Hello!
Please forgive me for not updating sooner. I wish to thank Nataly SkyPot, 33Vi, Jess K. Reagan, Umiko9692, TobiasBoon and all of you who favorited/follow this story :)
Merlin got up, his legs trembling. The world swayed and he faintly felt himself lean against the damp cell's wall, fighting a growing dizziness. He still felt hollow and empty, but his entire being had been warmed up by Kilgharrah's words. A dragonlord's bond to a dragon is stronger than a mere ritual. And so is your bond to magic. No spell could ever completely break it, young warlock. He let out a small relieved smile and looked up, fighting to focus his eyes on his older brother's face.
"Kilgharrah is coming."
His voice echoed on the cell's bare walls and assaulted his already aching head. He shaked again, and fought to keep standing. The world swam out of focus as his legs nearly gave out.
Arthur came to him and took his arm to help him stand. He frowned as he felt his friend's radiating fever.
"Merlin, you should lie down..."
"We don't have time. The Great Dragon will be here in a few minutes."
Iseldir nodded at Emrys' words before concentrating. The prophecised Knights of the Round Table had just been locked in a cell next to them. He closed his eyes and mentally reached out to the five men. The Knights nearly jumped as they heard the druid's voice in their heads.
"The Great Dragon is coming to break us out."
A few minutes later, the ground of the cell began to shake. The city's walls swayed as the Great Dragon's flapping wings created dust storms in the castle's courtyard.
Merlin, who had sat down again after a violent wave of dizziness and was on the brink of passing out, was startled awake by a voice in his head.
"Merlin, I am in the courtyard. We do not have much time, young warlock. Tell everyone to stand clear of the outside walls."
Before cutting their mental communication, Kilgharrah sent a reinvigorating spell to Merlin. The young Prince retrieved some colour and breathed in. He nodded mentally, stood up, and shouted.
"Keep away from the outside wall!"
The thick stone wall was blasted out of existence by Kilgharrah's great claws. After a small instant of awestruck silence, the Knights in the nearby cell cheered.
Iseldir was walking out of the cell, shielding his eyes against the bright midday light, when he made a sign for all to stop.
"I am being mentally contacted by the other druids."
He closed his eyes and opened his mind to the druid trying to make a mental link with him.
"Iseldir, it is Blowan."
The druid chieftain frowned. Blowan was barely of age, and he did not want her to be hurt.
"Blowan! Where are you?"
"I am in Camelot, I came with the other druids. We followed the Essetian troops who were leaving the plains of Niht through Morgana's portal. Most of the Camelotians have been restrained by the possessed army and are locked in the houses of the lower town. We have managed to gather some knights. We just saw the Great Dragon flying over the city. What must we do?"
Iseldir looked over the destroyed city and replied.
We are going to free the Camelotians and end this.
Blowan and her older brother Ailnor were running through the small alleys of Camelot's lower town. Along with the other druids and knights, they had already freed a good part of the inhabitants.
The Camelotians were confused by the last days, but the druids did not have time to explain to them that they had been broken out of a controlling spell and then were attacked by a possessed army from Essetir.
The Camelotians had been hesitant to trust the druids at first. After all, the ban on magic was still in place and the younger people had been raised to fear magic. But a dark-skinned woman had stepped up and reminded the people that the druids were peaceful and only wanted to help, and that Morgana was still controlling the city.
Blowan would never have believed to live to see a day during which druids and Camelotians fought together. She looked up at the white towers of the citadel, smiled with the hope of a better future, and kept running.
Morgana saw the Great Dragon destroying Camelot's dungeons from the windows of her old bedroom, and seethed. Moriarty had Emrys' magic, her enemies had been set loose, and her own magic was still depleted from her encounter with Merlin.
But she still had Essetir's army under her command, and after destroying the Camelotians one by one, she would crush Moriarty. She opened the drawer of her small cabinet and looked at a ruby pendant. No one would guess that the Essetian possession spell's source was this little jewel. She closed the drawer with a locking spell and put a curse around it.
Standing up, she took out her sister's black crystals, her last reserves of magic, and smashed them on the ground. The powers that had been accumulating there for years flew into her veins. She looked at her eerie pitch black eyes in the mirror of her cabinet and smirked. Without looking back, she left her room in a whirlwind and appeared in the castle's courtyard.
Mycroft was walking in the rubble of the wall that Kilgharrah had just smashed down when he noticed the wind picking up at the center of the courtyard below.
"To the ground!"
Just as the knights, the druids and the monarchs threw themselves down, a sickly green bolt coursed above their heads. Mycroft waited for a few instants before looking up.
Morgana was standing in a swirl of black and green lights. She had set her evil eyes on Merlin, who had stumbled and was lying next to Mycroft.
The King of Semloh did not wait for her to attack his little brother. He shouted.
