Hi!
Here is a new chapter :)
Sparky199 : Don't worry, I hadn't even thought about giving Arthur magic :P Thanks for the sweet review!
Daughter of Death and Magic: Well, this new chapter is (slightly) longer than the last one...Ahah, that's exactly what I thought when I wrote "Important, important...", I am glad you liked that part :D I hope you like this chapter!
Superwholockingers: Another cliffhanger is waiting for you at the end of this chapter. I just couldn't resist..woops :P Thanks!
Guest: Yay, "warrior" mode xD Huge thanks for reviewing!
CSIRide-Kirk: I am sorry not to have updated sooner (I have had a very busy beginning of the year, with tons of exams and homework...ughhh). But I will soon reunite the three brothers (perhaps...xD).
ThreeGoodReasons: Thanks for reviewing :D Hope you like this one too!
Have a nice time reading this, and don't forget to...review! :D
Moriarty woke up growling, his face consorted in a mask of fury. How dare his little cousin rob his prisoners? More importantly, how did he manage to overpower Morgana?
He finally opened his eyes. Red tapestries were hung on the walls. The witch had transported him to Camelot, then. He pushed himself up and strode towards the throne room.
Morgana was already there, sitting on the royal seat. She threw him a glare.
"You knew! You knew Sherlock had this power! He was unaffected by my magic and even threw it back!"
Uh oh. Even Moriarty knew better than to enrage a mad witch.
"I assure you, I was unaware of this. It came as a surprise for me as well."
The witch stood up, her eyes flashing dark gold.
"Liar! You will pay for this-"
The big wooden door behind Moriarty banged open. A Camelot knight entered the room, his glazed-over brown eyes showing no reaction at the witch's shrieks. He walked past Moriarty, ignoring him completely, and bowed to the witch.
"Your Highness, you have one new message."
The witch glared one last time at Moriarty, her cold green eyes shooting daggers at him, before stiffly nodding to the knight, whispering: 'this vocal messaging stuff is really getting to my nerves…'
The knight opened his mouth and let out an eerie sound.
"Message one: the army of Semloh has been sighted. King Mycroft is leading his men to Essetir. He will get there tomorrow morning. End of new messages"
Morgana jumped from her throne.
"What!? How dare he attack us?! How was he even informed of his brothers' demise?"
Moriarty shrugged, but Morgana did not even look at him, lost in thoughts.
After a few seconds, the witch walked towards him and grabbed his arm. She shouted and her eyes turned gold.
The world became a blur.
Moriarty roughly landed on his backside in Essetia's own throne room. Morgana was standing at his side, already chanting another spell. Moriarty recognized it as the same she had used to take over Camelot.
So the witch was possessing Essetir's inhabitants to gather up a determined and obedient army, one that would fight to death. He inwardly smirked. Mycroft will have a nasty surprise when he gets here…
Iseldir and Gaius were sitting around the main campfire of the druid settlement, worry painted on both their faces. The rescue party had only been gone for a day, but it seemed they had been waiting for ages for their return. They hoped the travel to Essetia was undisturbed and that the party would reach the capital before nightfall and be back in two days. But the odds seemed so thin, Gaius reflected as the sun slowly set over the forest.
He sighed and stood up, startling the silent druid by his side. He bent to brush the dirt and leaves off his red physician's robes before walking back to his tent.
Just as he was reaching it, a loud whooshing sound came from behind him, and he turned around.
The rescue party had teleported back into the camp! But…
Were the druids attacked before they could reach Essetia?
Why didn't they rescue Merlin and Arthur?
…Were they even still alive?
Gaius ran towards them and sighed in relief as he spotted a mop of blond hair at the middle of the commotion. Arthur was there, so Merlin was bound to be close.
He made his way towards the boys to greet them, before freezing.
Arthur and Merlin looked dead.
Meanwhile, Iseldir had also pushed the druids aside to gauge the situation. The dark looks had already informed him of the graveness of the men's predicament, but he had not expected this. He shouted orders at the druids and hurriedly levitated the two unconscious men into the infirmary tent.
He ordered all the healers to try and save Emrys while he healed the Once and Future King. Every druid knew how to set back bones and mend broken skin, but filling magic into a warlock had never been done before. Iseldir prayed on every Old Religion deity that they had not been too late.
He was just finishing with Arthur's right wrist when the tent's lid was opened. Emrys' brother.
The Prince of Semloh quickly glanced at him before shifting his attention to his younger brother's still body. Every healer was frantically working at replenishing the warlock's magic, but they were still far from reaching a stable state. Sherlock sighed before pulling a wooden chair near his brother's bed, careful not to be in the druids' way. The Prince let himself fall on it. Iseldir let out a small smile as he watched the Prince fighting to keep his eyes open but failing and falling asleep.
Sherlock woke up to a hand touching his shoulder. He moaned, trying to push the annoying hand off, before remembering the recent events. He forced his eyes open.
