I'm back! I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, but I never knew that in year eleven you could get so much homework! It's ridiculous! I have no idea how you are supposed to complete it and still have time to do other things... Anyway, so here is a chapter for you. It's pretty short, but it seemed like the right place to cut it. Hopefully the next one should be up by... Tuesday?
Remember folks, it's eight days to go! (And I have to write like... five chapters! Eek!)
For those who entered the competition, I have some news for you...
Six of you managed to get the answer right, yes, SIX of you! Now, just so I can narrow it down (if you all want to kill a different character I won't have any left) there is going to be a second round, so pay attention.
In Chapter 31 'Madness' there is another song hidden in there (and no it is NOT 'Someone Like You' although that is in there, it's not the one I want). Most of the lyrics are in there, rather like how I did it with the last chapter. Whoever gets the song right is the winner! I will PM you and you can choose what you want.
So, the contestants are 'curlyhairedfriendsr0x, TigerInTheMoonlight, MugetsuPipefox, DeathGoddesses, Bubblykf, VasHappeninTeam!' Congratulations!
Well done to 'Guest' and 'Guest'! One of you guys got the Lion King - but didn't tell me which song :'( - and the other guessed Les Miserables.
So, without further ado!
In Memory of the Fallen
Chapter 38 - The Portrait's News
Merlin's POV
"So remind me again, why you took Gaius' medicine bag with you?" Percival asked as the Giant and the Manservant trudged through the forest.
"To store the herbs that we are finding," Merlin replied impatient.
They hadn't gone far enough from the campsite where everybody was gathered to implement his real reason why he had taken his Mentor's bag – although they did have to collect herbs, it was ample enough for one person to do it – and Percival obviously knew something else was at play.
"So that's why you have only picked three of Stornweed when I saw at least seven plants where you stopped to gather them, all within a hand's radius." Percival deadpanned as he stooped to pick some 'Bone Breaker' plants and handed them to Merlin to put in his medicine bag.
Inwardly, Merlin groaned. Perhaps not deliberately, the plants that Percival had basically wrenched out of the ground were still covered in earth. At least when the Physician's Apprentice did it, he didn't leave any unwanted articles on the plants. Looking up, he saw the Giant gazing expectantly at him to put the herbs in his bag. So, unwillingly, Merlin did, praying to himself all the time.
Please may he not notice –
Please be they be asleep –
"HEY!" A voice shouted out indignant. "What do you think you are doing?"
"That got in my hair!"
Even though Merlin was exasperated, he had to bite back a smile. Percival was looking very confused, twisting in circles as he searched for the man and woman who were arguing.
"I'm blinded!" A man cried out. "I can't see!"
"Calm down-"
"I'm done for! I'm DOOMED!"
"SHUT UP!" A chorus of voices replied.
By now, Percival had his hand on his sword and was drawing it out of its sheath, the sound of metal slithering against metal plain in the air. Immediately, it all fell silent.
"Who's there?" Percival demanded.
"It's Percival!" A smooth voice whispered excitedly.
The Manservant sighed heavily as he watched Percival move faster and faster around the trail, presuming that whoever it was could see him as they knew who he was.
"Be quiet guys," He ordered to no one in particular, running his hands through his raven hair. Surprisingly, everybody fell silent though and as the Knight whirled towards him, Merlin could see the question burning in his eyes. "Percival, stand down."
"You know these people?" Percival demanded, walking back towards where the Manservant was waiting.
"Unfortunately," Merlin sighed again.
Balinor's voice swelled up from the angry mutterings that broke out after the Warlock's announcement. "I am your Fa-"
"Please," Merlin ordered exasperated. "Thank you. Now, Percival, I will introduce you to-"
"Reintroduce, thank you very much!"
"- My... Companions, but only if we get further away from everybody else. Deal?"
The Warlock gazed hopefully at the burly Knight who stood in the middle of the little patch of grass, still with his sword drawn out.
"Lead the way," Percival said gruffly, stowing his sword back into his sheath.
They walked - thankfully – in silence for the next few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts on what was about to come. Eventually, Merlin deemed it safe and far enough from anybody to avoid hearing them. Spying a rock large enough for both of them to sit or lean against it up ahead, the Manservant headed directly to it, with Percival trailing him behind every step of the way.
All of a sudden, the confidence that had aided Merlin vanished and was replaced with a deep sense of nervous anticipation. He settled on the rock and gingerly pulled Gaius' medical bag onto his lap, toying with the strings until Percival sat down on the rock with ease.
