A/N: Thank you to Glacier22, HarunoKasumi (Merry Christmas to you too!), Sanguine Ink (I know, I turned the angst up some!), hieisdragoness18, Vinnie1313 (very kind words, thank you!), SwitzDandelion (wow, long review! It made me laugh, so thank you! Please don't cry though...read on!), Healed535 (you always doubt me...and you shouldn't! When have I ever let you down? lol), and StarBolt1966 for all your fantastic reviews!
Happy Christmas to all those who celebrate it!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
He rode as fast as he dared, forcing his mount to keep going throughout the night. Snow was still falling, muffling the sounds of the night and his horse's hooves. Finally an hour or so before dawn he broke out onto the main road leading to Camelot and increased his pace, casting a spell on the flagging beast to keep it going.
As the bleak light of morning began to break through, Merlin turned a bend and the sight before him made him rein his horse in roughly and he climbed from his saddle so quickly that he almost fell out of it.
He recognised the chain-mail and red cloaks of Camelot showing through the snow that had settled over the bodies. Stumbling closer, he saw men he knew, brave and decent men, who had been left to rot in the middle of the road with no respect. There were no swords or weapons of any kind near them and Merlin realised, sickened, that they had been disarmed and then slaughtered like animals.
Dropping to one knee beside them, he searched frantically for Arthur and checking for any signs of life; he was relieved when he could not find the king amongst the dead, but his relief was short-lived when he saw Elyan and Gwaine, lying motionless, side-by-side. Elyan was clearly dead, his eyes open and staring, and Merlin sighed sadly to himself, closing the brave knight's eyes. To the warlock's surprise though, Gwaine still appeared to be breathing. Quickly he rolled the knight onto his side checking for injuries, finding the wound to his back and covering it with his hand, whispering a healing spell. Unusually, his magic leapt to obey him, pouring into the wound and knitting flesh and bone back together.
Satisfied that Gwaine would be all right for a moment, he searched for any other survivors, finding only one, Sir Kay. He healed the young knight with the same spell that worked for Gwaine's injury, covered him with a cloak, and went back over to his friend, shaking the dark-haired knight's shoulder gently.
"Gwaine? Gwaine, wake up!"
The knight groaned and opened his eyes, squinting. "Merlin?" He sat up suddenly, feeling for the injury to his back. "Did you heal me?"
"Yes. What happened?" Merlin demanded.
"Mordred and Odin, they ambushed us." Gwaine shook his head, "They told us give up our weapons and then attacked us. Elyan and I...where's Elyan?"
Merlin nodded sadly in the direction of their dead friend, "There's nothing I can do for him. What happened to Arthur?"
Gwaine dragged his gaze from Elyan's still form. "Mordred took him. I assume back to Camelot but I don't know I was, er, dying. Where did you go? Was Gwen with you?"
Merlin nodded. "I knew Morgana wanted to bargain Gwen for my mother and if I didn't do something, I thought Mordred would try to take her. So I took her to the Dragon and got him to take her somewhere safe while I went to save my mother."
Gwaine frowned, "Did you not find her?"
"I...I didn't get that far. I knew something had happened to Arthur and I...I had to come back."
The dark-haired knight stood and helped Merlin to his feet, putting a sympathetic hand on the warlock's shoulder. He wasn't sure he understood the all-consuming need that Merlin had to protect the king but he knew there was also nothing he could do to turn his friend from doing so. But the emotional agony he must be going through was beyond anything Gwaine could imagine.
"I'm sorry, my friend."
Merlin nodded but said nothing. Kay stirred and sat up with a groan and the two men made their way over to him.
"How do you feel, Kay?" Gwaine asked, pulling the small knight to his feet.
"Fine," Kay replied surprised. He patted his chest and frowned, "I was dying."
"Obviously not," Gwaine replied.
"No," Kay insisted. "I felt the blade enter my chest - I was dying."
"Maybe it wasn't as bad as you thought."
"Gwaine, even if that was the case," Kay said exasperated, "then I would still be wounded. There is nothing wrong with me! And you, Gwaine, you were no better off than me - I saw you and Elyan fall! How are you uninjured?" The smaller knight frowned again when he saw Merlin, "What are you doing here?" He did not give the servant time to answer, "You used magic, didn't you?" Kay backed away, fists clenched, "I always knew there was something strange about you. The amount of times you were accused of it but it never stuck..."
Merlin stared at him for a few moments before shrugging. "Yes, I did. Now you can either help me save the King or you can attack me, which I promise you, will not go well."
The knight looked at him bug-eyed and swallowed thickly, he glanced at Gwaine for support, found none, and then nodded. "It is my duty to help the King."
"Good. I want to you take my horse and go to Caerleon, tell Queen Annis what has happened and ask her to be ready in case the Queen calls for aid. Send word from there to Gawant." Merlin turned to Gwaine, "I need you to go to Nemeth and tell Leon and Percival not to come back. If I fail, the Queen lives and they are to gather what allies they can and take Camelot back."
Quickly, Kay jogged down the road to get Merlin's horse.
"Forget it, mate," Gwaine said, shaking his head. "If you're going to Camelot, I'm not letting you go alone."
"There's nothing you can do to help me."
Kay returned, mounted on Merlin's horse and Gwaine looked up at him, patting the horse's neck. "Send word to Leon and Percival, Kay. I'm staying here."
The small knight nodded and kicked his heels back, disappearing into the distance, the sound of the horse's hooves muffled by the snow.
"You shouldn't have stayed, Gwaine," Merlin said seriously.
"You can't take on all of them yourself, Merlin."
Merlin looked towards Camelot and smiled darkly. "Trust me, you have no idea how angry I am."
A/N: So, I was going to kill one of the knights and I confess it was going to be Gwaine...but then I realised I didn't want to kill him, because he's my favourite of all the knights and the show killed Elyan so I felt justified in switching it to him. Ah, fickle fate.
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