Oh, Arthur and his stubborn arrogance.


THIRTY-SIX: EMPTY (252 days)

Arthur was glad that they were making this journey. He truly was anxious to see how his outer villages were taking the news. He hoped they were a little more accepting than the citizens of the city.

Not only was he glad for the chance to personally see to the mindset of the kingdom, he was also glad to be out of the castle, with his most trusted men at his side. With all the changes that had been happening recently, they had all been needing something familiar.

They had all easily fallen back into their usual routine of bantering, even with the slight changes. Rolan seemed to fit in fairly well, though Arthur and the rest of the knights did find themselves feeling a bit awkward around him - he was no Merlin. The sorcerer himself seemed to get along with him quite well. He often helped the servant with his tasks, which didn't surprise the king at all.

Overall, Arthur had enjoyed this trip so far, despite the fact that he already missed Guinevere. He always missed her when he traveled, though. That was nothing new. And Gwaine. The knight was being his usual obnoxious self, making Arthur's life much more difficult than it needed to be.

The king was a little a worried about Merlin's sense of foreboding - though he would never, ever admit it to anyone. Least of all Merlin. He wouldn't be surprised at all if they were attacked - most likely by bandits, as that seemed to be their most common type of attacker.

The thing was, they always ran into trouble while they were traveling, and they always came out of it just fine. So he wasn't too worried. He and his knights could handle a few measly bandits. And with Merlin finally able to openly use his magic…Well, bandits - or really, anything else - wouldn't stand a chance.

He couldn't be too worried, not with the powerful Emrys by his side.

Gwaine's voice, somewhere behind him, pulled the king out of his thoughts. "Leon," he called, his smirk obvious in his voice. That wasn't very surprising, though. Gwaine was almost always smirking.

Sure enough, when Arthur glanced back, he saw that Gwaine had a large smirk plastered on his face. Leon, riding near him, sighed heavily. "Whatever you are about to say, Gwaine, please don't."

"I just have a question for you. It's quite simple." When Leon didn't respond, he continued. "When are you going to be a man and marry Regina? You've been courting her since the end of last summer."

Now it was Leon's turn to smirk. "And?" he challenged. Arthur doubted the man was unaware of the bets the other knights had taken on when he and his beloved would be wed. He was probably enjoying Gwaine's desperation.

Gwaine had been convinced that they would be married by midsummer, and that was only about a month away. Unless Leon proposed the moment they returned from this journey, Gwaine would lose his money.

"Just marry the woman already."

Leon chuckled. "So you can line your pockets? That is not a good enough reason to get married, my friend."

The rest of the men chuckled at Gwaine's scowl. The roguish knight then turned his attention to Merlin, since he obviously wasn't going to be able to get anywhere with Leon. "What about you?" he demanded.

"What about me?"

"When are you going to marry Kerenza?"

Arthur's attention was fully captured by that. He glanced back at his former manservant, curious. Merlin was blushing just slightly, even as he narrowed his eyes at Gwaine. "Would I be right in assuming that you've all made wagers on my love life as well?"

"Of course we did. We all know you're going to marry her. We've all seen how you are together."

Arthur felt himself smirk at that, a bit of pride coloring his voice as he pointed out, "All thanks to me." He had been, after all, the one to ensure that they had plenty of time to spend together.

The sorcerer rolled his eyes. "We've had this discussion before, Arthur. It had nothing to do with you, you arrogant prat." Then he looked at each of the knights in turn. "What has everyone wagered?"

Gwaine shook his head before anyone could answer. "Oh, no. We are not going to tell you. If you knew, you would find a way to make sure we all lose."

"I wouldn't do that," Merlin protested, even though they all knew that he would.

Gwaine snorted. "Yes, you would. Merlin, you and Kerenza pretended to have sex in the woods to make Arthur uncomfortable. Of course you would find a way to get married and make us all lose our money in the process."

Mordred, Elyan, and Leon were looking at Merlin in curious surprise. Knowledge of Merlin and Kerenza's picnic antics weren't commonly known. Arthur wondered how Gwaine knew. Rolan and Percival both looked a bit impressed as well as surprised. Arthur shifted, uncomfortable with the memory, even if it had been an act. It had been a damn convincing one.

"You and Kerenza…pretended to make love…in the woods?" Elyan asked.

"In front of Arthur," Gwaine added.

Percival whistled. "That is brilliant."

Arthur scowled. He didn't need anyone encouraging Merlin's ridiculousness. "It was traumatizing. I thought they were really going to…" he trailed off with a shudder.

Merlin smirked. "I was trying not to laugh."

Well, that explained the shaking. It had been suppressed laughter, not… "What exactly was Kerenza saying to you?" he asked, suddenly curious.

"She said that you had a toadface." Arthur narrowed his eyes. "And she said that you would look good with donkey ears."

He ignored the raucous laughter of his men as his anger built. "And just how," he began through gritted teeth, "did Kerenza know about the donkey ears, Merlin?" His father had worked very hard to keep word of the goblin incident from spreading beyond the castle itself. Very few people knew about the fact that Arthur had once had his ears transformed. The only way that a druid girl, who had previously been living in the forest, could have known, would be if someone told her.

Merlin's smirk widened. "I had to practice the spell, the one her uncle performed."

"What spell?" How did that connect to the goblin incident in any way?

"The storytelling one. Kerenza was teaching me, and I had to practice telling her stories using the spell."

So not only did his idiot best friend tell her about the incident, he had done so in a way that ensured that she would have seen the incident. Arthur glared at his friend for a full minute before he took his boot off and threw it. Merlin ducked his head quickly, but the shoe still managed to clip the side of his head. Though it would have missed him altogether if his horse hadn't shied to the side a bit.

