Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.
Chapter fifty: What are friends for? Part one.
Dawn light slipped through the open window and Freya watched the partials of dust dance in its light. Beside her, Merlin was still asleep and Freya smiled, she still believed any moment she would wake up and find this was all a dream. That she would still be in Avalon, watching the mortal world from her scrying bowl and hoping she'd be able to see Merlin one more time. Beside her Merlin shifts.
"Morning, beautiful." Merlin greets her, voice still heavy with sleep.
Freya blushes. "Morning, my love."
Merlin smiles as he forces himself to sit up. "It's lovely and quiet this morning... It times like this I don't miss working as Arthur's servant."
"I'm sure you got days off." Freya smiles.
"A day off?" Merlin snorts. "What's a day off?"
"Arthur must have given you a day of at some point!" Freya exclaimed.
Merlin snorts. "I don't remember being given a day of unless I was ill or injured."
"What he never gave a you a holiday or time off to visit your mother?"
"Holiday! Arthur doesn't know the meaning of the world... As for visiting my mother, I would leave before dawn and leave a note telling Gaius where I had gone."
Freya shakes her head. "I bet Arthur hated that."
"He did, the moment I got back he'd make me muck out the stables!" Merlin grins. "But I was never gone more than a week."
Freya shakes her head. "I'm sure he was worried about you."
Merlin rolled his eyes slightly. "He asked Gaius, he knew where I was."
"Just because someone knows where you are, doesn't mean it stops them worrying." Freya answers.
Merlin glanced at her. "Arthur wasn't worried, he was just annoyed he had to put up with a bootlicker for a week."
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Hunith smiled, as she saw Merlin and Freya walk through the door to the physicians chamber. Alice had already gone out, to make her rounds of the town and to collect something from the druids.
"Morning mother," Merlin smiles. "You don't mind if we join you for breakfast?"
"My boy," Hunith smiled. "You never have to asks, you'll always be welcome."
Merlin and Freya quickly sat down at the table, as Hunith dishes up the porridge she just made. As she sat down she glanced at hed son and Freya, they didn't seem the slightest bit nervous.
"Are you not nervous?" Hunith finally asks. "Your druid wedding is tomorrow!"
Freya shakes her head. "I not nervous... Merlin and I are already married."
"I'm glad the druids decided to do a wedding," Merlin smiled. "When Freya and I married in Avalon, we had no family or friends there... It was..."
"Lonely." Freya mutters. "No wedding is complete with out a family celebration."
Hunith smiled. "Well then you have all the more to look forward to."
"I just wish Gaius would be able to attend, but he busy in Camelot no doubt." Merlin sighs.
"You could invite him," Hunith points out. "I'm sure he'd give up work for the day to attended."
Merlin thinks for moment. "He's in Camelot, mother, I don't think he'd be up to traveling with the aid of magic... It really does make your stomach turn, if your not used to it."
"But it wouldn't hurt to ask would it?" Freya asks, she knew how much Merlin cared about Gaius... He was the closest person to a father Merlin had, had most of his life.
"I guess not," Merlin replies. "I hope he'll be able to come."
"I'm sure he will, my boy." Hunith answers.
Freya thinks for a moment. "What about Arthur? Gwen? And the others? Are you going to invite them?"
Before Merlin had a chance to answer, the door to their room burst open.
"Merlin, sir," The young guard speaks. "You are needed in the council hall right away, sir."
"So much for a lovely and quite morning." Merlin mutters, darkly, finishing his porridge in a matter of seconds and heading out the door with a quick kiss from Freya and a motherly hug from his mother.
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The council hall was a mass of people, Merlin was sure this many people hadn't been present at the last council meeting. As he made his way through the mass of people, he noticed their were children present and glancing round he noticed most of the people weren't members of the council, but in fact people from the outlying villages. Suddenly Merlin was pulled to the left and found himself standing in front of the head councilman, who didn't look too happy.
"What's this about?" Merlin asks, as it became clear the head councilman wasn't going to speak anytime soon, he seemed to lost in his own thought.
"The outlying villages to the east have been attacked," The head councilman speaks. "It yet unclear who attacked them, but I fear it was King Sarrum men."
"King Sarrum?" Merlin asks, with a slight frown. "He hasn't signed the treaty with King Arthur yet."
The head councilman nodes. "You are correct, no treaty has been signed."
"So why do you fear its King Sarrum's men responsible for the attacks?" Merlin asks.
"Those who have survived, have stated those who attacked them were wearing the colours of Amata." The councilman answers. "But nobody saw any crests or marking of any kind, to indicate where they came from."
Merlin nodes. "It could be Mordred trying to trick us into fighting on two fronts."
"It is possible." The head councilman agrees.
"Well," Merlin mutters. "I take a patrol out and see what we can find."
The councilman shakes his head. "That wouldn't be wise, you are king of the druids you can not afford to be killed."
"As long as they don't have a hallows sword I should be fine." Merlin points out.
"Just because you are immortal, does not mean you can't be killed."
"What?"
"You are not the living dead," The head councilman explains. "You can be killed, you just don't stay dead... You can suffer injuries and you can still feel pain. Your immortality does not make you unkillable."
