final chapter! :'( i hope you have enjoied reading this, the reviews i've gotten sugest you have. which is good, thank you for reading it. everthing i write sounds so cool in my head and i'm never quite sure it looks as cool on paper, anyways.
i dont own merlin. but the fact it returns tonight is lessening the pain of that revelation :D
now, after last chapters wonderfully misleading title. i bring you...
Le morte de Uthur
Hunith gasped when the infirmary doors were thrown open and the king came rushing in carrying the limp form of Gaius, she felt tears start to fall. They started to fall properly when she saw that uthur himself was trying not to cry. "Mother, be strong" Merlin said as he entered behind the king. Everyone in the room went silent, Merlin's voice had been deep and powerful. Commanding and unwavering the air around him crackled with un cast magic and everything about him screamed 'in charge' uthur laid Gaius down the king whispered "save him I know you can, save him" to the warlock and Merlin surprised Hunith by shaking his head. "it is not my place to. He alone can save himself now." Gaius's helpers were all gathering around now uthur rose to his feet and unsheathing his sword held it to Merlin's neck.
"heal! Him!" Merlin shook his head. "you misunderstand sire, I can not! What ever that hex was supposed to do Gaius counteracted it with deep magic! He is alive I can tell that much but for me to try to help him would only hinder things!" Hunith nodded before quietly she said "the prayer of Avalon. It must have been." Uthur looked at her for explanation lowering his sword a little. Hunith continued laying a soothing cloth on her 'brother's' fore head. "the prayer of Avalon is deep magic known only to those descended from the first mages. Gaius and I are such. I like the rest of my family rejected magic and chose to live life not learning any. Gaius as you know did not." Merlin stood there listening, he had never known magic ran quite so deeply in his family. "the prayer can be recited by anyone 'Avalon protect me' but only those with Gaius's level of power or more can tap into its true meaning. It transforms any water on your person into water form the lake of Avalon, magic is laced in that water and properly used can protect a person." She placed a hand on Gaius's shoulder. "was there water near him when you found him?" she asked uthur and Merlin. Merlin nodded "ice. He was next to fragments of ice, that's what uthur said. I was busy erasing the person who did this from existence"
he said it so calmly that uthur felt a shiver down his spine. What the boy said was true. Or rather almost true, for uthur didn't even remember Gaius being attacked by anyone, Merlin hadn't just killed the man he had made it so the man never existed, and had only broken a slight sweat. What made the incident more horrifying was Merlin's look of remorse just after, like he hadn't meant to do it, like his magic had acted of its own accord. Uthur was brought back to the present by Hunith smiling and saying "clever man." She looked at her son. "Gaius's first spell was a cooling spell so he could sooth patients more easily. He could make snowflakes by the age of 17. the waters of Avalon are at their strongest when frozen, no soul can enter or leave the isle of Avalon when the lake is frozen. Gaius must have made a wall of," Merlin cut across now looking and acting his normal lovable self. "Avalon ice! That's impressive. It saved him. Avalon did protect him not fully but enough, sire he will recover eventually I don't know when, he is in undying rest." The king nodded before his face turned grim again.
Hunith jumped to her feet. "Gaius was harmed trying to gather water for the patients. They still need it, you, you and you" she pointed at three young women. "prepare bandages and take stock of what remedies we have. I need someone to go fetch water." Mavis, Jane's mother, shot her hand up in the air volunteering herself, sir Malcolm who had been standing quietly in the corner rushed forward and said he would escort her. Hunith continued taking charge of what was now, by default, her infirmary. Merlin turned to uthur two pairs of thunderous eyes connecting before uthur growled "this ends now" and walked out Merlin unsheathed his sword and followed.
Arthur and the remainder of his men including his specially selected squad of knights reached the edge of the lower town and were horrified to see commoner and knight alike laying dead in the streets, the further they went the more sorcerers and soldiers they came across Arthur and his companions continued through backstreets while the rest of Camelot's army caused a distraction they rounded a corner and Gwen blocked a sword with her axe and dodged another before a female voice called "stop!" a huge smile of relief broke across Gwen's face when she saw that it was Jane who was accompanied by Bellanor, Gwen decided she didn't want to know how Bellanor had beaten them back. the two swords she had been fighting were held by one slightly scrawny looking teen who had a bandaged arm and wore a dented helmet that was a little to large for him. Arthur recognised the helmet as that of sir graham. Which meant this was his son James, it also meant the kind knight who had given Arthur his first training session was dead.
