Almost looking as exhausted as he felt, Merlin half dragged, half carried the unconscious king onto the isle. The mist that usually shrouded the isle felt particularly thick as Merlin struggled into the decrepit castle, Arthur in tow. Arthur's breathing was ragged, and it became increasingly labored as they approached the center of the castle. Reaching a stone pillar, Merlin hoisted Arthur against it, propping him up as best as he could. He placed two fingers at the king's neck, sighing in relief as he felt a pulse. There was still time.
"Stay with me Arthur, I got you. We'll make it through this, together." Merlin whispered. Arthur didn't respond, his breathing nothing more than shallow gasps.
All around Merlin, the mist thickened and from it stepped out three Disir, surrounding the two men, staves in hand. Merlin whirled around, desperation in his eyes as he pleaded to the Disir, "please, save Arthur! A fragment of Mordred's sword is lodged in his side! Please, you've got to help him."
The Disir on his left let out a breathy sigh, "he has done much to harm those wielding magic, as did his father before him."
"My King is not like his father." Merlin shot back, his hand travelling back to the weak heartbeat at Arthur's throat. "King Arthur is the hope of Albion, he understands that magic can be used for good as well as evil. I told him that I have magic, and he hasn't killed me yet has he? I'm still alive, standing before you."
"Only because he cannot, weakened as he is now. Emrys, you have seen firsthand his judgement upon those with magic. The man has persecuted them without mercy, he attempted to kill Kilgharrah, he killed druids, and he killed Osgar."
The second Disir nodded, "He killed a unicorn too." The last Disir gave vent to a breathy laugh "But the unicorn didn't die now did it?"
"All the same, he took its horn." The first Disir commented.
Merlin had half a mind to shout at the three of them, his friend was dying right beside him and he brought him here in the hope of saving him, to the people who foretold his damnation and happen to be his only chance of salvation, only to find them arguing back and forth about unicorns. Frustration got the better of him and he lashed out at them. "We returned the horn! The unicorn was restored to life! And that's because Arthur is pure of heart else the unicorn would not be revived! Will you all let one of pure heart die?! If so, then you're all the same as Uther!"
The Disir vented what amounted to breathy laughs, though it sounded more like hollow wheezing to his ears. "The boy has a point," the second Disir rasped out, then pointed his staff at Merlin, who stiffened in response. "But Emrys, think carefully. He has seen what horrors sorcery has wrought upon the land. Before his father outlawed magic, Camelot itself was almost destroyed by it. His half-sister, Morgana has used magic for nothing other than evil. To him, magic has done nothing but ruin lives." The Disir added, "Do you think that Arthur will accept sorcery as a part of his life once he is cured? Do you think that YOU will be able to stay by his side when he clearly knows of your secret? Isn't that the reason why you kept your magic a secret from him? What is to stop him from lighting you at a pyre once he is well?"
Merlin faltered at the Disir's words, his unspoken fears voiced out into the open. It was true, he feared for his life even as he tried desperately to save Arthur's. He remembered the look of terror on his face when he coaxed the image of a dragon from the campfire's embers, and how Arthur shrank back from him right after with a pained look. But Arthur had thanked him, hadn't he? Even though Merlin revealed his powers, Arthur thanked him for everything he had done. More importantly, Arthur had called him his friend. And Arthur was nothing but loyal to his friends. A spark of hope ignited as he further processed the Disir's words. The Disir had implied that they could save Arthur.
The third Disir chose this time to rasp out with a tone of finality. "We cannot save him." Merlin's head shot up at those words, the shred of hope replaced by a sinking feeling, "why the bloody hell not?"
"Because he has angered our Goddess, he did not accept magic. He did not embrace the Old Religion."
Glancing back at the king's pale face, Merlin had a flashback of the time when Arthur asked whether he should acknowledge the Old Religion and save Mordred's life, or forsake it and let Mordred die. Arthur had truly considered embracing the Old Religion, never mind that his real reason was to save Mordred. But Merlin was against it, and Arthur took his advice to heart. If it was anyone who abandoned the Old Religion, it was Merlin himself. Arthur did not deserve to die.
