Older men declare war, but it is youth that must fight and die.

~ Herbert Hoover

Chapter 34: Attack on the Druids

Merlin took the spiral from the chest and was turning it around in his hands. He looked to see the markings of the Druid tongue engraved on it and from what he could make out, this piece was a genuine part of the key to Ashkanar's tomb.

Merlin turned to the druids and bowed his head. "Thank you. All of you. On behalf of my father and Kilgharrah you are in my debt."

Aglain held up his hand. "Your family has been nothing but good to our people Emrys. We are more than happy to have had the chance to give you such a service."

"What service is it exactly?" Nowe asked his brother in quite a loud whisper.

"Would you excuse my brother and I please?" Merlin asked politely.

"Of course sire," Aglain said with a small nod before he and the other druids dispersed.

"Merlin, what is it?" Nowe asked once they were alone.

He then held the triskele spiral up to him. "Nowe, do you know what this is? This is one of the pieces to the Key of Ashkanar."

Nowe's face showed nothing but confusion from under his hood. "Ashkanar? What's that?"

"You've never heard of it?"

"I don't think Abel's covered that with me yet, so, do you mind giving me a quick lesson?" he asked cheekily.

Even though his brother couldn't see him do it Merlin rolled his eyes at him. "Okay. Ashkanar was an ancient sorcerer who was entombed in a secret sanctuary. However, he wasn't buried alone. Before his death he also hid away a precious treasure – a dragon's egg."

Nowe took a step back in shock. A dragon egg. They had seen the eggs of the wyverns but their father had always said that seeing and holding one of them was nothing compared to a true dragon's egg and watching it hatch.

"Really? Wait," he said suddenly stiff. "You said ancient which means that egg has been locked away for centuries. If everyone knows what Ashkanar hid away then why hasn't anyone tried to get it after all that time?"

Merlin smiled. "Good question. The legends also state that Ashkanar made sure that the tomb had a series of traps to deter anyone who would try to pillage it for that egg. It would only be opened with a special key that he constructed. It was a triskele and he made sure to break it into three parts." He then held up the spiral in front of him. "One of which we now have."

"What about the other two?" Nowe asked eagerly. "We've got to find them. Do you know what it could mean if we find another dragon?"

"Yes," Merlin said softly. "It would mean that Kilgharrah would be able to preserve his kind."

In a way, it wasn't fair. While both Balinor and Kilgharrah were the last dragonlord and dragon respectively, Balinor had the chance to see that his people would have a legacy beyond him thanks to the two of them and Liana. Kilgharrah didn't have that. While the wyverns were kin to the dragons, it just wasn't the same. With another dragon brought into this world there would be cause to hope for a legacy beyond him.

Nowe let a smile creep up on him. "We have to find those other keys then. Where do we find them?"

Merlin nodded his head. From what he knew about the keys two of them had been lost, until now. One of them had been found though one was still lost. As for the third one, Merlin knew where to find it.

"One piece will still take some digging to find…but I have a good idea of where the third one is."

Nowe straightened himself up. "What? Where?"

"Let's just say that Uther's ego is finally good for something."

Arthur and his men quietly moved through the trees. They carefully moved to take the camp by surprise. The priority was finding Morgana and getting her back home in one piece. If there was any sort of warning then it would draw Morgana further into danger. He didn't like it but he knew that it was necessary. He could already hear the sounds of voices from the Druids in the camp and they sounded a bit exited over something. That was actually good news as whatever it was might be distracting enough for them to get in quietly.

Lancelot was off to the side. He was starting to feel like one of the raiders that came to attack his home and kill all those people, including his parents. He was completely against this. This wasn't right. Even if these Druids did have Morgana that didn't mean that they should just attack and slaughter a camp on a whim. If Morgana had been taken then if would be best to find out just who here took her and why. The entire camp didn't need to suffer if it was an individual act. Besides why would the Druids just take Morgana without warning and not even make any sort of statement or demand? Something about all of this just wasn't making sense.

When they got close enough Arthur drew his sword out. He could make out some people moving about ahead.

"Prepare to move in on my signal," he commanded to his men.

All the men readied their weapons. Lancelot tensed at the sight but he drew his sword as well. They all moved into position when a druid girl fell out of a tent and caught sight of them. She screamed and that made Arthur and the others move in. They started to run into the perimeter of the camp but froze when two sets of jaws opened and roared at them.

