Here's the last chapter for S2- 2.12, The Fires of Idirsholas. The "story" is officially complete, but I'm keeping it "open" so I can inform everyone when I've got the first story of S3 posted. Thanks for reading! :)


Today started off a bit odd. Instead of going to training after breakfast, I was summoned to the council chambers. Someone had come from pretty far away to report something quite odd. That's all the page boy knew. This had better be very compelling to pull me away from training. Only a few people of the court were there. Father was sitting in his throne so I went to stand next to him. Once I got there, the visitor spoke.

"I'm a herder from the northern plains, Sire. Three nights ago we camped underneath the walls of Idirsholas."

"I'm not certain I would've stayed near such a place." He made it sound like something was wrong with this place, whatever it was.

"Decent pasture is rare this time of year, Sire."

"So what do you have to tell me?" He almost sounded bored. Hm.

"While there, we . . . we saw smoke arise from the castle." So?

Father looked at Gaius, who spoke next. "And did you see anything else?"

"No."

Back to Father. "Did you go in?" Why would he be concerned with that?

"No. No one's set foot over that threshold for 300 years! Surely you know the tale, Sire."

Gaius did. "'When the fires of Idirsholas burn, the Knights of Medhir will ride again.'"

Father stood up. "Make sure this man is fed and receives a bed for the night." As the shepherd was led away, he said to me, "Ride out there."

"Why?" Was he serious?

"Investigating will put people's minds at ease."

"Surely this is superstitious babble?"

"Assemble a few knights and do as you're told." He walked away, giving me no chance to argue further. I guess I'm going for a ride. Great.

We left as soon as everyone had gathered what they needed and met in the square. I took a good-sized group of knights with me. The Knights of Medhir were said to be seven strong, so we'd need at least that many to overpower them. We hadn't gotten that far from Camelot when I noticed Merlin making that face again—the one that made him look like a wounded puppy. "What's wrong, Merlin? Don't tell me you've been listening to Gaius's bedtime tales again."

"I really hope that's what they are," he replied. Oh brother, he's worried about what's probably nothing.

We rode until nightfall and made camp. Nothing significant happened all night, so we rested well for once. Idirsholas would not be a long ride away, so we left a little later in the morning than we normally would. After a couple hours' ride, we left the forest for a hilly, grassy plain. In the middle was a very imposing-looking fortress—in ruins, but in fair shape otherwise. We approached cautiously and entered with swords drawn, keeping quiet, until . . .

"What's that noise?"

"What noise?" I replied, still looking around for serious threats.

"A kind of quaking sound." That's too good an opening. I rolled my eyes.

"That's your knees rapping together." I don't think he appreciated that. Too bad for him.

We reached a doorway to the interior without further interruption. Instead of splitting up, we stayed together in one unit. I didn't want anyone ambushed. A bit further in, we reached a chamber with a door made of metal bars. Inside looked like a dungeon with a fire pit in the middle. I bent down to check the ashes for warmth. "It looks like part of Joseph's story was correct. Maybe only travelers passing through."

"Or perhaps not," Merlin said. He'd turned his head to look behind us. I don't know why he did, but I was glad he did. These strange masked knights had just appeared where we'd entered the room. They drew their swords as one. Those of us who didn't have their swords ready got them there in a hurry.

The mysterious knights charged right up and engaged us. I fought one, then another, finally running one through. To my surprise, he didn't fall and even managed another strike at me before I backhanded him and he fell away. Another one came up to me and I stabbed him in the gut. The sword stuck fast so I was left sword-less. I had to dodge a few blows, until I heard my name called.

"Arthur!" Merlin had somehow gotten a sword. I don't know how, but just in time he threw it to me. I fought a couple more before I noticed our numbers had dwindled. We weren't going to win this battle.

As I came to this conclusion, I yelled to Merlin, "Run, Merlin! Go!" He ran past me, then stopped for some reason. "What are you . . ?! Do as I say!" I gave him a shove toward the entrance, where he stopped again. Waiting for me? Does he have no sense of self-preservation? I turned around to cover for him, backing my way to the door and fighting the whole time. I heard him say something right before the ceiling started falling down. I felt him pull me backwards toward the entrance then we turned around and fled the fortress.

We didn't stop running until we'd reached the cover of the woods. Once there, we stopped to catch our breath. I noticed Merlin had a tear in his jacket. "What's with your arm?"

