A/N: In season 4 it takes 6 days to reach the Isle of the Blessed, plus a bunch of ruins and giant baby rats that feast on human flesh. In season 1, it takes, like…a day? Seriously, Merlin was back before anyone realized he was gone… and that he'd taken a horse. This left me with a bit of a problem. I decided to go with my plans when I started writing this thing, before season 4 messed it up. Silly Arthur and his big ol' quests! Actually, I'm going to shorten the time it takes a bit by making it take the same time despite the fact that they have no horses.
Title: Assassins
Author: Kitty O
Rating: T
Part Two: Rebels
Chapter Nine: Mid-Conversation
"The Isle of the Blessed is next. Once we've collected everything from there, we'll be ready to… actually do something to get back Camelot."
"Good," commented Gwaine, partly to himself. "No offense, but the sooner we stop this scavenger hunt and start actually fighting someone, the better."
"That's all we have left to get?" Lancelot asked, trying to be productive.
"Well, there's one sword I might collect… but I'll do that alone," Merlin said, so decisively that for once not a single person wanted to argue.
"But aren't there… I don't know, sorcerersat the Isle? Not the friendly kind," Elyan tacked on swiftly. "The kind that don't like Camelot?"
Everyone looked at Merlin, expecting him to have the answer. "I don't think so," he told them. "Most people who would go there wouldn't want to risk being so obvious about their magic. I've only been there once, a few years ago, and the only one I saw was Nimueh."
"Who?" asked Arthur, raising his eyebrows.
Merlin blushed, as he'd taken to doing every time Arthur asked him a question pertaining to magic. "She was the one who started the plague a while ago… When Gwen was arrested. She also put the poison in that goblet…"
"She was the woman who left me to the spiders? We're going to her home?"
"No, she's dead," Merlin answered.
"Sounds like good riddance," said Gwaine. "Was it your doing, then, Merlin?"
Merlin nodded self-consciously, and when Arthur looked doubtful, he supplied, "I thought she'd killed Gaius."
"She had," Gaius mumbled quietly.
"So I suppose that means you won't threaten me with sedation if I want to go along and try to save Camelot, too," said Arthur drily, his disapproval clear. "Since there's no one there."
Merlin smiled and sat down with everyone else at the Round Table. He didn't mind giving orders when need be, but he couldn't help feeling out of line every time he did. Arthur was the one in charge. Or he should be when he wasn't. Sadly, when it came to magic, Arthur didn't know enough to fill a page of a single book in Geoffrey's library. Which left Merlin in command.
"We shouldn't wait too long to start doing something… Or, well, looking like we are. We're obviously doing something; don't look at me like that, Merlin. The people will start to doubt," Gwaine said, leaning back in his chair.
"My father and the knights can't hold out forever," Arthur agreed.
"If we prepare now and leave as soon as we can," Merlin decided, "we could stop for the night and reach the Isle in the morning, and then get back by tomorrow night. Even if I make a detour for the sword."
Arthur nodded. "If it's the best we can do. Does anyone have a problem with that plan of action?"
No one spoke.
"Alright. Now what did you collect in the vaults?"
Percival got to his feet and lumbered over to the pile of things they'd collected.
"Several amulets," Lancelot started to list.
"Including the one Catrina used to enchant your father, not that it will be much use for us," Merlin interrupted.
"…The Crystal of Neatid…"
"This way, Morgana can't use it."
"Merlin's staff… A See staff, is that what it's called?"
"Sidhe."
Gwaine cut in, "We found those crystals the thugs used in the melee. Two of us can be in disguise as someone else. Just not one of the immortal ones… Since they don't bleed."
"The Mage Stone, I think Merlin said," continued Lancelot. "And a shield that seemed to be vibrating…"
"So we figured it was magical," Elyan finished.
"And what's that?" asked Arthur as Percival put the assorted items onto the table.
"What?" asked Merlin, as he turned and looked—and froze. Gwaine, too, spotted the object to which Arthur was referring and winced. He'd forgotten to hide it away.
Arthur's brows drew together as he recognized it. "Wait…" he said, standing up. He picked it up as Percival sat back down.
"It's just an empty container," Percival observed.
"Empty…?" Arthur turned it around. The top flapped ridiculously. "It is empty." His face was suddenly as hard as an icicle, and Merlin knew he'd messed up. Arthur looked towards Merlin. "It's empty. The goblin isn't in here."
"Um, no, no it's not," Merlin agreed rather nervously, shrinking back a bit into his chair. He didn't like the calm way Arthur said that.
"You let it go," Arthur said slowly. "I suppose you forgot the chaos that thing caused."
"I thought it might work to our advantage."
"The goblin won't just wreak havoc on the person wearing the crown, sorcerer. Did you forget Gwen, Sir Leon, Gaius, and even you were affected by the goblin? What about—?"
Before Arthur could get too mad, Merlin decided to defend himself. "Before I let it go, I talked to the goblin and told it—"
"Oh, you talked to it. That erases the whole problem. You talked to the little creature that possessed our court physician for a bit of fun and explained to it that it just couldn't do that anymore, I suppose." Arthur's voice was sharp.
Merlin was practically quailing under the prince's sarcasm, but he tried not to show his more-than-mild alarm.
"You didn't tell me you planned on doing this," Arthur continued. The rest of the knights watched in blank perplexity as he reprimanded the warlock.
"I wasn't planning on it," Merlin defended himself, "until I saw it just sitting there."
