Chapter 26: The Makings of Leaders

Everything was going so fast... It felt like it was only the day before that Arthur found out about his magic, and now he was knowingly allowing him to use it and even to bring others to help him along...

Merlin almost couldn't believe it. Overexcitement made his heart beat wildly while he assembled feverishly all the ingredients he needed to summon a sorcerers' gathering. They were those he had found in Morgana's drawer – a browsing of his magic book later on had confirmed their likely effect.

The mixture was ready. All he needed now was the final spell: "Gelathian Freond Holt," he muttered.

The potion glowed a dim orange, then vanished suddenly. It was done. There would be a gathering that night.

During the few hours left before sundown, he attended to his usual occupations back at the camp until, discreetly, he slipped away into the forest.

He was the first to arrive at the gathering. One after the other, he was joined by warlocks and witches, some he remembered seeing before, some he had never met. As usual, groups of discussion formed naturally.

Merlin waited until no one seemed to be arriving any more, and walked slightly away from the groups.

"Erm, everyone, can I have your attention please?" he called in a loud and clear voice.

All ongoing conversations suddenly stopped and all heads turned towards him. In one glance, he embraced the dozens of figures all staring at him. There were puzzled looks, and many interrogative whispers among them.

They were waiting. Now all he had to do was find the right words to convince them to come. But how was he supposed to do that? He had never talked in public like this before...

Merlin gulped uneasily while the other sorcerers began to show signs of impatience.

"So, what do you have to say?" one even pushed.

It didn't matter, Merlin reasoned. He would say it as it came.

"My name is Merlin, and I'm a servant at the castle, at the service of Prince Arthur," he said. "I summoned this gathering because I need your help."

The crowd's curiosity slowly turned into protest.

"What are you doing?"

"This is not the way!"

"No names, no identity!"

Merlin spoke louder to cover the rumour. "There's going to be a war with the Saxons soon, but -"

"I thought there was peace now!" someone interrupted.

"No, the Saxons breached the peace treaty," Merlin answered. "Camelot's troops won't be enough to stop them. We must give them a hand to defeat the Saxons."

The protest turned into outrage.

"What?"

"Are you crazy?"

"What has this Kingdom ever done for us, except hunt and kill us? Why should we help?"

After this question, the crowd fell silent, as if they were all asking Merlin what he had to answer to that.

"Because otherwise Camelot will lose this war and fall to the Saxons."

"Camelot has survived the last decades without us, and now all of a sudden it needs us?"

Merlin noticed the remark came from the same young man who had asked the previous question.

"This is our chance to show the Kingdom it should make do with us instead of trying to get rid of us!"

The other warlock snorted loudly. "We don't owe them anything. They'll forget about us the second they've won," he stated, and began to walk away.

Merlin watched, helpless, as others followed him.

"Wait, don't go!" he hailed. "Isn't that what those gatherings are for? Finding ways to make life easier for people like us?"

"That doesn't involve getting killed for Uther, the one who banned us in the first place," one of those leaving claimed. "Another was burned only a couple of days ago."

"Because he had allied with the Saxon King, not because of his magic!" Merlin countered. "Doesn't any of you want to change things? Show the Kingdom who we really are? I'm not asking you to do it for Uther but for yourselves!"

The sorcerers kept leaving one after the other. He had to find a way to make them stay. But he could think of none. It was his mistake, he hadn't anticipated exactly how reluctant they would be to help those who were their persecutors.

Powerless, he watched them walk away one by one, disappointed with himself. He had promised Arthur he would bring others, and he was failing.

And then, when he thought everyone was gone, he noticed a handful were still there, waiting in the darkness. His heart racing, he walked towards them, and smiled when he recognised the first of them.

"Elias," he greeted as he extended his arm to shake the other young man's hand. "I thought you said you wouldn't come to those gatherings again?"

Elias shrugged. "Well, I don't know, I felt this one was going to be special..."

"Thanks for staying," Merlin said and moved to the next.

He recognised the witch as well, she was a petite woman in the first group he'd joined at his very first gathering.

"Did you truly see an Afanc?" she asked.

"Yes," he confirmed.

"I'm Berlewen," she said and shook his hand too.

As Merlin moved to the others, he noticed they were all sorcerers he had shared stories with during a gathering.

"Fendrel," a young man introduced himself.

"Kay," another said.

"Mildgyth."

"Garridan."

Merlin's heart was filled with warmth and, to his own surprise, pride. All these people had agreed to stay and fight for Camelot because he had asked them to.

He finally reached the last of them, who removed the hood that had been up the entire time, revealing her face. Merlin's smile instantly vanished.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded coldly.

"Taking responsibility, like you suggested," Morgana - for it was her - answered.