He looked surprised. "Oh, I probably snagged it on something." He started taking his jacket off.

"Let's see." I stuck my sword in the ground to free my hands. "Your first battle wound. Here." Oddly enough, I felt like a mother watching her baby take his first steps. So I made a show of ripping my tunic to make a bandage.

Not surprisingly, he protested that. "Er, no. No, don't...You'll damage it."

"Don't fret. You can fix it." Ha, I knew that's what he was trying to avoid. I wrapped up his arm and took a moment to look around.

"Did anybody else get away?" Merlin shook his head. Six good knights gone. Just like that. "We have to return to Camelot, collect reinforcements." Whether those invulnerable fighters were the fabled Knights of Medhir or not, they had to be stopped. We walked back to the horses and rode for home.

We stopped and dismounted at the gate. The guards were lying on the ground. I walked over to a pair and knelt to check one for a pulse.

"Are they alive?" Merlin asked.

The man's pulse was strong and steady. "Yes. They're breathing."

"What's happened to them?" I turned to him and stood up.

"I don't know." I was really at a loss here. It looked as if these guards had just fallen asleep where they stood. Why . . . no, how would they do that? We sprinted into the square where more guards and even knights were strewn about. All were asleep just like the guards at the gate. "What's happening?" I asked rhetorically. I continued scanning the square for anyone who might be awake, when we heard the sound of a horse approaching. It came into the square with a cart; the driver was fast asleep, so I stopped it.

When Merlin saw the state of the driver, he said, "I'll fetch Gaius," and rushed into the palace. Less than a minute later, I heard him yell, "Arthur?!" He sounded panicked, so I ran as fast as I could to meet him.

He stood at the bottom of the staircase just inside. People were sprawled all around us and on the staircase. Every last one was unconscious.

"They're all fast asleep," he surmised as I looked around in shock. "Possibly some sort of sickness."

At that, my mind immediately jumped to the most important person in the castle. "Where's my father?" I ran up the stairs, Merlin following behind. We went to the council chamber and opened the door. Empty. "Where is he?!" We ran next to Gaius's chambers.

Gaius was slumped down on one of the tables. Merlin got to him first and tried to shake him awake. "Gaius?! It must be an act of magic."

"We need to find my father!" I replied, and we turned and ran out of the room. We almost passed Morgana's chambers, but stopped on a hunch and went inside. I noticed Guinevere lying on the floor, so I knelt down to pick her up and move her to the bed. As I stood up we heard the curtain behind us move. I drew my sword and reached out to pull whoever it was out from behind it. As I did so, I shouted and heard a feminine scream in response. Morgana.

She was completely freaked out and kept pulling on my arm. "It's me! It's me, Morgana! What's happened?"

"I didn't know it was you!"

I tried to reassure her. "Settle down, Morgana. Simply tell us what happened."

"Everyone was complaining, saying they didn't feel well." Merlin had theorized illness . . .

"So then what?"

"People began falling asleep. Everyone, everywhere I went."

"Was somebody here?" She shook her head. I had to ask, "So how come you were hiding?"

"I told you, I didn't know it was you." Oh-kay. Next?

"Where's my father?"

She looked at me. "I don't know." I could sense she was telling the truth, but was that all of it?

Merlin tried to intervene, "Arthur, she's upset." It was a gentle warning. I ignored it.

"If she was awake then she should have seen something."

"But I didn't notice anything," she whispered.

I didn't relent. "You noticed people falling ill, what did you do?"

"What could I do?" She looked ready to burst into tears.

I raised my voice, "Morgana, I can't work it out. How is it that you're the only person awake?" She wouldn't respond, so I turned my attention to finding my father.

We went out into the corridor. I dodged inside rooms, scanning them quickly for Father; Morgana and Merlin followed a bit more slowly. Whenever I ran into the corridor I could hear them talking, but not what they were actually saying. Finally I made it to Father's chambers, and there he was. "I found him!" I yelled; I hope they'd heard me.

I lifted him from his slumped position over the table and tried to wake him. "Father."

"See, he's okay," Merlin offered, unhelpfully.

I turned Father's face so Merlin could see the stupidity of his statement. "He is not 'okay'."

"He's only asleep," Merlin amended. I let Father slump back to the table. "We just need to find a cure. Some way to wake them."