"Wyverns!" Arthur gasped.

What were they doing here?

Morgana could see the two Dragon Royals off to the side and they seemed to be talking about something quite personal by how they asked for privacy. She watched as Emrys handed his brother a small object that he was running through his hand. She wondered what it was.

Nowe turned the spiral around in his hands. "What do we do next?" he asked his older brother.

Merlin eyed the spiral in his brother's grasp. There were two more pieces out there. One was hidden and the other was locked away. Both would be tricky to retrieve but they needed both.

But before he could share his thoughts with Nowe there was a sudden uproar of screams from the Druids followed by screeches from the wyverns.

"What's going on?" Merlin asked as he ran off to find out.

Nowe pocketed the spiral and followed right after him. The two of them headed for the center of the camp where they found the Druids running frantic as people with weapons ran into the camp. Some of them wearing the colors of Camelot.

What were they doing here?

Merlin instantly cast a spell to create a thick blanket of fog to help the Druids get away while Nowe drew his sword.

Morgana couldn't believe that the knights were here. The screams chilled her spine as these people were going to suffer because of her. She thought she would have more time before they noticed her missing and even then, it would take time to find her trail for them to track. It seemed she must've miscalculated and now the Druids were in trouble. In the distance she could dimly make out Arthur running from tent to tent, no doubt looking for her. Morgana immediately tightened the hood of her cloak to hide her face. A high screech made her look to see the wyverns that Emrys and his brother flew here on start to roar and snap at the nearby men with their jaws. One of them threw themselves at the men and made one fly off his feet into a tent bringing it down on him.

She ran off, or tried to but her leg was still hurting her. It stung.

"Are you alright?"

Someone had run over to her and lightly helped her to move and when she looked up she gasped.

"Emrys?"

She couldn't see his face but she saw his lips fall in surprise.

Merlin had been trying to help as many of the Druids as he could. He conjured some ropes to wrap around two of Camelot's men where they were then hoisted up into trees and out of anyone's way. Some of the hunter's dogs were going after some of the others so he yelled for Haeland to deal with them. He saw his wyvern fly off in front of them to cut them and their handlers off and he roared at them making them yelp out in fear with the men holding their leashes right behind them. Merlin then silently commanded for Haeland to fly on up and see if he could help any of the others if they were in trouble. He then turned to see what looked like a cloaked druid girl trying to flee but was hurt. He ran over to her but his heart dropped when she called out his name in shock. It wasn't a druid girl.

"Morgana? Why are you here?" More screaming reminded him that now wasn't the time for this. They had to get out of there. "Nevermind, come with me!" he ordered.

"I can't!" she cried. "My leg. It hurts."

Merlin could hear people coming their way so he cast a spell to levitate Morgana up so that her feet were just above the ground. She yelped in surprise at being hoisted like that but otherwise remained quiet as she magically followed after him as he ran off. He caught sight of a soldier with a spear going to attack a young druid man so he quickly turned the spear into a flock of doves. He then made them start to fly and peck at his head which gave the druid time to run off. Merlin came upon a high point in the trees and spotted some Druids disappearing into a narrow path and saw that some soldiers were on their tail. He extended his hand and chanted a spell to cause a rockslide to cut the path off. When they caught sight of him Merlin again created another blanket of thick fog to cut off his escape. Morgana was by his side and watched as he cast spell after spell to try and aid the Druids he came upon. With this new blanket of fog, they disappeared off further into the woods.

A few of the Druids were cut down by the swords and run through by spears. Merlin and Nowe agreed to split off to try and help as many of the druids as best they could. Nowe ran off to find a knight with two hunters standing over the bodies of three druids and they were advancing on a druid man trying shielding two children. Nowe quickly cast a spell to make a thick branch overhead snap off where it hit one of the hunters and nailed him square in the back to the ground. The other hunter turned around and tried to charge at him with his sword but Nowe blocked it and quickly swiped his Dragon Fang at the man's right thigh and kicked him down as he flinched in pain. The knight then went for him but Nowe quickly cast a spell to make him suspend in mid-air. Nowe noticed that there were spots of blood on this knight's armor and his sight was drawn back to the druids' bodies nearby. His jaw tightened at the thought that this man in front of him killed defenseless druids and was about to kill more if he hadn't stepped in. Nowe cast a spell on this knight to stiffen his limbs out and his eyes were drawn to his sword hand that was still holding his bloodstained sword. Nowe saw the knight's eyes widen when he began to raise his own sword and then Nowe quickly brought it down and hacked the man's hand off. He drowned out the knight's screams as he threw him aside to go over to the hunters that were with him and raised his sword at them as well.

