Title: Disownment
Summery: 2 years has passed since Merlin got in touch with his Dragonlord heritage and not all is well. Magic may be legal in Camelot now but there is still friction between the two sides. When Kilgharrah and Merlin grow sick, a quest must be undertook to learn the truth of the past.
Rating: K
Parings: Cannon Pairings but not a central point
A/N: So here it is, start to my promised sequel to Inheritance. This does follow on a few years after that one ends but you should be safe to read this fic without reading Inheritance, but parts of that fic will be spoiled ;) (Basically Merlin discovers something to do with the heritage, stuff happens, Arthur finds out, more stuff happens, happy ending)
This is unbetaed so good luck.
As always feedback is welcomed
Warnings: Spoilers for series 4 and parts of 5
Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to BBC and Shine TV. And I thank them for it
Chapter 1
"Matthew Smith, you are charged with the crime of Murder via the use of enchantments. Do you have anything to say against these accusations?"
Merlin sighed heavily from where he was stood. It had been 2 years since that faithful time when he underwent the transformation into a dragon but there still was a feud between the Magical and non-magical community. Incidents such as this only made others think the worse of his kind.
The citizens of Camelot, those who lived through the brief rule of Morgana and Morgause, were still weary. And Merlin could sort of understand why.
They had had so few positive interactions from those with magic that these last two years caused them to eye anyone with the power suspiciously, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
In the first year, a mob had captured Merlin in the street, demanding that he realise the enchantment they believed he had cast on the king. It was only by the luck of the gods that the round table knights passed through, for the warlock refused to use magic to defend himself from the sacred townsfolk. Even now a few still whispered to each other about how Merlin had enchanted the royal family but, fortunately, their numbers were dwindling by the day.
In the magical community, many sorcerers were still suspicious about Arthur making magic mostly legal ( The expectations were for cases were it was used to commit another crime or to use enchantment to overrule the will of others). These souls believed the King was just leading them into a trap, gathering enough Sorcerers in one place willingly so that it would be easier to commit an even worse purge than the one done under the late Uther Pendragon's rule.
Others wanted recompense for over two decades of fear and percussion. Some just wanted gold, hoping to make it easier to set up a life and home in the kingdom. The most worrying ones wanted the knights and noblemen who still spoke out against them, few that there was, stripped of their titles and killed. A small number of them wanted Arthur himself to face 'justice' and magic users to be the upper class over those without.
Merlin and Arthur had worked hard to introduce new laws regarding magic use in a way that was fair to both sides, and in a way that would not cause to much turmoil for the kingdom. The voices of the two men were frequently heard arguing everything from if certain spells should be banned to if the court sorcerer position should have an official wardrobe. The knights, Gwen, Gaius and even Lord Geoffrey (who was surprisingly mostly agreeing with Merlin an Many points, much to the Warlocks pleasure) were dragging into the arguments, but eventually they settled to a point the council were, whilst not happy, at least agreeable about.
"The whore deserved it." The gravelly voice shook Merlin from his musings, drawing his attention to the greasy haired man kneeling in the middle of the floor in cold iron chains. "She was promised to me but chose to instead to elope with that scum. It was my right to demand her life as payment for their attempt to sully my bloodline. It was only my previous love for her that made my choice of execution merciful.'
Merciful it was not. "You burnt her heart out of her chest whilst she still lived." Gaius obviously agreed.
"If I had used steel to piece her belly instead of magic to stop her heart she would of slowly bleed out in pain."
Arthur stood up, silencing the anger mutters.
"It matters not how you killed the young Lady but that you did. And the punishment for murder, both magical and mundane" the king made sure to stress that last bit heavily, "is death by beheading. At dawn you will be excuted and your body buried in an unmarked grave. May the gods have mercy upon you. Guards escort him back to the dungeons. This court is dismissed"
Taking his wife by the arm, the king strolled out of the room, court sorcerer at his heels.
Once in the privacy of the royal chambers, the king dropped all pretence of stately behaviour and flopped onto his chair. Gwen smiled indulgently at her lover before taking her own seat, her eyes trailing over were Merlin was pottering about, picking up dropped clothing and cleaning up out of habit.
"It's a shame" the queen mused "that he turned his talents to murder."
The warlock paused "Well love turns scholars into fools" Grinning he glanced at his master "Just ask Arthur. He got some odd ideas involving using chicken to woo, remember."
Gwen giggled but Arthur's head snapped up to glare at the other Male.
"Shut up Merlin. It is not a laughing matter. A girl is dead, and you know what the council wont blame love."
"No they will blame the one thing that will keep them in power." Merlin sorted, approaching the table "They are so concerned about their own power that the idea of someone else having some scares them."
"And they are right to be scared" Leaping to his feet, he faced his court sorcerer, aware of his wife standing up in concern "Matthew didn't have to touch her to take her life. We were lucky that he was arrogant enough to want to make a statement that we knew who had done it. Otherwise her family could of been left without answers."
"And he could of snuck into her home at night and stuck a knife in her breast and it would be the same"
On and on this went, their voices growing louder and harsher as Gwen tried in vain to stop them, or to at least quieten down.
Suddenly one of the voices stopped mid-stream, the owner's body turning ridged.
Arthur also paused, confused why his friend would stop mid rant "Merlin?"
Said Warlock was aware of his name being called but couldn't answer, his tongue going numb as it felt like countless worms were willing under his skin.
The last thing he heard as his vision faded, limbs shaking and contorting was a dragon roar of pain.
A/N: So yeah, this came out later than expected. I have this chapter finished since I posted that teaser but wanted to get most of chapter 2 finish before posting. Due to COVID-19, my plan of writing a bit every week was foiled. I am (although not for much longer as I am starting a new job and will be working from home for a while) a checkout girl/community organiser and was working 6 12hr days and sometimes a half day on the 7th and was both too exhausted and too upset to write. And even with lockdown happening, I was working 6 days for 9hrs each, either starting ridiculously early or finishing late so didn't want to write.
But I do want to give a massive thank you for the amount of love I got over the preview. It really helped me get through stuff.
Don't expect regular updates. I have almost finished chapter 2 but want to get some of three done first
and to end it all, a traditional joke.
Why couldn't the bike stand?
It was two tired
