Destiny Veiled

by theicingandcherryontop

No young man, no matter how great, can know his destiny. When Uther just kills the last dragon as he does every single other magical threat, he unwittingly alters the course of history. Nearly two decades later a young boy arrives in Camelot. Unsure of the purpose for his gifts and with no convenient all-knowing mentor to turn to, he must find his own place in the world.

12. 0x12 - The Red and White Dragons (2)

0x12 – The Red and White Dragons (Part 2)

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Vivienne's tent was bigger than Merlin's entire house. The cloth was made out of a material that even just looking he could tell was expensive and her luxurious furnishings held more trinkets and objects than Merlin thought his mother had even seen, let alone owned. Her bed was easily the biggest Merlin had ever seen, largest enough to fit three or four people and plump with an assortment of pillows and blankets and cushions. At the head lay Aithusa, spanning the width of the bed where she lay curled up on the pillows, looking perfectly content like an overgrown lady's cat.

Merlin quickly looked over to Vivienne, worried about what how she would take having her bed invaded by a horse-sized fire-breathing creature of magic. To his relief, she didn't appear bothered. If anything she looked slightly amused by her two guests' gobsmacked expressions at the sight of her luxurious quarters. "Welcome to my gilded cage."

Merlin closed his gaping jaw, a slight flush dusting his cheeks. Vivienne gestured graciously to two foldable cots set up by the large bed. "I had a servant prepare these. I apologize if you find them inadequate but they are the best I could arrange for on such short notice."

"No," Merlin said, thinking of the mat he slept on at home and trying not to look too excited by the prospect of spending the night off the ground while in the presence of this well-off woman who thought of it as makeshift. He and Will took a seat on the cots. "They're wonderful. Thank you."

Vivienne's lip curled up at the very tips. "You are most welcome, it was no trouble."

She passed Merlin a fluffy towel and both boys a blanket thicker than any he had at home. While he dried off and wrapped himself up so as not to catch a cold, she daintily took a seat at the edge of her bed, looking not the slightest bit fazed that behind her back lay a dragon. Merlin had to admire her for that.

"Now," she began briskly, "fortunately for us all, the guards who normally watch me with the eyes of a hawk fear that Myrddin Emrys will turn them into toads if they disturb us."

"Question?" Will interrupted bluntly, continuing before Vivienne had any chance to do more that look his way. "Why are you staying with this Vortigern bloke? I mean, he doesn't seem to like you and you don't seem to like him, not to mention he's completely nutters. Why not just leave?"

The slight upward curl to Vivienne's lips vanished. She looked rather like she'd swallowed something bitter. "In my dreams I leave him, and that gives me hope enough to endure each day as it comes. I stay because I have no choice in the matter. When Vortigern was ousted from the citadel there were some whom he let go, but I was not among the losses he was willing to cut to make safe his retreat."

"Why?" Will said, genuinely curious. "No offense, but he doesn't seem like the sort to enjoy getting yelled at. So why does he keep you around?"

"I possess a gift rarer than magic, one that he wishes to wield but does not possess himself. Though one may question why he bothers as I most frequently am the Cassandra to his Paris. If I were to run with torch in hand towards the wooden horse, he would call me a madwoman and have me restrained."

Merlin was getting more confused the more Vivienne spoke. It sounded like she thought she was answering the questions, but if she was he didn't think he understood the answer. All he could make out was that Vivienne was being kept here against her will because of something Vortigern wanted her to do for him; a common theme where Vortigern was concerned, apparently. A small measure of something like kinship stirred within him; she was not so different from him, despite her more stately way of speech and the fact that she was desensitized to the luxuries surrounding her.

"We have more important matters to discuss than my caged existence, however." Vivienne's gossamer eyes snapped to Merlin's. "What do you make of the mosaic and inscription?"

It felt very strange to have an adult asking his opinion on anything as though he was an equal. "I don't know," Merlin shuffled his feet awkwardly, wishing he could say something that would live up to the great expectations these people were piling on his shoulders. "That the ancient people liked being pointlessly mysterious?"

Will snorted beside him. "Why, what's this moz-ack –"

"Mosaic," Vivienne corrected.

"– this thing looks like?"

And so Merlin told him about the two mirrored dragons and the cryptic inscription, showing both Vivienne and Will the gold box with its priceless treasure that was unfortunately not very useful to his present dilemma. Aithusa stirred for the first time, shaking the whole bed when she shifted forwards to better see the unhatched member of her kin lying within. Merlin pushed the box towards her, and she gripped it was her forepaw, bringing it closer to press against her and wrapping her wings around it protectively.

"I wonder if the dragon inside is red." When he was given two questioning looks, Merlin explained, "Aithusa's egg was white, the same colour as her scales. But this egg is red, so I was wondering if that was also the colour of this dragon's scales."

"You think the egg has something to do with this all?" Will asked. Helping Merlin solve the riddle that would get them home was apparently deemed more important than any issues he most likely still had about the lies and secret-keeping. "It does seem like an awfully big coincidence that now there's a white and red dragon, same as in the picture."

"The day of the sleeping dragons' awakening approaches," Merlin repeated, rolling the words around and trying to make sense of them. "The sleeping part could mean how it's not aware of the world while it's in the egg. So the awakening is when the dragons are born. It which case its already half come true."

It was perhaps the easiest part of the inscription to make sense of. Neither Will nor Vivienne contested his reasoning.

"The inseparable opposites who are each other," Merlin mused, trying to pick apart the inscription piece by piece.

The image of the stone dragons came to mind with those words. The dragons were mirror images, identical except for the direction they faced and their colours. Opposites who are each other, the same design facing opposite directions. Opposite but the same, he racked his brain in frustration. What did it mean to be the opposite but the same? And where did inseparable come into play? Both the image of the dragons and the real dragons atop Vivienne's bed were separate from one another. The gold pillar lay between the images, and the gold box lay between Aithusa and her unhatched distant cousin. Even ignoring that, Aithusa had lived for five years before meeting this egg. They were hardly inseparable.

