Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.

Chapter 37 – The Diamond of the Day

"Arthur!" Merlin ran through camp, screaming for The King and drawing much attention as he went, though he ignored them all, bursting into Arthur's tent with another shout and jolting The King from sleep. "Arthur! The army's flank is vulnerable. There's an old path over the ridge here at Camlann and they know of it. They mean to trap us, Arthur. We must find the path or the battle will be over before it's begun." Not at all questioning how Merlin knew this, Arthur jumped up and ran from his tent looking for his First Knight, though he didn't have to look far.

"Sire!" Leon called, already hurrying over. "Scouts report that Morgana's army is on the move."

"She'll attack before the night's done. Tell the men to prepare." He ordered.

"Yes, Sire!"

"Percival! Gwaine!" He needn't have shouted for his other knights had come over when they heard Merlin yelling his name. "Take a patrol of men to the rear of us, you're looking for a hidden path running into the mountains. She means to out-flank us, we must stop her now!" Word went through the camp quickly that the battle was about to take place and the camp became a flurry of activity as everyone prepared. Once armour was donned and weapons sharpened one last time, the men gathered together, waiting for their King to speak. Arthur looked out over his army and saw many brave, yet scared, faces. And with good reason. It was entirely possible that Camelot would fall, no matter what they did to make sure that didn't happen.

"Tonight…we do battle." Arthur began. "Tonight we end this war. We end a war as old as the land itself. A war against tyranny, greed, and spite. Not all will greet the dawn. Some will live…some will die. But each and every one of you fights with honour, and with pride. For not only do we fight for our lives, we fight for the future. The future of Camelot. The future of Albion. The future of the united kingdoms!" Unsheathing Excalibur, Arthur raised it above his head. "For the love of Camelot!"

"For the love of Camelot!" Not one man hesitated as they followed the lead of their beloved King. They all knew of his love for Camelot, for them, his people, and knew that he would be standing in the front of them, leading the battle and not hiding behind his army like many other kings. For this reason they loved him all the more, and each man swore to fight to the best of their ability, to do all they could to ensure their King had a kingdom to return to. The drums of the approaching army, which had been their companion for the last hour, were getting louder by then and they knew it would not be long. With nothing else to do but take their places, the army split up, Percival and Gwaine leading some men to protect their flank while Arthur moved to the front, as all knew he would, and stood waiting. The only one who was conspicuously absent was Dragoon. It had been thought that the powerful warlock would stand with them during this battle, but it appeared he would not. Merlin watched from his place in between both factions of the army as Arthur braced himself, Morgana's army coming into view, as the drums stopped. He had his own part to play in this battle, and he intended to play it well.

"On me!" Arthur shouted, giving the signal and leading the charge. There was a great clang of swords as both sides clashed, the narrow pass making it difficult to move, let alone fight, with that many men present, though each side was determined to push through.

oo00oo00oo

At the ridge to their rear, a similar scene played out, though Camelot's army had the advantage here, for the Saxons had thought to meet no resistance, thinking Arthur did not know of the hidden path. The Saxons followed Mordred's lead, their swords clanging against their enemies, Mordred's own being met by Percival's. The two looked at each other for a moment before smiling, both dropping their swords, Mordred turning to join Camelot's side.

"I see the plan worked then." Gwaine commented, coming to fight alongside his fellow knight.

"Almost too well." Said Mordred as he kicked one of the Saxons back and slashed at another. None of Camelot's soldiers appeared surprised to see him change sides, all of them having been informed of the plan that very evening so they would know not to harm Sir Mordred. Arthur had grown weary of waiting for Morgana to make the first move and so he, along with his friends, had hatched a plan to force her to act. Of course, they could not anticipate everything. Camlann had not been chosen by them to be the site of the battle, nor had Morgana's plan to strip Merlin of his magic been anticipated. It was only thanks to Mordred and Kara that her plan had failed. Kara had indeed led Morgana's man to the citadel and had summoned Merlin as she said she would. However, in her telepathic summons she had warned him of Morgana's plan and so Merlin had come prepared. The man who had brought the Eancanah had not been killed but had been arrested, while the creature itself was destroyed and Kara returned to Morgana to convince her the plan had worked. As it stood, Morgana came into this battle thinking her only true opposition stood no chance against her. How wrong she was. "Cover me!" Mordred called to his friends, both moving to do so without questioning him. Being given a few moments, Mordred was able to cast a spell strong enough to send the Saxons flying, many falling over the edge of the cliff to their deaths. With very few men left, Camelot's soldiers took little time to finish them off before going to join the main army. Of course, such an act as to destroy what had been thought to be her assured victory could not go unnoticed by Morgana, who stood a top one of the cliffs, looking down on the battle angrily and confused.

