Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.
Chapter 26 – The Wicked Day
With their picnic thoroughly ruined, the decision to return to Camelot wasn't a hard one. Once there Merlin disappeared almost immediately to discover what he had done with the Saxons' bodies, and if they were still there. The wait for him to return was excruciatingly long, and those councillors, courtiers and servants who had not been at the picnic had no idea what had their King and his family so subdued. When night fell and Merlin still had not returned everyone attempted to go about their usual routine. Those who did not live inside the castle returned to their homes, save their parents who would not leave until this was sorted, while those with young children put them to bed before seeking their own. The following morning nothing had changed and breakfast in the great hall was quiet. Arthur distracted himself with ensuring Eleanor got most of her food into her mouth rather than all over herself, while Gwen tried to coax Mithian into eating something. The former princess had deep circles under her eyes, no doubt having slept poorly, if at all, with Merlin's absence, and showed no interest in the food before her. Gwen had managed to coax a bit of bread and cheese into her friend by the time Merlin returned.
"George! Bring me my mobile then summon the council. We meet in one hour." Arthur ordered after taking one look at Merlin's face; whatever he had discovered it was not good. George once again proved his efficiency when less than five minutes later he returned with the requested phone and informed his King that the council was preparing to meet. Alaria and Nan came to take the children to the nursery while Arthur made his call. Nodding to Merlin when he was finished, the warlock disappeared once more, though returned within a half hour with several guests.
"Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness." Arthur and Gwen greeted Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. "Prime Minister, My Lords." They then greeted the others, David Cameron, several MPs and high-ranking military officers, whom they'd dealt with on several occasions in the last weeks. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice." He kept the greeting simple, for aside from the two royals this was the first time in Camelot for them and both the Prime Minister and MPs were looking around quite in awe.
"It sounded quite urgent." Queen Elizabeth said.
"I'm afraid it is. The council is gathering and we would very much appreciate your presence."
"We are happy to help." The Prime Minister said, the shock of being in the legendary castle having warn off. Although he had not known them long, David Cameron knew one thing about these past royals for certain, and that was that Britain's wellbeing was of the utmost importance to them. This common ground between them provided enough of a foundation for the current government to work with them when needed.
"George-" Arthur cut off, seeing his manservant standing just off to the side. "Would you inform the council that they are out of time? We meet now."
"Already done, Sire." He replied. "They await you in the throne room. I also took the liberty of arranging seating for your family. While not protocol to have an audience, I thought it appropriate in this case. I do hope I have not overstepped."
"N-no, not at all." Arthur said after a moment, George having read his mind. "Thank you." George nodded and backed away, disappearing into the shadows until needed. "God bless George." He then muttered as he took Gwen's hand and led the way to the throne room. The guards opened the doors upon their arrival and the scraping of chairs was heard as all stood at their entrance. Arthur led Gwen to their seats while Leon and Percival welcomed their guests to the open seats between them. All then turned to Camelot's King to start the meeting.
"I call this meeting of The Round Table to order." Arthur started the same way he always had. "As many of you are aware, we discovered the possibility of a wraith having been created yesterday. For those unaware of what a wraith is, it is essentially a re-animated corpse, similar to a zombie. The difference being that a wraith is not mindless nor stupid, and they are hell bent on completing some unfinished business, which is usually murder or massacre. They also don't eat brains." He added as an after thought. "When we realized one had probably been created, by Morgana as I'm certain you can surmise, Gaius worried that she was creating an army of wraiths to counter Merlin's wards. Wraiths are extremely magical creatures and are tremendously hard to kill or even stop; we are not sure if Merlin's wards will be enough. Knowing that to suit her needs Morgana would need to re-animate the bodies of those who had unfinished business with us, and with Camelot, we thought of the Saxon army that had seen to Camelot's downfall two thousand years ago but died in the process. Last night Merlin went in search of their bodies and to discover the truth." With a nod in the warlock's direction, Arthur sat down and gave the floor to Merlin.
