A/N OK so, part 11, This one took a little while, but here it is, thank you all for the fantastic reviews, cookies for you and of course cookies for Morena Evensong new reviewer! ETA: Spells are either stolen from the show or (no doubt) horribly mangled Old English.
Part 11
The knights followed next, shining swords stained with blood, Uther was at the front, leading them to death. Half of the creatures turned to stare at the knights, forked tongs' slipping past their cracked lips, the others continued to crawl towards the other people in the hall.
The beasts were still mutating, slower now though, a couple of them had tails stretching from the base of their spines. They whipped the air, swooping from side to side, the skin hardened to create lizard like scales, with large chunks of flesh missing revealing the marble coloured bone beneath, helping the monsters balance on their sometimes unsteady feet.
The knights spread out, a couple for each creature. The beast on the ceiling dropped onto an unsuspecting knight below, crushing his skull under one foot, the metal of the man's helmet crumpling inwards, blood slowly pooling out around his head.
Merlin called to Gaius to come help with Arthur, and then turned back to the prince, unsure of what to do. His hand lightly touched the back of Arthur's head; the prince's hair was matted with blood, the wound was bad.
" Þurhhæle dolgbenn." he couldn't help but utter a few words to help heal it and stop the bleeding. In Merlin's illness weakened state the spell took enough energy to make his head spin slightly and he shuddered, trying to focus his vision.
"Arthur," Merlin whispered the prince's name. "Come on you have to wake up, you have to be ok, your people need you." I need you.
"Merlin?" The Prince's eyes fluttered open, staring into Merlins, and time seemed to stop. The chaos surrounding the two slowly dissolved, just for a second, till there was nothing but them.
"I...What's going...I heard – you're– Merlin I know your secret...I" The prince said quietly, before squeezing his eyes shut, groaning in pain, breaking the spell. Merlin was shocked, what did Arthur mean by that? "Ow. My head. What happened?"
"Arthur I..." What did Arthur mean, did he risk confirming whatever Arthur thought he knew? No, no not yet. Not unless he knew the prince knew for certain, and knew what he knew at all. "You got thrown into a door. Don't worry, you looked very dignified for someone being used as a battering ram."
And then Gaius was gently pushing Merlin to the side so he could examine Arthur's head, A creature smashed into a wall nearby, knights pinning it to the stone with their swords, Merlin heard the crunch of bone as the sword smashed through one of the beasts ribs.
But the fight wasn't truly registering at the moment, what did Arthur know? There were only two things he could have meant.
Arthur cursed forcing himself up into a sitting position, hands almost slipping in the blood beneath him, his head was still bleeding but not as much. Gaius saw Merlin's concerned look.
"Head wounds bleed a lot and Arthurs is significant, not as bad as it could have been though, he was lucky the impact didn't fracture the skull," The man paused "But I have no doubt he has concussion. I'm going to need to keep an eye on this wound; we need to get him back to my study."
The fight raged on around them. One of the beasts was nearby, aiming for a knight who had his back turned, it stopped, it stood perfectly still. Its head turned slowly towards Merlin, Arthur and Gaius, it sniffed the air with its almost blind eyes no longer any use. The creature's ears twitched.
Merlin slowly moved closer to Arthur so if the beast should attack he could protect the prince, he slipped on something, the blood, he let out a yelp of surprise, the creature growled, and then it attacked, narrowly missing Merlin and instead landing on the prince, raising its claws to attack.
Merlin reacted almost immediately, he was on auto-control and before he could stop them the words left his mouth.
" Forbærne Áwieleþ! "The flame leapt from his hands, burning hot, the hall around them glowed with the light it caused, blue and red, leaving flickering shadows on the wall. Everyone in the hall turned to look; It was an amazing sight, the fire rolling over the beast and throwing it against the stone, leaving a crisp black burnt shell.
The fire seemed to pull itself back into Merlin's hand, melting slowly away, the rolling flame gone almost as quickly as it appeared. All eyes were on the young Warlock.
Merlin saw the looks, some people backed away in fear or awe, even the beasts stopped their killing for a matter of seconds, like the roar of the fire had distracted – perhaps scared- them. Uther's face stormed over with a terrifying rage, perhaps he thought Merlin had created the curse, and had he not been engaged in battle would have been more than happy to use his sword on Merlin. It was at that moment Merlin knew he was dead, no matter how the fighting ended, Uther would hunt him forever. Yet as quickly as the fighting had stopped, it resumed.
The world shuddered suddenly.
The windows shattered inwards, shards of glittering glass falling to the floor, imbedding themselves in anyone who got in the way. The rain poured through the new entrance, an unnatural wind rushing into the hall, the lights flickering out. someone else entered through the doors, bringing darkness behind him, His eyes were pure black and glittered with golden pinpricks of light. Merlin was strongly reminded of a sky in a dream he couldn't recall.
