Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.
Chapter twenty-six: The peace treaty with Caerleon.
Merlin was really not looking forward to this. The last time he and queen Annis had meet had been after Arthur had killed her husband. And she though Merlin was a complete fool and had ordered him to be killed. Merlin really wasn't looking forward to it. Beside him was Alator, who like many of the other council members were joining him. He sighed, he wished they could have just taken care of it. He had been to enough peace treaty meetings with Arthur to know how boring they could be. But as Alator had reminded him, they needed this to go well. If it didn't they could be in big trouble, they could not afford to fight a war on two fronts.
King Sarrum would most definitely declare war on a kingdom where almost everyone had magic, queen Annis, king Rodor and Arthur's kingdoms were the only things standing between the perilous lands and king Sarrum's kingdom.
The illusions along the borders were still holding, but it wouldn't be long until they would be no use. With a war coming from the far mountains, it wouldn't be long until every other kingdom was watching them, after all they were the only people capable of stopping Mordred the dark. Who without a doubt would destroy every other kingdom and enslave the human race.
Merlin shivered, he had been given many new books to study. Most were about Mordred the dark, change-wings were to be the least of their worries. Alator had informed Merlin the only reason they had escaped with so little injuries was because Mordred hadn't had the power to summon them to their full power.
Mordred commanded an army, an army that wasn't made up of humans or your normal kind of magical creatures. Merlin's least favourite had been the orcs, which had been described as a race of humanoid like creatures. It was said they were created by Mordred, by crossing different species of animal with humans or elves. The magic used was powerful, but the creatures had been described as slow, but brutish and aggressive. But were by far the easiest to kill out of all the creatures that made up Mordred's army.
There were many other creatures that made up Mordred's army and all of them could only be killed with the aid of magic. Hence why sorcerers were the only ones who could kill them. Enchanted weapons would work, if a normal none magical army used them, but even then they wouldn't stand much of a chance. Merlin was not looking forward to fighting the Uffern-adar or chythraul-adar as they were sometimes called. They were very much like Wyvern's, but ten times the size and darker in colour.
That was another reason Merlin hated Uthur, if he hadn't killed almost all the dragons they would have something to fight the Uffern-adar with. During the final battle dragon lords had ridden the dragons. But Kilgharrah was far too large to ride into a battle like that, you needed a dragon the same size for the fight to work well and Kilgharrah hated people riding him. Aithusa was too small, he was as large as a cat, no way could you ride him until he was a least twenty years old. Sometimes Merlin hated how slow the dragons were in growing, god only knows how old Kilgharrah was!
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Merlin yawned as their envoy drew closer to queen Annis's castle, Alator glanced at him.
"Did you not sleep well, Emrys?" He asked.
Merlin glances at him. "Please just call me Merlin…. And yeah I'm tied, I didn't sleep to well last night. I kept having this dream every time I got to sleep."
"A Dream?"
"Yeah, it was about a battle, a battle fought on a great plain between two mountain ranges. But I didn't recognise any of the flags, I have never seen an area that looked like that either," Merlin answers. "I'm sure none of it was of any importance, but it seemed so real."
Alator studies him carefully. "What did the flags look like?"
Merlin shut his eyes for a moment picturing what he had seen in his dream. "Black back ground, with a strange symbol on it."
"What did the symbol look like?"
"Ummm…. Like a labyrinth symbol but with an eye in the middle."
"The all seeing eye," Alator explains. "It was the crest of Mordred the dark."
Merlin looked at Alator. "Are you sure? I'm sure it was just a nightmare."
Alator shakes his head. "I believe it is possible you had a vision of the last battle. The one where Mordred the dark was finally beaten and trapped in the mountain."
"The first battle of Camlann," Merlin mutters. "I once travelled there, to Camlann. It looked nothing like that, it was a valley made up of cliffs and small mountains."
Alator smiled. "That was the west side of Camlann, the first battle was fought on the east side. Between our mountains and the far mountains. The west side of Camlann was claimed by Uthur not long after he came to power, it lies between central Camelot and the north mountains, on the edge of Camelot's borders with the northern lands."
Merlin sighed. "So Camlann is a huge if it runs from the mountains on the east side of our kingdom all the way along to our north border to the west, where it joins the eastern border of Camelot, close to their northern border?"
Alator sighs. "It's much simpler when you have a map."
Merlin smiles. "I think I understand, but why does Camlann cover such a large area? And why did I dream about it? I'm not a seer, but then seer's only dream of the future, not the past."