"They're gone." He said simply. "I was able to find where their bodies should have been, apparently I sent to them what used to be Saxon territory in the Scottish highlands, but was met with a lot of upturned earth. The place reeked of dark magic. Morgana was attempting to shield her use of magic, and succeeded for the most part, but it's near impossible to hide that much dark magic when you're standing right where it was performed. It is as we feared. She has an army of wraiths at her command."
"And you are certain they are at her command?" Dagonet asked. "From the few books we scoured last night we learned that wraiths have one purpose and one purpose only: to fulfill their unfinished business. The tales say there is nothing that can sway them from their path."
"True. But as Arthur said, wraiths are not mindless. They also possess the memories of when they were alive. The Saxon army was at Morgana's command two thousand years ago. They will know her and know that their best bet of succeeding in their goal is to follow her now."
"Spectacular." Lancelot muttered sarcastically.
"So how do we defeat them?" One of the guest officers asked.
"Unfortunately you don't." Arthur replied. "We asked you here because you had a right to know what is coming, and also to give you fair warning so that you may have evacuation procedures in place if necessary. However, regrettably there's nothing you can do to fight this war."
"Like hell we can't!" He growled. "We'll blow them to bits if necessary! A thousand guns trained on them should do the trick."
"But it won't." Leon argued back. "If you 'blow them to bits' they'll simply re-assemble themselves."
"Then we'll blow them to such tiny pieces they can't re-assemble themselves! I don't care what we have to do, but if you think we're going to let you have all the glory of protecting-"
"Glory?!" Arthur roared, jumping to his feet. While he could understand not wanting to sit the fight out, this had nothing to do with them wanting glory; they were exactly wrong words to say. "This has nothing to do with glory, and everything to do with saving lives! I understated when I said that wraiths were tremendously hard to kill. In fact there is only one known way to defeat them." Reaching for his sword, Arthur pulled it from its scabbard, the familiar flash of light glowing over the weapon. "Excalibur is the only immortal blade in existence; it is the only thing that can kill what is already dead. There is one sword that can take on this entire army, for nothing you could do would work, they will simply keep coming. This has nothing to do with glory." To those who knew him Arthur's anger was understandable. He had spent this whole life fighting for what was right, for the betterment of his people, had even been prepared to give up his kingship for it, had The High King been revealed to be another. Two thousand years later here he stood, ready to fight once more to protect people and this officer, a general, said that they were trying to keep the British military out of the fight so that they could claim all the glory should they succeed. Had a man insulted The King so two thousand years ago, hell even as little as a few hundred years ago, there would have been rather severe consequences, the least of which would be Arthur calling the man out for besmirching his honour. Of course, it was no longer the past and this man was not one of Arthur's subjects; his restraint though was still obvious. "Merlin!" He barked, his Court Mage making a show of listening intently. "Arrange a meeting with The Great Dragon and The Lady of the Lake. Council is adjourned!" With a kiss to Gwen's cheek and a bow to Queen Elizabeth, Arthur stormed from the chamber, Merlin following at his heels. Although the meeting had been declared over, far earlier than any expected, they had thought they'd be here late discussing tactics and formulating a plan, no one else moved, save to send angry and annoyed glares on the general.
"You may choose to not believe my words, I honestly care not if you do." Gwen said, giving him the full force of her most royal and disapproving stare. "But know that there is none more honourable than my husband. He has fought for his people since gaining knighthood as a teenager, and was prepared to give up his place as king if it meant the people of Britain would be safe and live in peace. There is not another monarch in history for which the same can be said about, and we take it as a great insult that you believe our intentions in having you sit this battle out are because we seek glory. You have no idea what you would face, it would be naught but a slaughter, and it is from that which we are trying to spare you." Gwen stood, preparing to depart, and those from the past stood alongside her. "I will not banish you from my home, regardless of my personal feelings your experience may yet prove of use to us. Hunith, our Head Housekeeper, will find a suitable servant to see to your needs." Hunith nodded at the directive sent her way, knowing that what Gwen really meant was that she would have to find someone who would not take it out on the General of insulting The King; the people of Camelot were incredibly loyal after all. "Gaius, learn everything you can about wraiths. Hopefully when we reconvene we might know our enemy a bit better. Sir Leon, see that he has unimpeded access to the vaults should he need it. " Gaius and Leon too nodded their acceptance and Gwen then turned to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, her entire demeanour becoming much more warm and welcoming. "Your Majesty, Your Highness, you expressed interest in seeing the lower town on your last visit. I would be most happy to take you on a tour. The Prime Minister and his associates may accompany us, if they would like." A glance to the General told him that he was not welcome, though Gwen would never be such a poor hostess as to openly say as much.