Merlin took a deep breath and stood up. The manservant's eyes shone with desperation but his voice was steady as he proposed an unbelievable scheme to the Disir, one that had even them stepping back.
"What if I made him accept the Old Religion?" Not giving time for the Disir to speak, Merlin continued, his voice rising with every syllable. "What if I made him come to acknowledge sorcery and to stop the killing of innocent magic users? Will that be that sufficient? Will you save him then?" The Disir seemed to pause for thought, the lull in chatter giving Merlin a ray of hope.
"I swear by my name Emrys, that I will change Arthur for the better. I will make him acknowledge magic. Sorcery will not be outlawed and the people of Camelot will coexist harmoniously with those that have it. You have my word." Merlin knelt down beside Arthur, once again putting two fingers to his throat.
A tear slipped past and trickled down his cheek. Arthur barely had a heartbeat left.
A shift in the winds made him look up at the three Disir who had huddled closer. The first Disir knelt down and spoke, voice hardly above a whisper. "Very well, our Goddess agrees. We will honour the pact. You have chosen a difficult path. Remember your promise Emrys. Arthur's fate lies in your hands." Merlin felt relief wash over him at those words.
"Thank yo-" A loud 'thunk' resounded through the castle as wooden staff met the back of a very hard, raven-haired head. Merlin crumpled to the floor. The third Disir whipped back her staff and cackled, "I'd like to see him put us on the same level as Uther again."
Petty revenge settled, the Disir surrounded the unconscious king and his manservant and began their incantations…
Merlin only woke up a few hours later, hunched over an unconscious Arthur as Kilgharrah flew them back to Camelot. Rubbing the bump on his head, he muttered "damn witches."
Meanwhile, in the present…
Merlin snuck out the king's chambers, silently mouthing an apology to his guardian, who merely waved him on. He hurried down the castle's corridors, eerily silent save for the sound of his footsteps. Skirting past a few soldiers on patrol, he reached the stables. As expected, a solitary stable-hand was standing guard. Merlin skirted the well-lighted areas of the stables, magic tingling at the tips of his fingers as he took aim before a loud "Merlin!" startled him. It was Percival who spotted Merlin lurking in the shadows. The knight was in civilian clothes, right arm in a cast and sporting a nasty bruise on the right side of his face.
"Hey! Merlin! Fancy seeing you here," he clapped the manservant heavily on the back with his free hand, laughing when Merlin winced slightly at every clap. "Geez, don't look so forlorn, we won the battle! How have you been? I've been seeing you everywhere these days, busy man you are. Pretty sure old Gaius is working his breeches off tending to the wounded…Last I saw, the infirmary was a warzone." He chuckled at his own pun. "But thank god most of the wounded are recovering nicely. How long has it been since the war at Camlann? Two days? Three?"
"Actually, that would be a day and three-quarters, since the day is not over yet." Merlin grinned and continued, "I'm glad that you're still here with us." He winced again as Percival laughed and brought his hand down on his back again. Inwardly, Merlin sighed. He had wanted to borrow a horse for the journey ahead as he wanted to rendezvous with Kilgharrah in the middle of the woods, and had intended to put the stable-hand to sleep for a short while. But with his cover blown, he wasn't so sure he could pull off sleeping both the knight and stable-hand without arousing suspicion. The patrolmen making their rounds on the castle balcony were also looking their way.
"Anyway, what are you doing here? Sending for more herbs? I remember Gaius lamenting about a lack of driftwort when he mummified my arm," Percival smiled while waving his cast to show that he meant it as a joke. A light bulb went off in Merlin's mind, "ah yes, Gaius did ask me to get him more driftwort, as well as fresh pine leaves and night-glories." Merlin listed out a few other things for good measure. "I was hoping to borrow a horse so I can collect some."
