Chapter 10 – An Answer to A Call

Last time…

The winds carried a message to him.

Hope lies where the sea meets the sky.

Merlin had been following Arthur through the marketplace but had paused when the shift occurred, the winds coming down a little lower, and magic spoke to him. He looked around when it was clear he would hear no more – there was laughter, shouting and exclamations on the street, and a huff – the sound of an exasperated king waiting for his daydreaming manservant.

"Merlin, any day now," he grumbled, hands on his hips.

Yes, any day now. This was the calm before the storm.

And a woman was standing on the shore in a tattered white dress, her face all too familiar, her hair flowing behind her in blonde waves. "I trust you had a pleasant journey."


"Morgause?" Merlin asked, swallowing hard.

He backed away as she came closer but it was difficult to find purchase on the wet sand. He dropped to one knee, feeling lightheaded.

"You know that is not true," she replied gently. She kneeled down beside him and placed her hands on each side of his face. "You are strong but you should remember that your magic is connected to this world. It is inside of you as much as it is everywhere else. I think you know but don't understand."

Merlin choked out a laugh. "Sometimes I feel like I never understand."

The woman looked sympathetically at him. "I know. You're not alone, Emrys. Let the sun strengthen you again." She slowly laid him down on the sand. "You can trust me."

Merlin nodded. He could. He had felt it from the very beginning and he felt it even more here. But his eyes – they showed him an enemy. But as she knelt down to brush his hair back, he noticed something he didn't before – she had one blue eye and one green eye.


When Merlin woke up, the sun was high in a cloudless blue sky and his head was pillowed in the cloak Arthur had given him. He let his eyes drift shut again but the feeling he was forgetting something stirred him.

"Lancelot?" he croaked, his throat dry. "Lancelot!" he tried again, as loud as he was able.

"I'm here, Merlin." Lancelot put his good hand on the warlock's arm and Merlin turned in the knight's direction.

"Are you alright? Where are we? What's going on?"

"You passed out. From exhaustion, I imagine. You've been using a lot of magic lately."

"There was a woman," he said, blinking hard, trying to focus.

"Me," the blonde woman pronounced as she entered his view. "My name is Elaine."

"You're Morgause's sister," Merlin said.

"Yes," she replied slowly, as though she didn't care to admit it. "And Morgana's sister. And Arthur's sister."

"Arthur's?"

"Yes. Though Morgause and I looked uncannily alike, she was only my half-sister." The woman knelt down by Merlin's side. "My mother told Uther that the first child he had fathered with her was a stillborn. Which of course, as you can see, is not true. I have one green eye, like my sister, Morgana," she said, pointing to it. "And one blue eye, like my brother, Arthur."

Merlin's eyes widened as a realization hit him. "You didn't send that message to me, you sent it to Arthur, through the kinship link," he said, remembering what Kilgharrah had told him about it.

"Yes. It allowed me to send the message across a greater distance."

"But the message reached me."

"That was the intent," Elaine nodded. "My brother may have heard a whisper of it. The recipient doesn't have to have magic. But I was counting on you hearing it better. Or at least, rousing you."

"Clever," Merlin murmured. "But vague."

"I apologize. I didn't want Arthur to understand." She smiled at him. "I had hope it would direct you well enough, towards the setting sun – where the sea meets the sky, but no matter, it seems you only needed your magic to guide you. It is your strong suit, after all."

Merlin had many questions for Elaine, all of them wanting to spill out at once. But he had not forgotten about Lancelot. "Perhaps but I'm rubbish at healing spells. Can you help my friend? His hand was badly wounded."

"I was raised on the Isle of the Bless so I've learned much about magic. But I don't have much talent. I will need your help."

Merlin nodded vigorously. "Just tell me what to do."

Elaine gently reached for Lancelot's hand and unwrapped the makeshift bandage around his wound. The skin under was a shade of light green. "You should have told me about your hand, sir knight," she scolded.

