in shock. "But I… I never… Why would I kill him? He saved my life!"
"I honestly don't know," Merlin said, shrugging his shoulders.
Mordred was reminiscing that day in his head.
"But… you saved me," he said, confused.
Merlin gave him a little smile. "I did," he said.
"Why?"
"It took me a while to understand exactly the reason, but in the end it's pretty simple. I can't and won't punish someone for something they haven't done," Merlin said, firmly.
"Yet…" Mordred added, looking down.
"Not necessarily," Merlin said, placing his hand on Mordred's shoulder. "Recently I've met a powerful sorcerer who told me much I didn't know about prophecies. Mordred, most prophecies aren't set in stone, they are just possible outcomes of things that hadn't happened yet, and even when they do happen, they are still tainted by the knowledge of the seer who saw them. I wouldn't be surprised if the dragon saw what he wanted to see; maybe you were stabbing Arthur with a magical sword that healed people, maybe that wasn't Arthur and someone had taken his form, maybe you were stabbing someone next to Arthur; I don't know, but what I do know is that the man I have in front of me would never hurt him, and I apologize for ever thinking otherwise."
Mordred couldn't help but to smile. "Thank you for trusting me with all this," he said.
Merlin smiled back and nodded his head.
They both stayed there, in silence, looking at the flames. It wasn't until the fire was just embers that Merlin spoke again.
"Mordred, can I ask you something?" he asked.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Have you seen Morgana recently?"
"Why do you want to know?" Mordred asked, suspiciously.
"Just curiosity I think," Merlin answered. "She has disappeared since the attack on Camelot last year, and that's not like her."
"What? Do you miss her attacking Camelot?" Mordred asked with sarcasm.
"Of course not, it's just— forget it, it was just a stupid thought," Merlin said, looking away.
"Come on Merlin, I was joking," Mordred said, chuckling. "Actually I was also worried about her, so about two months ago I asked around some druid camps and I tracked her down."
"You found her," Merlin said with wide eyes.
"I did."
"And? Was she all right?"
Mordred smiled internally at the concern in Merlin's face.
"She was better than I had seen her in a long time," he answered. "I can show you if you want."
"Show me?"
"Sometimes I forgot how little you know about us," Mordred said. "We can show our memories to other druids; it's kind of an advanced telepathy technique."
"So, you would be in my mind?" Merlin asked.
"In a way, but I can only send memories to you; I can't see anything unless you send it to me," Mordred explained.
"Can't you just tell me?"
"Believe me; you'll want to see this for yourself."
Merlin let out a sigh.
"Alright then; how do we do this?" he asked.
"Just close your eyes and take a deep breath."
Merlin did what Mordred said and waited, but nothing happened. After some more time he grew tired and opened his eyes. "Mordred, this isn't—" he started to say, but stopped when he realized that he wasn't in the camp anymore; he was in a forest, Mordred standing next to him. He heard a noise from above, but when he tried to find its source the sun blinded him. Wait… The sun? That was when Merlin noticed it wasn't night anymore.
"Mordred, what happened? Where are we?" Merlin asked.
The Mordred in front of him acted like he wasn't there; instead he heard a voice in his head.
"Emrys, calm down, you are seeing my memories," the voice said.
"But this feels so real!" He approached the Mordred in front of him and tried to touch him, but his hand went right through. "Wait a second, if these are your memories why am I not seeing them from your point of view?" Merlin asked.
"Well done! Most people take a lot longer before realizing that. I could show you things from my point of view, but in that case you wouldn't just see what I saw; you'll also feel what I felt and think what I thought, and I don't think either of us wants that."
"Agreed," said Merlin. "So now what?"
"Just follow me."
Merlin saw as Mordred, the incorporeal one, started moving towards some trees and he followed behind. It didn't take long until they came across a woman who was picking up some herbs.
"Hello Morgana," Mordred said.
She quickly turned around with her dagger in hand, which Merlin recognized; it was the one she had used when she had tried to kill Uther. While she was looking at Mordred, Merlin looked at her. In a way she hadn't changed much since the last time he saw her. She still wore those black dresses that didn't do her justice, and her hair looked as she hadn't combed it in forever. However, in her face Merlin could see something different, something he hadn't seen in a long time, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Morgana slowly lowered the dagger.