"Hello, Morgana." A voice spoke and she whirled around to face Merlin.

"Emrys." She drawled. "Whatever do you hope to achieve here without your magic?" She smiled victoriously but it didn't last.

"Mordred just betrayed you. Did it not occur to you that he was never on your side to begin with? That he was sent to you, that you learned who I really was because we wanted you to know?" Her smile vanished as she realized belatedly that she had been played. Wanting to test a theory that popped into her head, Morgana created a fireball in the hand and threw it at Merlin. The warlock didn't even move, the only reaction being the golden flash in his eyes that caused the fireball to disappear.

"You still have your magic." She growled and he could hear the fear in her voice. She had been played well, having completely believed Mordred's tale. She had seen the look of hatred in Mordred's eyes when he first came to her and had not even suspected that it had been feigned. Of course, she wasn't to know that it hadn't been, but rather that the reason for his sincere hatred had been sitting on a throne before him and not back in Camelot. After so many years of having to hide his magic, of acting rather than presenting his true face, Merlin had given Mordred lots of advice, the most important of which was to let the emotions he displayed be real, and to learn to hide the true reason behind them, something he perfected before going to Morgana.

"Which is far more powerful than you could ever imagine." Raising his arms, Merlin summoned a great gust of wind that combined into a swirling tornado and engulfed Morgana. He knew it would not hold her forever, but it would give him time to play his next move; when Morgana escaped his spell, he wanted her to see her army decimated. Raising his arms once more, Merlin summoned storm clouds. The great crash of thunder that followed them drew the attention of both armies, given the night had previously been clear. Summoning the lightning within the clouds, Merlin thrust out his hand and shot it at the oncoming Saxons. His aim had been at those surrounding Arthur first, though he quickly moved on to the others. With the Saxon army greatly decimated after but a few thrusts of Merlin's hand, Arthur felt his hope renewed. Raising Excalibur high once more, he turned to his men who were currently staring open-mouthed at the warlock who had probably just saved them all and trying to reconcile him with the boy they thought to be a bumbling idiot of a servant.

"For the love of Camelot!" Their King's cry bringing them out of the reverie, Camelot's army charged the Saxons once more, with some more help from Merlin.

"Emrys!" It was the enraged shout he had been waiting for and Merlin whipped around to defend himself against her attack. He had not anticipated that her rage would make her that much more powerful. Though his shield held against her onslaught and saved him from certain death – or possibly death, depending if you believed him to be immortal – the force of it knocked him backwards and Morgana took the opportunity to try and turn the tables, launching her own attack against Camelot's army as Merlin had against the Saxons. Though made stronger by her anger, Morgana's magic was still not on Merlin's level and so she only managed to do so much damage, especially given she only had mere moments before Merlin pulled himself together. However, when he stood, Merlin saw that a few moments had been enough. Where previously Arthur had been leading his men, there were now bodies strewn across the ground, and it didn't take long for Merlin to find him.

"NO!" He roared, his magic answering him as Morgana's had her, though his anger was a sight to behold. The lightning he had summoned, which previously had been carefully controlled, rained down on the battlefield, effectively winning the battle. Morgana too was not saved from his wrath, though she tried to block it. Her shield had been pitiful in comparison and did nothing to protect her when Merlin's lightning came. In the back of his mind Merlin knew she was not dead, that as a High Priestess even such powerful magic could not kill her for it was still earthly means, but he couldn't find it in himself to care as he jumped off the cliff, landing softly and rushing to Arthur's side. He saw quickly that The King had been hit by his lightning; Morgana must have used his spell to her advantage when he had been knocked down. A normal person could not have survived such an attack, but Arthur was not normal and unknown to him had many protective enchantments placed on him, as many as Merlin thought he could get away with without him noticing. Even so, the attack had been powerful, Merlin's magic going head to head against his own protective enchantments, and though the latter had held up enough to stop Arthur from dying instantly, he was clearly still dying. Knowing he had little time, Merlin hoisted Arthur over his shoulder and ran from the battlefield, taking out any who stood in his way with but a glance.

oo00oo00oo

Under Leon's command, the men had searched for Arthur for two whole days before returning to Camelot. They searched too for Merlin but didn't find him either and having seen his reaction to Arthur getting injured they concluded that he would be with The King. Wherever that might be. It was with heavy hearts that they returned to Camelot without The King, all of them feeling his loss, though six dreaded facing their Queen.

"Where is Arthur?" Guinevere waited to ask only so long as to allow her friends their reunions with their wives, or betrothed in Mordred's case, Kara having snuck away back to the citadel while the army marched to Camlann. As First Knight, Leon felt it his duty to answer.