"Outside the city?" Percival's eyes nearly popped out, "It's dangerous, I'll come with you!" He signaled at the stable-hand to prepare two horses. Merlin couldn't help but feel a little annoyed, even though he was a little touched by his concern. Of all the days for the knight to be thoughtful, it had to be today. "You can't, your sword arm is broken, you're not fending off anything in that state." He gestured to the sling. "Plus, I run faster than you."
Percival was concerned for the lanky lad to be out alone but Merlin did have a point.
"Besides, I'll only be gathering the driftwort that's growing near the city. The rest of the materials can be safely bought from the local herb-store, I won't step foot into the forest." Merlin's assurance did ease his worries a little but not by much. "I'll come help anyway."
"Since when have you known to how to collect driftwort?" They both laughed. Conceding defeat, Percival stepped back as Merlin mounted the bay the stable-hand brought forth.
"Alright, but be safe, and don't go wandering off where ya shouldn't be." Without waiting for a reply, Percival turned back and shooed the stable-boy and a saddled dapple-grey back to the stables.
Merlin chuckled at the face the curly-haired youth made when he thought he wasn't looking, probably upset that he brought out an extra horse for nothing. Waving goodbye to Percival, Merlin tugged lightly at the reins and eased the bay into a canter, his eyes flashing golden as he passed the archway that segregated the stables from the city ahead. A moment later the mare the stable-boy was unsaddling reared, backing the boy up and making him fall into the water trough. Percival's hearty laugh echoed through a good half of the castle.
It didn't take long before Merlin left the city behind, their lights small pinpricks in the background. Reaching a clearing, Merlin called out for Kilgharrah. It wasn't long before a familiar figure swooped low over the trees to land in the clearing. Merlin's horse reared in fright, the white of its eyes showing as it picked up the scent of dragon. Instinct made it bolt in the other direction before Merlin took control again, yanking hard on the reins. He had to picket the horse a good distance away from Kilgharrah for it to stop trying to run away.
Merlin scratched the back of his head as he approached Kilgharrah, "sorry about that, I didn't know that horses were squeamish around dragons." A deep rumble emanated from the dragon's chest as he settled down, carefully folding his wings so that the wound he obtained a time ago could not be seen. It had somewhat healed with time but the latest jaunt from the Isle of the Blessed to Camelot had reopened it again, though Kilgharrah was careful not to let the warlock notice. "With good reason, I used to like having them as an afternoon snack back when I was young."
The manservant remarked, "you sound just like an old man." Kilgharrah sniffed, "I am old, but I'll outlive any old man you can throw at me, eaten a few too. But I digress. So what did you summon me for young warlock?"
"Arthur has magic."
The dragon's eyes widened, but he said nothing more than a 'hmm'.
"Did you know about this?"
"Perhaps."
"Then why didn't you tell me anything?" Merlin didn't mean it to sound like an accusation, catching himself a moment later.
Kilgharrah harrumphed, "age has dulled my senses. I can't accurately foretell the future as I once could."
"Sorry Kilgharrah. I stepped out of line there. It's just that- the Disir, and Arthur almost dying, and, and a lot of things- and now- Arthur and pillows, and he just-" Merlin pressed his palms against his scrunched up eyes. "Aargh, this doesn't make any sense." He paced before the dragon, retelling the confrontation with the Disir and his promise to them. "It's probably another way besides my promise to 'insure' that Arthur would lift the ban on sorcery." Turning to Kilgharrah, he asked, "did the Disir say anything to you when you met them?"
"No. Other than appearing from the mist and asking me to get you and Arthur to safety, they didn't say a word. I would have sneaked you both into the tents at Camlann but I doubt I could blend into the environment." Kilgharrah split into a wide grin, his canines showing. "So I flew back to Camelot. You were already conscious by then and already know the rest."
