Chapter 10

Morgana asked Merlin to wait for her whilst she spoke to Freya but, when she turned away from the lake, her boyfriend was nowhere to be found. With a large sigh she headed back to the mansion, only to find he'd locked himself in the room which housed the old Round Table. She shook her head and knocked loudly.

"Go away!"

"Let me in, Merlin. We need to talk."

"Just leave me alone."

"You know I can't do that." No reply. "Open this door, Emrys or I'll use magic."

"Go... away!"

Morgana shook her head sadly, lifted a hand towards the lock and focused. It opened easily and she smiled bleakly. If Merlin had really wanted to be left alone he could have easily kept her out. Despite rapid progress in her lessons, her magic was still no match for his.

She entered the room to find the sorcerer sitting in his place at the table, head bowed down on the cold stone surface.

"You know what Freya said, Merlin. You know what we have to do."

"I can't, Morgan. Really... If I do I'll kill her."

"No, you'll set her free from her prison."

He shook his head. "You don't understand."

"No, I understand perfectly, it's you who's letting your emotions get the better of you."

He looked up then, shocked at her comment. His face was pale and his eyes red and swollen from crying. "You're one to talk."

"My emotions are now perfectly under control, thanks to you. Now it's my turn to repay the favour. You can stay here and sulk and deny it as much as you like but you know what needs to be done. Everything you've worked towards for the last seventy years has been heading towards this moment. You know it has."

"And the rest." He sighed and said nothing for several long moments. "Tomorrow," he said finally. "We'll do it tomorrow."

~o~0~o~

Little was said that night or first thing the following morning with the couple simply dressing and eating in virtual silence.

"Well?" Morgana asked him, eventually.

He sighed deeply. "You were right, of course." He then got up and headed towards the door before turning around to look at her. "Well, are you coming or not?"

"Of course," she replied with a smile. "Apparently I'm indispensable."

"Hmm."

"So, we're going to this Crystal Cave?" she asked as she loped after him.

"I'm not sure if you'll be allowed in."

"But I thought this was all prophesied. I thought I was needed?"

"Maybe, but the cave is different. Special. Only the Guardian is allowed to find it and it generally protects itself."

"So?"

He shrugged. "There was once another entrance and I'm hoping, since the work has been completed, that it won't be flooded any more."

"Oh, I did wonder why Project Camelot was required if we could solve this all with magic."

"Yes, the water level needed to drop enough for us to be able to access this lower chamber and, from there, I'm pretty certain we can solve the problem."

"Okay." They continued in silence for a little further.

"Here," Merlin said. "Do you recognise this at all?"

She looked upwards and turned around, trying to get her bearings. "Everything in this valley has always felt familiar," she said. "But I'm still not able to fully access Morgana's old memories."

"Well, she lured me in here and tried to trap me. Well, she did trap me for a while. So I suppose it makes sense that we're to go in here together again. Bring everything around full circle."

The water level had definitely gone down. This time last year the whole entranceway had been submerged, but now there was just a small layer of water left on the floor. The place felt damp and cold but at least it was accessible. Merlin closed his eyes and reached out his senses.

"Good, the magic appears a little stronger again," he decided.

"Why does the flood water dampen it?" Morgana asked.

"I've no idea. Water in general doesn't but there's no question it's been fainter since the cave started to flood."

"And now?"

"And now we're going to raise it."

She frowned. "When you say raise...?"

"I mean we're going to use our magic to physically lift the whole of this rock upwards."

She gaped at him. "And what's going to keep it up?"

"Leave that to me. You just need to lift."

"What about the third sorcerer, this heir?"

"For two are needed to begin the Centre's rise," Merlin quoted.

"Stage one?" she guessed.

"Or stage two if you count the Knights' contribution."

"Of course. So?"

He shrugged. "I still have my misgivings but, as you said..." He blinked back tears.

"It has to be done," she reminded him, placing a gentle hand on his arm.

"I know. Are you ready?"

"Yes," she replied. "Let's do this."

~o~0~o~

The amount of magic needed was immense. Nothing Merlin had ever attempted in his very long life had required more effort and, even with the two of them lifting, it was a slow and difficult task. The weight felt real, as if he really was holding up layers and layers of rock from both below and above. And he was even having to shift the earth's crust itself because, as Morgana said, there needed to be something to hold the cave up in its new, higher position. Sweat began to pour from Merlin's brow and lights started to flash before his eyes, and he could feel Morgana trembling next to him too. Had he got it wrong? Did there need to be a third sorcerer after all?

One last effort. One final push but, at that point, there was no way of knowing if they'd been successful or not as the strain of the weight and the exceptional use of magic became too much and the pair collapsed into unconsciousness.

~o~0~o~

"Merlin, wake up!"

"What?" He opened his eyes to find Morgana hovering over him, looking concerned.

"I'm not sure what happened," she said. "I'm not sure if it worked."

"Me neither." He sat up and shook his head, trying to grasp his magic and work out what was happening. "I feel... most odd."

"I'm not surprised. That was far harder than I expected."

"No, I mean I feel... different... strange."

"You're probably just drained," she suggested. "Can you still do magic?"

A look of horror crossed Merlin's face and he quickly cupped his hands and focused. When he opened them again, a small blue butterfly flew out. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, that is beautiful!" Morgana breathed.

"Seems to be the spell of choice in this cave," he said with a smile of his own. "I still feel weird though."