"what happened" Leon asked as they started walking again. "the sisters, they realised teleporting their men in wasn't working so they teleported into the lower town and started more direct attacks there were men sir, normal men among the magic ones." It was the young man who spoke. Arthur hid a smile as the young man and Galahad moved closer together drawn towards a teen close to their own age. Jane had noticed it too. She continued recounting what had happened. "lord Emrys and Hunith of ealdor consulted with the king and his council and it was decided that the women and commoners should be allowed to defend their homes and the citadel if they chose to. But the enemy is savage and crazed we have been dodging in and out of empty homes trying to stay one step ahead until we could meet up with reinforcements."
"a wise tactic" Lancelot said. Smiling at the young lady who blushed at the attention. "Arthur you need to get back to the citadel now. I teleported here and heard reports," she took a deep shuddering breath. "Gaius has been stricken he is being held this side of death by magic cast by himself but Merlin found him as did your father. They mean to end this and soon" Arthur had already broken into a run when he heard mention of Gaius's condition, the old man was like a second father to him the one who would grumble good naturedly as he treated the young princes wounds when he was a boy the one who taught him to read and write and later had taught him how to identify certain specific herbs when out on patrol in case the prince needed quick healing. He didn't look to see if the others were following he knew they would be, each of them were fond of Gaius or Merlin or both and if Merlin and uthur were going to play the final game then they were going to be there.
Uthur came out into the court yard and saw a whole load of sorcerers and soldiers wearing Cenred's or the sisters crest and up on the battlements to one side of the court yard he saw his daughter in black clothes and shining chain mail a sword in one hand and fire in the other and a smirk on her face. Next to her stood morgouse. They looked down at Merlin and uthur and laughed ordering their men to kill the new arrivals. Merlin whispered. "stay close and stay behind, trust me" then with a roared spell and clenching of fists Merlin crumbled half the archway at the citadels entrance and threw the large boulders of rubble through the air before slamming them down on the men in the court yard who weren't Camelot guards or knights.
As soon as he had done if he ran out and jumped on one before hovering one slightly higher. Uthur charged up behind him realising what the boy was doing, Merlin was making a staircase! In mid air. Uthur didn't look down or behind him he knew instinctively that every boulder he left was falling to the ground behind him. As they reached the ramparts he realised Merlin had also been shielding them from hexes, spells and curses hurled by the sister's. "Morganna you look divine" Merlin said conversationally as he leapt the final gap onto the ramparts. The two sisters switched to sword fighting now that he was close, he parried and blocked the blows or Morganna's sword while uthur moved in to fight morgouse. Morgouse got more and more erratic and furious with each bow she tried to land while Morganna silently seethed at Merlin. Things were going Merlin's way until morgouse laid a hand on uthur and in maelstrom of magic they disappeared and reappeared on the open corridor on the first floor across from them, he turned to see Morganna do the same. together with magic and swords they got hold of uthur and lead him away Merlin roared.
Arthur and the others heard an almighty rumble then crash as the ground shook. They ran faster dodging spells and swords as they cut their way through to the castles entrance they saw felt a final thud as something big landed and cracked the courtyard ground. Arthur saw morgouse whisk his father away from Merlin's side and Morganna follow he heard Merlin's roar and paused as a large shadow passed over his group of men and three women. He smiled despite himself and ran inside the castle.
Merlin jumped off the edge of the ramparts over the courtyard and landed on something solid but unstable he rolled across regained his balance, he vaulted over the ridge of kilgarrah's back and ran along his other wing. using the upwards motion he launched himself onto the corridor and rolled again to reduce his momentum. He barely paused to breath before he ran after the two sisters and captive king. He knew where they were headed so reaching out with his magic he spoke directly into his sisters mind "throne room" he ran onwards past the bodies of fallen soldiers and guards and servants the sisters were not letting anything slow them down, and that thought sickened the young warlock. He threw himself over the stone balustrade and plummeted to the lower level using magic to cushion his fall. And then he ran into the throne room.
