The dragon landed within Essetir's forest, in a clearing surrounded by trees and what looked like a frozen stream cutting through it.
"I am too large for the trees, you will have to go without me." The dragon said as they climbed off of him.
"How do we know we'll be going in the right direction?" Arthur asked and Merlin winced and grunted as Arthur jolted him by accident. He instantly looked down at him with concern and Merlin panted. He felt so hot, even with all the snow.
"It won't be hard to find him. He resides in a cavern up ahead. I can feel his presence all the way from over here. No doubt he senses mine too and will be heading this way." The great dragon turned to look down at him. "When you see him, tell him Kilgharrah has sent you."
"Sire, considering how trustworthy the last sorcerer we approached was, can you not consider the possibility that this one could be a threat?" Leon asked.
"We have no choice. Unless you want Merlin to die, we should move faster." Arthur said.
Leon stared at Merlin. Merlin looked at Leon uncertain. Had the other learnt of his magic by now? Did he think him evil? Merlin was about to look away, when he saw concern show in Leon's face. Leon came to help Arthur by taking Merlin's other arm and holding it over his shoulder. "Come on, Merlin."
Merlin grunted. They supported him as they practically dragged him through the snow and through the trees. Despite the pain, he felt great comfort at the thought that Leon seemed to accept him.
oOoOoOo
"I feel something." Mordred said finally. Arthur tensed as he held Merlin's shivering body closer. Leon let go and took out his sword, ready to protect them if anything should happen.
A hooded figure approached, two hares over his shoulder. "You! Who are you?" The man called.
Arthur looked at Merlin quickly, seeing his pale face, the cold sweat on his forehead but still alive.
"Are you Balinor?" Arthur asked.
"That man's passed on." The man replied. "If you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be." Balinor said, heading straight through where they came from.
"Please, my friend needs help." Arthur said. "He's been wounded." The man hesitated and turned to look at them.
"Then perhaps you should have not trespassed into Cenred's kingdom, Arthur Pendragon. You were asking for trouble and found it." The man hissed and Arthur began to realise what Arthur meant by not finding an alliance from many magic users out there.
"You'd let a man die?!" Arthur yelled.
"You have your own physicians, don't you?" Balinor called back. Merlin fell slack in his arms and Arthur panicked and Balinor stopped.
"Merlin? Merlin! No! Open your eyes, come on Merlin." Arthur yelled.
"Emrys!" Mordred cried out, panic in his child's voice but it was enough to get Balinor's full attention.
"Emrys?" Balinor whispered and came over. "Bring him, this way." Balinor said, leading them further down the frozen stream, toward a well hidden cave. "Lie him there."
Arthur carefully lay Merlin down on the cloth-covered slab of stone. His face had a death-like paleness to it. Arthur took a deep breath as he tried to control his emotions and concentrate on getting Merlin better.
Balinor opened up Merlin's coat, the fur ruined from the blood. Arthur had seen plenty of battle wounds in the battlefield. The cut was clean but deep. The bleeding had mostly stopped but it was clear from Merlin's paleness and rising fever that he was poisoned.
Arthur's eyes kept flickering from Merlin's wound, to his face, to Balinor's face and back again. "Can you help him?" Arthur asked. Balinor turned and began grabbing things from the corner, coming to the fire and beginning to grind herbs to a paste with water and the ash by the fire.
"Do you know who it is you guard, boy?" Balinor asked. "Emrys is said to be the most powerful sorcerer to walk the Earth." He said. "I would think every Camelot knight, including their prince, would only be too eager to strap him to the pyre."
"His name is Merlin." Arthur said simply, watching Balinor work, urging him in his mind to work faster. Balinor didn't respond but began to treat the wound with the paste, whispering words of the old religion, passing his hands over Merlin, tracing strange symbols all over his body as he went. When he was done, Balinor glanced at Arthur defiantly before moving back and going to set his items down. "Will he be alright?" Arthur asked.
"He will be fine, by morning." He said and stepped outside to clean his hands with the snow.
