i updated twice today so dont read this one if u havent read the last one ok carry on
They stood in a line, staring across the field at the castle just a spitting distance away.
"How do we know he doesn't have an army twenty times larger than us?" Amber asked Merlin worriedly.
"Because he's not looking to cheat, at least, not like that. He's not going to rig the battles, but he's going to rig the war. No, he's going to give us a chance until we get too close, then he's going to burn us one by one," Merlin answered.
They moved forward in unison, quickly but quietly, making it to the castle and, as quietly as they could, throwing the doors open. Morgana reached Merlin and muttered in his ear, "This is most definitely not the place I went to. It's bigger, much bigger."
She was right. The castle they stood in was even larger than Camelot's castle. It was eerily silent, and sent a chill down Merlin's spine. He blindly reached his hand toward Amber's and she clutched it tightly, as if it was the very last time it would ever happen- which it very well could be. Merlin knew more than anyone that it more than likely would be, but Amber didn't need to know that. Not yet, at least.
The realization of the situation suddenly dawned on Merlin, and he nearly slapped himself. "He's not here."
"What?" The question came from Leon, and Merlin sighed heavily.
"He's not here," he repeated. "He knew we were coming, he was ready, and he left."
"So, where is he, then?" Lancelot asked.
"Where did the last battle take place?" Merlin muttered. "He's in Camlann."
As they emerged over the top of the hill, they were all shocked to see that the numbers of Michael's army were eerily close to the numbers of their own. In fact, as Amber counted, Michael had the exact same number of fighters behind him as Amber did. He had a full army, she knew, so why didn't he bring them all? Were there more hiding in the trees, waiting for the signal to rush forward and join the battle? For some reason, she felt it was unlikely. Maybe it was because she knew Michael, and she knew his logic. He was trying to make it seem fair, meanwhile his entire troop were probably much more experienced with swords and blades than Amber's own was. Plus they were probably all better fed and rested- the "resistance" had been stranded in a field for a month and a half where they slept on the grass and ate whatever they could catch. Amber realized with a sinking feeling that this must have been Michael's plan all along- to wait until they were at their weakest point to attack. And he had the same amount of warriors as they had to humiliate them because they'd lose miserably to only a small number of people. She mentally cursed at herself for not seeing this coming and reached out for Merlin's shield, then pulled it around her body and allowed herself a bit of relief.
Merlin took a step forward, and Michael did the same.
"Came to join the party?" Michael called tauntingly, and Amber clenched her fists tightly.
"Were you expecting us?" Merlin replied coolly.
"What's it look like?" Michael laughed. "'Course we were expecting you."
"Thought it'd be polite to ask." Merlin shrugged casually. "Not like you'd know anything about that."
"Now I'll have you know that I've got plenty of manners," Michael snapped, "and why are you trying to tell me about manners when I've got a sword in my hand?"
Amber saw Merlin tense a bit but brushed it off. The bag over her shoulder weighed a lot and her arm was beginning to droop. Merlin's spellbook was a lot heavier than it looked, and she was just waiting for the right moment to hand it to him.
Merlin then turned around and walked straight to Amber, who gave him a confused look. "Promise me you won't get yourself killed today?" He grabbed her hands in his own and stated her straight in her eyes, his own blue eyes searching hers as he waited for an answer.
Amber nodded quickly. "I promise. I'll still be right next to you when this whole thing is over."
Merlin nodded back. "You'd better be," he said. He then looked out at the small number of people on their side ad asked, "Ready?"
They answered positively, and Merlin took a deep breath before tuning back to Michael.
The battle of Camlann was about to begin again.
Amber never left Merlin's side. Not once. That was the rule. That was the only rule she abided by during the battle. Never leave his side. Never.
After a while of gruesome gory fighting, and Michael's army constantly being revived from the dead (which was quite a shock the first time it happened, when she killed one of his men and he just stood back up, pulled the sword out of his stomach and kept fighting), it was a wonder they didn't all pass out. She figured that people seemed to perform better under pressure, seeing as though even Brodie, the boy who was completely incompetent with anything sharp and pointy, was actually holding his own. She began to feel hopeful, until something happened that shocked her.
When Michael's entire army disappeared into thin air, she was left slightly bewildered. She glanced at Merlin who was panting heavily, and he only gave a shrug.
"Where'd they go?" Elyan asked, looking around the clearing.
Nobody looked as if they had a clue. In the midst of all the confusion, Merlin took a head count. He seemed to be the first to realize what was wrong.
"Lancelot!"
The second to realize, Gwen, dropped down beside the knight's side. His chest was already still, and from a quick touch Merlin found his pulse had stopped.
Gwen was completely distraught, her usual brave face completely shattered by the loss of Lancelot, and Merlin fought down tears of his own. He hid his face from the rest of the group, though he could hear a few weak sobs coming from the direction of the knights. He thought he heard Amber choke out a son of her own, which was enough to snap him back to reality. He jumped to his feet and walked over to her, wrapping her in his arms as silent tears fell from both of their eyes.
