Chapter 11

London August 2061

"Where the hell have you been, Martin?" Arthur raged as soon as Merlin set foot in the main living room of his father's house.

"Pretty much what I said," Uther mumbled.

Morgana played her part then, coming over, looking concerned and acting as if she hadn't just seen Merlin here yesterday as Emrys. "How are you?" she asked, resting a gentle hand on his arm.

He shrugged. "Better, I think. Starting to come to terms with everything."

"Why didn't you say something about this friend of yours?" Gwen asked, gently.

He shrugged. "It all happened so quickly and what with Lord Emrys having to see what had happened to his land and the bad reception and then... that. I'm sorry I missed the press conference but... it's not been an easy few weeks."

"We understand," Gwen said, giving Arthur a pointed look. "Of course we do."

"Yeah, sorry I snapped," Arthur said. "And, I'm sorry for you loss."

"Thanks." At least Merlin didn't feel like a fraud. Losing Freya still hurt and, this time around, he had no idea if he'd ever see her again in any form.

"Yes, of course. Our condolences," Uther managed. "However, now you are here, I think you and I need to talk, man to man... about Moira."

"Dad, honestly," Morgana interrupted. "This is the twenty-first century, not the nineteenth. We don't need to seek your permission."

"That may well be the case, but can I not at least talk to the young man of your choice and find out something about him?"

She pulled a face and didn't answer.

"It's fine," Merlin replied. "I'm sorry I didn't come to see you earlier, sir but... as I said."

"Yes, of course. It's just that she and Archie are talking about a double wedding next month and, well, it all seems rather sudden to me. I would have thought... considering... that you might even agree?"

"I understand," he replied. "But, as Archie said, everything has been happening quickly lately so we just thought we'd go with the flow."

"Elaine and I just can't see any reason to rush. Why not next summer, or the one afterwards?"

"It's almost all arranged now, Dad," Morgana said. "And I know you think we don't know our own mind and are rushing into things but, I promise you, this is what we all want."

"It's true," Arthur said. "Please. Please give us your blessing. It would mean the world to me if you would."

September 2061

The double wedding was going ahead as originally planned, despite Uther's reservations, and the two young couples were staying in London whilst the final arrangements were made. The rest of their friends were here too, with those few who didn't live here, staying with relations or other members of the team.

"Surely you're not nervous," Merlin asked Morgana who was looking exceptionally pale the day before the ceremony. "You've not been yourself at all this last week." He smiled slightly. "Having second thoughts?"

"Of course not," she replied hastily. "It's just that I've... not been feeling well."

"Perhaps you should see the doctor."

"Yes, I was going to." She frowned. "You know, if I didn't know better I would have thought..." She shook her head.

"What?" Merlin asked.

"I was thinking I might be pregnant."

"What?" He laughed. "You can't be."

"Yeah, I know you said you couldn't have children, but how do you know? Really?"

"I've been in a number of relationships with girls over the years," he replied casually. She raised a questioning eyebrow. "Most of them you..." he added hastily. "...and I had a test last time around when Gwaine was working in the medical profession; 'Firing blanks' was the phrase he used, I believed. He was very confused in fact, saying my sperm count wasn't simply low, but actually non existent."

"But perhaps that's changed?"

"I told you, Morgana. I'm immortal and so it does make a certain amount of sense."

"Yeah but I was thinking about the prophecies. That one talking of the third sorcerer – the Heir?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I thought, fate -or whatever it is - might have made an exception in this case. A third sorcerer is needed to move the cave up to its final position, and what better candidate than the child of the only two other people who have magic."

"But..."

Merlin's mind started racing. What Morgana had suggested sounded pretty logical but it was a huge shock, and he had to admit to experiencing numerous selfish feelings about the whole thing. Why couldn't the Heir have been Arthur and Gwen's child?

"I had hoped you'd be a bit more enthusiastic than this," Morgana said after a long silence.

