OK guys, this is my longest chapter yet. I hope you find it exciting and thrilling. I really enjoyed writing this and it is my fave chapter I think of the whole story. It just flowed onto the page. battle tactics aren't a strong point so I hope this comes across well. Love to hear your thoughts and again thank you so much for following, fave, reviewing and just plain reading this
Chapter 11: Blood wrath
It was just before dawn the joint forces of Camelot's and Brenna's knights were just outside the castle, preparing for the coming battle. Cassandra was next to Merlin and Arthur. They still hadn't found William, and both his mother and father were worried for their child. They had managed to get the entire lower town into the safety of the city. It was planned out to try and discourage the army from fighting Camelot's forces. The plan was to engage the enemy on Camelot's own terms by having archers on the ramparts, covering the knights. The gates were manned in order to safely retreat their forces if necessary. Arthur had made Guinevere stay within the castle walls for safety. She had fought against him, but in the end she had agreed to stay within the castle walls and help the wounded with Gaius. Merlin and Galahad had tried to bully Cassandra to do the same, but with William missing, she felt this was her fault, and her duty to face James, her step brother. She was not to be persuaded.
"Arthur, I'm really sorry about this. I never should have brought my problems to Camelot." Cassandra told Arthur, disappointed, guilt seeping through.
"Nonsense, Cassandra. It is not your fault your step-brother is a murdering evil clot pole." Arthur replied consolingly, with a smirk playing about his face.
"Hey, that's my word!" Merlin cried in mock indignation.
"And it suits you perfectly." Arthur smirked at Merlin.
Cassandra smiled at the pair. It was nice to see the friendship between them. She knew that Merlin was still angry at her, but she appreciated him putting his feelings aside momentarily as they had scoured the castle for William. She had to hope he was safe and hiding somewhere within the castle. The approaching battle had to be dealt with, or William would not be safe. Merlin and Cassandra were too distracted to even consider telling Arthur the information about William. They had decided it would be detrimental right now to spring it on Arthur.
"There, look! Torches! The enemy is coming!" Elyan alerted the ground troops.
Everyone stiffened and focused on the tree line in front of them, waiting to see the first sign of the enemy. The stillness in the air carried a tension, as if the very earth could feel a shifting of what was to come. They came creeping out of the forest in lines of fifty abreast. Every third man had a torch to light the way. Dawn was still an hour away. The army facing Camelot was made up of one of the most ruthless roughed-up groups anyone had ever encountered. They numbered two thousand in total. Half were on horseback. The one out in front - who Arthur assumed was James, Cassandra's step-brother - was a ruthless looking man with jet black hair falling down to his shoulders. He was wearing a large fur-skinned tunic, a large two-sided battle axe at his side; he had dark, almost black eyes with a malicious glint as he stood at the front of the army.
"Oh Cassandra, don't be such a coward. Come out here! I haven't seen you for some months now." James called out to the awaiting group from Camelot, a sneer on his face. He was going to toy with his step sister before killing her.
Cassandra went to move away from the line to confront her step brother. Merlin grabbed her hand to try and stop her. She looked at him and gave a small smile. "It'll be okay; I won't go far," she whispered as she looked into his deep blue eyes. She gave his hand a small squeeze before letting go and moving out in front of the line of Camelot defenders. She stood up tall, back straight, a hard determined look crossing her face. "You lost the right to call me sister the day you betrayed me. Besides, you are only family by marriage, not blood," she seethed. "Go back to Brenna. You destroyed my home and family. What more do you want? There is no reason to allow more bloodshed; there has been enough." Cassandra spat out.
"Well that's not very nice, to talk to your brother like that. I want you, and that little bastard you call a son, dead. A little birdy told me that you were a very naughty young princess, and that the child is none other than the son of the Prince of Incatasi, Son of king Balinor, and grandson of Lord Ambrosia."
There were a few gasps from the surrounding soldiers at this statement. Cassandra just closed her eyes for a split second. Merlin's eyes had gone wide with worry; this was not going to be good. Arthur looked at Merlin when this was stated. They wouldn't have much of a choice now. The information was out and the backlash could be terrible when this was all over.
"So what if he is? What does it matter? We were never coming back. You made sure of that when you attacked the castle and murdered anyone loyal to me, or blackmailed them to side with you. What does it achieve? Why do you hate me so much? William never did anything to harm you." Cassandra had resumed talking to James, ignoring anything else going on.