"So, where are they then?" He asked the Manservant expectantly. He looked around, searching for them. "I can't see them."
"Oh, they're here all right," Merlin said absentmindedly, still not looking at Percival. It seemed that the Knight noticed and forcefully turned the Manservant's head upwards, so he would look directly at him.
"Are you sure about this, Merlin? You seem... unsettled."
"Just... Don't overreact, okay?" The Warlock asked, lifting his eyes to gaze at the Knight.
"I promise," Percival answered smoothly.
Merlin let out a controlled breathe and pulled the Portrait out of the bag in one smooth motion, letting the bag fall softly to the ground. He flipped it around, and pointed it towards Percival, eyes averted.
"Hello Percival," Isolde said clearly and Merlin could hear the smile that she was wearing in her voice. "It's nice to see you again."
When Percival didn't make a noise for several minutes, Merlin hastened to turn around and to see what was going on. The Knight had bent forwards a little so he could see the inhabitants better and massive grin seemed to take up his entire face.
"You're grinning like an idiot." Will commented airily, which only caused Percival to smile wider, still not speaking.
"Well, well well," Lancelot drawled, picking at his fingers causally. "Looks as if your muscles have gotten even bigger, Percival. Tell me, how many yards of material does it take for them to be covered?"
Percival started to laugh at this, a deep, booming laugh which was so infectious that the Manservant joined in.
"Tell me, Lancelot, how many times do you brush and brush your hair now that you have nothing else to do?"
"Never-"
"All the time," Balinor said groaning. "I have never met such a vain and namby pamby person in my life."
Lancelot scowled as everybody burst into raucous laughter again but eventually, he too joined in. Merlin had to use his sleeve to wipe of the tears of laughter on his face and next to him, Percival swiped at his eyes with one of his massive hands.
"Touché." Lancelot conceded.
"So I know some of you," Percival said when the merriment had died down. Tristan and Isolde waved, whilst Lancelot grinned excitedly. "But I am afraid I do not know the rest. Who are you?"
Will puffed up his chest. "I am the mighty William of Ealdor! Fierce warrior and conqueror of lands!"
"I must say," Percival deadpanned, "That I have never heard of you."
William deflated at that as everybody started to laugh again but the Giant turned to the last person in the frame.
"I am Balinor," Hunith's lover introduced. "I am or was, the Last of the Dragon Lords - although that title has now been passed on – and I am Merlin's Father."
"Then, Sire," Percival said, graciously inclining his head, "it is an honour to meet the Last of the Dragon Lords and the one who made this man," He continued, waving a hand to Merlin, "Whom he is today; a good one."
"My," Balinor commented, raising his eyebrow in an uncannily good impression of his Brother in Law, Gaius, "We do have a respectful chap here. Can we swap him with Tristan?"
"No. We've already been separated once; we're not going to be separated again. Make Will move."
"Oi!" Will argued indignant at the playful jab. "I'll have you know that I've known Merlin for the longest! Get Lancelot to move!"
"Oh, please, I've known about Merlin's Ma-"
"So whilst it is lovely to see inter-Portrait Unity," Merlin interrupted hastily, stopping Lancelot from spilling his secret about his Magic. "There was an actual reason why I brought Percival here."
Merlin turned to the Knight.
"Do you remember our conversation by the stream?"
"Yes," Percival replied quietly.
"I never finished our story," Merlin continued, his voice going soft. "It wasn't the last time I had spoken to Freya." The Warlock turned to the Painting expectantly, the occupants already knowing what he was going to ask. "Where is she?"
Balinor gazed out with sadness to Percival. "She was called to oversee the Gates of Avalon. Already with the War against Morgana, many brave souls have died. She has gone to bring them home."
"I see," Merlin said, disappointed. He turned his head to look at Percival and he could see that the Knight also felt the same way.
"Percival," Lancelot said suddenly, staring at the Knight with a soft but calculating look. "You are Freya's brother."
Percival looked surprised at this. "Yes, but how did you know?"
"Oh, darling," Isolde intervened, "When you are made out of paint like us, you have too much time on your hands and there is only so many times you can wander without people noticing you. We talk to make time pass until we receive attention from outsiders."
"And speaking of wandering," Merlin interrupted, staring at the Portrait hard. "I know that Freya is away, but where is Tristan?"
