A/N: I'm on time with this one! I'm sure you're all very glad for that after the cliffhanger lol. BAMF Merlin is heeeeere. (PS. I have now written most of the final chapter. I swear I only need a few more sentences, which are proving tricky, but then endings are always tricky.)
The warning bells weren't ringing and the guards were slouching at their posts instead of running to protect their king, but that did not put Merlin off his mission. Arthur had called for him and he would never doubt a signal like that.
Some of the guards did look rather alarmed when he came bursting through the front doors and swept through the corridors like he owned them. A few even shouted for him to stop or to explain himself, but he didn't have time to reassure them that he wasn't the one attacking them. Thankfully, they were wise enough not to try to detain him or get in his way.
The lack of alarm did worry Merlin; it meant that Sarrum had planned his attack well and was discreet enough that no one had even noticed that Arthur was in danger. He looked to Cecily, nearly running to keep pace with his much longer legs, and she looked just as perturbed.
Merlin's worry turned to outright fear when they came across Gwaine, Percival, and Elyan collapsed in the middle of a corridor. Merlin knelt beside Gwaine and did a routine physician's check, searching for open wounds or broken bones. There was a lump on the back of his head but no blood and he stirred under Merlin's touch. Merlin slapped his cheeks until he got a groan from him.
"Gwaine!" he said urgently. "Gwaine, I need you to wake up and tell me what happened. Come on, mate, I know your head's thicker than this."
"Ow," Gwaine moaned, reaching for his head. "Bloody fucking ow. Merlin?"
"Yes, Gwaine, that's it. What happened? Who did this?"
"Mordred," came Elyan's voice. Cecily was helping him to sit up, propping him against the wall, and Percival was stirring now as well.
"What?" Merlin asked. "What about Mordred?"
"Mordred did it," Elyan said. "He attacked us."
Cecily sat back on her heels, torn between disbelief and horror.
"No," Merlin said immediately. "No, Mordred would never!"
"But he did," Gwaine said, struggling to get to his feet. "Him and some girl. Never seen her before but they seemed really cozy."
Merlin pushed Gwaine back down and said, "Stay still, you could have a concussion."
"Merlin, if Mordred's brought Kara here…" Cecily said, trailing off suggestively.
"And if Mordred's so far under her spell that he's attacking his friends?" Merlin added. "She's making her move now. They're going after Arthur."
"What the hell is going on?" Elyan asked.
"Who is that bint and what's she got against Arthur?"
"Arthur's in the solar in the west wing," Percival—apparently the only helpful one in the bunch—volunteered from his place on the floor. "He was dining with Sarrum."
"Damn it all!" Merlin said.
He leapt to his feet and took off down the corridor without another word. How long ago had Kara and Mordred showed up? How long had Arthur been alone with Sarrum before they got there? Which of them had spurred Arthur into signaling for Merlin's help? Exactly how many people were currently in the process of trying to kill Arthur and, really, why was Merlin not surprised by any of this?
The communication charm blazed hot against his wrist again, flaring bright for just one second before it faded away. Merlin ran faster, though at least he had confirmation that Arthur wasn't dead just yet. The door to the solar was open and Merlin skidded through it just in time to see Mordred bearing down on Arthur, injured and cornered, with his hand raised.
"Stop!" Merlin cried.
He reached out with his magic to grab hold of Mordred and haul him backwards. Arthur scrambled to his feet, clutching at his wounded shoulder.
"Merlin! Thank the gods," he said. "Mordred's gone mad!"
"No, he's just enchanted," Merlin told him, pulling Arthur behind him even as he kept a wary eye on Mordred and the girl at his back. "He's under her spell. None of this is him."
"That's not quite true," Kara said smugly as she put a hand on Mordred's shoulder. He was breathing hard like a bull ready to charge and his hands were clenching spasmodically at his sides, itching for a weapon.
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked. "What have you done to him?"
"Everything Mordred is feeling right now, he has felt before," Kara said. "The emotions are his own; all I had to do was remind him of them. Isn't that right, Mordred?"
She put a hand on Mordred's cheek, turning his face toward hers. His furious expression softened and he smiled at her, as untroubled and besotted as any child with his sweetheart.
"Get your hands off him!" Cecily shouted, pushing past Merlin. A swing of her hand sent Kara flying backwards to crash into the wall.
Mordred let out a roar of anger and lashed out. Cecily barely got a shield up in time and even with it in place, the force of the blow still knocked her off her feet. Merlin rushed to meet Mordred's next attack, catching the ball of flames and redirecting it. The remnants of the dining table caught fire and Merlin doused them with a word, though his distraction meant that he almost missed the next wave of magic Mordred sent in his direction.