"Well, at least your magic's working. Can you stand?"

He wobbled a bit and she did too but, otherwise, neither of them seemed too badly affected. "I don't know what it is, just something feels... a bit off."

"And the cave? Did we do it?"

He closed his eyes for a second before nodding. "I think so, yes. The magic feels very much stronger and, look, the ground here is a lot dryer than it was when we entered."

"Look!" Morgana said, pointing. "Look at where the butterfly is heading. Towards that blue glow."

He smiled broadly then. "Good. Let's see if we can sneak you in the back way then."

"That's the Crystal Cave?"

"The true Centre of magic, yes, and I would love you to be able to see it. If it's allowed."

The climb up was tiring and the pair of them struggled after having used so much of their energy on the spell. As a result they needed to stop almost as soon as they entered the main part of the cave, finding a ledge to sit on which overlooked the glowing blue crystals below.

"It's so beautiful," Morgana declared.

"Yes," Merlin agreed. "I just wish I knew why I felt so strange."

"Actually, I'm feeling something quite different now," Morgana said with a sly smile.

"What?"

"Well..." she replied, sidling a little closer to him. "You know how I usually get after using magic..?"

He smiled weakly. "I think I'm a bit too tired for that at the moment."

"Really? Are you sure? Perhaps just a few kisses then."

"Just a few kisses?" He laughed. "You know where that normally ends up with us."

She grinned. "Perhaps it might wake you up. Honestly, how can you not feel turned on after using all that magic?"

He shook his head. "I think that must be your own, unique side effect."

"Are you certain about that," she said, leaning even closer so she could kiss him gently on the lips.

As usual, it didn't take long for his body to be persuaded. In fact, Merlin often wondered if Morgana was using magic on him, although he was quite certain that would be something he could sense. He still felt tired though, whilst she now seemed to have rediscovered all her energy, so he was quite happy to lie back and let her do most of the work.

"Ow, not too rough, Morgana. I'm lying on stone here, you know?"

"Aw, poor baby," she cooed, although she did immediately start to be more gentle. "Perhaps I should stop completely if it's hurting you."

"Don't you dare," he replied and she tipped her head back and laughed, happy that he'd finally caught up with her own level of passion.

~o~0~o~

Time always was a bit strange in the Crystal Cave and Merlin had to admit that he lost track a bit then; still tired from using so much magic and yet quite unable to resist Morgana's sexual advances. Not that he was unwilling. In fact, he was the one to initiate their next encounter, surprised at how quickly he'd become ready considering how tired he was. Perhaps Morgana was right about the side effect of using so much magic, or perhaps it was something unique about the Crystal Cave.

The couple finally started to make their way outside by some unspoken agreement, but still with little idea of how much time had passed. The trip was challenging though, because the landscape around the back entrance of the cave had changed so much after their extraordinary spell, and the whole area was now sitting far higher in the landscape.

Within seconds of leaving the cave mouth, both of their phones started to beep continuously.

"Oh bother," Merlin grumbled as he looked down. "We were suppose to be at the press conference."

"What? Is it that time already?" Morgana too looked at her phone and winced. "My dear brother is not at all happy."

"Yeah, we're going to have some explaining to do. Oh well, that was more important and it's not as if we really needed to be there. Guy and Archie can cope well enough."

She nodded. "How are you feeling?"

"Still a bit odd but I've no idea why. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with me that I can tell."

She put a hand on his brow and studied him intently for a few seconds. "You seem the same to me."

"Probably just feeling Freya's loss," he said quietly.

She nodded. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "Would you go and look at the lake and see what's happened, Morgan? I don't think I can face it."

"Of course. I'll go and do that now. Run me a hot, deep bubble bath for when I get back, would you?"

~o~0~o~

When Morgana finished her bath she came back into the bedroom wrapped in a couple of towels to find Merlin sitting cross-legged on the bed and studying a map.

"Did you phone Archie?" she asked.

"No, I just sent him a text saying we were having problems with reception here and would be back in London soon."

She sighed. "I suppose we'd better had. My father's been sending messages too and his latest one seems rather ominous."

"Yes, and then there's this..." Merlin pressed the remote towards the big screen and the sound came on to reveal a reporter talking of an earthquake in Gloucestershire.

"Ah...?" Morgana gave Merlin a long look and he shrugged.

"Yeah, that was probably us."

"Will that cause problems?"

"I'll go back out tomorrow and sort out all the magical defences. Hopefully I can shield most of the changes from all their imaging equipment, make it look like a coincidence."

"Dad said something about gossip in the newspapers too?"

"Yeah, I caught a hint of something on the news earlier. I've ordered some copies which should arrive tomorrow. We'd better get all the facts before we face the team and your father."

"Will you go as Martin or Emrys?"

"The old man, I think. Probably easier just in case the rumours about us have reached Euan already."

She scoffed. "As if I care what he thinks about that."

"Perhaps, "Merlin said. "But I thought, you know? One issue at a time?"

~o~0~o~

A/N: In case you're wondering Morgana's calling Merlin by his real name now because he asked her to and, yes, she knows everything now, or as much as it's possible to learn after a relatively short period of time. Merlin tends to still call her Morgan, but he will forget from time to time, especially if he's distracted! ;)

Thanks for the lovely reviews. Despite having most of this written for a while, I've had a few RL issues and haven't kept on top of the replies as much as I'd like. But they are all very much appreciated, obviously.