Arthur tried to focus through the chaos to see if he saw any sign of Morgana. He saw that some druids were running off into the trees and his eyes widened when he caught sight of one of them, one he recognized. It was that boy, Mordred. The one that Morgana had hidden away in Camelot that was whisked away by Emrys. He was following a dark skinned man as they tried to run away from all of this. In the next second Arthur saw the man get shot by a crossbow bolt and go down and saw Mordred cry out in shock before running off by himself. Arthur took off after him. It couldn't be a coincidence that he was here when they came here to look for Morgana.

However, before he could catch up with him, a wyvern flew at him and he had to jump to avoid getting struck by its claws. He quickly got back to his feet in time to see the wyvern whack one of his men hard into a tree. It then pounced forward to stomp and crush the man's ribs. Arthur ran forward to swing at the creature's head but found himself stuck. He couldn't move. Suddenly, he found himself being lifted in the air. His eyes frantically looked around until he found Emrys' cloaked brother standing off to the side with a bloodied sword in one hand and his other raised at him. There seemed to be some druids with him.

"No you don't," he growled before he threw his arm out and Arthur was thrown with it.

Arthur flew off and fell on his back with his head hitting the ground quite hard.

Nowe watched his still body for a moment before he turned back to the wyvern. "Get these people to safety," he commanded.

The wyvern let out a huff from his snout but lowered himself for the druids that Nowe saved to mount him. It then flapped its wings and took off with them off further into the forest. Nowe then ran off to try to find any more druids that needed help and stumbled on a couple that were hiding off in crags of rocks or down small hillsides trying to stay out of sight. He gathered them up and told them to stay near him. He didn't think there were any more stragglers in this part of the wood before he heard a woman's scream.

When the druids started to scatter in the wake of the heavy fog coming in and the spells from the two Dragon Royals, not to mention the wyverns starting to run about, Arthur told the men to split off and try not to let any get away. There was a chance that Morgana was among them and they couldn't allow them to escape with her again. Lancelot stayed off to the side but stayed by himself. He could make out some of the men starting to attack and cut down the Druids they came upon and he was forced to look away. He didn't want this, and he was sure that Arthur didn't either but he was bound to his father's command. Lancelot was bound by the rules he set for himself long ago and one of them was not to raise his sword to shed innocent blood. However, he still had a job to do and that was to look for Morgana. That was the only thing to make some semblance of purpose to all of this. He couldn't make out any of the retreating Druids looking like they were taking anyone against their will. All the ones he could see were just running or helping others run. He came down a section of the forest and accidently startled a young druid woman and a small girl that looked like they were trying to stay hidden. Their eyes looked fearfully from Lancelot to his sword. He just stared at them like a statue.

Before anything more could be done they heard a rough voice yelling. "Keep away from them!"

Lancelot turned to see that it was Emrys' mystery brother. He spared a moment to look at the decorated sword that he was wielding, disregarding the fact that it was pointing at him. He stepped aside with his face calm and pensive.

"Take them and go," he said softly.

"What?" the cloaked royal gasped out.

"There's no time for discussion. Take them out of here, now!" he all but yelled at the sorcerer.

The woman and the young girl took off without another word. Lancelot just stood and watched them go. From under his hood, Nowe narrowed his eyes in confusion as he looked back at the man from Camelot that had just up and let those two Druids and him go without a fight before running off himself. He wondered just who he was.

As soon as they were out of sight Lancelot was approached by two knights.

"Any sign of escapees in this direction?" one of them asked.

Lancelot shook his head. "No. I didn't find anyone around here. It looks like everyone's gone."

Mordred ran off down a section of the forest that seemed quiet and safe but then he found himself quickly surrounded by some soldiers. They were closing in on him with their weapons drawn. Mordred looked frantically for a way out but he couldn't see one. Was he going to die just like Aglain and the others? No, he couldn't believe it.

He closed his eyes and let everything out in a scream.

Mordred felt something rush through him when he did and when he opened his eyes he looked to see that all the soldiers were now on the ground, dead. Had he done that? He stopped those soldiers with a scream? No, he had done something, but what was it? He then heard some more sounds in the distance and thought that he should put those thoughts on hold and broke into a run. He had to get away as it still wasn't safe.

