Chapter 10

A/N I am very sorry that this chapter is late and I hope you will accept my most sincere apologies. Despite it's late arrival, I hope it will still please. I had to wrestle with it a bit to get it the way I wanted. Please read and review! (And thank you Guest for your review!)

Merlin tried not to move, as he knelt, still chained, behind Percival and Elyan. The crowd was growing louder. Half of them shouting that he had killed the king and the other half claiming he was a sorcerer. Knowing in his gut that this would end badly, Merlin still fought to find a way out. He tried to think it through. Gawaine was on his way to Arthur.

Arthur. The image of his warning vision was complete to every detail. Every damn detail. He couldn't voice the horror he felt. The knife had still been in Arthur's shoulder. The King had been limp in Mordred's arms. There had been so much blood. Surely he would know if Arthur had died! The idea ate at him. His heart convulsed in a fear that burned. Surely, he would know! If Arthur was dead...his heart stuttered in a fear so deep, he could not fathom the abyss that would consume him. Wouldn't Destiny reach out and tear him in two or something? Maybe he was already a little torn, he thought to himself; torn and ripped. If Arthur was dead... A wave of hysteria fought to overwhelm him; he knew if the fears began to rule his mind, they would never stop. He took a breath. If Arthur lived ...

If Arthur lived, he owed it to Mordred. In the essential necessity of the moment he saw his admission of shame had somehow transformed into trust. Mordred had agreed to reveal his magic in order to save Arthur with only a moment of thought. Merlin understood. Only he, as Emrys, could understood the meaning and the consequences of Mordred's courage, because they had been his own choices as well. His heart swelled with warring emotions.

And now the vision was changed. He saw that it was not a warning, but a way out. The trust he had given Mordred changed everything. The image in the vision had not changed, every detail was still fulfilled, even to the heart thundering fear in his chest that Arthur was dead. But Arthur might live today, and perhaps Mordred had saved him yet again. The young Druid knight may be part of Arthur's doom, but not today. Not today. All was not lost.

Merlin felt his magic surging inside of him, confined by the silver chains. It seethed and fought against it's binding. Merlin remembered the feel of the spell from the time Morgause and Morgana had left him die as the serkets advanced on him; it echoed like a nightmare from his vision.

Leon's voice rang out over the crowd.

"In the name of the king," he cried. An uneasy quiet settled over the crowd, an undercurrent of whispers going silent, only to be replaced by belligerent glares and angry gestures among the gathered men.

"Merlin was sent to contact the sorcerers. He was trapped and we were unable to follow their trail in the rain."

"And what of the King! " Garrett the head man of the village spoke at last, looking around at his friends and neighbors. "Old Drummond here, who owns this house saw this sorcerer appear right out of the air! Saw him stab the King! Tell him Drummond!"

The old man came forward, clearly frightened and angry, horrified at what had happened in his home. "I saw it, Sir Knight," he said firmly to Leon and the other knights who still stood firmly in front of Merlin. " This servant here and more sorcerers appeared; it seemed like a lot of them, and they set upon the King. He stabbed King Arthur and then the other man left him here. The servant yelled for help. And the young knight, who was chained up, disappeared with the King! He's a traitor!"

More cries rose up with the same theme.

"Stop!" cried Leon again. "Merlin has served Arthur for many years..."

"He's still a traitor!"

"I hear tell Camelot is like that! The Lady Morgana betrayed the King! "

"What about Agravaine," cried another. "He betrayed the King as well. We've heard the tales!" The crowd agreed, their energy starting to come together, as they all looked at Leon. The silent figure of the servant had not moved.

"There's traitors everywhere in Camelot!"

"This servant wanted to bury the sorcerer, do you remember," said an older man, who had previously been silent throughout the tumult. "Perhaps he showed his true colors earlier and he is a traitor to the King. For all we know, the King is dead! "

The words sank into the crowd with a horrible finality. Most looked at each other in disbelief, but the situation was becoming clearer.

"Where is the other knight?"

"Sir Gawaine rode for Camelot." At that Leon, stopped. He could not speak further without having to answer more questions. More questions that would reveal their youngest comrade had magic. This crowd was on the edge of exploding into a lynching, and if Merlin came to harm, the King...

Leon turned away from the thought, just as surely as he had turned away from it the night before, when Merlin had been missing.

"Let's take care of this traitor now," yelled the old man.

"You have no proof against Merlin!" Leon shouted, but his voice was firm and he calmly appealed to reason. "We will keep watch over the servant, until we can find out what happened. Until we can find the King! I swear to you now, as a knight of Camelot, Merlin is no traitor! Let us find out what has happened to Arthur first, and then we will deal with this matter! "

The crowd was silent, perhaps in shame or perhaps in uncertainty. Fear was growing despite Leon's assurances. Neighbor looked at neighbor, wives and husbands exchanged frightened looks. The uncomfortable silence grew.

"Look, Mum," piped a tiny voice in the tension. "The plants are growing again!" Heads turned.

In the girl's hand was fistful of leaves, the fresh scent of them green in the air. She had tucked a flower in her hair and the child fairly skipped with excitement! "See, Mum! The trees are back too!"