"Spying," Will replied simply. "We take it in turns to walk through the tapestries and paintings in Camelot, seeing what Morgana is up to in the Citadel. That's how you have such detailed information and knew where to find Lady Butter; she told her husband that she was going to take a walk when Balinor was there and then we told Gaius. Apparently he made up some nonsense about a late night walk being her normal routine."
"I did wonder how he knew her movements so clearly," Merlin mused out loud.
"Hang on," Percival said suddenly, interrupting the idle chatter and Merlin's ponderings. "So how many exactly know about you? About well," he continued waving his hand at the picture, "This?"
"Merlin, Gaius and Gwaine," Isolde replied quickly.
"You told Gwaine?" Percival repeated looking incredulous.
"I'm sorry Percival," Merlin said, pleading for his friend's forgiveness at not telling him first. "But he only found out after he died because when he came back, it turned out he met someone -"
"Freya," Balinor completed, shaking his head. "I must tell you, Son, that that girl is an extremely hard worker. First she saves you, then Gwaine and finally she saves you Percival."
"So you mean to tell me that Gwaine knew about you guys since he died?"
"Percival," Lancelot said gently, "You have to understand that Merlin had no choice. This is Magic here. Magic is what is keeping us alive. Merlin here didn't want to put you in the position of choosing between your loyalty to Arthur or your shared friendship."
"I don't care about any of that," The Gentle Giant announced impatiently, waving one of his big hands. "What I care about is the fact that he didn't tell anybody. I never knew he was so good at keeping secrets!"
"I'm hurt Percival!"
Gwaine's POV
The Knight hobbled over to where Percival and Merlin sat on the rock and ever so slowly, lowered himself down beside them. Immediately, the Manservant and the Knights adjusted their seating so that he was in the middle with the Portrait perched on him, so that he had the best view without moving around too much.
"I'll have you know," Gwaine continued, "That I've kept so many secrets I've lost count."
"On your fingers," Percival muttered under his breath, almost causing the individual in question to smile, but he prevented himself. However, he saw that the Manservant had no such qualms in doing so and instead grinned broadly.
"I never knew you could be so witty," Merlin commented.
"Only on one liners though," Lancelot imputed.
"It's the only skill he has apart from his biceps." Gwaine joined in, grinning at his fellow Knight.
Percival harrumphed in reply and spoke again, peering at the Painting. "I must say though, that those eyes in the middle are creepy."
"I know," Gwaine agreed, "It's almost as if they are alive, but because they were painted as inanimate objects, they're not."
"Oh they're alive alright," Will said darkly, shuddering as he glanced at the two glowing gold irises. "I once walked into them in our first few days of being alive again, of sorts. My eyes weren't used to the sudden darkness. Never knew what was coming."
"I know," Isolde surprisingly agreed. "I can't stand the right side."
"Oh, I don't know about that," Balinor muttered to himself under his breath.
"What do you mean?" Merlin asked, understandably curious seeing as he painted them.
"The eyes are alive too, except they cannot move so they show their activity through other ways. You have to -"
Lancelot was interrupted in his explanation by Isolde crying out loud suddenly, and lunging to the side of the Portrait. She reappeared a few seconds later, with an exhausted looking Tristan in tow, leaning heavily on his Lover, a hand weakly held to his head.
"Tristan?" Gwaine asked worried, seeing the man whom he had made friends with in an unexpected condition. When he didn't answer, he grew more frantic as Isolde and Balinor flocked to the Smuggler, talking to each other quietly. "What's the matter?"
"The Travelling," Will said softly, so as not to disturb the others who were busy at work, "Takes a lot out of us. It didn't originally when we were still in the Castle, but now that we are out of the City, we use our own energy along with the remains of our Creator's," He emphasised, shooting a glance at Merlin as if to remind the Warlock about their shared secret in order to reach the other side.
"But we cannot draw too much on the Painting's Magic in case we take so much that we cannot move anymore and only Balinor and Freya have Magic inside here, so they supply us with the extra energy we need. It takes a lot amount of Magic to send us over and it can only last a limited amount of time before we have to come back. Now that Freya has gone to govern the Gates of Avalon, it's just Balinor."
Lancelot turned away from Tristan and joined in the conversation. "What time is it now?"
Percival turned his head so that he could look at the shadows and the positioning of the sun. "Around mid day. Why?"
The Knight was silent as he pondered the frown line on his face becoming deeper and deeper the more time passed. Gwaine tried to move his head closer, but winced when his eyesight blacked out momentarily and quickly retreated.