Merlin did. He had called Gaius and together, they had made it seem as if the king was brought back with the first batch of returning soldiers. It was a close thing, but with Gwen's help and a little sleight-of-hand, they pulled it off without a hitch.
There was a glint in the dragon's eye when he asked Merlin if he still remembered his destiny.
"I'm supposed to use my gifts to protect Arthur and bring about the time of Albion..." His brows knitted together, not really understanding what Kilgharrah was getting at.
Kilgharrah continued, "to guide Arthur who will bring peace to Camelot, Merlin. For without you, there will be no Albion. To guide." Kilgharrah sat back on his haunches, eyeing Merlin with poorly-disguised amusement.
"Wait, waitwaitwaitwaitwait!" Merlin stepped back, waving his hands as he spoke, his jaw dropped as he processed what the dragon said. "I have to teach Arthur how to use magic? What?!"
Kilgharrah burst out into deep-chested laughter as Merlin started ranting, "no, absolutely not! Arthur? Learning magic? That dollophead? Not a chance in hell." Half gasping for breath, the dragon snickered, "I do not envy you the task."
Suddenly growing somber, he called Merlin by his other name, "Emrys." Merlin blinked, he couldn't remember a time when Kilgharrah spoke his name in such a serious tone, let alone his other name. His attention brought back, the dragon spoke again. "There are other forces at work here, so I pray that you stay sharp. Everything is not as it seems. My foresight may be failing but I can still provide guidance if you should ever need me." Kilgharrah coughed, and corrected himself. "Guidance until the end of my days, that is."
Merlin suddenly remembered the wound on Kilgharrah's wing, and exclaimed. "How is it? Really, you should let me heal you... Your time isn't up yet, you've still got a ways to go so just let me take a look at it." But once again the dragon waved away his concern.
Kilgharrah really didn't understand the warlock's wish for him to keep on living. As one of the last remaining dragons, he would be subject to a solitary and lonely life, with no companion and in constant fear. Up until now, he had rarely flown as high as he liked, preferring to keep close to the woods lest someone see him and start a dragon-hunt. Aithusa, who he treated like a daughter, had sided with Morgana and disappeared midway through the Camlann battle, neither hide nor hair to be found even as Kilgharrah searched high and low. The dragon found no reason to exist just for the sake of existing, but he didn't tell Merlin that. The warlock already had so much on his plate and adding to his worries was not on the list of things Kilgharrah wanted to do.
Kilgharrah watched as Merlin admitted defeat and bade his farewells with a worried frown, watched as he rode his horse back to Camelot, until both human and horse were swallowed by the shadow of the woods before he stretched his wings, splaying them with a pained groan. If the wound would not kill him, then he resolved to find something that would. But before that, he had one last mission to complete.
An eerie mist suddenly coalesced around the dragon, wherein from one lone figure clothed in a black hood stepped out. It was one of the Disir, sturdy staff in hand. Kilgharrah narrowed his eyes at the figure, his dislike emanating from every pore.
"It is done," the dragon spit out. "I have done what you asked of me, I told Emrys of his real destiny."
The lone Disir nodded, both hands clutching at the staff. "So it would seem. As promised." She tapped her staff and a white dragon emerged from the mist. Aside from looking slightly malnourished there were no apparent wounds on Aithusa. Half-lidded eyes looked right at Kilgharrah but there was no spark of recognition there. Kilgharrah sucked in a breath. Turning to the Disir, he growled. "What have you done to her?"
The Disir held out her hand and Aithusa went to nuzzle it. "Nothing we have not done when we laid enchantments on her before her birth." She scratched under the white dragon's chin. "A fully grown dragon is truly hard to bend to our will, but an unhatched one is a different story altogether. We just placed several enchantments when she was in the Tomb of Ashkanar and she follows our every word." The Disir melded into the mist as Kilgharrah snapped at her. She reformed on the opposite side of Aithusa, who did not so much as blink.