"Who could possibly do this?" My mind jumped to Morgana again; the only person awake during a sleeping plague. "You're the only one who hasn't been affected, Morgana. There has to be an explanation."

"I don't know." She's still not helping. This is so frustrating!

I raised my voice again. "That's what you keep answering! You have to know something!"

"I don't, they simply fell asleep one at a time!" She was nearly hysterical again.

Merlin jumped in again, "It's obvious. When she began feeling ill, Gaius offered her a potion, right?" Another theory of his? But Gaius would do something like that.

"When was she ill? She didn't say that." She hasn't said much at all—how would we know?

"She must have been one of the last to be affected. The potion must have helped in some way."

"What about everybody else?"

"Gaius was too ill by then. He didn't get to treat anyone else." He still sounded like he was making this up on the spot, and he kept looking back at Morgana. Very odd, but it was the only thing we'd come up with that made any sense.

"Go see if you can locate this potion," I told Merlin. As he left, I turned to Morgana. "I'll look for signs of life in the lower town. Morgana, you stay here. You watch over my father. Keep him safe. Here." I handed her my sword. "Guard him with your life, you understand?" She nodded weakly and I left to go back to the lower town.

I ducked into homes and shops and ran through the market. No one else was awake. When I got down by the gate, I noticed something moving on the road in the distance. That could not possibly be good, could it? So I ran all the way back to the citadel, to Gaius's chambers. Merlin would probably be there, still looking for this mystery potion. I got to the opened door and saw him kneeling on the floor. Since it wasn't the oddest thing I'd seen all day, I let it pass. "Merlin! Move it!"

I led him up to the battlements so we could get a better view at what was coming. There were seven dark figures on seven dark horses, and one lighter figure on a white horse.

"According to the story there were just seven Knights of Medhir."

"So who's the additional rider?"

"I don't know. Camelot is vulnerable."

"We need to return to my father." I pulled Merlin away and we ran back to Father's chambers. "This will be one of the first chambers they search. We have to move him somewhere else."

Oh yeah, Morgana. "What's happening?" she asked.

"We're being attacked. No time for details," I told her as we walked over and picked Father up. I directed Merlin, "Take his legs, hold him." Apparently he lacked upper body muscles; Father was barely off the floor. "You're not supposed to be sweeping the floor with him! Lift up his feet!"

"His feet aren't the trouble." Hey! Father is not fat!

I looked at Morgana, imploring her to assist. "Morgana, help him out." She grabbed a leg and away we went into the corridor. Unfortunately that's when Father started to snore. I looked up from him to see Merlin grinning like the idiot he was. He was already on thin ice—lucky for him we had a crisis to avert or he'd probably be spending quality time with the stocks. "It's not amusing, Merlin." He at least tried to wipe the grin off his face. "Did you locate the potion Morgana used?"

"Er . . . no." Great. Just great.

In a moment we reached my chambers and I backed through the doors. At that point, the other two were barely holding his legs off the floor. They summarily dropped them, forcing me to stop where I was. "We can't lay him here! We need to get him onto the bed."

They both looked at me disbelievingly before Merlin spoke up, "Why? He's asleep. He won't know."

"Merlin!" I couldn't think of a polite response after that.

"All right . . . I'll get him a pillow." He ran to the head of my bed to do just that. I couldn't believe this.

I turned to yell at him, "He's the King!" That's why I wanted him on the bed!

"Okay. Two pillows." I rolled my eyes. I gave up—he refused to understand. Together we put the pillows under Father's head. As I stood up, I staggered a bit. That prompted Merlin to ask, "You feeling all right?"

"Are you feeling similar?" He put his hand to his forehead and I noticed we were both perspiring.

"We're getting ill."

"That can't happen. We have to keep my father concealed." I looked around for an obvious place to hide him.

"Could we disguise him?" Eh?

"That could possibly work." His brain was still working.

"We could dress him like a woman." Or not.

"That, on the other hand . . ."

"We could dress him like a servant."

"Much better."

"I'll find him some clothing." And with that, he took off to . . . wherever he was going to find clothes.

That left me with Morgana. I looked at her. "Are you okay, Morgana? You're pretty quiet."

She just sat there on the edge of the table. "I'm all right."

"You certain?" I drew my sword out to place it next to her. She jumped a bit. Ah ha. "I always know when you're lying. Never fear. I won't let anyone harm him."