Arthur turned to look at Merlin, reaching to caress his face before taking a deep breath and letting go of him, going to sit by the fire. "Mordred, why did you call Merlin by that name?" Arthur asked. Mordred had been behaving strange and Arthur only just now realised the boy was avoiding looking at him. "Mordred? Come on, have I done something?" Arthur asked.
Mordred shook his head.
"Then what is it, I miss hearing you speak, you know?" Arthur teased and Mordred smiled faintly while Morgana caressed the boy's hair.
"Merlin… said I killed you in his vision." Mordred mumbled. Arthur glanced at Morgana with mild alarm.
"When did you speak to him?" Arthur asked, trying to stay calm.
"When we were waiting for Morgause." He said softly, trying to make himself smaller where he sat.
"Mordred… don't think about that… Merlin was grief stricken." Morgana said. "We tend to say horrible things we don't mean when that happens."
"No, Morgana! The crystal shows the future… I… I don't want to be bad!" Mordred exclaimed. "I don't want to be like the knights! I don't want to be like the king!" Mordred exclaimed, bursting into tears like children his age often do when they're hurt.
Arthur remembered such a time when he would have cried like that, so freely. Like Merlin had done for him. But Arthur never had a comforting hand to soothe him.
When his father would praise Morgana and shout at him, he would cry in his room, alone, smothering his face into the pillows of a bed much too big for him so no one would hear him cry.
Arthur stared at the child. It struck him that the boy saw the knights of Camelot and the king as absolute evil. Of course he would. He was a child with magic. Beside that, could he tell him what he'd been told again and again until he'd stopped shedding tears? "Men don't cry. Strong men, even less so."
Merlin was the strongest man he knew. Maybe not physically, but in every other sense. And yet he'd wept miserably for the past three days for Arthur alone. Did Arthur feel he was lesser because of it? No.
"Mordred. Listen to me, Kilgharrah said that the vision only shows the seer's greatest fears. It might not happen. Who knows what path of our lives would have let us down that route, but I wholly believe that the path Merlin saw will never come to pass." Arthur said.
"How do you know?" Mordred asked softly. "M-maybe… maybe magic is evil… Maybe… Maybe I was born to hurt others." He mumbled. Merlin had said something similar to him when he opened up about his magic.
"No. No child is born to hurt others." Leon added, surprising Arthur by speaking up.
Morgana nodded.
"Magical or not. You are a good boy with a kind heart." Gwen said.
"As long as you stay true to that, I know there's no wrong you can do. We all have faith in that." Morgana finished. The boy smiled and hugged Morgana.
"Merlin…" Mordred started. "The druids call him Emrys, it's just what we called him in legend… he's supposed to return magic to all of Albion. He's supposed to keep us safe." Mordred said gently.
"And you believe the legend?" Leon asked.
Mordred nodded. "My mother… she'd always tell me when I was scared or when bad things happened… 'Never fear, Mordred. Emrys will one day come and save us.'" He smiled sadly. "When I saw him for the first time… I knew." Mordred said, leaning into Morgana's embrace once more.
"Arthur…" Merlin mumbled and Arthur was at his side in an instant. But Merlin was fast asleep. Arthur took a wet cloth and cleaned his face. "Nnh… Arthur…" Merlin mumbled and Arthur couldn't resist, leaning forward, kissing him softly, longing to see Merlin healthy and well once more.
A sound made him look up to see Balinor standing there, staring at them, mild surprise seen in his face but then he looked disinterested. "I need answers, Pendragon."
"Ask." Arthur said.
"You knew my name. Have you come in your father's name?" Balinor asked coldly.
Arthur scoffed as he stood and came closer to Balinor. "What business would my father have with you?" He asked.
"I am the last dragon lord. He has been hunting me down since he tricked me into summoning the great dragon to him. Uther betrayed me and imprisoned the great dragon. He butchered all of my kind."
"We too have known Uther's cruelty." Morgana said. Gwen looked down, no doubt remembering her father. Leon, rather, looked away, pretending to clean a smudge on the hilt of his sword as he didn't include himself to their group. After all, Leon had no qualms with their father. Uther was their king and the knight's code indicated that he must remain loyal to the king.
"Even you? His precious son?" Balinor demanded. Arthur took a deep breath.
