Yes, I know you must all hate me, so I would like to say thank you for still reading my story, even throughout my sporadic updates... Hopefully this chapter(the longest I've posted yet!) will help make up for me :D
The roars and grunts of men fighting to exhaustion; the slick sheen of sweat apparent on everyone's forehead; the singing of steel kissing steel: all these things drove Arthur's blood into an adrenalin-fuelled frenzy. His body was fluid as he ducked and dived to avoid the swing of another's sword, or a burst of magic. His own sword was like an extension of his arm, moving before he'd even realised he needed to move it. It was as if he was born for battle, as if fighting was just instinctual. His body sang from the whole experience.
It was because he was so caught up in the thrill of the battle that it took him so long to register that the man he was fighting next to was in fact his father.
"Father! What are you doing here?" Arthur yelled, fighting to be heard over the noise of the thousands of men around him.
"Why wouldn't I be here Arthur? I am the King, and a King should fight with his men. Especially when we are fighting against this magical scum! The idiots are so stupid that they blocked their own spells earlier on!"
Arthur knew there was no point trying to explain to Uther that the spell was cast from a sorcerer on their side, so he let the man think what he wanted. He also knew there was no point in trying to convince the King to return to the safety of the castle, so instead he made it his sole purpose to protect his father, all the while fighting what seemed like an endless flood of people.
Merlin stared at Morgana in shock, unable to move. How had she worked it out? For god's sake, she'd never even seen him in this disguise. Even Arthur had seen more of him - then again, this was Arthur he was talking about.
Deciding there was no point in trying to pretend otherwise, Merlin sighed in defeat, "Yes. It's me Morgana. But -" He was cut off by Morgana repeatedly hitting him, "Ow! What are you doing?"
"You stupid, ignorant, runt of a man! All this time you had magic and you let me wallow in misery all by myself. If you had just talked to me about it. I would have kept your secret. And I would never have gone off with Morgause - the most awful mistake of my life. The only reason I went with her was because we both and magic, and she sympathised with me. You selfish twit!" By the end of her tirade, Morgana had floods of tears streaming down her face/ Her beatings had slowed and softened, ending with her collapsing on Merlin, her shoulders shaking with the sobs that racked her body. Merlin, completely thrown by the bawling woman on his shoulder, merely wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her.
After a few moments, her tears had subsided, and she stepped out from Merlin's embrace, a little embarrassed by her emotional breakdown, but feeling fully justified in her actions. She looked up at Merlin expectantly, waiting for some sort of explanation.
Merlin sighed once more, "I couldn't tell you. Believe me, I wanted to, but a cryptic friend of mine said that I couldn't. And as annoying as he is, I trust his judgement completely, though it killed me watching you struggle with your magic."
Morgana paused for a moment, pondering over Merlin's excuse. She replied to Merlin seconds later, having reached some sort of conclusion, "Yes, I suppose I can almost understand why you blindly followed his orders, he does give off an aura of complete knowledge. But that does not mean that I forgive you in the slightest."
Merlin nodded at this, as if he expected no less from her. It was odd for Morgana to see the boy who she knew as foolish and naive appear before her as a wise old man. It should be unsettling, but instead the knowledge in Merlin's eyes seemed to suit him far more than his boyish innocence ever did.
At this point the bemused druids - forgotten completely by the reunited pair - decided to speak up. An older man, the leader of this group, took a step toward them, "Pardon me, I do not mean to appear rude, but we are in the middle of a battle which, unless we help, is unlikely to be won by Camelot." The man then addressed Merlin alone, "I take it you are Emrys, and that you are the sole magical defender of Camelot. We would greatly appreciate your assistance."
At the mention of Merlin's druid name, all the druids sank to their knees in reverence.
Merlin quickly asked the druids to stop bowing - he really didn't like it when they did that - and sheepishly turned to Morgana, awaiting another verbal lashing, only to find her as white as a sheet, "Morgana, are you feeling well?""You're Emrys?" She exclaimed in disbelief. And then another thing the druid had mentioned dawned on her, "You have been defending Camelot alone? But Morgause has hundreds of soldiers, and that shield barely flinched at the army's attack. And all those traps you placed in the lower town - you must be exhausted! In fact, I'm surprised you're not dead."