"That would be quite lovely." The Queen responded.
"But first we stop by the nursery. William and Eleanor, especially Eleanor, would never forgive me if they knew you were here and did not get the chance to see you." Gwen said with a smile, genially looping an arm through Queen Elizabeth's and bringing the formality way down; the usual rule of not touching The Queen of England not applying when you yourself were one, or at least Gwen did not care about that rule.
"The Princess will be most excited to see 'Gan-Gan.'" Percival quipped as he fell into step behind them, clearly intending to be their escort.
"Sir Percival, I hardly think that appropriate." Gwen chastised the Knight.
"They are not my words, Your Grace, but Princess Eleanor's." He defended. "It is, after all, what her idol calls The Queen." Gwen could not deny that. Since their first meeting Eleanor had idolized Prince George, who had taken no small liking to her either. The two youngsters had practically demanded to see each other and so play dates had become quite common, both at Camelot and Kensington Palace. The instant friendship between the two had both surprised and amazed their parents, though none found any harm in it, save the ribbing they took from the Knights; such a close bond in the past would have been grounds for a betrothal, and certain Knights of the Round Table would not let them forget it.
oo00oo00oo
Merlin and Arthur returned from their meeting with The Lady and Aithusa later that day and reconvened the council. They reported that neither had much more insight into how to defeat the wraiths. The Lady said there were two other ways she could think of to stop the army. The first was to ensure that their unfinished business was complete, for then the wraith's purpose would be gone and they would disappear. Given it was the Saxon army, however, she did not think this a real possibility for it was quite probable that their unfinished business was seeing to the end of Camelot once and for all, which was not an option. The other way The Lady knew of was to kill Morgana. As the one who had performed the ritual to re-animate the wraiths Morgana could stop them, she could pull her magic back, turning them back into regular corpses. Of course, there was little doubt in anyone's mind that Morgana would never willingly do so, and so the only option was to cut off the magic at the source. This seemed like the best option, especially as killing Morgana was something they had fully anticipated doing. The question remained though, how they would get through the Saxon army to reach Morgana. Normally Merlin could battle her directly, but even his magic would not be very strong against wraiths and Morgana would know that, she would keep some by her side to fight Merlin should he bypass the rest of the army. Although it looked bleak, Aithusa gave them two more glimmers of hope. The Great Dragon had conceded the need for more immortal blades given the army they would face and had agreed to forge two in her breath under the conditions that they were used only by Camelot's First Knights, and upon the completion of the battle were handed over to The Lady for safekeeping. Upon hearing that only two more of the only weapons that could defeat the wraiths would be created, complaints rose from the military officers only to be thoroughly rebuked. Immortal blades were incredibly powerful and in the wrong hands could be very dangerous. Forging so many such blades would only run the risk of one getting lost or stolen without anyone being the wiser. Regardless of the fact that Aithusa trusted the other Knights of the Round Table she would not even forge enough swords for them all, deeming the risk too great, especially if a wraith or Morgana got their hands on one of them. By limiting the immortal blades she'd forge to those for the First Knights, Aithusa knew that they'd be in the hands of the most trustworthy knights and most skilled combatants Camelot had.