The stranger laughed at the sight before him, all that death, the smell of blood filling the air, to him it looked like victory. He glanced briefly at the monster Merlin had attacked, it was still trying to move, even though there was nothing left but blackened bone. He gestured towards it and it turned to dust, it was useless now.
"Sorry I'm late; it seems I've missed all the fun. Not that I mind. Things still look very interesting." He grinned, spinning round to view the whole room, cloak dancing around him. His gaze finally fell on Merlin, Arthur and Gaius. He made a small gesture and Gaius flew through the air hitting the wall. "I was never any good at timing."
The sorcerer walked forwards, the few creatures not engaged in battle seemed to bow to him, their skin stretching tightly over their spines. He looked at the two figures in front of him, Merlin was helping Arthur too his feet, the prince was having trouble stopping the room from spinning.
"You two are so sweet, did you know? The prince and his servant. Merlin, let Arthur go, I'm going to kill him, and I'm going to destroy Camelot. But don't be alarmed, I'll make sure a better kingdom is built in its place." The man tilted his head slightly looking Merlin up and down. "If not, I suppose I'll have to kill you, or perhaps I can persuade you to help me later."
He said it casually as if talking about the weather; His mouth twitched up at the corners at the look on Merlin's face, at the anger and the shock.
"You will not harm him." Merlin would not allow it, sorcerers like the one in front of him were the reason magic was now so feared in the kingdom, and if Arthur was killed by one there would be no hope for the future. And there would be no Arthur, which would be even worse.
The sorcerer shrugged and waved his hand slightly, and Merlin gasped as a nearby creature bought its teeth down on someone's skull, splattering him and Arthur with bits of blood and brain. His stomach turned, he was suddenly glad he hadn't had anything to eat. He forced out the next few words "Who are you?"
"Me? It doesn't matter who I am, all you need to know is Uther murdered my family, I'm simply returning the favour. I've waited so many years for this, to get revenge, to free magic." He paused. "My names not special, it's just David."
"You're not killing anyone else, you're the one who's going to- to uh – die! Tonight." Arthur stuttered the words with a fierce determination, ignoring the ache in his skull and reaching for a sword. The sorcerer raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so?" He grabbed a sword from the dead fingers of a knight, the body already going cold. "Let's see about that hmm, will you fight me Arthur, will you kill me?"
"Don't think I can't?" Arthur stumbled forward, clumsily waving his own sword out in front of him.
"Arthur! Are you crazy? You can't even stand on your own!" Merlin knew his words wouldn't stop Arthur now, but he could still try.
"Merlin, don't be so adorable- no uh, that's not the word at all- don't call me crazy. And stop being so pessimistic, it doesn't suit you." Arthur shook his head and focused on the fight ahead. Merlin frowned. Adorable?! He was not adorable, he could be very threatening if he wanted to be. Maybe he'd meant to say annoying?
The sorcerer rolled his eyes and bought his sword round in a low arc that would slice through Arthur's middle.
"Arthur -," Merlin glimpsed the blood encrusted sword descending through the Air towards the prince, and there wasn't any time to question Arthur's bizarre word choices, he'd probably just said it because of his head injury. "Look out!"
The prince swung round bringing his sword up to meet the other, Merlin knew the prince would fall under the weight of the blow and was by the man's side before he could even think about it, helping to keep him standing.
The beasts formed a circle round the three, any attempts to rescue Arthur or Merlin would be stopped by claws and teeth, the people in the hall watched from a distance. If this fight went well perhaps the beasts would die and they would survive. If it went badly...well. The knights stood back, while the monsters weren't attacking it would be foolish to waste more life on attacking them, they didn't want to distract the prince either.
The sorcerer threw back his head and laughed.
"Youkill me" David swung the sword back round, Arthur only just managed to stop the blow when it was seconds away from slicing into his arm. "Yes, well, somehow I don't see that happening."
The sorcerer lunged forward, this time Merlin stopped the sword with a quick spell, David was thrown backwards.
"Oh, well now that's just cheating." He lifted his hand "But of course two can play at that game. Ástríce!"
The fireball knocked Merlin dangerously close to the beasts, which lashed out, trying to take a chunk out of the warlock who scuttled back into the centre of the circle.
David laughed bringing his sword back round to block Arthurs futile attempts at attacking him, there just wasn't enough power behind the prince's sword. The prince growled with frustration, his head was killing him and the room was starting to spin again, but he had to finish the fight, it wasn't just his life that was in danger.
Merlin swung round throwing a small spell at the man, and then with a sort of luck that seemed almost imposssible – like it was something planned - everything slotted together, Arthur finally managing to collect his thoughts enough so that he could attack with force, the sorcerer turning his head away just for a second to block Merlin's spell.
None of it was planned and yet it was the perfect attack, the sorcerer's loss of concentration and Arthurs gain of it. The sorcerer didn't see the attack till the prince's sword ripped into his side cutting through vital organs and sliding through flesh like butter.
