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Camelot's Magical Protector
Part One
Merlin's Magic Revealed
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The crowd fell silent as the two people on the field faced each other. No one knew who Arthur's masked opponent was, only that they had quickly incapacitated their previous opponents. Arthur reached to his hip, fingers wrapping around the comfortably worn hilt of his sword, and stepped forward as he drew it, cutting upwards at his opponent in a fast, reflective attack. The opponent, obviously caught off guard by the suddenness of the attack, prepared themselves and blocked just short of Arthur's blade, cutting into their chainmail.
Arthur cut again, down and across from his right shoulder. His sword caught the bottom of his opponent's helmet. Seizing the opportunity afforded to him, Arthur jerked the sword up, throwing the helmet off and over his opponent's head. He stood frozen in shock as raven locks fell over his long-lost sister's face.
"Morgana."
The crowd gasped as they took in the first sight of the king's ward in over a year.
"Hello, Arthur." She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Surprised to see me?"
Merlin leaned on Gwaine's knee and twisted to peer over the divider, ignoring his friend's pained gasp as he studied the scene before him. Lancelot nudged him with his foot, and Merlin stood, wiping his hands on his pants and keeping his eye on Morgana and Arthur. "Sorry, Gwaine." He murmured, stepping back to allow Lancelot and Gwaine room to go ahead of him before following them out of the crowd and to the edge of the field to meet with the other knights.
"Where have you been?" Arthur asked, looking his sister up and down. "We've looked all over for you."
That was exactly what Merlin would like to know. She hadn't gone back to the druids as he had expected. He ran into Mordred on the way back to Camelot after a visit with his mother, and he had told Merlin as much. The young druid offered to do a search of his own, but Merlin denied him at the time, not wanting him to get involved.
"Where have I been?" Morgana laughed. It wasn't her normal beautiful laugh, the one that made you smile at the mere sound of it. It was something darker. It stuck like honey in the air and made your chest clench with anxiety.
"This needs to end, Morgana," Merlin called from behind Arthur. He was slowly making his way past Arthur, shrugging off the prince's hand, when he made a grab for his shoulder. His eyes scanned the crowd for more threats before looking her in the eye. "I understand you are hurt, but you can't blame Arthur for Uther's crimes against sorcerers."
There were murmurs rising above the crowd at Merlin's statement. Most knew his views on Uther, but Merlin had never been so bold as to say it bluntly in hearing range of the King before, not in his normal form. As Dragoon, he had no such qualms.
Morgana ignored him, as most do, and instead smiled wickedly as she stared down Arthur. "I am going to enjoy killing you, Arthur Pendragon."
The Knights, who had been standing behind Arthur, pulled their swords and walked towards the group, stopping only when Arthur gave the signal for them to do so. They would stand no chance against her— Merlin could feel the magic pulsating off her, pushing back against his, taunting it, nipping at the heels of his magic, and he was certain that Arthur could as well.
"Uther! Watch as your son burns as many of my kind have done at your hands! Forbærne yfel!"
The crowd gasped in shock, and screams of terror erupted across the stands, deafening Merlin's ears.
"þȳ wealle!" Merlin hadn't hesitated. He held his breath as a bright blue wall erupted between Morgana, and himself and Arthur. He gritted his teeth, wincing as the flames of Morgana's spell slammed against his wall over and over, desperate to get to Arthur. He looked over his shoulder and growled in frustration at Arthur's lack of movement. "Go, now! I'll handle Morgana."
Merlin could feel Arthur's stare of disbelief boring into his back and the eyes of everyone in the crowd on him and Morgana. He had to think of something, or everyone in Camelot would be in grave danger.
Morgana's magic crackled, and Merlin let out a gasp of pain, his palms beginning to burn from the heat of Morgana's spell.
"Merlin!" He could hear Arthur and several of the crowd call out in alarm, but he ignored them. Instead, he scanned his magical wall looking carefully at the parts that were beginning to crumble. Where flames licked through the cracks, reaching out towards the crowd like an angry ghost wanting to pull them into the underworld.
"Sire, you mustn't distract him!" Gaius warned as he held the prince back with the help of Gwaine and Leon.
"He can't handle this on his own!" Arthur protested, throwing a hand towards the wall. "That wall is about to collapse, and he will be burned alive."
"I can't hold it for much longer. Go, you prat, before we are both burned alive!" Merlin coughed, shaking his head to dispel the sweat in his eyes. His face and body were burning; he felt as if he were suffocating.
"Merlin, if you think for a seco—"
"Āsċēaf!" Merlin threw Arthur away from him and out of the field.
Arthur skidded, throwing up dust as his body landed heavily on the ground from the force of Merlin's spell. He rolled out of the way just in time to avoid Gwaine and Leon, both of whom had been thrown back with him. Wincing, he glowered over at his servant, "You absolute idiot."
"He did warn you, Sire." Gaius, who managed to sidestep the attack in time, knelt beside him to look Arthur, Gwaine and Leon over to make sure they hadn't gotten injured in their falls. He motioned with his hand for the other knights to keep towards the edge, not wanting them to be in the line of fire.
"Sorry!" Merlin called back sarcastically as he dropped the wall. "Waeter! You just don't ever listen, Clotpole." Morgana's flames vanished, leaving behind deep grooves in the ground between Merlin and Morgana.
He winced, looking down at his burnt, bleeding hands, the smell of cooked flesh meeting his nostrils. He might not get full range back in his hands, even with magic.
"Forbærning senġaþ." As he had suspected, his hands hadn't healed completely, leaving scars that would likely mar him for the rest of his life, but he could move his hands and use them, despite the pulling sensation of his skin that hadn't been there before.