After a while I got tired of waiting. And then I got worried. Not that I'd ever admit that to anyone. So I said to Morgana, "I'm just going to make sure that Merlin's on his way back," then headed out the door. Those Knights were inside by now, so I had to keep stealthy. I heard footsteps and ducked onto an alcove—I could pull whoever- or whatever -in here to confront them. Luckily it was Merlin. "What kept you?"

"I didn't know the King's size." What? Really? Of all the lame excuses . . . just then we heard creepy deep breathing. We peeked around the other side of the alcove and saw Morgause walking down the corridor with the undead knights. I tried to pull my sword, but Merlin stopped me. That witch! I still haven't forgiven her for manipulating me into almost killing Father. She was behind this too?! He ran back to my chambers while I looked for someplace to move my Father.

Merlin had changed Father's clothes and it looked as if he'd started preparing to move Father. Good. "We need to move the King before Morgause finds us."

"Morgause!" She sounded surprised to me.

"Come on! Let's go!" I yelled at the other two; they each picked up one of Father's legs again and began to move.

"You're not shocked?" He asked her. Huh.

"No, I am," she replied. Did she know Morgause?

We were able to get him to the corridor to the servants' chambers, and dragged him into one. "Probably be safe in here for the moment." The bed was low, so we managed to get him onto it before Merlin and I collapsed. Morgana walked over to look out the window; she still looked very healthy. We stared at her. "Most likely the potion Gaius gave her," I mused.

"Yeah, probably the potion." He sounded like I felt—utterly exhausted.

"We can't keep doing this much longer."

"I know. Hold on. We're in a servant's chambers. We can leave him here; they'll think he's just a servant."

"Not if Morgause sees him. We have to get him away from Camelot."

"When we got here a cart came into the main square, remember?" I was surprised either of us could still think clearly.

"You are bursting with good ideas today, Merlin. You go look." He didn't look happy, but got himself up and out the door. We didn't have to wait long—just a couple minutes later Merlin ran back in the room and slammed the door behind him.

"They're moving in! We won't get to the cart, not lugging Uther."

But Morgana and I hadn't been idle. We'd removed the bed sheets and made a sort of litter; we could drag him and he wouldn't get dirty. "That's why we've crafted this. We will pull him." I ran over to the door to peek down the corridor. One of the Knights approached, so I closed the door, drew my sword and hid behind a column. "Hide somewhere. Stay quiet," I yelled at the others and they copied my actions. The Knight entered, and when it was close enough, I attacked, simultaneously yelling, "Guard the King! Move him out of here!" They ran over to Father and started dragging him out of the room and down the corridor.

I heard Morgana scream a couple of times, but I was still engaged with the Knight. When I'd gotten him down, I ran out the door and closed it behind me. Out in the corridor, I saw Morgana on the floor. She was scared out of her wits but unharmed. The Knight who'd attacked was down the hall, turning the corner. I helped her up and took off after the Knight. I'd assumed he was after Merlin and Father, so as soon as I caught up to them I stuck my sword in him. It distracted him and we traded a couple of blows before I maneuvered him in front of a staircase and kicked him down it. Morgana reappeared and I pulled her to where Merlin was headed—the council chamber.

As soon as we'd closed the doors, I said, "Merlin, help me." Together we picked up the beam and barred the door with it. Once that was done, we turned around and collapsed against it. Morgana still looked fine. "Morgana, we want the potion that Gaius gave you. Morgana."

"I don't have it." She looked desperate.

"I understand that, but you have to remember what it was, what was in it? Hurry, Morgana! We can't keep this up much longer! Think!"

"I'm sorry I . . ."

Merlin interjected again, "It won't make a difference. Besides, we can't go after it now, we're locked in."

I knew he had a point, but I didn't want to give up. "There must be something we can work out!" I paced past her. I heard Merlin whisper something to her, but I only heard her reply as I walked back to them.

"How should I know? Because I'm a woman?"

"Yeah, possibly," he replied.

"Unless we can free ourselves of this illness, I'm not sure how we're going to last," I interrupted.

"We need to wipe out the source of the magic," Merlin said. Wait—how'd he figure that out?

"Which is?"

"I don't know." Guess he's all out of ideas.

"Our one option is to get away from Camelot. Help me move my father." Morgana came and lifted a corner of the blanket with me and we dragged him to the back of the room. I gave her new directions, "You rip up the blanket. We'll lash it to my father, and we'll let him down to the cart."

