I'm sorry this has taken a while to update, I've been really busy and then I updated my Robin Hood story 'What the Future Holds' twice in a row. Sorry.

I've been planning this chapter for quite a while and the end scene was one of the first that came into my mind when this story started to form in my head so i'm quite excited we've got to this point in the story.

Once again thanks for all the lovely reviews from last chapter, the support and the subscriptions.

I hope you enjoy this.

Chapter 14; Snow Angels

It fell during the night, small snowflakes gently flew to the ground but after an hour of this slight, delicate snow a small blizzard began. It looked as if it was performing a dance, twirling indefinitely, sailing through the grey sky, each snowflake softly bumping each other, each one unique, different and completely special.

It was magical, entrancing, beautiful and yet at the same time dangerous. The snow held some warning, some danger. Though the children would scream and giggle with delight and glee when they woke, for the workers this meant that they could not plough the land in enough time for the spring sewing. It held up journeys, put back travels. The snow was not such a welcome sight for adults, whose childhood's had been spent, who had seen the snow fall many times before and simply now thought of the practicalities rather than the joy it would bring.

Uther was such an adult. He could not sleep; instead he stood by his window watching his kingdom turn white. His thoughts turned to magic and danger and he automatically began to wonder what sorcerer had opened the heavens and covered his Camelot in snow.

The snow continued to fall the whole way through the night and into the hours of the early morning.

When Merlin woke up he opened his window to a fairytale Camelot. Icicles hung from the window, and a layer of thick snow had settled on the window sill, carefully pushing the window open a little further so that the snow did not fall off he scooped up a hand fall and then stepping quietly down from the window leant over Rose as she slept.

Rose jumped up with a shock. She twirled around and looked at Merlin who was laughing uncontrollably, leaning against the wall for support. Rose picked a lump of snow from her hair and watched as it melted in her palm; her body heat dissolving it. She wiped her now wet hand down her night shirt and glared at her best friend.

Merlin, still smiling, stood up straight and looked at Rose. He lifted his hands above his head in surrender.

"Truce!" he called out knowing that she would have a trick up her sleeve. He walked over to the chair on the far side of the room and grabbed his clothes off it. Then he ran over to the door and bolted outside, saying while he did so.

"Courtyard, 10 minutes!"

Rose smiled. Now the snow fight would commence.

Gwen neither loved nor hated the snow. For her it was simply another obstacle to get over but as she crunched through it on her way to the Camelot Castle, with a thin cloak wrapped around her, for her duties of the day she remembered happier times playing in the snow.

She remembered building men from snow with her father, piling snow balls high on top of each other until the had a snow figure as tall as her father himself. She remembered looking up at the snowman and feeling tiny in comparison. Almost insignificant.

She remembered one winter when she was a young girl of five and had engaged in a snowball fight. She recalled how poor her aim was and how she was frequently hit more than she hit others, she remembered how she had got lost in a flurry of snowballs and tears streamed down her face, being repeatedly thumped with the hard snow. Then she fondly remembered someone coming to her rescue, who stopped the nasty game and took her to one side. She smiled at the memory remembering the way they had grabbed her hand and pulled her over to her house, she remembered the feel of the cotton handkerchief they had given her to dry her eyes. She remembered looking into the boy's eyes, a year older than herself and feeling safe.

She remembered Arthur.

To this day she still had the square of cotton, though he had disregarded it and probably thought nothing of it since, she kept it always. It was becoming rather thin and threadbare but she refused to accept another. This was Arthur's and she cherished it.

Morgana threw the fur stole over her shoulders as she left her room to brave the cold. Upon entering the courtyard she walked around the covered walkways where it was warmer and not a snowy path to cross. Rose bumped into her coming the other way, she turned round and grinned at Morgana, taking her to one side.

"Merlin and I are having a snowball fight. Be on my team"

Morgana smiled at this new information and Rose took the smile as consent. The fight was rule free, every now and then the opponents would sneak up on each other and a small snow battle would ensue and then when one team, or both, had run out of snowballs they would depart and hide, trying to collect the most for next round. There were some larger lumps of snow caught in Rose's hair, and where they were melting there were droplets of moisture caught between her curls.

The pair, grabbed as much snow as they could, not knowing when Merlin would next strike, or if, like Rose, he had managed to enlarge his team. Before long they had a large pile of snowballs ready to fire. As Rose leant down to roll up more snow Morgana noticed a small necklace fall out from behind the neckline of Rose's dress. She hadn't seen it before, it had always been kept hidden and she was curious about it.