"Morgana!"
The witch looked at him and met his stare. Mycroft smirked - she had no idea of what he could do -. He let his consciousness flow towards hers. He saw her fear at her magic, her anger at King Uther's unfair laws, her feelings of betrayal and hatred towards her brother and Merlin, her conspiracies with Moriarty... He was nearly thrown out as Morgana realised he was reading her mind, but he held on. The possession spell on Essetir's army... her bedroom... a ruby.
He blinked and abruptly cut the connection.
Morgana collapsed to the ground, holding her head, as the presence in her mind roughly left.
Mycroft looked at his companions. Most were staring at the witch and wondering aloud why she had collapsed. Sherlock met Mycroft's gaze and silenced the others. Mycroft nodded and whispered.
"The spell enslaving the Essetians is fixed on a ruby pendant. She has hidden it in a drawer of her old bedroom."
King Arthur somberly nodded.
"I will go there and destroy the source. I think that I know the jewel. I gave a ruby to her years ago, and she must have thought it would be ironic for my gift to be my own downfall."
Alaric stood up with Arthur.
"I am going with you. Morgana might have placed magical traps there."
The King smiled at him. He looked at Merlin, his knights, and his other companions with a worried expression, turned, and gestured Alaric to follow.
Gwaine watched his King leave with the young druid before looking at Morgana. The witch was still moaning on the ground. Essetian troops were filling the courtyard. He stood up as one with the other round-table knights and King Mycroft, took out his sword, and shouted.
"For Camelot!"
He ran, exhilarated at feeling himself move freely after days of imprisonment. He dived into battle, swinging his sword left and right, careful not to fatally injure any of his opponents. A swooshing sound was heard overhead, and he let himself fall to the ground as the Great Dragon breathed flames over the courtyard, that seemed to only burn the enemies. He looked around for the other knights and heard Morgana shriek. She was fighting against Iseldir and King Mycroft, who was surprisingly holding his ground. Gwaine smiled; he held a deep dislike of nobility, but this was Merlin's brother, and Merlin was his best friend. Of course his brother, even if he was a King, would be awesome.
He joined the foreign King and parried one of Morgana's spells before attacking.
Sherlock grimly looked at the battle taking place in the courtyard below and turned towards his younger brother. Merlin was breathing shallowly as he tried to get up and join the others in battle. Sherlock put a hand on his shoulder.
"Merlin, follow me. We cannot win while Moriarty..."
Merlin looked at him, took a deep breath, and tried to calm his shaking hands.
"...Has my magic." He closed his eyes.
Sherlock put an arm under Merlin's shoulder and stabilised him before starting to walk. He frowned as he felt Merlin nearly collapse, but his brother stumbled and kept walking.
"I think Moriarty is in the throne room..."
Sherlock looked at the young warlock with a small smile.
"Lead the way, brother."
The magic Kilgharrah had used to give some energy to Merlin had not held long. The Prince was feeling the emptiness gnawing at his whole being, wrenching away his senses, tunnelling his vision. He felt the heat radiating from his brow, but he was excruciatingly cold. His whole body shook, and Merlin did not know if it was from the cold, from the shock of losing his magic, or simply because he was dying. The warlock could not remember ever feeling so weak. Even the mortaeus poison had not affected him this much.
He had felt a spark of hope at Kilgharrah's words, but as always, his message was cryptic, and Merlin did not know if he had enough time to decipher it before...
He fought not to pass out from sheer, unimaginable exhaustion, as he watched as Arthur left with Alaric to look for the pendant, as his friends ran into battle. And he knew it was just the beginning of the fight. Morgana was holding on her magic - Merlin guessed it was still severely weak because of him -, and Moriarty, who had taken his magic, was yet to make an appearance. It was only a matter of minutes before the rebellion was restrained and all was lost.
He felt Sherlock's hand on his shoulder, and looked into his eyes. They conveyed anger, worry, and love. Merlin held onto this. He held onto his older brother's presence and pushed the darkness down. He could not fail.
As he started to walk – which was more leaning against his brother and trying not to stumble over the rubble than actual walking -, he concentrated. He thought about how he usually felt his magic swirl contentedly inside him, how complete it made him feel. He looked inside himself, at the empty, swirling void that he had tried to contain, and let the pain flow through him. He sagged, but kept fighting. He let himself feel the fresh breeze ruffling his hair; he recalled the song of the birds that had been chirping in the courtyard a few days before. He let himself bond with nature.
He was Emrys. He was magic itself. And magic was untameable.
He felt something shift inside him.
He nearly gasped in realisation. He could feel where Moriarty was. If he closed his eyes, he could hear a faded gold hum coming from the throne room. And that meant... his magic senses were slowly coming back to him.
Only one or two chapters left. I should publish them within the week.
Thank you for reading :D