Strongest of the Warlocks: Chapter Seventeen: Fleeting Escape
AN: It's been awhile since an update which is mostly because I've been working on other fics and I had summer class to take over my life completely.
I've been binging on Merlin recently and I have so many ideas that won't even happen until Series 3, which means we've got to get through two more series first.
Mordred is an interesting character, even though we won't see a lot of him for awhile after this, but we may see Percival's twin brothers in the next chapter, but don't quote me on that.
It was early in the morning and the raven's wings were dark against the sky, fluttering through the air to come to a stop on a shoulder, extending its leg to the owner of the shoulder.
Fingers unbound the short letter from the bird to read its contents before murmuring a soft incantation that had eyes gleaming golden and reducing the letter to ash.
"How is he?" Morgana pressed as Merlin inspected the boy's bandages the next day after attending to Arthur, which explained the noticeable scowl present on her lips.
"His fever's broken, but he's still healing slower than expected," Merlin mused, redressing the injury, "he must have lost more blood than I'd originally thought."
"Is that why he's sleeping?" Gwen asked curiously as Morgana reached a hand forward to brush along his brow.
"If he was awake he'd probably be very sluggish…sleeping is better for him, I think." Merlin's brow furrowed as she moved to wash the bloodied tips of her fingers in the bowl on the table.
Morgana, came a tired murmur and Morgana jerked her hand back from his forehead.
"Did you hear that?" she asked out loud.
"What?" Gwen's brow furrowed and Merlin looked similarly confused.
"He said my name," Morgana insisted, eyes drifting down to the slumbering boy.
"He's unconscious," Merlin pointed out rather bluntly, "he's not saying anything."
"I didn't hear anything, either," Gwen agreed. "Maybe it was the wind."
But Morgana didn't look so sure and Merlin turned back a frown on her lips, because she was certain that the boy had uttered Morgana's name, just not out loud where they could hear it.
That was concerning, if the boy was using telepathy while he was unconscious then his control on his magic was very minimal.
"Are they still building that pyre?" Merlin asked instead, frosty anger in her voice betraying how she felt about the matter and it wasn't something that Morgana or even Gwen could find themselves disapproving of.
What kind of good person would want to kill a child?
The answer was rather clear.
Gwen moved to the window to see soldiers putting the wood together –all the better to burn you with– and she frowned. "Yes," she said.
"We have to get him out of the castle," Morgana said, not moving from her spot at the boy's side, placing a cool rag to his brow. "Uther will kill him if he finds him."
Merlin grunted in agreement. She didn't think she'd ever met anyone who was quite as ruthless as Uther was and he wasn't the type to be lenient, even if it was with children.
"And it'll be harder to get him out with all the extra patrols," Merlin said, following Gwen to the window to look down into the square. Ever since the boy arrived in Camelot Uther had increased the number of patrols in an effort to catch him before he made his way out of the village. "He can barely walk, it wouldn't be a good idea to try to get him out now."
"Wait until nightfall?" Morgana suggested.
"If nothing else," Merlin murmured, "Camelot is the last village a druid boy could be considered safe in." Only Amena had ever dared to enter into the center of Camelot, and that had only been in dire need of Merlin's healing prowess.
"The guards are searching everyone leaving the town, though," Gwen pointed out, looking off into the distance where the gates at the edge of the Lower Town were located, the ones that one needed to pass through in order to get into Camelot.
Fortunately, it wasn't the only way in or out.
"There's more than one way out of the castle." Merlin stepped back into the room, brushing her fringe out of her eyes.
"How do you know?" Morgana asked in surprise, watching how Merlin's cheeks turned pink.
"Well, um, I might have done a lot of snooping around when I first got here," Merlin admitted a bit sheepishly as she played with the end of her long plait as a way to keep her from looking at Gwen or Morgana.
"You rebel," Gwen laughed, only to abruptly quiet when the boy stirred faintly in his sleep.
"Which is the best one to take?" Morgana pressed.
Merlin scratched her cheek, considering the options with a frown. "I'd say the secret door in the armory, it should lead out past where the soldiers are patrolling. I can take the boy through."
