A/N Um…yeah!
I do not own Merlin I just like to play.
…..
Keys to the past.
Chapter 11.
Arthur was halfway to Gaius's chamber before he came to a dead stop in the midst of the corridor. It caused a bit of fuss as people tried frantically to avoid him in the crush of the dinner time rush.
He couldn't tell him. Not yet. For all Arthur's courage on the fields of battle, his bravery somehow always failed him when it came to emotions. And he could not face the upheaval this would cause. Merlin was for all intents and purposes the man's son. Just what was he to say? He needed to figure out how deep the dragon's hold on him ran, see if they could break it themselves. And bring Gaius in as a last resort. How hard could it be to break an enchantment? Merlin had managed it when Vivian had come to call. If he could Arthur could.
Gaius's reprimand about the servant's intelligence had hit a nerve. If the man was supposedly so clever, why did he act such a fool? Truly his idiocy sometimes knew no bounds. It was all Arthur could do at times not to laugh uproariously at the notion of Merlin being at all academic. Yes Merlin could read and write, which was beyond most peasants and actually rather impressive considering his humble origins, but he was still a serf and unable to access the kind of education reserved for the noble classes. Surely Arthur had a better chance of figuring out what to do than the average servant. The rather small and shrill echo of Merlin's voice calling him a prideful and conceited ass that was bouncing round at the back of his skull was conveniently ignored.
Leon was at the other end of the hall. Walking this way, not seeing anything around him concentrating on the paperwork in his hand and trusting everyone else to move around him. So when Arthur grabbed him and unceremoniously dragged him into an intersection with slightly less traffic he could be forgiven for the slightly undignified squeak and his accelerated heart rate.
"Prince Arthur, Sire! What…?" Arthur put his hand over Sir Leon's mouth effectively shushing him. Looked around furtively and then pulled him into the nearest unoccupied room, whispering furiously.
"We have a problem and it's best if it's kept as quiet as possible!" Leon nodded and Arthur removed his hand.
"What do you need of me?"
"Merlin is enchanted or possessed. I'm not sure which but we have to find a solution."
"Merlin? Is possessed?"
"Or enchanted. Yes Leon I know how crazy that sounds but you heard the others when they came and told me how worried they were. Gaius and I have both spoken to him and it's as if he's a different person."
"Surely stress can do odd things?"
"He quit Leon! And said it in such a way as I've never heard from him, like he'd given up. Tell me if that's not normal?"
"Merlin Quit?" Finally he was getting through to the man!
"That isn't all." Arthur was pacing by now, a sure sign of the strain he was under. "I saw him, talking to the great dragon. The same great dragon we thought was dead."
That hit Leon like an icy bucket of water to the face on a very hot day. It left him gasping.
"You remember when Merlin told us what he'd seen. That I'd struck it by its heart, that it seemed like a mortal blow and it had flown off to die?"
"He said it had been flying drunkenly like it had no strength. We saw the blood on the ground Arthur, nothing grows on that patch anymore. That amount of blood spilled surely killed the creature. Are you certain it was the same one?"
"Not entirely. But it looked enough alike to be at least a very close relative. And what if it didn't die? If it has taken this long for it to heal, and plot it's revenge. Camelot is in danger but Merlin seems to have been caught in its grasp. The dragon was talking to him like he was an ally."
"Merlin doesn't strike me as the type to turn traitor."
"Exactly what I thought, at least, not willingly, so considering his behaviour since last night…"
"It's controlling him." Leon breathed out. "Sire surely Gaius is a better person to bring this to?" Arthur just gave him a look with one eyebrow raised.
Ah yes he could see his point. Merlin and Gaius were as close as two people could get. And Gaius was not exactly young.
…..
"You have a connection to magic that is very strong do you not? You can feel the currents and eddies in the flow around you?"
"I can."
"Did you feel a shift last night?"
"Just as much as I usually do when the rites are upon us."
"The veil never opened then." Merlin took a moment to contemplate the implications of that. Lancelot would not be a sacrifice. His eyes closed and he breathed a sigh. A small sob of relief escaped him. Just one before he became all business again.
"The timeline has changed. Was I supposed to change it? Is this what it's been leading to? Is it enough? Or will there be a fixed point? Gods maybe I should have taken that extra class in theoretical physics." He rubbed his eyes again and a random thought popped up and his brain fired off making connections. "Or maybe it has nothing to do with time!"
"If a person used Dark magic and a blood sacrifice to open the veil it would leave a mark would it not?"
"It would. The veil would never truly leave such a person, they would become connected."
"Enough to drive them mad? Murderous rages, insane paranoia?"
"Oh I would say so." The dragon looked at him shrewdly. "You have a theory?"
"I'm a side effect! That bloody woman! I am so tired of gods playing with my life! That's why she looked at me with such pity, the hag!" Truly the wrath of Emrys was a sight to behold and the dragon was rather glad he was not on the receiving end of it though who was, was yet to be disclosed.
"Was it all a dream or did I actually live it? Does it really matter anymore?" It was said almost musingly as if it were not really important just a random fact he wished to know.
"Merlin your magic is older than I am. You cannot gain such experience without living it."
"Khilgarrah I am quite sure a goddess can give me the assumption of a 1500 year existence and still have it only play out in a moment. Say a moment at midnight on Samhain eve? When Morgana and her sister seal the fate of a witch destined to kill all ties to the triple goddess and her priestesses? I do believe the cailleach is trying to save her soul and her last high priestess in the process. Is it true that a god or goddess is only as strong as those who follow? Those who worship?"
"It is."
"Huh! Magic diminishes after Arthur's death. Though it becomes legal it doesn't flourish. The earth is slowly poisoned. It's dying." He was almost running around the clearing theories running swiftly, taking flight. "She's lost her last true tie. The only ones left are the druid's who are persecuted so badly before, during and after the restoration that they drift away. She's losing them all! All her power. Why wait so long? For that matter why pursue Arthur's death in the first place. Unless the Disir acted without complete knowledge of her wishes? Their demands and declaration always struck me as rather manipulative."
The dragon was having a hard time trying to follow the convoluted thought processes. Not having any knowledge of those missing years. Though he did have some useful information on the parts he could make out.
"The Disir are the mouthpiece of the goddess true but they are also the mouthpiece of her High priestess."
"'The never ending circle of his fate'. Arthur, Morgana and I. Circles within circles within circles. It's a triskellion." Merlin stood eyes shining seeing as if for the first time and the faintest glimmer of hope shone through. "She made a mistake!" He laughed hysterical but still tinged with that hopeful joy. "And now she's trying to rectify it."
"To reverse time Merlin? It is not something done lightly. And to do it for one priestess?"
"She is the last though. All the agony she brought those last years Khilgarrah, she was so full of light, it was my fault it withered. I had wished before that I could undo all those mistakes. It seems I now have the opportunity to at least some of them."
"Be careful Emrys. The goddess especially in her aspect of crone is not a being to be trifled with. I'm not entirely sure this is all of it."
"No maybe not. But I'm as sure as I can be that it is some of it!"