Gwaine kicked the dagger on his right foot into the air, and kicked it towards his opponent with his left. It sunk into the man's shoulder. He howled in pain but was still charging toward Gwaine. Shit. Gwaine rolled forward crashing straight into the man and knocking him off his feet. Feet which swiftly ended up kicking the knight in the jaw.
Gwaine sat up and focused again on freeing his hands. On nights where he was bound Morgana would announce the battle over if Gwaine managed to free the restraints. Graine was getting the sneaking suspicion she had reinforced them with magic. The dagger hadn't made a dent and they were as tight as ever. Yet with all the struggling his wrists didn't feel any worse for wear. No cuts or bruises from course rope rubbing against his skin.
As he pulled his body through his arms to position his hands in front he noticed his opponent was not stirring. He was laying face down on the ground, his chest slightly elevated... He hadn't removed the dagger. Gwaine chuckled to himself and looked Morgana right in the eyes. He motioned to her guy who was clearly not going to stand again.
With a wave of her hand two men dragged him out the back door. She stood and walked towards Gwaine. There was a manic glint in her eye as she looked him over.
"Well done Sir knight." She said, her face mere centimetres away from his. "Dinner will be brought to your friends. As for you."
She backed away slowly and signaled something to Helios. Gwaine prepared himself to fight again. Whether it be for more supper or for his life should Morgana have gotten bored of him.
Crash! right outside the throne room there was a cacophony of noise. With a shout here and a clang there, the doors were thrown open to reveal a tall slender man in southron garb. The hood obscured his face from view in the dim lighting. Gwaine couldn't be sure if he was friend or foe. The six men who had been stationed at the door certainly were not his comrades.
"You have hell to pay, Morgana Pendragon!" he bellowed.
Anyone who hadn't drawn their weapon by then did so. Those who didn't have a weapon raised their fists behind their friends who did. Gwaine moved out of the way of the mysterious stranger and his clear target. Morgana cackled. Whoever this man was must think her weak. So what if he could get past a few guards.
The man removed his hood so that Morgana could see him clearly. He wanted her to know who she was up against. He didn't care anymore for alias's or disguises. This would be between him and her.
Gwaine had never seen Merlin so furious. No argument between him and Arthur had come close. Even when Gaius had been kidnapped his fury didn't compare.
"Merlin." Morgana had not lost the laugh in her voice.
While Gwaine was thoroughly terrified of what his friend might do, Morgana had not been affected. She sat down on her throne with the same careless posture she'd had every night. You could hardly say she was looking at Merlin as she toyed with a golden bejeweled dagger.
"It must be my lucky day. Killing you will be a treat."
"You've gone too far, Morgana." His voice was so unlike his own. "I will not spare you this time."
Morgana scoffed. The last few times they had met it had been she who had the upper hand. She could have ended him any moment but did not. Surely Merlin knew that to grant mercy you have to be in a position to do so.
"If you're so eager to die, be my guest." She said as she straightened in her chair and raised her hand to hold off her men. "So, how did I finally break you?"
"Gaius is dead."
Gwaine continued to back up. They hadn't faced worse odds than confronting the witch head on, but Usually Merlin didn't go looking for a fight either. Gwaine couldn't be sure if his confidence was earned. So he would let the distraction give him better position to aid his friend.
"Ah, so I'll be celebrating two deaths today."
The torches flared in their sconces, the flames reaching unnatural heights. Merlin's eyes were emblazoned not with firelight, but with magic. A few of the men rushed at him from both sides, weapons raised. They did not reach him. The lucky ones were thrown back into their fellow men. The unlucky ones went flying into the wall, heads cracking on the stone or shattering the glass of small framed windows.
Gwaine Reckoned at least two of the five men were dead. None of the loud sounds they had heard before Merlin entered the room were result of him being hit. The guard's unconscious bodies should have served as warning. Or maybe they too were dead.
"If you value your lives you'll leave." Merlin said addressing the crowd of thugs around him.
Another one of the men took a single step towards Merlin with sword in hand. The warlock didn't hesitate to magically snap his neck. He didn't say a word, didn't make a move, he wasn't even looking at the guy. No, he hadn't taken his eyes off Morgana, who was standing now, and yet he had killed several men.
Since when did Merlin have such powerful magic? He and Arthur had been caught a multitude of times without Merlin using even a drop to rescue them. Forget protecting one or two people, with these abilities he could have ended the whole siege before it even began. Suddenly the abrupt disintigration of Cenred's immortal army made a lot more sense to Gwaine. It was not some flaw in Morgause's spell as Arthur had surmised. It was not Morgana's rage fueled magical outburst. It was Arthur's dopey, carefree, clumsy manservant.