"You should go," Merlin enjoined. "You already told Arthur like I asked you to."

"I didn't tell Arthur everything, only that I had been using the tunnel for personal use and might have left it open doing so. And you don't know half the truth about what I did."

Where was this confession coming from? Merlin wondered. Had his ultimatum and his own confession about his powers - on which she still hadn't commented - triggered some sort of consciousness over her actions? "Then what is it you did?"

Morgana gestured him to follow her a little away - she apparently didn't want to confide in front of all the others. After several steps, she spoke again.

"I didn't just let those sorcerers in, I recruited them for Colgrin myself," she revealed. "I summoned gathering after gathering to meet with them and discuss the plans prepared by Colgrin, until I had them meet with him for their final orders. I didn't intend what happened. Not all of it," she concluded.

Merlin was abashed to find out her full implication in the recent events. This was a thousand times worse than what he had imagined. Without her, Colgrin wouldn't have managed anything...

"Let me come with you fight the Saxons so that I can... make amends for what I did."

Merlin shook his head. She sounded genuinely sorry, but was she truly being honest or was she still spying for Colgrin? "How am I supposed to trust you after you told me all this?"

"Because you already trusted me with your secret?"

She was right, Merlin realised. She could have used this against him. But he was still unsure...

"Did someone ask you to ally with Colgrin?" he demanded.

It took her a half second too long to answer. "No," she finally whispered.

"Then who told you how to come to those gatherings, or how to summon them?"

Morgana remained silent. She didn't want to give an answer. And to Merlin, it was worse than one. He turned on his heels to walk back towards the other sorcerers without a word.

"Does it make any difference?" Morgana called behind him. "Would it change what I did, whether someone told me about the gatherings or I found out on my own? Would it be different if you were the one who had told me?"

Merlin could hear the reproach in the last sentence. He stopped and turned to face her again.

"I don't care if you don't agree with my opinions," Morgana spat. "I did what I did for good reasons, but I did it in a wrong way, I understand that now. All four of those sorcerers are dead, because of me, and this war, innocents are going to..." Her voice trailed off. "Let me come with you," she finished on an almost pleading tone.

Merlin stared at her disbelievingly. She had known from the start Colgrin wanted to kill Uther - he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt concerning Arthur - and had agreed to it; could she really not see the wrong in her intentions?

However, for the first time, she was showing signs of remorse and guilt. Shouldn't he encourage her in that direction, instead of cutting short that spark of conscience by rejecting her help?

"All right," he finally agreed, wondering how long it would take for him to regret his choice.

"This is your army?"

The disappointment in Arthur's voice was unmistakable as he and Merlin observed the seven hooded sorcerers from a distance, unbeknown to them, in the woods close to the camp, after Merlin had returned with them from the gathering. It had been agreed it would be unwise to let them know Arthur was aware of their presence for the battle.

"I never said I'd bring an army," Merlin protested, "only a few others to help."

"To help do what, plough the battlefield?" Arthur spat and shook his head. "I can't believe I agreed to put the Kingdom's destiny in the hands of those... peasants."

The Prince's lack of confidence greatly offended Merlin. "Well if you really think we'll fail, then sound the retreat like you initially intended," he suggested on an upset tone.

"It's too late for retreat," Arthur stated. "The scouts spotted some minor movements among the enemy's troops, they're going to attack very soon now, probably early in the morning." He sighed as he watched the sorcerers again. "Are you sure you can handle all of them?"

"Yes, they will do as I ask," Merlin assured with confidence, but made a mental note to keep a close eye on Morgana.

"Do we agree that there will be nothing detectable, no open attack, only invisible support for the soldiers?" Arthur demanded.

"I know you don't want any obvious intervention, but we could do so much more than just -"

"I said nothing detectable, Merlin!" Arthur scolded on the authoritative tone he usually used with his knights. "Nothing that could be identified as magic, this is critical! You can't be seen! If you can't get this into your head then it's no use attempting it!"

"Fine," Merlin capitulated in a whisper. "We're at your command, Sire."

"Good," Arthur acknowledged. "And if any of you is discovered, you're on your own," he added.

"That goes without saying," Merlin concurred. On their own, as always...

Arthur cast another look towards the group of sorcerers. "This is insane..." he muttered with defeatism. "Can you remind me how I agreed to this, exactly?"

"Remember when you said you wanted to make History?" Merlin began. "Then win this battle, allegedly lost without even being fought, one thousand against two, and it will become a legend. People will remember it for centuries to come!"

Arthur was staring at him silently. "Are you trying to give me a motivational speech?" he finally asked. "Because if you are, you should know this is the worst I've ever heard." He paused briefly then gestured Merlin to follow him. "Come with me, I'll show you on the map our troops positions for the battle, so we can decide how to deploy your... special unit."