"No." Morgana shook her head so fiercely that her dark curls swung around her face in agitation. "It's too dangerous. I'll do it."
Merlin looked at her. She knew that Morgana was already a bit attached to the boy, even only being in her care for a day, but it gave her an uneasy feeling. "I don't think that's a good idea," Merlin said. "You don't know the secret passages like me."
"But if you're caught, Uther will execute you," Morgana pointed out and Merlin chewed on her lip but she didn't bother to deny it; it was a fear she lived with every day. "The boy is my responsibility. I'll smuggle him out of the castle."
"Either way, you'll still need the door's key," Merlin sighed.
"A secret passage with a key?" Gwen arched an eyebrow dubiously.
"Well, it's certainly the fastest," Merlin remarked dryly, crossing her arms for good measure. "The other ones take a bit more effort."
Morgana coughed to direct both of their attention back to her. "Who has the key?"
"Arthur," Merlin said.
"Can you get it from him?" Morgana's eyes were probing.
And that made Merlin scoff. "Can I get it from Arthur? Are you joking? Of course I can get it from Arthur. Just give me a few hours."
Morgana had to wonder about Merlin as she watched the girl disappear beyond the door in search of the prince, it was like Merlin liked putting herself in situations that put her at odds against Arthur.
Merlin had had a plan, she really did, until Arthur had found her making her way back to Gaius' chambers, ironically to find some solution to drug said prince with when he snagged her as she came around the corner.
"Oh, no you don't!" he said and Merlin yelped as he yanked her along. "Come on, we're going to train."
"Wait, what?" Merlin demanded, stumbling as she tried to walk with him, her sword sheath colliding against her leg. "I thought you were looking for the druid boy?"
"I am," Arthur said shortly, "but unfortunately all my leads have dried up."
Merlin allowed herself a private smirk at that.
"I need to train to release my anger," he continued and Merlin looked at him as though she'd never properly done so.
"And you think swinging a sword at me is going to make you feel better?" she demanded. The last time that had happened, Merlin had ended up almost losing her head and drawn him cold bath water and brought cold food for the two days after it; being a privileged person, Arthur had learned from that and hadn't tried something like it again. Of course, that didn't mean that Merlin hadn't been training with Arthur after, just never when he was annoyed or angry.
"A bit, yeah," Arthur said, flashing her a grin that made Merlin groan loudly. "Come on, you're getting out of shape."
"That's likely." Merlin wrinkled her nose as they made their way down the steps. "With all the chores I do for you and Gaius it'd be a wonder if I was ever out of shape."
They reached the training field in a matter of moments, arriving at it sooner rather than later and Merlin drew the sword that had originally forged with such limited resources by Percival and then re-forged by Tom, Gwen's father.
She barely had time to block the strike of Arthur's own blade against hers. If there was one thing that being Arthur's maidservant had taught her, it was to be quick on her feet.
Merlin gritted her teeth together and pushed back against his sword, moving with him when he stepped to the left in an effort to unbalance her.
Maybe she could give him a slice that was just deep enough that it needed bandaging…then drugging him wouldn't be quite so difficult.
Of course, retrospectively, it sounded a bit bad, the efforts she was going through in order to drug a prince, but if it ensured the boy's survival, she'd take it.
Arthur wouldn't be pleased.
"Ow, ow! Do you even know what you're doing?"
Merlin gave him a frosty glare at that. "Of course I know what I'm doing," she said coolly, "I've been doing this since I was small." Probably much younger than when Arthur had finally been allowed to pick up a sword, but Merlin didn't say that.
All things considering, Merlin thought the training session had gone rather well. Of course, she now had a few cuts and bruises than she'd had before, but Arthur had a long cut along the arm that was in need of tending, which, Merlin thought, was rather the point.
It was much easier to drug Arthur when she needed to examine him to start with.
Merlin pulled her medicine bag towards herself, rather like Gaius' Arthur noticed, various bottles and herbs and a few pieces of folded parchment bearing her name. Arthur reached out his free arm to play with the edge of the parchment while Merlin patted his cut with a mixture of Valerian and Poppies.
"Don't touch that," she said without even looking up from her task.
To his credit, Arthur hardly winced at the sting that the solution caused. "Why not?"
