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Now for the penultimate chapter, and the last one called Hate.


Chapter 9

Hate

"Arthur?" Merlin said as he entered the room.

He watched Arthur looking out of the window. He knew exactly what he was thinking.

Ever since Camelot made magic legal again, there had been questions over Arthur's state of mind. The rumours stretched from that he had a change of heart to that he had been enchanted by Morgana and was her puppet. Merlin was grateful that Arthur and Camelot still had some friends. Caerleon and Nemeth had followed Camelot's lead and changed the law against magic.

Other's showed a little more resistance. The Sarrum, personally, came all the way from Amata to Camelot to tell Arthur he was making a big mistake and to hand over Merlin, Morgana and Ade for him to deal with. Merlin was actually quite proud of him when Arthur told the Sarrum that they were his family and no one was ever going to hurt them ever again.

Just after that meeting, tensions started to grow throughout Albion. Camelot, Caerloen and Nemeth on the side with magic, Amata and Esstir on the side against. Peaceful talks had just just broken down immediately. They were heading towards war and the council of Camelot wasn't helping the situation. They continued to tell Arthur that they told him that this would happen.

Arthur was struggling to find friends at the moment.

"Everything will be okay." Merlin said.

"Will it?"

"I know the last set of talks broke down but they have lasted longer than the last set. If we keep talking, we might evade war."

"Really? Will we?" Arthur shouted. "The Sarrum has just sent a letter back when I asked for more talks telling me the next time we talk, his sword will be doing much of the talking. We are heading towards war and the only well you could tell me that everything will be okay if you could looking into a … crystal ball and tell me that we are going to win this war. If you can, then everything will be okay." He turned back to the window after he finished.

"You have done the right thing." Merlin reminded him before he left him.


"Please tell me you feel the same." Morgana asked him when he sat heavily in one of the chairs in their chambers.

"Feel what?"

She looked at him through the mirror. "That you feel like a stranger again."

"Oh yeah. The felling of not belonging even though everyone is trying to make it seem like it. I would suggests running away with the druids as we have done before but when they are being slaughtered left, right and centre, I don't think it would be safe."

"It was just something that Gwen said to me about a week ago. I just … we will never fit in here with them knowing about our magic."

"I never fitted in here when I was keeping my magic a secret. You know what it is like. It is just a weight that is constantly there."

She smiled at him before starting to laugh. He chuckled with her. He was glad that they could find something to laugh about in these trying times. She stood up and joined him, sitting on his lap.

"I thought that we would come back, spend a few months regaining Arthur's trust, repel the law against magic and then we could live our days out in Camelot or somewhere else, in total and utter peace and we could just be ourselves."

"I think you have had too many dreams. I knew there would be resistance but not this much resistance. I doubted that someone would go to war because the believed one thing about magic and we believe another." He cleared his throat. "When the first men fall and we set off to the battlefield, I don't want you coming with us."

"I would be a great help. Even if I wasn't fighting, I could help heal. I will not wait here for you to return. You should know me. I want to do my part."

"I knew you were going to say that."

"Then why ask me?"

"Because I need you to stay here." He said, calmly. "I will have to go. I will stand by Arthur's side, in the thick of it. I will hear the screams of the soldiers and knights from both sides as they are cut down. And as the battle are fought and lost or won, the war will be defined by those battles. If we lose, do you really think that the Sarrum will allow Arthur to return? Do you think he would allow me to return? If you were there, do you think he would allow you to return? Ade would lose both of us. At least if you were here, I would die happy knowing that when the news reached Camelot, you would do everything in your power to get both Ade and Gwen to safety."

"I want to help though."

Merlin remembered what Arthur had said earlier. "If you could have a dream tonight that we win, then I could tell Arthur and then might actually believe me when I tell him that everything will be okay."

She kissed his forehead and brought him closer to herself. Merlin would always wear his heart on his sleeve and was always easy to read. He was scared and Morgana wished she could have the dream that he wanted her to have.


4 years later

Merlin panted as he ran up the hill to reach Arthur. The past four years had been a whirlwind, neither of them seeing Camelot in that period. All Merlin wanted to do was to get back to him family. He wanted this war to be over. It was heading in that direction. The combined forces of Camelot, Caerleon and Nemeth, under the command of Arthur, had a few great victories over the last year. There was a time when Merlin did believe that they might lose. The progress that they made gave him hope that they would be returning home soon.

"Sire, we have them running. I suggest that we don't stop to allow them to regroup." He said, breathlessly as he reached Arthur.

"Don't we need to regroup?" Arthur asked. "How is morale?"

"At the highest it has been. There are many that are ready for the next fight. I will admit there are a few that would like to take stock but most of them are up for it. We know that they have a lot of strength together. They are scattered at the moment."

Arthur nodded at him. "Give them the signal." He said before walking down the opposite side of the hill to the side Merlin came up, drawing his sword.

Merlin whistled before sending up a spark of light with his magic. As soon as that had happened, the shouts of the knights and soldiers could be heard. He took a few moments to watch their men run around the hill. It still amazed him how much energy they would have. He supposed that it was just adrenaline.

He ran down the hill, following Arthur down and joined the ranks as they clashed with the other army. He used a mix of magic and sword to fight his opponents. It was when he reached Arthur that he realised something was up.

"Do something." Arthur shouted at him.

"What do you want me to do?"

They both stood their, watching the chaos unfold around them. They knew that the other army had more dirty tactics.

"More of my men are dying."

Merlin muttered the spell that he had used a number of times. The fighting seemed to have stopped as the other side was sent flying backwards, given their side a bit of breathing space. He hadn't used his magic to slow things down, just everything began happening again slowly. Their side took the opportunity that he had given them and started to kill the opposition, that hadn't managed to get up quick enough.

There was still something that didn't seem right and Merlin was worried that he had made Arthur make a rash decision. The fighting continued and Merlin looked towards the sky. Of course the Sarrum would be willing to sacrifice some of his soldiers in attempt to kill theirs.

Merlin used his magic again to create a barrier, stopping the arrows from coming through. What he didn't notice was the few marksmen, aimed at him. His shield broke as Merlin fell to the floor.