"Mordred, you've got to stop," he said as the wave collided with the shield he raised with startling force. Merlin braced against the vacuum left in the wake of its recession, holding tight to his own magic so that it didn't get drawn out with the tide. "I know that you don't want to do this. You don't want to betray Arthur."
"I'm not the traitor, Emrys," Mordred growled and the address felt like a blow all on its own. "You are! You are a traitor to your kind and you always have been, more concerned with protecting the Pendragons than with fighting for your own people." He flung debris at Merlin, bits of flaming woods flying fast enough to run him through if they connected.
Merlin kept his shield steady and the shrapnel disintegrated upon impact. "That's not true, Mordred," he said.
"You tried to kill me!" Mordred bellowed, the light from the fires all around them casting a ghastly red light upon his face. "I was a child, Emrys, and you would have left me to die. Twice you would have sacrificed my life for the sake of him." He jabbed a finger at Arthur, who was staying out of the way as much as possible to avoid getting caught in the crossfire of a duel that he could not participate in. "He led raids against my people and slaughtered innocent men, women, and children, and still you chose to protect him over your kin!"
"You know why I did that, Mordred, and you know how much I regret it," Merlin said, letting another of Mordred's attacks dissipate against his shield. "I was young and easily led. I believed so strongly in destiny and I was terrified of failing, of the threat I was told that you posed to that destiny. But I didn't go through with it, Mordred, you must remember that too!"
"That's because you were too much of a weakling to stick to your convictions," Mordred shot back along with several sherds from the broken vase, razor sharp and lethal at high speeds. Merlin blasted them apart before they reached him, the dust blowing away in the gust of wind that he conjured to push Mordred back. Mordred retained his feet and shouted over the noise, "If you wanted me dead, you should have killed me yourself instead of trying to get Arthur's men to do your dirty work for you!"
"Uther's men," Merlin corrected him. "Uther is the one who hunted you, Mordred. Arthur is the one who risked everything to save your life and return you to your people. Arthur is the one who promised the Druids the respect they deserve. Arthur is the one who is lifting the ban on magic so that you and I might live safely."
"Please, Mordred," Arthur said. "I'm doing everything I can to set things right."
"Too little too late, Pendragon," Kara said, using the wall to haul herself upright again. "It doesn't absolve you of the crimes you have already committed. Morgana was right; you can never be trusted to do right by us. You have always feared our power and you always will."
Mordred reared back his hand, ready to let loose another attack.
"The love that binds us is more important than the power we wield!" Merlin said, desperate to reach the part of his friend that still believed it. "You told me that, Mordred. You said that Morgana had lost sight of that, that she had lost who she truly was in her quest for power. And you never wanted that to happen to you. Please try to remember the love that you hold in your heart."
Mordred faltered, his anger flickering and fading to something that looked almost like confusion, as if he wasn't sure where he was or what he was doing. Merlin let his shield fall, approaching him with great caution, ready to go on the defensive again if Mordred should lose control of himself again. He held up one hand in front of him, an offer rather than a threat, but his other hand slid to the pouch still hanging from his belt, slowly tugging at the drawstring.
"Do you remember, Mordred?" he asked. "Do you remember how much we all care about you? Me and Arthur, and Gwaine and the other knights? We're brothers, Mordred, all of us. We're a family."
Mordred's disoriented expression disappeared in the blink of an eye and fury twisted his features again. "I had a family," he growled. "And the Pendragons took them from me."
"Mordred!" Cecily called, and he turned.
He looked at her for a moment, open-mouthed, and Merlin pounced on him. It took only a second for Merlin to snap one of the manacles around his wrist and Mordred cried out, trying desperately to pull away, but Merlin drew his magic forth to give him strength and wrestled the second cuff into place.
The second it clicked shut Mordred sagged as though all his strength had left him, but he didn't stop fighting. Merlin held onto him tightly.
"Mordred, listen to me," he said, the strain of keeping him subdued sounding in his voice. "Please, I need you to remember the promise you made. You swore to me on your father's grave that you would never betray Arthur. When I told you of the fate laid out for you, do you remember? You said that you would never hurt Arthur, and not just because he was a great king but because he was your friend."
"You took my magic from me," Mordred said with venom in his voice, trying to push him away.