"You didn't…" Arthur opened his mouth, and then stopped. He saw that all the knights were watching him and realized that his hand was clenched into fists, as thought he might hit Merlin again. And he might've, he realized. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed his body. Turning to the warlock, he gave the man a look of disgust meant to convey his feelings: I let you alone and you put Camelot in danger. Do you see why I can't trust you?
Merlin ducked his head.
"You lot sort this out," said Arthur as he pushed his chair back. "I want nothing to do with these." Magic, his expression said. I want nothing to do with magic.
He turned from the table and walked away, leaving Merlin with four confused but sympathetic knights, an old physician, and a profound sense of having failed in some way. Whatever progress you made with him, Merlin, he told himself, forget it.
Well, it wasn't his fault. Except that it partly was. He had put Camelot at risk – a calculated one, but Merlin knew better than anyone that when it came to his home and people, Arthur did not take any kind of risks whatsoever. And he did not look kindly on those that did. Merlin should have thought of that.
"I'll bring the staff," said Merlin after a moment. "If everyone brings one thing that we don't know much about, I'll see what I can figure out about using them on the trip. Some of them might take some practice, especially the ones used for combat."
"With the Mage Stone," reflected Lancelot, trying to act normal, "we can buy normal weapons. Doesn't it turn things into gold?"
Merlin nodded.
"But it wouldn't do much good on the trip."
"Neither would I," said Gaius, shifting in his own chair. "I believe I should stay behind. I would be able to transform gold and buy weapons and supplies. We require more food, not immediately, but we can't wait too long."
"Will you be safe here, Gaius?" asked Merlin with concern.
"They haven't found it yet," said Elyan. "It would probably be safer than a trip to the Isle of the Blessed."
"Then it's decided," said Gwaine. "We'll collect Arthur, our bags, and go! We'll have Camelot back by the end of the week!"
Merlin let a grin stretch over his face. "That way, you can spend the weekend drinking."
Gwaine laughed. "You know me well, my friend."
\-_-BREAK-_-/
They sent Elyan and Percival to collect Arthur, because the prince had stormed outside. They seemed the ones most likely not to test his short temper.
The rest collected their items, packs, and blankets. Merlin wrapped a cloth around the top of the staff and tried to find a way to attach it to his pack so he wouldn't have to carry it like a walking stick. At last he found a way which involved sticking the end through a strap and looping the strap for holding the whole thing around the staff in a strange way. But it worked.
Quickly, he checked his pack's contents—and his eyes fell on a small vial of water. Right. It was supposed to help him when time was bleak, or something along those lines. Well, it hadn't been very helpful so far. He would study it along with the other items, later.
\-_-BREAK-_-/
Before they'd gone a mile or so, Merlin had determined that the shield deflected blows in more than just the normal way. It made blows slide right off of it, sometimes not even touching it. The obvious advantage to this was that the shield would not break, and it would block sword strikes that were close to the shield, even if the holder let the metal shield drop lower than he should have. The downside was that the vibration of the shield made the holder's arm go numb.
He handed the shield back to Lancelot and began to check out Percival's amulet as they walked.
Arthur had not brought anything. He walked a little ahead of the group, who were lagging a bit as they watched Merlin bounce spells off of the objects he was testing. Arthur did not watch.
The forest, apart from the sound of the knights and servant walking through it, was silent. The green leaves of the trees tinted the light from the sun, which was growing higher in the sky. It was really very lovely, with twisted old trees and roots spiraling treacherously through the dirt. It was the kind of forest that made Arthur feel as if it must go on forever— despite Merlin's assurances that they would be crossing hills soon.
"The forest is a shortcut," he'd told Arthur. "I wish I'd thought of taking it last time I made this trip."
Arthur hadn't asked about the last time he'd made the trip. He hadn't wanted to know.
The prince walked on, forcing himself not to look back at the newest knights, who were – in his opinion – gawking like scullery maids their first time in a kitchen.
Merlin noticed that the prince hadn't looked back as he walked, but he tried not to take it personally. Though it was meant personally. He thought he would very much like to tell Arthur exactly what had happened the last time he'd been at the Isle—how he'd nearly died for the prince. But really, what good would it do? In the mood he was in now, Arthur would probably just yell at him for it.
The bruise on Merlin's face gave a tiny throb.
"I think it's for generating heat, anything from body heat to fire," he told Percival. "But it probably requires an incantation; I don't know if I can figure it out, though. I'm almost positive you have to know sorcery already to use this one, though."
Percival accepted the amulet and stared at the runes, trying to decipher them as Merlin obviously had.
They kept walking. Merlin kept figuring. Arthur didn't look back.
Finally they had passed out of the trees and onto the hills, and then it grew to dark to continue on. So they stopped for the night and brought out their bedrolls, but instead of getting into his, Merlin brandished his staff.
"Alright," he said with a cheerful smile, not missing the slightly-awestruck-but-trying-to-hide-it look on most of the knights' faces. "Who wants to try some of this stuff out?"
Gwaine, Lancelot, Percival, and Elyan scrambled up immediately with varying degrees of eagerness and wariness.
But Arthur, who'd barely spoken two words to Merlin since he discovered the goblin's release, simply turned his back to the men, laying on his side in his blanket, and ignored them.
All right, thought Merlin, pretending that didn't dampen his mood in the slightest. Spoilsport.
A/N: I realize that this chapter was rather boring, but it had to happen. I needed it especially to let Arthur get mad again. Because of course I can't let things go smoothly. Next chapter should hopefully contain the Isle, Excalibur, and a bit of action, so stick with me! Please review.
~Kitty O of Awesomeness, PBO
