So, here is that long overdue action you've been waiting for.


Chapter 27: Sorcerers' Shields

The sun appeared over the horizon and lit up the rows of soldiers and knights lining the walls and battlements of Camelot castle, whilst more stood on guard at the gate. Arthur turned to Merlin to see him holding onto his pendant – his gaze distant.

"Well?" the King asked.

"Elaine says that the Dromerd are preparing to transport. She's been left behind at the camp - held magically, I assume, and is worrying about how she is going to be able to escape."

"She should stay behind."

"She should yes but then, she is my daughter, after all."

"Huh," Arthur muttered and Merlin grinned at the response. "Well, how are they planning to get through your various shields?"

"Aah." The sorcerer had suddenly reeled, holding onto the battlement wall for support.

"Merlin! What is it?"

"They're here. A mass transport – just outside of the city. That was strong magic, Arthur – this won't be an easy fight."

"You'll be fine," said Arthur placing his hand on the warlock's shoulder and Merlin couldn't help but smile at the gentle reassurance.

Within moments a group of twenty stood outside the gatehouse. One lifted a hand, and the knights guarding the entrance were instantly and violently thrown aside.

"Mordred!" Merlin snarled, recognising the feel of the magic as much as the sorcerer himself. The whole group lifted hands up towards the castle and Merlin suddenly crumpled to his knees with another low cry.

"Merlin?" Arthur knelt down next to him, his hand back on his friend's shoulder.

"They're attacking the protection that I've put around the whole castle. I won't be able to hold such a large shield, Arthur, not like this …"

"Then don't try." He raised his voice so that all the knights could hear. "To the courtyard … you too, Merlin and then we'll just let them in on our terms."

"Alright, I suppose it will be easier to protect you when we're all closer."

"Good."

Merlin felt his shield on the outer wall start to buckle half way down the stairs and reluctantly let it go, just as Arthur and his elite knights had reached the square. At the same moment, fifteen of the sorcerers appeared in the courtyard in front of them and Merlin hastily created a smaller shield to protect Camelot's army from the very likely magical attack. However, it seemed it was not Arthur or his knights that the group were interested in and, as one, all fifteen sorcerers aimed strong beams of fire in the warlock's direction instead. Having no warning - no time to attack or think of anything clever, Merlin quickly put a small, strong defensive shield around himself and waited for their next move.

The Warlock's eyes flicked quickly to the rest of the square to find another small group had just arrived. Arthur was still pinned behind the shield that Merlin had created to protect him, which meant the King was unable to attack and, seeing that the strongest sorcerers seemed to be concentrating on him, Merlin decided to drop that shield so that the knights would be free to fight the less talented enemy.

However, as soon as he had dropped his protective shield, the other group of sorcerers put their own up in it's place. Merlin was now being held in place by the most powerful of the Dromerd - including Alvarr, whilst the others were preventing the soldiers from intervening. Despite the effort of holding his shield against the increasingly vicious attack, Merlin's eyes hunted within the enemy groups for those he knew, but could see no sign of Mordred or Morgana. He used that knowledge to spur him on and pushed some extra power through his shield, starting to turn it into a weapon against the small group of sorcerers that were holding him captive.

His pendant buzzed faintly - a signal from Artie who was obviously here in the square somewhere. A quick check revealed the young prince to be part of the group holding the knights in place. They were obviously the lesser sorcerers, and were only having to deal with those that had no magic at all. Where were the two most powerful? Where were the pair that Merlin really needed to worry about?

As if answering his silent questions, another transport whirlwind appeared a little to his left and, when it had cleared, Merlin saw that the Dromerd had been carefully placing all their pieces on the game board to their own advantage. Whilst these sorcerers had been keeping them busy, Morgana and Mordred had managed to get inside the palace to capture Gwen and Duran, and now Arthur and his family stood exposed in the centre of the courtyard, with the knights now pushed back to the walls - all quite unable to move behind the enemy's strong magical shield. Morgana walked towards the royal family with her trademark smirk and Merlin gave an angry growl and pushed his magic harder – frustrated at his inability to help. He smiled a little as he felt the shield pulse with his power and a few of the sorcerers fell to their knees at the unexpected attack.

"Mordred!" Alvarr called out in a strained voice. The younger man moved quickly towards Merlin's shield position and the two Dromerd swapped places.