Merlin chuckled, "I'm barely breaking a sweat Morgana. The greatest sorcerer to ever live does have some meaning. Now, I believe your druid friend is right, we better go help out Camelot's army, even if they don't want our assistance. As usual, Arthur would be dead without me." and without waiting to see if he was being followed, he turned at hobbled towards the front lines. Morgana, thrown by the day's revelations, could only mindlessly follow the old man.
When the reached the centre of the battle, the renegade group was stunned. From where they were standing, Camelot appeared to be winning. The traps in the town were still going strong, and taking out as many sorcerers as they possibly could. Also, Arthur had positioned the troops so as to create a bottleneck, meaning the opposing side could only attack with a few soldiers at a time.
They had to give it to Arthur, he was great at strategies.
However, as the moved closer, they noticed the fatigue evident in every man's eyes, and the low morale. As for the enemy, even with being attacked on two fronts, for every man that fell, there was always at least two other men to replace him. Camelot may be putting up a strong fight, stronger than they may have anticipated, but it was evident they would lose.
And just when things couldn't appear to get much worse, Morgause stepped into view. Most had hoped that as she had not been seen since the start of the fight, she had perished in the lower town. But it seemed that Lady Luck was not smiling on the defending forces on this gloomy day.
Morgause looked across the battlefield, her eyes pinpointing on Morgana, and her she looked almost relieved, but she quickly covered the look. "Sister!" she called with her mind. Morgana was stunned at first, unsure of how to reply - had Morgause not yet released that she had been betrayed?
"Morgause... what do you want?" Perhaps that was a little sharp, but Morgana was past pleasant chatting.
The blonde witch seemed thrown by Morgana's tone, but as she had the past few days, she merely pushed her doubts aside, "How did you get behind the enemy forces? You must lead as many of us there as possible. Camelot would not survive being surrounded."
"I am not going to help you sis-Morgause. Ever since you started this ridiculous quest to destroy Camelot, I began noticing that you are not the strong figurehead I always viewed you as. Instead, now all I see before me is a deranged, broken woman, trying to heal her wounds with the blood of thousands. And I cannot do it any more I cannot allow you to destroy my mind as well, so I am fighting for Camelot. We were wrong Morgause, the way to bring magic back to the land is not through more death, but through forgiveness. You must forgive Arthur for his father's mistakes, and he can forgive us for all of our mistakes." Maybe what she was saying with slightly silly, but Morgana passionately believed every word she was saying, or rather thinking.
Across the fighting men, Morgause's face twisted in blind fury. Unable to hold in her anger, Morgause let out a roar so loud it was almost inhuman, releasing a burst of power in time with her scream. All the traps suddenly stopped working, and the front lines of Camelot were thrown away, destroying their carefully placed battle front. For a moment, the whole of the city was quiet, each side waiting to see how the crazed witch would act next.
"Sister, how can you think that these fools can help our goal in anyway. I would rather die than forgive them. What has bewitched you so?"
"Nothing has bewitched me Morgause." At the sound of Morgana's voice behind them, several rows of Camelot's defence turned around, their swords now aimed at the small renegade group, their spirits dropping as they saw they now must fight two enemy forces. Arthur and Uther were both furious at seeing the witch that had ripped out both of their hearts the day she tried to take the throne for herself. However, the woman in question was focused solely on her half sister, "To put it simply, I have seen the error of my ways. However stupid that may sound, it is the truth. We cannot expect people to accept magic if it brought back with the deaths of their loved ones. Unnecessary death is what caused this set of events 20 years ago, it will not end with more bloodshed."
"If that is how you see it sister, then you must know that you and every single one involved in your pathetic resistance is now my enemy too. And do not come crying back to me when the King and his son are not what you believed them to be. As of now, you are no longer my sister, you are just another death I must cause." Morgause turned to her troops, who were staring at the exchange dumbfounded, "Sorcerers, attack them!"
And then the battle was suddenly full of life and death once more.
The soldiers facing Morgana and Merlin looked unsure of what to do. Morgana was claiming that she was on their side, but the witch could easily be planning to betray them all. However, their inner dilemma was soon cut short when Arthur and Uther burst through their ranks. The younger royal soon had his sword aimed at Morgana's neck, ignoring what he saw as more minor threats for the moment.
Arthur was the first to talk, "Morgana. What makes you think, for even a second, that we are going to believe that you want to fight for Camelot. You're whole life, you've been fighting against my father at every turn. I should kill you right now, and save everyone the trouble of figuring out your little schemes."