He looked up at her, wide-eyed. "But, what if it's Mordred? It's always been his fate to kill Arthur and... and I don't think I could bear that. I mean, how much worse would it be if he were my son?"

She shook his head. "I told you before, Merlin. The Heir is part of a new circle, not the old."

"But what if it isn't the Heir but it is Mordred anyway? That would also be enough of an excuse for fate to bend the rules and allow me to have a child, wouldn't it?"

"Well, I've bought one of these tests this morning," she said, holding up a box. "So let's not jump to any conclusions yet. Perhaps it is nerves, as you said. Or maybe a sickness bug."

Merlin nodded mutely as she headed off to the bathroom.

Late September. Wedding Reception

"So tomorrow it's off to our Honeymoon in Greece and then we're back here to work on the Thames project," Arthur slurred, taking another long swig of his drink.

"Better go easy on that, Archie or Jen won't be getting any sort of honeymoon," Morgana teased.

"Well, at least we're getting into the spirit of things," Arthur said and then laughed. "Literally in Jennifer's case."

"Yeah," she replied, taking another sip of her rum. "I know Martin doesn't drink but what's your excuse, Morgan?"

"Does alcohol mess with your gifts too, like the drugs?" Arthur asked her.

"A little," she replied carefully. "But... that's not why."

"Ooh," Gwen said. "You're not?"

"Not what?" Arthur asked, confused.

"Yeah. I'm pregnant," Morgana confirmed.

"Really? That's brilliant." Gwen's gaze went down to her middle. "When's it due?"

"End of March."

"Seriously?" Arthur said turning a sly look towards Merlin. "That was quick work."

"Not planned, I assure you," he replied. "Honestly, I didn't think I was able to."

"You didn't?" Arthur asked. "Why?"

"Something my doctors said when I was younger," he replied, truthfully.

"Oh but that is such good news," Gwen said.

"Yeah, so go easy on the alcohol tonight, brother, and perhaps our child can have a little playmate."

Gwen grinned at Arthur who nodded. "I think we might wait a year or two though."

"Yeah, at least make sure there aren't two girls off the team at the same time."

Morgana shrugged. "I doubt I'll be much use to you on the Thames project anyway as I'm not getting any insights on that one. My visions are still all about the west."

"You're still getting them?" Arthur asked.

"Yes," she replied cautiously, exchanging a look with Merlin. "But they're rather different nowadays."

"In what way?"

"Hey, why are you four looking so serious?" Gwaine said coming over. "This is a party you know. And it's your party. So, let's celebrate your long prison sentence."

~o~0~o~

March 2062

"Well?" Morgana asked, impatiently.; suddenly sounding very alert, despite the pain she'd been in just a minute before.

"It's a girl," Merlin said proudly, tears in his eyes.

She smiled. "Good, but that's not what I meant. Do you recognise... her?"

"Oh.." He blinked. "I forgot about that for a moment."

Merlin took the baby from the nurse and carried her over to his wife, taking the opportunity to look at her properly. Then the little girl opened her eyes and looked straight at him and he caught his breath, struggling to concentrate when his daughter was gazing up at him with such perfect dark blue eyes.

His daughter.

He handed her over with a smile. "It's not Mordred," he whispered. "I don't recognise her at all."

"I told you," Morgana crowed, pulling the baby closer to her and gazing at her face. "I told you the heir would be a new soul, and Freya told you that her... departure would herald the birth of the next cycle."

"Freya!" Merlin exclaimed, beaming at his wife.

"Of course," Morgana replied, with a gentle smile. "That's perfect."

2071

"Look! Look at this." Merlin rushed forward holding up one hand - fingers pinched together. His wife looked up from her easel and squinted, whilst their nine-year-old daughter lay on her stomach on the floor, also drawing.

"What?" Morgana asked. "I can't see anything."

"It's a hair," Freya declared. "Why are you upset, Dad, are you going bald?"