"For one, that little brat has more claim than anyone to those thrones - I will not accept the fact you no longer want it for yourself; and two, you deserve to die for what you did to my mother!" James ended by shouting, showing his mental control was slipping.
"She did it to herself, the stupid bitch! She poisoned my father and then slipped down the stairs! I had nothing to do with it!" Cassandra's calm exterior cracked at the mention of James' mother. The Queen was always nasty to her, but only when her father wasn't looking. Then she had pushed Cassandra into marrying Eric, hoping she would move away from the castle. She then proceeded to plot against the King to allow her son to rule, and poisoned the king, causing his death. The queen had rushed out in a hurry, slipped on the stairs and fallen into a coma. Cassandra only learned of this afterwards.
"You are a filthy liar, but you will suffer. So where is he, that bastard son of yours?" James leered evilly at Cassandra.
There was something not right. It sent shivers down Cassandra's spine. "He is safe from you," she replied with confidence, masking the fear she had for her little boy.
James sneered, and called back into his ranks. "Bring him out!"
Dread filled Cassandra in that moment. The crowd parted and Amy appeared, escorting William. He was covered in dirt and scratches, hands tied together, with a very swollen twisted wrist and a gag stopping the young prince from talking.
"What have you done? You foul, loathsome piece of dirt! Let my son go!" Cassandra demanded, ready to launch herself across the gap between the two armies at her opponent. Luckily, as soon as Merlin realised that William was in danger, he raced to Cassandra's side to stop her from doing something rash. He grabbed her around the waist to stop her from running towards James. Merlin wasn't the only one who noticed that the situation was becoming more intense; the idea of the young prince in the hands of the foul step brother had everyone angry. Arthur, Galahad, Elyan and Gwaine moved forward in line to offer their support.
"Why, Amy? How could you betray us like that?" Galahad asked. William's carer had been with the family for so long; it just didn't make sense.
Amy just laughed. "How could I not? I wanted revenge for my lover! Cassandra is a stuck up whore! She didn't appreciate Eric at all! We were supposed to get married, but for duty he was made to marry that stupid cow." Amy coldly replied, pointing at Cassandra, who was just lost for words - she was forced into the marriage. "Eric told me all about you, and that you didn't love him, nor would you ever. He would be with me most nights. I thought I would give you the benefit of the doubt as you had given birth to William, who I thought was Eric's son. Then you just let him go off on that stupid quest and didn't even care that he had died." Amy seethed, breathing hard. Amy's mind was so twisted about the events surrounding Eric's death that she blamed the princess, because she couldn't see that Eric had used her. Amy continued her deluded rant to a stunned Cassandra. "I decided I would bide my time; but your son was nothing like Eric, and I began to wonder. He was a little pain to look after, yet you never seemed to think so. Then I learnt the truth; that William was a bastard son of some stupid lord. You deserve everything you get, you little whore!" She spat.
This time it was not Cassandra that needed to be held back, but Merlin. "He is not a bastard! Return William at once!" Merlin demanded, struggling against the tight grip Arthur had on his arm.
James laughed, and Amy just smirked at the reactions they were inciting from the Camelot defenders. "No, not just yet. I think it would be better for him to watch his mother die. Amy, take him away!" James laughed coldly as Amy took a struggling William out of sight, his eyes wide in terror.
James gripped his axe and smiled evilly. "I will enjoy killing you, Cassandra." With a mighty yell, the tyrant started to cross the distance between the two armies.
Arthur was ready for it and had given the signal for the archers to fire on the approaching horde; the twang of one hundred arrows flew through the air and hit most of their targets. Screams of pain could be heard, and a few men fell to the deadly projectiles. "Hold!" Arthur yelled, allowing another volley of arrows to be launched into the horde. When they joined the battle the archers would be next to useless, for they would be likely to shoot their own men.
"FOR THE LOVE OF CAMELOT!" Arthur took up the cry, while next to him Galahad had supplied "FOR BRENNA!" The defenders of Camelot ran to engage the enemy in combat in the middle of the field with large war cries. Cassandra set off at a run to where she last saw William. She was going to get him out of harm's way and nothing was going to stop her. Merlin was torn between watching Arthur and going after Cassandra. In the end he lost sight of Cassandra as she made a dash towards William. He would just have to keep an eye out for her.
