A/N: Thank you Guest, GuestM, and Buckhunter for reviewing!
Chapter 5
Merlin sat against the wall at Lancelot's feet, flipping through his magic books. So far he hadn't found anything on how to fight the Dark Seed. He looked up from his current book to regard the star lily, sitting in its pot beside him. Its light had gone dormant not long after they'd returned to the common room. Maybe because there were no thorns here to react to? There might not have been anything in the books, yet what battled darkness but light?
He picked up the pot to set in his lap. "This has to be the answer," he said to no one in particular.
Leon sighed. "We've been over this; the star lily was only able to keep the thorns at bay for a short distance. It's not enough to completely repel them, let alone everything outside."
"You didn't find anything in your books?" Elyan asked.
Merlin regretfully shook his head. The star lily wasn't in any of the books either; he'd learned about its existence from the Sidhe.
He turned to Lily where she sat with Lancelot's head in her lap. "We learned on the island that the star lily's healing power only works in conjunction with your magic, so maybe your magic can make it more powerful against the thorns."
Lily's mouth thinned. "Maybe if I could grow a whole field of them, but one flower against the entire castle being overrun?"
Merlin held back a frustrated sigh. There had to be something.
"Lancelot is waking up," Gwen interrupted.
Merlin quickly set the pot aside and rocked forward onto his knees as Lancelot's eyes cracked open blearily. His color was better.
"How are you feeling?" Lily asked, carding her fingers through his hair.
"'M still here," he said tiredly.
She lifted the patch of linen to inspect the wound. The various plants she'd used for healing had definitely helped with the swelling, inflammation, and blood loss, but he still had a hole in his gut that Gaius had finally been able to sew closed. Lily reached for another handful of herbs to use her magic again.
Lancelot furrowed his brow as he watched her movements. "You were able to get out for supplies?"
"Yes," Lily said shortly, concentrating on her efforts.
"And this," Merlin added, picking up the potted star lily and showing it to him. "It repels the thorns; we just have to figure out how to amplify its power to banish all of them."
Lancelot looked at Lily, because of course the star lily's magic needed hers to activate.
"The problem is there's hundreds of thorns and one star lily," Merlin explained.
Lancelot exhaled and visibly relaxed as Lily finished that bout of healing. "It's too bad we can't climb the mountain for more," he murmured.
Indeed. A thought niggled at the back of Merlin's mind, though, and a second later he straightened. "That's it."
"What is?" Gwen asked.
"We've been trying to approach this as using the star lily to plow through the thorns from inside the castle, but that's not getting to the root of them."
"So, back to the tunnels?" Gwaine asked dubiously.
Merlin shook his head. "No, we need to get high. Let the star lily shine like it's meant to—from the highest tower onto all the thorns."
"That still won't be enough," Lily said. "I can't amplify its power by that much."
"What if we combined our magic? I know mine doesn't work the same and I can't activate the flower like you can. But if you activate it, then I can try to use my magic to boost its power and reach."
"That sounds like a big if," Gwaine said.
Merlin scooted around Lancelot with the potted plant so he was sitting next to Lily. "Let's give it a try."
Lily reached a hand out to lightly cup the flower, coaxing it into glowing again. Merlin focused his magic on its energy. He may not have been able to control it, but maybe he could harmonize with it. He raised a palm and summoned forth a ball of blue light, tuning it to the signature of the star lily. Then he slowly merged his light with its, not wanting to risk overwhelming and destroying it. The lights melded, glowing brighter and brighter. It was working…
"Stop," Lily said.
Merlin immediately winked his light out. "What?"
"It was starting to use up the flower's magic."
Merlin's heart sank. "Which means we'll only get one shot at this."
Lily nodded soberly.
"We still don't know if that will do anything against the thorns," Leon put in.
"It will," Merlin said with confidence. "You saw how the thorns reacted to its light."
"It doesn't matter," Arthur interjected. "It is our only hope at this point, and we can't afford to wait much longer." He nodded to Merlin. "We should go now."
"The rest of you should stay here," Merlin said.
Lancelot pushed himself up into a sitting position with effort, Gwen quickly moving in to support him. "You can't go alone," he said.
"The star lily will protect us as we move through the castle. But we can't risk activating it too soon, so the fewer people who come who it has to shield, the better."
"And if it doesn't work?" Gwaine asked.
Merlin's mouth pressed into a grim line. "Then we're all dead eventually."
No one looked happy about it, but Merlin's logic was sound.
Lily squeezed Lancelot's hand and kissed him farewell before getting to her feet and following Merlin to the door.