John was standing above him, smiling at him for falling asleep on a chair.
"Told you you needed rest, but you wouldn't listen."
A small, but steady voice piped in before Sherlock could answer.
"He has always been like that. Stubborn, that is."
Sherlock looked up to see his younger brother smiling fondly at him.
"Careful what you say, little bird. I might decide to tickle you!"
"Hey, not fair! I can't even retaliate! You are not ticklish!"
"Not my fault!"
"Is!"
"Nope!"
Iseldir entered the tent before Sherlock could actually start to tickle Merlin.
"I see you are awake, Emrys. Welcome!"
The druid chieftain began to bow, causing the young warlock to turn red in embarrassment.
"Don't!"
Iseldir looked up, startled.
'I mean, don't bow. And thank you for saving both Arthur and my life."
Iseldir started to bow again before stopping himself and answering.
"And thank you for helping to bring back magic to these lands, Emrys."
Merlin reddened even more, and Iseldir let out a small laugh at the all-mighty warlock's behavior before turning to face Sherlock and John.
"I cannot thank you enough for rescuing the Once and Future King and Emrys. You most certainly saved the future of us all."
John nodded at him before resuming looking over Merlin for any sign of remaining injury.
Iseldir fully looked at Sherlock, boring his sharp eyes into the Prince's.
"I sense something about you, though I cannot say what…I just know it will help us greatly."
Sherlock inwardly wondered whether Iseldir could be trusted or not with his special ability, but before he could say anything the druid turned around and left the tent. John looked at Sherlock with a knowing smile before leaving to find some breakfast.
After a few silent seconds, Merlin stood up to walk to Arthur's side. The King was fully healed and would be waking up soon.
As if on cue, the blond haired man woke up, his eyes blinking open before squeezing closed again at the harsh brightness of the day. Merlin laughed at him before handing him a glass of water.
"Wake up, lazy daisy! You've had enough beauty sleep!"
The King of Camelot jumped at the merry voice, his eyes finally opening.
"Merlin! Are you alright?"
Merlin gave him the biggest grin before answering.
"Never better. And you?"
Arthur's shoulders sagged with relief. Sherlock inwardly smiled. His little brother had found a great friend in Arthur.
"Actually, I feel good too."
He sat up and looked around, his eyebrows arching upwards more and more as he saw the druidic symbols on the tent.
"Where are we? How did we escape?"
"In a druid camp." Merlin pointedly smiled at Sherlock before continuing. "We are in Essetir, near the Northern border. But I can't be more precise as I have not left this tent yet."
Arthur stared at him.
"And how exactly would you know where we are, Merlin, if you have not been outside?"
Sherlock jumped on the occasion of making a deduction contest.
"The type of leaves on the ground, obviously. Though the oaks they are from can also be found in Mercia."
Merlin smiled good-naturedly at him, amusement dancing in his eyes.
"That's why I eliminated that possibility when I saw what clothing the druid was wearing. This linen is typical from Essetir' Northern regions, and way too hot for Mercia."
That is when Arthur chose to tap Merlin on the shoulder and whisper to him:
"Who exactly is this man? He is the one that rescued us, isn't he?"
His friend's smile got even brighter as he answered.
"This is my brother."
Sherlock stood up, walking to the King's side as he silently drew out conclusions about the mysterious brother's identity. Sherlock grinned at Merlin for letting Arthur guess who he was before outstretching his forearm.
"Nice to meet you, Arthur Pendragon."
Arthur pushed himself up and squeezed Merlin's brother's forearm in a knightly way, glancing at Merlin with a knowing look.
"Thank you for saving us, Prince Sherlock of Semloh."
Before Arthur could ask the Prince how exactly he had managed to rescue them from the witch and Moriarty, a young druid ran into the tent. Sherlock recognized him as Alaric, the one who had first tended to Merlin, back in the forest. The boy stopped in his tracks, looking at the prophesized men in front of him in awe – making Merlin redden even more - before remembering his message.
"Morgana just laid a spell over Essetir like the one in Camelot! Our camp was protected from the first blast of the possession spell by the wards, but they are quickly breaking down. If the magic enters the camp, we will all fall to the witch's control!"
He looked around to see Merlin running out of the tent.
...What is going to happen? mwahahahah :D
About Arthur finding out who is Sherlock by himself : a) remember that Arthur heard Moriarty when he had recognized Merlin after he had been knocked out by Morgana in chapter 4 ("but this is the Prince"), b) Arthur isn't as dumb as we might believe (yes, well, sometimes xD) so drawing conclusions wasn't too hard (and c) Arthur could have also recognized Sherlock from descriptions ; it is likely that he roughly knows how every royal of Albion looks like so that he can easily identify them...).
I hope you enjoyed this new chapter, and don't forget to tell me about it by leaving a review (see that cute button lacking attention down there, yes, I do mean the little button you are thinking about) xD
Bye!