"I know," Merlin said. "I know and I'm sorry for that, but you don't want to do this. You're enchanted and when the spell is broken you're going to regret everything you've done today. You don't want to hurt Arthur, Mordred, and I will do anything to make sure you don't because I'm your friend as much as I am his. I won't let you destroy the life that you've built here. I will protect you even from yourself if I have to because that's what friends are for, remember?"
Mordred's struggles slowed and stopped. He was still breathing hard, almost gasping as if he had run until he couldn't anymore. Then there came a different sort of struggle, smaller but even more insistent.
"Off," he said, his voice strangled but desperate. "Off, off, get it off."
Merlin pulled back to see that Mordred was scrabbling at his wrist. But it wasn't the manacle he was trying to get off. There was a bracelet there that Merlin had never seen before and when he touched it he could feel the magic in it, sickly sweet and overpowering. Merlin wrapped his hand around it and covered the wretched thing with magic, swamping the original spell and chasing Kara's magic out until there was nothing left.
Mordred gasped, his knees giving out beneath him, and Merlin caught him before he collapsed entirely.
"Merlin," he panted as Merlin lowered him to the ground. "Oh gods, Merlin. Merlin, I'm sorry. What have I done?"
"Nothing that can't be fixed," Merlin told him, the staggering relief making him glad that he was already sitting in case his knees gave out from it. "It's alright, Mordred," he said. "It wasn't you. Everything's going to be—"
"NO!"
A heavy force slammed into Merlin and sent him flying through the air, the ground rushing up to meet him hard and knocking the breath from his lungs. He heard Arthur shout his name and hoped that he had the sense not to interfere right now, or else that Cecily would keep him out of it. Merlin looked up just in time to see the vase's plinth crashing down toward him and he rolled out from underneath it. It shattered upon impact, chunks of stone scattering across the floor.
"I will not be thwarted by the likes of you," Kara screamed. She lobbed a ball of fire at Merlin and he batted it out of the way. "You are a traitor and a murderer! You were meant to be our savior, Emrys, and instead you have only aided the violence against our kind. Morgana was our true savior and you took her from us."
"Morgana lost sight of her cause a long time ago," Merlin said. "In the end she served nothing but her own vengeance and lust for power."
Kara lashed out with all the strength she had and Merlin threw up a shield to block it. There would be no reasoning with this girl, he could see that clearly. She was too far gone in her fervor, obsessed with Morgana and finishing her work, to ever be convinced that they were not her enemy. And if she would not stop, then Merlin would have to stop her.
He was just thinking of a spell to use to put her down when he caught sight of Mordred. He was on his knees where Merlin had left him, not seeming to have moved at all, and he was pale and open-mouthed, watching the battle with horror and despair in every line of his face. He did love her, Merlin realized. Even though she had used him for her own purposes, had enchanted and manipulated him to turn him against his friends, some part of Mordred still loved the Kara he had known as a child.
It was cruel for him to find her after so many years only to lose her again so soon, but then the Fates had never been kind to Mordred. But perhaps Merlin could show him the mercy the Fates would not.
Merlin focused his attention on Kara, on the attacks that she threw at him. She was not particularly powerful, though her rage lent her strength beyond her normal means, nor was she very skilled. Mostly she was relying on basic spells and her own ingenuity, which was falling by the wayside now that her plan had fallen to pieces. She was pouring out all of her magic against Merlin's shield.
Like called to like where magic was concerned, the energy of all living things wishing to meld into one and return to the earth from whence it came. Kara's magic recognized his even as it battered against his shield, the forces meeting and mingling before they were pulled apart again. This time, when Kara's spell connected, Merlin did not let her pull away, did not allow the tide of her magic to recede. When Kara's magic pushed against his, he let his own yield, pulling it back inside him and dragging hers along in its wake.
Kara did not notice what he was doing at first. For a moment there was glee on her face, thinking that she had won, that she had broken through his shield and avenged her mistress. Then fear took over as she realized that her magic was slipping away from her no matter how hard she tried to keep a hold of it.
Merlin kept pulling, sucking up her magic and taking it inside himself until he felt like an oversaturated sponge, every inch of him full of magic and trembling with its energy. There was too much of it, more than his body was meant to hold, but he could not stop just yet. Kara screamed as the last of her power was ripped from her and she collapsed, drained and powerless.
Someone called Merlin's name but he barely heard them over the riot of magic he had inside him, the rush of it in his ears, the blinding flash of it behind his eyes when he squeezed them closed. His head throbbed, his chest burned, his eyes blazed with power, and there was simply too much. He needed to get it out, to get rid of the excess before it burned him alive. He fell to his knees and slammed his hand into the ground, the stone cracking under the force of it, and pushed.