Alator sighs. "You had a vision, it is not uncommon for someone of your power to have them. Visions often come in the forms of dreams, just like seer's often have their visions in their dreams."
Merlin glances at the castle ahead of them, which had just come into view. "I've had visions before but only through the aid of crystals…. But what about the plain, why is it such a large area?"
"Camlann covers such a large area, because it is a stretch of land where nothing grows. It is like a desert made of stone and dust." Alator answers. "The plain is said to be cursed by those who are dead. The far mountains are not only home to Mordred the dark, they are also home to a force much more dangerous: The dead who have been cursed to never rest in peace."
Merlin looked ahead of him. "So what exactly is going to be coming out of those mountain when the day of battle arrives?"
"An army the likes of which we have never seen before."
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"So you are not the simple minded fool, Arthur led me to believe you were." Queen Annis greets, as the envoy enters the great hall, Merlin at the lead.
Merlin smiled. "Queen Annis of Caerleon." Merlin greets bowing his head, as a mark of respect.
"King Merlin Emrys of the druids." Queen Annis bows her head. "It is not often you find out the fool servant to a king is a king himself."
"It was the best place for me to be, in order to protect Arthur," Merlin answers. "He is the once and future king. Acting the fool, insured I didn't get executed when accused of sorcery."
Queen Annis nodes. "A wise plan. You played the role of a fool quite well."
"I am honoured," Merlin answers. "But I'm afraid that part of my life is over. My people most come first, I can not afford to hide in the shadows any longer. That is why I and the council are here today. We wish to speak of peace between our kingdoms."
"Then you will dine with me," Queen Annis replies. "I will have the servants show you to your rooms, you may stay the night."
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Alator and Merlin were the last to be shown to their rooms. As they walked Merlin couldn't help but feel out of place. He had lived all his life as a boy from a small farming village and a man servant from Camelot. He was not used to being treated as royalty. He may be king of the druids now, but druids were all for equity and didn't make their kings or queens live in castle or have hundreds of servants. They just showed respect and offered them a place to stay and aid them in any way they could.
Merlin enjoyed his plain normal life, it was simple, straight forward. You didn't have people watching your every move or talking behind your back. He could now understand why Arthur often felt so annoyed and angry sometimes. The druids had always shown Merlin respect even before, he knew he was their king. But now he was part of the council that ruled the perilous lands, the druid representative. Alator supported him, but Merlin had heard many of the others talking behind his back.
Merlin sighed, his new life was going to have to take some getting used to. He still had much druid law to learn about, as well as customs and traditions. He was also supposed to conduct a hand fasting ceremony. Life could be worse he knew. He could still be Arthur man servant, hiding in the shadows and fighting the world on his own.
"You seem troubled, Merlin." Alator speaks up. "What is it, that troubles you?"
"I am a king. King of the druids." Merlin answers. "I guess with everything that has been going on in the last few days, it never really sank in."
Alator smiled. "The druids chose you as their king, and they love and respect you."
"But that's it," Merlin answered. "They chose me because I am Emrys. Queen Annis would have shown me no respect at all, if she knew me only as Merlin. What if it is the same with the druids?"
Alator shook his head. "The druids may know you as Emrys and respect your power, but they do not just bow down to someone of higher power. They respect your destiny and what you will one day help Arthur create. But most of all they respect you because you are Merlin. Someone who risked their life time and time again to help, druids and sorcerers escape from Camelot when they were going to be killed for nothing more than magic. They druids love and respect you because you think with your heart as well as you head, you hold the two in equal balance. You respect them and in return they respect you."
Merlin looks at Alator. "You really think so?"
"I know so." Alator answers. "I would give my life for you, not only because of the world you will build, but because you truly care about what happens to us and would do anything to save us."
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Merlin slipped back into his room, he had just been out to speak with Gwaine's mother. He silently thanked whoever came up with the teleportation/transportation spell. He knew three different ones now, all of them highly useful. Merlin walked over to the bed and sat down, the sun was setting in the west and he had less than an hour until he would have to dine with queen Annis.
Merlin sighed it couldn't be worse, the druids had given him 'royal' robes to wear. Merlin hadn't even tried them on but he already hated them, they were to kingly, to rich and well made. Merlin knew it wasn't the druids choice of material, it was the councils. He sighed he guessed he had to look like a king. They were most definitely not clothes he was used to wearing.