He took a shuddering breath and lifted his eyes to Morgana's. They stood still, studying each other across the destroyed battlefield.
"This needs to end, Morgana." Merlin wiped the sweat from his face and straightened his back.
"Uther needs to pay."
"To what end?" Merlin shook his head and sighed heavily. "When will it be enough?" Merlin waved his hand around the crowd. "Innocent people are dying."
"That is a sacrifice I am willing to make for the throne."
Merlin shook his head, "Then you are no better than Uther."
Morgana's eyes flared angrily. "How can you say that!? Without me on the throne, there will be no more magic."
"With you on the throne, there will no longer be a kingdom!" Merlin roared passionately. "Arthur is destined to become the Once and Future King, the one who unites the Five Kingdoms! Under his rule, sorcerers will no longer have to hide. We could roam freely. It's been written in the stars since the birth of the universe. But this," Merlin gestured to the damage at his feet and towards her. "This is only going to prove to Arthur that his father's fears weren't unfounded! That all of the hate that Uther has been spewing for the past twenty years is true!" Merlin looked her right in the eyes, "You, Morgana, will be the one to bring an end to magic if you don't stop this."
"And what of the leader of the Druids, the prophesied one— Emrys? What do you think he would say about a traitor such as you? One who would rather keep Uther Pendragon as king, despite his atrocities against our kind."
Merlin was well aware that he had the eyes of the kingdom on him. He looked over to where Arthur was standing by Gwaine and Leon. Arthur had a look of sheer disbelief written across his face and was being held back by Gwaine and Leon. Their heads were down as they whispered into his ear. Both met Merlin's eyes, their own flashing with encouragement. Merlin nodded and turned back to Morgana, his eyes sharp. "I will always be by Arthur's side. He will not have to question my loyalty. The Druids and sorcerers needn't question my loyalty either. What I do is for all of us."
"I'm not talking about you!"
Merlin smirked, his eyes meeting hers. "Have you really not figured it out yet, Morgana? Who Emrys, the one destined to lead the Druids and help bring upon a united kingdom, really is?"
"No!" She shook her head, her eyes widening in realization. "That's impossible. You're just a manservant!"
Merlin clicked his tongue and shook his head. "I'm disappointed in you, Morgana. You aren't normally this blind. How many unexplainable things happening in my proximity does it have to take before you start putting two and two together? I've always had magic, and I have been using it since the very beginning. Not only to protect Arthur, but Camelot as well, from every single magical threat that has come. And there have been a lot. Uther's hatred of magic put a huge target on the backs of Arthur and Camelot, but you are quite familiar with that, I suppose, being one of the many threats I've had to thwart over the years."
"If you really are Emrys, how could you just stand there and defend Arthur, defend Uther, when he has been leading our kind like lambs to the slaughter for the better part of two decades? How can you be a traitor to sorcerers when you are supposed to be our saviour!"
"I am trying to do what is best for everyone! It is not only sorcerers' lives at stake, Morgana! It is everyone in the Five Kingdoms. There will not be peace if Arthur does not take the throne. The Five Kingdoms will further separate, and we will all be destroyed. Everyone, magical or not, Will. Be. Destroyed. There will be nothing left to fight for because everything will be gone." Merlin was breathing heavily at this point, and he rolled his shoulders. "Don't you see? That can't be allowed to happen, Morgana. I won't allow that to happen."
Piercing blue eyes met gleaming green, and nobody moved an inch.
"Arthur will die," Morgana remarked coldly, her voice grating with pleasure and her emerald eyes occasionally flickering to where Uther and the royal guard sat in the stands.
"He's more capable than you think," Merlin answered softly, his eyes borrowing as he regarded his rival, his old friend. "And I'll be at his side to protect him."
"You think you'll live?" Morgana asked chillingly, a slight laugh in her voice and her eyes darkening with rage as her magic flared. "That I would fall so easily? That Uther will let you live even if I do fall?"
Morgana and Merlin circled, eyes never leaving each other. The audience in the pews were completely silent. Not even the birds could be heard, the horses or any of the barn animals. It was as if they, too, could sense what was about to happen and were watching with bated breath.
"Maybe not, but I can die knowing I did all I could to protect Camelot," Merlin responded simply, a small, sad smile gracing his features. "This isn't how I wanted it to end. I wanted you back home and in a place where we both feel safe to practice magic, but we can't always get what we want, and this is how it needs to be. How everything is to play out."
He laughed darkly, "Maybe it's my fault. I knew you had magic. I should have told you about mine, about who I was. I should have shown you how to control it— I've only been doing magic since I was born. I don't have the best control, but that isn't an excuse not to help. And then I tried to remedy my not getting involved by sending you to the Druids, but I guess I've failed there as well. I'm so sorry, Morgana."
Morgana let her anger and fury sweep past him, her magic's chaotic and dark nature searing into his very skin. Merlin merely stood there, allowing her magic to wrap around him, ruffling his dark hair and clothes. As Morgana released more and more of her power, the aura of danger and menace rose. With the casual ease that belied the very importance of the situation, Merlin and Morgana raised their hands towards each other.
It was about to begin. The fight that would determine everything.
Hello All!
This has been a while in the making. This is a two part story that I've worked on and off in for about a year and a half now.
The next chapter is mostly written (just some bullet points that need to be hashed out), so I imagine I could get it out by American Thanksgiving.
I hope you all enjoyed part one. Feel free to let me know what you think!
Keep it classy, make good choices and I hope to see you soon!
All my love,
Chandlure