Chapter 11—Sworn
The Princess D'Mar is speechless. She stares at Merlin and shakes her head. It's Davos—the man in black—that says the first word to all the people looking from Merlin to the princess.
"Do not listen to these lies!" he cries his sword looking black in the darkness of the dank cave. "He's done nothing more than break his shackles! That does not make him a dragon lord! They died with Balinor and even he was a right coward for running like he did."
Merlin flames with anger at the man. He takes three long strides forward, causing Davos to step back, and he raises his hand. Davos cries out when he is levitated into the air and loses control of his muscles while floating. His sword falls to the ground at Merlin's feet.
The sword flies to Merlin's hand quickly and he presses its tip to Davos' chest, the princess unmoving behind him. Merlin swallows, remembering Lara for a moment.
"You will not speak of my father that way," he hisses between his teeth mercifully. Davos gasps sharply when Merlin steps away and the man in black drops to the cave ground.
The little girl is smiling proudly—she has been waiting impatiently for this to happen.
Merlin glares at the princess and she exhales.
"You—" she begins. She swallows and tries again, glaring at Merlin under her long eyelashes. "You will regret this, Emrys."
Her eyes glow and the caves roof begins to collapse. Merlin raises his hands to it as dust and rocks begin to crumble, but all of them stop in midair, his muscles shaking from the strain. Then his strain lessens and he is able to set the rubble onto the ground safely.
He sees then that many of the magicians—the sorcerers who had allegiance to another just moments ago—helped him to stop the roof from killing them all. They nod to him, many just regard him coldly, but still Merlin smiles.
When Merlin looks where the Princess D'Mar, Davos and their men were, he sees they are gone.
—Arthur exhausted. He sighs deeply as he trudges his way as quickly as he can back to the Darkling Woods.
It hadn't taken him long to escape. He was pulled in silence out and Arthur could see everything. He didn't know how, but he could as if the burlap sack was invisible to him. He was affected.
He was and still is affected by the poor, hungry and sad people that were camped inside the caves. They looked at him and when a man missing hand asked the people escorting him who he was, the woman next to him replied "the Oppressor's lackey". He had blinked rapidly at that. He was the Oppressor.
It was when he was tossed outside into some woods—woods he recognized, thankfully—and one of his escorts cried a spell, causing the door behind them close and seal to turn invisible, did he realize that they were magic.
"Are those people all magic?" he had asked.
"Shut it, lackey," the woman with the shrill voice hissed.
That confirmed his suspicions though he didn't read too much into it—his goal is to get help and go back for Merlin.
As they passed a severe-looking branch, Arthur suddenly pushed his back into one man's stomach, causing him to fall. Arthur scooped up the branch with his foot and caught it in his bound hands. He smacks the other man in the head so he falls to the ground unconscious. The woman was raising her hand to perform magic when Arthur hit her head as well. Her cloak falls and she is unconscious next to the other magicians.
Arthur looked at her only for one extra moment—she had the same hair color as Lara. No wonder Merlin had ridden to the forest so eagerly.
Now Arthur is pushing his way back to Camelot in a much faster pace than those who contained him would have. He hears his and Merlin's name being called along with familiar voices and cups his hands around his mouth.
"I'M HERE!" he screams.
"Alright, alright, I hear you," Gawain says riding behind Arthur. He dismounts, cuts Arthur's binds free and pulls off the burlap sack, frowning. "How did you make your way back?" Gawain doesn't wait for an answer and takes Arthur's arm, smiling.
"We were taken," Arthur says urgently. He doesn't say that they were taken by sorcerers—though he's not exactly sure why…
"Where's Merlin?" Gawain asks as the other knights come riding up. Gawain frowns when he sees Arthur's frustrated expression. The happy knight becomes grim. "Where is he?"
"They thought he was me," Arthur says. "Or he told them he was. Either way, they have him, thinking he is Arthur Pendragon and told them to send me away. I barely escaped when they took be out."
Gawain sighs roughly. "And you don't know your way back."
"Yes, I do," Arthur says. When Gawain opens his mouth to ask, Arthur waves his hand. "It doesn't matter. Get me a sword—we have to leave immediately. I don't know how long they'll keep him alive."
Arthur goes to take a horse from one of the servants searching and catches a sword Elyan throws at him, angry that his friend could die in his stead.
—Merlin leads the way toward the hidden cave. Despite its former use by the last daughter of King Midas, it was still well-hidden. He went ahead of them, leaving the entire lot of magicians among the trees while he prepared the cave. He moved the cover he had made to hide the cave and cleaned away some of the rubble left behind by Khryseis and her warrior servants—Anorra and Amira who were sailing back to the modern land of Greece. As for the statue of Zoe, Midas' beloved daughter turned to gold by his own hand, Merlin put it in the far end of the cave—a lovely display and interesting story for these people.
The little girl runs up to him and takes his hand. Many of the more trustworthy people stay near him, but most of them are walking behind.
"I knew you'd come," she brags. "They didn't believe me. But they aren't druids."
Merlin smiles and nods. "That's true," he says. "What's your name?"
"Maya," she croons.
"I'm Merlin."
Maya frowns. "I thought you went by Emrys?"
Merlin presses his lips together. "It's one of my names," he says. "I need many to keep my secret."
"Oh. Right." Maya frowns still as the people crowd into the large cave. They marvel at the golden statue; children run around it while some of the older people who knew the story told it.
Merlin looks down at Maya. "Why don't you go in?" he asks.
She shakes her head, but not at his question. "I feel bad for you," she says. "You have to keep your secret from your friend."
Merlin blinks rapidly. The girl is no more than twelve yet she speaks as if she is much older. Merlin looks around—no adults are claiming the girl that clutches to his hand. He frowns deeply.
"I have to go," Merlin says. He pats the girl's head. "I'll be back."
Merlin walks forward then toward the pool in the middle of the cave that has no magic now—other than the fires people start with their heavily practiced magic.
The people look to him and go silent.
"I have to go back to Camelot," he says. "But I will return with supplies and help."
A man without his left hand comes forward. "How do we know that?" he declares. "You came as a captive claiming the name King Arthur—the Oppressor! And now you and that girl claim you are the savior of magic? Why would such a savior stay under the nose of the Oppressor if he had no treacherous ideas toward him!"
Merlin nods to him. "I understand how you would be skeptical," he says wisely. He looks to them all. "But regardless about what you believe about me, the so-called Princess D'Mar would have you all put into battle—battle that would have injured many and killed even more."
"You speak of magic as if it is not powerful enough!" the one-handed man cries.
"Not against entire fleets of trained and well-armed men," Merlin replies. He shakes his head, smiling at the ridiculousness of the notion. "And attacking Camelot with magic will only make the King hate magic."
"Does he not hate it now?" a woman in the background cries.
"No," Merlin says surely, surprising many. "He only hates the people with magic who have done evil things to him-he'd never admit it, but he does. Arthur is still a young king—he cannot alter the views his father have instilled in him overnight. It takes time."
"What do you know of waiting, manservant?" the one-handed man argues roughly.
Merlin looks at him without hatred—only patience. "I have waited years for Arthur to be king," he says. "So that he may create the greatest kingdom the world will ever know. That is what I believe.
"And whether you believe if I am the last dragon lord, the Protector of Albion or Emrys. Or even King Arthur's manservant..." he says. "I am here to free you—that much I swear."
Merlin looks at them one last time before turning on his heel toward the exit.