"Because it's not yours," Merlin said, arching an eyebrow at him and seeing how the magic-brewed sedative was taking effect rather quickly. It didn't last very long, but that was the point, making sure he didn't notice.
"Who's it from?" he asked her just a bit sluggishly.
"None of your business," Merlin said before he leaned back and slumped against the chair, leaving Merlin to shake her head in exasperation.
"You know," she told the prince's slumbering form, "the number of things you don't know about me, Arthur, could fill a library."
Arthur gave no reply, but Merlin hadn't honestly been expecting one in the first place as she moved her hands to the keys at his belt, thumbing through them until she found the right one and removed it from the ring to tuck it into a corner in her medicine bag before Arthur stirred.
"What happened?" he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose, blinking his eyes a few times.
"You might have dozed off a little bit," Merlin hummed, pulling a bandage around the slice and tying it just tightly enough that it wouldn't come undone with ease. "All right, you'll live. It probablywon't scar, if it does I'll be really impressed—" She ignored how Arthur glowered at that. "Leave that on tonight, I'll check on it tomorrow."
Arthur grunted, which was the equivalent of a thank you, Merlin thought as she packed up her medical things while Arthur was still shaking his head out from the aftereffects of the mild sedative she had given him, entirely unaware that one of his keys was tucked away into Merlin's bag.
Merlin couldn't help but give a sigh when no one followed her as she made her way back to Morgana's chambers, giving a light knock before she was permitted in upon the realization that it was her.
When Merlin stepped inside she saw that the boy was awake and dressed in new clothes with his cloak tied around him, looking in remarkably better spirits than that morning. Morgana, in contrast, was a bundle of tension and wearing a dress that was clearly borrowed from Gwen as it was a little short close to the ankle and a bit loose on her and a cloak from Gwen as well made of crimson material.
"That's a good idea," Merlin realized, taking in the changes Morgana had made, "the guards might notice you more if you were wearing higher class material…well, it might be dark enough that they don't notice." The guards weren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, which was probably a good thing, now that she thought about it. "Ready?"
Morgana nodded her head a bit nervously. "Did you get the keys?"
"Just the one you need," Merlin said, placing her bag on the table, unlatching it and pulling out from the crevice between several jars the key, handing it over to Morgana, who took it gratefully. "There's a door behind the red and gold shield on the wall at the far end of the armory, you can't miss it."
Then Merlin moved to kneel before the boy, blue eyes meeting blue eyes. "You stick close to Morgana, all right? I know you might feel a little bit better since this morning, but it's still dangerous out there and Morgana knows Camelot better so you follow her lead, all right?"
The boy nodded and Merlin smiled. "Good lad."
Now if only the plan would work perfectly.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Gwen murmured to Merlin while they sat impatiently in Gwen's cottage.
"Well, we are going against the king," Merlin said dryly.
"You've never had a problem with that," Gwen pointed out, arching her eyebrows when Merlin's eyes turned to cold sapphire.
"That's easy for me," Merlin said, playing with the binding around the end of her plait. "I hate the king, to me he's a tyrant with no redeemable qualities."
Merlin had seen the carnage his war on magic had caused. It was really no wonder that only sorcerers seeking vengeance came to Camelot; he was the one that had caused all the misery to start with.
Gwen, though, appearance rather startled at that admission, but before she could say anything there was the distant sound of the warning bell.
A grimace formed on Merlin's lips. Someone must have seen Morgana with the boy and warned the guards. There went the secrecy that they were trying to maintain.
Merlin opened the door to allow Morgana and the boy within as Gwen quickly thrust a packed bag towards Morgana who was half breathless already.
"There's enough food for three days in there," she said.
"And your horse is waiting in the stables," Merlin added, making for the door once more but Morgana stalled her with a look. "No, there's no point in all of us risking our lives."
"You are," Merlin pointed out grimly.
"I'm the king's ward," Morgana said firmly, "I'll take my chances."
Exasperated and anxious didn't even begin to cover how Merlin felt about the whole thing, but she didn't stop Morgana as she dragged the boy out after her, shutting the door, and it was almost as if she'd never been there in the first place.