"Mordred?" she asked wide eyed. She didn't wait for an answer; she sheathed the dagger, approached him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Mordred! Look at you! You are already a man," she said. (Which, by the way, were the exactly same words that Arthur had used; fact that Merlin noticed, judging by his laughter.)
"What are you doing here?" Morgana asked.
"Actually, I wanted to know how you were doing; the last thing I knew is that you had been injured in battle and after that you disappeared from the face of the Earth. What happened?"
Morgana looked at him, weighing if she could trust him. After some time she smiled.
"Follow me," she said and walked away.
Mordred (and Merlin) started to follow.
"Where are we going?" Mordred asked.
"You'll see."
After a little walk through the forest Mordred saw the entrance of a cave between the mountains.
"In here," Morgana said.
They entered the cave and Morgana signaled him to stay behind.
"I'm back," she yelled inside the cave. Merlin couldn't see anyone and he thought she had lost it, but then he heard someone coming towards them. When the sound was closer Morgana spoke again. "Darling, this is Mordred; he is a friend."
Merlin felt something strange when Morgana called the other one 'darling', but that feeling was quickly replaced by another when a figure came out of the shadows and he saw that it wasn't human; it was a dragon, a white dragon.
The shock made Merlin back away breaking the mental link and he went back into the real world.
"What is Aithusa doing with her!?" he asked.
Mordred was surprised to hear him say her name.
"You know the dragon then?" he asked.
"Yes. She's supposed to be with Kilgharrah!" Merlin answered.
"Kilgharrah?"
Merlin could swear that Mordred looked disappointed.
"The Great Dragon, that's his name," he said, trying to process what he had just seen. "Did she kidnap her?" Merlin asked.
Mordred shook his head.
"No, just keep watching."
Merlin sat back down and Mordred resumed the link.
Back in the cave, Merlin saw Mordred take a step back when the dragon came out of the shadows.
"A dragon! Where did you get it from?" he asked.
"First of all it's her, not it, and second I didn't get her from anywhere," Morgana answered. She approached the dragon and started petting her head. "She saved my life almost a year ago, and we've been living together since then."
"Does it— her have a name?"
"Aithusa," she answered. "I'm not sure how I know that, she can't speak yet, but it felt right and she seems to like it."
"This is amazing," Mordred said, still not being able to believe what he was seeing. He slowly approached Aithusa. "May I?" he asked Morgana, indicating the dragon's head.
"You can try, but she's not very good with strangers."
Mordred tried to pet her anyway, but when he was close, Aithusa let out a small breath of fire that made him jump back, which made both Merlin and Morgana laugh.
"I told you," she said.
Mordred checked that he hadn't catch fire, and then he looked again at the dragon.
"Morgana, please don't take this the wrong way, but do you know why she saved you?" he asked.
She made a sad smile. "Not really," she said. "I asked her, she didn't answer."
Mordred pondered for some time.
"Have you met any dragonlord?" he asked.
"I've thought about that; however, the only sorcerer I've met that can command dragons wants me dead."
"Who?" Mordred asked.
"Emrys," Morgana answered, her voice filled with hatred.
Merlin flinched. The way she had said his name felt like a stab wound, reminding him of how much both of them had hurt each other. Suddenly the entire world started to fade and he was back again in the camp with Mordred.
Merlin looked around as if checking that the vision had ended.
"Wait, that's it? What happened next? Did you—"
"Don't worry, I know better than to talk with Morgana about you. After what you saw, I changed the subject and we talked about what happened since we last saw each other; I told her pretty much the same I told you and Arthur," Mordred said and then looked back into the fire. "You know, when she told me about you commanding dragons, I thought that maybe you sent Aithusa to help her, but now after the way you reacted…"
"I didn't."
"Would you have helped her if you knew she was dying?" Mordred couldn't help but asking.
Merlin made a pause before answering.
"Morgana is an enemy of Camelot," he said, "her actions led to the death of a lot of people, many of who were my friends, and as long as she lives Arthur won't be safe."
"That isn't an answer," Mordred pointed out.
"I know…" Merlin said, looking down. "Even after everything she has done, I can't seem to forget who she was before all this, but how many second chances can I give her?"
Mordred could see the torment in Merlin's face.