"Hello, Emrys," said Mordred silently, raising his hand - rather over dramatically - and pushing his own spell against Merlin's shield. The advantage abruptly shifted and the warlock found himself quickly on his knees from the sudden extra power thrown his way. Mordred's magic was close to his own in strength and now Merlin had him plus fourteen lesser sorcerers to counter at the same time. He groaned as his shield began to waver. "Relax, Emrys, we're not here to kill you – just to subdue you."

"Not a chance," he threw back. The boy had grown into a man, but those eyes and that smile had not changed one bit. Merlin desperately tried to find some energy from somewhere so he could look up to see what was going on in the rest of the square.

"I thought they had three sons," said Alvarr, moving closer to Arthur. "Where's your other brat, Pendragon?"

"Away on a quest," the King replied calmly.

"Unfortunate, I was hoping to deal with the whole family in one go." Merlin glanced nervously over to Artie, willing him to stay quiet.

"So, are you cowards going to fight, or not?" said Arthur obviously frustrated by his inability to act.

"We are fighting the only true warrior here as we speak," said Alvarr, pointing towards Merlin who was still on his knees from the strain of trying to counter Mordred. "Once Emrys is subdued then we will happily turn our attention to you – never fear." Merlin felt his pendant buzz again. Artie was hooded, his head turned towards him. A message was squeezed through the pendant. A question … a plea.

"No, stay out of it, you're not strong enough," Merlin replied.

Artie's own reply was just an emotion – almost amusement. Merlin gritted his teeth as he translated it. "With you trapped, there's no hope for our family anyway." Of course, the boy was quite right.

Seemingly frustrated by Merlin's inability to give up, Alvarr signalled for a few more sorcerers to join the ones surrounding the warlock. Merlin was not at all surprised to see Artie in the group, moving quickly and quietly forwards, holding a hand up as if attacking, but obviously not using his magic at all. As the prince got closer to the edge of the shield, Merlin simply held his pendant and focused, ensuring that the two stones' connection would allow Artie to move easily through the barrier.

"Now, quickly ..." the Warlock urged and Artie walked through the shield without any effort. A shout from another sorcerer in this group quickly brought everyone's attention to this side of the courtyard.

"What, how did he do that? Can anyone else get through …?" someone asked, but Merlin was struggling to focus now; that last bit of magic had used up the last of his energy reserves and, as spots started to dance before his eyes, he knew that he was moments away from loosing consciousness.

Artie moved quickly to kneel beside him and, to his surprise, grabbed the stone of Merlin's pendant - offering his own at the same time. The warlock became suddenly more aware as the sudden connection appeared to return a little of his power to him.

"How did you know about that?" he asked.

"Elaine," Artie replied and Merlin was surprised at how easily he could hear the prince when he was convinced that he did not have enough power to communicate this way.

"I need your magic."

"Take it - as much as you need. Keep this shield holding."

Using the pendants, Merlin drew a little magical strength from his companion - just enough to be able to look up again to see what was going on. He noticed the three leaders exchange a confused look and also saw surprise from Arthur and his family as they finally recognised Art. Morgana looked quickly between the two groups and gave a sudden, humourless laugh.

"Well now ... it looks like our new physician was a spy. Look at his complexion - look at his features - there's Arthur's other son." Artie knelt up taller, still holding the pendant and lifted his chin; a Pendragon through and through, Merlin thought proudly. He wasn't the only one. Arthur was looking straight at them and he saw the king give his middle son one short, brief nod of approval. The emotions transferred through the pendant were overwhelming and Merlin found a sudden rush of power accompany it."

"Good, keep hold of those emotions, Art. Pride and love can work to our advantage. Stay strong. Don't let them hurt our family."

Merlin hoped that the Dromerd had no idea that he was being lent power - they would not have thought the boy strong enough or understood the extra enchantment the warlock had put on Art's stone that had the ability to focus and increase the prince's power and was now doing the same for him. Merlin found that amusing - it had been a silly idea at the time, something to help keep Artie safe, and he had no idea how much use it would be to him now. He kept his head down and continued to absorb the boy's power, plus the extra he was now accessing because of the pendant's enchantment - trying hard not to alert the sorcerers to how much stronger he was beginning to feel.

"Well," said Alvarr. "That's fine by me. Now we've got the whole Pendragon family here."

Merlin suddenly felt a vibration through both pendants and groaned. "Now he really does have the whole family."

"What was that?" Artie asked.

