Not a very exciting chapter I'm afraid, but we're really close to beating the number of reviews I've had for a story (98)! Come one everyone, we can do it (:

And for anyone who's interested, I have once again sent Poppy Girl off to agents, fingers re-crossed (:

Chapter 21 – Long Live the King

Merlin had only been back a few minutes before Gaius returned to the Great Hall. The first thing he noticed was how shaken his Uncle looked.

Arthur still wasn't impressed by the fact that Merlin had randomly ran off into the night even when he had returned. Merlin could tell by the scowl the Prince gave him when he entered the Great Hall again, surprised by how warm the inside was compared to the out. Luckily Merlin was spared by a lecture and a shout by Gwen, who distracted Arthur by asking him to help re-dress Sir Leon's head wound. The Knight was still unconscious, but his cheeks had a little more colour, and his wound had finally stopped bleeding.

Merlin wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or Gwen was distracting Arthur purposefully for him, but he gave her a nod of gratitude anyway when she glanced up at him. He then made his way over to Gaius, who had a worried look on his face that he did not like.

"How's the King?" Merlin asked in a low voice, he didn't want to worry anyone if the answer was bad news. "I hope my magic didn't do too much damage, I swear it was meant to do nothing but put him to sleep!" He added hastily. He was still feeling a little guilty about casting the spell on Uther, but what else could he have done?

Gaius looked up at him, his eyes seemed quite far away. "Any magic would do great damage to a King like Uther, Merlin," he said sternly. "But it was the earth quake that did the worst," he muttered to himself.

Merlin frowned, he didn't quite understand, or perhaps he didn't want to understand.

"Is Uther hurt?" He asked.

Gaius took a deep breath; he wasn't sure what to say. Yes Uther was hurt, he was dead! But at the same time, if he was dead, he wasn't hurt. This, for some reason, was preventing him on telling Merlin the truth. He couldn't understand why, he had told people bad news like this before, it had always been hard, but it had never been impossible, not really. Perhaps he was in shock? Or perhaps he couldn't bear the thought of telling anyone that, after such a terrible disaster, there had been another tragedy, and poor Arthur was now King.

Finally, Gaius spoke.

"Yes, but I have no cure for Uther." He looked Merlin straight in the eyes as he said this.

It wasn't difficult to get the silent message that hid in Gaius' eyes. Merlin understood, Uther was dead.

Merlin was surprised to say the least, he had not thought that the King would die, he had survived the earth quake after all. Despite this, he wasn't quite sure what to think about the King's death.

Uther hadn't been a very pleasant King, in fact, he had been a dreadful one. For twenty years people with any connection to magic were hunted down and slaughtered like animals, guilty of a crime or not. It was impossible to forgive Uther for what he had done, and even Merlin could see why some people wanted him dead, why there had been so many attempts. However at the same time, he had spent the last two years trying to stop Uther being killed. He did it because it was never right to kill anyone; he did it because he believed that Arthur was not quite ready to be King himself.

But now Uther was dead, when no one was even attempting to try and hurt him.

What had the Great Dragon told him when the ground shook a few minutes ago? With that horrible smile that Merlin did not like?

Now, everything changes.

Oh yes, Merlin thought as he glanced over at Arthur, who was still sitting beside Sir Leon's bed and talking to Gwen, everything had changed.

"How are we going to tell Arthur?" Merlin whispered, turning back to Gaius, not wishing anyone to know what they were talking about.

Gaius sighed, "I don't know," he replied honestly. He too was feeling mixed emotions about the King's death. True, over the past twenty years Uther had been little more than a tyrant, but at the same time, he was a friend to Gaius, and he could have saved him from his death, he was sure of it. "We can't tell him now, he's got too much on his mind, he's hardly slept and he's been constantly worrying. I don't want to give him even more grief to cope with."

Merlin nodded, Gaius was right in what he said, but how he was going to keep this sort of secret away from Arthur was going to be tricky to say the least.

Silence fell between the two men. The Great Hall around them was still filled with the sound of life. Only two people knew that outside of the Great Hall, another life had been lost.

"It's not all lost Gaius," Merlin suddenly muttered, looking at the people surrounding him.