"Whose essence is in their colour," Vivienne mused, looking over her shoulder at Aithusa and the egg.

That obviously meant red and white. But what did it mean? What was the significance of being a white dragon as opposed to a red dragon? Merlin thought up things he associated with each colour: snow, clouds, cold, purity, innocence for white and Camelot, blood, hot, anger, passion for red. Perhaps the adjectives associated with the colours were meant to describe the dragons' personalities?

But what truly bothered him was the next bit, "Each is a vanguard in the fight begun with the advent of Time."

That sounded very ominous. Combined with the way the stone dragons had been facing each other roaring with forepaws raised threateningly, it sounded like Aithusa and the egg were meant to fight each other as some part of a battle that had been ongoing since the dawn of the world. He looked over to where Aithusa lay curled protectively around the egg, and thought that if that were true it would be a fate too cruel for words that the two last dragons in the world were destined to be enemies.

"The fight begun with the advent of Time," Vivienne mused. "It's an interesting choice, with. Not at, or alongside, or since, or during. With."

"Does it really matter?" Merlin couldn't help but wonder. It seemed such a tiny little word to get hung up on.

"It may. With suggests correlation whereas the alternatives do not. If the selection of with was done deliberately, then it may be saying more than that this fight is ancient. It may be saying that this fight was caused by the birth of time."

"A fight caused by time itself." That was so unhelpful. He tried to think of what it might mean, but it was like fishing around in the dark. "So then, Aithusa and the red dragon are inseparable for some reason, opposite but the same, their colours say something deep about them, and they're at the head of a fight that began with and might have been caused by the beginning of time."

"It doesn't really seem like the sort of answer Vortigern'll think is good enough," Will groused, echoing Merlin's gloomy thoughts. They had all the pieces of the puzzle, but he didn't know how to fit them together to make a whole. There had to be a deeper meaning; someone had gone to a lot of trouble and expense to hide away a dragon's egg and leave that blasted inscription on a pillar made of gold of all things.

But no matter how long they threw around ideas and suggestions, they couldn't find anything that incorporated all the pieces of the puzzle. At length, Vivienne suggested as though probing to see how Merlin would take her words, "I find that sometimes, it is best to tell Vortigern not necessarily what is, but what he wants to hear is."

"You mean, just make something up?" It would be a good idea, if Merlin wasn't such a rubbish liar.

Vivienne leaned forwards, and Merlin could almost see the wheels in her head turning and gaining momentum. "What Vortigern wants to hear you say," she pressed, "is that he will be victorious in the wars he is raging. If you bend the words of the pillar and the symbolism of the dragons to tell him such, he will be satisfied. You could tell him that one dragon represents him, and the other his enemies."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Merlin argued. "Nothing about the dragons or the pillars has anything to do with him. And what about the real meaning? If Aithusa and the red dragon are destined to fight in some war, I want to know what this war is! And what will he do to the dragon that I tell him symbolizes his enemies?"

Vivienne didn't answer, and Merlin's stomach sank. Vortigern had been willing to violate a taboo to kidnap and kill Merlin in order to build a tower, it was clear what he would do to the dragon Merlin told him was meant to fight at the vanguard of his enemies.

"No," Merlin said, stomach turning. He couldn't consign either Aithusa or the unhatched red dragon to death merely in order to return home. "We have to find another way."

"What if we hid the egg?" Will suggested, startling both Merlin and Vivienne. He had been mostly silent during their talks, not having seen the mosaic himself he had less input on what it might mean. He had only thrown out a couple of suggestions here and there, as he was doing now. Will continued on, "The only people who know this egg exists are the three of us. Why tell anyone else? Mer… Myrddin can make up something about how the white dragon is him and will be victorious, and for all he knows the red dragon is flying around with his enemies already. Why does he ever have to know it was sitting right under his very nose?"

"That could work," Merlin said slowly. Aithusa had been perfectly fine at the top of a tower for hundreds of years, surely the red egg would be fine as well hidden away. Thoughts of Borden came to mind, but Merlin quashed them: he wasn't going to make a key, so no one would know where he hid the egg. Merlin laughed, recalling Borden's ravings and thinking they fit the gold chest perfectly. "It'll be like a hidden treasure."

Vivienne's eyes widened at these words, and her head swiveled towards the gold chest, staring at it as if seeing it anew. She backed off her bed, a look of comprehension on her face as some realization only she was privy to dawned on her. Without warning, she turned on her heel and half-ran out the flap of her tent.

"Um, bye?" Merlin called at the tent flap which was swishing back into place. "We'll just sit here and try and work things out on our own then, don't mind us!"

"What was that about?" Will asked, baffled. "What'd she go running off for?"

Merlin shrugged. "No idea."

Will snorted. "You make a terrible all-knowing sorcerer." With the forbidden word uttered between them things turned awkward fast. Both of them averted their eyes, Merlin pretended to adjust his blankets and Will picked a loose thread on his shirt.

When his blankets were snugly wrapped around him and he had no other convenient distraction to pretend to be absorbed by, Merlin swallowed, "I meant it, when I said I was sorry. I should have told you... and I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore."

Suddenly a pillow smacked into his head, and instinctively Merlin looked up. Will was scowling at him. "Dammit, Merlin, if you weren't my friend don't you think I would have taken my chances and hightailed it out of here around when that nutter started going on about building towers out of blood? You're not getting rid of me that easily!"

"But you're still mad at me." After thinking Will was cooling down so many times only to be proved wrong, Merlin was certain he was not yet off the hook.