With no other possible plan of action given the near indestructibility of the wraiths it was decided that training the army to evade and decapitate would be the best course of action. While none save Arthur, Leon and Percival would actually be able to kill one of the wraiths, the others could put them out of the battle for a time. Upon hearing this, the military officers once again raised their voices in protest that they be kept out of the fighting, this time with a somewhat reasonable argument. As Camelot's army would not have any special weapons they argued that their soldiers could be just as useful. Arthur, who still did not want to put any modern person in danger given this was not their fight, argued back saying that guns would only put his men in danger as this battle would be fought in close quarters and that as the army no longer fought with swords, they would then only become a liability. The General conceded that the army as a whole no longer fought with swords but that did not mean that many soldiers were not proficient with other weapons, some of them even quite proficient with swords. Knowing the danger he was putting his men in Arthur could not deny that the extra help would be welcome. Still he was hesitant, and so a compromise was agreed upon. The General would send however many men he wanted to be tested and trained in Camelot. If, and only if, Arthur deemed them sufficiently trained enough to combat the wraiths would they then be allowed in battle. Knowing he was going to get nothing better, and also not wanting to send men to slaughter simply to get them into the fight, the General agreed and the meeting came to an end.
Less than a week later nearly seven hundred men arrived at Camelot's borders, sent by the General. With nowhere else to house them, Merlin erected an encampment in the field surrounding Camelot, complete with running water, though electricity still eluded them. The Knights of the Round Table each took a chunk of the army and assessed their skills, only those who they deemed skilled enough were brought to The King for a final decision. In the end, Arthur conceded that the General had had a point and had only sent home a few dozen, all of whom relied too heavily on hand to hand combat rather than weaponry which would only get them so far with a wraith swinging a broadsword at them with enough force to cut them in half. Camelot's army welcomed their new comrades with open arms, some even came to stay in the encampment with them, though they could not offer the modern soldiers places in Camelot's barracks; regardless that this army was on their side, they would not invite strangers into the heart of Camelot. Training continued for several more days before the battle was finally upon them. Merlin ran in to the great hall during dinner one evening, informing them that Morgana was on the move.
"Whatever magic she was using to shield herself and the wraiths has lifted." He informed everyone present. "I can sense them now, they're marching south."
"Where?" Arthur asked.
"Towards Badon Hill." Arthur nodded, not terribly surprised.
"How long till they get there?"
"They're still quite far north. If they march through the night, which I suspect they will as they're the undead and don't exactly need sleep, they'll arrive mid morning."
"And those in their path?" Gwaine asked. "Will they be leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake?"
"I don't think so." Merlin said. "Morgana wants to rule the land, she can hardly do that if there's no one left to rule over. We're her target, the bombing before held a purpose, but senseless killing while on her way to meet us does not."
"Very well then." Arthur muttered. "Ready the army." He instructed Leon and Percival. "We leave at dawn."
oo00oo00oo
As dawn arrived Gwen stood alongside their family and the court to bid farewell to Arthur and his men. The children were still abed, Arthur having said goodbye to them in the nursery when they were only half awake, not wanting to face their tears, though he was still faced with his wife's.
"Go with God." She murmured as they said their private goodbye, hands clasped before them and heads bowed, their foreheads touching. "May The Triple Goddess also protect you, and any other deity who will hear my prayer. Come back to us, Arthur, I beg of you. We cannot lose you. Not after all this time, when we finally have a chance to live in peace."
"I will do all I can to ensure that we all return safely." It was the best promise she was going to get. With a final kiss, Arthur turned and mounted his horse. Gwen looked out over The Knights who waited for their King, the rest of the army awaiting them outside the gates.
"Come back alive, all of you." She found herself saying, drawing everyone's attention. "I know you will do your duty to Camelot and to Britain…but you have already done so. You gave your lives for Britain, your oaths as knights is fulfilled. I know there is naught I can say that will stop you from going, but please forget the supposed glory of dying in battle; there are no bards in this day and age to immortalize you in song. Don't do anything stupid, don't be a hero simply for the sake of being a hero. Come home alive and well." No matter how unqueenly it was to beg, that was indeed what Gwen was doing and she felt no shame in it.
"Your heard The Queen!" Sir Leon shouted as he unsheathed his sword and held it up in salute to her. "For Her Majesty, we return alive!" The other Knights and Arthur all raised their swords.
"And for the love of Camelot, we defeat her enemies!"