"Ow," he whined, rubbing his head.

"Now pick up my boot, Merlin," the king commanded.

Merlin narrowed his eyes. In the next instant, Arthur's boot was rushing toward him, obviously propelled by magic. He barely managed to catch it before it hit him. "MERLIN!"

The sorcerer suddenly pulled his horse to a stop, and Arthur thought he was going to turn and race away from the king, in a fit of cowardice. But then Merlin's eyes widened and his expression twisted into a grimace of pain.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Stop being dramatic. The boot barely touched you. And this is far too delayed of a reaction to be authentic." Merlin didn't respond. Instead, he groaned once and buried his head in his hands. "Really, Merlin. Stop being such a girl."

Nothing.

No snarky or witty reply.

Merlin did finally lift his head, but only to look up at the sky. Then he opened his mouth and practically yelled at the clouds above him, in a voice that caused all of the horses to whinny and shift nervously.

"O drakon, e mala soi ftengometh tesd'hup anankes. Erkheo. Anale tendai gard amasen fulakson."

For the first time since discovering Merlin's magic, Arthur was truly frightened of his friend. The words that poured out of the sorcerer's lips were ancient and filled with raw power. His voice was deeper than Arthur had ever heard it before. There was something primal to it, something terrifying.

This was the great and powerful Emrys.

Not just Merlin, his bumbling and idiotic friend. But Emrys, the most powerful sorcerer to ever walk the earth.

Arthur shivered at the sheer magnitude of the power his friend had at his command. Camelot was lucky that Merlin was such a good man. It would take no effort at all for him to destroy the entire kingdom.

The knights and Rolan could only stare. Merlin was still looking at the sky, as though he were waiting for someone.

"Merlin -"

The sorcerer held up a hand, cutting off the king. Arthur didn't say anything else.

Minutes passed.

Ten, twenty, forty.

Finally, after nearly an hour, Merlin looked down with a sigh, his shoulders sagging. "He's gone."

Arthur had no idea who Merlin could be talking about. A quick glance at the rest of the group told him they were just as confused. Mordred did look a little…sad as well. Did he know who Merlin was talking about? "Who?" the king asked Merlin.

The sorcerer shook his head. "Never mind," he said softly, spurring his horse faster, until he was riding ahead of the rest of them.

Frowning, Arthur looked at Mordred. "Do you know who he's talking about?"

Mordred shook his head and rushed to ride beside Merlin.


Merlin was struggling to come to terms with the fact that Kilgharrah was dead. The Great Dragon was gone, and the world felt a little emptier for it.

It had been an hour since Merlin had felt the sudden absence of the creature. And while he had not always liked Kilgharrah, he mourned his loss. The Great Dragon had been a creature of magic, one of the few remaining. Of course his death would leave an empty hole in the fabric of the world.

The knights had been pestering him the entire time, wanting to know what had happened. Mordred, despite riding beside him, had not asked him a single question. He'd remained silent, offering his support. It was comforting.

Did you feel it? he finally asked the druid knight. He didn't want to talk about it with any of the others. But Mordred was a druid. He was more likely to have felt the impact as well, in some small way. And he was more likely to understand Merlin's emotions.

Mordred sighed. I felt something. I'm not sure what. A…loss. Something powerful is missing from the world.

The Great Dragon is dead.

Mordred didn't reply. It was just as well, though, because they had reached the first village. Someone must have seen them traveling through the forest, because an old man was waiting for them.

"Your Majesty," the man called. "Welcome to Brookdell. I am Madoc, the chief village Elder."

Arthur moved to the front of the group. He dismounted, nodding at the man. "Thank you. I hope it won't inconvenience you to provide us with somewhere to stay for tonight and tomorrow night."

Madoc's gaze flickered to Merlin, and the sorcerer knew what he was going to say before he said it. "We could never refuse you, Your Majesty. But we will not house a sorcerer within Brookdell. I'm afraid there are no beds available for the sorcerer. I will not subject the villagers to that."

Merlin sighed, closing his eyes. He wasn't very surprised by this remark. Arthur, however, was both surprised and enraged. "Excuse me? You are aware that Merlin is a member of my court? As such, he deserves your hospitality. Just as much as I myself deserves it."

Madoc clenched his jaw. "He is still a sorcerer, Your Majesty."

"Arthur," Merlin said quietly, before Arthur could do something rash and stupid. "It's all right. I'll make camp just outside the village. If they're uncomfortable with magic, I won't impose myself on them." And before anyone could try to dissuade him, he turned his horse around and away from the village. He would actually appreciate the solitude. It would allow him time to grieve over Kilgharrah's death.


O drakon, e mala soi ftengometh tesd'hup anankes. Erkheo. Anale tendai gard amasen fulakson - o dragon, permit the appeal for an audience to speak here, fierce, wise-minded one. Come to earth. I utter your presence.

I debated about killing Kilgharrah. But he really was getting old.

Hachiko33200: I blame you. I had seen every episode of the first ten seasons of Supernatural. And then I had to binge-watch the eleventh season after your comment, so the late chapter is your fault, lol. I love Supernatural. Some of my favorite episodes are Yellow Fever, the French Mistake, and Dog Dean Afternoon.

NerdGirlAlert: Um…no comment about Gaius. And of course there will be more references scattered about.

SisterOfAnElvenWannabe: Good! And silly Arthur. One day he'll catch on.

Guest: That's what I was going for. I've always thought that Gaius was extremely healthy for a man of his age during that time period.

xxxLeanniexxx: He really shouldn't give Gwaine so much ammo. It's amazing to me, just how thick Arthur can be sometimes.

Steph-la: Thanks! I think I've actually done a decent job with her.