"That doesn't mean I want to lose my best friend," Will actually rolled his eyes. "And stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"All big and doe-eyed! I've seen puppies that are easier to stay mad at!" Will snatched back his pillow and huffed, going back to picking a thread and devoting unnecessary amounts of concentration to it. A light flush coloured his cheeks when he mumbled out, "Fine, if you can do it so can I… I'm sorry. For yelling at you, I mean. And, uh, um… yeah. Yeah, I'm sorry. And of course we're still friends. But seriously, if you ever keep such massive secrets from me again I'll smack you until you don't know which way is up anymore."

It was perhaps the most awkward apology Merlin had ever heard, as well as the most unexpected, but that only made it all the more heartwarming - even with the still slightly angry ending. For a moment, Merlin was able to forget all the problems he was facing, because for once something was going right for him. Both of them smiled and laughed a little awkwardly in relief that they were definitely friends again, but the uncomfortable silence was difficult to break. Even if Will was willing to forgive him for the lies, they still sat there between them needing addressing.

"Sooo…" Will said, turning to look at Aithusa. "Are you going to introduce me to your dragon? Also, can she take me flying? Because that would be amazing."

"Will," Merlin said, an irrepressible smile breaking across his face at the peace offering, "meet Aithusa. Aithusa, this is my friend Will."

Aithusa had lifted her head from where she was nuzzling the red egg and inclined her head to Will, who looked taken aback. Slyly, Merlin said, "And I think you'd be better off asking her if you can go for a ride. She can understand human speech."

At Will's distinctly horrified expression – doubtlessly recalling the way he had called Aithusa 'it' and a 'pet' in front of her – Merlin doubled over laughing, clutching his stomach as tears poured down his face. He felt Aithusa nudge his mind, inquiring about why he was laughing. Aithusa's concept of humour wasn't very well-developed yet, so he just told her it was because he was happy. Will grabbed a pillow and whacked Merlin across the head, calling him names for not telling him that sooner.

After the pillow fight, Will and Merlin talked on as he answered all Will's questions about Aithusa and Merlin's magic, since they needed addressing and they couldn't really plan anything until Vivienne came back from wherever she'd gone to. After all, if they were going to try to pass Aithusa off as a symbol of Vortigern's victory they needed to know more about him than that he was a lunatic who had no qualms about killing people, and neither of them even knew who the enemies the red dragon was supposed to represent were. They couldn't even hide the egg as they knew nothing about their surroundings, unless they wanted to dig a hole in the ground of Vivienne's tent and bury it.

Outside the periodic thunderclaps went on, and several things in Vivienne's tent had fallen off shelves and broken by the shaking of the earth. Inside the tent, with the light of a candle, it was easy to pretend that the darkness was merely nighttime. But Merlin and Will were reminded all was not – in fact – well when from the outside they could hear people yelling. They broke off their conversation and crept towards the tent flap, hesitating before drawing it back. With the way Merlin's day was going, it would probably be cow-sized giant locusts that ate human flesh causing the commotion. Steeling himself for mayhem and madness, Merlin threw back the flap of the tent and leaped out.

He was reminded of his mother's chiding words to look before leaping when he crashing into the legs of a robed man standing just outside the tent, gawking with his head craned upwards to the sky. The man stumbled forwards, glancing down at the child who crashed into him in obvious confusion, then shook his head as though berating himself and looking up again. His young face was creased in many worry lines as he frowned at the sky as though trying to solve a great mystery. Merlin muttered an apology and took a step back sheepishly, and – curious to know what the man was looking at – looked up.

Across the black sky were numerous streaks, disappearing towards the horizon in of trails of white. Merlin's breath caught at the sight, his first thought being how beautiful they were, before he remembered that this wasn't a normal nighttime sky. If no normal stars were visible, then it would make sense that shooting stars also should not be. Even though if Vivienne was here she'd probably proclaim them as further proof of the gods' anger, Merlin couldn't help but admire them.

One flew past the halo of light, flaring into a large flaming orange funnel-shaped ball before it disappeared, and he commented to no one in particular. "That one looked like a dragon."

The comment earned Merlin a disbelieving look from the robed man beside him, "How so?"

"Well, the head of a dragon," he said with a grin. "When it flies by spouting fire, of course."

The man laughed in surprise, "Of course," he repeated solemnly, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips not being repressed very well. "You see a lot of dragons then, lad?"

Merlin's brow creased. "You mean aside from the white one?"

"A white dragon eh?" the man said indulgently, humouring him the way adults did when they thought children's imaginations were running away with them. "Must have been quite a sight."

Merlin didn't immediately respond; he didn't know anything about communication between Vortigern's followers, but he imagined even those not there to personally witness the fiasco of Merlin's aborted blood sacrifice would at least have been informed of the captive "Myrddin Emrys" and his dragon. Come to think of it, this man was being much friendlier to him than anyone he'd yet spoken to here, even more so than the helpful but slightly cold Vivienne.

"Who are you?" he asked. He was wearing the clothes of Vortigern's men, but his lack of knowledge of the dragon aside, his warmth was rather incongruous with all the other wordless men who wore the uniform. Merlin just couldn't picture this man summoning children to be sacrificed.

The man's face lost its easy nature, and he drew back a step. "No one of any importance."

Merlin was about to press further when his eye was drawn to behind the man, where Vivienne stood looking slightly out of breath and shocked. Her eyes were fixed on the hooded man, and she rushed forwards grabbing both the man and Merlin, drawing them into her tent. She peered out the flap in both directions frantically, then closed it with a relieved,

"No one saw." Turning, Vivienne gracefully sank into a deep curtsy, shocking Merlin and Will who exchanged incredulous looks. "Your Majesty," she said deferentially.

The friendly robed man held up a hand, "Please, Vivienne, there is no need. I've told you before; Camelot won't crumble if you don't stand on formality with me. You can call me Aurelius."