"For the love of Camelot!" The cry went up and continued to be shouted as they rode out of the courtyard, eventually being taken up by the soldiers who awaited them outside the gates, the dull roar of all those voices being heard over the walls and throughout the town.
"They will return to us." Mithian said with more certainty than she actually felt as she came up beside Gwen, who had yet to move from the steps.
"But will they return to us alive or dead?" She murmured back.
"Alive. Merlin will not let them die. Not again."
"You can't know that."
"I do know that." The more she spoke the more she realized that what she said was true. "I know because Merlin would not survive Arthur dying again. And yet he has to, for as The Immortal Mage he has little choice. As such, Arthur will return alive if for no other reason than Merlin's selfishness." Gwen smiled softly and turned to her friend, grasping her hand.
"Thank you. Regardless of Merlin's immortality I know you worry as much as I and yet you offer comfort where I can offer none."
"We all have our own capabilities in times such as these. And I do not deny that knowing Merlin cannot die does offer a measure of comfort." The two women made their way back inside the castle and headed towards the nursery, knowing the children would likely be awake now. Gwen saw to her children's morning routine before leaving them in the care of Alaria and Nan. Her children were blissfully unaware that their father had gone off to war and may not return and until she knew for certain whether he lived or died she wanted to keep it that way. Knowing that she would not be able to hide her worry for too much longer and not wanting her children to pick up on it, Gwen knew that leaving her children in the care of their nurse was the best option. When they were suitably distracted both Gwen and Mithian made their escape and wound their way to the throne room, which was far from empty. Their family had gathered there and were either openly worrying or attempting, and failing, at distracting themselves. Gwen went to the dais and sat on her throne, wanting a moment alone and knowing that it was unlikely she would be disturbed there, regardless of the fact that the room was full of people. Gwen didn't know how long she sat there but she remained in her own thoughts until a commotion was heard outside. Fearing the worst, that Morgana had fooled them all and that the army of wraiths was at their gates, Gwen led the charge outside; heedless of the cries of the few guards that remained that she let them go first. They needn't have worried though, for the commotion was made not by an invading army, but by the arrival of a group of friends, a rather large group in fact.
"Look who we found passing by our house!" Vanora cried, gesturing to their guests as she and her children led them through the courtyard.
"Queen Elizabeth." Gwen murmured, feeling quite confused, though she still made her way down the castle steps to greet them properly. "You are of course welcome, but what are you doing here? And with your whole family?" This surprised her more than anything else, for indeed all four of The Queen's children, along with their children and her great-grandchildren were there.
"The battle taking place will decide the future of Britain. One British monarch is on the front lines, and while I cannot join King Arthur there, I can offer support here." She responded, acknowledging for the first time that Arthur was still a British monarch. "I can wait for news of the battle here or at Buckingham, but here I publically offer my support and present a united front with King Arthur as he fights for both our people. I did, however, want my family close." The last bit was said lowly, for Gwen's ears alone and she could understand why. Just like she and Arthur were pillars of strength for their people, so too was Queen Elizabeth, and she needed to maintain that appearance. However, she was also a loving mother and grandmother and on a day like today, where either peace would be realized or, quite probably, they would see their deaths, she wanted her family with her for what could be their last day.
"I understand perfectly." Gwen replied, grasping The Queen's hand in a brief gesture of comfort. "And it means a great deal to both Arthur and I that you offer your support."
"Even if it was not the fate of my country being decided, you have proven yourselves over these last months and I believe you to be right in this." With but a smile and nod Gwen dropped that line of conversation, knowing nothing else need be said.
"Do come in. We are all gathered in the throne room." She addressed the crowd as a whole. "William, Roy and Eleanor are in the nursery." She also directed to Will and Kate who were hard pressed to keep up with George as he took off to see his friends, though they did lead their cousins Peter, Autumn, Zara and Mike along with their young children promising the nursery would be the best place for them; Vanora and Anna also followed, saying they would help with all the children so as not to overwhelm Alaria and Nan. The rest followed Gwen into the throne room where they were greeted with surprise that ranged to absolute shock; although they knew that their children had met the modern royals on more than one occasion, they themselves had never had that pleasure. For nearly two hours Gwen played the gracious hostess before her worry once again overtook her and she retreated to her throne once more, though this time she was not left alone.