"I was concerned about Merlin," he replied, not backing down from her glare.

Elaine quirked her eyebrow in response before turning back to Merlin. "There are different branches of magic and it's common for a person to excel in one or two fields. It's uncommon for them to excel in all fields as you are aware."

Merlin nodded in reply, looking intently at Elaine. He found the longer he looked at her, the less she reminded him of Morgause. She was almost as mysterious as her late sister but her features was less stern, her looks more genuine.

"You can rule the winds, the seas, the earth and fire," she continued. "But it's extremely rare for someone with such command over the elements to be a strong healer. Magic requires balance."

"I've mirrored life and death before."

"I know."

The words weighed heavy in the air. Lancelot looked back and forth between Merlin and Elaine – they were sharing a serious knowing look. He wondered if this was how it was for all magical beings, the knowing without knowing. Though he was privy to knowing Merlin the best of all of Camelot, save perhaps Gaius, Lancelot wondered how much about Merlin he would never know. He didn't know what it meant when Merlin said he had mirrored life and death but this was not the first time that Lancelot had suspected that Merlin kept many things close to himself and one of those things was the extent of his power.

When Merlin looked away, Elaine began again. "But you were at a sacred spot. And it was in your right to take Nimueh's life for Gaius'. Not to say it wasn't impressive but the art of healing is more exacting – it requires a measured, layered response. You have to start at the root of the illness and work your way out, one step at a time. Here, give me your hand."

Merlin held his hand out to Elaine. She took it and placed it gently on top of Lancelot's injured one. Lancelot couldn't help but tremble – he could feel the combined forces of their power like a bolt of energy running under his skin. He had wanted to ask what Elaine had been talking about – about what Merlin had done for Gaius – but those thoughts were driven away by the sensation of their combined powers. He had felt this before – the power of magic – but it had always felt like a warm fire from within. He supposed that was Merlin's signature or something, and Elaine would have a different one, that would be altered when joined with Merlin's.

"Are you alright, Lancelot?" Merlin peered at Lancelot, seeing he had a faraway look again, like when he was thinking of his father.

"Why, uh…yes, yes," Lancelot replied, not quite focused yet.

Elaine turned and gave him the same raised eyebrow she had given him earlier. He wasn't sure if she was laughing at him or challenging him. He looked back at her as evenly as possible. She dropped her eyebrow and returned his look before Merlin cleared his throat awkwardly. Lancelot thought he could see the smile in her eyes before she turned her gaze back to Merlin.

"What do you know about treating burn wounds?" she asked Merlin as though their lesson had never been interrupted.

"The source should be promptly removed and the injured area should be cooled with water," Merlin replied, reciting the lesson that Gaius had given him.

"Good. You have done that already. Then what?"

"Um, it should be kept from infection."

"Dig deeper into the injury. It's more than that," Elaine said and pushed gently down on Merlin's hand with the tip of her fingers as she starting whispering words of the Old Religion.

Merlin closed his eyes and let Elaine guide him. Soon, he found his inner mind propelling itself into Lancelot's hand. He saw the depth of the wound – it reached down to the muscles in Lancelot's hand and restricted his blood flow. Without needing Elaine to direct him, Merlin opened up the channels in Lancelot's hand and stimulated the blood flow. He then started regenerating the muscles in Lancelot's hands, creating new ones while pulling the inelastic, melted parts away. He worked on one layer and then the next, moving outwards until he reached the skin, and with the skin, he would peel away one layer and create a new one until the entire hand was restored – hundreds upon hundreds of layers later. Merlin flopped back onto the sand once he saw Lancelot flexing his newly healed hand in awe.

"You did it," Elaine and Lancelot both exclaimed at the same time.

Merlin tiredly waved a hand in their direction. Healing magic was exacting. "How have I done this before without…" He had to take a moment to breathe deeply. It sounded loud in his ears. "Without being so…exhausted?"

"Have you done anything so complicated before?"