Merlin was lost. He thought that these people were all under the impression that Vortigern was king of Camelot. Now this Aurelius man was actually the king? Their delusional politics were impossible to follow.

Vivienne straightened. "Then Your Majesty must forgive me for speaking freely," a slightly exasperated note entered her tone, "when I say that you should not take such great risks. The fate of Camelot rests on your shoulders; you should not jeopardize it so frequently with ill-advised self-appointed reconnaissance missions. One day you may be caught, and with your death -"

"- my younger brother will take over to lead in my place." Aurelius said as though this was an argument he was used to having. "I'm not irreplaceable; he'll finish the retaking of our land and make a fine king if it comes to that. More importantly, what in the world is going on with the sky? What new devilry is Vortigern cooking up to unleash on us?"

Vivienne's delicate fingers pressed against her brow as though she had a headache brewing. "None, he has angered the gods, the heretical fool." Gesturing at Merlin, she continued, "Do not worry; it will be made right soon, once Vortigern returns Myrddin Emrys to where he belongs."

Aurelius' eyebrows rose and Merlin knew he was wondering why the whereabouts of one boy was of such concern to the gods. Vivienne explained, "Emrys is a key agent of Fate whose destiny is deeply entrenched in the fabric of the world. Not only that, but to bring him here Vortigern committed a sacrilege too vile for words."

If anything this answer seemed to confuse and intrigue Aurelius further, but Vivienne only said, "So as you can see, there is no dark sorcery for you to thwart. I apologize if the portents made you assume wrongly, but there is nothing for you to investigate here. Vortigern is most assuredly too distracted at the moment to be plotting against you and your brother."

"For once," Aurelius muttered sarcastically.

"Before you go," Vivienne said, even though Aurelius had uttered no word nor made any movement to indicate he planned on leaving, "The gods are not the only ones angered by Vortigern's actions. If you are planning to make overtures to the Isle of the Blessed requesting aid in the coming battles, now is the opportune moment."

"As always, my lady, you are very helpful. I'll discuss it with my brother, but we always value your insight in these matters." Aurelius seemed to take Vivienne's unsubtle hint, for he was turning towards the tent flap when he suddenly jolted and spun around. His jaw dropped, "There really is a dragon!"

Merlin glanced over to where Aithusa still lay curled up on the bed, and it occurred to him what a bizarre sight it must seem. The man's hand darted under the robes, and he pulled out a sword.

"No!" Merlin exclaimed. "No, she's a friend!" Aurelius looked over at him, hesitating, and Merlin moved to block her from him. She nudged him with her mind, asking who the newcomer was and what he was holding. When he didn't answer her, she nudged his shoulder with her head. The proximity of dragon and child was seemed to further alarm Aurelius, and Merlin pleaded, "She'd never hurt anyone!"

Aithusa croaked out a questioning trill, and Merlin reached out to stroke her head. She leaned into the touch, and Aurelius watched as though he was questioning whether or not he'd started hallucinating. He sheathed his sword, hiding it in the billows of his robes. He looked between Aithusa and Merlin, and said a little faintly, "I think I've finally figured out what to put on the banners. Not even the usual naysayers can claim that the sight of dragons doesn't inspire the proper amount of fear."

He flashed very white teeth when he laughed a little incredulously, and said to Merlin, "I suppose this is farewell for us then, Myrddin Emrys, key agent of Fate. It's been a pleasure. May the gods continue watching over you – as they clearly already are – and may all the dragons you meet be friends. And if not, be sure to watch out for the heads."

Then Aurelius lifted the tent flap, looking both ways both stepping out into the dark.

Will, who had been silent during the whole exchange, finally burst out in the up-and-down intonation of the truly perplexed, "Who was that?"

"The rightful king of Camelot," Vivienne's eyes gleamed as though she could see something wonderful which was invisible to Merlin. "Who is ushering in a new era that will soon make Vortigern's reign of terror no more than a painful memory of a past long gone."

"Now, I believe we have a treasure to hide." At this abrupt change in topic from Vivienne, Merlin felt sheepish. He had almost forgotten about that.

When Merlin took the gold box off the bed, Aithusa straightened and followed after him, like an overgrown dog whose master had food in his hands. Vivienne said nothing about where they were going or why she had run out so suddenly, not that it would have mattered as Merlin knew nothing about the surrounding area. They crept through the dark without any light to guide them, Merlin and Will holding onto the sleeves of Vivienne's nightgown while she ghosted through the dark with a sense of purpose to her steps. They had been walking so long Merlin was being to question the wisdom of following her – even if she was the most sensible out of Vortigern's people, she was still under the mad impression that either Vortigern or Aurelius was the king of Camelot so she couldn't be entirely sane – when she stopped all of a sudden, and said simply,

"We are here."

Merlin looked around in the pitch blackness, and wondered where here was supposed to be and how Vivienne had found it. Vivienne placed a hand on his back, nudging him forwards. Feeling rather foolish, Merlin stumbled forwards a few steps, arms out in front of him so he knew if he was about to walk into something.

He was about to ask what he was supposed to be doing, when all of a sudden a bell rang, high and clear, and there was a rumbling sound from the ground. Suddenly there was light, from fires in torch brackets illuminating a tunnel in a hill in front of him. Looking down, Merlin saw his foot was on the threshold of the tunnel. He glanced over his shoulder to Vivienne, who waved him onwards encouragingly. Merlin stepped inside, the others following behind him.

As soon as they were all in, a rumble came from behind them and – to Merlin's alarm – an earthen wall now covered the entrance way. He took a step forwards, but Vivienne grabbed him by the shoulder, shaking her head.

"Do not worry, the door will allow us to pass once more on our way out. It is there – I believe – to hide this place so that any who look will see nothing but hillside, save for the one it was built for." There could be no doubt from the meaningful look she gave him that she believed Merlin to be that one.