There were crowds of people, but over the days, recognisable faces were appearing amongst them for those that had been helping them

There was the maid called Belle, who was still sitting beside Sir Leon, with that look of stubborn determination on her face, even though there was nothing she could do, she didn't even seem to notice that the Prince (and now King) was sitting opposite her. The little girl Amelia, her eyes heavy with tiredness, was sitting on her father's lap, they were too far away to be heard, but by the way their lips were moving, it looked like they were singing. A few people around them started to do the same, creating a low hum, a tune of hope. The servant who had found Gwen, looking just as worried as he had first approached Arthur, was also amongst the crowds of people, looking like he wanted to run out into the castle to find more victims, but now it was dark it was not allowed. Aldwin would be lying on a bed somewhere, but Merlin couldn't see him.

"What do you mean?" Gaius asked.

"The earth quake's finally stopped," Merlin told him, "we won't even get any more copies, or whatever they're called. The castle is still standing, and it won't shake any more." Merlin found himself smiling; it felt strange, like he hadn't done it in a while.

"How do you know?" Gaius questioned Merlin. He was not smiling, but his voice sounded a little more hopeful, a little more relieved. However, he hated to say it, but he couldn't quite trust what Merlin had just said, it was almost too good to be true, and how had he worked it out?

There was a pause. "Ah," said Merlin, everything seemed to be coming at a price now, even a simple piece of information. "You know that dragon you told me about*?"

Gaius nodded, his eyebrow looked like it was about to rise again.

"Well it's, um," Merlin fiddled with his hands as he fumbled over the words to use. "It…he's, umm, sort of…escaped."

The eyebrow shot up. "Escaped?" Gaius repeated.

Merlin nodded, "afraid so. I caught him just as he was about to leave the castle and Camelot all together, he told me that it was the last 'aftershock'." He explained.

Gaius held back a sigh, he wasn't sure why he felt disappointed about the fact that the Great Dragon had finally gone, like Merlin, he relied on the dragon for advice. "Well, that's another thing that's changed now," he commented.

Before Merlin could reply to this statement, Sir Leon stirred.

Arthur, who had just been sitting next to him but was about to move away, turned back and hurried back to the bed. Belle moved closer to Sir Leon on her chair, clutching his hand in both of hers as she watched the Knight gently moving. Gaius and Merlin rushed over too when Sir Leon's eyes began to open.

The first thing Sir Leon saw when his eyes slowly came into focus, were the bright eyes of Belle, looking down at him.

Sir Leon wasn't quite sure of what to make of this strange situation he was in. The last thing he remembered was stumbling to the castle kitchens in not a very Knightly manner. Now he was lying on a bed, somewhere he knew he recognised, but it was hard to tell from the ceiling, looking up into the eyes of the maid he had been attempted to rescue. As he turned his head slowly, wincing slightly as a dull ache pounded his forehead, he came across the faces of Arthur, Gwen, Gaius and Merlin staring down at him. He didn't remember ever getting so much attention.

Suddenly, Arthur's concerned face broke into a smile, and then he laughed.

"I wish you wouldn't scare me like that Sir Leon!" He told the Knight. Arthur sounded happier than he had in a long time, and he was still laughing.

Sir Leon too, managed a smile. "I'll try not to my Lord." He said.

Everyone else smiled at this, too.

After a few minutes, Merlin knew that his services weren't really needed, Sir Leon was perfectly safe in the hands of Arthur, Gaius and Belle, and he was looking a lot better. He took the opportunity to stand back and watch the scene before him.

Arthur had been sitting, and still was sitting, next to the bed of a Knight. A Knight that was just one person, any other King would shrug their shoulders and say it wouldn't matter. But Arthur had been the one to take Sir Leon to the Great Hall when he fell into trouble, and made sure he had got the proper care. He was now sitting there, smiling, talking and even laughing with the Knight, as if there hadn't been any earthquake. Gwen sat beside him, her arm wrapped around his waist, assuming that no one would notice.

Merlin also found himself smiling at this sight. Yes Arthur was at times annoying, mean, a prat even. But the Great Dragon had told Merlin that Camelot would soon be a great Kingdom, with a great King. And Merlin could see it happening, despite everything, he saw a great King sitting beside a future Queen, looking perfectly happy and doing what was right for his Kingdom.

This time yesterday, the future of Camelot seemed very dark and solemn, but now there was a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel.

Merlin's smile broadened at this, and he thought the words:

Long live the King.

*I can't remember when exactly Gaius does tell Merlin about the Dragon, despite the fact that he already knew, but we'll just pretend he's already been told! (: