Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.
Chapter thirty-six: The bride and groom.
Merlin sighed as he forced himself to his feet, it was a couple of hours before dawn and he would no doubt have to use a teleportation spell to get him to the lake in time. He quickly dressed and made his way down into the main chamber. Terrance was staying with Alice today, as he didn't know how long he was going to be in Avalon for…. He could only hope it wasn't too long, the army was already preparing for war and he couldn't risk missing the battle, he was the only one who had nearly enough power to defeat Mordred.
Finding some food at long last, Merlin sat at the table and quickly ate. He had a problem, Alator had refused to get rid of the guards and Iseldir had said he must go to the lake alone. Any magic he used would be sensed by the guards outside, so to cast any spells while close to the tower would be out of the question. Sighing Merlin got to his feet and walked over to the window, it was a long way down, and no rope would be long enough.
Merlin cursed as he walked over to the main door, peering through a crack he saw the two guards were still in places. He turned and looked around his room once more, to do a teleportation spell from here was dangerous and more than likely wouldn't work. He just had too many other magical objects in his room, which would interfere with the spell.
Allow he didn't want to marry someone he didn't love or even know the name of, he still had to go to Avalon to inform them of this. Plus while he was there he could try and form an alliance without the aid of marrying someone from Avalon. He also had to create a mortal gate way to Avalon, that had after all been the thing they wanted most and what was going to form the alliance at first.
Sitting back down, Merlin looked around the room, he had to find a way out. Be couldn't sneak past the guards, they were not as blind as the ones in Camelot or as easily fooled. He couldn't use magic either, but there had to be enough way.
Shutting his eyes, Merlin though back to the first time he had been here. He had followed Arthur on his quest with the help of Gwaine. He nearly hadn't found Arthur, there had been a lot of hidden passages and trap doors that he had only seen due to the state of ruin the tower was in at the time. He'd only been trapped by one door and that was the one to the throne room, all the others he had seen.
Secret passages! That was it, he could use the secret passages to get out of the tower! Merlin smiled and looked around his room, if he was lucky his room would have a secret passage. Merlin shook his head, if there was one he would have found it by now, it was one of the first things he did when he got the room, check for trap doors and secret passages. It looked like he was just going to have to lose the guards in the secret passages, which hopefully wouldn't be too hard.
Pulling his cloak around his shoulders, Merlin glanced around his room. Iseldir hadn't told him to bring anything with him or given him any cloths for the wedding, so hopefully that meant, they would be provided in Avalon. Picking up the staff of Emrys, Merlin walked over to the door. Now the challenge of losing the guards, without getting lost himself, would being.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Freya sighed as she watch the nymphs fussing over the dress she would be wearing for her wedding, to the unknown king. She hadn't smiled since she heard the news of her wedding, she couldn't be happy or pleased like so many others were. She knew if she returned to the mortal world as a queen, Merlin would hear about it. She just hoped he wouldn't know it was her. She would be returning to the same world as Merlin, but she would never be able to be with him.
Freya glanced round, she couldn't run, everyone in Avalon knew her and she couldn't travel far from the lake…. She just hoped she could call the wedding off. Simply tell this king, she was on love with another and could not marry him. She just couldn't betray Merlin like that…. She hadn't even managed to tell Merlin she loved him too, before she died, she knew it would cause him too much pain.
Glancing round she looked at the dress. It was as white as freshly fallen snow and made from the finest material Freya had ever seen. A simple midnight blue sash, was tied around then waistline of the dress The arms of the dress were formed of two sleeve, the under sleeve was midnight blue and tight fitting to the wrist; as where the outer sleeve was white like the rest of the dress, but was tight fitting to the elbow before splitting off the arm and reaching the floor. It also had a hood lined with midnight blue material.
Turning away, Freya walked over to the scying bowl and watched the mortal world. She often hoped to see Merlin, but the bowl showed those who could be chosen to pass into Avalon, she was after all the lady of the lake and gate keeper to Avalon. She allowed souls worthy of a place in Avalon to cross the over.
She had only seen Merlin a couple of times, either when he had helped someone worthy of crossing into Avalon when they died or when he saved Bercilaks' wife from Uthur Pendragon, the lady of Avalon. There were a couple of other times she had seen him and it pained her, knowing she couldn't be with him.
Her mother had always told her, true love was the strongest force known to man and nature alike and no matter how hard you tried, you could not keep true love apart. Yet Freya loved Merlin with all her heart and the two of them would never be together, she was to marry another.
"Lady Freya," One of the nymphs calls. "It is nearly time for you to get ready, dawn is nearly upon us."
A second walks over to her. "You do not want to keep the Sidhe and your husband to be waiting."
"Plus it will take us a while to make you look perfect, Lady Freya," A third adds. "You have to look your best."
A forth shakes her head. "Your true love does not care for how you look."
"My true love is the one person I can never be with," Freya answers. "And I will never love another more than I love him."
"You must get ready, Lady Freya," The first speaks up. "You are not the only one who will get in trouble if you are late."
Freya glanced into the bowl one last time, for a split second, she though she saw Merlin standing on the shores of the lake, with a single strawberry in his hand.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Merlin smiled as he walked away from the tower, it had taken him a while but he had finally lost the guards somewhere between the tenth floor and the seventh floor. At one stage Merlin had been sure he was going in circles, but he had finally made it out of the tower and through the town without anyone paying too much attention to him. Drawing nearer to the clearing not far from the tower, Merlin sighed, he hoped no one would be too offended when he refused to marry.
With a couple of words spoken in the old language, Merlin found himself in front of the lake of Avalon. He smiled sadly, this had been the place where he had burnt both Freya and Lancelot…. Both two people he had failed to save, a pale light was making its way across the sky in the east, but the sun was still yet to rise. Kneeling down beside the lake, Merlin sits and waits for the sun to rise.
Behind him birds were waking up and their morning songs soon filled the forest. Small waves lapped at the shore of the lake, adding to the sounds of nature. Merlin smiled sadly, Freya would have loved to have lived somewhere like this. There were a wildflowers growing along the edge of the woods, mountains that towered over the lake on the far side and the lake itself always seemed beautiful and peaceful no matter what the weather. The only thing missing were fields and a couple of cows.
"I'm sorry Freya." Merlin mutters. "I wish I could have saved you."
Closing his eyes, Merlin cupped his hands and muttered a spell, opening his eyes the flowed gold. Slowly Merlin lowered his hands and parted them, on the palm of his hand lay a perfect red strawberry.
"I practiced every day," Merlin explained. "Until I could finally do it."
Smiling sadly Merlin dropped the strawberry into the lake.
"It always seemed pointless making them," Merlin sighed. "What's the point of making them, if I cannot give them to you?"
Merlin falls silent for a moment.
"I guess, I hoped it would be one less way I failed," Merlin wiped the tear away as it run down his cheek. "I love you Freya and I always will."
Merlin glanced towards the east, the sun was seconds away from appearing above the horizon. Getting to his feet Merlin smiled sadly.
"I just hope you know how much I love you," He mutters. "I never got to tell how much you meant to me before you died…. I hope one day we see each other again and I can tell you…. Just how much I love you."
The sun broke over the horizon and seemed to bathe the world in a golden light, or maybe the light was from the lake, as the realm of Avalon appeared before Merlin Emrys. Taking a deep breath Merlin walked forward into the lake and found himself standing in the realm of Avalon, glancing over his shoulder he watched as the mortal world vanished from view as Avalon once again vanished from the view of mortals.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Merlin walked along the path that lead to the Sidhe's home. The wedding was to be held in a fairy circle, Merlin just shook his head, he and always been told to step inside one was bad luck. But then and again this was Avalon, the rules here were bound to be different.
Glancing around Merlin watched the landscape around him, Avalon was beautiful. It wasn't that different to the mortal realm, the plants looked the same, but there were some Merlin had never seen before. Everything was brighter, that was the only way to explain it. The colours were brighter and more vibrant.
You could see the magic in the air. Swirls of golden and silver mist seemed to hover around objects and people, or flow freely in the air. Merlin had noticed a lot of gold was circling around him and his staff, it glowed brightly and seemed to radiate power. Merlin watched the magic around him, as it danced in its strange and carefree patterns, it was calming and beautiful.
Creature of Avalon watched him as he passed, some Merlin had heard of before or seen in books. But there were others he had never seen before, or even heard of. There were a wide range of creatures here from both the Seelie court and Unseelie court, you could say Merlin was highly surprised to say the least. The two courts were believed to have a great dislike of each other and rarely mixed, after all the Seelie court didn't mind humans as where the Unseelie court had a great dislike of humans.
Finally Merlin entered the Sidhe's home, walking he finally reached a small clearing with a circle of standing stones in the middle. Glancing round, Merlin spotted some Sidhe flying towards him. Here in Avalon they were bigger than they appeared in the human realm, but were still a lot shorter than Merlin.
"Merlin Emrys," A Sidhe elder greets him. "Follow us if you will, you need to be prepared for the wedding."