Merlin licked his dry lips, and turned back to face the long hallways of the tunnel, walking forwards to wherever it led. "So then if it's so well hidden, how did you find it?"

"Every night since I came to Snowdonia I have had the same dream," she said as though beginning a story. Merlin didn't see what that had to do with anything, but listened all the same. "There is a young man walking along the hillsides. He is golden-haired and blue-eyed, and he is search for something. As he walks, a great rumbling comes from one of the hills and from somewhere a bell rings. Part of the hill sinks away, and a passage way opens into the hill. The man enters, following the passage until he comes to a great open space with a lone pillar in the center. Atop the pillar lies a golden chest, identical to the one you are carrying as I speak."

Shivers ran down Merlin's spine, and though he was tempted to think this merely an imagining of Vivienne's not-entirely-sane mind he couldn't think of any other explanation for how she could have found a hidden entrance in the pitch dark of the eclipse. At length they came to a great open space with a lone pillar in the center, and Merlin had to give her story some amount of credence, even if she could have just come here before. He placed the chest on the center pillar, hoping the entrance was as well concealed as she said it was.

He turned to go, and then stopped when he saw only Vivienne and Will waiting in the passageway. He looked around for Aithusa and saw that she had somehow slipped by him. She was over by the pillar, rubbing her head against the gold box, and then she settled down on the ground beside it as though planning to go to sleep.

Wordlessly, Merlin called her through their mental link, telling her they were leaving and she had to come. In answer, she shocked him with a definite and clear, « No. »

He'd never before heard her speak in true words, pictures and intentions and emotions were the norm for her. Up until this point, he hadn't been sure she knew how to produce language, even if she could understand it.

« You have to come, we're leaving. » He tried again, not certain she'd understood the first time.

In answer, an image came into his mind that was dyed in the extended rainbow of colours that Aithusa saw the world through, including colours Merlin had no name for. In Aithusa's colouring, he saw the backs of himself and two humanoid figures walking away down the passage way, while a little white dragon lay in the open space beside the pillar. The white dragon lifted the red egg from the box and curled up around it, eyes closing in contented, peaceful slumber.

« You want to stay? » He asked, certain he had not understood what she just showed him. Why would she want to stay behind, shut in underground by the door that if Vivienne was to be believed only opened for Merlin and the mysterious golden-haired man? When he received an affirmation, he could only ask, « Why? »

Another image formed in his mind, beginning where the other left off. In this one the white dragon was still sleeping underground with the red egg, but she was much bigger. A tall figure came down the hallway, and Merlin saw that it was himself enlarged by ridiculously long legs – Aithusa didn't seem to understand how humans changed as they grew other than that they became bigger. The long-legged Merlin picked up the egg, which cracked open to reveal a miniature red-coloured Aithusa inside. The two dragons followed Merlin out the tunnel, blinking into the sunlight, where crowds of humans greeted them happily with blurred faces.

Confused, Merlin said, « That won't happen. People won't come to accept dragons just because you hide here for a long time. »

This time Merlin saw the long-legged Merlin speaking with the people with blurred faces, over the grave of an old man that even though was nondescript in his blurry features he knew as Uther Pendragon, the bane of Aithusa's existence since before her birth. The people radiated disbelief at first, but the long-legged Merlin continued speaking to them, and slowly they changed until they radiated more favourable feelings.

He pondered what she had "told" him, intimidated by her belief in his ability to turn the minds of the populace. It was true that Uther Pendragon wasn't immortal; eventually, he would die. But would that truly solve anything? Merlin and Aithusa didn't even live where his laws held power and they still were under the shadow of his regime. One man could not be solely responsible for such wide spread hate. Would the absence of the head make the rest of the body any better disposed towards magic? And even if that were true, how was Merlin supposed to convince the world?

But just as once magic had been free maybe, one day, it would be again. It was something Merlin believed, not because he had any real reason to but because it was something he had to believe to keep going. His future could not solely be one of hiding and fear; at some point it had to get better because he didn't know how he could live on unless he believed it would. He couldn't see how he was supposed to accomplish what Aithusa wanted him to, but he was hardly all-knowing. Perhaps with time things would change and it would be easier. Even if just one country supported magical beings – and not in the way that Cenred 'supported' them – then they could go live there and be free together. No more hiding. No more secrets and lies.

Nonetheless, he didn't see why Aithusa felt she had to stay here for years and years until it happened. He tried to convince her again, « This is too far away from where I live. I can't come visit you here; you'd be all alone. You don't want that. »

The next image was of Aithusa in the mouth of the confines of the Tunnels outside Ealdor. The sun rose and fell, day and night passed and the leaves on the trees sprouted, flowered, and fell as the seasons went by. He saw himself coming as a brief shining light in an otherwise bleak existence of watching the world change while not a part of it. He was there and gone in an instant, a blip in the long passage of time while Aithusa waited pining in loneliness, all on her own.

The scene shifted, so that it was Aithusa, in the treasure room curled around the egg, dreaming in undisturbed peace. She wasn't merely sleeping; she was hibernating, completely unaware of the world around her, dreaming of the day Merlin would return and set her free. The egg's consciousness dreamed beside her, drowsily communicating with her sleeping mind in the dragon way. The companionship she desperately longed for which Merlin couldn't provide her with. They waited for him together.

Merlin felt a lump in his throat. He knew Aithusa's life must be lonely, but he tried not to think about it because there was nothing he could do for her. She had long outgrown the size when she could be kept in the house and hidden under a pile of laundry with strict orders not to move at every knock on the door. The Tunnels were the only place she could hide safely, anywhere nearer Merlin had too much risk of discovery for someone of Aithusa's size. He tried to get away to visit her as much as he could without raising the other villagers' suspicions, but there was no denying her solitude.