Merlin had heard the yells from the throne room the morning after the boy and Morgana had been caught by Arthur and it still made her wince.
Gaius had been able to surmise what she'd been up to for the past few days once he'd learned that Morgana had been implicated in the attempt to smuggle the druid boy out of Camelot, and he wasn't very pleased with her. But that had more to do with him worrying that she was going to get her killed through reckless behavior, which Merlin thought was a bit rich coming from him.
Of course, Merlin was still a bit frosty with Gaius and was making an effort to ignore any of the advice he gave her. But it was a curious note that both Gaius and Kilgharrah seemed rather against her helping the boy. In Kilgharrah's case, his reasoning, whatever it was, was a bit more personal, it was like he knew something awful about the boy.
But Merlin couldn't believe that a child warranted such a response. He'd done nothing wrong, at least, not yet. And even a child didn't deserve to be executed for nothing other than being a Druid.
And she could never understand how someone like Uther could see only death and destruction where there was also life and creation.
Merlin swept the fringe out of her eyes as she moved through the silent halls, coming to a stop outside Arthur's chambers to collect his dishes after the evening meal, which he'd taken in his chambers, for some odd reason, pausing with her hand on the door at the sound of voices within.
"I can't believe you'd let an innocent child die!" Morgana's voice was furious and aghast.
"It's too late," Arthur was much calmer though just as much unsettled. "He's been caught. I have no choice."
"And is this how you will rule when you are king?" Morgana demanded. "You're not like your father."
Merlin decided it was probably best to make a circuit around the castle and come back to the chambers, because it sounded a bit personal to her.
When she ended up back at Arthur's door, there was hardly any noise coming from beyond it, so Merlin breathed out sharply and pushed open the door.
Morgana was within and so was Arthur, picking at the table with his knife and Merlin couldn't help but wrinkle her nose; she was the one that had to clean and repair everything!
"What're you doing here?" Arthur asked blandly like he was rather exhausted with everything.
"Collecting the dishes to be washed," Merlin said simply, pointing to the used cutlery and dishes at the end of the table, glancing towards Morgana as she did so.
"It's all right," Morgana said, "I trust Merlin."
"You're planning another escape attempt." Merlin didn't even have to guess.
"Of course you were involved," Arthur complained.
"That's me," Merlin said, shutting the door swiftly behind her, "sticking my nose where it shouldn't be."
It was a rather unfortunate truth.
Morgana smiled.
"But Morgana can't be involved," Merlin felt the need to point out.
"What?" Morgana demanded.
"You've helped him once before, you'd be the first to be suspected of helping him a second time," Merlin pointed out and Morgana positively deflated.
"For once, Merlin's right," Arthur said and Merlin shot him a glower, which he ignored in favor of turning towards his father's ward. "You must go to my father and apologize. Dine with him. He cannot hold you responsible if you're with him when the boy escapes."
"You need me if the plan's to work!" Morgana pressed.
"I can get him out on my own," Merlin mentioned.
"You're not doing it alone!" Arthur snapped, wheeling around on his heel to pin Merlin with a glare.
"Oh, yeah?" Merlin challenged him. "Who's going to stop me?"
Arthur pressed a hand to his face, gritting his teeth and Morgana found herself fascinated. She'd always known that Merlin and Arthur had a bit of a strange relationship, but listening to them bicker regardless of their differing stations was always interesting.
"Why are you always like this?" he muttered to himself.
"Someone's got to keep you on your toes," Merlin retorted shortly before the three of them were interrupted by a loud caw! and turned in time to see a raven fly through Arthur's open window to perch on Merlin's extended arm.
Of the three, she was the least surprised of its sudden appearance.
"What the hell is that?" Arthur demanded.
"Are you daft? It's a raven," Merlin said dryly, rolling her eyes with enough emphasis that Morgana –despite the tension in the air– had to stifle a few giggles. "Kenelm, say hello."
The raven gave another sharp caw! before extending his leg to her, bringing their focus to the parchment wrapped there.
"You use a bird as a courier?" Morgana asked in surprise.
"Kenelm is far more trustworthy than a courier," Merlin remarked, untying the parchment and making the raven preen all at once. "Kenelm, you can wait in my room for a bit, I've got another job for you."