"He is missing, my lady." Elyan was there catch his sister when it looked like she would faint, though only a supporting hand proved necessary.

"And Merlin?" Like them, Guinevere knew that Merlin would not leave Arthur's side.

"Missing as well."

"Then they must be together. We must send search parties-"

"We already have, Gwen." Said Elyan comfortingly. "Come, let us go see Thomas." It was not often that Elyan could insist on anything with his older sister, especially since she became Queen, but right now she needed someone to look after her and Elyan would be damned if he abandoned her again.

oo00oo00oo

"Merlin." Arthur moaned, announcing that he was awake.

"Arthur!" Merlin scrambling to his side. "How you feeling?" Arthur tried to move but didn't get very far before letting out a cry of pain. "Lie back!" Arthur did as he was told, not having the energy to fight him, or even to make some snide remark.

"You've been injured. You mustn't move."

"That's all right, I thought I was dying." He tried to joke, though it was no joke to Merlin.

"I'm sorry. I thought I defied the prophecy. I thought I was in time."

"The prophecy said that Mordred would kill me. You stopped that from happening when you convinced me not to execute Kara." Merlin shook his head.

"Kilgharrah saw that Mordred was to be the one to kill you, but that was never actually part of the prophecy. Only that you would die at Camlann was prophesized." Arthur was silent, unsure how to respond. "I defeated the Saxons, Morgana, and yet…it still wasn't enough."

"It's just a scratch, Merlin." Arthur tried to comfort him, hearing the deep sorrow in his voice.

"You should rest." Merlin didn't meet Arthur's eye, though he could have sworn that the warlock was crying. However, too tired to think more on it now, Arthur for once did as Merlin asked and went back to sleep. Merlin took the opportunity to send for Gaius, using his magic to summon him and lead his uncle here. He arrived a few hours later, after the sun had well and truly risen.

"Any change?" He asked. Merlin jumped up immediately, following Gaius to Arthur's side.

"No."

"Let me see." Gaius began his examination and Merlin got a good look at the herbs he carried.

"Is that all you got?"

"The hills are crawling with Saxons." Gaius said, though Merlin didn't feel like that was a good enough explanation.

"There's no yarrow, no lady's mantle?"

"I've got comfrey."

"You should have got sticklewort. There must have been sticklewort!" His anxiety was getting the better of him and Gaius knew he would get no work done with Merlin hovering over him.

"Why don't you go and water the horses?" He suggested. "And make sure they're fed, we can't hide here for much longer." Merlin did as his uncle asked, though with as little grace as possible, stomping off in a fit.

"You can open your eyes now." The physician murmured.

"He'd usually never fall for me pretending to sleep and would take great pleasure in calling me on it." Arthur muttered back.

"Why would you pretend to sleep in the first place?"

"He's been hovering over me like a bloody mother hen every time I open my eyes." Gaius could well believe that. "He thinks I'm dying doesn't he?" Gaius didn't answer immediately. "So he's right."

"I couldn't say, Sire, without examining you properly." Arthur nodded and let him get to it, not even saying a word when Gaius simply smiled at him being going to join Merlin. He had his answer, and so did Merlin, the moment Gaius walked over. "The magic that hit him was powerful indeed. I fear its fatal power will not easily be denied."

"My magic. It was my magic that hit him." Gaius couldn't deny that, though he also knew it wasn't Merlin's fault.

"Morgana is to blame, not you. However, such powerful magic will not easily be countered, not even by you. I fear it will take something as powerful and ancient as the dragons themselves to heal him."

"There must be something I can do, Gaius." He sighed.

"Only the Sidhe possess such magic. In the midst of the Lake of Avalon there is an ancient isle. That is the source of their power." Though he didn't sound like he believed there was much of a chance, Merlin's eyes filled with hope.

"Then I will take him there." Immediately he began packing the horses and preparing anything they might need before helping Arthur mount his horse, the stubborn fool insisting he could ride alone.

"Gaius." Arthur called to the physician just before they left. "Give this to Guinevere." He handed over a recognizable ring.

"It's the royal seal, Sire."

"If I am to die, she must have it. She is to be regent until Thomas is of age." Gaius nodded, clasping Arthur's hand once more and wishing him and Merlin luck as they rode off.

A/N - No, Mordred did not actually betray them, but I did have to bring about the final battle and reveal Merlin's identity to Morgana, and I thought why not do it the same way as the show, just with different reasons and consequences? And yes, I know I kind of glossed over the battle a fair bit, but I've never been one to write battle sequences describing every swing of a sword, and without Guinevere being there to cut back and forth this is what I got.

Review please!