"Maybe one more?" he asked. "She's not the same as before, Aithusa has changed her; I know that you saw it too."
"Maybe…" Merlin said, watching the sun rise behind the trees.
.
.
.
"So, I guess this is it. It was nice to see you again Mordred," Arthur said from his horse.
"Same here," Mordred replied.
The three of them had finally reached the edge of the forest where the druids lived and it was time to part ways.
"There is one last thing I must tell you before you go," Mordred told Arthur. "There is talk among the druids about Alvarr assembling an army. I don't know what is his goal, nor how many people have joined him, but we both know he wishes ill to Camelot, so you need to be careful."
Both Merlin and Arthur turned serious.
"That's grave news," Arthur said, "I'll see that Camelot is ready for whatever he has planned. Thank you for the warning." Arthur approached Mordred and offered him a hand to shake. "I won't forget everything you've done for us, I promise," he said.
"I'll hold you to that," Mordred replied, shaking his hand.
When Arthur started to go away Mordred looked at Merlin.
"Goodbye Emrys," he told him telepathically.
"Goodbye Mordred," Merlin replied showing a smile, and then turned around and started to follow Arthur, who was already galloping away.
Merlin finally caught up with him on the hill where they had saw the forest for the first time.
"What took you so long?" Arthur asked, holding a smile.
He was trying to come up with a good comeback, when Arthur started to talk again.
"You know Merlin, I think he would make a great knight," Arthur said, looking at the forest.
"Who? Mordred?"
"Yes, Mordred, who else?"
"But… he has magic! Don't you have a problem with that?"
"I… I don't know… What I do know is that we would be dead if it wasn't for him."
"A druid as a knight of Camelot… Now that would be an interesting sight."
"Well, if you stick around you may see it someday."
"Where would I go? We both know that the second I leave Camelot, the kingdom will fall, and I can't do that to the people."
Arthur let out a small laugh.
"Good to know," he said, "I'll make sure to tell everyone so they can rest easy, but for now let's just go back to Camelot before Guinevere sends an army to look for us," Arthur said, and they both started to gallop again.
When they reached Camelot's gates, it turned out that Guinevere had actually assembled a pretty large scout party that was leaving to look for them, which many of them would then call the easiest assignment of their lives. Arthur told them to go back and he set out to the castle.
Arthur was getting off his horse when he saw Gwen running towards him, yelling his name. She practically jumped into a hug and he swept her off her feet and spun her around, kissing her.
"I'm so glad you're back, I was worried sick," she said with watery eyes. "Oh, and I know that you've lied to me about this trip, so we'll talk about that later."
"Well, it was a surprise for our anniversary; I couldn't tell you the truth. How did you find out?" Arthur asked.
"A lady has her secrets," she answered with a smirk.
Arthur gave her a smile. "Sorry for worrying you," he said, "we were supposed to be back sooner, but there were some small problems."
"How small?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Nothing we couldn't handle, don't worry," Arthur replied.
She knew Arthur good enough to know when he was lying.
"Arthur, all I want is you," she said. "You can't just risk your life looking for some stupid gift!"
"In his defense is a very beautiful stupid gift," Merlin said.
"Thanks Merlin," Arthur replied, rolling his eyes.
"Anytime."
"So, do you want to see this stupid gift?" Arthur asked Gwen.
"Only if you promise that this is the last time you risk your life for something like this," she answered.
"Cross my heart," Arthur said as he reached into the pouch and handed the Flower to Gwen.
Some will say that that day the Flower shone with the brightest light that had ever existed.
Others say that because of the Flower, there was never again another night in Camelot.
They are both exaggerations, but it was actually a pretty awesome sight.
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A/N: I hope you liked it!
Thanks Tolleren, PhantomHokage, ObiWanKedopy, AJsRandom for the reviews of the last chapter and thanks Iricious for ALL the reviews =D
And now the answers to some (long due) questions:
ObiWanKedopy: It's not my intention to turn Mordred evil, at least not without a good cause. However, I can't control everything he does...
AJsRandom: Dragoon is a bit like Merlin, if maybe a tad crazier. It has to be with them being really powerful sorcerers who are inherently good, but they face situations where not everything goes like they wanted to and have to face the consequences. In a way, to Merlin, Dragoon it's like a glimpse of a possible future.