"I don't understand." Morgana said backing up, fear finally showing on her face. "How did you... how..."
"You once told me Morgana that if I were to kill you the least I could do was tell you who I am." Merlin's face bore a twisted smile.
Gwaine realized there was no need for confrontation at all, Merlin wanted this. He could have ended her already, but that would be unsatisfying. He wanted to toy with her first.
"Very well. I am son of Balinor, the last dragonlord, slayer of Nimeuh and Sigan, the incarnation of magic itself. I'm immortal. I am Emrys." He paused. "And now Morgana, I will happily be your doom."
Gwaine only knew what a fraction of that meant, Morgana understood it all. For once, she didn't doubt his assertion. She didn't tell him that was preposterous. And she didn't hold back.
As southrons fled the room to escape the bloodthirsty warlock it morphed into a battle ground. Morgana sent a wall of fire towards Merlin that burned the bodies laying on the floor and a few of the men still around. While Gwaine had to push himself right up against the wall to avoid it lighting him ablaze, Merlin merely walked through the fire as if it were the trickle of a waterfall. He patted the flames of his clothes with his bare hands.
"I did say dragonlord, right?" Merlin asked with his casual grin on his face. "You listen just about as well as Arthur."
Gwaine had to stifle a chuckle so that he would remain unnoticed by the two very powerful sorcerers. No other living being was in the room. Even Helios had abandoned Morgana seeing the futility of facing Merlin.
"You let me believe I was alone!" Morgana shouted sending a wave of lightning from her hands. "You could have told me, we could have been friends."
The lightning passed straight through Merlin as if he wasn't there. His boots echoed on the floor as he slowly walked toward her, proving that he was not just an apparition. Gwaine was mentally noting everything for when Camelot returned to normal. This situation may be serious, but Gwaine knew a thousand ways to cause hilarious chaos and with Merlins new found magical abilities the possibilities were endless.
"We were friends, Morgana." Merlin was no less than two metres from her, standing next to the throne. She had nowhere left to go as the doors had been magically shut in the bedlam. "Then you turned to Morgause, nearly getting us all killed. In my naivety I spared you... but no more."
The witch's last attempts to stave Merlin off were pitiful in comparison. She had used all her energy. After she witnessed him pull a sword out of his chest without so much as flinching she made a beeline for the door. Knowing it was locked she threw whatever magic she could at it. All in vain. The door didn't budge as Merlin approached her. She sent a chunk of the castle wall at Merlin. While it did nothing to him it did create an opening for her to jump through. She started to climb up onto the broken edge, bracing herself for the jump to the courtyard below.
Even as Gwaine got closer he could not see what was stopping her. Neither could she. The barrier between her and freedom was completely invisible.
Morgana turned back toward Merlin, tears in her eyes. There was no escaping this. She fell to her knees and begged. She begged to Merlin, to Arthur, to anyone who could hear her pitiful sobs. Gwaine heard mention of the white goddess even. Though the only god listening was the one that wanted her dead.
"It looks like I'll be the only one celebrating a death."
Her soul had probably reached Avalon by the time Gwaine was beside Merlin. He had tiptoed the entire way, not wanting to break his friend out of whatever crazed trance he was in. Upon a single glance at the boy's face Gwaine realized the anger fueling him was gone, replaced with the sorrow for his mentor and his old friend. His tears were illuminated by a beautiful mix of the torches and the first peek of sunlight. Gwaine did the only thing he could do in that moment.
Merlin didn't know how long he stood over Morgana's body. He didn't quite remember the moment he killed her. And he sure didn't remember when he fell unconscious. When had his hands been bound? He saw Gwaine tied up across from him, trying to cut his binds with a dagger. It didn't take the seemingly endless flow of magic within him to know that the ropes around Gwaine's wrists were enchanted. Should he tell the knight that won't work?
Merlin sat up abruptly. He didn't know if Gwaine had been there the whole time. If Gwaine had seen him. Did Helios and his men sneak up on him? Gwaine was his incentive to behave?
No matter, Merlin was on high alert. He could hear faint speaking from outside the door. Whoever it was, be it warlord or sorcerer, he would do anything to protect Gwaine. Secret be damned. He had just killed the most powerful sorceress in Albion, no one could compare.
Gwaine, having the hearing of a normal human being, not of one with elephant ears, was undisturbed by the people outside. He smiled at Merlin and mentioned the ropes weren't any different than when he started, but he'll keep trying cause Merlin is worth it.
So he hadn't seen.
There was a moment of silence before the doors swung open to reveal the rightful king with a company of knights behind him. There were bags under his eyes which struck Merlin as odd. Arthur should have had near a full nights sleep. When those eyes locked onto Merlin's Arthur smiled and laughed.