"Elaine - I just felt her transport. No idea how she did that, I haven't taught her." Merlin felt more emotion from Art and, thanks to their connection, could now sense exactly how strong his feelings for his daughter were. He found the strength to be grateful that the boy was only feeling pride and affection at the moment and nothing else ... that distraction might prove a little too much to handle right now. His magical strength was slowly starting to return but - nowhere near enough to attack or risk dropping his defensive shield.

xoxOxox

"Mother, please, you must stop this." Elaine had run in through the gatehouse entrance and headed towards her family, but had been intercepted by Morgana.

"Elaine – how did you get here?"

"Please, don't hurt my family."

"Merlin is perfectly safe," she said quietly. "We have no intention of hurting him. Honestly, if the prophecies are to be believed, we couldn't kill him, even if we tried."

"Please, you don't understand. You've misunderstood everything."

"There is no need to be afraid. We have to do this. The Pendragons are the only thing stopping us from bringing magic back to Camelot."

"No, you can't hurt them. I won't let you!" Morgana frowned at Elaine's strong words.

"I'm sorry, Elaine. This is why I wanted you away from this. I didn't want you involved – I didn't want you hurt."

"But, I am involved and, if you are going to kill my family then – obviously I'm going to hurt."

"But, I just explained …"

"Enough!" said Alvarr. "We have to do this now – whilst Emrys is still bound. We'll deal with 'Walt' later but, for now, we have King, Queen, heir and youngest prince – and I'm going to finish what Morgause started all those years ago with Uther."

Suddenly Elaine pulled free of Morgana's gentle grip and stood boldly in front of Arthur.

"No! I told you that I would not let you harm them."

"So be it ..." said Alvarr raising a hand.

"No ... wait!" Morgana cried as he started to chant his spell. Elaine was quicker and with her own enchantment and a flash of gold eyes, she created a faint shield that could briefly be seen shimmering around the royal family. Alvarr's fire-bolt simply bounced straight off it.

"I thought you said she had no magic?" said Alvarr. Elaine lifted her chin, smiling slightly as she saw the look of total confusion on the enemies' faces.

"Why are you protecting them?" Morgana asked.

"Because they are my family."

"I-I don't understand … "

"Gwen fed me, Arthur adopted me. They are my mother and father, the princes are my brothers." Morgana looked totally devastated by the news, shaking her head and taking a step away from her daughter.

"I should have never …" she turned to Merlin with a glare. "Why? I wanted you to raise her. I thought you'd keep her away from them." Her father was still kneeling, apparently weak and powerless but the rather wicked grin he gave and the glint in his eyes suggested to Elaine that much of his tiredness was an act. She quickly grabbed her pendant.

"Of course, you are really my father …"

"I understand – you're doing well, Elflet but ... be careful, I'm not able to help you yet."

"They were the ones that loved me and fed me. Even when they knew I had magic they did not turn me away," she continued, now confident about the direction she needed to push Morgana in. "Why did you think they would? Why did you think they would harm me - their only daughter? Perhaps even Uther wouldn't have killed his beloved ward - his own flesh and blood - if he'd known the truth. Perhaps he would have loved you just as much as Arthur loves me."

"No! Don't say that. You do not understand … you cannot understand what it was like back then."

"Enough of this," said Alvarr and Elaine saw him look over towards the shield holding Merlin but ... not to her father but to someone outside – Mordred. "The rest of you – take Mordred's place." The last of the sorcerers went over but, before Elaine had a chance to register what was happening, Mordred had turned his attention away from Merlin and aimed a powerful spell straight at her, before instantly turning his attention back to her father. She gritted her teeth and braced herself against the attack, but her shield instantly shattered on impact, and she cried out as pain coursed through her body. Alvarr had now moved forwards towards her, his hand raised, and she desperately tried to ignore the fact that every part of her was stinging and find some, small amount of strength to recast the spell and protect her family.

"You consider yourself a Pendragon?" Alvarr asked, holding up a hand towards her. "Then – you shall die just like one."

"No!" Seven voices called out in shock; four from behind, two in her head - amplified by the pendant - and another in front of her as the young sorceress desperately tried to find a little magic to defend herself. She lifted her head to see Alvarr's triumphant smile as his eyes flashed gold.

"No! Elaine!"

xoxOxox


A/N "...…..."

(sorry, the author of this fanfic isn't here at the moment – she's run away to hide from all the readers who are now screaming curses at her for leaving them with such a horrible cliff hanger)

So, would you like the next chapter soon then?

E/N Just tweaked the last bit about the voices that Elaine could hear, as Leaving-my-mark thought it was too confusing originally. Who's calling out at the very end? Well, I'm assuming all of them but it might be the person who's pov is up next.

29/2/12