"About that-"
"Please refine from declining this offer of marriage," The second Sidhe speaks. "Once you and your bride have met, you may refuse."
Merlin nodes. "Can I at least know the name of my bride?"
"All will be revelled in due course." The first Sidhe answers.
Merlin shakes his head. "You are even worse than Kilgharrah, when it comes to giving a straight answer."
"The answer was perfectly straight forward," The second Sidhe answer. "It was simply not the answer you wanted."
Merlin just sighed. "This is going to be a long day."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Merlin stood in black and midnight blue, druid styled wedding robes. He sighed, he really hoped whoever he was to marry didn't take his refusal to marry badly. If he had to he would explain about Freya, but talking about her caused a lot of pain.
Glancing round Merlin noticed the fairy circle, it was a circle of reddish coloured mushrooms, he was sure Gaius had sent him to pick some before, but for the life of him couldn't remember what they were called. All he knew was they were often used in a mixture to cure heart pains, Merlin just shook his head.
Turning his attention away from the fairy circle, Merlin watched as the Sidhe elder who was to perform the hand fasting ceremony arrived. About from the Sidhe and himself, there were no other beings here. Least that would be less people to watch, the possible failed alliance between Avalon and the mortal realm.
Sighing Merlin turned and looked at the trees surrounding the clearing, he could just make out the tree spirits and nymphs. There weren't so alone after all. Turning back to face the fairy circle, Merlin watched as his magic danced around him, the swirling patterns of golden mist, glittered in the light. Merlin smiled magic was beautiful, if only those in the mortal realm could see it in such a pure and uninfluenced state.
Through the trees on the opposite side of the clearing Merlin could make out a small group of people making their way towards him. This was no doubt the arrival of his bride. Taking a deep breath Merlin watched as they approached. A group of five people, four of whom were quite clearly water nymphs.
The women Merlin guessed to be the bride, was dressed in a white and midnight blue dress, but her face was hidden by a veil and she was surrounded by a cloud of silver magic. Around her the nymphs were dressed in plain blue and green clothing, making the bride stand out even more. Finally the group came to a stop on the opposite side of the fairy circle.
"You may remove your veil, my lady." One of the nymph states.
As the women reaches up and pulls the veil from over her face, Merlin's heart stops beating for a couple of seconds.
"Freya." He finally managed to gasp.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Freya stood dressed in her white and midnight blue wedding dress, around her the nymphs were busy. Some were sorting her hair, while others were making sure the dress was perfect and not damaged in any way. Her hair had been pulled back and had small white flowers littered through it. At last a nymph comes forward with a veil, which matched her dress. Placing it on Freya's head, the nymphs make sure it falls over her head and shoulders perfectly.
"You look beautiful, Lady Freya." The first nymph smiles.
Freya glanced towards the nymph who had spoken, but could barley see her through the veil. "How am I supposed to walk in this? I can barely see through it!"
A second nymph smiled slightly. "Who you are must remain a secret until you reach where the wedding is held, Lady Freya, the Sidhe have ordered it."
"As for walking," A third nymph answers. "We will guide you."
"I hope one day I will see you again Merlin, but I prey it is only in death," Freya whispered. "I could not bear to see you whilst I will be married to another."
"We better get going," A forth nymph speaks. "We do not want to be late."
And so Freya and the four nymphs made their way through the forest, toward the fairy circle. As they drew closer, the nymphs started to talk.
"I can't believe the Sidhe elder who is conducting the ceremony, will be the only one present, beside the bride and groom." The first nymph speaks.
"I know," the third answers. "You would have thought this would be the biggest celebration in Avalon. This wedding is forging an alliance with the mortal word."
The second nymph nodes. "Maybe the groom asked for the ceremony to be performed this way…. I mean who could refuse the request of a king."
"Do you know who he is the king of?" The forth nymph asks.
"Quite!" The first nymph hisses. "We are nearly there."
After a couple more steps, Freya senses they have steeped out into a clearing.
"You may remove your veil, my Lady." The first nymph states.
Reaching up Freya pulls the veil from her head and hands it to the nymphs, who take it quickly.
"Freya." A shocked voice gasps, getting her attention.
She knew that voice and she would never forget it, looking up, her gaze met the one person she thought she would never be able to be with.
"Merlin."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Hey, I don't know if they believed in the Seelie court and the Unseelie court, but in most British folklore it states that there are two different courts in the fairy realm. Unseelie were mostly evil creatures, which wished harm to humans and the Seelie court were mostly good creatures, but were known for playing pranks on humans, but never causing harm. Hope you liked that,
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.