"Tell me, if only to humour me, why did you send Aithusa to Morgana?" Kilgharrah would have spewed fire at the mist until it evaporated along with the Disir but he knew that it would not hurt her. The Disir cackled.
"Fate. Destiny." She waved her staff around, "we see the future, we know the past. We see the answer our Goddess seeks, and we seek the present that encourages it."
"In other words, you manipulated her." Kilgharrah kneaded the dirt beneath his claws. He hated indirect answers, even though he gave many of them himself. "And her not speaking?" The Disir cackled again, her staff-waving getting more intense. "Aithusa has seen too much, heard too much, knows too much, too much, too much!"
"And of Emrys? You knew that Arthur would fall in battle and that Emrys would save him. You manipulated every single one of them all along." The Disir did nothing to deny the accusation, only breathing a few unintelligible words. The mist suddenly thickened until Kilgharrah could only see a few feet in front of him. He growled a warning. If the Disir wanted a confrontation, then he'd give her one.
"So you controlled Aithusa all this time, made her a mute, planted magic in the king and made Merlin keep his magic a secret, all for a prophecy." Kilgharrah spewed a burst of flame at the Disir. But the figure was not affected by the flames. She raised a finger. "Right on all counts, save for one. But this will be a secret between you and me."
"We did not plant magic in the king. He had it in him all along." She breathed a sigh when Kilgharrah seemed taken aback. "All we needed to do was to seal and unseal the magic within him." The Disir jabbed her staff into the ground, her voice barely above a whisper, "It is to stand within reason that a child born of sorcery would also possess a certain amount of power. That is another one of the things Nimueh failed to tell Uther Pendragon when he begged for her help. We just ensured his child's safety as he grew up."
Kilgharrah sighed. "What's stopping me from telling all of this to Merlin?"
"Because it would… Complicate matters... And we don't want to worry Emrys any more than we ought to, yes?"
She had called his bluff. Merlin would carry the story of Arthur's birth to his grave, but if Arthur found out the real truth behind the death of his mother, there was no telling what he would do to Merlin, him being the main reason Arthur believed that Morgause lied and there was no sorcery involved in his birth. Letting them think that the Disir gave Arthur magic at the Isle of the Blessed was the safest way to go.
Kilgharrah felt more than saw the Disir's smile. It sent chills down his spine.
"Wonderful, now, let's get back to business." The mist that had thickened now dissipated, leaving the two dragons and the Disir along with several ovoid objects scattered on the ground before them. All the years spent on the earth and Kilgharrah could not find anything as shocking as he did then.
Dragon eggs.
There were seven of them, located haphazardly in the clearing, each shell varying from a light shade of blue to peach colour and dotted with spots. As he stared in amazement, the Disir went to each egg, muttering incomprehensible words as she circled each and every one of them, her staff held high. Her whispered words carried to Kilgharrah, "Etmyer, Valiske, Orismer, Leph, Sapphira, Hunther, Thorn. Seno deman, sllehs yht morf slaes yht esaeler".They were seals that stopped the flow of time on the eggs, Kilgharrah realized, and her words removed them.
The Disir shuffled back to Aithusa, and pointed her staff at the white dragon. "Aithusa, Eerf era uoy, sesruc ruo tfil ew." Aithusa blinked a few times, then shook herself as if waking from a long nap.
"You have kept your end of the bargain, and we will ours. You shall have Aithusa back, free from any enchantments we placed on her." She pointed at the eggs and continued, "as a bonus, we'll also be giving you these. These are the eggs that were meant to hatch the year Uther called for the slaying of dragons and dragonlords. We sealed them right after dragonlords named them." A sudden fireball enveloped the Disir, followed by a roar as Aithusa charged headfirst into it, coming out the other side none the worse for wear. The fireball dissipated, leaving nothing but charred ground in its wake, the Disir was nowhere to be found.
Kilgharrah stared at the white dragon, unsure if Aithusa was in the right state of mind. He hesitantly called out to her, "Aithusa? Can you hear me?"