Lancelot walked up and down the destroyed camp. He came upon a collapsed tent and, as he gazed at it, it morphed into a ruined shack. Lancelot shook his head and looked back to see the tent was in front of him again. He furiously rubbed at his eyes.

"Lancelot," a knight called out at him as he approached.

"Sir Hugh," he said with a nod.

"Any sign of the Lady Morgana?"

He shook his head. "No sir, none. It doesn't look like she was here."

"No, that's not possible," Sir Hugh said more to himself than Lancelot.

"Where's Prince Arthur?" he asked.

Sir Hugh pointed off to the east. "He's assessing the injuries some of the men took during the attack.

"What injuries?" Lancelot asked.

Arthur was off to the side as he looked at the mender tend to three men who had bloody stumps where their hands should be. He tried not to look at the small burlap sack where their hands had been put in.

One of his men stomped over to him and his gaze went to the streak of dried blood on the side of Arthur's head. "Sire, shouldn't you get your head looked at?"

Arthur brought his hand to graze the cut. "It's just a scrape. This is nothing compared to what happened to these men. We have to return to Camelot immediately and have Gaius tend to them. Sadly he's used to this injury," he said dropping his voice. Sir Tate and others who had lost their hands to Balinor came to mind.

"But sire," Sir Hugh cried. "What about the Lady Morgana? Or the Druids? Many of them escaped and we have to pursue them."

Arthur's face fell. Morgana was still missing but his hands were tied. "There's no time. These two men need care before they bleed out. And we've lost too many to pursue. We have to get back and get some more help."

Merlin checked the area to see that there were nobody nearby and saw that they were truly alone. Morgana was resting on a rock as she followed his movements. Merlin reached out his senses to try and feel out his brother.

'Nowe, are you okay?' he asked mentally.

'Merlin? Yes, I'm fine. Haeland is with me too and he along with the one I brought are both okay too. What about you?'

'Don't worry. I'm okay. I've gotten quite a few of the Druids to safety. They're shaken but better than they would've been if they hadn't gotten away.'

'That's a relief.'

'I'm going to take them to Iseldir's camp since it's the closest. Merlin, I don't know if you know yet but…Aglain is dead.'

'I know,' he said sadly. Aglain was a good man and it was because of him that the there was hope for the dragons again. 'This really is a loss. How are the others handling it?'

'Not well,' Nowe grunted. 'A few of the small children are still crying.'

'See if you could cheer them up,' he suggested.

'I will. Oh, Merlin I also still have the Key with me. It's safe.'

'That's good,' Merlin said as he audibly breathed out a sigh.

'Speaking of which, what are we going to do with it?'

'Keep that piece safe. I think I have a way to quietly get the second piece.'

'What is it?' Nowe asked a bit tensely.

Merlin took a look to the lady who was now calling his name.

Morgana was on edge considering what had just happened. She was upset that the Druids were attacked. It couldn't be a coincidence that the camp was attacked right after they had found her. Somehow, Uther must've noticed her missing faster than she thought he would and followed her somehow. This was her fault. She tried to move but was still sore from overexerting herself during the escape from the camp. She then looked up to see that Emrys was standing not too far away but was looking out into the distance away from her.

"Emrys?" Morgana said to dispel with the silence.

"Lady Morgana, we always seem to meet at the next tense of times, don't we?"

Morgana couldn't tell if he was being condescending or trying to be funny. He wasn't facing her but was still looking out into the far distance of the woods. Almost like there was something trying to sneak up on them. "Is there something out there?"

He shook his head. "Oh, no, we seem to be alone here."

"What about the Druids? Will they be okay?"

He finally turned to face her but only the bottom part of his face was visible to her like usual. Though she could see that his jaw seemed a bit tight.

"There, unfortunately, were some losses. Thankfully, my brother managed to get a good many of them far away to safety. A couple have scattered but they'll find their way back to each other," he said confidently.

Morgana could feel that Emrys truly believed that. "I hope they'll be okay. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. I just wanted to know the truth about myself."

"What truth?" he asked softly.

Morgana relayed the story of everything that Aglain told her about her gifts and Merlin immediately understood.

"You're a witch," he said softly.

"A witch?!" she said angrily. She felt insulted.

