AN: Hamato-Grayson, the Arthur and Merlin banter is specifically for you.Gingeraffealene and gaylelbf, totally guilty as charged, I'm an adrenaline junky who puts the characters in terrible situations!Optymista, thank you for your lovely words.Time for Merlin to kick some butt. Woohoo!

CHAPTER 20: Magic Joins

Merlin

Merlin could tell the spell that the dochraid was preparing was meant to be deadly, but he had learned a trick from his fight with Nimue. Bracing for the pain, he allowed the spell to hit, but channeled the power into his own reserve of magic. It felt like his skin was going to burst, like he was burning from the inside out, but he knew his actions had kept it from hurting him physically. With a long inhale, he pushed the dochraid's own power back out at her, with a healthy dose of his own. It roared out, a fireball the size of an elephant.

The dochraid was thrown forty feet to smash into the other side of the cavern hard enough that big chunks of rocks broke free at the impact. She wailed the entire way, only rising in volume as she fell to the ground. Merlin was disappointed at the aural evidence that she hadn't been incapacitated by the blast. Worse, as her shriek grew louder, cracks appeared on the rock walls all around them. Merlin shot a lightning bolt at the dochraid as she climbed to her feet, hoping to get her to stop her wail. Instead, she used a version of his trick and rebounded the spell back at him. It didn't do him any damage, but it did disrupt his next spell, and the blast of air he'd been conjuring died out at the tips of his fingers. Then his lights that were floating all around them went out, and he had to take a second to re-light them so he could see. By the time he did, his opponent was somehow standing only a few feet away. She began that annoying cackle and swirled one finger in the air like she was ordering another round at the tavern.

The ground beneath Merlin turned from solid rock to slippery shale, and he began to sink into it, forcing him to stop casting again to stop his fall. As he did, fist-sized rocks began to roll toward him from all directions. He cast a quick shield, but missed the first two, which bounced painfully off his chest. She was so fast, her casting so instinctual he was always one step behind. Trying to counter that speed, he didn't cast a new spell, instead sending his shield bursting outward, but she only rocked back and didn't fall. She cackled again, and he thought it was the most annoying sound he'd ever heard. She cast something at his head, but he had sent out another fireball at the same time, and the spells simply destroyed each other.

Merlin didn't have time to think or do anything but react. His broken fingers sent shocks of pain through him, and aches bloomed in his chest, feet, ankles, and elsewhere. He needed to end this permanently somehow. He cast three lightning bolts in quick succession, making her scream again and the rocks crack even more. The nauseating smell of burning flesh reached him, but the dochraid still stood.

"Your friends think they've won since they beat my golem. I'll just send an army of golems!" Her magic rushed past Merlin and out of the chamber as fear and anger filled him. "In a moment, they will fertilize my cave with their blood!"

Furious, determined to stop her gibbering for good, Merlin called up more magic than he normally dared to use and the entire cave began to shake. As he coalesced the magic into a truly fearsome spell, a figure appeared in front of him. It was Taliesin, and it wasn't. With his magic so close to the surface, Merlin could sense that it was something beyond the world, and could see that time had paused around them. "I promised a mutual friend I would help, and I can do just this one more time," said the figure cryptically. "You cannot kill the dochraid. It's woven into the fabric of the world. But you can bury it so far that it won't dig out for a thousand years or more. Here's how." The man / thing leaned over and whispered a spell right in Merlin's air. Then it smiled. "It will be many, many years before you can command magic at this level, so today I will help. And I will appear to your friends so they think I am responsible for the magic, if you wish. Or you could roll the dice and let them know...?" It trailed off.

"Not yet," decided Merlin. "Please let them think it was you. And thank you for your help." It smiled one more enigmatic smile and was gone. Time began again, and Merlin wove the spell that had been put into his mind. It was more complex than anything he'd ever tried or imagined before. Then he unleashed his magic in a way and a quantity that he'd never dared before. The dochraid had sent a blast his way, but his own magic was so powerful that it simply devoured her spell. He sensed her disbelief and fear but was too busy riding the bucking bronco of his magic to react.

The magic burned through his veins with the power of the sun, but instead of hurting, it was cleansing. In fact, for those few moments, he was beyond space and pain and his body. He knew the magic, unchecked, would devour everything it touched, and distantly realized that it would leave a hole across the land for a hundred miles. With a thought, he turned it down and made sure his friends were shielded. Then Merlin molded the earth, pushing the dochraid down so deep that she might never emerge again, and causing a cylindrical tower to form under his feet and push him to the surface. The ceiling obediently peeled back to let him out.

He vaporized the golems that were menacing his friends and opened the ceiling above them, caving in the side of the cavern so they could easily climb out. He wanted to wait and see if they were safe, but his helper's influence vanished and with effort, he recapped the magic that had raged. He came back to himself, fully Merlin once more, and his body decided that was enough. He sighed, pleased his friends were safe, and let darkness take him.