"I've never seen that before" she said, looking at the diamond.

Rose looked down and whispered an "oh", before holding the jewel between her thumb and forefinger.

"I don't like people to see it; most people would think I've stolen it. It was my mother's and her mother's before that, a family heirloom passed down from mother to daughter in each generation" she smiled turning the gem and watching as it caught the light "Some say it comes with a legend, that eventually one day, when a certain special daughter is in hold of it something great will happen. There used to be a long story, an ancient tale or myth but it died out, and changed after being passed down so many years"

Morgana watched the carefully cut diamond glitter and sparkle in the sun. She was fascinated by it, it seemed intriguing and she was curious by its purpose and existence, the old tale that went with it but that had fallen apart as the years had passed. She hadn't a clue as to what her near obsession was with it but she very much admired it and loved its clean cut in comparison with the soft white snow. There was something special, something bigger, something greater out there that she didn't understand, and part of her didn't want to understand, but there was something there which filled her with fear and excitement at the same time.

Arthur hadn't wanted to get caught up in the fight but somehow his man servant had persuaded him to join in. Now the teams were equal in size though neither team knew that each other had additional members. Being a Prince and a fighter Arthur quickly stacked up snowball after snowball until they had a pile that Merlin would have taken hours to construct. Now they simply waited until they heard the crunch of snow or saw the corner of a cloak.

They didn't have to wait long. A snowball came flying over and hit Merlin in the stomach. Before Merlin could even cry out Arthur had thrown one over in the girls' direction. Before long snowballs were covering the void between the two sides and the opponents had forgotten about aim or precision and were simply throwing snow because they could.

Peals of laughter rang out across the courtyard and outside the castle grounds little groups of children were doing the very same thing. Work seemingly abandoned for the day, people enjoyed the freedom the white snow bought.

Before long a truce was called and the team members, covered in white, shook hands to call an end to the harmless fight. Gwen entered the courtyard as the fight came to an end and Arthur smiled at her as she approached her four friends.

Collapsed on the floor the four friends had sat in a line, Merlin had plonked himself in the middle, flanked on either side by Rose and Arthur, to Rose's right was Morgana and Gwen sat herself on Arthur's left. The group continued to laugh as they lay down, careless of whether they got a wet back or snowy hair and looked up at the grey sky. Their silence was peaceful and words did not need to be exchanged, each friend wore a smile on their face and then Gwen began to move her arms and legs up and down, and from side to side. Arthur looked at the young maid and followed suit and like a whisper being passed along they each began to do like Gwen until they were content with the shape they had made. Smiling the each stood up to look at the snow angels they had created.

Arthur looked at his and sighed, and then grabbing a handful of snow began to sprinkle it down the middle of the 'skirt' he had created on his angel. He stood up and looked back at his work and smiled at his new 'trousers'. Taking inspiration from Arthur's customization Gwen leant down to hers and traced a basket shape by her angel's hand; Morgana drew long curls by her angel's head and then shorter ones by Rose's.

Merlin stood looking at his angel puzzled as to what to do. Nothing coming to mind he left his as it was; the original angel in the middle of his friends. That seemed to sum him up quite well.

"Arthur!"

The young prince turned round at the sound of his name to see his father. His father didn't need to say another word, but as he walked of in the direction of the hall Arthur sighed and followed him. No doubt the events of this morning had not been behaviour acceptable of a young prince and the future king.

Seeing that the group of friends was dispersing, Gwen decided that now was a good a time as any to do her work for the day. Morgana followed her maid inside, and smiled at Rose on her way in.

So Merlin and Rose still stood together in front of the five snow angels, and it was then that Merlin confessed to Rose that Uther's assumptions were true.

"I have been playing with the weather" he said softly in his mischievous tone.

She looked up to him, her eyes wide, her eyebrows raised in a look of shock and worry.

"Merlin, if you are caught!"

"Relax Rose, I'm right under Arthur's nose and he hasn't a clue! Would you like sun tomorrow?" he asked as they began to make their way back to their home; Gaius's apartments.

"Or a thunderstorm…or perhaps a rainbow…"

So the five snow angels laid in the clean, crisp, white snow in the courtyard of Camelot Castle each representing one of a group of five friends; a group of a new generation; the people of the future. And though the people would never again all be together in the same way again, the angels were a testimony to the five people; the group of the past that would make the future what it is and become the English Legend.

That snowy day signalled the beginning of the end and the start of something new.