Chapter 6 – A Kingdom Fallen

Morgana took one last look at her dead brother before raising her hand and with a flash of brilliant gold lighting up her eyes, the Doctor, Rory, Amy, Gaius and Gwen were all thrown backwards, landing on the hard tiled floor, unconscious.

She swept the room with her gaze, smirking slightly as she did so then left. A Dalek was waiting for her in the corridor outside.

"We have won," she said, smiling further still.

"There is still the one named Emrys to find," the Dalek replied in its mechanical tones.

"Do not worry," Morgana replied, "I doubt he'll be long once he's heard the new of my brother's death."

River sat Merlin down on a grassy back out in the forest.

"Here, drink this," she said, handing him a small bottle. Merlin gulped the liquid down without question. Suddenly he felt his strength returning.

"What is that stuff?" he asked as River tucked the bottle away in her pocket.

"The juice of the Rhine tree from the planet Astro-Gallepé the Fourth," River replied.

Merlin blinked.

"So you've been into space, like the Doctor?" he asked.

"Many times," River replied with a smile, "I've seen things you've never even dreamed of."

Merlin got slowly to his feet. "We need to get back to the castle, what did you say about you being someone else?" He rubbed his eye with the heel of his palm, his thoughts still slow.

"A woman, named Morgana-" River began but Merlin was already gone, running through the forest.

"Merlin!" she shouted, giving chase.

Amy woke slowly and then moaned as she discovered she was once more in one of the Camelot cells. She could tell it was still day by the light streaming through the barred window but it was cold. And she was alone.

No Doctor, no Rory, River not River, Merlin disappeared … She rubbed her eyes, trying not to cry. She had to be brave, think of a way out.

Think, she told herself, there has to be some way out …

Sitting back against the wall she thought about all the ways she had got out of situations before … but none of them seemed to work with a castle in Camelot where she was faced with a solid, locked door.

Her hair was matted and dirty and her hair grips were coming out. She fingered them lightly … her hair grips … And there it was, something so simple she had completely overlooked it before. Thankful that there had been no guards posted at her cell door she got up and pushed her hand through the bars and then pushed her hair grip into the lock. After a moment of wiggling where she almost dropped the grip, the lock finally clicked.

Congratulating herself at her success she pushed the door open, glancing up and down the passage as she did so. Who needs a sonic-screwdriver?

"Gwen," Morgana said, "such a fall from grace."

Gwen got to her feet and walked to the cell door, her head still held high.

"How could you kill you own brother?" she asked softly.

"Arthur brought it on himself," Morgana spat.

"You know," Gwen said, turning away from Morgana, "I do believe if you came to him in peace he'd forgive you."

"I do not need to be forgiven," Morgana replied, "he and Uther turned me away because of my magic. I had no choice!"

"You always have a choice in life Morgana," Gwen responded.

There was silence and when Gwen turned she found Morgana had gone. Sighing to herself she sat back down on the cell floor, fingering her wedding ring. Arthur was dead … he was gone …

The castle was oddly silent as Morgana sat on her throne. The knights had been captured, the people returned to their homes in the lower town or fled to the woods.

She was Queen at last and now that Arthur was dead and with the fleet of Daleks and the men from the North at her command – she always would be. The men from the North she had recruited only a short time before, they had arrived not long after she had killed Arthur and now, along with the Daleks, patrolled the castle to see that she was kept safe

Only Emrys to deal with now. She got up from her throne, restless and paced the length of the throne room. Was she strong enough to defeat Emrys? Could she do it?

Amy crept along the tunnels until she found the next occupied cell.

"Rory!" she gasped in delight, digging her hair grip into the lock and pulling the door open. Rory leapt up and pulled her into a hug.

"I thought I'd never see you again," he said before kissing her.

"Oi, you two, when you're ready!" The Doctor's voice came from the cell next to Rory's.

"Doctor!" Amy exclaimed, breaking away from Rory and running to his door. The Doctor looked at Amy's hair grip for a moment and then pulled her into a hug.

"My wonderful Amelia Pond," he said.

"So, what are we going to do?" Rory asked, "we need to give Camelot back to the knights and Gwen."

"No," the Doctor interrupted him, "no we can't. King Arthur just died, have you any idea how much that changes. All of history has been changed in this one night."

"But time can be rewritten," Amy pointed out.

"Not certain points," the Doctor replied, "haven't I told you about this before? Does anybody ever listen to me? Arthur Pendragon's death is a fixed point that has now been changed."

"So what does that mean?" Rory asked, "what's going to happen?"

"I don't know," the Doctor said.

Merlin burst into the throne room to find Morgana sat on the throne, looking completely relaxed.

"Merlin," she said, smiling wickedly, "how kind of you to join us."

Six men standing on either side of Morgana lifted crossbows and aimed at Merlin. Merlin stopped dead.

"Where's Arthur?" he panted.

Morgana smiled all the wider, as she got to her feet and walked down the steps toward Merlin.

"I'm afraid my dearest brother has left us," she said.

Merlin found it hard to breathe. "No," he said, "n-no …"

Morgana laughed then her face hardened.

"Kill him," she ordered.

"NO!" Merlin roared, his eyes glowing with magic as the very air around them seemed to explode. Fire burned up from the centre of the room and the men burned. Morgana shielded herself with magic but Merlin's fire was strong and she fell back against the steps to the throne.

Once the fire had died down and the smoke cleared Merlin looked towards Morgana.

She was looking at him with a mixture of fear and anger.

"It's you," she gasped, "you're Emrys."

Note: Well things are moving along fast! I'm loving writing this. A bit disappointed that I couldn't get more Arthur into this but I've got plans for a Merlin fanfic soon where he'll be the main character. In fact I have loads of ideas. Maybe even a sequel to this one ... :) We'll have to wait and see how things turn out ...