He held up a calming hand. "Calm down, I didn't mean any offense my lady. It's a term. Sorcerers and sorceresses are men and women that learn to tap into magic and use it. A witch is a woman that was born with natural magical talents without having to learn any which is what you seem to be. I myself am a warlock which is a man born with magic from birth."

Morgana froze. "Oh," she said settling down. It seemed that there was more to magic than she originally thought. If there was a term for someone like her than she wasn't as alone as she first feared.

"We should probably see to getting you back to Camelot," he said after another moment.

"What?" she gasped. "No, I can't go back there."

"I'm sorry Lady Morgana but you'll have to."

Morgana's body tensed. "If I go back and anyone learns what I am then I'll be killed. Can't I go back to the Druids? They are my people."

From under his robe, he seemed to tense as well but he went over to sit close by her. "You're scared," he said in a gentle voice. "I can understand that. But, take a moment and look at what's happened. If you don't return to Camelot then Uther will carve a path through this land to try and find you and who knows who else. If you return to the Druids then you risk putting all of them in danger again and I'm sure that you don't want that for them, do you?"

Some tears fell from the corner of Morgana's eyes as she shook her head. The memory of the panic that the druids had and the sounds of their screams echoed through her mind. No, she didn't want anything like that to happen again.

"No," she muttered. "But, I don't know if I can just go back to Camelot and pretend that nothing has changed. Everything has changed."

"I'm sure it has. What if I offer to help you?"

"Help me? What do you mean?"

"I can teach you to learn control. Your dreams, I'm sorry to say that I can't assist you with that. However I can help you so that you don't set anymore fires or break things without meaning to anymore."

Morgana saw the appeal in that. The biggest worry she was having was that she return to Camelot and was completely surrounded by knights when she accidently caused a table nearby to catch fire or a window to break out of nowhere. And as for her dreams, a part of her did regret that but she had bared it for years she can bare it a bit longer. At least, now, they had some meaning now instead of being plaguing nightmares.

"You can?"

He nodded. "I have experience with people who have a loose grip or understanding on their powers. I've helped them and I can help you. I'll take you back home and help you control yourself so you don't have to worry over every thought you have."

Morgana felt like leaping for joy but she restrained herself. Something seemed off. She couldn't forget that she was dealing with Emrys here.

"How are you going to do that exactly?" She gestured out to him. "You're not exactly inconspicuous."

A smile creeped up on him. "I have it covered, don't worry."

Morgana's eyes are still narrowed. "Why do you want to go to Camelot?"

He didn't portray any reaction to her question. "Why do you think I want to go there?"

"You could teach me how to do this here before I go back. Why do you want to go to Camelot with me?"

"Last I checked I didn't need anyone if I wanted to go to Camelot."

"Going in and then out, no, but it sounds like you need to do something more than that this time and my return will provide you the cover you need."

He chuckled. "Whoa, you're quite perceptive, aren't you?"

Morgana scoffed. "Don't tell me that you're one of those men that believe women should be seen and not heard?"

Now he outright laughed. "If you knew my sister than you would know that if I did believe that than I wouldn't have use of my legs right now."

Even though it was meant to be funny Morgana flinched. She didn't know why but something about what he said or how he just said it seemed familiar. Like it was on the back of her mind somewhere.

"What do you want?" she asked. "You're not trying to go hurt anyone, are you?"

"No," he exhaled softly. "There is something in Camelot I want."

"What is it?" she asked sharply.

"Something that belongs to my family. It's located in the vaults beneath the castle in Camelot."

"And what exactly is that?" she asked again.

"I can't tell you. I'm sorry. You're just going to have to trust that I mean no harm."

"And why exactly should I trust you Emrys?"

Emrys was silent for a moment before he cancelled his spell and then lifted his hood to show Morgana his face. "Because you already know me," he said softly.

Morgana didn't realize that she had held her breath and gulped in some air. "Merlin?"

End of Chapter 34

A/N: I'm sorry to say that I am going on vacation for the next two weeks so I won't be updating either of my stories for a while. I will try to get an update out as soon as I get back.

Merlin returns Morgana to Camelot in an effort to quietly take second part of the key from the vaults in Camelot. He is welcomed with open arms by everyone, even Arthur, though Merlin is quite wary of him and his fellow knights given the events back at the camp. Meanwhile, Nowe finally undertakes his first personal quest to locate the third part of the key.