Morganna and morgouse both had their swords pointed at uthur, who in tern had his sword pointed at morgouse and a shield blocking his daughter. "ah Merlin just in time. I'm going to kill the king and then I will slowly torture you to death," Morgouse said cheerily. Merlin ignored her instead focusing on Morganna. "Morganna please you have a choice! It is not to late for you to seek redemption." The young witch glared at him. "it is not me who should seek redemption, you abandoned your kind. You would rather side with this monster." She yelled pointing her sword at uthur.
Merlin sighed. "you fail to see your way will never work. You fail to see that in trying to rid the world of him you have become the bigger monster." She growled at him and shot a spell at him that he waved aside. "you dare! He has slaughtered thousands of magical people and creatures!" Merlin lost his patience and threw a silencing spell at her. "Enough! You listen here princess, he started the purge because a witch tricked him into bargaining his wife's life for that of his son, it broke his heart and because he is a pendragon he reacted the only way he knew how, war. I do not deny that he has wronged our kind, sure fine lets call him a monster but tell me how many of our kind has he personally killed" neither Morganna or morgouse had an answer. "sure he ordered their deaths and he probably enjoyed hearing their screams because he truly believed them to be evil but did he light the fire? Did he wield the axe? Did he attach the drowning stone? No but you" he scowled and his voice which had been getting louder and louder dropped into a dangerous whisper. "oh you my dear are something else you have none of his reasons and you actually have lit the fire and wielded the axe and attached the drowning stone and you have revelled in it."
"you sicken me." He said in finishing, lifting the silencing spell. She glared at him but some of the bravado behind her venom had gone. "he would have killed me" Merlin barked a humourless laugh. "you never gave him the choice, he has allowed me to live, and he knows I released the dragon if he can forgive me who has done Camelot such a wrong. do you really seriously believe he would have turned you away? You of all people could have changed his mind." Morganna saw Arthur enter the throne room and before Merlin knew what was happening, morgouse swing her sword at Uthur.
Merlin rushed forward to help but was blocked by Morganna's sword cutting into his side he spun round and started fighting back all the while keeping an eye on uthurs fight. Arthur was shouting and everyone was trying to get close it was at that moment Merlin noticed the crystals laid out ins circle around where the sister and he were. He smiled despite himself they had waited for him to cross the thresh hold before activating, he would not escape. He pushed Morganna away and she screamed as she hit the wall of magic trapping them in, smoke rose from the back of her dress, morgouse screamed with rage and before Merlin could do anything she had plunged her sword through uthurs armour and heart, but in the same moment Uthur had done the same.
They both reeled back leaving the swords imbedded Merlin saw a shimmer in the air and knew morgouse had died, her magic dying with her. Morganna was screaming in the back ground but Merlin didn't hear it, he was focused on the king. "sire I'm going to remove the sword I can heal this you'll be ok." Uthur grabbed Merlin's hand "no! no don't it is my" he roared with pain as Merlin removed the sword and threw it away. "its my time to go, I know the price Emrys, it is one I'm not willing to pay." Merlin felt a tear welling up In his eye, he had failed Arthur he had failed to keep the king alive. He knew more people were coming he sensed Arthur being held back behind him. "at least let me aid you, I can take the pain I can ease your passing" Merlin said quietly. Uthur nodded and sighed as he felt Merlin's magic seep through him he saw pain cross Merlin's face. "Arthur!" the king called and Arthur came running to his side grasping his fathers hand and murmuring words no one but the king could hear. "you must not blame Merlin, for you to be born cost your mother's life for me to continue living would cost yours." He coughed, "trust in him, he is magic he is nature." Uthur said quietly.
Arthur felt the tears come and it was only now he realised what a fool he had been to tell Merlin no man was worth your tears because until you loose your father or a brother you can not know the true pain. He took a ragged breath "father I am going to break all your rules, please for give me." Uthur smiled weakly, "oh my boy, they need to be broken for your destiny to be fulfilled. I am so. Gwaine." What he would have said will never be known for it was in that moment king uthur breathed his final breath. Arthur stood up full of rage and he stormed towards where Merlin was holding Morganna prisoner using magic. He went to strike her down but then Merlin spoke.