Staring at his druid robes he guessed they weren't too bad. They were earthly colours, browns and greens, with a silver crown and a midnight blue cloak. Merlin sighed once more, he had no idea what to do. He had not been trained to be a king. Did he have to wear the crown to the meal with queen Annis? Merlin knew Arthur always wore his crown to peace treaty signings, but couldn't remember if you wore the crown when dining with other royals, he knew at feast you did wear the crown. But dining alone with another royal? He had no idea, Arthur had never dined alone.
"This is hopeless!" Merlin mutters.
"Nothing is truly hopeless, Emrys."
Merlin spins round to find Iseldir standing there. "Iseldir, I did not know you were here."
Iseldir smiles ever so slightly. "Alator contacted me, he said you were having some doubts about your right to be king."
Merlin sighed. "I am no king, all I know about being king is what I have learnt from being Arthur servant."
Iseldir shakes his head. "What makes you a great king is what is in your heart. You respect and care about your people. You treat them as equals and go out of your way to help them, to help us. Many kings and queens rule with fear and demand respect. You have gained our respect from your actions, you have never demanded it."
Merlin sighed. "But I am still not fit to be king."
"You were born to do this, Merlin Emrys, it is in your heart." Iseldir a answers. "What you are going to achieve here today will be one step closer to achieving the peace we all long for."
Merlin smiled. "Then I'll try my best to gain a peace treaty with queen Annis."
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Queen Annis sat at end of the table, a fine meal set before her. At the other end of the table a place for Merlin Emrys had been set, he was yet to arrive. He wasn't running late, the servants had just set up early to make sure everything was prepared and ready. The truth was queen Annis was hoping their talk went well, if Merlin had not approached first, she would have gone to him to ask for peace.
He husband before he had been killed, had been trying to find Emrys for years, in hope of securing peace with him. Not out of fear, Emrys was the most powerful after all, but because the age of peace he was said to bring…. It something he wanted for his people more than anything else. Annis wanted that peace too, she may appear hard and cold, but she cared deeply about her people.
She had heard countless rumours of the way Emrys risked his life to save his people from Uthur and then Arthur when he became king, smuggling them out of the dungeons and hiding druid camps with enchantment, or forming alliances with sorcerers such as the Catha. But she never found out who Emrys was, she knew Morgana feared him and many with magic were loyal to him, even if they had never meet him or knew what he looked like.
Magic was a great tool, that she knew. It could be used for greatness and it could be used for great destruction. The laws in Caerloen, were not as strict as they were in Camelot but magic was still approached with caution and not truly excepted. The laws against it simple stated what it could and couldn't be used for, but not many would use it publicly. They had a border with both Camelot and Amata, both kingdoms where magic was punished by death.
But they now had a new kingdom on their border, a kingdom full magic users and led by Merlin Emrys and the council. Queen Annis welcomed the use of magic, when used for the right thing. Morgana had once helped her, even though Morgana was helping herself more than she was queen Annis. An alliance with Merlin Emrys was a big thing, she was no lover of king Sarrum and there was no alliance between them, but no war either.
Suddenly the doors of the great hall were pulled open and Merlin Emrys entered. He royal druid robes catching in a small guest of wind, causing them to billow around him. He smiled slightly as he noticed the table was already set. Queen Annis nodes her greeting.
"Sorry, if I am late, queen Annis." Merlin smiles. "I may have taken longer getting ready than usual. I had to talk with one of the council members."
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Merlin sat and he and queen Annis ate in silence for a while.
"You came here to speak of peace," Queen Annis finally speaks up. "Yet you have not spoken a word."
Merlin looked up from his food. "I came here to eat also…. It is not often I get to done in such company."
"So you would rather eat, than talk about a peace treaty, which of huge importance to you and your people?" Queen Annis asks, looking at Merlin.
"I would rather stave, if I thought it would better my people," Merlin answers. "I would give up everything I have, even my life, if I thought it would better my people. You ask me to dine with you, so that is what I am doing. I thought it would be polite to let us eat before I started to talk."
A servant serving them dropped the wine pincher they were holding and queen Annis stared at Merlin for a moment, she did not know many who would so openly speak to her. A former serving boy at that. Then she laughed and smiled, she had not smiled in a long time. Merlin looked at her for a moment before glancing at the servant and then back at the queen.
"It is not often people have the nerve to speak so openly to me," Queen Annis finally speaks, her voice full of mirth. "Not even Uthur spoke to me or my husband in such a way. You were once a servant to the Pendragon's and yet you would speak so openly to me, as if I were nothing more than an equal."