David glanced down at the sword, the black of his eyes fading till they were their normal chocolate brown colour, a look of shock painted across his face, and for a second he was just a normal man again, for a second he was the person he used to be. He looked directly into the prince's eyes, as if asking for forgiveness, but then it was gone.
Arthur pulled the sword away and the sorcerer's hand immediately went to the jagged hole in his left side, applying pressure in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding, blood leaked into his clothes slowly spreading out in a crimson rose. He knew he would die of blood loss, and didn't really know why he was trying to hold it off, but the survival instinct was strong.
"That was," He paused gasping for breath finding it suddenly hard to breathe "Lucky."
"I told you I would win," Arthur paused, glancing at Merlin before staring into David's eyes. "We would win."
Blood trickled down the man's chin and the creatures around them fell to the floor, dying with their master. They rotted slowly away, the smell of decay filling the hall, the skin slowly left their bones with chunks of black-green flesh that turned into a sickening goo which leaked away through cracks in the floor, the bones turning to dust that caught in the wind, flying out through the shattered windows.
And then finally, finally, for the first time in days, rays of sun shined down into the hall as the clouds and rain outside ceased.
The knights that were left watched quietly, some started to help others with their wounds. Merlin looked around the room as the people slowly came out of the shadows in the room and into the sunlight. Sunlight they hadn't seen for 5 days, closing their eyes as its warmth reached them, some people's hands rising to shield their eyes from the sudden brightness.
Other people were crying over the bodies of dead loved ones, so many tears, so much lost, all because one man wanted revenge. Merlin looked slowly around the room, a mother held a dead child in her arms rocking it back and forth, screaming in anguish at her loss, blonde hair matted with blood falling in sticky strands across her face. The blood. It covered everything, the hall was red with it, it was everywhere, on everything.
David looked up into the sunlight eyes wide, then looked around the room, he knew he was going to die, but not here. Arthur knew what the man was going to do before it happened, the sorcerer's lips moved with words the prince didn't understand, and then David was gone. Arthur lunged after him.
"NO!" Arthur collapsed in a heap where the sorcerer had been the man was gone, god knows where, and whilst Arthur knew David would die something in the back of his mind told him it might not be so simple. Whatever else happened was lost as Arthur's head throbbed and he found himself slipping back into unconsciousness.
Merlin saw Arthurs collapse and moved to the prince's side, the prince was unconscious again, probably because of his head injury. Merlin couldn't really do that much for him at the moment so he sat down beside Arthur instead, rolling him onto his back and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder and spoke even though he knew the prince wouldn't hear him. "Knew you could do it."
He searched for his other friend, and saw Gaius was already back on his feet and tending to the injured, the hall was suddenly like a make shift hospital, all those who could help rushing out to get fresh bandages, herbs and medicine.
Many of the survivor's wounds were fatal. A man's hand was clamped over his own stomach, the only thing keeping his insides from falling out. Merlin glanced down at the floor and shuddered. Camelot would not recover from this easily.
The screams hadn't stopped with the sunlight or the end of the battle, and the smell of carnage filled the air, Merlin felt sick looking at the pain one man had caused, many people had survived and there would be new knights but the lost lives could never be replaced.
And then he saw Gwen rushing in with bandages and a worried expression. Morgana was comforting a small child who had lost their mother, a bloody sword cast down beside her – she'd had to fight her way in- her face soft and kind. He was relieved they were ok. It was just like them, helping, somehow he wasn't surprised it was Morgana looking after the child, perhaps he reminded her of the druid boy she'd helped him save.
He turned back to the prince. He was about to start checking the man's wounds when someone grabbed him by the shoulder. He looked up to see Uther's face, the kings eyes full of anger and hate. And oh god of course, Uther had seen, everyone had seen. He'd preformed magic in front of Uther.
"Guards, Arrest this man for sorcery." Uther's words rang in the young warlock's ears. He was going to die he was going to die. Oh god. All the death, and now his own, he felt numb with the shock. But he'd saved Arthur, surely that counted for something?
He was going to die.
A couple of remaining guards stumbled forwards grabbing Merlin by the wrists. The boy didn't struggle. What was the point. That would only make things worse.
The king turned to face him again.
"You and all your kind disgust me. I'm surprised I didn't see you for what you are earlier. With your death Camelot will be a better place. And know this, if you have hurt my son in any way, you will suffer a penalty worse than death." The king walked away to kneel by his son and Merlin's heart stopped, because if there was one thing he would never do it was hurt Arthur.
Merlin was dragged through the wooden doors of the hall, past the splintered remains of wood, and towards his death.
A/N Poor Arthur, that really was a lucky hit. So, I hope you liked it and reviews are always awesome! Feel free to point out any mistakes. ETA: I know they are plentiful but I'm aiming to fix them as best I can. This story will never be amazing with the plot what it is but I have a soft spot for it in my heart because it was my first real attempt at a fanfic.