Arthur and Company

We all stared in mute horror at the new golems. It would take an ocean to drown them all, it seemed. Before they could attack, a high wail cut through the air, so intense we all covered our ears. The walls shook and began to crack, because we didn't have enough going on. The shriek stopped, then started again. This time, everyone standing was literally knocked off their feet, including the golems. The ground trembled and the ceiling cracked more, stones splashing into the water around us. Then white light filled the whole space and I thought, Oh crap. I'm dead. Again. But I wasn't. The light faded and the golems were gone, and actually, so was the ceiling. It had collapsed into a very convenient ramp leading out of the cavern. A familiar looking figure stood at the top of the ramp and called down to us.

"You are safe now. The dochraid is buried far beneath the earth. Your friend Merlin is up here, as are your horses. Go, be safe." It was in the Taliesin form, but I knew it was my guide.

"Wait!" called Arthur, but the figure had disappeared.

It was an extremely slow and painful climb out of the pit. Nobody was unscathed. Leon was skin and bones, awake but too weak to climb out himself. Elyan and Gwaine each threw one of his arms over their shoulder and half-dragged him up the slope. Both of them were limping and covered in bruises and abrasions, but claimed to be unhurt. Arthur's left arm hung useless at his side until he allowed Percival to force his shoulder back into place. I would have passed out, but the king only grunted. He also moved very stiffly, and I could tell that his ribs hurt. Percival's right arm was scraped and bleeding from elbow to shoulder, and there didn't seem to be a place on him that wasn't bruised and battered. And I probably looked like Carrie after my whole ordeal. My nightdress was no longer even close to its original off white, unless it was the offest white that existed. It was filthy and I had a feeling my hair might never be the same again. My split lip and bruised jaw from Sealgaire barely even registered in the list of things that hurt.

Arthur and I all but crawled up the slope side by side, both too stubborn to wait and have our healthier companions come back to help us. We made silent, painful progress until I paused to rest and said, "Thank you, Arthur. Thank you for coming for me. I will tell my queen all you've done for me, and I know she'll be grateful too."

He paused as well, and looked over at me with some surprise. "You remember who you are?"

I nodded. "When Sealgaire slapped me around, I guess he knocked something loose. I'm Seraphine, ward of Queen Annis, and acting as her emissary. I was investigating the bandits and under orders to tell you what I learned. I was to pretend we would supply them with weapons so I could learn more about them." I had to stop, out of breath. "I'll tell you all about it...later."

Arthur nodded thoughtfully. "I will look forward to that." He offered me a hand up, and I was too tired to refuse. We toiled slowly after the rest, the lot of us as speedy and energetic as a turtle race.

"We found Merlin!" called Elyan when his group reached the top. The warlock was just regaining consciousness, covered in dust, and much worse for the wear, and therefore fit with the rest of our group perfectly. The horses were also there, including those from Leon's whole party, and still had their saddle bags and supplies, which was a huge bonus. Arthur looked over our sorry band. I was helping Merlin wrap his poor broken fingers, Gwaine had brought Leon some water, Elyan was wrapping Percival's bleeding arm, and generally we were doing our best to help each other.

"Friends," called Arthur, claiming everyone's attention. "We have been through much, and we are all injured and weary. We are certainly in no state to defend ourselves. But if you can find it in yourself to go a little longer, there is a small village not far from here. An hour's slow ride or perhaps even less, and we should be able to find food and a place to clean up and tend our wounds. Can everyone ride?" More than one of us looked at Leon, but even he nodded. The prospect of a safe place to sleep, hot food, and maybe even a bed was more than we could resist.

It took Percival, Elyan, and Gwaine to get Leon onto a horse, and they tied him on as he could barely sit up straight. We all pretended not to notice that it took Arthur three tries to get on his. Percival seemed to get up on a wing and a prayer. If we ran into any bandits, we might just have to fight them with words, I thought. As for me, I may have told Sealgaire that I would never ride on a man's lap, but when Gwaine offered that I could ride in front of him, I threw all of that – and all of Annis' lessons about independence – out the proverbial window. I curled into him like a cat, tucked my head under his chin, let him put his cloak around me, and slept like I'd found the softest feather bed in Camelot. Sometimes a girl just needs a little pampering. And honestly, I'd had a lifetime's worth of crap squished into the last couple of days.

As I was falling asleep, I could overhear Arthur and Merlin having a conversation that didn't seem very typical for a king and a servant.

"Arthur, what happened, anyway?"

"While you were off taking a nice nap, we had to fight giant monsters made of rock and earth."

"Dirt monsters? That doesn't sound so mad. What did you do, mop them up? Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know how to clean up, not dirt or anything else."

"Merlin, you are the most disrespectful servant I've ever met."

"Arrogant plodder."

"Clumsy camel."

They might have gone on longer, but by then I was asleep.

We found the village as promised, and I got a first hand look at how much many of Arthur's people loved him. The villagers sent a messenger on to Camelot to get us an escort home, and literally argued over who could give up their beds for us. They helped Merlin treat our injuries and plied us with food and drink. The able-bodied men took turns keeping watch all night. The innkeeper even drew me a bath and gave me some of his daughter's clothes to wear and a comb to use. I could have kissed him! I attempted to count my cuts and bruises but finally gave up. And I happily burned what was left of my nightdress. I knew I was lucky, though. Arthur had three cracked ribs, and it turned out Percival had a broken collarbone. Leon was dehydrated and nearly starving. Yet somehow, once more, we had all survived.