Merlin looks at queen Annis. "But you are an equal. Just as I treat every person as my equal. I may have powerful magic, a fancy title and wear a crown on my head. But that makes me no more of a man than any other man. We are all human, some are just born with riches, while others are not."
"Wise words," Queen Annis answers. "I can see why the druids respect you the way they do. But what makes you think, I will just make peace with you and your people?"
"Nothing," Merlin answers, sipping his wine. "You hardly know me or my people. Our kingdom was forged from the waste lands of the fisher kings realm only days ago. But if it were not for the fact my people are in danger I would not be here. A peace treaty between the kingdoms could have been created long after my kingdom and people have found their feet, in their new home.
"I am here because soon we will be going to war, a war only those with magic can win. We cannot afford to fight a battle on two fronts. My people and I will not have the strength to do so. I am here to ask you, that you will help my people and I survive."
Queen Annis looks at Merlin. " You speak of a war, but with whom? No other kingdom has declared war on you."
"A great evil has been awoken in the far mountains," Merlin answers. "Mordred the dark will rise once more. Only those with magic can fight and hope to win…. No kingdom with a brain would declare war on us. We may be new but the people are the army. And every one of them can fight, regardless of whether they have magic. I alone can bring a kingdom to its knees, if I wished it, think of what a kingdom of people like me could do?
"But king Sarrum is blinded by hate and greed, he will declare war on us. Even if my people didn't have magic he would still declare war, because I have magic. It is my duty to my people to keep them safe, to protect them the best I can. I would beg you if I had to, because my people will always come before my honour and my dignity.
"Without my people I would be nothing, I would have no hope. Even before I knew I was king of the druid, they forced me to keep faith. When all was lost and the light had been hidden they gave me hope…. And in turn I gave other people hope and strength to keep fighting. They would help me, even when I did not ask for it. They made me feel less alone in the darkest of hours. I owe them a great deal, a great deal more than I could ever hope repay, so I would beg you, if I knew it was the only way."
Queen Annis stared at Merlin, at a loss for words. He spoke his mind as well as his heart. She had no doubt that Merlin would beg if he had no other choice. He words were the most truthful thing she had ever heard spoken. Even when Arthur spoke with her on the eve of battle, his words were no were near as heart felt as this. Merlin truly cared for his people deeply, as if they were kin.
"You are king of the people, not a king of the people," Queen Annis finally answers. "You would treat them as if they were no different to yourself. I respect that, there are not many people who would put their people first, in times of war. Many kings hide themselves away in their castles and care only for their safety not their peoples."
Merlin smiled. "The people are who make the kingdom, without the people there would be nothing. To rule with fear, is not to rule at all. I would never demand respect, I would earn it. The same as I only show respect to those who have proven themselves worthy of it. Such as you have, when you and Arthur nearly went to war."
Queen Annis smiles. "Then you can tell your people you and they have a new ally."
Merlin looked sharply at queen Annis. "You'll sign the peace treaty?"
"Of course, you have proven to be a wise and just leader. You put your people first and respect them. I have no doubt that you would truly beg, if you though it best for your people. I respect that, it shows you have honour far greater than most, honour to your people. I will sign the peace treaty and may the peace between our kingdoms last a long time to come."
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Hey just so I know and have this correct:
King Arthur and Queen Guinevere rules Camelot (part of the five kingdoms).
King Sarrum rules Amata.
King Odin rules Bernicia.
King Rodor rules Nemeth and his daughter is princess Mithian (part of the five kingdoms).
Queen Annis rules Caerleon, her husband was killed by Arthur.
Queen Mab rules the impenetrable forest.
King Alined Rheged (part of the five kingdoms).
King Olaf, his daughter is lady Viviane, rules Powys (part of the five kingdoms).
King Godwin, his daughter is princess Elena rule Gawant (part of the five kingdoms).
King Lot, the king who took over from Cenred after he was killed by Morgause, rules Essetir.
King Bayard, rules Mercia.
And last but not least the fisher king, does anyone know the name of his kingdom? Well I'm going to call it... Peryglus (it's perilous in welsh, I believe :))
I know they always say the five kingdoms, I'm lead to believe that the five kingdoms were the kingdoms Uthur formed an alliance with so are allies of Camelot. But the other kingdoms there were other kingdoms that were not part of that treaty signing. With alliances being formed later with people such as Annis e.c.t.
Any way hoped you liked that. Don't worry people who wanted to see Merlin speak with Gwaine's mother, that will be coming soon. And hopefully a third dragon =D leave a review and let me know what you think or if you have any questions on the story. Until next time,
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.