"Godspeed," Arthur said as the knights removed the barricades and opened the door.
Merlin nodded, and the doors were shut on them, leaving them in the darkened corridor. The star lily didn't start glowing, but Merlin took that to mean there weren't any thorns nearby. Or so he hoped.
The two of them ventured through the castle, and it didn't take long for the star lily to begin to exude that soft light again. They passed an adjoining hallway packed to the brim with thorns, but they didn't come after them. At another corridor, they had no choice but to plow through, but the star lily's glow forced the thorns back. A few brave shoots licked at their feet, trying to hide in their own shadows. Merlin kicked at one and nearly tripped, and Lily swung the potted plant around to illuminate the floor. The vine recoiled with a shriek.
After a few close calls, they made it up to the tower and outside. The dome of thorns squirming high above them was unnerving, and the star lily was the only source of illumination in the darkness.
Merlin and Lily stood toe to toe, each one holding one side of the pot between them.
"Ready?" Merlin asked.
Lily nodded and raised her free hand to cup the blossom. Its white and carmine tipped petals splayed wide in response to her magic, the light within shining like a fallen star caught in its shroud. Merlin lifted his other hand and summoned forth his magic into a blazing blue orb, which he added to the star lily's glow. The light began to burn like a white sun, and the thorns above began to squeal. Lily winced and gasped, almost doubling over.
"Lily!" Merlin called urgently.
"I got it," she gritted out.
Thorny shoots came spiraling down toward them, but the star lily blazed forth and incinerated them on contact. The rest of the vines screamed in response. Merlin and Lily pushed all their magic and concentration into this, until the light became so blinding that all they could see was the bleached contours of each other's faces. Merlin could feel the thorns shrieking, a sensation that rattled the blood in his veins, but he kept at it.
Then a shard of golden light came lancing down as the dome began to unravel and the sun came blazing in. Merlin and Lily didn't stop until the star lily's magic had been used up, and the light finally petered out, leaving a wilted flower in the pot. Merlin whipped his gaze around, then let go of the pot to rush to the crenel and look down. All around the castle the thorns were collapsing to the ground and shriveling up into charred chaff.
Merlin spun back around to Lily. "We did it!"
A horrendous scream pierced their ears then like a banshee. That wasn't the thorns; Merlin could feel Morgana's fury pulsing through the air. He and Lily exchanged a look before they turned and hurried back down to tell the others they'd succeeded.
But as they raced down the hallway toward the common room, they slowed at the sight of the doors broken down and splintered. Desiccated vines were lying in the entryway. Merlin's heart leaped into his throat as he bolted inside. His breath left him in a rush to find everyone still there, the knights on their feet with swords drawn and looking haggard after a battle, with a few freshly bleeding wounds. Arthur, however, was lying on the floor, head in Gwen's lap as she fought to hold back tears. Gaius was kneeling beside them, pressing a towel against Arthur's chest. Blood had seeped through it.
"Gaius?" Merlin called tremulously.
Gaius glanced up and didn't say anything, but his grim expression was answer enough.
"The thorns broke in a while after you left," Leon spoke up. "You must have already started what you were doing, and it was a last ditch attack. They didn't get far before they started dying. Then there was this echoing scream, and one of them went straight for Arthur. Stabbed him in the chest before it shriveled up like the rest."
Merlin clenched his fists. "Morgana." She never gave up without a fight, and now even though Merlin and Lily had won the battle, it looked like they had lost the war. "How bad is it?" he asked Gaius.
Gaius shook his head. "The tip of the thorn broke off and is lodged in his heart."
Gwen let out a strangled sob at that.
Merlin whirled toward Lily, but his heart plummeted at the wilted flower in the pot she held. They had used up the star lily's magic defeating the thorns.
She set the plant on the table and hurried over to her bag of herbs. Merlin knew none of them could cure this, but if she could keep Arthur alive long enough, maybe they could find something…
"What—" Lily exclaimed.
Merlin looked over to see her handful of herbs withering and rotting in her hand. She dropped them and jerked back. Percival went over to pick up the bag and look inside. His brows furrowed, and he overturned the satchel, dumping nothing but shriveled up dried leaves. Lily looked horrified.
"Get Arthur to my chambers," Gaius ordered.
The knights moved in to pick up their king, and it was a large group of them that quickly made their way to the physician's room. But as they hurried inside, Merlin pulled up short to find every single plant in there had also withered up and died.
"I don't understand," Lily said.
"Morgana," Merlin bit out. It had to be. She was determined to take down Arthur and knew all about Lily's healing magic, enough to sabotage every plant they might use.
Which meant there was nothing left to save Arthur.