Merlin shook his head in the negative. The sand shifted beneath him with each turn.

"Then I suspect your talent with magic guided you well enough in the past. But your will can only get you so far. Like I said, you know but you don't understand. Until you understand, you will not be able to access magic fully. Within yourself or in the world around you."

Merlin struggled to get up so he could actually talk to Elaine face-to-face but Lancelot gently pushed him down. "We should move him to the shade," he heard Lancelot say before he felt the knight grab him underneath his arms and lift him part way up so he could pull him up the shore.

Merlin would usually protest but he had been lying half clothed in the sun for some time. "Don't forget the cloak Arthur gave me," Merlin said when they were halfway up the shore and he saw it lying on the sand. He twisted a bit in agitation as the water line crept closer to it.

Elaine turned back immediately and scooped the blue material up. "You care a lot about my brother," she said when she had caught up with them.

"He's my friend. And he will be a great king."

"I believe he will be a great king because of you."

"If I can keep him alive," Merlin mumbled as Lancelot placed him against a stout tree. It was much cooler under the shade, even chilly.

Elaine unfolded the blue cloak and tucked one end behind Merlin's left shoulder and tucked the other behind his other one. "I will help."

Merlin had been looking closely at Elaine again. He knew he could trust her – his magic sensed that from the very beginning – but he couldn't help but feel he was missing much of the story. "Why do you want to help us now? You have never been involved before."

"It's true, I didn't want to be involved in any of it," she sighed. She took a seat between Merlin and Lancelot but looked out into the sea. Both Merlin and Lancelot sensed she needed a moment and did not break the silence. It was some time before she spoke again. "My mother was a seer. She came from a long line of women with the Sight and it was something that she passed on to her daughters. No one's Sight is the same as another's though. Morgause could scry and read crystals but that was the extent of it. Her command of ancient spells and ways was her strength. As you know, Morgana could see the future in her dreams. Seeing the future is extremely rare and few have the gift."

"Or the curse," Merlin said what Elaine was thinking. She was not surprised.

"She was the one with the strongest sense of Sight?" Lancelot guessed.

Elaine smiled humorously. "Morgana's talent is indeed very unique. She sees an absolute. The future she sees will happen. At least, many believe that it cannot but happen."

"You believe differently?" Merlin said, leaning forward and looking at Elaine.

"No. I believe this is the balance of magic. She cannot control what she sees so she can see the absolute. It comes to her when she has no defense against its intrusion. But I do believe that dreams can be interpreted incorrectly."

Merlin fell back against the trunk of the tree with a thump, a deep frown pulling at his mouth. It made Lancelot frown as well – the knight was about to ask what the matter was when Merlin spoke up again.

"And you? What is your Sight like?"

"It is how I found you. Let me go back. It's true, I didn't want to be involved in any of their affairs. Not Arthur's, not Morgana's, not Morgause's. I wanted to live simply and in peace and the only way I knew how to do that was far away and without magic."

Merlin nodded in understanding. Lancelot found himself frowning again. How could Merlin be without magic? It was part of who he was, it was the means by which he kept Camelot safe, he was born with it. He didn't pretend it wasn't hard for Merlin but he didn't know anyone who could have borne it any better.

"Morgause," Elaine continued to explain, "as you imagine, would have none of it. We were both brought up on the Isle of the Blessed but while she embraced magic and excelled at it, I retreated further and further away from it. Though sisters, we grew apart. And then, I learned about Morgana. Telling Morgause about her was probably my biggest mistake. I didn't think of the consequences of sharing the news with her. I just wanted my sister back – I wanted to share with her something we had in common again."

"To Morgause, it was as though the gods had given her a new sister to replace the one who was now no longer seeing the world the same way she did. I didn't want Morgana involved with Morgause's plans to restore magic to the land – those plans were violent and radical. I wanted Morgana to continue living her life as it was – in the safety of her ignorance, in the riches of Camelot. It was a life I would have wanted, I think." She threw a self-deprecating smile at them and Merlin reached out to take her hand. Lancelot wished he could offer a similar comfort but it was inappropriate to take a woman's hand. Of course, Merlin seemed to be the exception to all rules. And this seemed to bear true when Elaine next spoke, "You know about it. And about hiding, about denying who you are."