"Bollocks," Aithusa snorted, "I thought I had her."
"You can talk?" Kilgharrah got the second shock of his life. These revelations did spells on his heart, good spells but if this kept up he wasn't so sure his heart could take it. Aithusa laughed, "they could control me, but they couldn't control my mind, so they put silencing spells on me. I couldn't talk normally or telepathically."
The sound of tapping brought their attention to the seven dragon eggs, all of which were either shaking or rolling about. Kilgharrah watched in wonder as the first of the dragon eggs, one with a light blue shell, rolled over and cracked. A sticky mottled-brown fledgling tumbled out of it along with the remainder of egg fluids, squeaking in protest. "That's Etmyer," Aithusa supplied helpfully. She named the dragons as they were born. Soon the glade was filled with the squeaking of seven newly-hatched dragonlings. There were four males and three females.
Aithusa helped Kilgharrah gather the seven onto his back. Spurred on by instinct, the hatchlings latched on tightly to his back as Kilgharrah took off from the clearing. He set off in a southwards direction, away from Camelot and its neighboring cities, flying at a steady pace. Try as he might Kilgharrah couldn't wipe the goofy looking smile off his face. Aithusa followed closely behind, ready to catch a hatchling should one of them fall.
They flew onwards, reaching another clearing with a huge waterfall that flowed into a lake. Aithusa dove straight through it, alighting on a rocky ledge hidden behind the rushing waters. Kilgharrah conducted himself more carefully, circling once before diving through in an attempt to minimize the amount of water splashed onto the precious cargo on his back. It didn't work very well. Squeals of protest rang through the ledge into the cave that lay ahead, frightening the bats that slept there. Aithusa breathed fire on several of them as they flew past, scorching a few. The smell of burnt meat had the hatchlings detach from Kilgharrah's back and flutter tentatively to the smoking corpses on the floor.
Kilgharrah felt affection bloom in his heart for the dragons as they tucked into their first meal. Aithusa sat beside him, amusing herself with breathing fire on more bats as they flew past. Her eye caught on the gash on Kilgharrah's wing and she whined worriedly.
"Oh, this little scratch? Not to worry, it's nothing." Kilgharrah concentrated and his eyes flashed golden. The skin started to slowly knit itself back. In a matter of minutes there was nothing left of the wound but a lighter-coloured scar.
He would die, Kilgharrah decided, but not before Aithusa and the rest of his motley crew turned into self-sustaining adults. Death had waited more than a thousand years to take his life, a few more years wouldn't matter. He felt as if his life had a purpose once more, and it was to act as their guardian and ensure their safety.
Once the seven newborns were sated and asleep, he started chatting with Aithusa, asking a few questions while Aithusa did most of the talking. Aithusa seemed eager to share all that she had experienced since her capture by the Disir. Kilgharrah mostly listened and relished in the company of another talking dragon.
A few hours later he somewhat regretted the thought. Aithusa just wouldn't shut up.
(A/N: Hello there~ I tried to speed up the plot as well as to add in the explanations to link everything up into a somewhat coherent piece. I hope I succeeded teehee~ Wow how on earth did it turn into so many words! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻)
I'm not exactly sure where to reply to reviews [[SWEATS NERVOUSLY]]. So I'll just put it here.. ((kicked to the moon))
Haha yep MerlinMorgana1579 Arthur has magic~ It kinda started off with the plot bunny of Arthur not dying and picked up from there.
mersan123 I hope this chapter sufficiently explains the questions posed in the first and second chapters! If I do miss out on anything let me know!
Thank you XxPurpleAngel9xX, and really? I thought there were many fics concerning Arthur and magic around 8'D
And also thank you too consultingsorcererof221B, glad you liked it.
EDITED: I've misspelt Kilgharrah's name all this time! ASDFGHJKL!
Any feedback would be appreciated~ as always thank you for reading! SPARKLES FOR EVERYONEEEE (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