And then the raven had gone with a flutter of its wings and Arthur didn't have any time to puzzle over just how it had understood a word she'd said, because Merlin had read the contents of the parchment in a single moment.
"Iseldir is waiting in the woods, he'll take the boy once we manage to get him out," she said.
"Iseldir?" The name tumbled out of his mouth oddly, not with the same practiced ease as Merlin.
"He's a Druid Chieftain."
"How do you know a Druid Chieftain?" Arthur demanded.
"A girl's entitled to her secrets," Merlin said, her eyes glittering with amusement at how he gaped at her. "So, which secret passage will we be using since you're so determined to come along?"
Splotches of red appeared high on Arthur's cheekbones. He almost asked how she knew there were more when he didn't even know there were more, but he restrained himself.
"I'll get the boy and take him through the burial vaults," he said after taking a long moment to contemplate just why he kept Merlin on as his maidservant. "It leads out beyond the city walls."
"I'm aware," Merlin said without blinking, "I'll handle the grate that covers it. Don't worry about a horse, though, we won't be going far."
And Morgana left to 'apologize' to the king and leave the pair to finalize their plans.
When it was all said and done, Arthur couldn't help but have more questions about Merlin than when he'd started with.
She met them at the grate with a stony expression on her face, yanking the grate off with ease, leading Arthur to believe that she'd had removed it before, though why Merlin, of all people, would need to sneak out of Camelot, Arthur wasn't sure she wanted to know.
Merlin gave the boy a smile, keeping his hand locked in hers as she jabbered away in a language that Arthur couldn't even begin to understand and the boy responded every so often in the same tongue.
They walked for nearly an hour until Arthur caught sight of an older man holding a torch aloft in the middle of the forest, and it was only then that Merlin abandoned the boy to rush through the leaves and grasp the man in a tight hug.
There weren't many that Merlin would do that to, so Arthur couldn't really mask his surprise. The sun hadn't yet risen, so it was only when Arthur and the boy came much closer that he was able to make out the man holding the torch, but there was nothing particularly remarkable about him; loose grey curls, kind eyes around the edges of which were crow's feet.
He was speaking quietly with Merlin, the pair of them rather solemn.
"I'll do my best," Merlin promised.
The man gave her a soft smile. "I know you will," he agreed before turning to speak to Arthur as the boy moved forward to stand on his other side. "We are forever indebted to you, Arthur Pendragon, for returning the boy to us."
"You must not let it be known that it was I who brought him to you," Arthur said and the man, Iseldir, Merlin had called him, glanced towards Merlin.
"We will tell no one," he said, "you have my word. Lady Merlin's kindness to our kind is well known, we will only betray her involvement."
Arthur was sure Merlin was blushing now.
"Do you want to give us your name, darling, before you leave?" Merlin asked, faintly amused and the boy jerked back to look at them both.
"My name is Mordred," the boy said.
"Good luck, Mordred," Arthur responded and Mordred smiled before following Iseldir into the darkness, and then he rounded on Merlin. "Lady Merlin?"
"Oh, shut up," Merlin snapped, and he could practically feel her embarrassment, yet how she and Iseldir had acted together was oddly familial.
"Was that man your father?" he asked her on the trek back.
"I have no father," Merlin said coolly, "Iseldir is my godfather and the greatest healer I know."
"What did he ask you to do?"
Merlin puffed an inhale of air out through her mouth. "Druids have very specific rites for death. He was asking for Cerdan's body."
"The Druid that was executed?" Arthur guessed and Merlin's lips thinned.
"Yes," she said stiffly, "him."
He considered her in the darkness, only really half-seeing her. "I'm never going to figure you out, am I?"
Merlin's laugh pierced the air before she could silence it. "Not a chance."
AN: Merlin has a very different relationship with Mordred than in canon, but as of now his bond with Morgana is more profound.
I have a personal headcanon that the Druids have a language that is what the first spells were derived from and Merlin's spent so much time around Druids that she's fluent.
Its Shini's birthday on the 26th, so I'm trying to update a lot of fics that I haven't been focused on before then, but I'm not sure when this one will be updated again.
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
