Chapter 4

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-Previously-

'Who do you want?'

'Emrys.'

Arthur coughed more blood and began convulsing. Despite all the warlock's effort to soothe the King with some discreet healing magic, there was no improvement.

'Tick Tock, goes the clock, you have two minutes left...'

Moriarty seemed to be enjoying this. His eyes shone with pure madness as he sing-sang his little annoying tune. He bit in his meat with a horrible flesh-tearing noise.

The manservant was sweating, trying to hold back his powers from lashing on Moriarty. Even If his chances to get out of this without revealing his magic were drastically low, his instincts were still reining his powers in.

'I am Emrys!'

Gwaine took a step forward with a resolute look on his face. He did not look back as the other knights gaped at him. The secret warlock knew what he had to do.

'I surrender. I will do anything you want. Just give Arthur the antidote.'

Moriarty looked at his ambassador – the hidden sorcerer – and nodded.

'Acwele!'

The sorcerer sent a blast of dark magic towards Gwaine. A deadly one. Gwaine knew it; he had traveled in countries where magic was allowed, and this was a curse no one, even with magic, could avoid or stop. The knight boldly watched his death coming towards him, closing his eyes and putting his mouth in a firm line.

The blast was stopped a few inches before Gwaine by a thin blue force field. The knight hesitantly opened his eyes, wondering why he was not dead already and gasped.

The manservant's eyes were still shining gold, his hand outstretched towards him. His face was an interesting mix of panic, worry, resignation and fury.

Moriarty smirked and took a sip of wine.

'So you are Emrys? I was expecting better than a manservant, to be honest. Nevertheless, who would have expected the most powerful warlock of the world to be such an idiotic boy? Really clever cover indeed.'

The warlock was having none of the twisted compliments. He wished he could have roasted the man on the spot, as much as that would usually horrify him. But Arthur was dying, and only Moriarty had the antidote – he'll wait a bit more before making a barbecue.

'I surrender. Now give Arthur the antidote.'

The King of Essetir laughed.

'I have no antidote. There is none. I have to admit it is a pity to sacrifice Arthur to find you; I had other plans for him. But life is life. And now I've got you. I can put kingdom to their knees with your magic.'

'There must be something to cure him. You're lying!'

'I am not.' He smirked. 'Tick tock, goes the clock, the King is passing away. Tick tock, goes the clock, and now we say good bye.'

The warlock tried to ignore the mad man's song. He took a long breath and put both his hands on Arthur's weak and bloody chest. Moriarty was right; Arthur only had moments.

The manservant closed his cerulean eyes and thought of all the healing spells he knew. He invoked them all at the same time, reciting them in his head. His hands shone gold on his friend's chest.

The warlock could feel his King regaining some strength; but the poison, enhanced by the darkest of magics, was fighting back. The two forces banged, poison against pure magic, and the shock radiated around Merlin. A blinding light invaded the room.

It was a fight for the Once and Future King's life.

His healing magic was not enough. He could feel the poison adapt and win. With a shout, he tried to heal Arthur again, but it was useless. The King died; but the warlock would not let go that easily. He recalled all the good times he had spent in Camelot, the meaning of his powers and destiny, his friendship with the dead man in front of him. The boy let out a single tear.

The poison, at the contact of the pure sorrow, recoiled. The warlock yelled and pushed his swirling emotions – dread, affection, hope- towards his friend. All traces of the dark magic vanished against his raw will. Arthur breathed in.

The blinding light that had invaded the banquet hall disappeared, letting everyone acknowledge the enormous power the manservant had just wielded. The warlock was still kneeling by the King's side, checking a stirring Arthur all over.

The knights and Gwen were flabbergasted, eyes wide and awed – finding out Merlin had magic was surprising, but this? It was utterly unbelievable.

Moriarty's sorcerer, though, was not surprised in the slightest. He sneaked behind the gaping manservant, surprised at what he had just accomplished.

No one was quick enough to stop what ensued.

The antimagic shackles were clapped on the warlock's wrists with a dreadful metallic noise.

The warlock let out a single unearthly scream. Raw power erupted from him, but was contained by the bounds. His magic bounced against them, and hit him full square. He collapsed at Arthur's side, and passed out; his body twitched uncontrollably, trying to assimilate back the enormous power he had unleashed without control. After an awful long time, the unconscious boy finally stilled.

Arthur opened his eyes at the commotion, and saw his friend unconscious by his side. He shouted.

'Merlin! What have you done to him?'

Moriarty, who had been enjoying his victory from his seat while eating a chicken wing, let the wine glass he was holding in his left hand fall with a loud thump.

'Merlin?'

He stood up and was by the fallen warlock in the blink of an eye, looking down at the boy's body. He was lying on his belly, face flat against the cold stones.

Moriarty lifted his leg and turned the boy over with his right foot, letting his face be clear to all. Arthur choked back a protesting yell.

The otherwise confident villain looked taken aback. He whispered, eyes wide.

'But…this is him. I thought I had killed the Prince. This is Merlin!' He let out a sickly excited giggle. 'But that means…'

He smirked and straightened up.

'This is going to be so much more interesting that I thought!'

Arthur did not understand the scene in front of him. He had been poisoned – that much he had understood- and now that he woke up his manservant -seemingly a Prince?- was unconscious by his side. And Moriarty had even talked about taking over the world with Merlin. Uh-uh.

Moriarty's sorcerer was jubilating while he crept behind Arthur, who was pinching his arm to check if he was really awake.

The king's world went black as he received a well-adjusted kick in the head.

Mwahaha!

Poor Arthur and Merlin! What will happen to them? dun dun DUUUUUUUN x)

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