"So what your saying is," Merlin questions. "Is if I'm killed by a mortal weapon I will die?"
"Yes and no, you will enter a coma like state, heal and return to life, so to speak. You are different to any immortal you have ever faced before. You are not dead, but you are not alive, you are magic and magic can never be destroyed."
"Right," Merlin answers. "That made no sense. So basically is if I get wounded mortally, I will enter a coma like state until I've healed."
"Yes," The head councilman answers. "But you will have the appearance of being dead."
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Merlin adjusted the saddle on his horse, reading it for patrol. He was hoping to ride Zafira, but she was still tracking Jared and he didn't want to be in dark, regarding anything Jared may be planning. He was still trying to get his head around what the head councilman had fold him. He had known he was a creature of magic and a being of pure magic, but to find out he was neither alive or dead, was a bit of a shock. But it shouldn't have been a surprise really, magic is an energy; an energy that gives life to other things, but just wasn't alive itself.
"Morning Merlin." Gilli calls out. "Lovely morning for a patrol isn't it?"
Merlin rolls his eyes. "As long as it doesn't rain."
"And if it does rain, you can just use magic to stop it." Gilli grins.
"The land needs the rain to survive," Kara speaks up, joining them. "If you were to stop the rain, just because you didn't like it, it would do a lot of damage to plant life."
Gilli turns to face Kara. "I'm sure shopping the rain for one patrol wouldn't do that much damage."
"Wouldn't it?" Kara challenges.
"So where are we going?" Tyr speaks up, before Gilli and Kara can argue. "I was simply given a message sating I was needed for patrol."
"We are heading for the eastern borders, or so I was told." Bercilak answers, stopping next Gilli before Merlin had a chance to answer.
"The eastern borders?" Sefa asks, leading her horse towards the group. "I heard some outlying villages were attacked."
Eira appears beside Merlin. "The outlying villages along the eastern border were attacked, Sefa, I was helping with the survivors... They said those who attacked them wore Amata colours'."
"What! I got up at this ungodly hour, just to try and not get caught by King Sarrum's men!" Gilli complains.
"It's mid morning, Gilli," Merlin points out. "Plus you didn't have to come, I only asked for help, I didn't force you too."
"What are friends for?" Gilli answers. "Your my friend, you asked for help. What sort of friend would I be is I said no?"
"Sorry I'm late," Daegal runs towards them, leading his horse. "I had to hunt down a couple of medical supplies and I took longer than I expected."
Merlin grins. "Well lets go, the sooner this is sorted, the sooner we can bet back and rest."
"WAIT!" A voice yells.
Merlin turns to find Freya leading her horse towards them.
"Freya, I thought you were going to investigate the sickness." Merlin speaks.
"I am," Freya answers, giving Merlin a kiss on the check. "The villages are not far from were you are traveling to."
Merlin grins. "Well then, my lady, it would be an honour to have you travel with us."
"Thank you, my lord, the honour is mine." Freya laughs.
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"What do we do if it is King Sarrum's men?" Eira suddenly asks, as they travel through the forest.
Merlin shrugs. "We don't even know if it is King Sarrum's men, but if it's his men anything we do, will more than likely start a war."
"But we can't just let them attack our kingdom!" Gilli exclaimed. "What they are doing is an act of war!"
"I know," Merlin answers. "But we cannot afford to fight a war on two fronts, it will spread our army too thin... Anything we do here, if it is King Sarrum's men, will more than likely start a war, no matter how peacefully we deal with it."
"Talk about a win, win situation." Eira mutters sarcastically.
Bercilak chuckles slightly. "So there's no right way to deal with this?"
"There is always a right and wrong way of doing anything," Merlin answers. "But no matter what we do in the eyes of Sarrum, we'll always be doing wrong."
"King Sarrum's hatred of magic is strong, he'll never see the good magic can do." Freya agrees with Merlin.
"So what should we do?" Tyr asks.
Merlin thinks for a moment. "Killing them has to be the last resort..."
"Warning and letting them go would never work." Daegal adds.
"So what else can we go?" Kara asks.
"Send them back to Amata," Freya answers. "That way, they won't be able to attack us again and they'll still be alive."
"There could be up to a hundred of them," Bercilak points out. "Even if you and Merlin cast the spell together, there's a chance it won't work or could go wrong."
"Well that takes capturing them out of the picture, we'd never be able to catch a hundred people and hold them prisoner." Gilli mutters.
Merlin sighs. "We don't even know if it's King Sarrum's men for sure yet... This could just be a scheme drawn up by Mordred."
"Mordred doesn't have men working for him." Eira points out.
"No," Merlin agrees. "Which means, we might not be up against men... Many creatures in Mordred army can change what they look like and that would explain why nobody saw any crests or marking indicating their King Sarrum's men."
Gilli grins. "This day just gets better and better... That information has just made my day."
"It's by sole aim in life," Merlin snorts. "After all 'what are friends for'?"
Gilli glares at Merlin, before grinning once more. "Nothing can be harder to kill than change-wings."
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Hey hope you liked that chapter. Next up is Lancelot du Lac, herald of the new age and the hunters heart.
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.