Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin (I wish I would!)
A/N: I did my best to avoid language mistakes but as my native tongue is German there may still be many to be found. Please accept my most humble apology in advance!
As to the plot of this story: After I wrote 'Abandoned' – my first fanfiction ever – as a mostly "Arthur-centred" piece, I wanted to write a story that focuses more on Merlin and on magic. The result is, as I fear, less tragic and dramatic than "Abandoned", but then it is also more "canon" than my first story. The story is therefore rated "K", although I want to have some real combat action in the second half. I hope you'll enjoy it. Please review!
The legacy of Cornelius Sigan
2. Disastrous rescues
All of a sudden the memories virtually flooded Merlin's mind, much too fast and overwhelming. The night Merlin had rescued his royal friend from being abducted by a cheap band of bandits on a Mercian payroll. The warlock had thrown all three attackers to the ground and crushed their necks with ferocious power, but not before one of them had been able to stab him in the back. Arthur, albeit shaken by the sight of his official manservant and unofficial best friend using magic, had recovered surprisingly fast. While Merlin had been helpless in the grip of a healing spell, the Prince had stayed with him, kept him warm and out of harm's way. Then there had been the unfortunate slip of the tongue which had set Uther on the track of what had really happened that night. Merlin had been arrested to be executed for the use of magic, even if it had saved Uther's only son and heir from heaven knows what fate at the hands of his Mercian enemies.
More images raced through Merlin's aching brain. Arthur freeing him from the dungeon. Their escape to Alartrava harbour where they had been recaptured by a detail of Camelot soldiers under the command of Sir Leon of Ravenwood, Camelot's head knight. The Druid magicians freeing them and transporting them to their secret retreat Vayatanu, high up in the far away mountains of Deshlawair.
Arthur's foster sister Morgana and the Master Sorcerer Moredan informing them about the Dark Powers the Mercians had awakened in a moment of utter lunacy and which now where on the march to destroy everything and everyone. The visions of Camelot and everyone in it being destroyed with Uther dying in his son's arms, terribly wounded and in agony.
Arthur's determination to leave Vayatanu to protect his home, his friends and his father in spite of Uther's scorching wrath. The King would inevitably regard the freeing of Merlin as an act of treason, committed by his own son!
Morgana's and the Druids' decision to keep Arthur save in Vayatanu against his will, for the sake of an ancient prophecy. That, many years after the Dark Forces, having fulfilled the vicious circle of murder and destruction, would once again have retreated to their magical sanctuary for millennia to come, only the last of the Pendragons and his sorcerer friend would be able to rebuild Camelot and the human world from the ashes.
And than the final set of images. Merlin breaking the magical seal around Arthur's cell. Their escape. Arthur being caught in the magical barrier that sealed off Vayatanu. The struggling Prince being dragged back into the village, shouting at Merlin to go back to Camelot alone. To protect the Castle and its inhabitants at all costs. With all his power the young magician had reached out for his friend when he initiated the transport spell that was meant to bring them both back home. For the briefest of moments Merlin had felt him in his embrace, warm, strong, safe.
But when he had re-materialized in Camelot and collapsed on the floor, his last clear thought had been that his arms were empty.