"no! death is the easy option the kind option, she deserves no such thing" his voice was so clear so pure so unyielding that Arthur stopped and the room went silent. "I am tired of death I am tired of killing." He said. "well I'm not, I'll kill you all!" Morganna raged. Merlin didn't even flinch. "no you won't I bind your magic" she stiffened at his words and then slumped. "I have bound your magic you can't do anything. Arthur she is your responsibility, what other than death do you deem a suitable punishment?" Arthur had calmed down a bit, his fathers last words 'trust in him, he knows' going through his head.
"I Arthur pendragon patriarch of the pendragon dynasty and older brother of you Morganna here by banish you from Camelot and any of our allied kingdoms if you so much as set foot in territory belonging or allied to Camelot you will be killed." She started to breath easy there were still enemies of Camelot, she could still use her name to get an audience with them, but then Arthur spoke again. "I also strip you of your name and title, you no longer deserve the name given through love and honour, you are a monster, less than human, Morgan. Le Fay, Morgan the fairy, Morgan the peasant Morgan the animal, Morgan the creature." Everyone looked uncomfortable at the harshness of his tone knowing that where ever she went now those words would haunt her, they would precede her. She looked to Merlin believing him to be the more reasonable of the two. He sighed sadly. "Morgan I'm truly sorry it has come to this, you should have trusted in us, I will give Morgouse's body to the druids to deal with" she nodded fervently knowing it was the only courtesy she would get and was lucky he had even deemed to do so. "you shouldn't have recited that spell so close to me, and shouldn't wear that crystal with such pride" a puzzled look crossed her face, before she looked down, at the crystal used for teleporting. she looked up fear in her eyes. Merlin pointed at her chest at the crystal. "away from here, deliver there. I banish you" with his words a maelstrom of magic engulfed her and she was gone.
There was a deathly silence no one knowing what to do sir Malcolm had arrived with Hunith and when he saw the scene he walked forward and unsheathed his sword going down on one knee in front of Arthur hands clasped in the hilt of his sword the tip touching the ground as he did so he quietly said. "the king is dead, long live the king." Arthur fought back tears as the rest of the knights followed suit as those with out weapons joined in the kneeling. After a moment Arthur mirrored the action and said above the noise. "for the love of Camelot." When he rose to his feet the others gathered in the throne room stood as well.
"Merlin I trust you have a good reason for showing respect to the woman who killed my father" he sounded more weary than angry, Merlin guessed the anger would come later or maybe it had already passed. "giving Morgouse's body to the druids to dispose of using the rituals of the old religion we show that the doors for negotiation are open we show that the two major opposing forces are now dead and it is time for a new generation and a new way of tackling differences." Arthur looked at the man next to him.
"you are so sure that is my intention?" he asked Merlin his eyebrow raised. Merlin smiled tiredly. "Yes I heard you tell your father you were going to break all his rules. I also know that you are not foolish enough to fully discard them. Magic in the wrong hands is still dangerous." Arthur actually laughed, enjoying the distraction from what had just happened he felt numb and was thankful that Hunith and sir Malcolm had already whisked his fathers body away to clean it up and make it presentable enough for people to see because no doubt people would want to pay their last respects. He placed an arm across Merlin's shoulders. "you know I was serious, if you truly love Tristain and were to ever want to take him as your consort and wife" Merlin jabbed Arthur in the ribs. "ok not wife, husband? Well I would pass the law allowing it." He spun Merlin round into a brotherly hug. "I mean it Merlin you are my blood brother you are the only family I have left, you are the second most important person in the world to me now" Merlin stepped back, "only second" he said looking over Arthurs shoulder seeing Gwen trying to remain discreetly hidden. "yes well obviously Gwen is the most important. She is my only love the light of my life the most radiantly beautiful woman I all the lands and my future," his sentence drifted off as he saw Merlin struggling not to laugh. "and she's standing behind me isn't she" he said blushing slightly. Merlin nodded no longer trusting his ability to speak without laughing, he bowed to Gwen as she stepped forward he then straightened up. "I'll see you later, King Arthur."
the greif, tristains secret, gwaines role in all this and many other things will be covered or touched on at the start of the sequal, i dont know when i will start posting that. not for a week or two for sure, possibly more.
ihope you enjoied reading this leave a review? also...
M E R L I N I S B A C K ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