The excess magic flooded out of him, rushing through his veins and bleeding through his palm to the stones and into the foundation of the castle and beyond. The magic of the earth itself rose up to greet it, welcoming it back into the fold. The release left Merlin feeling dizzy and winded, though every bit of him still tingled and sparked with the rush of it all.
There was a shout behind him and Merlin struggled to pull himself together enough to respond. He turned to see Sarrum on his feet and close behind Arthur, who had not noticed his approach. He had his dagger in hand, swinging down toward Arthur's back. But it wasn't Arthur's flesh that the blade found. It was Mordred's.
He flung himself in Sarrum's path, shielding Arthur with his own body, and the dagger sank into his chest. Arthur caught him as he fell, staring in shock, and Cecily screamed Mordred's name. Sarrum growled in frustration and reached for another weapon, but Merlin did not give him a chance to draw it.
Sarrum was slammed against the wall by the force of Merlin's magic, lifted off the ground and pinned there. He struggled against the hold but Merlin didn't let up. Instead he stalked forward, feeling the glow of magic in his eyes as his power swelled with his fury. Winds sprang into life all around them, a swirling maelstrom centered on him, and he thought he saw a flicker of fear in Sarrum's eyes.
"Filthy sorcerers!" Sarrum bellowed, kicking wildly, fighting to free himself. "Disgusting animals, the whole lot of you!"
"You hurt my friend," Merlin said, his voice low and dangerous. "You threatened Arthur. You sent assassins after me. You held Morgana in a pit for two years and tortured Aithusa just to hurt her further."
Sarrum smiled, giving a creaky laugh. "You should have heard her screams," he said. "They were almost as satisfying as the little beast's."
Merlin clenched his fist and his magic surged, reaching forward to wrap around Sarrum's neck. The pressure made him choke and gag, reaching reflexively for his throat to claw at the invisible hand there. His face grew red and then darker still, his jowls quivered as he mouthed soundlessly, trying to gasp in air that would not come to him. Merlin's fingers twitched as he remembered Aithusa's pitiful cries, the damage that had been done by those screams that Sarrum so fondly remembered, and he itched to squeeze just that little bit harder.
"Merlin, stop!"
Arthur's hand came down on Merlin's shoulder but he jerked it back with a hiss of pain as Merlin's magic flared up to sting his palm. Then he grit his teeth and took hold of Merlin again.
"Merlin, think about what you're doing," he said. "What good will this achieve?"
"He's a sadistic murderer," Merlin growled. "He crippled an innocent young creature for his own sick pleasure."
"I know that. It's disgusting, everything that he's done," Arthur said. "But we want peace, Merlin. Peace between all the kingdoms of this realm, that is our ultimate goal. Will killing him here and now bring that goal any closer?"
Merlin swallowed hard, fighting the urge to snap Sarrum's neck, to run him through, to make him scream like he did Morgana, to make him suffer as Aithusa had suffered. But Arthur's fingers dug into his shoulder, grounding him. Sarrum was still kicking, fighting for every little bit of air he could drag into his lungs past Merlin's chokehold.
"Mordred?" Merlin asked, afraid of the answer.
"He's still alive," Arthur said, "for now. Cecily's doing what she can for him with magic and I've already flagged down a guard and sent for Gaius."
The relief that ran through Merlin doused some of his fury. Slowly, reluctantly, he let Sarrum slide down the wall until his feet touched the ground again.
"Come on, Merlin," Arthur said. "This isn't what Mordred would want for you."
Merlin released his spells and Sarrum fell at his feet, coughing and retching and gasping for air. Sir Leon was suddenly at Merlin's side, pushing past him to pull Sarrum upright and bind his hands with rope. Merlin stumbled back, his hands shaking as his magic retreated to its proper place inside him again, leaving the rest of him cold and weary. Arthur steadied him.
"Alright?" he asked, eyeing Merlin with obvious worry.
Merlin ignored the question, not knowing how to answer it. He caught sight of the piece of wood still sticking out of Arthur's shoulder and said, "That needs treating."
"I think we could all stand to be checked out," Arthur said. "Gaius will be here soon."
"I need to help Mordred," Merlin said, trying to push past him, but Arthur didn't move aside.
"Cecily's got it well in hand," he said. "And you look like you're about to collapse. Sit down."
He pushed Merlin down into one of the chairs, which had survived the battle much better than the table it had accompanied, and then sank into the one next to it with a groan. Merlin was too exhausted to resist and instead watched as Cecily tended to Mordred with steady hands despite the tears on her face.