"MERLIN!" He shouted, not caring about the ruckus.
Merlin smiled as well. Arthur was safe. Gwaine was safe. Even Elyan was standing behind him, no longer in the dungeon where Merlin had left him with Gaius's body. Gaius.
A fresh wave of despair hit Merlin as he remembered finding his uncle's body, cold and still in the dungeons. Elyan had stood between him and Gaius as Merlin looked like a wanted sorcerer. On a normal day Merlin could get past Elyan without magic, the bite of the nathair and near a week of starvation and made it all the more undemanding of a task.
Tears started to fall down Merlin's face again as Arthur approached him completely exposed and uncaring. Whatever cause the carnage around him could still be around, that was all the more reason to free Merlin from his restraints. Trap or not, Arthur had to save Merlin.
Arthur stopped in his tracks as he got full view of his servant. Right where Merlin's heart would be there was dried blood and a tear in his stolen clothes.
"Did someone stab you?" Arthur asked, now at Merlin's side looking for the wound.
"I-"
"Yeah, they did." Gwaine interrupted. When Arthur turned to look at the before forgotten knight, said knight continued. "You should have seen Merlin charge in, hoping the fancy clothes would protect his identity from Morgana."
Gwaine was chuckling now, much to Arthur's annoyance.
"Morgana saw right through it and stabbed him with that pretty dagger over there." Gwaine looked at the golden dagger that lay on the ground unassuming. Gwaine did not know the significance of it, only that it was Morgana's weapon of choice and explaining she'd used a random sword was not an option. "While she was distracted that batty old sorcerer waltzed in pissed off his ass…" Gwaine finished the rest somberly. "Apparently he and Gaius were old friends."
Arthur was still trying to process Gwaine's story when Elyan broke his multiple trains of thought.
"He was distraught when he found Gaius." Elyan added. "Pushed me out of the way like I was nothing… His screams were murderous."
It was a fair description of his outburst, but it still hurt to be painted in a horrible light. The sorcerer side of him, the side that was his true self aching to get out, was wanted for the murder of his best friend's father, and now probably his sister as well. He wanted nothing more than to refute their stories. But Arthur clearly hadn't slept and he himself was not thinking clearly in his grief.
"What about Merlin?" Arthur asked, still examining every bit of Merlin to make sure he was uninjured.
"After killing Morgana, the sorcerer healed him. Probably couldn't bare the thought of Gaius's ward dying on the same day as Gaius. Then he gave us these so we wouldn't follow." Gwaine held up his roped hands.
For a moment Merlin completely forgot that this version of events was made up. Gwaine's story wasn't foolproof, but his delivery was flawless. Right! Gwaine had knocked him out. And managed to tied him up while in still binds himself.
Arthur walked over to Morgana's corpse, grabbing the dagger he gave her on the way. He knelt down and said his peace. Wishing her a safe journey to the afterlife, begging her forgiveness for his blindness. The knights worked on freeing their friends while Arthur said his goodbyes, not wanting to disturb such a sentimental moment.
"I want her body prepared for a king's funeral." Arthur said to Leon. "She will be burned in the square, not as a witch, but as a casualty of war."
However much Leon wanted to protest, having been under her rule almost twice, he respected Arthur's decision and nodded in silent agreement. In many ways he understood the young king. He too had grown up with Morgana. The girl who could beat any of the knights in a duel. Who claimed she would always champion the weak and needy. He remembered the kind soul she was before she practised magic. That girl had never received a proper burial.
"Come on." Arthur lifted a now untied Merlin to his feet.
"Where are we going?"
"To see Gaius."
"Arthur, you need to secure the castle." Merlin protested.
He had been through enough at Arthur's side to know the usual protocol for these matters.
"I'm not letting you go alone." The was no room for demurral. "Merlin, when I woke up last night and you were gone… I… I almost came here alone to find you."
Arthur would have, had Percival not caught him. The larger man dragged him to Leon who reminded him deviance from the plan could unravel it entirely, endangering those still in Morgana's grasp.
"That would have been foolish." Merlin chortled.
"Very foolish indeed." Arthur ruffled his hair. "Either way, I'm not letting you out of my sight again."
AN: I don't know why Merlin brings out the sadist in me, but I'm glad this one is finally out there to do damage.
I wish I could say this is the last distraction from my regulars... but I have another one shot and now I have an idea for a longer fic that I plan to work on in between HPaHPDL chapters. "Simple Realization" is still undergoing many rewrites and the tragic Mordred ficlet I'm writing has not gotten any further. Saturday should see the release of the next "When Insanity Knocks" episode. ~Myrien