"He's caused enough suffering." Arthur said.
"And what ingenious plan did you have? There's two knights, two women, an injured sorcerer and a child."
"We also have a dragon." Arthur said. "It was Kilgharrah that led us to you." Arthur said. Balinor stared at him.
"Kilgharrah brought you six to me? Why?" He asked with narrowed eyes. Arthur took a deep breath.
"Merlin and I have been… magically married. His powers have been losing control since then. We need a hand fasting ceremony, or Merlin could be exposed in Camelot and father would try to execute him before we're ready to get him to step down." Arthur said.
"Magically married. Accidentally. To Emrys." Balinor said and crossed his arms over his chest. "You took him by force?" He asked.
"No!" Arthur yelled and then felt panic in his chest, because… well… wasn't it? Merlin had given himself to him to ensure he stayed by his side and kept him safe. Even if he said he consented… was he truly willing?
"Accidental bindings don't just happen. They're tied to emotional imbalance in a poorly trained warlock." Balinor said.
"Merlin has always been quite emotional…" Morgana tried to reason.
"I want the truth! What did you do to this warlock, Arthur Pendragon. Did you think it would be an amusing humiliation for him?" He asked.
"No! I… Merlin was my friend, my manservant. He's saved me countless times with his magic without me knowing. He's the most loyal friend I've ever known!"
"And I take it that changed when you learned of his magic." Balinor said.
"No! I… I want Merlin to be safe." Arthur said. Balinor didn't seem satisfied. "I was enchanted and was found in bed with a visiting noble lady."
Balinor scoffed and laughed humourlessly. "Enchanted, yes, I've heard plenty young nobles use that excuse before." He said.
"I was! Nothing happened between us but it was enough to humiliate my father. So he demanded I use my manservant to…" Arthur glanced at Mordred and didn't continue. The words spoke for themselves for those who knew what he was talking about.
"And the noble prince Arthur did as his father told him." Balinor said. Shame ate Arthur up and he looked away.
"Merlin was trapped in the crystal of Neahtid's vision. Kilgharrah said his power needed to be grounded. We needed to complete a binding ritual. But the sorceress we went to betrayed us to Cenred's men." Arthur said. "Kilgharrah said you could help."
"I'll speak to Kilgharrah myself. I make no promise to help you or your manservant any further." He said and left. Arthur sat down, shame still eating away at him.
"He's right. If we weren't trapped in this situation, we wouldn't be getting bound." Arthur said.
"We can't go back to Camelot with Merlin's magic out of control." Morgana said.
"Can't we? There must be another way to settle his magic. He's the most powerful warlock to ever walk the Earth." Arthur said softly looking at Merlin.
"But you love each other." Gwen said and Arthur flinched. "If we all forget that you're two men, I think we can all very well see it from long before Lady Vivian visited." She said.
Arthur turned to look at Merlin's pale face and reached to hold his hand.
oOoOoOo
Uther was not paying attention to the council meeting. He was far too distracted. It had been three days since his son and daughter left together for a hunting trip. He knew very well Morgana hated hunting. Why would she ever join Arthur for a hunt unless… they were eloping.
That must be why they took so many witnesses. Leon, Arthur's manservant, his younger brother and the blacksmith's daughter.
"Enough, we'll continue discussions tomorrow. You're dismissed." Uther said and sighed as the council stood, bowed and left. "Stay behind, Gaius. I must speak with you." Uther said.
Gaius nodded. "Yes, your majesty?" He asked.
"Three days hunting?" Uther asked. "Hardly appropriate for a lady to sleep on the forest floor for three days." He said. "Not to mention the covering of snow out there."
"I'm sure they took refuge in one of the village inns. Perhaps they simply went too far." Gaius said.
"I want a search party out for them. I'll also be inviting Lord Godwin and Princess Elena as soon as the snows melt. Arthur will marry." Uther said. He couldn't delay their meeting any longer.
"Sire… if I may… why so suddenly?" Gaius asked. Uther took a long drink of his wine.
"I was wed a year before Arthur's current age. It is time he married and strengthened the kingdom through this marriage." He said simply. "I'll write to them straight away."