"He's been gone for around four hours," Lancelot worked out.
"It's too long," Will said immediately, looking over his shoulder to where the Smuggler was now cradled in Isolde's lap, his body relaxed as his eyes closed, poised for a nap. Balinor crouched beside them with a hand over Tristan's forehead, concentrating it seemed to Gwaine, fiercely.
Lancelot thankfully once again decided to explain to his audience, where Percival, Merlin and Gwaine were watching the events with worry.
"The spell that Balinor and Freya uses only lets us move for around five hours before we needed to return and effectively replenish our sources. The time has been diminished once again with Freya leaving us and the Portrait moving further away from Camelot. Balinor warned us that we could only be gone for around two to three hours..."
"Which means that something important must have happened," Gwaine finished, with dawning realisation and horror. "Something so important that Tristan didn't return when he should have and now that is why he is injured."
"Indeed," Lancelot acknowledged with a little nod of his head. "And it must be something crucial if Tristan was willing to perhaps part with this half life. He would never leave Isolde again on a trivial event."
Each of the bystanders became lost in their thoughts after Lancelot fell silent and Tristan was surrounded by Isolde and Balinor, both whispering urgently to him quietly. Occasionally, the Manservant shifted, causing little avalanches of pebbles float to the ground so slowly that the Knight wondered if Merlin was using his Magic to slow them down, as a way of release. Percival was the opposite; he simply sat there, hands holding his head, so deep in thought that a thought wrinkle appeared above his eyebrow. His eyes were unnaturally clouded with emotion and Gwaine guessed that he was thinking about Freya.
But, Gwaine too was wrapped up in his own thoughts. Too much had happened to him over the past week and he hadn't had enough time to process it all, much less think on how to react to it. The time that he had taken off with Dastan and Gaius had been helpful though; they had gone to one of the nearby streams where they could bath and wash out his multiple wounds and cleanse their bodies of the betrayal that She had committed.
With that thought, Gwaine cast another worried glance over to the smuggler, expecting to see him asleep in his Lover's arms. Instead, he was struggling upright and even though his body was weak from the Travelling it was still clear that he had retained his strength. He muttered something to Balinor and Isolde repeatedly, gesturing with a faint nod of his head to the Outside, where Merlin and the others were seated.
"Thank the Goddesses you are here Merlin," Tristan greeted as he made his way over to the front of the Portrait, leaning heavily on Isolde as he did. Beside Gwaine, the Warlock jumped out of his musings, Percival following suit, and they gazed at the Smuggler. "You need to call the War Council now."
"Why?" Gwaine asked urgently, his feelings getting the better of him as he leaned forward so he could be closer to the Smuggler. "What's happened?"
"Tristan," Percival said gravely, "We cannot call the War Council unless it is a serious matter. There are still citizens inside Camelot's walls and Arthur will not risk hurting them by storming the Castle to retake his Throne. It has to be a matter of life and death."
"It is," Tristan said weakly. His voice was fading by the moment and it was then that Balinor spoke.
"Tell them later Tristan," The Dragon Lord ordered, "At this rate the Magic that is sustaining you will burn out and you will become a normal Painting. This will have to wait."
"It cannot," Tristan argued. "Arthur will have to retake Camelot. The citizens are in danger."
"How though," Merlin urged, "Tell us how they are in danger Tristan!"
"Stop it!" Isolde ordered, her voice rising with terror, "Interrogate him when he's better!"
"I'm sorry Isolde," Percival said quietly, his voice soothing and relaxing. "But we need to know."
"Citizens loyal to Arthur attacked Lady Butter for being a traitor to Arthur. They went too far and nearly killed her."
The words echoed in Gwaine's head, and he didn't know how to feel. She was nearly killed. By the people who had loved her as well! But, another part of him argued against his protective instincts, didn't this prove that she really was evil? That the people who had once loved her turned against her for good reason?
He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't catch Tristan's final words, for they were so small, and quiet, yet heavy and foreboding.
"Morgana was furious and she-"Tristan's voice broke as he struggled to tell them the last few words. "She rounded them all up. Including their families. The day after tomorrow, there is going to be a mass execution... With children."
Dun dun duh! I have no idea where the last bit came from but it sounded good/ really bad. Of course I had to put it in!
So, as always review! (You're reviews are lovely and brilliant! Did you know that we have reached 436? I feel so popular!)
So, until we meet again!