Stunned once more into silence, alive with a different hope,the crowd now flooded from the room to walk into the village road. Cottage gardens were bright with flowers, the scent of herbs hung in the air. To their amazement and joy, the tender shoots of their crops were like a verdant mist over the dark earth. The trees were standing, lifting their leaves again. Praising the gods of luck, if there were any, Leon signaled Elyan and Percival to move Merlin out of the house and away from the crowd.

The knight of Camelot held his breath and hoped for the best.

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Far away in Camelot, Arthur was rousing. Neither Gaius nor Gwen had left his side, keeping vigil through four quiet hours, ignoring the young knight who now slouched on a stool, his hands still chained in manacles. The sun had risen a while ago, and the morning was still young, streaming it's white light into the physicians chambers. Gwen had not looked at him again throughout the time, that Arthur was unconscious. Now as he seemed to be rousing, she sent a stabbing look of assessment of him. Almost as if he was reading her mind, the old physician beckoned to Mordred and let him approach.

"Arthur will want to hear the story from you as soon as he is able," said Gwen. There was only the smallest tremor in her voice.

"Please, my Lady," he began, "There is much to say and not much time. I must return to the village as soon as I am able!" The Queen silenced him with a gesture.

"You brought the King here by magic." She did not question, she was stating a fact.

"Yes, my Lady."

"Was Arthur aware of what you did?"

"No," he responded softly. "No,my Lady. It was Merlin who begged my help. They had him chained and there was no way he could escape. In the confusion...

"He saved my life," rasped Arthur.

Heads turned. The king looked pale and grave, but his eyes indicated that he had been aware for at least a few moments. He took Gwen's hand in his own and motioned the knight to sit.

As Mordred sat, his heart lurching between joy and fear, he listened to their quiet expressions of joy. Gwen and Gaius spoke tenderly with Arthur, helping him to drink, making him more comfortable, bracing him up on pillows so that he could meet Mordred's eyes on level with his own.

Arthur had grunted involuntarily with pain, as they moved him, but there was no trace of discomfort in his face as he took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Merlin was chained to the attacker," said the King. He closed his eyes briefly. "He and the sorcerer fought as I tried to get away. Morded covered me after I was stabbed and rolled me to safety. I blacked out. How long? How many days," he questioned, looking up at Gaius, and then over to the knight. Mordred could not quite meet his eyes. "How did you get me here to Camelot?

"It has only been a few hours, since you were injured, Sire," said Gaius calmly.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Merlin," the king said softly. "Where is Merlin?"

"Merlin was captured, Sire. Gawaine was with him, but I can tell you no more than that. Leon, Elyan and Percival were still at the village at the time of the attack."

"How did you escape?"

"By magic, Sire."

Arthur looked up, doubt in his eyes. "With me?"

"Yes, Sire." Now the king said nothing.

Mordred let his words carry the him forward. He knelt by the side of Arthur's bed. "Merlin begged me, my Lord. He knew he could not escape and you were badly injured. He knew of my magic." He stopped himself, an agony of explanation longing to spill forth into a story. But he could not bear to make it worse.

"There was no other way to get you to safety, Sire!"

Mordred kept his eyes downcast, not able to meet Arthur's rejection of anger as he pleaded for understanding.

"Merlin knew you had magic?"

Mordred could not know or understand the sudden start of memory that seized Arthur in that moment, as he asked the question. The image of the child Arthur had known rose up, unfamiliar and strange, in the wake of that one word, magic. Somehow, he knew what Mordred would say next.

"Merlin knew from the first moment we met, Sire. But he took pity on me, your Majesty. I was only a frightened child; he helped me, and then Morgana..."

"She knew as well?"

"I think she only suspected, but she did not know of my magic until her own gift awoke later, Sire." It was hard to speak the truth without implicating Merlin. Guilt smote him and he began to understand the cost of keeping Merlin's secret.

Arthur closed his eyes again, as if in thought.

"That sounds like Merlin," murmured Arthur he said almost to himself. "To help a Druid child with magic, right under my father's nose. Without even telling me." He opened his eyes to look at Gaius and Gwen.

Merlin's mistrust of Mordred was well known to Arthur and had even led to some heated words between them. He recalled Merlin's reluctance to help the boy all those years ago. His servant's recent unwarranted suspicion of the young man since he had emerged as a knight of Camelot, now seemed well founded. It began to make sense, thought Arthur. It explained many things. And yet, Merlin had chosen to trust Mordred at a critical moment. A dangerous moment. Arthur's head began to hurt and he started to feel dizzy as he realized that Merlin was in terrible danger. In order to save Arthur, he had left himself at the mercy of the village. They would accuse Merlin of magic. They were probably doing so even at this very moment, as he lay in his Gaius' chambers recovering, trying to wrap his head around the contradictions and the betrayal of magic that now centered on Mordred. But the young Druid knight had saved his life again.

"Confine him to quarters," said Arthur. His voice seemed cold and angry. "I will speak with you again, Mordred." The implicit command in his voice did not hide the fear he saw in Arthur's clear blue eyes. The Druid knight could only nod silently, his heart in his mouth. He tried to hope for the best.