34 The greatest dream that ever was
"Magic is flowing back into the real world" Algernon said distraughtly. "Can't you feel it? Or are you so blinded by routine and your own importance that you have lost all sense of magic?"
"It is impossible to reclaim the Blessed Isle's power from inside the human world" the Elder retorted, but not very convincingly. "Morgause is dead, and only she…."
"Damn you, you wakened Morgana and Merlin from a spell Morgause once cast. And Armand has what's left of Morgause in his power! He's pulling us back. The torrents of magic flowing back are killing Merlin. He can't withstand it, it's too much, even for him!"
"He's the magic incarnate. Surely magic itself wouldn't harm him….."
"Great Mother, are you deaf as well as blind, man. Merlin, for all his singular powers, is but one man, with one body, to withstand the combined powers of a High Priestess and a High Master, to withstand the energy of all magic flowing back in one great wave – Merlin is made of flesh and bone, just like the rest of us!"
"I do not know what we Elders could do…."
"Call the two dozen, you must support him!"
The Elder kept quiet for a second. "I won't!" he then stated. "And even if I did, they wouldn't come."
Algernon didn't trust his ears. "What…." he said disbelievingly…. And suddenly, it came to him. The shock, the revulsion that came with realization made him tremble. "You knew this would happen!" he said, slowly rising to his feet, leaving Merlin on the ground. "You want it to happen! You're on Armand's side….."
The time for pretence was finally over. The Elder straightened his shoulders and raised his chin. "Frankly, we the Elders couldn't care less for the High Master!"
"But you're surrendering us all to him!"
"Armand of Morgwyn is but one man, too. Let him come, let him reclaim the Isle, let him lead us from this living death, from this gilded glass-cage Morgause has imprisoned us in, back into the real world – and then we'll deal with him."
"This was never about some new dream spells, was it. This is your escape plan to the real world."
"And how helpful it was, Algernon, that you've always taken us for fools!"
Algernon laid his hand on the temple wall for support. "You're sacrificing the life of the only warlock capable to keep Armand in check once he's conquered us."
"The fight against Merlin will weaken the High Master, as much as this fight will waste all energy left in the sword and scabbard. Excalibur will be nothing but a blade when this is done!"
"The last of the Dragonlords will die."
"And the Last of the Great Dragons with him. Look around you, Algernon. Emrys is dying, do you see Khilgarrah anywhere?"
Algernon did as he was told. But for the heap of black clouds over the western horizon that was so far the only visible sign of Armand's ongoing attack on the shield that separated the Isle from the human world, the sky was clear. No sign of the mighty beast that was Merlin's most powerful ally. All about the village, people were going about their daily business. Unmoved. Uninterested. Trust had long since been turned into blindness.
"Yes, it was good of you to withdraw to the forest as you did, friend Algernon" the Elder continued. "We could prepare for Armand's attack in peace and quiet. Now magic will flow back, and it will spread, from stream to rivulet to millions of small trickles. There'll never be a magic war of mass-destruction again! The balance will be restored."
"With the Blessed Isle as the world's only centre of magic and power strong enough to keep it so!"
"Naturally" the Elder confirmed as calm as you please. "The followers of the Great Mother will rule once more, and all the others will sink into the dust for good. Eternal peace. Wasn't that what you've always wanted? Freedom and Rights for magicians? For those magicians who follow the right path!"
"Your path!"
"Ours is the only path that leads to real freedom and justice!"
Algernon stared at the other's calm, indifferent face. He searched for words, but they evaded him. It was as if the Elder's self-assurance made objecting an almost ridiculous idea. So deep, so firm was the man's conviction that it covered him; an impenetrable armour of self-righteousness, far out of reach of common sense, of decency, or something as meaningless as pity or remorse.
"Have you thought" Algernon stammered "of how many people will die for your great dream? The Christians, the worldly Kings, the magic blind, other magicians from other cults…. None of them will accept your rule just willingly, they'll fight you. Armand, at first, will fight, for all he's worth. You're taking the war into the human world, thousands will die!"
"It will be worth it" the Elder said, unmoved. "For our cause is just!"
In vain Algernon racked his brain for something clever enough, striking enough to penetrate this seamless shield of boundless self-persuasion. "Merlin is dying" he repeated helplessly. "Here, now, before your eyes. Without him, how will you ever hope to defeat Armand and everybody else?"
"We still have The Destroyer's power" the Elder replied. "Morgana is all we'll ever need to keep the world in check!"
"She'll never march with you after you've let her consort die!"
"Now that she's given birth to her child? She's got no choice. She'll not survive facing the world's wrath alone. Once Armand has come, we'll visit her in your nice forest dwelling and offer her the Isle's support. She'll accept or she and her child will die by Armand's hand."
Algernon opened his mouth for one last, futile attempt to cut through to the last shred of sense and reason even this man must have left somewhere inside him, but the Druid Leader never got the chance. Behind the patiently smiling Elder the air began to dance and swirl.
"Beware" Algernon wanted to scream. But it was too late. The Elder's smile wavered. A drop of blood appeared in the corner of his mouth. He grabbed his stomach with both hands, doubled over, fell to his knees right at Merlin's side. He coughed, rasping up more blood with every gulp of air. He tried to scream as the agony shook him but the terrible, gurgling sound of a man choking on his own blood was all that came out.