Cassandra moved fast between knights and her brother's army, whipping out the dagger and slicing enemy soldiers as she went past. She kept running and dodging, looking for any sign of Amy or William. She had almost reached the trees when she heard Amy cry out "Ow! Why, you little wretch! Come back here!" Cassandra ran forward to see William running awkwardly away from Amy, and Amy following close behind with a slight limp. Cassandra smiled at her brave son; he must have jumped on Amy's foot. She raced forward, cutting off Amy and tackling her to the ground. William stopped to watch. "William, run!" Cassandra yelled. She turned to face Amy, who was getting to her feet. Amy pulled out a dagger to face Cassandra. "Come on, Cassandra - give it your best shot!" Amy goaded.
"You won't win, Amy." Cassandra replied, both women waiting for the other to strike first. Amy lunged at Cassandra, who moved out of the way. Because the daggers where short, it would mean that Cassandra would have to be very close to Amy; unlike her fight with Arthur, where she had had room to move due to the long sword he used. Amy lunged again, but rolled this time, and managed to slice a deep cut on Cassandra's arm. She breathed in sharply at the pain, but did not lose her focus. This time Cassandra lunged but feinted the blow to twist around Amy. This left Amy vulnerable around the back. Cassandra grabbed her around the neck. "This is for hurting my son," she whispered into Amy's ear, before driving the dagger into the traitor's ribs. Breathing heavily, Cassandra let Amy's limp body fall to the ground in a crumpled heap, where she would never get up again.
Cassandra looked at her surroundings and saw that William wasn't far away, staring in horror at what he had just witnessed; a battlefield was no place for a child. Cassandra quickly walked over to him, removing the gag and cutting his bindings. The boy was going into shock. Cassandra picked him up, rubbing circles in his back. "William, I know this is hard. There will be time to deal with it, but it's too dangerous right now." The young prince shook his head and tightened his grip around his mother. "Okay," he answered. Cassandra took off, running, trying to make her way back to Camelot's lines to get William to safety.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the battlefield, Arthur and the rest of the force were trying to fight against the overwhelming odds. The defenders' forces were outnumbered by James' army, five to one. Merlin kept Arthur safe by watching his back. Every now and again he would whisper a spell and make the enemy soldiers trip or overbalance, or make their weapons too hot or heavy to carry. He was constantly searching for any sign of Cassandra or William. "Sire, there are too many of them! We should retreat." Merlin told the King. He was feeling guilty for suggesting it, but knew that if they died, William would not get rescued.
"Merlin, now is not the time to retreat! Besides, all is not lost," he replied, indicating the loud cry that was heard over the battle coming from the direction of the battling soldiers. Sir Leon was leading a group of cavalry in the east; this confused the enemy soldiers, who were suddenly attacked from the opposite side of Camelot's forces. Moments later there was even more confusion for the enemy, as Percival led a different group into the army on the western side. The added cavalry troops started to tip the scale of the battle raging around them.
It was at that moment that Merlin caught sight of Cassandra running on the opposite side of the battle, holding William tightly. He was so relieved. Merlin watched as Cassandra weaved her way towards Gwaine, who was fighting back-to-back with Elyan. Everything seemed to stop and slow down in that moment for Merlin; he saw Cassandra running, and then James noticed the tide of battle was turning. Merlin watched in horror as he had to make a choice; a spear was coming for Arthur just as an axe was thrown at Cassandra.
Merlin made his choice; the spear that would have hit Arthur was deflected at the last minute, however he saw the axe strike Cassandra as she turned to ensure William was safe. Merlin seemed to go deaf as he watched Cassandra stagger forward, take out a soldier who was about to stab Gwaine, and push the boy into Gwaine's hands. Merlin screamed Cassandra's name and ran to her side. It was amazing how fast he got there.
"Gwaine, take him away." Cassandra whispered as she gave up William, before collapsing to the ground. Merlin caught her and looked at the ghastly gash that ran all the way from the shoulder blade, slicing down her back, to end curved down around to her hip. Blood was everywhere. "Cassandra, no! Don't leave me! Hang in there!" Merlin pleaded. They were completely oblivious to the surrounding battle; everyone had stopped abruptly at the scream of desperation from Merlin. William was crying and struggling to get out of Gwaine's arms, trying to reach his mother. James was laughing victoriously and coldly.
