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Chapter 9

Emrys' first thought when he regained consciousness was 'How the hell did they get past my wards?' only after that did he regard his surroundings and look for the enemy. Around him most people were still on the floor, taking cover from fire balls and the occasional magical creature. The majority seemed to have survived the initial explosion that had been triggered by the destruction of his protection wards.

Halfway across the field he could also see his king, who had already gotten up and was busy shouting orders to the knights. Tristan, Erec and Yvain then left Arthur's side and started to empty the field of innocent bystanders, while the others slowly approached his past self. From here it looked as if he'd been knocked out cold and wouldn't wake up any time soon, which was rather inconvenient as he could have helped them…

Absorbed in his contemplations Emrys completely forgot that he was lying on top of Prince Arthur, who was by now very irritated and promptly made himself noticeable by shouting directly into his left ear "Would you get of me already!"

Startled Emrys turned to look at him and after smiling sheepishly he mumbled "Oh, sorry.." before he rolled off him and got up. Arthur stood up hastily and grabbed his discarded sword in the process, readying himself to fight.

"Whoa, what do you think you're doing?" exclaimed the raven head, as the prince tried to move past him.

"Fight the bad guys." Deadpanned the annoyed royal.

"Uh-uh, don't think so, you're going back inside and hide."

"Forget it, I'm Pri-"

"Yeah, yeah you're Prince Arthur, prat extraordinaire, and it's your duty to blah blah, sorry not this time. We'll take it from here." And as if they'd planned it in advance King Arthur turned up beside him right that moment, solidifying his point.

"Bu-"

"No buts, go." Arthur, the older, interjected and motioned for Leon and Galahad, who was carrying his future guardian over his shoulder, to accompany the blonde back inside the citadel and probably also to make sure that he stayed there. For a moment the prince looked like a petulant child, who'd just been robbed of its favourite toy and was about to throw a fit, but then he composed himself and spat "Fine." before he practically stomped off toward the castle, closely followed by the two knights.

The field was now rapidly vacated as all past people hurried inside, even Uther, who was even more reluctant than his son. But then again it couldn't be easy to leave one's safety in the hands of other people, unable to do anything at all, even when it was his son's future self.

In the meantime the men, that had arrived with the blonde king and which were already spread over all of Camelot city took defence positions, readying themselves for an attack.

And in the forest closest to the field, shadows started to move beyond the cover of the trees. Soon though rows upon rows of foot soldiers, sorcerers, and the occasional beast broke through the line of trees and marched toward the castle.

Watching the advancing opponents he could spot from the field, King Arthur calmly turned to his right hand man and stated matter-of-factly "You didn't stumble or drop your sword."

Having already expected that Merlin only said succinctly, "Pure skill."

"Skill?" repeated Arthur, raising an eyebrow much like Gaius would have.

A little shifty the other replied "Yah…well they never said no magic…and it's my best skill."

"Really now, then how did they get past your wards that easily?" Arthur questioned more seriously this time, pointing to the army, the fire balls raining down upon them and the overhead flying creatures, who were trying to kill the two of them, but failed due to Merlin's activated personal shields.

Sighing heavily the warlock regarded their foes warily and confessed "That I don't know…yet."

"Uh-huh." Luckily for Merlin before Arthur could go into more detail, Leon and the others returned from their 'mission'.

"Everyone's inside, Sire." Assured Leon, while simultaneously presenting the two armguards that Arthur, the younger, had been wearing "He still has the amulet as you wished."

"Good." And with that Arthur faced the invading forces defiantly and smirked. Had anyone of this time seen him, they'd probably suspected him to be mad, but his knights, for once as clueless as everyone else, except Merlin of course, only shrugged and waited for the punch line.

After exchanging one last look with his sorcerer, and a murmured "This better work, Merlin." He then raised both hands in front of himself, held apart and palms facing inwards, before he loudly banged his armguards together…

Several seconds passed and nothing…Next to the blonde, Merlin silently willed it to work, knowing the knights and Arthur would tease him mercilessly, if another one of his designed spells failed initially, like with the normal armguards everyone else wore. It had taken him forever to get them right an- Feeling a sudden change in the surroundings he stopped his negative thinking and screamed triumphantly "Yes!"

And just like that a blue light started spreading over the runes of the armguards, revealing two light blue crystals at their centre. Apparently following a certain sequence some of the runes started to glow brightly and finally an intricate pattern was formed, which stayed alight for a moment before it died down again.

'Oh come on. Please, please work...' chanted a nervously hopping Merlin. As if answering the warlock's pleas the crystals lit up once more, this time followed by a steady stream of blue light, which abruptly expanded and rapidly encased all of Camelot with an enormous shield.

The beasts in the sky screeched in terror as it reached them, unable to escape it. Soon they were completely surrounded and with a final roar they were crushed by the protective force; as were the front lines of men, who had come to close to the city. After those threats were eradicated the shield settled itself and with a final pulse disappeared. However, an attempt by their foes revealed that it was now invisible to the naked eye, but still guarding the city.

"Not bad." Admitted Arthur reluctantly.

"What do you mean not bad? That was absolutely amazing." As a reply the blonde only rolled his eyes and walked away.


In the throne room Uther and Arthur were pacing impatiently for what seemed like hours, before finally the door opened and their 'friends' from the future entered. Uther of course immediately demanded to know what was going on, so Emrys quickly explained what had happened and that there now was a nearly impregnable barrier around the citadel and lower town.

"So, you trapped us inside, how's that helping."

"Ah, no don't worry, we can leave without problem, at least those with the special armguards."

"Then why did you take mine away?" cried Arthur incredulously.

"'Cause we can't have you running off playing hero, it's not part of the plan."

"You have a plan?"

"Yep, and all we need for it to work is to borrow me- your servant."

"MERlin? You can't be serious"

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