As Morgana stepped out of the swirling air as if it was her bedroom door and just walked over him, he died. His face a mask of sheer astonishment.
Morgana knelt by Merlin's side. Gently, she rested his head on her lap. From every corner of the village, magicians, Elders, all of the two dozen ran towards her, arms outstretched and magic sizzling. She never even looked at them as they burst in flame when their own magic was turned against them and burnt them all to cinder.
Softly, tenderly Morgana caressed both Merlin's temples with her fingers. She hummed a merry little tune. Algernon, frozen on the spot by sheer and utter terror, recognized it as a cradle song of old. The very song she'd used from the very start to make her baby sleep.
For one, brief moment, she looked up, and smiled at Algernon, a beautiful, gentle, but a trifle sarcastic smile that lit up her face until it shone. "You know" she said "I believe they really thought they could make me their toy. Poor idiots!"
"How did you…."
"Know of this? Oh, Algernon. I am what I am. Isn't that enough?"
"What are you going to do?"
"We'll bring this to an end, Khilgarrah and I."
"The Great Dragon is dying!"
"No" Morgana said gently. "I was there." She smiled again, this time a bit sad. "Remember?"
"Dindraine" Algernon suddenly realized. "She'll be caught up in this through you. You cannot…."
Morgana ignored him and turned back to Merlin's still face. The warlock was hardly breathing. "Haven't we all known in our hearts" The Destroyer softly said "that she was never really meant to live?"
Wide eyed, Algernon watched her hugging Merlin's body.
The Druid Leader had thought that this moment, when it came, would be of some dark, sinister glory. Instead it happened in the blink of an eye. Quite unspectacular.
Morgana's body tensed and twisted. Then it fell limp. Underneath her, the ground was empty. Merlin was gone.
From Morgana's lifeless form leaked a kind of black light, and, all of a sudden, the black clouds from the western horizon were no longer a far distant sight, but all around him. The last thing Algernon saw was the huge dark wave of NOTHING taking the place of everything.
The Destroyer's body, too, dissolved into nothingness.
Somewhere far away and yet so close, Dindraine's little heart stopped beating as her mother's life was given up.
Algernon just closed his eyes. He felt no pain of any kind when the Blessed Isle, with everyone and everything, ceased to exist as if it never had been there.
"Peculiar," was his last thought. "That The Destroyer's work is done in total silence. How disappointed my Christian friends would be. Not even a single trumpet to announce the end."
And then, all that had been Algernon the Druid, all that had laughed and cried, loved and fought and hoped and despaired, faded away.
It was in that second, the second that never really existed, that Merlin suddenly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Morgana's beautiful face. Nothing else had changed, not the darkness, not the thunder or the lightning raining down on them. Even so he felt with every heartbeat the strength radiating from her into him. And yet he thought he was just dreaming. This couldn't be real. He might as well enjoy it whilst it lasted. "Where have you been?" was the very first question that came to him. "I thought I'd lost you."
"You cannot lose me" she replied. "We are in this. Together. Since the very beginning."
"Where are we?"
"Where we always have been. On the battlefield. We just never managed to leave it."
"When will it end?"
"Today, my love. It will end today. Here. And now. With us."
"For good?"
"For better or for worse, it'll be over until it begins afresh. People never learn."
"Then what are we fighting for? For Albion's future?"
"Albion will have a future whatever we do or don't do." Merlin's head snapped round at the sound of Khilgarrah's voice. "I've learnt that much, young warlock. Destiny keeps cheating on us, for all our best intentions. Let's fight for the only thing that ever really mattered: For the love of Camelot and for our friends."
"Arthur!" Merlin jumped to his feet.
"Yes" Morgana said. "For Arthur. Go, Merlin. Go and fulfil your destiny."
"Won't you come with me?"
"We will, my love. We'll never leave you. Now go!"
Merlin walked on, in no particular direction. As this was a dream, what did it matter? Morgana walked with him, her hand in his. He felt Khilgarrah's presence somewhere close. It shielded them from all tribulations, from the storm and the pouring rain. It made them indefatigable. For the first time since this nightmare had taken him, Merlin felt that they would win. Before him, a step or two away at most, the darkness opened like a curtain. A ray of sunshine peered through the rift.
"There" Morgana said excitedly. "There he is!"
"Who?"
"Armand. The enemy. You must defeat him, now, or all is lost! Go, Merlin, go now!"
The warlock grabbed her hand faster. "Come with me!"
Together, hand in hand, they ran towards the light. Merlin jumped through the closing rift at the very last second. It was a peculiar sensation, as if he'd left the ground and was flying, flying high through the air. Eventually, he felt he was descending from a sky bathed in millions of stars, down to the earth.
He landed, his feet touched the ground, and he screamed with delight. His body was engulfed by magic, a power beyond belief fulfilled his whole being with ecstasy. It was as if the whole magic that ever existed now flowed through him, into him, and, unlike before, his body and soul welcomed it, harboured it, as if they had been meant to do just that, from the world's very first of days.
It left him sobbing, shaking, on the warm and soft grass on the ground.
Only when the most intense sensation ebbed away, he opened his eyes.
He was on a hill. The sun was shining. The birds were singing.
Merlin's hand was empty. He was alone.