She tried to interrupt, "Arthur . . ."

I cut her off, "Please, Morgana, just do as I ask." I turned to Merlin to explain my plan. "I'll bring the cart over to the window."

"You're going out there?" He asked, while I leaned against the door to gather strength. "I'm coming with you."

"No. No, you stay. You look after the King."

"You won't get to the cart by yourself. It's suicide."

"We don't have any other option." I closed my eyes, just for a moment.

"How're you feeling?"

"Not bad."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Never better."

"Find me a pillow, could you."

"Don't fool around. Arthur you . . . Arthur? You have to keep awake." His voice faded into the distance. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain across my face. Merlin had smacked me!

"Merlin!" I yelled, backing away from the door to better reprimand him.

"That's better!"

"Don't ever do that again . . ."

"Well, don't go to sleep, then!" He yelled. I took the water skin from him and splashed my face with it. Just then the Knights growled right outside the door. Merlin backed away from it.

"That your knees again?" I jested. We stepped up to the door and unbarred it. Before I went out to face certain doom, I tried again, "If I want a servant in the next life . . ."

"Don't ask me!" he yelled back.

"Ha-ha!" I laughed before I drew my sword and jumped out into the corridor. The Knight was right there, so I engaged him right away. The others were also there, close behind him. They were almost overwhelmingly strong. I had to backhand or shove them to get them out of the way, and another would move right into its place. Morgause eventually appeared and watched me fight with a vicious smirk on her face. Suddenly her smirk fell and she ran past me. I heard an explosion. I couldn't turn to look, but suspected she'd just gained entry to the council chamber. I prayed she wouldn't harm them and kept fighting.

I was just about to slash through the middle of a Knight when it collapsed to the floor. All the others behind it collapsed onto each other. I just stared at them in shock then noticed my head began to clear. Did the spell just end? What was going on in the council chamber? Suddenly I heard footsteps along adjoining corridors, and some of my knights ran to me. I wasted no time in running back to the council chamber. "What did you do with my father?"

"He's safe!" Merlin said. I looked around the room. Father was waking where we'd left him. Merlin stood in front of Morgause, who was kneeling on the floor holding . . .

"Morgana!"

"Stay away from her!" Morgause yelled at me, then embraced Morgana tighter. "Bedyrne ús! Astýre ús þanonweard!"

I don't know what she said, but I know what it did. Magic. A windy, twisty cloud of smoke appeared, catching Morgause and Morgana up into it. As it cleared away, they disappeared into it. All of us looked upward reflexively, but they were gone. They had completely vanished from Camelot; I just knew it.

Merlin looked sick to his stomach. I didn't feel any better, but I knew how to hide it. Futilely, I tried to get him to talk, but eventually just let him go to Gaius. I walked over to Father and lent him an arm to support him as we followed Merlin. Gaius checked Father over, then me. He pronounced us in good health but advised Merlin and I to retire early tonight. I fully intended to take that advice.

After Gaius checked him, Father wandered off. I was worried about his state of mind, so as soon as Gaius cleared me I went looking for him. I found him in Morgana's chambers, looking through her jewelry box fondly. I should have known to look here first. "I couldn't find you. How are you?"

He didn't turn around. "Is there yet no trace of her?"

"We've searched, Father.

He finally turned around. "Morgause can't be permitted to evade us."

"Yes, Father." I turned to leave, hopelessness settling upon me.

"Arthur." I paused. "I haven't had the opportunity to thank you."

"I let you down, Father. I should have looked after Morgana."

"No. That was my responsibility." He turned back around. "Her loss will always be on my conscience, not yours." I don't know if I've ever seen him like this. Not sad exactly, but more regretful, despairing. I knew we'd continue searching until we found her. He wouldn't rest until we did. Neither would I.

xxxXxxx

Later that night, I was lying in bed, hovering on the edge of sleep. The candles were out and there was no moon. I closed my eyes to surrender to sleep when I heard a low roar. Roar? My eyes flew open. The roar sounded again, closer and louder. I ran to the window but saw nothing. Just the dark night pressing heavily upon me. I got back into bed and prayed I was just hearing things.


I'll begin S3 stories in a few days. In the meantime, I'll consider suggestions for episodes to "do." :)