Morgana was frozen, unable to come up with a conclusive reason for trusting her that did not involve magic. Merlin however, was quick to interject.
"Now, if I were you, I wouldn't kill her."
Arthur did not move his sword from Morgana's neck, but searched to find the owner of the voice. When his eyes landed on Merlin(or Dragoon to him) his eyes widened in both shock and recognition, "You! What on earth makes you think I'm going to listen to what you have to say either. You almost got an innocent girl killed for your acts."
"Because I am not who you think I am. I am not 'Dragoon the Great'. I am Emrys."
Arthur subconsciously dropped his sword. He was not sure whether to be happy that Emrys, the man he had been searching for for days, was standing in front of him, and evidently helping the people; or to be furious that the man who was nearly responsible for Gwen's death, was also going to be the one to save them.
He thought back to that day, in despair as he was sure he would lose Gwen, only to find the real sorcerer in his room. He caught the man red handed, planting a poultice under his pillow. And then it hit Arthur. Why would the sorcerer be placing a poultice under his pillow? The only reason Gwen was accused of sorcery was because Uther believed she had enchanted him to love her. But his love for her was not the product of an enchantment, so there was no magic present to begin with.
Meaning this man in front of him and almost sacrificed himself to save Gwen, by pretending to be bewitching Arthur.
God, he'd been so eager to get Uther to believe that Gwen was not using magic that he hadn't even thought of any of this. How could he be so stupid?
Realising he had been staring blankly at the ground for a while, he once more looked at Dra-Emrys, clearing his throat before he spoke, "So you are real. Even with the letter, I couldn't help but think that it was all a lie - why else would you refuse to show your face when I was so willing to accept your help? But now I understand why you felt that I had to wait until now to know who you are. I probably would've killed you on the spot, prophecy be damned, but seeing the impact you've had already shows just how much we need you..." He trailed off for a second, but then remember why the man had spoken in the first place, "Why should I not kill Morgana? Do you not know what she has done to me, to all of us?"
Emrys' eyes drooped with a great sadness, "I understand all to well what she has done. I wish I did not, for her actions have caused me great pain as well. But the reason you cannot kill her is because she is the other half to the prophecy. She is essential if Camelot is to succeed today."
Before anyone else could get a word in edgeways, Morgana decided it was time she spoke for herself, "I understand if you wish to see me dead - if our roles were reversed, I would want the same. But at least let me help with the battle. And if you still want my death after it all, then I will comply with your wishes."
Emrys turned to Morgana, eyes wide with shock, completely thrown by her declaration, "What, no, Morgana, you cannot-"
"I accept your offer Morgana. It is fair, and I believe just." Arthur interrupted. As much as he was thankful for the sorcerers help, he would not blindly follow his every thought.
Emrys turned to argue with Arthur, but was stopped by an exclamation from the King, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ALL THIS?"
Almost wincing, the three in question turned to the King. Arthur, feeling it would be best to come from him rather than the two magic users, tentatively decided to explain, "You see father, a few days ago, myself and Merlin encountered a sorcerer. My first thought was to kill him, but instead of attacking he gave a warning to us, along with a prophecy. He foretold this very battle, and he told us of the only way to win." Arthur then gestured towards Emrys and Morgana, "These two standing here are our only hope."
At this, the group all turned to look at the battle raging in front of them. Camelot were still holding fast, but they could not keep up their defence for much longer, especially with the traps in the lower town no longer working.
"I do not care what you have been told Arthur, I will not have sorcerers fighting alongside us. They will be just as likely to betray us as to save us. More so, in fact." Uthur spat.
Morgana expected Arthur just to go along with what Uthur had said, just as he had always done. But it appeared that Arthur was done playing the role of the perfect son, for he grasped Uthur's shoulder and boldly stared at his father, "I am sorry father, but on this point I will not budge. These two will fight for us, and if you cannot cope with that fact, I will lock you up until the battle is over. I will not let your stubbornness keep us from the only chance we have."
And with that, Arthur, Morgana, Emrys and the druids all dove into the thrall of the battle, leaving a dumbfounded Uthur behind, still staring at the spot his son had just vacated.
Now, this was originally going to include all of the battle, but the chapter was getting very long, and I knew that it could easily reach 6,000 words, and I just feel that's too long a chapter, so I split it up. Sorry!