It took a while for Gwen to calm down; Morgana had to eventually led- well, drag was a more appropriate term for it- Gwen away from Lacelot's body. Morgana's face was clearly masking pain, but she was the strongest of the lot and decided to take it upon herself to help Gwen as Merlin and Leon buried Lancelot's body.
After a little while of waiting, the two made their way back to the rest of the group. Once the awkwardness cleared- though Gwen was still sniffling in the back-, Gwaine broke the silence. "Now, where's Michael?"
"I know where he is."
Every head turned in the direction of the voice. A muddy, weak-looking body emerged from the treeline and Merlin didn't have to even look to know who it was.
Leon raised his sword and placed it over the visitor's heart, and the stranger raised his hands to show his innocence.
"I've come as a friend," the visitor declared, looking as if he were having trouble standing on his own feet.
Leon narrowed his eyes at the visitor but sheathed his sword nonetheless. "Why have you come here?" The knight could clearly tell by the visitor's accent that he was no native of Camelot, so he had a right to be suspicious.
"I already told you, I know where Michael went."
"How could you possibly betray-" Leon started, but Amber cut him off.
"Leon, he's telling the truth," she said, pushing the knight away then nodding to him their visitor. "Tegan."
The boy nodded back. "Amber."
"You two know each other?" Merlin asked, taking a step toward Amber defensively.
Amber put a hand on his chest to hold him back, and he clenched his fists but obliged. He kept his jaw locked and his fists clenched as Tegan spoke.
"I'm sorry for what happened to both of you while you were in Michael's grasp, and I hope you'll forgive me for not doing anything about it, but the guy is a maniac and if I tried to stop him he'd kill me."
"You or us," Merlin spat, and Amber smacked his arm with the back of her hand.
"Anyway, when he found out that I was the one who released Amber, he went completely ape shit, probably would have killed me if I hadn't ran," Tegan confessed.
"What do you mean, 'released Amber'?" Gwen asked him, and Merlin brushed away the shock of hearing her speak without even a shake in her voice despite being so upset no more than an hour before.
"I snuck her out of Michael's castle. He told me he'd kill me if he ever found out that I had anything to do with it, and when he did, well, you know."
Gwen nodded, but Merlin still looked suspicious. That was his strongest trait- being distrusting. It was a good trait to have because it meant you didn't fall for just anything, but it could also be a nuisance. Like right then, Amber thought. Why couldn't he see that Tegan was telling the truth?
"And why didn't he just kill you with magic?" Merlin asked, raising an eyebrow at Tegan. "He seemed to have no restraint attacking me."
Tegan smirked a bit at this. "Because he doesn't know how."
"What do you mean, he doesn't know how? He has Merlin's spellbook," Percival demanded.
Tegan shook his head. "No, he doesn't. Michael is powerful, but he's illiterate in the magic area. He can't incant spells, either. He's nothing without that spellbook, and I gave it to Amber."
The whole group's attention shifted to the blonde, and she quickly shrugged the bag off her shoulders and placed it in Merlin's hands. "Happy Hunger Games," she said.
Merlin slowly opened the bag to reveal his spellbook. For a moment, Amber thought he was going to hug it or something, but instead he muttered a spell and the lock flipped open. He began looking through the pages, not for anything in particular, he just wanted to see them again. His most prized possession was that book that he'd spent decades building up, and he couldn't bear to lose it.
"Right, then," Merlin said, closing the book and shoving it back into the bag before throwing it over his shoulder, "you said you knew where Michael was?"
Tegan nodded in response. "It's a days walk away from here."
"Or Merlin could just transport us," Elyan suggested, but Tegan shook his head.
"Michael'd sense the use of Merlin's magic and come here. For some reason he could always tell when Merlin used magic."
"Ties," Merlin muttered.
"Ties?" Tegan repeated.
"Ties. Bonds," Merlin said, louder and angrier. "God dammit!" He bellowed, turning ad slamming his fist into the nearest thing- a tree. His eyes flashed as his fist pounded the trunk and the tree fell to the ground. Merlin ignored the looks of horror he was getting from the rest of the group as he turned back to Tegan. "What's the quickest route?"
current death toll: 2/?
-freya
-lancelot
alright so here's the VERY long-awaited battle scene I'm sorry it took so long to get to this point I just had to cover a LOT of things before we could get to this point and also no Tegan is not evil he never was evil he was kind of a liability u know like he never wanted to do anything bad but he didn't have a choice because Michael brought him 1500 years into the past and threatened to kill him if he didn't obey like seriously what would you do
and I'm really NOT good at writing battle scenes so I'm really really sorry bc this is probably the last actual battle scene you'll get but a bunch of stuff is going to happen after this and I'd also like to apologize in advance for the amount of characters I'm going to kill off I'm gonna bawl my eyes out when 99% of them die especially one of them but I won't say who it is yET
oh and about characters dying, michael is a little fucker and theres no more real battles but he has this thing planned and its like mind games basically so we won't know who really dies until after everything happens
that's about it only a few chapters left and thanks to anyone who's stuck around this long I love u!
-notreallymagical