Still, he tried to convince her. « You'll most likely be trapped inside. Nowhere to get out to stretch your wings. »

She repeated the image of her sleeping again, stressing that she would be unaware of anything going on while she was here.

Then he was living her memories. A puff of smoke exited her mouth, but it was not warm but cold. She was in the dark, narrow, cold confines of the Tunnels outside Ealdor. She was cold and hungry and lonely, wishing night would come so she could stretch her wings. When at last the night came she only ventured into the forest on foot, not daring to take to the skies with the full moon shining down on her glistening white scales. Only on the nights of the new moon, when it was darkest, could she soar through the sky as she wished to. Her wings thrummed to fly, but always she must wait for one night a month. The fear of discovery weighed even more heavily over Aithusa's life than Merlin's, and he was reminded of a story his mother would tell him about how he used to hide in the laundry basket from visitors when he was small. That was reality for Aithusa; she could never slip and let herself be seen, or she would be hunted down and killed.

« Why can't you just hibernate in the Tunnels, if you want to sleep until magic roams free? »

Sounds of child voices echoed happily from the Tunnels outside Ealdor, children exploring the labyrinth of caves. Always she had to be on guard, keeping in mind several exits so that if they came near her she could evade them without being seen. She could never allow herself to sleep deeply; she always had to be ready to leap up at the smallest of noises, in case she had to make an escape.

Merlin was reminded again of the way Will had followed him so easily. If it had been anyone else, Aithusa would have been in a lot of trouble. Catrin's children he might have been able to convince to keep it secret by using their terror of him to his advantage, but if Dareth or one of the other boys had followed him they surely would have run screaming back to the village to fetch an adult. And that was only assuming it would be a child following him; Old Man Simmons was just as likely a bet, as obsessed as he was with proving to the other adults that he wasn't crazy by catching Merlin in some act of devilry. Hadn't he and his mother just decided he couldn't visit Aithusa for a while for both their safety? Thinking purely from a safety perspective, it would be much safer for Aithusa here than outside Ealdor where Merlin might inadvertently lead the villagers to her.

Still, he couldn't bring himself to accept it. Safer or not, Aithusa was a creature of the sky and open spaces. Dragons were not meant to be shut underground, and even if Aithusa could not fly as often as she liked she could at least venture outside at night. The thought of her locked up in a hill for years was wrong, like the thought of a bird in a cage. « Once the door shuts, you'll be trapped. You won't be able to change your mind. Is it really worth it? »

A whooshing feeling of being airborne, daylight streaming down on the ground that was speeding past her far below in a blur of highlighted green filled him. Through her eyes he saw the tips of white wings beating rhythmically at the edges of her vision, and the view shifted so she was looking to the side rather than below. In the air keeping pace beside her was a smaller red Aithusa, who darted playfully around her in a loop. Both dragons dove downwards, feeling the air rush past their faces, then broke off right before the treeline, skimming the tips as they flew past them, weaving around each other as they flew. Below them, happy humans clapped.

She would not be persuaded. The future she dreamed of was too enticing, especially considering the bleakness of her current existence. Still, he had one final argument against her decision, the most painful question of them all. « What if that day never comes? »

Merlin might dream of the day magic was free, but realistically the world was a much crueler place. Dreams didn't always come true; Aithusa may never be able to fly through the daylight sky.

Aithusa did not use words in her answer, nor images, just a sense of what she meant. Then the two of us will sleep forever. She considered that to be a better option than continuing on with her life as it was.

Tears blurred against his eyes, and he ran forwards to wrap his arms around her. He never thought he would have to say goodbye to Aithusa. She was family as much as his mother, always waiting for him to talk to when he most needed it, a friend for almost as long as he could remember. But – despite Will's words – she was not his pet, but a member of his kin. If she wanted to stay behind so badly, then he would not force her to leave, even though he knew he could.

She made a low rumbling noise in her throat, the dragon equivalent of distress, and nuzzled her head against him one last time. After staying like that for a moment, she backed away, turning her head towards the gold box.

Another memory entered his mind. It was dark and though her limbs were squeezed against the hard shell all around her she was comfortable and warm. She was dreaming of a world she had never seen but knew of anyways, woken from her slumber by a voice calling out a word she instantly knew meant her.

She sent a wave of intense desire to Merlin, who understood what she could not express in words. She wanted him to give her companion a name, but not to call it out of its egg yet. She wanted a word to refer to it with, but also wanted the first breaths it took to be breathed in freedom, the way hers had not been though she had been too young to know so at the time.

Merlin closed his eyes and sensed the dragon sleeping within the egg in the same way he had once sensed Aithusa. He felt the red dragon's heartbeat, and dreamed its instinctive knowledge of the world it had never seen with it, feeling deep into its personality until he knew who it was. And when he did he told Aithusa, careful to exclude the red dragon from his thoughts lest it hear the name and hatch before its time,

« Cadwaladr. »

Aithusa repeated the name in her mind, the second word he had ever heard her say, attaching it to the red egg. She looked to the egg one last time, then curled up at the bottom of the pillar, shutting her eyes as she prepared to hibernate.

Merlin took a step back, taking one last look to keep in his mind, and vowed to himself that this would not be the last time he saw Aithusa. He would come back for her, someday, just as she believed he would, and together they would go somewhere where they could live freely as she dreamed.

Then he turned resolutely. He knew if he looked back he wouldn't be able to leave, so though the temptation was nearly overpowering he forced himself to resist. Vivienne and Will were looking to him for explanation, and he told them in as few words as possible of Aithusa's decision. Vivienne looked pensive, as though she was turning over a great matter in her mind, and at last said,

"As long as she sleeps until the day you return for her, I believe the balance of nature will not be affected by her presence in this time." Merlin wasn't sure he knew exactly what she meant, but it sounded as if she had accepted Aithusa's decision.