"Yes." And the weight of his words fell heavy on their group.

Then, Merlin spoke again, knowing without knowing. "To ensure you wouldn't run interference with her plans for Morgana, Morgause marooned you here."

Elaine nodded. "She stranded me on this side of sea. She didn't realize that at that time, I wouldn't have really done anything to stop her. I was against it all but I was not a woman of action, like her. But as I disagreed with her, she began to see an enemy in me and set up these impossible series of traps to prevent me from returning to Albion."

"Impossible unless you're Merlin," Lancelot said as brightly as possible, hoping to ease the mood.

"Precisely," Elaine said, smiling at the knight.

Merlin didn't want to interrupt the long look Lancelot and Elaine were sharing once again but he needed to prod further, he needed to know, because he still sensed there was more to this story. "But you said you wanted to help?"

"It's very easy to stay out of it, to ignore it, isn't it? But then there was you. I saw you, I knew of you, and I knew you would take care of it… I could've stayed out of it forever. In a way, Morgause gave me the life I always wanted. But you…you carry such a burden, don't you, Merlin?"

Merlin looked away, feeling her words resonate deep within him. But he didn't want to acknowledge it, give life to it, because he was always fighting it even though he was now better at keeping it hidden away. But Elaine would have none of it – she had seen much, too much, and done so little about it, to continue ignoring her birthright and the turn of the world. She took Merlin's chin and turned him towards her, feeling a bit of her sister in her. "I know. But I don't know. Because all I do is see. I see you. And I see my brother, with you, becoming a better king because of you. I can continue watching or I can act. I can stand up for what is right. It's coming. And Arthur is my brother by blood and you are my kin by magic."

"What do you see, Elaine? What's coming?"

"I think you already know. The Saxons."

"The men from across the seas," Lancelot said, recalling what Merlin had sensed with the axe.

"Yes. They started arriving some time ago."

"Some time ago? Why didn't you call me sooner?" Merlin cried, standing straight up.

Elaine looked up at him, her eyes sympathetically and smile sad.

"Don't tell me I already know!"

"But you do," Elaine replied, shaking her head. "The time was never right till now, was it? You were always off saving someone or another. I didn't want to ruin your peace but for now, you are not needed in Camelot. It was a…good time to call you."

Merlin nodded half-heartedly and sat back on the sand again, wrapping his arms around his bent knees. "And who are the Saxons really?"

"Mercenaries. They tend to operate independently of each other but it seems they have been banding together with the intent of taking over this land. The storm is coming."

"We will be ready," Merlin stated, looking steely eye and more like the most powerful warlock to ever walk the earth than ever before.

"We will be," Elaine agreed. "In fact, I have something for you that would even the field." Elaine nodded behind Merlin. Merlin turned around, vaguely aware that Lancelot was rushing towards him, shouting. But Merlin didn't hear him as he was engulfed in a wall of blue fire.


A/N: So, yes, you were meant to think that was Morgause, like Merlin did. And sorry for another cliffhanger but I think we covered a lot of ground in this chapter. We now know what the warning is about and who sent it and why. But there are still some big moments yet to come! Anyone think it was Elaine (from Arthurian mythology - with some obvious changes)? I haven't finished seeing Series 5 so I think it's just Arthurian mythology and not canon (but I don't need to know if she ends up in the show!).

As a side note, I wrote a Mergana fic called Six Degrees. Please check it out and let me know what you think! I think there's a lot of possibilities for Merthian but there was always one way I wanted it to happen whereas with Mergana, I can't decide so before and if I launch into anything epic with that, I'll be writing some smaller fics. Certainly, I won't start anything big until I am done or nearly done with this one!