"It must have been magnificent, to sit up here and essentially look out over your kingdom." It was The Princess Royal who had joined her.
"In a way it was, and still is. But it was also a great burden; we had the weight of the entire kingdom on our shoulders. Regardless of the opulence and splendour that surrounded us as king and queen, we were, and are, servants to our people." She had only met Princess Anne on one occasion out of the near dozen she had seen The Queen and Prince Philip over the last months, which of course did not include the play dates her children had with George and Charlotte.
"It sounds like much changed in the centuries following your reign." Gwen smiled humourlessly.
"Not really. Arthur and I always knew our reign would be different from his father's, but we did not realize how much of an anomaly we were until we were crowned and saw the way other monarchs ruled; how much greed, selfishness and self-importance other monarchs had. Though you are right that it wasn't quite as bad in our time as it became, Arthur and I were always different, even quite modern in many respects."
"He's leading the army into battle for one. Few kings in history have done so, believing their lives to be too important to risk." Gwen's smile turned genuine.
"Arthur always leads his men into battle. He would never ask them to do what he himself is unwilling. I have sent him off to war I know not how many times. Not knowing if he would return to me. Not knowing if our kingdom would not have an heir, or after William was born if he would become king before he could even walk. But it is harder now. We have lived, fought, and died already. Two thousand years have passed and yet we are still at war. Someone is still trying to tear our kingdom apart and will not allow for peace."
"This Morgana." It was more a statement then question, but still the question was there and Gwen could not blame her. They had only briefly discussed Morgana, only so much as to say that she had betrayed them and now sought to kill them once more.
"Morgana was our sister." Gwen found herself confiding in Princess Anne. "We grew up together. We laughed and played together, we fought together. When I found out I was pregnant Arthur and I could think of no one else to be the godmother. We thought we knew her so well…yet she still betrayed us."
"And you're certain she wasn't under some spell or some such thing?" Gwen shook her head.
"Merlin could sense no magic affecting her in anyway."
"Yet you knew her so well. How could she have you all fooled as she did?"
"Because we could not believe the worst of her. We could not, would not, believe her capable of such treachery. She was captured by the Saxons and she changed whilst with them. Morgana was never fanciful or fleeting. She knew how the world was and what she wanted to do to make it a better place. She was practical, smart and highly logical, and very loyal. We all saw the change in her when she returned to us, but treason never entered our minds. What is worse, I think, is that her betrayal does not even make sense. She claims to be of Uther's blood, his unclaimed bastard, which is not surprising to us, but in her mind that makes her the rightful Queen of Camelot. Regardless of Arthur not only being older and male but also Uther's trueborn son. She believes that Arthur is no better than Uther, that her people, people with magic, still suffer under his reign and that only she can right the wrongs Uther, and then Arthur, committed."
"But didn't Arthur lift the ban on magic?"
"Yes. Whatever happened in the Saxon stronghold her sense left her, yet no magic was cast on her, nor is there any proof that she was tortured into insanity."
"And you're certain that it's not magic making her this way?"
"Merlin-"
"I know you said that Merlin didn't sense magic, but isn't it possible he's wrong? Didn't he say that he couldn't even ward a camp, yet now he can ward the world?" Clearly Queen Elizabeth had shared what had gone on with her children. "I'm not saying he is wrong, merely that it is too much of a coincidence that someone you knew so well simply changed tunes after being in enemy hands."
"Why are you bringing this up? What could this possible help?" Gwen did not like this train of thought, if only because Arthur had gone to war to kill Morgana and the only way either of them were accepting that her death had to happen was because of their certainty that she was truly their enemy.
"I don't know." Anne shrugged. "But you seemed you needed to talk. Sometimes an outside opinion can help." Without another word Princess Anne left to re-join her family leaving Gwen to ponder their discussion, and the truth behind Morgana's betrayal.
A/N - I can now officially confirm that there are only 2 chapters left! I'm also just finishing up the final chapter so no more long waits, though still probably a week between updates.