The walk back down the long tunnel was filled with speculation about what Merlin could say to try and pass off the dragons as Vortigern and one of his enemies, who according to Vivienne were Aurelius and more recently the Saxons.

Merlin turned over the words of the inscription, trying to think of how to fit them to Aithusa but only able to think of how much he would miss her. It didn't feel real yet, that there would be no more long visits to the Tunnels once he got back home, no more Aithusa waiting there to listen to him, understanding the problems he faced better than even his mother could. Merlin said nothing, letting Will and Vivienne's ideas wash over his head as he tried to will away the closing of his throat and the stinging in his eyes.

He thought of all Aithusa had shared with him about her life and her dreams, and wished he could have been there for her more the way she was there for him. He told himself he would be, in the distant someday when they were both free.

Just then Vivienne was reiterating the part of the inscription about being the vanguard of a fight, trying to bend it to fit Vortigern's war against the Saxon. The words struck Merlin in a way they hadn't before.

He thought of Aithusa's life in the past and her dreams for the future. He thought of Vortigern's and Aurelius' claim to the kingship of Camelot, of Vivienne's words about a new era replacing the old. He thought of the inscription that had so stumped him before, replaying the original words in his head and what individual pieces of meaning they had dissected. And most of all, Vivienne's fixation on the word with and her theory about the fight being related to time.

And then he knew how they all fit together. "I know the meaning of the inscription." Vivienne and Will turned to him in shock. "I don't have to make up anything to tell him, I know what it means."

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Vortigern wasn't sleeping, as Merlin feared he might be. He wasn't sure what time it was, but since Vortigern had referred to it as night Merlin had been concerned when they announced themselves at the flap of Vortigern's tent they would be turned away because he was asleep.

Instead, Vortigern was giving orders to a group of men. Something about meteorites and setting up barriers that Merlin couldn't quite understand because he didn't know what meteorites were. In any case, when "Myrddin Emrys" was announced Vortigern quickly concluded his audience and dismissed his men, looking to Merlin in expectation.

Now that Merlin was standing there, he felt uneasy. What if he had misinterpreted everything? Vivienne put a hand on his shoulder as though she could sense his worries, and he only hoped if he was wrong she would be able to smooth everything over so that Vortigern didn't go nuts and do to him what he did to that poor messenger.

Licking his lips, Merlin forced confidence he did not feel into his voice as he declared, "The meaning of the two dragons is the struggle between the old and the new. White represents being untouched by the world, like fresh fallen snow. The white dragon is the new. Red, on the other hand, has been tempered by its worldly experiences. It's seen things that are good and things that are bad, so it's the colour of fire and blood, which can be both. The red dragon is the old. As much as they're opposites, they're the same too because what's new now will become old and what's old now used to be new. In this way, they're inseparable."

Merlin was tense as Vortigern silently turned over his conclusions, his face looking as though he was probing Merlin's answer for weaknesses. Against the top of his tent came the pattering of rain, at first light but quickly gaining force until it must be coming down as a torrent, ludicrously loud in contrast to the stillness within the tent. Finally, Vortigern nodded as though in concession to what Merlin said, and then said,

"But what does it mean for me? Am I the old, or the new?"

Merlin had to bite back his tongue to avoid saying something he would regret when it angered Vortigern into chopping his head off. It was so presumptuous of the mad self-proclaimed king to assume that the ancient message left centuries ago was specifically for him when there was nothing to suggest it, yet given what Merlin had seen of him it didn't surprise him. Thinking quickly, feeling drained by everything and just wanting to get this over with, Merlin remembered Vivienne's advice and made up, "You are the old, and the Saxons are the new. The red dragon will be victorious."

Vortigern looked pleased and asked no more questions, which was a good thing because Merlin didn't know how he could justify one dragon defeating another when nothing spoke of which would win. He didn't think that there was a true end to the conflict; it was old versus new, they had been in conflict since the dawn of time when the concept of age first begun. Whether Vortigern defeated the Saxons or not, that would just be one victory in a war that would last as long as time itself. It meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, and was unlikely to be on the minds of the people who undertook the erecting of the gold pillar and the design of the mosaics.

Merlin was still bitter towards those people. He didn't see why they couldn't have just written the true meaning on the pillar and saved him the effort of having to find it.

After Vortigern ordered some of his robed followers to go fill in the pool, Vivienne said tightly, "Emrys has done as you asked. Now you must send him home."

Vortigern looked at her as though she was a fly constantly buzzing in his ear. "I must, must I? May I remind you I am the king? There is nothing I must do."

Merlin froze, wondering why he felt so shocked by this coming from a man like Vortigern, and anger simmered in his veins even as he remained locked in place. "You said you'd send me home once I told you the meaning."

"The High Priestesses must be appeased," Vivienne insisted, appealing to Vortigern's common sense and apparently believing that having promised something was not enough incentive to motivate him to uphold said promise. "You cannot afford to wage another war."

"The priestesses will not dare attack me when I have the great Emrys under my thumb," Vortigern eyed Merlin with fervour, as though in solving a riddle he had demonstrated the powers of the great Emrys Vortigern had intended to summon. "Why should I give up the greatest sorcerer of the age to appease those superstitious holier-than-thou gasbags?"

"The portents –"

"Coincidences," he dismissed. "Have you ever seen an eclipse before? Who's to say they can't last hours? Earthquakes are hardly unique, they happen all the time. And this meteor shower is unfortunate –a number of tents on fire, seven men grievously injured, and one dead – but hardly supernatural. These are all things that occur naturally."

Merlin broke out, cutting off whatever argument Vivienne was about to make, "I am not under your thumb!" He was sick of standing by and letting these people argue his fate, of counting on Vivienne to come up with reasons for why Vortigern should send Merlin back home. "You may as well send me back, because I will never, ever serve you! I'd rather you drain me of my blood and mix it was mortar than have to jump when you say jump and help you in any way with your selfish, cruel deeds!"