Cassandra smiled at Merlin gripping his hand, reaching up and kissing him passionately. "Merlin, take care of our son," she whispered, before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her hand went limp.
"NO!" Merlin cried.
"Serves the whore right!" James laughed maliciously. Merlin was seeing red; he no longer had control the sorrow and anger he felt. He had lost so many people - Will, Freya, his father, Lancelot. He couldn't do it again. All because this man wanted power; that was what it came down to. Merlin was drowning in his grief at what was happening, turning to blind rage. All he could see was James laughing maliciously, the sound echoing through his body. Nothing else mattered. He felt something hard underneath his fingers, it was Cassandra's dagger. Merlin picked it up and, nothing could prepare those watching the scene unfold for what happened next. As soon as Merlin gripped the dagger, a red light engulfed him, exploding out from the ruby on the hilt and placing a golden crown on his head, also with a ruby at its centre. Merlin's eyes clouded over. He only had eyes for James, his anger doubling in intensity so much that his eyes turned a bright red.
James had stopped laughing at the sight before him - a very angry man wearing a crown upon his brow, Cassandra's dagger at the ready, with blood red eyes staring right at him, piercing his very soul. "Who ….Who… are you?" James asked, for he truly was frightened of this being in front of him.
"I am Merlin Ambrosia, Son of King Balinor, grandson of Lord Ambrosia and the father of William. I am a Dragonlord, and you have caused enough harm to my family!" Merlin angrily replied in a very loud intimidating voice. It was full of power and hate. The wind was picking up, storm clouds gathering; thunder and lightning were beginning to form. The battle had stopped to watch the display of power Merlin invoked. Merlin's statement hadn't ultimately registered yet; everyone was too shocked and stunned about what was happening. Gwaine's grip on William had loosened and the young prince ran over to his mother as he watched these events with growing apprehension.
Merlin gave a cry of rage and launched himself at James, who grabbed a sword to deflect Merlin away. Merlin just moved to the side, avoiding the blade. He then slashed James on the arm. James cried out in pain but lifted his sword again. Merlin deflected it again and slashed his sword arm, making James drop the sword. Merlin advanced again and started to cut deep cuts all over James' body. He was truly am unstoppable force; his anger was so great that he only wanted to inflict pain. "Please stop…"James whimpered, falling over and snivelling, lying in a heap at Merlin's feet.
"You coward, you will suffer! You do not deserve a quick death!" Merlin spat out, rage still taking hold of him.
No one dared go near the enraged Dragonlord. They didn't know what to do, but they were losing their friend.
William ran up between Merlin and James so that Merlin would be forced to stop. "William, get out of the way!" Merlin growled.
"No, father! I won't!" The little boy shouted.
Merlin was momentarily taken aback at the declaration; he didn't know that William knew.
"How did you know?" Merlin asked. "I overheard when you were fighting with mum; I was under the bed." William replied "Please father, you mustn't do this. You're letting your hurt and anger control you." William pleaded; he did not want to watch Merlin become something he wasn't, by letting his anger consume him.
"William, he is a murder and a tyrant. He deserves to die. Cassandra is… is…" Merlin couldn't finish his sentence. He didn't want to believe she was gone.
"Merlin," William told him gently moving closer to him to touch his chest, "Mother is not yet gone; she would not want you to do this out of anger. She has always loved you. Please, if not for me, then for her. We can be a family." The little boy told Merlin gently, tears in his eyes as he searched for the man he knew was there. It didn't take long before Merlin dropped the dagger and fell to his knees in front of William, tears running down his face as his eyes turned back to their normal blue. The clouds, thunder and lightning disappeared, to be replaced with a clear sky; creating calmness for the coming of a new dawn, promising the start of a new day.
"What have I done?" Merlin whispered.
"It's okay, it's over now. Can we go look after mum now?" William asked as he hugged Merlin.
Merlin stood, picking William up, and placing the dagger through his belt. The ruby was no longer glowing. He felt a sense of calm wash over him, and the intense tingling from the dagger stopped. Merlin turned around to head back towards Cassandra and actually help her this time, before it was too late. As he went to walk away, Arthur called out a warning. James had stood back up and moved to stab Merlin in the back with a small knife. Merlin whipped out the dagger and threw it straight at James. It hit its mark perfectly, straight in the heart. James fell to the floor, gasping for air. Merlin walked over, shielding William's eyes from the sight. He picked up the dagger and turned away as James took his last breath.