"It's a grey hair," Merlin said mournfully.

Morgana laughed. "So?"

"I don't get grey hairs until I'm fifty."

"You have dark hair," Morgana said calmly. "Plenty of dark-haired people start going grey in their thirties."

"Not me and I should know. I've been thirty-five a lot."

Freya giggled. "Now that's not something you hear every day."

"Honestly, Merlin, I don't see why you're so worried. Perhaps things are different this time around."

"Well yes, that's what I thought. I mean, didn't I say I felt different back in the cave?"

Morgana frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I said I was immortal and couldn't have children. Then we lifted the cave and suddenly..." He pointed his daughter. "... we have Freya."

"And she's not Mordred and she has magic so...?"

"She's the Heir, yes. I'm sure she is, but that's not what I'm saying. What if I didn't have her simply because she was needed. What if I had her because I was suddenly mortal."

"We're all mortal," Freya said, still focusing on her drawing.

"Yeah, remind me to talk to you about that sometime," Merlin replied offhandedly.

Morgana nodded. "Actually thinking back to the conversation with Freya." Their daughter looked up and she shook her head. "The other Freya. That makes sense. After all, she did say our Circle was ending and it was time for a new one."

The room spun and Merlin felt suddenly dizzy. He swallowed hard and staggered over to a chair to sit down.

"Merlin?"

"I really am mortal?"

"Yeah, join the club."

"Yes but... after all this time... that takes some processing."

"I'm sure it does."

"You all right, Dad?" his daughter asked with a frown.

"I'm... I'll be fine in a minute." He tried not to think about it too much. "What are you drawing? Your little characters again?"

It seemed Freya had inherited her mother's gift for art, sometimes drawing imaginative places and odd-looking fairies but, more often, characters studies of numerous people – each becoming more and more detailed as the years progressed.

"Not this time," she replied. "I was just trying to draw this place I dream about sometimes. It's nothing really."

"Show me?" he asked, suddenly desperate for a distraction.

Freya shrugged and lifted up the picture to reveal a clearly recognisable drawing of herself standing in a grey cave lit with bright blue stones. She turned it so her mother could see too.

"You dreamt about this place?" Morgana asked.

"Yes. Is it real?"

"It is," Merlin confirmed.

"Can I go and see it?"

"Not quite yet, sweetheart," Merlin replied. "The Crystal Cave is an overwhelming place for a young sorcerer and you'll need to be very much more in control of your magic before then."

"Perhaps you should give me more lessons then."

"It's not that simple. I was twenty-one when I first went in and it freaked me out even at that age."

"I'm not scared," she said, lifting her chin defiantly.

"Fear has little to do with it." He sighed. "You shall see it, Freya, I promise. Honestly, if we're correct about you and your destiny then we've no choice in the matter. Apparently that cave is your inheritance."

"I'm going to have to wait until I'm twenty-one?" she asked.

"That seems as good an age as any," Merlin confirmed.

"But I'll be so old!"

Merlin and Morgana exchanged an amused look as Freya sighed and sat next to her mother. With both girls focused on the easel, Merlin stared at the floor and tried to come to terms with what he'd learnt. He was mortal. He would finally die. He had perhaps sixty or seventy years left to live. If he was lucky.

Right now he felt even more terrified than he had that first time he'd set foot in the Crystal Cave.

~o~0~o~


A/N: Congratulations to sjrtiss for spotting a plot similarity with 'We Loyal Traitors'. It wasn't a coincidence. At the start of 'Slave of Destiny' I said that I was taking a number of my other stories as Canon and that was one of them. I won't say more in case you haven't read it yet, but it does help to place a common thread reaching right back to the Purge. My head canon also has Taliesin as the Guardian before Merlin.

Others of you guessed many of the plot points revealed in this chapter too and, with one more chapter and an epilogue to go, it won't be long until you find out how all of these things play out.