Vortigern stood, face rapidly going purple with anger at the brazenness of the peasant boy before him. Merlin stood his ground, rooting himself to the spot. Vortigern might be able to block his magic, he might be able to run Merlin through with that tacky dagger from earlier, but he couldn't make Merlin fall to his knees pleading for his life. He meant every word he said; if Vortigern wasn't going to send him home, he'd rather die than stay as his captive pet Emrys.

Before he could take more than a step forward, the sound of someone scrambling through the tent flap came from behind them and the voice of the spokesman for the group Vortigern dispatched to fill in the pool called out, "Your Majesty! I bring you terrible news!"

"What?" Vortigern snapped, jerking his gaze away from Merlin and towards the messenger. Merlin was filled with foreboding as he remembered the fate of the last messenger who brought unwelcome news, but Vortigern's anger morphed into wordless horror.

Merlin turned to see what had caused that reaction, and his heart stuttered in his chest. He feared for a moment the messenger was already dead, for he was coated head to toe in a liquid of bright red.

"It's raining blood, Your Majesty."

The pounding of the torrential rain against the fabric of the tent was all that could be heard following this bleak statement, with the blood-coated messenger standing as physical proof of the veracity of those words.

"Perhaps it is another coincidence?" mocked Vivienne. "How unfortunate that the first natural rainfall of blood should happen to occur when you have broken an ancient prohibition set by those dwelling in the heavens from which it falls."

Vortigern looked as though he rather wanted to strangle her, but nonetheless he ordered the messenger in a tight voice, "Gather my best mages and tell them to prepare the ritual ground. We're going to send Emrys home."

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Merlin hardly dared to open his eyes, but when he did the first thing that he noted as that the sun was shining in a blue sky, with no shooting stars or red rain smearing in macabre puddles on the ground. Merlin looked over to Will, who was also looking up with an expression of utmost relief.

"It's like it never happened." They weren't even coated in blood as proof, for Vortigern had muttered some spell that cast a shimmering ball of light over the area with the stone alter, saying something about how he couldn't have anything interfering with the transportation circle's design. They'd then taken off the blood smeared rain cloaks they'd been lent to wear there so that they didn't end up stealing them when Vortigern sent them home.

Merlin noted the position of the sun in the sky. It was almost directly above them at nearly noon. "Come on, we must have been gone for a whole day. Our mothers must be worried sick."

He couldn't look at the entrance to the Tunnels behind him, void of Aithusa. He didn't think he'd be able to ever come to them again without feeling her loss like a gaping hole in his heart, as achingly empty as the Tunnels themselves. Will tagged along after him, and as they walked they bounced ideas back and forth about what to tell Will's mother and the villagers about where they'd been. Telling the truth – that they were kidnapped by lunatic sorcerers – would be liable to land them both wallops to their behinds for lying as well as add further fuel to the never fading rumours of Merlin's possession by evil spirits.

They decided to go to Merlin's mother first, in the hope that she would help them devise a cover story. He threw open the door to see her tying a bandage on a little girl's arm. She murmured a couple of reassurances to the girl, sending her away with a jar of ointment, before looking up. She looked surprised to see Merlin, but did not rush forwards to greet him in relief or berate him for disappearing or any of the other scenarios that had been playing through his mind.

She simply glanced from Will to Merlin, and said, "Back already?"

Merlin gaped at her. "Already? I've been gone for ages! Didn't you wonder where I was?"

"Whatever are you talking about?" Hunith said in confusion, looking at him as though he said something strange. "You've only been gone an hour."

That was impossible. Just the trip to and from the Tunnels took up an hour, never mind everything else they'd had to do to get home. The eclipse meant he couldn't accurately judge how much time had passed, but he knew they had spent hours in that strange place.

His mother just handed him a bucket of water, as though her son had not been missing and everything was perfectly normal. "Well, since you're back could you go fetch the water?"

Merlin took the bucket numbly, walking out the door. Once it shut behind him Will said in confusion, "Do you think we just dreamed it? I mean – evil mad kings and ancient moz-acks and doors in hills and blood rain? Sure sounds like a dream to me."

It was a tempting explanation. Merlin would love to write off everything that happened under the unnatural black sky as the product of his unconscious mind, to tell Will yes and make a pact to never speak of it again. Standing before Vortigern wondering if he was going to die and the weight of his and his friend's futures resting on his ability to decipher a riddle was an experience he would be glad to shove into the recesses of his mind, left to be repressed and forgotten entirely as time went on.

But he couldn't. "No. Aithusa is gone; it can't have been a dream."

She was counting on him to right the world for her, so that one day she could wake from her slumber and fly free with the remainder of her kin beside her. He couldn't selfishly pretend that it never happened and leave her to sleep in the hills near Dinas Emrys for all eternity. He looked to the sky, clear and blue and free of portents from angry gods, and vowed again that someday he would see two dragons flying through it.

---

/**

* I'll leave it to your imaginations whether a variation of this double-chapter happened in canon. Personally, I like to think without Aithusa's absence as proof Merlin made that pact with Will and by Season 1 only recalled the events as a half-forgotten dream.

* I hope I haven't offended anyone with my reinterpretation of the dragons, but the Saxons weren't a big part of the show so I wanted the symbolism to be a bit broader.

* Merlin hiding treasure in a cave and a "golden-haired and blue-eyed" person being destined to find it is a local legend I found on the Dinas Emrys Wikipedia page. It was too perfect to leave out.

* I looked up reptile vision and apparently not only can reptiles with round pupils see colour, but most can see ultraviolet light and a few can see infrared light. Who knew?

* For those of you rusty on Greek legends, Vivienne was comparing herself to a Trojan princess cursed to see the future but never be believed, and thus failed in all her attempts to prevent the downfall of Troy.

**/